#the only test I really have left now is my board exam which is wild

[singlethread]

Finished my last ever final 😬

[lucefrs]

          tl;dr: luce thinks about how she should have never ended up at georgetown in the first place, and the domino effect it had on her life. after flunking out of gallagher, she savours the summer. her and scott break up sometime after new years. a quick onslaught of success makes her feel wary, unsure how to not take up space she doesn’t deserve after doing it so many times before. she performs her own song in the lower east side.

                                                                      insp for the song she plays at the end. 

BEFORE.

luce is a bright child but lacks in the area of self discipline and application. she would benefit from paying closer attention during class discussion.

she knew from a very young age that she was not smart. at least not by the metric that institutions measure by. the unlucky curse that has kept her in the stream of academia is this: luce frear is smart enough. to graduate secondary school because it’s a key that unlocks america’s golden arches. to pursue higher education when she gets the encroaching feeling that she’s going to be found out that she doesn’t actually have any family friend's as guarantors. at the time, she doesn’t know how impossible georgetown is. but finding herself in the company of a man who will pay for her to do well, with a tutor that makes the s.a.t’s boil down to a formula of memorization and deduction is a genius move. those three hours are brutal, she struggles but she struggles through it, proud that only a handful of questions were left unanswered. it’s only after she's sat for it that she realizes how impossible georgetown is with it’s fourteen percent acceptance rate.

she uses his mailing address to apply, so it’s him that greets her with a sealed envelope that makes her stomach turn as soon as she opens the door. out of the corner of her eye she sees a bottle of champagne sitting in a bucket of ice. she knows what the letter will say: her sat score’s a valiant effort, enough to get her into any state school, but by no means exceptional. bracing herself for his disappointment she pushes the folded paper towards him so she can pretend his disappointment’s directed at the words on the page and not at her. but the skin at the corner of his eyes pinches and there’s no crease between his brows and she knows something is very wrong. or very right. she’s not sure, at the time it’s all very muddled, thinking about how much she likes that there's no place for his smile to hide, and how that's going to be one of her favourite parts of getting old. his smile that runs right to the tip of his nose, bumps against her cheek when he kisses her. he’s kissing her. he’s happy. because of her. she’s made him happy. that's good. she's happy too. then he’s by the kitchen counter, shaking off the champagne from his hand that’s flows over the lip of the bottle and she’s saying things like, ‘   my sat scores were no where near the average,    ’ and he counters that she shouldn’t disregard the importance of supplemental essays and she makes fun of how he talks because she always does. a girl’s got nothing but a gut to trust, and every glass of champagne’s a fuck you to it. luce never pukes from having too much to drink. she pukes in his shower. luce is not smart, but she’s smart enough not to question how she got into georgetown university.

‘   god, you’re so smart luce. we could call it the boyfriend guesses my lip gloss challenge.   ’ she only hears the first part, boasting a smile that makes the apples of her cheeks swell, all rosy like. at the time gallagher had felt like a enticing romp, bound by infatuation, the glint of the dew that hung at the end of the school’s weeping willows sparkling so bright that her heart-shaped sunglasses couldn’t subdue it. luce has never waited for anything, but her first few months at gallagher felt like a gift the universe had hand-picked, oblivious of her christmas list doodled with music notes and brand names of dresses that cost seven hundred dollars, it felt like finding treasure. smart’s an understatement, genius is more apt. she lets this sentiment lead, when the offer to stay comes soaring towards at her like paper plane that falls right into the palm of her hands. it makes logical sense to stay. scott’s here.

she’ll adapt. but gallagher starts to feel worlds away, and as much as she digs her heels into the gravel, gravity starts to slip from her grasp. but how could she can complain? in outer space, anywhere she looks there’s an endless landscape of stars, bright and twinkling, beckoning her towards the nearly planet. but it makes her want to cry when she sees the blue-green dot recede into the distance.

PRESENT-ISH.

luce has her final exam tomorrow and she’s going to crush it. she’s so excited she can’t sleep. there’s no way she could fail it, unless she slept through it but that won’t happen because she has five alarms set and a scott for safe measure. she’s so excited her heart’s sprinting from her sternum to her stomach and it would be classified as nausea if she didn’t know it was just plain excitement. she winces at the brightness from her phone as she checks the time. 3:36. if she falls asleep in the next four minutes she’ll have a solid four hours, but as soon as she closes her eyes her heart runs like it’s just heard the start of the piston, and the percentage she needs to get in order to pass the class rings aloud and reverberates against her brain. forty six percent. she doesn’t even need to pass the exam in order to pass the class — she’s going to be a gallagher girl. whether she likes it or not. in the dark, her hand finds the nob of his bedside drawer, carefully sliding it open, her fingers tinkering inside to feel for whatever weed scott has, gifted joints or a prized gram for winning a dumb luck game. he always has something, even after he passes some of it on to seb. she doesn’t go far, slips out of his grasp and onto the lantern lit cobbled pavements, follows it strictly like she’s on a board in a game of snakes and ladders, stopping every time she takes a drag. she eventually falls against a bench like an abandoned rag-doll, limbs splayed every which way and falls asleep until she's woken up by the rev of a motorcycle engine set as her alarm. luce goes through the pre-test motions with due diligence, takes a shower and eats a proper meal, as though there's someone waiting to accuse her of self-sabotage. she picks up her tote that's packed from the night before and gives the test her all. it's not her fault that her focus wavered in five minute blocks, or that nerves make her feel as though there's an ongoing tussle in her tummy. she treats the residual high as something she couldn't possibly have controlled, it should've left her system by now. and she’s a hero for persevering through it. she tried her best. and in spite of it all, she still fails. thank god.

SUMMER.

she doesn’t want the summer to end. it does anyways.  

INTERLUDE

she's not the type to tuck herself into the booth, but harper’s gone to the bathroom and luce has a gnarly blister on the back of her heel, and her head’s been swimming in cheap liquor all night with no reprieve. she can’t get her head above water for more than a minute before falling back under. her gaze catches a couple in the corner, slow dancing to david guetta and her lips curl into a wry smile, his lips cushioned against his neck, murmuring something she’ll never know, and then they’re laughing — maybe about the fact that they’re slow dancing to memories, or because they’re in love, everything’s funnier when you’re in love. a tiny giggle, lost to the boom of the speakers escapes her, because she’s so in love too.

i miss you.   missing ur 🍆 spare nudes? 🙏🏼 ft? x

she holds down the backspace key and puts her phone away.

                                                         ***

‘   i don't know how to miss you in the right way,   ’ she says after a bout of silence, it makes her stomach lurch, like stepping off a ledge and finding the ground lower than expected. there’s no chance to blink back the tears, and she’s so in shock from what she’s just said that she makes no motion to cover her face from him, staring down the barrel of the webcam, like she’s on the brink of death. she’d give up the forty years of her life to get to the part where she can look back on this fondly, of a great love that once was. her child-like whimpers have her grappling for breath. ‘   it hurts.   ’ she manages to sputter out, and she knows it’s hurting him too. eventually, luce will blink away the last of her tears, because she needs this picture to really believe it.

SOMETIME, SOME DAY.

she's not so much herself as she is everyone else. there are pieces of her in the crescendo of what billboard deems the song of the summer. she’s etched in the familiarity of the bass in the last song played before last call — the resonant thrum of waking up blacked out on the front lawn of an ex best friend. the producer that the lead singer can't function without. the origin story of a grammy nominated album which started on the fire escape, exiled by roaches, a guitar slung like a rifle entering the wild wild west of cicadas and greeted by an empty ashtray save for a half abandoned spliff. a story deified for late night talk shows with parrot hosts and their fake squawks. it’s all made up names in CD booklets that no one looks at anyways. it doesn’t make her an enigma, she has a wikipedia page. record labels take her out for lunch, and she goes because she likes people, even the kind who gawk at her pretty face, drooling at the dollar signs in her doe brown eyes and blonde hair. of course, they love her, a girl who orders salad but doesn’t skip dessert — a reluctance toward fame but endlessly optimistic about the future of the music industry, splits the bill and turns a handshake into a hug when they express their keen interest in working with her. there’s a twinkling note of laughter when she pulls away and says, ‘    you’ve never even heard me sing. i’m not good enough.   ’ and she realizes with a twitch of bitterness that she doesn’t have to be, and things working out feels more like a curse when it isn’t deserved.

she talks but can't write unless it's in time signatures and treble clefs and if she does manage to write in a language comprised of letters ( which has only ever happened once ) she can't sing - unless it’s for boys she likes. so she poaches a voice, scrolling through the repertoire of people who have held her heart in their hands. her song is the last song of his set and it sounds like this. they smile through every note, she laughs at his falsetto in the last chorus. she plays her heart out with a vigour that leaves her palms moist, expecting that when the song ends there’ll be a silence broached by the slow clap of j.k simmons. luce lives in a movie and can feel the montage scene catch up to her. she can feel the lingering memory that never existed : a swollen belly and walls painted pink, a toddler that makes their white picket fenced garden a stomping ground, a cinematic pan across a fairy-lit paris, and night walks. when she looks over, she’ll see him, but she’s going to change the ending. her pinky hovers above the last key she played, letting the sound ring out into silence, before they’re met with fervent applause and whistles. this is the moment. luce looks into the crowd. she looks into the crowd and none of the faces are him because why would they be ? she hadn’t told anyone. the only person who knew was herself. it was hers. this moment is hers and she cradles it close, because she’s never had something of her own before. not really. but she likes the way it feels. the man who once held her heart in his hand kisses the top of her head and praises her with a plunging bow. she looks into the sea of strangers who watch her and she watches them back. this is the moment. hers alone. and she’s never felt less lonely.

[misha-moose-dean-burger-lover]

anyone wanna hear the story of how i found out supernatural was ending and proceeded to have the worst morning of my life?

(super-excessive rambling ahead. do not read the whole of it.)

so i don't remember the date but it was the day of my english 10th board exam. boards are like a series of subject finals, kinda the biggest exams conducted in a student's education in india, plus they're nationalized. so yeah, a massively big deal, and obviously the first thing i do waking up on this massively important day is open tumblr. there are about seventy messages and i'm confused cause i think i barely "talked" to ten people back then, but before i've even checked them out, the first post i see is a textpost about how the longest running joke universally across fandoms is that 'spn has been going on way too long and needs to end' but now that it is ending, all people can do is cry about it. for some reason, i don't process that post as fact™, assuming they mean a general "ending" instead of a "j2m announced last season" ending. anyways i move on to my messages, and all of them are people who've freaking the fuck out for at least a few hours (the advantages of being in a timezone different from of most people) and i go to my activity, still stunned, and someone's tagged me in a meta of some kind, and i check it out completely dazed and it's got gifs (already!) of the three of them standing there with teary eyes and jensen actually saying the words everyone had been screaming about in the chats, and it finally hits me that it's ending, supernatural is ending, it's going to be OVER, and it's already been decided when. obviously, the tears start, and literally crying in my bed, still under the comforter, i think i watched the video twice, without headphones in fact, which is extremely weird because i virtually NEVER do that, but as if anything else mattered at the moment!

i don't remember what all i felt in those moments but one of the thoughts that REALLY stood out was that i wish, wish, wish it lasted just one more year — so maybe supernatural could end at the same time as highschool ended for me, and it'd feel like the end of a phase of my life, but no, according to what they predicted (and not even kidding, now it's even worse) supernatural was going to end smack in the middle of senior year for me, obviously a super important, super stressful year, and god, i wished so hard it'd just go on ONE MORE YEAR somehow but look what happened now it's ending like three months before my college entrance exams and the competitive engineering exams and shit which is just absolutely perfect because it's doing wonders to my attention span and mental health and yeah i'm getting off topic i'm gonna come back to the topic now

it's two am rn and i'm weirdly tired of typing so what happens next is fucking wild, but i'm gonna hurry because i need to go cry some more into a pillow or a ao3 tab or something. so like a whole HOUR later i get up from bed. i've got to get dressed and shit, most important exam of my life YET and everything. so i start brushing, obviously scrolling through tumblr, obviously failing to not cry, and my mum walks in, and she doesn't know a thing about supernatural (even if she did, she would consider the idea of me crying over them announcing an ending RIDICULOUS) so she just assumes i'm sniffling and tensed up because i'm STRESSED and she tries reassuring me like i need fucking reassurance for ENGLISH of all things. anyway anyway anyway i have maggi for breakfast i think and i'm still pretty out of it and stuff but i get dressed in my uniform and put on the fucking blazer though its HOT outside but i like wearing the school blazer for exams but i underestimated how much of a physically draining effect the news and reacting to it would have on me, so then there's me sweating literal buckets and then we set off.

we're already late in leaving the house (why, i don't remember) and once we're at the centre, and my parents have dropped me off and wished me luck, i go to the gate, right. and THEN the guard gestures to my uniform and tells me i'm missing my fucking class ID. now i know i'm late so i panic on cue because shit shit shit i'm gonna be even more late, and i legit turn and look for mum and dad (we weren't allowed to carry our mobiles for the test) and what i see is that they've reversed the car and are about to drive out the gate and obviously my brain isn't really working so i fucking RUN AFTER THE CAR, like, i'm really not an athletic person, i avoid running as much as i possibly can, and i fucking lose my shit and chase the car down in like ten seconds of running cause it's only like ten metres away actually but the highlight of it all is that i run. in a public space. unprompted. with a shitload of emotions and anxiety and panic, and i basically almost sob in relief when dad immediately stops the car and pretty much pulls me in and tells me to stop worrying cause the house is like ten minutes away and i might miss the general waiting part and stuff but i wasn't gonna miss the exam. so THEN we start driving back and obviously because they are who they fucking are, they start arguing about which of them is at fault for this and who was supposed to check in on me carrying my seriously important ID and other crap, and then obviously they're yelling and that does even more wonders for my state of practically hysteria, but i hold it together until we get home and i get the ID (which is on the bed, probably was under my blazer or something) and we set back off, and i know we're late, and i know supernatural is ending, and i know it's going to take a part of me really, and mum and dad just won't stop yelling at each other about god knows what, and i manage to squeeze in the first time in SO many years that i cry in front of my parents right there in the backseat, and they're sort of stunned because i really don't cry (in front of people) and then there's just me losing it in a mixture of helplessness and nerves and anger for some reason and just. whoa.

ANYWAYS we get to the centre (in time for the exam, but like fifteen minutes later than i SHOULD have gotten there) and dad talks to the teacher and stuff and it works out because obviously it's a really important exam they're not going to make me skip it, and i go straight to my classroom — also did i mention these exams aren't held in our own schools but like, different test centres, so basically a different room and desk each day in a different school from mine, ugh, i hate new places — and i find out i have the FIRST bench of the second column which lowkey sucks because it's too public really, but at least my best friend's sitting like diagonally from me on the left, and my friends are basically sprinkled around the classroom as well and i see them eyeing me worriedly cause they were scared i might miss the exam but also because i was a MESS with bloodshot eyes and an outofit look in them and did i mention i was sweating like a dog all this time wearing a blazer because i'm just that idiot because yeah.

so then i calm myself down the best i can. sitting under a fan helps, taking off my stupid blazer helps, and seeing dish (beforementioned best friend) helps — because apparently she heard about the ending too (she's not in the fandom she just keeps up with news for my sake, yes, im very lucky to have her) and tries to cheer me up about it, but then it's time for the paper, and they give them out and...yeah.

three hours later, the exam ends, and i step out of that hall the most mentally exhausted i've been in YEARS. also i swear off tumblr until i've had lunch and napped and stuff because i was also functioning on extremely little sleep but i really think that part was obvious.

as it goes, i ended up getting a 95% in that paper :)

but to this date, my sister jokes about how i ended up getting my personal least marks of that year in english of all subjects which was supposed to be of my strongest suit heh all because of a six-ish minute video released in a different part of the world about something that wasn't even going to happen that year...and like. yeah.

that's it.

that's the story.

[blue-bismuth]

Case #0161210

i have been egged on to post this so! here’s what i consider my tma oc’s first real involvement with everything going on. it’s formatted like a statement but pretty much everything else i post here about them will be in my more traditional writing style

tws: mentions of trans/nbphobia, people acting uncanny, animal harm/death (no pets), kidnapping, cannibalism

EDIT: here’s the ao3 link if you wanna read it there!

