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icecravingmetroid · 2 years

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TWICE - Glass Animals: Intruxx CH4

::… Recovery Unit …::

Doctors seemed genuinely baffled during a rescan of her shoulder to find no scar tissue was present in or around the point of entry. Clearly in awe of the incredible healing powers Samus wielded, then again her background history was hardly known outside of very few, most whom of which were dead or in hiding now. But the Federation also retained classified information on her.

Still… She had hopes.

She now sat on the edge of the bed she'd been 'banished' to on insistent medical terms, itching to leave the bland security of the recovery room to at least engage in physical activity to get her limbs moving again, knowing full well that there were two others she considered close that needed saving. Her body trembled from the therapeutic exercise she'd endured prior, adrenaline slow to quiet itself.

Not necessarily 'endured' if she could say. Sure, it was painful, but she had the least issue getting about unlike the other human patients who'd all been severely injured in the Space Pirate raid a month-and-a-half ago. She stared down at her toes, curling them and frowning at the tingle the action sent up her legs and spine. Blood flow to her legs was slow, she needed to hydrate more, and her muscles ached. As she tilted her gaze after resting her elbows upon her knees with her chin braced in her palms, she swelled her cheeks childishly with thought. She watched the monitor that gave a read out of her heartbeat rise and fall at a steady rate.

Then she flicked her blue eyes up at the shower of semi-platinum hair hanging over her forehead, it carried a peachy-tone in some areas, brass in others, halo gold in a majority.

Ends are more frayed then I remember…

She frowned, blowing at it gently.

Her mood perked when the room door whirred ajar, granting way to a rather busy-looking nurse. She adjusted a dark curl to tuck from her face and back under her cap, offering the Huntress a shallow smile while she looked over her vitals.

"Feeling alright?" She finally spoke, making Samus glower comically behind her back. She hadn't even bothered to introduce herself or even greet the other woman.

"Feeling fine." She answered with a hint irritability. "I have to ask, though, at what point are you people are going to let me out…? Because I don't know if it's slipped the mind of everybody in this sector all of a sudden, but there are two Bounty Hunters that are in deep trouble. Sitting around and doing nothing is potentially putting everyone at risk. Including you all here."

The woman was quiet for several moments almost as if she ignored Samus' rant. Then she clicked the top of her old fashioned pen that sat nestled in her breast pocket in a way that Samus figured was habit, and turning to her with her bottom lip bit.

"I'll see about your release date, Ms. Aran." She said in a gentle fashion. "We're only concerned for your safety, however I'd like to remind you that it was not my choice, ma'am. I'm only doing what I'm paid to do…" She smiled. "Lunch will be ready shortly at 12-PM, that's less than thirty minutes from now, during that time I'll call the hospital administrative, alright?"

Finally, someone who listens…. Samus grumbled mentally, then spoke. "Yes, thank you."

The woman nodded before her departure, hustling out of the room to escape the aggressive atmosphere generated by Aran's insistence. Though safe to say that blame was to fall on neither of them other than the medical higher-ups for their Zoomer-speed treatment.

Understandably she was pissed. At the moment she wanted nothing to do with anyone, she simply wanted to be encased in her damn armor, and back on her ship, today.

Aran leaned back, allowing her body to sink into the bed before she rotated on her haunches and pulling her feet in under the thin knit cover. She exhaled.

No point in being angry about something she couldn't do anything about at the moment, not a subject like this. For now it was best to get as much rest as possible. Occasional headaches made themselves known to Samus, telling her that she was still too active, but she was in far better shape than eight days ago.

She had to be thankful for that Chozo blood running through her to usher along the recovery, along with the admittedly unwanted phazon.

::… 35 Minutes later …::

The entry whined softly again, steady clacking of the nurse's soled flats stirred Samus from the light nap she'd fallen into. Stiffly, the Bounty Hunter turned to address her.

"Query?"

"Here is a pad containing your discharge information, Ms. Aran." The woman said with a smile. "You'll be sent on your way in the hour with a prescription aspirin for lingering symptoms that may occur with swelling. If you've any headaches, fever, nausea, dizziness, hallucinations, vomiting, discharge, abdominal pain, muscle cramps; particularly in the legs or feet then you're going to have to come back and let us know."

By the time the nurse had finished, Samus' upper lip was tugged in disgust at the array of symptoms she could've possibly gotten from this medication. "Okay…. And how exactly common are these sort of reactions to this?"

"Incredibly rare. I have you set to take it for a week, it must be taken twice a day, after breakfast and before dinner, in short every 8 hours. Wait a while, about an hour after taking your first dose to see how everything goes. Just a precautionary measure."

"You people don't know the dietary habits of Bounty Hunters do you?" She said humorously as she took the bottle the woman held out and examined it. "Alright… Has it been confirmed safe in terms of blending with phazon?"

"It shouldn't have any general effects, but as I said before, come back and see us if you've any issues at all that you think might be related to a reaction." The woman straightened and turned when the door opened, two figures flowed into the room. One significantly taller and making Samus smile in relief.

He bobbed his head at her silently, stepping aside to take up space in the corner of the room to observe silently while another doctor crowded around her.

"Ms. Aran, your discharge has been served, you're free to leave soon." He said flatly. He then glanced to the woman. "Has Katherine run over all she's had to with you?"

"Pretty much." Samus replied loftily, relieved that she could finally escape and her finger scribbled her name into the touch pad.

"I have," the woman now known as Katherine spoke up. "She's got all she needs. Your Varia Suit is in custody at the moment, it is in need of repair still so we'll give you proper clothing before you leave. Just so you don't have to disembark in a gown." She chuckled, sweeping around on the ball of her heal to follow the man out, the pad from Aran in her grasp.

It was a moment of silence before Rundas uncrossed his arms, leaned up off the wall, and padded towards her. "Well then, I better get my engine warmed, huh?"

She smirked, wrinkling her nose. "I've been going ballistic waiting to get out of here…. I finally had to snap at someone today in order to get some progress done here otherwise who knows how long I'd have stayed in this place."

"Eh, it's for your own good." He seated himself on the same stool he did when he first arrived to see her. "Compared to your arrival you're like one of those fast-flapping Earth birds."

"A Hummingbird?" She offered a curved smile.

“Yeah. That…" He fell quiet before speaking again. "You eat yet?"

"I have, it wasn't exactly the most filling, so I'll grab something from the Mess Hall before we get out of here…” Her dialogue trailed off and her smile fell before she gasped. "Damn, my ship!"

"Taken care of,” He waved an ice-clad claw dismissively. ”I had them send a recovery crew back to Bryyo to pick it. It's in the repair bay, just examined, no damage other than some atmospheric burns on entry on her nose; no signs of tampering."

Rundas casually sighed, his subtly bristling frame betraying the tone as the reality that both were to be prepared for combat hit. It wasn’t a foreign concept for either of them, yet he dare not reveal a trace of the shadows that swept his mind during sleep, bringing forth with them haunting memories.

"Thank you," She deflated. "I'm surprised the inhabitants didn't bother it…"

"Besides a few signs left by some birds, that's it. That ship has a good security system, they had to manually take the system offline with a radio code." He stood. "I'll meet you in the launch bay, contact me when your ready, you know my COMM is always open for you." He bobbed his head.

"Mm, noted. We'll discuss departure plans when we're out there then?"

He stood with an inhuman groan. "If you want. Unless you want to talk about it now…?"

"No, no. The sooner we're out of here the better." She raised her brows when her stomach gurgled angrily. "Ohh, food. It's needed."

The alien chuckled.

"I'll catch you later then," His head dipped and the audible disturbance of the door, then angled over his shoulder when Katherine entered with a bundled up zero suit folded over her arms and atop more casual, loose garbs. "Here comes your ticket to freedom now."

She smiled gently. “Or a ticket to the showers.”

Amused, he turned and lumbered out just as the nurse entered, offering a small nod in greeting to the woman in passing, who returned it briskly.

She leaned in as the nurse began to remove all sensors stuck to her skin, though her eyes were on Rundas' retreating back.

"Has he been seen by a proper physician?"

Katherine glanced up at the Hunter as she removed the needle from her arm and pressed a swab of cotton to the spot. "Rundas? Well he went in for an evaluation that turned up nothing roughly a week ago. I tried to get him in for something a little more thoroughly than a surface glance but he refused treatment so, no, not a proper physical exam and blood test. That being said, the Phazon has dispelled from him completely from the looks of it.”

"Good…. But, course not." Aran ground out in frustration.

"If you don't mind the honesty, I think he's possibly fearful of the results.”

:...:

As the warm water hit her hair, a slow rolling, steamy plume of heated, oily odor filled her nose, forcing a shallow grimace from the Hunter. She had spent the entirety of her recovery unwashed, besides the use of towelettes, and minimal strenuous movement. It was still disgusting, and as the water finally met the skin of her scarred form she felt herself melt like butter. A rare luxury for a bounty hunter, she dare not pass up the opportunity to feel… human. It was also a time to set aside any worrisome thoughts, but she couldn’t. The ferocity that Rundas displayed in battle with his mind held prisoner set forth an establishing, unnerving, sense of danger involving the other Hunters. What was to be expected? Where were they? Were they even of sound mind anymore? Stable enough to be saved?

She barely managed that with feat with Rundas in itself.

She’d already been incapacitated for months prior, and with each psyche varying in integrity Samus had every right to doubt or fear the loss of her friends. A grunt of frustration at herself bubbled in the back of her throat, and her hair fell over her eyes as she looked down in search of a shampoo bottle. Determination to feel appointed and focused again pled at the back of her mind, cementing a familiar drive again. She has expected loss, to tackle this on her own, to work alone as she was used to, but she had a vital helping hand and made the quiet promise to herself that her friend wasn’t going to fall.

Not again.

:…:

The corridor leading to the launch bay set Rundas on edge, for reasons he couldn't explain, that is until he heard footfalls behind him, stopping in his tracks to confront his pursuers. He found it to be a gaggle of humans, their expressions heavy with suspicion and all male. A few looked unprepared, regretful of their attempt to pick a fight, but one of them, an older male with dirty blonde hair and groomed facial hair was the first to step forward.

"We got some words for you, iceman."

"Yeah? And what's that?" Though Rundas sounded docile, his body language made it very clear that if they wanted to become ornamental ice sculptures he was more than welcome to give them a hand in doing so.

"Some words slipped down the line from the medical team that worked on the lady. After they pulled that crap out of her, someone whispered that her skin had burns. Ain't no fire burns neither, ice burns. Guess what? Ain't no ice on Bryyo, you wanna explain that?"

Rundas felt his temper simmer, his head lowered in a challenging stance and shoulders sloped forward to square his figure.

"Why certainly." He hissed through the escaping chilly gas from his apparatus, seeing the younger males half-heartedly step back.

"Aran was injured by my own hands."

"I knew it!" One of the younger men cut in, lunging forward, though he was quickly caught by the collar from his colleague. “Traitor!”

"You want an explanation? You're getting one so cut the crap!" The alien raised his voice.

"When I came to, she was already hurt, I don't even remember anything beyond that. I lost myself to whatever darkness swallowed me, so your guess is as good as mine when it comes to trying to figure out what in the names of the Gods happened. Fact is that because of her I'm alive. I don't fear the reprimand for freezing a few insubordinate fools. Your choice."

::… Docked Olympus: Launch Bay, Deck 033 …::

She felt at home encased in her zero suit, throbbing shoulder and linger sensations aside. Crisp, clean, pale hair kept back in a ponytail glared against the blue backdrop. Her rubber heels thumped the deck with authority, renewed vigor, and determination. Soldiers regarded her with respect and awe, some of the men admiring her from afar while she conversed with her fellow hunter over plans. Gone on ignored by Samus, this behavior had set Rundas on edge, his actions going about the docking bay displayed more emphasis. He was even unintentionally invading their space by closely observing every man that approached her and although his face was not visible beneath the frost on his helmet, she was sure that he was hilariously scowling.

