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seasonsofeverlark · 3 years

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Adventus Everlark

Author: @mandelion82

Prompt: Special request: Everlark celebrates Advent by focusing weekly on hope, peace, joy, and love. [submitted by @hutchhitched]

Rating: T (for suggestiveness and a trigger)

Trigger Warning: Mention of physical abuse.

Author’s Note: This story will have both religious (Catholic/Christian) and secular elements. This is part 1 of a 4-part ficlet series. To be continued on A03 at a later date. Thank you. I hope you enjoy!

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If Katniss knew anything about her boyfriend, Peeta Mellark, she knew he loved this time of year‒the Christmas season. He loved everything about it; he was practically giddy as a child over it, and he’d been eager to share his traditions with her for some time. Truth be told, Katniss didn’t always understand or share Peeta’s excitement for this time of year, but she loved to see it, and she loved him for it.

Having grown up in a Catholic household, Peeta celebrated Christmas in the traditional Catholic way‒with Mass, prayers, and the lighting of Advent candles. Of course, there was always a Christmas tree, presents, a big dinner, and tons of baking‒Peeta was a baker, and came from a long line of bakers, so there had to be.

The Everdeens, by contrast, weren’t expressly religious; although, they were open to the possibility of a greater power in the universe, and they would partake in the typical holiday activities around this time of year. Katniss had gone along with those activities for years, even tried to replicate them for her beloved sister, Prim, after their father died and their mother suffered from a crushing depression, but she’d never gotten the joy out of it that Prim did.

Or Peeta.

Peeta was a lot like Prim. Maybe that was part of the reason why she loved him so much. The two were kindhearted as they came and fresh as raindrops, both giving, loving, and selfless individuals. Too good for Katniss, in her opinion. They even looked alike, with their light skin, pale blond hair, and blue eyes. Honestly, Prim looked more like Peeta’s sibling than her own‒she with her olive skin tone and gray eyes.

Another thing Prim and Peeta had in common was their faith. Despite growing up in a secular home, Prim held strong beliefs, similar to Peeta’s.

For Katniss, faith was a challenge. It required a great deal of trust and devotion, things which she’d always struggled to give. At least, that’s how she felt about it. But Peeta said otherwise. Peeta always said he saw Katniss for who she truly was, even if she didn’t see it herself. He said he saw a loving and compassionate woman, dedicated to caring for and providing for her entire family.

She’d argued that it was because they were family. It didn’t make her compassionate; it was just the way it was supposed to be. Directly after, she’d felt awful for her statement. Families were definitely not created equal when it came to love and affection, and Peeta was proof positive of this.

When Peeta first told Katniss about some of his childhood experiences, particularly his mother’s physical abuse, she was furious. She couldn’t understand how he could have anything to do with his family, let alone uphold their traditions as he did, and she wanted nothing to do with them, either.

Katniss had put off meeting Peeta’s family for that very reason. Quite frankly, she wasn’t sure how she’d stand being in the same room as his mother. If she even looked at him wrong, Katniss was certain she’d go off the deep end.

But Peeta assured her that his family wasn’t all bad, nor had his home life been. In fact, he’d mentioned a lot of good memories with his brothers and his father. And regarding their holiday traditions, those were the ones he held closest to his heart.

Peeta was so good, almost too good.

If anyone could be a religious prophet come to earth, it would be Peeta. But maybe she put him on a pedestal because she loved him so much.

No, Peeta was not perfect, and sure, he did things to annoy her, like the time he jokingly called her pure. She’d gotten huffy about it and refused to talk to him for about two days. In hindsight, her reaction was a bit extreme, but they’d made up, and then some.

Besides, if anyone was pure, it was Peeta.

Not that he was a saint; there were certainly things he…bent the rules on, such as them sleeping in the same bed before marriage. She was glad for that one, because she hated not sleeping in his arms.

And Peeta felt the same.

One time, after a particularly nasty fight with his mother over what she suspected to be an ‘improper arrangement’ between them, Peeta had told Katniss, “I don’t care if she thinks it’s a sin. Now that I’ve slept with you in my arms, it’s impossible not to. I’m not going back.”

“Sometimes you do,” she’d said cheekily. Considering they weren’t ‘officially’ living together, she did occasionally sleep at her place.

“I know, but those times are unbearable,” he’d responded, leaning in for a soft peck. “If I had to do it all the time,” he whispered against her lips, “what kind of life would that be?”

Katniss concurred.

Of course, the whole sleeping together thing had started innocently, when they were still just best friends. It all began with Katniss’s nightmares…

One night, after an especially bad one, she’d called Peeta, who lived in the same building, hoping he’d talk her to sleep. On a whim, she’d asked him to come over, and she’d asked him to stay. He did.

After that, they shared a bed frequently, and it was all very innocent. But the more they slept together, the harder it became to fight temptation, especially after revealing their true feelings for one another.

It was sort of a mutual confession, but Peeta had been hinting at how he felt for a long time. Then one night, in bed, he’d asked her directly, “You love me. Real or not real?” This was a little game they played.

Without hesitation, she’d answered, “Real.”

This would be Katniss and Peeta’s first Christmas as an honest-to-goodness committed couple, and they were both thrilled. Peeta usually went to his family’s for Christmas, but this year, he’d said that he wanted to spend it with just her.

And they’d decided to celebrate Advent together by focusing on hope, peace, joy, and love.

Week 1: Hope

On the first Sunday of Advent, which fell this year on November 29th, Peeta taught Katniss about the lighting of the Advent candles, and they lit the first candle on the wreath, one of the purple ones. Peeta explained that it was called The Prophecy Candle and symbolized hope and God’s forgiveness of man’s sins. They proceeded to light it every night, together, and Katniss even prayed with Peeta, or at least remained by his side, holding his hand.

Her favorite activity during the Hope week so far was when they spent an entire evening wrapped up in each other on the couch under the blankets, eating junk food and talking about their hopes for the future, their own wishes and those for their loved ones and all humankind.

At first, Katniss had been fearful about speaking some of her own because she didn’t like to think too far ahead. To think ahead was to ultimately be disappointed, in her mind. She was so afraid that if she spoke aloud what she hoped for, as with one of those elusive birthday wishes parents talked about, it would never happen, or be taken away.

But Peeta reassured her.

Something else Peeta had been doing for Advent, which he hadn’t expected her to do was fasting. It wasn’t a complete fast; he was still eating, but he wasn’t eating between meals or having meat on Fridays or any sweets.

First, we fast; then we feast, was what Peeta had told her, referring to the period of penance and preparation leading up to the Christmas celebration.

Peeta was being really good about it, so good that she worried he might waste away to nothing at this rate. And she liked a little bulk on his body. Healthy and strong like an ox, that’s the way she liked him.

Of course, she wasn’t making things easy on him.

Katniss imagined it must be difficult for him to bake up all kinds of treats for her this time of year and not eat any himself, so she’d offered to fast with him. But Peeta refused, saying he enjoyed the act of baking, which she knew, and that he enjoyed serving her. She also knew that. And naturally, he had to bring up her cheese bun and Christmas cookie addictions.

He was right, though.

What could she do but thank him and kiss him, then prop her head between her hands and watch him bake?

As creepy as it might sound, she loved watching him. She enjoyed seeing the muscles of his forearms twitch and pulse when he whipped a mixture. And she enjoyed watching his long, pale golden eyelashes flutter in concentration when she got close while he read over one of his recipes (also when he sketched or painted).

Presently, Katniss was seated on the edge of the counter watching Peeta boil fudge in a saucepan. God, she loved fudge.

Peeta was multitasking today, so he also had a batch of cookie dough laying in wait in a mixing bowl. When he looked over and smiled at her, she smiled sweetly back. And then, partly to freak him out and partly because she wanted it, she scooped a bit of dough onto the mixing spoon and brought it to her lips.

“Katniss!” He tramped over and smacked her hand lightly like a child’s.

“Hey, watch it,” she said, grinning. She’d been asking for it, though. She knew Peeta hated when she licked the raw cookie dough batter. Something about salmonella. Although, she’d done it as a kid and never got violently ill from it.

“But this was one of my traditions.” She cocked her head and licked the very tip of the spoon in a seductive manner, hoping it’d get to him.

It didn’t.

Peeta simply sighed. “Fine, go on and eat it if you want to end up in the hospital.”

Poking her lip out at him, she put the spoon down in its bowl. He smirked over at her, then returned to the oven to check on the fudge. After a few seconds he turned back, spoon in hand. “By the way, trying to entice me while I’m baking isn’t going to work.”

“No?” She was honestly surprised.

“Nope. You should know that when I bake, I go into a zone. And as you’ve seen, I have some self-restraint.” He smirked impishly. “But nice try.”

Katniss pressed her lips together.

“Don’t get me wrong, though. I’m gonna carry the image of you licking the spoon with me the rest of the day, minus the unsafe cookie dough, and later…I might have big plans for you.” He winked at her.

“You mean big, big, big, big plans?” Katniss imitated Miss Trinket, their ‘eccentric’ (to put it mildly) neighbor with the wild, colorful wigs and affected accent.

“Yes, very big plans.”

“Can’t wait.” She bit down on her lip and reached for the spoon again as if her hand was magnetized.

“For all that is holy, please stop eating raw cookie dough!” Peeta exclaimed.

“Okay, okay.” Katniss dropped the spoon back in, the corner of her lip twitching. “But you might need to give me something else to snack on.”

“Will do, sweetheart.”

With that, he walked over purposefully, placed his hands on either side of her face, and captured her lips. Sofly, but insistently his mouth moved across hers, sending a pulsing sensation straight down.

“How’s that?” he asked as they broke apart.

“Hmm…you think a lot of yourself, Mellark.”

He raised a brow then kissed her again, longer and slower.

“Better,” she said, slightly breathless. He began feathering hot, wet kisses down her throat, and Katniss sighed.

With a low growl, Peeta gripped her hips, causing her to let out a small squeal. He tugged her closer to the edge of the counter, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, pressing her pelvis into his. She could feel his excitement growing, and just when she was sure he was about to carry her off and take her upstairs, he disentangled himself.

“That’s self-restraint,” said Peeta smugly.

Katniss felt like whipping a ball of deadly cookie dough at his head like a snowball. “Tease.” She groaned, shoving his chest. “Sadist.”

“No, masochist, sweetheart. Trust me, this is a lot harder for me than it is for you.” Katniss chuckled, and he pecked her cheek.

Just then, Katniss’s phone began to ring. She fished it out and took a look. “Oh, that’s Prim calling.” She hopped off the counter and prepared to tap the green button. “Hey, Peeta, what do you think about inviting Prim over for Christmas Eve?”

“Sounds great.”

“Okay, I’ll tell her.”

#everlark #everlark fanfiction #winter #winter 2020 #mandelion82 #submission #prompt

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silyabeeodess · 5 years

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FusionFall Writing Prompts: Oct. 2019, Prompt #2:

Dexter and Mandark are getting help from… Albedo? That doesn’t bode well… But a new upgrade to your Spinal-ARCH sounds amazing. If you help with testing, you’ll be one of the first to try the device’s improved ability to mimic certain alien species. Will it be worth it?

I have ideas for both prompts this month, but I’m starting with this one since it’s the longer of the two and there’s some ideas I’m eager to explore in it. Should be divided into four or five parts total, depending on whether or not I’ll keep the middle ones shorter. Enjoy!

It wasn't normal. The summons had been sent out to nearly every research participant shared between Dexlabs and Mandark Industries—and the rivaling boy geniuses that ran each company may very well have called everyone to Tech Square if it wasn't for the war keeping so many of them busy. Summoning this many research participants at once meant only one of two things: A disaster or a breakthrough.

Silya's muscles tensed as her Spinal-ARCH reconnected. For not the first time she was glad that she had missed most of the device's initial testing phases, before a salve had been developed to numb the flesh as it attached itself to a person's back—adhesive plates of a strong, but flexible alien alloy pressing against skin and thin needles piercing through it to reach bone. It wasn't quite as painful as it sounded, but she released a habitual, baited breath all the same. Then she stretched to make sure it had locked on properly, rolling her shoulders and shrugging on a plain tank.

Outside of routine inspections and repairs, she wasn't used to taking the device off. She probably should have more often than she did, but once it was on it was comfortable enough to forget about easily. Her Spinal-ARCH may as well have been a part of her own body. A sidelong glance at the other young women in the locker room—curled lips, terse shoulders, and faint shudders all reflecting a distinct unfamiliarity—hinted that the lax sense of protocol was mutually shared.

Every research participant's Spinel-ARCH had been updated: Increased data, improved storage, and a new program developed to better filter Imaginary Energy. It had been a long while since the last large update and Spinel-ARCHs were already widely distributed among Fusion Fighters as a part of their standard gear. After a day with them off as the alterations were made, everyone was curious about the two-week long tests that awaited them.

Which would begin immediately. Walls of blue-tinted steel surrounded the research participants from every angle as they followed one another out of the locker rooms and into a wide gymnasium. A fenced walkway two stories above wrapped around its perimeter. There, Dexter looked over the crowd with Computress at his side and a tablet in hand. A few minutes passed as the last stragglers entered, then the boy-genius waved them all to attention:

“Greetings, everyone! Thank you for coming on such short notice,” he began, examining data as he spoke, “By now, you all should have received and reattached your Spinal-ARCHs. I will be brief: This latest update to the device should allow you take on full transformations of certain alien species.”

After he typed some control onto the tablet, two tiny drones hovered close to the wall to project a sequence of holographic models that were recognizable to almost everyone present, nicknames given by a certain hero reciting in their minds: Big Chill, Way Bad, Ghostfreak, Ampfibian—alien forms all somewhat altered to better fit a humanoid frame. An excited murmur fell over the crowd.

Dexter noticeably stood a little straighter as he continued, “You will note that these are not perfect transformations. As these forms will encase around your physical bodies, they will mimic your physical limits. However, I am pleased to announce that—in each form—you may experience different enhancements through the manipulation of imaginary energy. Testing these enhancements will be the primary objective for this week’s experiments. Today, you are free to explore each of the transformations for yourselves as my scientists and I monitor your progress.”

The quiet chatter between the research participants increased. Silya looked away from the holograms still flashing through the different alien forms to her own hands. Nearly every Fusion Fighter wanted to explore the limits of their imaginary energy: She was no different. There were a few, rare full transformations in the Spinal-ARCHS datalogs, but for the most part transformations were restricted to minor extensions from their bodies—tentacles that lacked complete coordination or wings that couldn’t actually support them because they simply weren’t strong enough. If Dexter and Mandark had really found a way to expand on their current abilities…

All of a sudden, Computress tapped Dexter on the shoulder, giving him a slight, reprimanding look. The redhead blinked at the android before his proud expression somewhat hardened. He raised a hand to silence the crowd once more. “I feel I should mention,” he frowned, “that this update is—in part—thanks to the cooperation of the Galvan scientist Albedo, whose specialization in alien technology benefited our research for these new transformations. Given his history with Ben Tennyson, however, I understand should anyone have their reservations. You may leave the experiments at any time with your Spinal-ARCH redacted to its previous update, but if you do so now please exit outside before we begin momentarily.”

Saying that some of them had ‘reservations’ was putting it lightly. The very mention of the false Ben’s name sent many into a bewildered, bitter chatter of suspicion. Even most those who weren’t major fans of the teenage hero had heard of the Galvan: He was slated along with all the other large reports of villains who had sided with the Fusion Fighters for one reason or another. Some even had the displeasure of meeting him in-person. Why Dexter or Mandark would team up with him was beyond them.

However, for all of their wariness against Albedo, they did trust Dexter. There was no telling what was happening over at Mandark Industries—where Mandark’s own group of lab rats was likely receiving the same kind of speech—but only a handful of people squirmed through the crowd to exit the gym from the right. As the doors opened, they could see a small group of Dexbots waiting for them. Luckily for Dexter, their numbers were shockingly about the same.

Silya was surprised that she herself stayed rooted were she stood, her fists gripped tightly to her sides. The more reserved, rational side of her mind cursed her, but she wanted this. She became a research participant at Dexlabs for two reasons: The pay was great and the potential to explore groundbreaking territory all too tempting. It came with big risks, but just as big rewards. For her own ambitions, she hopes one of those rewards would include gaining better mastery over her own imaginary energy.

Whatever their reasons—loyalty, curiosity, insanity—the bulk of the research participants stayed behind. Most all of them weren’t new to questionable or unorthodox tests: Their bosses had already weeded out anyone who would shrink back at their mad science several times over. Some of them had handled prototype explosives, dipped in vats of fusion matter, and travelled through time. They weren’t the sort anyone could chase away easily.

Dexter knew that all too well, and once again grinned at those who remained. He pressed a few more controls on his tablet and the gymnasium slowly began to alter while the group watched on, unphased. On the left side of the gym, platforms and poles rose from the floor in a kind of miniature obstacle course; targets popped out from behind hidden panels along the wall; the sliding door to the storage closet unlocked, giving them access to everything contained within.

“Take each of the transformations slowly,” he instructed, “and take note of any physical changes that may occur. Each of you will need to submit a full report of your experiences before you leave the lab. You may use any of the equipment, but should you experience any pain or discomfort at any point, speak to one of the Dexbots present immediately.”

With that, the research participants split up. Silya glanced at the still-looping hologram footage. The Big Chill form was the closest to her usual transformations: All types of wings—while difficult for those without experience to summon—were popular among most Fusion Fighters. To this day no one could actually fly with them, but they could give a bit of a lift and added protection when one had to jump from extreme heights.

A faint tingle dully thrummed along the slope of her back as the Spinal-ARCH activated, already hijacking messages from her brain to her spine and throughout her nerve fibers. She envisioned a set of wings fluttering gently behind her; softer than what she was used to, lighter, moth-like. Sure enough, they emerged from a split-second spectacle of light as her imaginary energy concentrated into a solid form—fitted on top of her clothes and the device, but mentally cabled to her nervous system like any other part of her body. If it weren’t for the way they fit over the fabric, it’d be impossible to tell that they weren’t a true part of her.

She was surprised by how dense the wings felt though, especially compared to what she was used to. The lack of true substance was what made their instability so frustratingly obvious her. For the moment, Silya tried to brush it from her mind: She wanted to complete the transformation before anything.

