#take a shot every time they say the word 'Saskatchewan'

[the-golden-ghost]

Alternatively: 4, Jigen & Goemon.

I am going to do the other one you requested but the desire to write Soft Jigoe Shit was too high so here we go:

~

It was the third week after Lupin’s wedding, and Jigen was wrong. It had lasted.

“Well, they usually last longer than a month,” he admitted when Goemon confronted him about it. “Even Lupin doesn’t get bored that easily. I’d give it four months, tops.”

“Do you think she is really a descendant of the Duke of Milan?” Goemon asked.

“Probably not. Look, Lupin’s marriages all end the same way; badly. Either she’ll turn out to have only been after his money, or he’ll turn out to have only been after her money, or it’ll be a random whirlwind romance where they find out after three months that they actually can’t stand each other and they’ll part on bad terms.”

“How many times has he been married?”

“If he’s honest with me? This is his tenth. But I wouldn’t be shocked if there’s a couple more he’s not telling me about. They weren’t all legal, though,” Jigen leaned out over the balcony, watching the cars pass below with little interest. “Pity he and Fujiko decided to do this at the same time.” Fujiko had gotten engaged - and wed - shortly before Lupin had. On her part, she hadn’t invited any of them to the wedding, which Goemon had been angry about. Even if he knew it would have been bad taste to flaunt her lovers in front of her fiance, she still could have invited them as friends.

“There’ll be other times, with her,” Jigen said, noticing the look on Goemon’s face. “Come on. She goes through guys the way some women go through shoes. If not this one, then maybe the next one.”

“Maybe I won’t show up even if she does invite me,” Goemon said, and Jigen laughed.

It was dull, though, waiting for half their gang to hurry up and divorce. Goemon had gone on a retreat into the mountains and Jigen had moved into his little apartment, but now the two of them were back together and Lupin wasn’t showing any signs of following suit.

Jigen lit a cigarette and sat on the rail, both of which Goemon would have rathered he not do. “Pity the two of us can’t get married,” he muttered.

“Speak for yourself. I still intend to find a bride someday.” Goemon said.

“I meant to each other, stupid,” Jigen said with a grin. “Guess I’m not much of a bride, though, am I?”

Goemon, embarrassed that he hadn’t realized what Jigen was getting at, flushed and looked away. “You are not,” he admitted.

Jigen nodded. “Hell, imagine... well, we couldn’t do it legally, but,” he took a drag of his cigarette. “We could do it. There’s enough dives out there where you can get a fake certificate written up. It’d look like the real deal, close enough. I’ve seen Lupin do it plenty of times.”

Goemon’s first thought was to brush the idea off as ridiculous, until he realized there would be nothing legally binding about any of it. He wouldn’t even need to divorce Jigen, nor would his future wife need to know anything about this. Mostly it would be a way to tease the other two. Let them come back and find themselves out of the loop for a change. And once Goemon realized this, the more appealing the idea sounded. “Let’s do it.”

Jigen looked startled. “Are you serious?”

“I have never been more serious,” Goemon replied. “There is no one in the world I would rather have as my unlawfully wedded husband.”

“Not even Lupin?”

“Lupin’s not here. That is why I am serious.”

Jigen’s look of surprise slowly changed to excitement. “Well, then. Let’s do it!”

~

Five hours later, they were crammed into the back of a city bus, dressed in the finest clothes they’d been able to grab on such short notice, cackling at the sight of their marriage certificate.

“Saskatchewan!”

“Saskatchewan...”

“We’re legally married in the province of Saskatchewan!”

“Not even, this is not a legally binding document. And we are not from Saskatchewan!”

“We’ve never BEEN to Saskatchewan!”

“We’re never going to go to Saskatchewan!”

“Is there anything to steal in Saskatchewan?”

“Is there anything at all in Saskatchewan?”

“Trees? Moose?”

“We can go up there. And become lumberjacks.”

They started howling again, not caring who stared at them since there were only four people on the bus besides them anyway. “All right, Goemon; here’s the plan. We steal, just... a shitload of loot over the next year. Then we quit the business altogether, move up there, get us a log cabin and live off the land forever.”

“All right.”

“We can find you a waterfall to sit under, even. If there’s waterfalls in Saskatchewan. I don’t know if there are, but if there’s one, we’ll find it.”

“It will be too cold.”

Jigen snorted. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep you warm.” Then he kissed Goemon hard, pressing him close to the glass of the bus window, and he was right. He was warm.

~

Ten hours later.

The whole thing was supposed to be a joke, and it had felt like a joke when they ran down the sidewalk holding hands and bumping into people and street vendors, laughing. Or on the back of the bus, making dumb plans that would never happen but were fun in the moment. Or when they’d announced to a bar full of strangers that they were married men as of one hour ago and gotten ignored, but didn’t care because they were too lost in the moment. Or when Goemon had fireman-carried Jigen into the hotel room and tossed him onto the bed, or when they’d spent a half hour waging war against each other by using the bouquets of flowers they’d bought, turning the room into an explosion of flower petals.

But it hadn’t felt like a joke on the way back when Jigen, in his excitement, had caught Goemon’s hand and squeezed tight. Or when they’d fallen asleep curled up together on the couch, tired and half-drunk but warm and comfortable, and Goemon had dozed off to the sound of Jigen’s heart. Or now, at 2 in the morning, with the city lights keeping Goemon awake through the open curtains, the buzz of the liquor wearing off, and Jigen asleep beside him, holding on to him like even in sleep he couldn’t believe this was real. In this moment, it felt a little too real for words, and Goemon wanted the morning to come so they could brush it off, forget it.

It wasn’t as if they’d never shared a bed before. They’d done it a dozen or more times. Sometimes with Lupin, sometimes with Lupin and Fujiko, and other times, just the two of them, but it wasn’t new.

Goemon knew it should not have been any different than before. A fake certificate from a Canadian province and a few announcements in some late-night downtown bars didn’t make a marriage. They barely even made a date. Things had not changed between them. The document was forged, the ceremony rushed, and nothing - nothing about this was real.

The thing that nagged at Goemon was that part of him wanted it to be. And he knew what a stupid thing that was to want. He had such plans for himself - finding a bride, a young woman with the same values and traditions as him, and marrying her properly, legally, in his home country. Setting up a life with her. He could not - under any circumstances - spend the rest of his life married to a man ten years his senior, especially not a retired mob hitman with a drinking problem.

It just wouldn’t work, and Goemon knew it, even though he could bury his face into Jigen’s hair and pretend like they had a long and beautiful future together, they didn’t, and couldn’t.

But tonight they could. In the morning it would be gone, and they’d ride back to Lupin and taste death and burn bridges and cheat and steal and laugh and bleed until the moment of their permanent separation. But tonight they could have a taste of something different. Something warm, and as close to innocent as either of them were ever going to get.

So he shifted closer to Jigen, holding him like he would hold the man he married, if they were married for life. Jigen, always a light sleeper, opened his eyes, and Goemon thought that the way the city lights reflected in them were beautiful. And when he told him that, and watched Jigen smile, still half-asleep, Goemon thought that was beautiful, too.

[thecleverdame]

Brains & Sex - One Shot

Sam x Reader

Summary: Sam brings you along on a hunt that turns into more than he anticipated.

Warnings: canon-level violence, almost smut

For:  I4z_0892_il

Words: 1.5k

Beta:  ilikaicalie

This story was available on Patreon on 4/23. Subscribe for a pledge of $2.50 a month and get early access to all my stories and other Patreon exclusive content.

-

In April Sam and Dean take separate cases. Dean tracks a shapeshifter all the way up to Saskatchewan and Sam heads to Georgia with Y/N in tow.

She’s not a hunter, not even close. She’s a librarian from Wichita that Sam crossed paths with a couple of years back. She helped with research on a case and when it was over he found a reason to go back again.

And again.

And then it became an unspoken arrangement.

So when he and Dean go their separate ways, she takes a few vacation days and spends a long weekend sorting through lore and sharing his bed.

When Sam plans on hooking up he takes the easy cases. Dean always knows his brother is gonna pick her up on his way out of the state because Sam’s suddenly all gung-ho to check out a salt-and-burn that they’d normally hand off to a local hunter.

Dean starts calling it a hunt ‘n fuck and Sam’s cheeks turn bright red every time he says it.

-

It’s been a long week. Three days turned into five. A single vampire turned out to be a nest and Sam’s simple weekend case turned into a balls-to-the-wall hunt that he didn’t see coming. He thinks it’s over, he doesn’t realize the one remaining bloodsucker has followed him and the vamp gets to her before he does.

She ends up with a black eye and a split lip before he takes the things head off.

“Hold still.” Sam’s on his knees, wedged between her legs where she’s sitting at the end of the bed. She winces when he dabs a wet washcloth at the gash in her lip. “It’s not that bad but we’re gonna have to ice your eye. It’s gonna swell.”

“You’re worse off than me.” She squirms, taking his wrists and pulling his hand up to inspect it. His knuckles are shredded, angry red knobs that hurt when he makes a fist.

“I’m fine.” Yanking his hand away he reaches into the ice bucket, grabbing a handful of cubes and wrapping them up in the washcloth. “Here, hold this up to your eye.”

“It doesn’t hurt that bad.” She winces, Sam knows she’s lying.

