#trainer class: janitor

[pokemon-npcs]

[disregardthesun]

Male Doctor Pokemon Trainer Bot <3

Been playing sword lately and I just... whew...

Character AI

Janitor AI

[chaoticace2005]

List of why the Radio Demon disappeared for 7 years:

1. His fight with Vox ended really badly and he needed to recover.

2. He went somewhere to acquire more power.

3. He had a mission to do because of his deal.

4. Vox confessed his love for Alastor. Alastor had no idea how to respond to this so he ghosted Vox for seven years. But Vox had access to cameras everywhere so the best way to ghost Vox is to ghost the city.

5. Met a wise old man who taught him the secrets to life, he had a training montage.

6. Took a gap year(s) to “find himself”

7. Extended tea party at Rosie’s

8. His shadow got pissed at him and decided to swallow him, sending him to a shadow dimension that he drifted in for seven years.

9. His friends from the other side finally caught up to him and he had to repay his debt

10. His tailor went on sabbatical and he couldn’t leave his place without the proper amount of drip so he had to wait for him to return.

11. There was a shortage of red hair dye, he had to wait for them to restock.

12. Someone took a photo of him with his tail out. He went on a mission to hunt them down and DESTROY them.

13. He went to the Hellmart to cause $50,000 in TV damages (Tomota vid reference)

14. He was busy making diss tracks for everyone he knows and lost track of time.

15. Susan beat him in a bake sale and he had to hide out of shame.

16. Honeymoon with his cane.

17. Fell into a coma

18. Found out about the Alastor-Body Pillow Vox had and then had to ensure they were never manufactured again.

19. He accidentally saw part of one of Angel’s pornos and was traumatized. He had to leave Pentagram City because everyone he went he saw his face.

20. Hung out with Lilith who dished tea about Lucifer.

21. Was told he was “outdated” so he took the time to educate himself on modern slang.

22. Tried to find an obedience trainer for cats.

23. He time traveled seven years into the future and just decided to run with it.

24. Alastor was killed. That’s not Alastor. That’s a shadow acting as him.

25. That’s not Alastor, that’s his twin brother.

26. Walked in on a role play session between a Vox and Valentino-Dressed-Up-Like-Alastor and needed to find a way to erase the memory.

27. Bonked his head. Woke up and thought his name was Bob, he lived a nice, happy life until he bonked his head again.

28. Fell through a portal and woke up in a dimension where his name was a bird named Crane who was a janitor in a world of King Fu and pandas.

29. Got access to the season 1 script so he could mentally prepare. He’s been rehearsing his lines and doing his best to make his performance as disturbing as possible.

30. Went to the dentist. When they tried to help him he ate them, so he had to find another dentist, who he also ate. This went on for a while.

31. Was run out of town by his dentist who got annoyed he kept dodging his appointments

32. Got relationship counseling for him and his shadow.

33. Was just out having a good time, partying, and consuming souls.

34. Went on a seven year long bender.

35. Rosie told him he was an “arrow” so he went to archery classes. Turns out she was wrong and archery really isn’t his forte.

[maytheoddshq]

Caspian Firth (he/him). District Four Tribute. 23. Timothee Chalamet.

Some believe that at the center of everyone is goodness, and that the world builds shells around that goodness, layers upon layers that cover up that goodness until it can’t be seen nor acted upon.

Others believe that this is bullshit.

Caspian Firth paid his way into the District Four Career Academy. His parents were fishermen, as was everyone in the town he grew up in, a small one not far from the District’s center. He grew up reeling in nets, born with sea legs. He’d swim for hours, disappearing into the waves and testing his stamina, pushing as far as he could go until he feared he might drown, and then saving himself. Again, again. Drawing himself to the edge of death and pulling himself back like waves kissing the shore before leaving again.

When he was twelve, he started saving money and working odd jobs until he had enough to pay for a semester at the Academy. Once there, he convinced the headmaster to allow him to work for half-off tuition, so after everyone else had gone to bed, he worked alongside the janitors, cooks, and housekeepers, scrubbing down the equipment, preparing breakfast, taking out the trash. He took odd jobs in town as well to keep up with the payments, sleeping three, maybe four hours per night. All of it was done with a purpose: to be part of the Hunger Games, the most glorious sporting event the world had ever seen. The stakes were high, the emotions higher. He loved it, looked forward to watching it every year. He wanted nothing more than to be a part of it, to master it and win it. To show that he could. It didn’t come from a desire to rise above his station; he truly didn’t care that he’d been born lower class. It didn’t come from a desire to prove anyone wrong about him; in fact, as he was one of nine siblings, no one really cared what he did. People didn’t underestimate or overestimate him: they simply failed to estimate at all.

No, he wanted to participate in the Games out of a pure desire to be part of them. Simply put: it looked like fun. He was well aware that he could die in the process, but that was what would make it so exhilarating. He’d played these kinds of dying-games since he was a child, after all, with the waves as his competitors, the pull of the ocean calling to him.

He took advantage of his unique position to learn more about the other students, his competition. He looked through their trash, searching for information, weaknesses, connections he could exploit. On the morning of a big tournament between students to determine the top of the class, he poured liquor into the pancake batter, and easily won against his drunken competition. He found out that a girl who always beat him in the simulators had a crush on another boy in their level; he left her flowers and a note supposedly from the boy, asked her to meet him outside at midnight. He watched from an upper window as she waited for two hours while the boy didn’t show, and then spread a rumor the next day that she’d been stood up. She became a laughing stock, front and center to the cruelty of the Academy students, and she dropped out the day after.

He learned the ins and outs of the machinery in the training center and in the night, when no one was around and he was there on the pretense of cleaning, he’d rig the machines for the next day, switching around the ‘hard’ and ‘easy’ settings or re-programming the holograms to his own advantage. It wasn’t hard, when you watched the trainers reset them each day by tapping the upper right of the screen and entering their administrators’ code. You just had to pay attention. It was all about paying attention.

All of this wasn’t because he wasn’t good at fighting and weaponry; he was. The problem was that he was scrawny, and his best asset was his brain, as well as his ruthlessness. He truly didn’t give a fuck about harming his competition, nor did he care about making friends. Everyone else was a piece of his puzzle, and he used them accordingly, befriending some and shunning others strategically. Everything in his life tilted towards the Games.

Rio and Carol’s recent victories have inspired him, and he’s sure that a third victory in the span of only a few years will bring Four into the territory of One and Two, so that everyone will know how strong Four is, and that they are not to be underestimated. He competed brutally (and cheated sporadically) in all of the tournaments that determined who would volunteer for 133, and he won.

Now? It’s showtime.

+: headstrong, determined, clever

-: selfish, uncaring, cold

PENNED BY: VIRGINIA

[polyglotnotes]

American English to British English

airplane - aeroplane

apartment - flat

apartment building - block of flats

arugula - rocket

ATM - cashpoint/cash machine

attendance, take - register, take the

baby crib - cot

bachelor party - stag do

bachelorette party - hen do

bandaid - plaster

bangs - fringe

barf (verb) - chunder (verb)

bathrobe/robe - dressing gown

bathroom/restroom - loo (slang)

bathroom/washroom - toilet/bathroom

bathtub - bath

beets - beetroot

bell pepper - pepper/sweet pepper

Bic - biro

blinds - curtains

blood sausage/boudin noir - black pudding

broil (verb) - grill (verb)

bus - coach

camper van/RV - caravan

can - tin

candy - sweets

caravan - convoy

caregiver - carer

cart - trolley

cash register - till

checkers - draughts

checking account - current account

chic/classy/fancy - posh

closet - wardrobe

co-education/co-ed - mixed school

coach class - economy class

comforter - duvet

cookie - biscuit

corn - maize

corn starch - cornflour

cotton swab/Q-tip - cotton bud

couch - sittee

counterclockwise - anticlockwise

CPA (Certified Public Accountant) - Chartered Accountant

crosswalk - zebra crossing

custom-made - bespoke

diaper - nappy

downtown - city centre

eggplant - aubergine

elevator - lift

eraser - rubber

exclamation point - exclamation mark

expensive - dear

faculty member - academic staff

fall - autumn

faucet - tap

fire truck - fire engine

first floor - ground floor

fish sticks - fish fingers

flan (=sweet soft food) - flan (=fruit cake, not sweet)

flashlight - torch

flyby - flypast

freeway/highway - motorway

french fries - chips

French press - cafetiere

front desk - reception

furnace - central heating boiler

garbage can - dustbin

garbage collector - binman

gas/gasoline - petrol

gearshift - gearstick

grade - mark

green onion/scallion - spring onion

grocery store - grocery shop

ground beef - minced meat

ground/grounded - earth/earthed

ham - gammon

high beam (car) - full beam (car)

high school - secondary school

hot (sexy) - fit (sexy)

intersection - crossroads

janitor - caretaker

jumper dress - pinafore

jungle gym - climbing frame

kindergarten - preschool/nursery school

knickers - parcel

ladybug - ladybird

line - queue

liquor store - off license

mailman - postman

math - maths

median strip - central reservation

mom and pop store - family business

mommy/mom - mummy/mum

motorcycle - motorbike

movies, the - cinema, the

open house - open day

overalls - dungarees

pajamas - pyjamas

panties - knickers

pants/slacks - trousers

paper towel - kitchen roll

parking - car park

pay raise - pay rise

period - full stop

pharmacy - chemist

pickle - gherkin

pimple/zit - spot

pitcher - jug

plastic wrap - clingfilm

potato chips - crisps

principal - headmaster

public holiday - bank holiday

puffer vest - gilet

purse - handbag

quotation marks - inverted commas

rappel (verb, climbing) - abseil (verb, climbing)

recess - breaktime

round-trip ticket - return ticket

rubber boots - wellington boots/wellies

rummage sale - jumble sale

schedule - timetable

scotch tape - sellotape

second floor - first floor

shots - jab

sidewalk (=pavement is concrete/tarmac road) - pavement (=road for pedestrians)

silverware/flatware - cutlery

sink - washbasin

sketchy - dodgy

sneakers - trainers

soccer - football

soda/pop/coke/tonic - fizzy drink

special election - by-election

spelunking - potholing

store - shop

stove - cooker

stroller - push chair

study (verb) - read (verb)

subway/metro - underground/tube

sweater - jumper

sweater vest - sleeveless jumper/slipover

swimming suit - swimsuit

table (= verb – delay) - table (= verb – suggest)

tap - faucet

teachers' lounge - staffroom

teleprompter - autocue

teller - cashier

thong (=shoe) - thong (=underwear)

tic-tac-toe - noughts and crosses

tire - tyre

traffic circle/rotary - roundabout

trailer park - caravan park

transportation - transport

truck - lorry

trunk - boot

undershirt - vest

underwear - pants

vacation - holiday

vacationers - holidaymakers

vest - waistcoat

wallet - purse

windbreaker - cagoule

windshield - windscreen

woods, the - wood, a

yard - garden

ZIP code - postcode

zipper - zip

zucchini - courgette

[a-girl-called-bob]

List of other professions and organizations that wear uniforms (non-exhaustive)

Firefighter

Mailperson (or other delivery like fedex but y'know. fuck privatization of the post and all)

Construction Worker

Custodian/Janitor

Fast Food Employee

Power Ranger (/Super Sentai Ranger)

Religious Figure (organized religion is generally problematic but sex in vestments is probably blasphemous so it evens out)

Black Bloc

Doctor or Nurse

Pokemon Trainer (for specific trainer classes, like Ace Trainer)

Club Bouncer

Supervillain Henchperson

Golden Saints and Dark Seducers

Feel free to add more if you can think of them!

