#strip-a-Rama

[bettie-may-page]

Bettie Page Gif’s #109

Strip-O-Rama

[workersolidarity]

🛑⚠️WARNING: DISTURBING FOOTAGE⚠️🛑

[ 📹 Scenes from the recovery of two young girls who were murdered as a result of bombing by the Israeli occupation army on the residential home of the Zaino family home in the Al-Daraj neighborhood, east of Gaza City. ]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚀🏘️💥🚑 🚨

MURDER OF PALESTINIAN CHILDREN CONTINUES ENDLESSLY AS ENTIRE WESTERN WORLD IGNORES GENOCIDE

The leadership of nearly the entire collective West continues to look away while pocketing the profits of the Israeli occupation's ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, with American-made bombs continuing to drop on civilian families, residential homes, and public infrastructure in the Palestinian enclave.

According to local reporting, the Israeli occupation forces bombed a residential apartment belonging to the Banat family in the vicinity of the Al-Sousi Mosque in central Gaza City, resulting in the deaths of five Palestinian civilians who were transported to Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the city.

The five killed were from a single family, and included the deaths of Kamal Awad Banat, along with his son Abdul Salam, and his daughters Raghad, Hidaya, and Rama, while his daughter Rawaa remains missing under the rubble.

Meanwhile, Zionist warplanes bombed a residential apartment in the Saad building, belonging to the Al-Ghafri family in the Al-Mashahra area of Al-Nafaq Street, in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City.

Following the bombing, the bodies of four Palestinian corpses were recovered from the rubble, while several wounded civilians were taken to Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.

In yet another atrocity, occupation fighter jets bombed a residential building belonging to the Al-Zard family in the Al-Daraj neighborhood, east of Gaza City.

After the assault, local ambulance and civil crews managed to recover bodies of three civilians, while 7 others wounded in the bombing were taken to a local hospital.

Similarly, occupation warplanes bombed a house west of the Nuseirat Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, killing three Palestinians and wounding a number of others, while several civilians were wounded earlier in the day after Zionist aircraft bombed a house opposite the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis.

According to local medical reporting, at least 30 Palestinians have been killed since dawn on Wednesday, while the bodies of 14 murdered Palestinians have been recovered from the city of Rafah, south of Gaza, since dawn today.

At the same time, the Director of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories, Andrea Di Domenico, said today, Wednesday, July 3rd, that 9 out of 10 Palestinians in Gaza have been "displaced at least once."

The current death toll in the Gaza genocide now exceeds 37'953 Palestinians killed, while another 87'266 others have been wounded since October 7th, 2023.

#source1

#source2

#videosource

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[i-am-aprl]

You can’t kill their spirit ✊🏻❤️‍🩹Beautiful smile 🥲♥️❤️‍🩹 “There is no PaIèstinian house without cakes,” said Ahlam Saleh, who is forcibly disp\/laced herself. “The atmosphere of Eid existed before the war, and there is no joy now for Eid in light of the w\/ar.”⁠

.⁠

Inside tents where forcibly displaced Pales\/\/tinians are sheltering in Deir el-Balah, in the centre of the #Ga\/za Strip, a group of women are making traditional cakes for the upcoming #Eid holiday using supplies provided by charity organisations.⁠

.⁠

Despite the grim reality of the w\/ar, Ahlam said that through this initiative the group is “trying to create an atmosphere of Eid joy for children”.⁠

.⁠

Ahlam has lost multiple family members in the last six months of Israeli attacks, including children, cousins, an uncle and her brother-in-law. Several of her neighbours have also been kil\/led.⁠

.⁠

“I will miss a lot of people on the night of Eid,” she lamented.⁠

.⁠

Forcibly displaced children in Deir el-Balah said they appreciated the women’s efforts.⁠

.⁠

“They were trying to make us happy in school by creating [a holiday] atmosphere for the month of Ramadan and Eid,” said Rama Kassab, a young girl living in a makeshift shelter.⁠’”Source | @aljazeeraenglish

[thatonebirdwrites]

Cheating Death Part 3

Part 1 and Part 2 Doctor Alex Danvers and Karen Starr moved in perfect symmetry, as they worked to extract the bullets.

Kara had sensed the one that punctured Lena's lung, but another had been hidden by her spine. Her stomach rumbled, but the granola bar Nia had dropped off sat uneaten in Kara's pocket. Instead, she kept her vigil, her stomach knotted at the sight of Lena's still form. Alex had been stiff-lipped about the prognosis. Each second, minute, hour, Lena still breathed, unconscious, while the doctors sewed her body back together. Machines hummed and beeped, and Kara took to pacing a groove into the floor. Nia had tried twice to convince her to come eat with the others, but Kara couldn't leave Lena.

If she did, she'd do more dangerous stunts, testing the edge of her powers, just to not feel the intense shame, fear, and worry that throbbed through her muscles.

One of the nurses rushed out of the room. "Rh-null blood!" she shouted to one of the technicians, further down the medical wing. "We need another batch!"

"That's our last one!" the technician called back. "Ms. Lena Luthor was our only donor."

"What do you mean Rh-null blood?" Kara asked, anxiously.

"Need it to prevent hemolysis," the nurse said. "Her blood type is one of the rarest, compatible as a donor with any human blood type, but only able to receive Rh-null blood in return."

Dread curdled through Kara. "When does she need this?"

"As soon as possible," the nurse glanced back at Alex and the other doctor.

Alex leaned over Lena's bed with her tools, her body blocking the spine region from view. They'd propped Lena up on her side with a thick pillow on the other. Her skin was pallid, deep shadows under her eyes, and her body limp against the body pillow. A terrifying sight for Kara.

Kara clenched her jaw. She pushed past the nurse despite the nurse's protestations. "Alex! Does she need another transfusion?"

Alex waved a blood-stained glove at her. "Kara, don't interrupt, and yes. Nurse --"

"We're out of her blood type. Nurse said it was super rare, is that true?" Kara ached to reach out to hold Lena's limp hand, but she didn't want to disturb the delicate surgery.

Alex looked up. Even with the mask, she looked haggard. "Well shit. And yes. i wouldn't even know how to begin to find it. All the stock we had is what Lena herself donated. She's one of the few Rh-null donors in the world."

Kara grimaced. "Then what about synthetic blood? I could make some in the Fortress if I had a sample of her blood."

"Synthetic? Would her body reject it?" Dr. Karen Starr glanced at Kara, her eyebrows scrunched. She held a scalpel in her hand, its edge gleaming silver in the florescent lighting.

"Not if it's an exact match. I should be able to replicate down to the atomic level, but..." Kara nibbled on her lower lip and the urge to weep nearly overcame her. "I could only do a small amount. It takes considerable time and energy to do larger batches. Maybe enough for one or two transfusions."

She didn't want to admit that it had been years since she did any science of this magnitude, and that had been with Kryptonian blood, which differed slightly from human. The protocol for working the synthesizers was the same regardless.

One of the monitors beeped. Alex cursed again. "She's dipping again. Starr we may need a breathing tube if she continues to dive." She stripped off her gloves, tossed them in the bio-waste, and replaced them. "Kara, if you can pull that off, then we need it as soon as possible." She used the IV to pull a small vial of blood. She handed it to Kara.

"I'll be back in a jiffy." She dashed out of the room, leaving a gust of wind in her wake.

Again the sonic boom rattled the windows of National City. The blood vial she held close to her chest.

Returning to the Fortress so soon left her feeling ill.

Here Lena had saved her from Rama Khan. Here Lena and her had fought. And here, Lena encased her in a Kryptonite ice cage. The horrifying truth was Kara could have broken free, it'd been painful, but she had the strength. Instead, she'd stood there, stunned.

If Lena had decided to kill her, Kara would have let it happen. There was no doubt in her mind; she could never fight Lena.

But Lena hadn't wanted to kill her. She'd done all she could to make sure Kara recovered fast. That seeded Kara's wrecked heart with a wild hope.

Turning down a side corridor, she raced for the medical wing of the fortress, the area she had not taken Lena. Inside a massive tube took up much of the room, with several medical instruments, machinery, and a control panel covered in Kryptonian glyphs.

She keyed the command for the synthesis of blood, a program coded into the Fortress long ago, likely when Kal's father sent it on its way.

She flipped open the side panel and inserted the tube. Now Lena Luthor's blood would join her own and Kal's in the archive, along with all of Kara's and Kal's family.

A three-dimensional DNA strand appeared in the air, along with various imaging of the cells contained in the blood. She keyed an analysis against her limited database, then keyed the command for a replica of the blood.

A red alert appeared requesting more material. Kara scowled, of course. Can't synthesize a larger amount from nothing.

She recalled a vague lesson from her father. How he'd used raw ingredients from plants to show her how any ingredients worked for synthesizer as long as it held the correct set of elements.

So, okay, raw ingredients could come from anything. So why not herself?

All that mattered was that the final product exactly match Lena's blood.

"Kara Zor El?" Kelex floated up to her. "Do you need assistance?"

She glanced at the floating robot. "Yes, actually. I need you to take my blood and put it in the synthesizer. It's low on ingredients."

He flew closer to the medical control panel. "This is human blood you are synthesizing. Are you certain you wish to do this?"

Kara rolled up her sleeve and held out her arm. "Yes, do it." She closed her eyes and tensed for the pain of a kryptonite needle. Kelex worked quietly. The soft slosh of blood in the tubing he'd hooked into the synthesizer rang with the hum of the machine.

She opened her eyes to see the data from her donation form on the other side of Lena's blood imaging. She watched in fascination as her blood was broken down into its smallest components and reassembled with Lena's parameters.