“I should’ve made sure I knew what I was getting into before I brought you here.” Sam sits back on his haunches, looking up at her from his perch on the floor. “It could have been worse than this.”

“But it wasn’t. I’m in one piece.” She smiles, ignoring the throb of her lip. “We’re both a little worse for wear but still kickin’.”

Sam watches her make the best of this incredibly shitty situation and feels the guilt settling in. He’s gotten good at ignoring his instincts when it comes to her. Every bone in his body tells him to walk away. To tell her goodbye and get her the hell out of his messed up life. But he can’t, not yet anyway.

He’s spent a long time on his own, hasn’t let himself get this close to anyone since Amelia. He craves it though, the familiarity of a woman who knows who he is and he doesn't have to work to be around. With Y/N he’s just Sam with no pretense.

She’s easy to be around and way too beautiful to work in a library. Under her sweaters and cardigans, she’s got an ass for days and legs that don’t quit. And she’s flexible. He’s had her bent over, palms flat on the floor, more than once.

She’s brains and sex, the combination will always be his downfall.

“What are you thinking about?” She caught him in his own head, she usually does.

“Just thinkin’ about you.” He reaches out to squeeze her calf and she slides off the bed, kneeing her way across the floor to him.

“Don’t think too much. Save the thinking for when I’m not around.” Her hand snakes under his shirt, running the back of her fingers over the warm, soft skin of his belly.

Sam grunts, she bites her bottom lip, curling slender fingers under his belt, sliding down inside of his jeans to pull him toward her.

“No kissing,” she murmurs her eyes fluttering with desire. Her pink tongue darts out to touch the angry cut at her lip. “I’m injured.”

Sam feels the shift, the flutter of anticipation in his belly. One of his big hands slides around the back of her neck, his thumb pressing lightly over her throat. “No kissing...anywhere?”

“I’m not completely unreasonable.” Her whisper fades away with a gentle oomf as he lays her back, spreading her out on the green and orange shag carpet of this shitty motel room. Her hands are working his belt buckle when there’s a heavy knock at the door.

Thump

Thump

Thump

It’s a cop knock if he’s ever heard one.

Sam’s off the ground and on his feet, gun in hand before she has a chance to process what’s happening.

Quiet he mouths, bringing a finger to this lips. Carefully, silently, he pads barefoot across the carpet toward the door. He looks through the peephole and does a double take.

Thump

Thump

Thump

“Yeah?” Sam calls, lowering his gun.

“Athens Police Department. Open the door, please!” The voice is clearly one of authority, and the please is rhetorical.

Sam does a quick mental inventory. He’s stayed under the radar and covered his tracks. There no reason for this hunt to have attracted attention.

“Just a sec!” he hollers, sliding his gun in the drawer of the bedside table. He reaches down, pulling Y/N off the floor in one smooth motion.

“We need you to open the door now, sir.” The disembodied voice demands.

“What the fuck?” she whispers, both hands curling around Sam’s forearm.

“Just stay back until I know what this is.” Sam frowns, leaving her by the bed to answer the door.

There are two uniformed officers standing in front of room 107. One has his hand on the butt of his gun, the other places a hand on the door as soon as it swings open to prevent Sam from closing it.

Sam doesn’t like this.

The younger of the two policemen is big, almost as tall as Sam and just as wide. He looks from Sam to Y/N. “You alright ma'am?”

She’s not sure if she should answer. In Sam’s world, things are never what they seem and she’s not even sure these guys are real cops. She looks to Sam for an answer.

“She’s fine,” Sam explains, but it already looks hinky and he knows it. He’s answering for her and it piques the interest of these cops.

“Can you step out of the room, sir.” The bigger of the two cops gestures, but it’s not really a question.

Sam looks at Y/N, mouthing it’s okay before walking out of the room, escorted by the smaller, older officer.

She stands in place as the big guy makes sure Sam’s out of earshot before turning his attention back to her.

“I’m here because we had a call from a concerned citizen who saw you and wanted to be sure that you’re alright.” He hooks both hands into his utility belt, legs in a wide stance as he plants himself in place.

“Me?” She balks, clueless. It’s the look on his face that finally brings some clarity. He’s staring her bruises. Her hand flutters up to her face and a completely inappropriate laugh slips out before she can stop it.  “Oh my God, no, this isn’t - it’s not Sam. I’m fine.”

“If you’re not comfortable talking to me here, we can take you down to the station. Get you away from him for a little while, get you to a safe place,” he offers.

“Seriously.” She smiles, wincing as the cut on her lip throbs. “This is not what it looks like.”

“I don’t know a lot of women who end up with a beating like that when everything is fine.” He nods, eyeing her from head to toe.

“Yeah, I can understand that.” Y/N takes a seat on the end of the bed, both palms on her thighs.

They’ve already talked about this. Y/N was examining her fresh wound in the mirror and complaining to Sam about having to come up with a cover story. He stood behind her, grimacing at her reflection.

“You can tell people you were mugged,” he offered, turning her around, cupping her face to get a better look. “Jesus, I’m sorry I let this happen.”

“I was mugged.” She shrugs.

“Oh?” He asks casually. “Did you report it?”

“Yup. It back in Alabama.”

“If you got mugged then why are your boyfriend’s knuckles torn up?” He’s fishing. They both know it’s not his jurisdiction, there’s no way to check on a report without making a formal inquiry. It’ll take time.

“He got there just in time, pulled the guy off me. Sam gave him a beating before he ran off. Coulda been a lot worse if he wasn’t there.”

“Good man.” The cop nods, sticking out his bottom lip. “So, you sure you’re alright?”

“One hundred percent.”

--

“I’m not sure how to feel about what a good liar you are.” Sam smiles, stuffing a shirt into his duffle bag.

“What can I say? I learned from the master.” Grinning she watches him pack up the rest of his belongings. “I have a request.”

“Anything.” Sam smiles, giving her his full attention.

“Next time, can we just make up a fake monster and spend the weekend in a B&B or something?”

Sam saunters over to her, slipping his arms around her waist. “That sounds like the best idea I’ve heard in a long time.”

-

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[tsw-story]

Chapter 86 - Icy Hot

The door opened slowly to a silent, unsettling hall. Lucy stepped inside, followed by her two younger sisters, Kali and then Mara. She took lead, as was her way, and although they didn't hear anything, they proceeded with subtlety. The home was small and within an ordinary residential district, and although they did have the means to wipe the memory of mortals that may see them, they were on high alert for the potential owners of such an abode.

Complete and utter silence was impossible for all three of them. Kali, being a master of stealth and trickery, was more than capable, but with all of them combined, their footfalls didn't fall on deaf ears. They suddenly heard the sounds of muffled, panicked voices.

“There's people here,” whispered Mara.

Lucy brought a finger to her lips, and beckoned them farther. They turned the corner to spot two humans tied to chairs, with not only their mouths gagged, but their eyes covered. There was no need for the latter, unless the culprit knew there was something they weren't meant to see. It had to be Anzu's work. She cared that much at least.

Before Lucy could speak, her sister Kali was already behind them. She inspected the two closely and saw no real injuries of note. Around the backs, their wrists were bound with rope. In their mouths, socks. And covering their eyes were shirts wrapped around and tied. It was a man and woman, looking to be about the same age.

She decided to take initiative. Kali removed the socks from both of their mouths. They spat and coughed at the lint on their tongues.

“Who's there? Please, let us go!” said the woman.

Lucy spoke up, and both began to approach. “Relax. We're not the one who put you here. Can you tell us who did? Did she have violet lips and hair?”

The woman nodded frantically. “Yeah. She looked like some kind of demon, as weird as that sounds. I was knocked out, and I don't remember much besides seeing her face, hearing her voice, and ending up here.” Her voice was stuttering. Clearly she was still in some stage of shock.

“And she said she'd be here,” said Kali.

“Why would she do this? Did she know we were coming?” Mara asked.

Lucy proceeded past them. She saw something, that upon realization, was quite obvious. There was a note—a paper tacked into the wall and written in exquisite cursive. She pulled it down and read it over carefully.

“Is that from her?” Mara tried to peer over at the paper as best she could.

“Yes.” Lucy nodded, and spoke with hesitation. “The man wasn't lying after all. She wants to meet. In fact, she knew we'd come here, apparently. Though she'll only show if I go alone.”

The man struggled in his seat. “What's goin on back there? Let us go!”

“You can't go alone... Why do we need to listen to that?” asked Mara.

Lucy stared longingly at the piece of paper. Clearly, she was lost in thought, and she continued to be for a long moment. Finally, she lowered the note, and looked to her sisters with her mind made up.

“She's still our sister. I'll meet her alone, and see her out.” Her eyes turned to Kali. “Let these poor folk go once we're out of sight. Then, you'll wait for me to return. I'm going. I need to find out the truth anyway.”

They both wanted to contest but they knew there was no point. Kali did as she instructed. When the couple were free, there were no devil sisters for them to see. There was nobody at all. Not long after  the tree of them returned to the Demon World, Lucy set off to the destination. There was a meeting scheduled, and it seemed like Anzu has things more carefully planned than they feared, as the time was already at hand.

