#women milling around talking to each other bullying each other doing bits and making up stupid songs my beloved 😍

[frenchtwistresistance]

10/10 would listen to the full version of both of these songs

[courtofjurdan]

One chance part 7

Jurdan College AU - previous chapter

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*I hope you enjoy!! feel free to tell me anything you would like to see. I did change the title because the other one was to plain and I hated it. btw I know nothing about law so bare with me. I’m trying.*

Warning: Mention of nonconsensual touching

Jude started to feel guilty. Guilty that she didn’t believe Cardan. Guilty that she didn’t know if she could believe him. She didn’t know what to think or believe. So she let herself reminisce on that. Her final decision was to start over with him. She saw him not hanging out with his friends like he used to. He has been reserved, away from people. Maybe he was truly upset about his ruined one chance. 

She let a couple of days go by before she texted him. 

J: Hey Cardan, it’s Jude. Ummm, can we talk one day when you have a chance. 

Not too long after that-

C: Yeah, of course. Today?? 

J: Sure. 

They ended up meeting at this little place on campus. It had a bench and not many people went there. Cardan was there first. He didn’t want to be late and upset her. Jude got there about 10 minutes after he did and she sat on the bench. 

They sat there in silence. They were pretty sure the people some ways behind them could feel the tension between them. Jude was the first to speak. 

“I’m going to give you your chance back.” She said this quietly.

Cardan’s eyes went wide with shock. “Really?”

“I mean if you want it.” 

“Yes of course, Jude, this is all I want.” 

All I want- Jude thought. All he wanted was that chance back. Such a little thing and that’s all he really wanted. 

“Let’s start over to before the-” she stopped and looked down. “The situation. I shouldn’t have blamed you for your friend’s sin. It wasn’t right.”

Cardan put a wry smile on his face, “It’s okay, Jude, you were only trying to protect yourself from more pain. I get it. How are you doing with the situation?” 

Oh no. Should I tell him. Jude had a plan - like always - she is going to report it at the police station. She thought about it for days and she doesn’t want this to happen to anybody else so she hopes she can get him locked up or some kind of deserved punishment for what he did. 

“Well, actually Cardan, I’m going to bring it up to the police. I don’t want this to happen to anyone else. I have the proof of it on my phone. So I’ll go down and see what they can do.”

He was again shocked, but he knows Valerian deserves this. 

“Okay, that sounds like a good plan. Do you want me to go with you? I can go tomorrow if you want. If you want to do this alone I understand.” 

“Sure you can come.” She lets out a shaky breath. “I need all the support I can get.” 

Jude gets up and turns to him, saying, “Okay well text me when you're ready to go tomorrow.” 

“Yes ma’am, I will.”

She starts to walk away with a small smile on her face at the “yes ma’am” he gave.

“Oh and Jude?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you” he said with the most sincerity in his voice. 

 “No, thank you.” Jude is still weary of Cardan so she is not putting all her trust in him but she wants to get to know him better. He seems like he is really trying to change. 

The next day rolls around and Jude is up and ready for Cardan to text her at any time. About an hour later he texts her.

C: Hey I’m up and ready. You?

J: Yep. Come pick me up. 

C: 👍

He picked her up as close as he could get with his car, blaring his music. It only made her smile and shake her head. But then Cardan laughed at that and her heart almost couldn’t take it. He was trying to make her feel less tense, even at the loss of his own dignity. 

“Hey Jude, are you doing okay?”

“I should be asking you that.”

They just laughed at each other. There was a peaceful silence about them, but Cardan could tell Jude was tense. He laid a hand right above her left knee as he said, “It’s going to be okay.” 

Jude flinched at the touch. He forgot. His eyes went wide, “I’m so sorry, Jude. I- I forgot. How stupid of me. I’m sorry.”

Jude replied back quietly, “It’s not your fault. It's okay.”

He gave a small breath of relief that Jude didn’t totally blow up on him. They sat in silence the rest of the way to the police station. 

When they walked into the police station, there was a front desk and a waiting room. Cardan went and sat in a chair as Jude went up to the front desk to talk to one of the officers there. 

“How can we help you, miss?” A female officer asked. 

“Umm, well, I would like to give a report about someone.”

“Yes, we can do that. Follow me.” She said with a smile on her face. 

Jude followed her into this small private room with no one around. This was perfect. It was just the officer and her and nobody else had to know. This calmed her nerves a bit. The officer got her personal information and wrote it down on the report paper in front of her. 

“I’m officer Fand McConnell, what would you like to report?” 

Jude took a deep breath in and held her chin up high. “I was sexually assaulted about a month ago by a man at my college campus. He locked me in the women’s bathroom, and-” it was still hard to say this part even though she practiced what she would tell them. “Touched and kissed me in ways that I did not give permission to.” 

The officer looked concerned, “This happened a month ago? Why didn’t you report this sooner?”

“I was… ashamed. Ashamed that it happened to me. But I don’t want other girls to go through what I had to do that’s why I decided to report it now.” 

“Okay, well do u have any evidence? It would be our word against his if you don’t.”

Jude grabbed her phone. “I do have evidence. He caused bruises all over my body because he would push me against the wall by my neck and squeeze very hard on my arms and legs. And give me hickeys as you can see.” 

“It’s good that you took pictures of that. I will need a little bit more evidence so I am going to go through the security footage of the campus to see if I can prove that he went into the women’s restroom. If he did and with that evidence, he will be in some serious trouble. He can be charged with sexual and physical assault with the bruises he gave you. Will you give me his name?”

“His name is Valerian Mills.”

“Is he in any of your classes?”

Jude chuckled without humor, “Well, actually, he was my childhood bully. He has made fun of me since first grade and has never stopped. He just took everything to the next level now. But to answer your question, yes, we share two classes together.”

“Okay.” She was writing all her needed information down. After she was done writing, she clicked her pen. 

“Okay. Is that all you need right now?”

“For now, I will call you with anything else.” 

“Thank you very much.” Jude walked out feeling hopeful. Hopeful that he would get the punishment he deserves. 

She walked back to the waiting room and met Cardan. She nodded her head to the door, meaning let’s go to the car. He got and opened the door for her and they walked to his pretty black mustang. 

Once in and settled, Cardan said, “It’s really none of my business but did everything go ok?” 

“Uh yeah, they are going to look into it.”

He took the short sentence of hers as a sign that she didn’t want to reveal anything else. Jude didn’t quite trust him to tell him everything yet. He didn’t need to know details. He was just along for the ride. 

He ended up taking her out to lunch anywhere she wanted to go. She picked this expensive steak house place that she loved. Cardan was happy to take her there. He has noticed her thinning so he didn’t mind taking her anywhere. He really didn’t mind when one of the brightest smiles he has seen in a while lit up her face at the granted request. 

It was nice. You could still feel the tension and the lack of trust but at this point, Cardan would just about take anything from her. If only she would realize just how desperate he is. 

They ate in peace and were stuffed as they walked out. Cardan, of course, paid for the whole thing. The drive back was also quiet. He could tell her brain was just thinking. Going through whatever possibilities. He dropped her off at her dorm soon after. Jude went to bed that night thinking about what her life would be like without Valerian in it. And it looked much more peaceful. It’s kind of rude to think like that but it’s the least he deserves. 

Jude woke up the next morning having to run to the toilet to throw up. She doesn’t think she has ever thrown up so much in her life. By the time she was done, she was weak. Her legs wobbled beneath her. She just thinks she has a virus so she just has to let in run its course. Luckily, it’s a Sunday so there are no classes today. She lays in the bed and takes it easy. 

The next day, which is Monday, she got up in the middle of the night and threw up again. She thought it was done with but nope, what a surprise. Maybe it’s all this Valerian stuff that’s making me uneasy, she thought. 

By the time her first class starts, she feels better. So she gets something to eat because she is starving from the lack of food in her system, and goes to class. She is much more happy today. Happy that she is getting her revenge on Valerian. She goes through the rest of that with no problems. 

She gets a call Tuesday afternoon from the police department. 

“Hello.” Jude said that with a high confidence voice, trying not to show her nervousness through her voice. 

“Hello, is this Jude Duarte?”

“Yes ma’am, it is.”

“Ok Hello Jude, this is officer Fand McConnell. We went through the security cameras in the hallway near the women’s bathroom and it did indeed show him go in there before you. And he came out before you came out which inspects that what you said is true. It also showed you coming out crying which also makes us suspect the same thing. We are going to interrogate him, and see if he will cough anymore information up.”

“Okay, that sounds like a plan. When will you interrogate him?”

“Oh we will do it today. The officer on campus will bring him here. I will call you with what was said.”

“Ok. Okay yeah that sounds good.”

The officer hung up and Jude closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It’s actually happening. It’s not a dream. All those years of torture will finally be paid back. Hopefully.

Jude waited and waited and waited till her nerves couldn’t take it anymore. Until at about 9 o’clock. She was almost to give up on her calling. 

“Jude Duarte?” 

“Yes this is her.” 

“We interrogated him and he slipped up and then asked for a lawyer which then indicates that he did do it. He will be locked up until he has a hearing with the Judge. You have to be there for that. The appointment for that is Thursday at 2 o’clock. You will have a lawyer talking for you about the case. I’m no lawyer, but I think you will win it.”

Jude breathes a sigh of relief, “Thank you. I will be there.” 

She gave her all the information about Thursday, and she set up an appointment for Wednesday which was tomorrow to talk personally to her lawyer before the hearing. Jude was nervous and excited at the same time. 

She wanted to tell someone but she didn’t know who. She could call her friends but then she looked at the time and it was 11pm and she knew they would probably be asleep so she decided to call Cardan. She wouldn’t feel bad if she woke him up. 

“Hey Cardan, are you awake?” 

“Um yeah, I am now. Is there anything wrong?” 

“No, no I just got a call from the police department and they have Valerian.”

She went on to tell him the information. She talked to him like they have been friends forever. She almost forgot that she is still a bit mad and aggravated at him because she can’t forget that if Cardan hadn’t entertained the bullying his group of friends did, then this probably wouldn’t have even happened. But he had one chance, and one chance only. 

next chapter

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[swordmeetssorcery]

Sir Ebrenn’s Houseguest

Aefsheen shifted in his sleep, dream memories washing through his mind…

 The teenaged half elf looked over at his human counterpart, the girl panting as heavily as he. They were in their usual hiding place, an abandoned and shuttered storefront in the mill quarter. The two urchins had been sneaking in here for years, and over time had furnished it with castoff items. There was a wobbly crate for a table, a couple of broken chairs they'd crudely repaired enough to use, and a couple of abandoned mattresses found on the street. They stank of the wood smoke they’d used to drive the bedbugs and fleas out, but they were better than lying on the bare earth floor of the old storefront’s storage room. They each now lay on one, bruised and bleeding and out of breath from their flight from the city watch. As he caught his breath, Aefsheen spoke.

"You know, Danniven, there are some things I understand and accept. If we pinch food from a butcher or grocer and get caught, I expect a couple of kicks and a head knocking. They're trying to survive just like us. Don't get me wrong - I'll take that food and dodge that beating every time I can, but I don't hold a grudge about it. I'd do the same thing in their place.

But what that watchman does. And it's not just us - he strides roughshod over the whole quarter. Bullies people that haven't done anything wrong. And just now? We were lucky to get away. I think this time he meant to kill us."

Danniven, wiping blood from where it still flowed freely down her chin from her nose, nodded.

"You're right, Aefsheen. Absolutely right. He needs to be taught a lesson, that one."

"Yeah, but what can we do, Danni? He nearly killed the two of us singlehandedly. He even managed to take our knives away.”

“Well, yours he took. Mine, I left in his leg. I guess I’ll have to break into another butcher shop and steal us some replacements. But I know, brother. He nearly killed the two of us. But could he take ten of us down? Fifteen? I don’t think he could.”

“Are we back to that, sister? We’ve talked and talked about it.”

“Yes we have, and it’s time to stop talking and act, Aefsheen. I know you’re not thrilled with the idea, and I honestly prefer going alone or with just you, but we’ve caught the Watch’s attention now, and they’ll be hunting us. We won’t survive on our own any longer. We have a few friends. Let’s talk to them and they can talk to their other friends. We’ll see how it plays out.”

Aefsheen turned it over in his mind and the more he thought about it, the more he realized she was right. The pair had targets on their backs now. If not the whole watch, then at least this tyrant and his friends would hunt them down now that they’d wounded him. Reluctantly, he agreed to organize a group of other youths from the neighborhood.

  Tohlfehn meandered through the mill quarter. He was a large man, but lazy, and so had chosen to join the city watch rather than fell trees or labor in the lumberyard. When he’d finished his training, at first he’d resented being sent here to police the city’s laborers and drunks and urchins. But he soon came to realize that he could truly make use of his great size and strength and have some fun with the city’s poorer citizens. He’d always been a bully, and he soon turned the quarter into his playground, knowing the locals would never bother to complain to his superiors. He pushed around drunkards, beat children, and occasionally had his way with some of the fairer women unfortunate enough to catch his eye.