This wasn't like him, but Samus had come to suspect he was infatuated beyond a small crush, he was silently serving to stake claim and protection over her. His casual banter gradually unraveled into very, very faint flirting when they first met. Likely uncomfortable by the unnatural attraction he had for another species’ female. Not sure how she would react if he outwardly acted on it, and uncertainty plagued him now. He offered his aid to her more than any other Hunter. Not even Ghor, nor Gandrayda had been honored with such attention.

At first there was a competitive edge between them, surely he'd be impressed if she recalled all her accomplishments over a drawn out conversation.

She was amused, not completely in to the subject of having a relationship as some would think. She knew her image was widely spread as a cold hard Bounty Hunter, but she also had a legendary reputation as a savior, and another that was lesser known, formerly suspended for disobeying orders. Those who truly were beside her, knew that she held a heart of gold and was compassionate about her work, held kindness for animals, and her companions. She was humorous, intelligent, flexible, yet her bravery and skill outshined that modest appearance.

Gandrayda had interrogated her on her outlook of relationships in the bounty hunting business during their suspended wait aboard the G.F.S Olympus, therefore she’d come clean. As spry as the youthful alien was, she was definitively keyed into Rundas’ behavior around the Hunter. It was the fear of losing someone she'd allow to get close to her that prevented anything from blooming between her and someone, she had to explain. She'd had a relationship before, with a young man during her early years with the Galactic Federation. It didn't last very long, as her quiet demeanor then was off-putting and they had to call it quits. Things he wouldn't bother to understand about her was also another notion for their departure of each other.

Silently this streamed through her mind as she watched the giant ice-clad alien speak to her about his opinion on their plans. Yet, her version gradually exchanged it for the deck.

"… So I think the best course of action is to head back to Bryyo it’s the closest and…. Samus? … Saaamus?" He waved his hand before her face, startling her back to reality and she raised her blue eyes off the toes of her boots. "Did you even hear a word I said?"

"Y-yes, Rundas. I did. If you feel that'd be best, then I suppose we could go with it. I just worry about you entering that planet again…." She said quieter than usual.

The phrygisian rocked back on his legs slowly. "Samus, the planet didn't do that to me. That dark being did. And it could do the same to you, if you're not careful."

She smiled. "I'm well aware…. Rundas, you do need to tell about all that went on, if you can remember."

"I would if I could, Samus. Mind yourself when we're down there…" He said as he turned to walk for his ship.

"You do the same." She said with the shake of her head, approaching her ship soon after.

She’d see to it that the Varia Suit was repaired on board while en route, and would be clad in it’s glinting form once more.

It glimmered in the overhead lighting, freshly washed and waxed after it's repair. Left over wash formula on the deck lapped around the border of her boots as she approached the glossy and renewed spacecraft. Without a word she enter the confines of the ship, made herself at home within the familiar seat, and briskly departed close behind Rundas' ship.

They were headed to Bryyo, and hopefully, both were prepared for what could've been laying in wait for their return. All the human hoped for was that the dark presence that had nearly sealed the fate of her fellow Bounty Hunter was long absent.

#Metroid Prime #metroid prime 3: corruption #Rundas #Samus

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bungerisme · 2 years

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Public service announcement

Be fucking nice to your local cashier.

I didn’t have the best day today.

I didn’t have breakfast cause I woke up late; stuff involving missing around 20$ from my register (which would’ve been 100 if two folks weren’t so very kind and came back with the money. I am very grateful for them); everything was blocked up at all registers from us being incredibly under staffed; and I was constantly needing pickups and cash needed to be added to my register every five minutes.

But despite that.

I was fine.

I was cruising through. Trying to get by and just. Work till my lunch which was at 4 (for reference for how long that wait is I got there at 11am so that’s 6 hours I have to wait to get my first meal of the day in).

I was sliding groceries.

This lady came by with a full cart of groceries.

It was fine at the beginning.

It wasn’t until we got to the cabbage though….

I had to take it back and rescan it cause I didn’t get the weight right.

So once that was done I slid it back to the lady. Making it roll down the bagging area.

She looked at me fucking furious and pissed and told me in a very harsh tone “Could you not throw my groceries?!?” Which if I’m gonna be honest. I completely understand. I was being rough and I could’ve damaged it if I wasn’t to careful.

BUT that was the straw that started to make me tear up. I started sniffing and my eyes started to water as the anxiety hit me.

I felt awful for what I did. But an over exaggerated ammount. All cause this one lady decided to be a dick head.

It made the rest of my day nearly impossible.

I was hungry, I was now on the verge of an anxiety attack and had to scan groceries.

It wasn’t until I helped a grandma and her kid scan sodas when I accidentally bumped my head when the pain made my eyes water more and well.

I had to step away from my register.

Which made me feel worse. Cause that meant other people had to step in for me so we weren’t over crowded with shit to do.

I had a break down in the office area.

And right after that I had to get back to work.

So please.

For the love of GOD.

Be nice to your cashiers. Or at least try to be. Ya don’t have to talk to them or anything. Just anything Is better than being a dickhead and making things harder for em.

And on top of this:

If you have under 20 items, a credit card and there’s an option for a self check out: PLEASE USE SELF CHECK OUT.

There’s usually people there to help you figure it out. And even if the line for that looks long as hell it won’t stay that way for long. It’s much quicker then waiting in line and it allows for cashiers to just- work easier.

As well. If your physically capable (I know there’s folks with disabilities and who are old who can’t do this ). Please fucking help your grocer bag groceries. It makes things easier. And just. Causes less stress for em. Especially since at my store we have like 2 baggers having to go between at least 4 working cash registers and then dealing with shopping carts.

#retail #retail horror stories #retail hell #rant #long post #grocery store #cashier stories #cashier problems #cashier

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bubbashawn · 4 years

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High School Musical

author: This is really not that great but I wanted to share a little something so here it is.

synopsis: Quarantine is upon you but you don’t know where to stay until a friend sets you up with Shawn Mendes himself.

warnings: it’s 1.9k of really bad writing. I’m sorry. Better news is I’m almost 3k into Fine Line part 1 and 800 into Vanity Fair part 2. Hope y’all have a little bit of a Shawn fill from this 😂 mention of anxiety and a corny pickup line.

“You know the university isn’t gonna be open for too much longer right?”

You love your best friend. Really, you do. But if Maddie mentioned the fact that you could be homeless soon, you might strangle her. The news was a constant reminder saying how colleges and schools across the world were being closed and everyone is expected to self quarantine.

You might be a bit dramatic in saying that you’d be homeless but after your mother kicked you out after you told her you’d be going to Toronto on a scholarship for literature and not her alma mater Cornell Law like she had planned, the idea of returning to your little boring hometown wasn’t an option.

“Tell me again why I can’t come stay with you?”

“You know I don’t have space plus my family can barely support itself much less another person.”

“I don’t need support financially, I just need shelter.”

“I’m sorry, Y/N,” she sighed at your crestfallen expression, “ask Brian?”

“He’s quarantining with his girlfriend in Los Angeles, they left a couple days ago.”

“He has hot friends, right?”

You started to ignore her as the ringing in your head increased. The headache of trying to find shelter caused so much stress and anxiety. You didn’t even notice the two of you were outside your room’s door until Maddie’s arms were wrapped around you. Whispering words of comfort.

“Give Brian a call,” she gave you a pointed look, “he grew up not far from here, so he probably has some half decent friend who’ll take you in.”

“I hate this.”

“I know, me too. I love you alright? Call Brian!”

She walked away offering one last squeeze on your shoulder before heading towards her room down the hall.

You groaned before opening the door in front of you. It’s not that you hate your roommates, it's just they can get loud and the pounding pain in your temple wasn’t going to ease off with all the noise. Grabbing your chunky knit blanket before smiling softly at the two girls partying in your room, you headed to the common room.

The space was awkwardly set up and left little room to stand when more than ten people were there but it was well past nine when you got there and no one seemed to be bothered to leave their rooms. You settled into the ugly green couch because it was by far the comfiest and pulled out your phone.

You hadn’t noticed how late it had really gotten until the soft glow of the sunset was gone and your face was illuminated by your phone screen.

Your phone ringer was going off with notifications. You ignored the texts from both Brian and Maddie to focus on the email quickly swiping your device open pausing the music immediately.

“Dear students and their families,” here it was, the from line reading University of Toronto, “We regret to inform you,” you could barely mumble the words much less read your eyes were watering too much. Everything was too blurry, “we regret to inform you that as of today March 13, 2020, all classes are canceled until further notice due to the virus…” your voice cut out while your eyes rescanned the email for key pieces you had missed. Canceled classes. Pack your things. Move out.

Everything was crashing and you huddled further into the armrest of the banged-up furniture you were sitting on.

“Fuck,” your phone was ringing again but you ignored whoever was calling you, too distracted by your breath closing in and the eerie question you couldn’t answer. What were you going to do?

You were freaked out, clutching your hand to your stomach trying to feel the rise and fall of your breath. Your eyes desperately opening and closing. What were you going to do?

“Shit,” your hand finding your phone when it started buzzing again and again, you threw it onto the ground, curling into yourself.

The panic had subsided barely when you realized your poor old phone was probably cracked if not broken from your frenzied tantrum. Your shaking hand grabbing it to assess the damage done.

“Fuck,” seeing multiple missed calls from friends, all aware of your situation, “fuck, fuck.”

You hesitantly answered when Brian tried you again.

“Y/N? You okay?”

“B-Brian? What am I, oh god, what am I going to do?”

“Hey, take a breath yeah?”

“Brian, I don’t have anywhere to go.”

“Yeah, that’s why I called,” he smiled softly when your breath started evening out, “I’ve got this friend who’ll probably go mad if he’s alone during quarantine. He gets in his head and stuff. He’s not some serial killer and is one of the nicest, genuine people I know. You might end up in Pickering, y’know where I grew up? But he’d be happy to let you stay.”

“I feel like I’d be imposing.”

“Don’t worry. He probably needs this more than you, believe me or not.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he chuckled when you sniffled, “I’ll give him a call, eh? Hold tight.”

Brian hung up.

To say you knew you’d end up outside an apartment building in downtown Toronto, you’d be lying. You had just slid out of the cab and found yourself enjoying the distant sight of the CN Tower praying that Brian’s friend had a decent view. More so that this friend wouldn’t kill you. As you moved closer to the doors, the glass showed a simplistic yet expensive interior and that was only the lobby.

The elevator had mirrors and the halls were so clean you’d probably be fine living in the hallway instead of the condo on the other side of the door you were staring at. Everything will be fine.

You knocked.

“Just a minute!” The shout was muffled from inside the room.

The door swung open not a moment later to reveal a young and astoundingly attractive male staring down at you. His curls were looped around his fingers when his hand brushed through his hair, a silver ring reflecting a flash of light. You took in his soft eyes, a scar on the apple of his cheek, his pillowy looking lips. In sweatpants and a knitted sweater he looked like pure heaven. You recognized him, of course you had, Shawn Mendes was not one to glance over even for an overworked student.

“Hi honey,” he looked down at you, “how did you get through? I thought the security was keeping out fans, it’s really not okay for you to be here.”

“Oh, um no. The security was very prompt so you shouldn’t run into any problems. And I’m not a fan, well I-I mean I am but that’s not why I’m here. Brian said you were expecting me? I have a keycard to your apartment which is how I got through the lobby. I didn’t want to just intrude by walking in though, I, um, I can come back later or call Brian for a different arrangement.”

“No,” he was smiling sheepishly, “no, sorry. You’re Y/N, right? Sorry I wasn’t thinking.”

You smiled and bit your nail shyly when he opened his door to let you into the spacious living room.

“I’m Shawn, by the way, and sorry for being an ass back there. We’ve had some run-ins with fans because of security issues the past few months so I was being cautious. Not that that’s an excuse or anything.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he was staring down at you, “really it’s okay. I should’ve had Brian let you know of my arrival or something. Honestly I didn’t know you were, well you…” you trailed off not knowing where that sentence was going.

Your eyes continued flitting back and forth between his enjoying the crinkles of smile lines you couldn’t see through a screen. You were so focused on the giant in front of you that your gaze almost missed the open floor to ceiling windows.