The entire process lasted fifteen minutes, but it felt like a lifetime. Kara kept shifting and nearly dislodged Kelex's needle from her vein twice.

When the signal rang for completion, Kelex applied an coagulating agent to her wound and gathered up the tubing. "This will be destroyed per protocol. Do you wish to destroy the original sample?"

Kara tugged the larger container free from the synthesizer. The smaller vial still sat in its slot. "Yes. Thanks Kelex. I got to go."

The entire flight back her head swam with dizziness from the blood draw, the night sky not at all conducive toward recovery. By the time she stumbled into the surgery room with the container, it'd been nearly twenty-five minutes.

"Please tell me I'm on time," she said.

Alex stared at the metal container. Several monitors beeped alarmingly in the background. "Yeah, yeah, how do I work it? Because she needs it now."

She showed Alex the set of controls and where the tube could be inserted for the transfer. "I tried to make enough to last awhile."

Alex swiftly hooked it up to Lena's IV. "All that from a small sample?"

"Well, not exactly." Kara rubbed the back of her neck. "I used my own blood as raw ingredients so the synthesizer could reformulate it for Lena."

"Shit." Alex's hand hesitated on the clip that would start the transfusion. "Are you sure it's safe?"

"Hundred percent match to the original sample. Do you have a choice?" Kara crossed her arms. "You said her blood type is rare."

"Nearest hospital with Rh-null stock has only a quarter of what we need," Dr. Starr said. She worked on the final stitches to Lena's spine surgery. "We've had no other replies on the network."

"Fine. Let's hope this works." She flicks the clip and breathes out a long sigh. "As for you," she pointed to Kara, "great work. Now shoo and go sit under the sunbed. You look pale as fuck." Alex waved her hands toward the door. "I'll let you know when she wakes."

When. Alex said when.

Hope dug its roots into Kara's heart for the first time that day. *** Light danced across her eyelids. Whispers echoed in her ears. Soft fabric lay across her skin. Pain melded with the aggravating thirst and pulsing headache.

If she was dead, then the pain would cease.

Which meant she was alive.

Her eyes slowly opened to a small room of mostly glass walls. She lay on a bed, and a sheet and blue blanket covered her body. Someone dressed in a white lab coat and black pants fiddled with the IV bags. Or rather one metal container that had a tube connected to her IV, its contents blood-red.

The red hair cropped short rang with familiarity. "Alex?" Lena rasped. Speaking hurt her throat. Her mouth way too dry.

The woman turned with a smile of relief. "Hey, the sleeping beauty finally awakes." She turned and lifted the blanket to adjust the blood pressure cuff and examine the IV needle in her elbow. "Maybe now my sister will stop bothering the hell out of me."

"Kara?" Lena struggled to comprehend what happened. "How? What is that? Why am I..." She tried to lift her finger to point at the container, but she seemed to have misplaced her strength on the stairwell.

"The signal watch." Alex lifted her head to study Lena, her eyebrows furrowed. "You're lucky. A few minutes later and I'm not sure even surgery would have saved you. You lost far too much blood. It's a good thing you donate blood a lot, as we had to do several transfusions. When our stock ran low, Kara raced to the fortress to synthesize more."

Lena struggled to parse Alex's words. "Synthesized?"

Alex shrugged. "I'm no expert on Kryptonian tech. That's Kara, Kal, and Brainy. All I know is she used her own blood as ingredients to craft a replica of yours."

"Her own blood?" Lena repeated, stunned.

But why? She'd raged at Kara, trapped her in a Kryptonite cage, deceived her for months, and yet Kara saved her? And why was Alex helping her? If Alex knew about the Kryptonite cage, she'd be more likely to shoot her or throw her in a cage to die. Not save her life.

Hot brands swept through her neck and back, and she hissed, her eyes briefly closing. The machine hummed next to her like an irritating bee. Each pump alleviated some of the dizziness, but the pain burned with a dogged persistence.

Alex reached over her to dim the lights. "Look, I get the whole being reluctant to use the watch. But for that situation? You should have used it sooner." She fiddled with a tablet. "Those bullets did some nasty damage."

She gave Lena a faint smile. "You also don't have to worry about Leviathan assassins any further. Kara took care of them."

"Took care of them?" She felt like a parrot, repeating words that made no sense to her. "But why? We -- we fought."

Alex hesitated far too long, her smile tight. "Ah, she just took care of them. They won't bother anyone going forward."

It dawned on her slowly. "She killed them? But..."

Alex understood her trailed off sentence. "I know," she said, softly. She grasped Lena's hand and squeezed gently. "It's against her code to kill, but you've always been her exception."

This was a dream. It had to be a dream.

Tears blurred her vision, and although she tried to hold them back, they burned on her cheeks. Her body throbbed in agony, her condition atrocious, and this information overwhelmed.

She had been prepared to die on the stairs. Any signal watch activation had been only for a last goodbye.

Kara should have left her there. Moved on and found someone better. Not save Lena, who out of bitterness and heartbreak hurt Kara and deceived her for months.

With a tenderness she didn't deserve, Alex wiped away the tears with a kleenex. "Take it easy, Lena. You're safe here." She gestured to a cup with a straw. "Want a few drops of water? Can't have too much but it'll at least eliminate the dry mouth."

"Alex..." the urge to confess simmered, but the words clogged her throat and came out as a strangled sob. She wanted to curl up in a fetal position and cease existing. She should have died. Why couldn't Kara let her die? She'd lost everything.

"I don't deserve this..."

"Nonsense." Alex smoothed back Lena's hair. "You deserve it more than anyone." Her smile held a hint of melancholy. "And I'm sorry I wasn't as supportive of you and Kara. No matter what happens, we're here for you, Lena. And I want to make up for my mistakes to you."

"Don't!" The word erupted in a coughing fit. "Please, don't. Alex, I hurt Kara. Don't you see? I'm not good." Her tears burned with shame. Her thoughts fixated on the Kryptonite cage, the pain of seeing Kara in it, the urge to free her, how it'd taken all her willpower to walk through that portal. How she'd collapsed into tears on the other side. She loved Kara, and yet still hurt her? What kind of monster did that?

God, she loved Kara. She loved her so much it hurt. Now she was broken on bed, trapped with the knowledge she was capable of hurting Kara. "You shouldn't have saved me."

Alex frowned. "Lena, we all make shitty mistakes. I fuck up and hurt Kara sometimes, and we talk it out and fix it. You doing it doesn't mean you deserve death."

"Shitty? Shitty doesn't cover this." She felt loopy and out of control. Her emotions bubbled and frothed, her head spun, and the pain crawled through her spine. "I killed my brother for her. And... and he showed me she was Supergirl. I didn't know what to do. So I went to all of you, and you were celebrating and playing games." The pain with each breath, each word spoken ripped through her. But she had to get it out. She had to make sure Alex knew she was not worth this care.

"Lena..."

"No! Let me finish!" She tried to push herself upright, but her arm wouldn't handle her weight. She collapsed onto her side, wheezing. "Was I just the Luthor on a leash? No more a friend than a cat with a rat? I wanted Kara to feel my pain. I deceived her, used her, and I do not deserve this care--"

"Lena," Alex interrupted, sternly. "Lena, listen to me. You are hurting yourself with this." She gently pushed her back against the mattress and readjusted the blankets. "I am a trained doctor, and one thing I know, that it doesn't matter what a person did. If they come to me needing medical assistance, I give it. Want to know the best thing you can do right now?"

Lena sucked in a breath, still trembling from the pain and exertion.

"Rest. I mean it, you've been through hell. Your heart stopped during surgery, okay?" Alex's voice shook with an emotion Lena couldn't decipher. "I had to call J'onn in to hold Kara back from doing something very stupid. We almost lost you." She breathed in sharply. "Now is not the time for confessions and blame games. As your doctor, I order you to rest."

She picked up the cup and held it out. Reluctantly, Lena took a few short sips. Her head fell back against the pillow in exhaustion. She closed her eyes, but all she saw was the Kryptonite cage.

***

She woke next to voices whispering by her bed. One she recognized as Kara and the other took her a few seconds. Nia? She hadn't interacted with the girl much. She kept her eyes shut, the pain too much to handle speech.

She wished they'd go away. Leave her to mope in pieces.

"Kara, you need rest too. Lena will be okay. She's under Alex's supervision."

"I'm not leaving her side. I can't." Kara's voice sounded uncharacteristically wild. "She died, Nia, she died for almost twenty seconds. No, I have to make sure she's okay."

"I get that, okay? It scared all of us too. We can take shifts or something. Make sure someone is always at her bedside." Nia shuffled further from her bed. "Didn't you say we were stronger together? El Mayarah?"

Kara breathed in sharply. "Using my family motto against me?"

"Hey, just using my full arsenal here. Like you taught me." Nia paused and sighed. "I didn't want to say this, but Andrea has been on me today about our articles. The only reason we even have this extension is because it's Lena in the hospital. Don't make the situation worse."

"Maybe I'll just quit."

"And never be a reporter again?"

"Lena is more important."

"Oh my god, Alex wasn't kidding. You're like a steel mountain. Not budging. Do you think Lena would want you to just throw away everything you've worked for?"

"Lena is more important than anything."

"Even your life?"

"Yes."

"Jesus, Kara."

"No!" Lena winced at he pain from her outburst. Both Nia and Kara turned to her. "No, god no, I'm not more important than your life."

Pain arced down her back, and she blinked back tears, but still they crept free anyway.

"Yes you are!" Kara shot back. "I'm nothing without you, Lena! I just can't. I can't lose you again."

Lena growled deep in her throat, and gathered up every once of energy she had. If she had to walk out of here to prove her point, then fine.