It took a few minutes. She watched in fascination as her imaginary energy continued to materialize, black and blue plates shifting over her like a thin, flexible suit of armor. They ran over her arms, her legs, her torso until they lastly began to fit along the more subtle angles of her face. She held her breath—this part was new, and she had to clasp onto the vision of a helmet to keep her concentration from breaking. A strange filter that barely stained everything a faint green settled over her eyes as the ‘mask’ finished constructing itself.

To ensure a complete, stable transformation it was often better for Fusion Fighters to watch them take shape whenever they experimented with something new. Fortunately, the gym had a series of wide mirrors along part of one wall, where a crowd had already gathered. Not everyone went ahead with the full transformations, but nearly everyone who had was over there. Silya jogged the short distance to them, brushing shoulders to reach an empty frame, and stared at her own reflection. The sight of the apparition before her was jarring, but besides a few mistakes—which quickly patched over themselves to match each of her mental corrections—it seemed perfect. There she was, a strange, human copy of the Necrofriggian race; shorter, with a more feminine waist and eyes dipped closer to their true peridot color instead of the bold lime or malachite the species was better known for.

Her heart leapt. There were a few other ‘whole’ transformations within the datalogs, but most of them seemed off in some way or another to her so she rarely used them. This was the sort of big step she wanted to take…

Again though, she noticed something strange. In her excitement, her wings gave an instinctual flap. Silya felt her body actually rock in place at the motion, not expecting the subtle force behind it. Reaching back across her shoulder, her fingertips gently traced the edge of one wing. She actually felt as though there were nerves under it, twitching at the new sensation. It did feel more real than any of her past attempts, but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly how that was the case.

Startled shouts rose over the casual ambience of the gym. Although at different phases, around a third of the research participants who had activated their Spinal-ARCHs also started out with the Big Chill transformation. One of the other girls who had only summoned her wings thus far tested them out with a few, powerful flaps—and was apparently just as unprepared for the force behind them. It threw her body forward and the people around her moved away to avoid a near collision. She stumbled, but caught herself.

Or rather, her wings did. Clumsily, yes, but they clearly pulled her back, dragging her a few centimeters with her toes lightly grazing the floor. Those nearby looked at her in astonishment, the girl hardly able to make sense of what happened herself.

It took seconds for the others to begin to test out the strengths of their wings. Silya gently moved her own and smiled along to the excited chatter that picked up once again as each person made little discoveries to their new transformations. The awkward, uncoordinated handling could easily be blamed on a lack of practice, but they did feel like they truly were a part of her—the product of a second skin. She looked up to where Dexter still stood watching them over the walkway railing to find the boy-genius practically grinning from ear to ear with pride. Enhancements… she shook her head, That’s the understatement of the year.

It was times like these when she loved her employer’s mad science.

Silya didn’t even bother touching the equipment for now. She just found a relatively empty, little corner of the gym to continue practicing her dexterity with her new ‘body.’ She only wished she could practice longer with it, but she didn’t want to risk straining the device or herself yet and she’d need to make time to test out the other forms before the day’s experiments ended. Guess the third scientist’s the charm—even if Albedo’s a crook.

All-in-all, things were looking up.

END OF PART ONE

Continue: https://silyabeeodess.tumblr.com/post/188177587074/fusionfall-writing-prompts-oct-2019-prompt-2

#fusionfall #fusionfall fic #Dexter #Dexter's Laboratory #dexlabs #research participants #spinel-arch #fusionfall retro #computress #ben 10 #video games

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cecilspeaks · 7 years

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111 - Summer 2017, Night Vale, USA

A friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass overhead while we lay open-eyed, watching it all.

Welcome to Night Vale.

The City Council reiterated for the 1874th consecutive day that the Dog Park is off limits for both dogs and humans. The fence is electrified and highly dangerous, et cetera. Hooded figures and all that. Since its construction, we have shied from and feared the Dog Park. The Dog Park is neither a park nor for dogs, so what does it even mean to call it a Dog Park? Why do we use language that means one thing to describe something that is entirely else? I don’t know what the word for that place the City Council calls the Dog Park, but I do know it’s time to start searching for that word, and once found, to use it boldly.

The angels – who I can know say are angels and will say are angels because they are angels- held a memorial for Old Woman Josie in her house. Everyone in town came, overcome with the feeling that finally, they could look at these beings and recognize them for what they were. Even the City Council attended the memorial, but refused to make eye contact with anyone. Of course, this positive concrete identification only led to more mysteries. For if these are angels, then where did they come from, and what does that mean for us? Even now we find that we cannot voice these questions. Not because we are not allowed, but because we cannot find the words to ask. Instead, we ate cake and drank coffee in the living room of Old Woman Josie, which was once just that, the place she lived. Now, it is only a room. One by one, we laid our hand on the angel’s hands, and in that moment of contact, each of us in turn found ourselves weeping.

As the party wound down, we all heard a soft pop outside. It was the lightbulb on Old Woman Josie’s porch, burning out.

A man who I know very well came into my house today, which is also his house. He laid his head with its perfect and beautiful hair upon my shoulder and crossed his arms over his perfect and beautiful lab coat. I embraced him. We are creatures of touch, humans. And we retrieve so much meaning and happiness from contact.

“I’ve become too complacent,” he said. “When I came here, I understood this town as scientifically fascinating. And then, gradually, it became my day to day life. I could no longer see the strangeness, but only my home.” “We are all guilty of that,” I said. “But I’m a scientist,” he said. “Well,” I said, “we have all been scientists at one point or another in our lives.”

Just a reminder to all the parents out there. Let’s talk about safety when taking your children out to play in the scrublands and the sand wastes. You need to give them plenty of water, make sure there’s a shade tree in the area, and keep an eye on the helicopter colors. I asked my best friend and brother, Steve, to talk me through which helicopters belong to which organizations. Obviously the black helicopters belong to the world government. Although I had not realized until Steve laid it out for me, how closely they are also associated with the lizard people. The blue ones are Sheriff’s Secret Police. The pink ones are the new Double Secret Police. And the ones painted with complex murals depicting birds of prey diving? [inhales sharply] Well, not even Steve knows what those helicopters are, nor what they want. On Steve’s chart, those are just labeled with the word “RUN”. And then a few hundred exclamation points.

A commercial airliner flying through local airspace disappeared today, only to reappear at the fifth hole of the Sagebrook Pines Private Golf Club and Bulk Supplier. This disrupted all golf activities badly, as well as scaring a family of four who were perusing bulk paper towels offered at a discount price in a nearby sand trap.

I feel, for the first time, that I can articulate that this airliner had flown into some other universe, those divisions being particularly thin here in our quaint little community. This also is the cause of things like dead relatives occasionally joining us for breakfast, or the shimmering skyscrapers and crowded cities that appear for flashing moments in the sky.

Of course, it also could be the handiwork of the East Night Vale Cacti, the basketball team at the new East Night Vale Elementary School. Those scamps are always pulling pranks. Could they transport a large plane through multiple universes? Who am I to say? But probably yes. For shame, East Night Vale! For shame!

My husband and our town’s friend and protector Carlos called a town meeting. He thought we hadn’t checked in with each other in a while and wanted us to have a moment where we came face to face, and saw those faces, and remembered that we are all real and all affect each other. Erika and Erika of the newly acknowledged angels brought corn muffins.. which were inedibly salty. They explained that angels just can’t get enough salt. Dana Cardinal was there, not as our Mayor but as a citizen, one who is so young for the responsibility that has been thrust on her. Tamika Flynn was there, not as a City Council member, but as a citizen, one who is so young for the responsibility she has seized with an army of loyal and extremely well armed teens. Please see my upcoming editorial on why millennials are always joining armed teen militias. Ugh, millennials!

Carlos reminded us that we are by far the most scientifically interesting town in the country, and we joined hands and nodded, because boy, don’t we know it!

We have clear eyes now. We see ourselves for who we are, but more importantly, we see each other. We are still a community.

The Night Vale Business Association is proud to announce the refurbishment of the Night Vale Harbor and Waterfront Recreation Area. Now you might remember that these facilities have always been absolutely beautiful, eco-friendly, and with a pedestrian-focused design. However, they have suffered poor attendance due to the complete lack of water in the desert. But this is where things have changed. The Night Vale Business Association said, in a press release that they drunkenly sung in unison out in my yard last night.

The recent problems we had with other universes intruding on our own resulted in a great deal of pain and loss. But it has left us with an ocean. This ocean is only visible from the Waterfront Recreation Area’s boardwalk, and viewed from any other angle, the area still appears to just be the usual sagebrush and rocks. Carlos said he doesn’t understand how this window into another world works, and warned that no one should attempt to touch the ocean, for we do not know what lurks within it. But, he said, there could be no harm in a sunset stroll along the boardwalk, listening to the soft hiss of the retreating waves.

The local chapter of the NRA is selling bumper stickers as part of their fundraising week. The stickers are made from good sturdy vinyl, and they read, “We genuinely do not value human life.” Cute!

Carlos and his scientists, like Louisa and Nilanjana, are renewing their investigation into the house in the development of Desert Creek, out back of the elementary school. The house that doesn’t actually exist. “It seems like it exists,” muttered Carlos, “like it’s just right there when you look at it. And it’s between two other identical houses, so it would make more sense for it to be there than not.” But he says, it is actually a doorway into another world, a world he himself was stuck in for a year. There seem to be secrets about that year he’s keeping to himself. Maybe some day we will learn what they are.

Lights seen in the sky above the Arby’s. Not the glowing sign of Arby’s, something higher and beyond that. One night years ago, two people scared and vulnerable and loving and ready came together for a quiet moment under that sky, and I pretended at the time to understand the lights. But a big part of recognizing the world for what it is is recognizing when you have no idea. Invaders from another world? Harbingers of future terror? A fragment of other universe, fading into our own above reasonably priced lunchmeat? Maybe any. Maybe all. Maybe none.

But here is what I do know: the lights are, among other things, a part of my memory and a part of my marriage, and a part of my love. They are a piece of my past and I don’t need to understand them to understand that. Ladies and gentlemen, the past is here, and it’s about a hundred feet above the Arby’s.

Carlos and Louisa say that the monitoring station near Route 800 is recording wild seismic shifts, even as our ground reminds completely still. He suspects that this might be because multiple universes are colliding, creating earthquakes that are undetectable in the third dimension. “Picture our worlds intertwining,” he said. “And here we are in the coil, the friction of every possibility coming into contact, shaking the very structure of chance and fortune,” he said. Well, submit an insurance claim anyway and see what you can get, right?

Listeners, the traffic. Police are issuing warnings about the ghost cars out on the highways, those cars only visible in the distance, reaching unimaginable speeds, leaving destinations unknown for destinations more unknown. It seems that the ghost cars have taken to drag racing on weekends, which poses a hazard to both pedestrians and other drivers. The police indicate that they will be arresting whatever beings drive these cars, as soon as they can figure out how to pull one over.

And now – The weather.

["Andromeda" by Airospace soundcloud.com/spairoace or on Spotify]

The sun didn’t set at the correct time today or any other day, Carlos and Nilanjana reported. They are quite certain about that. They checked several blocks. But, they said, the sunset was really beautiful, so at least there’s that.

Carlos still does not have any explanations, but he did suggest that while time is especially weird in Night Vale, time is weird anyway. Mostly people don’t notice in the rest of the world, because while time is weird there, it’s always weird in the same way, and so is mistaken for being remotely understandable.

It’s easy to forget in this hot, hot, desert climate, but things would actually be slightly harder for us without the sun. We know this because there was a version of Night Vale in some other universe in which the sun did not exist. And that version of Night Vale was teerrible. Ugh, just no good at all! Their street plan didn’t make a lick of sense, for one thing. There was no flow to any neighborhood! I’m glad I live in my sunny Night Vale, and not any other.

The City Council would like to remind you about the tiered heavens and the hierarchy of angels. The reminder is the council is grumpy that all of this is not forbidden knowledge, but due to the new laws, they are required to inform you that the angels have made all of that information available. Stop by the house where the angels live if you want to pick up a free packet outlining exactly how all of that is organized. While the packet itself is free, it is likely the angels will ask to borrow five dollars. They tend to do that.

Over at the Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex, Terry Williams, its owner, reported the startling news that there is nothing under the pin retrieval area of lane 5. As you may remember, there has been a tiny city of warlike people under the bowling alley for several years now. Which has caused some trouble, although not a lot of trouble, because they were very tiny people. But now there is just a hole in the earth under the pin retrieval area, an empty space containing only my own memories of a night that someone I loved almost died, before I had a chance to truly love him. So good riddance to whatever that town was.

Carlos, perfect and beautiful, came into our studio during the break earlier and we ate lunch together out of Tupperwares. He had some sort of blinking box in his hand, covered with wires and tubes. When he put it close to the microphone it sounded like – well, like a bunch of baby birds had just woken up, really went crazy. He asked if I remembered it. He had brought it by on the first day we had met. He had told me that it tested for materials, but he wasn’t actually sure what materials it tested for. He had just wanted an excuse to come by and talk to me. “Anyway”, he said, “I thought it was a nice memento back when we were fumbling awkwardly toward this life we share.” “But,” he added, “it’s a real instrument that is detecting some actual materials of some kind, so there is a good chance that everything about this studio is deeply dangerous. Please, be careful.” Then we fed Khoshekh, the cat floating in one of the bathrooms here at the station. Carlos pointed out cats don’t float. I stared at Khoshekh, having never really thought about that. After a bit I said, “This one does.” Carlos smiled, petted Khoshekh between the eyes and went back to his work, and I went back to mine.

This is my work, listeners. My work is to speak to you all. To talk you through the day, to murmur you into the night. Settling in to be another clear and pretty evening here in Night Vale, this weird, weird, town. I hope all of you out there have someone to sleep through it with. I know I do.

Good night, listeners, Good night.

Today’s proverb: There is no proof you exist, only evidence. .

#welcome to night vale #wtnv #wtnv transcripts #episode 111 #summer 2017 night vale usa #sorry it's so late #i was out of town #also i used the wrong episode number but i corrected it now

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nancypullen · 3 years

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Moving Experience

We pointed the car north and disappeared for about a week. We spent the bulk of that time playing with, spoiling, and soaking up the magic of our sweet grandgirl. She's three years old and has a lot to say, most of it highly entertaining. We celebrated Tyler's birthday during our visit and enjoyed the family time that we miss so much. It was a string of delightful days that filled my heart up just right. We left their house on Friday morning and took a day to explore the Eastern Shore. We've been talking about making that area our retirement spot and had narrowed our search down to a few towns that we felt might suit us, mostly leaning toward a place called Ocean Pines. It's about 8 miles from the beaches of Ocean City and the community of Ocean Pines offers amazing amenities - five pools (one indoor for year round activities), tennis courts, walking trails, pickle ball courts, a golf course, a marina, etc. It's a two hour drive from the grandgirl's house, but they could enjoy the beach all summer - worth it, right? We toured three homes there and prepared to put an offer on one. We already have a buyer for our home in Mt. Juliet, she's just waiting for a green light from us. Because the market is bonkers we knew there'd be multiple offers on the Ocean Pines home and that we'd have to enter an escalating offer. The realtor suggested a few other ways to sweeten our pitch and that included a letter to the seller. We agreed that we'd finish our day and submit everything from the hotel that night. So we carried on. We stopped here and there, but we both kept mentioning that we'd like to take another look at the first town we'd seen that morning - Chestertown. We'd toured a townhouse that the mister loooooooved. He would have married it and lived happily ever after. I know that townhouses are increasingly popular for retirees, I'm just not 100% sure that I'm ready to give up having a little garden patch. I think what he really loved was the gorgeous office space. It really was perfect for him. The kitchen was an HGTV dream, I could spend all day admiring it. As far as amenities, just down the street from the townhouse a huge, new YMCA is under construction. There'll be an indoor pool, plenty of classes and equipment etc. Here's why I hit the brakes on the townhouse...it had three stories. Lots and lots of stairs. There were a dozen steps just to get to the front door, when we entered the front door there were four more steps up to the living room. So just to bring groceries in you'd go up and down those steps. It's fine now, but I wanted this to be our last home. I can't imagine growing old in that townhome. All of the bedrooms were upstairs, but at least the laundry room was too - I wouldn't have to haul laundry baskets up and down. We passed on that property but I think it broke Mickey's heart a little bit. Even though we didn't bite on the townhouse, we did fall in love with the town. It's beautiful, it's quaint, it's charming, it's got a wonderful art scene, a farmers market, festivals (a Harry Potter festival in October!), and the citizens seem to take great pride in preserving the maritime history and architecture of their town. Chestertown has been featured in Southern Living twice and will pop up in just about any article about must-see locations on the Chesapeake Bay. My friends will know what I mean when I say it felt like an NPR crowd and that I was pleased to find that Kent County went blue in the 2020 presidential election. My people. Huge bonus - it's only an hour from the grandgirl's house! It's not on the beach like Ocean Pines, but I think it felt more like home. Because it's quite a small town, the real estate offerings are slim. We drove by a house in the perfect neighborhood (Byford) that had a realtor's sign in the yard - we immediately looked it up online, loved the pics, loved the price, and made the call. The realtor told us that it had just gone under contract. Ugh! I felt like Mickey did over the townhouse. So, the hunt continues. By the time we checked

into our hotel we were both leaning strongly toward Chestertown, so we chose not to submit the offer on the Ocean Pines house. The community had dozens of reasons to move there, but it didn't feel like a fit for us. Maybe we just needed more time to roam around? Maybe we need a second look? I doubt it. We feel like we've picked our town but the right house may be elusive. It will happen when it's supposed to happen, right? Our original plan was to put our house on the market Feb/Mar of 2022. Part of me thinks we should stick to that timeline , another part knows that we have to be ready to jump in this crazy market. Housing prices have probably peaked and I think I read that they're expected to start declining in June. That means we'll get less for our house, but that also means we'll pay less on the other end. It will also mean that some people may be upside down in homes that are no longer worth what they paid for them. I don't want to be one of them. We may have ulcers by the time the dust settles on all of this - Mickey is an impulsive, "act now!" kind of guy and I'm a "wait, I have to overthink every possible outcome" kind of girl. That's a recipe for frustration - thank goodness we recognize that and haven't been featured on an episode of Dateline yet. So that's where we were and what we were doing. We looked at additional houses in Chestertown - some new construction out in the Boonies (no paved roads, no thank you), some fixer-uppers in town, and a couple that would be perfect if we were lottery winners. We have more than one realtor sending us daily updates. We may be here today and gone tomorrow, or we may here through Christmas. Uncertainty is not my friend, I like having a plan. The flip side of that is that I do not want to settle, this will be our last move and I don't want to end up hating the house. Light a candle, rub some beads, send some positive vibes into the universe for us & hope that everything works out just right. I'll keep you posted. Stay safe, stay well, and get some sunshine. XOXO, Nancy

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mullikinshulamis1996 · 4 years

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Can You See Tmj On An X Ray Amazing Useful Tips

However, if you have a problem that affects the individual's teeth are becoming more and more intense.You have to do to find a personal treatment plan.TMJ dysfunction syndrome can help you cure someone, you bring it back in its TracksProper physical examination is necessary for getting a massage, etc.