He definitely had a view.

You felt his eyes follow you when your figure shifted past him to stand closer to the sight of the city.

“Like the view?”

Your eyes snapped back onto him startled by his presence standing mere feet away. You smiled softly.

“It’s insane.”

“Yeah it’s the best view I’ve ever had. Especially right now.”

His eyes were on you but you let his stupid cliche and corny joke just giggling at his antics before turning back to his window.

It was in the early hours of the morning when Shawn started apologizing. Again.

“I’m so sorry. I feel so bad about earlier and you’re absolutely the sweetest person. I should’ve known and thought about the situation before jumping to conclusions. I swear my ego hasn’t gotten to my head that bad.”

“You need to stop apologizing,” he chuckled with you, “seriously it’s okay. And you’ve been nothing but kind to me since I’ve been here. I mean housewarming muffins? That’s the best. Plus I’m staying here with you so really I should be thanking you not listening to you say sorry.”

“It wasn’t okay for me to assume anything. Also brave of you to think the muffins were for you!”

“I’m enjoying them nonetheless,” he was smiling at you again, “stop that.”

“Stop what?”

“Smiling at me like that!”

“Like what?” He was chuckling again, “like what, Y/N?”

“Like that. You’re making me nervous.”

“Why?”

“Because you're way too kind and not hard to look at, I’m bound to be flustered by you.”

He just kept smiling down at you, his head tipping closer to your own. Jerk.

“I like making you blush.”

“You’re good at it. I barely know you and I’m probably in love with you.”

His head tilted back when he broke out in laughter exposing a perfect neck. He was literally perfect. The definition of perfection.

“You’re not,” his smile was full of mischief, “but I’ll get you to love me by the end of this.”

You leaned in your head enjoying how his breath hitched at your close proximity because he might affect you but you affected him just as much.

“Is that a bet?”

“Nope. A promise.”

He pressed his pillowy soft pink lips against the corner of your lips and enjoyed the taste of your coconut lip scrub that was now in his bathroom. He felt giddy.

“What will happen after quarantine?”

“You’ll move the rest of your stuff in, duh.”

He was being sassy.

“Mmhmm? And when will I meet the family?”

“I was thinking we could go there in a couple of days? I want to spend some time with them.”

“Wait really?”

“Yeah, I want to see them before we really hunker down. Is that okay with you?”

You smiled putting your arms around his neck the two of you far more comfortable in each other's presence than expected.

“Sounds good.”

“Ok,” he pressed his nose to yours lightly eyes gleaming in excitement, ecstatic at the idea of telling his family about the awesome girl in front of him “we’ll just stand six feet away.”

You both chuckled.

“Like we’re doing right now?”

“Baby, we’re in this together.”

“Yeah? Like High School Musical?”

“I’ll be your Troy.”

“You’re more of a Ricky.”

He gave you a look. Shawn’s ringlet curl flopping onto his forehead. Definitely a Ricky Bowen.

“I’m serious, we’re in this together.”

“I’m okay with that.”

And you were being truthful. You knew this situation was bringing you two closer much faster than normal but you hadn’t felt this safe in so long. Shawn was a stranger just hours ago but now he was already affecting your heart. You could see yourself falling in love with him by the end of all this. He might just keep his promise.

permanent taglist: @wholesomemendes @fallinallincurls @ashwarren32 @mendesficsxbombay @haute-shawn @turtoix @prncsnee @http-isabela

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hi-dread · 4 years

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Mirko x Reader

Foreword

This story is a fanfic of Boku no Hero Academia and the rabbit hero Mirko, also known as Rumi Usagiyama.

I chose to write it in first person, mostly because I want to add something to my life which I cannot get besides in my fantasy. I hope you enjoy reading this and do not find it cringe.

The following part of this, is just a bit backstory on me/the reader that will end up meeting Mirko. If you don’t care about the backstory (since it is pretty long) you can just skip it. Since my childhood, I always felt like that one kid in school that was always alone, even if they wanted to reach out for people. I did have a few friends that I hung out with at and after school. We usually played soccer whenever we had a lunchbreak or when we could do anything but assignments. I had a lot of fun (or so I thought), and when I had the time I would ask one of my “friends” if they wanted to play/hang out after school and most of the time they said yes. I preferred being at their house than at mine. I always felt awkward being home with a friend. Not that my mom or siblings were embarrassing in any way. I just didn’t have as many things as the friends I hung out with had. When we got to their house, we either played soccer in their backyard or played video games. Be it Call of Duty, Mario Kart or Sims. I was down for anything, even if I had to watch them play. I enjoyed my time being there. But as much fun as it seemed, I did not expect this to happen. I was persuaded into going to a soccer tournament since they lacked a few players, especially in the defense. I didn’t really have any high hopes for the tournament because I knew I would be lopped with the bad team and we lost 9 out of 10 games, if we were lucky that is. As I expected, we got destroyed in the first match with a whopping score of 0-23. The second game wasn’t as bad, but still quite a bit, since we lost that with a score of 0-15. There was a third game, but I am unsure if there was a fourth game. Well, that doesn’t really matter in the end since we lost in the end. When the entire tournament was over, my birthday came up. It was all nice and good, but a few days after that, I suddenly felt a severe stinging pain in my left foot. I didn’t know what it was, all I could say is that I hurt so bad that I couldn’t walk, so I had to lend some crutches from my cousin. As usual when something is hurting and it won’t go away after a week, I went to the doctor, they touched my foot and I nearly cry in pain. They send me to get an x-ray scan of the foot. Nothing showed up, so they sent me to the HR, which for those who don’t know what that is, it’s just a huge machine, making a lot of noise which will show pictures of the scanned object in a more detailed way. As I hoped it would show something, they said there was not anything wrong with the foot. At this the doctors were quite annoyed with my presence and my persistence of the pain in my foot. So, after 4 months of agonizing pain and a very bad start of a new school year, I was referred to a new hospital where they saw the old x-scan of my foot and showed me it. I could clearly see my foot was broken. They wanted to do a rescan of my foot to see how much it was healed and then they wanted to put a cast on it. I was happy they figured what was wrong out and that they helped me, but what was missing was my absence in school. Most of my classmates knew as much as I did, maybe less, but they kept asking me if they could use my crutches. I gave them permission. But there was also those who felt as if I were getting too much attention and even said to me that there was nothing wrong with my foot and I should stop walking with the crutches. As many would have thought, I thought the same; “how rude”. I shrugged it off.

Eventually, the cast would be taken off and I had to learn how to walk again. As I regained my mobility, I slowly lost my interest in other things. My social life slowly dwindled, and I stopped going to soccer since I felt it got too serious and I didn’t get anywhere (mostly because I was put on the losing team). One and a half year went by and I got into a new class. Everything seemed fine and I was in an association of runners and I ran a few times a week to keep up my physique. But as I was out running on a Sunday, my knee suddenly felt dull and painful. I must note I did not even run 500 meters. But as the pain grew, my mobility in my knee fell. It locked itself in place and I could barely bend it. I told the others I could not keep going and they should just go without me and I would go back to where we started. I limbed back, sat down, yet still having pain. A week went by, and I was forced back on crutches and I was unable to have anything on my knee because even that felt painful. Same deal as before, I went to the doctors, they scanned it. Both x-ray and HR, but nothing had any results. 6 months later my doctor referred me to a private hospital where the doctor, after a few ‘tests’ knew exactly who I should go to because he has dealt with patients with similar symptoms. After I met the new doctor, he gave me some meds and they worked for around 3 months. In the 3 months, I could wear normal jeans, walk, and run properly, but after those months went by, it was back to the crutches. I was hospitalized a month after the fallback and was in rehabilitation. I got some tasks I had to do to fix the pain, even though they didn’t make sense. They basically told me I had to rub my knee with a towel for 60 seconds 3 times with a 30-60 second interval. Long story short, it worked, and I didn’t have any pain after the 4 weeks at the hospital. Though, I was forced to take some medicine, but as long as I didn’t feel any pain and I could walk, I was happy. I finished school after one and a half years with decent grades. Nothing I could do much about since I am not the best at the oral exams, though I was happy with the results. I went to high school, hoping everything would turn out well, but the knee pain came back. I’d say I had a “great” start on high school if you ask me. Even though my mom was very concerned about my grades and how well it went at school, I somehow pulled through. Even the 3 years prior with an absence percentage of more than 50%. The only reason I could pull through these agonizing years was thanks to anime and manga. Since my knee pain would pull me out of school and tear apart my social life, even if I didn’t even have any to begin with, I felt some kind of joy with reading manga and watch anime when I could. Even though the first 2 years of high school felt like hell, I finished a few classes and got a better exam grade than some of my other classmates. It went well and as I was frequently going to a psychologist, reason being my knee pain (it’s mostly mental (think of phantom pain, then you’d understand, I hope)), but also because they found out I had suicidal thoughts. Even though I had those thoughts, I didn’t try to do anything since I had grown an anxiety for pain. But as I was going back and forth at the psychologists, they managed to find out I had a severe depression and might’ve had it for more than 6 years (at that point, I already knew I had a depression, but didn’t have the diagnose) and they also found out I had autism, not much, but enough to give me the diagnose Asperger’s Syndrome. I was fine with it, yet they didn’t give me many tools to deal with my depression, but I had my anime and manga, so I still had some hope.

Enjoy.

Chapter 1: What I desire

Well, now that we have that sappy story out of the way, we’re back to the present, where I am still dealing with a severe depression, not finding an end to it. Well, the pain I have in the knee has come back, but not as severe as it used to be. I go to the gym on a regular basis. It used to be 5 times a week, but my psychologist thought it would be best if I went there 3 times a week instead. Before the pandemic hit I would do a lot of stomach exercises and work with my knee, but after all the precautions, I can’t do many of them, so I chose to just run with a pace of 9 km/h or 6 mi/h for 20 minutes for the last 10, I’d increase it to 10 km/h. When I am done with that, I’d do some sit-ups and pull-ups for around 20 minutes. When I tell people that I go to the gym a few times a week, there’s always the follow up question “Then you must like it, right?”, but that’s actually not the case. I despise it, but I must do it, so I have been told, that is. The reason why I actually run for 30 minutes is because I watched the anime Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru (Run With the Wind). It seemed inspiring how they were running and the amount of fun they had with it, so I wanted that too. I envied the fun they had when they were running together. But thanks to the diagnosis – my Asperger’s – I cannot feel any human emotions, such as happiness, sadness, or anger. For me, I am just confused. But now I have a new goal for my workout. I have been reading Boku no Hero Academia – almost from when it was released – and have enjoyed it ever since. But one day, a certain hero was introduced. Yes, Rumi Usagiyama, the rabbit hero: Mirko. When she first appeared in the hero ranking right after All Might’s fight vs AFO, she has been on my mind a lot. Her cocky line, her daring attitude, and her epic hero entrance when Endeavor beat the first HE Nomu, give me goosebumps. The way she fights and how she is as a hero, always working to fight villains and to protect civilians, is something I look up to. She is my hero, and maybe my waifu. So much as I want merch of her. But don’t get me wrong, I am well aware that she’s out of my league and I am just a very unlucky kid, plus I live in a world where quirks don’t exist. She’s a fictional character and I am a person who reads Japanese comics for fun. But I can at least try to do my best to look fit and be in shape and prepare myself for what will happen next.

To be continued.

#mirko x reader #rumi usagiyama #mirko #rabbit hero: mirko #mha miruko #miruko #bnha miruko #BNHA: Mirko #bnha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia

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agl03 · 4 years

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Forgive me if this has already been asked! It may even be irrelevant and me overthinking, but something stuck out to me during the argument with Sousa/Jemma/Enoch/Deke this past episode. Enoch said ‘nobody understands the time drive, that is by design’. Seems an odd way to put it which got me thinking. Jemma looked away when this was said and Enoch seemed to comfort her at this moment - could the ‘by design’ be on purpose and related to the chip in Jemma’s neck perhaps. (Part 1)

(Part 2) It’s by design that no one knows about the time jumps because something was designed by Jemma (and this Fitz) to stop her from understanding it all. In case the chronicoms get a hold of her. Does this make any sense? Just wondered what your input on that would be! Thank you for all you do 😁

Hi Anon,

No I totally get what you are saying here and I agree. It’s more fodder for that thing in Jemma’s neck is some sort of Inhibitor that prevents her from knowing too much about anything. Because the the Chronicoms, while they’ve shown zero interest in going after her just yet, would love to get their hands on her again and rescan her brain. She what she and Fitz came up with during we had time and take what they could use.