Except, no matter how hard she tried, her legs refused to respond. In fact, she felt only a vague tingling, more in the thighs and not anything below.

She pushed herself upright, which sent pain shooting down her back. Her hands gripped her legs. They were definitely there, but she couldn't get them to move.

"Lena! You shouldn't be moving yet!" Kara said, frantically. "Please, rest." She moved to push her hand against Lena's shoulder.

In response, Lena pushed back, but that succeeded in collapsing into Kara's arms. "Kara," she growls, "if you don't go out there and do your job, I will verbally berate and flay you alive."

"Um, Andrea already does that," Nia said.

"She's too soft," Lena grumbled.

"That sounds a bit like you're telling on yourself," Nia said. When Lena shot her a glare, Nia took a step back. "And I'll just be getting Alex, bye!"

The door swung shut behind her.

Kara gently laid Lena back in the bed, and to her dismay, she didn't have the strength to protest. "I'm going to stay here until you're better."

Lena wanted to yell at Kara. To get her to stop whatever this was. But the pain crackled through Lena's body, and she couldn't think coherently. Instead, to her horror, she wept, her only intelligible words, "I can't, I can't, I just can't."

Kara tenderly held her through it, her hand smoothing back her hair. She didn't say anything, just stayed there, until Lena, exhausted, tumbled back into blessed unconsciousness.

***

Time held no meaning. Depending on the culture, it either flowed like a river in one direction, or it flowed in a circle. Even cosmology couldn't decide if the universe was cyclic -- a big bang, expansive era, then the big crunch -- or ever expanded in all directions endlessly.

Lena felt trapped at the center of some sort of timeless hell. The pain left her short-tempered, and the fact Kara refused to give up on her also grated on her.

"Why can't you see the truth?" Lena shouted at one point. "My body is broken, Kara! I'd rather be dead!"

Kara had stared at her, but then she clenched her fists. "Don't you dare speak ill about yourself." Her voice dropped to a dangerous low tone that did more for Lena's libido than it did to intimidate. "You are beautiful. Gorgeous. And you're hurt and healing. You deserve life, and I will always fight to save you."

Lena didn't know what to say in response.

Because Kara had an alarming point.

She had fought to save Lena over and over again. No matter what her family threw at them, no matter how many assassin's sought her death, no matter the attacks on her person, Kara had been there. Or she'd send Supergirl, which had actually been Kara.

"Was it really you flying me when I was poisoned?" She asked instead. Her voice came out weak, irritatingly timid.

"Yeah. Yeah, it was. I -- I was terrified. Had to use ice breath on you to induce hypothermia to give Alex's medicine time to work." Kara slumped in her chair. "I almost told you then when you said you remembered the flight."

"Why didn't you?"

"James was shaking his head ..."

"I didn't ask about James, Kara. I asked about you. Or do you not make decisions for yourself?" Irritation crept into her voice.

"That's the problem, Lena! Don't you get it?" Kara threw her hands in the air. "I didn't trust myself, all right? So yes, I did rely on others to make decisions, especially about the whole Supergirl identity. I can't afford to mess up. I can't afford to lose anyone else. I just can't."

Lena struggled to parse Kara's words. The pain ricocheted up like it always did before Alex or a nurse came and swapped IV bags for new ones. "What do you mean you didn't trust yourself?"

"Do you know what happened before you came to National City? The attack by my people? That was my Aunt." Kara said bitterly. "My Aunt and her husband wanted to -- Rao, it doesn't matter. I trusted her, and I was wrong. People got hurt. So many died. Alex had to kill my own Aunt because I couldn't do it. Nothing stopped her and Non. And then, and then..."

She shot to her feet and began to pace. "You're not the only one who can make kryptonite, okay? Max Lord did it first but he made red."

"Red? What does--"

"It was horrible. I -- I got infected and it shut off my inhibitions, it made every bad thought, every intrusive nightmare, come to life. I acted it all out, and people got hurt. I almost killed Cat Grant. Alex and J'onn used every Kryptonite they had to capture me."

Lena blinked. She didn't remember reading that in the papers, but then she'd been very distracted by shit in Metropolis at the time. "Were you in control?"

"I don't know." Kara dropped back into her chair and put her head in her hands. "It haunts me to this day. I hear the word synthesized Kryptonite and I start to have flashbacks. I can't let that happen again."

"That's why you acted that way during the worldkillers crisis." Lena didn't ask it as a question.

Kara's shoulders slumped. "I had to be in control. That way no one could get hurt. No one would die. And that was out of my control. But I was trapped back in the Red-K nightmare, and I didn't realize it at first. I -- i was wrong. I shouldn't have acted out my trauma on you. I'm sorry for that too. It hit home how bad I fucked up in the elevator when we were on our way to comfort Sam."

No wonder Kara had looked so upset when she said she'd never trust Supergirl again. She sighed and rubbed her fingers against the IV line. "I tend toward dramatics and can be terribly petty," she said finally. "You tried to talk to me as Supergirl to fix it, and I refused to listen. So as Sam likes to remind me, two wrongs don't fix anything. I'm sorry too."

Kara tentatively touched Lena's hand. "Thank you for this conversation. How are you feeling? Are you in pain again?"

"Alex mentioned internal bleeding once and you're hovering again?" Lena grumbled.

Kara winced. "I just want you to be well."

Lena sighed. "I know, Kara. And yes, I'm in pain. How about you get your sister, and read more of your book out loud?"

She wasn't sure what started that activity, but listening to Kara read soothed her far more than she'd like to admit.

"Okay." Kara shot to her feet. A breeze whipped Lena's hair into her face, Kara vanishing.

Still not used to it, but she was getting closer at least.

***

Two weeks and four days after she woke in Alex's medical ward, Lena was examined by Alex and a Doctor Starr. Part of that exam required her to sit in a wheelchair, which hurt far more than Lena wanted to admit.

Alex's checked her reflexes with her little hammer, while Starr listened to Lena's lungs.

It was irritating, but she was slowly accepting this was her reality now.

At least, the odd Kryptonian container had been used only once since she first saw it. She had a stress induced bout of hemolysis, which didn't surprise her. She knows she's prone to anemia. Kara's frantic reaction had Alex banning her from the room for two whole days.

It should have brought relief, but Lena missed Kara by day two.

As the doctors conferred, a startling thought hits Lena. "Alex, has Kara ever had a loved one in a condition as bad as mine?"

Alex turned and crossed her arms. "When I got sick from Pestilence, I'm told Kara was uncharacteristically erratic. But I was only sick a day or so. So I guess, no, not for this long."

"Hmmm." Lena turned the thought over in her head. "I think I know how to calm her down."

"Oh?" Alex had adopted a neutral tone since Lena's high-on-pain-meds confession. "And what wonderful idea does my patient have today?"

"Take me around wherever we are. Let her see me outside this room." She attempted a smile. "Yes, I'm in a pain, don't ask. Just let her see visible progress."

"I'd advise against..." Dr. Starr started to say but Alex held up her hand.

"No, she's right. Kara needs to see progress. And you are progressing, it's just not really that visible right now." Alex stepped closer and leaned over Lena. "But I need full honesty. Are you positive you want to do this?"

Lena nodded. "Yes. If it helps Kara, then yes."

"I'm not asking about Kara. Will this help you?"

Lena tilted her head puzzled. "I suggested it to aid Kara not myself?"

"Oh my god." Alex threw up her hands. "Do you see what I'm working with here?" She said to the other doctor. "They're both idiots."

Lena sniffed a trifle offended by that statement.

"I mean, yes, you have a pertinent point." Dr. Starr chuckled. "Maybe just indulge her?"

"Not you too. Go right the report." Alex flicked her wrist at the other doctor. "And you," she pointed to Lena. "Tell me immediately if your pain increases. Or else."

Lena knows an empty threat when she sees one. She gives a half-shrug. "Sure. Now shall we?" She waves her good arm toward the door.

Alex grumbled under her breath and pushed her through the door. A certain satisfaction warmed Lena's heart. She'd won against Alex, which was not an easy feat.

The hallways outside the medical room were all a dull grey. The austere architecture painted this place as the DEO. Ah, so that was why she was under Alex's care.

"Lena?! Alex!" Kara skidded to a halt near the door to the control room. Lena can hear the voices of agents and machinery beyond it. "Oh gosh, should... should you be up? Are you okay, Lena? Do you feel any pain? Oh Rao, Alex, what if she's in pain?"

"Kara..." Alex started to say, irritation in her voice, but Lena cut her off.

"Kara, listen to me." Lena held up her hand. "I suggested this. Needed some fresh air. I'm fine. Honest." Yes, her pain has increased a bit, but honestly, she needed out of the medical room.

Plus, this served a dual purpose of showing Alex that perhaps she could go home to rest and do outpatient or whatever happens next for recovery.

Kara wrapped her hands around Lena's, holding it gingerly like she's glass. "Are... are you sure?" She looked so pathetic, that Lena relented.

"Kara, darling," Lena said, gently, "If we're going to get through this, I need you to trust me. Can you do that?"

Kara nodded. "Anything."

"Then trust me when I say I'm okay. Don't assume what I need. Always ask. Can you do that for me?"

"Yeah. Yeah. I can do that." A hint of relief coated Kara's voice.

Lena realized an important fact about Kara that day. When dealing with a situation Kara couldn't control, Kara needed tasks to do. Even simple ones worked.

She tested this hypothesis the next three days. Her conclusions confirmed her hypothesis correct. Kara truly did a lot better with tasks.

If there was one thing Lena excelled at, it was crafting a list of tasks. Whether she got them all done in a day? That was another story.

On the fourth day, Alex stopped in for the usual check-up. "So, you've really figured my sister out, huh?"