Fucked up that I find uniforms sexy but also have an intense hatred for most institutions (police, the military etc) that have them. Where does that leave me

[maddielivinginternationally]

Week 10: "Urban Disparities: Juxtaposing Wealth and Poverty in a Globalized World"

The recent discussion on globalization and urban dynamics, particularly the focus on slums, brought back memories of my 2018 trip to Mexico City. During that visit, I vividly observed the juxtaposition of opulent developments and business districts alongside impoverished areas. The swift urbanization, economic disparities, and population growth in cities often give rise to informal settlements or slums within or on the outskirts of urban landscapes. These areas commonly lack essential infrastructure, access to services, and adequate housing. The coexistence of extreme wealth and poverty is a global phenomenon, and Mexico exemplifies this stark inequality.

One way to quantify such inequality is through the GINI coefficient. For instance, according to the World Bank, France's GINI coefficient is 0.32, the USA's is 0.41, the Czech Republic's is 0.25, and South Africa leads with 0.63. Developed countries like France have witnessed a continuous increase in their GINI coefficients over several decades. In contrast, emerging nations like Brazil and Thailand have experienced a decline due to the rising wealth of the middle classes. However, analyzing income distribution separately for capital and labor might be more relevant, as Thomas Piketty demonstrated in his book "Capital in the 21st Century."

Reflecting on my Mexico trip, I used to believe that the worlds of extreme wealth and poverty wouldn't intersect. Yet, Saskia Sassen emphasizes the importance of their connection when contemplating the future of megacities. High-end services necessitate specialized support, creating agglomeration economies where face-to-face interactions still hold significance. This results in spatial concentration not only of specialized professional activities but also, unexpectedly, of low-wage jobs and low-profit economic sectors. For instance, numerous low-paid workers are essential to support each hedge fund manager, ranging from secretaries to janitors and personal trainers.

The discussion on the role of the Internet in cities is intriguing. The Internet enables the formation of a global public, connecting individuals who might be isolated in their local contexts. These non-cosmopolitans, often economically disadvantaged, become part of an emerging global subjective space, resonating with Manuel Castells' concepts of the space of flows and the space of places. The rise of telecommuting challenges the traditional notion of work tied to a specific location, contributing to the more fluid and flexible work environment characteristic of the "space of flows."

Moreover, it's fascinating to observe how finance and global firms, while physically separating themselves from the city, build networks with the financial districts of other megacities, as emphasized by Saskia Sassen. The question of reincorporating disincorporated labor into a global emancipatory project remains a significant challenge.

[mello-jello]

Just want to let you know that you have been great since you started way back drabble week!

Now for the prompt game: Janitor, Professor, Clean, Lab, Experiment

That's right, it's the School Castes AU.

Aw thank you anon! I must confess; I haven't read the School Castes, but I've seen plenty of art! Hope you like it:

--

Levi finally got a job. Janitor at a high school. It wasn’t much, but it was full time and would satisfy his parole officer. All part of their strategy to rehabilitate him and turn him into a model citizen. He didn’t want to screw this up.

He met his trainer, Ricco. She was his counterpart. They were to alternate between day shifts and evening shifts every two weeks.

Ricco explained that evenings were the worst because you had to clean the lab. It was reserved for the late shift because it was by far the biggest job. The professor, Dr. Zoe believed in hands on learning and frequently let the students get out of hand.

Ricco told him her horror stories of having to clean up after various experiments ranging from model volcanos to whatever they were growing in petri dishes. Levi turned his nose up in disgust. “The good thing though is it’s not everyday,” Ricco said. “For example, sometimes there is a field trip, a lesson in theory, or they will have a movie day. Take advantage of those times when you can. You just have to round the school once or twice, but otherwise it’ll be a pretty chill shift. Read a book or watch Netflix, I don’t care. If it helps us retain staff to let the rules slide when we can, I won’t say anything.”

Levi nodded, “okay.”

He kept to himself as best he could. Turns out most people don’t want to talk to janitors anyway.

He learned the routine of the day quickly. He knew when the class changes were so he could avoid the student rushes in the hallways. He was usually ahead of schedule.

Then came the evening shift. He decided he would tackle the lab first and get it out of the way. He opened the door with his keys and backed into the room, dragging his supply cart and propped the door open with it.

“Hello there,” a voice said, startling Levi.

“Dr. Zoe! I’m sorry, I didn’t think you’d still be here,” he said, getting ready to leave.

“Please! Call me Hange,” she said with a smile.

It was then that he got a good look at her. Brunette hair splayed in all directions, a stained lab coat, dirty glasses, and he couldn’t believe he met someone in real life, unironically wearing crocs.

However, her smile was warm and her voice was welcoming.

“Sorry, Hange. I’ll come back later.”

“No no no, please, continue. I’m just grading papers. I’m not sure when I’ll get out of here and I don’t want to hold you up.”

“Okay then. Thanks.” Levi took a cursory glance around the room. The students did something involving slime. He grabbed the appropriate cleaning chemicals and pulled his bandana over his nose and got to work.

Dr. Zoe continued grading papers, sometimes laughing at the answers she read. It wasn’t so bad. The industrial cleaning supplies were heavy duty and Levi was used to lesser products, so it didn’t take very long.

“Have a good night, Dr. Z-uh, Hange,” he said curtly.

“You too! Mr…?” she asked.

“Levi. Just Levi.” He didn't want to give her his full name, lest she look him up and learn about his shady past.

“Have good night, Mr. Levi just Levi!” she winked at him.

Levi came to like the evening shift. He would quickly get the rest of the school in order, and then spend the remainder of the evening with Hange. Big lab mess or not, he’d listen to her prattle on about this and that. Sometimes they would talk. Hange made it very easy.

They settled into quite the routine. On more than one occasion, Hange brought tea for Levi. He responded in kind, saving the leftovers from her favourite lunch in the cafeteria, and giving it to her.

Ricco was shocked when Levi asked if he could work more evening shifts, but she switched with him gratefully.

Getting to know the wild professor was the highlight for Levi. One day, he was going to gather up the courage to ask her out on a date.

[normal-thoughts-official]

Thots on a figure skating au??? 🅱️lease

hmmmmmmm ok so disclaimer that i know nothing about figure skating so i'm just making up whatever

you got me in a difficult position here cuz on the one hand, i'd love for magnus to be a trainer/coreographer. i think it suits him wonderfully and that while obviously he is great at dancing and loves it, i think that he's more on the creative side of things, you know? so i could imagine something like figure skater alec and trainer magnus. and like alec is a shadowhunter so of course that demands a high level of control over your body that is similar to a figure skater's

but at the same time its funny to me to try to imagine alec figure skating when hes a fucking giant like that because like hes so big?? and when ur big like that ur kind of like... mandatorily graceless and clumsy to a degree methinks (not in a like oh hes always tripping and blushing way, more like the "you're on my leg, you asshole" blooper), because things aren't made for you. like really its an actual matter of accessibility sometimes, especially if you actually have the proportions of a real person like alec does (well, except for the yaoi mcfuckhands. they look big even compared to the rest of his ridiculous body he just b standing there and im like christ edward fingerhands we get it) cuz then Everything Is Bigger Than It Should ya feel

so yeah i can't really imagine alec in like, spandex being all graceful and shit, but at the same time rationally i could imagine that for his character, but also no. so i can't really go with that idea without laughing

but also i can't imagine him as a trainer/coreographer and i don't know who the fuck else is involved with figure skating anyway so is alec like, the janitor or some shit???? some fucking basketball player who sees him at the olympics??? lord help me i have no idea

OK SO IT'S BEEN LIKE 5 MONTHS SINCE I FIRST PUT THE FIRST PART OF THIS ANSWER IN MY DRAFTS (rip anon im so sorry) and i THINK i got it!!! alec could be like, the uhh personal trainer? physical trainer? YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN like the one dedicated to making sure the figure skater's body is. capable of. dancing. idk how to explain it but you do get it don't you??? ok

i'm mostly going off my dancing experience here (i had dance classes for like, 10 years of my life, and ugh i miss it) and like besides dancing you always have to train like lifting and doing localized training and stuff because you can't really dance if you don't have strength and flexibility and stamina and all that stuff. the only time i would willingly work out was for dancing lmao especially when i was in my hiphop crew. anyway

and while for me the one responsible for that part of training was the same person as my teacher/coreographer (or when i was doing hiphop it was just. on me to do that lmao but i'm not complaining) i figure when you're a professional and not just a dumb kid that's probably two different people, right? if not it is now. idc

i could go with figure skater magnus and trainer alec but also im really feeling the dynamics of coreographer magnus and trainer alec? like it'd be cute/funny to see them trying to work together for that ya know. so sorry that this feels less like a figure skating au especially since it took me so long to answer it but aaa

but also i mean as a coreographer magnus would have to know how to do it obviously so you would most definitely get a figure skating magnus. alec going to close up the gym and seeing magnus practicing by himself just for fun, anyone? and magnus looks gorgeous as ever way more gorgeous than whoever they're coaching but that's just alec's opinion and magnus kind of stops like "oh, i didn't know you were here" and alec's like "oh oops. anyway keep going you're great at this" and magnus feels a little self conscious but soon he gets lost in it again because really he loves doing this and alec is just appreciating the artwork :)

ANYWAY the dynamics of trainer and coreographer are fun. magnus showing up to alec like "hey alec so i need some heavy lifting on them arms cuz meliorn [idk i don't have any better ideas for who they could be coaching] is gonna carry an elephant onstage" and alec is like "uhh" and meliorn is like "a fake elephant" and alec is like "i mean good but i still have questions"

and magnus is like "obviously we would never use trained elephants, the way they are treated is inhumane" and alec is like "you're completely right but also that's your only worry when it comes to meliorn carrying a real elephant?" and magnus is like "i'm sure you could pull it off ;) you're the best after all" and alec gives him that amused smile

advantages of meliorn: they don't care about the flirting anyway since they are literally Like That too

also magnus and alec working out together off the clock, some ogling on both sides and just generally funny competitive shenanigans. especially cuz like magnus is hella fit but alec works in that stupid gym so he knows what he's about. and alec's all smug about it like "i can lift more than you :)" and magnus is like "oh yeah? let's see how you do in the ring" "no" "yes" "no" "why, can you not do it?" "yes. i know my limits" "well that's too bad... because you're going in anyway"

cue alec falling on his face probably but also like goddamn it he's competitive and he's not gonna let magnus have too much of a win so he tries his best rip. anyway then we probably get some hip touching bullshit when magnus tries to explain it to him and magnus is flirting the whole time and alec's laughing and it's sweet

i have half a mind to make up some angsty backstory about how magnus used to be a figure skater too and his partner was (you'll never guess it) camille and then she pulled the rug from under him and he kinda left the competitions altogether for a while. and then he came back as a coreographer (listen, he loves to dance, but creating is one of his favorite parts and he was always involved in coreographing anyway. his old coreographer and him were always having a blast and camille did not like it) and this is kinda his debut as a coreographer at some big shot competition idk and he just feels like he has so much to prove?