-- -- --

Avery

You’re sure this isn’t too much of an inconvenience? I-I don’t have to talk about it. You probably still have more statements to get through.

Archivist

If you ask me that one more time, I won’t take statements from you ever again.

Avery

Christ, alright, I’ll stop. At least I won’t get in trouble, ‘cause I got everything assigned to me done already…

Archivist

Aren’t you fast.

Avery

It’s a blessing and a curse. Curse in that I get chewed out if I’m caught fucking around on the office computer.

Sorry, sorry, getting off topic. I’ll make the statement now.

Archivist

Statement of Avery Linwood, a finance worker in the Magnus Institute, regarding their time living in the rural town of Crestfallen, between the spring of 2014 and the summer of 2016. Statement taken direct from subject, December 10th, 2016. Statement begins.

Avery

Man, okay. So, as you can probably tell, I’m not from England. I was born and raised in America, Wisconsin to be specific. I graduated college in 2009 because I had to get 150 credits to qualify for CPA exams--although I guess in the end it did jack shit, ‘cause I only ended up staying in the U.S. for five years. 

Archivist

Sorry, could you clarify what a CPA is?

Avery

Oh! I-it stands for Certified Public Accountant. It basically means that I can provide accounting services to the public alongside working for companies. And since I’m here now instead of my home state, I have to do continuing education if I wanna keep that license active. I guess it makes sense, but it’s still extra work, y’know?

Sorry, getting off topic again. I feel like that’s gonna be a theme for this statement.

Archivist

I’ve had my fair share of ramblers. I’m guilty of it too.

Avery

I mean, still. Anyway, that shit kinda drove me into the ground. I never managed to get enough money to rent a decent office space so I could be independent, and the closest I ever got to that was working in assurance services. I would’ve stayed in forensic accounting, but every office I was in had a terrible culture. One of my ex-bosses told me that I, quote unquote, “had too big of a rack” to be anything but a girl. So...yeah.

Archivist

And I assume this is why you left?

Avery

Pretty much. I wasn’t too keen on moving anywhere inside the U.S., everywhere was either too bigoted or too expensive or too crowded...you get the picture. I guess I just wanted something different, something where I didn’t need to sit in an office all day and handle people’s taxes or whatever. I’ve always loved those kinda video games where you move to some old farmhouse and clean it up, start taking care of crops and livestock, making friends with the townspeople...it was a form of escapism I could never really afford--honestly, unless you’re a big dairy farmer, you’re not gonna get anywhere stable in Wisconsin. 

I don’t know how I found my way to Crestfallen. I think I saw a post on Tumblr about how, if you promise to restore an ancient castle--the ones that’re all over Europe--you can live in it for free, and there was a link to some website where you could register to do that. I guess it held more than castles, though, ‘cause I saw a section for old farmhouses. The one in Crestfallen was the cheapest, and apparently I would even get a financial reward from the mayor if I helped out enough. It was a moment of weakness, I guess.

I don’t tell my parents a whole lot of stuff anymore unless they ask, but I felt the need to tell them I was moving to a different country. They must’ve seen it as odd, but they knew I wasn’t doing too well in my...current line of work. They gave me their well wishes and I left for England.

I guess the first thing that tipped me off was getting there. I didn’t think anything of it, but when I told the bus driver--coach driver for you guys--where I was going, he seemed...surprised. He didn’t know the place at first, that it wasn’t even on his map. I pointed it out on my phone, and he said that the nearest stop was Billingham in County Durham. I said that was fine, that I could probably catch a taxi the rest of the way. I don’t know if he believed me, but either way, he accepted my ticket and I boarded. There wasn’t anything unusual about the ride up, and at the time, I just guessed he didn’t know because the town was so small.

When I finally arrived in Billingham, I managed to flag a taxi down and asked the driver to go to Crestfallen. He also seemed surprised, but it must’ve been for completely different reasons. Whatever they were, he shoved it down and told me it was going to be a fairly expensive taxi ride. That was fine by me, I had already converted all of my money to pounds anyway. So I loaded my luggage and got in the back.

Thankfully, he kept silent most of the way through. He told me when we were about five minutes away from the stop, and followed it up by telling me that if I wanted to turn back now, he wouldn’t charge me anything. 

I realized what he meant: I had been paying attention to my book and not to the town itself, which was covered in a heavy fog. I hadn’t noticed any fog when I got to Billingham; the skies were clear all day. Maybe it was just foggy west of the bus route and Billingham--I wanted to get away from my old life so desperately that I was denying any possibility that my new life would be worse.

I shook my head and said that I was staying. The taxi driver laughed, a short, almost bitter laugh. Told me that I was gonna die in Crestfallen one way or another before he dropped me off. I paid him and took my luggage, still questioning what exactly he meant.

The odd thing was that, after I stepped off, the fog had lifted. I mean, the sky was still overcast, but I could see clearly. I was in this...little clearing, with a path that presumably led to the town, and another one apparently leading to the farm. A man was waiting in the clearing, and he approached me. Said he was the mayor, and that he wanted to show me to the farm. 

I had already expected the farm to be a mess, honestly. I saw the pictures. There were scattered branches and stones throughout the farmland, wild grass growing everywhere...if there was even a previous owner, they must’ve left a long time ago. I wanted to ask the mayor, but he just ignored me. At the time, I thought he was just busy and that he had better things to do. He gave me a random bag of seeds and told me my tools were in the farmhouse. And then he just left.

I wish I could tell you more, but I just can’t remember a good chunk of my time there. My therapist is pretty sure it’s a symptom of my PTSD, which...if there’s even more traumatic memories my brain has blocked out, that’s scarier than anything I can remember.

Everything was just so uncanny. Most of the people always moved around like robots, their eyes glazed over, until I talked to them. And then they were all too perky. Even the people I were told were grumps acted like it. There were things that were superficially different about them, but they all acted so similarly, it felt like some sort of hive mind. I don’t know if that’s what was going on, and honestly, I don’t want to find out.

I say most of the people, because there were two I felt like I could trust. There was a huge lake on the outskirts of the town, and these two people lived on the beach. One of them lived in a small cabin, her name’s Odelia Stevens. She’s a writer, and she had gotten herself in the unfortunate situation where she couldn’t afford to move out, once she realized what was going on with the town. The second was an old fisherman living by the docks, his name was Langdon Averill. I’ll...get to why I say “is” for Odelia and “was” for Langdon later.

I think meeting them was the thing that kept me from falling into the town’s clutches. They were considered outcasts, and the town seemed to pretend like they didn’t exist. I never saw any of them go to the beach, and when one of them tried to talk to me after I left, they would tell me I just appeared out of nowhere.

I didn’t end up farming much. I would buy from the general store, at first, but when I harvested the crops, they were...god, I can’t think of the words. They were mangled and sickly, even though I knew the soil at least looked good. The seeds the mayor gave me, I think they were supposed to be parsnips, but the leaves were so shriveled, and the parsnips themselves were hard and spotted, and they were so small. When the mayor came to my farm to gather the harvest, I didn’t know whether or not to give...any of what I’d grown to him. But he saw them and he was overjoyed. He took one of those parsnips and bit right into it, dirt and spots and all. And he loved it! The only things that really prospered was food that I foraged from a nearby forest, and that became pretty much my entire diet. I took a sample of the soil from the farm; I have it with me if you want to keep it for testing or something.

Odelia and Langdon told me a lot about the other townsfolk, mostly so I wouldn’t outwardly freak out. I learned that they hate that the hard way--I once saw a child, couldn’t have been more than ten years old, shove a live robin down his throat and swallow it. I screamed, and the child’s mother descended on me, scratching me with her nails. Even though they were short, they were almost deadly sharp. I still have the scars on my cheek. She was screaming at me, over and over, screaming that he was just having a snack. It must’ve drawn the attention of the other townsfolk, because I could hear more voices yelling at me, telling me that I would be cooked in “his pot,” whatever that meant. Suddenly, the clock in the center of town rang and, like a reset button, they all stopped and went back to their usual activities. Thankfully, I had already met the two at the beach, and Langdon patched me up in his house.

I learned that they ate live birds a lot. They really seemed to like raw meat, flies or rotting be damned. I liked my meat, still do, but at least I cook it first. They would eat raw chicken and vomit in the streets afterwards. I never saw anyone die, funnily enough. 

They had celebrations every so often. I hadn’t properly learned from Odelia and Langdon yet, so I went to the first one in the spring. I think it was something for Easter, but all they did was crack a bunch of eggs in this huge pot and take turns drinking spoonfuls from it. When I declined, I could feel that they wanted to attack me, but something prevented them from ending the celebration in bloodshed. 

After that first spring, I spent a lot of my time at the beach and in the forest. The forest wasn’t completely free of the townsfolk, as one of them ran a ranch near the edge of that, but I needed it for food. Eventually, Langdon taught me how to fish--I couldn’t exactly subsist on wild leeks and berries forever. It was a nice way to pass the time.

By that first winter, though, things started to change. So long as snow covered the ground, the townsfolk would come in the night and write things in it. Sometimes I wouldn’t see them if the snow covered it up, but otherwise...it was always things about how I had betrayed their father, more references to his pot, that I would melt and cook while they feasted on my bones with said father. I wish I could remember more, Jon, I’m sorry.

Archivist

Do you remember anything else?

Avery

Well...sometime around the first fall, Odelia taught me how to make seeds out of the food and flowers I foraged. That was how I knew it wasn’t the soil that made the crops suffer, the seeds that I had made turned out fine--sometimes they were even better than what I had foraged. I ended up farming more for myself over anything, even though one of the points on that ad was that I had to be generous and donate some of my crops to the townspeople. I doubted it would make them happy, though. And I don’t really like hurting or killing people unless they’re actively attacking me or other innocent people; if my crops were going to poison the town, I didn’t want to risk anything. Chances are it would’ve just made them madder.

I tried to raise some chickens, though. Despite how much I didn’t want to interact with either of these people, I asked the carpenter to make a coop, and I got some chickens from the man running the ranch. By all accounts, they acted like normal chickens, and I tried to feed them good hay by harvesting the grass, but their eggs were still terrible: gray yolks, incredibly thin whites...I love scrambled eggs, but I could never use those. I eventually sold the chickens back to the ranch and had the coop taken down after a few months in the summer. I didn’t even want to try raising cows.

I wanted to leave so badly by the time that second winter rolled around. While Odelia and Langdon would often visit me and we would spend time on my farm or in the forest, by that time there was some odd force preventing them from leaving the beach. I witnessed it myself; anytime they would approach that border of trees separating the beach from the rest of the town, it was like they got...stuck. I don’t know if you play video games, but you know when you reach the border of the game map, and you just can’t go any further despite there not being anything physical stopping you? It looked like that. I could come and go as I pleased, but it was like...like the townspeople had rejected their existence so hard they couldn’t even penetrate the town they had constructed so carefully.

I think the final straw for the townspeople was late spring, the last year I was there. They had this sort of dance deep in the thick of the forest, apparently only accessible when the dance was going on. One of the men around my age there was the town doctor--which I doubt he was actually licensed to practice medicine, since I don’t even think he was thirty at the time--and he asked me to go to the dance. I’d never been asked before, in Crestfallen or in general, but I really didn’t want to go. I had no idea what kind of fucked up shit would happen there, and I didn’t want to find out. So I said no.

That night, just before I was about to go to bed, my door was broken down. I don’t remember how many people were there, but it was definitely the doctor and at least four other people. They descended on me like vultures, only instead of eating me they were savagely beating and kicking me. I was crying, and...sorry, hold on a second.

Archivist

Take your time.

Avery

[They nod, silently wiping tears away from their face]

Sorry, I...I have a bad habit of going nonverbal when I start crying. That, and I sound incomprehensible when I try to talk, and that’s especially bad considering you’re recording this. Anyway, I think one of them brought a bat down on my head, and I was knocked unconscious. I woke up the next morning in this weird white dress and a flower crown on my head. I could feel thorns on the stems threatening to pierce my already sensitive head. As my vision came into focus, I could see that my hands and feet were bound with rope. Actually, I wasn’t wearing anything but that dress, but when I tried to ask where my clothes had gone, I...I couldn’t make words with my mouth. Just a gentle sigh. It was a moment later that I saw the doctor holding my clothes, all neatly folded, approaching a blazing bonfire. Before I could even try to yell out, he threw them into the flames and turned towards me, watching me with cold infatuation as my clothes burned away.

Soon enough, the mayor approached me and grabbed my wrists, pulling me to the center of what looked to be the actual dancing part of the area. It was from here that I could see the whole field: the bonfire in the middle, separating what looked to be a buffet from the dancing. Various townspeople were milling around the buffet or looking at the bonfire, but when the mayor whistled, everyone turned to face me instantly.

They must’ve all known what would happen, because without a word or even a gesture from the mayor, the doctor stepped forward and grabbed my hands in his own. I tried to look at the ground, but the mayor held a hand under my chin so I would look my apparent dance partner in the eyes. 

I hated every second of it. I was basically just getting tossed around, since I couldn’t move my feet. I could hear the townspeople chanting and playing instruments, but it wasn’t anything I could decipher. That or I just can’t remember, I wouldn’t be surprised at this point. Slowly, more people joined in on the dance, although from the snippets I could see, their dance was totally different than whatever the doctor was doing to me.

It felt like hours, but the sun’s position hadn’t even moved in the sky when the dance was done and I was released. I didn’t get much time to relish it, though, because I was knocked unconscious again. When I woke up, it was night, and I was lying naked on top of my bed.

I knew at that point that I had to get out of there. But I didn’t want Odelia and Langdon to be trapped either. I needed to do something. God, I can’t believe I forgot to mention this, but the entire time I was there, I could never get a signal on my phone. And it wasn’t like I had run out of data or anything, I was on a by-the-gig plan at the time. At least I wasn’t wasting my money, but it still frustrated me. Most of my days after that dance were spent walking all around the town limits, trying in vain to even get one bar. I’d downloaded one of those rideshare apps forever ago, but I never used it, and I figured now would be the best time to see if anyone could show up. I didn’t have much faith, considering my previous experiences getting to Crestfallen, but dammit, I had to try. I did not want to die in this place, and I didn’t want Odelia or Langdon to either.

I know you’re probably wondering why I didn’t just walk the road back to where I came, but to be honest, I didn’t want the townspeople following me. None of them had cars, as far as I knew, maybe a motorcycle owned by one person, but I still feared that they could track us down anyway. Plus, I didn’t want to get turned around and end back up in Crestfallen again. So, I figured calling someone over would be the best solution. I really didn’t want to rope anyone else into this mess, but it had the highest chance of succeeding in my eyes. And well, I’m here right now.

I finally got two bars on May 31st. See, part of Crestfallen is on a huge hill, and on the peak of that there’s a train that comes through--no stops, unfortunately, and I never heard or saw one go by while I was living there. Either way, it was there that I finally found a signal. So, I told my plan to Odelia and Langdon: that as soon as I found a way to get them out of the beach and onto the single road that went out of Crestfallen, we were leaving. Langdon seemed more hopeless than Odelia, but they both eventually agreed. 

As it turned out, Odelia was on her high school’s swim team, and she had kept that up. She found that, so long as she swam to where the river flowing through Crestfallen emptied into the lake and kept her body underwater the entire time, she could escape into the rest of the town. With the added bonus of this river emptying out in the forest, she and Langdon could have some secrecy coming up. Meanwhile, I could take their luggage beforehand and keep it at my house until they were ready to go.

They were ready June 7th. The three of us stood at the top of the hill, Odelia and Langdon soaked, while I got someone to pick us up. Once the ride was approved, we raced back down to my house to get our luggage and wait for our driver. Unfortunately, the rest of the town seemed to have picked up on our plan.

Five minutes before our driver got there, we could see a mob approaching us, and they had weapons. Crude ones, but I could see kitchen knives glinting in people’s hands, sharpened sticks and stones and bats. They didn’t want to just beat us up this time; they were either going to indoctrinate us or kill us.

