#that's not going to occur naturally in ANY other race except MAYBE a very unusual elf but like...

[blujayonthewing]

the main problem I've had with trying to do 'your PC as other races' art is that when other people have done it, including ryoko kui's changeling comparisons, they always keep the character's original palette-- and that ends up being an immediate stumbling block for me when the first place I'd be inclined to start is with Elyss, whose main point of difference from an ordinary human is that she is green

[caughtontape3-blog]

The certainty concerning the Supernatural

Cochise What is actually the "The supernatural"? The idea means from the Latina: super- "above" nature concerns entities, forces or trends which are regarded by simply a number of as beyond mother nature, for the reason that they cannot become explained in the notions as well as laws from the everyday globe.

Cochise

Supernatural topics are frequently WRONGLY associated with marvelous and occult ideas and are generally a classification for reasons which invoke explanatory constructs that in principle are generally beyond human conception, knowing or verification. A the greater part of super-naturalists of just about any given religion merely think in a very filter subdivision, subgroup, subcategory, subclass of all unnatural explanations involving reality whenever all the great thinking of all religions, prior and present, are this.

Instances of super naturalization; From the Hebrew Bible, effects and also other misfortunes are defined as indications of God's fury or vengeance. All way too often in theological posts, I hear the phrase mysterious bandied about, and also most men and women on both equally sides of the discussion tend to accept typically the nebulous term as the sensible idea (whether or maybe not they recognize which supernatural events perform exist).

Miracles such as walking around water are first looked at as impossible by the nonbeliever given that they violate the rules connected with physics; then often the believer guards the assert by labels the celebration supernatural as if this kind of magically transforms into explanation for unbeliever, From generally there the topic turns to no matter if or not that wonderful event actually occurred.

Exactly what does someone mean if they call something super-natural. This means that any event that may transpire is natural; within fact, issues can end up being said to simply along with the category of the actual earlier this means of unnatural given earlier mentioned.

The solely thing left for great events to be usually are points which could by no means be observed, could possibly certainly not in any way influence us all. We can existing countless, in fact infinite, feasible supernatural items (for instance, that our whole world is available as the super-fast blink of a subatomic molecule in most other unreachable meta-universe you can never interact along with; or that many subatomic chemical in our market composes an entirely separate world itself), but we get zero reason to feel any of them applies, and such views tend to be not the slightest bit verifiable, along with so they are unreadable.

Creation is in by itself magic of planing in addition to input of God. Typically the only chance I notice left is that particular number of absolute natural physical legal guidelines to our universe (whether not really we know associated with them for sure correct now), and supernatural occasions are events that carry out the truth is happen (hypothetically visible in order to us) but that contradict these absolute regulations.

Which suggests all evidence inside favor of any mysterious event is always circumstantial. And in my watch, circumstantial evidence is in no way adequate to be able to validate wonderful events. I truly do concede that will there must be many point where a human body of circumstantial evidence may be so great, in which perhaps accepting that some sort of unnatural event happened may be fair.

Are great events popular. John Wesley: An innately honest male, retained a new child-like visibility to all varieties of organic and supernatural probability. Human being Curiosities, Natural Curiosities, All-natural Events, Supernatural Situations, Individual Curiosities.

It was expected that one who came while extensively as Wesley might encounter unusual persons, their very own achievements, and all their eccentricities. (Journal, 1790) With regard to Wesley, the particular natural as well as the supernatural were being a good extension of each various other, and never hesitated for you to assign, to divinity activities this individual knew were component of the normal purchase as well. (Journal, 1773) Some experiences were, naturally , beyond scientific explanation.

WHAT / THINGS WE DO ABOUT Haunted houses and places? Have you considered Ghosts?

Conjuring and secret HAVE ALWAYS BEEN VIEWED AS supernatural along with a remaining form of magic, the fact remains that conjuring and miraculous are using God developed issues called "WORDS" sprained like a curse. Words are usually the standard formula this God employed to create typically the universe, phrases are often the framework by which as much as possible consist which is the actual REAL EXPLANATION SATAN change and pervs the ideas of conversation and precisely what we hear in your day-to-day lives!

Believers fight further more that just as scientific research has evolved from beginning, puny attempts to make clear natural situations (such seeing that spontaneous technology and the particular doctrine of humors) straight into a much more reputable modern-day science, religion offers evolved through early weak attempts to elucidate supernatural functions (such because animism) in the much more trustworthy modern religions.

Believers be aware that the vast majority regarding humanity, of all competitions, religions, and ages, consider and have always assumed in mysterious phenomena involving one form or any other.

Believers conclude that while a lot of people have invented religions to help these groups cope with frightening and also inexplicable phenomena, others include come to rely on wonderful phenomena through intellectually trustworthy means, having been asked by reason, evidence, along with experience that the galaxy should not be explained by naturalistic explanations on your own, but will be best understood by means of recognizing the Supernatural.

Believers likewise note that while a few many people denied the presence of supernatural craze by way of intellectually honest signifies, obtaining been persuaded by explanation, evidence, and experience that this supernatural does not can be found, other people have denied typically the unnatural out of the deep worry that great forces may possibly exist in addition to have a real as well as tangible impact on each of our lives, and also a fear which the universe could possibly be much more complex than their hypotheses allow.

By its individual classification, science is unable to function properly of looking at or examining for the lifestyle connected with the supernatural. Thus, believers in supernatural phenomenon carry that scientific methods may not detect them; therefore often the insufficient evidence does not really matter.

Scientists counter-top that will if this is and so, subsequently believers in excellent naturalism themselves would always be incapable of seeing almost any supernatural phenomenon, since man senses themselves run in the laws of physics, and can only feeling events developing in the actual natural, physical planet... However our senses were created to help commune with a mysterious God so it is usually possible that people can see as I possess EACH super and UN-natural occasions.

John Drane publishes articles in which "science is perpetuating "intellectual arrogance" when it is not going to accept the possibility associated with supernatural activities and miracles"

But what regarding A short while ago and Haunted Residences?

The haunted house can be a constructing that is a facility with regard to supernatural occurrences as well as paranormal phenomena, but precisely why? Effectively, The bible tells you regarding demonic strongholds THE TWO in Spots and Men and women throughout it's internet pages and also their is NO unknown in order to why these spots and the ones are "Haunted" together with a profile from the particular past, if you recognize the full story behind the idea!

Often the supernatural can send to cognizant magical witchcraft's, religious awareness or unfamiliar forces (Familiar Spirits) this cannot normally be observed except by their consequences in the all-natural world.

Some examples of "supernatural phenomena" are miracles executed by God, ghosts that happen to be merely Demons IMPERSONATING THE ACTUAL PERSONS THEY ONCE LIVED IN IN LIFE in buy to deceive the human race concerning life in the hereafter; psychic abilities like psychokinesis and telepathy are a great deal better classified as paranormal when compared with supernatural because they bargain with "the mental realm" BUT there are actually spiritual pushes at work RIGHT BEHIND ALL THESE SO-CALLED ABILITIES. Just how do i learn?

I spent 6 decades involved in Wicca then as a black witch doing many evils when all those I hated along with about myself untold strain.

As a result experience I right now believe that Husfader in addition to Eve had selected mind and physical capabilities CONSIDERABLY BEYOND those we now have these days but lost a chance to employ them over time SOON AFTER the tumble. This really does not mean that all of us are likely to use these people today, only why these skills are under the exterior waiting to be INDUCED BY SIMPLY SPIRITUAL MANIPULATIONS VIA VICES IN ORDER IN ORDER TO DECEIVE AND TRICK ALL OF US.

The term supernatural is definitely contrasted with the expression healthy, which presumes which several events occur regarding to attract wealth, and other folks do not, because that they are a result of forces outer to dynamics. But the item must be understood that will Satan and all vices will UNDER THE AFFECT OF THE SPIRITUAL REGION, THEY ARE "DEAD SPIRITS" can not draw from The lord's highly effective realm so many people do the things we do when we all find ourselves in a situation involving lacking abilities... THAT THEY SIT ABOUT THEIR REAL ELECTRICAL POWER WHICH IS SIMPLY "DECEPTION". Vices simply use typically the "Natural Laws" of often the Universe which Satan has learned BETTER that any kind of people scientist because having been presently there as God's proper side angel at the development.

The demonic realm bottoms it's existence upon the actual natural laws of design as well as "twists and forms this to form whichever will con and operate human facts weather in which is "Spiritual or even Natural" in manifestation.

Various other persons assert that situations this appear to us to become supernatural occur according to be able to attract wealth which we accomplish not yet comprehend (This is just what My spouse and i have simply said, Satan will use ATTRACT WEALTH IN WHICH SCIENCE HAS NOT STILL FOUND OUT ABOUT TO BE ABLE TO DECEIVE THE PARTICULAR WEAK ORIENTED TO BELIEVE ALONG WITH PROCESS FALSE WORSHIP. ).

Throughout contrast to super- naturalists, naturalists assert that almost all things work according for you to a law connected with evolutionary nature not seeing that Our god created these laws and regulations to help work with Spiritual rules of religion. In contrast in order to atheists, super-naturalists announce which God, miracles, or perhaps different supernatural phenomena are generally actual, verifiable, and portion of the legal guidelines of nature that individuals complete not yet understand, (this is true to any point since it would possibly be silly for ANY RESEARCHER TO SAY THAT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH POSSESSES ALL THE ADVICE. After all, using savoir record of injuries and also down right silly statements of the past what makes they?

O. K. can your supernatural be seen basically as being a human coping process? A number of believe that human being beings ascribe wonderful qualities to purely organic functions in an attempt to be able to cope with concern along with ignorance.

Since the perception in magic is really outdated and held some sort of great electrical power over the particular minds and creative imagination associated with earlier generations before typically the concept of experimental scientific disciplines which you'll only believe in case you don't observe a number of evidence out there with regards to forbidden scientific finds amid so-called ignorant savages in the past. He BELIEVES often the supernatural does not are present, while most people regarding most ethnic categories with most points in record have got claimed otherwise, is actually merely for you to perpetuate the actual intellectual cockiness of past generations involving Western thinkers, and far coming from delivering an answer to the particular inquiries raised by story that merely begs much larger and even more important questions in relation to the character of European intellectual traditions. Much connected with what we call technology nowadays was once presumed to be supernatural.

The actual control of electricity, typically the make of steel, stereo swells, all were as soon as viewed as beyond the court associated with nature, and consequently supernatural, through conventional researchers. As such, what on earth is considered to be supernatural right now might be completely explained another day.

A lot of claimed supernatural occasions might be studied by often the scientific process; however, when the physical regulations simply by which an event happens grow to be known, the affair is no longer grouped as 'supernatural'. Fundamental unnatural hypotheses are difficult to help specify, let alone analyze. Where research is ready to address issues throughout dispute, to correct issues regarding fact, or in order to call in to question promises of power grounded with history, it has from time to time been able to ease antagonisms based on rivalling supernatural states.

Otherwise, (for example) the actual politics in addition to morality of the scientist usually are as opinion-based or while reliant on assumptions regarding the supernatural seeing that these of anyone else -- and lastly, individuals may make a decision to remain sometimes passively agnostic about each and every problem that cannot be screened or actively hostile to be able to claims of authority that will cannot be scientifically warranted.

There are many attempts for you to validate claims of great tendency scientifically. Many activities after accepted as mysterious are understood as indications of your natural, explainable characteristics which are misinterpreted. People in which believe in wonderful situations accuse those who usually do not of naturalizing genuinely unnatural events; people that perform not trust supernatural functions accuse who have do involving super-naturalizing honestly natural occasions.

Believers can easily rightly act in response to the many cases of super-naturalization by arguing the fact that super-naturalization usually takes place does not refute the existence of the particular supernatural any more in comparison with the fact that experts often make errors refutes the existence of typically the natural whole world.

The principle of the supernatural provides intrigued people of just about all cultures for hundreds of years. Most instructors of the normal savoir such as biology, physics, or neuro-science would almost certainly state, if asked, this there was not a such issue as the great. Just what is it about often the natural savoir that potential buyers people to deny the presence of the supernatural.

The saying of modern science, by simply indicating that ALL conduct conforms on the laws connected with nature, absolutely rules away all probability of a mysterious even to help occurring within the natural entire world. Along with what would a wonderful being be if the idea endured but could PERFORM very little (I'll tell anyone, it would be demonic, since they CAN CARRY OUT NOTHING BUT DECEIVE).

Cases of the effect associated with scientific research on mysticism as well as miracle abound; eventually the item is luring to think that ALL testimonies regarding the supernatural can become defined scientifically. Therefore, regarding not enough proof otherwise, many of us must let the possibility which a supernatural occasion might take place. We may possibly ask yourself what, if certainly not the laws and regulations of mother nature, might cause a new unnatural event to occur.