Movement in an alleyway caught his attention, and he hefted his mace and turned that direction. He limped into the shadowy space between the butcher’s and the tanner’s shops and paused to let his eyes adjust to the gloom. Then he saw her. One of the two little bastards from last week. He’d caught them stealing apples and tried to arrest them but they fought. He’d beaten them with his fists until they pulled knives. He’d managed to disarm the pointy ear boy, but the filthy girl had sunk her knife into his leg. They used the distraction to escape. Now she was standing at the other end of the alley, face still swollen, but she wasn’t running this time. She spoke as she approached him.  

“Your days of abusing the people of this neighborhood are over, Tohlfehn. You’ve terrorized us for the last time. It ends today.”

The burly watchman, confident in his leather armor, iron headed mace, and sheer size, laughed loudly enough to echo through the alley and out into the street beyond. He reached out and grabbed the front of her tunic. She didn’t resist as he dragged her out into full view of the growing crowd.

“Little girl, what do you mean, threatening ME? I’ll give you the beating of your life right here in the street as a lesson to any others that feel brave. Ha! I’m a man of the city watch, and you’re nothing. You’re an insect! What threat is an insect?” He lifted her by her tunic and punched her in the face. Her head rocked back, then she lifted it back up and looked him in the eye. She grinned at him as the crowd closed in on them.

“You’re right, watchman.” She spoke the last word with all the disdain she could muster. “One insect is no threat. It stings, and you swat it and it dies. One insect is a nuisance. But a swarm? There’s your threat.” He felt the bite of a blade entering his back and she laughed at the look of shocked pain in his eyes.

He dropped her and spun around, swinging his mace inches over Aefsheen’s ducking head. Aefsheen reached out and left a bloody gash in the large man’s thigh as more than a dozen children and youths emerged from shop doors and alleys, running to attack Tohlfehn at once with knives, table legs, boards, and cobblestones pried from the street.

Danniven laughed as she drew her knife and joined in the attack. She leapt onto Tohlfehn’s back, wrapping her legs around his waist and one arm around his head. “Meet the Swarm” she murmured in his ear as she buried her blade in his neck.

  He woke groggily from his dream of the Swarm’s first attack. He sat up and looked at the faded tattoo of a wasp on the web of skin between the thumb and forefinger on his right hand while his left hand rubbed his swollen jaw and he took in his surroundings. He appeared to be in a small stone cell with an iron grate for a door. The bed was a wooden platform jutting from the wall, almost padded by a thin mildewed blanket. There was another bed across the cell, a chamber pot in one corner of the cell and a pitcher near the door. The whole room was perhaps eight feet square with a low ceiling.

He took a look and a sniff at the pitcher. It appeared to be water. Maybe a bit stale, but likely not dangerous. If his captors had wanted him dead, they’d have killed him while he was unconscious instead of going to all the trouble of imprisoning him first. He drank the water and tried to think through the throbbing in his skull. How had he wound up here? As the water revived him, his memory slowly returned and he remembered the conflict. He’d gotten lost in a forest after seeking shelter from a storm. He was camped for the night when he found himself surrounded by soldiers including one mounted and dressed in full plate armor and helm, holding a lance and wearing a sword.

As it turned out, the mounted man was Winslir, Sir Ebrenn Markwell’s squire. Winslir informed Aefsheen that he was trespassing on Sir Ebrenn’s lands and accused him of poaching, although he was clearly eating dried meat and fruits inside his wagon, taking shelter from the rain still soaking everything around him.  

This was bad. He’d heard stories of Sir Ebrenn. He was referred to as the Mad Yeoman, although presumably not to his face. He was crazy and, ironically for his station, reclusive. He was as likely to treat a guest with all the hospitality of a noble lord or with all the cruelty of a twisted inquisitor, apparently completely randomly. By all accounts, he was an old man, too old to ride into battle anymore. His squire was said to be up in years as well, and to have fought in many battles in his youth, but Ebrenn had always refused to grant him knighthood, and kept him away from any noble who could bestow the honor so that he could keep the poor man indentured to him for life. Most other men would have abandoned Ebrenn long ago and sought a new mentor, but Squire Winslir was afflicted with a deep sense of either loyalty, twisted honor, or his own brand of madness, and he’d remained in Ebrenn’s service all these decades. Ebrenn was rumored to have employed unscrupulous wizards and sorcerers in the past and was supposed to keep monsters as pets and to have inhuman hordes, either as henchmen or prisoners, depending on the story you heard. This was not a man whose prisoner Aefsheen wanted to be. For that matter, he’d prefer to not even be an invited dinner guest.

Aefsheen tried to explain that he’d merely gotten lost in the storm, and offered to leave immediately, but they told him they had standing orders: Anyone who entered Sir Ebrenn’s land without immediately announcing himself at the castle was assumed to be a poacher or an invader and was to be arrested on sight. He’d resisted, and at first fought off his attackers, but then the squire landed a solid sideways blow with his lance across Aefsheen’s jaw, and the world had gone black. The next thing he knew, he was waking up from his dream of the Swarm, feeling hungover without having had the night of revelry to make it worth the headache.

He got up and crept to the door of his cell. He saw a stone hallway leading to his left and right, lit by torches in sconces set just close enough to provide dim lighting in this dungeon. The other side of the hallway appeared to be solid stonework, unbroken by any other cells or doors. He could hear stirrings off to his left and assumed he wasn’t the only prisoner.

 “Pssst. Anyone there? Are you awake?” He asked in the Common speech, hoping the sounds weren’t coming from a guard sleeping at his post. In reply, he heard a wordless baritone grumbling.  

“Humph. I’m awake, alright. Now, at any rate. Second time in the last few hours I’ve been awakened on your account. How’s your head? They had to carry you in here last night” the deep voice answered in the accent of the dwarves of Worldcrown Mountains.

“It hurts, and my jaw’s fairly swollen, but I’ve had worse from drinking at the wrong tavern.” Aefsheen replied with a chuckle.

“Well, welcome to the dungeons of the Mad Yeoman. From all accounts, he could hold us for life, let us out today, or have us killed at any time. I’ve heard he’s even pitted prisoners against each other in gladiatorial combat. Who knows?”

“Well, that’s … unfortunate. How long have you been here?” Aefsheen asked as he began investigating the lock on his cell door. It was a purely academic act, done out of habit and to occupy himself, since his captors had taken his lock picks along with everything else but his clothes.

“I’ve been here a week or so, assuming I haven’t lost track of the days. They keep the water pitchers filled regularly, but the meal schedule is pretty irregular, as is the quality. Sometimes it’s stale bread and moldy cheese, sometimes it’s a feast of roast mutton and potatoes. At any rate, the mercurial timing makes it hard to gauge time. My name is Fehrehngarr Stonehew, skald of the Clanfolk. Who might you be?”  

“I’m Aefsheen. Question, Fehrehngarr: Have you tried escaping yet?”

“Oh, aye, it’s crossed my mind, lad. But I’m not capable of bending steel bars nor of burrowing through stone with my bare hands. I’m no picker of locks either. So here I sit until an opportunity presents itself. So far they haven’t made it easy. They don’t open the door – they just pass the food through the slot down by the floor and have me pass the chamber pot and empty pitcher through the same way.”

“How many guards do you see at a time?” Aefsheen inquired.

“Usually two, sometimes just one” came the answer.

“I may have an answer then. Wait a moment.” Aefsheen took off his jacket, and began rubbing a spot along the bottom hem against the roughhewn stone of the cell’s wall, fraying the thread of the hem. He pulled at the thread and removed a gold coin concealed there and dropped the jacket onto the bed.

“What are you up to over there, elf?”

“Half-elf, actually, my new friend, but I applaud your ear for voices. And plotting our escape is what I’m doing. The soldiers took my weapons and pouch, and emptied my pockets, but I have a few tricks. For example, this piece of gold that was hidden in the seam of my jacket. If there’s one thing I’m sure of regarding soldiers, it’s that to a man, they consider themselves overworked and underpaid. Makes them easy to bribe.”

“Humph. I can’t argue with that logic, but tell me this – what will you do when the guards take your gold and then leave you sitting there anyway?”

“I’m two steps ahead of you. I’ll offer it, then retreat to the rear wall of the cell. When the guard comes in, the door will be open and I’ll have my window of opportunity.”

“I admire your ambition, but they’re armed and armored. You’re neither. What do you hope to accomplish?”

Aefsheen sighed. “Fehrehngarr, you have no faith, but that’s forgivable, since we’ve only just met. This won’t be my first time fighting this type. Soldiers, city watch, gaolers – they’re all the same at their core. Assuming this one fights like the ones who took me last night, I think I’ll be alright. After all, it took four infantrymen and a mounted squire to bring me down. And if we’re visited by a pair of them, I’ll bide my time until there’s only one to better my odds.”

The pair passed the time with casual conversation. Aefsheen discovered that Fehrehngarr was from the Rockfall Clan, a group of nomadic dwarves roaming the Worldcrown Mountains. He was a skald, recording and reciting history and heroic tales in the form of songs and epic poetry. He’d gone off into the world to seek out new tales to add to his repertoire, and to find opportunity to add his own deeds to his library of songs. To that end, he’d served an enlistment in the mercenary company Swordsong. He’d just finished a three year enlistment and was headed home to reunite with his kinsmen, although he’d caught the wanderlust and would probably venture back out into the world after a bit.  Aefsheen, true to his own nature, revealed just enough of himself to achieve a rapport with Fehrehngarr. He spoke vaguely of growing up in the north, and of his travels as a drover and courier, carrying goods by consignment throughout the five baronies. Fehrehngarr, thinking of Aefsheen’s earlier comment about having fought watchmen and gaolers before, came to his own conclusions about what sort of goods Aefsheen ferried.

After an hour or so, they heard booted footfalls descending a stairway nearby. When Aefsheen realized there were two sets of boots, he quickly slipped the coin back into his pocket. The guards refilled the water pitchers and slid plates of food through the slots in the cell gates. At the sight and smell of eggs, ham, and dark rye bread, Aefsheen realized just how hungry he was and his mouth watered. It didn’t even matter that the food was cold and looked already picked at, hinting that it was probably leftovers from the soldiers’ mess.

The two prisoners ate their meals quickly, and one guard left to take the bucket of water back upstairs while the other waited to take the empty plates back. Seeing an opportunity, Aefsheen spoke up as he placed his plate on the floor and pushed it through the slot.

“Quite the meal, my good man. Thank you – much better than the jerky I was accused of poaching last night. So good of your master to feed his falsely accused prisoners so well.” As the guard started to bristle at the insult to his employer, Aefsheen produced the coin from his pocket. “I’ll wager so petty a nobleman isn’t likely to pay his soldiers well, eh?” The gold coin twirled across Aefsheen’s knuckles as he spoke, gleaming in the torchlight. “Here’s an interesting proposition – I’ll trade this coin for that ring of keys on your belt. It’s probably as much as the old miser pays you in a fortnight. More than enough to let you get away from here and start anew elsewhere.”

The guard slid the plate across the floor and away from the door with his foot. He reached for the key tucked into his belt. “These keys for that gold coin, you say?” He asked, greed in his eyes.

“Yes. Surely it’s a more than fair trade. Gold is worth so much more than iron…”

“Aye, that it is, poacher. That it is. However, I don’t like my chances of getting away from here alive if I did that. For that matter, I wouldn’t place any wagers on your escape, neither, if I did let you out. So why don’t we remove the temptation, and I’ll just confiscate your contraband. I’ll do you a favor and not even mention it to the others. That way, you won’t get into even more trouble. You’d likely be executed for attempting to bribe me.” With the last words, he drew his shortsword and moved to put a key into the lock.  

Aefsheen moved toward the back of his cell, forcing the guard to come after him. Once inside the cell, the guard hooked the keys back onto his belt, held his sword at the ready, and extended his other hand, palm up, demanding the coin.

“I suppose I should’ve expected treachery from the hired sword of a knight who imprisons travelers for the crime of getting lost.” Aefsheen said with a heavy sigh and held out the coin, which he fumbled and dropped, sending it rolling between the soldier’s feet. As the man looked down at the rolling coin, Aefsheen acted quickly, grabbing his jacket from the bunk and whipping it over the other man’s head, then giving him a hard shove, sending him sprawling on the floor. The guard fumbled his sword, and Aefsheen stepped on the blade, pinning it to the ground. As he knelt and reached for the hilt, the guard freed himself from Aefsheen’s jacket and flung it aside. He put both hands on the sword’s handle and the two struggled over it. The guard was the stronger of the two and was about to wrest the weapon away when Aefsheen leaned over and drove his forehead into the supine man’s face. The stone floor prevented his head from rocking back to absorb the impact, so his nose and mouth took the full force of the blow and, dazed, his fingers loosened their grip for just long enough that the half elf took the sword away and stood up.