Despite his age, Langdon was surprisingly good at defending us against the mob. While we were able to avoid things being thrown at us, and at a couple points we threw them back to keep individual members from attacking us, Langdon was actively keeping them away with his suitcase. Two minutes before our driver got here, he was able to wrestle a butcher’s knife from a woman’s hand--the same woman that clawed my face so long ago. It felt like slow motion, watching him throw the knife right in the center of the woman’s forehead.

As she collapsed into a heap, the mob paused. They looked at the dead woman, and their faces contorted into anger. One of them cried out, and the mob descended on him just as the driver pulled up. Langdon screamed at us to save ourselves, and Odelia pulled me into the car. As she told the driver to go as fast as she could, I watched helplessly as the mob tore chunks from Langdon, and he screamed in pain as they ate his flesh.

When the driver dropped us off at the bus station, I gave her a five star rating and a tip that basically doubled the cost of the ride. She didn’t sign up to see a man be cannibalized, so it was the least I could do for potentially traumatizing her.

As we waited, I asked Odelia if Langdon sacrificing himself was something he planned. She shook her head, but she did remember hearing him say that he would rather he die on this mission over either of us, his rationale being that he was just an old fisherman, that we had more potential than he did out in the rest of England. I don’t know if he was right, but I can’t exactly change the past.

When the bus drove up, we boarded. I ended up sleeping most of the way down, which gave Odelia the chance to rest her head on my shoulder. Even though it was on a bus, it was the most comfortable I slept in the longest time. She must’ve had family or something in Liverpool, since that was where she requested to be dropped off. At first, I didn’t really know where I wanted to go. I didn’t know what to do with myself anymore; all of my plans for the future had been dashed by Crestfallen. I ended up telling the bus driver to bring me to Greenwich, since it seemed far enough away from the center of London that I wouldn’t be overwhelmed. I applied for temporary housing there while I looked around for jobs to tide me over. It took about a month for me to get my own place, and as you probably know, I got a job here in August.

Archivist

That’s...certainly a lot. Do you have any way of contacting Odelia to perhaps get her perspective on Crestfallen?

Avery

I have her number, yeah. Though I’m not sure how willing she’d be to talk to you about it, considering whenever I’ve tried to bring up her time in Crestfallen, she doesn’t want to talk about it.

Archivist

Well, I suppose that’s understandable. As much as I would want to send someone up there to investigate, it would likely take a day at least, and if your claims are true, it would be very dangerous for--

Avery

What, you don’t believe me?

Archivist

You said yourself that you don’t remember a whole lot. But considering some of the...more horrific things you’ve told me about Crestfallen, I don’t want to think about what’s been blocked from your memory due to trauma. 

Avery

I...I guess. I wouldn’t want anyone going out there either. Not without a weapon, and I doubt you can have those on public transportation.

Sorry. It’s just...wanting to tell someone about this was part of the reason why I applied to work at the Institute. Not all of it, but...I was kind of worried you wouldn’t believe me if I was some stranger. Although, I guess now’s not much better.

Archivist

[Sighs] Avery, I know I might act like I do, but I don’t hate you. I’m not around you enough to hate you.

Avery

I have a feeling you will if you get to know me better. It happens a lot. [Sighs, getting up from chair] Well, if that’s all you need from me, I should go.

Archivist

For now, yes. I’ll reach out if I need additional information.

Avery

Cool. [Footsteps, door opens then closes]

[CLICK]

Archivist

[CLICK]

Despite the...awkward ending to that statement, Avery has been surprisingly cooperative in regards to follow-up questions. They asked Odelia Stevens if she could come in and give a statement, but apparently her work schedule would make that difficult. However, Avery has arranged a video call with her and myself, so maybe she’ll be able to give us some more insight.

As it turns out, Crestfallen is a registered town in County Durham, despite there being very little information about...anything involving it, really. I don’t know how I could convince anyone to go there, even if they don’t know about it. I don’t think I could live with myself if I did that.

I really don’t know all that much about Avery, now that I think about it. As much as I don’t want to trust them, I’ve been trying to let my paranoia go. It’s strange, you’d think knowing them less would give me more reason to be paranoid about their intentions, but...quite the opposite, really. I don’t know what motivation they’d have for faking something on this scale, especially when their job is so removed from the more paranormal aspects of working here.

I just don’t know. And I don’t know if that’s a sign I should get to know them better, or keep them at arms’ length.

Recording ends.

[CLICK]

[everly-kindred]

Eve’s Diary - Entry #66

Date: 14th of June, 2027

Dear Diary, 

I’m really ready for this school year to be over. 

So we had the dueling tourney. I’ve been practicing my spells and stuff, I can cast everything in my year now. They put our faces on posters in the Great Hall and made us into collectable cards, like the exploding snap cards and the chocolate frog cards. I was super excited.

We entered the hall and… This must be my favourite transformation I’ve ever seen. It was exactly like how I imagined the forests in my fairytale books are like. It was… so completely stunning. I felt like I was in one of my dreams. 

And then we all sat down at the tables and it was like a big court, everyone was dressed so brilliantly in colourful gowns and some had wings, others crowns. Arthur Letsworth and Riven Redwhisper were crowned the king and queen of the night, and we ate food and watched people duel down below. 

I had to sit next to Octavia, which wasn’t very fun, but she left me alone for the most part. And then I moved to go sit next to Casey before my duel while Peach was dueling, and Ruby came over and talked to me about how he wanted to steal a dance with me. 

I was gonna write about all the duels, who went up against who, who won and all that, but after my duel, I sort of forgot all of that. Except for the fact that Octavia had to duel Bonnie? Which was sort of wild, and I didn’t know how to feel about that.

Anyways, I suppose I should talk about my duel, now. I was supposed to go up against Aloy. I had this whole plan, I was gonna try something new and try colovaria, change the colour of her uniform like the faeries did in that muggle movie, Sleeping Beauty. Be all silly and stuff since you just have to succeed on getting a spell on the other person to get a point - it doesn’t have to be a painful or mean spell! And I didn’t imagine I’d win. Everyone kept telling me they believed in me, that they knew I’d win and stuff, and I just sort of smiled and laughed along even though I knew it wasn’t true, but…

Aloy petrified me before I could even lift my wand. I didn’t get to test out any of the spells I had been practicing. I mean, Merlin, I didn’t even get to duel. Everyone else got to go, some more than once, and I didn’t even get a chance to. I waited forever, practiced just so I’d have a chance to have fun before I lose, and I didn’t even get to fight. 

I ended up running away (like I do so often) and some people chased me but I hid from them in that little magical forest. There was this tower thing I climbed into, and I just tucked myself away until they left. And then I cried a lot. A year full of failures is what it was. And I know it’s my first year and that’s to be expected but… even with my last, final failure, I couldn’t even have fun with it. I couldn’t show off or test any of the things I’d been practicing all year. It's like nothing I learned even mattered. I practiced for nothing. I might as well have not even tried, it would’ve been the same result. I just wanted to have fun with it.

Anyways… After the people trying to find me gave up and went back to the duels, I walked around and explored the ballroom area. It was simply astounding, and I am grateful that I got to enjoy it by myself before everyone came in. There was this really beautiful pond full of statues and lily pads, and there were giant mushrooms and toadstools everywhere. And all these pretty ruins and lights and flowers. The King and Queen’s throne was perched up on top of the ruins. It was magnificent. And I felt really happy to explore it in the dress I’d sewn, because I felt like a faerie myself. I didn’t have my face painted anymore, I had tried to paint my face red with white spots like a mushroom, around the cheeks and my nose so it was sort of blushy, but… Suffice to say that became messy and was mostly gone by the time I put on my dress. But I had these cute little wooden mushrooms I’d stuck in my hair! 

Professor Dracheblume found me just before everyone came in from the duels, and told me I should be proud to have made it as far as I did. But I feel like I don’t even know why or how I did in the first place! And then they gave out awards, and I got ‘best in year’ but I felt like I didn’t even deserve that award because I was the only one in my year anyways and… I didn’t even get to duel! I wasn’t best at anything! 

But Bobby found me then, and we actually had a lot of fun dancing. We talked about playing Dungeons and Dragons over the summer, and what might happen if he tried to take a board game through the floo. And everyone looked so pretty. Bonnie did such a good job, honestly. I hope I can be like her some day. 

Bobby went to go get punch, when Ruby found me and asked if I wanted to run away. So I said goodbye to Bobby, gave him one of my little mushrooms, and then off we went. 

He showed me this tiny hidden room behind a painting, with a skylight thing? Like there was glass and lights and stuff. It was really pretty. We talked about summer, he said he was gonna try to visit as much as he can since he’ll be in Bulgaria (I think that’s what it was, anyways) and we danced for a bit in the quiet, away from everyone else. It was a nice bit of peace. 

Tourney and Midsummer Ball aside, I was in a more optimistic mood before all that because Bobby talked to me and sort of gave me a pep talk about starting the next year and new beginnings. And also I went down to the hut outside the castle and saw Dracheblume, and she showed me the baby unicorn I had dreamed about, that lost its mum in the battle in the forest. Did you know baby unicorns start off gold, and then turn silver and are only white when they’re adults? I never knew that! Dracheblume let me name her, so we named her Calypso. She really likes fruit.

I’m so ready to go home. I’m ready for this year to be over. I wanna have fun again. The only thing that makes me sad about this year ending is that Bonnie won’t be here next year.

Just a couple more weeks now and some exams stand between me and freedom for a couple of months. I can work on my play and the other things I wanna study, play Dungeons and Dragons with Bobby and Aures and maybe I’ll invite some other people too, maybe some of the other third years. I can explore the forest around my new home and see what it’s like when it’s bustling with summer life. 

Soon!

Much love, Everly

[ Eve’s Wiki Page ] 

[ Flickr ]

[swiss-cheeze]

Secretes from the Summer of 69’ || Brian May x reader

((Why are there not good gifs of Brian wtf?))

Warnings: uh, swearing, angst, shitty writing, like, one sexual innuendo. I wrote this in like; an hour or two so it’s really shitty.

A/N: it’s a song fic.

Listen to the song for better use I guess idk.

Lyrics are in bold

———

Growing up was never something for you, you always wanted to be a kid, or at least a teenager. You could get away with everything if you thought of the perfect cover story and had a good complexion, keeping fit always helped as well.

So when you sat down for that final exam you knew everything was going to change. Yeah you got a B- which is good and all, but you finished school; now what?

---

I got my first real six-string.

Bought it at the five-and-dime.

Played it 'til my fingers bled.

Was the summer of sixty-nine.

“Go again Brian” you said rewinding the tape.

“What? But that was perfect!” Brian said dramatically throwing his hands up, John groaned behind you as he came up and pressed the coms button.

“You missed a part dummy!” John said, “If you can’t do it then we’ll get Roger in there and see what happens!”

“What! What part!?” Brian retaliated.

“Just…” you sighed and placed your head in your hands as John kept the coms on, “just play from the start, go all the way through and we can pick and place later” you said exhausted.

“Whatever you say” Brian mumbled. The man put down his drink of water, made a motion to replay the tape and soon the drums and base floated through the room accompanied by Brian’s guitar; he was doing better on this one than any other.

Me and some guys from school.

Had a band and we tried real hard.

Jimmy quit, Jody got married.

I should've known we'd never get far.

“He hasn’t played this bad since Mike left” you said softly making John chuckle beside you.

“Aren’t you glad I came then” John stated as he sat down in a nearby wheelie chair with a large grin.

“Sarcasm isn’t a pretty look on you Deaky” you explained with a grin, you played with a few of the knobs on the control board before leaving it alone and turning around to look at John, “you were so shy and enclosed back then when you first came into the band”

“Shut up” John jokingly said with a smile.

“And the hair!” a voice exclaimed, it was Roger walking through the door with a cardboard tray, two cups of coffee and a tea no doubt, “the hair he had back then WOOF”

“You had that hair back then too don’t forget” John said with a chuckle as he grabbed the coffee Roger had handed him as you grabbed the one he handed to you.

“So, Brian’s still at it then yeah?” Roger said as he leant over the control panel and squinted through the glass, and Roger had the audacity to say his eyesight was fine, “sounds shit”, you whacked Roger in the arm as the man chuckled, followed by John and then you.

“He always sounds shit darling don’t flatter yourself” Freddie said walking through the door, “sorry I’m late, my poor darlings had a stomach bug and I had to take three of them to the vet. THREE!” Freddie exclaimed as he ripped off his sunglasses and landed on the couch with a ‘poof’, “I think it was the tuna I gave them as a treat, needless to say, my loves won’t be getting any tuna no more”

“Don’t you always feed them Tuna though?” Roger asked with a cocked eyebrow raised over his sunglasses.

“Yes but-“ Freddie began.

“Oh please don’t go on about what you feed them Freddie. Please” you said placing your head in your hands, “I’ve heard enough screeching thanks to Brian already, I don’t need you to add onto that” you said with a chuckle.

“Fine! I just won’t feed you then” Freddie said jokingly.

“You don’t feed me enough anyway” you mumbled before blowing a raspberry softly, a soft ‘ahem’ came from the sound booth door.

“I just tried to play my heart out and here you all are talking” Brian said as he sipped his tea, Roger grinned behind his coffee cup as Freddie and John snickered.

“Heart? What heart? All you’ve got is skin and bone my friend” you said with a smile.

“Oh hush hush, don’t hurt the poor boy” Freddie said with a wave of his hand and a grin on his lips. Brian rolled his eyes before slinking over to the couching and plopping down softly.

Oh, when I look back now

That summer seemed to last forever

And if I had the choice

Yeah, I'd always wanna be there

Those were the best days of my life

“Stop eye fucking” John groaned.

“Who?” Freddie asked as he looked between everyone.

“(Y/n) and Brian” John said with a sigh, “they keep looking at each other with these eye movements and I can tell they’re undressing each other as we speak and it is not nice to be able to see” the man said as he rubbed his forehead, seemingly scarred from what he had to witness.

“Well if you hadn’t have said anything we wouldn’t be envisioning it right now” Roger mumbled, “plus you’re the one who saw and thought of it, you have such a dirty mind Deaky” the man said with a grin.

“Well he does have the most kids” you said with a chuckle as you sipped your coffee. Brian shook his head as he laughed softly.

“You’re all a bunch of idiots you know that?” Brian asked as he looked to everyone in the room with a nice twinkle in his eye, “between you three” the man said with a finger drifting between Roger, you and John, “you each have one collective brain cell and none of you are using it right now”, you gasped dramatically and placed a hand on your chest and Roger pulled his glasses down his nose a little and John snorted softly.

“How RUDE!” you yelled, you stood up, “I don’t deserve such SLACK! Especially from a PESANT, like YOURSELF” you said, “come minions, we have work to do” you said to John and Roger; the two simply laughed softly (as did Fred and Brian) as you walked to the door, “no but seriously I gotta get to work otherwise I’ll be late” you said with an awkward grin.

“Oh shit yeah” Brian said, “I’ll see you out love, come on” the man said as he stood up and motioned for you to keep walking. The two of you had been together for close to nine years and only recently gotten hitched. Brian smiled down at you as you grabbed your bags and stood at the door, Brian looming over you.

“Work on your fingering” you said with a snicker making Brian roll his eyes.

“Yeah yeah” the man mumbled softly as he smiled, you smiled too as Brian bent down and kissed you softly as he held your elbow softly with one hand and his other on your cheek, “have fun at work okay?” Brian said as the two of you parted, you nodded.

“I will.” You smiled as you pecked the man on the lips once more before you started heading for the door, “I should be home for dinner, if I’m not then don’t wait up okay?” you asked, turning on your heel and walking backwards. Brian nodded.

“I’ll keep it in mind, don’t worry” Brian said softly, “love you!” the man said as he blew a kiss your way.

“Love you too babe!” you blew a kiss back as you turned just in time to get the door and walk out the place.

Ain't no use in complainin'.

When you've got a job to do.

Spent my evenings down at the drive-in.

And that's when I met you, yeah.

---

Brian didn’t actually know what your work even was, you had never told him, you just said it was something ‘top secret’ and something only you and your workmates needed to know. After being told this numerous times Brian ended up giving up and just treated it as if he knew.

Standin' on your mama's porch.

You told me that you'd wait forever.

Oh, and when you held my hand.

I knew that it was now or never.

Those were the best days of my life.

The thing was, legally you weren’t allowed to tell Brian, and otherwise you would have to-

Let’s not get into that just yet.