lol bonus camille's new coreographer is lorenzo so the hating magnus squad is in thick against him and it's a whole thing you know

OH MEGA ANGSTY camille got him out of the competition because she outed him as trans and he was declassified because something something transphobic bullcrap so he wasn't allowed anymore. i assume this was like right after they won because of course she wouldn't compromise herself, or maybe it was at the beginning/pre-stages of the championship so she had time to find a new partner. yeah that last one and then she won with the coreography that he had helped them create. im saying she did that because he broke up with her finally after years of abuse both in work and out of it so she did that as revenge or to make sure he couldn't have his passion anymore. and it took magnus years to build himself back up as a coreographer this time because transphobia (and racism) in the market but guess what? he is extremely smart and talented and creative so now he is back at the championship and he wants to show the world what they have been missing on

hmmmmm also i implied this is in pairs since magnus and camille used to be one so i think meliorn's pair would probably be izzy and maybe that's why alec's involved? like he was already a personal trainer or whatever which his parents were fine with even though it's not of course as grand as they would've liked (meaning they were total asses about it) but when izzy decided to go into sports/art they lost their shit and didn't want to support her so, you know, alec did and became her trainer. which is just as well because he is the best so like, deal with it. not saying they like kicked her out or anything (esp cuz i imagine part of alec's reasoning is that izzy stood by him when he came out and if they didn't kick him out over being gay they wouldn't kick her out over being a skater but y'know) but they definitely wouldn't support her so they both also feel like they have a lot to prove

lol me: i have half a mind to make this angsty. also me: paragraphs and paragraphs of angsty backstory

anyway they win obviously idk what to tell you they just do cuz we stan talent. camille is second for maximum drama and vengeance, the lightwoods try to get the spotlight once izzy wins and she and alec tell them to fuck off, they advocate for specific rules prohibiting ppl to declassify trans ppl over being trans and that's all i have tbh

sorry it took so long to answer daiudsauihda but i hope that outline is at least interesting for you!

[sk8rwillie]

trevor wilson (not bobby), caleb covington, that one janitor

i love the variety of the characters you chose

get randomly assigned as your lab partner for a whole semester: trevor because we’re both totally failing the class so we can talk about music and i can smack him for stealing sunset curve songs :)

get trapped with on a broken elevator for ten hours: caleb so he can teach me the choreography to tosoh

get as my employee trainer for my new job at McDonalds: the janitor wkdbjwhw he looks good at his job

give me three characters!

[queenofallimagines]

Hello , I love Your Work Can I Request Headcanons For Mirio And Kirishima With A Shy And strong Girl friend Nsfw

Thank you🥰🥰

Song rec: airplane mode-limbo

Mirio:

- And I-oop

- He thinks it’s adorable that your shy

- Will try to get you to open up more

- You and tamaki are bffs by default

- Small cheek kisses in public

- Holding hands

- If you hide behind him when you’re nervous he will literally almost cry

- He feels like your hero

- He will protect you from anything that you’re not comfortable with

- Even though you could bench press a train

- Crowds? Avoided

- Loud noises?? Have his headphones

- Sometimes you guys just sit together during lunch and listening to soothing music

- He’s so s o f t for you

- Let’s you carry him if you want

- “look at my strong s/o!!”

- Will smile at you every chance he gets

- On the off chance he’s not smiling already

- Listening intensely

- Hanging on to every word

- Stares at you with pure love

N*FW

- if your shy in private too he still thinks it’s cute

- Will try to get you to be as loud as possible

- “Keep making those cute noises for me sunshine.”

- Likes to leave marks where people can almost see them

- Collarbone all over your legs and chest

- Will tease you in public

- Picking you up and holding you in his arms

- “Oh, you were giving me that look. So I thought we should go somewhere private.”

- He will try and get you off in between classes

- Janitors closet for sure

- Empty classrooms are a fav

Kirishima:

- manly!!!

- “Stong couples!!”

- One of those Instagram trainers

- Always going wild at the gym

- He will protecc you forever

- You guys hang around the bakusquad to help you open up

- If you need to be in a quiet place he’ll drag you away in like 5 seconds

- Hugs!!

- Holds you a lot

- Arms always around you

- He gets flustered when he holds you hand

- Holds pinkies instead

- Movie dates in his dorm

- Eskimo kisses

- Buys you flowers

- Will send you pics of cute dogs

- “Babe look!!”

N*FW:

- service top

- Wants you to finish at least twice before he even starts to get off

- Bite marks all over your neck

- You gotta buy scarves

- Soft but firm dom

- “Let me show you just how much I love you babe.”

- Likes it when your loud but will tease you about it

- “You gotta keep it down or the others will hear us.”

- Won’t really tease you in public but if your alone for an extended period of time he will

- Alone after training

- “Hey babe you look good enough to eat.”

- Likes to go down on you

- Has a voice like a sin

- Gets really deep and sultry

- He makes really cute faces when he’s inside you but tries to maintain his dom position

[pokemon-npcs]

[enibly]

Strategizing For A Living Revolution

By George Lakey

Otpur (“Resistance” in Serbian) began as hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands of young people took to the streets to rid their country of dictator Slobadan Milosevic. Impatient with the cautious ways of many of their pro-democracy elders, the youths organized in coffee bars and schools, posted graffiti almost everywhere, and used their street actions to embarass the regime.

Milosevic counter-attacked. His police routinely beat up the protesters, in the streets and more thoroughly in the police stations. His spies were everywhere. His monopoly of the mass media meant that the Otpur was described as hoodlums and terrorists.

In October 2000 Otpur won; joined by hundreds of thousands of workers and professionals, the young people threw Milosevic out. His party was in disarray, his police in confusion, his army was split.

From the moment Otpur began it had a strategy. The young people were immensely creative in their tactics and at the same time realized that no struggle is ever won simply by a series of actions. Otpur activists knew they could only succeed by creating a strategy that guided a largely decentralized network of groups.

Cynical outsiders were skeptical when Otpur activists claimed not to have a leader, when the young people said they were all leaders and shared responsibility for their actions and their common discipline. What the skeptics overlooked was the power of strategy as a unifying force, taking its place beside the rebel energy and the lessons of recent history that the young people shared. Otpur activists didn't need an underground commander giving them their marching orders because they shared a strategy they believed in; they were happy to improvise creatively within that strategic framework.

Bojan Zarkovic, one of the Otpur trainers, told an audience at the A-Space (anarchist coffee house) in Philadelphia about the boundless creativity of the young people. They would virtually fill a wall of newsprint with their tactical ideas, he said. Then they would choose, in light of their strategy and also their preference for humor and pranks. The result was that the media's painting of them as terrorists lost credibility. True, these young people wore black jeans, black leather jackets, and black T-shirts with a clenched fist silk-screened on the front, but their actions had humor andconnected with people. Passersby who saw them (and spread the word) debunked the media portrayal. “They're our kids having fun and, you know, they're right about Milosevic!” is what they said as they spread the word.

Late '90s Serbia was different in many ways from the situation facing activists in the U.S. or other countries. Even so, Otpur's experience can stimulate our thinking. Given how many activists are tired of an endless round of protests that don't seem to add up to anything, Otpur activists' biggest gift to us might be their choice to unite around a strategy, to get creative about tactics, and to let the strategy guide which tactics make sense and which don't.

Strategy = Power

The young people who started Otpur had a clear conception of how domination works. They saw their society as a pyramid, with Milosevic and his cronies at the top, in alliance with business owners, party leaders, and generals. The direction of power was typically top-down, and included both obvious repression (the army, police, secret police) and subtle repression like a monopoly of the media and school curricula. Here's where Otpur activists diverged from conventional wisdom about power. They noticed that each layer of domination was in fact supported by the layer below; that the orders that were given were only carried out because those below were willing to carry them out.

Rather than buy into the top-down version of power that Milosevic wanted them to believe, they decided instead to picture Serbian society as organized into pillars of support holding up the dictator. If the pillars gave way, Otpur believed that Milosevic would fall.

This alternative view of power became so central to Otpur that it was taught in all the trainings of new Otpur members. (All new Otpur members were expected to go through the training so they could understand the winning strategy.)

Since the top power-holders depend on the compliance of those beneath them to stay on top, Otpur's strategy was to weaken the compliance and finally to break it. First, Otpur needed to ask: which are the pillars of support needed by the dictatorship? Then: what are the tactics that will weaken those pillars?

Activists in other countries can follow this methodology to begin to create their strategy.

Here's just one example of how it worked in Serbia. One pillar of support for Milosevic was his police. Otpur systematically undermined that pillar. The young activists knew that fighting the police would strengthen police loyalty to Milosevic (and also support the mass media claim that the young people were hoodlums and terrorists). So they trained themselves to make nonviolent responses to police violence during protests. One of the slogans they learned during their trainings was: “It only hurts if you're scared.” They took photos of their wounded. They enlarged the photos, put them on signs, and carried the signs in front of the houses of the police who hurt them. They talked to the cop's neighbors about it, took the signs to the schools of the police officers' children and talked with the children about it. After a year of this, police were plainly reluctant to beat Otpur activists even when ordered to do so, because they didn't want the negative reactions of their family, friends, neighbors.

The young people joked with the plainclothes police assigned to infiltrate them and reminded the cops that everyone would get their chance to act for democracy. Through the assertive outreach of the activists, relationships were built with the police, even into the higher ranks. When the movement ripened into a full-fledged insurgency in Belgrade, many police were sent out of the city by their commanders while other police simply watched the crowds take over the Parliament building.

It wasn't easy, as one of my Otpur friends who had been beaten repeatedly told me. It was, however, simple; the strategy guided the young activists to develop creative tactics that took away one of the key pillars of the dictator's support.

Can this alternative view of power work other places?

One reason why the Otpur activists worked so efficiently at undermining the various pillars of Milosevic' support was because many knew their view of power had already worked in other places. Consider what had happened within the lifetime of Otpur teenagers: the Philippine dictator Marcos had been overthrown by what was called “people power” in 1986; Communist dictatorships had been overthrown by people power in East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland in 1989; commanders in the KGB, army, and Communist Party were prevented by people power from establishing a coup in Russia in 1991; a mass nonviolent uprising in Thailand prevented a top military general from consolidating his power in 1993; the South African whites' monopoly political rule was broken in 1994 after a decade of largely nonviolent struggle. In all these places the power-holders found their power slipping away because those they depended on refused any longer to follow the script.

When I was trying as a young man to puzzle out this alternative view of power, so different from what is usually taught in school, I encountered Bernard Lafayette, who was then a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) staffer from the deep South. He explained it to me with a metaphor. Bernard said that a society is like a house. The foundation is the cooperation or compliance of the people. The roof is the state and its repressive apparatus. He asked me what happens to the house if the foundation gives way. He went on to ask: “How will it change what happens if more weapons are put on the roof, bigger tanks, more fancy technology? What will happen to the house then, if the foundation gives way?”