Organic beef wonder whether a sealed group of laws exists this kind of that inside supernatural activities these rules are never ever violated. The problem on this idea is that, hoping this sort of set of "supernatural laws" is present, there will be nothing that prevents the actual grouping together of the particular attract wealth with the meant supernatural legal guidelines to application form a closed pair of regulations to which all behaviour in the universe adheres. Normally stated, a fixed of "supernatural laws", when it existed, would assist the central axiom involving science rather than contradict this. This does not necessarily, however, mean that great events as observed throughout the information world cannot end up being caused.

The particular Bible educates that The almighty (who is usually of course the mysterious being) always will keep The promises, so many connected with the incredible things They has done via Christ Himself and throughout the bienheureux may be said in order to adapt to a pattern with that context. However, that will does not mean in which every single supernatural occurrence is definitely an "act of God", nor would it mean this every"act of God" is actually done according to any assurance He has created.

There are outwardly by no means ending arguments among a lot of theologians, mystics, parapsychologists, non secular leaders and the loyal with regards to Supernatural Manifestations, Clairvoyant Power, Prophecies, etc. Regarding those who tend not to trust in supernatural events for those who doubt typically the truth on the Scriptures.

Possibly if we would will not recognize the Sacred Scriptures as Divine Revelations automatically merits, then, through often the extremely laws proposed by means of Parapsychology to explain apart supernatural déclaration, the truth of the Sacred Scriptures would then be validated and confirmed.

Rational gentleman is quick to lower price any supernatural manifestation INVOLVING ANYTHING BECAUSE IF THIS INDIVIDUAL CONFESSES THAT THE MYSTERIOUS EXISTS HE OR SHE MUST ADMIT THIS GOD IS OUT THERE AND HE OR SHE CANNOT DO THAT, HENCE THE ONLY OUT IS Any ALL-NATURAL EXPLANATION.

Let you explore what exactly may always be behind these rejects associated with supernatural manifestations. In the event that guy cannot deal with wonderful manifestations, man will neglect them. So what is right behind the much spoke about, and sometimes denied, unnatural events with the evil dynamics.

To the start eyesight and observant head that should be evident which there is some sort of coherent relationship between the first teachings of the Religious Scriptures and Miracles, which usually are the legit marque of the supernatural, to be able to wit: The infinite strength of God may be seen through man, through trust since accordance to the actual Will regarding God, for you to over come virtually any thought of or real limit within whatever circumstance he might get himself.

1: The reason why right now there such an insistent to be able to secularize and/or deny amazing things and other supernatural symptoms to the issue of attempting to help neutralize the particular Divinity

only two: Do the adversaries involving the supernatural and, as a result, of true mysticism have got a vested interest in typically the throughout the world consequences that their own ideas, philosophies, and theological instruction will have? Models in the great sector are closely linked to principles in religious spiritualty, metaphysics. The supernatural strategy will be generally identified with certitude or other belief methods - though there is usually very much debate as in order to whether a mysterious is definitely necessary for religion, or maybe that religion is needed intended for holding a notion of the wonderful because religion is merely men made reflection of exactly what God intended and NOT NECESSARILY the truth reality of their presence.

Individuals denying often the plausibility from the supernatural normally claim that really the only situations which cannot be analyzed scientifically are those which often are not perceived by just about any means.

If an function claimed to be unnatural genuinely has happened, the idea can as a result be researched scientifically and is definitely not supernatural. Some examples connected with great phenomena are products and also ghosts. The Holy bible is rife with descriptions of mysterious functions and divine remedy inside human affairs.

For you to a super-naturalist, the place is not whether wonders are supernatural or not really, however whether they happen at all. You will need to be aware that no matter which will philosophical predictions one decides to read the seen scientific data, either naturalism or super-naturalism, are every bit as unscientific. But for the concern of whether science makes it possible for for intelligent cause away from nature itself rather compared to the impaired process associated with naturalistic evolution, Could scientific disciplines explain phenomena with regards to smart agents. Can the wonderful can be observed as well as not.

Evidently, the Holy book is full of webpage of supernatural events along with experiences. That is certainly not to say that unnatural beings or occasions tend to be observable. But it will mean that the simple fact that some great activities are observable presents all of us reason to believe that will supernatural beings exist, and also the fact that we can not view them is a new consequence of the limitations, quite than any incompetency upon their part.

This is actually clinically, scientifically documented throughout various reports and information, and is a great visible change brought on simply by opinion (or appeal to) mysterious causes. Yet possibly this may suggest that, beneficial or damaging, prayerful elegance to the wonderful, Lord or Satan possesses seen results. Life by the unnatural, or by way regarding a naturalistic mechanism to get evolution, are generally equally untestable, and unobservable.

Other Arguments are that particular supernatural reason cannot be famous via another. This presupposes in which all supernatural explanations are indifferent. It implies that invoking the actual supernatural is the blanket clarification (An explanation for popular ignorance).

In which supposition presents another capability of the doubt alone: it is based in materialistic naturalism, which thinks a previous that no great celebration can ever take place by any means. While for any single event it can be difficult to distinguish between distinct supernatural explanations, the similar thing will also apply to natural details. Distinguishing involving different information, whether all-natural or mysterious, requires frequent events consequently that a style could be observed (Isn't this particular the job of technology? ).

In this situation there are different sightings that match each hypothesis for instance studying a ghost's habits so we recognize between 2 different wonderful explanations with regard to ghosts (An intelligent haunting or 1 that seems to complement the living surroundings as though to interact with individuals who are living there as opposed to. a continuing haunting or even one that takes on the particular same thing over in addition to over as if reliving a life that features transferred.... Both can possibly be explained by demonic activity).

There are difficulties with generalizing supernatural explanations yet that does not indicate that it is extremely hard. Difficulties in generalizing unnatural explanations can result by numerous causes: Rarity involving a great event will be one such as typically the Reed sea parting regarding Moses.

Some supernatural situations never happen frequently plenty of (maybe only once) to be able to make a generalization achievable, but the same matter can occur with healthy functions, if similar occasions will not occur frequently ample to look at more than some sort of few occurrences. If identical supernatural events are not necessarily effectively observed then generalizations could be impossible because connected with the lack of data. Many supernatural events evidently involve intelligent entities as well as the behavior of intelligent choices would be hard, nevertheless not necessarily impossible, for you to generalize, particularly when interacting with one or more nonhuman clever entity. Many events the moment thought to be mysterious are now known to help be natural. This sort of activities were deemed to get wonderful because nature ended up being terribly understood by those that produced such claims. On the other hand a new scientific application of unnatural explanations concludes that organic process are inadequate, definitely not because of lack associated with knowledge although because regarding the actual inability involving chance and natural legislation to provide an satisfactory explanation for example the creation connected with the Universe compared to Progression.

It is possible this a great explanation could possibly be replaced by way of a normal one if a lot more files becomes available (i. electronic Proof of the contrary having occurred), but often the reverse is also probable. Finding the natural leads to of stuff, does not really totally negate mysterious will cause and purposes (For illustration God can and contains EMPLOYED the Natural to provide concerning his plans my spouse and i. at the. Jesus' death about the get across to deliver salvation to man). A few aspects of Quantum physics suggest that even all-natural reasons have underlining wonderful brings about.

A supernatural description can simply be postulated by simply eliminating most possible healthy explanations. This particular objection presupposes that unnatural explanations are usually magical just as if simply invoking the great is a explanation; this is certainly not the lens case. A proper mysterious explanation would certainly explain precisely how the event took place, however simply not be limited by the natural laws associated with our actual universe. With other words creationists are generally quick to point out there that the wonderful is usually the cause for the actual existence of lifestyle as well as natural laws to retain it.

However simply simply because the particular supernatural has produced life it will not mean which it cannot supersede typically the natural laws governing generation. He might conclude, given that this actions violates organic law, that will something through outside place time (supernatural by definition) is triggering the space time period fold.

If a supernatural affair is studied long sufficient or perhaps multiple supernatural situations ended up studied, some specifics about often the supernatural lead to might be deduced, merely as is done having silent and invisible natural objects similar to subatomic particles. This resistance leads the supernatural in order to irrational belief, but the a couple of are not similar. Quite a few events in World's historical past require a super-naturalistic notion system before they can certainly be accurately interpreted or maybe understood. Wear them in the actual definition of science in which precludes a supernatural speculation.

In fact, many regarding the scientific daddies who all created the very research still in use currently conuted on God or the supernatural keen force this created initial and endured that formation with normal laws of physics, hormone balance and mathematics to oversee it.

The denial in the supernatural that is portion of naturalism is any purely philosophical and also primarily atheistic position. By simply eliminating supernatural hypotheses coming from thought, materialists eliminate out of control some sort of large body of likely answers for past, current along with future phenomena. Within beginning and historical study, an overall denial of the particular supernatural will result in grave fault where unnatural events get indeed taken place; therefore great explanations needs to be considered exactly where appropriate.

Eventhough it might look obvious flood which these kinds of an event had happened whether you believe within super-naturalism or not, the item is important to acknowledge typically the depth and width on the strata covering often the Earth ahead of a man or woman can understand the dependence with this interpretation upon one particular presupposition belief system as well as the some other. Given the actual volumes involving rock concerned, it simply will not become possible for any territory animal to survive a new ton able to make the entire geologic section without supernatural treatment, in addition to yet the world is definitely filled with various vulnerable lifeforms. I believe that will supernatural events are all-natural events that we usually are not sophisticated enough to be able to explain in the perception a supernatural God employs his or her advanced knowledge connected with natural regulation to carry out something in our sphere that seems at the particular time for you to beyond character but is basically just ahead of time of our know-how about all these things.

If we had been to go back again 3, 000 years ago as well as clone a sheep, it could be considered a supernatural occasion by many of typically the people as a result time interval would it not? Many of us by natural means survive death and also the just supernatural point about it is actually most of us don't fully understand this yet but when all of us get at this time there we will certainly automatically know even as tend to be known by Jesus today. I think the skeptic calls them supernatural as it helps them to independent these matters from the healthy order of things and this also protects their belief technique, after all its all of about whatever you work therefore hard to tell yourself NOT THE FACTS THROUGHOUT FRONT OF PEOPLE WHICH MATTER..... RIGHT?. Really the only mysterious thing about clairvoyant potential and life soon after loss of life is that we no longer fully understand them. That they normally are not being debated below along with can't be as opposed to supernatural functions individuals claim to observe.

Fundamentally: 1. ) Supernatural occasions are excluded deliberately inside science. Originally the basic principle could very well have been implemented (in early Greece) due to the fact it was a considerably more fruitful way to realize the universe than super-naturalism. This does not signify supernatural events may not necessarily be looked at as scientific research. "Supernatural" activities can end up being either subsumed underneath people ultimate laws, or even scientific disciplines cannot be fruitfully given to them at all.

two. )Those asserting the happening associated with supernatural events in addition to agencies usually describe these individuals as and have been observed or perhaps experienced revolutionary, a verificationwitness being so exclusive in which they cannot deny it took a little time for place as in this circumstance having experienced situations so deep in witchcraft that no person can convince us otherwise instead of the Atheists who else have experienced SIMPLY REFUTE EVERYTHING.

Those question often the plausibility of wonderful functions typically define all of them because events which can not be recognized by natural or maybe scientific senses, and as their comprehending may be said to help sit with religious, enchanting, or mysterious explanation-yet is still tightly outside of the actual realm of technology. Yet we can only be aware that a supernatural event will be impossible if we understand before hand that materialism is usually the appropriate world-view that it is not. Their one thing to propose that idea in the particular supernatural is false (as Hume said), yet we all must agree that that is feasible. Once many of us accept that unnatural causing is logically achievable, typically the question is whether we certainly have evidence for the living with the supernatural. The debate contrary to the supernatural becomes naturally poor when a straightforward believer from the supernatural converts into a lifestyle personalized testimony to the great upon witnessing something these people truly know to always be "supernatural". The genuine watch to the mysterious may make his case with the detail in which he or she talks about his account regarding that which usually he absolutely knows being supernatural.

Typically the problem of the condition becomes clear when most of us find out personal testimony involving an bank account of the event which with their surface can only possibly be classified as supernatural. This specific description of the wonderful recommends the following inquest: if this is definitely not supernatural what is the idea, natural? In case so.... SHOW IT while using same efervescencia you point out I have to prove God for being genuine. Remember that all opinions are open to argument UNTIL EVENTUALLY REAL EVIDENCE IS USUALLY DO, THEN IT'S "PUT YOUR DOLLARS WHERE YOUR JAWS IS" TIME PERIOD which is definitely where all Atheists as well as Skeptics must UPLOAD OR MAYBE SHUT UP! It is just a effectively known fact that values DEMONSTRATE NOTHING without Data in order to back them upwards and also God has granted a whole lot Evidence to backside up his says this it is sheer folly to be able to deny it's ordinary lifetime before our vision.

