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quinnybee-writes · 4 years

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Title: Fire Meet Gasoline

Fandom: Boku no Hero Academia/My Hero Academia

Rating: T+

Part: 7/?

Story Summary: A chance encounter between a villain and vigilante leads to an unwise deal made between unlikely allies; an unwise deal made between unlikely allies ends in a final stand neither would have ever dared to take on alone. Together, though, they just might have a fighting chance.

Part 7 Summary: Hizashi takes the night off to spend time with some new faces and some old mistakes.

Part 1 on Tumblr / AO3

Part 2 on Tumblr / AO3

Part 3 on Tumblr / AO3

Part 4 on Tumblr / AO3

Part 5 on Tumblr / AO3

Part 6 on Tumblr / AO3

Part 7 on AO3

“Go-od morning, caller, what can I do for you at this early, early hour?”

It was almost three AM and his midnight coffee was wearing off fast, but Hizashi tried to keep the pep up in his voice for all the late shift workers, insomniacs, and other assorted night owls who tuned in and kept his ratings up.

“Heyo!” Hizashi held back a groan and he recognized Haru’s voice on the other end of the line. “I was hoping maybe I could pick your brain about a problem I’ve been having with a certain brother of mine.”

“I usually don’t give out advice until Friday night’s show,” Hizashi said with a meaningful sharpness, “but I’ll give it a whirl. What’s up?”

“I need some advice on how to get my brother to stop being such a mope-ass and come shittalk his ex over drinks,” Haru said brightly.

Hizashi pursed his lips, rolling his eyes. “Sounds like a real dilemma,” he intoned. “Are you sure he’s moping, or is he maybe just not interested in going out?”

“You don’t know my brother,” Haru replied, her grin obvious in her voice. Hizashi scoffed, clapping a hand over his mouth just in time to make it sound like a blip of static. “He’s usually the first one in line to get white girl schwasted and sing karaoke to get over some dipshit he’s dated, but so far every time I’ve told him he should come out with me and some friends from work he keeps ghosting me.” She paused, then added, “And it was kind of my fault he went out with this particular dipshit, so it’s on me to make up for encouraging bad life choices, y’know?”

“By encouraging other bad life choices?” Hizashi asked, raising an eyebrow even though she couldn’t see.

“By dragging him out of his rut before he fossilizes,” Haru corrected.

Hizashi rolled his eyes, grinning in spite of himself. “I mean, it sounds to me like you have the right idea. Maybe try asking one more time,” he said.

“I dunno, he can be pretty stubborn,” Haru said, fully teasing now.

“Thirteenth time’s the charm, right? The worst he can do is say no,” Hizashi said, texting Okay, okay, message received. Where and when? to Haru as he spoke.

“We’ll see. Thanks, dude. Hey, while I’ve got you on the line, can I make a quick song request?”

“Lay it on me.”

“‘Heroes’, by Bowie,” Haru said, her voice turning a little soft as she said it. Hizashi smiled to himself.

“A favorite of his?” he said.

“Yeah. I think if he’s listening it might cheer him up.”

“Sure thing, caller. I wouldn’t worry about things too much. Sounds like you know your brother pretty well.”

The family joke was that Haruko and Hizashi were actually twins, he’d just gotten lost and showed up three years late. It might as well have been true; both were tall and quick like their father and had their mother’s blond hair and sharp tongue. Haru loved Hinako with all the closeness and affection you had for someone you had shared a uterus with, but there was no denying Hizashi had been her best friend from birth. They’d been attached at the hip basically from the moment toddler Haru had been told she had a new baby brother on the way. So when Hizashi called her in a breathless whirl to say his results letter from UA High had come in the mail, Haru had dropped everything and rushed home.

Hizashi was just about the smartest person Haru had ever met, with amazing recall for the tiniest details and a near-infinite energy for learning new things. Applying that energy, however, had been his downfall from the off; all the brains and ambition in the world didn’t make up for his attention issues, Quirk mishaps, and inability to connect socially with his classmates. He’d spent most of upper elementary school floundering academically, skating by at the bare minimum level to pass in no particular direction.

Visiting Haru at UA during her first year culture festival, however, had been a revelation for him. Seeing the school and all it had to offer someone with a powerful Quirk and a brilliant mind had finally been a tangible goal Hizashi could focus on. He’d immediately buckled down, applying himself to his schoolwork in a way Haru had never seen from him before and he never looked back. He’d blazed through middle school at the top of his class, easily securing his place in the UA entrance exam. No one had any doubts he had blown the written exam out of the water, but it was the practical application exam that really counted when you wanted to be a hero.

And so now here the two of them were, sitting on Hizashi’s bedroom floor with the unopened results envelope between them. Hizashi was vibrating in place, his leg thumping under him and making the rest of him shake. Haru kept looking from him to the envelope and back again, the palpable waves of excitement and nerves rolling off of him making her just as keyed up as he was.

“Want me to do it?” Haru asked, half-teasing.

Hizashi shook his head, still bouncing. “I got it, I just…” he trailed off, the first spots of self-doubt starting to creep in around the edges of his mood. Haru decided to cut that off at the pass, picking the envelope up by one end and holding the other out to Hizashi like it was a wishbone.

“Count of three,” she said. Hizashi nodded, taking his end in both trembling hands. “Okay. One--”

There was a sharp sound of ripping paper as Hizashi jumped the gun and pulled back his end. A single sheet of UA letterhead stationery dropped onto the floor. Haru’s spirit sank as she thought of the thick sheaf of paperwork and the holo-disc acceptance message that had come for her three years ago. Her hope dwindled down to embers as Hizashi shook the letter open. His anxious excitement went out like a snuffed candle, expression falling from eager anticipation to confusion to a blank emptiness as his eyes scanned down the page. His hands were shaking again, clenched around the edges of the paper. His breathing sharpened suddenly into the quick, barking wheezes that usually heralded an asthma attack.

“Hizashi?” Haru asked tentatively, reaching out toward him. Hizashi pulled away violently, snapping to his feet. He looked down at her, breath hissing between clenched teeth. His eyes were wild and unfocused; he looked very young and very lost. “Oh god, Zash,” Haru breathed.

Before she could do anything else, Hizashi bolted from the room and out of the apartment at a breakneck sprint. Haru followed after him as fast as she could, calling after him as she heard him thundering down the building’s staircase. She finally caught him up to him as they both exploded out the building’s side door and onto the street. Hizashi staggered a few steps, barely getting his feet under himself before the next step came. He crumpled forward, back arched into a hard C shape and his shoulders heaving. Haru’s eyes went wide and she clapped her hands over her ears just before Hizashi let out a raw, ear-splitting scream loud enough to make the street jump under their feet. All of the streetlamps flickered and flared as the shockwave hit them and the evening came alive with the cacophonous sound of every car alarm in a two-block radius going off. Hizashi sucked in a hard breath that escaped him as a croaking hiccup as his legs finally gave out. He collapsed onto his knees in the middle of the street, hands buried in his hair as he let out raw, halting sobs. Haru ran to him, wrapping her arms around him and letting Hizashi cling to her and howl into her shoulder. He’d dropped the letter when he fell, and in the dim light from the resetting streetlamps Haru could just make out what it said.

Dear Mr. Hizashi Yamada,

Thank you for your interest in UA High School’s Hero Course academic program. We appreciate your diligence and dedication to completing all required steps of our application and evaluation process.

However, during the course of the practical application exam, an occurrence of your Quirk usage resulted in a one-block section of our video monitoring system being taken offline for a period of approximately 92.8 seconds. Due to a lack of additional coverage angles in this area, we are unable to validate the nine (9) exam points that were registered to you during this outage period.

Unfortunately unvalidated points are not able to be applied to your exam score, bringing your total practical exam score below our passing threshold level.

We thank you again for your interest, and wish you the best of luck in all future endeavors.

The letter was signed by Principal Nedzu and a slew of other names that Haru vaguely recognized as being on the admittance board staff.

Bastards, Haru thought savagely, pulling Hizashi even closer as she stroked his hair. They had no right to dock him that many points over their own carelessness. If that was the kind of regard they wanted to show applicants, then to hell with them anyway. It would serve them right when Hizashi applied somewhere else and became a top-ranked hero all on his own.

But Hizashi didn’t apply anywhere else. UA had been his first and only choice; it had been his dream. Now the dream was gone, taking all of Hizashi’s spark with it. He fell back into his old habits, doing the bare minimum to not fail his classes while his grades toppled around him. Any time not spent sleepwalking through his schoolwork or being nudged into the bare basics of self-care was spent shut up in his room in silence, eyes focused on nothing. Not even their parents’ offer for Hizashi to get a fresh start by moving in with their maternal grandparents and finishing his schooling in America had gotten any kind of reaction out of him. Hizashi had just shrugged, giving a hollow-eyed monosyllable of agreement before asking to be excused so that he could go pack.

The day after his middle school graduation Haru had given her brother the tightest hug she could muster and told him to call her the second he needed anything. Hizashi didn’t respond, turning and trudging listlessly away from her onto the plane.

When he’d accepted Haru’s invitation to “drinks with friends from work”, Hizashi had unfortunately forgotten that Haru had two jobs. Instead of the gaggle of yoga instructors and personal trainers he’d been expecting to meet up with, Hizashi rounded the corner to see his sister standing amid a group of her fellow pro heroes in their civilian finest. He half-recognized most of them by build or face shape, but there was no mistaking the broad frame and wild shock of blue-white hair of the man currently laughing over something on Haru’s phone: the number six pro hero and UA teacher, Loud Cloud himself. A shrill alarm of self-preservation went off in Hizashi’s brain, screaming for him to beg off and leave before things got any worse. Before he could do more than panic and stare, however, Haru spotted him and waved him over.

“Zash! You made it!” Haru said, beaming. Hizashi smiled back weakly and waved as he trudged over, trying very hard to not make eye contact with anyone but her.

“Sorry I’m late,” Hizashi muttered.

Haru waved a hand dismissively. “We only just got here,” she said. “Everyone, this my brother Hizashi. Zash, this is everyone.” She rattled off a laundry list of names that came and went before Hizashi could put them to memory. What did catch his attention, however, was the fact that his presence brought the group to an even number of people. His brilliant mess of a sister had invited him, a multi-platinum wanted criminal, on a group date with some of the most powerful and respected pro heroes in the city. Hizashi bit down on the inside of his cheek to keep in the snort of helpless laughter caught in the back of his throat.

The ploy seemed to become even more obvious as Haru shooed Hizashi down to the opposite end of the table from herself, making sure he sat down across from Loud Cloud (real name Something-Or-Other Shirakumo). Hizashi could feel a nervous sweat beginning to gather on the back of his neck as Shirakumo cheerfully poured him a drink. There was no reason for him to freak out, Hizashi reminded himself sternly. No one at this table save for Haru had any idea he dabbled on the wrong side of the tracks, and not even she knew the half of it. All he had to do was put on a good face and avoid getting “white girl schwasted”, as Haru had so eloquently put it, and he’d be fine.

“So, what do you do, Hizashi?” Shirakumo asked, making Hizashi jump.

“He’s a self-made man!” Haru piped up from the far end of the table. Hizashi rolled his eyes at her.

“Uh, radio,” Hizashi answered for himself. “I’m the operations manager over at Asahi Radio, and I run the overnight show every couple of weeks if they need something to fill the slot.”

“That’s why you sound so familiar!” Shirakumo said, snapping his fingers triumphantly. “‘Put Your Hands Up Radio’, right? We have it on all the time in the office when we have to pull graveyard shifts.”

Hizashi grinned in spite of himself, a flattered heat in his cheeks. “My sister has a way of inflicting her bad taste on other people,” he joked apologetically. Haru blew a loud raspberry at him but Shirakumo just laughed, shaking his head.

“Nah, we’ve been listening for years, even before Haru hired on. It’s a good pep-up when it’s two AM and you’re still chained to your desk.”

Hizashi couldn’t help preening a little. “Glad to be of service,” he said, bowing.

“How long have you been in radio?” Shirakumo asked.

“Uh.” Hizashi paused, trying to do math despite the ebbing panic scrambling his concentration. “Twelve years now?” he said, almost sure that was right. “I did an internship right after I graduated high school and then I ended up just kind of sticking around. They haven’t gotten rid of me yet, so I must be doing something right.”

The Hizashi that stepped back off the plane after three years in Boston wasn’t the same one who had left, but Haru was glad to see the change. Hizashi saw her waiting inside the doors to the baggage claim and ran full-tilt through the crowd to scoop her up in a tight bearhug.

“Gah! Break my ribs, why dontcha?” Haru laughed, hugging him just as tightly. Hizashi had sprouted up while he was abroad, towering over her by at least three inches even without the tall fluff of hair gelled up over his forehead. He was still the same grinning dork she remembered, though, from his chunky hipster glasses to the way he immediately pulled her into a second hug just as tight as the first.

“I missed you so much, though!” Hizashi protested. Haru grinned, squeezing him back.

“Yeah, me too,” she said. “Now go get your bags and let’s hop-to,” she added. “I’m not the only one who missed your ugly mug.”

Hizashi chattered the entire cab ride back to their parents’ apartment, barely containing his excitement at being home. Haru kept thinking back to the sallow-faced, wilted scrap of a boy she’d seen off at the airport compared to the sunny freckled giant on the seat beside her and had to scrub the corners of her eyes dry before she made a fool of herself. Hizashi made no such attempt to contain his emotions as he walked into the surprise welcome back party everyone had put together for him. They buried him in affection, glad to finally have their family whole again. The gap in their ranks had almost fallen to the back of their collective minds in his absence but having Hizashi back made his absence sharper in retrospect. Hizashi spent the night regaling them with stories about American high school life that sounded to Haru like something out of a grimdark John Hughes movie but he swore up and down weren’t exaggerations. He kept in motion as he spoke, buzzing around the room to emphasize his points with some kind of elaborating miming or clearing away dishes or just pacing the room in the flurry of enthusiasm he always had when he was entertaining an audience.

Late into a story about the hellish test of fortitude that a square dancing unit in gym class was when you were in the middle of a growth spurt, Hizashi was interrupted mid-thought by the phone ringing.

“I got it, Ma,” Hizashi said, waving for their mother to sit back down as he headed off to grab the handset in the hall. “Yah-mada residence!” Haru heard him beaming into the phone. She caught their mother’s eye and they shared a snort and knowing grin. He’d been back all of a few hours and was already running full steam ahead, Haru thought, shaking her head. She could pretend to be disapproving, but there was nothing that made her feel more relieved than knowing he knew he was finally home.

She expected him to come loping back down the hallway after a few minutes after confirming to their grandparents he was safe, but the moment of absence began to stretch out uncomfortably. Haru got up and followed him, a sudden sinking in her chest at the thought that Hizashi’s cheer had been for their sake and he’d taken the excuse to break off and be upset on his own.

“Hey, didja fall in?” Haru asked, trying to keep her voice light as she poked her head around the corner. Hizashi visibly jumped at the sound, fumbling the phone’s handset before slamming it down into the cradle.

“Sorry, what?” Hizashi asked breathlessly. He looked very pale all of a sudden and his eyes had a faraway, glassy sheen to them.

“Everything okay, Zash?” Haru asked, the clench in her chest tightening another notch.

“Huh? Oh! Oh, yeah, I’m good. Wrong number,” Hizashi said, gesturing vaguely at the phone. “Got kind of shitty when I told them. Some people, right?” He gave a slightly unsteady scoff, rolling his eyes. Haru raised an eyebrow.

“Uh...huh,” she said slowly. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Totally,” Hizashi said, brushing past her back towards the living room. “Anyway, where was I?”

The odd hiccup in Hizashi’s mood kept eating at Haru over the next few days, all the more because of how otherwise normal he was acting. He spent his days out of the apartment, nominally looking for a job now that he was settled, and his evenings scouring want ads during commercial breaks while they all watched television together. He was buoyant and excitable, especially the night he came home exclaiming that the webcast talk show he’d spent the last few years running as a hobby had landed him a paid internship at one of the downtown radio stations. Everything was smiles and normality with occasional bouts of especially good news, and that more than anything was putting her on edge.

Hizashi begged off to bed early one night, claiming he wanted to get to sleep early before his internship started the next day. Slowly the living room emptied without Hizashi’s inexhaustible energy to keep them awake. Haru dozed off on the sofa in the middle of texting one of her friends, too lazy to drag herself to bed.

She was shaken awake by the sound of her keychains clattering together as someone took them off the hook by the door. Haru peered blearily over the back of the sofa just in time to see the back of Hizashi’s head disappearing out the front door. Her heart sank as she checked the time: two-thirty AM. A tired, scared part of her wanted to believe it was just nerves keeping him up and he was going out for some air. The look on his face after the phone call at his party came to the front of her mind, though, and wouldn’t let her put it aside.