I then realized why this alternative view isn't promoted in school. What power holders would want us to know that the power is in fact in our hands? That instead of being intimidated by police, military, corporate leaders, media tycoons, and politicians, the people were to find out that we give away our power through compliance, and we can take it back again through noncooperation?

Of course the power holders want us to believe that power is top-down, that we must be passive, that violence is the most powerful force. Don't look for them to declare a national holiday dedicated to People Power!

And they don't need to. The use of nonviolent tactics to force change has a deep track record which is reaching critical mass. For example, hundreds of thousands of people of color have used nonviolent direct action in campaigns for over a century in the U.S. alone. (In 1876 in St. Louis African Americans were doing freedom rides against discrimination on trolley cars, to take one of thousands of examples.) In any given week there are community-based organizations of people of color, all across the U.S., who are engaged in nonviolent action: marches, sit-ins, street blockades, boycotts, civil disobedience, and the like. Books could be written just about the unions of people of color, like the hospital workers, hotel workers, and janitors, who go out on strike as well as use other tactics. While names of people of color most easily leap to mind when we think of nonviolent action, like Martin Luther King and Cesar Chavez, and a higher proportion of blacks than whites participate in nonviolent struggles, it's still not just “a black thing.” Whites in the U.S., especially working class whites, also have a long track record of using nonviolent tactics to struggle for their goals. The challenge is not so much encouraging diverse peoples to engage in nonviolent struggle when they are up against it; the challenge is to link short-run struggles to more far-ranging goals4.

Noncooperation is not enough My friends in Otpur would be the first to admit that a mass insurgency that brings down a dictator is not enough—not enough to establish full democracy, respect for diversity, economic institutions in harmony with the earth, or other parts of their vision. It's one thing to open up a power vacuum through noncooperation (and that is a great and honorable achievement). It's another thing firmly to establish the democratic community we deserve.

For that, the strategy must go deeper. We need to go beyond what has been done plenty of times in history—to overthrow unjust governments through nonviolent struggle—and create a strategy that builds at the same time as it destroys. We need a strategy that validates alternatives, supports the experience of freedom, and expands the skills of cooperation. We need a political strategy that is at the same time a community strategy, one that says “yes” to creative innovation in the here and now and links today's creativity to the new society that lies beyond a power shift.

With the help and feedback of many activists from a number of countries I've created a strategic framework that aims to support today's activists, something like the way Otpur activists were supported by their strategy. I call it a strategy for a living revolution.

The strategy not only encourages creating new tactics and more boldness in using the best of the old, but it also helps activists sort out which tactics will be most effective. Finally, the strategy brings in the dimension of time. It suggests that some tactics that are ineffective at one moment will be just right at another. It offers an organic, developmental framework of stages over time.

Time matters. Activists from other countries have been heard to laugh at U.S. activists because we notoriously lack a sense of history. This strategy framework supports us to overcome our cultural limitation and learn to think like the historical beings that we actually are.

The strategy framework has five stages:

Cultural preparation

Organization-building

Confrontation

Mass political and economic noncooperation

Parallel institutions

The stages are in sequence, with lots of overlap. Like any model, this one is over- simplified in order to be more easily learned and worked with. One of my favorite ways to complexify the model is to picture society as a cluster of sub-societies that respond to these stages at different rates, which means that activists might go through the first several stages over and over. In reality we may end up more in cyclical motion than in linear progression. But that's for later. Right now, I'll present the five stages in a linear way, and be happy for readers who get from it a sense of movement over time.

(continued here: https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/lakeylivrev.html)

[alexthegamingboy]

Toonami Weekly Recap 01/11/2020

My Hero Academia Shie Hassaikai Arc Season 4 EP#71 (08) - Suneater of the Big Three: Suneater, a member of Fat Gum's agency and U.A's Big 3, decides to single-handedly defeat everyone's first obstacle; three members of the Eight Bullets, the Shie Hassaikai's elite enforcers.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind EP#09 - The First Mission from the Boss: Bucciarati's group are reunited on Capri and are approached by Pericolo, one of Passione's capos disguised as a janitor. Bucciarati hands over the treasure which was hidden inside a men's toilet and Pericolo makes Bucciarati a capo in control of Polpo's turf. His first task is to protect Trish Una, daughter of the unknown Passione's boss, from the Hitman Team within Passione. The Team had turned traitor and are searching for clues to the boss's identity while trying to depose him. Back in Naples, Formaggio, one of the traitors, manages to locate Narancia who was out shopping for supplies. He engages Narancia and concludes that Bucciarati's group must be guarding Trish. Narancia tries to dispose of Formaggio with his miniature airplane Stand Aerosmith, but Formaggio uses his own Stand, Little Feet, to shrink himself and hide in Narancia’s pocket.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Drum House Arc EP#11 - Tsuzumi Mansion: Tanjiro separates Zenitsu from the harassed girl, who slaps Zenitsu when he tries to push it. Zenitsu states he's weak and will die on his next job, which is why he had to get married. He tells Tanjiro he didn't want to become a Demon Slayer but got into debt with a woman, who gave him to his trainer who made him become one. Tanjiro's crow directs both boys to a mansion. Zenitsu's hearing is as sharp as Tanjiro's smell and he hears two scared kids who tell Tanjiro it is a demon's house and the demon took their older brother inside. A man is thrown outside the house and dies moments later, but it is not the siblings' brother. Tanjiro cajoles a terrified Zenitsu into coming into the house with him, leaving Nezuko in her box with the siblings to protect them. Zenitsu overreacts when Tanjiro says he still has broken bones as that means he can't protect him. The siblings enter the demon's house behind them as they heard Nezuko scratching and got scared, leaving her behind. The house suddenly rearranges itself, separating the group, stranding the sister, Teruko, with Tanjiro and the brother, Shoichi, with Zenitsu. Shoichi berates Zenitsu for his cowardice. While Zenitsu frantically looks for an exit he opens a door and sees a boar-headed man, who passes them by. The demon of the house approaches Tanjiro and Teruko hides. Tanjiro leaps at the demon, who rants a child with rare blood he found, his prey, has been taken, before flipping the room so they are standing on the wall. His blood art gives him total control of the house when he strikes a tsuzumi drum growing from his body. The boar-headed man unexpectedly leaps into the room, wielding a pair of chipped Nichirin swords.

One-Punch Man 2 EP#12 (24) Finale - Cleaning Up the Disciple's Mess: Bang and Bomb start to beat up Garou mercilessly. Garou remembers when he was a young loner and had a popular classmate name Tat-Chan. It is revealed that the reason why Garou hates heroes and wants to be a villain is because he believes that people only want to be a hero to beat up weaklings, as shown when Tat-Chan gangs up on Garou simply because he's a "monster." Garou repels Bang and Bomb, and Phoenix Man arrives and saves Garou. Genos is about to kill Garou and Phoenix Man but Phoenix Man calls for Elder Centipede to help. Bang and Bomb briefly wound Elder Centipede, but Elder Centipede knocks them back and sheds his damaged armor. Genos plans to stall Elder Centipede to give a chance for Bang and Bomb to get the defeated A Class Heroes to safety. Genos briefly wounds Elder Centipede, but Elder Centipede quickly regenerates and knocks Genos back. Genos starts to become disillusioned, believing himself as worthless since he could not beat the behemoth Dragon-level monster. Bang puts Genos down and plans to take on Elder Centipede himself when King arrives with a megaphone challenging Elder Centipede. The Hero Association briefly gave King history on Elder Centipede, and King lies that Blast (S Class Hero Rank 1) has arrived, goading Elder Centipede to fight him (Blast previously wounded Elder Centipede so badly that it retreated underground). Before Elder Centipede could kill King, Saitama arrives and kills it with a Serious Punch (as King told Saitama to make sure he kills the monster in one shot, for fear that it may cause damage to a nearby city). Saitama and Genos see each other in the wreckage, and Genos asks Saitama what he lacks. Saitama simply replies, "Power," which Genos takes note on, to the despair of King. Genos then looks forward to the future, believing he will be stronger now. The episode ends with Saitama asking the remaining heroes if they want to go back to his apartment. In the post credit scene, Garou finally passes out from exhaustion and Phoenix Man plans to take Garou to Orochi.

Dr. Stone EP#18 - Stone Wars: A group of Tsukasa's army, led by a man named Hyoga, approaches the village and beats down Kinro. With Ginro unwilling to cut down the bridge to the village with Kinro still on it, Senku, with the aid of Gen and Magma, convinces Hyoga's group that they've already produced guns, forcing them to retreat. Three days later, during a storm where guns would be unuseable, Hyoga's team attack again, only to discover that Senku and the villagers have managed to produce katanas. Although Hyoga proves to be a powerful foe with his spear technique, the spear breaks thanks to some sneaky sabotage by Gen.

Fire Force Netherworld Arc EP#21 - Those Connected: Obi breaks Vulcan and himself free from the grip of Lisa's flaming tentacles. While talking to her, he inserts extinguishing grenades in the tips of the tentacles. They explode, extinguishing her flames and Vulcan catches her as she falls. However, Giovanni grabs Lisa and threatens to kill her if Vulcan does not shoot Obi. Vulcan shoots Obi, so Giovanni releases Lisa. However, Obi is uninjured due to his protective armor. He attacks Giovanni but he is able to fend off Obi's strikes. Meanwhile, Shinra has a series of visions of the past and detects the presence of Sho through his Adolla Burst ability. They meet, but Sho is in no mood for reconciliation, and they engage in a fiery battle. Sho appears to stop time which Licht believes is linked to the Adolla Burst. Sho then hits Shinra with a punishing blow.

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma Totsuki Autumn Election Arc EP#24 - The Warriors' Banquet: Akira's dish, which has a powerful fragrance and uses the power of holy basil and yogurt, earns a score of 94 from the judges. Finally, Soma presents his own fragrance bomb, combining his past two failures into a curry risotto omurice containing a mango chutney. The dish earns Soma 93 points, landing him second place behind Akira. However, it is noted by the crowd that although Akira received a higher score overall, three of the five judges ranked Soma's dish higher than Akira's, with the implication being that in a Shokugeki, this would have given Soma the victory. Afterwards, when the contestants hold an afterparty celebrating and lamenting their victories and losses in the preliminaries, Soma becomes determined to improve his cooking finesse.

Black Clover: Elf Tribe Reincarnation Arc EP#100 - We Won't Lose to You: The elf possessing Klaus realises that Klaus' soul is trying to retake control so he attacks Asta, injuring him. Rhya offers Mimosa in exchange for Asta’s Grimoire but Asta refuses and repeats his promise to become Wizard King. Asta's words are heard by Yuno and he instinctively saves Asta, revealing his soul is back in control, but he has retained the elf’s body and power. Rhya is confused as the reincarnation should have sent Yuno's soul to sleep. As the mage in the sphere of light, revealed to be Licht, has not yet moved, Rhya suspects he needs more time to reincarnate. Yuno senses that the possessed knight's souls are asleep while the elves control their bodies, whereas in Yuno's body it is the elf soul that is asleep. Asta activates his demon form and he and Yuno knock Klaus and Hamon unconscious. Licht suddenly awakens and retrieves the nearby black sword, which turns white as he touches it. Nero appears from Asta's robe while Licht steals the Demon Dweller sword from Asta before he can react. They duel fiercely but Licht's speed and greater skill with the anti-magic swords overwhelms them. Working together Asta and Yuno both manage to surpass their previous limits but Licht uses his unnamed sword to block their attack, which is then retrieved by Asta. Licht attacks and destroys most of the floating dungeon and the surrounding forest. Asta is left unconscious while the unnamed sword turns black and is absorbed into his Grimoire.