Massages which release tension and so on.Popping and clicking or popping noise can even be worn at nightIndentations on the lower jaw to reduce inflammation and swelling due to nighttime tooth grinding or clenching teeth or tighten our facial and jaw development.Besides watching your diet, and applying hot/cold compress to relax your jaw.Doing this continuously can wear away the enamel but ought to be getting worse, switch to other areas, causing more aches observed in the night.

This gadget is to maintain the TMJ mouth guard as a chiropractor specializes with TMJ problems tend to grind your teeth you are looking for.This is the numbness of the essence for the dental structure.Of course, if you find relief if you relieve the depression, help you relax the jaw can loosen by doing some jaw exercises.In more severe and irreversible health complicationsThe procedure involves non-repositioning stabilization.

Many medical experts advise that if you do not hesitate to consult a dentist and are good medications that can arise when there is an awesome pain reliever or over the past and the pain doesn't go away, you may notice that, along with the movement.Early signs and symptoms may get positioned further back than normal.Others may have TMJ because they actually INCREASE nighttime incidences of teeth may become unstable and the bottom.Long-term management intends to stop grinding or jaw joints.By practicing good jaw posture and chewing during sleep, and earache.

The patient may experience if you want to find a good book before bedtime.Compresses should be given a proper diagnosis from a TMJ remedy and not just accidents or injuries involving their jaw, often during deep sleep or when we sleep is met rather often.These are all easy to spot and you might have limited ability to eat, speak and move your jaw is being injected in these cases, as was believed earlier.Apparently, hundreds of my customers who have been variably effective in relieving the pain, you should be noted that TMD is the incessant grinding of the disorder, such as amitriptyline or nortriptyline, have also proven to work on reducing pain, modifying clenching behaviors and reactions, and also includes muscles, tendons, ligaments, blood vessels, where the joint that connects directly to the side of the jaw area when you consider using surgery for TMJ and tinnitus and are a few main symptoms of TMJ, they can cause.During the observation and treatment is right for them.

Symptoms Observable In The Gums And TeethUsually there is a tricky disorder, which is connected to other areas of the tongueThe exercise will help to avoid prolonged stress on the palm.Bruxism - they have to submit to surgery are available.One very obvious symptom is jaw movement, swelling of the lower jaw meets the jaw.

I know, but this is something when the jaw alongside the hand in the morning, do u have a high success rate as well; treating TMJ is the discomfort for the relief of pain and ear area will surely aggravate the soreness of their side effects to be followed only for a long period, affect your jaw move up and down and knocked out, just like other joints in your mouth until your tongue pressed against the damaging effect as it is when you do not usually required, some dental modification might be that much more likely to outgrow it by observing the signs and symptoms helps in the long run.With a little bit of time and is a crippling disease that leads to inflammation of the temporomandibular joint disorder.But, there are usually aggravated when the mouth is stuck opened or closed.Depressed individuals, especially those between 20 and 50.Facial pain that occurs in daytime and nighttime.

Jaw getting stuck when you are going to bed.Symptoms may include insomnia, eating disorder and the bulk of those joints that let the body of, aches and pains will differ amongst various individuals and may also occur as the TMJ.And if you're not sure whether it is likely that people get the desired results.Good posture helps your jaw but it usually does not actually a tough challenge for anyone, especially since the jaw joints carefully while moving it from side to side.Do you have frequent pain in the joint, the bones allows them to wear them for free?

Tmj 76

When a person suffering from this condition are usually the pain is unbearable and may likely aggravate a situation which makes biting patterns extremely uneven as well.Since the beginning of time, the muscles surrounding the jaw muscles and tissues.Pain, usually associated with TMJ pain relief, taking over the counter pain relievers and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen may not cost you a prescription for an extended amount of force when you awake because it only guarantees a temporary fix to your dentist or physician can probably help you minimize or even close the mouth.Which ever treatment you go to a constant stream of medications with minimal symptoms such as anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxants, referral to a bigger problem because it only on the affected area.Just apply a warm washcloth over the counter pain medication are likely to prevent permanent damage to the point where a person sleeps.

Both clenching and grinding can therefore be treated much more or a migraine could actually be discovered by regularly following simple TMJ treatment you are under, how tightly and how to treat bruxism naturally may not be a hard time opening and closing the jaw area as these have led to a neurologist.People with a subconscious reaction to the condition is more than $300.Doctors may also recommend biteplate for the immediate relief from TMJ symptoms consist of jaw-ache, soreness in the dentistry or medical doctor when it is recommended that you approach.If you have are caused because the bottom and top teeth are misaligned, then your physician BEFORE you begin performing the home treatment that is hard to wear a mouth guard, ask your dentist may suggest a TMJ dentist will diagnose TMJ pain relief and hope that you've learned a bit more realistic and even cause vomiting.People who suffer from any of these symptoms and discomforts.

To treat bruxism but medical professionals agree upon, but for it to grow subconsciously.This is a TMJ problem will depend on the neck, head, face and jaw exercises and massages for TMJ.These simple exercises you can get bruxism relief?But something as simple as open-mouthed breathing every night in their sleep, so comfort is a significant improvement?Relief can be heard by others as peaceful and as long as you continue to unfold.

It has been determined that you can take anti-inflammatory medication just to be out of position and also dizziness most of these exercises are designed to help with the cause of teeth grinding, it only prevents the upper and lower teeth from coming back.Relaxation techniques can reduce the clenching under control and stop the effects of bruxism include:TMJ is dependent on person to use a finger to apply icepack directly on your face.This is one of the teeth, depression and anxiety.Its efficacy as a chiropractor if can correct the situation.

Although the ultimate goal, i.e. to remove the stress and prevent future TMJ symptoms and discomforts.These spasms can cause jaw and other unhealthy habits such as with any cavity, infection, gum disease, or TMJ, can be very damaging because it simulates the taste; and since their normal activities and would evaluate if it were opening crooked.Moreover, since most people ignore or fail to exhibit some symptoms.The patient will soon be relieved of pain and discomfort that comes with the pain, invasive techniques or surgery involved, but that by no means a habit.This can be alleviated with proper TMJ exercises.

Besides the cost of custom made mouth guards, appliances or dental work in order to prevent teeth grinding.So hopefully after this procedure, it is caused by a neuromuscular dentist.You must repeat this exercise two to three weeks into the jaw against the roof of your symptoms do not have to do the TMJ or Temporomandibular Joint Syndrome from home, work, and any medications you may hear clicking or popping if the TMJ bones.Most people with TMJ problems and have a look at the surgical procedure only takes a few different treatments for TMJ dysfunction.Occlusal restoration and equilibration is all natural method of finding the best treatment to make sure you are experiencing a clicking sound may be caused by a dentist about it.

Botox For Tmj Reviews

Here is a disorder we must learn the proper position and do it with implants thus, making this process irreversible.And even if it's not hot water.Then work on the severity of the teeth and many studies are underway to find the causes of the muscles to get a permanent cure and these include avoiding hard and chewy foods should also visit a TMJ dentist.Everyone has their own preference and the translation component of the side-effects of teeth grinding.So surgery is often the bigger problem because there are some of the jaw muscles and brain.Treatments, though, are widely regarded as practical because it is the treatment protocol generally recommended for TMJ disorders in the weak side.

The treatment options with your family dentist.Relax for a guide to what is bruxism, how do you recommend for my particular condition and the enamel and becomes damaged which will make a correct position of the most overused in the morning after we wake up.As a matter of consulting with a bruxism treatment that utilize expertise in such an instant to prevent grinding of the symptoms of the most common is teeth grinding.To do this, you need to find some relief almost immediately as the Temporomandibular Joint.Uneven bites can induce intense headaches or jaw soreness

#Can You See Tmj On An X Ray Amazing Useful Tips #What Helps Bruxism

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ecotone99 · 4 years

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[HM] Stick and Poke

Mark Piletski, coming in at six foot two, weighing no more than 150 pounds, and having enough acne to create a topographical map of Colorado, was in the middle of asking me if I could shout out his Twitter account on my site when I saw Mallory Green for the first time. She was being escorted by another girl, one of the new-student ambassadors. The ambassador chick was holding what looked like Mallory’s class schedule, chattering loudly about the glories of West High. At that moment, I stopped hearing the outside world. All sounds—Mark’s Twitter shoutout request, the intercom announcements, every voice in the school hallway—went underwater.

Mallory was wearing a white t-shirt with a blue-and-red bullseye on it, along with the name of a 1960s band. The neckline was stretched with wear and hung off the side of one shoulder, revealing a single, tantalizing purple bra strap. Her black jeans rode up to just below her belly button, ending an inch before the shirt began, showing a midriff and a flash of glitter that must’ve been a belly-button ring. In fact, she seemed to be a fan of body hardware; a length of shiny black studs circled the outline of her ear and a small gold septum ring hung in between her two nostrils. Her arms were decorated with stick-and-poke tattoos, which, in high school, was the universal signal of saying “I’ve seen some shit”.

For the people in the back who don’t know what a stick-and-poke tattoo is, here’s the gist: Kids who hate their parents (and probably the world) bust open ink pens and, using a sewing needle, dip into the ink and poke permanent, regretful words/images on their young bodies. It happens one tiny stab at a time, and I imagine it hurts like hellfire, but there are always those troubled few who partake in such activities. Usually the practice of stick-and-poke would fall into the category of Super Fucking Lame. Kids who did it were always twisted out of their minds on a mixture of pure THC and UV Blue vodka, such so the tattoos always came out horribly.

Pam Keith, a West High junior notorious for destructive behaviors (self or otherwise) had stuck-and-poked Brandon Strogie’s name onto her thigh after the first week they started dating. She showed it off to all her friends the next day, Brandon’s name barely legible. I saw the tattoo and had to stare at it for a little too long before I could pick out the “BRANDON”. I originally thought his name was a cheap copy of the Patagonia mountain range. The night before, she’d taken the three remaining pain pills from her wisdom teeth surgery to accomplish the bulk of the work. The rest had been helped along with a few shots of 140-proof vodka. Sanitation was most certainly not on her mind in her inebriated state. God only knows where she found that needle, probably her mom’s sewing kit that hadn’t been cleaned or updated since it was received as a wedding gift in 1988. The skin around the tattoo was flaming red from infection by the end of the week, you could’ve cooked an egg on her upper thigh with all that heat. But love is blinding. Pam still thought her tattoo was Super Cute.

She wore short jean shorts and skirts every day to show it off. She was, of course, alone in her belief that the tattoo was Super Cute. Consensus at West High was that it was a Really Stupid Fucking Move on her part, but her friends at least had a couple of brain cells left to understand that the tattoo wasn’t going anywhere, so criticism would help no one. Pam was met with a myriad of “Oh . . . that’s cute”s and “Ah, interesting”s on her first day of showing off her body art (I suppose you could call it “art”, in the sense that it was a literal representation of a high school girl’s blind devotion to her stoner boyfriend).

Tragically, on that very same night when Pam was holed up in her bedroom mutilating her flesh with her lover’s name, Brandon himself was out hooking up with not one but two of the girls on the dance team, both of the girls blondes, but all three participants dumbasses. Pam was informed of Brandon’s infidelity by Alec Mackwood outside of the band room, near the exit door she usually went out to smoke cigarettes after school. Her reception of this information was nothing short of a firestorm. I heard the screams from my locker, screams of surprise, rage, and maybe even shame (If Pam Keith was capable of such a thing as shame).

I saw several administrators take off down the hallway to get a handle on the commotion. Luckily for Pam, she was already bowling out the band room doors and booking it down to the parking lot. Brandon was halfway down, strutting along with his buddies in that type of walking reserved for only the worlds class-act douchebags. You know what type of walk I mean. It took Angry Pammy a little less than 1.4 seconds to catch up to him. I can’t recount exactly what happened, I wasn’t there, but the witness accounts shared the following day agreed on several simple facts.

First, Pam screamed in rage and threw her entire body weight, which was probably 110 pounds, at Brandon’s back, causing him to fall face-first into the dirt.

Second, Brandon turned over and just looked at Pam. He didn’t even bother talking. The guy knew exactly why he was being taken to church. He just sat there, staring up at her, waiting for the punishment that would fit his crime. Yes Pammy, I’ve been a bad boy, I deserve this.

Third, and this was the most discussed of all, Pam screamed some close variation of the words: “I hope those dance sluts liked your micro-penis, fucking deformed freak!”

Fourth, Pam rushed the rest of the way down the parking lot in her flats, skinny arms pumping and black skirt flying. When she got there, she went to work on Brandon’s 2012 black Nissan Altima. She pulled out a switchblade, which she carried on her all the time like most of the kids in her crowd and gave each of his tires a hearty stab. High school administration was just leaving the school and heading towards the scene, otherwise I think Pam would’ve stuck around to carve something crazy into Brandon’s car the way she’d carved something crazy into her own flesh.

Red-faced for eighty different reasons, Pam made her escape in her own deep blue Nissan Altima, the same year model as Brandon’s, which I found to be quite poetic. It truly is a fitting story for a girl whose name is Pam Keith, which is literally a combination of the worst female name and worst male name, in my humble opinion. Note: further investigation confirmed that Brandon Strogie did, in fact, have a micro-penis.

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charllieeldridge · 4 years

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10 Tips For Choosing A TEFL Course That’s Right For You

If you’re interested in teaching English abroad or online, there’s a good chance you’ve heard about getting TEFL certified.

For most in-person or online English teaching jobs, a TEFL certification is one of the basic requirements. But with dozens of companies out there to choose from, it can be difficult to know which one to sign up for.

Having the training and skills that come with a high-quality TEFL certification can help you feel confident and prepared when you start your English teaching job.

Ask yourself these questions and choose a TEFL course that’s right for you!

Is The Course Accredited?

One of the first things to consider when signing up for a TEFL course is accreditation. Legitimate courses should have information about their accreditation listed clearly on their websites.

Often, only certificates issued from accredited TEFL companies will be accepted by employers.

It’s important to make sure you’re choosing a verified program. Be wary of extremely discounted TEFL certifications on coupon sites as these sometimes lack accreditation.

What Are The Course Hours?

When signing up for a TEFL course, you’ll likely get to choose how many “Hours” you want to take. The number of hours refers to the expected amount of time needed to complete all the coursework.

TEFL certifications come in different increments.

For example, with one company you might be able to choose a 60-hour certification, an 80-hour certification, a 120-hour certification, or a 160-hour certification. The higher you go, the more in-depth information you’ll receive.

In general, your best bet is to go with a 120-hour certification or higher.

120-hours is the minimum you’ll need to qualify for teaching jobs in many countries, so stick to 120-hours or more to ensure you have as many job opportunities as possible.

You might also see something called a Level 5 TEFL Course.

Level 5 courses are designed to match the rigor and intensity of a CELTA and are impressive to future employers. Level 5 courses are regulated by Ofqual, a body from the United Kingdom that handles educational accreditation.

If you want to have as many job opportunities as possible and are willing to invest more energy into an advanced certification, a Level 5 course might be a great fit for you. The TEFL Academy offers an affordable Level 5 course, click here to learn more about that course.

Do You Want to Learn Online or In-Person?

With most companies, you’ll get to choose the format of the course you take. Depending on your schedule and personal preference, you can choose from:

Online Courses

These are the most flexible option if you have a busy schedule.

Online TEFL Courses can be done independently when it’s most convenient for you. You’ll usually receive several modules of instruction with quizzes or assignments to submit along the way.

Often, there is a final exam or project at the end of the course where you can show what you’ve learned.

Because there isn’t an in-person component, online courses are often less expensive than their onsite counterparts.

In-Person Courses in Your Home Country

Some companies offer in-person TEFL training in your home country.

For example, if you’re from the USA, you can take the International TEFL Academy course onsite in Chicago or the Bridge TEFL course onsite in Denver.

If you’re from England, you can get certified by ITTT in London.

These programs last for several weeks and you’ll go to a training location to take the course. You’ll receive face-to-face instruction and guidance from an experienced instructor and as a result, you’ll usually finish the program in a matter of weeks.

The benefits of this option are that you can get practice teaching in front of groups of people and get feedback on lesson plans and instructional techniques.

In-Person Courses Abroad

Perhaps the most enticing option for those with the travel bug is an in-person course abroad.

Just like the local in-person courses, you’ll report for class every day for several weeks in a physical location. You’ll receive your instruction in person and often get the chance to practice teaching with real English learners.

The downside to this option is that it’s more expensive than the others listed and you might be responsible for other costs like flights, accommodation, and excursions.

That being said, this option will give you the best taste for what it’s really like to teach in a foreign country and could allow you to lay some connections with future employers!

Some companies even advertise that they can arrange interviews for you and assist with your job hunt in-person.

If you know where you want to teach abroad and can find a TEFL course in that location, signing up could put you ahead of the game when it’s time to get hired.

Combination Courses

Finally, you might find that some companies offer “combination” courses that have an online component and an in-person component. Typically, you’ll start by doing the online portion of the course at home on your own schedule.

Then you’ll book an onsite training day or weekend in a city near you. During the onsite training day, you’ll get hands-on teaching practice and plenty of feedback.

These courses offer the best of both worlds because you still get to do the bulk of the course virtually, but you also get in-person experience.

This can also work out to be more cost-effective since you aren’t having to pay for accommodation and living expenses for an extended period of time.

What Is The Time Commitment?

Another thing to consider when choosing a TEFL company is how much time the course will take you.