Aefsheen pointed the sword tip at the guard’s throat while he retrieved his jacket from the floor.

“I’ll take the keys now, if you don’t mind. Nice and slow.” As the guard handed them over to him, Aefsheen nodded his thanks and walked out of the cell, closing the door with a clang. “It only seems fair that I let you keep the coin after all that trouble. I just hope your superiors don’t find it and think you took the bribe…”

 Fehrehngarr shook his head and chuckled at that last bit while Aefsheen unlocked his cell.

“Now, do you have any idea where our things are? We won’t get far without weapons, no matter how stealthy we may be.” Aefsheen asked the dwarf. Fehrengarr looked up at Aefsheen through eyebrows as bushy and red as his long beard, and replied “I’ve only seen guards come and go from that one direction.” He replied. Indeed, looking the opposite way from the stairs the guards had used, they saw only a few more yards of corridor and a couple more cell doors. Looking toward the stairs, they saw the corridor went beyond them and took a turn underneath the stairwell.

The pair headed that direction, came to the turn, and after cautiously peeking around the edge of the corner, continued on. Soon they came to a heavy wooden door. Aefsheen put his ear to the roughhewn surface and listened. After a couple moments of silence, he started trying keys in the lock. On the third try, the lock clicked open. He slowly opened the door while Fehrehngarr stood by with clenched fists, ready to jump into battle should anyone be lying in wait on the other side.

The door opened into a dusty, little used room. They saw piles of crates and chests stacked here and there. There were old weapons and sets of armor, traveling sacks and backpacks, all covered in deep layers of dust. Some of the metal implements were showing rust through the grubby accumulation. But closer to the door, lying atop a rotting wooden chest and piled on a creaky table, were their own belongings. Some of them, anyway. Fehrehngarr’s gear was all present: chain mail shirt, dagger and short sword with the red wrapped hilt and silver plated pommel in the shape of a harp (displaying his standing as honorably discharged from Swordsong), and his great battle scarred ax, pack, and the bag holding his lute and bagpipes. The only thing of Aefsheen’s to be seen was his armor and the pouch he carried on his belt.

“You go unarmed, do you, Aefsheen? Seems dangerous for a courier traveling alone.” Fehrehngarr commented.

“They must have disarmed me when they knocked me out. They probably put my weapons in my wagon – I’d have been lighter and easier to carry. Damn. I’ll just have to make do with the guard’s sword, since these others don’t exactly seem fit to use.”

Fehrehngarr pulled on his hauberk, strapped on his sword belt and hefted his battleax, and Aefsheen donned his leather breastplate studded with steel rivets. They surveyed the room and saw two doors at the other end, and made their way there through the clutter. The first door wasn’t locked, and Aefsheen eased it open. They slipped through and found themselves in a larder. There were crates of various foods and sacks of flour and other ingredients on tables along the walls. There was a large icebox in one corner, and an open stairwell leading upward in the middle of the wall on their left. There was light coming down that stairway, and they could hear kitchen sounds. Likely the next meal was being prepared. As shadows grew on the stairwell, they beat a hasty but silent retreat back out of the pantry to the storage chamber and closed the door as quickly as they thought possible while remaining quiet. Their options were to go up the stairs the guards used to get to the cells, which seemed ill advised, or the other door leading out of this locker. After a brief discussion, they opted for the door in front of them. It had layers of dust and cobwebs built up on it, to the point of obscuring the seam between door and jamb. It had obviously not been used in many years.

Fearing a squeaky hinge would give away their presence, the pair searched the store room and found a discarded oilcan that still contained some thin, watery oil at the bottom and they applied it as well as they could to the hinges. The door was so encrusted, it took both of them pulling on the ring in the center of its face to open it. Even freshly oiled, the hinges squeaked and the wood, so long settled in place, creaked loudly enough for them to halt at one point, fearing the sound would be heard from the kitchen, even through a door and two rooms. They heard nothing from the kitchen, but they could hear sounds of alarm coming from the direction of the cells. It had only been a matter of time before the locked up soldier was missed and discovered, and that time had come. They’d run out of options. They yanked the door open another foot, which allowed them to get through. They plunged ahead through a curtain of cobwebs, pulling the spidery silk off their faces as they went.

They heard calls behind them as they ran blindly down the web filled space. “After them – they’re getting away!”

 The space beyond was more tunnel than hallway, unfinished earthen walls, supported at irregular intervals by rotting wooden beams collapsed in places, allowing soil to landslide down, partially blocking their way and forcing them to climb over or run around small mounds of loose dirt.

The tunnel smelled of damp earth, rotting wood, and decay. They could hear other shouts now, from the door. Orders and refusals: “Go in after them!” “I’m not going in the tunnels – we all know what he keeps down there!” “You’ll follow orders or answer for it, coward!” “I’m no coward, but I won’t go down there with those unnatural *things*!” “Fools! The Harvestmen are rumor and myth. Stories told to scare children and keep them from trespassing on Sir Ebrenn’s estate. Now get in there!”

Sounds of scuffling reached their ears, above even the sound of their own labored breathing as they ran and wondered what had the soldiers so frightened. They rounded a bend in the tunnel and stopped to catch their breath. Fehrehngarr pulled remnants of spider web from his beard as Aefsheen nudged a small snake away from his foot. As a dwarf and a half-elf, they could see in the darkness of the tunnel, so had not bothered with any of the torches from their places on the dungeon wall, but they could see the light from torches carried by the soldiers begin to slowly creep in their direction. Apparently the sergeant had proven scarier than whatever bogeyman the men feared in the tunnels. They began their flight anew. Here and there, they began to see small tunnels branching off the main one. These obviously weren’t dug by men, because they weren’t even with the floor of the main passage. They were at seemingly random heights, even through the ceiling, and they had to watch their footing lest they step in one. The smaller passages didn’t always fork off at right angles. When the pair bothered to look, most of the smaller tunnels seemed to twist in odd turns and directions, and many looked to be lined with a white silky coating.

The tunnel they ran through gradually devolved from the structured, semi-finished passage it had started as to a simply dug, rounded hole through the earth and began to twist and turn like those side tunnels they'd passed.

They began to notice an upward incline to the tunnel, and they could just make out a hazy light up ahead, as if daylight were creeping around a doorsill. Just as they started to feel some hope of escape, they began to hear a new noise mixed in with that of their labored breathing and the clamor of the soldiers blundering through the tunnel in pursuit. From all around them, they heard an odd skittering noise, much like the sound a beetle might make as it crawls across a piece of parchment.

Then, in the semidarkness of the tunnel, they saw the first of the creatures. At first, neither believed his eyes, because the images were so surreal. Dozens of what appeared to be gigantic spiders crawled out of the twisted cross tunnels. Up through the floor and down from the ceiling, as well as from all sides, they climbed over each other in their haste, presenting a chaotic swirling tableau of oddly jointed legs like crooked stilts, all racing each other to get to the two adventurers. Each one seemed to be about a foot tall, with a body about the same size, and a leg span of at least five feet. But that was the most easily digestible part of what they saw. What took them valuable seconds to believe was the human face on the front of each of the creatures, and the fact that the first pair of limbs wasn’t spidery legs, but humanoid hands. As though that weren’t bad enough, several of the creatures held sticks or rocks in their hands, presumably as weapons. If the horrid screeching sounds issuing from those ghastly mouths was speech, it was no language either man had heard before.

As the beasts drew closer to the front, and the soldiers closed their distance from the rear, the two men felt real fear creeping at the sides of their minds, threatening to swarm panic over them. They gripped their weapons and looked at each other. “More inspiration for your tales, if we survive, eh, skald?” joked Aefsheen with gallows humor. Fehrehngarr adjusted his grip on his ax, gave it a flourish and replied “Don’t stand too close to me when it starts – an ax requires a wide berth in battle. Shall we?”

“Ready when you are.” Aefsheen readied his stolen sword. Fehrehngarr gave a great roar, lifted his ax, and charged into the cluster of monstrosities with a mighty swing. As he cleaved the head of one, Aefsheen thrust his blade into the face of another. They pulled their weapons free, and not caring to try to kill all the man-faced creatures, began to hew a path through the crowd.  They pushed and fought their way through the arachnid throng, making progress by ax stroke and sword thrust, spilling foul blue ichor from the unnatural beasts. For their part, the monsters, through sheer weight of numbers, took their toll on the pair trying to escape this nightmare dungeon. Aefsheen and Fehrehngarr both were covered in deep bruises and shallow cuts from their clubs and stones. The two could better see the light coming into the tunnel now. It looked as though the tunnel led outside and its opening had been loosely capped. They hacked their way towards it.

A great beast of a harvestman made a leap and landed on Fehrehngarr’s chest, wrapping its spider legs around his back and grabbing his beard with its humanlike hands. He could feel others pummeling his legs, and a well-placed blow to the back of his knee caused his legs to buckle. As the beast on his chest lowered its mouth toward his face, fangs dripping with venom, Fehrehngarr dropped his ax and began wrestling with the creature, trying to keep its teeth away from his flesh. A dollop of poison dropped onto his cheek and he felt his skin burn and smelled his whiskers singe. As other monsters crawled onto him, he began to lose his struggle and the fangs drew closer to his cheek. His arms shook with the effort of pushing it away, and just as he felt the tips of those murderous fangs make contact with his flesh, he saw the beast’s head flinch, and the point of a sword exited its forehead. As the blade retracted, he shoved the corpse off himself while Aefsheen set to work slashing at the others who’d crawled aboard the fallen dwarf.

As Fehrehngarr regained his feet, he could see Aefsheen being overrun himself. Not daring to swing the ax and risk cutting the half elf as well as the man-spiders, he drew his own sword and set to work skewering and prying the monsters to free his comrade.

As they were freeing themselves from the onslaught, they noticed a slight ebb in the arachnid tide. They could hear screams from the way they’d come, indicating that the troops had now encountered the swarm.

Aefsheen had a flashback to that first attack by the Swarm he’d helped to found. He saw the irony that he now faced almost certain death at the hands of another type of swarm. If he ever survived, this would make for the perfect tale to share with Danniven and the other remaining founding members back in Oakyard. But first, he had to survive.

Fehrehngarr spoke, “Aefsheen! Stay with me, friend. It’ll take both of us to make it out of here.” Aefsheen shook his head, clearing his mind of the flashback. Fehrehngarr picked up his ax and continued “If I use my ax properly, it takes both my hands, but here – borrow my sword. Do you ever fight with two weapons? It might make the difference.”

Aefsheen replied “It’s how I prefer to fight, actually. These blades are a bit shorter than I’m used to, but they’ll do.”

They resumed their push toward the light. As Aefsheen thrust and slashed to both sides with the pair of shortswords, and Fehrehngarr hacked and swept his way through the arachnid hybrids, they heard a renewed pursuit coming toward them. Just ahead, they saw a large, round stone blocking what looked to be their exit out of this hellhole. There were just a few yards of distance and only a couple of the creatures between them and daylight. They each dispatched a man-spider and then both broke into a run for the stone blocking the exit. Coordinating their timing, they both crashed into it with their shoulders, hoping against hope that their weight and momentum would open their escape route and let them get away from the horrific horde behind them.

Breaking free from the spider hole into the sunlight, they shoved the capstone aside and their momentum carried them to the ground. As they caught their breath, they took in their surroundings. They were in a small, lightly wooded, naturally bowl shaped hollow a few dozen yards across, whose sides sloped up to the crest about twenty feet higher than where they lay. There were fallen trees and boulders strewn around the depression, all covered in webs still beaded with moisture from last night’s rain. They also spotted too many web-obscured lumps that looked uncomfortably humanoid shaped. There was a light scattering of web strands across the rest of the ground as well, resembling a light frost, while the lower branches of trees might as well have been subjected to a blizzard for all the white clinging to and hanging from them.

 As the pair stood up, they heard more battle sounds from the tunnel, but more ominously, as they looked toward it, they heard a loud rustling from the fallen leaves beneath the trees behind them. They turned to find another cadre of the spiderlike monsters approaching them from the leaves, while their second line dropped on webs from higher branches.

The fight began anew as the adventurers thrust sword and swung ax, and did their best to dodge and parry stones and sticks. They could hear the fight from the tunnel getting closer, and just when they were beginning to wonder if they’d run out of stamina before their enemy ran out of numbers, they saw the knight’s guards hack their way into the sunlight, having finally overcome the spiders in the tunnel. The guards emerged blinking at the sun’s brightness contrasting with the tunnel they’d just fought through. They seemed confused as to whether they should continue to pursue Aefsheen and Fehrehngarr, or to fight the creatures. The question was answered for them as a new pack of Huntsmen broke away from the main force and encircled them.