I feel like this is a fail safe because when we look at the Framework AIDA not only took Fitz because she wanted to experience love but she took him because he was the only one who could figure out Looking Glass for her.

And if somehow this block has split up the information between the two meaning that in order to get it the Chronicoms would need both of them in order to make sense of anything. It could even be split three ways and Enoch has some of it himself.

As painful as this block is (because I’m 120% sure she knows where Fitz is but can’t bring it up right now thanks to that thing) its meant to keep them safe.

That all being said I do believe something is going to happen in the next few episodes that will either force Enoch to remove it or it will get disabled. I mean I Imagine Deke will totally freak out if he catches sight of something that looks like a metric in his Nana’s neck.

#aos spoilers #aos speculation #ask agl03 #we had time #fitzsimmons #seriously I freaking want my pay off here

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theundercovermarvelfan · 5 years

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(Trying to get back in to writing by catching up with the Whumptober Challenge for @whumptober2019!)

Day Nine - Shackled

“Scans are showing no heat signatures.”

“Are you sure?” Steve asked quietly.

“Believe it or not, scans are not rocket science. There are either heat signatures or there aren’t heat signatures. This place is stone cold. Probably been abandoned.”

Natasha swallowed thickly as she glared at the snow covered complex. Apparently, this was another dead end. It had been three days since Clint had been captured, three days of desperately searching, and it felt like they were no closer now than they had been when he had first disappeared.

“Check again,” Steve said into his comm. his eyes darting up to the sky where Iron Man could be seen streaking through the heavy clouds overhead. “Just to be sure.”

They could both hear the sigh over the comm. as Iron Man looped back around to rescan the area.

“We’re running out of time,” Natasha found herself saying quietly.

“You don’t know that,” Steve said stubbornly.

“There was no ransom, no demands,” Natasha said flatly. “Whatever reason they took him, it’s likely they wouldn’t want to keep him around long. After all, who wants to be caught with an Avenger in their dungeon? Anybody with any brains knows that would be suicide these days.”

Steve was quiet. Natasha sent a sideways look at him, crouched in the snow in winter fatigues that matched her own. His face was stoic as his eyes were pinned on the facility in front of them. He didn’t want to admit that she was right, but it wasn’t in his nature to be realistic about things like these. Captain America was used to pulling off the impossible.

But, in Natasha’s experience, sometimes the impossible was just that. Impossible.

“Wait, I might have something.”

Natasha sat up suddenly, every sense alert at the sound of Tony’s voice.

“What is it?” Steve demanded.

“It’s… it’s small,” Tony said, sounding a little unsure. “It could just be a fluke. Somebody left the TV on and it’s starting to overheat, you know?”

“But there’s a heat signature,” Steve said.

“I can’t tell for sure if it’s a person, but yeah, there’s something at least lukewarm in there,” Tony said, not sounding terribly convinced.

“Good enough,” Steve decided as he pushed himself to his feet. “Let’s go check it out. Tony, meet us down at the complex.”

As Natasha stood and checked her weapons, she suddenly felt short of breath. Could she possibly dare to hope? Experience had taught her that it was foolish to expect a happy ending.

“Ready?” Steve asked, looking at her with sympathy.

Natasha gave one curt nod. And then they were moving.

It took them no time at all to emerge from the trees and make their way down the slope toward the complex. Even though no additional heat signatures had been spotted, they kept their weapons drawn and their eyes sharp as they looked for danger. But there was no movement whatsoever around the compound, the only noise was Steve and Natasha’s footsteps crunching into the snow as they moved.

“Took you long enough,” Tony said as they approached where he already stood at the entrance. “I’d say let’s knock, but I’m pretty sure there’s no one home.”

“Stay sharp, just in case,” Steve said.

“Shall we?” Tony said as he turned and pushed open the large double doors, which groaned loudly.

“Not even locked?” Natasha said skeptically.

“It’s either a very big trap or just a big empty building,” Tony said as they peered into the dark hallway.

“Only one way to find out,” Steve said. And with that he stepped forward, disappearing into the darkness.

Natasha and Tony hurried after him. As they entered the building, Tony brought up several lights on his suit in order to light their way. Even so, the shadows were still deep and foreboding as they moved through deserted hallways.

“Where was the heat signature?” Steve asked quietly, his voice bouncing off the stone walls.

“It was down on a sublevel, that’s why I missed it on the first scan,” Tony said. “Northwest corner of the complex.”

Steve nodded as he led the way in that direction. It didn’t take them long to find a set of stone steps heading down. As they descended, Natasha took notice that these steps went deeper than just an ordinary level. Wherever they were headed, it was located significantly below the rest of the complex.

The sublevel was just as quiet and bare as the upper level. They checked several rooms that they past and found what appeared to be several labs that had been cleared out in a hurry. Beakers and test tubes were scattered haphazardly around and empty folders littered the floors next to piles of ash where their contents had been burned.

Everything about this place screamed abandoned. Natasha eyes one of the piles of ash in the fourth room that they searched. Perhaps one of the piles hadn’t been completely out and was still smoldering somewhere. That would explain the small heat signature that Tony had caught on his scans.

They were at the end of the hallway. There was only one room left. Natasha had so little hope at this point, that when Steve pushed open the door, she couldn’t comprehend what she saw on the other side.

This room was much smaller than the rest. Much more empty as well. But not completely empty, Natasha realized a long second after she should have.

“Clint!” she gasped as she rushed into the room.

In the light from Tony’s suit, Clint could be seen in the middle of the room. His hands were pulled up over his head, shackled to a chain that hung from the ceiling, pulled up so that his feet barely touched the floor. His boots were gone and so was his shirt, revealing deep bruises along his rib cage. His eyes were closed and his head hung limply on his shoulders. Natasha came to a skidding stop just steps from where he hung as the reality of the situation hit her like a brick wall.

“Is he…?” Tony’s voice trailed off, but the word that went unspoken still hung heavily in the room.

Dead.

Before anyone could say or do anything else, suddenly Clint’s muscles spasmed fiercely tremors wracking through his limp body. The sudden violent action snapped Natasha out of her stupor and sent her rushing forward, reaching up in a vain attempt to steady Clint.

“Clint!” Natasha said as she reached up and put a hand on the side of his face. His eyelids were fluttering weakly, but she couldn’t tell if that was really consciousness or just another muscle spasm.

“We need to get him down,” Steve said unnecessarily from where he had materialized next to her.

“Here, move,” Tony said, gently moving Natasha out of the way. It took everything in her not to let her instincts go on the attack, but Natasha knew despite how annoying Stark could be, he was ultimately a good man and here to help. “Cap, get ready to catch him.”

As Tony aimed his hand up at the shackles while Steve moved forward and wrapped his arms around Clint’s torso. A laser shot out from Tony’s gauntlet, cut away at the restraints. A few long seconds later and the chain snapped, Steve supporting Clint’s weight as he carefully lowered him down and laid him out of the ground.

Natasha immediately hurried back over and knelt at Clint’s side as Steve broke the shackles around Clint’s wrists. As he did so, Natasha couldn’t help but stare at Clint’s abused and bloodied wrists. His left hand sat at an odd angle, indicating a possible break. She shifted her gaze to take in the rest of his condition. Other than his wrists and the bruising, he didn’t have much in the way of external injuries. That in an of itself was frustrating, since they weren’t equipped to deal with any internal injuries here and now.

“Clint?” Natasha said softly, leaning in closer.

Clint’s muscles spasmed at odd intervals, though not as violently as they had when he had been hanging. His breathing was shallow and raspy, seeming painful with each small breath he took. He was malnourished, dehydrated, sleep deprived… and he had just been abandoned here to die slowly and painfully.

But at the sound of her voice, Clint’s eyes finally fluttered open. His bleary gaze took her in for a moment before sliding past her.

“It’s okay,” she said quietly, grabbing his hand and squeezing it gently. She was pretty sure he wasn’t in any state to comprehend what she was saying, but she hoped that at least the sound of her voice might help bring him back to them. “We’ve got you. It’s okay now, Clint.”

“We need to get him out of here,” Steve said.

Natasha nodded. Steve moved forward, threading one hand under Clint’s legs and another behind his shoulders, carefully heaving him up into his arms. Clint was still hovering somewhere near consciousness, his head lolling on his shoulders and a low groan crawling up his throat.

Still wary of any hostiles that might be lingering, Natasha took point with her sidearm drawn, Steve followed her and Tony took up the rear to watch their six. Thankfully though the trip back out of the complex was uneventful. Apparently the group really had vacated the building and just left Clint hanging in the dungeon. Rage boiled up within Natasha. She was going to find who did this and they were going to pay dearly.

At long last, they made it back to the Quinjet. Tony shed his armor and immediately headed for the pilot’s seat as Steve settled Clint onto a cot in the back of the jet. As Natasha kneeled down next to the cot she saw that Clint’s eyes were open and searching.

“N’tasha?” Clint breathed.

Natasha smiled, placing a comforting hand on Clint’s forehead and Steve covered him with several blankets to ward off the biting cold. “We’ve got you. It’s going to be okay.”

Natasha couldn’t tell if she imagined it or not as the jet rumbled to life and lifted off the ground. But she could have sworn she saw the corners of Clint’s lips twitching upward just before he finally slipped into a restful sleep.

#whumptober2019 #no.9 #hawkeye #clint barton #natasha romanoff #Black Widow #Steve Rogers #captain america #Iron Man #tony stark #fanfiction #fanfic #whump #@whumptober2019

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theantibridezilla · 4 years

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SmileDirectClub: Delays, Refinements, & Getting Back on Track

So it’s been FOREVER since I’ve written an SDC update and there’s been a good reason for that. If you follow me on IG, you know the story. But for the newbies, here’s the rundown.

A Gap That Wasn’t Closed

My original smile plan was scheduled to end on November 12th. Back in mid-October of last year, I noticed that I still had a small gap in my top front teeth. And while my lower teeth had pretty significant gaps when I started, they had managed to completely close by the end of my original smile plan. Because I was concerned that I might be left with a upper gap at the end of my smile plan, I reached out to SDC and scheduled an appointment to go to a Smile Shop for a rescan.

So, I headed to a Manhattan SDC Smile Shop on October 29th. As I suspected, they agreed on October 31st that I was going to need refinements. Refinements are when you need additional aligners beyond your original smile plan to create the perfect smile. Except, while I thought I would just need an additional week or two to close my top gap, it turned out that it would be two months and they would also be “refining” my lower front teeth as well. But whatever it takes to get a perfect smile, I wasn’t upset by this news.

What’s weird about this email — is that it asked me to set up an appointment for a scan even though I already had one so they could put my aligners into production. So me being type-A immediately called their customer service number and spoke with an agent. The agent had to basically relay between the Smile Shop and the production team to confirm that my scans had been sent in otherwise there would be no way that I could have been approved for refinements anyway since I never sent in independent images anyway.

My refinement aligners “went into production” on November 2nd with a notice that it would take four to five weeks for the new set of aligners to arrive. Keep those dates in mind, because this is where things go off the rails.

Delays

So, with a four to five-week timeline and a November 2nd start date, that would mean that either the week of Thanksgiving or the first week of December, my aligners would arrive. However, that timeframe came and went, and they were no where to be found, and there were no status updates coming from SDC.

By the second week in December, I reached out via their online chat asking for an update. Interestingly enough the answer the customer service rep gave me was something along the lines of “we’re backlogged on production because we’ve had so many new customers sign on in the last few weeks so it should be another two to three weeks before your aligners arrive.”