Lena studied Alex carefully, uncertain if the question was in good faith or not. "I'm reconciling all parts of her in my head. I can't say that means I have her figured out."

"No, I mean, you solved it." Alex gestured to the building beyond the medical ward. "She has calmed down by a million percent. I no longer feel the need to kick her off the planet twenty times a day."

Lena couldn't help but chuckle at the image of Alex's boot knocking Kara into orbit. "That annoying, huh?"

"God, yes. I get it, I do. You really scared us. All of us. Even Andrea Rojas has been in my business. And now Sam demands to know when she can visit." Alex scribbled her vitals onto the chart by her bed. "So now Kara is dealing with them. Using your phrases too. 'Don't assume, ask Lena.' I can actually do my duties for once."

"About Andrea and Sam..." Lena leaned back in the bed, fatigued by the act of sitting up. Which was incredibly annoying, but fine, that was her life now. "It's been a few weeks. How are you handling those businesses? I only spoke with Jess once."

"I'm not giving your phone back yet," Alex scolded. "I can't trust you with it. You'll try to solve world hunger or something."

"I was merely answering my emails and..."

"Nope, no work. You can't heal if you're working." Alex capped the marker and stuck it to the board.

Lena rolled her eyes. "Alex, I am dying of boredom. Answering emails won't kill me."

"You weren't though. You were heads deep in programming, and then wondering why your pain was so bad, you couldn't move for a whole day." Alex shook her head. "Can't trust you. And I'd like to."

The way she said those last few words had a seriousness that contrasted her slightly playful, scolding tone from earlier.

"How do I build up that trust then?"

"Prove to me you're serious about this." Again that sense the conversation had a double meaning. Something more than just her health. "I need to see you acknowledge your limits."

Lena frowned. "This conversation isn't just about me, is it?"

Alex put her hands on her hips, oddly similar to Supergirl, except Alex held far more authority in the stance. "Perceptive. Yes. I asked Kara about your confession. It wasn't easy. She finally told me everything. You put her in Kryptonite, Lena."

Lena looked at her hands. "I know," she said, softly, "I remember. I had hoped it wouldn't come to that. It's why I programmed in the sun burst."

"Which is great that you did that, but Lena, can I trust you to never trap Kara in Kryptonite again?"

Lena clenched her fists. "Yes." She met Alex's gaze, resolutely. "I love Kara, Alex. I recognize I fucked up. I lashed out exactly how Lex wanted. Played into his hands again. So as a big fuck you to my brother, I'm going to stick by Kara's side, and do what I can to aid her."

Alex studied her silently for a long moment. "Okay."

Lena raised an eyebrow. "Just okay?"

"Yes, just okay. Geesh, want a rambling speech, ask my sister." Alex walked to the door but paused, her hand on the doorknob. She looked back at Lena. "You're good for her, Lena. Kara has never been as happy than when she's with you. Please don't fuck this up."

"I thought you didn't do rambling speeches?" Lena smirked at Alex's raised middle finger.

"Oh, before I forget, you feel up to start physical therapy?"

"Is this where I prove to you I will honor my limits?" Lena asked dryly.

"You could say that. So a yes?" When she nodded, Alex smiled. "Great."

After the door shut, Lena sat in the semi-darkness and wondered if she could trust Kara and Alex. Could she trust any of them?

She raised her blankets and looked at her legs. They tingled now, but moving them caused pain bursts at the base of her spine. She didn't trust Lilian to help her with this. She did trust Sam, but after ghosting her and not answering her calls for months?

She dropped the blanket and laid down. She needed to trust them, and that scared her far more than any promise to a prickly sister of a Superhero. Trust was not something she did well. It tended to backfire on her, and yet, what else could she do?

Trusting no one but an AI had gotten her exactly nowhere. Other than more heartbreak and stuck in the medical ward, disabled from waist down for who knew how long. She truly did want to get better, but was she hiding from the world by half-assing this recovery?

Kara didn't know the extent of her treachery, or how she'd used the DEO to test the mind-control she'd uncovered from the Martian. Yes, that test had helped Andrea, but it also showed that her programming had a troublesome flaw. One she never quite ironed out. Hope's calculations had been her last ditch effort.

It led her to the same question that had haunted her since she woke up here: why were they helping her? Only her own paranoia answered that question, which wasn't helpful.

She closed her eyes and let the darkness of pain pull her out to sea.

***

When she next opened her eyes, the light was muted even further.

A person snored softly in the chair next to her bed. She turned her head to see Kara slumped there in jeans and a purple button-down shirt. Her blond hair spilled in loose ringlets around her face, and a book perched in her lap.

It was the book she'd been reading out loud to Lena: Poseidon's Wake, a fascinating science fiction romp about aliens, human's hubris, what constituted sentience, and sentient elephants.

On the table just behind Kara's chair, a vase with flowers sat with a card in front of it. She picked it up, the paper rough against her skin. Inside and decorating every page was kind 'get well soon' words from Nia, Brainy, Kelly, and all of Kara's friends.

The people she'd deceived in her single-minded quest of revenge. Her stomach twisted with nausea. The card slipped from her fingers to fall onto her stomach. A small card sat taped to the vase, and that one just read, "From Sam and Ruby."

She sucked in a sharp breath and winced at the pain in her left side.

Kara flinched and sat upright, her eyes blinking sleepily. "Lena?" She focused on her bed and smiled in relief. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

The question bubbled out of her before she could stop herself. "Why is everyone helping me?"

"What do you mean?" Kara reached up to fiddle with her glasses, but she wasn't wearing them so the gesture became tucking hair behind her ear instead.

"I deceived all of you. I hurt you." Lena's voice turned bitter. "Alex said she wants to trust me. That I'm good for you. I knew Kryptonite hurt you and I did it anyway. Why don't they all hate me? Why am I here?"

Kara shrugged. "The cage dropped as soon as you left. Then came your lovely sun bomb thing. I saw the code you used. You programmed that. So that means you never meant to hurt me. And I think you needed to get that all out. I -- I'm sorry it took me so long to understand. So, don't worry, it's okay."

"Okay? Just okay?" Lena couldn't believe her ears. "Kara, I need you to be honest. Why am I your 'exception' to your rules? Why is Alex giving me the shovel talk? What are we to each other?"

Kara sighed. Her fingers drummed against her knee. She took a deep breath and seemed to come to a decision. "Because I love you. I didn't realize how much until our fight. Until I almost lost you." She briefly closes her eyes. "I nearly lost myself to rage. Dunked myself in the ocean to try to calm down. And I couldn't let you die without telling you my last secret."

"Last secret? I -- I know you consider us friends..." Lena had heard Kara say 'love you' before, but this moment felt charged in a way the others did not.

She smiled, sadly. "It's not friendship love. Lena, I love you. Everything about you. I want to be with you in whatever way you'll have me. And if you don't want me around? Say the word and I'll vanish. Well, maybe still save you when needed but only in a professional way I guess."

"Be with me?" God, she was being a parrot again, but the words from Kara's mouth felt unreal. "You love me? And yet deceived me for years?"

Kara slumped in her chair and pulled at a thread on the cuff of her sleeve. "I'm sorry, Lena. I really am."

"Yes, you've said that many times," Lena said. She sighed and picked at her blanket.

For a long moment, she struggled against an absurd urge to cry. Fatigue lined her body and soul, and truthfully? She didn't want to fight Kara or enact revenge any more. Her retaliation hadn't helped her feel better; she'd felt worse instead.

No, maybe she should try the harder road. Talking. God, what would Lillian think of her now? She was going to discuss her feelings instead of of manipulating the universe.

"Did you ever trust me?" Seemed a good place to start.

"Yeah!" Kara nodded. "In most things, and I wanted to trust you about Supergirl. I just." She leaned her head back with a growl of frustration. "At first the DEO pressured me to tell no one, especially you. But then it became about me wanting to be just Kara with you."

"The whole not trusting yourself come into play there?"

Kara nodded. "I let others convince me that not telling you was good. That if I told you, I'd be selfish and ruin a good thing for you."

"Wait, did someone actually advise that?" Lena wrinkled her nose. "Because that's shit advice."

Kara winced. "Mon-el did."

"I see. From now on if someone says lying to me is better for me and honesty is selfishness, just punch them for me, okay?"

Kara blinked at her before bursting into laughter. "Oh Rao, okay, sure, I can definitely do that."

"Great." She imagined Kara punching Mon-el, and it definitely brought more satisfaction than anything she did the past few months. "Do you trust yourself now?"

"I..." Kara hunched down in her chair. "I don't know." She breathed out roughly and a piece of ice formed on her knee. She flicked it to the floor. "When I -- I found you? I lost myself in rage. I killed Rama Khan and his allies. I don't really regret it, but... can I trust myself? Because if you're hurt, I -- I probably should be restrained."

Just as she suspected, guilt threaded through Kara's voice. Lena shifted to the good side, her pain ever present a minor ache from the pain meds. "Will it help to know I trust you?"

Her own words surprised herself. And yet, it was true.

She did trust Kara.

Kara looked up and smiled faintly. "It does actually. I wasn't sure you ever would again."

"Kara, even when I was angry and hurting, I still trusted you with my life. My heart?" She ran a hand through her hair. It needed washing again, which meant asking the evening nurse for help, something she dreaded. "That I couldn't trust you with. But!" She held up a finger to stop Kara's words. She shut her mouth. "I think I'm ready to try. I know this won't be easy. We're both headstrong, but when I'm working with you, I'm a better person. I'd like to find that again."