---

Oh, yeah

Back in the summer of sixty-nine, oh

---

Back when you and Brian had first started going out you were known as the ‘never would last’ couple. Brian was always the teacher’s pet, goody two shoes, be good boy, and you? You where the reckless, ambitious, ‘throw caution to the wind’, ‘do now, regret later’ person. You got into fights that Brian had to break you out of, he had to make sure you studied when a test came up, he was the one that helped you with your killer hangovers from those regretful ‘celebration’ nights when you got past an exam. You didn’t even properly start saying you and Brian where together until a year in, and even then it felt foreign on both your tongues, but you got over it, got past your reckless phase, studied and became a goodie that people could rely on.

Well, that’s what you let them believe anyway.

Man, we were killin' time, we were young and restless.

We needed to unwind.

I guess nothin' can last forever, forever, no.

Yeah.

---

Times change, people change and appearances need to be kept up. Brian was touring with Queen more than ever, yes you missed him, but this also meant you could get more work done without him around, this meant that you HAD to get reckless, wild, and out of your mind fucking crazy; within your job limits of course.

You watched Brian every time he came on live on the telly, he always dedicated a song to you, it was different each time but it was still cute and you loved it.

And now the times are changin'.

Look at everything that's come and gone.

Sometimes when I play that old six-string.

I think about you, wonder what went wrong.

That was, until the day shit hit the fan.

---

“Brian?” you asked shakily into the receiver.

“Yes love? You sound scared are you okay?” the man asked slightly concerned as he sat on the edge of the hotel couch the band was staying in.

“I-I. Fuck. Brian I made a mistake. Brian I’m so sorry” you said shakily as tears slowly started to cascade down your face, “nothing went right, we all fucked up and they found us. Everyone got out except me and-“

“Wait wait, we? Everyone? Escaped?” Brian chuckled awkwardly, “love, I…I don’t understand what you’re saying”

“I work for the Secret Service Brian” you said in one breath, “I’m in the worst branch, me and my team are the ones who get missions for-…for killing people, some jobs we have to assassinate someone, or-or we have to get certain information from something for someone else” you took a breath, “Brian I’m in jail, I was caught, I AM caught, my post wasn’t secured and the police got in and immediately took me in” you said quickly and shakily. Brian didn’t say anything, his soft breath was the only thing that came from the other side of the receiver. “Brian?” you asked, “Bri please respond” you whimpered softly.

“Ma’am” the guard said, “your time is up”.

“Fuck, um, o-okay.” You said quickly, “Bri I gotta go, please, come get me, I’m being held somewhere in-, fuck I think Germany? I don’t know. Bri please” by this point you were crying as the guard grabbed your arm roughly, “Bri please find me! I have a life sentence! Please!” you pleaded through your tears, you couldn’t end like this, “I LOVE YOU!”

Standin' on your mama's porch

You told me that it'd last forever

Oh, and when you held my hand

I knew that it was now or never

Those were the best days of my life

---

Thirteen years had passed and Brian hadn’t come for you. He had sent a letter, only one letter, stating that he wanted a divorce and even though with the amount of love he had for you, he couldn’t be with someone like you. You cried over that letter, your pillow and the jail cell you were held in had seen more tears then you cared to say.

Brian didn’t come for you, Roger didn’t call, and Freddie didn’t visit.

But John did.

He did all of those things, he couldn’t get you out of jail. But he sat with you outside your cell almost every chance he got. Brought you good food, new tapes to listen to, new books to read, and clothes. Almost anything you asked for.

So when you asked for another letter from Brian, John was definitely taken aback.

“A letter? From Brian?” John asked.

“Please John, I miss him so much” you said softly with tears in your eyes, you reached a hand out to touch John but the stern look you got given from the guard made you bring your hand back in quickly, “even just a ‘go away’!” you said with a watery smile, “I just need something from him. Please. I beg you”, John sighed softly as the bell rung for visiting hours to be over. He stood up as the guard came forward to start escorting him out.

“I’ll…ill see what I can do okay?” John asked, you nodded quickly with a smile, “alright. Next time I come I’ll try and bring a note from him”

“Thank you John! Thank you!” you sniffled as the guard started walking John out of the compound.

---

Oh, yeah

Back in the summer of sixty-nine, oh

It was the summer of sixty-nine, oh, yeah

Me and my baby in sixty-nine, oh

It was the summer, the summer, the summer of sixty-nine, yeah

“This is all he would give me” John said, it had been three months since John had last come to you, and this time he had something to give you. The man looked around to check the guards weren’t watching and slipped it into your cell quickly. You smiled to John widely as you started to open the note quickly, quietly, and trying not to break it.

‘(Y/n)

John told me you wanted a note. So here it is.

Yes I miss you.

Yes I still love you.

Yes I want to get back with you.

I didn’t have enough money back then to get you out but now I think I do. I think I can get you out. Deaky can tell you the finer details as I cannot through a piece of paper and pencil.

Please don’t think any low of me.

The only thing I ask from you is to tell me everything you had been keeping from me for all of those years we were together, what you did, how you did it and answer any of the questions I have to ask you.

I don’t want to start off where we left because that isn’t right.

I want to get to know you again, over dinner, a date if you will. But you must tell me everything I ask for, without hesitation and without keeping anything from me.

No more secretes.

We will have to take this next step together slowly and oh so carefully.

So, in the words of Bryan Adams.

‘Back in the summer of 69’

Bri x’

To say you had never been happier was an understatement as happy tears rolled down your cheeks and you held the note close.

[humansofjcuhealth]

Rowing from Rocky to Rio

Presented at the Maggie Grant Guest Speaker Night - Shooting for the stars, if you missed it you can catch up on all the action from the night below.

“How would it feel, to spend 10 years of your life, preparing to get in to the degree of your dreams, and then you get in? Pretty good right? And once you were in that degree, how would it feel to study for 4 years without having to sit a single assessment? Awesome! But what if there was just one exam at the end, and you could be examined on anything from the prior 4 years? Starting to feel a bit nervous? And what if that exam was only 6 minutes long? A little more nervous? And what if only the top 3 from the class graduate, and everyone else had to go back to first year? Nope, I’m out!

This is a very real situation faced by many elite rowers across the world, and a situation I found myself in, in 2016. I was sitting on the start line of the Olympic final for the men’s quad scull, my 6-minute exam.

Before I get into the nitty gritty, I want to outline a few simple things about rowing. Rowing is NOT, Kayaking, Canoeing, Dragon Boating, Outrigging, Sailing or Stand up paddle boarding. Rowing IS the only boat in which you race facing backwards, races are always held over 2000m and the sport is split in to sculling (single, double, quad) where each rower has 2 oars, and sweeping (pair, four, eight) where each rower has 1 oar. In 2016, I raced in the Australian Men’s Quad scull.

Now as a rower, I like to break things down in to quarters.

-       Every year is one quarter of an Olympic cycle

-       500m is one quarter of a (2000m) race

-       I’m almost 2 quarters of my way through medical school (I suppose that’s just ½?)

-       My life up until Rio was 4 quarters, each 7.5 years long.

So, considering that I like quarters, I want to take you through my Olympic final (my 6-minute exam) one quarter at a time, and to talk about the lessons I learned in the 4 quarters of my life (up until that point in time) on my journey from Rocky to Rio.

In the first 500m, you’re sitting on the start line feeling nervous, excited, it’s quiet and you’re reassuring yourself and your crewmates that ‘you got this’. In the first 10 strokes, your adrenaline is through the roof and there’s heaps of noise because you’ve got 24 pairs of oars clashing along at a high stroke rate. At the 250m mark, your lungs start working hard and the body begins to adjust to the new work load. At the 500m mark, you’re finally starting to settle in to race pace.

It was in this first quarter of the race that I drew on a lesson I learned in the first quarter of my life. ‘Just keep running’ was my mantra that led me to success in my pre-school cross country, a mantra that my sport psychologist at the time, Mum, told me to recite. She said no matter how much you want to stop, or how tired you get ‘just keep running’. In the wild conditions in Rio, where waves were threatening to knock my oars out of my hands, and my lungs were screaming for more oxygen, I thought ‘just keep rowing, just keep rowing, just keep rowing’.

In the second 500m of a rowing race, you’re thinking about maintaining the pressure and intensity you set up in the first 500m. It’s a test of wills – to see which crew can flirt with the anaerobic/ aerobic threshold without pushing themselves so hard that they ‘blow up’.

In the second 500m of the race in Rio, I tapped in to something I learned in my early days of rowing at high school. It was a mental toughness that I cultivated while training in Rockhampton, not knowing what my fellow competitors were doing down south. Every time I got on the water, in the gym, on the bike, or on the hill out the front of school, where we’d do hill sprints, I would think to myself, ‘I’m going to hurt myself more than the guys down south are willing to hurt themselves. I’m going to push myself harder, and for longer than they’re willing to push.’ And whenever I’d doubt myself, or consider taking the foot off the gas, I would think ‘who is the hardest? This mentality got me through the second 500 in Rio, when the body really started to scream.

Photo credit: Rowing Australia.

The third 500m of a rowing race is where efficiency is key. It’s all about maintaining speed, and the way you do that is through quality technical rowing. Quality rowing is the result of thousands of hours of quality training, and quality over quantity was a lesson I learned in early adulthood (the third quarter of my life in the lead up to Rio), while I was living in Townsville for the first time.

In 2008, as a 17 year old, I got in to the university degree of my dreams; JCU medicine. Though happy to be in the degree of my dreams, I didn’t quite feel ready to study. I was keen to have a gap year, but specifically a gap year filled with boat races (not that kind of boat race). I knew that I was on the cusp of cracking the Australian Junior Rowing Team, and selection trials were in late April. I’d left my coach and training partners back in rocky, and I was now in Townsville on my own. After hitting one too many crocs on the Ross at 6 in the morning, by myself on the river, my original training program went out the window and I decided to keep rowing to a minimum. Instead, I would do the bulk of my physical conditioning on the land, particularly up Castle Hill. I’d run repeats up the goat track, not allowing myself to stop running. It would take me just under 10 minutes to go from the car park to the summit, numbers I’m still yet to repeat, but this was perfect training for rowing, as races typically last 6-7 minutes. At the selection trials, just before my 18th birthday, I was selected into my first Australian Rowing Team. My short stint of 3 months in Townsville showed me that quality of training is far more important than the quantity of training, and this mentality helped my crew and I move through the field in the third 500m of the Rio Olympic Final.

The final quarter of a rowing race is where you throw everything at your opposition. You only have to suffer for 90 more seconds, so you might as well bury yourself. The final quarter of my life in the lead up to Rio taught me that you’ve got to take advantage of each opportunity you’re presented, because it could be your last.

The day before I flew out for Rio, my Dad had a stroke. This immediately put my rowing situation into perspective, and after living in the rowing bubble and neglecting my family for 4 years, I was reminded that there are more important things in life than going to the Olympics. This gave me a new found clarity and freedom during the race, and I feel that I was able to enjoy it much more than I otherwise would have. My Dad’s situation also made me realise that competing at the Olympics might be a once in a lifetime opportunity. This might be my ‘one shot’ at an Olympic medal, so I’d better make the most of it!

In the last 500m, we threw everything and the kitchen sink at the Germans – every 100m we’d lift, and by the end, there was nothing more we could give. We crossed the line second, just 2 meters behind Germany, and initially we were disappointed. We’d come to Rio to win, we came in to the regatta as favourites, we’d qualified fastest for the final and came second. That being said, once the lactate had cleared and we reflected on what we’d achieved in our 6 months together we began to realise just how special the moment was. It was only 6 months earlier that we got together as a crew, having never raced together before. We had one guy from Queensland, one from New South Wales, one from Victoria, one from South Australia and our coach from Tasmania. We met in the middle, in Canberra, to prepare for the Olympics and committed to a common goal. We did everything in our power to ensure we reached that goal, and along the way we had many challenges thrown at us. In the end, we were able to come out the other side as second best in the world and to share that achievement with our family and friends at the end of what was an incredible journey was one of the most special moments of my life.”

- Alexander Belonogoff,  3rd Year JCU Medicine student  

[luckyspike]

The Trouble with Nocturnal Ambush Predators - A Good Omens Fanfiction

when I went to post this on AO3 (found here), turns out Crowley’s weird statue has its own tag

shit’s wild guys

anyway crowley and aziraphale make a bet about how shitty crowley’s vision is

nobody but also everybody wins, in a way

count the parks and rec references. also of course i had to make someone a doctor because i live at work i guess idk

-

Everyone was rather surprised when Brian announced that he would be going to school with plans to become a doctor. Brian, who reveled in dirt and grime, Brian that even at twenty would wear clothes more than once if he thought he could get away with it, Brian that ate food out of takeaway boxes and still left them in the sink. It was startling, the image of Brian, that Brian, standing in a sterile operating theater, scrubbed and gowned and as anti-septic as possible. And yet, this was also Brian that was always there for the Them, who would come the moment he was called if help was needed, who swallowed his pride and rebuked his filthy habits if only for a few minutes, to help his friends and save the world.

It was surprising but, the Them and friends reflected, not entirely shocking. It did make sense, in a sort of way. “I’d really like to study infectious diseases,” he said one night over dinner at the Pulsifer’s, while everyone was still gathered around the table for drinks. It was late, and Anathema had gone an hour or so ago to put her little daughter to bed, even over the child’s protests and desperate clinging to Crowley, who objected much less firmly than any self-respecting demon should have. Well enough then, he told Aziraphale, when the angel had pointed it out, that he was only still a demon in technicalities only.

Pepper looked amused. “You should see him in classes,” she said, for she was in the same class as Brian, with her sights set on psychiatry as a specialty once she’d graduated. “He sits right up front, a real gunner, and every time they ask about some weird bacteria, boom! He’s right there with the answer.” She rolled her eyes, but she was laughing, too. “I think it was all the dirt he always had on him when we were kids - he communed with the germs and they accepted him as one of their own.”

Brian flushed. “I don’t talk to germs. I just think they’re jolly interesting, is all.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” Adam Young said, leaned back in his chair with his hands folded behind his head. “Someone ought to, right? Otherwise we’d all die of cholera or something.”

Aziraphale frowned into his wineglass. “Nasty illness, cholera. I remember the pump outbreak …” He shook his head, putting an end to that reverie, and smiled at Brian instead. “It is fortunate you have such an interest, Brian - the world needs doctors, certainly.”

“So what’s medical school like these days?” Crowley asked, a mirror of Adam, leaned back in his chair with his feet on the table, idly swirling the scotch in his glass. “Last time I tried was, oh, the sixteenth century I think. Thereabouts.” He winced. “Pretty sure it’s got on since then. Hopefully.”

“Oh, yes,” Brian nodded. “Yes, I’d imagine it is. Very structured now, and there’s labs and independent study and practicing skills and all kinds of things, not to mention all the lectures and exams.”

“So many,” Pepper agreed mournfully. “Endless exams.”

“D’you practice on mannequins then?” Crowley looked thoughtful. “I’d imagine they do a good bit with mannequins.”

“Some yeah. And then some - the safer stuff - we practice on each other. Y’know …” Brian thought, waving his hands vaguely. “Listening to lungs and hearts, eye tests, that kind of stuff.”

Aziraphale looked up at that. “Eye tests, you say?” He looked across the table to Crowley, a grin slowly spreading over his lips. “Crowley, dear, we could finally settle the debate -”

“No. No, we can’t.”

Newt, who had been washing up in the kitchen, returned, wiping his hands on his jeans. “Debate? What are we debating, then?”

“Nothing,” Crowley griped. “Angel has been insisting for the past decade or whatever - since you kids were eleven, however long ago that was -”

“A decade,” Wensley confirmed.

“Right, so that long, I’ve had to hear about how I really shouldn’t be driving because snakes don’t have good visual acuity.” Crowley spread his hands. “To which I make my point: if I really couldn’t see, you think I would’ve gone this long with the Bentley without crashing it? Armageddon notwithstanding, that was extenuating circumstances.”

Aziraphale muttered into his wine, “Only thanks to occasionally-gratuitous use of miracles.”

“Occasionally, angel! Occasionally doesn’t count. Not like it’s a daily occurrence.