Okay fine. I wasn't happy to hear that but a few weeks delay wouldn’t be the end of the world. However I wasn’t cool with the fact that I had to chase them for updates versus their system being automated to flag my account as a delayed production order that needed immediate attention.

Mid-December came along and I still hadn’t received a shipment email. So I reached out to SDC through their customer support Twitter account (@GrinChangers) asking for an update. The account was prompt in replying and quoted me that my refinement aligners should ship between Christmas Eve and New Years Eve.

But then that ship window came and went and I never got a shipping notification. So, fast forward to January 2nd and I decide to reach out to @GrinChangers for a status update.

And at this point, I got irritated because it felt like the party line was “we don’t know but hey it’ll happen eventually!” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ And as someone who’s a marketer by trade (check my LinkedIn), and has worked on customer service-focused campaigns I found this extremely unacceptable. No one — regardless of whether they’re an influencer or a paying customer — should be left on donut status with something as important as dentistry. But there’s something equally weird about going out of the way to do an influencer campaign with various people and then leaving their accounts unmonitored.

Anyway, at this point I was getting to the position where I was going to write my SDC experience off as “good to a point”. But I decided to do one last Hail Mary — to reach out to the PR team who had brought me on with this campaign when I attended the May media event in Manhattan. So, I reached out to the PR people and politely let them know that I was hitting a brick wall going through the regular customer service channels. This was January 7th.

To their credit, they got on it immediately and by Saturday January 10th, I had the update email that my aligners were ready to ship. I went into detail on my IGTV of why I was happy my delays were remedied, but how I found it high-key problematic. And this week, on the 16th I received my refinement aligners. So, as of right now, I’m on Week 1 of a six-set refinement treatment plan.

And as others have said, compared to the massive box and fanfare around your original Smile Plan shipment (left), your refinement aligners (right) come in a simple padded envelope and with an additional outie tool and chewies as compared to the Bright-on teeth whiteners, tray holder case, positive affirmations and lip balm in your original Smile Plan box. And I would agree with others that this could be risky as there’s always the potential that the aligners could get bent in transit.

The Break Between Nov 12 and Now

So, my original smile plan ended on November 12th. And since then, I was wearing my last set of aligner trays. I basically treated them like retainers and only wore them at night to keep my smile from shifting while I waited for my refinement trays. It just didn’t make sense (personally) for me to wear them for 22 hours a day when the maximum amount of movement had been achieved.

The Refinement Plan

So, like I mentioned, I have a two-month refinement plan. As long as I don’t somehow go off track, I should finish by March 12th. And just like before, I have three pairs of trays per month with a 1 / 1 / 2 line up where I wear one tray for each of the first two weeks and then I wear a single set of trays for the last two weeks in a month. And since I received my aligners on a Thursday, I switched into them that evening, and will be doing five more Thursday swaps.

So, right now like I mentioned I’m on my first week of refinement trays. The one thing I am thankful for is that this first week wasn’t very uncomfortable beyond slight soreness! As many people know, the first week or two of aligners can be incredibly painful. So we’ll see if this is a relatively painless experience the entire two months or if some weeks are going to be “intense”.

To Recap...

So, even though I had an incredibly annoying experience with SDC’s general customer support for the last two months, I do think the product works. If you see my progression from May to now, clearly my smile improved dramatically.

However, I would say that they need to work on their CX as it’s irrelevant to increase your market share — which they’ve done by enhancing their product offerings and beefing up advertisements — if you’re going to leave existing customers in the lurch, especially at these price points. And while I was able to have the “ace in the hole” of connecting with the PR team, what happens to regular paying customers who don’t have that luxury?

To learn more about my SDC Smile Journey, click here.

#smiledirectclub #aligners #beauty #dentistry #bridal beauty #update #dental aligners #smile journey #dental journey #straighter teeth #beauty treatment #smile direct club #smile direct club review #sponsored #ad #wedding beauty

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jerrytackettca · 5 years

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Wired for Healing: Remapping the Brain to Recover From Chronic and Mysterious Illnesses

Annie Hopper is a limbic retraining specialist. While you may never have heard this term, limbic hyperactivity or dysfunction appears to be a foundational core of the dysfunction and challenges associated with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), fibromyalgia and a number of other conditions, and by retraining your limbic system to respond appropriately, symptoms may subside or vanish.

Hopper was herself homeless for a time due to her EHS, which made her unable to tolerate modern environments. I recently met Hopper in Peter Sullivan’s electromagnetic field (EMF) tent at an autism conference run by Jenny McCarthy called Generation Rescue. Sullivan is an environmental health funder who focuses on toxins and wireless safety.

Sullivan had also benefited from Hopper’s work. Intrigued, I read Hopper’s book, “Wired for Healing: Remapping the Brain to Recover From Chronic and Mysterious Illnesses,” which is a great resource.

Developing EHS — A Personal Account

Hopper describes the challenges that led to writing her book:

"It started in 2004. I was working as a core belief counsellor in Kelowna, British Columbia. I was working at an office that [had] mold … [and] my office was located right next door to the janitor’s supply room, where they held all the cleaning chemicals for the office, all those really heavy-duty industrial cleaners.

What I also didn't know was that the actual office that I was renting used to be a part of the janitor's supply room. They just put up a wall to make a little office space. It didn't have proper ventilation either.

I worked in that office for about five months. Over that period, I started to get progressively sick. Before that, [and] this is what we call like the perfect storm for a limbic system impairment … I was in a car accident where I had a minor whiplash injury. That was probably about the fifth car accident prior to this mold and chemical exposure.

Anyway, for the five months that I was in this building, I started to progressively get symptoms, like anxiety, chronic muscle and joint pain, and this growing sensitivity to just everyday things in my environment, like perfumes and colognes. That's how it started … Really, it felt like I was being literally poisoned by any kind of chemical exposure.

I moved out of the building eventually because I recognized that it was the building that was making me sick, but by that time, it was too late. The damage was already done … [Then] I had what I call a tipping point. I was walking through a bookstore and by a scented candle display. Someone else might be OK with that, but … at that point, something happened to my brain.

I went over the edge in terms of this fight-or-flight response that just did not stop. At that point, it felt like I was having a brain hemorrhage or something. Light hurt. Sound hurt. Smell hurt. Everything hurt … When I woke up the next morning … I couldn’t wear the same clothes that I’d worn, because my brain was now picking up on the smallest amount of chemical residue from laundry detergent as potentially life-threatening.

That started a very bizarre kind of science fiction world where I really had to navigate how I did life. If I was walking down the street and someone happened to be doing their laundry and they had dryer exhaust going off, if I walked by that, I might go into convulsions.

It was very serious, hugely debilitating. I had to quit my job. I had to stop socializing. I was very much homebound and getting depressed. Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, they did. What seemed like overnight, I developed EHS.

By this time, I've already got severe chemical sensitivities. I also have fibromyalgia. I was suffering from anxiety, insomnia and a host of other things, and then I developed this EMF sensitivity. What that meant was that my body could detect EMF."

Chemical Sensitivities and EHS Often Go Hand in Hand

It's a known fact that many who struggle with chemical sensitivities are at higher risk of EHS, and that was certainly Hopper's experience. In addition to a burning skin sensation, which is a very common symptom of EHS, she also lost her ability to speak, which she says is a severe symptom associated with both chemical sensitivities and EHS.

"When I started to talk, I would say something that really didn't make any sense. It wasn't actually what I was thinking," she says. "There was something very cognitively off as well. I had a lot of brain fog and just not being able to focus, inability to articulate, to think, to put thoughts together, to string a sentence together, all of that."

To survive, she had to get away from all these chemical and EMF triggers. At the time, she was living with her husband, James, in a condo in Kelowna, British Columbia. It was impossible to get away from wireless radiation. In the end, she had to resort to camping.

"Even before this time, I knew that my brain was being affected. It really made sense to me that my brain was not processing sensory information accurately anymore," she says.

"Somehow, the fight-or-flight centers in my brain were being triggered so much so that it was distorting some of the information that was coming into my brain and making this overreactive, overresponsive, hypervigilant reaction that was also affecting my immune system, my endocrine system, my neurology — all of it …

It made sense for me that it was some sort of brain injury, some form of brain trauma — something was wrong. I started to look at what area of the brain was responsible for sense of smell because, to me, that seemed like the right place to start."

The Role of Your Limbic System in EHS

As a result, Hopper began researching the limbic system, which is the emotional and reactive part of your brain, responsible for filtering sensory and emotional information, and sorting that information into two distinct categories: safe or unsafe.

"You can imagine that if any of those neurons along that neural network are damaged or not working functionally in any way, then that can start to categorize information that would not normally be considered dangerous as life-threatening," Hopper says.

This is an entirely unconscious response, of course. Essentially, your brain gets stuck in the fight-flight-or-freeze mechanism. She also researched neuroplasticity, which is your brain's ability to change.

She discovered there was a lot of research showing limbic system overactivation is common denominator for many different illnesses, including CFS, fibromyalgia, chemical sensitivities, depression and anxiety. While reading Dr. Norman Doidge's book, "The Brain That Changes Itself," she had a sudden revelation.

"He was talking about Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, who is the guru for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Schwartz recognized that with OCD, there is a part of the brain that just wasn't functioning properly. That's what keeps people in this feeling of contamination or obsessive worrying. I thought, 'I don't have OCD, but certainly I feel like my mind or my brain is stuck."

Schwartz would scan his patients’ brains to see how the brain was operating when they were having an OCD attack. He then gave them a series of self-directed neuroplasticity exercises to do at home, and rescanned their brain after a period of time. What he discovered was that their brains were actually being rewired.

The more they practiced these exercises, the more their brain changed, to the point where they actually reversed the changes that were happening during OCD. As a result, they were able to function normally again.

"It seemed to me like that was the right place to look,” Hopper says. “I started to become my own personal guinea pig, looking at how could I change the limbic system, knowing that it was the feeling and reacting brain and knowing that it could be categorizing information or distorting information … This is not unlike post-traumatic stress disorder, I think. Or traumatic brain injury …

You know, I was just as surprised as anyone else, to be honest with you. When I started to notice changes in symptoms, my first thought was, ‘Hallelujah’ … Through influencing this part of my brain and rewiring the brain, it actually dampened and reduced symptoms, and miraculously normalized my sensory perception.

When your sensory perception goes back to being normal, your body is no longer reacting to everything. That made it possible for me to live in the world again and be of the world again, and be an active participant in my life."

What Causes Limbic System Impairment?

So, what actually causes this limbic system impairment in the first place? As noted by Hopper, it could be a number of different things, including viral, bacterial, emotional or psychological stress. It could be chemical injury, mold or excessive EMF exposure. “Usually it’s a combination of all of that that leads to what we call the perfect storm. These kinds of stresses are cumulative,” she says.

Ultimately, her experience and research led her to develop the Dynamic Neural Retraining System (DNRS) course, which is now offered as a five-day interactive training program around North America and Europe. The program is also available online and as a 14-hour DVD series.

It's not a quick process. It can take many months of diligent work, but the end results are clearly worth the effort. Hopper recommends practicing the program daily for at least six months.

"It takes a while to change those neural networks. Even though people might start feeling changes within a few days or a few weeks or a few months, you really want to repeat those exercises on a regular basis to make those really permanent changes in the brain," she says.

The IMAGINE Acronym

Hopper came up with the acronym called "IMAGINE" to encapsulate the strategy of the program:

I stands for intention — The intention being to strengthen alternative neural circuitry and moving the focus away from symptoms in order to change the fight-flight-or-freeze response and normalize limbic system function.

M for motivation — It's not an overnight fix, so you need to find the motivation to do the exercises daily.

A for awareness and association — You need to become aware of how limbic system impairment affects your thoughts, emotions and behaviors. When you catch those thoughts, emotions and behaviors, you'll want to redirect your brain in that moment into an alternate route so that it doesn't continue down the neural pathways associated with the impairment.

You also need to look at your associations. What kind of associations have you created with stimuli that might be activating the threat centers in your brain on a continuous basis, and how can you change these associations?