[memoirsverse]

Verse: Doctor Who

Character name: Evelyn Alvar.

Birth date: November 3, 1984.

Physical characteristics:

5'4, curvy, with wavy brunette hair that she usually keeps cut to shoulder length or shorter, and brown eyes.  She lives in the small town of Wisteria, Louisiana, about an hour’s drive from New Orleans.

When she Travels, she is a similar height, build, and facial structure, but her hair is very long and thick, silver threaded with gold strands; her eyelashes and eyebrows are the same color. Her eyes are an intense violet. She doesn’t know why she looks this way when she Travels, but she’s learned to just go with it.

Face Claim: Emilia Clarke.  

Traveling

Since she was twelve years old, Evelyn has had the ability to separate her essence from her body, taking physical form, and move anywhere in the universe. She has no idea how she does it, just that she does. Her travels are sometimes just as physical and real to her as her everyday life, but more often, she is in a dream-like state when they happen even though she is physically present. They also leave her primary body drained quite often; she’s learned various ways to recharge so she can function, though if she overdoes it she can become very tired and susceptible to physical illness. Also, if she gets hurt while Traveling, it reflects in her primary body.  Her Traveling form has some limited ability to “teleport” from place to place, though if she does it too much it drains her.  She has some limited telepathic ability in both her Traveling and human forms, and often parses that connection in terms of a person’s “song.”

Her travels tend to drain her so much that they generally only last anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour.  The further out she goes, the more it drains her.  But, to some extent, they are spontaneous and uncontrolled by her.

Evelyn is aware on a private, personal level that she is probably not human, at least not fully, though she identifies as human. She just doesn’t know what she is or why she can do the things she can do. As far as she’s aware, her parents were both human. (She recently discovered the name of her real father, Soren, who is one of the last of a species known as the Aetheryn.)

Evelyn’s life

Evelyn  is a writer and an illustrator, and has a series of illustrated novellas that are basically about her own travels, with names and details changed somewhat and billed as fantasy fiction. The stories were written for a Young Adult audience, but have something of a cult following, though she’s not overly well known.

The Curiosity Shop

Evelyn currently co-manages a curiosity and antique shop called “Alice’s Wonderland” with her friend Alice Deva. She sells a variety of merchandise at the shop, much of it quirky, strange, or eccentric.  She also sells more conventional antiques.  

Alice, however, is not entirely what she seems, nor is she an especially healthy friend for Evelyn to have, a point which will be woven into any threads that she is a part of.

Dreams

Evelyn has recurring dreams about a place with burnt-orange skies, silver trees, and red grass.  She doesn’t think it’s a real place, really, because she’s never actually seen this world in her travels.  She figures it’s just a dream.  Still, though, she’s written it into her books, a vague reference, because it stands out to her for some reason.

She also has nightmares of blood and fire and battle, the taste of ashes in her mouth and the pain of dying, and of being pulled from the broken shell of her body and drawn into a dark space that is too small to contain her.  She doesn’t understand them.

Personality

Evelyn is very creative, and has a tendency to be very aware of things like color and form. She also has a mild form of synesthesia, manifested within her mostly by seeing colors within sound and music, which occasionally also layers additionally into tasting sound, though the latter isn’t as pronounced or frequent.  She is a highly emotional being, but has learned to hide her emotions for the most part. She has never really felt a part of anything, never really finding a social niche in the world, though she does have friends and family. She’s quite introverted, and has difficulty getting close to people, partly because her life is so unusual, and partly because she has had bad experiences. However, she does love meeting new people– just tends to be a little nervous and babbles a bit when first introducing herself, though.  She can very direct and straightforward when she talks, which sometimes translates to seeming socially awkward, blunt, or even rude. When it comes to her crossworlding experiences, though, she tends to be a bit reticent, mostly because she’s had bad experiences in the past when she talked about it openly. She is also fiercely independent and keeps herself a little bit distant, because she’s always had to look after herself for the most part, having had somewhat neglectful parents and many friendships strained by either too much honesty (when she told people about her Traveling), or too little (hiding that aspect of her life completely).

Evelyn has little patience with people who lie and manipulate, even if such lies and manipulations are done with good intentions. She is slow to trust and can be very unforgiving if that trust is violated, carrying a grudge for years.  She has a tendency to speak her mind whether it is appropriate or not, once she feels more comfortable around somebody. She dislikes crowds, but can tolerate them.She is not particularly outspoken around strangers, but if she feels strongly about something, or loses her temper, she will speak her mind, and her characteristic bluntness will come out.  She does have a bit of a fiery temper, which tends to be set off most easily when she feels somebody is trying to control her. She has certain intellectual strengths and weaknesses– for instance, she sometimes has difficulty in thinking on her feet, or debating, or anything that requires a quick response, but she’s very good at constructing logical explanations for things at her own pace, carefully examining every angle of a situation. She is very observant and is sensitive to the emotions of others, somewhat psychically empathic as well as mildly telepathic. Though Evelyn may appear rather genteel and sophisticated at first glance, she has an almost feral nature at her core, a wild creature who has taken on a civilized veneer.

It’s important to note that Evelyn and Siobhan are the same person. Siobhan is not an alter ego– she just has a slightly different appearance. She will act like the same person, with the same strengths and weaknesses. She just uses an alias when Traveling so she won’t be recognized.  However, her facial structure is the same, so a very observant person might be able to recognize Evie if they’ve seen Siobhan.

Sexuality

Evelyn is pansexual and demisexual.  For more details, read here and here.  She is also, theoretically speaking, polyamorous (again, this is explained in more detail in the above links).    

The Travelers, or the Chronoforms

There is (or was, maybe) a race of non-corporeal beings who were able to see and move through all of time and space, all possibility and potentiality. Little is or was known of them, but when the Time Lords began harnessing the power of time and space far back at the beginning, somewhere along the way they acquired knowledge of these beings and thought to exploit them as power sources. Their very first experiments sought to draw them into physical bodies, but the bodies were unable to withstand the beings inside, and practically fell apart. So they began to genetically engineer bodies, splicing together genetic code from a number of “higher” species, through trial and error, also programming blocks and channels that would be utilized for control, and eventually managed to create a being who could physically move through time and space at will.

The first successful experiment was named Galatea, after an Earth myth about a sculpture brought to life.

As remembered in writing by Evelyn Alvar:

The process of integrating the essence of the being in question is an unpredictable one. Mutations can occur, anything from physical abnormalities to certain forms of dementia or madness. The psychological infrastructure can be compromised by the trauma of the coalescence, resulting in undesirable displays of willfulness and independence that have been not only counterproductive to our intent, but in some cases have been manifested as outright adversarial. Furthermore, the knowledge we have gained has allowed us to develop another project which utilizes the bio-engineering of machinery to achieve our goals without the struggle of maintaining control over willful Crossworlders. Therefore, we feel it is in the best interest of Gallifrey and her people that this project, and all prototypes created within its parameters, be terminated with impunity.

All of the prototypes were destroyed, except for Galatea. It is not yet clear how she survived the purge, but it is thought she had help. Little else is known of her life.

Evelyn Alvar’s Traveling form, Siobhan, is identical to Galatea, except for the fact that she has very little memory and no knowledge of Galatea’s life.  The details of how she came to be (part) human and living a life as Evelyn Alvar– and why– are unknown.

Becoming Evelyn

Near the end of the Last Great Time War, the Time Lords extracted Galatea’s essence from her dying physical form and integrated her into a half-human, half-Aetheryn embryo carried by Evelyn Alvar’s mother, Isabelle.  This was accomplished with the help of Soren Masterson, the leader of the remnant of Aetheryn refugees that took shelter on Earth after their planet was laid waste during the War.  Soren is also Evelyn’s biological father, and facilitated the genetic manipulation and modification of Isabelle so that the cross-species pregnancy could be viable.  Isabelle was kept in the dark during the whole ordeal, as she was continuously administered a drug similar to Torchwood’s Retcon to purge her memory; she remembers an affair with Soren which resulted in her pregnancy with Evelyn but nothing more.  She was also made infertile from the process, an unintended side effect that caused Isabelle to deeply resent Evelyn even though she didn’t understand the full story.  A half-human, genetically manipulated form was chosen for Galatea because it was thought she would be easier to control that way, and easier to dispose of when she had served her purpose.

Galatea’s memories were suppressed, and a trans-dimensional bilateral mirror framework set in place to contain a portion of her essence in a half-phased state, since the form of Evelyn Alvar, though it had been genetically engineered specifically to hold Galatea, would break down if it held her full essence.  They never intended her to Travel like she does, except when fulfilling their purpose for her, which was intended to burn her out so she would no longer be an issue for them as she had so often been as Galatea.  However, their precautions were not perfect, and some subconscious part of her broke through when she was a child and started bilocating.  As a result, her body is slowly breaking down over time, a situation which is exacerbated every time she Travels.  Her primay form is quite frail for this reason, though her Traveling form is still very strong.  Her journeys tend to be rather brief, even though they are a natural reflex, because some instinctive and automatic part of herself is trying to preserve her strength.  

[impracticaldemon]

I have a request: Can you write a short scene with the Hakouki characters (in a modern AU) ~ A summer day at the beach? Extra points for Saito in a speedo. 👌👍👌

May the celestial spirits help us all.

Words: ~2800 (it just happened I swear!!!) | FFN | AO3

For DWS aka @nalufever (tumblr): a faithful reader, reviewer and hilarious collaborator. You have an evenstranger imagination than mine at times. I hope you enjoy this offering!

Hakuouki Vignettes:  The Shinsengumi in the Sunshine

The sun blazed in a blue sky, through which a few white clouds driftedlike wispy cotton balls. It t looked like a painted background instead of areal sky. It was only just starting to get really hot when a silver minivan anda slick dark convertible pulled into the small parking lot overlooking thepristine beach area.

“Oh man this is perfect!” shouted a smallish teenage boy,flinging back a sliding door and racing down across the sand toward the water’sedge. “Look! The tide is just starting to come in now–awesome!”

The back hatch of the minivan began to rise automatically while threemore passengers disembarked: a tall red-head in his mid-twenties, a muscularguy in a green bandanna and matching trunks of about the same age, and a thirdman who looked young until you noticed that the unusual green eyes had finelines around them that suggested some kind of pain or trouble in the recentpast. To call the middle of the three muscular was saying something, becauseall three men had sinewy, corded arms and walked with the light, springy stepsof natural athletes. A casual observer might leave it at that. A more observantsort would take a second look (for more than just aesthetic reasons!) andmore-or-less correctly conclude that the visitors were officers on leave from anearby military base or maybe a larger city police force.

“Yo, Heisuke! Get your ass back here and help unload or you canforget about your share of the beer!”

The teenager—who was presumably older than he looked—waved a middlefinger back at the man with the green bandanna, but ran back across the sand todo as he was told. The gesture earned him a “friendly” tap on thehead when he arrived, which he shrugged off with almost startling indifference.

In the meantime, a lean, compact man with dark hair had gotten out ofthe driver’s seat, his movements almost unnoticeable against the backdrop ofhis louder and more colourful colleagues. He was wearing a plain black t-shirtover plain black trunks with some kind of white logo at the hem. He brieflysurveyed his passengers, giving a slightly longer scrutiny to the green-eyedman, and then walked over to the convertible.

A slightly older man with black hair and movie-star good looks hadalready gotten out from behind the wheel of the other car and was unpacking thesmall storage space in the back that passed for a trunk. The young—and indeedonly—woman with the group was just getting out of the passenger seat, her warmbrown eyes bright with excitement. Like the youngest of the men, she appearedto be in her late teens.

“Hello, Saitō-san,” she said cheerfully to the quiet,dark-haired man. She showed no surprise at his rather sudden—andsilent—presence. “The wind made a mess of my hair, but Hijikata-san saidthere was no point in having a convertible if you didn’t have the top down innice weather. Oh well, I think I’ve finally gotten it all straight again.”

Saitō nodded, since the young woman’s hair appeared to be tied up in itsusual short, neat ponytail. Without waiting for him to speak—or perhaps awarethat he wouldn’t —the woman smiled and went on:

“Did you have a good drive? Did Heisuke get picked on too much? IsOkita-san doing alright?” The last question was asked in a low voice;apparently she didn’t want Okita to hear her.

“The drive was fine, Yukimura. Heisuke is in good spirits. Soujidid not cough at all during the trip.”