Haru followed Hizashi at tailing distance, having to quickly duck behind whatever cover she could find as he got turned around and had to retrace his steps. Another nail in the coffin for this being a quick trip out for some fresh air; between his terrible sense of direction and having been gone for three years Hizashi would know better than to wander around unfamiliar territory in the middle of the night. Unless of course, Haru thought as she crouched behind a dumpster and watched her brother knock on the employee entrance of Hanajima’s Garden Supply and Boutique Florist, he had planned to meet with someone.

She tiptoed forward as Hizashi was waved in and the heavy steel door shut behind him. Her heart rattled painfully in her throat as she did her best to peek through the slats of the vent in the door. Haru only caught a flash of Hizashi’s hair and the back of his neon blue windbreaker as he disappeared deeper into the shop. Haru chewed her lip, a fist of panic threatening to squeeze the breath out of her. She wished she’d been thinking clearly enough in the moment to grab her phone on her way out. The smart thing to do would be to go find a patrolling hero or a police station or at least a payphone nearby, but the thought of leaving Hizashi alone to fend for himself if something went wrong made her stomach seize. No one on the up-and-up had meetings in the dimly-lit backroom of a flower shop at three in the morning, that much she was sure about.

Haru shifted from foot to foot, mind racing at a hundred miles an hour but getting nowhere. Hizashi was going to have to tell her the truth now; he couldn’t keep up his facade when he’d been caught red-handed doing something this level of sketchy. She would just have to stick around and find out what the hell he was thinking and the two of them would figure out where to go from here. Haru slowly backed away from the door in case someone inside the shop was watching and crouched down with her back against the shop’s wall to watch the door and wait for Hizashi. She tried to stay calm but as the minutes stretched into decades she had more and more time to stew on the audacity of it all. She and Hizashi had been best friends since they were babies, they’d never kept secrets from one another. It was against every tennant of the unspoken code of trust the two of them held sacred. Now here he was, barely a month back from doing god knew what in America and sneaking around behind everyone’s back. Behind her back. By the time Hizashi stumbled back out the employee door, pushed over the threshold by someone inside, Haru’s temper had risen to a barely-restrained boil.

Hizashi sighed, sniffling hard and scrubbing under his nose with the back of his wrist as he turned to walk away. Haru followed him as he reached the sidewalk, a whole slew of new terrible thoughts sprouting in her mind in the wake of that gesture. Hizashi’s mind seemed thoroughly elsewhere as he walked, not reacting to the sound of Haru’s footsteps behind him until her patience snapped and she spoke.

“Funny,” Haru said, relishing the way Hizashi jumped and staggered around to face her, “this doesn’t look like being in bed by ten because you have work in the morning.” She crossed her arms and channeled her mother’s most intimidating “all right, start talking” eyebrow raise.

“H-Haru--you--what are you doing here?” Hizashi spluttered. His eyes were wide and scared and there was a dribble of blood trickling down from his nose. Concern sparked in Haru’s chest, but she did her best to push it aside for the moment. She could afford to be worried about him once she knew what she was worried about.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Haru said tartly.

“N-Nothing, it’s just. It’s nothing, don’t worry about it,” Hizashi rambled, using a lot of words to say absolutely nothing. Haru bristled.

“Hizashi Yamada, I swear to god--” she began.

“Haru, seriously!” Hizashi snapped, cutting her off. His voice cracked high at the end the way it always did when he was trying to keep himself from crying. Haru realized he was shaking all over, pale and wild-eyed in a way that was horribly familiar.

“Hizashi, is this about that phone call?” Haru asked, her tone softened but no less stern. Hizashi flinched, then nodded hesitantly. He dropped his eyes away from hers, arms wrapping protectively across his chest.

“Mr. Hanajima called. He. He thought I was Dad, and.” Hizashi broke off, shaking his head. “Mom and Dad were in trouble, but I took care of it. Just forget it, okay?” His voice was shaky and pleading.

“What do you mean, they’re in trouble?” Haru asked, a cold chill running up her spine.

“Were, they were in trouble, but it’s fine now, I swear!” Hizashi said. He tried to smile reassuringly but the faltering expression just made him look more scared. “They just. They owed Mr. Hanajima some money, and they were late on payments. He said he was going to have to find a new way to enforce the deadlines if they didn’t pay it all off soon, so I told him I’d take care of it instead.”

“What? Why?” Haru asked. Her tone came out too sharp again and Hizashi flinched away from her again.

“On the phone he kept talking about how it was irresponsible to borrow so much money without a good way to pay it back,” Hizashi mumbled slowly. “And how the university board and Mom’s promoters would want to know about how reckless their employees were being. And how the hero certification board would want to think twice about hiring out someone with parents who were so financially unsound, and the medical board and the admittance committees for all the high schools in town and...and the whole stupid thing is my fault anyway, so I handled it, okay? It’s no big deal.” He pushed the last part out in one rapid, shaky breath.

Haru stared at him. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing; her parents had never mentioned anything about money problems to her, least of all the kind that required the help of some racketeering florist. “You lost me,” Haru admitted flatly. “I mean, I get why you’re worried, but. Mom and Dad are grown adults, Zash. If they felt like they were in that kind of trouble they would tell us--me especially! I literally went to school for this kind of thing. How is any of this your fault?”

“What do you think they needed a whole lot of quick money for, Haru?” Hizashi asked, a snippy tone of exasperation coming into his voice. “For their adult daughters who have their own jobs and pay their own bills? For--For the preteens who are acing every one of their classes and are gonna have the world on a string after they graduate? Or maybe it was for their fuckup middle child who decided he needed to have a breakdown over not getting something he wanted!” His voice rose to a frantic, angry shout, echoing loudly enough in the early-morning silence to rattle the glass in a nearby shop window. Hizashi clapped his hands over his mouth, shoulders heaving as he breathed.

The last flicker of anger went out of Haru as she watched him struggle against the impulse to scream. She wondered how long that had been boiling under his skin, waiting to emerge. “Zash, that wasn’t your fault either,” she said gently. “They made a stupid, bad decision and you got screwed. You’re allowed to be upset over something like that.”

Hizashi scoffed, hands dropping to wrap around himself again. “Two hundred forty million yen’s worth of upset?” he asked hollowly.

Haru’s eyes went wide. “What?”

“It costs a lot of money to raise your kid from six thousand miles away,” Hizashi said bitterly. He shook his head hard and looked back up at Haru. “It doesn’t matter anyway,” he said. “I already said I’d take care of it. It’ll take a while to pay off, but I’ve got plenty of time. It’s fine.” He sounded like he was trying to convince himself and Haru at the same time. Neither of them were buying it if the current mood was anything to go by.

“Zash,” Haru said slowly. She tried to think of a way to phrase her objection as something softer than “don’t be stupid”. “What are you supposed to do if they decide that paying them back isn’t good enough?” she said finally. “Just keep working for them until you die?”

“I. I dunno,” Hizashi mumbled, shrugging. “I guess I’ll figure that out if it happens. Right now all that matters is making things right for Mom and Dad, and I did that.”

Haru sighed. An exhausted, selfish part of her wished it had been something more straightforwardly wrong that had them hashing things out in the early morning air. Something she could feel justified in yelling at him about, at the very least. “You aren’t going to tell them about this, are you?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

Hizashi shook his head firmly. “No,” he said. He hesitated, then asked, “Are you?”

Haru snorted out an exasperated laugh. “What good would it do?” she asked, throwing her hands up. “They didn’t want to tell us, what good is it going to do to let them know we know by getting them wrapped up in it all over again? I’d run your dumb ass to the cops, but at this point they’re probably in Hanajima’s pocket already.” She sighed, rubbing her forehead. “Just. I want you to promise me something, okay? I’ll keep out of it for now, but you have to swear to me the millisecond that this gets too big for you to handle on your own, you let me help you, got it?”

Hizashi looked uncomfortable giving his word on something like that, but Haru didn’t relent. She set her jaw and held out her hand with the pinky extended. He hesitated a long moment, then linked his pinky with hers and they shook on it.

“I promise,” Hizashi said quietly, meeting her eye again. Haru nodded authoritatively, shaking one last time before letting go.

“Okay,” she said, letting her breath out slowly. “That internship you told us about. Is that a for-real thing, or was it a cover for this whole...thing?” Haru asked, waving a vague hand to encompass the tangled mess the night had turned into

One corner of Hizashi’s mouth quirked up and he brightened very slightly. “Yeah, it’s real. It really does start tomorrow, too. Er, today, I guess,” he corrected himself awkwardly.

Haru nodded. “We should get home, then,” she said, turning him the right direction down the sidewalk. She took his hand as they walked, relieved that his hand was shaking just as much as hers.

Haru hated feeling like she couldn’t trust Hizashi’s word that his internship was real, but that was exactly why she was in the front lobby of Asahi Radio at lunchtime the next day. The receptionist told her it would be a few minutes until the interns were free, so Haru wandered off to kill time reading the wall of award plaques they had on display.

Haru heard her brother’s cackling laughter trickling down the hallway even before she saw him. Hizashi came strolling up to the front with a whole entourage of kids around his age, arms full of boxes and in the middle of one of his many stories about living in America. He beamed as he saw her, almost dropping his boxes as he tried to wave. The interns went in a side room with their load and were dismissed by the woman overseeing the work-study. Haru grinned in a combination of relief and genuine pride as Hizashi jogged over.

“Hey, kid,” Haru said, reaching out and ruffling his hair. “Thought I’d take you out to lunch to celebrate your first day. Pick something expensive, it’s a special occasion.”

“You’re gonna regret that,” Hizashi teased brightly as they walked out the front door. Haru privately doubted that was the part of all this that she’d come to regret.

“Have you guys been having to pull a lot of all-nighters?” Hizashi asked, trying his best to make the question sound casual.

Shirakumo frowned slightly, nodding. “I wish we weren’t,” he said, “but it seems like every time we get a handle on a case we’re working on, three more complications crop up overnight.”

“Which is the boss’s nice way of saying if any of us meet Mockingbird face-to-face, we’re going to kick his teeth in,” the woman sitting on Shirakumo’s left said, jostling Shirakumo with her elbow.

It took more self-control than Hizashi thought he possessed three beers into the night to hold back a bark of laughter at that. He waited until he thought he could speak without giggling, then asked, “He’s still active? All of our news contacts are at loose ends trying to come up with anything new about him.”

“That is a whole-ass mood,” the woman said, nodding. “Hey. Haru says you’re pretty brainy,” she added, pointing speculatively at Hizashi.

“I guess so,” Hizashi said with a shrug.

“Maybe you can riddle this out for us,” the woman said. “Say you were tracking a criminal, goes by a code name that rhymes with ‘blocking herd’. The guy by definition is a lone operator, and he follows a pretty standard pattern of ebb and flow in what he does. Then one day he falls off the face of the planet. Not a peep out of him. Well, other than a couple tangents that people blame him for, but you can’t pin ‘em on him, so they don’t really count. Then right in the middle of that, suddenly there’s a whole new face who shows up and causes a scene, supposedly on the first guy’s behalf. But there’s still no sign of the guy himself in any of it. What say you?”

“I would say maybe you need to switch to water for a while, Misa,” Shirakumo said meaningfully, tugging the half-full glass of beer out of her hand and swapping it for a glass of water. Misa frowned at him, but chugged it obediently. “None of that constitutes an official statement from the agency or anyone affiliated with it, by the way,” Shirakumo added to Hizashi. He was still smiling, but there was a definite “or else” hiding in his tone.

Hizashi nodded dismissively. “Obviously. Just a hypothetical over drinks with friends,” he agreed. He took a long sip of his drink, pretending to be thinking the situation over. The fact that Aizawa was now officially implicated caused a sharp squirm of guilt in his gut, but he did his best to ignore it.

“I see what you mean about one problem being solved causing three more in the process,” he said finally with a thoughtful nod. “Assuming the new face is legitimate, that opens up a couple options. It could mean your main suspect is getting cocky and adding to his ranks, or he’s getting scared and wants some insurance that he won’t go down alone,“ he continued, ticking the options off on his fingers. “Either way, you at least have your reason for him staying quiet.”

“How so?” Shirakumo asked. He was looking more closely at Hizashi now, an impressed interest clear in his expression.

“Why would he risk showing his face if his pets are walking around doing his wet work?” Hizashi explained, wondering too late if that skirted too close to the truth. “Cockiness leads to laziness, fear leads to paranoia,” he added, weighing the words in his hands. “Either way, not great. And then you also have to consider the option that the whole thing’s a lie, and the supposed new muscle is just a contractor for a competitor or someone your guy pissed off who’s trying to get him into extra trouble by pulling stunts in his name behind his back. If so, who’s behind that?” He shrugged, very sure now that everyone was looking at him that he should have kept his mouth more full of booze and less full of words. “Sounds like a total headache. No matter what solution you’re looking at you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

“Damn,” someone muttered from the other end of the table.

“Told you,” Haru replied, preening. Hizashi shot her a look that she cheerfully ignored.

“So, we’re hiring this dude for our analysis team, like, yesterday, right?” Misa asked Shirakumo. Hizashi laughed awkwardly, shaking his head.

“Thanks, but nah. I’m not really the hero type, I’m just a DJ with an overactive imagination. I’ll leave the crime fighting to you guys and just use the talents I was given to help wherever I can,” Hizashi said, raising his glass in a salute down the table.

Haru drummed her heel against the floor, arms crossed tight across her chest and her back against the closed door of her room. Hizashi was sitting at her desk, eyebrows tightly knit together and a hand over his mouth as he re-read the handwritten letter in front of him. Haru’s fist was clenched around the envelope it had come in so tightly she could practically feel her parent’s names written on it along with the return address of Hanajima’s Garden Supply and Boutique Florist.

“This is insane,” Hizashi said finally, his voice hollow.

“Not the word I would have used, but. Yeah,” Haru sighed. She was doing everything she could to suppress the urge to say “I told you so”, but the words kept bunching up in the back of her throat if she thought about them too long. She could only thank her lucky stars she’d been the first one to get home and check the mail today. Right at the top of the pile had been the letter from Hanajima. Haru had snatched it up and ripped it open before she even bothered to take off her shoes. Haru had already been dialing Hizashi to come home before she reached the end of the letter; all it had taken to get him moving was the word “Hanajima”. The two of them had barricaded themselves in Haru’s room, reading the letter one after the other in tense silence.

Dear Yamadas,

It has been quite some time since we last corresponded, and I wish that it could be for a better reason.

Some years ago, you were granted forgiveness on a large lump-sum loan debt to me due to outside assistance. However, it had recently come to my attention that, putting aside the forgiven amount, there was unaccounted for interest remaining on the amount registered as paid off which has in turn gathered interest in the intervening years.

Per our previous agreement, as this amount was accrued prior to your loan forgiveness, the sum total of seven hundred eighty-thousand yen remains on your account in need of repayment. I understand that you may need some time to gather such an amount. I am willing to work out an attenuated payment plan similar to your previous repayment schedule, should you need such accommodations.

I hope this letter finds you all well, and I look forward to hearing from you regarding the issue I have outlined above.

Sincerely, Keijiro Hanajima

Hizashi sighed, scrubbing his hand over his face. “He’s got to know he can’t pull this over on me,” he said, thumbnail scraping irritably at the corner of his mouth. “I’m too deep in his money, I know this is wrong.”

“He was probably counting on Mom and Dad not telling us,” Haru said. “He knows they didn’t tell us about the loan, and that you still haven’t told them that you’re the one that got them off the hook.”

Hizashi’s expression clouded over even more at that. He chewed the inside of his cheek, then shook his head. “I’ll take care of it.” He said it like that was the last of the conversation, holding out a hand to Haru for her to give him the envelope as he dialed a number into his phone. He looked up at her when she didn’t hand it to him, flexing his fingers in a “dude, c’mon” sort of getsure. “Mr. Hanajima, it’s Yamada. Yessir, I’m well, how are you?” he said, glaring at Haru when she moved the envelope to her far hand.

“Put it on speaker,” Haru mouthed, signing the words as well to make sure he got the point. Hizashi widened his eyes meaningfully at her as he shook his head sharply.

“I’m handling it,” he mouthed back. “Yessir, everything’s fine, I just had something to talk to you about if you have a minute,” he said brightly into the phone. Haru replied by signing “Not leaving. Speakerphone. Now.” and crossing her arms. Hizashi gritted his teeth, grudgingly putting his phone down on the desk and turning on speakerphone. He put his middle finger to his lips, reminding her to keep quiet and flipping her the bird all in one motion. Haru rolled her eyes at him but did her best to not to exist for the moment.

“I’d say there were better times, but I’m sure you’ll get to the point,” Hanajima was saying from the other end.

“Of course. It’s about a letter that was sent to my parents today,” Hizashi said. He was keeping his voice on the lighter end of neutral, but his expression was stormy and his leg had started thumping irritably.

There was a short silence on the other end of the line, then Hanajima asked in a pointedly calm voice, “Do you make a habit of reading other peoples’ mail?”