Sword Art Online: Alicization: War of Underworld will premiere on Toonami January 18.

[fantasymysticworld]

Dragons A New World: Chapter 1 - Discovery Part 1

Thousands of years ago, dragons used to walk among men as one of their most trustworthy companions. However, their safety was not guaranteed and they had to flee. In present day, Juniper was only known as the dangerous orphan girl ready to attack anyone in her way, when in reality she’s just looking for a friend. Her life flips upside down when a dragon with black scales, large bat wings and eyes as blue as sky saves her in the forest. The two find common ground with each other, and together, discover the mysteries why after all these years dragons have found their way back the human world…the new world.

Unknown

An unknown facility stood in the misty woods. Each tree was the dark colour of a starless night sky, no soul and no happiness. Inside, only to screams of unknown animals that were forced to bond with terrible people. The cutting sound of a whip would force them back into submission if they went out of line again.

A man walked into a large cell area, accompanied by two heavily armed men. Each cage was as large as a studio apartment, except each one had nothing but miserable, brooding creatures that were desperate to be free. The man had black hair, lightly tanned skin, a black beard, soulless wrinkled dark eyes and wore a business suit with a black blazer. The man continued to walk down the dimly lit hall. “How is J15 doing?” he asked, sneering “Any luck?”

“I’m afraid not sir” One of the man replied “He’s still a fighter.”

Both men stood on each side of the cage, not bothering to look in, as they waved up to a couple of people behind a glass window, signalling to bring the cage forward to get a proper look at the beast. The cage zoomed forward and the man walked up to it. His face dropped and his eyes darkened even more. “He’s gone!” he screamed.

The two men on each side of the cage finally woke up from their stone-faced expression and looked in, confirming their boss’ outburst. “Idiots!” he yelled at them “Find him and find him now!”

Outside, in the woods, a creature kept running, running away from that awful place and the people inside. The loud sound of alarms went off, making its ears press flat against its head in order to block out the sound. It then took off, flapping its wings into the air. Then, as quick as it escaped, it disappeared into the misty air.

……..

 Bethesda, Washington DC

The older boy grabbed the freshman’s arm as he shoved him headfirst into the wall of the bike shed, not caring about the damaged he caused to the boy or the shed. “You think that was funny what you did to me yesterday?!” he screamed, twisting the younger boy’s arm. The yard was empty, as everyone was already in class, except for them. For he had dragged the boy behind the shed – the only place without a CCTV security camera - and kept a hand over mouth until everyone was gone, leaving him to torture the poor soul.

“W-what are you t-taking about?” the younger boy began to cry, as he struggled to get away from the stronger and scarier student. The older boy who still continued to give the youthful student pain had ivory skin, sickly green eyes, spiky dark brown hair and one earing in his left ear. He wore a red sweatshirt and looked like that he was at the age of fifteen.

“Don’t play dumb with me!” he shrieked, grinning as the freshman began to writhe underneath his grasp “You meant it! You meant to trip me up into the janitor’s bucket!”

“What!?”

“And everyone was watching! Even her…” he hissed like he had the foulest taste in his mouth “And now you’re going to pay!”

“Trent I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” the boy tried to slid away, each attempt failing “It won’t happen again!”

“Oh I know it won’t!” Trent growled “Because I’m going to break this little arm! Then I’ll break you’re kneecaps with a rock before breaking your legs with my bare hands and I’ll stamp on your feet until every little bone shatters!”

“No!” The boy bawled.

“Hey!” a new voice of a female filled the space before Trent turned around and had a fist colliding with his jaw.

……..

“This is the third time this month Mr Simmons” Principal Jones paced behind his desk. His bald head shining against the sun as his brown eyes started sadly down at the man sitting at the other side of his desk. “If Juniper keeps this up, we’re going to have to suspend her from this school.”

“I know” The man sighed. He had light-coffee shaded skin with a brittle short boxed beard growing into place, brown eyes and a large afro with thousands of curls springing into place. He looked to be in his early to mid-thirties and wasn’t half bad looking for his age. In fact, he was quite the looker. He wore a white doctor’s coat due to the fact that he was pulled from his work in the hospital in order to hear about the situation at hand. “What about Trent?”

“Trent is facing a two week suspension and will be coming in for detention on those weekends.” Principal Jones answered “However I will need Juniper to come in for detention on Monday afternoon after the weekend.”

“I know sir” said the man, rubbing his face and sighing “Juniper is going through a pretty rough time at school right now due to Trent’s behaviour.”

“I understand Rafael” Principal Jones replied calmly “Just make sure you talk to her when you get home. Violence will not be tolerated here.”

The door to the office suddenly burst open and in walked a woman, wearing a grey dress and blazer, holding Trent by the arm with her pasty face plastered with red. “This is the third time this month and you’re still letting my son get punched in the face!” she squawked.

“Mrs Hunter, your son shouldn’t even be hitting students in the first place” Principal Jones countered, his face still in its neutral position.

“Oh please, that boy is fine! That girl on the other hand could learn a manner or two.” The woman recoiled.

Rafael laughed under his breathe, only to have to said woman gawk at him in the most offended manner. “How dare you?!” She bellowed “Are you the father?!”

The muscles in Principal Jones’ face twitched. “Mrs Hunter” he muttered in a low warning tone.

“I’m just asking!” She shouted “It wouldn’t be surprised on where she gets those violent tendencies from!”

Rafael jaw dropped “Excuse me?”

Fuming, Principal Jones shot out of his seat and slammed his hands onto the table. “Mrs Hunter!” He roared.

“What is that supposed to mean?!” Rafael questioned her, using all of his might to not slam her against the wall.

“Mrs Hunter that is enough!” Principal Jones thundered with Mrs Hunter slowly turning her head, every inch of her body tense, to face him. If looks could kill, both men would be in heaven right about now. “Your son was violating against the school policy and you should be thankful that we’re not giving him a permanent suspension! Now maybe take what I said into consideration and teach your son some manners!”

Mrs Hunter’s whole face turned Crimson, as her breathing became heavier and her brows furrowed, nearly touching the bridge of her nose. “How dare you tell me how to parent!” she howled “And what about that girl?-”

“I understand you’re angry about Juniper hitting your son, but you must understand that it was for the defence of a younger student!” he bellowed, his knuckles turning white “You’re lucky that the parents of that young boy didn’t press charges!”

The woman gawked again, her grip tightening on Trent’s arm and it began to turn purple. “This is unbelievable” she snarled “My son gets a two week suspension and that girl gets nothing!”

Principal Jones noticed that if this carried on, he was certain that the office would end up in flames not too soon. He literally swore flames in that mad woman’s eyes. “Mrs Hunter, maybe its best you leave and cool off” Principal Jones replied coolly.

Mrs Hunter huffed, her grip easing up on Trent as she flipped her hair and began to walk out of the office, but not before turning to Rafael and sending him the most life threating glare that he had ever seen.  “If this happens again, you’ll be hearing from our lawyers” she hissed and stormed out.

Principal Jones had heard this, as he let out another “Mrs Hunter!” before she finally walked out, her heels thundering against the floor.

……..

Outside the office, a young girl hung her head low, making sure that no one could see her face.  She was about the same age of Trent, with long dark blonde hair, pale skin dusted with freckles, and deep sea-blue eyes that were glued to the ground. She wore a denim blue jacket over an indigo blouse that was sewn onto a long skater skirt of the same colour that reached down to her knees that was made out of a stretchy yet smooth material. And to finish off the look, she wore black leggings with black trainers. On her left bruised hand were specks of green and blue that had dried into her skin, she ran her other hand over them as she tried hard to forget that awful thing that she did today. She knew he deserved, but that didn’t get rid of that gut-wrenching feeling of guilt that built up inside her.

The door of the principal’s office flew open, before slamming with an ear-bleeding shut, and Juniper glued her eyes to the ground. She felt the harsh glare of Mrs Hunter’s eyes firing holes into the top of her head. If she had to think irrationally, she was definitely sure she would let her son kill Juniper in her sleep. As she heard the clicking of her heels leave the room, she felt something tumble into her hands. She then noticed the piece of crumpled paper in her hands, before she looked up, her eyes wide, noticing Trent menacing smirk as he left with his mother.  She opened up the small ball, reading the words that were scribbled onto it. Her eyes then began to sting as she crumpled it back up again.

She then heard Rafael speak a few final words to Principal Jones before gently closing then door and made his way over to Juniper. It wasn’t long before he discovered the piece of paper in her hands and crouched down to her level and gently placed a hand on hers. “What’s that?” he asked quietly, but loud enough to now make it a whisper. Juniper said nothing. “Juniper” his tone was more authoritative this time. Knowing that he needed an answer, she held out the crumpled paper and he carefully took it from her hands. What he read next made his heart shatter.

Orphan freak!

He stood up and walked back into the office as Juniper stared at him with the same wide-eyed expression. He exited it again and beckoned her to stand. “Come on” he said with a smile “Let’s go.” 

In the car, Juniper was silent the whole time, doing nothing put trace her hand down the car window as little rain drops stopped to fall down the glass. Rafael didn’t want to say anything in case a fight broke out between them and would both end up in an accident. Ever since Juniper joined the school in January, Trent and his goons proceeded to give her a terrible time. From putting gum in her hair, to tripping her up, spitting on her, threats of violence and telling everyone that she had a violent nature. While she was never violent and repeated the same behaviour to defend herself from Trent, Juniper did have the tendency to start a fight with Trent when he was hurting other students. Maybe it was because she would try to protect other children in her previous foster homes if they got hurt, but it still didn’t help with the rumours that the students in that school would spread.

Rafael pulled up into the driveway of their home and helped Juniper out of the car. As they made their way into the house and hung up their jackets, he suddenly heard small sniffles behind him and turned around to see Juniper in tears. “I’m sorry!” she croaked “I shouldn’t have hit him, I’m so sorry!”

“Hey it’s okay!” said Rafael, as he went over to embrace her. He led her to the couch where he let her cry more into his shoulder. “It’s going to be okay, don’t worry” he soothed.

“He was hurting someone else!” she sobbed “I tried to take your advice, try to stay out of it but I couldn’t help it, he was threatening to hurt him!”

“I know” said Rafael “It sucks to have those kinds of people in school. And to be honest, the world would be so much better if they were like that. But they do and I’m glad you stood up for that boy.”

“No you’re not” Juniper sniffed.

“Yes I am” said Rafael “I’m might be might that you hit Trent but I am so glad you weren’t a bystander.”

Juniper sniffed again and rubbed her blood shot eyes as she stared up at him. “Really?”