“Well I hope he doesn’t overdo it now that we’re here,”growled Hijikata, stalking up to the two of them, his arms full of an oddassortment of objects. The strangest of these was a large pink inflatable duck,which he thrust unceremoniously at Chizuru (as she was invariably called byanyone other than Hijikata or Saitō). “Any trouble, Saitō?”

“No, Commander.”

“Then why the hell are you over here instead of frolicking down onthe beach with the others? Or at least off finding a convenient place fromwhich to silently watch the others frolic while you drink?” Apparently thequestion was rhetorical, since he didn’t wait for an answer. “Wellwhatever. You can carry some of this junk. I swear Yukimura filled most of thecar with food and the rest with toys.”

Saitō nodded calmly, as one used to such situations. He turned to theyoung woman.

“I thought it might be best for me to carry and, ah, look after thefood.”

There was a brief, thoughtful silence from the other two, and thenYukimura nodded emphatically and Hijikata smirked.

“Yeah, good point. Don’t want Heisuke and Shinpachi making a messof things as usual and getting sand in everyone’s lunch. Fucking morons.They’ll think twice if it’s you.”

“You’ll help me carry the beach balls then, Hijikata-san?”Chizuru asked tentatively. “And the posts for the net?”

The Commander sighed irritably. He had a soft spot for the girl, butnobody knew if it went any farther than that. In fact, due to the odd circumstancesunder which Yukimura Chizuru had (temporarily) joined their unit, everyone kepta close eye on her, and seemed to go a little out of their way for her. To whatextent depended on their various natures. Harada Sanosuke, the tall red-head,was the most obviously protective and charming, while Tōdō Heisuke was thekindest and most accepting. Nagakura Shinpachi was more of a rough and readysort, but he treated her like a younger sister and often looked out for herwhen he thought nobody was looking. Nobody really knew what Okita Sōji thought,but even he tended to tone down his sharp edges around Chizuru, although healso teased her mercilessly when he could. Saitō just tended to show up when hewas needed; however, that was how he behaved with the rest of them as well.Okita insisted that Saitō—a known stickler for order and discipline—went easieron Chizuru than he should, but so far he was alone in his opinion, at least outloud.

“I will find an appropriate spot for the net,” Saitōvolunteered. “We must also leave sufficient space for the water gunfight.” He managed to say the last three words both disapprovingly andwithout inflection, a skill that many aristocratic butlers trained for years toperfect. Chizuru had never had a butler, but she had heard of them, and it hadoccurred to her before that Saitō-san would make an excellent butler.

Eventually, everyone was settled—or active, as the case might be. Theso-called baka trio had brought surf boards, and were eyeingthe incoming tide. It still wasn’t quite right, but according to what they’dbeen told, it should be getting there fairly soon. In the meantime, they wereengaged in a no-holds-barred beach volleyball competition—which pleased Chizurugreatly—refereed by Okita—which apparently pleased nobody but theself-designated ref. Heisuke was at a significant height disadvantage, but hemade up for it with exceptional acrobatics and apparently limitless energy. Allthree were drinking copious quantities of beer. Chizuru tried to get them to drinkwater between matches instead, but Okita stepped in and (in his words)preserved their inalienable right to get drunk in whatever way they wanted,even if it meant raging dehydration and severe hangovers later. Saitō, from hisvantage point not far away, noticed that Sōji’s words were more effective thanChizuru’s. All three beach volleyball players surreptitiously started to drinkmore water, and nobody commented further on it.

Hijikata-san sat against a nearby palm tree, head tilted back and eyesclosed between sporadic fits of furious writing into a handsomely-boundnotebook. Since his facial expressions always became particularly contortedduring these times, Chizuru found it best not to bother him, although she wasas intensely curious about the contents of the book as usual. Okita-san hadtold her that Hijikata-san wrote erotica, which was why he refused to read fromhis writings; Saitō-san had quietly contradicted this and told her that whatshe had seen was the Commander writing poetry. The latter was more believable,but didn’t explain the senior officer’s refusal to share his work. It hadtaken some time for Chizuru to realize that perhaps the two categories weren’tmutually exclusive. Moreover, Saitō-san hadn’t actually denied that Hijikata-sanwrote erotica—in retrospect, his precise wording could have been deliberatelymisleading.

Okita had just declared himself the winner of the volleyball tournament,to good-natured laughter and cat-calls from the actual participants, when thefaint noise of a motor-bike caught everyone’s attention. Somehow, Saitō wasalready in the parking lot, his alcohol of choice—nobody had noticed what itwas today—already stowed neatly away and his face showing neither the merrimentnor the inebriated flush displayed by his colleagues. Hijikata looked up, hisexpression registering annoyance (although as Okita often said, how could youtell?).

The motorbike arrived very shortly thereafter, indicating that it wasboth fast and surprisingly quiet for its speed. Yet another fit young man, thisone on the shorter side, sprang off the bike and hurried over to Saitō, who hadbeen joined by Okita. The three surfing enthusiasts down on the beach did notlook happy—the waves were just about perfect and the water was calling.

“Dammit, I knew this was too good to betrue,” Okita snarled as the biker gave Saitō the unwelcome news that somerich kids—the son of the beachfront owner and his pals—were on their way andmight be looking for trouble.

“Chief Kondō said that the owner was happy to oblige him with aninexpensive rental,” noted Saitō calmly.

“Yeah, well Kondō-san always thinks the best of everyone, doesn’the? Why didn’t Hijikata-san look into things better, that’s what I want toknow! That’s his job, isn’t it?”

“Thank you for alerting us, Yamazaki,” said Saitō, ignoringOkita’s complaint with the ease of long practice. “Now that you are here,however, I feel that you should change into more appropriate apparel so as notto appear out of place.”

Before Yamazaki could respond, or Okita could continue to enumerateHijikata-san’s shortcomings for failing to protect Chief Kondō from theconsequences of his over-trusting good-nature, Saitō had turned away to briefHijikata-san. He also made a point of smiling and waving at Harada, Shinpachiand Heisuke, to let them know that it was alright to get on with their surfing.Unfortunately, the unprecedented nature of these actions caused all three ofthem to abandon their surf boards and come hurrying up from the water.

“What the hell did you signal to them?” demanded Hijikata,taking in Saitō’s surprised expression.

“… I’m not sure, now,” his faithful aide-de-camp murmured.

In the end, everyone gathered around Hijikata’s palm tree to hear thenews that they were on the verge of being invaded by high-class guys looking tothrow their weight around. Chizuru, holding tightly to a large, bright pinkduck, and looking very sweet in a hearts-and-flowers two-piece bathing suit,was clearly the most worried.

“Oh no! I hope they don’t ruin your day off! Maybe they just wantto welcome you on behalf of the owner?”

Several pairs of eyes met above Chizuru’s head and exchanged theunspoken message that the girl was cute, but deluded. Only Okita took it uponhimself to explain the situation in no uncertain terms:

“Don’t be an idiot. The owner’s probably involved in all sorts ofcorrupt activities—wouldn’t be so rich otherwise, would he? Anyone"—otherthan Kondō-san, thought most of those present, but silently—"would wonderwhy a guy like that would want to be nice to a bunch of federal investigatorslike us. He’s probably set things up with his son to create trouble with us sothat he can make us look bad.” Okita rolled his eyes. “It’s notlikely they’re here to be nice to us.”

“Let’s not give them a chance to complain,” Hijikata put in atthat point, arms folded. “You three—Heisuke, Harada, Shinpachi—go surf.That’s an order! And act normal.”

“Sure thing Commander,” said Harada. He winked at Shinpachi,who picked up Heisuke, and the two tall men raced back down to the water todunk their smaller colleague and grab their boards and some more beer.

“Yamazaki—glad to have you with us—why the hell haven’t you changedinto swim gear or something yet? You look like a ninja in that bikingoutfit.”

“But—” Yamazaki began to protest, before being cut off bySaitō.

“Yukimura brought extra swim gear. You can change in that smallcabin.”

Chizuru stared at Saitō. “Did I tell you that? I didn’t think Itold anyone. Hijikata-san was, um…” She trailed off uncomfortably asHijikata raised a sharp black eyebrow at her.

“I told you not to stuff my car with so much crap, that’sall!”

The noise of a motor made them all go silent, and then Saitō starteddragging Yamazaki toward the tiny beach hut. Hijikata told Chizuru to go looklike she was having fun with the surfers.

“And act natural!” he shouted after her, as she scrambled awayacross the hot sand, clutching her duck.

Meanwhile, in the beach hut, Saitō was stripping off his black trunkswith a resigned expression on his impassive countenance.* Yamazaki, recognizingthat he was going to have fun at the beach whether he wanted to or not, peeledoff his biking gear. He accepted the black trunks without comment. According toOkita, the unit’s two top security experts preferred to operate on asemi-telepathic level when not required to speak to normal people. The twoofficers in question secretly agreed, but—naturally—never discussed the matter.

Moments later, Saitō and Yamazaki stepped out of the beach hut. Yamazakilooked marginally less like a commando (or ninja) now, in Saitō’s black trunksand t-shirt. Saitō looked… Well, he looked different. He hadruffled his neat hair into a tousled mop—always carry good hair gel was one ofhis many unspoken mottos—and produced a pair of mirrored sunglasses from theblack messenger bag that he had apparently been carrying with him all along.There was a bright silver chain with a sword hanging from it around his necknow, flashing in the sun and somehow drawing the eye to his sharp collar-bonesand lean, but perfectly muscled chest. And he was wearing bright indigo,crotch-hugging “racing trunks”. This was so totally unexpected thatthe stolid Yamazaki blinked twice before acknowledging that if aman wanted to wear two bathing suits at once, in anticipation of (a) needing anunexpected disguise at the beach, or (b) some unanticipated event, then Saitōhad planned well. Very few people would be staring at his face in that outfit.

As Yamazaki and Saitō strolled casually down toward the water,Hijikata’s face froze into an incredulous expression. Then his eyes flickedover to the speedboat that was swooping in on them in a torrent of noise andspray, heading for the small dock about fifty meters away.

“What the fuck are you wearing, Saitō?!”

Saitō raised a delicate eyebrow under his newly-ruffled bangs and placeda hand on Yamazaki’s arm. In a soft voice that in no way reflected the frost inhis blue eyes, he murmured:

“I have been studying our new colleague Itō-san, Commander. Ibelieve that his name and overall effect will be as effectivea disguise as any, don’t you?”

Hijikata stared at him and then rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“How in all the gods’ names am I supposed to keep a straight face?Just how much have you been drinking, Saitō?”

“Itō,” his subordinate told him implacably. “I haven’tgotten through my first fifth yet.”

“Fuck. Fine. Well, here they come and I’ll bet you diamonds todonuts that the lead guy is daddy’s darling.”

“No bet,” replied Okita, who had been standing besideHijikata, cell-phone camera at the ready. He was clearly struggling not tolaugh, his thin, rather pale face looking more alive than it had in months.Only the possiblity of incoming enemies kept him from immediately starting on aphoto-record of “Ito’s” day at the beach. Instead, he was saving thebattery in order to take nice, innocuous photos showing a nice, innocuousmeeting between the unit officers and their host’s son.

The boat had pulled in and been moored with amazing efficiency, andthree men were walking toward them, two of them wearing the kind of smile thatmakes you want to count your fingers after you shake hands. The massivered-haired man at the back wasn’t smiling at all; if anything, he lookedresigned. The front man definitely fit the image conjured up by Hijikata’swords: he had feathery, artistically ruffled blond hair (Saitō probably knewthe hair gel), porcelain perfect features, expensively tailored clothes, andthe kind of walk that is almost unique to those who have been entitled sincebirth. Everything about him shouted Crown Prince.

“Hello there,” called Prince-sama. “Understand Fathergave you the run of the place for the day. Mind if we join you for a bit?”

Hijikata bared his teeth in something that was vaguely related to asmile.

“You must be Kazama Junior,” he drawled, radiating insincerepleasure. “Let me introduce you to the guys—I’m sure we’ll all get alonglike a city on fire.”

[END] [for now]

Notes:

* It’s a skill. Don’t ask how he does it.

Please review or comment or whatever if you get the chance! Also, I knowthis isn’t a vignette; more like a vine with half-fermented grapes…

~ImpracticalOni ;)

Note:  Good grief I left this in my drafts! Oh well. Better late than never.

Tag team:

@shell-senji @fury-ous @queen-mizera @kazama-hime @hakusaitosan @tealdeertamer @very-x-vice @sabinasanfanfic @walk-tall-my-fr1ends @hakuokifirst @annahakuouki @eliz1369 @canadiangaap @vav-airis @moon-faced-pear-shaped @lady-yomi @thesweateristoobig @doodlethewhiteraven 

As always let me know if you want to be added/taken off the list. Or if you’re just looking for certain characters or story types.

