#they’re just vaccine records

[l3irdl3rain]

wow Persephone, you get TWO thyroid tumors? save some for the rest of us,,,,,,

(I hope her tumors are manageable/treatable! good luck to you and the little lady)

She is SO special. Also I am going to use your ask as an info dump. As always, I have no actual formal education. So this is what I know from my job / from talking to doc. So don’t take my word as law for any of this bc I may have gotten some things mixed up.

Surgery is an option actually, but only for one tumor. When he takes out the thyroid tumor he also ends up removing the parathyroid. She needs to keep at least one of those, which is why he can only remove one tumor. I also could probably find a specialist who could remove both tumors and leave both parathyroids intact

The tumors are usually begin, but we’d send it out just to make sure it really is. And before we do surgery we’ll want to do bloodwork as well as take chest radiographs and make sure she would A) survive surgery, and B) not be putting her through a surgery when she’s only got a month or two left to live.

[lotus-tower]

it is horrific what we’re allowing to happen to children right now. if covid causes cognitive dysfunction and decline in adult brains, what impact will it have on small brains that are still developing? many children who are too young to even be vaccinated are catching covid, as well as a whole host of other opportunistic infections. children can get, are getting, long covid. children aren’t sick often because it’s “normal” or “good” for them—they’re sick often because they’re more vulnerable than adults.

children have no choice but to be sent to schools where they get sick again and again. they don’t have the ability to distance themselves from their parents and establish boundaries, they’re entirely reliant on their carers. if their parents do not believe in covid prevention, they have no means to protect themselves. they don’t have the ability to consent to what is happening to their health.

schools are not just allowing children who are sick to attend class anyway, they’re borderline mandating it. schools as an institution care more about meaningless attendance records than about students’ wellbeing. the classroom is an environment where all factors incentivize students coming to school sick.

there are horrific accounts from parents about kids being sick 24/7, never having energy, struggling with schoolwork. there are horrific accounts from teachers about their young students being different these days, unable to handle the usual schoolwork, showing signs of that classic covid “brainfog.” i’ve seen evidence of schools making their tests and criteria much easier in order to maintain an acceptable pass rate instead of addressing the actual core problem in the slightest.

i often think about a comment i read once about how someone knew it was fucked when no change happened after sandy hook, when the US decided and enshrined the fact that children were acceptable sacrifices. this is how it feels. this isn’t just about the US though. children are getting reinfected with covid again and again worldwide. this is about the entire next generation.

they didn’t choose any of this. they have no power to stop this whatsoever. none of us consented to this, obviously, but children most of all. most of them don’t even have any idea what’s happening to them, and won’t for years.

there needs to be a push for schools to adopt better covid prevention measures, like better ventilation and air filtration. but even more crucial, and much more difficult, is to do away with the ideology at the core of how schools are designed. just like how workers deserve sick leave, children need to be able to stay home when sick. no jumping through hoops for a doctor’s note to be accepted, no strict time limit. schools obviously know that 1 student staying home sick is less disruptive than 20 students being sick and unable to do their schoolwork. they know the math, but they aren’t after efficiency. just like companies know that happier workers are more productive. that’s not the point. it’s more obvious than ever what is choking our societies to death on every level.

i’ve seen university unions who’ve won teachers the right to demand masking in their lessons, the right to have air filters installed in their classrooms. the same needs to happen for K12 schools, especially since young children can’t advocate for themselves. parents could theoretically wield a lot of influence as well—but let’s face it, most are uninterested in or actively hostile to the idea of better air for their children. efforts to combat this need to be organized, sustained, and coordinated.

imagine how current children will feel once they grow up and look back and realize that their health was compromised before they even learned to speak, that they were born into a sick world, that they were born to be sick, not inevitably but because people preferred things this way.

[kaijuno]

In light of Fall Out Boy’s GARBAGE cover of the song. Let’s learn about the original. Notice how they’re actually in chronological order instead of just random references 😒😒😒😒

1949

Harry Truman was inaugurated as U.S. president after being elected in 1948 to his own term; previously he was sworn in following the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He authorized the use of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan during World War II, on August 6 and August 9, 1945, respectively.

Doris Day enters the public spotlight with the films My Dream Is Yours and It’s a Great Feeling as well as popular songs like “It’s Magic”; divorces her second husband.

Red China: The Communist Party of China wins the Chinese Civil War, establishing the People’s Republic of China.

Johnnie Ray signs his first recording contract with Okeh Records, although he would not become popular for another two years.

South Pacific, the prize-winning musical, opens on Broadway on April 7.

Walter Winchell is an aggressive radio and newspaper journalist credited with inventing the gossip column.

Joe DiMaggio and the New York Yankees go to the World Series five times in the 1940s, winning four of them.

1950

Joe McCarthy, the US Senator, gains national attention and begins his anti-communist crusade with his Lincoln Day speech.

Richard Nixon is first elected to the United States Senate.

Studebaker, a popular car company, begins its financial downfall.

Television is becoming widespread throughout Europe and North America.

North Korea and South Korea declare war after Northern forces stream south on June 25.

Marilyn Monroe soars in popularity with five new movies, including The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve, and attempts suicide after the death of friend Johnny Hyde who asked to marry her several times, but she refused respectfully. Monroe would later (1954) be married for a brief time to Joe DiMaggio (mentioned in the previous verse).

1951

The Rosenbergs, Ethel and Julius, were convicted on March 29 for espionage.

H-Bomb is in the middle of its development as a nuclear weapon, announced in early 1950 and first tested in late 1952.

Sugar Ray Robinson, a champion welterweight boxer.

Panmunjom, the border village in Korea, is the location of truce talks between the parties of the Korean War.

Marlon Brando is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in A Streetcar Named Desire.

The King and I, musical, opens on Broadway on March 29.

The Catcher in the Rye, a controversial novel by J. D. Salinger, is published.

1952

Dwight D. Eisenhower is first elected as U.S. president, winning by a landslide margin of 442 to 89 electoral votes.

The vaccine for polio is privately tested by Jonas Salk.

England’s got a new queen: Queen Elizabeth II succeeds to the throne upon the death of her father, George VI, and is crowned the next year.

Rocky Marciano defeats Jersey Joe Walcott, becoming the world Heavyweight champion.

Liberace has a popular 1950s television show for his musical entertainment.

Santayana goodbye: George Santayana, philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist, dies on September 26.

1953

Joseph Stalin dies on March 5, yielding his position as leader of the Soviet Union.

Georgy Maksimilianovich Malenkov succeeds Stalin for six months following his death. Malenkov had presided over Stalin’s purges of party “enemies”, but would be spared a similar fate by Nikita Khrushchev mentioned later in verse.

Gamal Abdel Nasser acts as the true power behind the new Egyptian nation as Muhammad Naguib’s minister of the interior.

Sergei Prokofiev, the composer, dies on March 5, the same day as Stalin.

Winthrop Rockefeller and his wife Barbara are involved in a highly publicized divorce, culminating in 1954 with a record-breaking $5.5 million settlement.

Roy Campanella, an African-American baseball catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers, receives the National League’s Most Valuable Player award for the second time.

Communist bloc is a group of communist nations dominated by the Soviet Union at this time. Probably a reference to the Uprising of 1953 in East Germany.

1954

Roy Cohn resigns as Joseph McCarthy’s chief counsel and enters private practice with the fall of McCarthy. He also worked to prosecute the Rosenbergs, mentioned earlier.

Juan Perón spends his last full year as President of Argentina before a September 1955 coup.

Arturo Toscanini is at the height of his fame as a conductor, performing regularly with the NBC Symphony Orchestra on national radio.

Dacron is an early artificial fiber made from the same plastic as polyester.

Dien Bien Phu falls. A village in North Vietnam falls to Viet Minh forces under Vo Nguyen Giap, leading to the creation of North Vietnam and South Vietnam as separate states.

“Rock Around the Clock” is a hit single released by Bill Haley & His Comets in May, spurring worldwide interest in rock and roll music.

1955

Albert Einstein dies on April 18 at the age of 76.

James Dean achieves success with East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause, gets nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, and dies in a car accident on September 30 at the age of 24.

Brooklyn’s got a winning team: The Brooklyn Dodgers win the World Series for the only time before their move to Los Angeles.

Davy Crockett is a Disney television miniseries about the legendary frontiersman of the same name. The show was a huge hit with young boys and inspired a short-lived “coonskin cap” craze.

Peter Pan is broadcast on TV live and in color from the 1954 version of the stage musical starring Mary Martin on March 7. Disney released an animated version the previous year.

Elvis Presley signs with RCA Records on November 21, beginning his pop career.

Disneyland opens on July 17, 1955 as Walt Disney’s first theme park.

1956

Brigitte Bardot appears in her first mainstream film And God Created Woman and establishes an international reputation as a French “sex kitten”.

Budapest is the capital city of Hungary and site of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.

Alabama is the site of the Montgomery Bus Boycott which ultimately led to the removal of the last race laws in the USA. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr figure prominently.

Nikita Khrushchev makes his famous Secret Speech denouncing Stalin’s “cult of personality” on February 25.

Princess Grace Kelly releases her last film, High Society, and marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco.

Peyton Place, the best-selling novel by Grace Metalious, is published. Though mild compared to today’s prime time, it shocked the reserved values of the 1950s.

Trouble in the Suez: The Suez Crisis boils as Egypt nationalizes the Suez Canal on October 29.

1957

Little Rock, Arkansas is the site of an anti-integration standoff, as Governor Orval Faubus stops the Little Rock Nine from attending Little Rock Central High School and President Dwight D. Eisenhower deploys the 101st Airborne Division to counteract him.

Boris Pasternak, the Russian author, publishes his famous novel Doctor Zhivago.

Mickey Mantle is in the middle of his career as a famous New York Yankees outfielder and American League All-Star for the sixth year in a row.

Jack Kerouac publishes his first novel in seven years, On the Road.

Sputnik becomes the first artificial satellite, launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, marking the start of the space race.

Chou En-Lai, Premier of the People’s Republic of China, survives an assassination attempt on the charter airliner Kashmir Princess.

Bridge on the River Kwai is released as a film adaptation of the 1954 novel and receives seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

1958

Lebanon is engulfed in a political and religious crisis that eventually involves U.S. intervention.

Charles de Gaulle is elected first president of the French Fifth Republic following the Algerian Crisis.

California baseball begins as the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants move to California and become the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants. They are the first major league teams west of Kansas City.

Charles Starkweather Homicide captures the attention of Americans, in which he kills eleven people between January 25 and 29 before being caught in a massive manhunt in Douglas, Wyoming.

Children of Thalidomide: Mothers taking the drug Thalidomide had children born with congenital birth defects caused by the sleeping aid and antiemetic, which was also used at times to treat morning sickness.

1959

Buddy Holly dies in a plane crash on February 3 with Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper, in a day that had a devastating impact on the country and youth culture. Joel prefaces the lyric with a Holly signature vocal hiccup: “Uh-huh, uh-huh.”

Ben-Hur, a film based around the New Testament starring Charlton Heston, wins eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Space Monkey: Able and Miss Baker return to Earth from space aboard the flight Jupiter AM-18.

The Mafia are the center of attention for the FBI and public attention builds to this organized crime society with a historically Sicilian-American origin.

Hula hoops reach 100 million in sales as the latest toy fad.

Fidel Castro comes to power after a revolution in Cuba and visits the United States later that year on an unofficial twelve-day tour.

Edsel is a no-go: Production of this car marque ends after only three years due to poor sales.

1960

U-2: An American U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union, causing the U-2 Crisis of 1960.

Syngman Rhee was rescued by the CIA after being forced to resign as leader of South Korea for allegedly fixing an election and embezzling more than US $20 million.

Payola, illegal payments for radio broadcasting of songs, was publicized due to Dick Clark’s testimony before Congress and Alan Freed’s public disgrace.

John F. Kennedy beats Richard Nixon in the November 8 general election.

Chubby Checker popularizes the dance The Twist with his cover of the song of the same name.

Psycho: An Alfred Hitchcock thriller, based on a pulp novel by Robert Bloch and adapted by Joseph Stefano, which becomes a landmark in graphic violence and cinema sensationalism. The screeching violins heard briefly in the background of the song are a trademark of the film’s soundtrack.

Belgians in the Congo: The Republic of the Congo (Leopoldville) was declared independent of Belgium on June 30, with Joseph Kasavubu as President and Patrice Lumumba as Prime Minister.

1961

Ernest Hemingway commits suicide on July 2 after a long battle with depression.

Adolf Eichmann, a “most wanted” Nazi war criminal, is traced to Argentina and captured by Mossad agents. He is covertly taken to Israel where he is put on trial for crimes against humanityin Germany during World War II, convicted, and hanged.

Stranger in a Strange Land, written by Robert A. Heinlein, is a breakthrough best-seller with themes of sexual freedom and liberation.

Bob Dylan is signed to Columbia Records after a New York Times review by critic Robert Shelton.

Berlin is separated into West Berlin and East Berlin, and from the rest of East Germany, when the Berlin Wall is erected on August 13 to prevent citizens escaping to the West.

The Bay of Pigs Invasion fails, an attempt by United States-trained Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro.

1962

Lawrence of Arabia: The Academy Award-winning film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence starring Peter O’Toole premieres in America on December 16.

British Beatlemania: The Beatles, a British rock group, gain Ringo Starr as drummer and Brian Epstein as manager, and join the EMI’s Parlophone label. They soon become the world’s most famous rock band, with the word “Beatlemania” adopted by the press for their fans’ unprecedented enthusiasm. It also began the British Invasion in the United States.

Ole’ Miss: James Meredith integrates the University of Mississippi

John Glenn: Flew the first American manned orbital mission termed “Friendship 7” on February 20.

Liston beats Patterson: Sonny Liston and Floyd Patterson fight for the world heavyweight championship on September 25, ending in a first-round knockout. This match marked the first time Patterson had ever been knocked out and one of only eight losses in his 20-year professional career.