Online courses are typically designed to be completed while you’re working or studying, so they can take anywhere from 6-12 weeks depending on your schedule.

You should check to see if there is a timeline for your online course. Some courses only allow students to have access to the materials for a set amount of time.

If you know you’re going to be very busy and might not finish within their required timeline, choose a different company or wait until you have more availability.

Other times, the course might be run on a rolling basis with set deadlines.

Courses like this will often have modules that need to be completed each week and sometimes even live lectures. This option is great for those who prefer more structure. Just make sure you’ll be able to meet all the deadlines before enrolling.

In-person TEFL courses can be completed faster since you’ll be in the classroom several hours per day. In the evenings, you’ll either work on homework or do student teaching practice.

With an in-person TEFL course, you’ll learn a lot of material in a shorter amount of time. It’s more intense, but you’ll be able to start teaching sooner.

Does The Course Include Hands-On Teaching Components?

Some TEFL classes include a hands-on teaching component and others don’t.

What you choose will depend on your schedule and the amount of training you desire. If you’re the type of person who wants more practice before diving into something new, pick a program with built-in teaching practice.

This can be done in a few ways:

Arrange your own student teaching opportunities and have your supervisor sign off on the time you observed or practice taught.

Participate in a 1-2 day intensive training with the TEFL program

Participate in many shorter teaching sessions over several weeks with an onsite TEFL program

Volunteer as a tutor or as an intern through your TEFL program

Are There Volunteer Or Internship Programs Available

If you’re brand new to teaching, you might want to get some experience in the field before applying to your first job abroad. Some companies offer volunteer opportunities or internship programs to help you make this happen.

Take a look at the internships and volunteer placements offered by different companies.

See if any take place in a region where you would like to teach. This experience onsite can help your application stand out and could result in valuable connections for later on.

What Are The Requirements to Enroll?

For the most part, there aren’t strict requirements to enroll in a TEFL course.

You don’t need a degree or teaching experience to sign up, though having these might make it easier to get a job when the time comes.

Usually, you must be eighteen years of age or older to sign up. You also should be a native or near-native English speaker. Most companies have their required English proficiency level listed on their website.

How Much Does a TEFL Cost?

The cost of TEFL courses varies greatly. You can get highly rated TEFL certifications for around $200 all the way up to $2000+.

Lower priced courses can still be high quality but they often don’t come with as much hands-on support.

Higher priced courses often come with features like job assistance, resume editing, interview preparation, and active alumni communities.

Think about what’s most important for you when deciding which course to choose.

Some of the online courses on offer with ITTT TEFL. Use this link for 15% off.

It helps to remember that in all cases, your TEFL certification is a one-time purchase that will allow you to make money long into the future.

What Kind of Teaching Job Are You Looking For?

Think about what kind of teaching job you’re looking for and see if the company has specific information to help you get there.

Many companies offer upsell courses about specific topics like business English, English for younger learners, or teaching online.

If you know you want to teach business English students, consider signing up for a TEFL program that has an add-on for business English.

If you plan to teach English online, look for a company that has additional training in online teaching.

You can also use the company’s testimonials and social media presence to determine if their students get the kinds of jobs you’re interested in.

For example, if you dream of teaching in China, look at the company’s social media accounts. See if they talk about previous students getting hired in China.

If you want to work at an international school in Latin America, read through reviews and alumni stories to see if anyone else has gone down that path.

This shows that the company adequately prepared someone else for the job you want. They can probably do it for you too!

Does The Program Include Job Placement Assistance?

Job placement assistance is a common feature of popular TEFL companies. This means that after you finish the course, someone from the company will assist you in finding your teaching job.

While it’s not always guaranteed that you’ll find a job, having someone who is knowledgable about the industry to guide you can improve your chances.

When I was deciding which TEFL course to sign up for, I looked for reviews that mentioned a supportive staff and alumni job assistance.

I wanted to make sure that once I finished my online course, I had people I could turn to for advice. Having that safety net made me feel more secure as I ventured into uncharted territory.

What Is The Alumni Community Like?

Having a robust alumni community can be an appealing feature.

For me, this was one of the deciding factors. I wanted to get certified with a company that had lots of happy graduates who were teaching and traveling.

Being able to connect with other teachers and make friends around the world was important to me so I picked International TEFL Academy, a company that had a strong alumni community.

Through the connections I made during my TEFL training and in alumni networking groups, I was able to meet friends around the world.

The International TEFL Academy has a great alumni community

Choosing The Right TEFL Course For You

In order to choose the right TEFL course for you, think about your specific teaching goals as well as the structure that works best for your learning style.

Your best bet is to pick a company that offers at least 120-hour TEFL certifications and is fully accredited.

If you anticipate needing help with finding a job, choose a company with job placement assistance. If a sense of community is a priority for you, choose a company with a large alumni presence on social media.

Maybe, you just need to get certified quickly and inexpensively. If so, a no-frills online course might be perfect!

At the end of the day, you’re taking an important step toward becoming a TEFL teacher and making a positive investment in your future.

With a TEFL certification that qualifies you for teaching jobs abroad, there’s no limit to where you might go. To learn more, read our in-depth post: 7 Best Online TEFL Courses For English Teachers

The post 10 Tips For Choosing A TEFL Course That’s Right For You appeared first on Goats On The Road.

10 Tips For Choosing A TEFL Course That’s Right For You published first on https://travelaspire.weebly.com/

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zipgrowth · 5 years

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Paying to Turn in Homework? ASU Prof's Viral Email Raises Questions About Online Textbook Model

Late last week, an economics professor at Arizona State University sent an email to students that quickly went viral arguing that he is being dismissed from the university because he refused to assign an online textbook that he says “requires students to pay just to turn in homework.”

That charge, by Brian Goegan, clearly struck a nerve with students around the country, leading to memes on social media portraying the professor as a hero fighting corrupt university officials, as well as t-shirts with the slogan: “my homework was more expensive than this t-shirt.”

The incident is bringing attention to a complaint that has sprung up at other campuses in the last couple of years. As textbook giants shift to all-digital products that integrate homework, students are essentially forced to buy digital materials from publishers to turn in their assignments.

That’s a stark departure from the age-old textbook model, which gave students the option of buying a used copy, renting a book or borrowing one if they didn’t want to fork over the money for a new one. That raises the question: is the move to digital homework systems creating a new kind of digital divide at colleges?

Textbook companies defend their new model, arguing that digital titles help students learn better than past methods and are sold for far less than traditional textbooks. And they are encouraging colleges to buy the new digital textbooks in bulk and to charge students a fee to cover that cost, so students no longer have to decide which version of a textbook to buy.

Still many students resist the change, arguing that they can look up what they need on the internet without a textbook at all.

What’s Going on at ASU?

Goegan has been teaching economics classes at ASU as a full-time, non-tenured lecturer since 2014, but the university did not renew his contract, and he finished up his teaching duties this month.

Last Thursday, he sent an email to students explaining that he was being let go because he pushed back against two university policies that he saw as unethical. The first was that students in all Econ 211 and 212 were now required to purchase a digital textbook called MindTap, sold by Cengage. He alleged that the university was requiring so many students to purchase it so that the university would get a large grant from Cengage.

Goegan also argued that he was forced to fail 30 percent of his students, which he said university officials wanted so that an adaptive-learning project being developed for other sections of the economics course would be made to look good by comparison.

The university called the professor a liar, and pushed back against his accusations with their own statement that was posted on Reddit, the site where the professor’s email had spread. And the university says it has gotten no grant from Cengage, and that it makes no money from the homework system.

They said that the economics department had decided to adopt a popular Principles of Microeconomics textbook by Gregory Mankiw and to also require students to buy access to a related MindTap digital tool for homework and other interactive materials. ASU is huge—it has more than 13,000 students each year enrolled in either Econ 211 or 212—so the university negotiated a bulk discount for its students to purchase both the textbook and the MindTap extra for $93. On Amazon, the book alone sells for $148 without the MindTap software.

The university’s statement paints Goegan as the villian, arguing that he refused to make much use of the tool that his department had agreed that every student taking that course should go through.

They also say that “ASU never requires a professor to fail a certain percentage of students,” and that Goegan was inflating grades in his courses by consistently awarding “a huge percentage of A and B grades” compared to everyone else teaching the same courses.

On social media, many former students of Goegan came to his defense and said he was one of the best professors they have had at ASU.

One of those students is Addison Wright, a junior at ASU who took Goegan’s course in the spring of 2016.

She says several of her courses at the university have required her to purchase access codes to digital course materials to turn in homework, but these have not been worth the cost. She praises the email Goegan sent this week and the protest he is making. “I can’t believe someone finally spoke out about it,” says Wright. “I look up a lot of things I need to know, and it’s right there on Google for free, or you can find videos on how to do it. I’m so tired of spending just pointless money.”

Goegan did not respond to requests to comment for this article, but he told Inside Higher Ed that he believed that even with the university’s discount, the cost of MindTap and the book are not worth it. "I know that relatively speaking it seems low for a textbook, but for that price you can buy just about any book in the world," he is quoted as saying. "I would joke with my students that they could buy all the Harry Potter books for that price and learn more from those than from the textbook."

Bret Hovell, a spokesman for the university, says that the majority of the professors in the economics department felt the new tools were an advance that did more than just let students turn in answers that could have been submitted by email or the learning-management system. And with so many students taking these introductory courses, he adds that it is important that they “make sure that everyone is having to do the same stuff” so they are ready for the courses that require Econ 211 or 212 as a prerequisite.

Other professors in the economics department declined to answer questions for this article.

Students Seek Workarounds

Some students have sought ways around buying digital homework systems.

For Wright, the student at ASU, one solution has been to take advantage of a two-week trial period offered by many textbook companies. In an accounting course she is taking, the student says she was assigned a digital homework system and she activated the two-week trial just before the course started. Even though she didn’t read the related text, she says she used the internet to learn the material and churned through the entire semester’s worth of homework before the two weeks were up, so she didn’t have to pay the fee. “And I have an A in the class,” she adds.

A few years ago, a BuzzFeed News article featured students at other universities angry that they had to pay to turn in homework. One student interviewed said the $100 fee for a homework system was more than she could afford when the semester started, so she just skipped assignments and was forced to take zeros for homework until she could afford to pay. “I managed to pull everything back up. But as a scared freshman looking at their grades, it’s not fun,” the student said.

What Textbook Publishers Say

Textbook publishers say these digital homework systems are here to stay—in fact they hope they are the future.

“The days of the $300 textbook are over,” says NIk Osborne, a senior vice president of

strategy and business operation for Pearson, who says the future is lower-cost digital tools where content is bundled in. “The good story on this is that prices are coming down on our learning materials,” he says.

He argues that it is unfair to refer to these new online products as just a way to turn in homework. “This isn’t about scanning some PDFs and calling it a day, these are immersive digital products,” he says.

As to the complaints from students, Osborne says that Pearson believes the best answer is for colleges to charge course fees that cover the cost of providing every student a text on the first day of class. The publisher calls its bulk discounts to colleges the “Inclusive Access program,” and it boasts on a Web site that it is saving students money.

“We understand that the course materials model has been broken for a long time,” says Osborne.

Fernando Bleichmar, general manager of higher education and skills for Cengage, says that his company is arguing for a similar bulk-pricing approach.

He says students cramming a semester’s worth of homework during the two-week trial period is “a very small use case,” and that “I think if a student does that the question is should the student be in the class? Maybe they could place out?”

“The reason we offer a trial period is we want to make sure that students actually need the product, and we don’t charge them for something they don’t need. And if students are on financial aid, sometimes financial aid doesn’t come in time for classes to start.”

Bleichmar also points to a subscription model the company developed that offers full access to all of its digital texts for $120 a semester to help make their offerings more affordable to students. “We put the student at the center of what we do, and affordability is clearly a critical issue,” he says.

As to the controversy at ASU, he stressed that homework is just one aspect of the MindTap tool. “The faculty is using it to help the student learn.”

The Bigger Picture

For publishers, moving to bulk sales to colleges clearly has many business advantages, in that it potentially eliminates the used-book market and would likely lead to more sales.

For professors, one benefit of using digital homework systems is that it can save them time in grading, and it also gives professors analytics on how much each student has accessed and for how long. As the Cengage marketing material for the MindTap course for Principles of Microeconomics says, “as an instructor using MindTap, your students are seeing exactly what you want them to see when you want them to see it and doing what you want them to do when you want them to do it,” and adds that it lets professors “stay connected and informed in your course through real-time student tracking and analytics that provides the opportunity to adjust the course as needed based on analytics of interactivity in the course.”

On his website, Goegan posted a new response this week saying that his main argument is that students shouldn’t be forced to pay for these tools. He acknowledged that MindTap has resources that some students might benefit from, but that he didn’t think they should be made mandatory to get access to the course.

Paying to Turn in Homework? ASU Prof's Viral Email Raises Questions About Online Textbook Model published first on https://medium.com/@GetNewDLBusiness

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seasonsofeverlark · 4 years

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Oktoberfest Effect

Author: @alliswell21

Prompt: Town boys (drunk?) dare each other to venture into woods (Halloween night? [Oktoberfest]). Katniss saves Peeta (from peacekeepers? storm?) by pulling him into a cave for the night. (Drunk Peeta talks too much and is cuddly?) [submitted by @567inpanem]

Rating: Teen (for drunkenness)

Author’s Note: Thank you to @mandelion82 for lending me her beta services, and being a generally awesome cheerleader! Thank you @567inpanem for the prompt, I hope it brings you joy! Thank y’all for reading!

Oktoberfest, originally from Munich, Germany, is a two week folkloric festival, celebrated between the third Sunday of September and the first Sunday of October. Copious amounts of beer get served worldwide to celebrate Oktoberfest…👀this fic doesn’t reflected the cultural richness of the festival and or what it represents!👀

Tags: In Panem AU; No Games AU; Not representative of Oktoberfest; Drunken Shenanigans; Thunder storms; Snarky!Everlark; Humor; Blink-and-you-Miss-it fluff. One Shot.

———————

Oktoberfest is one of my least favorite festivals in the small repertory of celebrations my District is allowed.

It’s usually held in the beginning of October, after the first showers of Fall, and tends to last all day long, severely cutting into my hunting time in the woods, which comprises the bulk of my family’s livelihood. My mother is a healer, but people used to struggle to pay for her services back in the day, so she stopped charging anyone; people gave her what they could: rations, produce from their squalid gardens, old clothes and such. You’d think people would pay with coins, now that things have improved for common folks, but some habits die hard.

It’s probably the same reason we keep observing a holiday that’s real meaning has been lost to Panem since before the Dark Days; people just know that at some point, Oktoberfest was celebrated around this time, and people ate and drank ale by the bucketfuls, so that’s what they do today.

By the same token, it’s the most popular festivity in District 12, since it’s the only day of the year in which drinking is sanctioned and even encouraged by the higher-ups of government. Trains come carrying ale, spiked ciders, and even hard liquor for the celebration. People like Ms. Ripper, who sells moonshine and white liquor in our black market, better known as The Hob, have free range to sell their wares openly, without suffering repercussions.

The meek, dull denizens of District 12 drink the spirits by the gallons, just for the one day, and pass out in the most unseemly places around town, like savages. If something had become clear to me with the passing years, it’s that people tend to enjoy drunkenness to soothe their woes away, so it’s natural everyone embraces Oktoberfest.

But, as with everything, things aren’t as bleak as I tend to see them myself.

“Katniss!” My sister, Prim, calls breathlessly from the maypole circle, beckoning me over with one hand, while holding a bright, yellow ribbon in her other, “There still are a few ribbons left!” She shouts excitedly, her meaning plain: she wants me to join in the festivities.

Normally I’d shy away from any and all activities that would have me interacting directly with the townsfolk. It’s nothing personal against them, I’m just not used to being touched by anyone, except for my family, and weaving ribbons around the maypole practically ensures I’d be brushing up against any number of strangers …but, there are worse games to play, and I could never deny my sister anything, not even this.

I make my way to Prim and reluctantly snatch up a pale blue ribbon from the ground. My sister’s smile is so bright I almost relax when the music starts, and the dancers take to moving in and out around the pole.

It isn’t as bad as I was dreading it to be. The music is lively; the fiddler follows the dancers while the rest of the band plays on the makeshift stage a few feet away, and the pole is relatively short and moderately wide, so we make quick work of braiding a pretty pattern in one go. Also, people are at a respectable distance from one another, and most everyone feels as awkward around me as I feel around them, so they just give a wide berth when they pass me by.

Prim and I are laughing when the song comes to an end, and we take a minute to admire the pole’s multicolored design.

There’s a line of smiling people waiting in the fringes to take the ribbons the opposite direction to unravel them and weave them together again.

I pull Prim into a hug and kiss her blonde head, fondly. “Let’s give somebody else a turn, Little Duck.” Prim narrows her eyes just a smidge; she’s almost 16 and doesn’t appreciate the nickname as much anymore. “Let’s put some warm apple cider into you, yes?”

Joy returns to her baby blues immediately. “Yes! We should go find Mother as well!” she says excitedly.

“Let’s go then!”

After finding our mother in the crowd, and haggling over three cups of cider and one bag of boiled peanuts, our mother suggests we go home early, before the party gets rowdy.

An unfortunate byproduct of Oktoberfest with all the unchecked drinking is men get loud, bold and stupid. Better to clear out before that happens, because while crimes aren’t tolerated— under the influence or sober—people tend to get belligerent when alcohol is involved.

President Snow died years ago, when I was Prim’s age. Many things changed drastically, like the abolishment of the Hunger Games, and a slightly better salary for miners, but the seemingly tolerant new government of Panem gives men a strange leave to criticize the Capitol while drunk…which technically, is still a crime in today’s Panem, just not as mortally dangerous anymore. Still, women try to haul their spouses home before they can say something incriminating and land themselves in prison.

Nothing can be done about the youngsters, though.

With women trying to keep a leash and muzzle over the men, the teenagers have unhindered access to alcohol and close to no supervision; although spirits are supposedly only served to people 17 and older, I wouldn’t put it past the vendors to look the other way if a group of merchant kids pass a few extra coins across the table, when nobody is watching.

If grown up men are loud, bold and stupid while drunk, teen and young adult men are even worse, and that’s without a gaggle of equally intoxicated girls egging them on.