 After what seemed an eternity of fighting, hearing the screams of men and the horrific screeching of man-spiders, enduring the bruises and cuts of wounds, and feeling the burn of cramping muscles in desperate need of rest, the two escapees found themselves backed up against a web-shrouded boulder alongside the last two soldiers left alive. The giant spiders seemed to be regrouping in a semicircle facing the four. Everyone on both sides seemed to be taking the moment to catch their breath. Hearing the guards ragged breath, seeing one looked like he was about to die, Aefsheen steeled himself to take his last stand. He spoke, “Fehrehngarr, this looks like the end. Shame, too – I feel we could have been friends under other circumstances.” For his part, the skald looked around at his impromptu battle mates and took a deep breath. When he spoke, his sonorous voice carried the authority of a historian and the inspiration of a poet. “Few against a throng Captain Asfandiar Cried out ‘Cut down the vile invaders!’

 He raised Troll-Sunder Swung down the notched blade and Elf heroes laid waste to orc raiders”

 Raising his ax blade as he spoke the last stanza, he then roared and charged the gathered spider throng. Aefsheen, inspired by recognizing the name in the poem, gave both blades a whirling flourish and leapt back into the fray with renewed vigor. The soldiers, encouraged by Fehrehngarr’s oration, began once more to swing their own swords.

There weren’t so many monsters left now, and by this time, the men had begun to figure out the weak spots to aim for, and soon turned the tide. There was a scream, and Aefsheen and Fehrehngarr, having each dispatched the last of the creatures facing them, turned to see only the sergeant left alive. He was disarmed, on his back, wrestling with one of the beasts, much like Fehrehngarr had been earlier. The dwarf strode steadily toward him, drew back his ax and swung. The blade bit right through the monster, cutting it in half, sending the two pieces scattering, and covering the soldier in blue blood, but sparing him the venom that had killed his companion beside him.

 “You could have left me to die and made good your escape. Why did you help me?” the man at arms asked, and Fehrehngarr replied “No, I couldn’t. Have no doubt I’ll be leaving, but I couldn’t walk away from any man and leave him to die such an unnatural way. If you wish a clean death in battle, let’s take a moment to recover our energy and we’ll have a go at it. Otherwise, I’m walking away now.”

 “Not at all. You’ve more than earned your release as far as I’m concerned. Looking at some of those shapes wrapped up in webs, I think I know what happened to some of our ‘deserters’, and what would have happened to me and the bodies of my men had you not intervened.” He looked over to Aefsheen, who was using the shirt of one of the fallen to clean the sword blades. “I’ll retrieve your wagon and deliver it to you on the road near where you were captured last night. Just wait until after nightfall when the knight and the squire have retired for the evening.”

Aefsheen nodded his thanks and replied “Just don’t wait too long. If I don’t have reins in hand by midnight, I’ll come back in for it myself. And I won’t be caught unaware this time.”

 ________________________________________________________________

  Later that night, having regained his wagon, donned his own swordbelts, and returned Fehrehngarr’s blade, Aefsheen took shook the reins and set his team to a relaxed canter despite the rain having started again. There would be no stopping tonight – he wanted as much distance as possible between himself and whatever dark wizardry was responsible for what they’d just survived. He looked over to the dwarf seated next to him and asked “What was that bit of poetry you called out back there?” The dwarf shrugged and replied “Oh that was just the end of the Tale of Asfandiar Silverthorn. I’m surprised you’re not familiar – it’s a true tale that took place during the Orc War up in your part of the world.” “Oh, I know that much. We just didn’t hear a lot of poetry or singing in my quarter. Well, at least none that wasn’t lewd.” They shared a laugh that helped relieve some of the day’s tension. Then Aefsheen got serious. He was distrustful by nature, both from upbringing and profession, but this man knew things he wanted to hear. Plus, they’d just saved each other’s’ life. He decided to let himself trust the bard.

“Some time you’ll have to tell me the rest of the poem. To be honest, I’ve heard quite a few stories about Asfandiar. For example, did you know that Asfandiar took a human wife in the Treeguard Barony?”

“I’ve heard rumors about Asfandiar Silverthorn’s human woman, aye. But the historians are divided on how true it is.”

“Humph. The elves provided a proper funeral for him, but then abandoned his widow and child afterwards… Yes, any tales you’ve heard of Asfandiar, I’d love to hear them, my new friend. And in exchange, perhaps I can supply you with some you haven’t heard.” Fehrehngarr stole a glance at the man he’d just met, looked at the head and face that was shaped like an elf, but bore beard and mustache like a human and started to ponder.

“Aefsheen, are you saying –“

 Aefsheen cut him off and said “I’m saying that in my mother’s house, in the mill quarter of the city of Oakyard, on the wall above her fireplace is an elfmade longsword, with a prominent notch in one edge, hanging below a scrap of banner from the Elderwood kingdom.

I didn’t tell you my surname, did I? It’s Silverthorn.”

(Copyright 2020 Robert Worth Cadenhead, Jr)

[pinkcurse]

270 Thoughts

Holy long post, Batman! Be prepared to stay awhile! 

The title for this months thoughts is pretty accurate… I have about 270 thoughts about this chapter. So, of course, it’s Kana. I said Kana was the obvious choice, but now I have some more insight on why, from a story perspective, Nakamura is doing this. The purpose is to draw a contrast between Kana’s “obvious” maturity and Kyoko’s “immaturity”. So, I think we are gearing up to see some changes in Kyoko. I use the quotes on obvious for Kana because...I’m pretty sure she set this up after Ren walks her to the car in chapter 259 we see the image below.

A fellow member of the Facebook group pointed this out. Which pretty much conclusively points to this being a setup. There are three pictures taken at a private club. So, it had to be someone on the inside that took them. So the question is, is she doing this to stay relevant or to try to trap Ren into a relationship by showing him: “Hey! You’re the number 1 man, I’m the number 1 woman, we should be together! All of Japan supports us so why shouldn’t we be together!”  Or most likely, it’s a little bit of both. Regardless, I suspect that Kana will be around a bit more often now since Ren isn’t dispelling the rumors and he will probably refuse to be anything but polite, I can see things getting more dramatic from here.

Soooo if Kana is sniffing around Ren she is bound to run into Kyoko. With her using this type of manipulation I get the impression that Kana won’t deal well with a rival for Ren’s affections. She seems like she will know right away that Kyoko is a real threat to her plans and she will try to take her out. This most likely would be pitting each other as rivals in the eyes of the people. For example, in the tabloids, she makes Kyoko out to be a homewrecker.  Just a young girl who is immature and doesn’t know what she’s doing. The fact that Kyoko has only played bully roles will probably factor into her manipulation of the public. Setting all of the above aside, I think the point of this whole thing will be to make Kyoko mature. To finally start seeing herself as a REAL rival for Ren. Lory might even play the “You’re letting him go without a fight?” card because we all know that that isn’t Kyoko...You know… I think it would be better if Maria was the one who said this to Kyoko… honestly can’t you all see it? Annny way… on to other things

So the Okami’s reactions, saying the things about older women and I think has two purposes. First, I think she is relieved that Ren has someone who is older...because to her that means Kyoko is safe. Toshio is the only one to suspect Ren’s duplicitous nature and I think he sees that Ren has feelings for Kyoko and he doesn’t like this. Also, her reaction serves the purpose of letting Kyoko know people, in general, approve of this match between Ren and Kana.

As far as Yashiro’s plans to ignore it and hope it goes away are pretty stupid. Then again, he doesn't have any experience (that we know of) dispelling these types of rumors. As I said before, I think this rumor mill is going to get worse before it gets better and I think a large part will be because Yashiro’s ignore it and hope it goes away strategy. Seriously, I am feeling like we will see Kana again before the year is out. Probably doing something that furthers the rumors. She gives me the impression that she is like an older version of Kimiko.  Does anyone else feel that way? Like Kimiko’s blog was “Ren took me on a date!....JUST KIDDING” Kana will just do something that makes Ren look like they are meeting for a romantic interlude and let the paparazzi do its thing. She’s a more subtle snake. To add a bit more validity to this thought Chapter 258 is both the chapter where Kana is first introduced, and she kisses him AND it is the chapter where Kimiko tries to throw Kyoko off the building. The name of the chapter is Hungry Ghost. Initially, I was thinking it referred to Kimiko, but now I think it was talking about both women.

Alright, the girl’s at Kyoko’s set. Their purpose is similar to the Okami’s, to let Kyoko know that people, in general, approve of the match. But they add another layer to it. One of them says if it’s someone their age or younger, they would be pissed off. Why? Because that could have been them. We know Kyoko is probably about their age or a bit younger so this is just another strike against Kyoko and she hasn’t even begun to battle for Ren’s heart. Also, the comment at the end of their conversation about Kana’s “skills” and the innuendo that implied, that will probably come up between the two again as well, especially after the whole hicky thing… and Kyoko having no experience with men. However, the one thing Kyoko and Ren have going for each other (not that Kyoko or those girls know it) is their shared past. Ren, if he is forced to out himself as Kuon can always sell the story of him and Kyoko being destined to be together type thing.

Now on to Lory. I am so happy to see him again but OF COURSE, HE CALLED REN AND LAUGHED! I wouldn’t expect any different reaction from him to be honest. I read some speculation on the Facebook group that Lory might have set this up, but I doubt it. I think that was all Kana. Remember Lory said he hates when love dramas unfold according to his script, they don’t do anything for him that way. No, he is gonna let these two idiots do their thing. Maybe he might nudge like he did with the photo of Kyoko and Sho but I don’t think he would be so blatant as this. It could just be to talk to her about everything that is going on with Ren but I think (hope?) the reason he and Swara are looking for Kyoko is for a Love Me job. We do see her in the side story (which I’ve said over and over that I think happens sometime AFTER this “day”) in her Love Me uniform. I also suspect (more like hope against all hope) that that Love Me job involves Kuu and Juli. I think if ANYONE can help Kyoko learn to love her self and give her the battle armor she needs to fight for Ren it would be Juli. Honestly, with the article coming out I can see Juli losing her will power and hoping the first flight she can to Japan. Especially if she thinks her boy is in love or in danger from someone else. I don’t think Kuu picked up on Ren’s feelings for Kyoko so I doubt he could have relayed them to Juli but she might have enough intuition to be suspicious of what Ren’s feelings for Kyoko might be. If Juli and Kuu come to Tokyo, THIS might be the unexpected result. Also if they come, and the press is digging into Ren’s life looking for more proof of the rumor, Ren might find his secret being outed before he tells Kyoko. Which… you know… DRAMA! We know Nakamura likes to torture us so….

Lastly, the GPS tracker on Kyoko’s phone. Remember Kyoko has a company phone, not a personal one so it does make some sense for the company to be able to track it. I don’t expect this is because Lory wants to mess with Ren and Kyoko but that it will be important later in the story. If Ren’s secret does come out through the press (and he doesn’t tell her first) maybe she runs off back to Kyoto and they use the GPS to track her down? Or maybe someone “kidnaps” her. Nakamura hasn’t used that trope yet and it’s pretty standard in Shojo manga, so it could be that as well.

Now that I have written almost two full pages of a Google doc about Skip Beat! instead of doing my homework for grad school I am gonna get out. Let me know what you think!

[my-sweet-pea]

Territorial - Part 1

This is a combination of two requests I got, and as a result, I ended up writing a lot more than usual. This is going to be two parts as a result. I’d love some feedback! I hope you do enjoy. Warnings: cursing/crude language, mention of sex

Part 1  /  Part 2

I checked my watch for the twelfth time in five minutes. It was almost the end of the school day, and I couldn’t wait to get out of here. My boyfriend had been out of town for a couple of days, and now that he was home, I just wanted to run straight to his place.

I couldn’t focus on whatever Ms. Condie was saying. I usually did well in biology, so whatever I missed for the last 10 minutes of class wouldn’t really impact my overall grade. I imagined how wonderful it would feel to hold Sweet Pea, to kiss him, to run my fingers through his gorgeous black hair. I continued daydreaming about him until the final bell rang.

I launched myself out of my desk like a shot. Time to see Pea!

I took off down the hall, easily dodging classmates as we all rushed to escape the drab confines of Riverdale High. I was used to this dance, though I wasn’t always in as much of a hurry as I was at that particular moment.

I had never really been apart from Pea for more than half a day. We were almost inseparable, and I liked it that way. Sure, we each had our own friends, but we were each other’s best friend.

I felt my phone buzz just as I reached my locker. I fumbled it out of my pocket while I tried to unlock my locker. It was Toni.

“Hey girl, school is ooooout!!! Are you meeting us at the quarry?”

I frowned. I loved the quarry, and I loved Toni, but I did sort of want some alone time with Pea after the past couple days.

“Hey! Maybe, not sure yet. I'll probably hitch a ride with Pea.”

At the same time, I shot Pea a text: “Are you going to the quarry right away, or can I meet you at your place?”

Sweet Pea responded almost instantly: "Hey sexyyy, stop by my place first ;)"

I smiled to myself. That's more like it.