1963

Pope Paul VI: Cardinal Giovanni Montini is elected to the papacy and takes the papal name of Paul VI.

Malcolm X makes his infamous statement “The chickens have come home to roost” about the Kennedy assassination, thus causing the Nation of Islam to censor him.

British politician sex: The British Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, has a relationship with a showgirl, and then lies when questioned about it before the House of Commons. When the truth came out, it led to his own resignation and undermined the credibility of the Prime Minister.

JFK blown away: President John F. Kennedy is assassinated on November 22 while riding in an open convertible through Dallas.

1965

Birth control: In the early 1960s, oral contraceptives, popularly known as “the pill”, first go on the market and are extremely popular. Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965 challenged a Connecticut law prohibiting contraceptives. In 1968, Pope Paul VI released a papal encyclical entitled Humanae Vitae which declared artificial birth control a sin.

Ho Chi Minh: A Vietnamese communist, who served as President of Vietnam from 1954–1969. March 2 Operation Rolling Thunder begins bombing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail supply line from North Vietnam to the Vietcong rebels in the south. On March 8, the first U.S. combat troops, 3,500 marines, land in South Vietnam.

1968

Richard Nixon back again: Former Vice President Nixon is elected President in 1968.

1969

Moonshot: Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing, successfully lands on the moon.

Woodstock: Famous rock and roll festival of 1969 that came to be the epitome of the counterculture movement.

1974–75

Watergate: Political scandal that began when the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, DC was broken into. After the break-in, word began to spread that President Richard Nixon (a Republican) may have known about the break-in, and tried to cover it up. The scandal would ultimately result in the resignation of President Nixon, and to date, this remains the only time that anyone has ever resigned the United States Presidency.

Punk rock: The Ramones form, with the Sex Pistols following in 1975, bringing in the punk era.

1976–77

(An item from 1977 comes before three items from 1976 to make the song scan.)

Menachem Begin becomes Prime Minister of Israel in 1977 and negotiates the Camp David Accords with Egypt’s president in 1978.

Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States in 1980, but he first attempted to run for the position in 1976.

Palestine: a United Nations resolution that calls for an independent Palestinian state and to end the Israeli occupation.

Terror on the airline: Numerous aircraft hijackings take place, specifically, the Palestinian hijack of Air France Flight 139 and the subsequent Operation Entebbe in Uganda.

1979

Ayatollah’s in Iran: During the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the West-backed and secular Shah is overthrown as the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini gains power after years in exile and forces Islamic law.

Russians in Afghanistan: Following their move into Afghanistan, Soviet forces fight a ten-year war, from 1979 to 1989.

1983

Wheel of Fortune: A hit television game show which has been TV’s highest-rated syndicated program since 1983.

Sally Ride: In 1983 she becomes the first American woman in space. Ride’s quip from space “Better than an E-ticket”, harkens back to the opening of Disneyland mentioned earlier, with the E-ticket purchase needed for the best rides.

Heavy metal suicide: In the 1980s Ozzy Osbourne and the bands Judas Priest and Metallica were brought to court by parents who accused the musicians of hiding subliminal pro-suicide messages in their music.

Foreign debts: Persistent U.S. trade deficits

Homeless vets: Veterans of the Vietnam War, including many disabled ex-military, are reported to be left homeless and impoverished.

AIDS: A collection of symptoms and infections in humans resulting from the specific damage to the immune system caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It is first detected and recognized in the 1980s, and was on its way to becoming a pandemic.

Crack cocaine use surged in the mid-to-late 1980s.

1984

Bernie Goetz: On December 22, Goetz shot four young men who he said were threatening him on a New York City subway. Goetz was charged with attempted murder but was acquitted of the charges, though convicted of carrying an unlicensed gun.

1988

Hypodermics on the shore: Medical waste was found washed up on beaches in New Jersey after being illegally dumped at sea. Before this event, waste dumped in the oceans was an “out of sight, out of mind” affair. This has been cited as one of the crucial turning points in popular opinion on environmentalism.

1989

China’s under martial law: On May 20, China declares martial law, enabling them to use force of arms against protesting students to end the Tiananmen Square protests.

Rock-and-roller cola wars: Soft drink giants Coke and Pepsi each run marketing campaigns using rock & roll and popular music stars to reach the teenage and young adult demographic.

Short summaries of all 119 references mentioned in the song, you’re welcome.

[syrupfog]

Law thinks he has it figured out. 

That scrawny kid who just wandered into the university’s yearly flu vaccine clinic Law was manning and just DECIDED that Law was his new best friend— Luffy, he said his name was. Monkey D. Luffy, as if anyone could take that name seriously.

Law thinks he’s figured it out, though. How Luffy CHOOSES the people he does, and adds them to his group. 

(not that Law is IN his group, absolutely not). 

Sanji’s the most obvious one. He’s INCREDIBLY useful, no one could deny that. He cooks obscene amounts of food for everyone.

Nami, too, feels like a given. She has CONNECTIONS, knows how to use them, keeps records and receipts and organizes all the parties that Luffy spontaneously seems to decide on. She’s the brains. 

Zoro Law struggled with at first, the man seems to just think about swords—

but seeing them out in public, Law realizes he’s like a human guard dog, leering over Luffy’s shoulder at anyone who disagrees. Chopper seems a little young— is the kid even in undergrad?— but he’s first aid trained and Law’s seen him put it to use on numerous occasions already.

Now Nico Robin— how on EARTH Luffy managed to make friends with the youngest tenured professor GLU has ever had is beyond Law, but she has connections in academia the way Nami does on the streets. Law would bet money that Robin’s the only reason Luffy is still enrolled.

Usopp’s an odd one, but he’s… well, funny might not be exactly the right word. Entertaining. And more importantly can fix anyone’s computer or phone within an hour. He adds weird features when he does, but his work is solid.

Franky is a GIVEN, he’s the one with the converted old double decker bus — Law didn’t think they even HAD those here — and auto garage. Luffy says the word and he’ll fix anyone’s car free of charge. It’s ridiculous what Luffy can get people to do.

Brook is also obvious. Most famous musician this side of the East Blue, how on EARTH did Luffy meet him? Regardless, the man’s surely a millionaire slumming it with the rest of them for the chance to play what he wants to play and be appreciated for it

Jinbei was confusing until Law learned how they met — that protest that Luffy (along with half his crew) were arrested at last semester. Professor Emeritus in the law department, he was once famous for organizing protests around campus, and eagerly bailed them all out.

So, Law’s figured it out. As much as Luffy SEEMS like a carefree brainless soul, he’s been strategic from the very first step, surrounding himself with everyone he needs to stay on top. He’s incredibly devious, honestly, Law’s almost intimidated.

He also knows that this means he doesn’t have a place among them. 

As much as he’s always planned on being a surgeon, things just don’t work out sometimes. Like when your adopted uncle frames your adopted father for tax fraud and make it look like HE’S a millionaire—

Meaning you suddenly end up with a dad in jail AND getting rejected for FAFSA. No money, no loans, one single scholarship that Law’s about to be dropped from. Sorry Luffy, you’re going to have to find a surgeon somewhere else. Chopper will be good enough, surely.

He tries to separate himself from Luffy, but that’s easier said than done, as Luffy sticks to him like glue when they’re in the same place. The man’s incorrigible, impossible, guileless, brazen… 

Law ends up yelling at him in the middle of a party thrown at Jinbei’s house.

Shouts that he’s dropping out, failing, not going to live up to whatever role Luffy’s recruited him to fill. Tells him to find another surgeon, they’re a dime a dozen on med campus anyway. Storms out before he does something dumb like tear up.

Oddly enough it’s Usopp who follows him. 

He sits down next to Law, looking stiff and uncomfortable, and declares that he “knows what Law’s going through”, which feels, well, patently untrue. 

“I did this like a year ago,” Usopp says. “Tried to tell him to drop me.”

They’re sitting on the curb. Law scrunches grass between his fingers and stares at the road. 

“I had a car,” Usopp says. “She was BEAUTIFUL. Best car you’ve ever seen. Two hundred miles to the gallon and ran on French fry grease.” 

Ah, this is one of those stories.

Usopp deflates. “Then she died,” he says. “We’d just met Franky and he told me she was beyond repair. Then he offered up that bus he has, replacing her before she was even in the ground yet! And like, I’m not going to say he was replacing ME, but like—“

Law nods. 

“It’s not like I had a lot going for me anyway,” Usopp says. “Not compared to Nami or Sanji or Chopper. I thought I was just lucky Luffy found me early, when his standards were lower.” He laughs, but there’s no joy behind it.

“Anyway,” he picks at the laces of his shoes. “That car’s at the bottom of a lake now, may she rest in peace. And after I tried to pull what you just pulled, Luffy really fucking let me have it.” He ducks his head. “Told me I was being fucking stupid, and he was right.”

He glances up at the sky and Law watches, a queasy feeling in the base of his stomach. 

“Turns out,” Usopp says after a long pause, “Luffy really does just choose people he likes.” He sighs. “You’re just lucky, actually, because I don’t think he’s liked anyone as much as you.”

Law grimaces. He doesn’t FEEL lucky. 

Usopp, taking his queue, stands up. “The sooner you admit what you’re dealing with, though, the more he’s able to help.” 

Then he leaves Law alone. 

And Law… finds he doesn’t want to BE alone.

He slinks back into the party maybe twenty minutes later. It’s chill. Brook is taking song requests. Sanji is handing out grilled halloumi. 

Luffy immediately walks up to him. “Why didn’t you TELL ME,” he asks, indignant. 

“What, that my life is a mess?”

“Everyone’s life is a mess, silly,” Luffy says. “But we can HELP, duh.” 

“I think even YOU can’t keep me from getting kicked out of GLU,” Law says. 

“No,” Luffy agrees. “But HE can.” 

He points to Jinbei, sitting at an old yellowed desktop computer in the corner.

“I have friends in the law department who haven’t retired yet,” Jinbei says. He has small spectacles perched on his nose. “They know people. Sending a few emails now.” 

Chopper walks up to the two of them, looking shy. “I can help you study,” he says. “N-not that you need it!”

Nico Robin comes over, cocktails in each hand, pushing one of them into his. “Student services is accommodating,” she says. “If you know who to ask.” 

“YOW!” Shouts Franky from the couch. “And I just hacked their system and changed your grades!” 

Law chokes on his drink.

“SEE?” Luffy huffs, crossing his arms. “It’s FINE. You freaked out for nothing!” 

Law squints at him. “And if it’s not fine, Luffy-ya? If none of this helps and I still fail out of school?” 

Luffy purses his lips. “Duh, then you can just come live with me.“

He looks incredibly petulant. “It’s not like I like you BECAUSE you’re a surgeon. I like you because I asked for two of every shot and you said I’d have to choose a fake name instead of telling me no!” 

Ah. He did do that, didn’t he.

“And anyway, *i* don’t have a degree and I’m fine!” 

“You’re GETTING one,” Law points out. 

Luffy looks at him like he’s lost it. “I attend classes because they’re fun,” he says. “I don’t even have a high school degree, I don’t care about that stuff.” 

…huh.

“Now come on,” Luffy says, wrapping small boney fingers around Law’s wrist. Zoro’s going to play snooker with me and I need you to watch to make sure he doesn’t cheat, because I don’t know the rules.” 

And Law follows him. 

And follows him. 

And follows him.

And when he starts his next semester with his dad out of jail because Jinbei’s connections are honestly a little scary, and when he doesn’t sleep for three days in a row during finals week, and when he gets into the exact fellowship he wants, working under Marco himself—

Law follows Luffy. 

Because nothing else makes sense. 

Law hasn’t figured Luffy out at all But he’s figured everyone else out. Understands the magnetism they’re all drawn to. 

And when he falls into bed with Luffy at the end of long days and weeks, He knows he’s the lucky one.

[pancakesandpessimism]

Okay, so hear me out: I think Camila’s an official Crime Mom™ now. 

I mean, we see that Vee and Luz graduated together, and the assumption is that it was from a human school, right?

I don’t know about you guys, but my high school required some paperwork to enroll a student. Namely A. some form of ID for the student, like a birth certificate, and B. proof that the parent trying to enroll the kid has legal guardianship over said child. Probably more stuff that my parents didn’t bother telling me about. Not to mention we see Vee playing baseball in one of the Noceda house photos, and while I’m aware this one might just be a My School/District thing, for high school we had to provide proof of ID AND a full vaccination record in order to participate in sports (this was true for school and competitive leagues). 

Now, while I’m positive Camila would make sure her babies are fully vaccinated (not just Luz and Vee, you know the whole Hexsquad got hit with a strom of shots the moment she realized these kids were trapped in a world their immune systems weren’t built to survive in), seeing a record that has ALL the vaccinations starting only a few months ago despite most getting them as infants-children miiiiiight raise some eyebrows. Especially when the student is supposedly the sister of another student whose records DO start at infancy. Not that it’s impossible for this to happen, but combining that with the fact that Vee has no birth certificate or official record of her existence to speak of, which also probably means Camila has no proof of guardianship because how do you adopt a kid who legally doesn’t exist, people would notice something’s up. 

Which then begs the question: How did Vee graduate, or get enrolled at all?

I present to you: Camila the Crime Mom™. Specifically, Camila the Identity Forger™. 

I’d like to think that’s actually what Eda and Camila were talking about in that photo where they’re sharing apple blood. Eda was trying to give Camila some tips on how to make the documents look official (she probably has plenty of practice between her history scamming people and her general knowledge of crime. Not to mention she could hook Camila up with an expert or two if necessary, she’s got Connections) and a warm welcome to the Crime Parent Squad, while Camila comes to the realization that Luz did not embellish any of her stories about Eda’s criminal acts in any way. As a matter of fact, she was probably sugarcoating a lot of stuff. 

And yes, there’s a possibility that she simply asked Gus to help them out with some illusions, but I raise you: Camila would want to do it herself because that’s her baby and she will ensure that Vee gets the education she wants without having to forfeit her new form, or any other part of herself.