Kara smiled, tears shining in her eyes. "You feel like home to me. I feel I'm a better person with you too. Even if I'm a bit dramatic about injuries." She rubs her hands on her jeans. "I just, I don't know. I was so worried."

"I know." Lena reached out and touched her wrist. "You've never had someone you love taking this long to recover. A rather intense introduction to mortality, eh?"

"You died for twenty seconds, Lena," Kara whispered.

"Are you focused on that or on the fact I'm alive?"

Kara tilted her head and stared at Lena. "What do you mean?"

Lena waved her hand impatiently, then winced. Her side ached at the movement. "If you focus on that fact and not on the present moment of me, recovering, then you become trapped in the past. You can't move forward, can't plan, and your actions become only reactions. Never a conscious, informed act."

"Oh." Kara tapped her fingers against her leg. "You know, that's a good point. Death has made you wise."

Lena shrugged. "Maybe. I need the reminder myself sometimes."

For a moment, both listened to the drip of the IV.

"I didn't have these powers on Krypton," Kara said suddenly, "I was just a normal kid, well, as normal as the first thirteen year old inducted into the Science Guild could be." A slight smile tinged her lips, but it faded into melancholy.

"You were a scientist?" It surprised her a little.

Kara nodded. "Bred to be so."

"Wait, I'm sorry, bred?"

Kara smiled. "The birth matrix is how we reproduced. It was very rare to have a natural birth like Kal's parents. Usually parents like to edit the child's genes. I was modeled to be a scientist like most of the El family."

Lena hummed thoughtfully. "I'd love to hear more about Krypton, Kara. If you'd like to share." She definitely had questions, though she' wasn't sure how best to ask.

"Thank you." Kara reached out to grasp her hand. "No one has every really said that to me?"

"Seriously?" Lena frowned. "Then consider the offer standing. Whatever you wish to share, I will listen."

"And the same for you. I want to hear what you have to say. Your thoughts. Hopes, dreams, random ideas, anything."

Lena smiles, but one last question still haunts her. "One last question. You've said 'just Kara' a lot. You've always been just Kara to me. Did you think I'd treat you differently if I knew?"

Kara winced visibly. "Yeah? Everyone does. I mean, look at Winn as an example. I wasn't just Kara to him anymore, and he became obsessed with superhero stuff. James knew thanks to Kal. Nia treats me as her superhero mentor. It's just over and over people failed to see me. They saw the cape, and either wanted to be like the cape --"

"James," Lena murmured, thinking of his guardian stunts.

"Or helping the cape. I wasn't just Kara, and I could be that with you, and it felt so good. Like coming home. It's why I can't stay away. I want to make this right, Lena." She yanked the thread free of the cuff. "So, uh, that's why I'll help you with your Myriad plan if you want."

"What?" Lena stared at Kara. "You don't know what it is yet."

Kara shrugged. "So? It's you. I want to help you no matter what. If I have to hang up the cape and go undercover to do it, then fine."

None of Kara's words made any sense to Lena. Her head ached again, and a faint scent of peaches wafted from the pain meds. She tried not to think of her legs.

"The project is dead," Lena said, flatly. "You might as well take Myriad back. It won't happen any time soon. Especially not with this." She waves a hand weakly toward her legs. "I can't feel them yet."

Kara reached over and grasped Lena's hand. The warmth sent a shiver down Lena's spine. "Then I'll help you recover. Whatever you need."

"Kara..." Lena sighs. "What if I hurt you again?"

"I hurt you first," Kara said. She winced, "I mean, not to make a contest of it. But yeah, we hurt each other. So that's a thing we did. But here we are, both of us alive despite it all. And yeah, we might hurt one another again, but I think you're worth it. You're beautiful, Lena, outside and inside. That hasn't changed. I want to work on us if you're game."

Lena recalled her words at the Fortress, said in anguish, "You don't get to tell me who I am anymore." But that had been a lie. She'd wanted so bad for things to be real with Kara. To be loved by Kara. To not have it all snatched away.

She'd wanted to fix it all, but it had not occurred to her she could just talk it through with Kara.

For several long minutes, she quietly breathed and sorted her thoughts. The pain simmered annoyingly, but she wasn't ready to sleep again. Not yet.

"This isn't easy for me," Lena said, carefully. She winced at the pain along her side, but she wanted to get this out. "I wanted to fix the pain. To somehow stop others from hurting one another."

"With your project?"

Lena sighed. "It doesn't matter. Hope was lost and she's needed to run the calculations. And would it have stopped the pain? I don't know. I didn't have time for proper tests. It wasn't ready, but Leviathan kept accelerated my timeline."

"So you sought to end all pain?" Kara tiled her head. "Isn't that kind of... mind control?"

Nausea swirled in Lena's stomach. Those words reminded her of Lex's journals, of his experiments, of his experiments on her. God, Lex really had played her, hadn't he? He knew she'd read his journals, knew she'd turn on Kara for her lies. "It's for the best," she whispered, "that it failed. Lex manipulating me by driving a wedge between us." She fiddles with the strings on the blanket's edge. "He has a habit of snatching away all the good in my life. He tried to destroy what we had. Like a fool I fell for it."

"No, well, maybe for a little while. But we're still here, and we're being honest." She lifted Lena's hand and gently kissed her knuckles. "I understand you might not believe me now, but I'll prove it."

Lena sighed. She wasn't sure what to say to that. The medicine dulled her thoughts, drew back the pain, but now fatigue corded through her body. "You already are. And I want to work on us too." "So where do we go from here?" Kara asked.

Where did they go from here indeed? She knew this was a stupid idea, that she shouldn't allow it, but with the Fortress fight, the assassin, almost dying, surgery, long recovery, and now this?

Lena weakly tugged on Kara's hand. "Ask me later. Right now... can -- can you hold me? I don't want to be alone." Her words came out small and shaky. This asking for things scared her as much as it thrilled her.

"Of course." Kara graced her with one of her winning smiles. She gently moved Lena just enough for her to slip onto the bed next to her. Her arms wrapped around Lena, and warmth embraced Lena from head to toe.

She buried her face in Kara's shirt, and breathed in her vanilla scent.

The anger and pain that had fueled her for months no longer simmered in her gut. Part of her feared giving Kara another chance, but at the same time, her traitorous heart shouted in relief at being in Kara's arms. The hurt hadn't full gone away, but its edges had softened.

"You've always been her exception," Alex had said.

Maybe starting tonight Kara could be her exception. Instead of more revenge plots or running, she'd stay and work on whatever this was between them. No matter how hard it became. Maybe someday soon she can say the words out loud, that she truly did love Kara.

Because even in the fires of hardship and pain, a rock could still become a gemstone.

Epilogue incoming

[woundgallery]

I don't submit many poems for publication, but I am truly delighted that this old piece found a home in a beautiful volume of Prairie Schooner. I wrote this in April 2016, when I was re-emerging from the most deadening period of my life. As much as this poem, on the surface, is about heartbreak, it is much more about the gift of opening myself once again to communion with others and communion with the mystery of our fragile, interconnected world. The person I wrote this for took me by the hand and--with gentleness and understanding--helped me put aside weariness and remember that the world was a place that could still surprise me with a beauty that surpasses explanation, that cannot be neatly explained and shut away. Though it's been years since we have spoken, I am forever grateful for him.

And, as spring quickens in New York City, I am grateful once more to reflect on all I would have missed if I had not made it through the gauntlet of 2015. I would never have met my cat (and love of my life) Willa who wakes me each morning by wildly purring, head butting me like a baby goat, and nibbling my cheeks and nose because she’s just so happy to see me; hiked on Orcas Island with Michael and found a surprise lake which we named Lake Ineffable (because no name was beautiful enough for it) where we stripped off our clothes and swam and embraced each other, blissfully alone and dazed by superfluous beauty; found out that George Washington National Forest may have more fireflies than anywhere in the world; grown into my vocation as a social worker and been blessed to sit in communion with my clients for eight years; built a beautiful relationship with my parents based on mutual respect, affinity, and humor; seen my friends’ babies discover the world; slept beneath a meteor shower sky on a NYC beach in the arms of a man I was suddenly and entirely falling in love with; discovered Eric Rohmer; discovered Wim Wenders;  moved to Laramie, Wyoming where everything looks like the abandoned set of a Western film where the paint has flaked off but he extras are still wandering around despondently; moved to Montana where I remembered that I am part of the whole, not just a body in passing; woke in Missoula to the cold air seeping through my window—still half in a dream of Oregon in October—and stirred, deliciously alert beside the boy I loved, craning toward his sleepy, freckled back, to clutch him closer, the brisk quickening of fall making my body a new thing—wild and tender and alive; swam naked in the ocean; had the chance to work with my best friends and fall even more in love with the people they are based off the kindness they showed our clients; had my best friends, in turn, respect and love me more based of what they saw me showing clients; sat by a lake at night and felt an earthquake swell like a heartbeat beneath my body; drove from Missoula to Washington, Ryan’s van weaving through a forest fire zone until we reached the pure, amnesiac sweep of the Pacific; discovered Simone Weil; been, not only forgiven, but embraced by the person I most wronged after six years of estrangement; made up a silly-serious shared mythology with Steven about a vulture God named Hamm who watches over us with a severe equanimity; backpacked through Olympic National Park with Michael and seen and been seen by the strange shaggy haired deer and rabbits who looked at us without fear; discovered Agnes Martin; read poetry with my sage & strange Mara; discovered Olivier Messiaen; discovered Mary Ruefle; discovered Ana Mendieta; realized that I like the color yellow; moved to New York City; discovered Carol Rama; learned how to enjoy dancing to music other than punk rock; seen a moose in the wild; spent a summer in that yellow shotgun house with the overgrown yard and the porch overlooking the river where we made dinner each night listening to recordings of bird calls; experienced the delights of solitary sunbathing on Brooklyn roofs; encountered places named Hellgate, Bitterroot, and Rattlesnake; recited The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock at 3 AM, wading in the waters of the Long Island Sound; realized I am capable of keeping houseplants alive; heard the thrumming ecstasy of the grouse's wings; learned the name of those clustered, mustard-colored flowers that grow on the Oregon coast; grew grateful for beauty again, remembering the world is not a place I can neatly explain, cannot fold in linen and shut in a drawer; and, most of all, remembered the daily ways we concede—plainly, without theatrics—to live.