“And anyway, my vision’s better than a human’s at a distance and in the dark,” Crowley said authoritatively. “Horizontal planes an’ light refraction and all that. Saw a film about it.”

“Listened to a film about it,” Aziraphale mumbled. Adam snorted.

“Wasn’t very nice,” the boy said, although he was grinning.

Pepper laughed a little too, while Crowley presumably glared at Aziraphale - the sunglasses, as ever, made it difficult to tell for sure. “It’d be easy enough to test, if you really wanted to.”

“I don’t.”

“Not even for a wager?” Crowley looked at Aziraphale at that, and a long silence stretched out. The Them and Newt watched, rapt, because they’d only ever seen the two supernatural entities bet on something once before, and that was whether or not either of them could, after two bottles of wine, climb to the top of the biggest tree in Hogback wood without using miracles, wings, or shapeshifting*. They had, if memory served, wagered an entire years’ worth of song-selection privileges. It was, perhaps, fortunate that neither had won the bet, because in retrospect Adam considered it a distinct possibility that an ultimatum like that could only have ended in some kind of argument**.

[* They couldn’t, but no one had paid attention to that, because the entire spectacle was so hilarious that the end result was fairly irrelevant, and Crowley turned into a snake when he thought no one was watching and cheated anyway. ]

[** Crowley and Aziraphale, after the Nahpocalypse, argued very seldom, but being that neither liked to do anything by halves, arguments were usually intensely dramatic, if short-lived. The last argument had resulted in Crowley living in the garden at Jasmine Cottage as a snake for a weekend, and only ended because Newt threatened to call animal control on him if the two didn’t reach some kind of agreement about whether or not Tom or John Barnaby was the better detective .]

The demon was tempted. “What are the stakes?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Something.” Aziraphale shrugged. “Let’s say … oh, alright. You win, and I turn a blind eye to whatever you want to do to your plants for a month before the flower show next year.”

The Them and Newt, like spectators at a chess match, breathed out. “Oh, that’s a good one,” Brian mumbled.

“But if I win, which I will, of course, then …” Aziraphale considered it. “Then …” He thought harder, and then beamed. “Then next time the neighbors want to take a week holiday, you have to take care of their smallholding by yourself .” There were assorted gasps from around the table.

Crowley barked a laugh. “Absolutely not.”

“Because you know you’d lose.”

“No, because I always end up taking care of the smallholding by myself anyway, bloody goats.” Crowley leaned his elbows onto the table and tapped his chin with steepled fingers. “Right, when I win, I’ll … or you …” He brightened. “I get to yell at my plants, and you have to let me move the statue into the living room for an entire year.”

Aziraphale groaned. “Not the statue. No, just the plants.”

“No, the statue is a part of this.”

“When I win,” Aziraphale soldiered on, pretending they were not arguing about Crowley’s infamous Angel Statue that served as a crucial part of every argument and poorly-concealed threat in their relationship, “you have to put the blasted statue in a storage unit somewhere, and you take the speakers off that abhorrent vacuum cleaner."

Crowley looked appalled. “You’d cut out DJ Roomba’s tongue for a bet?”

“I’m hardly -” He looked to Crowley, and then relented, with a sigh. “Alright. No speaker on DJ Roomba for three months. Then you can put the speakers back on.” He seized Crowley’s hand the moment the other extended it, and they shook on it, both with equal enthusiasm and smugness. “I look forward to my three months of peace.”

“Can’t wait to put my statue in the living room and kill those bloody fittonias at last.”

Pepper and Brian exchanged a look, while Adam, Newt, and Wensley were trying to hide their laughter behind their hands. “We should print a Snellen chart,” Pepper said solemnly.

“Definitely need a Snellen chart.”

Newt nodded and stood from the table. “The printer is has bluetooth. Wait for me to be outside before you connect to it.”

Once Newt had vacated the building briefly, it was easy enough to print the eye chart. Adam found a measuring tape in a cookie tin full of sewing supplies***, and they solemnly marked out the ascribed distance. “Never done one of these before,” Crowley said, sobered-up for the endeavor. “What, you’re just supposed to read it?” Aziraphale was standing over his shoulder, arms crossed, looking so smug he might as well have already won. Perhaps he had.

[*** “ Why do you need it?” Anathema had asked him as she rocked Millie to sleep on her shoulder. Adam had explained, and she had nodded. “Oh, definitely,” she’d said. “The sewing kit is still in the linen closet in the bathroom - there should be a tape measure in there. Wait until I put Millie down to bed. I want to be there.” ]

“Yeah, you cover one eye,” Pepper instructed. “Right, and then you read the smallest line you can see. Ready?”

“Easiest bet I’ve ever won,” Crowley said, motioning to Brian to flip the corkboard he’d pinned the chart to. “Right, go for it.” The board flipped, and Crowley blinked. “Well, there’s the big ‘E’ at the top.”

“Everyone knows the big E,” Anathema said, dismissive. “He said read the smallest line you can.”

“Right. Ah …” There was an uncomfortable pause. “Can I try the other eye?”

“I knew it,” Aziraphale hissed triumphantly.

Brian swallowed. “Uh. In a minute. Um. Which … which direction is the ‘E’ pointing, then?”

Crowley frowned. “Whatever way ‘E’s usually point. What kind of stupid question is that?”

The assembled humans and one angel looked at the ‘E’ which was, very clearly, printed backwards. Aziraphale raised his hands to his mouth. “Crowley, you drove us here.”

“So? Didn’t crash, did I?” He switched eyes. “Oh, yeah, the other one’s better.”

“You’re serious?” Brian asked, craning his neck around to stare at the chart. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, so what’s that mean, then?” Crowley stuffed his hands into his pockets and rocked back onto his heels.

Pepper grimaced. “You’re legally blind?”

“No, that can’t be right.” He shrugged. “I drove us here, didn’t I?”

“He drove us here at 100 miles per hour,” Aziraphale added, in a mix of astonishment and terror.

“Right, and didn’t hit anything -”

“This time,” Anathema muttered under her breath.

“And made great time, all here, safe as houses.” He smirked. “Could a legally blind guy do that?”

“Maybe Daredevil,” said Newt, unhelpfully.

“Anyway,” Crowley went on, turning away to stalk across the room, past his horrified angel, and flick off the light switch, instantly plunging the room into darkness, “you’re not looking at this the right way. Move the chart around a bit, med student,” he instructed, the last part said with some disdain.

“You’re not at the line,” Brian protested.

“Just move it.” There was a whisper in the dark as the corkboard started moving in irregular figure-of-eights, Brian waving it around. Had it been light enough to see, his confusion would have been plainly evident on his face. “Right, so you got the ‘E’, which is backwards, then F, P, ah … T, O, Z, er … right, faster, okay, L, P, E, D, and then … Hm. Yeah, not sure after that.” The lights flipped back on, and Crowley put his sunglasses on. “So there.”

All the others looked from Crowley, to the eye chart, and back. “How?” Adam demanded. “You didn’t mess around -”

“Nocturnal ambush predator,” Crowley replied, as if it were obvious. “Plus, the ink’s still a bit warm from the printer. So even easier, really - I’ve got a whole extra sense, even, unless humans can see infra-red.”

“We can’t,” Wensley assured him.

“Right, so what’s that make me, then? I win, obviously.”

Aziraphale jumped in then. “Oh, no, no you don’t. Under human standards -”

“That was never specified.” Crowley grinned, and showed his teeth. Nocturnal ambush predator indeed. “Don’t try that with me, angel, remember which one of us is the demon, here.”

“It was inferred.”

“No such thing in a bet. Has to be expressly specified.” Crowley made a fist. “The fittonias die tonight.”

Since the lights had come back on, Anathema had been frowning, her lips moving occasionally as she clearly puzzled something over. She spoke, finally, slowly, and said, “But … but when you hit me with your car … it was night. And I was moving. And you were moving.” She looked at him, frowning. “You should have seen me, then.”

Crowley shrugged. “Wasn’t paying attention. No harm done, anyway.”

“Not after Aziraphale fixed me!”

Crowley scoffed. “Right. Like I said.” He pointed to Aziraphale. “I’m making an entire pop playlist for DJ Roomba just for this, angel.” He grinned even wider. “And I’m moving the statue as soon as we get home.”

“Really, dear boy, I don’t think this is as clear-cut as you say.”

“Oh, isn’t it?” Crowley pointed to Brian and Pepper. “Med students, stop me if I’m wrong -” they wouldn’t “- but the definition of visual acuity does allow for corrective devices, yes?”

“Yes,” said Pepper, while Aziraphale groused, “A moving chart and total darkness do not count as corrective devices, you know they mean glasses -”

“So there you go.” Crowley crossed the room and tore the chart from the board. “With corrective devices I’m … 20/50. So there. Not perfect but I still win.”

Aziraphale’s eyes were narrowed. “That’s cheating.”

“Again, if it’s not specified in the terms then technically it is not cheating. I’ve got books about this somewhere^, Aziraphale.” He spread his hands. “I’ve made a few bets and bargains in my life, believe it or not.”

[^ Books that were, he would not add, written in blood and bound in human skin.]

Aziraphale scowled. “You’re not putting that statue out.”

“Oh, but I am. I won the privilege.”

“You didn’t win anything.”

“Oh, but I did.” Crowley rubbed his hands together. “I definitely did. By the laws of betting.” He clapped Brian on the shoulder. “Thanks for moving the chart, kid.”

“And not letting the ink dry all the way,” Adam added under his breath with a poorly-stifled laugh.

Aziraphale was still scowling at Crowley, arms crossed over his chest. “We’ll discuss this further in the car.”

Crowley made a noise that might have been a chuckle, if there wasn’t just so much infernal glee instilled in it. “You sure you want me to drive home?” The angel’s wine glass miraculously filled itself. “Oh, so you’re going to be like that?"

“That statue is going out over my discorporated body.”

“It’s a very expensive statue.” He wilted a little under the blue fire in Aziraphale’s eyes. “Alright, we can talk about it in the car.”

The angel swallowed the wine in one gulp. “Capital.”

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (109/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball, which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation.   This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note: About 1000 years before the events of Dragon Ball Z.

Previous chapters conveniently available here.

[21 February, 233 Before Age.   Interstellar Space.]

"Six Saiyans all at once?    You must be slowing down in your old age, little mammal.    I remember a time when you defeated fifty without breaking a sweat."

In the sickbay of Luffa's star-yacht, Dr. Topsas applied bandages made of his own webbing to Luffa's wounds.   On occasion, he would hold out a section of his silk with two hands and smear a medicated gel onto one side with a third hand.   Four other limbs supported the weight of his massive arachnoid body.    He used the eighth to hold one of Luffa's hands as he worked.    

"They were tougher than usual, that's all," Luffa said.    "And I knew you'd be along to patch me up, so I didn't bother blocking their hits."

"Yes, of course," Topsas said as he wrapped up Luffa's right shoulder.   "You meant to shred your forearm like this.  Forgive me.  It can be difficult for my untrained eyes to tell the difference.    What seems to be a careless mistake is actually a masterful forgery."

"Ow!" Luffa said.   While she had been watching him tend to her arm, one of his other limbs had stuck something into her thigh.  

"A regenerative serum," Topsas explained, "to help repair that tendon in your leg.  Most Saiyan patients might have caught me before I managed to inject them with it, but you acted as if you were completely unaware.   It pleases me to see how much you trust me, Luffa."

"Look, I know you two missed each other," said Zatte, who had taken a seat on one of the other examination tables in the sickbay.   "But could you cut the banter for a few minutes and tell me what's going on?"

"Some clown named Trismegistus is powering up Saiyans and sending them after me," Luffa said.   "If Dotz hadn't foreseen their attack on Planet Lubegev, they would have wrecked the place and waited for me to hear about it and walk into their trap."

The revelation startled Zatte enough to make her forget her earlier impatience.    "You mean they wanted to fight you?" Zatte asked.    "That's crazy."

"I think you just defined the Saiyan species, Ms. Zatte," Topsas remarked.  

"They weren't that crazy," Luffa said.   "Their combined power gave me some trouble.   Plus, they were very well-trained for fighting as a group.    Pretty sure some of them used to serve in the Royal military.   These guys would have been pretty talented, even before Trismegistus got ahold of them.   With his Jindan treatments, they were pretty impressive.   If they hadn't lost their nerve in the end, I might have been in some real danger."

"Define 'danger'," Zatte said.  

Luffa looked at her and smiled.   "They might have killed me."

"Yes, but let us remember that they did not kill you," Topsas said as he waved a diagnostic scanner across Luffa's back.   "You prevailed over difficult odds, as we have all grown accustomed to seeing.  Then you returned to the ship, where you will make a full recovery, much to the relief of your long-suffering wife."

"Thank you, doctor," Zatte said.  

"Hey, I told you I was okay when I came on board," Luffa said.  

Zatte pointed at Topsas.   "I just like to hear it from him, all right?" she said.   She looked at Dotz, who was lying in one of the beds, with an intravenous drip in her left arm.   "I'm sorry, I should be thanking you.  If Luffa hadn't known about this in advance, it could have turned out much worse."

"Oh, uh... well, I'm afraid I wasn't much help, ma'am," Dotz said.    "I only forecast one Saiyan, not six, and I had no idea they'd be so powerful.   If anything, I should be apologizing..."

"Oh, come on!" Luffa shouted.  "You guys are acting like I lost back there.   I had my back against the wall and I still kicked their asses!   It was amazing, at least until the end when one of them turned coward.    Isn't anyone happy for me?"

"In a word, no," Topsas said.  

"Hell no," Zatte said.

"I still feel guilty about it," Dotz added.

"Well, too bad," Luffa harrumphed, "because this won't be the end of it.   I may not have precognition powers like Dotz, but I've fought enough battles to know this Trismegistus isn't finished yet."

"What are you saying?" Zatte asked.

Luffa hobbled over to a chair and took a seat.   With most patients, Topsas might have questioned the point of getting up from an exam table to sit in a chair only a few paces away, but he had learned to pick his battles carefully where Luffa was concerned.    

"Those guys who jumped me on Lubegev had the same upgrade as Jolok, the Saiyan who put Dotz in a coma and tried to take me out on Quadzityz," she explained.   "When Jolok and I fought, he told me he was defying orders by running off to fight me, but he did it anyway because he thought he could catch me off guard and take all the glory for himself."

"...And?" Topsas asked.

Luffa rolled her eyes and groaned.   "Think about it!" she said.   "If there were only seven of these jacked-up Saiyans, why wait to deploy them?  Why draw it out, long enough for one of them to lose patience and run off to go into business for himself?  The reason is that there's a lot more than seven.  Trismegistus is trying to build an army of Saiyans with these powers.  These six were supposed to be the first wave.    A test, to see how well I'd do against them.  But it would take a while to move that many pieces into place.   Jolok couldn't wait that long, which is why he tried to start things early."  

"The first wave?" Zatte asked.   "Luffa, you make it sound like this is the start of a full-scale offensive!"

"Hah!    You always say the sweetest things," Luffa said.   "To be honest, I have no idea how many Saiyans are in league with Trismegistus.   Once those six fail to report in, he'll know they weren't enough to beat me.  So next time he'll send eight, or ten!  If I beat them, he'll send more, assuming he has more to send.   But I think he's thought that far ahead.    One thing's for sure.   There's plenty of Saiyans out there who'd love a chance to take me down, even if they have to gang up on me to pull it off."

"And how, little mammal, do you expect to defeat these enemies when you're still recuperating from the last battle?" Topsas asked.

"By doing the one thing those bastards would never expect," Luffa said as she rose out of her chair.    For a moment, she seemed to strike a heroic pose, like a wounded warrior preparing for an epic last stand.    Then, she shuffled over to the bed next to Dotz and lay down in it, pulling the covers over herself.

"I'm sorry, but what would that be?" Zatte asked.  

"Following my doctor's orders!" Luffa exclaimed.   "My body will get stronger with every battle I fight.   As long as I stay one step ahead of my injuries, I ought to be able to keep up with Trismegistus' attacks.   He thinks I'll run myself ragged trying to stop his goons, but I'll tackle them on my terms, not his.   And then, when he's finally out of options, he'll have to give me what I want."

"What's that?" Dotz asked.  