“Only when I assume from the return address that it’s mine,” Hizashi said, coldly chirpy. “There, uh. Seems to be a discrepancy between what I was told when I signed on and what you’re telling them in this letter, sir. Something about unforeseen interest?”

“I know my own business, Yamada,” Hanajima said coolly.

Haru barely held in a snort, rolling her eyes. “What a tool,” she mouthed to Hizashi, who bit back a grin and waved for her to keep still.

“I’d never dream to imply otherwise, sir,” Hizashi said. “It’s more a question of numbers. I’ve been keeping a log of my payments and theirs for a while now, sir, for my own records. There’s nothing that would add up to the kind of money you’re asking for.”

To Haru’s surprise, Hanajima gave a sardonic, almost patronizing snort of laughter. “I’m sure that’s how it is in your records,” he said. “It would be rather inconvenient for all of you if it suddenly happened that you owed an even greater sum to me than previously thought, wouldn’t it? But unfortunately sometimes that’s just how these things go.”

“With all due respect, sir--” Hizashi began, his thinning patience beginning to show in his tone.

“Which is a lot, Yamada, and I would hope you and your parents keep that fact in mind,” Hanajima said. “You have a diligent mind, Yamada, but human error can make numbers do a remarkable amount of things, particularly when there is a conflict of interest to spurr it along. Money is owed and money will be paid. That’s just business.”

Hizashi’s jaw went rigid, hands balling into tight fists on the desk. “Of course, sir,” he said through gritted teeth. “My mistake. Obviously.”

“Obviously,” Hanajima agreed. Without any kind of pleasantry or signoff he hung up, leaving Hizashi seething in his wake.

Haru let out a long, low whistle. “That went well,” she muttered in a half-hearted attempt at levity. Hizashi didn’t reply, his eyes staring hard into the middle distance. He straightened up in the chair, coming to some grim decision.

“Haru?” he asked.

“Yeah?”

“I need you to do me a favor,” Hizashi said as he stood up.

“What?” Haru asked warily. Hizashi fixed her with a determined stare. She had the sudden thought of how grown up he looked now; the past five years had taken the last of the adolescent roundness out of his features and made him all sharp angles and seriousness.

“When I go out tonight, don’t follow me,” Hizashi said.

“Zash,” Haru sighed, just on the edge of wheedling. Hizashi’s expression didn’t falter. Haru frowned, nodding in grudging agreement. “Fine. But you remember that promise you made me, got it? If this goes to shit, you call me,” she said, poking him meaningfully in the chest.

Hizashi’s mouth quirked up into a very slight smile. He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a tight squeeze. “I know, I will. Everything’s going to be fine, I promise.”

“Oh my god, did you guys hear about what happened with Mr. Hanajima from the flower shop?” Hoshi asked a few days later over dinner. Haru’s head jerked up at the sound of the name, heart in her throat. She shot Hizashi a glance out of the corner of her eye, but he had his eyes locked on his plate as he calmly cut his steak into increasingly smaller pieces.

“Who’s that?” Hinako’s stepson Hitoshi piped up.

“An old friend of Nan and Jii-chan,” Hinako said, motioning for him to not get distracted and finish his dinner.

“What about him?” Haru asked as Hoshi all but vibrated in their chair with the barely-restrained excitement of a teenager with hot gossip to share.

“Okay, so get this: everybody thought he was just a florist or whatever, but he’s actually been running this huge money scheme out of his shop and loansharking all these people and has all these ties to, like, yakuza and stuff,” Hoshi said.

“What’s a yakersha?” Hitoshi asked around a mouthful of vegetables.

“It’s ‘yakuza’, don’t talk with your mouth full, and never mind,” Hinako’s wife Mara said, once again turning the eight-year-old’s attention back to his plate.

“Fumiko Nakamura from the second year class says she heard from her uncle that Hanajima lost it and just spilled everything to the cops over the phone,” Hiro added, catching the spark of his twin’s infectious energy. “They got him on tape and everything.”

“He totally got arrested right in front of me and Hiro while we were walking to school today, it was crazy!” Hoshi finished, eyes bright.

“He always seemed so...legitimate. You never do know with some people I suppose,” their father said haltingly with a slightly strained laugh. Their mother reached out and squeezed his hand.

Haru stared hard at Hizashi, not so much as blinking until he finally relented and looked up at her. He met her gaze smiling calmly with nothing behind his eyes. It was disconcerting how easily he could switch himself off like that.

“How?” Haru signed to him, using the smallest motions she could.

“Don’t worry. It’s over,” Hizashi replied. Haru frowned, having had about enough of his sideways, noncommittal answers.

“You two all right down there?” their father asked before Haru could press him for details.

“I took the last popover and she needed to call me a few things she can’t say in front of the shortstack,” Hizashi said brightly, grinning over at Hitoshi.

“Language,” their father teased with a faux-stern look at Haru.

“He started it,” Haru groused, sticking her tongue out at Hizashi. Hizashi gave her a tight smile of thanks for playing along. Haru rolled her eyes but nodded back. This would just get added to the mounting pile of things about her brother she was never going to get a straight answer about, she supposed moodily.

“It was really cool to finally meet you, dude,” Shirakumo said as he and Hizashi walked down the street towards the train station. “Haru talks about you all the time, I think we were all kind of chomping at the bit to finally meet the mythical Hizashi.”

“I am pretty great,” Hizashi joked, tossing his hair over his shoulder. Shirakumo let out a loud, snorty laugh. It was really no wonder he was such a popular hero, Hizashi thought. His height and broadness gave the impression of an intense bearing when you first met him, but it was quickly balanced out by his open ultra-honest personality. Even the jagged scars that cut through his right eyebrow and down the side of his face seemed charismatic in their own way, giving him a well-traveled, swashbuckling kind of charm.

“Sorry about Misa jumping on you like that, by the way,” Shirakumo went on with a self-conscious grimace. “It’s been so long since we’ve taken a break from work that I think we’ve all kind of forgotten how to switch off and chill out.”

“No worries, I know how that goes. You should ask Haru what it’s like trying to get me to shut up when we get someone interesting in the studio for an interview,” Hizashi replied, waving the apology away. “I end up annoying myself half the time.”

Shirakumo snort-laughed again. “I dunno, that seems pretty interesting to me. Maybe we could grab something to eat sometime and you can tell me about it instead.”

He said it so smoothly that Hizashi almost agreed offhand without thinking about it. The word caught behind his teeth just in time as his brain caught up with what was actually being said. “Erm. Right,” he said instead, not having to force the awkwardness in his tone. “Haru told you I’m fresh off a breakup, didn’t she?”

Shirakumo flushed. “She...might have mentioned something about you being in kind of a funk,” he hedged.

Hizashi smiled in spite of himself. Two for two on dashing heroes who can’t lie to save their soul, he thought, amused. “I appreciate the offer, don’t get me wrong. But I, uh. I’m not sure it’s a great time for me to have something going on with someone,” he said, trying to be as gently vague as he could.

“Yeah, no, I totally get that,” Shirakumo said. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to push, I just--”

“Haru made you promise to hit me up at least once tonight,” Hizashi guessed, letting him off the hook of trying to put it into nicer words. Shirakumo grinned.

“Guilty,” he admitted. He paused, then added. “I think she’s been worried about you, to be honest. I mean, Haru isn’t really the worrying type, but you can tell sometimes.”

“Yeah, she does that,” Hizashi agreed, fondness creeping into his tone. For all the shit he gave his sister about meddling and fussing over him, he couldn’t help being grateful for the concern. “It really wasn’t as big a deal as she seems to think, though. We went to coffee a couple times, for drinks, hung out at his place, nothing too intense.” Aizawa’s face flashed to the front of his mind, twisted in terrified fury as he called Hizashi nothing but a problem in his life. Hizashi shook his head. “We just realized we wanted different things out of the relationship. People are people, what are you gonna do?” he added with a breezy shrug.

“True,” Shirakumo said, nodding, as they reached the train station doors. “So, can I maybe platonically give you my number instead?” he asked with a slightly cheeky grin. “I wasn’t just hitting on you when I said it was cool hanging out with you tonight.”

Hizashi hesitated, drowning in irony with no hope of explaining why to Shirakumo. He needed to let Shirakumo down gently and walk away, but his brain seemed to want to help him precisely not at all in thinking of a way to do that. “Sure,” Hizashi said finally, unlocking his phone and handing it to Shirakumo. “I’ll text you the next time Haru threatens to muzzle me for talking her ear off about celebrity gossip.”

“Deal,” Shirakumo said, handing his phone over so that Hizashi could put his number in as well. “Don’t be a stranger!” he added as they swapped phones back and he turned to head home.

Hizashi considered doing just that most of the train ride home, staring down at the newly added “Oboro Shirakumo” in his contacts. As an extra little flourish, Shirakumo had added a fortissimo and a thundercloud emoji after his name. On the one hand, this was a terrible idea and Hizashi needed to lose Shirakumo’s number before he ended up doing something stupid. On the other hand, tempting fate by doing stupid things with heroes was practically his signature move at this point. With Aizawa freezing him out, keeping Shirakumo on deck was the only way for him to stay on brand. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, right? Hizashi shoved his phone into his pocket, hating the weight of preemptive dread that settled on his shoulders as he tried to preserve this small bubble of normality that had come into his life.

#boku no hero academia #my hero academia #aizawa shouta #hizashi yamada #present mic #eraserhead bnha #eraserhead mha #erasermic #fic update #Fire Meet Gasoline AU #Quinny thinks she's a writer

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bearingwater · 5 years

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January Forecast for Aquarius

Ease your way into 2019, as gently as you can. The calendar’s turn is always a little weird for you, because the Sun is in Capricorn and your sleepy twelfth house until the third week of January. Going straight from celebration to hibernation is what your system naturally wants to do. But this go-round, that might not be so easy. With two eclipses jolting you into action on January 5 and 21, there are important moves to make…and you don’t want to snooze through those!

On January 5, your twelfth house of closure is activated by a partial solar (new moon) eclipse in Capricorn, which could shut one door firmly so you can open another. What part of your identity or your past no longer serves you, Aquarius? Let it go so you can make way for the new. With structured Saturn traveling close to the Sun for the first week of the year (making an exact meetup on January 2), you may boldly shed an outworn part of your identity or life. Your father or a significant male might factor into events at this eclipse. You may also establish a new relationship with a mentor figure or be trained by a helpful person who’s a seasoned veteran of your industry. Artists and healers could gain unexpected recognition at the solar eclipse, or you might decide to commit yourself to mastering your craft in 2019.

On January 11, the mystical side of this eclipse could reveal itself, when the Sun makes its annual conjunction (meetup) with transformational Pluto in Capricorn. You may feel called to do some deep forgiveness work, especially if you’ve been clinging to resentment or projecting your past pain onto someone you care about. This Sun-Pluto meetup could bring a psychic moment, perhaps through a dream or a session with a healer. If you’ve ever wanted to try a past-life regression or work with a medium, you may get a serendipitous sign from a departed loved one now. Some profound puzzle pieces can come together in the first two weeks of the year, but you’ll have to be receptive to intuitive flashes and “messages” from your subconscious. Journaling, meditation or sound healing could open the channels.

Amid all this right-brained activity, your logical left brain will also have a heyday in January. Your co-ruler Uranus will rocket out of a five-month retrograde on January 6, powering forward in Aries and your third house of communication. Your trailblazing ideas (and possibly your shockingly authentic commentary) will be back on the fast track again. With assertive Mars also in Aries from January 1 to February 14, your feistiness could reach epic levels. Be careful not to get TOO in people’s faces about stuff, Aquarius, even if you’re valiantly defending your creative freedom or beliefs.

Still, it’s important to nail down your messaging now because on March 6, Uranus will depart Aries, not to return again in your lifetime. You’ve got two more months to put yourself out there in a bold and original way. Writing, teaching, social media and communication-based projects get a special boost. With Mars and Uranus in your third house of community, you might suddenly pick up and move to a new neighborhood or take on an unexpected role in a local project. Your inner social-justice warrior could be fired up now, and this is the perfect year to collaborate with like-minded people around a world-bettering cause.

But before you go splashing truth serum on the world or blasting out an opinion you can’t un-Tweet, make sure your thinking is clear. On January 13, the first of this year’s three challenging squares forms between outspoken Jupiter and hazy Neptune, which can lead to confusion and mixed messages. Jupiter is in your eleventh house of groups while Neptune is in your second house of money and security. This could bring anything from a confidence shake-up to disruptive drama in your social circle. Who are your real friends, and who’s just hanging around because they want something from you?

You may start to notice that a certain friendship has become one-sided or codependent, especially with needy Neptune in the mix. Perhaps there’s someone whose ego always needs a boost or who expects you to pick up the pieces (and the tab) when they make a mess out of their lives. Are you relying too heavily on others for validation or to boost your own status? With Jupiter in your technology house, you might need to take a social media break, especially if you’ve gotten overly concerned with counting “likes” at the expense of connection. Jupiter and Neptune will form two more exact squares on June 16 and September 21, but you’ll feel their tension throughout the year.

You’ll be ready to focus on numero uno again starting January 20, when the Sun swings into Aquarius for a month, kicking off your birthday season. Hibernation: interrupted! Those sluggish vibes that started the year will soon be a thing of the past. Unclear about your direction for 2019? The fog lifts, and you’ll radar in on what YOU want to accomplish this year. Any adventures topping your bucket list? Enlist a couple of trustworthy wingpeople and make those into a reality.

Your closest ties come under major scrutiny on January 21, when a Leo full supermoon and total lunar eclipse blaze into your seventh house of committed partnerships. From romance to finance to friendship, this eclipse will shake up the status quo. A budding connection could move swiftly into official status—or end abruptly. Or you could have an epiphany about what you’re willing to accept from a relationship or how to make your bottom line your top priority. If finding love is on your 2019 resolution list, this eclipse will bring a no-BS realization about how you might be blocking that…or what your savviest next steps should be.

This is the grand finale in a two-year series of eclipses that’s lit up the Leo-Aquarius axis since February 2017, transforming your personal identity as well as your approach to commitment. You’ve gotten so much clearer about who you are and what you stand for, since every six months an eclipse would nearly force you to assert yourself or step into the spotlight. Your interpersonal dynamics have naturally shifted, and as a result there could have been a reshuffling on Team Aquarius. You won’t experience eclipses here again until 2026, so use this powerful portal to make sure your relationships are on solid ground.

Once again, you may have to put on some filters before you clear the air, though. Also on January 21, intense Mars in your communication house locks into an embattled square with rigid Saturn in your twelfth house of closure. Even if you need to set a firm boundary or let someone know that you’re upset, watch your tone: This cosmic clash can either make you overly aggressive or the host of an epic pity party. Instead of hurling accusations or playing the blame game, try to begin any statement with “I feel” rather than “You.”

Or just wait a couple days until January 25, when Mars will form a harmonizing trine with authentic Jupiter, helping you serve up the #realtalk with love and generosity. The blissful union of these courageous planets will activate your interpersonal sectors, helping you step into other people’s shoes and listen with much more acceptance. It’s an amazing day to branch out and network, sparking up new dialogues and friendships.

Redirect your attention if you’re angry. Who knows? That person or issue that seemed SO infuriating a few days ago may now become comedic fodder. Your tale of woe could be a story so outrageous it sends you and a rapt audience into side-splitting hysterics when you reenact it. Laughter is truly the best medicine, and you might enjoy a hearty dose of it as the month ends.

Love & Romance

Witty banter and stimulating conversations are your most effective aphrodisiacs this month as lusty Mars blazes through Aries and your mental, expressive third house until February 14. This can have the effect of drawing people to you like moths to a tiki flame. If you’re looking for romance—or just some fun, flirty times—this is one exciting transit!

But if you’re coupled up, or just not feeling it, you may want to lay a little low because you WILL be found! You might be attracted to a brainy geek or wordsmith; “boring” is not going to cut it for you! With aggro Mars heating up your communication corner, watch for a tendency to be a bit argumentative or sarcastic. If you’re in a relationship, don’t take your beloved for granted or make the rookie error of dumping your stuff on them. It will NOT be appreciated!

The first week of January, when fellow lovebird Venus is flitting through Scorpio and your prominent tenth house, you might be stuck on being “right” or hammering home a point at the expense of getting along. Try to catch yourself in action and nip that behavior in the bud before it spins out of control and you foster resentment. On the upside, this is a great transit for talking about shared future plans and maybe launching a sideline business together. Single? You could be drawn to someone older or more established than you.

Then, from January 7 to February 3, Venus will sweep through Sagittarius and your eleventh house of socializing and technology. If you’re not attached at the hip, you’ll prefer to keep your interpersonal interactions on the light-and-breezy side and put off getting into anything too serious. Since this zone rules your digital life, this is a particularly good time for online dating. But focus on the fun and adventure of it, not the “end zone.”