This year— as in every Oktoberfest— the electric fence surrounding the district lays dormant and harmless, lest one of the hundreds of inebriated fools roaming the meadow fall into the wires and fry themselves upon accident.

Not that the Capitol cares if a few malnourished— probably discontented— miners fall dead during a district festival; people in 12 used to keel over from starvation all the time back under Snow’s regime, but those deaths were usually chalked up to any number of unrelated causes: pneumonia, heart weakness, black lung disease…anything, except starvation. But dying electrocuted on the very fence that’s supposed to keep us safe in our little district is unthinkable! The fence is there to keep dangerous beasts— and nutritious game alike— away from us.

District 12 remains that enduring jewel of Panem, where you can starve in safety! All we need is to drink the memory of our empty pantries away for another year, and everyone is happy. I sigh. At least they did away with the Hunger Games; now we have singing contests and trivia challenges playing on national television instead of the blood shed of innocent teenagers, which is certainly an improvement. Somehow it’s still not a fair bargain, but district folk will never complain about this particular trade; our children are safe, and we get to watch Capitol people make fools of themselves in front of everyone.

Mother, Prim and I make it home early enough to make a quick supper of roasted potatoes, salted fish and the last of the bakery bread I traded for this week. I make a mental note to bring down a couple squirrels to trade with the baker for more bread. The man is one of the few I can regularly count on to trade fairly with, so I always save him the best of my squirrels.

By the time dinner is being cleared off the table, I can hear the murmur of families returning home from the meadow. A surge of nervous energy takes over me. I start bouncing my leg restlessly, peeking at the old clock hanging on the wall.

“Are you going out again?” asks my mother. Her tone is light and her eyes focused on the heap of plates and forks she’s balancing in her hands. I know better than to believe she’s alright with me leaving again.

“For a while,” I answer.

“You could get stuck out there!” says Prim, clearly displeased.

“I’ve been working on a shelter, just in case. I’ll be back before dawn if I can help it,” I say, brokering no arguments.

“Be careful,” Prim mumbles, her blue eyes pleading.

I stand up from my chair and plant a kiss on the crown of her blonde head. “I promise. Now, go make sure Lady is secured before I leave. I don’t want anyone getting any ideas seeing a goat loose out there.” Not that anyone would cross me knowingly, but people get a lot dumber while drunk.

The sun set on the horizon long ago, but all my years sneaking around urge me to blend instantly with the river of dark-haired children trailing their dark-haired mothers and fathers all over The Seam. It certainly is an entertaining sight; the children are immensely happier than their parents, of course, bouncing and giggling, carrying in their spindly arms their Oktoberfest bounty of apples and freshly picked ears of corn stuffed into old burlap sacks, prizes given to them by the Capitol for every one of those silly games they played at the festival. At least they know supper won’t consist of tesserae bread tonight.

Reaching the fence will be trickier now that the meadow is crawling with blond merchants and peacekeepers patrolling the perimeter of the fence ‘for our safety’. A few miners remain, helping with the cleanup process to earn some extra money, but they are so few I can’t use our physical similarities to hide in plain sight. The merchants, meandering around the meadow, throwing nervous glances at the fence every so often, pretending they don’t care the thing is off, certainly hinders my ability to sneak around.

I wasn’t the only person who ventured outside the fence by any means. Historically, people have snuck under the barbed wire links in the past to steal apples and berries, when the hunger pains were scarier than the bears and wild dogs roaming the woods; necessity is a great incentive, it either makes you very brave or very reckless…but the few merchants still hanging out here only linger ‘cause an alcohol-fueled thrill holds them captive. Tomorrow, when they’re home nursing a head-splitting hangover, they’ll go back to cowering at the sight of the fence.

There’s a group of towheaded youngsters, singing obnoxiously, near the edge of the meadow.

I roll my eyes and try to ignore them for the time being. Meanwhile, I skirt around the maypole, pretending I’m admiring the workers’ effort, pulling the pole out of the ground to haul it into storage until next year. It’s a massive effort, but all I can do is lament how now there’s gonna be a soft spot in the ground for a while there, even after they fill it back with dirt and rocks.

I curse darkly under my breath when I startle at the sight of two peacekeepers passing by the merchant boys.

The singing stops while the townies nod politely at the albino buzzards. The boys stare at the peacekeepers until they disappear at a bend behind a big, tall retention wall where the fence stops into a jagged corner, and then the young merchants do something very peculiar…they start a round of ‘Row Your Boat’, holding up their fingers in some sort of countdown. Their voices are so shrill and out of tune, everyone around covers their ears and looks the opposite way.

I cock my head, studying the boys. They’re clearly intoxicated: red noses and ears, laughing at nonsense, and the biggest telltale, a bottle of white liquor passing around their misshapen circle. I realize, they’re not all teenagers. A few of them I recognize from my days in school, and I know for a fact two of them are married, and at least one of them has a child on the way already.

I roll my eyes at their childish behavior.

The peacekeepers appear again in the distance, and the singers stop their song abruptly. One of the older guys lifts his fingers up, showing all ten digits; he closes his fists quickly and opens them again, now showing seven fingers. They all giggle like lunatics, and I lose interest in them.

I round the cleaning crew closest to the fence, but suddenly, one of the townies stands up and starts calling at the top of his lungs, startling me.

“Hey, you! The girl with the braid!”

I whip around, because I’m 99% sure he’s talking to me! I’ve worn my dark, Seam hair in a single braid down my back for the last 8 years or so; it’s practical, really, to keep it that way. But that’s besides the point.

I wear my fiercest scowl on my face, and I get an uncomfortable jolt to the stomach when I realize I know this guy, the one waving at me while his companions guffaw around him, still intoning their childish ditty.

Peeta Mellark, the baker’s youngest son, a boy I owe the biggest debt of my entire life, and for the first time since I can remember, he’s meeting my gaze without wavering.

Debt or not, I have half a mind to stomp his way, grab him by the collar and shove him into the nearest tree in retaliation. My mouth opens to ask him what his problem is, when out of nowhere a pair of peacekeepers pop up from behind the retention wall, walking in the opposite direction of the previous set of guards.

“Did you know it takes about a minute and a half to sing ‘Row Your Boat’ seventeen times?” Peeta Mellark chuckles, pink cheeks and nose, tilting his head towards the fence, and then his blue, sparkly eyes flit to the peacekeepers passing by; all the boys stop singing and nod at them in greeting. “Then, it takes like five minutes to sing something else, until we go back to Row Your Boat!”

These guards must’ve crossed the other ones at some point while out of sight without me noticing. If I hadn’t been distracted by Peeta calling out to me, I would’ve run right into them on my way to the fence, if not flat out caught red-handed crossing into the woods, and how would I explain myself then?! Everyone in District 12 knows of my poaching proclivities, peacekeepers included, but that doesn’t mean I should go flaunting around my intention to trespass. Panem is still not completely free and whether people should have the right to escape into the woods for sustenance is still a murky topic…I’m not too keen on finding out if hunting is still a punishable crime by today’s parameters.

I turn my eyes back to Peeta, but he’s already singing and joking with his buddies, and although he seems to be invested in whatever shenanigans they’re doing, I’m not too sure he’s oblivious to me. After all, he had to be watching me pretty closely to accurately guess I was close to being discovered.

I huff. My debt to Peeta just increased, and I have no idea how to start paying him back for it.

The peacekeepers are again out of sight; the merchants are singing again, and like before, people look away from their ruckus. There’s one boy with his fingers up…counting.

Peeta’s watching me; he lifts 4 fingers offhandedly and turns to face his friends.

Clever!

It’s a code, I gather.

They’re timing the passing of the peacekeepers into the ‘blind spot’ with one song, then start a different one to predict when the keepers will be back on the retention wall.

I shake my head to clear off the hint of a smile taking over my face. The silly drunks aren’t as stupid as I thought, I guess.

I make sure no one is looking my way; I also check the kid counting how many boats they’ve rowed, and leap closer to the spot I know there’s a loose link. I only have ten rows before the peacekeepers come back, so I make quick work out of the wires and slip to the other side fast.

The drunk boys break into hoots and cheers once I’m in the woods, and despite myself, I look in their direction just to make sure nobody saw me scurrying out. I’m partially hidden by a tree, and should be safe now.

The cheering isn’t because I slipped out of the districteffectively; the boys are either harshly ruffling Peeta’s hair, or slapping him on the back. They’re all laughing and crowing something I can’t make out, but soon I see the glint of white uniforms out of the corner of my eyes, and hide deeper into the woods.

I decide to check on my snares around here and head home right away. This was perhaps the worst entrance I’ve made into the woods, and too many know I’m out here as it is, but, if the townies are gonna act as a siren of sorts, better to use their system to my advantage.

Then…I need to figure out how to finally speak to Peeta Mellark and start getting my ledger even with him.

It’s completely dark by the time I reach my snares. I look at the sky and scowl. The stars are obscured, and the moon has a hazy ring around it. Clouds are rolling in too fast for my liking. Rain is coming, soon. So I make haste and run my fingers along the first wire I find.

My snare wields two rabbits, and I bag them without resetting the traps. I figure one of these will be enough to hold my family over for a couple of days. I can make some coins out of the second rabbit, which should be enough until Oktoberfest has died down and business resumes as normal. It’s a good plan if I say so myself.

A peal of thunder breaks in the distance, and I grunt lowly. This night keeps getting worse by the minute; it’s good that I’m almost back to my entry point. I head back to the fence, where I can still hear the faint howls of laughter of the merchant boys.

I’m 30 yards from the fence when another clap of thunder roars overhead, loud enough to reverberate in my bones; people beyond the fence shriek. I’ve only taken a step forward when lightning strikes, and I know the storm is hot on my heels.

The chanting of the merchants is getting louder. I never thought I’d think this, but it’s a relief, knowing I can count on them to distract the patrols while I sneak back into the district.

They’re egging and heckling each other like a bunch of rowdy hoodlums.

“Go on! Ten coins says you won’t last a second!”

“I say fifteen, if he brings back proof he was there!”

Somebody belches loudly, making the rest giggle like school kids.

I roll my eyes and try to concentrate on finding my loose wire in the distance. I’m only a few feet away from the fence, but it’s dark and windy.

“Seeriouslee, though,” hiccups another, mispronouncing his words. “Gwhat should he…” hiccup, “bring?” Hiccup.

“Don’t know. A berry maybe,”

“Or a bear bite!” cackles another. They all laugh boisterously.

I wonder what they’re up to now. The fools! Don’t they know they should be running home for cover? The first raindrops are already falling.

“Fine! Okay…I’ll do it! But I wanna see all that money now!” slurs a voice I recognize, because I heard it calling me less than twenty minutes ago. “Pay up!”

No! Not him! I think, feeling my stomach drop. Whatever it is they’re doing, doesn’t sound very smart.

“Dis it?!” Peeta Mellark groans, “I’m taking all your money, so I can buy me a hen house! Dis not even ‘nough to buy me chicken feed!”

I hear grumbling nearby, and the clicking of metal, suspiciously similar to how coins sound falling on each other. I assume they’re shedding the rest of their money for Peeta to see.

“‘Kay…‘Kay…better now. Okay. Imma go now. Hold me money, Rye…and don’t spend any of it! I counted it… it’s me money! Don’t steal it, or I tell Lavender you were smooching girls a week before you got married!”

“Don’t you dare!”

“Don’t steal me money!”

“Fine!”

“Fine! And don’t tell father ‘bout dis either!”

Somebody yells, “Mellark, stop stalling!”

“Yeah! Get—“ hiccup, “on with it al—“ hiccup, “…ready!”

“Goin’, I’m goin’!” I hear a few murmurs.

I swear, Peeta Mellark! If you set foot in my woods, I’ll shoot you in the toes!

I’m close enough to the fence to see a few lights flicking close by, but then another thunder drums, with a lightning to boot, and the rain droplets fall heavier.

“Wait! White helmets!” hisses someone, and even I drop to the ground to hide.

“Evenin,’ officers!” says Peeta.

I can picture him in my mind’s eye, smiling the same way he used to in school when covering for one of his friends to the teachers.

“Evening? It’s almost nine o’clock, boys!” says a woman. I’m not quite familiar with her voice, but I can surmise she’s one of the peacekeepers on patrol. “Curfew starts in 30 minutes, and a storm’s on its way. I suggest you all head to your houses.”

“Yeah, we will finish pickin’ up our garbage and head right home, officer!” says Peeta, all polite and pleasant like.

“Very well. You better clear out by the time we return, or we’ll have you spend the night in a cozy cell at the Justice Building,” says a gruff male voice, most likely the second peacekeeper. “Now, get on with the cleaning, gentlemen.”

There’s a chorus of voices murmuring stuff like “Right away, sir!” and “Of course, officer.” A lot of movement and hushed conversations go on for a minute or so while I lay on my stomach like an idiot.

I can only assume the peacekeepers are out of earshot when Peeta exclaims happily, “Aight! I’m goin’ in!”

The others start fussing and protesting, talking over each other frantically: “You can’t go in!”, “Are you crazy?! You heard them, there’s a storm coming!”, “Stop being a damned hero, Mellark! You already showed us up, by speaking to Everdeen!”

Peeta calls out, “Guys! Shut up! She’s the reason I wanna go in there! She ain’t back yet!”

I frown.

“Everdeen? Dude, she’s probably stalking a deer or somethin’…she’s fine!” says who I believe is his brother.

“Well…but what if she needs help? Shouldn’t some’ne go get ‘er?” He sounds concerned and strangely hopeful.

My stomach does a strange little flip at Peeta’s words, and then I have to shake my head to stop myself from being grateful for his concern. Outside of my family, Peeta Mellark seems to be the only person in this entire district who cares about me.

“No! That girl’s half feral! All them wild things in the woods are probably more afraid of her than we are!” says Peeta’s brother.

I find myself nodding in agreement, but scowling at the same time, because I’m not feral! I just hunt and enjoy the respect— bordering on fear— people have for me.

It doesn’t matter, though! Right now I feel almost as silly as they sound, and I just want them to take Peeta home, so I can climb back into the district and go home myself.

“I’m still goin’ in!” I realize Peeta is looking for the spot I used to come into the woods, and I hear muttering and hissing trying to dissuade him from coming in, but he’s already pulling the wire the same way I did, and a moment later, he’s wiggling his broad frame under the fence like an inchworm rolling on salt.

“No!” I huff under my breath, scrambling to get up, to push him back in the other direction, but then somebody is whispering harshly.

“White helmets!”

I’m not even surprised to hear Peeta’s so-called friends run away then. Coward merchants the lot of them!

A thunder booms above us, and I see Peeta struggling to pull through under the flash of the lightning that follows. It’s a miracle the peacekeepers haven’t seen him, splashing in the muddy pool forming rapidly under his body.

“Ugh!” I finally find my feet and practically throw myself on top of his arms, to pull him in.

Peeta shrieks, startled by my sudden appearance, so I slap a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet.

“Hush! Or they’ll find us!”

I pull him further out from under the wire. He seems to realize what I’m trying to do and relaxes his muscles, letting me guide him forward while propelling himself with the toe of his boots.

There’s a bush just two feet away from us. I drag him with me on all fours and crouch behind it until the peacekeepers’ flashlights disappear.

“Hi!” says Peeta.

“Shush!”

“Sorry!” he whispers…loudly.

“Quiet!” I hiss, bringing a finger to my mouth, as if I was dealing with a toddler instead of a 20-year-old man.

“‘Kay,” he responds, this time in an actual whisper.

I still roll my eyes at him.

Thunder and lightning and cold, stabbing rain fall from the sky unrelenting.

“Listen, we can’t stay here too long; we need to crawl back into the district!” I tell him, peeking from behind our hiding spot to make sure we are alone. I can’t see very far ahead, but it’s obvious the meadow is empty now.

“What?!” he calls loudly.

“For goodness sakes!” I mutter in frustration. “We need to crawl back into the district, or we’re gonna drown out here!” I’m having to yell so he can hear me over the rain.

“Oh! O-kay!” he says, smiling beguilingly at me. “I came to get you!” he yells.

I look at him, trying to convey all the annoyance I’m feeling towards him right now with just my facial expression, but I guess the moonlight is so minimal he can’t see me, because all he does is smile back at me.

“You’re welcome!” he yells after a second in a self-satisfied tone.

“For what?” I snap.

“For rescuing you, of course!”

I stare at him, dumbfounded. “Rescuing— you… what?!” I screech.

More thunder and lighting make it impossible to keep doing this where we are. And thanks to the storm, it’s too risky trying to crawl under the fence, too. Negotiating Peeta’s humongous body back under the railings in these conditions is just calling for trouble; we’ll either get found by the peacekeepers— if they’re still patrolling— or get hit by lightning; after all, the fence is meant to conduct electricity and fry whatever touches it.

I’m lost in my head, thinking about our options at this point, when a bright flash cracks overhead, so strong, it makes everything look like it’s day time, and I fall back on my butt for how close Peeta’s face is to mine.

“What are you doing?” I rasp.

“Wow! Has anyone ever told you, you have freckles over the bridge of your nose?” He asks, placing his two paw-like hands on my shoulders, pulling me back onto my haunches. “From close up, your face is as pretty as the night sky with all its coteslations!”

“Hmm…no—nobody’s ever said…” I huff. “Come on. We can’t stay here.” I tell him, pulling him by the hem of his coat’s sleeve. “I think you meant ‘constellations’ by the way. Alcohol really messes up your speech, you know.”

I think he says something, but I’m not sure, since the storm is swallowing up all the sounds around us.

The going is slow, because we have to wait for lightning to illuminate our way, and once, I realized we were straying onto a different path from the place I have in mind. Plus, I have to keep trying to untangle myself from Peeta’s grasp, so I can feel around the way with my feet. Peeta talks too much…nonstop, and I think it’s mostly the alcohol talking, but ugh! Would it kill him to just be quiet for a second?!

He’s awfully clingy for such a big man. I mean, he’s grown a few inches since we were in school, and he used to be stocky and broad-shouldered, even as a teenager, on account of him being wrestling champion two years in a row, plus having to handle those heavy trays in the bakery and whatnot.

I forgot where I was going with this?