[greengargouille]

AK RarePair week Spring 2017, Day 1 - Rain

((Hello everyone, and welcome back for the second edition of Rarepair Week ! Are you all ready for it ? Well I am ! Not. Please somebody stop time for me.))

Rating: General Audience Characters: Hazama Kirara, Kurahashi Hinano Relationship: Hazama/Kurahashi

Ao3 link here

Hazama never was one to like the sun. Not only her skin burned easily, the dry weather made her hair curl up into a knotty mess her mother had many times, during childhood, tried to tame with rough brush strokes that left a painful impression on her. Rain was better. Rain made her hair wet, straightened them and stuck them to her face like a ghost just released from her well. She liked that appearance much better.

But her main problem with the sun have always been how she was forced to indulge her mother’s fantasies. Picnic, walk in the wood... With the rays of sun came maternal ideas straight from a fairy tale, and the girl would only be able to follow those plans. Pointing out the gap between those romanticised delusions and reality would only make her mother scream ; no one was allowed to shatter the dreamy illusion in which she lived, or there would be dire consequences. It was all very stressful, and for naught too, because ultimately she would get irritated by ants or dirt or who know what, and her husband and daughter would would get the short end of her low mood.

There wasn’t much she could do about the sun, hanging the teru teru bōzu upside down or recite spells meant to bring out the rain. She could, however, try her best to avoid her mother, mostly by locking herself in the library or following the idiots from her gang in whatever stupid idea they’ve got.

However, neither of those things prepared her for an invitation from Kurahashi. Which explained how, despite hating physical effort and staying outside whenever unecessary, the gloomy girl ended up walking in the woods near her school, sweaty from the hot yet humid summer weather accompanying a sky cloudy since days, yet refused to rain and relieve everyone. Mother Nature truly was someone terrible.

To be fair, Hazama was indebted to Kurahashi. No longer than a week ago, her newly acquired pet tarantula happened to lay eggs, something its precedent owner had somehow forgotten to warn her about. How was she supposed to guess that when its usual mating season didn’t even start, and in which conditions was it kept for such an event to happen ? Her usual composure had vanished on the moment, and it was thanks to Ritsu’s idea of contacting their animal-loving comrade that she was able to get out of this mess.

Outside of this incident, Hazama hadn’t talked much to Kurahashi. They were sitting at opposite ends of the class and frequented different groups, which left not much occasions to befriend each other, and Hazama liked it like that. If she were to be honest, the other girl made her uneasy.

She had a pretty good instinct for the darkness humans kept in their hearts. Negative emotions. Greed. Happiness at making someone suffer. Those things, Hazama always have been good at guessing them. She was pretty proud of it, in fact, how she could point out the exact things that would depress a specific person or make them show their true face. She liked awful people because she could be venomous without restraint around them, and she prefered to surround herself with the ones with a bad reputations, that would accept her as she was, far from the pretty princess her mother had tried to turn her into.

Kurahashi was a strange case, for Hazama couldn’t see this kind of darkness in her. Rather, whenever she was around, it was as if the bad feelings evaporated into the air, as if her sole presence alleviated people from their worries. She could repeat the sleazy words she heard the guys secretly say with the same innocent smile as usual. It left Hazama speechless. Unable to think of how she should speak to her or to stand next to such a bright person. Kurahashi have been described by their classmates as being a ray of sunshine, and in that they were surely right, because Hazama had a hard time handling her.

That didn’t mean she disliked the girl. Their times together were rather awkward, but she liked listening to her peppy talk, and she was grateful for her help in dealing with her pet’s many children. Plus, she took a vicious pleasure in imagining what would be her mother’s reaction if she heard that the girl she complimented when Hazama brought her home - “So charming and sweet, why can’t you be more like her ?”- was dragging her to go seek her beetle baits.

“I’m glad you came along.” Kurahashi commented while walking. If it weren’t for Karasuma’s training, Hazama would have a hard time following her while conversing casually, but she doubted her comrade would have needed it in the first place to move around with so much ease. She seemed like an outdoor person. “With the summer vacations, I didn’t know who to call, but then I remember you mentioning you were there till the end of the month, and I thought, ‘If it’s Hazama-chan she will surely come !’.”

This could seems like the girl had no idea of her comrade’s personality. Hazama choose to rather see it as her admitting she knew the gloomy student would be unwilling to refuse her something after her help. Kurahashi was, after all, one of the best students of Irina-sensei ; under her carefree air, there would be no way she wasn’t observant enough to not notice the other girl’s daily attitude, and she knew how to manipulate people in subtle ways. Hazama had no chance to win against her, as usual.

“Why do you need someone, though ? I don’t think I can help you in any way. -Because it’s a fun activity to do together ! Ah, don’t tell me, you don’t dislike beetles, do you ?” she sounded so surprised, as if the thought only just occurred to her. “I don’t dislike them, but I don’t have particular feelings about them either. I like how they look, though. -Yes, aren’t they adorable ?” This wasn’t exactly the word Hazama would have used, no. “I was more thinking in the lines of ‘elegant’. -Ah, I see what you mean ! They would make a good subject for jewelry, wouldn’t they ? -Like the scarab of ancient Egypt ? -Exactly !” Kurahashi pondered something for an instant, then asked “Do you like ancient Egypt, Hazama-chan ? -I’m more interested in their curses, but I’ve read about some of their gods. Isn’t there supposed to be a scarab beetle rolling the Sun around ? Sounds like it could suit you. -Why, thank you !”

The girl’s approval made Hazama conscious of what she had just said, leaving her feeling slightly awkward, through her face only showed composure. She hadn’t even meant it as a compliment. Casual compliments aren’t her style, except as thinly veiled insults. Was it that Kurahashi was so used to be called ‘sunny’ that she thought it was probably something similar ? Maybe not. She did seems the kind who would actually appreciate being compared to a bug.

“It’s too bad there isn’t a lot of stories about beetles. I like every insect, but I have a soft spot for them. -I think there’s one in North America. They helped the natives in making the rain falls.” She didn’t know the details, but that one story had peeked her interest enough to remember it. “Oh, that’s interesting ! It would be nice if the rain would fall here, too, the clouds accumulate but won’t release anything. If we find beetles, maybe we should ask them if they know a song or two for that !” While she said that lightly, Kurahashi then hummed a song to herself, as if really considering this eventuality.

Hazama envied her, if only for a bit. The way she acted as if those silly stories would have no impact on her - no, it was more than likely the case. If the rain was to fall, they would be soaked, but that would be far from the end of the world. If the clouds would dissipate and let the sun shine even brighter, they might get sunburns, but all kinds of bugs would probably come out, maybe even unusual ones. The weather didn’t matter much for Kurahashi’s enjoyment of the situation.

It was sort of cute. And also something Hazama was unable to do. For a fourteen year old, it wasn’t unusual to have strong opinions on insignifiant subjects, but she thought she was mature enough to be above this. Yet. She couldn’t forget that feeling she got as a younger child, buried in incantation books and whispering words she forced herself to pretend she didn’t believe in. That tiny sparkle of hope that, maybe, with enough efforts, she could make the rain fall on the garden and her mother would be forced to cancel the afternoon tea she spent days organizing. Maybe, if she repeated the words enough times, she wouldn’t have to sit among all those adults and look at sweets she wouldn’t be allowed to eat, because her food and health advisor of a mother wanted her to stay thin and pretty.

Hazama was unable of letting go of her bitterness from those memories, nor did she wished to. Kurahashi could be as happy as she wanted to be, the pleasure of seeing rain fall down on people’s expectations suited her much more.

Still. As water droplets descending from the sky minutes after their conversation, she felt a tad jealous to see the girl’s lighthearted humming being rewarded.

“You must be kidding me... -Ah, I know where to shelter ourselves ! Quick !”

A hand took Hazama’s, warm from the summer heat. She had no time to react, as she was suddenly pulled forward.

She hated running, especially in the woods where the ground was uneven and her feet could potentially be caught in anything, but she wasn’t given the leisure to choose her pace. The air was supposed to get chillier, but as they arrived at their goal, she felt even warmer from the race.

The place Kurahashi was thinking about was small. A cavity in the rockier part of a slope, not even a cave. Was there a cave on this mountain ? There must be one. It would be more comfortable than being forced to sit down, the hole not tall enough to permit standing up, nor big enough to let them have much personal space between them.

After catching her breath a few minutes, tempting the ignore how close the other girl was to her - she could almost feel her against her skin, soft and lukewarm-, Hazama finally told her.

“I think that’s confirm it. You’re really a beetle. -No way !” Kurahashi laughed at the suggestion. “You seems happy, given our current situation. -Well, it was really time for rain to fall. And it makes me kinda glad you came, since else I would have to wait alone. -...It’s true that the rain is refreshing.”

She wasn’t sure how to interpret the second sentence. Kurahashi just wanted to say she would be bored without someone there. It could have been anyone else. But she still felt a tiny bit happy at those words.

That... bothered her. She wasn’t even sure why. She wanted to ignore this, to respond casually with a snicker. She used a low, supposedly menacing voice. It came out more nervous than she wanted.

“You know, though, I could do terrible things to you just to distract myself, are you sure you’re glad that I’m here ? -Hm ? What could you do, I wonder ?”

Kurahashi turned her head to face her comrade, a smile on her lips.

“If it was Rio-chan or one of the boys, it would probably be something sleazy, but that would be too boring from your part... You always get interesting ideas, don’t you ? I want to hear all about them~"

That’s right, Hazama had always been clever when it came to this kind of things. Always finding the most unexpected words to bully someone verbally, or methods to scare them without brute force. Her reputation as a witch was earned honestly.

Yet, when Kurahashi approached her face, her mind was empty.

It really made her feel uneasy to be so close. Her face was so bright, after all. Her arm so warm against her own.

“If you’re not going to do anything, maybe you won’t mind if I act first, then ?”

Aah, that wasn’t good, that wasn’t good at all. This was precisely a reason why Kurahashi made her feel apprehensive. The way she would get so familiar that Hazama couldn’t keep her coolness, nor find any way to push her back -no spiderweb can resist to the beetle’s will after all. The way that made her not even sure she actually wanted to keep her distance with this ridiculously cute and happy girl.

...If only for letting this moment exist. Hazama was glad it rained this time.

[sealegs2414blankpages]

Your Smile Is My Happiness

“Is there a reason your knees are shaking and your hand is squeezing like there’s no tomorrow?”

SugaKookie

Word Count: 6934

If you’ve ever had a crush then you probably could understand how Jungkook was feeling right now. Was it even possible to keep your knees from shaking when you were sitting less than an inch away from the person who made your heart race and stomach flip? Ugh, and this sweat? It wasn’t attractive in the slightest but he couldn’t get his palms to stop. This wasn’t the only occasion these reactions had occurred. In fact it had been growing worse with each interaction with the shorter yet older male that he respected more than he could ever put into words. Honestly, the twenty year old still wondered when his feelings had shifted. It wasn’t something that had happened over night though sometimes it felt like that. He had crushes  before but none of the previous ones had ever managed to make him as nervous as,

“Yoongi hyung,” made him.

Especially not when the older man didn’t even do anything out of the ordinary. Things were getting out of hand. Now, he was smiling into the air, seemingly nothing but it was because just hearing his hyung laugh from the other room made him happy. Anything that made the elder smile made Jungkook smile too. Others were beginning to notice his unusual actions and even some awkwardness from time to time. Jimin had totally caught him moving away at the flash of light when Yoongi had walked up to him and stopped so close that their arms brushed. This wasn’t something he should back away from, they had been together for the last four years. They had been living in the same dorm, even when Jungkook was still just an immature teenager and needed some direction. If anything the man who was causing the air to grow thin around him should feel more like a brother. He did. Well, he did previously, like two years ago. Things had slowly progressed from strangers, to friends, to brothers, all the while the awe and respect was just snowballing into a mass he couldn’t even see anymore. Yoongi hyung was amazing in so many ways. Sure he was annoying at times but wasn’t he annoying sometimes too? All the boys were. It was natural. Unlike the other boys though, Yoongi hyung shined. He shined so bright that he was hard to look at and sometimes it even hurt. Yes, things had truly grown out of control.