January brings a pair of romantic red-letter days, so watch for them. On January 18, and Venus and Mars align in a harmonious trine that could set the stage for meeting someone through mutual friends or a dating site—which could catch you totally off-guard! On January 22, Venus makes her once-a-year merger with fellow “benefic” Jupiter. You might spark a new connection with a person from another culture, who lives in another time zone or works remotely from various location. But if the chemistry (and other qualities) are there, you won’t mind. Couples could travel together, perhaps with mutual friends. Rally your favorite people and book a ski lodge chalet or a cool Airbnb rental.

Love Days: 17, 21 Money Days: 27, 10 Luck Days: 25, 7 Off Days: 19, 23, 5

#aquarius #astrology #horoscope #horoscopes #zodiac #aquarius monthly

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twitchesandstitches · 5 years

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A few details i wasn’t able to get into the library fic that introduced the Avatar characters to Crossthicc! This was worldbuilding stuff I thought was interesting, but didn’t have room to put into the fic properly.

AVATAR STUFF

Suki is one of the daughters of Kyoshi, who rules a system of islands, and has inherited something of her size, power, and commanding attitude. The Kyoshi Islands are intended to be an analogue to Japan in some respects, and in particular Kyoshi’s daughters lead their own respective dynasties in service to Kyoshi, who is ultimately a Raava-blessed empress uniting them all as a daughter of Heaven.

The girls are considerably older than in canon, and the boys are more or less their canon ages but in a way to give them a different dynamic with the girls. Katara is the eldest child in her generation, with Sokka as her younger brother. Her dynamic with Aang is even more ‘skilled student winds up marrying his gifted mentor’, with a bit more emphasis on Katara being a heroine. The biggest shift is for Zuko; as Azula’s younger brother, he was never in the running for being Fire Lord and was a surplus child. Mai was more or less his bodyguard and they wound up falling for another as a bright spot in each other’s lives.

Way more AU as the cultures of Avatar go. Sun Warriors are still extant, groups such as the Foggy Swamp Tribe are all over the place. The Fire Nation is presently in a huge civil war between Azula and forces that follow Zuko, and Azula is actually more active as a leader than Ozai is; as it stands, the Fire Nation is basically like Warring States-era Japan, but with people who can breathe fire and ride dragons.

On that note, the Fire Lords are more or less just the Fire Sages as they originally were in canon; the Fire Lord is the leader of the Fire Sages, who ride dragons here and commune with them, and have enormous power over the Fire Nation’s people with this influence. Azula has taken over as hereditary right and the most powerful of the family, but Zuko has also earned the right and this has caused the civil war in question, with an unprecedented amount of nobles, warlords and influencers split between the two rather than the usual free for all.

The Air Nomads are mainly based off the people of ancient Mongolia, with Genghis Khan’s example being a pretty obvious one. The Air Nomads who live in this area are explicitly intended to be modeled after them. Yangchen herself is an analogue to the Khan, down to building an empire and unifying her people, and having a strict ‘insult my people and die horribly’ vibe. As a whole the Air Nomads are a lot more diverse than what we see in canon; Air Nomads like the monks we see in canon are still around, but they’re a specific set of clans who live in the mountains near the Southern Water Tribe and have established a monastary there. They support their life style by working out deals to control the wind for the benefit of their Water Tribe neighbors.

Bending here is marked by two things: becoming a giant hyper-curvy lady (as is the main rule in this AU when you become powerful), and physical mutations. Not like the mods used by other, but non-functional attributes such as crystalline skin for Earthbenders, icy body temperature for Waterbenders, blazing skin for Firebenders, and so on. It varies for each individual, gets more intense as they power up and the specific kind of mutation changes when they are bending different things, but all benders are obvious and easily spotted.

Size is linked to bending. The more powerful you are, the bigger. The inverse is true; if you’re bigger, you have bending powers. Characters who canonically have no bending ability but are big here (Mai, Suki, Asami and so on) are benders here, but have very low grade powers or extremely specialized skills. Suki is probably an Earthbender who can do minor tricks with soul to be immovable, Mai and Asami are firebenders (Mai does internal tricks with heat, Asami can bend lightning but ONLY lightning), and so on.

I usually avoid specific sizes, but I did measurements for a tricky line, and worked some things out. Katara is roughly about twenty feet tall here, an average man only going up to her knees. Toph may be about 30 or so while the other girls are smaller than Katara on average, ranging from 12 to 15 feet. Korra is the biggest at at least forty feet. She is very big!

Raava does not serially incarnate here, but instead bonds to multiple human hosts as they are born; the Avatar is thus not a singular entity but a soul fusion of many different people to previous ones and the other living ones, linked and boosted by Raava. Thus, Korra and Aang can be around at the same time, and she can be significantly older than him too. The other Avatars relevant to Aang (Kuruk, Kyoshi, Roku and Yangchen) are, of course, all alive and doing things, being important heroes and leaders.

The owl entity that is mentioned briefly near the end of the story is intended to be Wan Shi Tong, and the Great Library is a combination of his library and the idea of the Akashic Records from Mage: The Awakening. He’s not as anti-mortal as he is in canon, or at least, not allowed to act upon it due to the other powers in the Library. He is a spirit of the idea of knowledge and lore, and acts as a neutral figure within the library’s command.

Bending stuff. Here, bending is not hereditary (though it is dependant on cultural identity); rather, people commune with specific spirits after manifesting an elemental power at a young age. Everyon can use an element appropriate to their culture, though perhaps very limited, and some can commune directly with the spirits, earning their favor and gaining their powers, being physically transformed in some respect and gaining enormous amounts of power. These are like Benders from canon, but they explicitly sought it out. Animals like badger-moles and sky bison are linked to these spirits, too. (There are different ways of earning favor; some women might become hyper pregnant with powerful spirits, for example, and at the end of the pregnancy, transform into their new state and gain their powers. The REAL elemental blessing was inside them all along…!)

The Air Nomads are alive and well!

Aang is ethnically related to the northern Air Nomads who are based on the followers of Genghis Khan; Yangchen’s clans, here. However he was raised among the monastary monks near the Southern Water Tribe, where he met Katara when young and studied under her to learn Waterbending. His heritage carries no stigma, and while he has no concern about his actual family (it being an Air Nomad thing to raise children communally), he wants to know more about his birth-people and ancestral culture.

You may have noticed a reference to ‘red tornado spirits’ in regards to Aang’s tattoos. Double meaning here; Aang’s tattoos were originally based, from what I hear, on the DC robot hero Red Tornado’s markings, and thus the spirits who originally taught the first Air Nomads were related to the spirits that give Red Tornado life force. (It was either that or make Red Tornado this settings version of Tenzin. Still might do that, actually.)

Speaking of Tenzin, Aang and Katara’s children are around for sure, but doing their own thing during the events of this story.

NON AVATAR STUFF

Hermione here is based on my take on her in the fics I’ve written here and there. The other group mentioned in relation to her is intended to be her canonical friendship group, including Harry, Ron, Ginny, Luna and Neville, and possibly others. The Great Library may be Hogwarts, but the castle may exist elsewhere with the wizards and witches here being a specific group that wound up at the Library through a mishap.

Witches like Hermione grow bigger as they get more magically powerful, as generally goes in this AU.

Hermione is intended to be read as black/Afro-British (or a space future analogue) but I’m not sure I’m that great at conveying that in writing.

Hermione’s somewhere between Toph and Katara’s sizes. Smaller than 30 feet, bigger than 20 feet. She’s thicc, hyper busty, and big all over!

Hermione not speaking the language of the Avatar characters is based on a few plot points I’ve had in mind; linguistics in this AU is a serious matter with no ‘translator microbes’ or quick solutions to language barriers. Languages must be learned the hard way. She’s never had any reason to expect to communicate with the people, expecting a life as a solitary scholary with her library chums, so she’s woefully unprepared for this. She will correct this in the future.

Magnus the Red is shamelessly based on the interpretation of him from the youtube web series, If The Emperor HAd A Text To Speech Device. I also included aspects such as the Primarch’s being sensory overload to regula humans, and more mystical overtones than they normally get in 40k. I wrote this with the idea that the Imperium was a pre-cataclysm society in line with the Emperor’s original goals (and had none of the anti-alien issues, due to difference circumstances), and the Emperor has become a god of the idea of humanity as its own thing, with the Primarchs as different reflections of that: Magnus embodies humanity’s magical potential as well as the drive to learn and know.

Magnus doesn’t have an exact size. He is huge, yes, but his bizarre magical nature means that he is much larger than he would seem to be. He’s also a shapeshifter, so make of that what you will.

The figures with him are basically Space Marines: Thousand Sons and Blood Ravens, if it wasn’t obvious enough. Gabriel Angelos, one of the canon Blood Raven leaders from the Dawn of War games, is mentioned briefly.

Obliquely referred to a few times is Optimus Prime; in the main events of the AU his absence has been notable, so this is where he’s been all this time; searching for an answer to what has become of Primus, and unable to return to the Autobots. Grimlock is gonna be PISSED.

The Unseen University’s faculty from Discworld are present here as more comedic elements of the faculty running the library, and may be seen on some other time. They’re not human here, since I’m trying to avoi the idea that humans are super-important in-universe. Ridcully, for example, is most likely a krogan. The magic they employ is a cross between Potterverse spells and classic D&D magic. (I used to headcanon that potterverse magic was particular to humans, but i may be moving away from that.)

I originally intended there to be several characters drawn from religious/monk origins for use as library characters to later join the Endowed Fleet and converse with the characters in this one, but there were too many characters as is. Two of the most important would have been Zenyatta from Overwatch (here a full on magic user and Guru Pathik-analogue) and Scar from Fullmetal Alchemist (donated his brother’s teachings to the library, stayed there to study as a religious duty)

There was originally an in-universe lesson about how their world fits into the cosmology, but i couldn’t find a natural place to slot it in. In brief, they’re technically one of the mortal universes, but exist in a demi-realm deep within the realms of magic and swimming in spirits, so they’re not really connected to the mortal universes and unless you know what you’re doing, there’s no real way to get there. This universe is mainly empty but rich with magic, so it’s possible for people who find their way there to establish new worlds there.

#/#//#///#////#/////#queued #twitchy ideas #crossthicc AU #admittedly some of this is not so much 'stuff i couldn't put in'#but stuff i dont want you NOT to know #i demand u know all my worldbuildign nonsense #atla

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sir-renfelt · 3 years

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Martyred Dragon

For @jagiellansteel‘s benefit

His ion shields sizzled with the flare of incoming fire. Red las beams and hard rounds struck the barrier with such ferocity the blue-white blaze it created was almost constant. In the corner of his vision, Alonzo Ior watched as the percentage indicating his knight’s shield integrity plummeted towards zero faster than he would have liked. The knight shifted his bearing, moving to put the bulk of an old hab stack between Draco Argentis and the regiment of traitor guardsmen coming down the highway towards them. Draco Argentis did not approve, the knight’s machine spirit growling at the back of Alonzo’s mind. It did not want to hide. It wanted to close the distance and destroy its tormentors, something it should be able to do easily with its thunderstrike gauntlet.

Were there not so many of them, Alonzo thought. He pushed Draco Argentis to the side enough to reveal the knight’s thermal cannon. He exposed himself long enough to snap-fire a shot down the street before the renewed fusillade of fire forced him back into cover. Alonzo could not see the effect the shot had, but a moment after firing he heard the crackle of distressed voices over the vox and the amount of las coming his way lessened enough for him to feel comfortable risking a sprint towards the Galleria Occidental.

Pistons pounding, Draco Argentis pushed itself across the fractured asphalt. The road trembled with each ponderous step. Cries from down the street told Alonzo his foe had noticed his attempt to maneuver. A rocket, probably a shoulder-launched one, corkscrewed past Draco Argentis’ shoulder before detonating harmlessly into the cracked stone facade of a commercia building.

As he ran, Alonzo chanced listening to the vox. He had shut it off hours ago, the incorrhent and panicked chatter flooding it too much of a distraction for him to focus on what he needed to do. No one had expected both regiments of Tuarkian Long Rifles to suddenly betray the rest of the expeditionary force. They had overwhelmed the complement of Sororitas that had escorted the force from Havarong Hive, the sisters of the Order of the Bleeding Lotus insistent they be among the first to come to grips with the Archenemy waiting for them at Pankreas. It had put the sisters between a rock and a hard place as they entered Pankreas’ outer limits, their backs to the traitorous Tuarkians and their fronts towards the tanks of the renegade Juarbal 35th Armored.

It had been slaughter.

The remaining Sororitas had managed to bunker down in what had once been a museum full of art and sculptures sourced from the local sub-sector. Those pieces had been desecrated and defaced by the Juarbal tankers, toppled and cracked and burned. Now they were used by the sisters as barricades while they waited for uncertain salvation.

Alonzo knew that salvation rested with him. If he could buy enough time for reinforcements to make planetfall, the tide of this conflict might yet be turned. But even as he thought those words, he knew it was unlikely. The numbers against them were too great, and Draco Argentis did not have enough anti-armored support to tackle a full regiment of tanks. There had been no time to deploy anything more than the handful of Freeblades that had escorted the Order of the Bleeding Lotus from Havarong. Most of those knights were dead now, laid low by the Juarbal tanks. Only Draco Argentis and Wayward Sword remained, two out of almost two dozen.

Alonzo reached the plaza in front of the Galleria Occidental, bursting from the avenue like a manifestation of the Omnissiah’s wrath. Draco Argentis ripped into the rearguard of the traitor tanks that had the bulk of the plaza secured under their guns while Tuarkans attempted to pick their way through the cobbled defenses. The fingers of Draco Argentis’ thunderstrike gauntlet bit deep into the thin plating that protected the nearest tank’s flank. It was an older pattern Mosskva IX, a common PDF unit that favored speed and maneuverability over armor and killing power. There was little resistance as Draco Argentis ripped out a chunk of its heart, oil and fuel spraying everywhere in gouts of arterial machine spray.

A shot from the thermal cannon turned a second Mosskva to molten slag, and then a third. Draco Argentis flipped a fourth before ripping the turret off of a fifth and slinging it into the unprotected rear of the Tuarkians, crushing several beneath its bulk.

Two more tanks died before the traitors realized what was happening and reacted. By then, Alonzo had reached the steps of the Galleria. Rockets flew from the pod mounted atop Draco Argentis’ carapace, fire blossoming where they touched down to incinerate whole squads of Tuarkians or turn another Mosskva IX into a pyre. Draco Argentis sounded its war horn in defiance and the air around the muzzle of its thermal cannon shimmered with heat distortion as it fired off another salvo of shots. The heavy stubber mounted beneath its shoulder mowed down any infantrymen that were dumb enough to ascend the Galleria steps and get close.

But for every Tuarkian slain, for every Juarbal tank reduced to ash, there was always another.

Alonzo flipped through the vox channels, blinking away one and then another until he found the frequency used by the Sororitas. “You have to go,” he said.

After a moment of static, a voice returned, clipped and hardened by decades of conflict. “This is Palatine De Peralta. We will not run, Draco Argentis.”

Alonzo hissed through his teeth. Now was not the time for stubborn piety. The irony of the thought was lost on the knight. “I am not asking you to run,” he replied, even as he snapped off another shot at a Mosskva attempting to enter the plaza to his left. “I am telling you to retreat. There is a Jagiellan armored column trying to breach the city to the south. If you can link up with them, you will have far more success than dying here in this rubble.”

De Peralta did not respond. Alonzo gritted his teeth as another shoulder-mounted rocket struck his ion shields, causing them to flare and crackle. They were dangerously low. He did not think they would be able to withstand another direct hit, even from a Mosskva’s lighter cannon.

“And what of you, Sir Knight?” the palatine asked finally.

“I will buy you the time you need, and cover your withdrawal if I am able.”

“I do not think this the time for stubborn honor.”

Alonzo laughed, but there was no humor in it. “One knight, or two dozen sisters, Palatine. I think the trade is more than fair.”

“I wish there were more of you, in that case.”

“There were.”

“Then I am sorry for your losses.”

“I will mourn them in time. Do not make me mourn you as well.” Another hail of lasfire peppered Draco Argentis. The knight turned, spying the Tuarkians hiding behind the burning ruin of a Mosskva IX. Alonzo made a fist, and the burning tank exploded again, scattering the troopers. “Palatine, you do not have much time.”

“We are going, Sir Knight,” De Peralta replied. The bolter fire from the Galleria began to wane and Alonzo could see several IFF beacons on his auspex making their way southward through the shattered city. “The Emperor protects.”

“The Emperor protects.”

A flash of red light caught Alonzo’s attention to the northwest. A moment later, pain flared along his shoulder and down his arm. He was vaguely aware of Draco Argentis’ shields popping as they collapsed. He was more aware of the deadening in his arm, the pain replaced by cold nothingness as Draco Argentis’ thunderstrike gauntlet fell away in a shower of shattered servos and steel. Its machine spirit howled, targeting systems zeroing in on the tank destroyer inching its way into the plaza. Around its treads came more Tuarkians. Without the small arms support of the Sororitas, there was nothing to keep them at bay and prevent them from swarming the stricken knight.