Idk, it just makes me really happy to think that both of Luz’s moms not only would, but HAVE, broken the law for their kids. That is a family you Do Not want to mess with. Not to mention the idea that Camila went from letting societal pressures and her own painful experiences influence how she handled Luz’s education to committing a full on felony because fuck it, if her snake-daughter wants to go to school then she’s going to school brings a smile to my face. 

Tldr Camila Noceda remains one of the best mothers in animated history and I love her. 

[mariacallous]

On a recent Thursday afternoon, researchers Lanuza Faccioli and Zhiping Hu wheeled an inconspicuous black and white plastic cooler from an operating room at a hospital in downtown Pittsburgh. Inside was a badly scarred liver, just removed from a 47-year-old man undergoing a transplant to receive a new one from a donor.

But what if patients could avoid that fate? Faccioli and Hu are part of a University of Pittsburgh team led by Alejandro Soto-Gutiérrez attempting to revive badly damaged livers like these—as well as kidneys, hearts, and lungs. Using messenger RNA, the same technology used in some of the Covid-19 vaccines, they’re aiming to reprogram terminally ill organs to be fit and functioning again. With donor livers in short supply, they think mRNA could one day provide an alternative to transplants. The team plans to begin a clinical trial next year to test the idea in people with end-stage liver disease.

Alcohol use, hepatitis infection, and a buildup of fat in the liver can cause scarring over time. When there’s too much damage, the liver starts to fail. “Right now, if you get end-stage liver disease, it’s irreversible,” Soto-Gutiérrez says. “Well, we found that is not true. It is reversible.”

Soto-Gutiérrez and his team have been experimenting on rats and organs taken from people undergoing transplants at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, one of the busiest transplant centers in the US. To help design the mRNA and figure out how to deliver it to the human liver, they’ve partnered with Drew Weissman, a physician and immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania who won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his pioneering work on mRNA. Together, Soto-Gutiérrez and Weissman lead the Center for Transcriptional Medicine, launched in April with the goal of bringing these medicines to patients.

On the day I visited, I followed Faccioli and Hu through a maze of hallways until they deposited the freshly explanted liver at a pathology lab, where a team of scientists was anticipating the special delivery. After infusing the liver with an experimental mRNA therapy, they placed the organ in an oxygenated bath meant to maintain its function for several days.

A healthy liver is spongy and reddish-brown in color with a smooth appearance. But when the surgeons took this one out of the cooler, it was hard, marbled, and covered in bumps—evidence of cirrhosis, a type of end-stage liver disease. Over time, the man’s healthy liver cells had been replaced by scar tissue, and eventually, his liver stopped working. His only option was to get a new one.

Livers are the second most in-demand organ. In 2023, a record 10,660 liver transplants were performed in the US, driven in part by a steadily growing number of living donors. In a living liver transplant, a piece is taken from a healthy person’s liver and transplanted into a recipient. But even with this uptick in transplants, not everyone who needs a new liver receives one. Patients may have other health problems that disqualify them from a transplant, and others may die while waiting for one. In 2022, the latest year for which data is available, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded nearly 55,000 deaths due to chronic liver disease.

Living donor transplants are possible because of the liver’s unique capacity to regenerate itself—more so than any other organ in the body. In a healthy person, the liver can regrow to its normal size even after up to 90 percent of it has been removed. But disease and lifestyle factors can cause permanent damage, rendering the liver unable to repair itself.

When Soto-Gutiérrez was studying medicine at the University of Guadalajara in Mexico, his uncle died of liver disease. From then on, he became dedicated to finding a treatment for patients like his uncle. In the early years of his medical career, he noticed that some patients with scarred livers were bound to a hospital bed waiting for a transplant, while other people with cirrhosis were walking around, seemingly living normal lives. He figured there must be cellular differences in these livers.

He teamed up with UPMC transplant surgeon Ira Fox to look for transcription factors—master regulators that can dial up or down the expression of groups of genes—that can potentially reprogram injured organs. Genes rely on transcription factors to perform many essential functions in organs. Together, Soto-Gutiérrez and Fox have analyzed more than 400 failing livers donated by transplant patients. When they compared them with dozens of normal donated livers that acted as controls, they identified eight transcription factors essential for organ development and function.

They zeroed in on one in particular, HNF4 alpha, that seems to act like a main control panel, regulating much of the gene expression in liver cells. In healthy liver cells, levels of HNF4 alpha were turned up, and so were other proteins it controls. But in the cirrhotic livers they examined, HNF4 alpha was almost nonexistent.

The team needed a way to get the transcription factor into liver cells, so they turned to mRNA technology. Used in some of the Covid-19 vaccines, mRNA is a molecule that carries instructions for making proteins, including transcription factors. In the Covid vaccines, the mRNA codes for a part of the virus known as the spike protein. When injected into a person’s arm, the mRNA enters cells and kicks off the protein-making process. The body recognizes these spike proteins as foreign and generates antibodies and other defenders against it.

The Pitt team is using mRNA instead to essentially turn back time in injured organs. “What we’re proposing to do with mRNA is use it to deliver proteins that have the capacity to repair those damaged liver cells,” Weissman says. “Our hope is that we can treat end-stage liver disease and turn the livers around, maybe forever, or at least until patients can get a transplanted organ liver.” Instead of delivering instructions for a foreign protein to generate an immune response, they’re delivering the genetic code for producing a transcription factor—HNF4 alpha.

In a paper published in 2021, the approach revived human liver cells in lab dishes. The researchers have since tested the mRNA therapy in rats with cirrhosis and liver failure. They treated a group of rats every three days for three weeks while a second group served as a control. The animals that were receiving the injection of HNF4 alpha started being more active. The untreated rats continued to decline and eventually died, the expected result at their stage of disease. Some of the treated rats were still living six weeks after receiving the mRNA medicine. Those results have not yet been published in a peer reviewed journal.

The team is also testing the mRNA infusions in human livers removed from patients undergoing transplants—the process I got to observe. Unlike live rats, explanted human livers can’t be observed for weeks on end. Livers have to be retrieved quickly and infused with the mRNA treatment soon after they’re removed from the body. They stay fresh for just four days or so in a preservation fluid. Six hours after the mRNA infusion, levels of HNF4 alpha start going up and last for two to three days. When HNF4 alpha peaks, other essential liver proteins, such as albumin, start to increase as well. That’s important, Soto-Gutiérrez says, because maintaining those protein levels could mean the difference between a patient needing a transplant or not.

Ideally, Soto-Gutiérrez says the mRNA therapy would be something patients could get once a week or every other week in an outpatient facility and go back home. But initially, they’ll need to test the experimental treatment in very sick patients, likely ones that are hospitalized, to make sure it’s safe. The team is gathering data from the rat and human liver experiments to submit a clinical trial application to the Food and Drug Administration in the coming months.

While livers are the first target, Fox thinks other injured organs may be amenable to this approach. “We’ve been wondering whether the same process might be taking place in other organs,” he says. Currently, the team is searching for similar transcription factors in lungs with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and kidneys with chronic kidney disease.

Josh Levitsky, a liver transplant specialist at Northwestern University who isn’t involved in the work, says new treatments for chronic liver disease are sorely needed. Current therapies can help slow down scar tissue buildup and ease symptoms but don’t address the underlying disease. “The concept of reprogramming and being able to reverse liver failure could be really game changing if it were to pan out in clinical studies,” he says.

But lots of questions remain. How much damage could be reversed? Would patients need to be on the therapy indefinitely? Or would their livers rebound enough to go off it? Could a liver ever be restored back to normal?

“It certainly has a lot of promise,” Levitsky says, “but the clinical development is going to take a long time.”

[six-spot]

United we stand, divided we fall…

I don’t care on which side of the political spectrum you identify. The threat to our democracy is a clear and present danger!

A 🧵 Buckle up it’s a long one.

This is not a fight about 2A, it’s not about abortion, it’s not about education, it’s not about sexual orientation, it’s not about taxes or immigration or about healthcare. This fight comes down to a religious minority, trying to push its narrow views upon our country.

The Heritage Foundation and its Project 2025 threatens to dismantle nearly 250 years of progress toward equality for all. And I for one am not going to stand for it.

We must unite against the GOP with Joe Biden as the nominee. He cannot be replaced on ballots without being challenged. “Protest” voting for other parties will sign the death certificate of our nation. The same thing happened in 2016.

A very brief history. Zoroastrianism was founded around 3500 years ago. “Zoroastrianism…held that a messiah would come at some future date…to redeem humanity in an event known as the Frashokereti which was the end of time and brought reunion with Ahura Mazda…

These concepts would influence the later religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.” https://www.worldhistory.org/religion/

This monotheistic view of religion has existed for less than half of recorded history and many religions still have pluralistic beliefs. #Christianity has done nothing but oppress people since its inception. And now a very narrow interpretation of it is being weaponized against us.

It’s a disease that spread throughout the world, literally killing millions of people as missionaries spread disease from one continent to another. It didn’t matter how many indigenous people died as long as they believed and converted.

Ancient rulers seized upon the opportunity to adopt the religion and thus take power and wealth* from the people. Sound familiar? Wars have been fought for control of territory around the world.

*This was the 2nd goal of missionaries.

And now a sect of ultra-conservative Christian Nationalists threatens to end our constitutional republic in favor of an authoritarian state.

They’re trying to divide us even further so they can win. We CANNOT let that happen. Moderate, Liberal, Progressive, Libertarian, Conservative, it doesn’t matter, we will all suffer equally if Project 2025 succeeds.

They have been chipping away at certain liberties for 8 years already. It’s clear that they only have self-serving goals to make the rich richer and to oppress citizens like in other authoritarian regimes.

It is truly terrifying to see dystopian novels coming to life before my very eyes. These conservatives fear change and clearly believe that liberalism is the root of all evil.

On the contrary, education leads to enlightenment and free thought, so “liberal” thinking is really just how they demonize those who are educated and have opposing opinions or beliefs.

One example from #Project2025 is that “conservative” republicans have been trying to strip funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting since its inception. @NPR & @PBS are run by CPB.

Why? Because they educate people & allows them to adopt beliefs that oppose theirs. They lament that no republican president has been able to do it. They argue that most viewers are liberals & that not enough conservative programming is offered so it should be shut down. Boo hoo😢

How about that educated viewers use their common sense and reasoning to conclude that stories from 2000+ years ago are not fully relevant to modern society? 👩🏼‍🎓👨🏽‍🎓

Science is not theological yet conservatives want to apply theology to everything. The world isn’t flat. Evolution & Climate change are real. Vaccines save lives. The USA was NOT founded as a Christian nation. If not for free thinkers, we’d probably still be living in the Iron Age.

Most people want to be part of a group & religion is the most common way to achieve that goal. We are conditioned from birth to believe what we’re taught and not question it. This is how racism & bigotry continue to thrive along with political ideology.

Morals are morals. They aren’t inherently conservative or liberal. You are either kind to others or not; you follow the rules or don’t; you tell the truth or you’re a narcissistic pathological liar. It’s that simple. That is all that’s required to define a good person.

The notion that sexuality has anything to do with morality is utterly absurd, but this is what conservatives argue. They LIE to justify taking rights from anyone they don’t like. They fear what they don’t understand.

They oppose abortion because it’s a numbers game to them. They think more babies = more followers. Well, we’re already seeing that no abortion = higher infant mortality. So that myth is busted.

Much of the Project 2025 platform directly attacks the Biden administration and seemingly relies on data that is short-sighted at best. I’m sure many of the arguments for or against the many chapter topics are false-flags to make it look balanced.

I hope someone is trying to fact-check the book, as many of the end notes are just commentary or references to current laws. Statistics are cherry picked to support their claims.

Even my 16-year-old understands the implications should departments like education and health & human services get shut down or changed from what they currently are. 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

If you made it all the way through, thanks for reading. Please share because our lives depend on it. We all need to #VoteBlue2024 to put an end to the GOP madness once and for all.

Fin.

[farfromstrange]

I love reading sick!reader fics more than anything, but I just had the funniest thought and now I can’t stop thinking about it:

Matt Murdock would be ever the considerate mother hen when his partner is sick, we’ve established that, but I’ve been coughing for the past twelve hours with only five minutes in between fits and they’re so loud, even my mom in the next room just texted me if I’m “suffocating or still alive”. And you can pretty much hear it through the entire building, too.

IMAGINE poor Matt having to live with that for three days until the cold gets better or the medicine starts to take effect… I know he’d take good care of me, but I also know he’d have to resist the urge to run at the ghastly sound of the mucus coming up my throat and whatever’s left stuck in my lungs. Let alone the wheezing breath and the snot I keep blowing into the several tissues around me. Or touching me while I’m burning up like a bonfire? That man is sensitive enough already, he doesn’t need my head to give him third-degree burns.

It would either go something like this (the classic):

“Sweetheart, you’re burning up, your skin is clammy and you’re breathing funny. Did you take any medicine for that cough? Do you need me to get you something for your sore throat? How about a shower, a bath, some soup? Well, even though you don’t want it, I still got you all of that. And now I’m getting undressed and will cuddle you until you can finally fall asleep again. No buts.”

Or he’d completely lose his mind:

“Sweetheart, baby, love of my life, I worship the ground you walk on and I’d do anything for you, but I can’t possibly be next to you when you’re coughing like that. It’s like you’re screaming into my ear. But I’m gonna stay here anyway because your lungs sound funny, you’re hot and your nose is bleeding, I need to make sure you make it through the night. Let me get you some Tylenol and then I’ll just… sit here and wait until you’re asleep. While you quite literally sound like you’re dying. A broken record in my ear. Yup, no worries at all. I’ll just… sit it out. This is not about me.”

And every time I’d cough, he’d shoot up, check if I’m still alive and then he’d put some headphones on to ignore the sound of my body quite literally ejecting whatever virus it’s got. It sounds nasty even to me, so I can’t possibly imagine what it would be like to someone who can hear the Subway moving underneath his apartment, or a woman screaming all the way across the city.