"King Rehval," Luffa said with a satisfied smirk.   "If that bastard's not already mixed up with Trismegistus, then it's only a matter of time before he will be.   They need each other.  Trismegistus has a way to increase a Saiyan's power, so if he really wants the most out of it, he'll have to use it on the strongest Saiyan he can find, and that's still Rehval."

"What if you're wrong?" Zatte asked.  

"Then I'll deal with it," Luffa said.   "For now, all I can do is fight these guys with everything I've got."

"But what if that isn't enough?!" Zatte shouted.  "What if they're too much for you?"

"Take it easy, would you?" Luffa said.   "We can always ask for a second opinion."

Dr. Topsas cleared his throat before speaking.   "I have little experience with such matters," he said, "but if you sincerely wish to hear my advice, then I would recommend--"

"Not you, Doc," Luffa said.  "Dotz here is a fortune teller.   She may have gotten the details wrong, but she knew when and where the Saiyan attack would happen.  I bet she could predict the next one if we give her a chance."

"I'm not worried about where the Saiyans will strike next," Zatte said.   "What I want to know is whether you'll still be alive when it's over!"

"Well that's easy enough," Luffa said.   "Dotz can read my fortune, can't you, Dotz?"

Dotz was taking a drink of water when Luffa said this, and nearly spit it out.   "I, uh... I'm not sure if I should get involved in this..." she said.    "I wouldn't want to cause any hard feelings between the two of you."

"Don't swear it, Dotz," Luffa said.  She reached across the space between their beds and offered her hand.    "Zatte and I have been through tougher situations than this.   And I'm a lot stronger now than I've ever been before."

"That isn't the point," Zatte said, putting her hands on her hips.   "Dammit, you always get this way when you smell a worthy adversary."

"It's great, isn't it?" Luffa replied as Dotz began examining her open palm.    "I feel like a kid again, hunting dinosaurs in the wild.   I'd probably have trouble keeping still, but Doc wants me to rest, so it's sound tactical advice."

"I should really get to the bridge," Zatte said.  

"What's wrong?" Luffa asked.   "You don't want to know my future?"

"Oh, I'm sure you live to be a hundred, and you conquer the whole galaxy or something," Zatte grumbled.  

"I'm sorry," Dotz said, "but I'm having some trouble."

"What is it?" Topsas asked.    With a speed that belied his bulk, he moved to Dotz's bedside and checked the readings on medical sensors.  

"No, I'm fine, doctor," she said.    "What I meant was that I can't seem to read Luffa's palm."

"What is it?" Luffa asked.   "Bad news?"

"No, it's..." Dotz swallowed hard as she tried to find the right words.    "Well, it just... stops.    Unless I'm doing something very wrong, Luffa, you have no future."

"How very  melodramatic," Topsas said.    

"Cool," Luffa said with an impressed smile.  

"Wh-what?!" Zatte asked.  

Dotz looked at Luffa's hand very carefully as she ran her fingers across her palm.    "I've never seen anything like this before," she said apologetically.  "I've been telling fortunes for thirty years, and I've never..."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Luffa said.    "You're not fully recovered from your run-in with Jolok, so maybe that's got something to do with it.   Besides, my species makes its own destiny.   It'd be kind of boring to know how the movie ends, right, Zatte?"

But Zatte didn't answer.    When Luffa looked up, she saw her running out of the sickbay, sobbing.

*******

[21 February, 233 Before Age.  Interstellar Space.]

Cardune's entire life had been leading up to this moment.    He had been so blind in his youth, wasting his talents on pointless battles, siezing just enough plunder to break even.    Marriage, family, success, they had all been hollow pursuits, but he did not regret those years, for even these had been part of the plan that had been laid out for his life.  

He loved Trismegistus, more dearly than he had loved anything before.  The Thrice-Blessed One had transformed Cardune, perfecting him into his true self.    In his former ignorance, Cardune had come to him seeking strength of the body, but Trismegistus had given him so much more than that.     It made so much sense now.     What good was physical might without harmony of the spirit?   Only by balancing the mercurial and sulfurous essences in his soul could Cardune achieve his true potential.    This was Jindan, the power that turned an ordinary Saiyan into the Universal Reagent.    Through Cardune and others like him, Trismegistus would transform the entire universe.    

There were difficulties, to be sure.    No path worth following would be easy, least of all the Sacred Way.   Cardune had sacrificed much in exchange for his newfound power.   Trismegistus had taught him that this was the way of alchemy.    It was best to forget what he had given up, so as to fully embrace what he had received.    This was easier said than done.    Often, Cardune caught himself thinking about his partner, and their daughter and son.    Mostly, he wondered what had become of them after he was admitted into the cult.    Once, he thought he had seen his daughter serving as an attendant to one of the high priests.    It was hard not to be relieved, even proud, but this wouldn't do.    Cardune had given up his family, so it was no longer his place to worry for their safety, or to take comfort in their prosperity.    

This was why his joints ached from time to time.   His emotional indiscretions interfered with his spiritual balance, which diminished the effectiveness of the Jindan formula in his body.    Meditation helped.     While it never seemed to improve his condition, it at least distracted himself from the pain, and kept him from dwelling on things he couldn't control.    Like the clock on the wall of his quarters.  

Trismegistus was an alchemist, possessed of the secrets of creation itself.    For the Thrice-Blessed, remaking the universe was no different from a child mixing vinegar and baking soda.    He never called himself a god, though somehow this seemed to make him seem even more noble, as if he were laying silent claim to something even higher than divinity.    The Saiyans who belonged to his flock would become his Holy Reagent, the means by which he would effect his great work, but the kinetics of this act were a complete mystery.    Mere acolytes like Cardune could not hope to understand.   He was a glob of clay wondering when the potter would begin.  

Cardune could only act on what he knew, which were the orders he was issued.    He was given command of a starship, and he and his crew traveled to a particular location and held their position until the time was right.    Their supplies were limited, as Cardune was expected to lead his crew in ritual fasting at certain intervals.    Cardune found the hunger useful for diverting his attention from his own problems, but the other officers relied on their assigned consorts to distract themselves from their empty stomachs.  

Sex was held in high regard within the Jindan cult.    Trismegistus taught his followers that it was a means of balancing bodily humors.  Through repeated physical intimacy, they could rid themselves of those essences they did not need, and replenish essences which they lacked.    Ever a prudish species, the Saiyans found this polyamorous philosophy deeply disturbing, but this was part of the price for the Jindan power they all shared.    Trismegistus had arranged a complex system to determine who was to sleep with whom.    Higher ranking members were given greater freedom of choice in this, while the lower members had none.    As the commander of his ship, Cardune could have anyone else on board whenever he wished, but he preferred to decline this privilege.     Whenever he took a consort for the night, it only reminded him of the husband he gave up to join the cult, and so the entire exercise was self-defeating.    He only partook as often as he did in order to set a good example for his crew.    

Mostly, he spent his off-duty hours waiting in his quarters, letting his hunger and restlessness argue with his faith.    His orders were to hold his position in deep space, maintaining radio silence and a cloaking field to avoid any possible detection.    For three weeks, he and his crew had been cut off from the rest of the universe, waiting for a sign to move out.   If it pleased Trismegistus, they would die here, waiting for his sign, and the ship would serve as their cosmic tomb.   At times, Cardune wondered if their master had forgotten them.    He forced himself to repeat the mantras he used during meditation, in an effort to refocus his devotion.

And then, at last, the sign came.    Cardune hadn't known what to expect.   There was no subspace radio transmission, no voice speaking to him in his mind.    Just a feeling in the pit of his stomach, and a sudden urge to find his spear.    All of Trismegistus' followers were issued spears.   Along with the Jindan power and the Mindworm, which guarded them from telepathic assault, the spears were said to be the third of three blessings Trismegistus bestowed upon his flock.   Cardune was never told what the spear was for, just that it was important.    Now, as he found it leaned against the wall of his quarters, he began to appreciate its importance.    

The head of the spear was shaped like the barbed point of a harpoon, and now it glowed a dull red color, though Cardune could feel no heat when he touched it.    Instead, he felt an almost instinctive understanding that this was the moment he and his crew had been waiting for.   Trismegistus had cast them into the darkness, and now he was summoning them back.   And suddenly, the mental anguish Cardune had endured these past three weeks seemed to melt away.   Gazing at the spear, he felt there was nothing he could not do, and he knew that his entire crew now shared the same feeling.    

With a newfound sense of purpose, he stepped out of his quarters and headed for his post to order his ship into action.    

*******

[21 February, 233 Before Age.    Interstellar Space.]

On the bridge of Luffa's star-yacht, Zatte had finished crying, and somewhat awkwardly tried to get on with the work of checking the ship's systems.      She could sense Luffa approaching the entrance to the bridge.    For those who could sense ki, it was hard not to notice Luffa's presence on board.    While she had the chance, Zatte turned away from the door and wiped her eyes one last time, in an effort to look a little less pathetic.  

"Hey," Luffa said as she stepped through the doorway.   "I would have been here sooner, but Doc thought I should give you some space."

"It's okay," Zatte said.   "I'm fine, really."

"I'm sorry," Luffa said.   "Whatever it is I've done, I'm sorry."

"No, you're not," Zatte said, finally turning to face her.   "You can't be sorry for what you are.   I'm sorry.   I lost it back there.    I let you down."

"What are you talking about?" Luffa asked.  

Zatte turned and took her hands into her own.    "You want to fight," she said.   "It reminds me of the day the colony fell.    You were covered in Tikosi blood, and we both expected to die there.   You always told me how much you enjoyed that battle, and how impressed you were with me."

"I guess it is a lot like that," Luffa said.  "I probably got a little too excited about this Trismegistus thing."

"I know you love this sort of thing," Zatte said.    "But it scares me.    It always has.  Fighting is one thing, but against the kind of odds we faced on Dorlu Prime?   I know that's a dream come true for you.  Most days I can handle that.    Today, I slipped.   She said you had 'no future’ and I just couldn't..."

She pulled Luffa close and wrapped her arms around her tightly.   "I want you to have a future!" she said.    "I want to be there with you, and fight for your cause, and I'll burn for you if I have to, but I want to grow old with you too!   I want one of us to die in the arms of the other, and if it's me, then I want you to leave my corpse behind wherever it happens to fall."

"Hey, I already promised you that at our wedding," Luffa said.  "Dorlun funeral, all the way.  I won't let your death get in the way of the living."  

"And if you die first, then... then..."

"Of course," Luffa said, returning her embrace.   "If we make it that long, that's what we'll do.    But there's no guarantees.  We won't make it there unless we fight for it.    Every step of the way."

"You're right," Zatte said.   "It's just... it's hard sometimes."

"It's okay," Luffa said.   "It really is.   You're allowed to be weak sometimes.    Weakness is part of getting stronger.   Look at me.   I took a real beating on Lubegev, and now I've got to stay in bed and heal up."

"Can you really beat them?" Zatte asked.    

"I think so," Luffa said.  "But I won't know until I try.    That's why I have no future, Zattie.    The only future a Saiyan can have is the one she takes.   It's whatever I make for myself."

They held each other for a time, and then an alert sounded from one of the bridge consoles.    Luffa pulled away from Zatte to check it out.   "It's a recorded message from the Federation Council," she said as she read the display.   "What the hell do they want?"

She tapped the console to begin playing the message, and the main viewscreen displayed the image of a bald man with brown skin and a red military dress uniform.  He smiled somewhat insincerely as he spoke into whatever recording device he was using.    "Madam Federatrix," he said.  

"Ryba Booth," Luffa said aloud, though she knew he couldn't hear her.  There was a somewhat one-sided rivalry between them.    Booth commanded a military dictatorship before Luffa forced him to co-found the Federation along with three of his adversaries.   He longed for greater power over the Federation, to extend his personal rule to other worlds beyond his home planet of Despye, but Luffa's influence over the Federation made this impossible.   She was too popular to outpolitick, and too powerful to overthrow.   His only chance was to wait for her to fail on the battlefield, and then he could use his command over the Federation starfleet to usurp her position.   The smile on his face suggested that he felt closer to that outcome than he had been in some time.

"If you are receiving this message, it is because I am unable to reach you directly.   The Federation is under attack by an enemy fleet.   I have deployed our own fleet to intercept the invaders, but intelligence indicates that many of them are Saiyans.  Should any of them manage to land on an inhabited world, my ships may be incapable of dislodging them."  

Luffa and Zatte exchanged concerned looks.   "If these are anything like the Saiyans you fought on Lubegev--" Zatte began.

"I know," Luffa said.    "Booth may have no idea what he's dealing with..."

"I'm including tactical charts with information on the planets most likely to be invaded.   I believe the Saiyans will attempt to concentrate their forces on Gudgid III, so I've--"  there was a disruption in the message, as the audio briefly devolved into static-- "hold the line for now.  The Ninth Wing may be vulnerable, but--"  Static again.   "--ommend you join the battle at coordinates J58 by 126."

There was an interruption in the playback of the message.   The image of Booth became distorted, and though he appeared to be speaking, the audio was gone.   Luffa looked over to the navigator station, but Zatte had already there, plotting a course.    "It'll take us four hours to get there," she said.

"Then we'd better hope Booth can last until then," Luffa said.  

"Luffa, you're hurt," Zatte said.

"I know," she said.   "I'll have to get creative when we get there.   Let's take a look at his charts..."

"Luffa, you said you would rest," Zatte reminded her.

"I just want to take a look," Luffa said, "and then I'll go back to-- This... this can't be right!"

"What's wrong?" Zatte asked.  

Luffa tapped a few keys on the console and put the charts on the main veiwer.   "Look at this," she said.  "Booth's showing Saiyan activity in at least two dozen star systems."

"Two dozen?   But what about Gudgid III?" Zatte asked.  

"I mean, they could converge on Gudgid," Luffa said.   "Normally, that would make sense.   Harass the border, keep the defenders spread out while they try to chase you down, and then concentrate your forces on a planet worth sacking.  Booth's analysis is sound, or it would be if these were garden variety Saiyans.    But if we're talking about Saiyans as strong as the ones I just fought... If these are more of those Saiyans jumped up with this magic power, and if they're all working for Trismegistus, then they could do more than just sack one planet and run for it.  They could hold an entire sector or two if they play their cards right.   It might take weeks to clear them all out!"

As Zatte looked at her wife's face, she saw her expression grow increasingly concerned.   There could be no doubt now.  In four hours, Luffa would fight again.  And again. Perhaps she would prevail, but at what cost?  This was the question Zatte wanted to ask, but she didn't want to break down into tears again, and so she asked another question instead.

"Even if we do clear them out, what'll be left of the Federation when it's over?"    

NEXT: Fight Fire With Fire.

[berlinaura]

The preparations for March have begun! I have booked a trip to Zagreb-Lubljana-Venice! I am also in the process of booking some more. I was thinking of going to Athens but I’ll see what’s gonna happen. Also, 2 more days until Scotland! I am so relieved right now because the exam week was last week and looks like I am going to pass all courses (4/5 are already passed, I still need to wait for the result from the last one)

I have been out with friends every weekend now the past 2 months I think. Somehow we just always end up at Que Pasa... One Tuesday I had a movie date and went to see Knives Out which was actually really good movie! The trailer did not do it any justice. I always get asked whether the movies here are all dubbed. Most of them are but there are also options for non-dubbed versions so watching movies in original language is no problem as long as you make sure beforehand which version it is going to be :)

On Valentine’s day we went on a sushi date and then just stayed in with drinks. This was the first time I celebrated Valentine’s day on a non-platonic way. 

This week my parents visited Berlin. I had the most intensive study period because of exams but I managed to see them on three days. We visited the most common touristic places like Brandenburg gate, Reichstag and the holocaust memorial. The next day we went to the natural history museum of Berlin. The dinosaurs were impressive! One room was full of jars filled with sea creatures and that place was too much for me. That looked like a place straight from my nightmares :/ Afterwards we went to the oldest block in Berlin, Nikolaiviertel, for “a coffee” but ended up in a traditional pub and had beers and bratwurst. Third day I joined them for their hotel breakfast and got to eat something else than dry toast :D After my exam I met up with them again and we went bowling. This was the same place as I visited in early fall but I forgot how old fashioned the place was. The screens were straight from the 80s, showed false scores and the machinery used for clearing out pins jammed basically every minute. No wonder the place got a rating for 2 stars, lol. For an occasional amateur bowling this place is suitable I think.  