Draco Argentis’ stubber sprang to life, hosing the troopers down with hot lead as Alonzo aimed the thunderfire cannon at the tank destroyer. A shoulder rocket slammed into Draco Argentis’ faceplate, and Alonzo’s head snapped to the side as if he had been punched. Targeting klaxons wailed and Draco Argentis sidestepped, nearly stumbling and falling over collapsed barricades.

Another red-hot shot seared the air over the knight’s shoulder. Alonzo snap-fired the thermal cannon as he tried to regain his footing. More targeting brackets filled his vision, and with a thought the stubber went to work again, focused on the nearest threat, not the largest. Alonzo never saw the tank destroyer fire a third time. He never even knew he died as the tank’s heavy laser cored Draco Argentis through the chest. The knight took a ponderous step backwards. Then it collapsed, smashing through the wall of the Galleria. Stone and plaster crumbled down on top of it, a tomb for the self-sacrificing.

++++

The plaza was a mess, littered with scorched hulks. The most recent still burned, testament to the Imperial reclamation force that had cut its way through Pankreas. Seventeen weeks of hard fighting had finally seen the Archenemy falter and break. Now came consolidation and clean up.

Red 1 rolled to a stop near the center of the plaza. The Vanquisher’s hull was scorched and pitted from weeks of fighting, the paint flaking off in too many places, the metal beneath dirtied and worn. The roar of its engine faded down to a throaty rumble as the tank began to idle. After a moment, the top hatch flipped open and a grumpy looking woman, the shoulder boards on her uniform marking her as a lieutenant, clambered out. The silence of the plaza was broken by muttered swearing, Mira taking issue with her prosthetic leg as she dismounted her steel horse.

Settled on solid ground, Mira looked around. Towards the far side of the plaza were the remains of what had once been, to her understanding, some kind of museum or cultural center. Mira had no interest in what the building once held. Regardless, she made her way towards the steps that ascended to the front doors. Standing at their base was a sister of the Order of the Bleeding Lotus. The sister looked up at the building, apparently ignorant to Mira’s approach. Two or three other members of her Order dotted the plaza around the perimeter of the building. It was only when the Jagiellan lieutenant stood shoulder to shoulder with her, that the sister turned and regarded her.

“Where?” Mira asked simply.

The sister raised her hand, rosary jingling around her wrist, and pointed.

There was a mound in the direction she indicated, built from the crumbled remains of museum wall and roof. Beneath the shattered masonry and support columns, the flash of black metal could be seen. Even more sisters stood around it, and some atop it, working with their hands to carefully excavate what lay beneath the rubble. What they had removed so far revealed a metallic face shaped like a machine skull, as well as a tilting plate decorated with a draconic silver head. Further down, some of the sisters had managed to retrieve a banner. It was tattered and holed, but the gnashing teeth and fire-tongue between them were still plainly identified. One sister appeared to be guiding the operation, the markings of her armor indicating her status as a palatine. The sister turned as Mira approached. For a long while, neither said anything. Mira drew a lho stick from her pocket and lit it.

“Did you know him?” De Peralta asked finally.

Mira exhaled, twin plumes of smoke fleeing her nostrils as she put her hands into her pockets. “Yes. Glupiec,” she muttered.

“Then I am sorry for your loss.”

The tanker did not reply.

“We owe him our lives, my sisters and I,” De Peralta continued. “Whatever he meant to you, he was a good man. And honorable.”

“He was an idiot,” Mira replied, though there was no additional harshness to her tone beyond what it carried naturally. She took another drag from her lho stick. “But yes, he was a good man.”

“My sisters and I will honor his sacrifice. We will carry his banner-”

Mira snorted.

“Let him rest, kurwa,” she said. The words came out forcefully enough to surprise even the lieutenant. Still, she continued. “He would not want to be your totem. If you wish to honor his life, then make sure he did not save them in vain.” Mira fixed De Peralta with cold, blue eyes. “Make them mean something more.”

The palatine did not respond. She was not sure how to. Mouth agape, the most she could muster was a silent nod.

Mira scoffed, pulled the lho stick from her lips, and flicked what remained of it into the dirt at her feet. She turned, and without another word, strode back to Red 1 and her waiting crew.

#[The Silver Dragon: Alonzo Ior]#drabble

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newstfionline · 3 years

Text

Friday, July 9, 2021

Climate crisis ‘may put 8bn at risk of malaria and dengue’ (Guardian) More than 8 billion people could be at risk of malaria and dengue fever by 2080 if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise unabated, a new study says. Malaria and dengue fever will spread to reach billions of people, according to new projections. Researchers predict that up to 4.7 billion more people could be threatened by the world’s two most prominent mosquito-borne diseases, compared with 1970-99 figures. The figures are based on projections of a population growth of about 4.5 billion over the same period, and a temperature rise of about 3.7C by 2100. The study, led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and published in the Lancet Planetary Health journal, found that if emission levels continue to rise at current rates, the effect on global temperatures could lengthen transmission seasons by more than a month for malaria and four months for dengue over the next 50 years.

Slow trickle of rental aid heightens concern about eviction crisis (Washington Post) The White House, along with state and local governments, is under growing pressure to significantly ramp up the amount of emergency rental relief reaching tenants and landlords, as some economists and housing advocates say the Biden administration’s attention to the eviction crisis is coming too late. Weeks before an eviction moratorium put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expires on July 31, much of the federal aid meant to help tenants and landlords has not reached them. Many are not even aware that the assistance is available, or they continue to struggle with onerous and complicated application rules. Some programs run by state and local governments took months to get up and running. All told, Congress has appropriated roughly $46 billion for emergency rental aid. Of the $25 billion appropriated in December, only $1.5 billion had been spent on rent, utilities and arrears between January and the end of May, according to figures released Friday by the Treasury Department.

In Atlanta, a glimpse of why ‘defund the police’ has faltered (CSM) Social justice activist Kelsea Bond spends a lot of time canvassing Atlanta’s highest-crime neighborhoods. Her mission: Convince residents that, if core social and economic inequities were resolved, crime would abate and the city wouldn’t need a police department. Less than a year ago, amid massive social justice protests across the United States, the idea of fundamentally reducing the role of police rose from nonstarter to distinct possibility. Atlanta came within one city council vote of cutting $72 million from its police department. Today, however, that momentum has almost completely reversed. Ms. Bond says there has been “a doubling down on policing, increasing surveillance, and building a massive training center, which is in such stark contrast to the conversation we were trying to begin over the summer. What happened? What changed?” The simple answer is crime. Like other cities, Atlanta has witnessed a new crime wave—bad enough that one affluent part of the city is considering secession. Yet in talking to residents across Atlanta, even those sympathetic to the defund movement now say it overreached. The way forward, many say, is not in getting rid of the police, but helping them do a better job. “‘Defund the police’ was a slogan that really backfired ... because across the country—not only in Atlanta—people living in those neighborhoods who aren’t necessarily activists don’t want the police gone, especially with crime spiking,” says Ron Bayor, a historian at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “What people do want is police reform.”

Tears, prayers mark end to search for Miami condo survivors (AP) A somber moment of silence marked the end of the two-week search for survivors of a Florida condominium collapse, as rescue workers stood at solemn attention and clergy members hugged a line of local officials while many of them sobbed. The painstaking search for survivors shifted to a recovery effort at midnight Wednesday after authorities said they had come to the agonizing conclusion that there was “no chance of life” in the rubble of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside. “We have all asked God for a miracle, so the decision to transition from rescue to recovery is an extremely difficult one,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a news conference. The death toll stood at 54 late Wednesday. Officials said 86 people were unaccounted for, although detectives were still working to verify that each of those listed as missing was actually in the building when it collapsed.

The office is back, but it might never be the same (Washington Post) Across the country, the leaders of corporate America have begun opening their doors again at companies such as Facebook, Goldman Sachs and Microsoft, bringing the country’s white-collar workforce back to the skyscrapers, office parks and campuses that were long assumed to be the only way to corral them. But a lot has changed in the past year and a half, and offices have, too. The Washington Post spoke with a wide range of workers and companies that have begun bringing people back into their offices. Most workers described a strange office environment bearing little resemblance to the one they left behind—a world of complicated social interactions, lingering anxieties about masks and vaccinations, and simmering frustrations about inflexible work policies. Companies spoke about the challenge of getting a workforce that has grown accustomed to working from home fired up again about office culture. Only about one-third of workers—32 percent—are back in large office buildings, according to data from building security company Kastle Systems, although the numbers have been increasing in recent weeks.

World Food Programme starts distributing food in crisis-hit Venezuela (Reuters) The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday it had begun distributing school meals to children in Venezuela, where some 7 million people require humanitarian assistance after years of economic collapse in the once-prosperous OPEC nation. The WFP’s first take-home rations were distributed for children under 6 years old at some 277 schools and preschools, as well as school staff, in 25 municipalities in northwestern Falcon state, WFP said in a statement. Since Venezuela’s schools are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, parents or teachers picked up the monthly rations—which consist of 6 kg (13 pounds) of rice, 4 kg (9 pounds) of lentils, 454 grams (1 pound) of salt and one liter (2 pints) of vegetable oil—on their behalf, according to Susana Rico, the WFP’s Venezuela representative.

Japan PM Suga declares state of COVID-19 emergency in Tokyo (Reuters/Washington Post) Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga formally declared on Thursday a state of emergency in Tokyo, putting restrictions aimed at curbing coronavirus infections in place through August 22. Japan will bar spectators from all Olympic events held in and around Tokyo, organizers announced, as the state of emergency will cover the capital during the Games. Olympic organizers, working closely with the government, had announced two weeks ago that they would allow some domestic spectators to attend events. They capped attendance at 10,000, or 50 percent of a venue’s capacity, but warned at the time that they might change course if infections rose again.

Millions of Syrian civilians at grave risk if U.S., Russia fail to strike deal on U.N. aid deliveries (Washington Post) Parts of northern Syria will quickly face a massive and deadly humanitarian crisis if the U.N. Security Council fails this week to extend a resolution allowing the United Nations to deliver aid across the Turkish-Syrian border, according to relief workers, Syrian civilians and the Biden administration. The resolution, which allows the United Nations to coordinate aid shipments to Syria through only one border crossing, is set to expire Saturday. Millions of Syrians dependent on the U.N.-led relief effort would immediately be put at risk if it lapses, aid workers say. Russia has promised for nearly a year to veto any resolution allowing cross-border aid to continue, viewing its distribution to areas held by opponents of President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Moscow, as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty. The Biden administration favors expanding cross-border aid to Syria, and the debate over the resolution has emerged as a high-profile test of whether the United States and Russia, at a moment of escalating tensions, can identify issues on which to forge common ground.

Gaza reconstruction (Foreign Policy) The longer-term effects of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza in May were made clearer in a joint report from the European Union, United Nations, and World Bank released on Wednesday. The report estimated overall damages of between $290-$380 million while economic losses totaled between $105-$190 million—roughly 6 percent of Gaza’s GDP. The authors estimated that Gaza’s unemployment rate would reach 50 percent in 2021—its highest since the early 1990s—and that its economy would shrink by 0.3 percent.

Fiery explosion erupts on ship at major global port in Dubai (AP) A fiery explosion erupted on a container ship anchored in Dubai at one of the world’s largest ports late Wednesday, authorities said, sending tremors across the commercial hub of the United Arab Emirates. The blaze sent up giant orange flames from a vessel at the Jebel Ali Port, the busiest in the Middle East. Jebel Ali sits on the eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula and is also the busiest port of call for American warships outside the U.S. The combustion unleashed a shock wave through the city of Dubai, causing walls and windows to shake in neighborhoods as far as 25 kilometers (15 miles) away from the port. Residents filmed from their high-rises as a fiery ball illuminated the night sky. The blast was powerful enough to be seen from space by satellite. The extent of damage to the sprawling port and surrounding cargo was not immediately clear. Footage shared on social media of the aftermath showed charred containers, ashes and littered debris. Dubai authorities told the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV that the crew had evacuated in time and that the fire appeared to have started in one of the containers holding flammable material, without elaborating. The Jebel Ali Port at the northern end of Dubai is the largest man-made deep-water harbor in the world and serves cargo from the Indian subcontinent, Africa and Asia. The port is not only a critical global cargo hub, but a lifeline for Dubai and surrounding emirates.

#headlines #news

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gascon-en-exil · 6 years

Text

A Not Actually Definitive Ranking of Fire Emblem Games

So after a lot of deliberation I’ve decided not to revisit last year’s Zelda ranking project on a full scale for FE, but that doesn’t mean it’s not something I really wanted to do. 2018 is the year we’re going to get alternatively hyped for and disappointed by FE16, after all. With that in mind have an abbreviated list that will end up being one very long post. I’ve got games to gush over and an anon or two (and very likely actual followers…eep) to piss off, so here we go.

The “personal favorites of the series, love revisiting them” Tier - FE10, FE2/15, FE4

I’m never going to argue that Radiant Dawn is a perfect game or even just a perfect FE game, but damned if it doesn’t manage to do so much right all at once. An extremely ambitious story that builds off its mostly conventional predecessor in a variety of interesting ways, deconstructing a bunch of series narrative standards (life in a defeated country kind of sucks and there are people that don’t warm that quickly to young and inexperienced rulers, go figure) and taking an eleventh hour hard right at Nietzchean atheism as read by a Pride parade. Kind of falls on its ass by the end, but every experimental FE story does the same thing so I can’t fault this one. I love the army switching as motivation to try different units almost as much as I love the oh-so-exploitable growth and BEXP mechanics. Its Easy mode also hits a sweet spot for me of being challenging enough to not be a complete snore while also allowing the freedom for all manner of weird self-imposed challenges that don’t even require grinding. By all accounts Hard mode is one lazy design choice after another, but I don’t play at that level so no complaints here.

Never played Gaiden, but to its credit around half of the unique gameplay mechanics I like in Shadows of Valentia were also in the original: the modest army size, the novel approaches to inventory management and magic, the pretty basic class system with just a hint of nuance. The remake threw in some hit-or-miss questing, dungeon exploration, and achievements, but all the rest was either a solid addition or a continuation of NES-era annoyances that I could live with. And the story…SoV makes me dislike the DS games even more just because this game does so much with so little. Even leaving aside the mostly great voice acting there’s a bunch of new content that characterizes almost everybody and makes half of them (the men, anyway, because this is a remake of a Kaga-era game and therefore misogynistic as can be) gay because why the hell not, and then some development that constitutes the only solid attempt at worldbuilding Archanea-Valentia-Ylisse has ever really gotten and also retcons some stuff from Awakening into making sense. It’s even got some solid DLC with lots of character stuff for the Deliverance, the least sucky grinding of the 3DS games, and probably the only context in which I’ll ever be able to comment on anything from Cipher.

No remake needed for Genealogy of the Holy War to make it competitive with the rest of the top tier - just an excellent translation patch and the standard features of an emulator. I’ve never watched Game of Thrones and probably don’t plan on it, but I gather that this game provides the same essential experience with less blood and female nudity and marginally more egalitarianism for all. I can forgive it for being the original Het Baby Fest since you’d be hard-pressed to find a single entirely healthy and well-adjusted individual anywhere on Jugdral and I relate to that just as much. Screwed up family dynamics for everyone! It’s also arguably got a more fun breeding meta than either of the 3DS games, lacking Awakening’s optimization around a single postgame map with very specific parameters or Fates’s high level of balance that ironically stymies analysis. This is another game for interesting inventory management and unit leveling that isn’t too obnoxious, which mostly makes up for the maps taking an eon to play through even with an emulator speeding through those enemy phases. This would be a strange game to remake, but if it got a localized one of the same caliber as SoV I fully acknowledge that this could climb to the #2 spot. SoV would probably have the queer edge though unless they do some strange things to the plot or just make Gen 2 really gay…but then again Gen 2 is the part that’s more in need of fleshing out as it is. (Also, this game has So. Much. Incest. That’s not even really a kink of mine especially as it’s all straight incest, but I just find that hilarious in light of how Tumblr’s purity culture speaks of such things.)

The “good games, but don’t come back to them as much” Tier - FE7, FE9, FE8

Blazing Sword is not here for nostalgia purposes, especially since when I first played the game at 14 years old most of what I like about it didn’t really register. It was just that game with RPG elements that I liked and permadeath that I didn’t, and it took a few games after that for me to become an established fan of the franchise. Massive props for putting such an unconventional spin on a prequel to a textbook FE; this is a game in a series about war in which no war is fought, how crazy is that? We actually get to see the backstory of FE6′s tragic antagonist, even as it’s completely tangential to the plot of this game and so just feels like random Jugdral-esque family drama without context, and on top of that we get the first hints of interdimensional travel and kinky human/shapeshifter sex several years before either of those became controversial talking points about how they were ruining the series. I am so there. Lyn doesn’t matter to the saga, but her character arc is distinct and self-contained and also she picked up a disproportionately large fanbase while being bisexual and biracial so go her. Eliwood is sympathetic and homosocially-inclined even if his growths frequently make me want to cry (at least he gets a horse unlike his similarly-challenged son), and I can live with Hector even if I could have done without his lordly legacy. Throw in some average-for-the-time gameplay with just enough variety across the two routes and even more good character work *waves at Sonia and Renault and Priscilla -> Raven/Lucius and Serra and…* and it’s all in all a solid experience. The ranking system can go die in a fire though, which funnily enough it did after this game. Yay!