I know he’d love me and take the best care of me even though he’s suffering, but that would be torture on his senses, let alone his worry radar. He’d be so on edge, he wouldn’t even get any rest, but he’d never leave me. He would try to tune it out, but as someone with covid lungs (even though she’s fully vaccinated and had it two times) tuning out the sound of my soul leaving my body is pretty impossible, let alone the sniffling because I can’t stand using tissues anymore at this point because everything’s raw.

So, I love sick fics and they offer me great comfort, but it is impossible for me to stop thinking about this now and I somehow find that funnier than I should. That’s probably the fever talking or whatever.

Poor Matty… He’d go absolutely insane, and he’d be more than relieved when the cough is over and I’m on my feet again.

And if he’s sick? Boy, you need to tie him down and knock him out. He hates being sick and whatever comes with it. The way it feels, sounds and turns his senses into mush. He’s delirious when he has a fever and he acts like a reckless child. You need to sedate him or he’ll actually crawl up the walls (like a cat).

So yeah, that’s that.

[sisterspooky1013]

Gaslight, Chapter 42/48

Rated X | Read it here on AO3

They’re flying down a two-lane highway, pastureland flanking the van on both sides and midmorning sun sparkling on the dew-soaked grass like glitter. It would be beautiful, Mulder thinks, if not for the circumstances that brought them here.

“LiminalLurker reached out to us last night,” Byers says from the passenger seat, twisted around so that both Mulder and Scully can hear him. “She’s gathered quite a bit of additional information about the project and what exactly was done to you.”

Scully, who is sitting in the middle seat between the two sleeping children, turns her head and gives Mulder a significant look. He pushes Frenchie’s head off his lap so he can lean forward and drape his arm over Scully’s shoulder, and she holds his hand against her chest as Byers continues.

“The science is a bit beyond my understanding, but my hope is that when you’ve reached your final destination I can get all the documents to you, both for your records and so you have it in the event that it becomes medically relevant.”

Scully squeezes Mulder’s hand and he squeezes back.

“There seem to be two elements to the project,” Byers continues. “Suppression of memory, and prevention of memory recall. This means that none of your memories, or ours, were truly removed or deleted—they’ve simply been manually repressed in much the same way as can occur naturally when someone experiences significant trauma.”

Mulder looks at the tops of the children’s heads, each tilted towards Scully, and wonders whether it’s possible that they won’t be able to remember what happened to them before they ended up with Scully and Cal. Some memories are best left forgotten. Perhaps even some of his own.

“The Manatua virus and the subsequent vaccination program were a cover that allowed them to bring mass swaths of the population in for memory manipulation. The degree of participation in the project correlates to how well someone knew you. Take your college roommate, for example. They may have had their memories of you suppressed, however the project may not have needed to replace those memories because suddenly being unable to recall your college roommate’s name could easily be chalked up to forgetfulness. For us, however, suppressing our memories of you without replacing them would have left large and frequent gaps, which is where the chip comes in.”

“The chip contains replacement memories,” Scully says absently, and Byers nods.

“Anyone you had a significant relationship with likely received a chip that contains replacement memories. The existence of those new memories also reduces the possibility that someone will actively try to recall information—because they don’t realize it’s missing—and that helps keep the memories suppressed.”

“What about the Numerol?” Scully asks. “Abby missed just a couple days and she started to remember.”

“The Numerol is very important for preventing memory recall,” Byers says, glancing at Abby. “Memory recall is extremely context dependent. You see, or hear, or smell something, and it ties back to a stored memory. Without the Numerol, all it might take for someone to start recalling those suppressed memories is to see you, even with a chip. The closer the relationship the person had to you, the more important the Numerol would be.”

Byers pauses and looks at the children, then at Scully.

“I think it’s relevant to share that in the bags Cal packed for the children, there’s a bottle of vitamins. I recall you mentioning that that’s how the Numerol was administered to them.”

Scully looks back at Mulder again and holds his eye for a beat.

“How much?” Mulder asks Byers. “How many are left?”

“The original quantity was sixty, and it looks to be about half full,” Byers answers.

“That’ll at least get us through a couple weeks,” he says quietly to Scully, and she nods, then heaves a sigh and turns back around.

“We took the liberty of having documents produced for the children under the assumption that they’d be traveling with you to Canada,” Byers says, handing Scully a manila envelope.

Mulder watches over her shoulder as she looks through the contents, some of which he has already seen. British Columbia driver’s licenses for Lisa and Michael Davenport bearing his and Scully’s photographs, a marriage certificate, and birth certificates for them both. There are now also documents for the children, Justin and Amanda Davenport. When Scully comes to a driver’s license with Cal’s photo, she looks at it for a long time before slipping it back into the envelope.

“We were also able to recover your bags from the VW bus, Agent Scully,” Byers says. “So you’ll have some clothes to change into.”

“Thank god,” Scully says on a sigh. “I could use about a hundred showers.”

“What’s the latest with Langly?” Mulder asks, and Byers smiles.

“He’s doing well. He’s in stable condition, and they were planning to transition him out of intensive care today. He has a long road ahead, but he’ll be alright.”

“Please send him our well wishes,” Scully says, unmistakable guilt in her voice, and Byers assures her that he will.

“We suggest you drive at least as far as Ohio before stopping for the night,” Byers continues. “You’ll need to make it to Blaine, Washington, which is a city on the Canadian border. We’ve made contact with a border crossing agent who’s part of a network that ensures safe passage for people escaping political persecution. It should take you three or four days to get there, and then you’ll need to cross through his lane and he’ll allow you in.”

“How will we know which lane is his?” Mulder asks.

“You’ll meet up with him the night prior so he’ll know your faces and you’ll know his. Once he arrives at work, he’ll call his wife and let her know which lane he’s working, and that’s when you’ll cross.”

Mulder’s hand against Scully’s chest rises and falls with her slow, deep breath in and out. He brushes his thumb over her wrist and she relaxes a little.

“Do you have any indication as to whether anyone is looking for us?” he asks.

“Who’s looking for us?” Abby asks, and Scully startles and turns to the child, releasing Mulder’s hand.

“Nobody, sweetpea. Are you feeling okay?”

She runs her knuckles down Abby’s cheek, and Mulder can’t help but smile at how natural she is with the children. His smile falls as a dull ache sets off above his ear, and he reaches up to press the tips of his fingers against his scalp, momentarily disoriented. Frenchie, sensing his distress, sits up and whines.

“I’m hungry,” Abby says good-naturedly, and Scully wraps her arm around the child’s shoulder and kisses the top of her head.

“We’ll get something to eat soon.”

They pull into a used car dealership that seems out of place in the otherwise rural area, and Frohike parks at the back of the lot.

“You all stay here, I’ll be right back,” he says, then disappears into the small office building in the middle of the sprawling lot.

“Is Daddy in there?” Abby asks, and Mulder looks away as Scully gives her a vague answer that couldn’t accurately be classified as a lie.

Frohike returns with a set of keys and leads them to a blue minivan with North Carolina plates.

“Yeowch, never pictured myself behind the wheel of one of these,” Mulder says, patting the hood of the vehicle.

“You’re a family man now, Mulder,” Frohike teases, dropping the keys into his hand. “Godspeed, friend.”

Mulder suddenly realizes that it’s possible they’ll never see the Gunmen again, and he pulls Frohike into an awkward hug.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done for us,” he says, and Frohike pats his back twice, then pulls away.

“Be good to my girl,” he says playfully, though his eyes are shimmering. “And if she ever gets sick of you, tell her to look me up.”

“Will do,” Mulder says, clapping the man on the back. Frenchie woofs, and Frohike crouches down to scratch her ears.

“Yes, you’re my girl too, Frenchie.”

Scully makes use of the empty van to change into clean clothes, and when the children are all buckled in and Frenchie is settled in her makeshift bed in the back, the adults stand at the rear of the vehicle and say their final goodbyes.

“To answer your question,” Byers says, “we aren’t sure if anyone is looking for you, but we think it’s best to operate under the assumption that they are. Even with Spender dead, there are other players in this that wouldn’t want to risk you potentially exposing the project.”

“We’ll be careful,” Scully says.

“There’s one more thing,” Byers says in a low voice, looking between them with some trepidation. “Liminal was also able to obtain the children’s files, as well as Cal’s. The details are…to be frank, they’re a bit disturbing.”

Mulder looks at Scully and watches the color drain from her face.

“What happened to them?” she asks, and he reaches for her hand.

“Prior to entering the project, Abby had recently been placed with a foster family,” Byers says, watching Scully’s face raptly. “The reason for removal was significant physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her mother.”

Scully closes her eyes and Byers stops speaking. After a beat, she opens them again.

“And Peter?” she asks quietly.

“Peter was in a group home and had been living there for some time,” Byers says. “His file spoke to neglect and malnutrition.”

Scully nods, and a tear slides down her cheek.

“And Cal—” Byers begins.

“No,” Scully interrupts, swiping the tear away. “Whatever it is, I’d rather not know. I’d like to remember him as I knew him, if that’s all right.”

Byers dips his head.

“Of course.”

There are more hugs and promises to get in touch when they’ve made it safely, and finally Mulder climbs behind the wheel and starts the engine.

“You and me back on the road, Scully,” he says, attempting to lighten the mood. “Who woulda thunk it?”

Scully shakes her head with a wry smile. “Not I.”

“Ready to roll, guys?” Mulder asks, twisting around to look at the children in the back seat.

The children give him unenthusiastic thumbs-ups and he puts the van in drive, watching in the rearview mirror as the Gunmen fade into tiny specs behind them.

They make their way to the interstate and head west along with the rising sun. Between stopping for snacks and bathroom breaks, arguing over what type of music to listen to, and playing several rounds of eye spy, it all starts to feel relatively banal, and Mulder can see in Scully’s demeanor that she feels it too. The tension in her shoulders begins to relax, her smiles come more easily, and he lets himself begin to hope that they’re going to make it out of this okay.

Somewhere outside Pittsburg both the children fall asleep, and Mulder and Scully speak in hushed tones across the console, agreeing to continue giving the children Numerol until they arrive in BC and then wean them off of it. He reaches over and rests his hand on her thigh, and she smiles a conspiratorial little smile that he can’t quite read.

“What?” he asks, his eyes flashing between her and the road.

“I never used to let you do this,” she says, laying her hand over the top of his.

“Do what?”

“After things…changed between us, you would try to hold my hand in the car, and I never let you,” she says, stroking the backs of his fingers. “It felt terrifying for some reason. Maybe it was just too normal. Too real.”

“Well,” he says, turning his hand over so she can interlace her fingers with his, “can’t get much more normal than a roadtrip with two kids in a minivan.”

He feels his whole heart light up when he glances over to find her grinning at him.

“Sure, if you discount the whole ‘evading government operatives’ thing,” she quips, and he considers pulling over just so he can kiss her.

His head begins to ache again, and he remembers something from earlier.

“Who’s Emily?”

The smile falls from her face so quickly it sends a little shock of panic through him, and he almost wishes he hadn’t asked.

“You remember Emily?” she asks, her fingers strangling his.

“I remember you with a child, and that name came to mind. Is it significant?”

Scully nods and turns to look out the window.

“She was my daughter, medically speaking. She died,” she says in a detached monotone.

Mulder squeezes her hand and she turns back to look at him, her eyes wet.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was a sensitive subject,” he says.

Scully shakes her head.

“It’s good that you’re remembering,” she says tightly. “And it’s logical that you’d remember things that were difficult or emotionally charged more easily. I know that it was difficult for you to see me go through that. You felt a lot of guilt.”

“Guilt?” he asks, his brow furrowing.

Scully pats his hand and leans against the seat back.

“That’s not something I’d like to remind you of,” she says. “Maybe it’s something you can finally let go.”

He has questions, but he doesn’t ask them. He trusts that she knows what’s best.

“Mommy, I have to go potty,” Peter whines from the back seat, and their little bout of privacy comes to an end.

The hours stretch on, and the kids and Frenchie run circles around rest stop picnic tables to let out their energy before piling back into the van. Finally, they reach Akron and decide to call it a night.

They check in to a cheap, but not seedy, motel using their newly acquired identities and paying in cash, and he senses that Scully is making a concession when she agrees to McDonald’s for dinner. Mulder hovers awkwardly around the periphery of the children’s bedtime routine and occupies himself with petting Frenchie at length, feeling concurrently impressed by how seamlessly Scully tends to their needs and uncomfortable about what role he should take, if any. When Scully finds a stack of paperback picture books in the bag Cal packed, Peter plucks one off the top and marches over to Mulder, his hair still wet from his bath and a stuffed dog under his arm that matches the one printed on his pajamas.

“Will you read this to me, Murder?”

Scully snorts, then tries to hide her laughter behind her hand when he throws her a playfully irritated glare.

“It’s not Murder,” Abby lectures her brother, one hand on the hip of her Little Mermaid nightgown. “It’s Motor.”

Scully, unable to contain her laughter, walks quickly into the bathroom where he hears her let out a completely unrestrained guffaw. Even at his expense, hearing her laugh is immediately the best part of his day.

“You know what, Pete?” he says, lifting the child onto the bed further from the door before sitting down beside him. “I don’t usually let people call me by my first name, but I’ll make an exception for you. You too, Abby,” he says, looking at the elder child.

“What’s your first name?” Abby asks, sitting on Mulder’s other side.

“Fox, which I realize is a silly name.”

“Like the Fox and the Hound?” Abby asks, her head tilted with interest.

“Sure,” Mulder says with a shrug.

“I wish my name was a animal,” Peter says, suddenly disappointed.

“What animal name would you like to have?” Mulder asks.

“Probably Bear, ‘cause bears are strong and they can scare you,” Peter says, holding up his hands as makeshift bear claws and growling loudly.

“Solid choice,” Mulder says. “I can call you Bear, if you want.”

Peter laughs like he’s just gotten away with something.

“Can I have an animal name?” Abby asks in a grating whiny pitch that Mulder wonders if he can get used to.

“Sure, why not?”