G for gain — It's important to recognize the gains you make throughout your retraining process. "This is interesting because we all have an innate negativity bias, meaning we're going to notice what's going wrong before we notice what's going right," Hopper says. "If you have limbic system impairment, that negativity bias can be magnified because of the impairment itself."

I for incremental training — It's a form of neural shaping that helps strengthen alternative neurocircuitry by exposing yourself to small amounts of stimulus to help retrain your brain to respond differently to it.

N for neurological and emotional rehearsals — "There's a part of the program where we use our imagination and visualization," Hopper says. "The great thing about imagination is the brain does not know the difference between what's real and what's imagined. There is no end to how we can use our imagination to help in retraining the brain."

Using guided visualization, you can alter your neural chemistry. When in fight-flight-or-freeze response, you release a lot of cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine. Using this guided visualization technique, you can stop the production of those stress hormones and increase production of feel good hormones such as dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins.

E for environmental awareness — Last but not least, you need to assess your day-to-day environment and create the most pristine and beautiful healing environment for yourself.

The Importance of Addressing Cellular Injury

In essence, the central principle of DNRS is that neurons that fire together, wire together. The purpose of many of these exercises is to rewire them in the direction of healing, because they've been hyperfacilitated in the direction of injury.

While testimonials attest to the effectiveness of Hopper's program, it's also important to realize that this does not address the cellular injury that EMFs cause. My view is that your limbic system alarms and alerts you in order for you to take steps to stop this cellular damage that is occurring.

So, I believe it's vitally important to address both your limbic dysfunction and the cellular damage that has occurred in your body. Hopper agrees that both angles are equally important, but that limbic system retraining is the missing link for many:

"Let's take chemical injury for example. Is it affecting the tissues? Is it affecting the cellular level? Absolutely. Detoxification might be a good thing for most people, but for the person who has a limbic system injury, they'll still be sick even after they've detoxified … or they might find that detoxification treatments actually heighten symptoms rather than lower symptoms, because the brain is stuck in that trauma state.

The cells of the body have also affected the brain. We could do all these treatments to help with the cellular, clearing the body celullarly from what is happening, yet for a lot of people, that will be enough. If they're still sick, then we really want to look at that brain component too."

So, remember, just because your symptoms dissipate, which the DNRS method will do for many, that doesn't necessarily mean you've mitigated the cellular injury EMF exposure has inflicted. Ideally, you want to do both. It's a combination of the two that's so crucial for complete healing.

Amazing Stories of Recovery

Hopper’s book contains a number of accounts of remarkable recovery stories using her program. One not included in the book is Riley, who was bedridden for three years with severe chronic Lyme disease.

"He could not speak, could not eat. He was partially paralyzed. He was sensitive to light, to sound, to movement, to chemicals. He’d also had mold exposure. His mom kept him alive by feeding him little Dixie cups of soup.

He’d been to a lot of really great practitioners and had come a long way. They got him walking again and being able to talk, but he was still left with a lot of different issues, like food sensitivities, chemical sensitivities, some OCD, some movement disorder.

Riley came to the program. It took him about a year to recover from the symptoms that were left … that were related to limbic system impairment. He’s fully recovered. He traveled in Europe and went backpacking for a year. It’s a pretty amazing story."

Hopper also recounts two other success stories, including one of a woman with a balance disorder who made a remarkable recovery on the program. Another is of a young woman who had severe POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) who went from being in a wheelchair to rollerblading. At present, Hopper has two research projects in the works.

One is an observational study at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, involving 100 participants with a wide variety of medical diagnoses. This study aims to assess how the DNRS program affects quality of life and measure changes in symptom severity over the course of a year.

The second research initiative is taking place at the University of Calgary. In this study, they will review brain scans of people who have chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia or chemical sensitivities to get a baseline brain scan and then look at how the brain changes when someone is actually implementing the program for a period of at least six months. According to Hopper, the estimated success rate of improving quality of life is about 90 percent. Hopefully, these studies validate that estimate.

More Information

While the program appears to be very effective, you do have to be motivated to do it. Being under a high degree of stress may also dampen results. Homelessness might be an example here. "But by all means, give it your best go. You might not get the results that you want to see as quickly, but that doesn't mean that you won't see results," Hopper says.

That said, she does not recommend the program for certain mental conditions, such as schizophrenia, or if you're currently going through extreme situational stress, such as if you're going through a court case, or grieving a loved one who just passed away.

"That might not be a really good time to start the course," she says. "It doesn't mean that it's impossible, but it might slow the progression down. I think that if someone's just passed away, you're dealing with grief or loss, there's a natural progression to grieving and a natural process where grieving takes place.

I don't think that would be a really great time to start the program, because we really want people to focus specifically on elevating their emotional state as much as they can, not only when they're doing the exercises and also throughout the day. If you're in the grieving process, it's kind of a little bit difficult to do."

Barring severe mental illness or extreme stress, if you've been suffering for a long time with a chronic and mysterious illness, be it CFS, fibromyalgia, chemical sensitivities, EHS, Lyme disease, food sensitivities or any number of other difficult-to-pin-down ailments, consider giving limbic system retraining a try.

"Don't give up hope. There's an answer. There's a way out of suffering," Hopper says. "I made a promise to myself when I was sick that if and when I find an answer, I would share that with the world. I'm doing my very best to do that. Our team is expanding more and more.

The DVD has been translated into seven languages. We have people from all over the world and over 65 countries report to us that they're recovering their health through limbic system retraining. All I would like to say is, 'Give it a try. Embrace the program.' I think that people will be pleasantly surprised with the results."

To get your feet wet and learn more about the science behind the DNRS program, pick up a copy of “Wired for Healing: Remapping the Brain to Recover From Chronic and Mysterious Illnesses.” If you decide you want to go through the course, you can pick up the 14-hour DVD course on Hopper’s website, RetrainingTheBrain.com (you can also opt to do the training online).

There you can also register for the five-day interactive training seminar. Since people coming to the program have a wide variety of sensitivities, great care is taken to ensure a safe and healthy environment for most participants.

from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/03/17/limbic-retraining.aspx

source http://niapurenaturecom.weebly.com/blog/wired-for-healing-remapping-the-brain-to-recover-from-chronic-and-mysterious-illnesses

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paullassiterca · 5 years

Text

Wired for Healing: Remapping the Brain to Recover From Chronic and Mysterious Illnesses

youtube

Developing EHS — A Personal Account

Hopper describes the challenges that led to writing her book:

“It started in 2004. I was working as a core belief counsellor in Kelowna, British Columbia. I was working at an office that [had] mold … [and] my office was located right next door to the janitor’s supply room, where they held all the cleaning chemicals for the office, all those really heavy-duty industrial cleaners.

What I also didn’t know was that the actual office that I was renting used to be a part of the janitor’s supply room. They just put up a wall to make a little office space. It didn’t have proper ventilation either.

Anyway, for the five months that I was in this building, I started to progressively get symptoms, like anxiety, chronic muscle and joint pain, and this growing sensitivity to just everyday things in my environment, like perfumes and colognes. That’s how it started … Really, it felt like I was being literally poisoned by any kind of chemical exposure.

It was very serious, hugely debilitating. I had to quit my job. I had to stop socializing. I was very much homebound and getting depressed. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, they did. What seemed like overnight, I developed EHS.

By this time, I’ve already got severe chemical sensitivities. I also have fibromyalgia. I was suffering from anxiety, insomnia and a host of other things, and then I developed this EMF sensitivity. What that meant was that my body could detect EMF.”

Chemical Sensitivities and EHS Often Go Hand in Hand

It’s a known fact that many who struggle with chemical sensitivities are at higher risk of EHS, and that was certainly Hopper’s experience. In addition to a burning skin sensation, which is a very common symptom of EHS, she also lost her ability to speak, which she says is a severe symptom associated with both chemical sensitivities and EHS.

“When I started to talk, I would say something that really didn’t make any sense. It wasn’t actually what I was thinking,” she says. “There was something very cognitively off as well. I had a lot of brain fog and just not being able to focus, inability to articulate, to think, to put thoughts together, to string a sentence together, all of that.”

“Even before this time, I knew that my brain was being affected. It really made sense to me that my brain was not processing sensory information accurately anymore,” she says.

“Somehow, the fight-or-flight centers in my brain were being triggered so much so that it was distorting some of the information that was coming into my brain and making this overreactive, overresponsive, hypervigilant reaction that was also affecting my immune system, my endocrine system, my neurology — all of it …

The Role of Your Limbic System in EHS

“You can imagine that if any of those neurons along that neural network are damaged or not working functionally in any way, then that can start to categorize information that would not normally be considered dangerous as life-threatening,” Hopper says.

She discovered there was a lot of research showing limbic system overactivation is common denominator for many different illnesses, including CFS, fibromyalgia, chemical sensitivities, depression and anxiety. While reading Dr. Norman Doidge’s book, “The Brain That Changes Itself,” she had a sudden revelation.

“He was talking about Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, who is the guru for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Schwartz recognized that with OCD, there is a part of the brain that just wasn’t functioning properly. That’s what keeps people in this feeling of contamination or obsessive worrying. I thought, ��I don’t have OCD, but certainly I feel like my mind or my brain is stuck.”

“It seemed to me like that was the right place to look,” Hopper says. “I started to become my own personal guinea pig, looking at how could I change the limbic system, knowing that it was the feeling and reacting brain and knowing that it could be categorizing information or distorting information … This is not unlike post-traumatic stress disorder, I think. Or traumatic brain injury …

What Causes Limbic System Impairment?

It’s not a quick process. It can take many months of diligent work, but the end results are clearly worth the effort. Hopper recommends practicing the program daily for at least six months.

“It takes a while to change those neural networks. Even though people might start feeling changes within a few days or a few weeks or a few months, you really want to repeat those exercises on a regular basis to make those really permanent changes in the brain,” she says.

The IMAGINE Acronym

Hopper came up with the acronym called “IMAGINE” to encapsulate the strategy of the program:

M for motivation — It’s not an overnight fix, so you need to find the motivation to do the exercises daily.

A for awareness and association — You need to become aware of how limbic system impairment affects your thoughts, emotions and behaviors. When you catch those thoughts, emotions and behaviors, you’ll want to redirect your brain in that moment into an alternate route so that it doesn’t continue down the neural pathways associated with the impairment.

G for gain — It’s important to recognize the gains you make throughout your retraining process. “This is interesting because we all have an innate negativity bias, meaning we’re going to notice what’s going wrong before we notice what’s going right,” Hopper says. “If you have limbic system impairment, that negativity bias can be magnified because of the impairment itself.”

I for incremental training — It’s a form of neural shaping that helps strengthen alternative neurocircuitry by exposing yourself to small amounts of stimulus to help retrain your brain to respond differently to it.

N for neurological and emotional rehearsals — “There’s a part of the program where we use our imagination and visualization,” Hopper says. “The great thing about imagination is the brain does not know the difference between what’s real and what’s imagined. There is no end to how we can use our imagination to help in retraining the brain.”

E for environmental awareness — Last but not least, you need to assess your day-to-day environment and create the most pristine and beautiful healing environment for yourself.

The Importance of Addressing Cellular Injury

In essence, the central principle of DNRS is that neurons that fire together, wire together. The purpose of many of these exercises is to rewire them in the direction of healing, because they’ve been hyperfacilitated in the direction of injury.

While testimonials attest to the effectiveness of Hopper’s program, it’s also important to realize that this does not address the cellular injury that EMFs cause. My view is that your limbic system alarms and alerts you in order for you to take steps to stop this cellular damage that is occurring.

So, I believe it’s vitally important to address both your limbic dysfunction and the cellular damage that has occurred in your body. Hopper agrees that both angles are equally important, but that limbic system retraining is the missing link for many:

“Let’s take chemical injury for example. Is it affecting the tissues? Is it affecting the cellular level? Absolutely. Detoxification might be a good thing for most people, but for the person who has a limbic system injury, they’ll still be sick even after they’ve detoxified … or they might find that detoxification treatments actually heighten symptoms rather than lower symptoms, because the brain is stuck in that trauma state.