Like most early 3D games - except on Gamecube so it’s even more embarrassing - Path of Radiance has aged terribly by every aesthetic measure aside from the soundtrack. It’s also painfully slow, and my computer can’t run Dolphin apparently so an emulator’s not going to fix that for me. Those obvious flaws aside, it’s still an entertaining game, and more importantly it’s the prologue that had the crucial task of setting up all the pins RD knocked over in stellar fashion, whether we’re talking about the basic storyline that actually isn’t or the many het relationship fake-outs (more so in localization…I guess we’ll never know if NoA was actively planning that when they pushed Ike/Elincia like they did). PoR is also a love letter to Jugdral in both gameplay and themes, albeit an occasionally critical one. The jury’s still out on whether Jugdral or Tellius succeeds the most (fails the least?) of the FE settings at developing a complete world with a nuanced and resonant saga narrative, but that Tellius manages to be competitive while being kind of clumsy overall with racism and shifting the series’s overarching motif of dragon-blooded superhumans to one of kinky interracial sex is pretty impressive. The less I say about Ike the better since it’s only his endings in RD that save him for me; suffice it to point out that his worldview and general personality were clearly designed to appeal to a demographic that does not include me.

And finally comes The Sacred Stones, truly my average benchmark FE as I like it but struggle to have any particularly strong feelings on it one way or the other. The story is standard but has a few intriguing quirks, like the light vs. dark magic meta, surprise necrophilia, and how the main antagonist’s sexuality sort of depends on which route you take (except he’s still never getting laid so does it really matter?). It also seems to have been the first game to have made a legitimate effort toward the kind of replayability that’s normal for RPGs, what with the branched promotions, the route split, and the actual postgame. That’s all much more engaging than just filling up a support log. The gameplay is also more polished and (I think?) more balanced than the other GBA games, if one is willing to overlook the minor issue of Seth. Let’s see…something something twincest that’s now an IS running gag, something something guys talking intimately about their lances, something something SoV did the whole dungeon crawling with monsters bit better but I can forgive SS for not taking it that far. Moving on….

The “they have Problems” Tier - FE14, FE13

Probably qualifies as a fandom heresy, but yes I’m putting Fates first of these two. Fates is in every conceivable way for me the “You Tried” game, because I had such high hopes for it from the moment we got the earliest promotional content. I was expecting a World of Warcraft-style conflict between two morally grey factions with myriad convoluted grievances against each other messily resolving themselves one way or the other according to player choice (though note that this is already somewhat damning with faint praise as no one’s going to call WoW a storytelling masterpiece), with Conquest in particular a true villain campaign that I imagined might play out as European Imperialism: The Game. What we actually got was…not that, not at all, but amid all the complaints about plot holes and idiot balls and moral myopia most fans seem to have forgotten just how much there is to this game. It’s three full stories that together average out to be just about passable, with possibly the biggest gameplay variety in the series that fixed most of Awakening’s more broken elements (pair-up, children being unquestionably superior to the first generation) while also adding in new features that undoubtedly appealed to someone or other like Phoenix mode and the castle-building aspect. I can even mostly forgive the obvious growing pains Fates exhibits in terms of queer content, as they were pretty much inevitable once the developers realized that (almost) everyone was picking up on the subtext and that that approach just wasn’t going to cut it anymore. Again, they tried, and if the results included face-touching fanservice and plot contrivances left and right and two-way cultural posturing that inevitably crosses over into real world racism at some point I can still step back for a moment and acknowledge that Fates began as a distinctive, high-concept setting on par with Tellius and Jugdral that was willing to do something different with the narrative norm (for two of its routes at least, and even so I’m not begrudging Birthright its conventionality because that grounding is important overall). And who knows? Maybe a later game will come along and retroactively make this setting coherent.

Fates might have more sexual fanservice, but if there’s any FE that I feel ends up a slave to fanservice in a broader sense it would be Awakening. Yeah, I get that when it was in development everyone thought this would be the final game, so it makes sense that the finished product turned out to be a nostalgia-laden greatest hits piece. It’s still hard to forgive Awakening for feeling so insubstantial, doubly so since it ended up revitalizing the franchise and now it and Fates are everywhere. It’s got a plot that only makes some sense in light of SoV and possibly on a meta level (following my theory that the plot structure is meant to mirror FE1-3 in sequence), the first iteration of an Avatar dating game heavily coloring the characterization and support system, and a queasily feel-good atmosphere that allows almost no character to actually remain dead and centers everything around the self-insert and the power of friendship. So much for the series’s traditionally dim view of human nature and recurring theme of the inevitability of conflict. What’s more, in spite of its theoretically broad scope (including a criminally under-explored time travel plot with a bad future) and numerous call-backs to older games Awakening does surprisingly little for developing the series’s most frequently-visited setting. I think it was in large part how generic this game has always felt to me even before release that I never got very hyped for it and as a consequence was never very disappointed by it. It’s just….there, with its nostalgia and its chronic “no homo” and its host of hilariously broken mechanics. I wonder if we’d have ended up viewing Awakening more favorably if it really had been the last game? Eh, probably not.

The “needs a remake or needs a better remake” Tier - FE5, FE6, FE3/12, FE1/11

I don’t have a specific order for these, except that FE1/11 is almost certainly the bottom since 5 and 6 have remake potential and, lack of localization aside, New Mystery was a better remake than Shadow Dragon.

I still haven’t fully played Thracia 776, but I’ve watched and read through Let’s Plays and have read more than enough analysis and meta on the game to where I can definitively say that I wouldn’t enjoy playing it too much and don’t feel all that emotionally connected to the story except insofar as it relates to the overall Jugdral saga. The concept of a standard FE plot that ends with the playable cast losing is an intriguing one, though they really could have done better than the weird non-ending that is this game’s final boss. I’m also not as invested in Leif the fallen aristocrat as I usually am those types of characters, possibly because it’s a foregone conclusion that he eventually gets his kingship anyway. I would like a remake, hopefully one that smooths over some of the original’s mechanical roughness and also makes a bunch of characters gay because the material’s certainly there in places, but I also admit that I’d rather have a remake of Genealogy first. Or, for that matter….

Binding Blade doesn’t have the potential for an amazing story-driven remake that Thracia does; after all, it’s basically a soft reboot of FE1 with an equally bland lord saved by his Super Smash Bros. fanbase and possibly his weirdly large harem. That said, there’s a fair amount of character potential and worldbuilding opportunities what with the series’s first true support system and the content of its unorthodox prequel. Even by itself I feel like BB does more to sell Elibe as its own distinctive world than any of Marth’s games ever did for Archanea, and that’s even with the reality that like the Archanea games this playable cast is inflated with some really forgettable characters (that seem to have followed a semi-rigid numerical quota by class in this instance. It’s weird.). This game never really stuck in my mind as a good playable experience either, not helped by the fact that it feels simple and antiquated compared not only to the GBA games that followed it but to the Jugdral games that preceded it. Good on them for throwing out some of Thracia’s more unwieldy mechanics, but did they have to throw out skills, hybrid classes, and varied chapter objectives too? The space limitations of the GBA couldn’t have been that severe.

While I’ve been spending much of this post ragging on Archanea, I will say that (New) Mystery of the Emblem has some interesting character beats, like the resolution of the Camus/Nyna/Hardin tragedy, Rickard and the situationally bisexual(?) Julian, and some of the antics of Marth’s retainers. I did like bits of the remake’s new assassin plot even if most of it is cribbed from the Black Fang; Eremiya’s no Sonia, but Clarisse and Katarina have their moments. Also, Kris isn’t that offensive to me since I was never all that engaged in Marth’s inconsistent personality and from what I’ve seen his/her supports don’t all devolve into a dating sim. New Mystery has a broader array of characters than either the original or the previous remake, without requiring the player to kill off characters just to get some of the new ones. That said, the reclassing in the DS games is still broken and allows the player to strip even more character out of their personality-deprived units. I’m getting to the point where I’m having trouble separating the two actually, so I’ll just go ahead and remark that I think everyone can agree that Shadow Dragon is the worst of the three remakes so far, with no supports, the aforementioned killing of units, a prologue that adds to the story but only exists on Normal mode and also requires you to kill someone off (seriously, what is it with this game? Is it commentary on the necessary sacrifices of war that they tried forcing on the player for one game until they realized it was a terrible idea?), the needless removal of features from earlier games like rescuing even as others like weapon ranks and forging were left in, that first clumsy iteration of reclassing, and little to nothing that I can see as elevating the story above the standard fantasy adventure fare of Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light that might have been good in 1990 but didn’t look so hot in 2008. Archanea just feels so lifeless overall compared to every other setting in the franchise, to the point where I don’t even feel that guilty about putting the first game in the series way down at the bottom when over in the Zelda ranking I raised the NES games above ones I found more fun to play solely because of their historical significance. Isn’t FE1 arguably the first tactical RPG? I feel like I should appreciate it more, but I just can’t. *shrugs*

#Fire Emblem #Mostly serious but not entirely

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carolinemillerbooks · 3 years

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New Post has been published on Books by Caroline Miller

New Post has been published on https://www.booksbycarolinemiller.com/musings/social-concerns/america-of-thee-i-sing/

America, Of Thee I sing

Like many of my friends, the days following the 2020 election left me in a stupor. Biden’s victory was convincing, but not sweeping. It shook my belief that Donald Trump was an aberration, a stumble as the nation struggles to find its way in a world of everchanging technology, threats of global warming, and shifting population demographics. Nonetheless, I believe the country will come together. Crisis breeds opportunity, after all. With Trump and his minions gone, taking with them their prejudice against foreigners, minorities, women, science, reason, and truth, we’ll blaze a new trail. What direction we will take remains uncertain. First, we must learn whether Republicans or Democrats will control the Senate. The outcome matters, despite the nihilistic thinking of a few, those who refused to vote in the general election, insisting that neither party represented their interest. They could be right, but the choice matters to the country. Their interests are secondary. Fortunately, unrivaled numbers of patriots did vote in November. They stood in lines that could be measured in hours as well as distance. A majority voted to elect Joe Biden their next president. Nearly half supported Trump. I’m glad Biden won, but either way, by affirming their faith in our democracy, those who cast their ballots affirmed the republic still stands. We are a nation that lacks a common race, religion, or genealogy. We are no melting pot as some have called us. Instead, we are a stew. That’s how my high school civics teacher spoke of it– a collective of cultural and community heritages, each certain of its truths yet willing to tolerate diversity in the name of peace. Donald Trump chose to sharpen those differences rather than choosing to see them as strengths. He exposed our darker natures and gave us a glimpse of a future more terrifying than a swamp. Desperate at the end, he attempted to destroy our one, shared belief: that our elections were honest. Underpinning a democracy is a common understanding that there will be winners and losers. Losers won’t be punished or persecuted as Steve Bannon might wish. Instead, in the next election, the vanquished could rise again. Our faith in the equity of this system is what makes “peaceful transitions” possible. Trump did his best to make us suspicious of the process. But, thanks to the hard work of local election boards and countless volunteers, voters refused to listen. They stood in line in record numbers, believing each vote would be counted. In that acceptance, they demonstrated to Trump and the world, that We The People remain united. The demographics of this nation are changing, that’s true. Issues will arise that might make us uncomfortable, angry, bewildered… Even so, the 2020 election is proof we will face these future challenges as we have done for over 2000 years–through the ballot box. Congratulations America.

#blazing a new trail #Donald Trump #Joe Biden #Steve Bannon #the 2020 presidential election

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Link Tank: Could The Simpsons Be the Latest Addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Could The Simpsons potentially crossover with Marvel? One executive producer says they might travel from Springfield to Wakanda!

“Ever since Disney bought 20th Century Fox, The Simpsons has been the smiling face of that monopolistic corporate synergy. The long-running series was a key Disney+ offering at launch — despite some questionable cropping — and we’ve already seen at least one member of the Simpsons clan interact with the Star Wars universe. So will the Simpsons make a trip to the Marvel Cinematic Universe next? According to Simpsons co-executive producer Michael Price, it’s very possible.”

Read more at Deadspin

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The post Link Tank: Could The Simpsons Be the Latest Addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe? appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3A1kG0U

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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thelastdiadoch · 7 years

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KING COTYS IV OF ODRYSIA (THRACIAN) AND THE THIRD MACEDONIAN WAR (171-168 BCE) AGAINST ROME

This is an excerpt from my post, ‘THRACIANS, REAPERS OF THE BALKANS’.

The Macedonians and Romans clashed in two major conflicts known as the First and Second Macedonian Wars. The Thracians were divided with some of the more “wild” tribes siding with the Romans in 172 BCE while the more “civilized” Odrysians under their king, Cotys IV, sided with the Macedonians.

“Cotys was a man of distinguished appearance and of great ability in military affairs, and besides, quite unlike a Thracian in character. For he was of sober habits, and gave evidence of a gentleness of temper and a steadiness of disposition worthy of a man of gentle birth.” – Histories by Polybius, 27.12.

“Cotys, king of the Thracians, was a man who in matters of warfare moved with vigor and was superior in judgement, and who in other respects as well was responsible and deserving of friendship. He was abstinent and circumspect in the highest degree, and most important of all, was completely exempt from the besetting vices of the Thracian people.” – The Library of History by Diodorus Siculus, 30.3.1.

Battle or Kallinikos (171 BCE):

When the Third Macedonian War (171-168 BC) broke out between Rome and Macedon the Odrysians proved to be valuable assets as they were instrumental in the Battle of Kallinikos (171 BCE). Cotys IV formed the Macedonian king’s left wing with his army of Thracian cavalrymen and light infantrymen, after the initial ranged skirmish “the Thracians, like wild beasts kept in cages and suddenly released, set up a deafening roar and charged the Italian cavalry on the right wing with such fury that, in spite of their experience of war and their native fearlessness, they threw them into disorder. [3] The infantry on both sides snapped the lances of the cavalry with their swords, cut at the legs of the horses and stabbed them in the flanks” (Livy, 42.59.2-3).

In the end the battle resulted in a stalemate but it is seen as a Macedonian victory since they only lost 20 cavalrymen and 40 infantry while the Romans lost 200 cavalrymen, 2000 infantrymen, and 600 other were imprisoned.

“On their return to camp the victors were all in high spirits, but the Thracians surpassed all in the insolence of their joy. They returned to camp singing and carrying the heads of their enemies fixed on their spears.” – The History of Romeby Titus Livius (Livy), 42.60.2.

^ Osprey – ‘Men-at-Arms’ series, issue 360 – The Thracians, 700 BC-AD 46 by Christopher Webber and Angus McBride (Illustrator). Plate F: The Kallinikos Skirmish, 171 BC – “Livy says that the victorious Thracian troops returned to their camp swaggering singing and dancing, with severed Roman heads on their rhomphaias as trophies.” F1: Thracian infantryman – “He has the late 4th century shield, Chalkidian helmet, and greaves found in the Dolna Koznitza mound near Kyustendil, together with a rhomphaia and the black tunic described by Plutarch. The Thracians at Pydna may have looked like this, as they are described with ‘glittering’ shields and black tunics. Alternatively, this bronze-faced shield may be a parade piece – instead he might carry an ordinary white thureos.” F2: Thracian slinger– “There are only rare mentions and no known depictions of Thracian slingers, and this reconstruction is based on an auxiliary slinger from Trajan’s Column.” F3: Thracian infantryman – “This figure is shown in the clothes worn by a hunter in the Alexandrovo tomb paintings, and armor and equipment found together in the Blagoevgrads region of Bulgaria: bronze Thracian helmet, bronze greaves, three bronze torques, and an iron rhomphaia. They are dated to around the end of the 4th century. He carries an oval thureos like those shown in the Kazanluk tomb paintings. The rhomphaia had a large ring in the centre, which could have been used for a carrying strap.”

Battle of Pydna (168 BCE):

After aiding the Macedonians Cotys IV had to return to his realm since it was invaded by a rival Thracian king named Autlesbis who was backed by the Attalid (Attalid dynasty of Pergamon, an ally of Rome) officer Corragus. After these troubles in Thrace were quelled by the Thraco-Macedonian alliance, Cotys returned to the side of the Macedonians where he would once again aid them against the Romans at the famed Battle of Pydna in 168 BCE. The night before the battle that would decide the fate of Macedon and Thrace there was a lunar eclipse which according to Plutarch was believed by the Macedonians to foreshadow the fall of the Macedonian king.