I looked up at my locker, shoving my books inside in a hurry. I was still smiling like an idiot when I heard Reggie Mantle call my name.

"Well well well. Aren't you looking gorgeous today, little lady!"

I rolled my eyes. Reggie couldn't stop flirting to save his own life. It was a perpetual state of being for him. I had to deal with him fairly often because I was a River Vixen and he was the captain of the football team.

"Hey Reggie, what's up?" I turned to give him some attention while still preparing my bag for the end of the day.

He licked and bit his full lips. "Not too much right now, but I'm sure we could get something going if you're interested."

I rolled my eyes. "Not today and not ever, Reg. You know I'm spoken for."

Reggie draped one of his muscled arms around my shoulders. "Aaaah yes, baby, you may be spoken for by some lowly thug, but I could show you the world!"

I shot him a withering glare while shrugging off his arm.

"Are you really quoting Aladdin? As a pick-up line?"

Reggie shrugged. "Whatever works, babe, and believe me when I say it is true." He winked outrageously at me to emphasize his point.

"Reggie, seriously, not right now. I'm kind of in a hurry."

He glanced at his football buddies with a doubtful expression. "You're in a hurry to leave my presence? That doesn't sound right."

"I think you'd find that it is quite often the case if you actually listen to any of the women you proposition."

I heard some of the Bulldogs chuckle amongst themselves. I clicked my lock shut, moving to push past Reggie. My escape was blocked by his thick arm.

"Now now, no need to be hasty. I get that you have this 'boyfriend' to rush off to," he said, putting heavy air quotes around the word boyfriend, "but I don't think it's very nice to leave an old friend hanging mid-conversation!"

Reggie was usually a mild inconvenience to most girls at school. It wasn't very often that he crossed the line from creepy and pervy to being actually physically threatening, but at this moment, I was starting to get nervous. Reggie was taller and much stronger than me, and I could sense the breadth of his muscles right now. His face was set in a straight line, eyes unflinching.

I sighed. "Look, Reggie, I'm sorry, but if you want to be anything other than completely platonic friends, that isn't going to work for me. Or my boyfriend."

My phone vibrated to alert me to an incoming call. I saw Sweet Pea's name and photo flash across the screen.

"Who is that?" Reggie demanded, no longer looking amused.

I frowned. He sounded more annoyed than he should be. He was often flirting with me at practice, but it had always seemed fairly light, and he’d usually backed down when I talked about Sweet Pea. There wasn’t usually an audience of his football team, though, and the difference in his behaviour was very obvious.

"I told you, I have a boyfriend. He's calling right now."

Reggie grabbed my phone from my hand, staring at Sweet Pea's contact photo. A look of rage slowly built the longer the phone rang.

"Give me my phone back. I want to answer that."

I jumped for my phone quickly, but Reggie's football reflexes kicked in and he held the phone up high above my head. I stepped back, crossing my arms and funnelling all of my anger into my expression.

“Give. Me. My. Phone,” I bit out.

The football players began to murmur. I didn’t deign to look at any of them. All of my attention was focused on my anger towards Reggie.

He looked me up and down, appraising the situation. “Alright. Fine. Since you threw such a hissy fit, I guess you can have your precious phone back.”

He threw the phone high into the air. I managed to catch it despite the outrageous throw. Reggie stepped up far too close and sneered at me.

“See you at the game tomorrow,” Reggie hissed in my ear as he and his friends walked off down the hall.

I glared after him, taking deep breaths to calm myself down before returning Sweet Pea’s call. He could tell that something was wrong and he insisted that he come pick me up from school.

I made my way to the front of the school, still slightly shaken by the slightly out of character experience with Reggie. He wasn’t usually a bully like that. I didn’t consider him anything other than amusing most of the time. I shook my head, pursed my lips, and tried to focus on the fact that I was about to see Sweet Pea.

He pulled up to the curb on his bike. I ran to him before the engine was even off. With a whoop, he scooped me into his lap as he sat on the bike.

“There’s my girl!” he said with a smile as he layered kisses upon my face.

I giggled, pretending to fight him off for a few seconds before I sighed and leaned into him.

“I missed you. A lot.”

“I did too but don’t tell Fangs or he’ll go on about the fact that I’m supposedly whipped,” he smiled at me tenderly.

We sorted ourselves out to start our trip to Sweet Pea’s trailer. I wrapped my arms around his waist tightly and kissed his neck.

“Let’s go, my love.”

He nodded and we were on our way.

We spent about half an hour making out at his trailer before the incessant texts from Toni, Fangs, Short Stack, and Sienna became too many to ignore. We hit up the quarry, holding hands the entire time. After any time apart, we refused to separate for even a second. Fangs made his predictable comments about how soft and whipped Pea had become in his old age, and Sweet Pea shot back some loving comments about Fangs becoming bitter in his loneliness.

Our time at the quarry came to an end all too soon. We always had fun times with the Serpents. Most of my friends were now Serpents, with the exception of a couple of trustworthy Northsiders.

I headed back home with Sweet Pea, having told my parents that I would be at my best friend’s house for the night. We spent the night worshipping each other’s bodies and working out our pent-up feelings. When I finally fell asleep, I was curled in his strong arms while he kissed my head.

The next morning, I made Sweet Pea a breakfast sandwich before he drove me to school. The small, familial moments we had together always caused my heart to swell with happiness. I couldn’t imagine a better way to spend my morning.

Sweet Pea dropped me off at Riverdale High. He finally let me go after multiple minutes of kissing. It was no secret that I was dating him, but there were still people who seemed surprised every time they saw us together. I didn't really care who saw us. I was going to miss his; the next time I’d see him would be at the Bulldogs’ game that evening.

He had seen me cheer before, but he always left as soon as we finished our opening routine. One time, he had described his desire to watch the Bulldogs play as, “smaller than my desire to have fire ants crawling on my balls”. But tonight, I had convinced Toni and Fangs to come to the game, and Pea had finally relented when he realized that it meant that much to me.

I pulled away reluctantly. “Sweets, I gotta go. I have class in a couple minutes.”

He groaned and left a quick smack on my cheek. “There you are. Go conquer the day, princess.”

I giggled and stood. “I’ll see you tonight?”

“Of course. Wouldn’t miss it. We’ll be there nice and early,” Sweet Pea assured before he peeled off on his bike.

I watched him go until I couldn’t see him any longer. I sighed and turned to head to my locker.

One of the Bulldogs, AJ, was standing on the steps, watching me closely. He caught my eye and bobbed his eyebrows at me sardonically. I frowned back at him. I didn’t know AJ other than as a classmate, so why was he watching me and sending me subtle messages?

AJ turned and entered the building. The door shut loudly with a slam. There weren’t many people milling around the front lawn anymore as homeroom started in a minute. The eerie silence combined with AJ’s expression gave me the creeps.

I rushed to my first class, deciding to skip my locker for now. I felt unnerved by the small interaction with AJ and I couldn’t explain why.

The first half of the day went by well enough. School was just as boring and predictable as usual. Archie and Betty were up to something, as per usual, and Josie and Cheryl were stalking through the halls. I stayed out of everyone’s way and stayed quiet.

At lunch, I sat down with my two best friends. They were leaning together, whispering about something.

"Hey, ladies. What's the hot goss?" I asked as I unwrapped my sandwich.

My best friend Olivia whipped around with wide eyes. “You are!”

I started and knocked my sandwich onto the floor. “What??” I croaked in horror.

“Reggie is on the warpath,” confirmed my other friend Leah. “Everyone knows Sweet Pea dropped you off at school this morning, which like, isn’t usually a big deal, right? But Reggie is pissed because you, like, dissed him yesterday and then ‘had the nerve to show us with that thug’ this morning.” Leah threw up quick air quotes with her fingers as she spoke.

Both girls looked nervous. I was mostly confused.

“Why does Reggie care about my life at all?”

Olivia shrugged, her brow furrowed. “Honestly don’t know, but does that even matter? Fact is, he does care and he’s making it his business to do something about it.”

I scowled, staring down at my sad sandwich on the floor. The scene he made yesterday wasn’t enough; he had gone fully crazy.

Leah and Olivia nervously chattered away with each other, both of them eyeing me cautiously. I finally calmed down enough to give them a reassuring smile.

“I can handle Reggie. I’m just annoyed that I have to.”

Both girls nodded sympathetically. I could tell that they were glad it was me that Reggie was bothering and not them.

I scooped my ruined sandwich back into the bag, throwing it out in the nearby garbage can. “I’m going to head out. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll text you guys later if I’m still alive.”

Olivia frowned and shook her head at me teasingly. “You’d better text me even if you’re dead!”

I rolled my eyes and hurried towards my locker, stomach churning with anxiety. I needed to figure out what to do.

I whipped out my phone and texted Sweet Pea and Toni about the situation. Toni suggested grabbing his balls and twisting until his voice was permanently two octaves higher than usual. I pretended to consider it, knowing Toni's suggestions weren't going to get more reasonable.

Sweet Pea was on red alert immediately, swearing and threatening Reggie’s life. I knew that his jealousy would rear its dramatic head. I found it endearing most of the time, and when he was jealous, it also meant that he was going to be protective. I didn’t think that Reggie would actually do anything to me, but I also wouldn’t have guessed that he’d freak out about my boyfriend dropping me off at school.

Sweet Pea was freaking out fully by now. He told me that he was going to leave school and come get me. I protested, reminding him that I still had to cheer for the Bulldogs that afternoon at the game. He didn't care. In his mind, his girl was being threatened by someone, and it was time to remind Reggie that I was all for Sweet Pea.

I was chewing on my fingernail when the bell rang. Sweet Pea had stopped responding, and I assumed that he was sulking. I was still going to go to all my classes, despite what Pea might say.

With a pit in my stomach, I headed into my next class. Thankfully, I didn't share any classes with Reggie, and the few Bulldogs that were in my class seemed to look at me with pity rather than with animosity.

I was starting to feel nauseous, and I was dreading the Vixens' practice. I wasn't ready to deal with Cheryl and her particular brand of biting scorn. I already knew that she would have some comment about Reggie and Sweet Pea, and I knew that I wasn't going to like it.

At the sound of the final bell, I slowly stood and prepared for a torturous afternoon.

Part 1 /  Part 2

[batterymonster2021]

News: Major Bitcoin Bull Indicator / Binance Mainnet Launched: Get Prepared

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/news-major-bitcoin-bull-indicator-binance-mainnet-launched-get-prepared-2/