The cells of the body have also affected the brain. We could do all these treatments to help with the cellular, clearing the body celullarly from what is happening, yet for a lot of people, that will be enough. If they’re still sick, then we really want to look at that brain component too.”

So, remember, just because your symptoms dissipate, which the DNRS method will do for many, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve mitigated the cellular injury EMF exposure has inflicted. Ideally, you want to do both. It’s a combination of the two that’s so crucial for complete healing.

Amazing Stories of Recovery

“He could not speak, could not eat. He was partially paralyzed. He was sensitive to light, to sound, to movement, to chemicals. He’d also had mold exposure. His mom kept him alive by feeding him little Dixie cups of soup.

More Information

While the program appears to be very effective, you do have to be motivated to do it. Being under a high degree of stress may also dampen results. Homelessness might be an example here. “But by all means, give it your best go. You might not get the results that you want to see as quickly, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t see results,” Hopper says.

That said, she does not recommend the program for certain mental conditions, such as schizophrenia, or if you’re currently going through extreme situational stress, such as if you’re going through a court case, or grieving a loved one who just passed away.

“That might not be a really good time to start the course,” she says. “It doesn’t mean that it’s impossible, but it might slow the progression down. I think that if someone’s just passed away, you’re dealing with grief or loss, there’s a natural progression to grieving and a natural process where grieving takes place.

I don’t think that would be a really great time to start the program, because we really want people to focus specifically on elevating their emotional state as much as they can, not only when they’re doing the exercises and also throughout the day. If you’re in the grieving process, it’s kind of a little bit difficult to do.”

Barring severe mental illness or extreme stress, if you’ve been suffering for a long time with a chronic and mysterious illness, be it CFS, fibromyalgia, chemical sensitivities, EHS, Lyme disease, food sensitivities or any number of other difficult-to-pin-down ailments, consider giving limbic system retraining a try.

“Don’t give up hope. There’s an answer. There’s a way out of suffering,” Hopper says. “I made a promise to myself when I was sick that if and when I find an answer, I would share that with the world. I’m doing my very best to do that. Our team is expanding more and more.

The DVD has been translated into seven languages. We have people from all over the world and over 65 countries report to us that they’re recovering their health through limbic system retraining. All I would like to say is, 'Give it a try. Embrace the program.’ I think that people will be pleasantly surprised with the results.”

from Articles http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/03/17/limbic-retraining.aspx source https://niapurenaturecom.tumblr.com/post/183510762801

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singledarkshade · 6 years

Text

Echoes

Part Eleven

Rip took a drink when he’d finished going over the plan they had for rescuing the Legends. Once they located them properly then he would be able to make a more detailed one. They were meeting onboard the ship in two hours to start the rescue. This allowed everyone to pull together anything they needed for the mission but also gave Rip some time for some personal business he had to take care of.

“I’m assuming your memories have returned fully,” Cisco noted, arms folded across his chest and a thoughtful look on his face.

Rip nodded.

“Damn,” Cisco sighed, “I’m sorry, Rip. I tried my best not to let that happen.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Cisco,” he assured the younger man, “There was no other way to fix Gideon.”

Cisco grimaced, “I just know it isn’t going to be easy for you to return to your life here with all your memories. The point of removing them was to allow you to hide with Jonas.”

“It will be fine,” Rip assured him, “Once we’re finished here Gideon will remove them again.”

“Hold on,” Cisco frowned, “But you said…”

“I lied,” Rip replied with a shrug before explaining, “I thought it better that my message be as persuasive as possible so I would choose to have you remove my memories rather than allowing them to surface fully.”

“Why?”

Rip shook his head sadly, “Because I didn’t want to remember losing Jonas and saying goodbye to Gideon. I didn’t want to feel that pain again even knowing it would be removed once more.”

Understanding Cisco nodded, “Makes sense.”

“Cisco,” Rip said before the younger man could leave, “I haven’t had a chance to say thank you for everything you’ve done. Finding me a job, a home, ensuring we were hidden and Gideon told me that you’ve watched out for us keeping her up to date on how we were. I appreciate it more than I can tell you.”

Shrugging Cisco replied, “Not a problem. I’ll see you in two hours ready to go.”

Rip watched Cisco leave, he needed to see Jonas before he left but he had someone to talk to first.

“Detective West,” he found the other man in the cortex talking with his eldest daughter, “Could I have a moment of your time?”

Joe West nodded, “Of course.”

“I’ll give you some privacy,” Iris said, giving Rip a quick smile before she left them alone.

“What can I do for you, Michael? Or do you prefer Rip?” West asked

“Either is fine for the moment,” Rip replied before swiftly moving onto why he’d come to talk to the other man, “If something happens to me while I am on this mission then Katrina and Ali will become my son’s legal guardians.”

“Okay,” West nodded.

“If that happens then I am asking you to tell them everything,” Rip told him, “I need them to know why I couldn’t come back. I want them to be able to explain to Jonas when he’s old enough to understand.”

West nodded once more, “I will,” offering Rip his hand he added when Rip took it, “But I expect you back with everyone else.”

Rip caught his son when Jonas ran over to him when he walked into the day-care room.

“You’re here,” the little boy cried excited, it had been days since Rip had been able to have lunch with his son.

“I am,” Rip hugged him tightly, “But instead of the cafeteria because we haven’t had lunch together for a few days I thought we could go to the café.”

“Can I get ice-cream?” Jonas asked hopefully.

Chuckling Rip kissed his son’s hair, “If you eat up all your lunch then yes.”

Jonas cheered and hugged him again, taking Rip’s hand when he was put down they started towards the café not far from Mercury Labs. Rip took Jonas to the family run establishment every so often as a treat. They did mini pizzas and mini burgers, which Jonas loved, they also did kid-sized ice-cream sundaes. These were an additional treat if Jonas had been extra good or, in this case, Rip was about to risk his life to save people he was hiding from and wanted his son to have a good possible last memory of him.

Eating lunch with his son Rip listened to Jonas tell him all about everything he’d done since they were together last. He smiled slightly to himself proud how happy his little boy was, that he had done well caring for Jonas on his own and hoped that this wasn’t going to be the last happy memory Jonas had with him.

*********************************************

“It is good to have you in your rightful place once again, Captain Hunter,” Gideon stated, gentle vibrations going through the controls when Rip touched them.

Rip nodded, “It is good to be here. Neither of us can get used to it though.”

“I know, Rip,” she replied softly, “But I can be grateful for your presence here and now.”

He smiled at her response turning when his ‘crew’ arrived on board.

“Mr Ramon, Dr Snow, Mr Allen, Jax,” Rip greeted them, “Please take a seat so we can leave.”

“Just so you know,” Jax spoke up as he settled into his seat, “Travelling through time does have temporary side-effects. He tends to forget the warning until after it happens.”

Rip gave a slight shrug before adding, “It is possible that you shall not be affected, Mr Allen.”

“You know you can use our names too,” Cisco noted.

Rip glanced over at him, “I will try.”

Barry chuckled slightly, “We’re ready when you are, Captain Hunter.”

“Okay, Gideon it’s time to go,” Rip started the engines, “Begin scans as soon as we reach our destination.”

“Yes, Captain Hunter,” Gideon replied.

Turning back to his passengers Rip nodded, “Hold on.”

With practiced ease Rip lifted the Waverider into the air and flew her into the temporal zone. Despite how long it had been since he’d flown the Waverider, the instinct was there and Rip felt that joy there always was when he piloted his ship. He had missed her so much, hated all the time he’d been parted from her during the years he spent building the Bureau and then by allowing the Legends to ‘steal’ her. Missed her even with no memory of her.

“I believe I have located the crew, Captain Hunter,” Gideon told him when they entered orbit, “They are beneath the Luminous City.”

Before Rip could say anything he heard one of his guests being sick, “Dr Snow?”

Caitlin held up her hand letting him know she was alright as Barry rubbed her back. Rip frowned at the way Cisco was waving a hand in front of his eyes.

“Is anybody else blind?” Cisco called.

Rip rested his hand on Cisco’s shoulder, “It will wear off quickly,” he told the younger man before he moved to Gideon’s console, “Show me what you have, Gideon.”

The cities schematics appeared on the screen before him just as Jax arrived at his side.

“What is the Luminous City?” Jax asked.

Rip sighed, “It’s not as pretty as it sounds. The luminosity of the title comes from a moss that grows over the buildings. It is one of the five cities left on the planet at this time. It is big and dirty with a lot of homeless people.”

“Captain,” Gideon spoke up, “I believe I have located the Legends.”

Rip frowned slightly, “Already? That was a lot faster than I anticipated.”

“Dr Palmer wears an activation sensor for the ATOM suit within his watch,” Gideon advised, “I have used the energy signature from that to locate him at least.”

Rip nodded, “Okay,” he breathed, “Gideon, rescan the area and check for any signatures that do not belong in this time period.”

“I have done this already, Captain,” she reminded him, annoyance in her voice.

He tapped a few instructions into the computer, “Try using this.”

“There is a ship berthed not far from where the team are being held,” Gideon told him before asking, “Why did you not give me this information until now?”

Rip tilted his head slightly amused, “Because I needed to check if the people who have the team are who I think they are.”

“Who do you think they are?” Jax demanded, as Barry, Cisco and Caitlin joined them.

“Time Pirates,” Rip explained, “But they have a former Time Master working with them. It’s how they got access to the schematics for the weapon and the cloaking signal they are using to hide. Another of my designs.”

Jax grimaced, “Do you know which former Time Master?”

“Not a clue,” Rip replied before shrugging, “I guess that makes this more fun.”

Caitlin gave a small frown, “You think this is fun?”

Rip shrugged again, “It’s a matter of perspective. Gideon, have the med-bay ready for the crew just in case.”

“Of course, Captain Hunter,” she replied.

He opened a file, “Gideon, hack their system. This is what I expect you to find. You know what to do.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Rip smiled at her before he turned to the four people standing there waiting, “Alright, let’s go. We’ll take the Jumpship. I’ll explain what to do on the way.”

“Be careful,” Gideon told him.

Sliding his hand across the console in a gentle caress he smiled, “I promise.”

Sara felt the bonds biting into her wrists as she twisted round to check on Ray and Zari. Both were still unconscious from the attack on the Waverider. Wally was secured to the other wall beside Nate, both appeared to have what she deduced was a power dampener around their necks. John was gagged tied up at Sara’s side while Mick was restrained by both his wrists and feet.

“The infamous Legends,” a man sneered from the shadows, “It’s a pleasure to meet you all.”

Shifting slightly Sara glared at the figure, “Trust me, the pleasure is yours.”

“Where is the Captain of the Waverider?” he demanded.

“That would be me,” Sara snarled at him, “And when I get free I will let you know exactly how I feel about you attacking my crew.”

Their captor let out a laugh, “You may lead this group of misfits but you’re not the Captain of the Waverider. If you were then you would have had known about the weapon I used. You are not the Time Master.”

Realisation hit Sara, “You’re looking for Rip.”

“Precisely,” the man replied, “So now we have that established, where is Rip Hunter?”

Sara glared at him, “Rip is dead.”

“That is a pity,” he mused, “Because you are of no use to me now. You see Rip Hunter could give me access to what I need from the Waverider.”

Sara remained silent working on the bonds that held her to the wall.

“And if you think you can,” their captor laughed stepping further into the cell, followed by three other men and two women all armed, “Tell me why did the AI leave you to your fate? The reset I used would previously return her to the Vanishing Point, with that gone it is logical the AI would seek out her Captain. And she left you. Do you still think you’re the Captain of the Waverider?”

“Actually,” a familiar and unexpected voice came from behind the man, “That would be me.”

Sara stared in amazement at the man who stood there, gun in hand, dressed the same as he had been the day they met and cold as ice as he stared at the man who had taken them captive.

“Rip?”