“I want my animal name to be…” Abby thinks for a very long time, long enough that Mulder looks over and catches Scully watching them from the bathroom door, clutching a hand towel to her chest. He smiles at her and she smiles back, a kind of sad, hopeful smile. “Bambi,” Abby finally says, and suddenly Scully speaks.

“Abby, if you choose something else I will give you five dollars,” she says emphatically, and Mulder throws her a questioning look, which she just shakes her head at.

“I want five dollars!” Pete says, incensed, and Scully heaves a sigh.

In the end, Abby chooses Bunny for her animal name, and the children stash their five dollar bills under their pillows before Scully tucks them into bed. Mulder sits at the small table near the window, again feeling like an interloper, and pretends to read the children’s picture books to give Scully some privacy.

“Will Daddy be here tomorrow?” Abby asks, and Mulder winces, but doesn’t look up.

“I would really like it if we saw him tomorrow,” Scully says evasively. “I know you miss him, sweetpea.”

“He telled me I could have more M&Ms after dinner,” Peter says, and Scully sighs.

“Hey,” she says, “how about you tell me your very favorite memory of Daddy? Something you’ll never ever forget.”

Mulder stands abruptly. He shouldn’t be here for this; it’s not his loss to mourn.

“I’m going to take Frenchie for a walk, is that okay?” he asks, and Scully stares at him briefly, trying to read him, before she nods.

“Sleep tight, Bear. Don’t let the bedbugs bite, Bunny,” he says as he puts Frenchie’s leash on.

“What’s a bedbug?” he hears Abby ask as he pulls the door closed, and he hopes that he didn’t ruin the moment.

The evening is mild and the sun is still peeking up over the horizon, bathing everything in pinks and oranges. Mulder walks the perimeter of the motel property, allowing Frenchie to stop and sniff around as often as she’s inclined to, which is frequently. He thinks about Cal bleeding out in the bunker, and Scully hunkered over him, sobbing and devastated. He has a flash of an image of Scully lying on the floor covered in blood, reaching for him, and he shakes it loose.

He wonders if Scully loved Cal. If she told him she loved him. The idea makes him feel sick, and sad, and insignificant. But then he reminds himself of the lengths that Scully went to find him, to make him remember her, and he knows that if there were a choice to be made, she chose him. That does bring him some comfort. But what if he can never be the husband that Cal was, or the father? What if he can’t create the kinds of memories they’re sharing in the motel room? It’s like he’s being held to a model that was created in a lab, the literal definition of the perfect husband and father. He realizes he’s terrified that he’ll never live up to a dead man’s memory.

After they’ve done several loops and enough time has passed that he thinks the children could be asleep, he creeps back to the motel room and quietly unlocks the door. It’s dark inside, and the sliver of light he lets in falls across Scully’s face where she’s lying on the bed closer to the door.

“Hey,” he says quietly, taking off Frenchie’s leash and setting it on the table.

“Hi,” she whispers, smiling at him weakly. “They just fell asleep. I was gonna take a shower.”

Frenchie lays in front of the door, which she’s always had a habit of doing, and he’s suddenly grateful for it. Scully takes her bag into the bathroom but leaves the door open, and Mulder follows her, standing in the doorway as she takes out her toiletries and searches for clean clothes.

“We might have to make time for a laundromat,” she says absently. “Or maybe it would just be more efficient to buy new clothes instead of washing the dirty ones.”

“You okay?” he asks, and she looks up at him, saying nothing for a long while.

“I don’t know,” she finally answers.

He watches her brush her teeth, feeling incredibly inadequate, and before she turns the shower on she asks him to come the rest of the way in and shut the door, which he takes as a good sign. She strips and tosses her clothes on the floor, not looking at him, then quickly slips behind the shower curtain. He should probably leave and give her privacy, but something in him feels so untethered that it makes him want to stay. He leans against the wall near the head of the shower and speaks to her through the curtain.

“You’re doing a great job,” he says, and he really means it. “You’re a good mom.”

She doesn’t respond, and he pulls the edge of the curtain back so he can peek inside. She’s facing the showerhead, the spray hitting her square in the chest, and though her entire face is wet it’s still clear that she’s crying. She slowly lifts her eyes to his face, and he’s afraid he said the wrong thing.

“Do you want to get in?” she asks, and he’s as surprised as he is elated.

He piles his dirty clothes on top of hers and pulls the curtain back at the far end of the tub. The sight of her naked backside makes him feel some kind of way, but he averts his eyes higher to the tattoo on her back and the scar just above it. The sex they had at the safehouse was rushed or veiled in darkness, and looking at her naked body sends his brain into a tailspin as emotions course through him like a flash flood. Anger, fear, lust, love. He can feel it all, even if he can’t remember the experiences. He steps up behind her and wraps his arms around her waist, and she leans heavily into him as they bask under the uncomfortably hot spray, neither of them speaking for several minutes.

“I don’t want the kids to see us kissing or holding hands,” she says after a time, weaving her fingers through his. “It’ll confuse them.”

“Okay,” he says, and she sighs.

More silence. More heavy contemplation as he holds her up, or she holds him, or they hold each other. All he knows is that neither of them could do it alone.

“The memories they shared were all recent,” Scully says mournfully. “Real memories, not implants.”

“That’s good, right?” Mulder says gently.

“Yes,” she whispers. “It’s good because they won’t lose them. But…I think part of me was hoping that they’d forget enough that it would hurt less, and I’m not sure if that will be the case.”

He bends down and hooks his chin over her shoulder.

“Whatever happens, we’ll get through it,” he says, and she goes a little limp in his arms. “How are you doing?” he asks, already nervous about her answer. “You lost someone too.”

“I don’t even know,” she says. “I don’t think I’ll have the capacity to process that until we’re through all of this. Right now it feels like a dream.”

There’s a beat of silence.

“I don’t want you to feel like you have to hide your grief,” he says. “I know the situation with you and Cal was very different than me and Diana. I know you…cared about him.”

Saying her name aloud makes Mulder realize that he’s hardly given more than a passing thought to Diana all day.

Scully turns in his arms, pressing the front of her body against his, and reaches up to take his face in her hands. She just looks at him for a moment, her eyes searching and her eyebrows knit. It makes him feel raw, the way she’s looking at him. Like she’s seeing things he doesn’t even know are there.

“I do miss Cal, and I did care about him,” she says in a careful, measured tone. “But whatever you’re thinking, and whatever you’re worrying about, don’t.” Her eyes fall to his chest briefly, then wander over to his shoulder. She touches the smooth pink skin where he now knows she once shot him, and then looks back up at his face. “You told me once that I was your one in five billion. The only person on this planet who would believe you.”

“That’s a good line,” he says, his chest incredibly tight, and she cracks a tiny smile.

“You’re my person,” she says. “My one in five billion. You don’t need to worry.”

She reaches up again and tugs on the back of his neck, pushing up on her tiptoes, and he bends down to kiss her. She tastes like mint, and salt, and home, and one kiss becomes two, and then three, and then dozens. She wraps her hand around his balls and he groans, then pushes it away.

“The kids,” he says quietly, and she reaches for him again.

“You’re going to have to learn how to be quiet,” she whispers in his ear, and his knees nearly buckle. “I just want to feel good for a little while,” she adds, her tone much more melancholy, and he knows he won’t deny her.

They get clean before they get messy again, making washing one another’s hair and body into an erotic act that will hold nostalgia for him for years to come. Her slippery fist tight around his erection nearly takes him over the edge, and he makes quick work of rinsing the suds off before he hoists her up against the wall of the shower and pushes into her.

Scully gasps, bringing her lips to his ear so he can hear her whispered declarations of how good he feels, how much she loves him, how much she missed him. She makes him believe that he is the only person she wants with her fingernails digging into his back and her heat tight around him, and her desperate plea that he finish inside her. She comes like shattering glass, suddenly and explosively, her legs tight around his hips and her mouth on his, and for that brief moment in time the rest of the world fades away.

When they are dried and dressed, they crawl under the covers though it’s barely past 9pm. Scully rests her head on his chest and slings one of her legs over his, and the weight of her body calms him. She falls asleep almost instantly, and as Mulder’s eyes begin to adjust to the darkened room he can make out the forms of the children in the adjacent bed, and Frenchie curled up by the door. As hopeless as it all is, as dire and dangerous and terrifying, he feels markedly happy. He has something that he hasn’t had in a very, very long time. Something he only recently realized just how much he wanted.

He has a family.

Tagging @today-in-fic

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Hurricane Milton strengthens into a Category 5 as Florida begins evacuations (AP) Milton rapidly strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane Monday in the Gulf of Mexico on a path toward Florida, threatening a dangerous storm surge in Tampa Bay, leading to evacuation orders and long gas lines, and lending more urgency to the cleanup from Hurricane Helene, which swamped the same stretch of coastline less than two weeks ago. The storm’s center could come ashore Wednesday in the Tampa Bay area, and it could remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida toward the Atlantic Ocean, forecasters say.

Growing the debt (NPR) A new report has found that both Harris’ and Trump's economic plans would increase the national debt. According to the nonpartisan nonprofit Committee for Responsible Federal Budget, Trump's plan would add an estimated $7.5 trillion to the nation's debt over the next decade, while Harris' proposals would cost the government an estimated $3.5 trillion. The committee has cautioned that there could be a future fiscal crisis if politicians do not take more decisive action on the national debt.

Police seldom disclose use of facial recognition despite false arrests (Washington Post) Hundreds of Americans have been arrested after being connected to a crime by facial recognition software, a Washington Post investigation has found, but many never know it because police seldom disclose their use of the controversial technology. Police departments in 15 states provided The Post with rarely seen records documenting their use of facial recognition in more than 1,000 criminal investigations over the past four years. According to the arrest reports in those cases and interviews with people who were arrested, authorities routinely failed to inform defendants about their use of the software—denying them the opportunity to contest the results of an emerging technology that is prone to error, especially when identifying people of color.

Juvenile Cyber Criminals (WSJ) The February 2022 hack of AI chip-maker Nvidia was one of the strangest cases ever. Someone—or some group—had stolen the crown jewels from one of the world’s most important tech companies and then acted like a bunch of kids on Telegram. They said they’d stolen some “juicy ass source code,” and demanded that Nvidia make its products easier for videogame players to use. It turned out that the Nvidia hackers acted like kids because they were, in fact, kids. They’re part of a new cybersecurity community that has become a bigger and bigger problem for law enforcement over the past few years. Calling themselves the Com, the kids have moved from giving each other grief in online games to stealing cryptocurrency and extorting some of the world’s most important companies, including Microsoft, Samsung, Uber and Rockstar Games. One of these hackers was Arion Kurtaj. Last year, fearing Kurtaj would simply never stop hacking, a British judge ordered him confined to a secure mental-health ward until doctors deem him to no longer be a public danger. Kurtaj was 17 when he hacked Nvidia, but he was just 11 when he started his life of cybercrime. He’s now the most notorious member of the Com. Other members are often so young that they have little fear of incarceration. They’re also so destructive that it’s hard to predict what they will do when they break into a computer network. A few months before the Nvidia hack, Kurtaj and his associates had deleted Brazil’s database of Covid vaccinations.

Mexican mayor assassinated days after taking office (Reuters) The mayor of the capital of Mexico’s violence-plagued state of Guerrero was killed on Sunday less than a week after he took office, the state’s governor confirmed. Alejandro Arcos was killed just six days after he took office as mayor of the city of Chilpancingo, a city of around 280,000 people in southwestern Mexico. The official confirmation came after photos circulated on messaging app WhatsApp depicting a severed head on top of a pick-up truck, appearing to be that of Arcos. Guerrero has become one of the deadliest states for aspiring and elected public officials, as well as for journalists.

Freed Russian arms dealer Bout back in weapons business, WSJ reports (Reuters) Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer who was jailed in the United States and then swapped two years ago for the U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, is back in international arms trade, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Citing an unnamed European security source and other anonymous sources familiar with the matter, the WSJ wrote that Bout, dubbed “the merchant of death” is trying to broker the sale of small arms to Yemen’s Houthi militants. “When Houthi emissaries went to Moscow in August to negotiate the purchase of $10 million worth of automatic weapons, they encountered a familiar face: the mustachioed Bout,” the newspaper reported, citing its sources. The potential arms transfers stop well short of the sale of Russian anti-ship or anti-air missiles that could pose a significant threat to the U.S. military’s efforts to protect international shipping from the Houthis’ attacks, it added. Bout was one of the world’s most wanted men prior to his 2008 arrest in Thailand on multiple charges related to arms trafficking. His notoriety was such that his life helped inspire a Hollywood film, 2005’s Lord of War, starring Nicolas Cage.

Ukraine’s Donbas Strategy: Retreat Slowly and Maximize Russia’s Losses (NYT) Throughout the year, Ukraine has lost a series of cities, towns and villages in its eastern Donbas region to Russia, typically withdrawing its troops after hard-fought battles that sometimes lasted for months. To outside observers, Ukraine’s slow but steady retreat from the Donbas region, the main theater of the war today, may seem to signal the beginning of the endgame, with Moscow firmly gaining the upper hand on the battlefield, leveraging its overwhelming advantage in manpower and firepower. But Ukrainian commanders and military experts dispute that, saying that a more crucial fight is unfolding in the region that goes beyond simple territorial gains and losses. It is now a war of attrition, they say, with each side trying to exhaust the other by inflicting maximum losses, hoping to break the enemy’s capacity and will to continue the war.

Water stress in the Middle East and North Africa (Rane Worldview) In recent years, water stress in the Middle East and North Africa has become a more acute threat to the stability of both individual states and the broader region amid a constant struggle for control and management of this increasingly scarce vital resource. Countries’ mismanagement of their water supplies over the decades has worsened the situation in the region, where the predominantly hot and dry climate already exacerbates water shortages. The rapid population growth many countries are experiencing has also heightened the demand for limited fresh water. Against this backdrop, access to water supplies has become an increasing driver of conflict between both states and non-state actors in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as a catalyst for social unrest.