“Yeah” said Rafael “When I was in high school, there were these boys who wouldn’t stop bothering this girl. Each day she came into school became worse and worse until one day, she didn’t show up. We kept waiting for her to but she never came. We even began to suspect the worst. The only people who were happy about it were the people who pestered her. I wish I could’ve done something but I didn’t. Which is why I’m so glad you stand up for people who can’t stand up for themselves. You’re amazing Juniper, never let them take that away from you.”

Juniper nodded and hugged Rafael one more time before asking “Does this mean you’re not sending me back into the system.”

Rafael’s heart dropped as he stared at the young girl in front of him with disbelief. “Why would you think that?” he asked back.

Juniper sighed sadly and began to explain. “This happened in one of my previous foster homes. I kept beating up kids who were hurting other people and no one told me what I was doing was wrong so I kept doing it. Until one day, out of nowhere, they began to scream at me about how I was some priceless orphan that they could send back into the system. And they did…they sent me back.” She rubbed her eyes again. “I’m sorry; you probably didn’t need to hear that…”

Rafael then engulfed her into a big bear hug and rubbed her back slowly. “I’m not sending you back into the system just because of some little fight” he soothed “You’re here and here to stay until you say otherwise.”

Juniper chuckled and gently pulled herself out of the hug. “Thanks Raf” she smiled, before grabbing her bag and heading up the stairs. “I just have to finish some paintings before I go to support group!”

“Okay” said Rafael, as he smiled “It’s fish for dinner, is that fine?”

“Yeah that’s fine!” Juniper replied at the top of the stairs before shutting her bedroom door.

Rafael smiled before heading into the kitchen. Before he stared cooking, he took a white half of a Ying and Yang necklace from his shirt. He didn’t have the other half, but he held onto the white half, half of the piece that the tormented girl from his youth gave him. It had his initials carved into the white wood with golden writing. A tear of his own then fell down his cheek as he gripped the counter. “I’m so sorry” he whispered, before gathering himself up and began to prepare dinner for himself and his foster daughter.

……..

After she finished her dinner, Juniper headed back upstairs to finish her paintings. She sat on her stool painting on her canvas, wearing a light blue paint stained blouse with rolled up sleeves and shorts that came down to her knees covered with specks of colour. After she finished, she quickly put somewhere in her room to dry and quickly changed back into her normal clothes. Although she quickly packed the blouse and shorts into her bag as she knew that she’d be heading out to the workshop after support group. Rafael’s friend Sam always let them come every Friday night after support group to let Juniper tinker while Rafael got the chance to sit down and have coffee or a cup of tea after a long week.

Juniper loved everything that had to do with creating. Whether if it was to paint over a scratch on a cup, or building something completely new, she would always take up the chance to do it. Besides, it was kind of stress relief for her and she was really close with Sam.

“Are you ready Juniper?!” Rafael called from downstairs.

“Yes, I’m coming!” Juniper hollered back. She scampered down the stairs and walked out the door to the car.

This car ride was much better than the drive home from school. This time, Juniper was just relaxing while listening to the music on her phone. It was times like this where Rafael was thrilled that he decided to foster her, she was just really sweet and made him feel relieved that she could be a real teenager while not needing to worry about getting hurt. A lot of people from work often asked if he was going to adopt her or not. Although he always said that he would think about, his mind always swayed to say yes to those questions. He really, really wanted to adopt her.

They pulled outside the church, Rafael pulled out the car keys while Juniper began packing up her phone before exiting the car and making their way into church. Once they were inside, they went down a small flight of stairs and opened the door of the basement. A woman in her mid-twenties, a brown bob and olive eyes turned her head to their direction and shot them a sweet smile. “Hi Juniper” her voice was quiet, as if she didn’t want to intimidate the kids who came here “So glad you could join us.”

“Hi Natalie” Juniper returned her smile and turned her gaze to the four other teenagers who sat in plastic chairs in a circle. There was Gigi, Megan, Ben and Michael. Rafael put a hand on Juniper’s shoulder and she looked up at him. “I’ll pick you up in an hour, okay?” he asked, although not needing an answer.

“Okay” Juniper smiled and went to grab a chair of her own. She began to feel nervous as soon as Rafael left, but tried to ignore it as she sat in the circle.

“I know we do this every time” Natalie began “But we’re going to start off with saying our names and saying why we’re here.”

“My name is Gigi and I’m here because people would make fun of me because I brag.” The first girl mumbled. Gigi has medium length red hair, green eyes and freckles that dusted over her ivory skinned nose. She wore a plain white shirt and old denim jeans and a green jacket mad out of some type of waterproof material even when it wasn’t raining.

“You don’t brag Gigi” Natalie informed her calmly “People were jealous of you doing so many sports that they tried to make you quit by bringing down your confidence.” Gigi looked at her blankly, not believing a word she was saying and crossed her arms as she sank in her chairs. Gigi was the local tomboy at the school who was talented in the sports department, especially at swimming. Trent began to grow jealous and played mind games with her, making her believe that her confidence was her bragging that she was better than everyone else. Soon she began failing at her sports due to the lack of confidence and was eventually kicked out of the team of her favourite sport.

“My name is Megan and um…” The second girl immediately shut her mouth, scared to keep speaking. Megan has coffee dark skin with brown eyes and large hair that fell into dozens of ringlets. She was very bony as if she hardly ate a thing. She wore a white long-sleeved shirt that was covered by a pink velvet overall dress that reached to her knees. Megan hated speaking about why she came here, as she hated being reminded of what happened to her. Trent and his goons would make terrible comments about her race and took advantage of her kindness by making her do his homework for him, threatening her with violence if she didn’t do it right.

“My name is Ben and I’m here because I was made fun of ‘being too smart’.” Ben had warm beige skin, black hair and grey eyes. He was the tallest out of all of them and sat, stood and even slouched with a straight posture. As if it would kill him if he ever slouched. He wore a dark blue blouse tucked into the waist of his denim jeans, not a single crinkle in sight.  Ben was one of the smartest boys in school and even began tutoring students, even Megan – he even had a bit of a crush on her at the time - they were like two big soft teddy bears when they were near one another. Unfortunately, Trent ‘warned’ him about how this was taking away his masculinity and punished him by spreading rumours about how he only did it for the money and lied about terrible comments that Ben never truly said. Worst of all, he broke Megan’s heart and the two never spoke since.

“My name is Michael and I’m here because people wouldn’t address me with the correct pronouns.” Michael had honey coloured skin, warm brown eyes and black hair that curled at the top. He wore a red checked blouse with two buttons open at the top to reveal a white shirt and black jeans. Ever since he started high school, he hid the fact that he was female at birth. But in his mind, he had always been a boy. Eventually, word got out to Trent and he began to mis-gender and turn everyone against Michael.  That was how Juniper gave Trent his first nosebleed.

Every head turned to Juniper, who suddenly jumped as she remembered why everyone else was there in the first place. “My name is Juniper and I’m here because Trent would mock me because I’m an orphan.” She fiddled with her fingers.

“Thank you Juniper” Natalie smiled and continued.

Halfway through, Juniper continued to become more nervous. Was it the guilt of punching Trent earlier, was it coming back to eat her up? Suddenly she couldn’t keep it in any longer and cried “I punched him!”

All four teens, excluding Juniper, and Natalie turned their heads into her direction. They all had a confused looks mixed with concern on their faces, with Natalie’s having more concern. “What do you mean Juniper?” she asked, her voice like silk.

Great she thought they all think you’re crazy, well done Juniper, you’re now making your rumours become real. “I-I punched Trent again today” she stammered nervously “He was threating to beat up another kid and my instincts took over.”

Juniper opened and closed her fists. Her left one felt difficult to move. “I don’t know why I’m still like this” said Juniper “I don’t feel bothered when he insults me, but when he does it to someone else I just become so…mad.”

Natalie’s lips formed a straight line, before smiling with sad eyes. “It’s okay to defend people who can’t defend themselves” she said “But sometimes, we have to do it in a way that doesn’t affect us or the people we want to protect. And the reason you feel angry towards Trent for hurting others and not you is because you care. And that’s what makes people good. You’re okay Juniper. You’re a good person.”

Juniper returned the smile with her own sad one, taking a deep breath and leaning softly into her chair as Natalie continued with the session.

……..   

As soon as support group ended, Juniper ran out and rushed into the car, excitement bubbling inside her. “Hurry up Raf!” she called to her foster father.

Rafael chuckled and shook his head as he sat into the driver’s seat and started the car. “So I’m guessing therapy was alright?” he asked.

“It was great!” Juniper beamed.

Thank god! Rafael thought to himself. When he first told Juniper that she had been signed up for support group, she had a panic attack thinking that Rafael thought something was wrong with her. All was resolved after her first night and she came out with a fresh perspective, it was quite clear that she had never been to support group before and got the attention that she not only deserved, but definitely needed. 

After a small drive, they finally arrived at Sam’s workshop, where he greeted the teen with open arms. Apart from the teasing from school, if you told the Juniper a few months ago that she would feel at home with Rafael and the people he knew, she would tell you to go away and to stop playing games with her. But now, she was close to trusting the people that Rafael called his family and would feel obliged to do the same herself. Then she would tell herself that she was thinking ahead and had to slow down for reality to catch up with her.

Sam ran a local store that sold a bunch of animal essentials; including horse gear like saddles, reins and all that other stuff. During his spare time however, he would help Juniper with her creative mind and let her help him with making the saddles and other gadgets that she would come up with. He had short light brown hair, ivory skin and green orbs for eyes. He wore a white shirt and old jeans and trainers whenever he and Juniper would build something together. He even gave Juniper a spare key to the workshop if she wanted to work on something without him.

He sat with her at the wooden bench in his workshop while Rafael went into his built-on kitchen to make himself a cup of tea. He trusted his best friend with the young girl so he felt safe while roaming around his cupboards. However one of the problems with Sam’s house was “Ow!” Rafael cried out and pouted when he saw the tiny fleck of wood sticking out of his finger. “Stupid splinters.”

“Sorry Raf!” Sam called from the workshop while Juniper sketched out another gadget she wanted to make one day.

“What about a mug that can heat up on its own?” Juniper pondered out loud to Sam, tapping the rubber end of her pencil against her cheek as she looked up to the ceiling “Y’know, in case your drink gets cold and you could heat it back up and vice versa?”

“What about an invention that can remove splinter-OW!” Rafael called from the kitchen as he tried to prod the splinter out with a needle on the counter – Sam often got splinters of his own in his kitchen.

“Seriously though” said Juniper “You’re going to need to get your kitchen fixed up.”

“I know” Sam sighed “But I keep coming up with ideas to work with you my little protégé!” He teased her and ruffled her hair.

“Hey!” Juniper exclaimed with a grin “I’m not that short! I’m average height! It’s cause I keep hanging out with you two tall dorks.”

“Agree to disagree” said Rafael, who had successfully taken the splinter out and relaxed into a chair at the other side of the workshop “You are rather short.”

Juniper mumbled a groan “At least I can kick Trent’s butt any time I want.”

“You shouldn’t” said Rafael in a warning tone.

“I know I shouldn’t” said Juniper, a grin creeping onto her face “I’m just saying I could.”