“Hmm?” Yoongi barely gave Jungkook a response and it was more of a grunt but it was a response. The younger wasn’t put off by it, this was normal and his hyung was reviewing lyrics on his phone that he had written the day before. Jungkook rubbed his hands on his Pokémon pajama pants and contemplated on how to tell Yoongi to move away without sounding rude. He needed some space because right now he had an overwhelming urge to wrap his arms around his hyung’s waist and nuzzle his neck. Yeah, nope, that would not do. He mentally gave himself a slap. This was not the type of things he should be thinking but in his defense it had been a long day. Okay, that wasn’t really much of a defense at all but it was all he had. Rationalization made him feel better… Sometimes.

Just as Jungkook got the courage to open his mouth and ask a large, veiny warm hand gripped his own hand that rested on his knee. His eyes darted down as soon as he felt it. If he felt like he was sweating before then it was even hotter now. He knew, knew, 100% knew that his ears turned red. Hopefully his cheeks hadn’t turned pink as well. Pursing his lips, Jungkook became really frustrated with himself. This was not the reaction he was supposed to be having. Yoongi didn’t mean anything by what he did, it was a normal, casual act that all the members and managers would do amongst each other.

“Kook, look this over for me, huh?” That smooth deep voice washed over his ears and it was so soothing that Jungkook’s thoughts flew right out of his mind. So much so that he didn’t even respond to his hyung. The phone being put in front of him also went unnoticed since his eyes were still on his hyung’s hand covering his own.

“Jungkook-ah?”

Hearing the question, Jungkook snapped his head up, brown hair flying about since he moved so fast. A second later he turned his head towards Yoongi and met a questioning expression that for some reason made his stomach fill with warmth. Biting his lip, the brunette made a snap decision, he needed to leave and he needed to leave now. If he didn’t then he might make a huge mess of things. The surge of adoration that he was feeling for Yoongi came on as sudden as a typhoon and it was dangerous. Standing up he stepped away from the couch and didn’t look back.

“I’m tired. Goodnight hyung.”

Those clipped words were all he said, as his nails pressed into the palms of his hands and the younger made his way into his room, hurriedly shutting the door and diving under the safety of his covers. It was better this way, he needed to get those feelings under control. Under lock and key. A niggling of guilt made it’s way through and Jungkook wanted to shove his covers aside, go right back to his hyung and apologize for his behavior. Explain. However, he knew that he would cave if he met Yoongi’s dark orbs right now. He shined, Min Yoongi always shined so brightly to Jungkook it was a struggle every day to not just reach out and touch.

Touch what wasn’t his.

Touch what he couldn’t have.

Touch what he didn’t deserve.

Days past since their last encounter and neither one mentioned how odd the younger had been acting. Jungkook had felt a couple of gazes that he knew were from one certain person. He ignored them, and ignored and ignored. Maybe so hard that it was obvious. No, it was obvious. However, Yoongi left him alone. It was just like his hyung too. He was always sensitive to his other members needs and wants. Yoongi knew when to give space and when to pry though it was almost never that the elder would pry. Just another reason that Jungkook lov-

Wait. What? Liked him. Yes, just another reason that Jungkook liked and admired his hyung.

Just another lie he was telling himself. Who was he to kid, Jungkook knew very well where that thought was heading and it was just wishful thinking that he changed the direction asap. Letting himself actively admit to anything made it just that much harder. That much more real and that much more of a problem. In his heart of hearts he knew the truth though. He has for a while now. It wasn’t like he didn’t love his hyung, he had since they established a friendship while still trainees. Love was ever flowing and ever-changing but that didn’t mean he had to acknowledge what form his love was taking currently. No, not just yet.

The door creaked open to the practice room. A figure made its way into the doorway but remained there watching Jungkook continue to lie with his eyes closed, sweat dripping down his forehead on the floor, arms out wide. The silence stretched between the two as one didn’t bother to make his presence known and the other didn’t acknowledge the presence he knew was in the room. After a few more moments, a cough echoed in the room as the figure cleared his throat breaking the silence specifically to get the younger to look towards him. Slowly, Jungkook opened his eyes and craned his head towards the figure. From the light in the room black hair with flecks of lingering blue could be seen. It was Yoongi hyung, who still didn’t say a word. The brunette lying on the floor didn’t either.

A moment late of silent communication, Jungkook reached for his towel and wiped off his sweat. Getting up he tossed the towel on his bag and then pulled his timberlands back on and followed his hyung out the door. No questions were asked, just the quiet footsteps of the two could be heard as they made their way through the almost empty building, up the stairs and to the roof. This wasn’t a place they frequented often but every now and then the fresh air was nice. Yoongi took a seat on the thick wall of the building and nodded for the younger to do the same. Jungkook did just that but made sure to put some space between them, not too much to make his hyung suspicious that something was going on with him but not too close so that his heart would be in danger of leaping out of his chest.

Sitting in silence wasn’t unusual when it was with Yoongi hyung. They had done this a number of times and oddly enough Jungkook never got bored. He especially enjoyed it when he were sitting in a position where he could see his hyung. That was never tiring, there was always some fleck of emotion passing through the elders face, whether it was just in his eyes or he scrunched up his nose in annoyance of something not going right or an eyebrow raise when a new idea came that he hadn’t contemplated before. It was almost a mission of the youngers to memorize them all. Tonight though, it would be too difficult unless he made it completely obvious that he was staring.

He let out a soft sigh and almost immediately after he felt the air shift. Yoongi’s hand was covering his own and their thighs were pressed together. Yoongi gave his hand a gently squeeze as he began to speak.

“You okay, Kookie?”

It had been a long time since his hyung had called him that. He wasn’t sure if anyone noticed but every time Yoongi began calling him by a name it became the name he gave on interviews that he liked to be referred as. It made him wonder if Yoongi would go back to Kookie now. He didn’t mind, he’d accept any name that the rapper  gave him. The brunette mulled over the question he had been asked. He wasn’t entirely sure how he wanted to answer that. Currently he was okay, well except for that he was feeling tingles going up and down his limbs, his back was stiff and his stomach had done another flip but that wasn’t what was being asked of him. He had been dancing because he wanted to perfect the next choreography to the song they’d be performing on the music shows soon. Nothing much had really changed for him. He was stuck in the same position he had been for over a year now. Some days were just harder than others.

“Yeah.” Keeping his head down the word came out just above a whisper but with their close proximity he really didn’t need to talk any louder than that. Yoongi began nodding his head as if Jungkook could see him but he didn’t need to. More silence stretched between the two and Yoongi’s hand didn’t leave the younger’s. It took a moment but after he stopped focusing so much on the effects that Yoongi was making him feel, that it wasn’t him feeling those things. His stomach was still fluttering and his hands were still clammy but he wasn’t shaking. Lifting his head up slightly, he looked over at Yoongi, glanced at their hands then back at his hyung.

“Hyung…” the shorter male just grunted in reply.

“Is there a reason your knees are shaking and your hand is squeezing like there’s no tomorrow?”

Yoongi refused to turn his head towards Jungkook and meet his gaze. If it hadn’t been for the fact that it was really dark outside even with all the lights of the city, Jungkook could have seen his hyung blush. Sadly that was not in the cards for him to night. The two could see each other just fine but it wasn’t quite bright enough to see any dustings of pink on either of their faces.

A gruff, “No,” was the reply he got as well as a forced relaxation in the grip that the elder had on his hand but it still never moved. The knees however, well they got a little worse before they got better. A short hushed string of curses could barely be heard but the tone was enough for Jungkook. He wasn’t really sure how to feel at the moment mainly because he didn’t know what to make out of this situation. His crazy mind wanted him to believe that it was a sign, a sign that he had never let himself even dream about receiving. The smarter part of him hushed the fantasy and denied that it could be a possibility. Regardless Jungkook was having a struggle within himself. He didn’t want to hope but his heart had already skipped a beat at the mere inkling that this could be a sign. It felt like one and oh how badly Jungkook wanted it to be one.

“Um…hyung, you’re uh, still ho-“

“I know. Am I not allowed to?” The deep timbre of his voice sent chills down Jungkook’s spine and his eyes widened in surprise. He really didn’t know what to do so his teeth found his bottom lip, biting and tearing at the skin there. It was a bad habit but he couldn’t seem to break it.

“Oh, uh, n-no. You c-can.” Oh for god’s sake, he was stuttering now?! If he could smack himself in the face right now Jungkook would but he didn’t want to do anything more ridiculous than he just made himself feel.

Yoongi’s voice softened and concern set in, “Sorry, Jungkook-ah. If it makes you uncomfortable…” he trailed off and began to lift his hand off of the youngers but it still hovered for a moment. In the end Yoongi ran his hand through his hair and stood up walking further away from the other. Jungkook followed his hyung with his eyes and was baffled by what he was seeing. Maybe it should be him asking the other if he was okay. This was the first time he had ever seen his hyung act so odd and… well, awkward.

“It shouldn’t uh, doesn’t, doesn’t make me uncomfortable.” Aish, that did not come out right. Jungkook didn’t know what was worse, telling the truth or covering it up with a lie. No answer was a good answer because neither came out sounding the way that he meant it. He swung his legs back and forth letting his heels hit against the concrete wall he was sitting on. Yoongi let out a dry laugh and tapped the tip of his shoe into the ground a few times.

“Shouldn’t… so it does.” He spoke with words softly but in the quiet of the night, Jungkook could still hear them. Letting out a sigh, the rapper turned around eyes flitting towards Jungkook’s for the briefest of moments before dropping down once more.

“You should get home, it’s late. I still need to work on some things.” It was the quickest that Jungkook had ever seen the elder put up a wall. They looked at each other and all the brunette could see was… nothing. There was no emotion, nothing, just a blank slab, a dead stare. Exactly what he never wanted to see but he was really confused about the short burst of events that had just transpired. He didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing.

Yoongi walked towards the rooftop door and let himself back into the warmth of BigHit Entertainment. Back into the walls he knew they shouldn’t be breaking. Back to the safety of doing what idols do best, pretending that everything is okay even when it’s not.

Sliding down the wall Jungkook trudged his way to the door. For some reason his feet felt really heavy, just like his heart. He didn’t even know why but he felt like he had just messed everything up. Should he go after Yoongi? Should he just leave him be? Yoongi was so much better at this than he was. The singer made his way through the familiar hallways full of too many questions and not enough answers. The one thing he did know was that he didn’t want to leave things like this. He wanted Yoongi to smile. Oh, how he wanted the elder to smile. Truly, that was all he ever wanted regardless of his feelings if the elder was smiling then Jungkook could breathe. He could smile too.

As he passed by the studio that he knew Yoongi was occupying he hesitated. Standing outside the door, he peered into it. It was almost like he could see the other male in the room and in a way. Jungkook knew what Yoongi was doing and he never grew bored of watching. Reaching out for the doorknob, he held onto it, took in a sharp breath and let it out hard as he opened the door. Walking inside, it was no surprise that his hyung had headphones on. He made his way over but barely got halfway before one of them was removed full from his hyung’s ear and strict words filled the air.

“Go home Jungkook.”

It felt like he was being scolded but for what? And why? Deciding to ignore his hyung he took another couple of steps in the room. A loud huff was heard and the chair quickly spun around. Those dark eyes were locked with his in a matter of seconds but they were once again devoid of anything. A mask and a good one his hyung was wearing.

“I don’t have time to argue with you. Go home, you’re not five you don’t need me to send you.” Spinning promptly back around Yoongi placed the headphone back over his ear though not completely. The younger just stared in confusion at the man in front of him. His words were harsh and it sort of bothered him but he didn’t want to let it. This wasn’t like Yoongi and he understood that but it still was frustrating that he was being treated like a kid even if he was just told he wasn’t one.

“Hyung-”

Before he could even say anything else, Yoongi had interrupted him and this time he was much louder and very much annoyed with Jungkook.

“Jungkook! Don’t make me say it again.”

The younger bit his lip but didn’t say anything. He stared for a moment longer but then turned away. This time his heart was racing but not for the same reason it had just twenty minutes ago. Once he made it to the door, he spoke for the last time.

“I don’t know what I did hyung, but I’m sorry.”

With that he shut the door behind him and leaned against it. A loud crash sounded from inside the room and made him jump but as much as he wanted to rush right back in and make sure Yoongi was okay, he knew better. Instead, he listened to his elder and went home.

Last night, he barely got any sleep but upon seeing Yoongi the next morning at breakfast he thought his hyung was truly worse for wear. Jungkook bit his lip a lot that day and often opened his mouth to speak but only closed it right after. The other members noticed but didn’t know how to broach the subject and instead just let things play out.

And play out they did indeed. Neither Yoongi nor Jungkook talked unless necessary to each other. They previously would spend at minimum some quality time together at least once a day even if it was spent in silence. The next week was spent in silence but never alone. There was always at least one other person present.

“Hyung, you awake?” a loud whisper but a whisper nonetheless filled the dark bedroom.