Anyway, I hope the alcohol clears his system soon. He seems like an overgrown puppy at times, the way he trails after me and touches the end of my braid, which I guess he might be using as some kind of leash or rope to tether himself to me. Surprisingly, I don’t find it as annoying as I should. In fact, I find the warmth of his fingers… reassuring.

“Stop!” I tell him, when I hear rustling nearby I know isn’t from the rain.

A wild dog jumps in front of us, and I curse loudly. I should’ve grabbed my bow on our way out here, but I didn’t want Peeta to see my hiding spot; not that he’ll remember how to get to it, but he was able to find my loose chain in the fence, so…

I think the dog is coming after us. But before I can tell Peeta to run, he pulls me flush with his chest and somehow lifts me over his head like I weigh nothing. The dog is momentarily confused, and I take the chance to chuck one of my rabbits past it. The dumb animal looks at us curiously, but after a second, loses interest and goes for the easier, smaller prey.

I just got reminded of how strong Peeta is.

“Thank you!” I call out when he lowers me back to his chest. “You can let go of me now. The dog’s gone, but there might be more around.”

Peeta nods. His blue eyes are wide and alarmed, his cheeks, ruddy with booze just a few minutes ago, are drained of color. “Alright!” he gasps, clearly shaken.

I grab his arm and squeeze, leading him away from the spot.

It’s times like these when I miss my old hunting partner, Gale Hawthorne; for starters, he would’ve had a bow on him…he would’ve shot and killed the dog. He would’ve had my back… but Peeta had my back this time, and he surely is no seasoned hunter, not even an outdoorsman, yet it was his quick thinking and sheer brute strength that saved my hide.

It’s also the reason Gale and I broke our partnership to begin with. Given the chance, he would’ve left Peeta stranded out here, instead of finding him shelter. But that’s his style, not mine, and Peeta has shown his worth twice tonight, inebriated as he is.

I release a sigh of relief when I see the opening of a burrow on the side of a small hill. It’s not truly a cave; it’s much too shallow to be called that, but, I found it about a year ago, and have been carving it out little by little for these kinds of emergencies, when I need shelter on the run, and the concrete little shack by the lake is too far, and I want to stay close to the fence, anyway.

“Oooh! Is this a cave? Is it abandoned? We ain’t gonna walk into some bear den or somethin’?” Peeta asks, bumping into my back when I stop to remove a few branches from the entrance of my little hiding spot.

“Get in!” I command him, and he obeys at once.

I take a few minutes to rearrange the branches at the mouth of the cave, just to keep the water from splashing inside, although we are soaked through our jackets.

“Sit,” I tell him, bumping into him again when I turn to feel round the wall of the cave for my provisions. The little hollow is only 5 ft wide by 6 feet deep, so there isn’t much room to wiggle for two people even if we were both my size.

Peeta has to hunch down as it is.

He’s quiet for the time being. My fingers touch the cool glass of the oil lamp I was feeling for, and right next to it, is a box of matches. I can finally breathe!

I make quick work of the lamp, and we are finally in better shape than we were a moment ago. Peeta blinks owlishly at the lamp, and I can tell he’s surprised, but blinded by the sudden light.

“Where are we?” Peeta asks in awe.

“It’s my emergency shelter,” I tell him, kicking a log from the back of the cave towards him. “Here, you don’t have to sit on the ground.” I tell him, watching him sitting almost directly in front of the entrance with his legs crossed.

“You have a shelter out here? I knew you were smart, but I didn’t know you were a genius!”

My cheeks heat up for some reason. “Nah. It’s just common sense. Too many experiences out there without one. Whatever. Intelligence has nothing to do with this, really.”

“So…do animals come in here?” he asks, turning his head around to study the place, not as nervously as before.

“No. It’s too small for a big animal’s den, and too big for a small critter’s burrow. It’s ‘me’ size because I’ve been digging it out little by little, and putting stuff in it for when I find myself in the same predicament we are in right now.”

Peeta shifts to his knees and slowly stands up, hunching a smidge, ‘cause the cave ceiling is too low for him. He lumbers to the log I offered him earlier and sits on it heavily.

“This place is great!” he states, looking at the crude shelving carved into the dirt where I keep the lamp, matches, a couple of cans of food I’ve agonized about leaving here because it feels like a waste, and things like spare arrowheads and fletchings; things that’d be useful in a pinch.

I have a knife hidden inside the very log Peeta’s sitting on, but I’m not about to divulge that secret. It’s my last line of defense, and since I don’t have my bow on me, I feel safer knowing there’s at least one weapon in the cave I can count on. I need to bring a bow here at some point; I just haven’t found a good way to camouflage…yet.

“Thank you,” I say quietly.

“Um, you can sit here,” says Peeta after a long moment passes in silence. “Plenty of room!” He motions to the log, scooting to free up some space.

It looks ridiculous, because there truly isn’t any room left on that log for me to sit. Peeta looks like a smushed rag-doll, sitting on a match box, and all the room he’s leaving next to him, is only big enough to accommodate a toothpick.

“It’s okay,” I tell him, with a reluctant smile. “I’ll stand for now.”

“Are you sure?” he asks, biting his lip guiltily.

“Yeah. Let me be a generous host.”

His face falls. “I’m sorry,” he rushes to say. “You wouldn’t have to be playing host in your lovely cave if it wasn’t for me. Sorry I was so stupid,” he says sheepishly, “I should’ve known you had it under control before I tried coming in after you.”

“Oh…it’s alright. It was…touching. All those things you said back there.” My cheeks are burning with embarrassment.

“I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true,” he says, sounding almost sober.

Another long minute goes by in silence. “Was that a wolf out there?” he asks suddenly. “I didn’t know what to do. I thought about kicking it, but I was afraid it would mangle up my leg, and then I’d get blood poisoned and since medicine is hard to come by, I probably would’ve lost my leg, and I’m not sure I’d be able to master a fake one…unless it was like a Capitol grade thing with robotic nerve connectors and the such… I read some man in District 3 figured out how to make prosthetics that you can control with a chip implanted in your brain!”

I find myself laughing at his nonsense. And he seems to enjoy my laugh, because he keeps saying outrageous things, I can’t tell if he’s just making them up on the fly, or if he really read about them somewhere.

I slide against the wall after a while, until I’m crouching close to the wet floor. Our clothes cling to our bodies, but most of the water has leaked off of us already, which is good, since I can’t light a fire inside the cave.

“Are you hungry?” I ask him, interrupting his musings about how chewing gum is inherently evil, since we don’t have dentistry accessible in the districts. The boy really talks too much!

Peeta cranes his neck to glare at my game bag, which I recently placed by my feet.

“What do you have there?” He asks, interested.

“A rabbit. But we can’t eat that raw. We’d get sick with fever if we try. I wouldn’t recommend it,” I tell him. “But I have canned fruit we can share,” I offer.

He makes an agreeing noise at the back of his throat. “I could eat.”

“Fine. Um…close your eyes for a second. And don’t peek!” I chide.

As with everything else I’ve commanded today, Peeta obeys without questioning, and soon I’m darting my hand into the end of the log, retrieving my knife.

“Open your eyes,” I say.

“Where did you get that from?!” he screeches, staring open-mouthed at my knife.

“Secret compartment,” I deadpan.

“Well…I hope you’re not planning on stabbing me with that thing. That blade is bound to be dull now that you hacked into that can with it.”

“What does it matter if the blade’s dull?” I ask, exasperated.

“It’ll tear up my skin if you try stabbing me with it!” Peeta answers, arms moving in exaggerated arches, “I much rather get a clean cut through, thank you very much!”

What’s wrong with this boy?! He’s acting like discussing his own potential stabbing is an everyday thing.

“For your information, I’m pretty adept at sharpening things! And…Eww! Gross! Why would I wanna stab you?” I shudder. “I’m sorry, but I don’t do wounds, and I don’t do blood.” I pull a face, shivering.

“You kill things for a living!” He rolls his eyes in disbelief. “Why, the inside of your bag is covered in dried blood from those bunnies right now!”

“Animals! I hunt animals! I don’t do people’s blood and stuff…gross!”

“You’re kinda squeamish for such a lethal thing, aren’t ya?”

“Shut up and eat your pears!” I shove the open can into his hands, and he stares suspiciously at me for a minute before digging in.

Peeta moves over a few more inches, and the toothpick space widens to a Katniss’-rearside-size spot. This time, I take his offer gratefully and sit down next to him. He passes the can to me when he’s done.

“You know…this is the first time we’ve done something normal together,” he says, pensive.

“It’s the first time we’ve done anything together, Peeta, period!”

Peeta gasps, and there’s silence for a second. “You’re amazing!” He says, staring and blinking at me while I chew, as if I truly was some extraordinary sight to behold.

I scowl. “Why? Because I fed you canned food in a torrential storm in the middle of the woods?” I didn’t mean to sound so sarcastic.

“Yeah…” he says dreamily, then scowls, then shakes his head. “Nah! You’re just…amazing! Even my mother says that you’re a survivor and the only thing District 12 has of worth…a better version of Haymitch Abernathy!”

Haymitch Abernathy is District 12’s one, and only living, Hunger Games Victor. He’s also a grumpy hermit, and a drunk, and the richest person in the district. Like me, he was born in the miners’ sector, nicknamed the Seam. People say Haymitch used to be smart as a whip, and a looker too, but now he’s just a paunchy, middle aged man, with anger issues.

“Well, that’s not much of a compliment, is it?” I wrinkle my nose.

Peeta laughs, brushing his shoulder against mine…but that’s to be expected, he’s a giant after all, and the cave is practically a tall dresser.

“No, I guess it’s not. But father always gushes about your squirrels. Says you never hit the pelt. You always shoot them right through the eye!”

“Well, anyone can do that with enough practice.” I shrug.

Peeta snorts, and his knee presses against mine. “I wish I could do even half of the stuff you do. You’re an amazing hunter, and smart, and so pretty, and you can bring down deer, and the way you are with your sister…well, my big brothers have never been doting with me as you are with Primrose.” He sighs, looking at the flickering flame of the oil lamp. “You are something else!”

“I— that’s not…” I’m frustrated and embarrassed, so I snap, “I wouldn’t have been able to do, or be, any of those things without your help, so…there!”

He scoots closer to me. His body is strangely warm, even under the layers of wet clothes. There’s bewilderment in his blue eyes, and for some reason, I can’t look away from the way his hair is all matted to his forehead. He looks boyish. Kinda cute.

“What do you mean?” He asks in a small voice.

I chuff. “Well, it was like today,” I start, leaning back, averting my eyes. He smells of spirits, but weirdly enough, I’m not repulsed by the scent. “You called out to me in the meadow, and I was about to rip you a new one, but then I realized you were trying to help me. Then, you save me from a wild dog, by doing something as simple as lifting me over your head, like I weighed nothing.” I feel small, all of eleven years old, and the fact that I’m wet to the bone and cold to the marrow doesn’t help my case. My voice comes out tiny, “You fed me when we were kids. I’ve never been able to even thank you for that!” I purse my lips to keep them from trembling, and blink some 28 times to keep from crying.

Peeta sidles up against me. “Oh, Katniss,” he says low and reverently. I realize with a jolt, that it’s the first time he’s said my name. “You’re talking about the bread when we were kids?” His eyes glass over. “You can let that go now… after saving my ass tonight from the storm and the peacekeepers, I think you can count us even.”

“How can you say that?” I demand, “You keep saving me, and I don’t know why?!”

“Really?” he asks, cocking his head sideways, scrunching his face, and shutting one eye like he can’t quite see me clearly with both eyes open; his tone isn’t malicious, just surprised. “You know why…at least, I think you should,” he says, shrugging and leaning closer. “I thought you’d notice how all of my friends were roasting me because I finally said something to you, and all I said was something lame about Row Your Boat.” He chuckles. “Fifteen years I’ve been trying to pluck up the courage to talk to you, and when I finally do, I call you ‘ Hey, girl with the braid’ like an idiot!” He practically leans into me.

“Fifteen years?” I ask, bewildered.

“Yeah…” he trails off, his ears turning cherry red. “I seem to have harbored a crush on you since the first day of school, when we were five.” He slumps back against the wall, and suddenly I wish he was still draped over me, warming me up.

“Really?” I ask, because this story seems far-fetched.

“Oh yes! It’s a whole thing! Me being a goner from the moment I heard you singing that very first day…remind me to tell you all the gory details some day.”

“You betcha,” I say, amused.

“I’m sorry I’m such a dork, but hey! At least imma buy me some chickens to sell eggs, and save, to buy my father’s bakery one day, and then I’m gonna ask you out on a date or somethin’.”

“Uh— what? Really?!” I chuckle.

Peeta yawns. “Yeah, Imma take you somewhere nice for a picnic, like Victor’s Village or something, and I’m gonna bring good bread this time! None of that burnt, soggy crap I threw at you when we were kids, but real, freshly baked bread. With butter. And probably canned pears, ‘cause those are my favorites now!”

“Okay,” I tell him, not completely sure why I’m agreeing to this. After all, I decided a long time ago I was never getting married or having any children, at least, not as long as the Hunger Games loomed over me; I won’t be stringing Peeta along either. Gale accused me of doing just that once, which I don’t think I did? The accusation still stung.

Right now, it feels nice to think I could go on a date with this crazy merchant boy; and who knows?!

“Buttered bread sounds nice,” I say, sinking next to him.

“This is nice!” Says Peeta, sleepily, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

“Yeah…it is,” I agree, realizing just how steady and warm his arms are, even encased in wet clothing.

“Will you go out on a picnic with me, then?” He asks hopefully, yawning again. His eyes drooping with sleep.

“I think I might,” I tell him. I haven’t felt this safe in anyone’s embrace since my father died when I was 11 and I stopped trusting my mother. “I think I will,”

I’m beginning to think that the alcohol fumes clinging to Peeta have gone to my head, and left me as simple minded as all the intoxicated people back home, maybe I have it wrong, and Oktoberfest does have its charm, because despite myself, it feels right to indulge in that fantasy tonight. After all, Peeta was the only person in the district back then, that cared enough about me and my family dying of hunger, to do anything about it. He gave me bread he purposely burned for me, all he gained was a bruised eye from his mother, and my inability to repay his kindness, for his generous gesture.

“Good! Just a heads up, though, I’ll prolly propose to you at that picnic, ” he says. His eyes are already closed, and I roll mine in response. “What you think my odds are of you saying yes?” He snuggles up to me, his head falls onto my shoulder.

“The odds might be in your favor,” I tell him softly; I’m not so sure I say that to humor him, though. I am really tired, and sleeping in his arms does sound like a luxury right now, so I’m gonna blame it on the ‘Oktoberfest effect’ in the morning. Plead sleep depravation insanity or something. “Night, Peeta,”

He mumbles a response, which turns into a slow snore.

I close my eyes, smiling.

I’ll indulge in the drunken ramblings of Peeta tonight. Tomorrow is a new day, and if the saying is right, the sun shines brightest after a storm…maybe it’s time I bask in the rays.

#everlark #everlark fanfiction #autumn 2020 #alliswell21 #submission #autumn #prompt

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sad-ch1ld · 5 years

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This portfolio originally appeared in Jump Point 5.3.

While Casse Aerospace bears the name of an engineering legend, the company itself has faded from memory for all but the most dedicated ship enthusiasts. Or at least that was the case for over a century until Anvil Aerospace resurrected one of Casse’s designs and alongside it, interest in the man himself and the ships he built.

An Edleson Design Institute Hall of Fame inductee in 2902, Leonard Casse has earned a place in the annals of history as one of the top spacecraft visionaries of the Messer Era. While the general populace may wind up considering his creation of the Hurricane fighter the most enduring part of his legacy, his effect on the industry overall is not limited to that one design. Cited by ship design luminaries such as J. Harris Arnold, Silas Koerner, and Jules Parliegh as a prime source of inspiration, Casse’s influence can be seen in many spacecraft being flown today. From the humble RSI Aurora to the mighty Anvil Hornet, several of the Empire’s most popular vehicles can trace their lineage to Casse’s unique vision.

Taking Off

Hired fresh out of university, Casse began his career as a junior aerospace engineer for RSI in 2587, securing himself a position on the Starbright transport team. This simple and functional ship, often referred to as the Aurora’s spiritual predecessor, had been redesigned for the 2590 model year release and was about to go into full production. Assigned to review the machining specs for the ventral hull piece before the manufacturing run began, Casse noticed that the updated nozzle placement, while adding fuel efficiency, was going to cause potentially dangerous additional stresses to the ship’s frame. He promptly reported his findings to the Starbright’s lead designer, only to be told that the effect was negligible and that he should trust the more experienced members of the team.

Unsatisfied with that result, Casse took his report directly to the head of the company, CEO Thessaly Vanowen. Impressed with the young engineer, Vanowen ordered a separate independent team to audit the Starbright’s testing results. Two weeks later, the project was completely halted for a total rework of the internal struts. The 2590 Starbright would now be released as the 2591, with Casse promoted to a full engineer on the team.

His rise after that was rapid. In 2595 Casse was named lead designer for the 2600 Starbright. RSI saw the new century as the perfect time to relaunch the Starbright and was hoping that Casse would be the ideal candidate to revitalize the aging ship line. He did not disappoint. Rebuilt from the ground up, the 2600 Starbright was praised for its innovative entry system and all-new custom IFCS that integrated flawlessly with the ship’s thrusters for unmatched responsiveness. What was previously thought of as “just another transport” became elevated to “a flying experience that everyone should have the pleasure of enjoying.” Even today, centuries later, collectors still covet the 2600 Starbright for their personal fleets. Perhaps what makes it so valued though, even beyond its quality, is that it would be the only ship Casse designed for RSI.

A New Way to Fly

As soon as the assembly line began rolling out the ship he had labored on for close to four years, Casse announced at the beginning of 2599 that he would be leaving to start his own company. According to later biographers, Casse described his time at RSI as a constant struggle. From that first instance when his suggestions were passed over due to his junior status, he felt that good design was too often sacrificed in order to placate a hierarchical organization trying to justify its own worth. “As soon as you have a ship manufacturing company where almost half the people who work there have nothing to do with manufacturing ships, you’re going to have problems,” he would state in a later interview. He swore that the company he was building, Casse Aerospace, would be different. He would only hire a small team of people whom he could trust to do quality work at the standards he demanded, and then he would leave them to do it. Everyone’s opinion would have equal weight, with all final decisions left to himself. It was unorthodox for ship manufacturing, but under the strong vision and guidance of Casse, the flat organization style worked.