***

The area was barren for miles in every direction. Rolling dunes of sand spanned out as far as the eye could see, with only small patches of dirt and grass, with the only life being small critters that seemed to be fleeing the area. There was a sense of darkness in the air, and the animals could tell. Something stood in the lands of southwest Saskatchewan that never had before, and it brought a frigid chill to the air around it. Garbed in an outfit similar to Lucy's, though black, purple, with frills of gold, and with a regal flare to the aesthetic, stood a feminine figure with deep purple hair and shiny, purple lips. Her hair ran down to her neck, and upon her head was a pair of small black horns. She had a commanding gaze—piercingly purple.

While Mara stood short with lengthy horns and tiny wings, and had paler skin, Kali had drooping horns with with wide wings, and darker skin, Lucy stood in the middle with red tinted skin. Anzu actually was almost the exact same height as her, but her skin was a more pale grey with a hint of blue, almost like a combination of her other sisters.

Lucy kept to her word, however. She arrived, so it was only her and Anzu, face to face for the first time since before the incidents began.

Two women. One with fiery, reddish-brown hair, and the other with a dark, royal purple. They stared at one another, and exchanged quite a few unspoken words that only old siblings could muster. There were things that needed to be said, but neither could say, so for the moment, they didn't speak it all.

Finally, Anzu spoke. “You came alone.”

“You did say to do that.”

“I guess part of me thought you'd lie, and the whole family would be here to take my head.”

“I still trust you, Anzu. You're my sister. Our sister. Please just come home, and we can talk about this to father.”

Her brow flinched. “You think I want to just surrender to father? I have plans. Ones he's too much of a coward to put into motion. None of you have ever understood, and where has it left us? Running around, being caught and killed, and living trapped in our own world in some kind of pseudo structure. As if we weren't chaotic beings by nature.”

“We might be chaotic, but that doesn't mean we can't have some kind of structure. Without it, everything truly would fall into anarchy. What's the solution? Kill innocent people on Earth?”

“There might have been casualties, but the attack wasn't meant to kill, Lucy. It was to send a message. My plan isn't to kill all humans. Though, what the demons who come do is up to them. I just saw an opportunity and seized it.”

“What opportunity? Helping prisoners escape?”

“Making a deal! Our world is full of beings that want out, and this world is full of beings that want power. The power we have. Why can't we make a deal, Lucy? We need each other. So I spoke with one government power and offered them a deal. Imagine, us having freedom to do what we want, on behalf of those in charge. These idiots already lock down magic like it's something that doesn't exist! These same idiots still want power. They don't know what the hell they're doing around here.”

“They hide magic to keep people safe!”

“Do you truly want wizards and other magical creatures to be oppressed like they are, Lucy? Is that what you wanted for him? What was he called again? The Travelling Liberator. What a tacky name, but I could see what you saw in him. He inspired wizards, and he inspired you.”

Lucy stepped forward with a piercing frustration behind her eyes. Waves of heat bend the light around her body, and flames started to catch the loose blades of grass between the sand and dirt. “Don't bring him into this!”

“After all those years, you actually fell for a human, and look where things went. Thanks to the idiots in charge around here, he was forced to hide, until he was slain in cold blood.”

“Shut up!” she snapped. A rage of flames burst from her body, and shot up into the sky.

Anzu was incredibly calm. Unsettlingly calm. She crossed her arms and continued to speak. “Tell me. Did you really trust me this much? I've never been... part of your lives. All of you. I've always been an outcast.”

Rarely seen like this, Lucy's true inner nature was coming forth. Behind her visage of calm composure—a busy working woman—was an inferno of emotion, like a hidden flame burning at her core. Tears welled up in her eyes. “I want to trust you, Anzu.” Her voice was trembling. “I didn't come here because I want to fight you!”

“Then why did you come here? To talk to me out of it?”

Lucy didn't answer, because it was true.

A swirling mist of sparkling air forms around her body as she started moving forwards. The sand beneath her boots froze with each stepped closer to her sister. “Trusting me is a mistake.”

All Lucy could do was hold back her tears. She saw her own sister coming closer, and there was a look of hostility. It was something she feared, but not something that was surprising. Her own flames burned hotter as she prepared for the worst.

Anzu waved forwards her hand as if she was presenting a well-groomed set of nails, but out of her person came a roaring, frozen wind. It turned the area in front of her into ice, and the effect was hurling itself towards the fiery Lucy.

Lucy roared out, finally unleashing her emotion. Her eyes flared, her sharp, demonic teeth presented themselves, and the fire around her grew as the heat travelled up far into the sky. Upon unleashing such a noise, a vortex of fire spun out from her to meet with her sister's ice. They cancelled each other out, leaving a line of frozen sand to scorched black earth.

“There's not a chance in Hell you're more ready for this than I am, stuck behind a desk all day, so surrender now, or shatter on the ground like everybody else that'll stand between me and my dreams!” Anzu screamed in return.

A torrent of extremes began mixing, devastating the barren land around them. There was good reason all critters fled after all, as it seemed this battle of the elements wasn't going to end without destruction.

[beatnicksellar]

MLH: Trade Paperback: Issues #1 - 6

Issue # 1 – Big Premiere Issue Panel one exterior winter of 1880 an open field on the prairie A nosy crow is perched on an uprooted stump in South Calgary The night sky unobstructed and the stars luminescent yet wary His hefty wings bring slaking rains but he will always be thirsty Behold the crow is a bad omen Worse still it is a gossipy totem So it knows who will be chosen And how their tale will be woven When all of the constellations dim for just a moment An indigo fireball falls from the darkness in atonement It streaks across the sky before making a large indent Inset in the snowy soil of the turf Crow hears its lament Magpie lands on the uprooted stump afterwards with a raspy chatter Witnessing the smouldering mound she squawks ‘What’s the matter’ ‘The Above People are not happy’ Crow replies to Magpie’s banter ‘Mother Moon and Father Sun expelled their new earthly daughter’ Magpie cackles for she has no tears to shed Her kind eat carrion even of their own dead Branded devils since one touched Christ’s head A solitary sighting now portends coming dread Magpie screeches ‘It has been a very, very long journey’ Adding ‘I’ve followed THAT mortal and I’m still so hungry’ ‘Where are your chicks?’ Crow enquires with some worry ‘As I said it’s been a long trip - Everything is quite blurry’ While they caw a Cree guide enters the impregnated pitch Coldly turned away at Fort Calgary his stomach has an itch Attracted to the indigo glow Ka-Ki-Si-Kutchin feels it bewitch Nestled next to the sizzling slab he dreams of gorging on flitch Meanwhile as celestial matter seeps from the stone into the mortal ‘Tell me more about troubled Gods’ Magpie requests with a chortle Crow cannot refuse an opportunity to chinwag about the immortals ‘Things are awry in the sky’ he chirps ‘I heard it is a damaged portal’ Dawn breaks on the turf and Ka-Ki-Si-Kutchin wakes to a greater hunger Hunger that gnaws not only at his gut but his soul like a spell he’s under Almost as if a famished creature crept into his mind and torn it asunder However he needs to return to Fort Edmonton before the first thunder Magpie prepares her wings to fly Crow cries a cautious goodbye Magpie croaks her callous reply ‘I’m going to watch this mortal die’ To Magpie’s chagrin Ka-Ki-Si-Kutchin is feverish but able to run So he swiftly sprints 300 kilometers north like a shot from a gun When the pair reach his log cabin Magpie’s wings weigh a ton She rests as Ka-Ki-Si-Kutchin enters and eats ALMOST everyone…

Issue #2 – The Wendigo

Kill the Plains Cree inside so that the famine can thriveReplace what has died with insatiable instinct to survive The generous bite-mark on Hausis’ right foot will deprive Thus she will limp for eternity if she gets out of here alive A newborn hung flaccid from the remote log cabin ceilingGranny’s hide and Uncle’s thighs are no longer concealing Avarice spirits infected father who cannot stop his feeding Craving their untainted flesh even through their screamingReturning from Fort Calgary with a fever in the frigid wintertime of 1880 Swift Runner approached his Fort Edmonton log cabin and ate his old lady Weeks passed and one member was left to be stirred into his sinewy gravy Suddenly the Mounties busted in and arrested their trail guide gone crazyHe was handcuffed and escorted to the gallows situated at Fort Saskatchewan Five-year-old Hausis was declared deceased and nicked by Constable Gagnon The officer took Hausis to his cottage to be nurtured by his barren wife Dawn She cherished her adopted home for a spell until the fevered dreams spawned When the Mounties found the mutilated bodies the 10-year-old was long gone‘Kill the Indian in the Child’ Hausis recited in her mind as the inscription readShe was ushered through St. Barnabas Residential School to a flea-ridden bed Assimilated on Tsuutʼina Nation by Indian Affairs where tuberculosis spread Ailing patients lined the deified corridors and kept the ravenous adolescent fed Unfortunately her hidden horror could not keep the hulking and hallowed at bay Or the depraved Dr. Pope who desired savage subjects to poke, prod and splay A fledgling eugenics advocate keen on taking Indigenous inception rights away Glaring into Hausis’ wildfire stare Pope killed the child inside the Indian that day A week before Hausis is to become an adult it is announced the school is closing Tired of dining on the ill Hausis grabs a sinful priest’s throat and starts choking In Ponoka Dr. Pope assembles members of The Board which is covertly forming At that same time South Calgary is plagued by a limping wendigo out roaming… Issue #3 – The Board In the civil twilight of the year 1939 like begets like A city aldermen and a military engineer take a hike Alongside an architect who grips a new rock spike With the landowner’s hammer in hand he strikes The snow crusted canola patch turns eerily silent The immovable stone stirs then becomes violent Discharging shards that impact with frantic intent Buried in their chests the impaled abruptly glow violet Without saying a single word every one exits the field When each man arrives home their cavity has healed Inseminating their wives with the radiance they wield Each man then takes their life before reaping the yield In the nautical twilight of 1949 four 9-year-olds look unusually alike Unrelated but near identical in diagnosis of having an emotional dike No touching, no talking or eye-contact from either of the remote tykes So they are sent to Ponoka Insane Asylum off the Highway 2 turnpike Therein John, James, Robert and frail Dot are confined for being dumb Handed over to the government to be handle for their frustrated moms Their only matriarch an elderly Indigenous woman calling them all plums They’ll glow indigo next to her until the termination of the imminent hum Now they stand before the Alberta Eugenics Board declared mentally deficient Drs. Pope, MacEachran, Mason and Kinso confirm the candidates are sufficient Youngest degenerates to undergo sterilization at the behest of the omniscient Before the operation CFB Calgary calls with something a little more proficient In the astronomical twilight of 1947 scientists at Currie Barracks conduct a trial Wherein they dose 43 infantry troops with pulverized purple pebbles in a vial Immediately all involved begin parading around armed with a psychotic smile Ten are neutralized and 33 survivors are shielded from the pull of the immobile In a hole inside an outbuilding the stone is fettered by extremely low frequency However scientists exposed to it suffered sterilization without traces of