Today I am thankful for those who love me and those who allow me to love them.

[bionicle-altreverse]

Follow up scrap, trying to get a feel for the Nui-Rama not only in 3 dimensional space, but within the context of the setting. Featuring a take on Lewa as well.

I hadn't worked much with the actual environments up until this point. Even this is only the vague idea of Le-Wahi's upper branches.

While true that I am a character and portrait artist first and foremost, and backgrounds can prove to be much more challenging for me, I also hesitated to find the look of the land before I was satisfied with the design of it's inhabitants. Striking the balance of organic and technic[al] aesthetics for living beings would inform how distinct the all organic Mata-Nui Isle would appear. At least that was my reasoning.

In regards to the Toa Mata as featured above, I was striving for a lanky, scrappy version that still was visibly the same design as other toa bucks, so to say. That while the core "bones" of my toa body were in place, but stripped down of the bulk seen in later years sets, being rebuilt from their living tombs of wayward canisters.

Thin points, particularly in the limbs, which present more fantastical and cartoonish proportions, whilst also alluding to their reduced form, to further exacerbate the rejuvenation of their Nuva Transformations.

There are several cues from other fantastic artists present in my designs, which I will do my best to present up front. Some things will surely slip through, so please point out if I'm missing crediting for anything. Presently, Pohatu having elbow pistons is directly from another artist I can't recall at current. However, I will be sure to include such when I dedicate a post to focusing on Pohatu.

[konjaku]

蘿藦[Gagaimo] Metaplexis japonica

It is a perennial creeping plant and grows in sunny areas. The flowers are often purplish in color. In autumn, it produces spindle-shaped fruits about ten centimeters long, and comate seeds emerge from inside the fruit shell, which splits longitudinally.

This name is an ateji, or a Chinese name with a Japanese reading applied to it. In the past, 蘿藦 was written as 羅摩, and these were read as kagami, which is also an ateji. The usual reading for both is rama.

故大國主神。出雲之御大之御前に坐す時に。波の穗自り。天之羅摩船に乘り而。鵝(蛾？)の皮を内剝に剝ぎて。衣服に爲て。歸り來る神有り。爾其の名を問はすれ雖も不答。且所󠄁從の諸神に問はすれ雖も。皆知らずと白しき。

[Kare ookuninushi-no kami, izumo no miho no misaki ni masu toki ni, nami no ho yori, ame no kagami no fune ni norite, himushi no kawa wo utsuhagi ni hagite, kimono ni shite yori kuru kami ari. Kare sono na wo towasuredomo kotaezu. Mata mitomo no kami tachi ni towasuredomo, mina shirazu to mōshiki.]

Now, when (a deity) Ookuninushi-no kami was at Mihonosaki in Izumo(Shimane Prefecture, today), there is a (very small) deity approaching from the white waves on a heavenly boat made of (the fruit shell of) Kagami and wearing clothing made from the stripped skin of a moth. So Ookuninushi asked him his name, but did not respond. And now Ookuninushi asked his attendant deities, but they all said, "I do not know". From Kojiki (The above quotations have been converted to sentences in the way of explanation reading) Source: https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/914528/1/35 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kojiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanbun

[fromthebunkers]

A friend of mine has connected with Rama, a woman in the Gaza strip with a two year old daughter Wesam who is in dire need of medical care. Rama and Wesam were displaced into Rafah in the course of the genocide being carried out upon the Gaza strip. Below is their gofundme:

[beardeddetectivepaper]

€122,136/€130,000 ‼️‼️

Dear people with living pronouns.. Peace and humanitarian greetings to you. I am Rama, a cancer patient from Gaza undergoing treatment in Egypt. War and my battle with cancer are similar. The events of October 7 came without warning, and cancer struck me unexpectedly. Our loved ones and friends were killed and taken away by the war, so my baby girl died, because of cancer and chemotherapy. I don't know where to begin. We've spent a lifetime in wars, but this war is like no other. The building in which we used to live in Gaza was divided into two sections: one for my sister's Raneem family and the other for our family—my parents, and me. Our family home wasn't easy to establish. It took my family years to gather the funds, immense effort to design its furnishings, and an abundance of love and patience. As the situation worsened and rockets rained down on Gaza like never before, the Israeli army announced a ground invasion, instructing residents to head south "south of the Gaza strip". My family refused to leave our home, but concern for the children eventually forced us to flee to Rafah. We shared a house with a friend of my father's, but life became increasingly difficult. Food is scarce and very expensive, water was contaminated and almost non-existent, diseases spread, in addition to electricity shortage over the past months.

My family is in a very critical situation. Tasks are divided among us to sustain ourselves. My father fetches water -if ever found- from a distant area early every morning. He suffers from a back disc issue and has undergone seven surgeries in his life. He had a medical appointment in Egypt, but the war came between it. My sister's husband Ismael, who lost his job, searches for household essentials and tries to find canned goods and flour to feed the family. My sister wakes up early to prepare dough manually and bake bread over wood fires due to gas shortages and bakeries closures. My mother Ghalia, who had a brain tumor previously, could only sit and pray day and night. She had delayed her medical appointment in Turkey scheduled for earlier this year because of the ongoing war. Meanwhile, the children, who should have been playing and studying, spend hours searching for energy sources to charge our family's phones and small lights. Unfortunately, my sister's baby no longer receives sufficient breast milk due to his mother's malnutrition. This abnormal life became an unbearable burden on my family. My sister Raneem’s family before the war

Financially, we couldn't bear more losses. We lost three homes—two for the family and one for my sister. These were the assets we relied on. Getting permission to leave Gaza requires paying around $8,000 per adult and $2,500 per child. This process is a slow escape from death. You can't travel immediately after payment; you must wait about twenty days. These sums are far beyond our means. I still hear my mother's Ghalia voice in voice messages to her family abroad, saying, 'Pray for me, my house will be bombed. This house is my lifetime work.' My family invested their life savings in this house. With the war events, my health deteriorated, and the treatment was ineffective, forcing doctors to change the treatment protocol. They advised me not to expose myself to news and events that affect my mental and physical health as a cancer patient. After changing treatment and trying not to expose myself to psychological pressure, my health improved slightly, and the new treatment showed good results. But with threats of a ground invasion in Rafah, I try to calm my fears. However, time is not on our side. My family has narrowly escaped death several times, thank God. Your donation means saving my life and theirs. I have no life or hope without them, and they see me as their hope for safety. In the end, we ask for nothing more than our right to live. If you've reached this point, I want to thank you for your time and attention. With warmth and kindness."

*Campaign aim: - Collecting the security coordination funds to exit Gaza safely, ensuring the entire family's departure. Since the number of family members in the campaign is seven (mother, father, sister, her husband, and their three children), including three children, the total amount due is $39,500. - Securing a financial amount for temporary accommodation in Egypt until they can leave. - Covering visa and flight ticket expenses to the countries the family will seek refuge in, depending on facilitations and the opening of doors for asylum and residency for Palestinians. - Covering the medical treatment costs and medications for my mother, and the need for comprehensive examinations in Turkey to ensure her safety after the war. - Covering the family's living expenses until one of them finds work. - Obtaining the cost of psychological recreational treatment for the three children, estimated at $3,000 at a minimum. - Improving my mental health, which will subsequently affect my physical health and accelerate my response to treatment. - Establishing a start-up business for my sister's family, if circumstances permit, with a minimum of $8,000. If you cannot donate, please pray for my recovery and the safety of my family from war atrocities, and share my story on your social media accounts"

[letsscreamwithme]

Rama x Larry fic, Rama complimenting Larry, bandages off.

Larry opened the inner door to his bedroom with a sigh.

"and here's my room." He gestured Rama inside with him and watched as his skin turned to lead. Larry took off his gloves and started unwrapping his hands.

"How did you get plants to grow in here?" Rama asked, amazed at the colorful pots that littered the room.

"lots of trial and error." Larry gently took Rama's hands once his were uncovered.

"Despite being lead, your hands are soft." He remarked.

"Are you going to take off all your bandages?"

"Don't feel like stripping in front of you yet."

"Could you at least take off the ones on your face? I want to see it."

"You saw it once before?"

"I want to see it again." Rama gave a small smile and Larry couldn't say no. He let go of his hands and took off his goggles.

"Actually, can...can I take them off?" Rama asked, catching Larry off guard.

"Why?"

"Well, you're like a present."

"Presents are supposed to be enjoyable."

"You are." Larry stared at Rama for a moment before nodding.

"Ok. You can take them off, just try not to rip them." Rama nodded as he carefully peeled back the layers of bandages from Larry's face. Once done, he cupped his face.

"Beautiful." He said with a soft smile.

"I'm not."

"Yes you are, at least in my eyes." Rama gave him a kiss.

"Are you just soft in general? Soft voice, soft skin, soft smile, is your hair soft too?" Larry giggled and pulled a hand up to test his theory. He was correct and Rama laughed himself.

"You are so beautiful, Larry Trainor." Larry smile as he felt his eyes water a little. Rama quickly wiped a tear away.