Part Twelve - Final Part

#fic #legends of tomorrow #rip hunter #jonas hunter #gideon

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enzaime-blog · 6 years

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Yehuda’s Soft Tissue Sarcoma Story

New Story has been published on https://enzaime.com/yehudas-soft-tissue-sarcoma-story/

Yehuda’s Soft Tissue Sarcoma Story

When six-year-old Yehuda developed sudden, unexplainable leg pain, his parents were stunned when he was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a rare cancer that involves the bone and soft tissue. Because the tumor was located near his spine, Yehuda was at risk of losing the use of his leg. His family brought him to Memorial Sloan Kettering, where Yehuda had four rounds of chemotherapy before undergoing a 14-hour surgery to remove the tumor and preserve the use of his leg.

Yehuda Furman was not the kind of six-year-old boy who complained much. So it was something of a surprise when during the April 2005 Passover holiday, Yehuda started to complain about a pain in his leg. That night he was crying in his sleep from the pain and by the next morning, it had become so bad that he could not walk.

Yehuda’s parents, Mark and Miriam, immediately took him to his pediatrician. After an examination and a series of blood tests, the doctor asked the Furmans to try and remember if Yehuda had been involved in any recent accidents.

“The one thing we could think of,” Miriam remembers, “is a fall he had taken off the monkey bars in the neighborhood playground a number of days earlier.” Based on this and a spike in Yehuda’s temperature, the pediatrician’s initial diagnosis was transient synovitis of the hip, a condition in which the hip joint’s inner lining, known as the synovium, becomes inflamed.

Trying to Find a Diagnosis

The doctor made an emergency appointment with an orthopedist. After ordering x-rays, the orthopedist reviewed the results of the initial blood tests, which included abnormally high white blood cell counts, suggesting an infection. Because the x-rays did show a fluid buildup in the affected hip joint, the orthopedist became concerned that Yehuda might be suffering from a bacterial infection, which could affect his heart. Yehuda was immediately admitted to the local hospital.

Further testing in the hospital’s emergency department seemed to discount the possibility of a bacterial infection, with the emergency room doctors still suspecting transient synovitis. However, while not positive of the diagnosis and with Yehuda in increasing pain and running a fever, the doctors admitted Yehuda for observation and testing. Meanwhile, the pain had moved from Yehuda’s upper leg down to his calf and foot. The pain was so bad that he couldn’t walk and would barely let anyone touch his leg for an examination.

“Not being satisfied with their explanations, I asked the doctor if it could be something more serious,” Mark says. “But he looked at me like I was nuts, saying with firmness ’This is a bone infection. We just don’t know exactly where the infection is located.’”

By the morning of the following day, Wednesday, as the discharge papers were being prepared, Yehuda’s temperature spiked again. The pain was now so bad that he had to be placed on a morphine drip. On Thursday, doctors performed an MRI and an ultrasound of his hip joint and lower extremities. When both those screening exams proved inconclusive, the radiologist performed a CT scan.

“It’s Bad. It’s Real Bad.”

After another long hour’s wait, the orthopedist called with the news. Mark and Miriam will never forget his first words: “It’s bad. It’s real bad.” He went on to explain that the CT scans revealed a tumor that had penetrated Yehuda’s spinal cord. It was located in the upper sacrum, which is the large triangular bone located between the two hip bones at the base of the spine.

The doctors suspected cancer and the oncologist on call at the hospital that day ordered a biopsy of the tumor for the following morning. At the same time, Mark’s brother-in-law took a copy of the films to be reviewed by a neuroradiologist at NYU Medical Center.

“If It’s Cancer, We Want to be at Sloan Kettering”

The surgeon who was supposed to perform the biopsy informed the Furmans that they did not have the expertise to perform surgery on a tumor in such a “tricky” location. The surgeon canceled the biopsy, explaining that when possible, the doctor who performs the surgery should be the one performing the biopsy. When they asked who did have the expertise, they were given the names of two doctors — one at Mt. Sinai Medical Center and Patrick J. Boland, an orthopedic surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering. “Our thinking was, If it’s cancer, we want to be at Sloan Kettering,” Miriam explains.

“Literally a minute later,” Mark adds, “my brother-in-law called from NYU and said that their initial diagnosis from looking at the scans was Ewing sarcoma.” (A rare cancer that involves the bone as well as the soft tissue, Ewing sarcoma was first described in 1921 by Memorial Sloan Kettering oncologist James Ewing.) The advice he passed along to Mark and Miriam was that they should see Leonard Wexler, a pediatric oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering who specializes in the treatment of children with bone and soft tissue sarcomas. “At that time, we didn’t even realize that Dr. Boland was a surgeon and Dr. Wexler was a medical oncologist,” Mark says, laughing at the memory.

Two hours later, after a series of phone calls, Yehuda was in an ambulance being transferred to Memorial Sloan Kettering. “Our world was being turned upside down,” Miriam remarks. Mark went along with Yehuda, while Miriam went home to attend to the couple’s three other children.

“We had our initial consultation with Dr. Wexler, who was very conservative,” Mark recounts. “Until he had the results of all the tests, especially of the biopsy, which still needed to be done, he didn’t want to assume it was cancer.”

Wednesday Biopsy, Friday Diagnosis Confirmed

Yehuda was admitted to Memorial Sloan Kettering on a Friday afternoon. CT and MRI scans were completed on Saturday, and the biopsy was performed on Wednesday. By Friday, it was confirmed: Yehuda had Ewing sarcoma. The Furmans had their initiation meeting with Dr. Wexler that day, and on Saturday Yehuda started the three-cycle presurgery chemotherapy portion of his treatment, which was given to shrink the tumor so it could be safely removed by surgery. (Some patients, depending on the location, extent, and type of the tumor, also receive radiation therapy as part of the Ewing sarcoma treatmentcombination.)

The tumor’s location near the spine meant that three nerve clusters leading to the leg might be involved. If these nerves had to be removed as part of the surgery, or were damaged during the surgery (or radiation), there would be a very real chance that Yehuda would lose the use of that leg. (The three nerves potentially involved were the S1 nerve, which controls the bottom of the foot and the calf muscle; the S2, which controls the hamstring muscle; and the L5, which controls the quadriceps muscle.)

“You know you’re going to have this life and death fight ahead of you,” Mark explains. “You look at the survival statistics, and you hope and pray that your child will end up at the good end of the numbers. But you also are forced to deal with the fact that all these dreams you had for your child may not come true. I had dreamt of playing baseball with my son, and now doctors were telling me that even if he beats cancer he may never walk again.”

Superb Prognosis Meets Rough Start of Treatment

Still, the Furmans never allowed themselves to be pessimistic about Yehuda’s chance of survival. “It helped that Dr. Wexler told us that Yehuda had a ’superb’ prognosis, meaning it was a treatable subtype of Ewing sarcoma that was caught much earlier than these type of tumors usually are — seven days versus the typical three to four months,” Mark says. “So they caught it early, before it had a chance to spread too far. And though the location was obviously not ideal for having to remove it, being near all those nerves, it did generate a lot of immediate pain, which gave us this early-warning signal.”

You need to go to a place with experts in treating your child’s cancer. That’s why we went to Memorial Sloan Kettering.

Mark FurmanYehuda’s Father

The Furmans split the days into shifts, with Miriam spending days with Yehuda at the hospital and Mark spending nights. The night after the first chemotherapy treatment was difficult. “He started vomiting, which alternated with uncontrollable diarrhea,” Mark says, wincing at the memory. “He couldn’t walk, so I was carrying him back and forth from the bathroom. In the middle of all of this, he looked up at me and asked, ’Am I dying?’ I told him no, that it was just his body trying to get rid of the chemo, which he was taking to kill the blob. That’s how we referred to the cancer, as ’the blob.’ That was the worst night. By the next day, the doctors and nurses figured out which combination of antinausea drugs would work for Yehuda.”

After the second cycle of chemotherapy was completed, Yehuda was rescanned to determine if the tumor was shrinking. While the tumor had shrunk considerably as a result of the chemotherapy, Dr. Boland still considered it to be too close to the spinal cord to remove safely with good margins, meaning that no tumor cells would be left behind. Leaving cells behind would require the use of radiation to kill them, which could possibly affect the nearby tissue, thereby negating the benefits of surgery.

Following the completion of the third round of chemotherapy, Dr. Boland was still not comfortable doing the surgery because he felt there was a high probability that Yehuda would require radiation therapy to deal with the cancer cells in the margins. As a result of the complexity resulting from the tumor location, Yehuda’s case was brought before a group of orthopedic specialists — called the Orthopedic Tumor Review Board — who review orthopedic cases at Memorial Sloan Kettering. While the Furmans prepared Yehuda for radiation treatment — a process that involved meeting the radiation team, discussing possible treatment and late effects, and going through the set-up and radiation simulation — Yehuda began the fourth cycle of chemotherapy. The plan was to start radiation after the fourth cycle was finished.

Towards the completion of the fourth cycle, the Orthopedic Tumor Review Board concluded that there was a 75 percent chance that Dr. Boland could remove the entire tumor. This left the Furmans with a choice. “Our personal opinion was that radiation was the last resort,” Mark notes. “We believed that surgery would give Yehuda the best chance of survival.” The Furmans discussed the options with Drs. Wexler and Boland and the decision was made to go ahead with surgery.

Seven-Hour Surgery Becomes 14 Hours

The day of surgery, August 22, 2005, will forever be etched in the Furmans’ minds. They were told that the surgery would most likely last about seven hours. Mark remembers the sight of Yehuda being wheeled into surgery, holding his beloved Nintendo Game Boy video game above his face. Unfortunately for the Furmans, who were waiting anxiously, the expected seven-hour surgery, which began at nine in the morning, turned into a 14-hour marathon procedure. “The nurses were good at giving us updates every two hours, but by five o’clock, the waiting area started to thin out and we began to worry,” Mark says. “By seven o’clock, we were one of the few families left.”

Around ten o’clock, Dr. Boland came out to tell the Furmans that while the surgery had gone well, the tumor being removed with good margins, they were having some difficulty stopping the bleeding. At 11 o’clock, they received word that the bleeding had been stopped. When they spoke with Dr. Boland at 1:00 am, he explained that the chemo had shrunk the tumor much more than he had initially expected. He said he had worked hard to preserve the S2 and L5 nerves, but to remove the entire tumor he had had to cut the S1 nerve. Still, he felt very positive about Yehuda’s chances to maintain function.

Full Lower-Body Cast, Post-Surgery Chemo, and Finally, Success

After recovering from the marathon surgery, Yehuda was placed in a full lower-body cast to straighten his leg and to protect the structure at the base of the spine supporting the lower limbs. His legs were separated in the cast by a sawed-off broomstick. “He couldn’t sit up,” Mark remembers. “He couldn’t roll over. He couldn’t do anything. It was rough.” Miriam agrees, “It was nuts, but we would use the broomstick as a handle. You’d put one arm beneath his back and one hand on the broomstick and that’s how we would carry him. We’d have to go through doors sideways!”

Yehuda received three cycles of postsurgery chemotherapy, which was meant to kill any remaining cancer cells. The final cycle was completed in November 2005, approximately six months after he was diagnosed. He was walking again by February. More than three years later, not only can Yehuda walk, he runs, jumps, and climbs just like any other healthy nine-year-old boy.

Yehuda has made an extraordinary and near-total neurologic recovery. I was privileged to see him running around camp with his mischievous smile, being just a ‘regular’ kid, less than two years after his surgery.

When asked if they have any advice for other families going through a similar cancer experience, the Furmans are realistic. “The good news is, when you’re going through this hugely traumatic experience, it’s all sort of a blur,” Mark recounts. “You’re so caught up in the survival aspect of everything that you just do whatever needs to be done. We never really sat down and discussed how crazy everything we went through was until much later, when it was all over with. Which is how you survive it. Getting as much information as you possibly can also helps. As a parent, you have to be your child’s best advocate.”

“And you need to go to a place with experts in treating your child’s cancer,” Mark adds. “That’s why we went to Memorial Sloan Kettering. Dr. Boland and Dr. Wexler saved our son’s life. We will be forever indebted to them both.”

#chemotherapy #Ewing sarcoma #Ewing sarcoma treatment #Leonard Wexler #Patrick J. Boland #radiation therapy #surgery #Cancer

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