My exams went well. The oral exam I had could have gone better. We were assigned 10 minutes and I felt like I was in a job interview. We had pre-written questions but the teacher didn’t let me answer my answer to the end because he was already bombing me with additional questions. I despise oral exams compared to written ones because I crave for a paper and pen to organize my thoughts. I felt like I didn’t have any time to think what I was going to say. Additionally, the teacher asked super vague questions such as “and how does this relate to the framework of the lecture...?” I started thinking which framework he was referring to because that word had been used to address like 5 different things. Then he asked a more specific question to “help me out” and I knew all of the answers. His feedback afterwards was “I wished you had guided the conversation more, I felt like I had to continuously ask you things for you to say the right things!”  well no shit! 

After the exam they asked me whether I preferred working in group 1 or group 2 (we had to group works in this course and different groups each time). When i said I preferred group 2, they were BAFFLED. “Really!? Even though the first group was so much better”. I said “I evaluate my experience through the group dynamics and fair allocation of work, not based on the final grade” and they were speechless, lol. Also, they used such a long time justifying the grade (which was 1,7 going in to the category “good”) and weren’t interested in my overall experience of the course. Rather than asking if I found the course useful etc, they asked me if I am satisfied with the grade and if I feel like it was fair. I mentioned that I am really in that point where I have no energy for stressing over grades and I am here to learn rather than polish up grades. I said that the course was interesting and I feel like I had been learning a lot of new things, which is totally true, I liked the course very much! I also said the grade is going to be “pass” for me in any case so to begin with, I attended the courses for my own learning and not for the grade. This concept seemed to be hard for them to grasp.

I have noticed this as a big difference in my home university and TU Berlin. Here, people seem to obsess way more about grades. Even the teachers are grade-oriented. I don’t understand how people survive in a system like this, especially when the written tests are 60-75 mins and TENS of pages long. The environment of actually learning rather than proving memorizing skills is something that I will definitely appreciate better when getting back. 

Last Friday, after my last exam I threw a WG party! We were supposed to play board games but since ONE of us had something against Monopoly, we played Exploding Kittens as well as normal card games and beer pong. I taught “Hitler” (which we translated to “Stalin” to be more acceptable) and “Fuck the dealer”. We tried our best to drink all of my leftover booze but there’s still some left! After opening up about our lives, playing the coin game, doing worm dance, sharing our sex preferences, clearing out what is wrong with Whisky sours and Pewdiepie’s accent, making drunk calls for friends and drawing each others, we did NOT follow the original plan of going to a pub and headed home. It was a successful night! I left my phone home though as we left to the night and worried everybody for the next day while I was just peacefully chilling and watching movies.

* a month passes by *

Okay so I don’t even know where to start. I am currently in Finland and my exchange year is over. I passed all exams but I left a lot of erasmus stuff unfinished as I had to leave Berlin due to Corona virus. 

In the end of February we did the trip to Scotland. First we flew to Edinburgh from where we took a bus to Glasgow. This place was super cozy but also very cold. The trip was extremely relaxing. We drank beer and coffee, visited some sights and ate the best pizza I’ve ever tasted in my life. I also took the first Uber trip of my life. After 2 days we took a bus to Stirling, a random small town in Scotland. We wanted to spend the day there because we wanted to see a real Scottish castle. Stirling was the best getaway vacation where you can just relax in old fashioned boutiques and cafes and listen to birds. We walked up to the castle but didn’t enter because it cost 16 pounds each “:D”. After a few hours we continued our journey with a train to Edinburgh where we spent 2 more days. 

Honestly, I enjoyed Edinburgh a bit more than Glasgow. Our hostel was in a perfect location, about 200m away from the Edinburgh castle. We visited the castle (from the outside, again), went to movies to see “Jojo Rabbit”, drank beer and played board games in pubs. One day we were supposed to go shopping but decided to climb up the extinct volcano, Arthur’s seat. The road was super muddy but a lot of people seemed to be climbing up there, even in late February. Some dude gave us a snarky “Starbucks is over there” comment on top of it because my friend expressed her concerns getting down the muddy hill because it started raining... This quickly became our go-to line to say whenever we saw a Starbucks in the city. 

After this trip I had 2 days in Berlin which I used for doing laundry and chilling. Then I headed to Zagreb, Croatia. This time I was traveling by myself so I engaged with the activities my hostel had to offer. The hostel choice was superb! They had just the kind of common room and activities I was looking for. We sang karaoke, played beer pong and just chatted in the common room. I don’t think I’ve never felt so young, wild and free than then, lol. I used one day basically for shopping at the mall and walking there. I ended up buying tights and an overall badge. 

After 2 days in Zagreb I took a Flixbus to the neighbor country, Slovenia. Ljubljana surprised me positively. I had no expectations whatsoever but this city was beautiful and lively! I think I could have spent one more day in Ljubljana. I climbed up to the Ljubljana castle at night and watched the city which seemed HUGE from up there. There were city lights as far as I could see, yet the city has under 300 000 residents. The prices were also super cheap. 

The next day I went shopping again and.. BOUGHT TIGHTS. There is this shop that only sells tights and socks. As I had been buying a bunch of skirts from Berlin, I felt a need to buy a few pairs of special tights so I did. The room in my backpack was limited so I also had to consider my buying urges a bit more than usually. Of course I also bought a badge from Ljubljana, too. In the afternoon I took a bus to Bled, a city in North-West Slovenia. This bus trip took around 1,5 hours and I was so confused because it was a mixture of tourists and pre-teens coming from school. There was no board that announced the stops so I tried looking at signs to know when to get off. Eventually I got off at the Bled lake which was one of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. I read that a lot of people get married in these surroundings and no wonder! 

I walked around the lake, taking pictures from time to time and enjoying the view of the lake, alps and a beautiful castle in a small island in the middle of the lake. After I left Bled, the cloudy sky cleared up to a beautiful sunset with a few pink clouds and I just could get my eyes off the mountains. The teens in the bus didn’t seem to appreciate their surroundings but I guess that’s just the way it goes.

The next day I was supposed to take the bus to Venice, but due to corona outbreak I adjusted my trip and took the bus to Vienna instead. I was in the Flixbus for 4 hours but the time flew by. I think I want to make another trip like these because honestly, Flixbuses are so cheap, yet they are modern and traveling through small European countries goes by so quickly. It also allows me to look at the views or Netflix, eat snacks and get fresh air in breaks. From Vienna I flew to Berlin, though. I was surprised I found a flight for 20 euros because I booked it so late. 

I was supposed to spend 4 days in Berlin before going to Munich with my sister but the corona situation got so much worse that I decided to wrap up my school stuff (which I couldn’t because my school closed its doors and I didn’t get an answer from a professor that I needed a signature from). I moved my flight from the end of the month and flew to Finland feeling fucking depressed. The overall atmosphere in the whole Europe (and world) is now melancholic, chaotic and uncertain. At first I was feeling annoyed because of my canceled Munich and Athens trips but then I started panicking if I’d even get back to Finland so now I am glad I got home safe. I am spending the next 1,5 weeks in quarantine - I got home just in time before 

This whole month has been hectic and I am going through a lot of positive and negative feelings at the moment. I’m gonna make one more post after I have gathered my thoughts.

[tremolux]

Darkness Rising

Over the past two years, many of you have asked if I would ever write a followup to my original Lucas theory, Uber A: What’s in a Name?

Well my friends, the wait is over.

The end is near.

The darkness is upon us.

Darkside/Lightside

Grunwald: I've never considered the content of dreams to be important; it's the impressions they leave that affect me... In this case, the dream left me quite unsettled. The sense was strong enough that I felt compelled to come here.

Hanna: The sense of what?

Grunwald: A darkness, around you and Caleb.

Those of you who have already ventured down the rabbit hole of my original Lucas theory will remember a very literal interpretation of one of Mrs. Grunwald’s impressions that singled out Lucas as “the one Alison fears the most.”

My interpretation of that scene has not changed since it was written. Not only was Grunwald speaking in reference to Lucas back then, but she still is now.

In 7x08, Mrs. Grunwald returns to Rosewood with an ominous message about "a darkness" around Hanna and Caleb. Several factors make that statement particularly interesting. Not only are they standing in Lucas’ apartment when she says it, but the idea that “the darkness” lingers specifically around Hanna and Caleb as opposed to the others seems to point towards Lucas. After all, Hanna and Caleb seem to be Lucas' only friends in Rosewood, as far as we can tell. 

Aria: It’s no coincidence that he turned dark after the masquerade ball.

Spencer: Well, Jenna has that effect on people.

Aria: Yeah, but she’s been gone all summer, and he’s still ‘Boo Radley.’

Have a look at 3x01, the episode that Marlene King called "the return of Uber A" when it initially aired, and watch for when the liars observe Lucas in the cafeteria. Aria calls Lucas "dark," point blank, and then says that he's been that way since the masquerade ball, which is when he started hanging around with Jenna. The Boo Radley reference is also a play on words, foreshadowing Lucas’ suspiciously skulking about at Radley later in the third season. 

Lucas is "dark" + Hanna & Caleb his only friends = "darkness" around Hanna & Caleb 

Hanna lives in Lucas’ loft. Caleb is there all the time. Caleb is an investor in Lucas’ business. Hanna is doing business with Lucas.

Lucas is the "darkness," just as much as he is "the one Alison fears the most!"

The Grunwald strikes again! Just like in the previous theory, the profile fits Lucas like a custom tailored suit. 

Having studied Latin, I'm well aware that the name Lucas is rooted on the Latin word lux (lucis), meaning light. "Bringer of light" is the meaning typically attached to the name Lucas. What a perfect synchronicity for a character described as one who “turned dark!”

Interestingly enough, the "bringer of light” meaning is equally applicable to Lucifer, a fallen angel commonly associated with Satan. 

Stunningly, this recent message seems to allude to a fallen condition: 

Embrace your darkness, Em. I’ve had to. That’s how you win the game. A.D.

What’s fascinating is how A.D. seems to offer a glimpse of something personal here, as if speaking from experience as someone who “had to” embrace their own darkness. 

Why did they have to, I wonder? 

Perhaps in order to win a game in which A.D. was an actual participant. A player, as opposed to the conductor. 

Or maybe the oppressed, rather than the oppressor. Sound familiar? 

Lucas is someone who took a dark turn, just like Aria pointed out. Maybe he felt that going dark was the only way to win the game he had been dragged into, as in Mona’s original A-game. 

It’d be kind of a Batman move to do so, wouldn’t it? Kind of a Dark Knight feel to it? 

For Love of the Game

When Lucas returns to Rosewood (post time jump), he’s shady from the get go. He’s barely been in town five minutes before he bumps into Hanna, which comes across as planned. Heavy stalker vibes. He immediately makes it known that he’s extremely rich, as if he’s been patiently waiting for the moment to impress Hanna with the fact that he drives a Jaguar and owns houses all around the world.

Later on, Hanna asks him to be her alibi for the night that Charlotte was murdered, and Lucas has no qualms about lying to the police, even though he’s terrible at it (or purposely flubbing the story.) That’s shady enough as it is, but it’s not long after that when the first message arrives, stating “you know who did it and I’m going to make you talk.” 

Of course Lucas should have suspected their involvement from the moment Hanna approached him for a fake alibi. But he questioned nothing and carried on with a foolish looking white knight act. Of course, you have to consider that he’d really have no need to press Hanna for answers if he could do it more effectively (and anonymously) as Uber ‘A’. 

But by far the most important thing to take away from Lucas’ arrival is that he mentions he’s a highly successful game app developer. Not just software, but specifically games; which is exactly the skill set one would require to create such a monstrosity that combines aspects of a traditional board game with modern technology and real life consequences. The centerpiece is of course an iPhone running a custom designed app. 

It simply can’t get any more on target for clues that Lucas is Uber A. Considering this game has to be his greatest creation to date, his masterpiece, then the very execution of the game becomes a motive in itself. 

There was a brief time (before the messages were signed as ‘A.D.’) when they referred to the sender as “the techie.” Uber A’s work space has been shown full of stray PC boards, disk drives, wire, soldering gear, and electronic test equipment. Definitely “techie” stuff, but the only legit “techies” we know are Lucas and Caleb.  

There’s literally no wiggle room here, folks: it’s either Lucas behind this game, or some new techno-wiz character we haven’t been introduced to yet. It’s getting to the point where it’s impossible to deny that Lucas is involved. Caleb might have the technical skills, but he certainly lacks the specialized game design experience that Lucas has. 

Furthermore, the level of personal detail involved in this game means that the creator has to know everything about the players, the rules, how it’s all supposed to work together, and the game’s ultimate purpose. So there's no chance of pleading ignorance or passing the buck when the nerd finally gets caught. 

Revenge of the Nerd

Please excuse the brief rant, but this needs to be said:

Good luck to Marlene King if she thinks she can pass off this dude as Alison’s twin, or Spencer’s twin, or some other physically impossible, equally nonsensical garbage. It just doesn’t work in any way, shape, or form. And the devil’s advocate argument that “A has all kinds of helpers” gets tiresome and annoying, because it’s pointless and anticlimactic to have an uber villain who never actually gets their hands dirty. 

On the other hand, Lucas has about the right height and build, and the capacity for explosive anger. The sadism and latent misogyny inherent in the cattle prodding of Hanna comes across when this guy beats the pulp out of Ali. I would wager that once Lucas found out Alison covered up the death of her own husband, it enraged him. He saw the perfect opportunity to terrorize her, and he seized it. 

Lucas was low-key happy when he heard Alison was in the hospital after her fall, and I’m sure he’d be thrilled to send her back to the emergency room for a second visit. 

From the very beginning, A’s style and attitude has been an intentional mimicry and mockery of Alison DiLaurentis. Now we have ‘A.D.’ as a new incarnation of the same old patterns. Could it be that Uber A’s endgame strategy is the ultimate set up: to pit Alison’s friends completely against one another, turn them to the “dark side,” and then pin the blame for everything on Alison “A.D.” DiLaurentis? Is that not a brilliant method of destroying Alison once and for all?

“It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you place the blame.” -Oscar Wilde

Back in high school, Lucas swore that one day Alison would one day “get what’s coming to her.” An old saying goes that living well is the best revenge, and Lucas certainly lives well, but there’s always the chance that maybe that’s not enough for him. As another saying goes, revenge is a dish best served cold. And seven years after high school is certainly a cold dish.

Never underestimate a patient nerd who harbors a long term grudge.

Uber ‘A’, Ubergeek

Since the time jump, the Lucas clues have been dropping so frequently that it's hard to even keep track of them all. Lots of people have noted how comic references like The Wrath of Kahn (Star Trek) and The DArkest Knight (DC Comics, Batman) could be a nod towards Lucas and Uber A’s ubergeek status. His bedroom during high school contained several Batman figurines on display. 

Most recently, Emily mentioned the exam that A.D. passed for her; a situation that serves as a reminder how Lucas was known for selling test answers in high school.

And then there are more subtle hints, like Jenna saying "we have an Uber waiting for us," which seems a cheeky double meaning of an Uber driver and Uber 'A', and recalls the season six prom when the Liars saw Lucas and Jenna together, and Spencer remarked that "she probably thinks he Uber'd her there."

That’s all cute, but the important point is: 

Nobody doubts that Jenna and Uber ‘A’ are connected. 

Everyone associated with Jenna turns out to be bad news. 

Lucas has been connected to Jenna since the masquerade ball, yet he's managed to dodge suspicion thus far. How? Why? Just because he seems nice and friendly? Because he let them use his apartment? It doesn’t matter how secure their phones are if they’re always hanging out in an apartment that’s wired with secret microphones and cameras. 

The fact that Lucas has consistently been involved in sketchy situations since the very first season, but somehow stayed off the radar, makes me confident that he’s not simply a red herring. 

Noel Kahn was the latest of Jenna’s long time co-conspirators to be exposed and brought down. And although the narrative hinted towards him being the one who tortured Hanna in the barn, he died before we could get proper resolution on that.