"Hey, don't cry. Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no. Just, never been called that before..."

"Well then, get used to it."

"I think I can. Will you help me?"

"Of course."

[haveyoureadthispoll]

Pilkey plays with words and pictures, providing great entertainment. The story is immediately engaging—two fourth-grade boys who write comic books and love to pull pranks find themselves in big trouble. Mean Mr. Krupp, their principal, videotapes George and Harold setting up their stunts and threatens to expose them. The boys' luck changes when they send for a 3-D Hypno-Ring and hypnotize Krupp, turning him into Captain Underpants, their own superhero creation. Later, Pilkey includes several pages of flip-o-ramas that animate the action. The simple black-and-white illustrations on every page furnish comic-strip appeal. The cover features Captain Underpants, resplendent in white briefs, on top of a tall building. This book will fly off the shelves.

[steampunkforever]

The Raid 2 is sorta like if everyone in The Departed was good at punching. The transition from a gritty, isolated Dredd-style beatdown film and this twist-filled organized crime drama is definitely handled well by the action, which is exactly what you'd expect to do the heavy lifting in an action franchise.

What's interesting to me is the way The Raid 2 handles the carry over of grittiness from the first film. This is a movie that came out the same year as John Wick, it needed to transform its tone in order to come out stronger than just more of the same at best, sophomore slump at worst. It succeeds, I think, and the locations are key to understanding how it keeps the continuity.

Rama's apartment, the bar, the train, even the city streets are all sort of barren and overall clean, but the movie trades the first films grime for a sort of dinginess. Part of this is the colorgrade, yes, but I was struck by how even as the apartments are new, they're dingy in that sort of abandoned strip mall sort of way. The restaurants are too open, not lived in. Decaying almost. It works in a rawboned way that Captain America: The Winter Solider had to spend loads more on production design to achieve. And that came out the same year.

Not a sophomore slump. Not just more of the same. Definitely lots of punching. Good movie.

[isatumbles]

WOA

LES TALK ABOUT MY OCS ONCE AGAIN

This time it is a huge thingy I am working on known as..

Mathima!!

So ehee

Mathima is a recent concept of mine. I made it around 2019 and around 2021 or 2022, Ive picked the idea up again and refined it to the max degree

So to begin, Mathima is a show/book concept about math as a world itself!

It all takes place on a mobius strip planet known as Infinus, which orbits two suns and is home to all the beings who reside there! Infinus is covered in yellow grass and the sky is purple. Infinus has a unique property in which the planet itself is made of everything, meaning someone can reach into the ground of Infinus and pull out whatever they want. Though it only gives the materials to make the said object, the Numberid themself would have to build it.

Looong ago, Infinus used to not have any beings, until it decided that numbers should exist. Lo and behold, the first beings were born, a bunch of humanoid beings that represented the number one. They were known as The Ones and mostly spent time just enjoying life. A large group instead decided to study their existence, they were known as the Scholar Ones.

(Old art but shhh)

The Scholar Ones eventually figured out how to construct the operations (+, -, ×, ÷, etc.), which were represented as machines. With an equals sign, the operations would activate and fuse two numbers accordingly. With this new discovery, many new numbers were discovered and created. Due to how expansive their studies were, many chose to take it a step further and make more complex machinery. This led to a small fight amongst the numbers, but thankfully instead of war, they chose to peacefully claim certain lands to practice their math types.

So far we have:

Arithmetown: Towns that study arithmetic

Algebeaches: Lively beaches that study algebra

Geometria: A utopia filled with shapes and the study of geometry

Trigoconomy: Intermingled with Geometria and created after the dystopia arc, study of trigonometry

Calculocanyons: Labs located ontop of canyons that study calculus

Imaginarealm: A whole seperate realm that houses imaginary numbers

Proba-Rama: Casinos filled with games galore, study of probability

Logicountry: A western place that studies math logic and proofs

Theoretica: Study clubs within the areas of Infinus that study number theory

Obviously the entirety of math studies cant be represented, but this is my current handful of what Infinus offers!

Cutting to present day Infinus, we meet our main character of Mathima, and his name is Seven!

Seven is a numberid seven who wants to study the world of Infinus by travelling around on foot. Numberids have the ability to shapeshift from their humanoid form to a number form, which allows them to be put into equations via operations and equal signs. He is very studious and adventurous, but he does not like being put into equations.

Seven visits each of the lands of Infinus, in which some are revisited and even changed by Seven's simple acts! I currently have a bunch of arcs that Seven goes through:

Arc 1 - Negative Numbers

This arc takes place in Arithmetown, Seven studies his hometown before setting off to the other areas of Infinus. Negative numberids are numberids that were subtracted, but had the subtraction operation stuck on their back, which causes pain (Since its literally clasped to their back) and aggression. To put it short, theres negative number racism in Arithmetown. The numberids are afraid to interact with them and even shun them out of the towns, they dont even dare to multiply them together in fear of making a "super negative." Seven proves to the numberids that negatives are nothing to be afraid of and even goes negative himself by reluctantly (Bc, again, Seven hates being in equations) multiplying with a negative one. Then he multiplies with another negative one to show that they can be positive again and relieves the numberid's fear of a "super negative." After that, he finally ventures off to his next location.

Arc 2 - Fifty-Four

Seven visits the Algebeaches, which contain a new kind of numberid, known as Variblix. Variblix are cyborg beings that can assign themselves into any number they want.

Not only that, but many of the numberids there play challenges with equations and the variblix, making it a very lively and active place. Seven accidentally gets added to a Fourty-seven, a very out-going, yet dumb, member of the Algebeaches. This accidentally makes the two become Fifty-Four. There is a rule where bigger numbers get to have more control when fused, so Seven, as Fifty-Four, is super reluctant and wants to be split again, but Fourty-Seven just wants to party some more. Eventually they go to a big challenge where the prize is an equals sign, so they win it and split back into Seven and Fourty-Seven. Fourty-Seven, when he was Fifty-Four, was enamoured by Seven's intellect and wants to join him, and he becomes a buddy to Seven in his adventures.

Arc 3 - Geometria

Probably my fav arc lol

Seven and Fourty-Seven visit Geometria, a huge supposed "utopia" that introduces yet even more species known as Shapeids [Further classified as Polygonoids (2D) Polyhedroids (3D), and Angloids (Angles)] and Graphids. These two have the unique ability of summoning lines or shapes depending on what they are. Shapeids can summon stuff that is a dimension lower than their own [Ex: A triangle can summons three lines (1D shapes) that can form into a solid triangle, a cube can summon six squares (Net of a cube, 2D shapes) that can become a cube itself, Angloids are an exception since they can just summon lines themselves)], while Graphids can summon their own graphed equation. They can also turn into an alternative form similar to Numberids. Geometria is under the rule of Ninety De Gris, who is a 90° Angloid that wants Geometria "perfect," which means every Shapeid and Graphid is to have perfect increments and equal lengths.

Shapeids have the unique ability to shapeshift, but only as the shape they are, so a triangle can be a isoceles or obtuse, but cant become a square. This obviously does not bode well to most of the citizens of Geometria, and one such citizen who rebels against this rule is Xagon.

Xagon is an irregular hexagon who constantly goes against the utopian rules by straight up being herself. A Pi, who works under Ninety De Gris, constantly stops Xagon in their acts, making them bitter enemies. Seven and Fourty-Seven runs into these two quarreling, which ends up with Xagon explaining how Geometria used to be more diverse and dynamic without these strict rules. Seven and Fourty-Seven team up with Xagon to try and take down Ninety for their deeds. This arc is super long but to put it short, they recruit Pi as well and eventually take down Ninety, allowing Geometria to be as lively as it was before. Xagon, as much as she wants to join the two, want to bask in the glory of the new Geometria, so she chooses to stay behind while Seven and Fourty-Seven continue their journey.

Arc 4 - Imaginarealm 2i

The two scale a huge canyon to find labs ontop of the canyons. Seven and Fourty-Seven find themselves in the Calculocanyon labs, where numberids are trying to study the Imaginarealm. The Imaginarealm was supposedly only accessed by multiplying with an i (Which is VERY risky bc going from the regular realm to the Imaginarealm is a violenty flashy process), but the Calculocanyon numberids managed to create a temporary portal to the realm. The issue is, they cant go into the realm without multiplying with an i. Seven comes up with the idea of becoming a complex number with Fourty-Seven. So the two vow to do so and become 7i+47, which means Seven becomes imaginary!

Due to no equal sign being used (Plus the fact they cant really combine), they stay seperate but with a plus operation attached. Imaginary numbers have swirly patterns and can do impossible things like floating in midair, they often are noted for the big swirly circle ontop of their head, which indicates theyre multiplied by i. Seven and Fourty-Seven then go through the portal and find themselves in a warped version of Infinus. Unbeknownst to them, instead of this Infinus going around two suns, it actually goes around one sun and a black hole. They are greeted by Two I, who is an imaginary Two that was violently transported from a challenge incident in the Algebeaches. She is basically the founder of the Imaginarealm, being the first number to discover it so many years ago. At first she seems welcoming, but when Seven and Fourty-Seven start talking about the regular realm or equal signs, Two I starts to flip out.

Two I essentially forces any newcomers to stay, many were afraid to ask why. Seven and Fourty-Seven are pressured by Two I to stay in the Imaginarealm, which slowly makes the situation more tense. At some point, Seven finally breaks and confronts Two I about why she is like that. Two I tells them that going from realm to realm is very violent and caused her to lose her eye. She pressures the two to stay, but they had to go back regardless. This makes Two I very upset, but then the two come up with a plan. They add Two I to their equation and allow them to peacefully look at their regular realm one last time. This eases Two I more now that there is a safer way of visiting the realms as well as seeing her old home. Two I vows to stay in the Imaginarealm though, as she prefers it there more than her old place. She is less pushy now and allows the two to return.