“Yeah?” came the raspy reply, followed by the rustling of bedsheets as one person turned over.

“Is Yoongi hyung doing okay?”

A small stretch of silence hovered in the room.

“Namjoon?”

“Why don’t you ask him yourself Kookie?” It was an innocent enough question but it wasn’t one that the younger wanted to hear. Namjoon however was tired of answering this question every single night. Couldn’t the two just talk to each other? This was ridiculous. He didn’t even care what the two must have fought over. They all had to spend basically 24/7 with each other, they needed to figure that shit out and figure it out soon. Their gloom was starting to settle in his own bones and he really didn’t need any extra reasons to feel down.More than that though he just wanted everyone to be as happy as they can be.

“I don’t know what you two fought about but one of you has to break. Maybe you should be the one to be the bigger person.”

Jungkook sighed into his pillow. He knew that his roommate was just trying to help but he really didn’t know what to do and it wasn’t as if he could even explain it. How can you explain something you don’t even understand. Namjoon did have a point though, one of them would have to break. Perhaps waiting for Yoongi to figure things out he should offer another olive branch.

“Also, where did your manners go huh? Namjoon?” The elder huffed in mock annoyance making the younger laugh.

“Thanks hyung.” Some more rustling and a grunt indicated the end of the conversation. Lying on his back, Jungkook became lost in his thoughts once more but eventually he fell asleep with the determination to speak with Yoongi the next time he saw him.

That proved to be harder than anticipated. Not because he didn’t see Yoongi but every time he had an opportunity either one of his other hyungs swooped in or he got a rush of nerves and backed down. He had been caught mouth wide open only to snap shut and walk in the opposite direction a number of times. Enough for Jimin to come up to him and ask what was going on.

“It’s uh, it’s nothing don’t worry about it.” Jungkook brushed off Jimin easily. He didn’t know what to say and being embarrassed didn’t make that any easier.

It wasn’t until it was past one in the morning that Jungkook had managed to find Yoongi alone. He decided to stay and dance a little to stave off his nervousness and then pray that Yoongi was in his studio. For the first time today, luck was on his side. Yoongi was in his studio and Hoseok was just leaving.

“Kookie you’re still here? Want to stop at the convenience store with me. Ice cream!” Hoseok wiggled his eyebrows at the younger and Jungkook couldn’t help but laugh. Waving his arms in front of him, he shook his head.

“Not today, next time.” Hoseok whined and tried again to seduce him over to the dark side but Jungkook just waved him off again and finally the older man left. Looking into the studio he could only see the back of his hyung’s grey beanie clad head. He could feel his hands starting to become clammy but he ignored it and pulled the door shut behind him.

Dragging a stool next to Yoongi, he straddled it and watched as Yoongi made a multitude of clicks on the screen. Now that he was alone with his hyung, he really didn’t know what to say. Reaching a hand out he hesitated, stomach doing it’s infamous flip because he was just about to rest his hand on the others knee to get his attention. That shouldn’t cause such a reaction but he couldn’t help it. Finally, he lowered his hand and touched Yoongi.

The elder looked to his right and raised a brow in silent question as to what the other wanted.

“Do you want to uh go to the store with me for a sec?”

The brow raised even higher.

“Didn’t Hoseok just ask you that and you declined?”

Jungkook removed his hand from Yoongi’s knee and scratched the back of his neck while laughing embarrassed because that did indeed just happen. He bit his lip, that habit was never going to leave him.

“Well, go to the roof with me then.”

“Why? Here is fine. Just spit it out.” Yoongi wasn’t being rude he was just being rather obtuse. Jungkook just wanted to make sure they had some time alone. It was late sure but if he had learned anything trainees and idols hung around to practice harder than they should. Prime example was the man in front of him. He just wanted to make sure things were fixed without anything hindering his efforts. Except Yoongi was doing just that. Jungkook let out a sigh.

“Please Yoongi hyung? Just for a few minutes.” Gazing into Yoongi’s eyes he pleaded silently. The elder glanced away and fidgeted with his beanie.

“Fine but just a few minutes. I have to finish this song in three days.” Immediately a smile spread across Jungkook’s lips and he stood up. Groaning like an old man, this was exactly why they called him a grandpa, Yoongi stood up as well and followed the younger to the roof.

Resting his forearms along the wall  of the roof, Jungkook stared out at the city of Seoul that was still quite busy. He really did enjoy the fresh air and wished they could enjoy it more than they got to. It wasn’t often they could freely enjoy the air without prying eyes. Up here, they always could.

“You got me up here, you’re not going to hand me a letter now are you?” Jungkook could feel the tips of his ears burning as he processed his hyung’s teasing words but he just shook his head.

“I think you’ve been watching too many animes with Tae lately, hyung.” The elder shrugged his shoulders before joining the younger along the wall. Jungkook still didn’t know what he wanted to say in regards to that one night but he knew he had to say something.

“Look, I’m sorry for the other night. You know, yeah you know that one. Uh, “ Yoongi coughed, clearly uncomfortable with this topic. Jungkook’s eyes widened slightly, surprised by the apology.

“I was just frustrated with myself. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.” He knew that Yoongi was very hardly staring out at the city but Jungkook turned his head towards his semi-blue haired hyung a small smile present.

“It’s okay. That didn’t bother me. I just didn’t want you to be upset.” The other man didn’t say anything but Jungkook knew that he was listening. He didn’t need any response, he just wanted to let Yoongi know that he would be there for him. That he was always there for him and that he was never alone.

“You know that… Well, I’m not great at giving advice but I’m a good listening. Great listener. Y-you can always talk to me.” He wasn’t expecting it but a hand shot out and ruffled his hair.

“You're a good dongsaeng, you know that?” Yoongi’s hand was still in his hair and Jungkook’s chest was constricting. He wanted so badly to say, only a dongsaeng, but he knew he couldn’t. He wouldn’t mess up what he was so close to fixing. Had learned some things over the past week. He really, really missed Yoongi. Even though some days they would only say a few words, just those few words and being able to look at his hyung's face was enough for him. Jungkook didn’t want to lose that again.

The ruffling slowed and now Yoongi was just running his fingers through Jungkook’s hair. They stayed like that in silence for a few moments. Yoongi’s sigh interrupted it and he removed his hand. Jungkook didn’t really like the way that sigh sounded but he wasn’t good at reading atmosphere and he didn’t really know if he should let it go or not. Treading lightly he quietly inquired.

“Hyung?”

Yoongi looked down at Jungkook and smiled for the first time in days. It wasn’t his full gummy smile but it was still a smile. It made his heart swell and smile back.

“Just thinking about the song, I don’t think I can work on it tonight. Maybe I’ll just work on lyrics, I still need to finish those as well.”

“Can’t you do that at home? No offense but you look like shit.” Jungkook raised a finger to the bag underneath Yoongi’s eye and traced it. When he removed his hand, his ears were burning. He hadn’t meant to do that and the cross expression he was receiving from the man he just touched wasn’t helping him at all.

“Excuse me? I look good all the time.” He huffed but laughed a moment later ruining his false bravado.

“Yeah, I planned on taking it home.” Pushing himself off the wall Yoongi started walking towards the rooftop door and Jungkook caught up in a few strides.

“Do I really look like shit?”

“Yeah hyung, you really do. Cute shit though?”

“Shut up.”

Their laughter filled the hallways and Jungkook didn’t tell Yoongi that he wasn’t just teasing him.

Once the two made it home, Jungkook went to shower and Yoongi parked himself on the couch, feet propped up on the coffee table and his lyric journal in his lap, pen scratching away at the paper. He was going to be up for awhile and it probably wouldn't help his looking like shit business but that was the least of his worries. The younger took awhile in the shower but Yoongi was too invested in his work to tease Jungkook when he came out let alone notice.

He did notice however a head nudging its way into his lap and shifting his journal out of the way.

“Yah, I’m writing here.” His words were only met with soft giggles and even though the younger couldn’t see, Yoongi was ever so slightly smiling.

“Really though, I am workin-”

“Yoongi hyung,” Jungkook interrupted, he was in a really good mood now and didn’t really care that Yoongi was working. Well, he did but he cared about other things more. Like his health.

“It’s late, you should sleep.” He tried to reprimand the elder, but it only resorted in a snort from the other. Shifting, Jungkook sat up and laid his head on the others shoulder.

“It’s late, you should sleep Jungkook-ah.” The words were said full of sarcasm but laced with tenderness, especially when the maknae’s name was spoken. It sent a shiver down his back. Eyes looking in front of him, he glanced at the lyrics Yoongi was writing then travelled down to Yoongi’s hand resting on his own thigh. The longer he stared the more he wanted to trace each finger with his own, draw circles on the top of Yoongi’s hand, entwine their fingers. Really, he just wanted to touch Yoongi. More than what he was.

“I will when you do.” Cheeky maknae at his finest. Yoongi grumbled but went back to writing. He would make the younger go to bed in a bit. He always worried about everyone else before himself, this was no exception. Getting lost in his task once more, he didn’t notice the hand that was hovering above his own, only to be retracted and then hovering once more.

It took a lot of trips on nerves rollercoaster but finally Jungkook traced one of Yoongi’s fingers ever so lightly. This earned him a side glance but not more than that. Jungkook did it again with the next finger and the next and the next. No reaction from the man he was leaning against. Jungkook’s heart continued to pound harder with each passing second as he continued to grow braver. It was intoxicating to give in to his urges and not be denied. He wasn’t exactly being accepted either but he had never once let himself go and just this tiny taste… Well, it made him want to push the boundaries even more. It may not seem like boundaries to others but Jungkook knew what this meant to him and it was definitely pushing his luck.

Moving his hand back over to the left of Yoongi’s he lifted it up and slipped his underneath the other, lacing their fingers together. Being as close as Jungkook was, he could hear the small intake of breath that Yoongi had done. He also heard how shakily it was exhaled. Yoongi hadn’t curled his fingers against the younger's and it had him holding his breath.

“I thought this bothered you.” The words were barely a whisper but it reminded him of the previous conversation the two of them had about this. He felt like this could be a dangerous situation and he didn’t want to regress but he didn’t want to back down either. He wanted to be honest for once. Jungkook didn’t know where all of this courage came from but if he didn’t stick with it now he knew he never ever would.

“It does.” Jungkook replied just as softly, he could feel Yoongi tense up and start to take his hand away. He closed his fingers around Yoongi’s hand even harder, not allowing him to take his hand away, his warmth.

“Just not in the way you think.” He said even softer than before. If it wasn’t for the fact that there was absolutely no noise in the living room except their breathing Yoongi wouldn’t have heard those words. Keeping his eyes on his paper, Yoongi tapped the pen against it. Neither male said anything until the pen stopped tapping.

“In what way then?”

If anyone else could see the two of them it would look like they were having a slumber party and whispering because their parents were already asleep. In a way it was like that. Neither wanted to wake up the other members but for very, very different reasons. It also felt like if they spoke louder than they were that whatever this current mood, spell was would be broken. Jungkook nor Yoongi could afford that right now.

Raising his head from Yoongi’s shoulder slowly, Jungkook gazed directly at Yoongi’s lips. He didn’t want to look at his eyes for fear of what he’d see there and then lost resolve. God, he had waited for a moment like this for so long. He didn’t want anything to jeopardize this. His stomach was in knots but something about the atmosphere he knew he was terrible at reading, something about it was telling him, this was okay, now was the time.

Fools rush in, and so did Jungkook. He pressed his lips against Yoongi’s and it wasn’t an amazing kiss, it didn’t stop his breath but Jungkook had done it. He had laid his heart bare. What he’d give to do it again and not be so fast, to actually feel Yoongi’s lips against his and put more feeling behind it. Jungkook was an open book right now but he had been too nervous, too greedy, too fast. As slowly as possible he raised his eyes to meet the other males.

Those passionate dark orbs were glued onto him and it immediately made the air thick, hard to breathe. Jungkook could tell that his hyung was surprised, it was written all over his face. He didn’t know where to go from here and his stomach was back in knots and his heart was just out of control. He felt really scared that he might have just messed things up but he had to finish seeing this through.

“Because, then I can’t control myself.” If that wasn’t the truth he didn’t know what was.

The silence enveloped them both and while Jungkook was on the edge of his seat, Yoongi was just slowly being able to pick up all of is pieces. Licking his lips, his eyes slipped down to Jungkook’s lips and then back up to those warm chocolate eyes that he couldn’t find a trace of any jokes. Not that he had really thought his dongsaeng would make such a joke but he had never fathomed this would be happening.