U.S. Citizens in Lebanon Feel Abandoned by the State Department as Israel Invades (The Intercept) After Israel dropped more than 80 bombs, including American-made 2,000-lb bombs, on residential buildings in a suburb of Beirut, Hana Bechara, one of 86,000 U.S. citizens who live in Lebanon, decided it was time to leave. She reached out to the U.S. embassy in Beirut. As the strikes continue, Bechara said the response from the U.S. has been vague and unhelpful. State Department officials have sent her generic security alerts urging her to contact commercial airlines directly for flights out, while acknowledging that airlines were “at reduced capacity,” according to emails reviewed by The Intercept. The most recent email from the embassy sent Monday said they were unable to assist her family but offered to “help U.S. citizens and immediate family members leave Lebanon very soon” without further elaborating on a timeline or the type of assistance. (Meanwhile, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada, Bulgaria, and Cyprus have all begun to evacuate their citizens on charter flights or government planes.) “We, and the U.S. citizens in Palestine, are being treated differently than other U.S. citizens who are in way less danger than we are,” Bechara said. Bechara and many other Americans stuck in Lebanon have contrasted the State Department’s responses to the sense of urgency and level of assistance Americans in Israel received following the October 7 attacks. Within several days of the attacks, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem offered American citizens prearranged charter flights and boat rides to leave the country.

One Year After Oct. 7, Israel Sees a Future at War (WSJ) Weathering an Iranian missile assault, ignoring calls for a Gaza cease-fire, masterminding attacks against Hezbollah, targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen, rooting out militancy in the occupied West Bank and planning its next steps against Iran mark a shift in Israel’s security posture. For years, the military aimed for long stretches of peace that were only momentarily punctured by short conflicts with Palestinian militants. Much of Israel’s security establishment now believes this lay the groundwork for the Oct. 7 attack that killed 1,200 people and took another 250 hostage. Israel can no longer allow its enemies the time and space to build arsenals, many have come to believe. “Pre-emptive wars will be in the future part of the Israeli tool kit,” said Yaakov Amidror, a former Israeli national security adviser. Without seeking political and diplomatic solutions, “it’s a matter of endless war,” said Tamir Hayman, a former head of Israeli military intelligence and executive director of the Tel Aviv-based think tank Institute for National Security Studies.

‘Violence begets violence’ (Foreign Policy) Pope Francis said “the fuse of hatred” had been lit a year ago and “exploded in a spiral of violence—in the shameful inability of the international community and the most powerful countries to silence the weapons and put an end to the tragedy of war.” “The war that has raged over the past year continues to shatter lives and inflict profound human suffering for Israelis, Palestinians, and now the people of Lebanon,” said Tor Wennesland, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process. “Violence begets violence, and in these moments of grief, we must reaffirm our commitment to peace.”

Gaza is in ruins (AP) The Gaza Strip is in ruins. There are hills of rubble where apartment blocks stood, and pools of sewage-tainted water spreading disease. City streets have been churned into dirt canyons and, in many places, the air is filled with the stench of unrecovered corpses. Israel’s yearlong offensive against Hamas, one of the deadliest and most destructive in recent history, has killed more than 41,000 people, a little over half of them women and children, according to local health officials (with another 97,000 other injured). With no end in sight to the war and no plan for the day after, it is impossible to say when—or even if—anything will be rebuilt. Even after the fighting stops, hundreds of thousands of people could be stuck living in squalid tent camps for years. Experts say reconstruction could take decades. The fighting left roughly a quarter of all structures in Gaza destroyed or severely damaged, according to a U.N. assessment in September based on satellite footage. The U.N. estimates the war has left some 40 million tons of debris and rubble in Gaza, enough to fill New York’s Central Park to a depth of eight meters (about 25 feet). It could take up to 15 years and nearly $650 million to clear it all away, it said. Gaza’s water and sanitation system has collapsed. More than 80% of its health facilities—and even more of its roads—are damaged or destroyed. Around 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced by the war, often multiple times. Hundreds of thousands have crowded into sprawling tent camps near the coast with no electricity, running water or toilets. Hunger is widespread.

Deadly Marburg Virus Hits Rwanda’s Doctors and Nurses Hard (NYT) Rwanda’s fragile health care system could become overwhelmed by the deadly Marburg virus, doctors fear, because most of those currently infected are medical professionals, and some have already died. Since the first outbreak in the country last month, at least 30 medical workers have been infected, and at least four have died. Among the infected are two of the country’s scarce anesthesiologists. More medical staff members are isolated in hospital wards in the capital, Kigali. The health care system, with approximately 1,500 doctors and fewer than 40 anesthesiologists for a nation of just over 13 million people, could face significant strain.

[victusinveritas]

(A great takedown of an asshat on the shaman-to-fascist pipeline. ) -Below the Cut-

I don’t take pleasure in calling people out, but occasionally it has to be done, especially when the person being called out is actively engaging in harmful, hateful things.  Even when it’s proper and righteous to do so, some people find it hard, especially if the person they’re calling out has a large following or if there are political, financial, or safety reasons at play.  Everyone has their own concerns they need to take stock of, and for that reason, not everyone who deserves a call-out gets one.

A few days ago on Twitter, I did my part to call out Gordon White of Rune Soup, around which the Rune Soup Premium Membership (RSPM) is focused.  This was several years late by my reckoning (for which I apologize), but I saw an opportune moment to do so, and decided that something like this is better late than never.  To that end, if you read Gordon’s blog and see his (hilariously awkward and infantile attempts of) attacks at me, this is why; he’s lashing out because someone dared to speak up against him (although I’m far from the only one to do so).  He is not someone to take seriously, much less take classes from; he is a far and sad cry from being any sort of champion of chaos magic, instead descending to little more than anti-vax right-wing grifting.

For those who aren’t on Twitter or have made the choice to ignore it, indulge me if you will.  For recordkeeping’s sake, I’ll list the relevant Twitter threads I made below for you to read at your leisure:

In which I call out Gordon White and Rune Soup for being involved in violent and anti-vax rhetoric while drumming up a personality cult around him

In which I make fun of his subsequent (and hilariously clumsy) attack on me from a blog post he made in response to the above thread

In which I call out his hypocrisy in trying to pillory me for my employment

Ditto, this time him trying to lambast me for being involved in an ATR while employed as I am

In which I share a screenshot of Gordon saying that the COVID vaccines “literally cause AIDS”

In which I share a screenshot of Gordon sharing extremist, partisan, conspiracy “news sources” that engage in evangelical Christian end-of-the-world conspiracies (think Cain, Satan, nuclear war, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, etc.)

In which I make fun of another attack on me for my employment and priesthood (see thread #4 above)

I encourage you all to read the posts above if you can; if nothing else, they should be fairly entertaining, and there’s plenty of commentary from myself and others in the many replies thereof.  I’ll be referring to them and screenshots shared there, since I’m going to go against my usual practice and instead refrain from linking at all to Gordon’s blog or Twitter feed (he doesn’t deserve the traffic from my site).  I may, however, link to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine records of his website, however, depending on the need.  As opposed to tweets and tweetthreads in older posts I’ve made, since I say the same things in the post below, I won’t bother with transcripts.

Oh, and yeah, him saying that COVID vaccines cause AIDS thing is very much real.  Let’s just get that out of the way first while we’re here.  Below is a screenshot of something he said in his private RSPM groups, and it’s far from the only such thing he’s said (alongside the tired variants on how vaccines cause autism, etc.).  Those who’ve been following Rune Soup know that Gordon has said some awful stuff in general when it comes to medicine, healthcare, and the vulnerable, but he says so much worse stuff behind closed doors.  And, as an out gay man himself (and myself, I should note!), I feel like he should have at least some sort of shame about invoking the HIV/AIDS crisis in this horrific, self-serving way.

Anyway, let me share my original statement regarding Gordon White.  It built off of a quote-tweet by Marco Visconti, in which he asked “Are we all still ok with the fake permaculture shaman to keep on serving virulent anti-vaxxer rhetoric alongside his abysmal rune soup?”.  I know I wasn’t and hadn’t been for some time, so I decided to let my thoughts be known clearly:

The only place for Rune Soup, honestly, is down the drain. It’d been bad for a while, and I really don’t know what else to tell people except to stay away from Gordon White’s stuff at this point, given all the hubristic, hateful, and violent ranting coming from him and his blog. I used to like him, I was a supporter of his stuff, I joined in on his classes, and it was great while it lasted, but…well, as it turned out, GW/RS is a fine example of spirituality mingling with conspiracy to make conspirituality—which is as much a con as anything else. It’s not just me that’s picked up on this; I tuned out of GW/RS’s stuff a good while back after he gladly invited some unfortunate people on his show, but others’ve kept up and have better receipts. https://sublunar.space/2021-04-drinking-the-kool-soup.html https://codexastarte.substack.com/p/waiter-theres-a-fly-in-my-rune-soup https://codexastarte.substack.com/p/waiter-theres-a-fly-in-my-rune-soup-f5a

Twitter being what it is, something like this spread quickly.  Now, going into this, I knew that this was going to hit a lot of people in different ways, and I know that I have many people I consider friends or colleagues who are or were part of RSPM or who are otherwise fans of Gordon.  Although it shouldn’t come as any surprise to anyone who pays attention to the things I say when it comes to politics or science, I know my own silence regarding Gordon specifically may have led some into some false sense of alliance between my and Gordon’s views, which I’ve since publicly rebuked and repudiated as being repulsive and vile.  By speaking out, I knew I was gonna make at least some people upset.

And, predictably (given how he’s reacted in the past to other people who’ve called him out along similar lines), Gordon wrote a post of his own on his website in a matter of hours attempting to pillory me.  A screenshot of the post in question:

A transcript:

I’m sure you all remember my pompous, Tory, cokehead little stalker still hopping mad that he isn’t -and never will be- me. From memory, Sam is some kind of federal IT bureaucrat so I guess he knows where his bread is buttered. Only a personality who could endure such a job could also be responsible for the unremittingly boring and lengthy blog posts that always fail to distinguish between what hermetic texts actually say versus the words they contain. The only magic in them is a cure for insomnia. All of this is to say I guess his dumb little take is not very surprising. Anyway, this is what I have the distinct pleasure of dealing with while I go about my fake permaculturing and my fake shamaning. (Including bringing the work of Indigenous elders from around the world to public attention for the first time.) Apparently that’s ‘hate’, according to Sam. Apparently his grumpy little Tory cokehead friend’s repeated instances of misogyny and homophobia isn’t ‘hate’. (Fun bonus fact: Sam is gay.)

I find it comical how he described me and my blog in literally the exact opposite terms in his interview with me from September 2017, but so it goes, I suppose.  As for whatever insults he has for Marco, that’s a whole thing that’s its own debacle unto itself; Gordon likes to cry about being bullied while throwing insults like this, even to the point of making up identities for him to play his own brand of identity politics with, and it goes well beyond just Marco.  It all just blends into background noise after a point when you go through his blog archives.

The rest of his post isn’t worth the read; it’s just so much him whining about how misunderstood he is (despite his ample writing over the years that make abundantly clear what he believes) and how his followers should take the moral high road when it comes to haters (though I doubt they’d do well at that by following his example).  In this specific blurb riddled with ad-homimems, however, Gordon not only attempts to dox me (name, employer, and sexuality—none of which I’ve ever kept a secret, but it’s still a class act of him lashing out) but also makes a pathetic attempt at insulting me and my writing, to which I have two things to say:

Sorry not sorry that my blog posts can get a bit long so that I can produce things of substance instead of mere content, or that I don’t just copy-paste other people’s half-read opinions and share them as some sort of deep truth of my own like some people do.

Sorry not sorry that I use textual criticism because I care about getting things right for real implementation instead of following hucksters who call for harm against people doing meaningful work.

There’s also the “white savior” complex he brings into this, too; it shouldn’t be forgotten that Gordon has made a huge hubbub in recent years about his “shaman certification” that he received (after paying something around $10k for) from Alberto Villoldo, a Cuban psychologist who developed a form of neo-shamanism based on Peruvian and other South American practices, though not without controversy of his own regarding the (severe) impropriety of him doing so, which casts doubt on the very legitimacy of what Gordon inflates and reminds people of constantly.  Although, let’s be honest, it’s not like figuring out how legitimate such a “shamanic healing” practice would be given how Gordon himself talks about and markets it:

In addition to what he said about me on his blog, he also said a few unfortunate things about me on his Twitter, trying to shame me for my employment as a low-level software engineer for the United States federal government.  I’ve never kept this a secret, although I don’t bring up which specific agency beyond saying that it’s one of the calmer apolitical ones in existence.  I know what my job consists of and how it impacts people (and Gordon by his own admission doesn’t, I should note), but I don’t bring it up because nothing I say online or on this blog is ever said from the perspective of a federal employee.  To be sure, the United States as a whole has caused atrocious horrors the whole world over; I’d never deny that.  However, for Gordon (who has built so much of his blogging career on talking about elaborate non-systems and how so many things supposedly interconnect and interrelate to the point of outright unfounded conspiracy theories), there is no nuance here; I am paid by the government, and therefore I am among the worst of archons all unto myself.  Specifically, he now holds me to be responsible for “the most dangerous organisation on earth, that literally turns brown children to paste” and also “responsible for Latin America’s disadvantaged condition, as well as the death of about a million Latins”.  Sure, the US government is to blame for that, yet to impugn me as specifically responsible for this is just puerile, ungrounded, and unhinged finger-pointing on his end.  He also seems to take a special, sick joy in also attacking my initiation as a priest in La Regla de Ocha Lucumí (aka Santería, an Afro-Caribbean orisha religion) which he somehow finds ironic in this context, I guess, all the while woefully ignorant of its history and context. (At least I can trace my priesthood by name back to my forebears with others to attest to its legitimacy, something Gordon can’t with his “shamanic certification”.)