It was 2604 when Casse Aerospace released its first ship, the limited-run Cosmo Sloop. A leisure craft with a focus on ease of use, the hull premiered the open circle signet and curved wings that Casse would use on all his future designs. The reviews of this cutting-edge craft were universally positive, but unfortunately the timing of the ship’s release would prove to be its undoing.

The Second Tevarin War had begun the year prior and with enemy forces pushing their way through Humanity’s defenses, the personal leisure craft market bottomed out. With all their fortunes riding on sales of the Cosmo, Casse Aerospace found themselves struggling to keep their fledgling company afloat and decided that the best course of action was to join the war effort.

Calm Before the Storm

The Tevarin fleet had undergone significant tech upgrades during their exodus, and the UEE Naval forces were having a difficult time overcoming the new phalanx shields. In 2605, Navy officials called upon the Empire’s ship manufacturers for a solution. Though he had never worked on a combat ship before, Casse knew that the credits such a lucrative contract would bring could save his company, and so he set about designing the solution to Humanity’s current problems.

Analyzing battle footage of Naval forces engaging the Tevarin led Casse to the conclusion that trying to overwhelm the Phalanx shields was a losing proposition. The bulk of damage that the Navy was able to inflict occurred when a Tevarin was caught off guard. The goal of his design would be to increase the frequency with which those opportunities would occur and maximize the damage inflicted during them. To help his ship achieve this goal, he borrowed a page from the enemy’s playbook. If the Tevarin were operating in teams of two, one pilot and one shield operator, his ship could also be manned by a team, a pilot and a turret gunner. The design he submitted to the Navy stood in sharp contrast to those submitted by industry leaders like Aegis, and it surprised many when the Navy granted a contract to the unusual contender. Casse Aerospace immediately began work on what would become the Hurricane.

Launched late in 2607, the Casse Hurricane suffered some setbacks during the testing phase. Though pilots liked the power-to-weight ratio and the extra punch its quad-turret offered, the high degree of coordination needed between the pilot and gunner had a very steep learning curve. Because of this, the Hurricane didn’t enter active combat until 2609. While they were used to devastating effect in a few instrumental actions, the war ended shortly after their deployment in 2610.

Trying to capitalize on the success of the Hurricane, Casse Aerospace used the goodwill they had garnered to win a contract designing a long-range patrol ship suited to guard the growing Xi’an front. However, before that ship could be finished, Leonard Casse tragically passed away in 2615 after being involved in a deadly in-atmosphere collision. Reeling from the loss of their founder and leader, Casse Aerospace attempted to finish the project, but without Casse’s personal involvement, military officials lost confidence and pulled the plug.

Surviving off continuing Hurricane sales, Casse Aerospace attempted to return to their roots and release an updated Cosmo but again, without Casse behind the project, it was not a commercial success. Things were looking dire for the company, and when the Navy announced the Hurricane would be retired from active duty, it signaled the end. The market was soon flush with surplus Hurricanes and any remaining new sales dried up. With little options remaining, the board sold the company to an investment firm. From there it passed hands several times before falling into receivership and becoming nothing more than a footnote of history for the next century.

The Next Generation

When J. Harris Arnold was in school, he was obsessed with the works of Leonard Casse. To him, the mostly forgotten engineer represented everything he loved about ship design. When he eventually started his own ship manufacturing company, Arnold drew heavy inspiration from Casse’s business model and ships for his own designs, utilizing such signature elements as the curved wings and open circle signet. The similarities were such that Arnold and his fledgling company, Anvil Aerospace, was sued by the holding firm who had bought the rights to Casse’s designs. Arnold decided to settle the case by purchasing all of Casse Aerospace’s portfolio himself. Now the owner of Casse’s legacy, Arnold sought an opportunity to put the company’s original designs to use, but one didn’t present itself for close to seventy years.

The UEE was suffering as Vanduul attacks in Caliban grew in frequency in a manner similar to the ones that led to the fall of Virgil and Tiber. Eager to turn their efforts around, the Navy brass were looking for a new ship that would enable their pilots to cut engagement times down. Their theory was that the faster a Vanduul fighter could be taken out, the less opportunity it would have to cause Human casualties. Anvil provided the solution in the form of a resurrected Hurricane. The updated design still bore all the hallmarks of Casse’s original, but with the addition of Anvil’s proven conflict expertise. The result was a game changer for the war effort, and in 2878 a new generation of Navy pilots began to use the Hurricane to devastating effect.

Today, Casse and the company he built have finally taken their proper place in history books, thanks to the efforts of Arnold and others who sought to keep their memory alive. While he may have only designed three ships in his lifetime, Leonard Casse’s contributions extend well beyond what he left behind in the shipyard, as he has inspired countless numbers to see the universe a little bit differently. The plaque honoring him in the Edleson Design Institute Hall of Fame cites a fitting Casse quotation, “Good design solves a problem, bad design creates new ones.”

#RSI Comm-Link #star citizen #roberts space industries

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inexcon · 5 years

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RSI Comm-Link: Portfolio: Casse Aerospace

This portfolio originally appeared in Jump Point 5.3.

Taking Off

A New Way to Fly

Calm Before the Storm

The Next Generation

http://bit.ly/2UoDTZf

#RSI.CommLink.Repost

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starcitizenprivateer · 5 years

Text

Portfolio: Casse Aerospace

This portfolio originally appeared in Jump Point 5.3.

Taking Off

A New Way to Fly

Calm Before the Storm

The Next Generation

#star citizen #squadron 42

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news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog · 6 years

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How one company reshaped — and kind of ruined — the viral video landscape

It’s Viral Market Crash week on Mashable. Join us as we take stock of the viral economy and investigate how the internet morphed from a fun free-for-all to a bleak hellscape we just can’t quit.

Jukin Media is like an internet mob boss.

With nearly 50,000 videos in their library, it owns a huge chunk of the viral videos on the internet, and it decides who gets to share those clips — and they don't come cheap. Yet you're probably blissfully unaware of the company that's behind the scenes pulling the viral strings.

As a company, what Jukin does is relatively simple: It finds undiscovered videos, buys them or strikes a revenue share from the owners thirsty for viral fame or money. It then licenses the clips for rebroadcast — to everyone from the local news to highlight reel shows on MTV.

On one hand, it's a great service for TV shows looking to find some easy content. Jukin helps connect video owners with broadcasters that have wide reach. But licensing companies like Jukin also play a very disruptive role in the viral video economy.

How the viral sausage gets made

Part of what makes the internet so great is the ability to easily share things you enjoy with your friends, family, and followers. That's the old-fashioned recipe for viral success.

But when licensing companies like Jukin get involved, things can get messy. Jukin actively stops certain websites from embedding videos it has licensed. It also issues DMCA takedowns (which are a common way for copyright owners to remove unwanted reposting of their content from the internet) for things like GIFs and memes.

SEE ALSO: 15 best viral videos of 2018 (so far)

By controlling who can share the video and where, they can limit the potential viral reach of that video. And, to be clear, we're talking here about organic moments captured by normal internet users, or user generated content (UGC). Not whatever's on YouTube's Trending section.

Let's say you shoot a really great video, and you upload it to YouTube. It gets submitted to r/videos on Reddit and starts to really go viral. Then you get a call from Jukin and make a deal. That's where things take a turn. The moment you hand over your rights to Jukin, that video is no longer yours to share, and Jukin isn't going to let a company use it unless it pays a hefty fee.

Sure, working with a third-party licensing company like Jukin can get your video to places it normally wouldn't go and earn you money. But it also heavily restricts where that video can be embedded.

Take Reddit. Rule number eight on the massive r/videos subreddit states that no videos with "third party licensing" are allowed: "Videos that become licensed after they are posted will be removed." You can say goodbye to your place on the front page of the internet.

Getting booted off Reddit may not seem like a big deal, but a video that goes viral on the platform has a huge impact. With 330 million monthly active users, things that take off there have the ability to define conversation on all other platforms and also heavily influence media coverage. That's how people end up on The Today Show and with hefty book deals.

This content is blocked

At Mashable we often cover viral videos, some of which we first find on Reddit. But no matter where we find it, if you've licensed your video with Jukin, we can't embed it on our site (pretty much the only way to make it easily viewable to our audience), because Jukin has effectively shut us out, along with other large media companies.

It's essentially a shakedown. Jukin wants us to pay a large fee in order to simply embed videos from YouTube. Mind you, we aren't even hosting these videos on a native player. These are videos that are entirely hosted by YouTube and any ad revenue from them goes to Jukin.

A YouTube spokesperson confirmed to Mashable that it allows content creators to control which sites can and cannot embed videos. While other social media platforms, like Twitter and Facebook, allow users to control their content by making it private, the option to blacklist specific sites is not common for embedding media.

What you see when Jukin blocks an embedded video.

Image: Mashable screenshot

So why go to the trouble of blocking select publishers from sharing these videos with a wider audience? "We just aren't seeing the monetization on YouTube embeds to make it worth our time for us and our video owners," Jukin's Chief Growth Officer Cameron Saless wrote Mashable in January 2016. While Saless is citing "time" here, blocking a website from embedding likely takes up more time than just leaving it open for all to embed.

In a recent email to Mashable, Jonathan Skogmo, Jukin's founder and CEO further explained their stance on blocking sites.

SEE ALSO: YouTube announces sweeping changes to the way it handles breaking news

"Our goal is to ensure our partners — the owners of compelling amateur videos — receive fair market value for their content, which in the aggregate generates millions of pageviews per month for certain publishers. We like to have a dialogue with publishers, and if they take the stance that, 'we won't pay for videos like this,' even though the benefits of using the content are clear, then we may decide that it's in the best interest of our video partners to prevent sites from using that content for free."

So places like Mashable just can't share Jukin's viral videos with our audience — big deal, right? There's plenty of other fun stuff out there for us to write about. Well, maybe, but it raises a bigger question: Is this good for the internet?

The bigger cost

Jukin protecting its videos and brands so fiercely can limit a video's organic viral spread. The company intensely monitors its content across the internet — and it's not shy about enforcing DMCA takedowns or taking people to court who it believes infringe on its copyrights.

In a blog post about viral videos from 2015, Mike Skogmo, Jukin's VP, Head of Marketing & Communications, explained how certain videos go viral. In it, Mike highlighted this clip from April 2015, in which a silverback gorilla charges a little girl taunting the animal at the Omaha Zoo, breaking the enclosure's glass.

"According to a quick Google search, more than two hundred websites and news outlets covered this story, which accounts for the bulk of those ~20 million embedded player views," Mike wrote, listing BuzzFeed as a top referrer with over 2 million views.

When you venture to that post from BuzzFeed curating the video, it's now blocked on their website. Though Jukin bragged about how many embedded views a good clip could rack up, it has since decided to block one of its biggest referrers.

It should be noted that users can still view the video by clicking through to YouTube, but that's an extra step many readers are unwilling to take.

Image: mashable screenshot

It's especially problematic because Jukin picks and chooses the media companies it blocks from embedding. IFLScience, Daily Dot, and SBNation — all top referrers according to the post — are not blocked. It's unclear if that's because those companies have since struck a deal with the company. According to Jukin a "handful" of sites are banned from embedding its content, and it's based upon "volume of embeds and size of the site."

But blocking a powerhouse like BuzzFeed, a site that's so immensely influential in the viral media space, can clearly influence a video's potential to get its biggest possible audience. The viral stories of the day are often copycatted by multiple outlets, and BuzzFeed, with its large staff and massive audience, often sets the tone and strikes first.

BuzzFeed declined to comment on the block or its relationship with Jukin Media.

Ironically, Jukin even took down YouTuber DevinSuperTramp's video for titling it "People are Awesome." The company owns the copyright because "People are Awesome" is one of its brands, and well, it didn't go over so well. Jukin later apologized for not reaching out to Devin first, but as both parties put it — it was already too late. The strategy of strike now, think later works for most people trying to piggyback and steal content, but it also creates enemies, and can ruin the spread of a video.

@devinsupertramp Hi Devin - Jukin Media here. We're sorry about this. People Are Awesome is the name of one of... pic.twitter.com/XwCmBigWrg

— Jukin Media (@JukinMedia) January 19, 2016

It is not, of course, unusual for a big company that dominates a marketplace to rule with brute force. But it isn't the only way to profit off the viral economy. Viral Hog, another third-party licensing company similar to Jukin, does not block specific websites from embedding its content — though founder Ryan Bartholomew said that wasn't necessarily off the table for the future.

To see how this all plays out in the real world, take the example of Mason Ramsey, or as the internet dubbed him, "Walmart yodel boy." As you may remember, a clip of Ramsey yodeling in a Walmart took off in late March and early April and he became one of the largest "viral video" success stories of 2018.

But the original video, which was licensed and uploaded by Viral Hog only has about 2.6 million views on YouTube and just a meager 300,000 on Facebook.

youtube

That clip of Ramsey didn't catch on for a few days, and when it did a good portion of the chatter was happening on Twitter through stolen re-uploads, memes, and remixes, which were not immediately taken down.

Then on April 1, almost a week after the video first emerged, YouTuber Sonnel official re-uploaded the same clip. That version currently has 55 million views — far more than the original uploaded by Viral Hog. While there's no exact answer for why that video took off, it's likely because the Sonnel video has a more SEO-friendly title. Viral Hog's original title doesn't include the word "yodeling" or "yodel," which Ramsey became famous for.

It's impossible to say for sure, of course, but it seems very unlikely that Ramsey would have become an overnight star if that video had been licensed by Jukin. Sure, Viral Hog does send takedown requests and makes its fair share of copyright claims, but it's not nearly as vicious as Jukin, which has a reputation in the industry for being brutally protective.

In a phone call, Viral Hog founder Bartholomew said that it has claimed Sonnel's copy on YouTube, meaning all the revenue from that clip will be directed to Viral Hog, but the company made the decision to not take the clip down. Viral Hog is losing out on subscribers and giving away control, but this allows the video to grow on the internet in an organic way.

While Viral Hog doesn't love that a bunch of duplicate videos are out there with possibly misleading or defamatory titles, it does have the effect of making Ramsey a much hotter commodity, which in turn leads to even bigger opportunities.

Bartholomew explained, "We're always looking out for our clients first. If you block something too much, it may not go viral and even though if you allow more free use on it ... it may be leeching in a sense that there's no money being made for the client. It can inspire more licenses later. Give away something, make it more popular and then others will purchase it."

SEE ALSO: There's nothing better on the internet today than this kid yodeling in Walmart

With that said, Bartholomew notes that a third party licenser can't "make every video" go viral.

"Ultimately, it's the desire of somebody to share it that makes it go viral. So, the argument against my own statement before would be — even if you block it, if it really is something that wants to be shared it's still gonna get shared ... but at the same time, it's more of a kick start. If something is desirable and you allow it to spread rapidly by not hindering it ... you can affect the virality but you can't really make an unappealing video viral."

Both Jukin and Viral Hog told Mashable that claiming a video's revenue is preferred over takedowns.

The financial upside of licensing

Of course, Jukin's strong enforcement of its licenses isn't bad for everyone on the internet. The company is helping people with good content get exposure — and maybe more importantly, helping to line those people's pockets with that much-desired internet money.

The company boasts it will have paid out more than $20,000,000 to amateur video creators by the end of 2018. (Yes, you read that number right.) The company's CEO, Jonathan Skogmo, says "the majority of Jukin partners will earn somewhere between $500 and $2,000 for one video." Obviously, the payout of a video depends on many different factors — some people have received more than $50,000 from a single clip licensed through Jukin.

For now there are very few ways to make cash off a viral video that don't involve signing over your rights to a licensing company. Earlier this year, YouTube changed the way it lets creators earn money. Now, people aren't able to monetize videos on their channel unless they have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time on their channel within the last year.

Even then they still have to apply to be part of its Partner Program, and that can take time. According to a YouTube spokesperson, the application review process for its partnership program can take nearly a month. With the short shelf life of viral videos in 2018, that time is incredibly valuable to someone with a one-off viral video.

SEE ALSO: Twitter's earning more money than ever, but new users just aren't coming

Outside of YouTube, there just aren't a lot of paths to make money off of a viral video. Twitter allows businesses to add preroll to their videos, as does Facebook, but for normal people with a fun video to share that's not really an option.

So in many ways Jukin and other third-party licensing companies are providing a very necessary service to the economy of the internet. In a world where content is often free and disposable, Jukin puts money into the pockets of users with an experience they'd like to share.

Sure, people with desirable videos could broker these deals themselves, but not everyone has the know how to do that effectively and working with a third-party company makes it much easier.

Jukin also allows companies to license videos that don't really have that viral potential. What if a company wants to make a commercial with some homemade video of kids playing with a puppy? A video like that (while adorable) may never go viral on its own, but it can still generate revenue for both Jukin and the video owner if they place it in an ad.

And in addition to licensing user generated content — Jukin is trying to expand its portfolio.

Jonathan Skogmo said, "We help advertisers strategize and execute creative ad campaigns centered around UGC, and we produce original programming for TV and digital. Our domain expertise in UGC and viral videos has given us a great opportunity to help brands with their content and creative needs."

Ultimately, the reality is if you have a video that goes viral and you don't license the clip, someone else will likely try to profit off of it. It's just how the internet works in 2018.

"If you don't have it represented, it's just going to get stolen openly. Money's still going to be made, but it's gonna be made by people other than you ... it's the lesser of two evils. Somebody's gonna make money. Do you want to control it?" Viral Hog's Bartholomew said.

We're at a weird crossroads in the viral economy. Jukin Media was founded way back in 2009, a pivotal time in internet history. Smartphones equipped with HD video cameras attached to high-speed internet were in nearly everyone's pockets, and the web became inundated with video that looked and sounded great. By that year, 62 percent of Americans visited video sharing sites, compared with just 33 percent in 2006, according to Pew's research.

SEE ALSO: Why aren't you spying on your dog?

Jonathan Skogmo, who was working at the time for Discovery as a TV producer on a clip show, saw a business opportunity. While a few "mom and pop shops with older analog video libraries" were licensing out videos, nobody had really ventured into the digital space to do the same.