Rafael shrugged in agreement and sipped his tea. An idea then suddenly came to mind and he spoke up “Hey Juniper?” the girl turned round to face him “I’m going up to a nature reserve tomorrow for a girl scouts camp to perform a lobotomy on a frog and you would like to come and get some inspiration for your art?”

“Will we be staying in a cabin for a full weekend?” she asked.

“Yeah” Rafael replied.

“That depends” she said coolly, until her face shone and a smile spread across her face “Will Naomi be there too?”

Rafael chuckled. Out of all the people that Rafael introduced her to; somehow Naomi was Juniper’s favourite. The woman had blonde hair that spilled over her shoulder, deep brown eyes that you could get lost in, baby pink lips and beautiful smooth Snow White skin. She wore no make-up but everyone who worked with her thought she was beautiful, and Rafael had to agree. “Yes, she will be there” he smiled.

Juniper fist pumped, nearly falling off the bench if it wasn’t for Sam catching her and she continued with her drawing.

……..

“Bye Sam!” she called before climbing into the car. The car ride was very quiet, but they were both used to that now.

Once they arrived home, Juniper packed her bags for the nature reserve and started getting ready for bed. This included a small hot shower, brushing her teeth and finally putting her long hair in a braid before putting on her pyjamas and hopping into bed. As she stared up at the moonlit ceiling, she eyes started to droop and she fell asleep with a smile on her face. Who knew a bad start to the day would lead to a peaceful night? 

……..

At the crack of dawn, Juniper was already awake and in the shower, scrubbing herself clean and brushing her teeth. She calmed down a bit while she was getting dressed into her normal clothes and remained that way while making breakfast. She watched Rafael gawk at her speed before sitting down and eating with her too.

She managed to remain patient while Rafael was getting ready, but grabbed him by the hand the minute he came downstairs with his suitcase and were already in the vehicle and heading down the road.

When they arrived, Juniper was finally calm and her natural smile remained on her face as calmness settled into her body. As they were unloading the car, they perked up when a familiar blonde was walking towards them. “Hang on” she smiled with a confused expression “Are those my two favourite people?”

“Naomi!” Juniper grinned back as Naomi walked over to her and gave her a hug “It’s so good to see you.”

“You too” said Naomi, pulling away from the hug before frowning “Are people still calling you short?”

Juniper pouted and nodded with an “Mmhmm” as Naomi giggled sweetly, like a soft song and her eyes twinkled in the sunlight.

Rafael could only look on at the two girls with bliss. Why did Naomi have to be so damn cute all the time? Was she really trying to kill him with cuteness? His thoughts were interrupted when Naomi went up to hug him. She was so frail in his arms. When she was standing on her own, she stood tall and confident, but whenever she hugged him she always gave off the impression of being fragile and breakable. Yet every day, she was always prepared to dig around the insides of a new person in surgery. “How are you doing Raf?” she asked during their hug.

“Good” he replied “You?”

“Eh, you know” she answered; he could feel her gesturing with her hands “Been there done that. Kind of been bored for the last few days but hey what can you expect from a boring person?”

“Oh you are anything but boring” he replied, not meaning to smell the faint aroma of coconut from her hair.

Juniper stood there awkwardly, but not wanting them to break on the ongoing hug. That went away a minute later and it just became only awkward for her just standing there doing nothing. She let out a cough and the two broke apart, fumbling with their words.

“S-sorry, I um…Yeah I’m just going to head back to my cabin for the evening” she stammered.

“Y-yeah” Rafael shyly agreed, rubbing the back of his head.

“Don’t want to appear like a zombie in front of the kids tomorrow!” she laughed nervously.

Rafael laughed back too in the same manner before Naomi walked away after waving goodbye. “Sorry” Juniper mumbled, not meaning for it to become more awkward. She was just trying to make them aware…maybe not aware enough. “Are you going to tell her you like her or not?” she grinned.

“What?” Rafael chuckled “Naomi’s just a really good friend.”

Oh my god Juniper thought He’s obliviously stubborn isn’t he?

“Come on” said Rafael “The car isn’t going to unload itself!”

Lord help me with these blind idiots she grumbled internally one more time before helping Rafael with the luggage.

……..

The next morning, Juniper was loaded with her drawing pad, her pencils and rubbers, her bag which contained her phone, and a camera provided by Rafael. Although when she woke up, she was mildly nervous going out into the forest on her own due to the fact of the untamed animals out there. But Rafael reassured her by saying that he had asked a ranger and was explained to him that the animals were moved to another forest – apart from birds – for guests who wanted to roam the woodland scenery.    

As soon as those fears were put to rest, she bided Rafael goodbye and ventured off into the forest.

While she was away, Rafael had a good time of his own with Naomi. Who couldn’t help but laugh giddily whenever the children cooed while they performed their lobotomy. Each doctor that was there was given a group of children; there were four groups in total, so it would be easier to view the lobotomy.

Although he was keeping an eye on his work, Rafael couldn’t help but notice the looks that the male grown-ups would give Naomi. He saw her uncomfortable shudders whenever one of the men stared down intensely at her. However, he felt a nerve twitch when he saw one of them lick his bottom lip. That simply crossed the line for him. “You doing okay there Naomi?” he asked, and all the males pulled away their gazes.

“I’m fine” she smiled, but her eyes gave him a sad yet thankful look before continuing her work.

He couldn’t help for felt terrible for her. At work in the hospital, the other members of male staff would not stop pestering her to agree for a night out. Although she would give them their just desserts, it did not stop her from maintaining a hurt look throughout the day. He wanted to do more but she always told him that she could handle it. But how much longer could she take? That was the question he always asked himself. 

……..

As Juniper continued on the path, she couldn’t help but always stop to take a deep breath. It was just so beautiful out here. The ambience of birds tweeting set the atmosphere just perfectly. She raised the camera up towards the canopy of the trees, with the bright sun glistening through and took a picture. The picture slid out of the bottom of the camera, before Juniper gently took it out and waved it to dry before putting it in her notepad.

That was when she heard a twig break. She froze on spot and her stomach twisted and pulled into knots. Gripping her camera tightly, she whipped round and nearly screamed when she saw none other than…“Trent?” she breathed, although the very thing was starting to become quite hard to do.

The boy’s lips twisted into a smirk as he leaned against the tree. “That’s me.”

All Juniper wanted to do was scream. She wanted to do nothing more than screech until her throat stung and there were people were there to help her out. But help her out with what? If she did that, she would be seen as overreacting and getting this wretched boy into trouble for no reason. “W-wh-why” why was she finding it hard to talk? And why did she suddenly start sweating? It wasn’t that hot. “Why are you here?”

“My mother took me up here” he replied “To get away from the stress of school.”

 Stress? HE’S STRESSED?! Why this ignorant little!-

“You know what that’s like” he sneered “Right orphan?”

It took all her willpower to grip her jaw tight shut than not to growl and make a fool out of herself. “Of course” she replied dryly “Whatever floats your boat.”

“You wouldn’t mind me being here” he grinned, a bit of green showing between his gums “Right orphan?”

Juniper inhaled sharply “Of course not” she said through gritted teeth. So much for making a fool out of herself. She turned round and resumed to taking pictures, trying to get rid of the fear that settled in the pit of her stomach.

What she didn’t hear was Trent removing himself from the tree, walking over to her until he stood behind her silent air flaring from his nostrils. Then with brute strength, he grabbed a hold of her wrist, making her drop everything and forced her to face him. “How dare you for doing that to me you snake” he hissed at her “Making me look like a fool by getting taken out by a stupid orphan freak!”

She tried to punch him with her other fist but he grabbed it before it collided with his skin and pushed it down. “Do you want to know what happens to people who think they can take me out?” he growled, his nails digging deeply into her skin.

“Trent stop you’re hurting me!” she yelled.

“Oh you stupid orphan” he chuckled darkly, before all emotion drained from his face “What I do to those people is much worse than having nails being dug into wrists.”

In a moment of panic, she used his knee to kick him in his sensitive area and spat right in his face before taking off. She ran on the path for a little while, before tripping and falling down a slope into a part of the forest where she wasn’t supposed to go. But she had no choice as she knew that Trent would be hot on her heels.

Fearing for the worst, she stood up and ran. She didn’t know where she was going and she didn’t care, she just had to find a place to hide or keep running until either she or Trent are forced to stop. She tried to think of a plan, maybe a trap that could fool her attacker. But she was too panicked and too busy thinking of the worst that it clouded her mind. She could feel her heart racing, her lungs burning, the blood thundering in her ears and her ankles were starting to ache. She felt like she was going to give out any minute.

A growl. That’s what made her stop in her tracks. This wasn’t a growl of a wolf or any other wild animals. No. This growl was unearthly, unnatural, and not normal in the slightest.

A great force hit her on the side of the head during her distraction and she fell to the ground. She touched where she was hit and saw the blood on her fingers. A heavy weight kept her hands and legs trapped as she desperately fought for freedom, but was given a slap to the face for those attempts. Trent then bent down until they were nose to nose and she held her breath. She growled and kept wriggling, not caring about the stinging on the right side of her cheek. The scrape of a knife was heard and her eyes widened with fear as Trent’s lips brushed her ear. “This is what happens when you try to take me out” he whispered, before giving her a deafening screech with the word “Understood!”

A cloud of black invaded her vision and the weight was taken off her. She then sat up as quick as she could, and what she saw made her heart skip a beat. In front of her, a creature had Trent pinned to the ground while he let out screams of fear to be let go. The creature was covered with black yet shiny scales, had large wings that resembled those of a bat, two cat-like ears with two smaller nubs as thin as twigs on the insides of its ears and one on each side if its head. She also could make out the blue from the corners of its eyes. Wasting no time, she picked herself from the ground and began to run again.

She continued to run with no idea where to go, until she heard an earth shattering roar that made her trip over a rock, skidding her leg against the rough surface before tumbling down another slope and down through some kind of rock tunnel until she made the edge of a puddle of water. She looked up and so no puddle, but a large pond inside some kind of large, circular ravine enclosed with rock walls.

She heard the roar again and tried to get up, only to be stopped by a sharp pain that shot through her leg. She let out a yell and rolled up her legging, only to be met with a bleeding scar. Hearing the roar again, she limped over to a large rock and hid behind it. This was a bad and dumb idea, but it was the best one she had. She heard large footsteps enter the area and warbles of an unknown animal. It was definitely the one she saw earlier. She could hear the footsteps increase in sound and felt the soft thuds coming towards her. This is it; this is where Rafael, Naomi and all those innocent girl scouts would find her dead body. She could hear sniffing from behind the rock; no doubt it was coming from the creature.

But in a moment of blind curiosity, she could feel her head turning slightly. The creature was only sniffing her; it wasn’t blasting her to pieces. What was she thinking, wanting to face the creature that probably blew Trent to smithereens and would no doubt do the same to her! But unfortunately, curiosity killed the cat and she turned round slowly. She then met face to face with the creature as it stared at her with large blue eyes and large pupils that almost dilated to the size of moons.