“[7] Now, when night had come, and the soldiers, after supper, were betaking themselves to rest and sleep, on a sudden the moon, which was full and high in the heavens, grew dark, lost its light, took on all sorts of colors in succession, and finally disappeared. [8] The Romans, according to their custom, tried to call her light back by the clashing of bronze utensils and by holding up many blazing fire-brands and torches towards the heavens; the Macedonians, however, did nothing of this sort, but amazement and terror possessed their camp, and a rumor quietly spread among many of them that the portent signified an eclipse of a king.” – The Parallel Lives (The Life of Aemilius Paulus) by Plutarch, 17.7-8.

How the battle commenced on the next day varies but I’ll just mention the one which gives the Thracians a more prominent role. A Roman mule broke for the nearby river which divided the two armies and from which both drank. When three Roman soldiers went to retrieve it they saw two Thracian soldiers drawing the mule onto their side of the river. The Romans crossed the river, killed one of the Thracians and reclaimed the mule. A group of 800 Thracians who were guarding the bank witnessed the slaying of their comrade so “[9] enraged at seeing a comrade killed before their eyes, ran across the river in pursuit of those who slew him; [10] then more joined in and at last the whole body” (History of Rome by Livy, 44.40.9-10).

“First the Thracians advanced, whose appearance, Nasica says, was most terrible, — men of lofty stature, clad in tunics which showed black beneath the white and gleaming armor of their shields and greaves, and tossing high on their right shoulders battle-axes with heavy iron heads.” – The Parallel Lives (The Life of Aemilius Paulus) by Plutarch, 18.3 or 5.

From this engagement the battle had commenced. The Macedonians lost decisively as their infantrymen crumbled “to pieces like a falling house” (Livy, 44.41) which led the Macedonian and Odrysian kings fleeing the field with their cavalrymen. The Roman pursuit was hampered by their massacring of the enemy infantrymen.

“It is universally admitted that never had so many Macedonians been killed by the Romans in a single battle. As many as 20,000 men perished; 6000 who had fled to Pydna fell into the enemy’s hands, and 5000 were made prisoners in their flight.” – The History of Rome by Titus Livius (Livy), 44.42.7.

For the most part, the Third Macedonian War ended after this battle. King Perseus of Macedon eventually gave himself up to the Romans who paraded him in chains as their captive during the triumph celebrating their victory over Macedon. Perseus was placed under house arrest until his death shortly after. The Antigonid dynasty which was founded by Alexander’s diadoch Antigonus I Monophthalmus back in 306 BCE reached its end with Perseus of Macedon.

^ Perseus surrenders to Paullus by Jean-François Pierre Peyron (1802).

Cotys IV also felt the bitter sting of defeat when the Romans took his son captive along with Perseus and the latter’s family, sending them off to Italy. With Macedon subdued and his son held captive, Cotys made this wise decision to accept the new power shift by sending an embassy to the Romans asking for an alliance with the Romans and the return of his son.

The Macedonians once again rose up in rebellion under a pretender named Andriscus. In the end, the fourth and final Macedonian War was won by the Romans and resulted in the subjugation of Macedon in 148 BCE. Two years later the Romans establishment of the Roman province of Macedonia which encompassed Macedonia, Thessaly, Epirus and Paeonia as well as southwestern Thrace, and coastal and southern Illyria. The Thracians however, along with their Celtic and Illyrian neighbors, continued to harass the new Roman possessions.

After the Macedonian Wars, the Thracians are mentioned less and less until they eventually faded back into the shadows of history. Today few have ever heard of the Thracians and even less know much about them. These “barbarians” who lived on the edges of the “civilized” world of the Greeks and Macedonians made a name for themselves nonetheless. The mere mention of them conjured up thoughts of a foreign, savage, and brutal society of warriors bent on plunder and revelry. They were reviled and feared but were admired for their brave and hardy nature and eagerly sought after by kings and commanders. In the end, the Thracians were victims of a history written by their enemies and outsiders. Let us not forget that the Thracians inspired the use of the pelte shield and the light infantrymen known as peltasts, their caps inspired the Phrygian/Thracian helmets created by the Greeks and Macedonians, supposedly inspired the Athenian general Iphicrates’ reforms, invented the cavalry wedge formation implemented by Philip II and his son Alexander the Great and revolutionized the religious practices and beliefs of the classical Greek and Hellenistic world.

Head over to my post, ‘THRACIANS, REAPERS OF THE BALKANS’, to learn about their culture, religion, weaponry, armors, battle tactics, and their influence on the ancient world. Their history as well, from the tales in the Iliad to the era of the Greco-Persian Wars, and the rise of Macedon under Philip II and his son Alexander the Great.

#thracian #history #thrace #roman #rome

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weerd1 · 5 years

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Star Trek DS9 Rewatch Log, Stardate 1909.02: Missions Reviewed, “Ferengi Love Songs,” “Soldiers of the Empire,” and “Children of Time.”

Quark’s bar is overrun with voles as “Ferengi Love Songs” opens, and Rom tries to cheer him up by announcing his engagement to Leeta. That of course fails miserably, so Rom suggests Quark go visit Moogie on Ferengenar. Quark goes there to find the Grand Nagus hiding in his closet, where the head of the Ferengi financial empire is having a secret love affair with Quark’s mom Ihska!

Quark immediately begins to propose that Zek reinstate his Ferengi Business License, but Zek refuses. He sees another opportunity though when Brunt, FCA, beams into his closet to offer the license back in exchange for Quark breaking up Zek and Moogie so the Nagus doesn’t get caught in a scandal. Meanwhile, Rom, thinking he’s not being Ferengi enough creates a prenup for Leeta that prevents her from ever owning property or making profit. This of course ends the engagement. When he laments to O’Brien, O’Brien ask him what Leeta’s worth. Rom donates all of his latinum to Bajoran war orphans, so when Leeta marries him he will know it is for love. On Ferenginar, Zek, grateful to Quark for letting him know about “rumors” that Ishka was making profit, appoints him as first clerk. Quark realizes that Zek is having memory problems, and Ishka has actually been the brains behind the great Ferenginar expansions of the last couple of fiscal years. When the Ferengi market tanks, the FCA wants to bring Zek in for questioning, and Quark realizes Brunt set all of this up so he could seize the position of Nagus. When the inquiry comes, Zek aces it, and the FCA has to back off. Zek thanks Quark, who tells him all the advice actually came from Ishka, and that they should really be together.

With the couple reunited, Brunt decides to let Quark keep his business license, just so Brunt can watch him like a hawk. Ishka gives Quark back his favorite toys as a kid, “Marauder Mo” action figures, that would have been worth more left in the original packaging.

Quark’s ever cascading financial difficulties come to a head in this episode, but he manages to pull it all together. The romance is pretty funny, as is the internal workings of Ferengi society. We see Cecily Adams step into the role of Ishka here since Andrea Martin who played her earlier couldn’t continue to wear the extensive prosthetics. Wallace Shawn is always great as Zek, and Jeffrey Combs really needs his own Star Trek series where he just plays every role. Also- bonus picture of Quark with his Marauder Mo figures, sporting the energy whips the Ferengi had on TNG when they were really meant to be the villains.

“Soldiers of the Empire” has Martok take command of the Rotarran, a Bird of Prey with a bad history and broken crew who need to find a missing Klingon cruiser along the Cardassian border. He asks Worf to be his First Officer, and Jadzia signs on as science officer. Morale on the ship is bad, and as they conduct their mission, Worf begins to suspect that Martok may be a little gunshy after his time in Jem’Hadar custody.

The crew is volatile, some defeatist, some ready to try to overthrow Martok the old fashioned way, some simply apathetic, their fire gone. When Martok orders them NOT to fire on a lone Jem’Hadar over whom they could have an easy victory, things get worse; when they find the other Klingon ship, but Martok won’t cross the border to rescue survivors, it comes to a head. Worf orders the Rotarran ahead anyway and challenges Martok to combat. As they fight, Worf gets the advantage, but suddenly the tide shifts, and Martok sinks a knife into his gut.

The crew now behind him, his warrior spirit ignited, Martok leads them to rescue the other Klingons and fight some Jem’Hadar. Back on DS9 Martok confronts Worf, telling him he realizes exactly what he did; unified the crew and re-energized Martok by losing. “But how did you know I wouldn’t kill you?” Martok asks. Worf replies that he didn’t. Martok in gratitude adopts Worf into the House of Martok.

All Klingons, all the time! This episode really does play out as if the show were just about the Rotarran, and it gives us a good chance to see the Klingons up close, and not just as the monolith warrior culture, but as having personalities, and differences, and there being diversity among them; there are red-head and blonde Klingons in this episode! I definitely see a few things they do here that will later inform how the Klingons are portrayed on “Discovery.” They finally show us some uniform variants here, and we get to see some of what passes for nautical custom in the Klingon fleet when Worf requests the ship’s “battle log.” Worf becoming part of Martok’s house is going to have ramifications later. I have heard people complain that Jadzia is too good at being Klingon sometimes, but when you take into account that Terry Farrell is six feet tall, I can buy her handling herself here.

“Children of Time” has the Defiant returning from a mission in the Gamma Quadrant when Dax surveys a planet with a strange energy barrier around it. Though everyone is tired, she convinces them to go investigate. When they enter the barrier, they get some damage, it will take a couple days to fix, and Kira gets a zap from her console. They find a mostly human settlement of 8000 people on the surface, which hails them, and seems to know who they are. Beaming down, they find a Yedrin Dax and a Miranda O’Brien. Scanning, Jadzia finds that Yedrin is carrying the Dax symbiont…and it is 200 years older.

The colonists tell them that in two days the Defiant will try to leave the planet, and instead crash after being thrown back in time by the energy barrier. These are their descendants. Further complicating the issue is that the zap Kira received has created a condition which will kill her if she doesn’t receive treatment in a full hospital. But if the Defiant does go back, 8000 people, and their preceding generations cease to exist. Still alive is Odo, who comes to visit Kira, and tells her that he loves her, and has always loved her. Yedrin meanwhile has a plan to allow the same effect that “doubled” all of Kira’s quantum particles to allow one version of the Defiant to escape, and another to complete its destiny a go back in time to preserve the colony. Jadzia soon realizes it is a sham. The crew debates whether they can leave, saving Kira but allowing the rest to poof out of existence, or stay. As the day arrives they decide to help the people plant their crops, despite the fact it will all be gone when Defiant leaves. Worf works with the local “Klingons” who are his descendants both physically and philosophically- anyone can decide to take on the warrior life and hunt as the Klingons out on the plains.

Older Odo spends more time with Kira (“modern” Odo can’t hold form under the energy field, but old Odo has had centuries to practice), and she realizes she cannot allow her life to supersede 8000 others. O’Brien, who initially just wanted to back to his family, now sees that they can’t let these people die- worse, never to have existed at all. The Defiant crew decides to go ahead with the course that will make them crash. Yedrin gives them a preprogrammed course, and they follow it. The anomaly that will throw them back looms ahead, and then the Defiant swerves around it. As they leave the energy field, a scan back to the planet shows there has never been a colony there. Initially, they believe Yedrin Dax gave them a false course, choosing not to sacrifice their futures for the colony, but Odo, now back, reveals that the colony’s Odo linked with him, and he was the one who changed the course because he refused to let Kira die, and hoped there might be some chance that Odo could find happiness with her.

A really great episode, that sells the descendants of our crew exceptionally well, particularly all the O’Briens and the Klingon “tribe.” A really fascinating way as well to bring Odo’s love for Kira to the light, and not to avoid the tragic ending. There may be some inconsistency with Trek time travel here, as the creation of alternate realities is the norm when things are changed, but the tragedy of this group of people simply winking out of existence works effectively here. The romantic in my can accept the quantum “Parallels” and “Trek 2009” version that says there’s a timeline where the Children of Time still exist, but their disappearance still hits pretty hard. This is the “Trolley Problem” presented to us as only Science Fiction can, and it works with terrific—and sorrowful—effect.

NEXT VOYAGE: The final fate of the Maquis is settled in a “Blaze of Glory.”

#star trek #star trek: Deep Space Nine #DS9 Rewatch

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earth-oracle · 7 years

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~The Kali Yuga and the Return of Lord Kalki to Usher in the Satya Yuga, from Darkness to Light, the Cosmic Cycles of Divine Time~

First one must understand the forms an ‘incarnation’ can take, to understand that an incarnation is not so much a singular savior as is often spoken in religious scriptures, but rather a collective zeitgeist of the planetary soul. Then one must look at time as cyclical rather than linear, which is no easy task for people of Western culture. Interpreting metaphor and symbol of any religious text requires a visual landscape within and a mind that is keenly analytical, yet quite open to numerous possibilities in meaning. With that being said… enjoy this explanation of ancient writings from India describing the shifting of the ages and the procession of the equinoxes…

'O brahmanas, the incarnations of the Lord are innumerable, like rivulets flowing from inexhaustible sources of water.’

"In this age of Kali-yuga the propensity for mercy is almost nil. Consequently there is always fighting and wars between men and nations. Men do not understand that because they unrestrictedly kill so many animals, they also must be slaughtered like animals in big wars. This is very much evident in the Western countries. In the West, slaughterhouses are maintained without restriction, and therefore every fifth or tenth year there is a big war in which countless people are slaughtered even more cruelly than the animals. These are reactions brought about by unrestricted animal-killing in the slaughterhouse and by hunters in the forest. Proud, demoniac persons do not know the laws of nature, or the laws of God. Consequently, they unrestrictedly kill poor animals, not caring for them at all.

It is stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam that in Kali-yuga the heads of government will be plunderers and thieves. These thieves and plunderers take the money and property of the public by force or connivance. Therefore it is said in Srimad-Bhagavatam, rajanyair nirghrnair dasyu-dharmabhih. As Kali-yuga advances, we can see that these characteristics are already visible. We can certainly imagine how deteriorated human civilization will be by the end of Kali-yuga. In other words, human beings will be just like animals. At that time, in order to reform human society, Lord Krsna will come in the form of the Kalki avatara.

The modern activities of human society are described in Srimad-Bhagavatam as the activities of go-khara, cows and asses (sa eva go-kharah). Everyone is acting in a bodily concept of life involving society, friendship and love for the improvement of economic and political conditions, and thus all activities are enacted in ignorance.

Lord Kalki is the tenth and final incarnation of the Maha (Great) Vishnu Avatars. His appearance marks the end of the Kali Yuga (also known as the Iron Age) and the establishment of a new spirituality based on divine revelation and scriptural truths, both of which issue forth directly from the Lord, Himself. This is very similar to what some people call the second coming of Christ.

I. When Lord Kalki incarnates he does so to usher in the end of the Kali Yuga, an age known as much for the degradation of the earth realm as it is for the decrease in true spirituality.

II. Lord Kalki comes as a response to the yearnings of the many righteous truthseekers, spiritual aspirants and faithful devotees across the planet. His global mission focuses on the re-establishment of spiritual wisdom, true religious traditions and authentic scriptures for the upliftment of humankind.

Kalki (Devanagari: कल्कि; meaning 'Eternity,’ 'White Horse,’ or 'Destroyer of Filth’) is the final incarnation of Vishnu in the current Mahayuga, foretold to appear at the end of Kali Yuga, the current epoch. Religious texts called the Puranas foretell that Kalki will be atop a white horse with a drawn blazing sword. He is the harbinger of end time in Hindu eschatology, after which he will usher in Satya Yuga.

The name Kalki is a metaphor for eternity or time. Its origins may lie in the Sanskrit word kalka which means foulness or filth. Hence, the name translates to the 'destroyer of foulness’, 'destroyer of darkness’, or 'destroyer of ignorance’.

Lord Kalki will come as a chastiser or warrior. By this time the planet will be filled with people who will be unable to understand logical conversations. They will be too slow-minded and dull-witted, not capable of being taught much, especially in the way of high philosophy regarding the purpose of life. They will not know what they need to do or how to live. And they certainly will be unable to change their ways. Therefore, Lord Kalki does not come to teach, but simply to chastise, punish, and cleanse the planet.

He will wander over the planet without being seen by any living being. Then he will start His campaign in His thirty-second year and roam the earth for twenty years. He will take with Him a big army of horses, chariots, and elephants, surrounded by hundreds and thousands of spiritually purified brahmanas armed with weapons. [Being brahmanas, these weapons may be brahminical weapons that are activated by mantras, such as the powerful brahmastra rather than base weapons of combat such as knives, swords, and spears, or even guns and ordinary explosives.] Though they may try to do battle with Him, He will kill all of the heretics [and false prophets] and wicked, mleccha kings.

Herein we can understand that Lord Kalki will simply chastise by killing all of the evil kings and rogues and thereby bring in a new era of enlightened beings, a race whose minds will be as clear as crystal. They will produce offspring that will follow the tendencies of real human beings as found in the age of Satya-yuga.