What he’s trying to do (though inexpertly) is shame me for my privilege in how I am so obviously and intimately tied up in the reckless destruction of human life across the world generally and Latin America specifically—all the while boasting about his own descent from British colonial administrators in the Pacific and using that to his lifelong advantage, working for global media companies and immersing himself in the active pushing of government-sanctioned/-directed propaganda to influence people the whole world over, and running in the same circles as actual royalty of colonialist empires and actual billionaires.  He says so right on his own website’s About page, and I swear by the gods above and below that I am not making this up (with the important and rather telling-on-oneself bits bolded by myself):

Australian by birth, Gordon White’s family has strong connections to the wider South Pacific thanks to his grandfather’s experience in colonial administration in Nauru and New Guinea. He spent much of his early years exploring and diving in Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia. […] After moving to London, he held senior data and analytics positions in global media companies, as well as starting a chaos magic blog and podcast called Rune Soup… which ultimately led to the publication of his first three books, The Chaos Protocols, Star.Ships: A Prehistory of the Spirits and Pieces of Eight. […] Fun trivia about Gordon:

I think it’s clear to say that Gordon White isn’t some sort of Joe Six-Pack, some sort of common man that disempowered people should relate to.  He is very much a product of the same old money and colonialist regimes that he instead tries to pillory me (and others!) for.  Rather than responsibly accounting for his own privilege, he instead builds his whole career on his privilege being a predicate for everything he’s done, up to and including buying his own farm (which he struggles with) to live out some sort of prepper’s dream to deal with his own midlife crisis.  Rather than making use of his privilege and his experience with the self-same archons that he developed his whole “archonology” theorycrafting about to actually help people, he’s more inclined to perpetuate and propagate those same tendencies and strengths to bend people around him to stoop to his insanity even more.

I could go on, but if you take a look at what I linked to above and Marco Visconti’s original tweet (and all the replies from the many other people to it), you’ll see so much more of this in tired abundance.  Between the non-ironic shares of “news articles” from extremist/conspiracy rags like Expose News or Rebel News, the calls for violence against healthcare workers, the piles of anti-vax rhetoric that he only ever doubles down on (and now seems to be making his whole brand), the extremely improper “medical advice” he gives for people to deal with the vaccine (including talking about turpentine enemas to extract toxins)…it’s not great.  But this is who he is; this is what he does. (Click to embiggen if you want to read some real swill.)

While Gordon has definitely and publicly gone off the rails in the COVID-19 pandemic and how traumatized he was by not being able to travel so freely anymore (quelle horreur!), it’s not like his right-wing extremism is a new thing.  He’s shown tendencies towards New Right ideology in posts dating back at least to 2015, invoking the likes of Ernst Jünger for the sake of rebellion against multiculturalism.  Taking a page out of his own conspiracy/archonology playbook, if there’s one thing Gordon is good at, it’s using, twisting, and adapting language to suit his own self-serving needs—although anyone with a head on their shoulders and their eyes open can see clearly what it is he’s doing.  (The irony of him using Mark Twain’s quote in his recent posts of “it’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled” would be so satisfying if it weren’t so nauseating in this context.)

This blogpost of mine is not intended to be something like Fr. Pera’s documentation of the Nazi occultist Georgina Rose aka Da’at Darling; I’m not tracking all of the awful things Gordon has said or encouraged people to do over the years, as that’s a far greater endeavor than I have the time or energy for, especially when I’ve spent the past few years content with just ignoring him.  However, at this point, the harm he’s causing through his violent rhetoric (all the while couched in feel-good holistic woo and Ursula Le Guin quotes) is simply too much to keep silent on, and so I refuse to any longer.  This is why I spoke out several days ago on Twitter, and is why I’m speaking out now on my blog (which I hope, dear reader, hasn’t been “unremittingly boring” for you).  I simply share what I have at hand about why I’m saying these things, all to make this point: Gordon White is not someone to follow, learn from, or give one’s money to.  I am simply letting people know what he’s actually doing and saying behind his cultivated online presence.

A call-out like this is not going to make me many friends, or so I assume; I’ve already had some (albeit happily not many) people distance themselves from me, calling me an “unhinged tweet spree hate message spreader” or just simply “scum” (for real).  And, yanno what?  It’s honestly no skin off my nose for being called names for calling out someone who seems to want to start a cult around himself.  Unlike Gordon, I’m not trying to corner some market, cultivate some personality cult, or take advantage of people with an obvious grift that preys on people’s enflamed emotions and vulnerability with far-right propaganda-bot-fueled talking points during a global pandemic (and worse).  I’m just here doing my thing, and that’s all I care about; to that end, I just want to make sure that people are well-prepared with the knowledge they need regarding one of the bigger (and more harmful) names in the modern occult community today.  Hence, this blog post, which I hope will be the only one I ever have to write about him, since I’d like to get back to my habit of not having to think about him or reluctantly visit his website/Twitter when someone tells me about some new odious thing he wrote with my name on it.  Since I’ve solidly earned a place on his shitlist, I fully anticipate that he’ll continue ranting and whining about me with bungled attempts at defaming me or shaming me while ignoring the breathtaking hypocrisy or outright ignorance involved in him doing so; I don’t care.

While I don’t expect to deconvert anyone already stuck on Gordon’s bullshit (though hope springs eternal!), I do want to spread the awareness of his bullshit all the same, to let others know who have been picking up on some of these rancid smells that it’s not just them, to let people know that there are those willing to speak out against him despite his following, and to offer an explanation of why my name is coming out of his execrable mouth.  Despite his holier-than-thou railing against people with hate in their hearts, I’m not someone so full of hate like Gordon is in this; I am only (in the words of the Headless Rite) someone “who hates the fact that unjust deeds are done in the world”.  The Rune Soup really is rotten, and the sooner we dump it, the better off we’ll all be.

PS: I am uninterested in reading defenses of bloviating, conspiracy-addled, rage-spreading hucksters, despite what you might have learned from them or how good a friend they might be to you; they can defend and redeem themselves by changing their own apparent behavior and character. And yanno what? I’d love for these kinds of people to do just that! I’m not about playing a game of tit-for-tat to garner support or leverage social media engagement; I just want us all to do better. So please, if you’ve got something to share in support of Gordon or similar people, just save your breath and keystrokes, and instead let them show who they are by their own words and works.

[odinsblog]

First of all, let me state for the record that Glenn Greenwald and Jimmy Dore are not antivaxxers. What they do is even worse: They monetize vaccine hesitancy, legitimizing and reinforcing it, thereby doing their part to prolong a COVID-19 pandemic rapidly approaching its second birthday, after 5.3 million lives lost and countless more ruined.

They do it in a particularly sneaky fashion. They don’t advise against vaccination per se, and even insist they’re pro-vaccination and vaccinated themselves. But they strongly denounce vaccine mandates as tyranny and critics of antivaxxers as heartless meanies, sympathizing with the reluctance to getting vaccinated among those who just can’t stand putting a vaccine in their bodies, reassuring them that their fear is fair and their refusal is reasonable and presenting simplistic libertarian arguments that reduce vaccination purely to a matter of personal choice, as if other people have no stake in the matter.

It’s impossible to gauge how much of an impact they have on people choosing whether or not to get vaccinated. What is clear, however, is that their huge social media followings – including Greenwald’s 1.7 million on Twitter and Dore’s 916,000 on YouTube – owe a significant portion of their growth to their relentless pandering to vaccine-hesitant people, especially those on the far right, who in addition to helping them grow their fanbases are also willing to help them grow their incomes.

They could use that enormous reach to disseminate accurate information about vaccines and urge people to take them, helping public health officials and experts constructively address the misinformation, mistrust and – in some cases – selfishness that conspire to feed vaccine hesitancy. But instead of helping combat vaccine hesitancy, Greenwald, Dore and others like them milk it for fame and fortune.”

—The People Monetizing Vaccine Hesitancy: Glenn Greenwald and Jimmy Dore are not antivaxxers. They're worse.

[spaceumbredoggos]

So much for Stardust Chapter twenty nine

Kenz writhed uncomfortably in their sleep, screaming out loud. They coughed, gagging on their intubation tube. They flailed their arms and legs around, trying to control their movements. “Kenz. It’s okay. Go back to sleep.”

They whimpered, calming down as I rubbed their back. I breathed a sigh of relief as they finally were taking to the sedation. I was surprised for how low their drug tolerance was that it took so long to fully knock them out.

I put a mask over their eyes, keeping out any light that could cause them to dream. I can’t have them dreaming about fire and blood again.

Dipper walked into the room. “Kenz!!!” He bolted up to them, but I blocked his path. “Shhh. They’ll hear you.”

“What happened to them?” Dipper squirmed, trying to get to Kenz. I carried him into the other room. “Kenz contracted chickenpox from a Karen. No one has their vaccination records, so we can’t be sure if they were ever vaccinated.”

“Isn’t it really bad to get it as an adult?”

“Kenz has a weird immune system that is immune to rabies and prion diseases, but when it comes to a cold, flu, or in this case, chickenpox, their body goes haywire.” I refrained from telling him that Kenz was having severe nightmares. “I think it got to their brain. They started having seizures. I put them in a medically induced coma and on heavy antivirals.”

“Are they gonna be okay?”

“I’m not sure.” I sighed, pacing back and forth. “They got so sick so fast. They’re tough, but only so much.” I gave a heaving sigh. “I’m glad that they’re finally starting to trust me. I didn’t know that they could be so affectionate and cuddly. Platonically. They seem to only be comforted whenever I’m around.”

Dipper sighed, sitting down. “I hope they’ll pull through.”

Pacifica walked in, leaning on Dipper. She looked devastated. “I’m guessing you saw Kenz?”

“They keep shouting in their sleep. And I thought Dipper’s sleep talking was bad.”

“Wait, they’re talking in their sleep?” I bolted back into the room, noticing Kenz start to flail. “Fire!!! Fire!!!” They managed to tear out their intubation tub, coughing and gasping for breath. They thrashed, hitting their head on the wall. Their eyes burst open as they sat up, coughing and gagging. “Fuck… What happened? Why is my throat all gross and achy? I feel like puking…” I booted over to them. The rash was entirely gone, but their fever was still burning a bright 104. They whined as I took their vital signs. I breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that Kenz was more awake and less glassy-eyed. “I think we passed the worst.”

“Was that tube in my throat? How did I rip it out? Don’t I need it? No. Not anymore. I can breathe. I can smell. I just feel so hot and cold at the same time.”

“That’s the fever. You still need to rest.” They nodded, curling up with their Minecraft fox plush. “I don’t want to sleep though.”

Pacifica tackle hugged them, catching them by surprise. “Too tight. Too fucking tight!!!” But the purr escaping from their throat said otherwise. “Oh my fucking god. What perfume do you use?” Kenz’s glassy stare returned, but it didn’t look feverish or sick. It looked more like they were entranced, as if enamored by scent. Pacifica shook them. “Kenz. Kenz. Are you seriously that sensitive to perfume?”

I poured hot water over their head, immediately causing the fever to break. They stood up, stumbling a little bit. “Fuck… My head can’t stop spinning from those nightmares. I feel so mentally overwhelmed. I was like trapped in my own overactive mind for… For… Wait… how did I heal so fast?”

“Hot water.” I wrote it down in my notes. “It has to be near boiling. Disease gets exfoliated from the skin from exposure to extremely hot water. It’s an umbredoggo thing. You don’t get burns and you heal better from heat. Being set on fire or shoved in an oven would have the same effect. It’s also why your arm is no longer broken.”

“That’s kinda word. But why do I keep having dreams of burning? I’ve had them ever since I was dragged into the Moonpool.” They grabbed a journal and immediately started drawing, as if entranced. They shook their head as they snapped out of the little fit. “I don’t feel mentally well.” They started hyperventilating, gazing at the intense drawing of fire and blood. “In all these dreams, I see my cousin. She always starts the fire and causes the blood. But how can this fire hurt me when I can’t be burned? Is it a special type of fire?”

“Kenz—“ They stood up and immediately started to run. “Where are you going.”

“The Moonpool must have answers.”

“Kenz. You almost died the last time you were there. And the water is too cold. It’ll hurt you the moment you fall in.”

“I’m not gonna fall in.” I managed to catch up to them and hold them back. Dipper approached them. “Sometimes nightmares are just nightmares.”

“If that were the case, they wouldn’t have those fits of zoning out.” I noticed Kenz’s stare go blank as they collapsed on the floor, thrashing as if on fire. “KENZ!!!”

As quickly as the fit started, it stopped. Kenz had a few flecks of foam coming from their mouth. They had trouble sticking their tongue back in their mouth. They laid there hazily. “These fits are getting worse. You’re not going anywhere until we figure out what’s going on.”

“But the Moon—“ They collapsed again, their eyes rapidly closing. They laid still for several moments before rousing. “Don’t let me go back to sleep…” They stumbled, tripping over every possible rock and twig. “Kenz. Just lay down and I’ll carry you inside.”

They nodded, leaning on me as I walked them to the couch in the living room. “Kenz. I’m gonna give you some anti-seizure medication. They could make you sleepy. Don’t try to fight sleep, as that’s when the seizures start happening.”

“But then I’ll get nightmares…” Kenz moaned, but was too out of it to stop their eyes from closing as I gave them a small dose of anti-seizure medication. Dipper sighed, rubbing their head soothingly as Pacifica held them like a sleepy child.

“I think it’s best if you leave Kenz alone with me. Especially since Pacifica’s perfume causes Kenz to slip into trances.” I carried Kenz to my private study and locked the door. They had a peaceful look on their face, purring in their sleep. I drew some blood, which didn’t rouse them at all. Upon reading the results, I was shocked to find no traces of drugs besides the medication I had given them.

Furrowing my brow, I ran an MRI of their brain. Frustratingly, there were no abnormalities that would indicate epilepsy or any brain damage.

I set them down on the couch, covering them in a blanket. I yawned, worn out from lack of sleep. I walked up to my room, closing the door and collapsing on my bed.

It was the middle of the night when I was awoken by a pained screech from the basement. Instinctively, I bolted downstairs, hearing a hiss as Kenz chased a tall platinum blonde man with his hair cut like Arceus wearing white robes and green pants. Kenz had two trickles of blood dripping down their neck and stumbled with each step. The man had blood all over his face. I recognized the man immediately from when I was in Hisui. Volo.