Juniper let out a gasp and fell onto her backside, trying breathing in and out slowly, but to no avail.  The creature then made its way towards her, its pupils slitting slightly as it stared at the girl with curiosity, its hot breath puffing in her face. Juniper squeezed her eyes shut and began to prepare herself for a quick yet painless death. But instead of what she expected, she found the creature was sniffing her face. She opened her eyes and saw the creature making its way up to sniff her hair. Why would it wait to kill her to stop and smell her hair? Maybe it was because of the shampoo and conditioner she used, she could always smell a faint aroma of caramel and vanilla floating around her head. She would also be lying is she didn’t say that, with its big blue eyes, the creature looked really adorable, yet so was lion but you don’t see anyone stopping to pet it.

Now that she had a closer look of the creature, she knew now she couldn’t keep calling it ‘the creature’. Due to its size and resemblance, Juniper had no trouble knowing that what stood in front of her…was a dragon.

The dragon then stopped sniffing her hair when it saw the fresh wound on Juniper’s leg and let out a small whine. It then made its way over to the edge of the pond before looking back at Juniper. Juniper raised an eyebrow in confusion. What was the dragon up to? The dragon then motioned its head towards the pond as a low grumble gargled in its throat. That’s when Juniper caught on; the dragon wanted her to wash her wound in the pond water. With great strength, she picked herself up and limped towards the pond as the dragon eyed her carefully. She sat herself back down again and scooped up handfuls of water and washed the blood of her leg. She didn’t want to get the pond water dirty in case it was the only place where the dragon could stay hydrated.

After fully washing the blood of, she quickly took her denim jacket off and pressed it against the wound. The dragon then motioned its head again as if to lift the jacket from her leg.  She didn’t know if it was the smart choice to take advice from a dragon, but the wound did sting…a lot.  She carefully removed her jacket and the dragon licked over her leg. Juniper gasped in surprise and recoiled, tumbling onto her back. The dragon warbled in surprise and made its way over to her. Juniper started to prepare herself again for death, until she felt the stinging slowly fade away. She sat up again and noticed the wound had stopped bleeding. The saliva must’ve had something to do with it if the pain stopped so suddenly. With a nod, she let the dragon continue.

After a few revolting licks on her leg, the dragon stopped and stared at her again. Juniper took her jacket and fastened it around her leg, tying it tight so it wouldn’t fall off. The dragon made some sort of happy noise without moving its lips and walked off, not too far from Juniper, and blew some fire onto the ground. It stomped on it for a little bit and laid down. Juniper was about to stand up to leave, until the fear of Trent settled back into her system. If she left now, there was a good chance that he might still be looking for her. That is if the dragon didn’t eat him. Wait a minute, if the dragon ate Trent alive, then why did it waste its timing helping her with her wound rather than gobbling her up right this second?

It didn’t make sense.

But Juniper didn’t want to question it any further and made what was probably the most stupid and reckless decision that she has ever made in her entire life…she was going to stay with the dragon for a while. She was about to reach for her sketchpad and camera when she realised that she had left them in the woods! Damn it! She couldn’t go back though, just in case Trent was still there. Biting her lip in a nervous state, she curled up onto the ground and closed her eyes. Maybe a nap would help clear her mind. She let out a breath and dozed up. 

……..

A little while later, she woke up and stretched her limbs. She looked over to look at the dragon…only for the scaly beast to be gone. Had she just dreamt the whole thing? She couldn’t have, her jacket was still there as well as the smell of dragon spit. Where could it have gone? She went into her bag and dug out her phone, only to be met with an armada of texts from both Naomi and Rafael.

 Where are you?!

 Are you okay?!

 Trent just appeared from the woods, screaming that you were both attacked by a dragon!

 Juniper please text me back!

Juniper gulped, thinking of the conversation she would have with the two adults. Hi Naomi, Hi Raf! Sorry I couldn’t text you back because Trent tried to attack me and a huge dragon attacked him back and helped me with a huge scar on my leg with magical spit!

She grumbled and stood up and walked to the exit of the ravine, noticing that the sharp pain on her leg had now fully disappeared. Her breath caught in her throat as she climbed out. She noticed that the pale yellow from the bright sun had faded into an orange colour with a hint of pink sky. How long was she asleep for? No wonder Naomi and Rafael were bombarding her with texts!

After finding the path again, making sure Trent was truly gone, picking up her stuff – including a broken camera – she found the exit of the forest. The police were there, as well as an ambulance, Trent with his mother squeezing him and Rafael and Naomi tightening their grips on each other’s hands. Rafael looked up and let out a cry of relief as he ran up to Juniper and gave her a bone-crushing hug. “Where have you been?” he cried “There was a search party in the forest and they said they couldn’t find you?!”

“I’m so sorry Raf!” Juniper cried back “I got lost and I hurt my leg!”

Naomi ran up and joined the hug, Juniper could feel her shaking, or was that her? “Trent says that you were attacked in the woods by a dragon!” Naomi exclaimed “Is that true?”

“Well not really attacked” said a police officer as he walked up to him “Doctor’s said that he wasn’t injured but he did look like he was in shock.”

What could Juniper say? The dragon certainly didn’t hurt Trent, and he had no injuries. Plus the dragon did help her. Did the dragon really just scare Trent in order to get him to leave Juniper alone? Juniper gulped, it was now or never.

“There was no dragon” she answered “But Trent did try to attack me in the woods with a pocket knife, he had me pinned down and I couldn’t move. Luckily I fought him off and found refuge. Unfortunately it was in a different part in the woods.”

The officer eyed her leg with the bloody jacket and held up a plastic bag containing the pocket knife. “Is this it?” he asked. Juniper nodded.

“My son would do no such thing!” Trent’s mother screeched.

“Ma’am this knife has your son’s fingerprints on it” the police officer explained “And the girl came back from the woods with an injury.”

“Actually I tripped but Trent still attacked me” Juniper mumbled. It wasn’t a complete lie but she didn’t want to fully push Trent under the bus.

“See!” His mother screamed “You have no proof!”

“Ma’am” said the officer “The knife is all we need to know that your son attacked this girl and was making up the dragon story. We’re going to need a few questions with you young man.”

“This is outrageous; my son is a good kid!” She yelled as the officer led him away “My lawyers will hear about this, did you hear me?!”

Juniper sighed, though she didn’t know why. Was it relief, fear or just stress? She didn’t know. Naomi led her over to the ambulance and sat her down before removing her jacket. There, on her leg, was the scar all fully healed.

“Woah” Naomi breathed “You got this today?”

“Weird” said Rafael, walking up to the girls “Her leg wasn’t injured yesterday, how did it heal so fast?”

Juniper bit her lip and her stomach flipped and danced around. She gave them a confused shrug while Naomi checked her over and spotted the dried cut on her head from where Trent hit her. Rafael told her that they would be going home that night, saying that her own bed would help her with what happened today. Although Juniper nodded in true agreement, a little part of her curiosity wanted to stay and search for the scaly beast that slept in the unsearched part of the woods.

Feel free to leave critisism, I’m aware that this is terrible.

[polyglotnotes]

British English to American English

abseil (verb, climbing) - rappel (verb, climbing)

academic staff - faculty member

aubergine - eggplant

autocue - teleprompter

aeroplane - airplane

anticlockwise - counterclockwise

autumn - fall

bank holiday - public holiday

bespoke - custom-made

binman - garbage collector

biro - Bic

biscuit - cookie

boot - trunk

bath - bathtub

black pudding - blood sausage/boudin noir

block of flats - apartment building

breaktime - recess

beetroot - beets

by-election - special election

cafetiere - French press

cagoule - windbreaker

car park - parking

caravan - camper van/RV

caravan park - trailer park

carer - caregiver

caretaker - janitor

cashier - teller

cashpoint/cash machine - ATM

central heating boiler - furnace

central reservation - median strip

Chartered Accountant - CPA (Certified Public Accountant)

chemist - pharmacy

chips - french fries

chunder (verb) - barf (verb)

cinema, the - movies, the

city centre - downtown

climbing frame - jungle gym

clingfilm - plastic wrap

coach - bus

convoy - caravan

cooker - stove

cot - baby crib

courgette - zucchini

cornflour - corn starch

cotton bud - cotton swab/Q-tip

crisps - potato chips

crossroads - intersection

current account - checking account

curtains - blinds

cutlery - silverware/flatware

dear - expensive

dodgy - sketchy

draughts - checkers

dressing gown - bathrobe/robe

dungarees - overalls

dustbin - garbage can

duvet - comforter

earth/earthed - ground/grounded

economy class - coach class

exclamation mark - exclamation point

family business - mom and pop store

faucet - tap

fire engine - fire truck

first floor - second floor

fish fingers - fish sticks

fit (sexy) - hot (sexy)

fizzy drink - soda/pop/coke/tonic

football - soccer

flan (=fruit cake, not sweet) - flan (=sweet soft food)

flat - apartment

flypast - flyby

fringe - bangs

full beam (car) - high beam (car)

full stop - period

gammon - ham

garden - yard

gearstick - gearshift

gherkin - pickle

gilet - puffer vest

grill (verb) - broil (verb)

grocery shop - grocery store

ground floor - first floor

handbag - purse

headmaster - principal

hen do - bachelorette party

holiday - vacation

holidaymakers - vacationers

inverted commas - quotation marks

jab - shots

jug - pitcher

jumble sale - rummage sale

jumper - sweater

kitchen roll - paper towel

knickers - panties

ladybird - ladybug

lift - elevator

loo (slang) - bathroom/restroom

lorry - truck

mark - grade

maize - corn

maths - math

minced meat - ground beef

mixed school - co-education/co-ed

motorbike - motorcycle

motorway - freeway/highway

mummy/mum - mommy/mom

nappy - diaper

nil - zero

noughts and crosses - tic-tac-toe

off license - liquor store

open day - open house

pants - underwear

parcel - knickers

pavement (=road for pedestrians) - sidewalk (=pavement is concrete/tarmac road)

pay rise - pay raise

pepper/sweet pepper - bell pepper

petrol - gas/gasoline

pinafore - jumper dress

plaster - bandaid

posh - chic/classy/fancy

postcode - ZIP code

postman - mailman

potholing - spelunking

preschool/nursery school - kindergarten

purse - wallet

push chair - stroller

pyjamas - pajamas

queue - line

read (verb) - study (verb)

reception - front desk

register, take the - attendance, take

return ticket - round-trip ticket

rocket - arugula

roundabout traffic - circle/rotary

rubber - eraser

secondary school high school

sellotape - scotch tape

sweets - candy

shop - store

sittee - couch

sleeveless jumper/slipover - sweater vest

spot - pimple/zit

spring onion - green onion/scallion

staffroom - teachers' lounge

stag do - bachelor party

swimsuit - swimming suit

table (verb – = suggest) - table (verb – =delay)

tap - faucet

thong (=underwear) - thong (=shoe)

till - cash register

tin - can

timetable - schedule

toilet/bathroom -bathroom/washroom

torch - flashlight

trainers - sneakers

transport - transportation

trolley - cart

trousers - pants/slacks

tyre - tire

underground/tube - subway/metro

vest - undershirt

waistcoat - vest

wardrobe - closet

washbasin - sink

wellington boots/wellies - rubber boots

windscreen - windshield

wood, a - woods, the

zebra crossing - crosswalk

zip - zipper