News: Major Bitcoin Bull Indicator / Binance Mainnet Launched: Get Prepared

What’s up every body and welcome back to field mining there may be a lot on the crypto information entrance in these days and we’re gonna take a seem at all of them and at the forefront and the major we’re gonna talk about this golden cross that every person is speakme about in reality we just crossed it and it signifies relatively bullish habits and once we take a seem at what’s sensible and now not realistic in phrases of expectations and in different information we bought Vitalik saying let’s increase staking rewards for Ethereum someday we additionally got the CFTC chair saying or hinting at what’s in all probability delaying Bakkt for Bitcoin and on high of that we’re gonna take a really deep seem at through Binance chain it can be simply launched live in these days and there is a lot of alterations I ought to beware of for illustration new addresses and also what the BEP-2 token we’re gonna take a look at intensive appear at that in latest episode so ensure you keep for that and with all my videos that you may skip straight to the section you’re inquisitive about so what you want to do is you need to move and scroll down to the top comments and click on the time for his or her remark the subject you are concerned about everything of course blanketed right here is my personal opinion now not financial advice and we bought quite a bit to duvet at present so let’s get into it let’s off through taking a seem on the markets and the markets are flashing a bit bit inexperienced to trap us in so we bought Bitcoin at five thousand 5 hundred and sixty that’s certainly an all-time excessive for this yr we started off this yr with three thousand 700 and it can be getting pushed up quite loads and there’s plenty of pleasure as good on reddit considering that what we’re seeing correct now what each person is relatively excited for is this golden pass formation on Bitcoin and what persons are pronouncing is this is a important indication for to off the bull market so in phrases of technical analysis what’s the Golden cross what does it imply whoa it can be these two traces crossing one of the vital white line representing the 50-day relocating usual crossing with the 200-day moving typical and what quite a lot of humans are viewing this as is that it is a shift in market conduct sort of the formal shift back into a Bullis mentality and if you seem at very deeply and also you see plenty of these crazy articles I right away saw this one got here to mine analyst predicts Ethereum to hit 2000 after impending golden pass and we see various these articles just lately simply to clickbait every body into studying dumb and a variety of the foundation at the back of it is certainly headquartered on this guy called science guy so science guy in the event you guys don’t know he is been making beautiful correct predictions of when bullish behaviors comes and he is been predicting the tip of the endure market coming this month so on April 24th there was type of like additional adjustments he is been pronouncing yet between April 30th to made a fifth it can be been flopping a little bit but he’s seeing a major upswing for the cost of each Ethereum and for Bitcoin and this is what’s getting every body so excited so in the event you appear at reddit we received shit row insane noob I simply maxed out all my bank cards purchasing Bitcoin now there is definitely various pleasure principally with regards to shitpost on reddit for me individually i’m still taking my historical stance which is dollar cost typical and in general that is considering of my previous expertise due to the fact that I sort of remorse vastly no longer buy a extra Bitcoin back when it was once in 2012 and Bitcoin was once ten bucks I mean on the finish of the day whether or not I bought it at $10 $12 might be even $15 it can be a enormous gain my heart’ll in the end in phrases of other factors to get excited for crypto we bought crypto to crypto quantity surging via 70% in march so this is a file launched with the aid of coin examine and in their march assessment they stated that there’s a tremendous broaden so 70 percent for crypto to crypto trade and forty seven.5 for total crypto alternate sparked quantity they may be all increasing showing that there’s multiplied healthy interest for trading cryptocurrencies in terms of aetherium Vitalik is asserting that he needs to expand the return on funding for staking sooner or later for aetherium so easy methods to fully grasp this desk is as such so on this side now we have Ethereum stakes so the more Ethereum there may be staked the more annual issuance the extra a theorem that is created but also the max annual return for staking can be decreased given that you are variety of spreading that reward over quite a few ethereum state overall i am most likely very excited for when a theorem does make that transfer to proof of stake it’s much cleaner for the atmosphere and in addition it does imply that there may be more lockup for Ethereum so now the one question is when would arrive and we will still have got to wait to see that now this caught my eye over the weekend which is Serena Williams four-time Olympic gold medal for tennis she’s investing into coinbase because the title reads now at first when I first saw this i’m like what’s the cause I mean Serena’s identified for beating at tennis but not at Crypto or investment funds what’s a monitor record what’s her history but upon extra inspection of this text we realized that she definitely invested or started investing with her Serena ventures in 2014 so that is surely earlier than that major crypto Rises and she or he i am investing coinbase so that’s actually you know lovely excellent track record so that is an honestly nunu’s per se but alternatively it’s only a disclose present previous investments which included coinbase and she definitely made it go in there subsequent up now we have bed tracks they’re denying that there are any North Korean users on its platform so how did this all occur is when you consider that the brand new York department of financial services they’re accusing metrics of having inadequate insurance policies for anti money laundering now vetrix is flat-out the 90s and i surely see quite a lot of authorities doing more to exchanges someday now money laundering is quite bad however truthfully focusing on crypto exchanges is solely the effortless prey because the biggest sources of cash laundering are the centralized banks I imply just recently Deutsche financial institution’s been raided for money laundering we received JP Morgan to consistently been quality for money laundering as good we without doubt received to stop it but honestly I feel they’re looking at the flawed people just chase right down to a centralized banks in finding them no longer just in finding them however move your banking licenses if their money laundering it can be relatively simple as that and let new avid gamers come and diminish that centralized corruption that we now have on the rumor mill there is this rumor passing around that vacant cocks might be robotically submitting collectors for compensation what this means is that potentially in the event you didn’t bounce by way of the entire loops to file for misplaced money in mt.Gox you continue to would have a risk so that is really pretty cool for me in view that surely i’m a sufferer of empty cocks and i did not file all of the types incorrectly on time so there is a possibility that folks could get that so we will ought to maintain our fingers crossed now onto some greater stuff for adoptions so that you could now keep with Bitcoin on Amazon good no longer directly with Amazon but there’s a new plugin achieved by way of a corporation known as moon that permits you to use the Lightning community to pay for Amazon items in phrases of how you utilize it when you’re buying something on Amazon what will occur is on the cost page the plug-in will show a separate kind of slide to pay with the Lightning network and you can scan the QR code to pay instantly with Lightning network utilising Bitcoin all right I got click on baited into clicking on this article which is CTF C chair giancarlo guidelines out what’s retaining backs future Bitcoin futures now we now have all been hyped about again considering that it can be a new way for men and women to get into trading Bitcoin and it is been stalled so what above all did he say did he supply any signals good it seems to be with the custody a part of Bitcoin so correct now how the backed rash it holds its Bitcoin it appears that is inflicting a little little bit of trouble or hiccups with CTFC approval so we do not really be aware of exactly when this will get accepted I feel that is lovely usual we’ve visible multiple delays on backed so we variety of expect further delays except for like you understand it’s ready now on to the final subject which is finance and there may be quite a few foremost understanding here in particular if you’re or conserving B MB or utilizing B MB and likewise if you’re interested on this sort of decentralized alternate now we’re gonna run down of what this decks certainly is and what how we are able to access it is at Binance.Org not binace.Com and can right away start click to start buying and selling and you’ll see that there may be nothing buying and selling as of but when you consider that all these new belongings they have got to be migrated onto a new token regular for finance referred to as BEP to this factor is rather predominant due to the fact ordinarily finance is an ERC20 token so if you absolutely scan it on say enjinx and you look at all the holders these are folks who maintain and the pockets addresses that maintain BNB and you are held on a theorem addresses that with 0x so right now if you are Hopi and B you gotta be rather listen up and watch out because right now that ERC token is being migrated onto the Binance chain and in the future it’s gonna have an address that genuinely is not commencing with 0x however commencing with bnb and you’ll be able to see that once the Binance when you enter your new account and your new wallet you’re gonna have a wholly distinct account the full article for Binance mainnet swap is here i’ll go away it down a comment section below now should you Hopi and B i’m buying it itself you don’t rather have to do some thing for an trade – we are going to do it naturally for you and in the future while you withdraw it you are gonna be withdrawing it into this b mb one variety addresses so that is now not gonna impact you that so much what does happen is it impacts men and women who have financed token already of their wallet so the BNB already in the wallet so at some point you acquired to relatively pay awareness to how and the place you deposit your BNB if it is an ERC 20 token you bought a deposit to a further a theorem tackle so it starts with 0x right now the mechanism for changing those tokens is by way of the bynars alternate so just doing that deposit however make sure that deposits are open before you do so additionally they stated in the future the ERC variant is a 20 variant of BNB will most effective have temporary utilization in order that they need to do a full migration of those tokens on to finance chain so inevitably you simply ought to migrate to the native by means of first-class chain now in phrases of the steadiness chain itself it is no longer an open consensus chain so it is in reality relatively special from how a theorem works in a sense that with a theorem any person can become a member of the community and that’s why transactions are slower on the grounds that you must have an account for network latency good finance chain they may be doing it very centralized for those who men and women call it that manner the place there are validator notes that are pick few members and so they’re accelerators that promote and make transactions rapid what that implies is that you get turbo confirmations however you severly sacrifice on decentralization considering that only decide on participants can become validator nodes that means if there is collusion between these validators they can possibly alter or censor transactions so that’s sort of the exchange-off between centralization and decentralization versus velocity the more centralization have the much faster that transaction goes to take and this is though which paths that bind has chose they want high performance over more decentralization now I fully agree now I completely believe czs comment here that Finance Dex does no longer venture these theorem it does not have intelligent contracts it challenges ourselves exchanges and that i feel that is the key function I believe we must soak up mind here it is a token mechanism and it will possibly work for some tasks and no longer different initiatives proper now for that token migration there are projects relocating over and Monroe is one in every of them so there was a giant enhance in mythril fame after they determined emigrate from aetherium to buy a best chain to take expertise of how fast transactions are and it makes numerous feel for metro in view that a favors person experience truly with the aid of having exchanges or tokens being transferred much faster unlike in case you had been in a theorem whilst you ought to wait for confirmations good-financed chain is much turbo it is smart for them but it will not make sense for each single challenge and one day i’ll make a much longer video speaking about the negative aspects and disadvantages of relocating on to the finance chain so be certain you stay tuned for that and that’s it for contemporary information replace I simply received back from the V chain summit so i have an up come video to simply talk about all the tendencies there for those who guys are interested by developments i’ve an editorial i’ll put that down below about all the announcements coming and V chain my video about this is gonna be a way more down-to-earth variety of analysis of what’s taking place for me one factor the rationale why i am going to conferences is not because i will be able to reward the fine of the whole lot but I want to show you guys what’s really taking place and what’s truthful to the occasion so that is what that you could expect in my upcoming video concerning the V exchange summit and realistically what do you guys suppose concerning the finance chain adore it hate it have you ever tried the scan net what are your thoughts about it go away a remark within the part under and that i fairly need to have a dialogue with you guys about it thanks guys a lot for watching this video do not forget to click on the like button down under to aid this channel and of path subscribe if you haven’t completed so already by using clicking the subscribe button and a notification bell see you guys in the subsequent video

[airoasis]

News: Major Bitcoin Bull Indicator / Binance Mainnet Launched: Get Prepared

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/news-major-bitcoin-bull-indicator-binance-mainnet-launched-get-prepared-2/