insanity‘Like Begets Like’ is what Pope says before he removes his patients’ immortalityWith no military use the stone is offered to HIM for the betterment of humanity… Issue #4 – The Movie Theater Clickity-clack and a-clickity-clack Ascending the 14th streetcar track Dependable #7 always comes back Past Currie Barracks looping by the lilac Atop a hill secluded from the booming below A commercial quarter stands quarried by crows The movie theater the hub where everybody goes Escaping the low frequency hum with the late-late show Presented by Marc + Mada who met in a medical tent during the second war They had shared dreams of working concession and taking tickets at the door They carried on like old acquaintances never truly aware of what was in store However when it happened both would have to be lifted off the field tent floorUnable to conceive they believed that the cinema would be their post-war baby Hoping to unite cynical civilians and returning GIs by bringing back normalcy They achieved this with the premiere of Martin & Lewis’ At War with the Army A new favourite of Dennis from the Currie Barracks who is also secretly a MetisA mix of European + Blackfoot Dennis is attendant to the venerable Dr. Pope A single father of one and an escort for lost souls who have abandoned hope After a show Dennis always confided in the amiable owners in order to cope He would breakdown as he spoke of unfortunates he has bound with ropeFor example the 4 identical 10-year-old orphans with an autistic diagnosis As well as that eerie old Cree woman trapped in a deep-seated psychosis All of whom are being purified by the good doctor’s unnatural osmosis Imprisoned underground they inhale the senescent clinician’s halitosisThis is top secret information conveyed to close friends in confidence But when asked of the drone exiting the hole Dennis feigns ignorance Ongoing renovation at the City of Calgary’s reservoir is his best guess In truth he buys two nightly tickets in order to escape the hum + hiss Clickity-clack, clickity-clack and a-clickity-clack The #7 loops by the theater at the end of the track The matinee crowd exoduses and the #7 heads back Descending the hill it foreshadows an imminent attack One that will leave a marriage and a theater ransacked… Issue #5 – The Scavengers A splash page of a pudgy and rumpled magpie on a wireMere feet from where two movie theater owners expireAroused by the awful sounds she senses something direUnexpectedly a crow alights and enthusiastically inquires‘Now where have you been?’ its razor claws clasp the taut cable‘Tell me was there an accident,’ Magpie probes ‘…was it fatal?’‘They took her parts away,’ Crow confirms ‘it was paradisiacal’‘I’ve been with the Cree guide’s kin’ Magpie admits ‘past the maple’The jealous Crow croaks at Magpie’s claim demanding to hear moreMagpie gladly regales him with tales from before either world warWhen after leaving the residential school Hausis decided to go exploreAdrift in the Great Alone a trail of fur-traders she never had to answer forFree to be her selves wearing pelts and antlers to be seen as a true carnivoreUnresolved trauma and the ravenous ailment distorted her life into folklore‘I’ve never ate better’ Magpie digresses ‘…until she regained her Cree scruples’‘Became a guide like her old man’ she whines ‘then things got a lot less brutal’Magpie cites the time Hausis met David Cranmer and he offered her a jewelHe was killed at their wedding potlatch for not having BC government approvalHausis tracked the Indian Agent down months later in a pool hall nursing a beerArrested for wearing ceremonial attire she was committed for biting off his ear‘Fat as me when RCMP caught her’ Magpie details ‘had that doc quaking with fear’‘Swift-Runner Syndrome…those wildfire eyes…was all that I was able to overhear’Adding that the foul doctor had moved her and others to lie next to the indigo stoneContented Crow briefs Magpie on the damaged portal into the Above People’s homeWith no real gossip he entertains her with the backstory while she chews Styrofoam‘Feather

Woman slept in a field’ Crow begins ‘…alone underneath the glittery dome’He tells of how she loved the Morning Star so much that he came down to kiss herAnd of when they travelled to Sky-Country to meet his Sun father and Moon motherBoth Gods were pleased with his Blackfoot bride as well as their new granddaughterBut when Feather Woman did something that was forbade they expelled her forever‘Where’s the dumb mortal now’ Magpie squawks as the air around them buckles‘In that noisy hole with your old wendigo’ Crow caws ‘…all locked up in shackles’The incessant hum ends as the sadistic scavengers share a rambunctious cackleAll is quiet across 33rd avenue before the screaming starts and gunfire crackles… Issue #6 – The Streetcar ‘I can fix this’ the nubile nursing sister says with dread Inside of a vast RCAMC tent on a Bramshott homestead As she ineptly begins stitching up the wincing GI’s head Humming ‘…Over the Rainbow’ as she coaxes the thread The fetching GI quips about looking like Dorothy’s Scarecrow She introduces herself then darns intentionally, sinfully slow They talk about movies before he nervously asks her of a beau She speaks of graduating and her training then readily says no When the crooked suture is complete they agree both are glad they met Promising to look each other up in Calgary after the Axis paid their debt They say their goodbyes in the embrace of a instant they’ll never forget An instant that’ll be sullied by the looming raid on the beaches of Dieppe ‘I can fix this’ Marc the movie theater owner nervously repeats inside his head Standing outside on a ladder mending the marquee with pal Dennis as his stead Dennis talks of adopting the Barrack kids but he is already a dad with no bread Marc’s lissom wife Mada exits the lobby and offers up the theater’s bunk beds Clickity-clack, clickity-clack and a-clickity-clack The #7 streetcar approaches the loop in the track Here to pick-up the Currie GI’s and bring them back When one spots Dennis and gives him a heap of flak He starts threatening to expose Dennis’ Blackfoot blood to Pope That way the doc can neuter him alongside those 5 other dopes Dennis throw’s a punch but the soldiers put him against the ropes The pavement overflows with fists until Marc and Mada cannot cope He hits the sidewalk she lands in front of the #7 and is severed from wedded bliss Mada’s body lays static on the cement her lips pursed in one final departing kiss The quarrel quiets down until the only sound on 33rd avenue is that hum + hiss Rapt with guilt over Mada Dennis grabs both of her halves and gasps ‘I can fix this’…

[just-layzing-around]

Musings from a muddled mind

I’ve been thinking about writing this blog for quite a long time, and avoiding it for just as long. There are three reasons with which I come up to explain my reticence.  

First is the concussion from which I’ve been recovering for over four months. I’m still not myself. Words escape me on occasion. I cannot read or write for long without experiencing a sensation of tightness behind my eyes, and, pushed too long, a heavy, uncomfortable sensation in my brain. Dizziness the next morning. I’m so much better and most of the time, I recognize and celebrate that fact. But I also fight lingering frustration and disbelief - that it could last this long, that it happened at all, that it will ever get better. So, that’s reason number one. 

Number two hearkens back to my days at TWM, and more specifically, my weekly column. On rare occasion, the article wrote itself. Most weeks, it was a painful exercise in coming up with a topic and a position to take. This time, I know exactly what I plan to write but the actual act of sitting down to the task makes it feel like responsibility instead of pleasure, and I have been avoiding much of the former and reveling in the latter. ‘Write’ or wrong, that’s reason number two. 

Third, this blog is going to be a list of my thoughts, recollections and reflections on a motley assortment of topics I’m afraid is going to come out as a judgmental diatribe. Maybe it will. Maybe it is. I hope not, but I also recognize my tendency to be a critical individual. It’s not my favourite personality trait but it’s definitely a dominant one. But not writing doesn’t change what I think, it just hides it from the light others may shine on it by reading and commenting on my words.  

So, despite all the aforementioned, it seems this blog has begun.

Roads. It almost seemed I could tell the difference from the moment we crossed the border, although I’m sure that’s not truly the case. But the roads felt and looked different. They were often narrower and the speed limits were higher. I commented many times, especially once we were into Nebraska and south, that the States must not believe in wasting space on shoulders. And unlike what I am used to in Saskatchewan, where highways pass through towns on the outskirts, and generally only businesses line the roadway, we often cruised right through residential areas going 55 mph, just steps from people’s front doors. 