Yoongi removed his hand from Jungkook’s and he could feel just how much he was crushing the innocent beautiful person right in front of him.However, he turned in towards Jungkook and raised his hand to cup his cheek. Tilting his head he leaned in and brushed his lips against Jungkook’s pink perfect lips. Yoongi’s hand slid down to Jungkook’s neck and urged the other to let him in. It took a half a moment but then he was deepening their kiss. He was only good with words on paper but he would try. He would. Just after he claimed the kiss he had been aching to give the man in front of him for the last two in a half years.

Pulling back, Yoongi laid his forehead on Jungkook’s shoulder.

“You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to do that.” He whispered,

Melodious laughter rang out disrupting their quiet bubble but to Yoongi it was always welcome. It had been his driving force for too long now.

“I think that’s my line hyung.” Yoongi lifted his head up and stared at the other in very hard disbelief before he smirked,

“Too bad.” and kissed the younger again. Jungkook didn’t hesitate this time, he wrapped his arms around Yoongi’s neck and slid his fingers in his hair. Pulling on it, he hadn’t expected Yoongi to let out a moan but it hit Jungkook in a lower region than any of his emotions had been this night. He tugged Yoongi’s lower lip into his mouth and sucked on it as he felt warm hands slide underneath his shirt and along his back. The way those fingers were raking his back, Jungkook didn’t want to let go but he did and licked along Yoongi’s no red swollen lower lip.

Their breaths had grown much heavier than just a moment ago. Jungkook couldn’t stop himself from pecking Yoongi on the lips while trying to find some ground to cling onto even though he didn’t want to. Just as he was about to go back in for more, Yoongi removed his hands from underneath the younger’s shirt. Raising his eyes to meet Yoongi’s he silently questioned him.

Clearing his throat, Yoongi looked away but didn’t peel Jungkook’s hands from around his neck.

“It’s 2am; I think that’s enough of that.”

Jungkook leaned in next to Yoongi’s ear,

“But Yoongi-yah, haven’t you been waiting so long to do that?” No  one said that he wasn’t cheeky. Jungkook had never claimed not to be either and now was no exception. He knew what he was doing but the euphoria and warmth he was feeling from everything that had just transpired, he couldn’t help it. He was going to push his luck as much as he could. Plus of all the times he had imagined kissing Yoongi, none of it measured up as amazing as that kiss they just shared. It was intoxicating and he wanted more.

A low groan that almost sounded like a growl escaped Yoongi’s lips and he really did peel Jungkook off of him. Rubbing his large hand over his face and jaw, Yoongi moved further away from Jungkook. He shook his finger at the man in front of him.

“You, go to bed. I can’t be held accountable for anything more.” He reached down and picked up his pen and journal that had fallen to the floor in the midst of their embrace.

“What if I don’t ho-” the younger tried to start but promptly got a finger placed on his lips only to be removed as if it had been burned.

“D-don’t finish that.” Turning away, he brought his pen to the paper and tried to focus on the words he had already written. Trying to find that previous strain of thought he had. It was much harder than Yoongi would have liked to admit. Jungkook pouted for a few moments but dropped it in favor of laying his head back in Yoongi’s lap but being careful not to mess with his journal this time.

“I thought I told you to go to bed.” A grumpy grumble came from the man above him. Jungkook closed his eyes and got comfortable.

“I told you I’d go to bed when you do. Just let me be with you hyung. I’ve missed you.” There was silence between the two of them. It wasn’t uncomfortable. Jungkook knew that Yoongi was carefully choosing his words and the longer he was silent the longest he got to stay in this spot. The elder could be as quiet as he liked.

“I missed you too Jungkook-ah. I missed you a lot.”

Jungkook smiled so brightly at words he never thought would be reciprocated in the same way as him. Yoongi gazed down adoringly at the younger, a similar smile also gracing his lips before he went back to his work.

Jungkook-ah was his favorite way to be referred to as… but only from Min Yoongi.

Continuation ~ Clicky

[ladystylestores]

How Pandemics End – The New York Times

When will the Covid-19 pandemic end? And how?

According to historians, pandemics typically have two types of endings: the medical, which occurs when the incidence and death rates plummet, and the social, when the epidemic of fear about the disease wanes.

“When people ask, ‘When will this end?,’ they are asking about the social ending,” said Dr. Jeremy Greene, a historian of medicine at Johns Hopkins.

In other words, an end can occur not because a disease has been vanquished but because people grow tired of panic mode and learn to live with a disease. Allan Brandt, a Harvard historian, said something similar was happening with Covid-19: “As we have seen in the debate about opening the economy, many questions about the so-called end are determined not by medical and public health data but by sociopolitical processes.”

Endings “are very, very messy,” said Dora Vargha, a historian at the University of Exeter. “Looking back, we have a weak narrative. For whom does the epidemic end, and who gets to say?”

In the path of fear

An epidemic of fear can occur even without an epidemic of illness. Dr. Susan Murray, of the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, saw that firsthand in 2014 when she was a fellow at a rural hospital in Ireland.

In the preceding months, more than 11,000 people in West Africa had died from Ebola, a terrifying viral disease that was highly infectious and often fatal. The epidemic seemed to be waning, and no cases had occurred in Ireland, but the public fear was palpable.

“On the street and on the wards, people are anxious,” Dr. Murray recalled recently in an article in The New England Journal of Medicine. “Having the wrong color skin is enough to earn you the side-eye from your fellow passengers on the bus or train. Cough once, and you will find them shuffling away from you.”

The Dublin hospital workers were warned to prepare for the worst. They were terrified, and worried that they lacked protective equipment. When a young man arrived in the emergency room from a country with Ebola patients, no one wanted to go near him; nurses hid, and doctors threatened to leave the hospital.

Dr. Murray alone dared treat him, she wrote, but his cancer was so advanced that all she could offer was comfort care. A few days later, tests confirmed that the man did not have Ebola; he died an hour later. Three days afterward, the World Health Organization declared the Ebola epidemic over.

Dr. Murray wrote: “If we are not prepared to fight fear and ignorance as actively and as thoughtfully as we fight any other virus, it is possible that fear can do terrible harm to vulnerable people, even in places that never see a single case of infection during an outbreak. And a fear epidemic can have far worse consequences when complicated by issues of race, privilege, and language.”

Black Death and dark memories

Bubonic plague has struck several times in the past 2,000 years, killing millions of people and altering the course of history. Each epidemic amplified the fear that came with the next outbreak.

The disease is caused by a strain of bacteria, Yersinia pestis, that lives on fleas that live on rats. But bubonic plague, which became known as the Black Death, also can be passed from infected person to infected person through respiratory droplets, so it cannot be eradicated simply by killing rats.

Historians describe three great waves of plague, said Mary Fissell, a historian at Johns Hopkins: the Plague of Justinian, in the sixth century; the medieval epidemic, in the 14th century; and a pandemic that struck in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The medieval pandemic began in 1331 in China. The illness, along with a civil war that was raging at the time, killed half the population of China. From there, the plague moved along trade routes to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. In the years between 1347 and 1351, it killed at least a third of the European population. Half of the population of Siena, Italy, died.

“It is impossible for the human tongue to recount the awful truth,” wrote the 14th-century chronicler Agnolo di Tura. “Indeed, one who did not see such horribleness can be called blessed.” The infected, he wrote, “swell beneath the armpits and in their groins, and fall over while talking.” The dead were buried in pits, in piles.

In Florence, wrote Giovanni Boccaccio, “No more respect was accorded to dead people than would nowadays be accorded to dead goats.” Some hid in their homes. Others refused to accept the threat. Their way of coping, Boccaccio wrote, was to “drink heavily, enjoy life to the full, go round singing and merrymaking, and gratify all of one’s cravings when the opportunity emerged, and shrug the whole thing off as one enormous joke.”

That pandemic ended, but the plague recurred. One of the worst outbreaks began in China in 1855 and spread worldwide, killing more than 12 million in India alone. Health authorities in Bombay burned whole neighborhoods trying to rid them of the plague. “Nobody knew if it made a difference,” the Yale historian Frank Snowden said.

It is not clear what made the bubonic plague die down. Some scholars have argued that cold weather killed the disease-carrying fleas, but that would not have interrupted the spread by the respiratory route, Dr. Snowden noted.

Or perhaps it was a change in the rats. By the 19th century, the plague was being carried not by black rats but by brown rats, which are stronger and more vicious and more likely to live apart from humans.

“You certainly wouldn’t want one for a pet,” Dr. Snowden said.

Another hypothesis is that the bacterium evolved to be less deadly. Or maybe actions by humans, such as the burning of villages, helped quell the epidemic.

The plague never really went away. In the United States, infections are endemic among prairie dogs in the Southwest and can be transmitted to people. Dr. Snowden said that one of his friends became infected after a stay at a hotel in New Mexico. The previous occupant of his room had a dog, which had fleas that carried the microbe.

Such cases are rare, and can now be successfully treated with antibiotics, but any report of a case of the plague stirs up fear.

One disease that actually ended

Among the diseases to have achieved a medical end is smallpox. But it is exceptional for several reasons: There is an effective vaccine, which gives lifelong protection; the virus, Variola minor, has no animal host, so eliminating the disease in humans meant total elimination; and its symptoms are so unusual that infection is obvious, allowing for effective quarantines and contact tracing.

But while it still raged, smallpox was horrific. Epidemic after epidemic swept the world, for at least 3,000 years. Individuals infected with the virus developed a fever, then a rash that turned into pus-filled spots, which became encrusted and fell off, leaving scars. The disease killed three out of 10 of its victims, often after immense suffering.

In 1633, an epidemic among Native Americans “disrupted all the native communities in the northeast and certainly facilitated English settlement in Massachusetts,” said Harvard historian Dr. David S. Jones. William Bradford, leader of the Plymouth colony, wrote an account of the disease in Native Americans, saying the broken pustules would effectively glue a patient’s skin to the mat he lay on, only to be torn off. Bradford wrote: “When they turn them, a whole side will flay off at once as it were, and they will be all of a gore blood, most fearful to behold.”

The last person to contract smallpox naturally was Ali Maow Maalin, a hospital cook in Somalia, in 1977. He recovered, only to die of malaria in 2013.

Forgotten influenzas

The 1918 flu is held up today as the example of the ravages of a pandemic and the value of quarantines and social distancing. Before it ended, the flu killed 50 million to 100 million people worldwide. It preyed on young to middle-aged adults — orphaning children, depriving families of breadwinners, killing troops in the midst of World War I.

In the autumn of 1918, William Vaughan, a prominent doctor, was dispatched to Camp Devens near Boston to report on a flu that was raging there. He saw “hundreds of stalwart young men in the uniform of their country, coming into the wards of the hospital in groups of ten or more,” he wrote. “They are placed on the cots until every bed is full, yet others crowd in. Their faces soon wear a bluish cast, a distressing cough brings up blood stained sputum. In the morning the dead bodies are stacked up in the morgue like cord wood.”

The virus, he wrote, “demonstrated the inferiority of human inventions in the destruction of human life.”

After sweeping through the world, that flu faded away, evolving into a variant of the more benign flu that comes around every year.

“Maybe it was like a fire that, having burned the available and easily accessible wood, burns down,” Dr. Snowden said.

It ended socially, too. World War I was over; people were ready for a fresh start, a new era, and eager to put the nightmare of disease and war behind them. Until recently, the 1918 flu was largely forgotten.

Other flu pandemics followed, none so bad but all nonetheless sobering. In the Hong Kong flu of 1968, one million people died worldwide, including 100,000 in the United States, mostly people older than 65. That virus still circulates as a seasonal flu, and its initial path of destruction — and the fear that went with it — is rarely recalled.

How will Covid-19 end?

Will that happen with Covid-19?

One possibility, historians say, is that the coronavirus pandemic could end socially before it ends medically. People may grow so tired of the restrictions that they declare the pandemic over, even as the virus continues to smolder in the population and before a vaccine or effective treatment is found.

“I think there is this sort of social psychological issue of exhaustion and frustration,” the Yale historian Naomi Rogers said. “We may be in a moment when people are just saying: ‘That’s enough. I deserve to be able to return to my regular life.’”

It is happening already; in some states, governors have lifted restrictions, allowing hair salons, nail salons and gyms to reopen, in defiance of warnings by public health officials that such steps are premature. As the economic catastrophe wreaked by the lockdowns grows, more and more people may be ready to say “enough.”

“There is this sort of conflict now,” Dr. Rogers said. Public health officials have a medical end in sight, but some members of the public see a social end.

“Who gets to claim the end?” Dr. Rogers said. “If you push back against the notion of its ending, what are you pushing back against? What are you claiming when you say, ‘No, it is not ending.’”

The challenge, Dr. Brandt said, is that there will be no sudden victory. Trying to define the end of the epidemic “will be a long and difficult process.”

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