News: Major Bitcoin Bull Indicator / Binance Mainnet Launched: Get Prepared

What’s up every body and welcome back to field mining there may be a lot on the crypto information entrance in these days and we’re gonna take a seem at all of them and at the forefront and the major we’re gonna talk about this golden cross that every person is speakme about in reality we just crossed it and it signifies relatively bullish habits and once we take a seem at what’s sensible and now not realistic in phrases of expectations and in different information we bought Vitalik saying let’s increase staking rewards for Ethereum someday we additionally got the CFTC chair saying or hinting at what’s in all probability delaying Bakkt for Bitcoin and on high of that we’re gonna take a really deep seem at through Binance chain it can be simply launched live in these days and there is a lot of alterations I ought to beware of for illustration new addresses and also what the BEP-2 token we’re gonna take a look at intensive appear at that in latest episode so ensure you keep for that and with all my videos that you may skip straight to the section you’re inquisitive about so what you want to do is you need to move and scroll down to the top comments and click on the time for his or her remark the subject you are concerned about everything of course blanketed right here is my personal opinion now not financial advice and we bought quite a bit to duvet at present so let’s get into it let’s off through taking a seem on the markets and the markets are flashing a bit bit inexperienced to trap us in so we bought Bitcoin at five thousand 5 hundred and sixty that’s certainly an all-time excessive for this yr we started off this yr with three thousand 700 and it can be getting pushed up quite loads and there’s plenty of pleasure as good on reddit considering that what we’re seeing correct now what each person is relatively excited for is this golden pass formation on Bitcoin and what persons are pronouncing is this is a important indication for to off the bull market so in phrases of technical analysis what’s the Golden cross what does it imply whoa it can be these two traces crossing one of the vital white line representing the 50-day relocating usual crossing with the 200-day moving typical and what quite a lot of humans are viewing this as is that it is a shift in market conduct sort of the formal shift back into a Bullis mentality and if you seem at very deeply and also you see plenty of these crazy articles I right away saw this one got here to mine analyst predicts Ethereum to hit 2000 after impending golden pass and we see various these articles just lately simply to clickbait every body into studying dumb and a variety of the foundation at the back of it is certainly headquartered on this guy called science guy so science guy in the event you guys don’t know he is been making beautiful correct predictions of when bullish behaviors comes and he is been predicting the tip of the endure market coming this month so on April 24th there was type of like additional adjustments he is been pronouncing yet between April 30th to made a fifth it can be been flopping a little bit but he’s seeing a major upswing for the cost of each Ethereum and for Bitcoin and this is what’s getting every body so excited so in the event you appear at reddit we received shit row insane noob I simply maxed out all my bank cards purchasing Bitcoin now there is definitely various pleasure principally with regards to shitpost on reddit for me individually i’m still taking my historical stance which is dollar cost typical and in general that is considering of my previous expertise due to the fact that I sort of remorse vastly no longer buy a extra Bitcoin back when it was once in 2012 and Bitcoin was once ten bucks I mean on the finish of the day whether or not I bought it at $10 $12 might be even $15 it can be a enormous gain my heart’ll in the end in phrases of other factors to get excited for crypto we bought crypto to crypto quantity surging via 70% in march so this is a file launched with the aid of coin examine and in their march assessment they stated that there’s a tremendous broaden so 70 percent for crypto to crypto trade and forty seven.5 for total crypto alternate sparked quantity they may be all increasing showing that there’s multiplied healthy interest for trading cryptocurrencies in terms of aetherium Vitalik is asserting that he needs to expand the return on funding for staking sooner or later for aetherium so easy methods to fully grasp this desk is as such so on this side now we have Ethereum stakes so the more Ethereum there may be staked the more annual issuance the extra a theorem that is created but also the max annual return for staking can be decreased given that you are variety of spreading that reward over quite a few ethereum state overall i am most likely very excited for when a theorem does make that transfer to proof of stake it’s much cleaner for the atmosphere and in addition it does imply that there may be more lockup for Ethereum so now the one question is when would arrive and we will still have got to wait to see that now this caught my eye over the weekend which is Serena Williams four-time Olympic gold medal for tennis she’s investing into coinbase because the title reads now at first when I first saw this i’m like what’s the cause I mean Serena’s identified for beating at tennis but not at Crypto or investment funds what’s a monitor record what’s her history but upon extra inspection of this text we realized that she definitely invested or started investing with her Serena ventures in 2014 so that is surely earlier than that major crypto Rises and she or he i am investing coinbase so that’s actually you know lovely excellent track record so that is an honestly nunu’s per se but alternatively it’s only a disclose present previous investments which included coinbase and she definitely made it go in there subsequent up now we have bed tracks they’re denying that there are any North Korean users on its platform so how did this all occur is when you consider that the brand new York department of financial services they’re accusing metrics of having inadequate insurance policies for anti money laundering now vetrix is flat-out the 90s and i surely see quite a lot of authorities doing more to exchanges someday now money laundering is quite bad however truthfully focusing on crypto exchanges is solely the effortless prey because the biggest sources of cash laundering are the centralized banks I imply just recently Deutsche financial institution’s been raided for money laundering we received JP Morgan to consistently been quality for money laundering as good we without doubt received to stop it but honestly I feel they’re looking at the flawed people just chase right down to a centralized banks in finding them no longer just in finding them however move your banking licenses if their money laundering it can be relatively simple as that and let new avid gamers come and diminish that centralized corruption that we now have on the rumor mill there is this rumor passing around that vacant cocks might be robotically submitting collectors for compensation what this means is that potentially in the event you didn’t bounce by way of the entire loops to file for misplaced money in mt.Gox you continue to would have a risk so that is really pretty cool for me in view that surely i’m a sufferer of empty cocks and i did not file all of the types incorrectly on time so there is a possibility that folks could get that so we will ought to maintain our fingers crossed now onto some greater stuff for adoptions so that you could now keep with Bitcoin on Amazon good no longer directly with Amazon but there’s a new plugin achieved by way of a corporation known as moon that permits you to use the Lightning community to pay for Amazon items in phrases of how you utilize it when you’re buying something on Amazon what will occur is on the cost page the plug-in will show a separate kind of slide to pay with the Lightning network and you can scan the QR code to pay instantly with Lightning network utilising Bitcoin all right I got click on baited into clicking on this article which is CTF C chair giancarlo guidelines out what’s retaining backs future Bitcoin futures now we now have all been hyped about again considering that it can be a new way for men and women to get into trading Bitcoin and it is been stalled so what above all did he say did he supply any signals good it seems to be with the custody a part of Bitcoin so correct now how the backed rash it holds its Bitcoin it appears that is inflicting a little little bit of trouble or hiccups with CTFC approval so we do not really be aware of exactly when this will get accepted I feel that is lovely usual we’ve visible multiple delays on backed so we variety of expect further delays except for like you understand it’s ready now on to the final subject which is finance and there may be quite a few foremost understanding here in particular if you’re or conserving B MB or utilizing B MB and likewise if you’re interested on this sort of decentralized alternate now we’re gonna run down of what this decks certainly is and what how we are able to access it is at Binance.Org not binace.Com and can right away start click to start buying and selling and you’ll see that there may be nothing buying and selling as of but when you consider that all these new belongings they have got to be migrated onto a new token regular for finance referred to as BEP to this factor is rather predominant due to the fact ordinarily finance is an ERC20 token so if you absolutely scan it on say enjinx and you look at all the holders these are folks who maintain and the pockets addresses that maintain BNB and you are held on a theorem addresses that with 0x so right now if you are Hopi and B you gotta be rather listen up and watch out because right now that ERC token is being migrated onto the Binance chain and in the future it’s gonna have an address that genuinely is not commencing with 0x however commencing with bnb and you’ll be able to see that once the Binance when you enter your new account and your new wallet you’re gonna have a wholly distinct account the full article for Binance mainnet swap is here i’ll go away it down a comment section below now should you Hopi and B i’m buying it itself you don’t rather have to do some thing for an trade – we are going to do it naturally for you and in the future while you withdraw it you are gonna be withdrawing it into this b mb one variety addresses so that is now not gonna impact you that so much what does happen is it impacts men and women who have financed token already of their wallet so the BNB already in the wallet so at some point you acquired to relatively pay awareness to how and the place you deposit your BNB if it is an ERC 20 token you bought a deposit to a further a theorem tackle so it starts with 0x right now the mechanism for changing those tokens is by way of the bynars alternate so just doing that deposit however make sure that deposits are open before you do so additionally they stated in the future the ERC variant is a 20 variant of BNB will most effective have temporary utilization in order that they need to do a full migration of those tokens on to finance chain so inevitably you simply ought to migrate to the native by means of first-class chain now in phrases of the steadiness chain itself it is no longer an open consensus chain so it is in reality relatively special from how a theorem works in a sense that with a theorem any person can become a member of the community and that’s why transactions are slower on the grounds that you must have an account for network latency good finance chain they may be doing it very centralized for those who men and women call it that manner the place there are validator notes that are pick few members and so they’re accelerators that promote and make transactions rapid what that implies is that you get turbo confirmations however you severly sacrifice on decentralization considering that only decide on participants can become validator nodes that means if there is collusion between these validators they can possibly alter or censor transactions so that’s sort of the exchange-off between centralization and decentralization versus velocity the more centralization have the much faster that transaction goes to take and this is though which paths that bind has chose they want high performance over more decentralization now I fully agree now I completely believe czs comment here that Finance Dex does no longer venture these theorem it does not have intelligent contracts it challenges ourselves exchanges and that i feel that is the key function I believe we must soak up mind here it is a token mechanism and it will possibly work for some tasks and no longer different initiatives proper now for that token migration there are projects relocating over and Monroe is one in every of them so there was a giant enhance in mythril fame after they determined emigrate from aetherium to buy a best chain to take expertise of how fast transactions are and it makes numerous feel for metro in view that a favors person experience truly with the aid of having exchanges or tokens being transferred much faster unlike in case you had been in a theorem whilst you ought to wait for confirmations good-financed chain is much turbo it is smart for them but it will not make sense for each single challenge and one day i’ll make a much longer video speaking about the negative aspects and disadvantages of relocating on to the finance chain so be certain you stay tuned for that and that’s it for contemporary information replace I simply received back from the V chain summit so i have an up come video to simply talk about all the tendencies there for those who guys are interested by developments i’ve an editorial i’ll put that down below about all the announcements coming and V chain my video about this is gonna be a way more down-to-earth variety of analysis of what’s taking place for me one factor the rationale why i am going to conferences is not because i will be able to reward the fine of the whole lot but I want to show you guys what’s really taking place and what’s truthful to the occasion so that is what that you could expect in my upcoming video concerning the V exchange summit and realistically what do you guys suppose concerning the finance chain adore it hate it have you ever tried the scan net what are your thoughts about it go away a remark within the part under and that i fairly need to have a dialogue with you guys about it thanks guys a lot for watching this video do not forget to click on the like button down under to aid this channel and of path subscribe if you haven’t completed so already by using clicking the subscribe button and a notification bell see you guys in the subsequent video

[iwasnthere622]

Zack Taylor Designated Driver Squad

AO3 Link: Chapter 3

AO3 Link: Chapter 2

AO3 Link: Chapter 1

Tumblr Link: Chapter 2

Tumblr Link: Chapter 1

CHAPTER 3: WEDNESDAY

Zack stood at the entrance to the trailer park, leaning against a boulder at the side of the road -- perk of being alongside the mine, shit like this was everywhere -- staring up at the sky.

His hands were in his jacket pockets, fingers of his left hand absently twirling and flipping his black power coin, thinking about school yesterday and smirking a bit, looking forward to seeing what the rumor mill was saying today. Were he and Jason still the big news, or had the fickle populace already moved on? He was betting they were still the main headline, if only because Jason being gay (or at least, also into boys) was something else they could all use against him and hating on Jason seemed to be the favorite pastime of that place, followed closely by hating on Kim, bullying Billy, and ignoring Trini.

Zack turned back towards the road at the sound of an approaching car, blinking sunspots from his vision, watching the new blue van rumble towards him and putting on his best charming smile.

"Morning, Mrs. Cranston!" he said happily, climbing into the backseat. "Dude," he greeted Billy, offering his fist.

Billy was used to some of Zack's idiosyncrasies by now, tapping his fist quickly to the other boys. "Morning."

Mrs. Cranston smiled at Zack before getting the car back on the road. "Zack, you know we'd drive in to get you, you don't have to meet us at the entrance every week."

"Nah, it's fine, Mrs. C, I appreciate the ride," Zack said, putting on his best 'please-the-parents' face -- he'd gotten pretty good at it, what with the alarming habit his friends had at dragging him to their places to meet their families.

"All right... How's your mother doing today?" Mrs. Cranston asked, glancing in the rearview mirror.

Zack's smile went a bit strained, but he kept it in place. "She's fine. Billy, man, please tell me you got my notebook, cause I'mma need those designs we worked on for our history lab."

Billy stared at him. "Why would I have your notebook? You rode with Jason yesterday, we can check with him."

Mrs. Cranston sighed but let them turn to the talk to school. "History lab?" she questioned, not sure what that meant.

"We have to do a group project in history and Mr. Martin booked us the computer lab for two weeks so we can work on it at school," Billy answered. "And Zack is my group, cause Mr. Martin let people pick, and we picked each other, and Mr. Martin said that it was okay that it was just us two even though most of the other groups are three or four."

"Yeah, but our project is gonna beat everyone else's!" Zack grinned.

"It is pretty good," Billy grinned back. "I was thinking we could start making the posters today."

Zack whooped. "Finally! The fun part!"

Mrs. Cranston laughed and shook her head, just happy her son had so many friends now.

Billy grinned. "Yes, this is definitely going to be fun, though the research was really fun, too, even the bits we won't use."

"What's your topic?" Mrs. Cranston asked.

"Zack picked it," Billy said, nodding to the other teen.

Zack grinned. "The history of colors: red, blue, yellow, pink, and black."

"I thought black wasn't a color?" Mrs. Cranston asked, glancing between the boys.

"Technically, but it reflects light and shares other properties with the other pigments we classify as colors, and while traditional black is defined as the absence of light and therefore colorless since visible light is what provides us with the variations of color we can see, some pigments of black actually reflect that light back at a unique wavelength."

"Billy's got it all figured out, we're gonna shine a light over different forms of black and the rest of the colors, and he'll talk about the history around people's ideas of what color actually is, from caveman to now," Zack said, proud of his friend.

"And what will you do?" Mrs. Cranston asked.

Zack grinned. "I came up with the idea and did all the design; Billy's the genius with the execution!"

"You helped with some research, too," Billy said, not wanting Zack to sell himself short, especially because this was probably the first project he'd actually tried on.

"I'm sure you'll both do great," Mrs. Cranston said, pulling into the drop off line, looking to Billy and giving him a quick hug when he nodded, smiling at them both. "Have fun!"

"Thanks!" Zack said, hopping out and following Billy up to the school, grinning at some of the looks he was getting -- walking with Billy was like walking with Trini, they were mostly left alone, but the stunt yesterday bumped him up the teenage grapevine.

"We should find Jason to make sure he has your notebook," Billy said, glancing at Zack, immune to the staring. "You're definitely not dating him, right?"

"What?" Zack laughed, punching Billy's arm quickly. "No way, man, told you that yesterday."

"I know, I just don't want you to lie under some stupid idea to protect me or whatever," Billy said, eyeing him.

"No way," Zack repeated, smile  more genuine. "We'd tell you, dude. Besides, I don't think he swings that way, you know? It was just another Scott prank, and it was a fun one this time."

Billy nodded slowly. "Okay. But we shouldn't assume his orientation, since he hasn't told us."

Zack hummed. "Hmm, you're right! Hey, what are you?"

"What am I, what?" Billy asked, not following.

"Orientation?" Zack clarified, using Billy's term. "Who're you into, man?"

"Oh, I'm heterosexual," Billy answered. "I'm attracted to women, though none have yet to reciprocate."

Zack chuckled. "Don't worry, you'll find your girl," he promised. His eyes scanned the crowds as they walked, picking out a lone red jacket that was very familiar, skipping ahead to jump onto Jason's back. "Hey baby!"

Jason tensed, catching Zack on instinct only to roll his eyes and drop him for the comment, dropping his notebook on top of his head while he was at it.

Zack laughed from the ground, picking up his notebook. "Thought I left it at your place last night -- thanks for bringing it," he said, batting his eyelashes up at the ex-quarterback.

Jesus christ, everyone was staring again. "Knock it off, you're a menace."

"Indeed I am," Zack grinned, gladly taking Billy's offered hand and letting him pull him up.

"Oh good, you found your notebook," Billy smiled.

"Yup! Jason brought it for me, wasn't that nice?" Zack grinned.

"Yes, thanks Jason, our history project design is in there," Billy said.

Jason sighed, giving Zack a look but smiling at Billy. "You're welcome, Billy. Good luck with this one today, he's in a mood this week."