A chill ran down my spine as I remembered seeing him around town. I remembered the puncture marks on his neck, and how he had lost all his Pokemon. He can’t be…

Kenz rushed after Volo into the night, hissing loudly and chasing him off. “Kenz, Wait!!!”

[moonfurthetemmie]

Untitled.MP4

Previous | Next | First (with warnings)

Part 24

heyyyy it's the day Jasper got infected in-universe!

With the way I fucked up the scheduling before, this was actually going to end fully today. Not intentionally, i just picked a random day of the week and ran from there. But instead we get to go one more week! weeeeeee

2.2

“Everyone have what they need?”

Everyone nodded in silence.

The blackened remains of the Colony that Zuli had fearlessly torched squelched beneath their feet. The recent rain made the air humid and muggy, but they were sure that wouldn’t matter.

Obsidian stared off silently, leaning against Zircon. Since he woke up, he’d barely responded to anything. He didn’t get up until Zuli threatened to leave him there went they set the manor on fire.

Jade, leaning against Paraiba, was only a little better. He clasped a small box in his hands and watched Zuli prepare something that he couldn’t quite see.

The two of them were barely able to walk, but Mercury didn’t want to leave anyone behind. He’d grumbled about not having wheelchairs on their way out, but Zircon and Paraiba didn’t really mind helping them outside; not even Obsidian.

Koroit looked just as hollow as Jade, though she at least could walk. In her hands, wrapped in sterile plastic and put in a plastic ziplock bag, were a pair of earmuffs. The fabric on the ears seem completely unsalvageable, but Koroit refused to leave them behind. She didn’t say why, or even where she’d gotten them, but Zircon suggested they wrap them up so they’re safe to bring with them. Now she stood close to him, opposite Obsidian. 

Zircon himself didn’t take much, either. Just a picture frame that had barely survived. It was a picture of his family. His and his spouse’ faces were destroyed, but his daughter face was clear. Zuli and Mercury did their best to clean the picture, though they didn’t have the proper tools for it. 

Paraiba and Silver had nothing. Paraiba said she only needed her scarf, and Silver hadn’t had anything from their home that they’d brought with them.

Zuli, Obsidian, and Jasper didn’t have anything, either. Zuli hadn’t had his own things. Jasper hadn’t had much to begin with either.

They didn’t know if Obsidian had had anything he might want to keep, but in the state he was in, they doubted he’d answer if they asked. Nevermind that anything in his room was probably well beyond saying.

Mercury himself had a huge bag of equipment. Medical records for everyone, research notes, any chemicals he had left that he could make more vaccines with. 

“...Then, I think we’re ready,” Mercury said, taking a deep breath. “Zuli…?”

Zuli stood. “Ready.”

A network of fuses trailed from the front door and the windows to the yard, twisting into a thick chord as they reached the plunger Zuli had set up.

“Should we…back up more?” Paraiba asked hesitantly.

Zuli shrugged. “We should be far enough away, but there’s no reason not to get farther away.”

“...Should?”

“There’s a chance the rubble will fly farther than I excepted, but it’s unlikely. Ideally, I’d have the plunger farther back, but this was all the fuse I could make, so…”

“...I’m going to back up some,” Paraiba decided. Jade did his best to not trip on his own feet as she and Silver led him away.

Everyone else, except for Zuli, follow them. Obsidian didn’t take much prompting to start walking, though he stumbled much more than Jade.

Zuli watched them go. He didn’t want to scare them by setting off the bombs while their backs were turned. Several of them had been very excited at the idea of seeing the manor destroyed, too, and he wanted to make sure they got to see the whole thing.

He wanted to watch too. He wanted to see this horrible place get blown sky high. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so excited.

Once everyone was at a comfortable distance, Mercury gave him a thumbs up.

Zuli set his hand on the plunger, and took a deep breath. 

“Three! Two! One!”

He pushed down as hard as he could, and when he heard the hiss of the fuse lighting he turned and ran to the others, as the lit fuse raced towards the manor.

He reached the others and turned just as the first bomb went off.

The bomb weren’t strong enough to make the ground shake from where they were, but they could see the entire building shudder. The mushrooms growing from the walls shriveled and shook, releasing numerous spores, as more and more bombs went off.

Zuli couldn’t help but grin when the fire started. He wasn’t sure he’d remembered how to make any of the bombs correctly, but the firebombs seem to have worked just fine. Those were the ones he was most worried about.

The group watched the fires in silence. The flames seemed to devour the entire building, as the mushrooms shriveled more, contorted, and disintegrated. They seemed to scream out, though only the ones who’d been infected could hear it.

Zircon felt Obsidian's hand tighten on his shoulder. Obsidian was looking up into the fire, looking more present than he had since he’d first woke up. The fire seemed to fill his eyes. The corner of his mouth twitched.

Why didn’t you leave me there?

Obsidian had been silent for ages, even before Mercury and Zuli saved them. Hearing his voice, even in their heads like this, was startling. He was quiet, confused, and almost…tired. 

Why are you taking me with you?

Zuli and Mercury didn’t hear. They hadn’t been infected. And they were too busy watching the fire to notice that everyone else had turned to look at Obsidian.

There’s been enough pain and death, came Zircon’s equally quiet reply. But you’re more welcome to go back inside.

Obsidian closed his eyes, and lowered his head, but otherwise did not respond. 

They watched until the fires died, and their long nightmare was finally put to rest.

[weratebeanz]

Living along the Gulf Coast, my kids and I know firsthand how unpredictable and dangerous hurricane season can be. With forecasts predicting an especially active season this year, being prepared is more important than ever.

While many families take steps to protect themselves, pets are often left behind during emergencies, forced to endure the terror of massive storms because their owners weren’t prepared to evacuate with them or because local resources couldn’t accommodate them.

Preparing in advance is crucial for keeping your family—including your pets—together and reducing the risk of abandoning them during an emergency.

Here is our simple guide to creating a Hurricane Preparedness Kit for your cats and dogs and tips on training your pets to be ready to go immediately.

This post contains affiliate links, and we only recommend products we have either used, are using, or would use and share with our family and friends. Click here to read our Affiliate Disclaimer.

Hurricane Preparedness Kit for Cats and Dogs

A well-stocked Hurricane Preparedness Kit is essential for ensuring the safety and comfort of your pets during a storm. Here’s what to include:

Emergency Contact Information

ID Tags Ensure collars have up-to-date ID tags with contact details and any medical information.

Emergency Contact List Keep phone numbers for your vet, local animal shelters, and emergency contacts.

Basic Supplies

Food & Water Pack 3-7 days' worth of food and bottled water for each pet. A portable water filter is also helpful for extended emergencies.

Portable Bowls Collapsible or travel bowls for easy feeding and watering.

Can Opener Include a manual can opener for canned food.

Medications & Health Supplies

Medication Please ensure you have a minimum 7-14 day supply of prescribed medications.

First Aid Kit Your pet first aid kit should include antiseptic wipes, gauze, bandages, tweezers, and a thermometer suitable for cats and dogs.

Flea & Tick Prevention Have prevention supplies on hand. (We carry flea-killing medication and dewormer as well.)

Comfort Items

Favorite Toys or Treats Familiar items provide comfort during stressful situations. Invest in a second version of your dog's favorite squeaky duck or tennis ball (with single toss manual or automatic launcher). Don't forget the catnip and catnip toys for cats!

Blanket or Bed A portable, waterproof blanket or foldable pet bed.

Safety Gear

Leash & Harness Pack a sturdy leash and harness for your dogs and cats and ensure they’re accustomed to them.

Collar Ensure collars are well-fitted with ID tags. Consider a GPS tracking device to help keep track of your pet, just in case.

Cleaning Supplies

Litter & Litter Box Pack enough litter for at least a week and a portable or collapsible litter box for cats.

Waste Bags For cleaning up after dogs.

Puppy Pads Useful for indoor bathroom needs.

Travel Gear

Carrier or Crate A sturdy, well-ventilated carrier or crate for safe transport.

Seat Cover Keep your vehicle clean with a seat cover during travel.

Seatbelt Clip Ensure your pet's safety even if you opt not to use a carrier, crate, or backpack. Humans wear seat belts for our protection in case of an accident, your pet should too.

Dog Runner/Tie Out System Let your dogs or cats stretch their legs and get some energy out in a safe, controlled way. We use carabiners or bull snaps to change the length of the line and there are tree protectors.

Medical Records

Vaccination Records Keep copies of vaccination records and other necessary medical documents for each pet. Even if your vet is part of a more extensive network like Banfield or is great about sharing their records when needed, having copies on hand can save time during a medical emergency. They can also help when local authorities or pet-friendly accommodations need access to specific health and vaccination information.

Vet’s Contact Information Have your vet’s contact info readily accessible.

Identification

Microchip Info Ensure your pets are microchipped and the registration is up-to-date.

Recent Photo A current photo of each pet in case you need to post lost pet notices.

Backup Power

Portable Charger Keep a charger handy for essential electronics like phones or GPS trackers.

Hydration & Food Accessories

Portable Water Filter Useful for extended emergencies.

Freeze-Dried Food Lightweight, long-lasting food option.

Additional Items

Carrier Cover Helps to calm pets during transport. You can buy a custom cover or use a towel. [Please ensure your pet can still breathe fresh air.]

Calming Products Pheromone diffusers and calming treats to reduce stress are available for dogs and cats. Our multi-cat household has had great success with Feliway diffuser plugins.

Pet Raincoat Keep dogs dry during heavy rain. Smaller dog raincoats can be used for cats.

Cooling Bandana, Vest, and/or Mat Helps manage body heat in hot, humid conditions. In a pinch, you can use ice packs stuffed into spare pillowcases.

Rechargeable USB Fan To ensure your pet gets access to continuous air flow, consider investing in a rechargeable USB fan. We prefer the clip-on kind like our mini Gaiatop because they fit almost anywhere and are easily charged with a standard USB C but they come in larger sizes and with different bases. The 8" Koonie is used by several vanlife YouTubers. You can also choose a fan that uses a battery pack that is interchangeable with your cordless tools and lawn gear.

Packaging Tips

Waterproof Bag or Container Store all items in a waterproof bag or container (dry bag) and place it inside or on top of one of the carriers. In an emergency, this will make everything grab and go. For pets with special needs, consider using a carabiner to attach a smaller dry bag with pet-specific items to their carrier or backpack. This also works well for multi-pet households if more than one family member will be helping with pet evacuation as each dry bag can contain all the pet related items for the pets each family member will be responsible for.

Easy Access Keep the kit in a readily accessible place for quick grab-and-go and make sure every family member knows where these items are, how to access them, and how to use them.

Training Your Pets for Emergency Situations

Being prepared isn’t just about having the right supplies—it’s also about training your pets to stay calm and respond to commands during an emergency. This is true for both dogs and cats.

Here’s how:

Practice Evacuation Drills Regularly practice quickly getting your pets into their carriers or crates. Reward them with treats and praise to create positive associations.

Go Bag Familiarity You can get your pets used to their emergency kits by slowly introducing them to the items. Let them sniff and explore the carriers, leashes, and other gear.

Command Training Teach basic commands like “come,” “stay,” and “shh” to help maintain control in a chaotic situation. Practice these commands calmly so your pets are more likely to respond during an emergency.

Stay Calm Pets often mirror our emotions. Take a few deep breaths, remember you've been preparing, and consider your circumstances. What do you know? What do you have? What can you do? If you can stay calm during an evacuation, your pets are likelier to remain calm, too. Your confidence will help them feel safer and encourage them to self-regulate, just like you did.

No family member left behind.

Preparing for hurricane season is about more than just securing your home—it’s about ensuring the safety and comfort of every family member, including your pets.

By creating a Hurricane Preparedness Kit and training your pets for emergencies, you can keep your family together and reduce the stress and chaos of a storm.

Stay safe, be prepared, and protect the ones you love.

[yonch]

SUCH cool Colin art!!!! What’s the deal with his father? :D

omg… thankyou… i’m gonna talk about some fairly unfiltered child abuse under the read more so peruse at your own jurisdiction. short answer is that he’s a former cop who killed himself

colin’s world functions off a system of superpowers that everybody is innately born with called gifts. colin’s gift is roughly summarized as “passive immunity.” it leaves him invulnerable to actions with intent, which means he can’t be killed or injured by anything with a conscious, or anything wielded by said person. it also means he can’t get vaccinated. it also means he can trip and fall and scrape his knee. or be severely injured in a bombing attack when the building falls on him anywyas

gifts are kind of a genetic thing. colin’s mother (an nhien) has a conscious activation invulnerability and his father (elias) has a passive sensitivity to danger. it’s illegal to marry with the intent of making a fucked up nuclear bomb baby but it’s also the worlds easiest law to skirt around. his father was hoping to have a kid who would be able to have both of their gifts but colin ended up just having a passive immunity to like everything. bit of a weird kid in general on top of that, and overall wasn’t at all the outgoing son that his dad was hoping to raise into a mini me.

there’s a lot of built up resentment and abuse, ultimately. there’s marital tension and a cultural barrier within the household. his son is kind of weird. his father’s stressed out at his job. he drinks. he takes it out on his wife and child, and it’s not like it matters, right? it never leaves a mark. colin keeps going to school. he fails his recorder test. he’s strange and off putting. he doesn’t talk a lot. he has few warm memories of his father, but he remembers his patience as he guided him through playing a video game for the first time. that didnt seem to last but its a nice memory to look back on when he’s staring at himself and his sheer lack of bruises in the mirror.

and then, around the time he’s supposed to graduate middle school, the world nearly ends. colin’s involved in the whole saving the world thing, mostly against his will, but it happens. two years pass and he goes home. his father is dead, because he shot himself in the head. his mother thought he’d died, too. she looks at him like a ghost, and shuffles uncomfortably around him whenever they’re in the same room. it’s awkward. he kind of doesn’t feel very bad about it. he kind of doesn’t feel very much at all. but that’s just how it is really

that it though ☺️thank you for reading if you did. and thank you for asking also…