Land - as in terrain. What a surprise when we drove hours and hours through hills and valleys, on twisting roads (with no shoulders, remember!) with no view of the horizon. Where were the central plains we thought we were going to see? The children’s song, The Bear Went Over the Mountain, often entered my mind. When I could take my mind off the idea of crashing, it was truly beautiful.

Stranger in a strange land. In the first number of days after crossing the border and travelling south, I could not shake an overwhelming sense of surrealism. Everything felt like it was happening in a dream; it could not be real that we were alone, together, in a country of complete strangers, away from everyone and everything that we know. I didn’t cry saying goodbye to my family or friends; it took hearing Alabama’s song Roll On 18-Wheeler on a lonely and desolate stretch of Oklahoma to do that.

Land - as in ownership. Also titled, Fences. This paragraph is more about Texas than elsewhere, perhaps only because this is the place we have seen and explored the most. Everyone’s land is fenced. We drove hours and hours from north Texas to our mid-Texas location, and I’m not sure we saw a piece of rural land not fenced. Snowmobilers would not last a mile down here! 

Hospitable - or not? Never, ever, anywhere, have I seen so many ‘Private Property - Keep Off’ signs. My favourite? A big “WELCOME!” sign, hanging directly above one that read, “Trespassers Will Be Shot”. I’d take a picture if I wasn’t more afraid of the latter than sure of the former! 

But friendly. From store clerks to strangers, we have been treated very kindly. Employees in particular are friendly and talkative - even the teenagers greet us with a smile and a short conversation. I have not been called ‘ma’am’ so many times in my entire life as I have in one month in the States.

Hard habit to break. There is next to no recycling in Texas. We have seen a few containers for aluminum cans, mainly in the state parks. Everything goes in the garbage: glass, cardboard, plastic, booze containers - everything. For weeks, out of habit, we rinsed our bottles and cans before we put them in the trash. Now, we just shake our heads and stuff them in the bag. It feels so wrong.

Man’s best friend. Dogs rule Texas. They are everywhere: in every home, yard and vehicle. Those are the good ones, because they are contained. Then there are the ones who either broke loose or roam free with their owner’s permission, or lack of concern. They bark incessantly. They run at us when we’re out for a walk, and they chase us if we (as in Robin) happen to be on a bike, of which they are little acquainted, because no one seems to ride one around here. It is sad to say, but dogs have ruined our enjoyment of the area around our park. At first, we felt safe confined to a few streets close to our park. Then I was chased by a dog when out alone one day; now, I won’t walk without Robin. And the dog spray I bought him for his birthday. And the extra ‘protection’ he carries in his pocket. How ironic: as I typed this, a woman walked by with two small dogs on leashes, and a very large dog, unleashed. As Robin said it so eloquently, “What’s with the fucking loose dogs around this place?”

Disparity. The great divide in wealth has struck me twice on this trip: first, going through Oklahoma, and next, right here by our park. In Oklahoma, it was the nearly-deserted towns with abandoned homes and businesses that caught my attention. Yet, a mile or two outside town would be a very attractive, well-maintained home and yard. It seemed a strange contrast. Stranger by far, though, is the area around our park. Imagine the homes right along the river, very much like what you’d see on Spadina in Saskatoon, for instance. Million dollar properties and up, they are large, nicely landscaped, sometimes fenced (and usually posted ‘Private Property’!) and strangely deserted. But only about a block off the water, the climate changes dramatically. Words can hardly describe the neglected, trashed homes and yards heaped with garbage, broken-down vehicles and abandoned debris of indeterminate origin. This state of affairs goes on for multiple streets, both long and wide. This would also be the area Robin has been chased by a number of dogs; we have since and long passed determined it to be out of bounds for both of us. After being here a month, I still have not decided whether it is extreme poverty or extreme belief in personal freedom that leads people to live like that. My deepest prayer is that I will never have to find out.

Hill Country. Or, Terrain, part two. I am in love. I could live in this part of Texas forever. Something about it reaches a part of my soul that just sings when I look at and walk through the trees and rocks. I want to go back to the trails we’ve hiked, and climb them again and again. I want to take a picnic and spend the day sitting on jagged outcroppings, overlooking the beauty of the valley below. I want to sit by the river and watch the fish jump, and giggle my ass off. I found out yesterday that this area is called the Llano Uprising, and it was formed by volcanic action millions of years ago. Some of the rock I touched came from deep beneath the surface of the earth. I’m amazed and in love with that reality. Hill Country, I will return; I promise both you and me.

[maysoper]

The Rundown - Week 3

After seeing the shuffle last week in the standings, there were all sorts of match-ups this week in Canada West women's hockey that could change fortunes in the first half of the season. It's becoming very apparent that within the eight Canada West teams, there are no pushovers when it comes to a weekend series and every point in the standings will earned and not given. Can Alberta remain atop the standings? Can Manitoba break out of the scoring funk they seem to be in? Can Calgary and Lethbridge get things going? Week Three of The Rundown will answer these questions! SASKATCHEWAN at LETHBRIDGE: Lethbridge needed a couple of home wins to move back among the upper teams in the conference, but they'd face a tough test in the Saskatchewan Huskies. The Huskies came in having won both games in Calgary the week before, so the Pronghorns had to come out ready. And they did - they were the better team early on, but Saskatchewan found their legs as the period wore on. Both netminders were good as Alicia Anderson stopped all nine shots she faced while Camryn Drever, making her first Canada West start, stopped the six shots sent her way. The two goaltenders were just as stingy when it came to goals in the second period. Saskatchewan carried the play until running into some penalty trouble, but the Huskies penalty-killing units remained perfect through 15 power-plays thus far this season as the teams remained tied 0-0 through 40 minutes. With Anderson having been the busier of the two goalies, she looked like she was in mid-season form in the third period. After stopping 15 shots in the middle frame, Anderson followed up that effort with another 14 stops in the third period. Drever, not to outdone by the veteran Lethbridge goalie, made ten stops of her own in the third period, but neither the Huskies nor the Pronghorns could solve the goalies through regulation time. Overtime, however, would be short and sweet for one team. After the Pronghorns broke into the Huskies zone to start the overtime period, Leah Bohlken forced a turnover and went the other way with Abby Shirley on a two-on-one. Bohlken made a gorgeous pass along the ice to Shirley who made no mistake in wiring a shot past Anderson just 14 seconds into extra time as Saskatchewan takes the 1-0 overtime win! Drever earns her first Canada West win and Canada West shutout with her 22-save performance while Anderson deserved a better fate after stopping 38 shots for the Pronghorns. Again, kudos to Saskatchewan on their player GIFs.

Abby Shirley with the winner 16 seconds into OT from Bohlken & Smith 🚨@HuskieAthletics 1, Lethbridge 0 #HuskiePride #UnleashANewEra pic.twitter.com/Ahh391WMho

— UofS Women's Hockey (@HuskiesWHKY) October 20, 2018

SASKATCHEWAN at LETHBRIDGE: After the performances by the two netminders the night before, this game featured the two de facto starters for both teams as Jessica Vance and Alicia Anderson went to their respective creases. In other words, this game may be another low-scoring event with how these two defend the twine. Anderson was spectacular in the early going as she stoned the Huskies once again including a clear-cut breakaway by Emily Upgang. However, the Huskies' persistence would be rewarded eventually, even if the goal wasn't the prettiest. With a referee's arm in the air after a Lethbridge player committed a foul, Chelsea Debusschere's centering pass from the half-boards deflected up and over the shoulder of Anderson to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead at 16:17! That advantage would hold true through to the intermission, and the Huskies held the edge in shots at 14-9. The second period opened just as the first did with Saskatchewan pressing, but it would be the Pronghorns who tallied first.

Check out @lawzy18_ first career Canada West goal #gohorns pic.twitter.com/TTrMPBHVMi

— Pronghorn Athletics (@UofLPronghorns) October 21, 2018

Ashley McCabe made a great play at the blue line to poke a puck away from a Saskatchewan player, and she would turn on the jets. As she was being checked in the Saskatchewan zone, she slid the puck across the ice to rookie Kenzie Lausberg, and the first-year player made no mistake in burying it behind Vance to tie the game at 1-1 at the 4:27 mark! Nearly six minutes later after controlling the play once more, the Huskies found the back of the net again. The initial shot by Shyan Elias was stopped, but Anderson couldn't smother the rebound before Bailee Bourassa whacked home the loose puck to put the Huskies up 2-1 at 10:19. The Pronghorns wouldn't sit back as the period continued, and they nearly tied it off a shot that beat Vance but could not beat the red iron. The score would hold to the end of the period, and Saskatchewan took a 30-23 advantage in shots and a 2-1 lead into the intermission. The third period looked like trademark Saskatchewan hockey as they came out and locked down their zone. Shots came at a premium for the Pronghorns, and the ones that did get through were easily handled by Vance. Even with the extra attacker for 1:14, the Pronghorns couldn't generate any dangerous chances as the clock expired on this game with Saskatchewan picking up the 2-1 win. Vance was solid in stopping 27 shots for her third win of the season while Anderson dropped her fourth game despite making 38 saves. Again, Saskatchewan's GIFs are the best GIFs.