"Nah, Billy's the best DD, plus he's the reason I'm passing history, so I can't mess with him too much!" Zack grinned.

"You know, I'm not sure I count as a DD, since I don't technically drive you to school," Billy said thoughtfully.

Zack waved a hand. "Semantics. C'mon, I'll come to your homeroom so we can get a game plan for history lab."

"I don't think you're supposed to miss your homeroom, you won't get attendance credit for today," Billy said, but he started walking nonetheless.

"Your teacher can just write me in. So, I was thinking, we should throw in that Hilter comment at the end, spice it up a bit..."

--

"Is that true?" Kim demanded of Billy, who nodded while Zack crowed triumphantly.

"Pink was for boys and blue was for girls, until Hilter used pink triangles as an effeminate marking for gay men."

"And the whole world just flipped?" Trini asked, disgusted.

"Yup!" Zack said cheerfully.

Jason glanced around the table. "Well, at least he's learning?" he tried.

Kim threw a french fry at him.

[brianwarden]

Gad the Islamophobe

I recently listened to an episode of Sam Harris's excellent podcast "Waking Up" that featured as his guest Gad Saad, someone who's own podcast is another favorite of mine; I highly recommend both. Both Harris and Saad are academics/scientists/public figures who are highly critical of recent trends regarding free speech, postmodernism, tolerance, political correctness, and “regressive leftism”.

 That term, which I first heard used by Muslim reformer Maajid Nawaz, refers to those ostensibly on the left, that often engage in regressive tactics, principally anti free speech bullying. Regressives are in the vanguard of extreme political correctness, commonly complaining about "cultural appropriation", the wage gap, patriarchy, Islamophobia, etc. For instance, in many a college campus it has become common for regressive's to target visiting speakers, show up at the event, and attempt to silence said speaker. This is often done by blocking entrance to the event, harassing attendees, rushing the stage, and in more than one instance, pulling fire alarms.

 So I am a big fan of Harris and Saad, as well as their comrades in arms Christine Hoff Sommers, Dave Rubin, Joe Rogan, Bill Maher, Sarah Haider, Jon Haidt, and several others. I consider myself a liberal, but am embarrassed by what many of the same label are currently doing: silencing opposing views, demonizing all white men, creating safe spaces, trigger warnings, and micro aggressions; what I prefer to call the PC left. I guess I meet the definition of a classical liberal, of the John Stuart Mill mold, but the semantics of political labels have become very muddled lately.

 As hinted above, I'm not a fan of the term "Islamophobia". Not that I think it's a meaningless term, just that it's over used to the point of becoming virtually meaningless. Any criticism of Islam is characterized as Islamophobic by the regressive left, even the most obvious. E.g. criticisms of Islam's treatment of women or gays are labeled Islamophobia, even by feminists and gays within the regressive left. A legitimate usage of the term Islamophobia, in my view, would be towards someone who refers to “ragheads” or “sand n**gers” or wants to turn the entire Middle East in to glass or prohibit all immigration from countries with a Muslim majority; that's Islamophobia, no question. All I'm saying is that the term is thrown around a lot.

 As in the case of the term homophobia, the "phobia" part isn't precisely accurate. The definition of a phobia is "an extreme or irrational fear of, or aversion to something." Most homophobes aren't actually scared of gays, they just hate them. Same for Islamophobia, except with Islam there is an element of fear; terrorism is real, and its biggest practitioners presently are Muslim.

 Harris himself has often been (mis)labeled as an Islamophobe and even a bigot, but these charges are without merit. I've read all of his books and essays, listened to every podcast, watched countless videos, and have never yet heard a single comment that could be accurately described as bigoted. He's as harsh towards Christianity as he is towards Islam.

 Until I listened to his podcast entitled "The Frontiers of Political Correctness" I would've said the same of Saad. Saad's own personal story is very interesting and gives his views and opinions some weight. "I was born in Lebanon, I grew up in Lebanon, so my mother tongue is Arabic, we're Arabic in a multiplicity of ways...some of the music we listen to, and the foods, and if you saw us you wouldn’t know that we were anything but Arabic, the only asterisk is that we are Lebanese Jews" (40:55).

 He states he has over 100 Muslim friends. Later, he claims that in his neighborhood, if he encounters 20 women, 8 will be wearing Islamic garb. In Montreal. "I could walk out of my house, and of the first twenty women I see, eight are wearing Islamic garb" (1:21:30). (I call bullshit. 40% of the women he encounters in Montreal are Muslim?)

 But where he gets real bizarre, and makes Rush Limbaugh seem tolerant, is when he describes an incident that occurred while out with his family:

 "Close to my house, we tried to go to a children's park, and saw two women in full burka, my daughter got out, felt a bit scared, we got back in the car and left" (1:21:00).

 Covered faces are indeed to some extent frightening. Armed robbers in ski masks, clowns, ninjas, little old Korean ladies hiding their skin from UV, KKK hoods, soldiers lined up all in gas masks; all scary looking, no question. But flee the park in fear?

 Is there some right, some principle of liberty, that entitles one to gaze in to the face of all fellow citizens in order to better read them and their intentions? As Harris wisely responds, perhaps on private property one has such a right, say a 7-11 owner in reaction to someone in a ski mask. Absolutely, I agree completely. But out on the streets, in a public park? No way. No such right has ever existed in the West, nor do I know of anyone ever proposing such an idea.

 But Gad's daughters’ reaction at the playground leads me to wonder just what the fuck is Gad telling his kids at home? I mean, worse-case scenario, there is a Muslim male under the burka, right? What would be his families’ reaction if there were Muslim males there at the park, perhaps even taking prayer? Flee?

 It is not an overstatement, nor PC in the slightest, to state that Gad Saad and his family are literally Islamophobic, to the point that genuine fear, and flight, occurs when spotting Muslims. Never mind that he previously said, "Your chances of dying by murder in Canada is unbelievably small" (52:15). This is certainly true. In all of Canada, there were 19 violent acts towards Jews in 2014, the most current year for stats, resulting in zero deaths; yet, an average of 9.5 people die each year in Canada by lightning strikes.

 He also said several other things during the podcast that are troublesome to say the least. For example, he revisits this traumatic trip to the park, and expands on his theory of a “right to see [people’s faces]”:

 "If your position is that, no, let's not intrude on their right to quote choose, I actually think that my right to be able to read your facial features, since that's an evolved quality, in my communication system, supersedes your right to be in a tent, and if you want to be in a tent you don't belong here because I want to be, when I walk to that school yard, not school yard, but play park, and there were two, I'm guessing women but they could be anything right, I can't tell who they are, and they were in black and we all froze, and I come from that land [Lebanon] and my daughter got scared and we got back in the car, then my rights lost there. And therefore, no, I don't think we should allow that expression. No, I don't want that in my streets" [emphasis added] (1:42:05).

 Perhaps it’s good Gad resides in Canada. That viewpoint regarding religious expression won’t fly in the states. His right to read faces? Because the ability to read faces evolved in humans, it’s now a right? That’s not how we set out rights. Later, he seems to be claiming that he simply can’t prevent himself from stereotyping and acting on it:

 "No one probably knows more nice and decent Muslims, probably no one has more Muslim friends than I do by virtue of my background, so obviously at the individual level there's no discussion to be had, there are very nice Muslims, there are very bad Muslims, we're talking here about statistical regularity's, right, our brains have evolved to detect statistical regularity's [stereotypes], I mean that's a central feature in the architecture of the human mind” (51:29).

 Or check out this gem from the “Gadfather”:

 "There's a game that I satirize, but frankly the satire is very accurate, it's called 'Six Degrees of Kill the Jew' and the game works as follows: so basically, the way the game works is, Achmed comes to the room, I say hello to him, how many exchanges does it take before we converge - especially since I speak Arabic and therefore he certainly doesn't know I'm Jewish - before we both converge on 'let's go kill the Jews'. And the reality is, this is how it typically goes: 'Hi Achmed, how are you? Fine, let's kill the Jews’" (1:13:40).

 Then, a minute later, he admits the above stereotype is mythical: "Of the top 100 Muslims that I know, every single one of them is a lovely guy that doesn't fill the 'kill-the-Jews' stereotype, but that doesn't say anything about the greater issue" (1:15:00).

 He seems to have some issues. He is simultaneously claiming: the odds of being murdered in Canada are “unbelievably small”; that his family is not outwardly Jewish looking, “if you saw us you wouldn't know that we were anything but Arabic”; that he knows lots of Muslims and none of them are anti-Semitic; yet, if burkas are spotted, FLEE!

 In the novel Infinite Jest, there’s an organization called U.H.I.D., the Union of the Hideously and Improbably Deformed, an agnostic-style 12-step support-group deal for what it calls the “aesthetically challenged.” It’s a hilarious portion of the book, with a pretty absurd premise, and is milked for some great laughs*. But beyond this comedic “donning of the veil” is a more serious issue, albeit one most of us haven’t considered. Does one have a right to hide one’s face?

 Although it’s not enumerated in the Bill of Rights, I believe a person has the right to cover their face in public. For any reason whatsoever. I see little old ladies covering themselves out of fear of sunlight. I see germaphobic people wearing masks out of fear of germs. And, of course, religious people doing what their religion tells them, or what they interpret their religion to be telling them. Given the extreme importance the Founding Fathers put on religious liberty and expression, I think those values trump anyone’s desire to read faces.

 I tried to raise this subject with the man himself, via twitter, and was quickly attacked, by Gad as well as many of his followers. He used his stock insult on me, “naturally lobotomized castrati”, and mocked my curiosity on the matter. E.g. I wrote that I found his family’s reaction to seeing burkas “baffling”; he responds with: “It is ‘baffling’ why it would be jarring to see individuals wearing black tents in a play ground with hidden identities”. He goes on: “Clearly, only ‘racist bigots’ would be concerned about such an ostentatious display of openness and warmth.” Thou doth protest too much.

 In the wake of Charlottesville, I’m noticing something quite alarming: many of the folks that I considered to be basically liberals, but have a major problem with the PC left, are not liberal at all; they’re as conservative as Rush Limbaugh and just enjoy mocking and ridiculing campus snowflakes. The reaction to Harris’ tweet of August 13th, regarding white identity politics, exposed many of these folks. I don’t put Gad in the category of Limbaugh, but he’s got a dark side that’s for sure.

 ___________________________________________

  * “Well Mr. Gately what people don’t get about being hideously or improbably deformed is that the urge to hide is offset by a gigantic sense of shame about your urge to hide. You’re at a graduate wine-tasting party and improbably deformed and you’re the object of stares that the people try to conceal because they’re ashamed of wanting to stare, and you want nothing more than to hide from the covert stares, to erase your difference, to crawl under the tablecloth or put your face under your arm, or you pray for a power failure and for this kind of utter liberating equalizing darkness to descend so you can be reduced to nothing but a voice among other voices, invisible, equal, no different, hidden.

 But Don you’re still a human being, you still want to live, you crave connection and society, you know intellectually that you’re no less worthy of connection and society than anyone else simply because of how you appear, you know that hiding yourself away out of fear of gazes is really giving in to a shame that is not required and that will keep you from the kind of life you deserve as much as the next girl, you know that you can’t help how you look but that you are supposed to be able to help how much you care about how you look. You’re supposed to be strong enough to exert some control over how much you want to hide, and you’re so desperate to feel some kind of control that you settle for the appearance of control. What you do is you hide your deep need to hide, and you do this out of the need to appear to other people as if you have the strength not to care how you appear to others. You stick your hideous face right in there into the wine-tasting crowd’s visual meatgrinder, you smile so wide it hurts and put out your hand and are extra gregarious and outgoing and exert yourself to appear totally unaware of the facial struggles of people who are trying not to wince or stare or give away the fact that they can see that you’re hideously, improbably deformed. You feign acceptance of your deformity. You take your desire to hide and conceal it under a mask of acceptance. In other words you hide your hiding. And you do this out of shame: you’re ashamed of the fact that you want to hide from sight. You’re ashamed of your uncontrolled craving for shadow. U.H.I.D.’s First Step is admission of powerlessness over the need to hide. U.H.I.D. allows members to be open about their essential need for concealment. In other words we don the veil. We don the veil and wear the veil proudly and stand very straight and walk briskly wherever we wish, veiled and hidden, and but now completely up-front and unashamed about the fact that how we appear to others affects us deeply, about the fact that we want to be shielded from all sight. U.H.I.D. supports us in our decision to hide openly. But a lot of the forms of self-hatred there is no veil for. U.H.I.D.’s taught a lot of us to be grateful that there’s at least a veil for our form.”

 “So the veil’s a way to not hide it.?”

 “To hide openly, is more like it.”

 From Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

[NOTE: I fully realize there is a false equivalence between the people featured in the attached pic and two burka clad women at a playground; the point is, all the people in the pic are violating Gad’s imaginary right to read faces. (Btw, the woman in full burka is Janet Jackson and son.)]