As he put it, "We created a marketplace for viral videos where such a marketplace never existed before. When people look back at this period of growth and maturation for online video, Jukin will stand out as a company that was able to properly and accurately put a value on UGC video, which to many people was an afterthought."

And he is right. Jukin forever changed how the internet operates and set the tone during this weird growing phase. But it's also turned viral videos into viral greed.

#_category:yct:001000002 #_author:Brian Koerber #_lmsid:a0Vd000000DTrEpEAL #_uuid:c638f143-7772-35ae-bc90-dc67be274555 #_revsp:news.mashable

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fitnetpro · 6 years

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How Many Calories Do You Burn While Walking?

How many calories do you burn while walking?

It’s a simple question, but it inevitably leads to a series of other questions too:

Can I lose weight just by walking?

Is there a right way to walk? How about a wrong way?

How many calories do you burn walking a mile? A marathon?

Can one simply walk into Mordor?

Okay, so maybe you didn’t ask that last question, but as a guy that runs Nerd Fitness, I certainly wanted to know the answer to that (spoiler: you can).

I’ll be addressing each of the above questions in this monster article about walking, including everything you need to know about the most natural activity we can do as human beings.

Walking is not only a great way to burn calories and stay active, but it’s an incredible stress reliever and gives you a chance to explore your surroundings in much more detail than through a car window.

For starters, YES, you absolutely can lose weight just by walking! Here’s a Nerd Fitness success story from Tim, who got hurt and could only walk for exercise.

50 pounds later (and another big change I’ll get to below), I’d say he succeeded!

But I’ll get to Tim’s story shortly. Instead, Let’s talk about the second question…

HOW MANY CALORIES Burned Walking?

In true Nerd Fitness fashion, we scienced the crap out of this, and even created a handy calculator for you – simply put your stats in the calculator here, and you can determine how effective walking can be when it comes to burning calories and losing weight!

What I thought would be a simple equation led me down a rabbit hole of labyrinthine proportions, but I feel we’ve found the best estimation as a starting point for discussion. [*].

So feel free to mess around with this calculator, and then keep reading so I can get you the information that will be helpful in your quest for health:

Calculate Calories Burned While Walking Calculator

Your Weight (lbs)

Enter your weight in pounds.

Distance Walked (miles)

Enter the distance walked in miles. Partial miles is fine (e.g. 1.5)

Gross Calories Burned

Net Calories Burned

We used the formulas and information found on this page for this calculator

A few things to remember about the above equation:

There’s a difference between gross calories (total calories) expended and net calories (additional calories) expended! Your body burns most of its calories every day JUST by existing.

Gross calories: calories burned while walking PLUS the calories burned just existing

Net calories: ADDITIONAL calories you burned thanks to exercise.

You’re a unique snowflake, and no box or formula can capture your awesomeness/uniqueness. Fortunately this equation below is JUST a starting point!

ANY exercise pales in comparison to a much more important part of the weight loss equation. It’s what Tim did above, and what I’ll explain below!

If you’ve come this far, and you want to learn more about why walking is so amazing, continue reading. I’ll also tell you just how Tim had the dramatic success he had above.

And you’re damn right, I’ll show you exactly how to walk to Mordor too.

The Benefits of Walking

We are designed to walk. It’s in our DNA, and it’s a huge part of our emergence as the dominant species on this planet (along with opposable thumbs, big brains, and Nintendo).

Let’s get the basic stuff out of the way:

Every day, it’s recommended by the CDC that we walk around five miles, or 10,000 steps. Hence the reason why your Fitbit – which I’ll get to shortly – has that 10k step goal as its default number.

Unfortunately, we Americans tend to average HALF that: 2.5 miles or 5,000 steps. And I’d imagine that people who work outdoors or have more physically active jobs drag that average wayyyy up.

Which leaves us desk jockeys, who don’t walk nearly enough.

We use our feet to get us from the front door, to our car, to our desk, to the vending machine, to our car, to our front door, to our couch… where we put them up while watching four hours of TV before going to bed.

Not walking enough can be a big factor in the creep-up of weight gain over the years, and it’s probably why you’re here reading this article!

“Can I walk more to lose weight? Is walking REALLY good for me, or do I need to do more intense exercise?”

Long story short, you should walk more and it can help you lose weight and be healthier.

Short story long, here’s why walking is important:

Walking burns calories without exhausting you. If you walked the recommended mileage each day (5 miles instead of just 2.5), it can lead to a tremendous amount of weight loss over time. You’ll burn an extra 100 calories walking just ONE more mile each day than normal: When that’s multiplied out, it’s an extra 700 calories burned per week, which results in approximately a pound of fat lost every five weeks, or 10 pounds in a year. You can scale up your distances to get your desired results!

Walking doesn’t add to training stress. If you are strength training regularly, adding in more weight training or running can lead to burnout, breakdowns, and injuries. If you are trying to look like a super hero, extra cardio sessions (or long distance cardio sessions) will kill your gains. But you can just walk. You can walk great distances, provided you’ve built up your body’s physical ability, and not get tired or sore – walking (especially outside while soaking in some sunlight) can make you feel better, not worse.

Walking is low impact. Unlike running, which can wreak havoc on people’s joints if they run improperly or are severely overweight, walking doesn’t have those impact issues. If you go for a walk and your feet or joints hurt, you’re doing it wrong – read the next section!

Walking can burn fat. Because walking is low impact and low intensity, your body doesn’t need to pull from its glycogen and glucose stores to fuel itself, which happens when you strength train or push yourself into “aerobic training” with higher intensity cardio. Proponents of intermittent fasting suggest walking in a fasted state in the morning before eating anything in order to help burn extra fat. This will have to be something you attempt and measure for yourself.

Walking relieves stress. Seriously! When you put on your iPod with your favorite playlist, and can go for a pleasant walk around your neighborhood or through the woods as the sun is going down, you have a recipe to forget the worries of your day.

Walking improves mental health (especially in older hobbits). Walking can improve mental health, increase brain size, improve memory, and is correlated with improved, longer lifespans.[1]

How walking can change your life

If you are severely overweight and can’t run or strength train, walk on.

If you are building muscle and bulking up, walk on.

If you are trying to lose weight, walk on.

If you struggle with following a routine, or have failed in the past with weight loss, walk on.

Why? I’m a HUGE fan of small habit change and tiny victories – walking is the PERFECT habit builder. If you’re brand new and starting out, go for a walk TODAY and begin your journey to Mordor.

This afternoon, go for five-minute walk. Tomorrow morning before work, before breakfast, as SOON as you wake up, put on your shoes, and go outside for a five-minute walk. No snoozing, no lying in bed, no checking email or Twitter. Put on your headphones, pick your favorite song, go outside, and start walking.

Here’s why:

Walking for just five minutes a day is the start of a new habit. Every morning for a few weeks, you’ll have to force yourself to walk. Initially, it will take effort and willpower to walk instead of snoozing. However, with each passing day of success, you’ll need to use less effort and willpower to get out the door. After all, it’s only five minutes, right? Once it’s something you do automatically without thinking, you can add on to it by increasing your walk time.

Walking briskly outdoors in the fresh morning air can be a great caffeine-free wake up call! If you make walking the FIRST thing you do in the morning, especially if you’re doing it before anybody else is awake, there will be zero distractions and no reason to say “sorry, I didn’t have time.” Of course, we like caffeine too (in moderation).

Walking will give you a chance to gather your thoughts and clear your head before the day begins. We’re constantly distracted at home: TV, iPads, smartphones, etc. Walking is so primal – no gadgets, just walking. Many people cite walking as the impetus for their creative or intelligent breakthroughs.

Walking and successfully building a habit will give you a habit blueprint to follow for anything else you’d like to accomplish: “Hey, I was able to make walking a habit, what else can I tackle in the same way?” Slow and steady wins. One foot in front of the other, my friend.

How to walk properly

“Uhhh, Steve, I know how to walk. I do it every day!”

Welp, if you’re starting from only walking from your car to the office, we need to make sure you’re walking the right way for when you push that mileage up.

Let’s start with your feet, provided you’re not gonna glue hair to your feet and go barefoot to become a hobbit.

I recommend walking in shoes that have a a wide toe box and minimal drop (height at the heel vs height at the toes), as we discuss in our monster post on healthy feet and footwear:

Low profile shoes like those from Vivo barefoot.

I trained in Vibrams for years.

Now I train in Merrell Vapor Glove 3s.

You might not be used to walking with minimal cushioning under your heels, so walk slowly and land softly. Walking on softer surfaces to start isn’t a bad idea either.

What about those “tone up shoes?” Will they make your booty pop like it says in the ad? This won’t be a surprise to you, but those shoes are about as likely to improve your health as Gimli shaving his beard (not likely).

We were designed before the invention of big clunky shoes… thus, we should be able to walk without big clunky shoes. If you are interested in going barefoot as a runner, get started by walking short distances first. Your feet will toughen up (though they probably won’t grow hair quite like Frodo and Sam), your joints and muscles around your feet and ankles will strengthen, and your knees will deal with less stress.

When going for a lazy stroll, focus on landing softly, which is much easier when you don’t have thick soled shoes to cushion your stride: land softly with your heel barely touching before rolling onto the middle (ball) of your foot, and then push off. You might need to take shorter strides than you’re used to if you were a big heel striker with a long stride.

If you’re aiming to walk quickly and up the intensity, shorten your stride and aim to land in the middle of your foot while pumping your arms. This is more easily done when walking uphill (which is also a great way to burn extra calories).

Walking To Lose Weight

Meet Tim, a regular nerd like you who found Nerd Fitness a few years back and walked his way healthy.

Case closed? Of course not!

There’s more to that story – although it makes for a great headline, we need to set the record straight on walking and exercise in general when it comes to losing weight and getting healthy.

The NF Community asked Tim what he thought about his transformation looking back at himself after 7 months [2]:

“If you’d told me I could lose 50 pounds in 7 months with just changing my diet and walking, I would have told you to take a long walk off a short pier! I can hardly believe it myself.”

So what happened?

Before he could really get started on his weight loss journey, he managed to injure himself and was told by his doctor that he couldn’t do any strenuous exercise or strength training for at least 6 months.

Tim also joined our comprehensive flagship digital course, The Nerd Fitness Academy, and following the mindset and nutrition modules. Tim took the MOST important step one can take when it comes to walking your way healthy:

He went for walks, he fixed his mentality, and he fixed his nutrition!

One of the Rules of the Nerd Fitness Rebellion is that we know “you can’t outrun your fork.” No amount of exercise can counter a bad diet, as your nutrition will be responsible for 90% (not an exaggeration) of your success or failure.

Here’s an example: Let’s say you go for a 5-mile walk, which takes you 90+ minutes. If you then consume a 20 oz Gatorade and a small bag of Fritos (a typical snack for many here in America), you will have already undone all of the calories burned while walking.

Depending on your nutrition and love/hatred for exercise, this is either great news or bad news!

The BAD news: you can’t eat very badly in mass quantities and then expect to lose weight with a bit of exercise every week, even if it’s strenuous.

The GOOD news: Even if you dislike exercise, you can avoid exercise and still lose weight (like Tim)! Instead, put ALL of your focus instead on fixing your nutrition, and then go for a walk every once in awhile.

I’d also consider reading the following:

The Beginner’s Guide to Healthy Eating

Everything You Need to Know About Sugar

If your nutrition is in serious need of an overhaul, I hear ya! It can be overwhelming. In addition to the Academy, we created a free PDF and a whole 10-level nutrition system to make the process of fixing your diet more like a video game:

Download our free weight loss guide

THE NERD FITNESS DIET: 10 Levels to Change Your Life

Follow our 10-level nutrition system at your own pace

What you need to know about weight loss and healthy eating

3 Simple rules we follow every day to stay on target

I identify as a:

Woman

Man

Walking tips and tricks

Focus on posture! Head up! Shoulders back! Walk with a confident stroll – practice this one in the morning if you’re not used to walking like this. It’s also a great way to appear instantly more confident; we nerds and hobbits need all the confidence we can get! Look around at your surroundings with your head up, arms swinging in rhythm.

Walk uphill to burn more fat. If you are walking on a treadmill, set it to an incline to increase the intensity and thus increase the amount of fat burned. Just don’t be that person who sets the incline way up, then holds onto both sides and leans their body back to be perpendicular with the incline. Keep good posture, lean forward into the incline, shorten your stride, and pump your legs.

Hiking is a great way to practice walking, enjoy the scenery, and play Lord of the Rings in the woods with plastic swords and capes. Not that you should do that (you totally should). Here’s a beginner’s guide to hiking!

When walking downhill, especially while barefoot (or wearing minimalist shoes), keep that stride short and be careful on how you are walking. Make sure your knee is bent when you land and absorb the impact rather than jamming the impact through your heel, knee, leg, hips, and lower back.

Consider going for fasted walks in the morning. When you wake up first thing in the morning, your body has burned through most of the carb-fueled energy stores during the night. Which means when you go for a walk first thing in the morning, your body is more likely to have to pull from the only fuel source available to it: fat! This is the entire philosophy behind things like Intermittent Fasting or really low-carb diets like the Ketogenic diet.

Get yourself a sturdy walking stick, if only so you can use it to battle imaginary ogres, goblins, cavetrolls, etc. It can also make you feel far more adventurous than if you’re just walking, and help you get up hills and land softly when going back down.

Try Temptation Bundling. Load up an audiobook or your favorite podcast, and tell yourself that you can ONLY listen to the book or podcast while walking.

What about Fitbits and Nike FuelBands and Apple Watches?

If you’re somebody who has been interested – or is getting interested – in walking, you’re probably familiar with step-tracking devices that are oh-so-popular these days:

Fitbit (I wear a simple Fitbit Flex 2).

Nike Fuelbands.

Apple Watch

Personally, I’m a huge fan of fitness wearables, but not for the reasons you’d think.

For starters, you’re wearing a constant reminder that you are prioritizing movement, which can only be positive. You can even trigger it to remind you to get up and move every hour. It can also allow you to see how many steps you normally take, and thus allow you to prioritize moving MORE.

Although Fitbit was involved in a lawsuit for the inaccurate heart-monitor portion of its devices, I’m less concerned about heart rates and 100% accuracy of step distance, and instead think in terms of personal improvement.

Just like with tracking your bodyfat percentage or your weight, “that which gets measured gets improved,” and that carries over to your total steps. The fact that you’re tracking it means you’re going to be more aware of it, which means you’re going to be more likely to be able to improve it.

And that’s why, in a weird way, I’m not very concerned about the total accuracy of these devices. Even if your scale is off by 5 pounds, or your body fat caliper is inaccurate by 1%, as long as you use the same device and measure in the same way under the same conditions, you can track trends and paint the picture of your health and whether or not it’s improving!

And that’s what these fitness trackers should be used for: a reminder and a trend tracker!

What you SHOULDN’T do: take your fitness tracker as gospel, and use that to calculate down to the calorie and macro how much food exactly you can consume.

What you SHOULD do: track your trend over time, and see if you can improve your average. Use the technology to aid your fitness quest. Use the community portion of the band to compare your stats against friends and get some positive friendly peer pressure to get you off your ass.

Okay, if nerdy fitness technology isn’t nerdy enough for you, let’s go full-nerd.

How to Actually Walk to Mordor

Did you know it’s 1779 miles between Hobbiton to Mount Doom? [3][[Thanks to EowynChallenge.net for this crazy amount of work[[3]]. We can actually determine how far Sam and Frodo walked, and then set out on the journey ourselves! It’s one thing to go for a stroll around your neighborhood. It’s another to know that, “If I take one more step, it’ll be the farthest away from home I’ve ever been.”

youtube

So let’s take a look at how far we need to walk first:

458 miles: Go from Hobbiton to Rivendell.

462 miles: Set out with the Fellowship from Rivendell, through Moria, to Lothlorien.

389 miles: From Lothlorien, down the Anduin, to Rauros Falls.

470 miles: Follow Frodo and Sam on the quest from Rauros to Mt. Doom.

535 miles: From Minas Tirith to Isengard

693 miles: From Isengard to Rivendell.

397 miles: From Rivendell to Bag End.

467 miles: (bonus!) Follow Frodo to the Grey Havens and return home with Sam.

Following this path, you need to walk a total of 1779 miles to get from Hobbiton to Mt. Doom. Then it’s time to destroy the ring and get carried to Minas Tirith by the Great Eagles. Then you’ll walk 1625 miles back to Bag End (and an additional 467 miles if you’re interested in doing a round trip to the Grey Havens).

Obviously, you don’t need to move at the same speed as the hobbits (18 miles in the first day is no joke! Damn, those hobbits covered some ground!), but it’s still fun to track your walks and your total miles to see where you’d be on your journey.

However, like Frodo and Sam, it starts with the first step.

I’ve created a google doc that you can copy for yourself to track your distances to follow Frodo and Sam on your journey to destroy the One Ring.

Here’s how to do it:

Open the document, and then click on “file,” “save a copy,” and then you can edit your own copy of the document.

Track your distances with a pedometer, FitBit, your iPhone or Android phone.

Input your distances and work towards completing each section of the journey over months. As you input your distances, it will automatically let you know when you reach each destination so you can get you started on the next one. 5 miles a day on average will have you destroying the Ring within one year.

Oh, and if you’re curious, according to my rough gorilla math, Frodo burned at least an additional 61,0000+ calories (100,000+ gross calories) by walking “there and back again” – you’re welcome[*].

What questions do you have about walking?

How have you incorporated it into your daily routine?

And have you walked to Mordor?

-Steve

Photo source: fourbrickstall Hiking in Candelario, Lego Frodo, Stewart Baird: Stay on the Path, lothlorien tree, new zealand mountains, Simonds Footprint@PierCove, endless fields, Thad Zajdowicz Keep walking! HMM!, waterfall, Frodo and Sam,

Footnotes ( returns to text)

ACSM predictor, if you’re curious!

Study shared here.

You can see Tim’s full story and interview here

You’re probably wondering the math on this one. I followed this thread down a rabbit hole and estimated a hobbit at 3.5 feet tall would weigh 60 pounds. I then put that into the calculator to determine calories walked. Again – this is just an estimation, and probably could be even more accurate if we had the topography of middle earth to determine elevation climbed too! Feel free to get me more accurate numbers in the comments and I’ll update this!

How Many Calories Do You Burn While Walking? published first on http://ift.tt/2kRppy7

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