Arc 5 - Reformed Geometria

This arc is unfinished, but it when Seven and Fourty-Seven revisit the land of Geometria and find the newly constructed Trigoconomy. I got 0 clue what conflict should be put here so for now its just. T r i a n g l e

Arc 6 - Gambling

Another unfinished arc, Xagon might be apart of this arc but idk. Basically they visit a huge casino known as Proba-Rama. There are various gambling games and the group just studies and goes nuts with the games?? I have had a numberid celebrity in mind known as Eicanto, who is an entertainer, singer, and fashionista of Proba-Rama.

AAAND I have no idea what should happen afterwards, I do plan on doing statistics or maybe a revisit to Calculocanyons, but these are the big arcs that this goofy ahh idea has lmao

AAND That is currently what Ive got for Mathima. so uh EXPLODES

[hooked-on-elvis]

🎸Scotty Moore's guitars⚡

Scotty Moore with his '54 Gibson L-5 CESN, originally purchased by him in July 7, 1955.

Besides how it was recording with Elvis and other amazing stories such as one incident involving the three rock and roll pioneers (Elvis, Bill and Scotty) and Bill Black's bass later owned by Paul McCartney, on this interview Scotty talks a bit about his early music instruments' history, such as amplifiers and guitars. He mentions the✨Gibson L-5 CES✨, which we'll know about a bit more from now on:

Much of the RCA 50's recordings of Elvis Presley feature the sound of Scotty Moore's L-5.

Scotty (with Gibson L-5), D.J. Fontana (drums), Elvis (with 1951 Epiphone FT-79*) and Bill Black (bass) in Texarkana, AR, 1955. * The 1951 Epiphone Elvis is playing belonged to Charline Arthur, a female American singer of boogie-woogie, blues, and early rockabilly.

Scotty traded his ES-295 in on July 7, 1955 at the O.K. Houck Piano Co. located on 121 Union Avenue in Memphis, for this Gibson L5 "mainly because the workmanship was just so much better in the L5, of course it cost more too" ($565.00).

L5 CES ad, and Scotty's original receipt for the 1954 L5 CESN.

Much of the RCA fifties recordings of Elvis Presley feature the sound of Scotty Moore's L-5. Scotty (with L5) and Elvis rehearse for the Milton Berle show, June 1956.

Scotty's Gibson L-5 was first used to record "Mystery Train" and on most of the subsequent RCA recordings until January of 57 (though it was apparently used on stage at least in Buffalo, NY on April 1, and Toronto on April 2, 1957). Scotty used it extensively with a custom--built Echosonic amplifier by Ray Butts acquired around April of 55 (which allowed the ability to perform live with the signature slap-back echo sound of the recordings).

The Gibson L5 CES features a single rounded cutaway 17" wide bound hollow body, solid carved spruce top, layered tortoise pickguard, single bound f-holes, maple back/sides/neck, 20 fret bound pointed ebony fingerboard with pearl block inlay, adjustable rosewood bridge, model name engraved trapeze tailpiece with chrome insert, multibound blackface peghead with pearl flame/logo inlay, 3 per side tuners, gold hardware, 2 pickups (P90 single coil in 51, Alnico V in 54 and Humbucker in 57) , 2 volume/2 tone controls, 3 position switch. Available in Natural (Scotty's) and Sunburst finish. Mfd. 1951 to date.

Source: http://www.scottymoore.net/54L5CES.html

Scotty' L5 The guitar when displayed at the Memphis Rock 'N' Soul Museum.

This guitar was owned by Robert A. Johnson for many years and had been on loan for display at the Memphis Rock 'N' Soul Museum. It was sold in 2004 and expected to be on display at the Elvis-A-Rama museum in Las Vegas, NV. In September of 2005 CKX, Inc (the parent company to EPE, Inc.) announced that it had agreed to acquire the assets of Elvis-A-Rama with the intent of closing it with an overall plan to bring a world class Elvis-themed attraction to the Las Vegas strip. Prior to that though this L5 was sold to a private collector in the UK and is no longer on display. Scotty's L5 was purchased from the UK collector in February of 2005 by Heather Mozart shortly after the auction and along with Scotty's 1956 Super 400, Elvis' 1968 Ebony J200 and many other items remains part of her collection.

Scotty's original 1956 Super 400, 1954 L5 and Elvis' 1968 J200 (Elvis' record awards in rear).

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

🎸 SCOTTY'S GUITARS OVER THE YEARS

MUCH MORE ABOUT ALL SCOOTY MOORE'S GUITARS, HERE (http://www.scottymoore.net/guitars.html) - Website created and managed by James V. Roy for Scotty Moore with the sole intent to help promote the arts and history of American popular music and Scotty's major role in it.

[foccaccia]

hi everyone do you ever think about how hellboy was named because he was literally just. a little boy. he was just a child. they named him because they couldnt hurt a child. so they brought him home and named him after being a little boy. fuck anung un rama, he is a little boy.

and when he grew up (insanely fast) he kept the name, bc hellboy is an incredibly simple and clearcut character. hellboy is about being human. all he has ever wanted was to be human. and so he is. time after time after time he makes the choice to be human, because the point the comics make is that it is a choice, despite checking off every box in the fucked up antichrist chosen one box, despite his arm and his crown he cant rip off. everyone including fate is trying to strip him of his humanity, and sometimes choosing to be human saves the day and sometimes it hurts himself or others, but he chooses it anyway bc that is the point of him. bc he is just a boy. lilies grew out of his blood.

he gets sadder and wiser and more fucked up as the series goes on but he never changes enough to stop being human and that is the POINT he is hellboy he is a boy i am on my knees i love him. do you understand me.

[mightyflamethrower]

Experts believe that more than seven million illegal immigrants have crossed the border since *President Biden occupied the White House.

The apparatchiks in the Pravda Press downplay the situation by assuring us the invaders are “families,” even though most of the videos we see are of single, military-aged men, frequently from Venezuela.

Advertisement

But the most onerous onslaught at our northern and southern borders is the disturbing number of single, military-aged Chinese men and women finding their way into our country and disappearing once they get in.

FACT-O-RAMA! Between January and March of 2022, 71 Chinese individuals crossed the Darien Gap, the strip of land that connects North and South America, the route preferred by the Chinese. During the same time frame this year, 2,200 made the journey. You can see a video of young, Chinese nationals lining up for buses in Panama headed for the U.S.

Why would Chinese nationals fly into Panama and make a seemingly arduous voyage to our southern border? According to Anthony Rubin, the founder of Muckraker, who filmed Chinese people lining up for a seat on a U.S.-bound bus, they aren’t able to simply fly in and wait for their visas to expire like they did in the good old days.

“This would be for people who can’t fly into the U.S. directly,” Rubin told Fox News. So what they do is they get on a flight, and they fly into some South American country. Then from there, they would go to Colombia, they would go across the jungle, pop out in Panama, and then they would head up to the United States. But this is going to be for people that can’t fly into the U.S. directly. You’d rather just fly into the U.S. and overstay your visa. This is for people that don’t have that access for whatever reason.”

FACT-O-RAMA! Muckraker claims they have found a Chinese document giving detailed information on how to enter the U.S. via the Darien Gap. The document includes a Subway sandwich restaurant in Mexico where one can buy fake permits, how much to pay smugglers, and how to avoid detection at the border, including uninstalling the Chinese spy app “WeChat.” You can watch the Muckraker video here.

Advertisement

Rubin told Fox News that some Chinese people he was filming “do not want their faces on camera.” Now why would that be?

Rubin explained:

Either they are foreign actors that are coming over here for nefarious reasons or, number two, these are people that are afraid of some sort of retribution by the Communist Chinese Party. If it’s number two, well then what does that mean? That means that these people are going to be beholden to the Communist Chinese Party once they’re here. Oh, you’re in the United States. Okay, well, we’re going to threaten your friends and family back home in China unless you do X, Y, and Z. Either way, it’s very dangerous. You can’t allow this to just continue and have all these people cross the border. I mean, it just will not work.

Retired U.S. Col. and a member of Devon Nunes’s staff, Derek Harvey, recently revealed to The Epoch Times that many of the Chinese men scrambling over the border are showing up with the same haircuts, tattoos, backpacks, and “pocket litter,” which he defined as the same wallet and the same type of ID cards. Even more harrowing, Harvey claims they are all a part of a special ops wing of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and our intel officials are well aware of what is happening.

He also stated that most of the Chinese are coming to the U.S. through the Darien Gap.

“We have Chinese nationals of military age coming into Latin America, coming across the southern border,” Harvey explained in a recent video interview. “They wear the same clothes, they have the same haircuts, they have the same pocket litter. They have the same, ah, knapsacks. It’s like it’s a uniform. And they get processed and they move on.”

Harvey had more shocking news to reveal:

They have the same wallet, they have the same types of identification. It’s all the same. And we have good information that they are products of a… they have the same rituals the same tattoos, and the operating theory by our border patrol and our intelligence elements is they come from one specific special operation unit.

When Asked by “Over the Target” host Lee Smith for clarification, Harvey confirmed what he said—the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Intel officials are well aware of who these people are, Chinese special ops from the PLA.

Again, the Mao-Maos in the left press were eager to tell us not to believe our eyes, the CBP, and our intel specialists.

Bonus trouble! Harvey also stated that Venezuela, Iran, Russia, and China are working together against us and that Iran and Hezbollah already have sleeper cells in the U.S.

One day our descendants will spit on our graves.