However, this leaves the door open for a hideous and shocking betrayal when the curtain is finally pulled back on Lucas, and reveals that he was the one who stripped Hanna down to her underwear, hosed her down with cold water, and sadistically tortured her with a cattle prod. 

Now that’s what I call dark.

The very idea that this superficially nice and friendly guy would do this to his friend, business partner, and long time crush will send shock waves throughout the fandom, and blow the minds of those who never saw it coming.

Lucas will be exposed as the one behind the masks, and the one behind the game. And then like a broken dam, the truth will come rushing forth, concerning everything he’s done since day one of playing the game with Mona. 

Lucas is the darkness.

Lucas is “the one Alison fears the most.”

Lucas is the genius behind the game.

Lucas is Uber ‘A’.

[awesome-legendarystudentcho-blog]

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Im 18 and I own a used car. Never a trouble maker. I have a part time job. I want to know what insurance I can get for my car that is affordable.

What can I do about car insurance from another state? PLEASE HELP!?

Okay basically here's the story. I'm 19, I live with my parents in Wisconsin but I'm trying to move back to Pennsylvania with my aunt and uncle. However I'm not in school at the moment. Apparently if I moved to PA, I'd have to pay 278 dollars more a month through Geico because I'd be living in a different state. I already have a job set up there and all so they could obviously see my paycheck is not from Wisconsin so I can't just lie or something lol. I really know nothing about insurance and how I can work this out without paying that much more. Can anyone help me with other options I could have?""

""New Car, Driver's Test, Proof of Insurance?""

My Dad bought me a car about three days ago and the dealership said they will insure the car for 14 days while my dad gets insurance through his company. I might take my driver's test tomorrow and I want to use this car for it. If I show the dmv the insurance papers the dealership gave me, will that count as proof of insurance for my road test? Thank you.""

How much would insurance be for a 17 year old new driver?

The car would be a Range Rover. The cover would either be comprehensive or on parents insurance. Thanks

Can my friend's parents put me under their car insurance?

i'm 16 years old. i bought a car from a friend. but there's no way in hell my parents will get me car insurance for it. i have spent most of my time at friends house and have gotten really close with their parents. i was wondering if it would be possible for me to ask them and maybe they could put me in their insurance policy or add me as a co-driver or something? or does it NEED to be MY parents? any advice?? i really want to get insured somehow without my parents. i also had an idea of having my friends parents insure the car themselves. and then pay them back and just drive it under their permission all the time so basically its mine but under their insurance. smart idea?? help me out please!!

Car insurance rates for teens?

can u tell me how high are the rates to insure a car for a teen for a 2008 acura tsx? would this vehicle cost a lot to insure. Are their discounts for students? thanks

Would insurance be extra expensive on X-Police Car (Impala)?

I am 16 and want a car, I love x-police cars. But me and my family dont know what the insurance would be like on a x-police car. Do any of you have a guess? Thanks!""

""Will my insurance rate in NY go up, if I get a ticket in NJ? Will pts occur on my ny license?""

I got a tixs for speeding and reckless driving (at the same time). And if my rates go up, is there a way I can get the chrages reduced to careless driving? How would I go about doing that sort of thing? Any info on this will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!""

How much is your insurance (4 cyl cars only)?

I am thinking about getting a saturn sc1 and just wondering how much my insurance will go down. right now I pay $100 a month for a v8 88' mustang convertable. Thats pretty cheap for a mustang I hear and I just want some people are paying for newer 4cyl insurance.

very cheap car insurance no deposit uk

very cheap car insurance no deposit uk

Insurance Car Accident?

So today my insurance expired Feb 1st and I had thought I was covered for today. It is snowing outside and a car crashed behind me and did some serious damage. I called the insurance company and got insured. If the crash happened before I paid the insurance but no police were involved am I still covered. The exact timings wouldn't be found out if no police were called at the time correct?

Homeowners insurance?

Last night while at my girls house I slipped in mossy stairs and broke my ankle. I need surgery now. I was wondering is her landlord responsible for this? I don't have health insurance and I need my **** paid for. I don't want to sue i just want his insurance to cover me.. do they cover stuff like this and how does this thing work

Steps to getting your life insurance license in CA?

I have no previous experience with Life Insurance and am considering getting my life insurance license. What are the steps involved, how long does it take, how much does it cost, and how difficult is the test? Anyone help?""

Are classic cars cheap to insure?

for example all cars older then 1990: trans am and camaro's older then cadillac eldorado's older then rolls royce silver shadow chevy belair dodge charger chevrolet suburban mercedes 500sel mercedes 500sl and other american and classic european cars

How much wil I have to pay the first time wen I go set up my car insurance?

Ima buy a used car this week for about 2 thousand. Nd I wanna go put insurance on it but how much will I have to pay wen I go.

Car insurance wise..im 16 living in Houston. How much will car insurance cost for a 2006 mustang gt?

Car insurance wise..im 16 living in Houston. How much will car insurance cost for a 2006 mustang gt?

""Is there any insurance for self-employed parents with small kids, in TX?""

Is there any insurance for self-employed parents with small kids, in TX?""

What is the best car insurance for teenagers who got their first car?

I have a 1989 Toyota Camry thats need insurance so i can start driving it.

Two-way car insurance?

if a car is damaged by someone else except the owner, will the insurance pay?""

Can a financial advisor from AXA sell you New York life insurance?

I'd like to know if a financial advisor that works for AXA Advisors offer clients New York Life insurance products. Thanks in advance! I'm in CA by the way.

""Insurance paid out too much, Am I obliged to give it back?""

After a solicitors firm managed to draw out a car insurance claim for 18 months I finally settled 50/50 on the incident, instead of refunding me 50% (400) of my excess the solicitors paid me 100% (800). I verbally informed them of the error before they issued the cheque and they still proceeded, now they have noticed the error they are asking for me to return the money. Am I legally obliged to do so and how far are they likely to pursue this if I do not?""

What is the cheapest insurance if you have a DWI?

Transfering from Missouri where I have American Family. I am moving to Louisiana and American Family doesn't write there. I've only looked at progressive and they were pretty expensive, mass mutual wouldnt take an SR-22. Any suggestions?""

Insurance Cost for Bike?

Hello I'm deciding on either a CBR 125 or a Boulevard S40. The only thing is I want to know around how much insurance each will cost(I live in Canada) And any other reason you think one bike is better than the other would be great. This is my first bike.

Cars that are cheap to insure?

My parents have agreed to get me a car for my birthday, i need to find a car that is cheap to buy but isnt too expensive to insure, i will be 17 and will be learning how to drive.""

Cheap car insurance company :D?

Guys I am a newly driver and looking for a cheapest car insurance company for my car (Cheap car insurance) :D as I spend too much money for my driving lessons I wanna save money now :D , anyone know please help me to sort it out as soon as possible. thanks""

Insurance rates????

my insurance is way too high...I have insurance with a nationwide company....and I have to have full coverage because I'm financing the vehicle. My question is..where can I go to find some cheaper insurance? I heard that smaller companies around where you live usually offer cheaper rates? Is this true?

Whats the average cost for teenage car insurance?

im going to get my permit soon and i would like to know what the average teen car insurance cost is.

What would be the cheapest car to insure for a 23 year old malel uk?

Every car i seem to look at has really high insurance costs, it ricockulous! seems ill never be able to afford to insure a car. Si i have 2kids a girlfriend and a job, im 23, and really need to get on the road. so does anyone have any suggestions as to a few cars i should check out insurance costs on that they think would be the cheapest options>? anuy ideas would be fab, thanks.""

Has cost of car insurance for girls been raised to match that of boys?

By girls and boys I mean, 17-25 who are given the most expensive insurance rates. Boys have had to pay more for insurance than girls, but I thought the companies were forced to make them equal recently? Has that been put in place or not yet? This is in the UK by the way.""

""I'm a 20 year old girl who has just passed my driving test,whats the best small car for insurance,as I dont kn

The car will be roughly 5 or 6 years old it goes by insurance band levels WHICH i AM LOST WITH

Should my 85 year old grandparents but life insurance?

I am very upset with this insurance company who sold my 85 year old grandfather some life insurance. He gets $5000 worth for $91 per month! what a rip-off! They REALLY want to buy some insurance . does anyone know the best option for them? Please help!

Should an average person buy a life insurance?

Should an average person buy a life insurance?

Motorcycle insurance depending on class of bike?

What are the types of bikes? I was told Sport Touring, Sport, Super Sport, and Cruisers? I was told insurance is cheap on Ninja 650r's, sv650's, and Ducati monsters. However it is really expensive on super sports like zx6's, cbr, r6, gsxr, and so on. If I get a older bike like 2002 or older zx6/cbr/r6/gsxr will the insurance be as expensive as a 2010 sx6/cbr/r6/gsxr? Or will it be around the cost of a 650r/sv650 etc...thanks.""

Car insurance question?

If I am driving a company truck and lets say I got a ticket.. will my car insurance go up.. even though I am driving a company truck that is insured by the company..

Which cars have the cheapest insurance rates?

Which cars have the cheapest insurance rates?

very cheap car insurance no deposit uk

very cheap car insurance no deposit uk

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-get-quote-future-child-insurance-larry-kennedy/"

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New Post has been published on Cloudlight

New Post has been published on https://cloudlight.biz/mobile-phones-notes-used-for-cheating/

Mobile phones, notes used for cheating

Students writing the faculty leaving examinations rampantly used cell phones in addition to “notes” to cheat at numerous centers in Pakistan’s Karachi town, a record stated on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the determined government imposed prohibitory orders to prevent people from collecting at exam centers across Sindh province. This was aimed at preventing strangers from entering the centers and barring anybody from using or taking cellular telephones within the premises.

Despite a crackdown on WhatsApp corporations were solved papers are circulating, they remain accessed in positive examination centers,” Geo TV said.

Sindh chief minister Murad Ali Shah and schooling minister Jam Mahtab Hussain Dahar visited several exam centers and determined smartphones with students and even an invigilator, the channel stated.

Cheating in tests within reason not unusual in international locations including Pakistan,

China, and India, wherein lakhs frequently struggle confined seats in prestigious institutions, as properly.

After pix of dishonest went viral during the board examinations in India’s Bihar in 2015, the school examination board determined to introduce video recording. According to officials, the board additionally issued tenders for nine multi-storey examination halls in nine divisions with CCTVs, to behavior diverse examinations.

Last 12 months, the Chinese government said college students could be jailed for as much as 7 years if observed cheating all through the extraordinarily competitive university entrance checks in its tries to crack down on a pervasive problem. A crackdown becomes additionally released to goal wi-fi devices used to cheat and also the problem of replacement examination-sitters.

Mobile Phone Parts – How to Buy Them Online

A cell phone is made from many specific sections of included circuitry (ICs) just like the CPU, the Network IC, the Flash IC, the Power IC, the Charger IC, and the Logic IC. It is also made of network associated Antenna switch and P.F.O. Then there are the oscillators and crystals, filters, ROM, and RAM. These are the main inner components of a cellular telephone, which cowl all its capabilities of show, networking, garage, etc. Then there are the external frames and add-ons all of which are specific to their manufacturers and model numbers. Like every synthetic product, there may be a thriving on-line market for such components and with cell telephones becoming the most vital accessory in the ultra-modern situation, this marketplace is really booming!

China is the largest marketplace for cellular phones in terms of subscribers. They also are the arena’s biggest manufacturers of branded phones for other nations in addition to off brand cellular phones that they sell through various channels at very low fee. This is due to the fact they don’t spend a whole lot on studies and layout and manufacturers usually buy a casing molding and fill it with their personal additives. These case moldings are primarily based on the world over well-known manufacturers and so their neighborhood off manufacturers get to plug into the popularity of the international emblem and revel in it as nicely.

So, the market for the parts for cellular telephones is quite an interesting cocktail!

Who are the clients for the cell telephone parts market?

They can be users such as you and me or outlets of cell telephones and parts

What type of components do those online sites promote?

· Terminal product restore components like LCD displays, battery, and flex cable

· Accessories like earphones, tempered glass, USB cable chargers

· Repair equipment

· Other merchandise that is custom designed

How do you are making the right preference of carriers for cellular smartphone parts in such a situation?

· Replacement screens are the maximum extensively offered part of a mobile cellphone. One must continually search for a great fine display screen which has no dead pixels or useless spots and may in shape any OEM display screen. In quick, the parts have to be of proper grade. Many of them buy their components in bulk, but such components are of inferior high-quality and cannot be traced returned to the manufacturer in case of defects.

· They need to offer technical aid as properly. Some online stores of cell telephone components have to tie u.S.With manufacturers with whose cooperation, they can boost their great of technical know-how.

· They must be able to meet unique needs, whether it is an OEM product or a Chinese replica and so forth.

· They must have right best manage and provide lifetime warranties for the products.

· Some in their customers like retailers could be happy with economic help like the guarantee of credit score.

The expenses are indicated along with a photograph of the product. The various manufacturers are all covered in maximum online cell phone parts dealers.

Notes From Israel

I even have never been to Tel Aviv earlier than or everywhere alone for that rely upon, but the tale of 1 man referred to as to me and inspired a sequence of activities that could lead me to the invention that we’re all here to help others. For me that intended getting on a plane and flying heaps of miles to a country that turned into so foreign to me, though worried I went because I had to capture the proper human spirit that this man introduced to the sector.

Yossi Ghinsberg might have been every other story of misplaced for dead

Eaten alive by the wildness this is the Amazon Jungle. He had suffered the hopelessness that comes to 1 in a real fight for survival. His tale is so compelling for one motive. When all desire became misplaced when he had not anything left to fight for, while he begged for the peacefulness that the notion death might deliver, it became right here at this moment that he determined to fight on, to stay, now not for him but due to a person else. His story is riveting and filled with the whole lot a superb motion journey film would boast, yet the element is, it’s now not a film, its real lifestyles and what happened to Yossi, what inspired him to maintain going was something located deep in the human spirit.

I flew to Israel to reveal the innermost and most superb parts of the human will to experience the easy fact that your greatest existence comes whilst you do for others.

I actually have made it my mission to fly to the remotest components of the arena on the lookout for those who’ve lived existence on the brink, who’ve seen the extreme, been to hell and back and yet have emerged victorious and conquered life.

Why? Because there’s a truth that exists in those testimonies. This fact is what the rules of our lives are primarily based upon. The reality is that we are humans with an high-quality human spirit and the ability to overcome anything in existence if we so chose. The desire is to stay for others or live for yourself. It honestly is that easy.

I landed in Israel, interviewed Yossi, I walked in Jesus footsteps, swam within the Dead Sea, crossed the border by way of mistake into Palestine and become not on time while my bus was given right into a crash, and once I left I knew they knew the identical fact as after I arrived.

My Husband Has Shut Me Out After I Caught Him Cheating

I sometimes pay attention from better halves who aren’t certain the way to deal with it while their husband clams up and shuts down after the wife finds out about and wants to work via his affair. Often, the greater the wife feels that she really has to have answers, the less the husband desires to offer the identical.

I heard from a spouse who said

I found out that my husband had a month long affair with the home fitness nurse that looks after his mother. Basically, they had been collectively only whilst he became traveling his mom. Once I observed out, we requested a brand new nurse and he broke it off at once. He insisted that he desired to store our marriage and I wanted that too. But he is now not performing within the manner which you could assume from a man who is making an attempt to preserve his wife. I anticipated him to percentage his emotions, tell me what lead as much as his dishonest, and give an explanation for how he planned to paintings thru this.

Instead, he has absolutely shut down.

He barely says words to me. He rarely looks me in the attention. He not laughs or touches me. If I ask him what is incorrect he tells me not anything is inaccurate. But obviously, something is. He’s like a shell of who he was. I don’t need to fight so difficultly to preserve him if all I’m getting is a shadow of the man who becomes once my husband. Why is he appearing his manner?” I will try to answer this query inside the following article.

Why Men Shut Their Wives Out After Cheating Or An Affair: There are many motives which you might see what’s called flat affect out of your husband. Often, he’s feeling a slew of conflicting emotions that he is trying to suppress. The technique of him looking to push those feelings down can make a contribution to that form of indifferent stance you are seeing now. He’s often feeling ashamed, guilty, stressed, or even embarrassed. And he is afraid that if he suggests any emotion, there might be a crack in his armor and it is all going to come pouring out.