Bailee Bourassa gives us back the lead.@HuskieAthletics 2, Lethbridge 1#HuskiePride #UnleashANewEra pic.twitter.com/ParChL2NHs

— UofS Women's Hockey (@HuskiesWHKY) October 21, 2018

MOUNT ROYAL at ALBERTA: Alberta, who came into this game having shutout Manitoba twice, was looking to continue their winning ways against the Cougars. Mount Royal needed to end their two-game losing streak, but tonight's game simply went south in a hurry for the Calgary-based squad. Alex Poznikoff at 3:20, Regan Wright at 8:54, and Autumn MacDougall on the power-play at 19:49 put the Pandas up 3-0 through the opening period where Alberta outshot 13-5 as their dominance on home ice continued. Zoe De Beauville would take a seat on the bench to start the second period as Emily Severson took over for Mount Royal to try and stop the bleeding, but she would fare no better. Kennedy Ganser made it 4-0 for the Pandas at 10:06 of the second period while Alex Poznikoff scored on the power-play just 16 seconds into the third before Abby Benning added another goal 24 seconds later to make it 6-0 for Alberta. Amy Boucher would score with 1:01 to play as this game was all Alberta in a 7-0 trouncing of Mount Royal. Kirsten Chamberlin stopped the nine shots she faced for her second win and first shutout of the season while Zoe De Beauville took the loss after stopping ten of 13 first-period shots. For the record, Emily Severson made 15 stops on 19 shots in her 40 minutes of work. All the highlights of this game can be found here.

ALBERTA at MOUNT ROYAL: After the hammering that the Pandas laid on the Cougars the night before, you had to wonder if Mount Royal would find the resiliency to come out and change their fortunes on Saturday. There would be no time to lick their wounds as the second-half of the weekend series went less than 24 hours later and moved down the highway to Flames Community Arena where Mount Royal would have home-ice advantage. The Pandas did what they do well in getting out and putting pressure on their opposition, but goaltender Zoe De Beauville was on her game as she weathered the early storm. The Cougars would give their netminder some breathing room when Alberta goalie Halle Oswald kicked out an Anna Purschke shot, but the rebound went to Camryn Amundson who made no mistake with the puck in putting it behind Oswald at 6:21 for the 1-0 Cougars lead! 1:28 later, that slim lead became a two-goal lead when Kate Scidmore scored off a rebound kicked out by Oswald, and Mount Royal held the 2-0 advantage! Alberta, knowing they needed to up their game, came roaring back with pressure, and Kelsey Tangjerd's shot found its way past De Beauville at 11:04 to close the gap for Pandas to one goal. Despite the growing momentum following the Alberta goal, we'd get no others in the opening frame as Mount Royal held the 9-6 advantage in shots and the 2-1 edge on the scoreboard! The second period was played fairly evenly as both sides had shots, but both Oswald and De Beauville were equal to the task. Despite Alberta outshooting Mount Royal 9-8 in the period, we'd go to the third period with the 2-1 score holding firm. The third period saw both teams loosening the defence as they pressed for goals. Alberta had chances. Mount Royal had chances. Both teams pressed. However, it would be a Tianna Ko clap-bomb that would be the only goal recorded when she blasted one past Oswald at 10:40 to put the Cougars up 3-1. Being that I just stated no other goals were scored outside of Ko's goal, you can safely guess that this game finished 3-1 in favour of the Cougars! De Beauville bounced back for her second win of the season in making 18 stops while Oswald suffered her first Canada West loss despite making 18 saves as well. MANITOBA at REGINA: The Bisons came into Regina having been shutout in two-straight games. Needless to say, they also came into Regina with the Cougars sporting a hot goaltender in Jane Kish and a two-game win streak. Could the Bisons rediscover their scoring ways? Could Regina hand the Bisons a third-straight loss? Regina was certainly the better team in the opening period despite the shots being almost even. Regina appeared to have their legs under them early, and it paid off midway through the period when Emma Waldenberger's shot was kicked aside by Manitoba goaltender Lauren Taraschuk, but Tamara McVannel jumped off the blue line into the high slot area where she ripped home the rebound to put the Cougars up 1-0 at 11:51! Regina outshot Manitoba 15-14 in the period and held the 1-0 lead through twenty minutes. The second period started with goal before the layer of water had even frozen! Off a Manitoba rush into the zone, Erica Rieder centered a pass from behind the net that deflected off a player out front and past Kish to put Manitoba on the board just 12 seconds into the middle frame to make it 1-1! Manitoba seemed to be figuring out this offence thing as the period progressed, but it would be Regina would led the period in shots once again as they held an 8-6 advantage. There would be just the one goal scored, though, as Manitoba and Regina went to the second intermission tied 1-1. The third period? It was all about the goals! Madison Cole capitalized on a turnover in the slot as she picked the corner to beat Kish at 2:54 to put Manitoba up 2-1! The two teams would go back and forth as Regina pressed for an equalizer, but it would be Manitoba who would open up a two-goal lead when Natasha Kostenko deflected an Alexandra Anderson shot past Kish at 14:29 to make it 3-1 for the Bisons! That lead would be cut to one goal 56 seconds later as Adela Juzkova followed her own backhander, grabbing the rebound issued by Taraschuk, and beating the netminder to make it 3-2! Kish would be summoned to the net with over three minutes to play as the Cougars pressed for the equalizer, but it would be Manitoba's Karissa Kirkup who found the abandoned Regina net with her shot at 19:02 to propel the Bisons to the 4-2 victory! Taraschuk stopped 30 shots as she picked up her third win of the season while Kish stopped 30 shots of her own in the loss. MANITOBA at REGINA: The two teams entered Saturday's contest with similar 3-2-0-0 records, so something had to give. The only question was which team would grab the advantage? The Bisons would hit the scoreboard first as Natasha Kostenko centered a puck that found the stick of Sheridan Oswald, and the Bisons' sniper went five-hole on Morgan Baker at 3:48 to put Manitoba out in front 1-0. Regina would respond just past the midway point of the period when Jaycee Magwood sent Jordan Kulbida in alone on a breakaway, and she would fire a shot over Lauren Taraschuk's glove at 12:54 to even the game at 1-1! Regina held a 12-8 lead in shots at the intermission, but the teams were deadlocked at 1-1. The second period opened with both teams playing a little more defensively-minded. The Cougars would grab the lead at 6:52 when Jaycee Magwood's rather innocent-looking shot somehow found its way between Taraschuk's pads and slid slowly across the goal line for the 2-1 Regina lead. Late in the period, Manitoba squared the game up when Lauryn Keen took up residence at the top of Baker's crease and deflected a Taryn Kokesch shot past the Regina netminder at 18:47 to make it a 2-2 contest through 40 minutes! The third period started with Erica Rieder being sent off for a trip, giving Regina the opportunity they needed to take the lead. Emma Waldenberger took a pass from Emily Middagh, broke into the Manitoba zone on the left side, and wired a wrist shot high to the right corner of the net past Taraschuk at 1:43 for the power-play and, more importantly, the 3-2 lead! This goal seemed to light a fire under the Bisons, one Bisons player in particular.

Karissa Kirkup showing off the speed! She goes end-to-end, finishing on the backhand to tie this one up 3-3. #gobisons pic.twitter.com/dTWibWbYwl

— UM Bison Women's Hockey (@umbisonsWHKY) October 20, 2018

Wowzers! Karissa Kirkup began this play by circling in front of her own net before heading up ice on the right side. She chipped the puck past Waldenberger, but it went a little too far for her to collect. She continued the forecheck, and forced turnover at the Regina blue line. Upon collecting the puck with speed, she went to the backhand high over Baker's glove to complete an incredible individual effort on a highlight-reel goal as Kirkup's unassisted marker at 6:55 brought the Bisons back to even at 3-3! Despite the early goals, both team traded chances before the horn sounded. With the game knotted up at 3-3, we were off to overtime! The four-on-four overtime saw Manitoba outshoot Regina 4-1, but we'd see no goals. The three-on-three overtime was nearly decided when Alison Sexton got a step on a defender, took a pass from Kirkup, and went to the backhand, but her shot miss the post after Baker bit hard on the deke. With no goals in the second overtime period, we'd need a skills competition to settle this game! Jordyn Zacharias and Jaycee Magwood would trade goals in Round One. Round Two saw Courtlyn Oswald and Emma Waldenburger both find the back of the net. This left Karissa Kirkup and Emily Middagh to try and settle this game.

Kirkup scores, Taraschuk saves, and that's a Bisons WIN! Manitoba sweeps the @ReginaCougars on the road, winning 4-3 in the shootout. #gobisons pic.twitter.com/2bBXqZSaya

— UM Bison Women's Hockey (@umbisonsWHKY) October 20, 2018

Kirkup's goal combined with Taraschuk's save gave Manitoba the 3-2 advantage in the shootout and the 4-3 shootout victory! Taraschuk stopped 28 shots plus another in the shootout to give her the win while Baker took the loss while stopping 27 shots but went 0-for-3 in the shootout. CALGARY at UBC: There's no doubt that Calgary has struggled thus far, picking up just one point of a possible 12 points total. UBC, meanwhile, has built a 3-1-0-0 record and was looking to continue their winning ways. Remember how I mentioned how things went south in a hurry for the Calgary-based Cougars? Well, the same thing could be said for the Calgary-based Dinos. Ireland Perrott opened the scoring at the 6:36 mark of the first period, and Ashley McFadden added a power-play marker with one minute to play in the first period as UBC jumped out to the 2-0 lead. There would be no goals recorded in the second period, but the third period saw a pair of empty-net goals with Calgary's Kelsey Roberts on the bench. Celine Tardif hit the yawning cage at 17:08 and Mathea Fischer potted her own empty-netter at 18:50 to wrap up the 4-0 UBC victory. Amelia Boughn stopped all 20 shots she faced for her second win and first clean sheet of the season while Kelsey Roberts stopped 36 shots in the loss. Highlights of this game can be found below!