We should make note here that, as the Vedic literature explains, when the Supreme kills anyone, that person is immediately spiritually purified by His touch and because the person is focused on the Supreme Being while leaving his body. Thus, that person attains the same destination as those yogis who spend years steadying the mind in order to meditate and leave their bodies while focused on the Supreme. So being killed by the Supreme is a great advantage for those of a demoniac mentality who would otherwise enter lower realms of existence or even the hellish planets in their next lives.

The Vishnu Purana (Book Four, Chapter 24) continues to explain Lord Kalki’s activities: “By His irresistible might he will destroy all the mlecchas and thieves, and all whose minds are devoted to iniquity. He will reestablish righteousness upon earth, and the minds of those who live at the end of the Kali age shall be awakened, and shall be as clear as crystal. The men who are thus changed by virtue of that peculiar time shall be as the seeds of human beings, and shall give birth to a race who will follow the laws of the Krita age [Satya-yuga], the age of purity. As it is said, ‘When the sun and moon, and the lunar asterism Tishya, and the planet Jupiter, are in one mansion, the Krita age shall return.'” The Agni Purana (16.10) also relates that Hari, after giving up the form of Kalki, will go to heaven. Then the Krita or Satya-yuga will return as before.

Srimad-Bhagavatam (12.2.21-24) further describes that after all of the devious and fake kings have been killed, the remaining residents of the towns and cities will smell the breezes that carry the sacred aroma of the Lord’s sandalwood paste and decorations, and their minds will then become spiritually purified. When the Supreme Being appears in their hearts in His form of pure goodness, the remaining citizens will abundantly repopulate the earth. With this appearance of Lord Kalki, Satya-yuga will begin again and the remaining humans will produce children in goodness. Thus, when the moon, the sun, and Jupiter are in the constellation Kartaka, Cancer, and together enter the lunar mansion of Pusya, that is when the age of Satya-yuga will begin. Therefore, as related in the Bhagavatam (12.2.34), after one thousand celestial years of Kali-yuga, Satya-yuga will again manifest. At that time the minds of men will be self-effulgent.

The Vishnu Purana (Book Four, Chapter One) also relates that the Vedas and the principles of sanatana-dharma, or the eternal nature of the soul, fade and disappear from the planet at the end of every four ages. The Bhagavatam (8.14.4-5) also confirms that there are saintly persons who help reestablish these principles in Satya-yuga along with the basis of varnashrama, which is the proper organization of society for humanity. The Vishnu Purana continues to explain that it is in the jurisdiction of the seven universal sages or rishis (the Saptarishis) to make sure the Vedic knowledge is given currency again, even if these rishis must descend from the higher planets to do so. So in every Satya-yuga the Manu [the demigod son of Brahma who is the lawgiver of humanity] of that age is the author of the body of law, while the sons of Manu and their descendants are sovereigns of the earth. This means that although the genuine spiritual knowledge or Vedic information may disappear from this planet, it is still dwelling elsewhere in the universe, and it is the duty of higher authorities to reestablish it on Earth”

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mrevaunit42 · 7 years

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Day 3: Culture Clash

Hey everyone, Mr.E here with the next prompt of @wholesome-week Culture Clash! Star takes Marco on a surprise visit to Mewni to learn more about the wonderful lovely plants of her dimension. Meanwhile Tom decides to pop in on the Diaz household and finds an unexpected host.

Canon universe of course.

I changed up the prompt a bit but hey I hope you get some enjoyment out of this. Have a great weekend, keep being awesome! enjoy!

Day 1: http://mrevaunit42.tumblr.com/post/155983804347/day-1-cooking

Day 2: http://mrevaunit42.tumblr.com/post/156420641822/angie-and-moon-have-a-talk-featuring-el-tigre-vs

“YAY! I am so excited for today!” Star beamed happily, her grin wide and infectious, so much so that Marco was in equally good spirits whether he realized it or not.

“Me too. It's not every day we get to visit Mewni without having to hide from your parents” Marco agreed, able to take in a proper view of Star's hometown without the hiding from sight condition attached to the trip.

Mewni may have been some sort of perfect step by step recreation of the medieval ages but rather off putting, Marco the historical nerd found the second journey to the dark ages just as enjoyable as the first.

Possibly more since nothing was currently trying to kill him or his parents.

“This is so fascinating” Marco muttered outloud, fanny pack and phone at the ready “What's the occasion Star?”

“ooooh nothing special” Star cooed playfully “Just a little exposure to Mewman culture! I mean you looooove learning about new things so why not Mewni?”

“Haha that's great Star!” Marco smiled brightly “But you know you could've taught me at home.”

“I know but hey, why not have an up close and personal experience?”

“As long as we don't go into the Forest of death, I'm all in”

“No worries Marco” Star assured her best friend, placing a hand comfortingly on his shoulder “We're not leaving town. There's an exhibit I thought you'd like to see! Come on!”

Marco allowed the energetic princess to slip her hand into his, pulling him along the dirt road that led to Star's big surprise.

There was a crackling. the smell of burnt fabric filling the air as a raging flame appeared from nowhere, charring the colorful rug found in the middle of the room as a figure walked out of the blaze unharmed.

“Hey Star” Tom called out, arms full of perfectly unmelted ice cream bars and sandwiches “Marco! I brought ice cream to apologize for the whole cursing Marco thing. I promise there's nothing wrong with these though you sure try this choco blast flavor Marco. It's to die for.”

“Subtle”

Tom blinked, staring into a near empty room with not a trace of his ex girlfriend or best friend to be found.

What he did find, however, was someone lazily laying Star's bed, flipping through a book labeled “Marco's journal” in a laidback fashion.

“...umm....hey” Tom waved, dropping the frosty treats into the bonfire behind him

A peer of brown eyes glanced his way, looked him over once and gave a disinterested nod.

“hey” the dark blue haired girl replied nonchalantly

“aren't you Marco's stalker?” Tom asked curiously, certain he'd seen this girl before.

“That's deputy mayor and unofficial Marco stalker to you red” Janna with a dull edge, her eyes focused on the book and not the demonic teen who just teleported into the room via flames.

“Red?” Tom glared, eying his hair before shifting his gaze angrily back towards Janna.

“psstyeah” Janna rolled her eyes “Cuz the fire and stuff.”

“Oh.....” That was not the answer Tom was expecting “Wait, wait, wait. What are you doing in Star's room?”

“As deputy mayor” Janna started in the most apathetic voice she could muster “It is my job to ensure that the mayor's stuff is untouched while she's away with Marco on some sort of date or whatever.”

“DATE?!”

Janna sighed tiredly, lifting off her beanie and patting out the solitary flame that spontaneously combusted onto the accessory while Tom paced furiously back and forth, little flaming footsteps in his wake.

“Date?! DATE!? I THOUGHT THEY WEREN'T DATING?! UGH THAT LITTLE LYING....I MEAN I AM IMPRESSED BECAUSE THEY FOOLED ME BUT STILL! UGH I SHOULD'VE PUT THE BALDING CURSE ON MARCO! THAT WOULD”VE STOPPED HIM.”

“Whoa, whoa slow down hot head” Janna raised her hands in a calming manner “I said or whatever too. No need to get worked up over your unresolved issues.”

“MY ISSUES ARE RESOVLED!” Tom shrieked, eyes a blood red and fangs sharp as a nearby desk burst into flames without warning.

Janna looked at the flaming pile of wood then quietly glanced back at Tom once again, clicking her tongue slowly followed by a disbelieving “Riiiiiiiiight.”

“That is so like Star!” Tom whined “and I expected better from Marco. Truly disappointing.”

“So.....what are you going to do then?” Janna asked inquisitively “Sit here and wait for them to come back?”

“Yes!” Tom scoffed “What else would I do?”

“I got an idea” Janna smirked mischievously

Marco eye's went wide as the duo entered the small, greenhouse-like building tucked away in the back of a very shady looking alley Marco would've normally questioned but was far too caught up in the elegant and breathtaking flowers that filled the countless planters that were scattered about.

“Welcome!” Star gestured to the entity of the exhibits “To the wonderful world of Mewnman plants! Ta daaaaaa!”

Marco chuckled as Star gave an eager jazz hand flourish

“This is awesome! I didn't know Mewni had so many different plants.”

Indeed there were countless shapes and shades sprinkled throughout though there were only a handful or so people with the visiting couple. Like Earth, it seemed Mewni was generally uninterested by what they thought of as common.

But screw that, Marco was totally into this.

“Mewni has a diverse array of flowers, found throughout the land” Star explained as she and Marco walked towards the nearest plant “each with a different environmental defense.”

Marco mindlessly nodded, only half listening to the words coming out of Star's mouth. This was exciting! This was amazing! So much planet life, so much to learn! Maybe he could take back some plants and grow them in the garden that way Star always had a bit of home close by while she was staying with them.

“What's this one?” Marco tried to keep the excitement out of his voice but Star picked up on it instantly. Try as he might, Star had gotten very proficient at picking up Marco's general attitude.

“This” Star motioned to the deep rich purple and black rose-like flower that hung in a limp manner “Is called DeepFoot. It's usually found in the plains of crying feet North of here.”

“Ooooo” Marco gave a muffled squeal, his light brown eyes wide with wonder and awe “This is a good looking plant.”

Star's smile was too big for her face. This was going perfectly! Marco loved this trip! For once everything was....

“hey buddy” Marco spoke gently towards the flower, leaning closer to get a better look “You want to take a picture with the coolest guy ever? Alright, if you insist.”

“Marco!” Star cried out, reaching for her best friend's sleeve as he positioned himself next to the DeepFoot, rising the phone high to take a selfie with one hand and another wrapped around the plant playfully.

The DeepFoot twitched, a subtle movement that was missed by the unsuspecting hood wearing Marco but not by Star.

Marco's grin faded as he stared at his phone, the tiny screen showing the DeepFoot's petals widening, razor sharp teeth protruding from inside. Its stem arched back before lashing forward as quick as lightning.

“Ah!” Marco shouted, clutching his hand fearfully while Star pulled him away at the last possible second, the sounds of crunching plastic and electronic bits being munched into smaller and smaller bits.

The DeepFoot burped, flecks of what was once Marco's cell phone sprayed across his face.

Before Star or Marco could react, the DeepFoot gave a shudder, an unwell growl came from its stem before it folded forward, the colors faded and washed away.

“Marco! Look what you did! You made it sick”

“Me?” Marco couldn't keep the disbelief out of his tone as Star leaned forward to check on the little flower “It tried to eat me! WITH TEETH! IN ITS BUD! WITH TEETH”

“Ooooh” Star patted the flower gingerly “Sorry little plant. He didn't mean too. Feel better okay?”

Marco didn't know if it was the trauma talking or if he was losing his mind because he could've swore he saw the flower gave a weak nod in response.

“Well....” Star nervously chuckled “Let's try the next one, the Ankle Biter.”

Marco's eyes narrowed into a glare.

“Dude, just order” Janna nudged Tom in the side “It's not hard.”

“I don't even know what I'm looking at” Tom answered, eyes darting back and forth.

“It's a menu.”

Tom and Janna found themselves at the local Mcdonald's, a pasty teen anxiously waiting for the strange teen with demon horns to hurry up and order.

“I don't even know why I'm here” Tom sighed “They don't have anything good. Where's the tormented souls? Where's the broken hopes and dreams with a side order of pain and misery.”

“They're serving your food. Just get something. We don't have all day.”

“I didn't even want to come here!”

“Well you're here now so just order something.”

“Fine” Tom pouted, arms crossed “Give me a...I don't know an order of chicken nuggets and some fries.”

“umm” The pasty teen murmured “okay and you?”

Janna shrugged “I'll have a Big Mac and a soda.”

“Wait” Tom patted his pockets “I don't have my wallet.”

“You do” Janna said, pulling a black and red wallet with a cartoonish skull on its surface out of her beanie “I just borrowed it for lunch, here you go.”

The cashier's gaze fell on some blood red notes with funny Latin symbols in Janna's hand.

“Umm....I don't think we take Blood Notes....anymore.”

“Shame” Janna clicked her tongue, checking her fingernails for nonexistent dirt “Because the prince of the Underworld does not like being denied.”

“Denied??” Tom stared at Janna in confusion “I don't even want to eat here. How did I even get here? I...”

Crack.

The only sound that was heard throughout the restaurant as Janna slammed her foot onto Tom's without warning.

The pasty teen's face received a nice tan as a plum of smoke and flame engulfed Tom's form, his eyes pure red, glowing despite the daylight pouring from the windows.

The cashier wiped the soot from his eyes and found Janna smirking at him, eyebrows wiggling with the promise of more demonic hijinks if he did not comply.

“Thank you for eating at McDonald’s”

Janna gave a cute, uncharacteristic girly grin “thank you!”

Tom fumed, huff and puffing with an intense rage, the flames growing each passing second and threatening to burn everything to a char black crisp.

“MY FURY KNOWS NO BOUNDS” Tom's voice was laced with the overtones of a demonic choir “I WILL NOT SUFFER THIS INJUSTICE ANY LONGER! I WILL BURN YOUR BODY TO ASH, I SHALL CHAR YOUR VERY SOUL AND TAINT IT WITH THE FIRES OF THE UNDERWORLD ITSELF!”

Tom rose into the air, consumed by raging fire.

Janna's face was indifference as she reached behind the counter, ignoring the cowering cashier while pulling out a small tiny toy from the basket.

“Hey” Janna held up the tiny toy “Look.”

The flames died, Tom fell to the ground with a mighty thud, cracking the smooth tile floor beneath as he rose to his feet.

“Oh cool, is that a puppy?”

“Yep, yours if you stop burning down everything”

Tom sighed in defeat “Fine.”

“Cool. Let's go find our table.”

The cashier shook as the two walked over to a nearby table, acting like nothing just happened.

“STAAAAR HELP!” Marco yelled at the top of his lungs as he tried to pry his trapped arm from the massive of stems and flowers that wrapped themselves around his figure.

“Awww” Star held her hands together, looking adorably towards her best friend and the plant that held him hostage “he likes you!”

“STAR!”

Marco went along with the rest of the trip, hoping that the rest of the flowers would be more tame compared to the opener.

Unfortunately, it all went downhill from there.

Plant that spat acid before they ate you, Plants that would throw paralyzing thorn at those who ventured too close (thank god for the Mewman who cut in front of Marco), Plants that would pretend to be a food that you were craving before trying to swallow you whole. Plants that only existed if you thought they did and try to eat you. Plants that would hypnotize their prey into coming closer, plants that you can only see out of the corner of your eye as they approached. Plants that set themselves on fire, that froze the very air itself, that were able to create a mirror image of yourself and confuse you to which was the safe one to touch. All sorts of predatory plants with a common theme: being carnivorous.

The last plant on the list was named Kraken which should've been an obvious sign but Marco couldn't say no to Star's puppy dog face, chanting “please let this one be normal, please be normal.”

it wasn't

Marco still couldn't even see the body of the plant through all the thrashing: both of his body and waves it was causing across the surface of its massive water tank. The tentacle-like stems were a sickly green, thick as a tree trunk with pretty sky blue flowers and petals sparsely covering its surface.

“STAR!” Marco cried out again, flailing his one free hand wildly.

“AWWW HI MARCO!” Star waved in return “DON'T WORRY IT'LL TAKE AN HOUR BEFORE IT TRIES TO EAT YOU”

“STAR!”

“MARCO!”

“STAAAAAAAR!”

“MAAAAAARCO!”

Janna felt strange as Tom walked her to the front of the Diaz household, a comfortable silence between them as they calmly made their way to the door, frosty treats in their hand.

“This was not a complete waste of a trip” Tom said comfortably “I mean I didn't get to torment Marco but hey at least I found the joy of McDonald’s.”

“Right?” Janna murmured, hungrily dropping the ice cream into her waiting maw “I told you'd like it.”

“You did. You know I'm going to get you back for the wallet right?” Tom glanced towards Janna.

“If you didn't, I wouldn't respect you anymore” Janna shot back with a wink.

“You respect me?” Tom asked with a smile.

“Nope” Janna said with a flirty smile.

“Next time?” Tom questioned hopefully

Janna shrugged nonchalantly, bored and uninterested “We'll see. Maybe if I don't have anything else to do.”

“See you Janna”

and just like that Tom vanished in a whirl of smoke and flames.

Janna let out a sigh of relief, a faint trace of blush painting her cheeks.

“I can't wait Red.”

Janna grinned the goofiest grin she could as she walked inside the house and came to face to face with Mr. and Mrs. Diaz surprised but happy to see her.

“Janna, are you here for Star and Marco?”

“yeah” Janna answered with a dazed smile “I'll wait if that's okay with you.”

“Okay sweetie, come on I'll make you some lunch.”

Janna sighed once again

“That sounds great. Just perfect.”

#my story #Star vs #Wholesome week

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