CALGARY at UBC: After being beaten at virtually every facet of the game one night earlier, Calgary really needed to find another gear if they hoped to earn a victory over UBC this weekend. UBC, on the other hand, was looking for a second-straight weekend sweep, and they pretty much put on a repeat performance of what they did the night before. UBC played fairly conservatively in the opening of this game, but they would use their speed to open the scoring.

🏒 WHKY | @UBCWHKY holds the 1-0 advantage at the end of the 1st period vs. @UCDinos. #GoBirdsGo pic.twitter.com/gN7V9eqmC3

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) October 20, 2018

Logan Boyd and Rylind MacKinnon broke in on the two-on-one, and Boyd's decision to keep and shoot was a good one as she fired the puck past Calgary's Kira Wasylak at 7:08 to make it 1-0 for the T-Birds. Calgary amassed most of their shots on a couple of late power-plays, but the UBC penalty-killing units were equal to the task as the Thunderbirds took the 1-0 lead into the intermission. Calgary's Merissa Dawson would be called early in the second period for using the body a little too aggressively, and that sent UBC to the power-play just 53 seconds into the stanza. That's the break UBC needed to double their lead.

🏒 WHKY | @UBCWHKY increases their lead to 2-0 vs. @UCDinos thanks to a great goal by #55 Rylind MacKinnon#GoBirdsGo pic.twitter.com/hgk8w3cdHA

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) October 20, 2018

Rylind MacKinnon's blast from the point found the back of the net at 1:39 for the power-play goal, and the T-Birds held the 2-0 lead. Calgary would respond by using speed to dictate the pace, but UBC adapted and would prevent the Dinos from ruining Tory Micklash's evening. After two periods, UBC led 2-0 thanks in part to an 18-8 edge in shots. In the third period, UBC continue to overpower the Dinos, and their persistence in going to the net would pay off with another goal.

🏒 WHKY | @UBCWHKY holds the 1-0 advantage at the end of the 1st period vs. @UCDinos. #GoBirdsGo pic.twitter.com/gN7V9eqmC3

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) October 20, 2018

Hannah Clayton-Carroll took the great centering pass from Mathea Fischer, and she ripped home the third UBC goal of the night at 10:35. 56 seconds later, Emily Costales netted another goal for UBC, and it was a 4-0 lead for the home squad. The seven shots recorded by Calgary resulted in no goals for them as Tory Micklash was solid on this night, and UBC claimed a fifth-straight win with the 4-0 decision. Micklash recorded her third win and second shutout of the season in stopping all 15 Calgary shots while Wasyluk made 28 stops in the loss.

CWUAA WOMEN'S HOCKEY School Record Points GF GA Streak Next British Columbia

4-1-1-0

14 16 4

W5

vs ALB Saskatchewan

3-1-2-0

13 9 5

W4

@ REG Alberta

4-2-0-0

12 13 5

L1

@ UBC Manitoba

3-2-1-0

11 15 10

W2

vs MRU Regina

3-2-0-1

10 16 16

L2

vs SAS Mount Royal

2-3-0-1

7 9 18

W1

@ MAN Lethbridge

1-4-0-1

4 7 12

L5

@ CAL Calgary

0-5-0-1

1 4 19

L6

vs LET

The Last Word

Ladies and gentlemen, these are the three stars from the Calgary Inferno-Kunlun Red Star game today. Notice that woman on the left? That would be the first star of the game and former Manitoba Bisons star Venla Hovi! Hovi recorded a goal and an assist today in the game against KRS, and her goal actually was scored on a deflection in front of Finnish national teammate Noora Raty! Hovi's assist came on the goal scored by the woman standing in the middle. That's Manitoba native Halli Krzyzaniak who scored her first goal today in being named as the second star of the game! Hovi appears to be settling in nicely alongside the plethora of Canada West players who are part of the Inferno roster, and it's nice to see she's doing well at the professional level! Way to go, Venla, and keep up the great play! Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice! from Sports News http://hockey-blog-in-canada.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-rundown-week-3.html

[mikemortgage]

Kevin Libin: The pessimists have it right, assassins are gunning for Trans Mountain

After narrowly missing an assassination of Margaret Thatcher by bombing her hotel room in Brighton in 1984, the IRA reminded everyone the odds were still on its side. “Remember we only have to be lucky once,” the terrorists warned the then British prime minister. “You will have to be lucky always.”

That in a nutshell has long been the strategy of those fighting against the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. With every court challenge, political stunt, blockade and act of sabotage, the odds have been stacked ever higher against the pipeline happening. Its builders and their political backers might win a few rounds. But eventually something would stop them. Maybe Thursday’s federal appeals court decision overturning the National Energy Board’s approval of Trans Mountain is that something. Maybe not. But the project will face many more assassination attempts. And it will have to be lucky enough to survive every one.

You can find optimistic spins on this latest setback. They should be ignored. Finance Minister Bill Morneau sounded only positive notes Thursday — that the ruling offered “good direction on next steps” to make sure the pipeline “moves ahead in the right way.” But it is not moving ahead, it’s moving backward. Construction must stop. Trans Mountain has lost its government licence to proceed.

The government need not return to Square One, but the remedies demanded by the appeals court — a new environmental assessment on the effect of more oil tankers on killer whales and a fresh round of consultation with Aboriginals — are not the small matters some people are suggesting. They will take a year at least and likely longer. Any appeal to the Supreme Court would take even longer, should the Liberal government decide to try that long shot.

Just getting this decision took nearly a year. It was the 17th court challenge the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion faced. Regulators and Kinder Morgan, the project’s owner up until this week, had prevailed 16 times. The project could not afford to lose even once. It just did.

The pessimists have it right, again. The Trans Mountain expansion was more meticulously threaded through all of Canada’s innumerable regulatory hoops than any project before. Kinder Morgan’s Canadian president, Ian Anderson, had taken to heart the vital importance of going over and above every minimum threshold, making it his personal mission to meet with First Nations groups all over B.C. and Alberta and listen to their concerns. Regulators under both Conservative and Liberal governments had worked to get Trans Mountain approved, and yet still failed to meet standards that judges can and do change any time they wish.

As former Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall noted dismally, the same judge behind this ruling — Eleanor Dawson — was behind the previous ruling against Northern Gateway. Regulators had reportedly tried using her last ruling as a roadmap to ensure perfect compliance for Trans Mountain. This time, her court came up with yet new boxes it decided it now wants checked. Listening to First Nations’ concerns is not enough now; the rules now must require a dialogue done “interactively.”

It’s important to remember that the regulators who failed in defending first the Northern Gateway proposal and now the Trans Mountain expansion plan before the courts (and who failed to conclude hearings over Energy East) once knew how to get things approved. Older folks will remember that we have built major projects in this country before. The expertise hasn’t changed. But the rules always do.

It is at least fitting that some of those responsible for this chaos are today suffering the political consequences of it. When the National Energy Board recommended in May 2016 that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government approve the Trans Mountain expansion, I wrote in these pages that “the approval authority of the NEB was already looking DOA, long before it tabled its ruling, and in no small part because Trudeau had delivered it … a good, hard wallop.” He refused to allow the Northern Gateway pipeline to secure approval. He demanded enough new regulatory requirements for the Energy East pipeline proposal to make it unfeasible.

He denounced the previous Conservative government for failing to do proper environmental due diligence and to consult adequately with First Nations. And he has bragged ever since that he’s been fixing all that and, unlike the last government, he’ll get a pipeline to the sea. Now the courts say he didn’t do proper environmental due diligence or consult adequately with First Nations. And that he won’t soon be getting that pipeline, either.

Incredibly, Morneau was still at it on Thursday, blaming this disaster on him having “‘inherited a flawed environmental review process” (those are virtually the same words that were used by the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, one of the groups behind this appeal!). Yet it was his government that approved it anyway — after what the Liberal Natural Resource minister assured us just this week was  a “very rigorous review process.” And was it not just three months ago that Morneau was insisting that, with his plan to nationalize away the risk of Kinder Morgan’s project, it could not fail to get built? Funny the finance minister didn’t mention his dissatisfaction with any “flawed environmental review process” back then.

It was in May, too, that Alberta Premier Rachel Notley crowed “we said we would get the pipeline built and we are getting it built!” But the NDP leader spent years in opposition making common cause with anti-oilsands activists. In government she hired extreme environmentalists as consultants. Now, having penalized Canada’s hydrocarbon province with a CO2-sin tax in the name of winning a “social licence” that will never exist, her NDP government, too, has been hoist with its own petard.

There’s no evidence the IRA ever tried again to assassinate Thatcher. But against Trans Mountain, plenty more fuses will be set now. That new review on the whale habitat will offer yet more ammunition to opponents. The consultations with First Nations will yield more concerns to antagonize judges. And, as constitutional lawyer Howard Anglin points out, the fact that the government will own Trans Mountain while also deciding on its approval invites fresh new arguments, possibly legal ones, about conflict of interest.

It just so happens, as you’ll read elsewhere, that it was shortly after the court’s bombshell Thursday that the results of the vote by Kinder Morgan shareholders whether to approve the federal government’s $4.5 billion purchase offer, was announced as 99 per cent in favour. Investors know an unwinnable political situation when they see one, even if the politicians themselves haven’t yet clued in.

from Financial Post https://ift.tt/2wCIkAM via IFTTT Blogger Mortgage Tumblr Mortgage Evernote Mortgage Wordpress Mortgage href="https://www.diigo.com/user/gelsi11">Diigo Mortgage

[rebootrevolution]

X-Men Novelization (Ch. 23)

Chapter Twenty-Three

The night was long and cold, filled with only sparse conversation as Jean and Logan watched one another from across the campfire. Scott, refusing to sleep just as much as Jean was, left Storm alone in the tent while he huddled in his sleeping back, his visor perpetually pointed at Logan, his fingers perpetually set on his visor.

Soon enough the morning light showered across the mountain, giving the snow a luminescence Jean had never seen before. Even in her sleep-deprived state she appreciated its beauty, and she tried to rub the fog out of her eyes to take it in.

Ororo confirmed that she was feeling up the task when she came out of her tent, and as she scooped Scott up into her arms Jean almost laughed at the look of indignity on his face. Ororo noticed it, too, and flashed a wide smile at Jean. “Aw, what should we name him?” The women giggled, and Scott tried to blow past the moment.

“Just stay on your guard, Jean. We just met this guy. I want full telepathic contact the second we take of off.”

Logan stretched his arms in the spare jacket the trio had on them, the same black with an “X” on the front that Cyclops wore. He ignored Scott’s comment, and Jean brushed it off with a assurance that she would be fine.

Storm took off with Cyclops in her arms, and as Jean and Wolverine watched them go Jean felt the impending excitement burn off her sleep deprivation.

“You break off contact with them yet?”

“Nah,” Jean said, still watching Storm shrink into the distance, “I’ll let them get closer to the jet first.”

“Well we better get movin’. We might have a hike ahead of us.”

Jean lead the way, with Logan following closely behind as they began their trek. They planned out the details over night, speaking telepathically so that the others could not here. Logan agreed to go with the students back to Westchester, but he could not leave until he knew who was hunting him and why. Whoever the hunter was, Jean could sense the fear Logan associated with him, and she knew that they had to stop whoever it was before they could leave Saskatchewan in good conscience.

The used the same method to track Logan’s hunter as the teenagers had to track Logan himself; Jean prodded out psychically until she knew which direction the individual they were looking for was in. Logan warned that the man they were now hunting would likely have himself together more than Logan had, so Jean’s psychic probes should only be as brief and shallow as possible. Her mind created blips as if on a radar, and whenever Jean snapped a twig or rustled some branches as she moved Logan stopped her and demanded she not make such a racket. She ignored him, seeing how far their quarry was, and instead used the opportunity to talk with him.

“Any idea why this guy is chasing you?”

“You’ve seen my ideas. What do you think?”

“The Professor taught me never to forego conversation just because I might know what they other person will say.”

“You kids know you sound like a cult, right? This “professor” isn’t some Jim Jones type, is he?”

“Who?”

Logan sighed, trudging through the snow for a moment without speaking. Eventually, his voice grumbled “I don’t know what I know. Part of me knows what we’ll run into when we find this guy, but nothing I remember feels certain. Some of it…” he stopped for a moment before realizing that he already started the sentence “...some of it hurts to think about, so I just don’t.”

“The Professor can help you with that, too. He and I both can. There’s no imaging what you’ve been through, the kind of therapy it would take to heal you--

“I heal just fine on my own.”

“No, I mean--” Jean stopped, the crunching snow below her feet stopping with her. Logan looked around, knowing she sensed something. “He’s closer all of a sudden. I think he knows--

The crack of a bullet pierced the air and Logan fell at Jean’s side, a spurt of blood trailing from his head in his wake. “Logan!” Jean instinctively knelt to help him, but other instincts kicked in and she stood straight up, put her hands out, and thickened the air around her. Another bullet cracked and she saw it flatten against her telekinetic force field.

Her mind reached out to find the blip in her radar, and when she saw how close it was she searched the woods were her eyes. She found him when she wanted to find him; his massive figure weaving slowly through the trees, his shin-length coat complete with a mane of fur around the shoulders, and long stringy hair the same color as the fur that hung down in front of his face. It was his face that truly terrified her. He had a slight underbite, with tusk-like yellow teeth that protruded from his lips. Even from a distance he could see the yellow of his eyes looking under her clothes, under her skin, all the way to her heart as it raced in her chest.

“Surprise surprise, the runt found himself another girlie,” the man said, inching toward Jean, a rifle hung loosely at his side. “You must’ve been the one poking around in this big ol’ brain of mine.” His voice had a rumble to it, as if a garbage disposal crushed a soda can in his chest every time he spoke.  “I dealt with psychic before, girlie. I seen better, but never a redhead.”

“Back the hell off or I’ll rip out every happy memory in your head.”

“Oh,” the yellow eyes crinkled into a smile, “that wouldn’t take too long.”

In a flash leapt at Jean, tackling through her force field and sending a shockwave through her mind. Stunned for a moment, Jean was helpless as the man wrapped his fingers around her throat and pressed her against a tree, the shock of her body against the trunk releasing a shimmer of snowflakes from the branches. The man thrust his other hand toward Jean’s face, yellow claws on each finger threatening to split her head open, but she gathered herself and held his hand back. The man growled. “Come on, girlie, ain’t you psychic? You gotta know I just like it more when they fight.”

She did look into his mind. A world of blood and hunger opened up to her. The taste of dog food filled her mouth. She saw that his name was Victor, and she felt his jealousy over his teammate Logan being accepted for an experimental program. She also saw his orders, closer to the present, to hunt Logan down after he escaped, as well as his intentions to never return Logan alive.

“There you go. Get to know me first,” Victor said, his grip tightening around her neck until the claws on that hand started to draw blood. Jean wheezed, trying to speak, and he let her.

“Your dad...fed you...dog food?”

Victor’s eyes shot open with shock, and Jean seized the moment by pinching her fingers together. She closed Victor’s windpipe and pushed him off of her, feeling her own neck as he stumbled back to find air. There was a “snikt” noise and six claws erupted from his chest.

Logan pulled his claws from Victor’s back and Victor fell forward onto his knee. “You okay, Red?”

Jean rubbed her neck, ignoring the question. “I saw his memories. We have the information we wanted.”

Logan started to reply, but Victor whirled around and grabbed him, throwing them both into the snow. They rolled around eachother, blood and skin flying into the air as they tore eachother apart, and Jean could feel a potent sense of deja vu from them both. Victor was much larger than Logan, easily pinning him down at times, but with his metal skeleton Logan’s weight was greater, and Victor’s claws kept snapping when they dug far enough into Logan’s skin.

Jean pushed past her sense of being overwhelmed, following the men as they rolled down the mountain bit by bit. She decided she would not dig into Victor’s mind any further--she would dig into his brain. Reaching out with her telekinesis, she pinched a spot just behind Victor’s left eye. A blood clot formed and then burst, the blood leaking out of his eye as a catatonia seeped from his face. Logan felt his opponent go limp, but sliced his claws upwards and cut off Victor’s left arm regardless. Jean ran to Logan’s side.

“How long is this gonna stop him?” Jean asked.

“He heals like I do. There’s no tellin’, but I saw we do a thorough jo--

The wind started to swirl around the two mutants. They threw their arms up to protect their eyes from the snow, but soon enough their feet lifted off the mountain and they were being tossed through the air. Jean’s vision whipped everywhere as her body tumbled through the air, and she could hear Logan screaming as he tumbled around here. What the hel was happening?

They both landed with a soft “whumpf” on a thick bank of snow. Logan jumped to his feet, his claws at the ready, but Jean had already worked out what happened. They were mere yards from the Blackbird, and Storm lowered herself before the two.

“What the hell!” Logan snarled. “We had him!”

Storm was not to be messed with. Her pursed lips and arched eyebrow passed right over Logan, ignoring his demands, as she looked at Jean. “Do you have any idea how worried we were about you? I’ve been flying around these mountains all morning. That was outrageously stupid of you.”

Jean did not show the same cool demeanor. “Do you have any idea what we were doing? We caught the man hunting Logan! He’s--he’s the nastiest most sociopathic mind I’ve ever felt and you just let him off the hook!” Jean was closing the distance between herself and Ororo as she screamed until they were nose to nose. Storm’s face did not change, but she considered Jean’s words before turning around. Storm swept her hand across the section of the mountain she pulled Logan and Jean from, the clouds darkening and snow kicking up into a twister before releasing a colossal avalanche. Snow and rock cascaded down the mountain, coating it anew.

Ororo turned around. “Better?” She marched toward the Blackbird, her shoulder thumping against Jean as she passed. “Now let’s get the hell out of here and get the hell home.”