#like we built our DAY around this. we spent £120 on this. FOR HIM!! because we thought he’d enjoy it!!!!

[areyouwho-ithinkyouare]

haha people who have normal relationships with their fathers where they didn’t grow up being constantly made to feel dumb/unimportant/annoying…. what’s that like babes hahaha

#autism doesn’t make you a bad parent. unmanaged/unaddressed autism combined with a general lack of consideration for everyone around you… #now THAT will fuck your kid up. #autistic people often struggle with eye contact. that’s cool no problem i can still engage in conversation like that. #buuut when you’re four and super exited to tell your dad what you did that day and he literally doesn’t acknowledge your presence?? #and it’s that across your entire LIFETIME? your entire childhood and teen years and fuck it even your adult life????? THAT SHIT SUCKS #and THEN the only times you CAN get a conversation out of him it’s an argument where he WILL not stop talking over you #and scoffing at every single word you say #and raising his voice as he tells you how stupid you’re being #ummmmmmmmmm yeeaaahhhh okie dokie. a lifetime of that might ummm… lead to a few issues. #oh wait i forgot the third category of interaction: listening to him complain about something absolutely meaningless. for 20mins. #just killing the mood of any conversation. #you’re watching tv it’s fun everyone’s having fun!! yayyy yippee isn’t this nice #and then someone on tv will say ‘up and down the country’ (goofy but harmless phrase) and suddenly all you can hear is a rant #about the banality of overused idioms and phrases. #LIKE!! can you fucking lighten up for five fucking seconds. please. #idk man. my mum and i spent our whole morning travelling out to some random shop wayyyy out of our way. requires multiple buses to get there #JUST to get him a birthday present. because we thought it was fun and cute and because it’s very personal to him. #like we built our DAY around this. we spent £120 on this. FOR HIM!! because we thought he’d enjoy it!!!! #and we’re spending all day tomorrow wrapping his presents and hand making cards and planning the cake i will be baking for him #and he gets home from work and. IMMEDIATELY starts picking a fight. #like we had a lovely day. we had SUCH a good day. and a lot of it was about doing stuff FOR HIM for HIS BIRTHDAY!!! #which we were HAPPY AND EXITED TO DO!!!!! #and he fucking ruins the whole thing. #now my mum is sleeping on the sofa because she’s so angry at the way he was talking to me and i’m typing this bullshit. #and. he just. he doesn’t care. he doesn’t get it. he literally cannot comprehend why we’re upset at him. #he can’t see anything from anyone else’s perspective. he can’t comprehend the idea that maybe just maybe HE was the one being unkind.

[keltonwrites]

I'm not sure if that's a good thing

“Well you’re definitely the first.” This past week, we screened-in the eastern facing porch on the side of the cabin. The porch slopes to the South, with the brick-on-dirt floor crumbling in that direction as well until it reaches uneven slabs of stone acting as steps down to the “yard” below. A mixed material retaining wall wraps beneath the steps to the south facing garage, holding up one corner of the narrow deck on the front of the house. The deck, in the heat of a high altitude summer, droops off the house like it’s daydreaming about the winter snow’s embrace. It’s safe to sit on, though I would not recommend leaning on the railing.

The side porch takes the brunt of the wind. Our wooden rocking chairs have been rocked some 20 feet into the yard more than once in the two months we lived here. In the myriad of threats we heard about the weather, most people included the wind. We all know how I feel about this ongoing weather intimidation tactic. I asked, “what speed are the gusts?” “Oh, they get up to 70 miles per hour on some days.” This was the first quantifiable piece of weather information someone had offered — an actual number we could react to with data and our historical personal experiences of various weather events. And our reaction was: uhhhh…. OK???? Look, I get it. No one’s preaching the skin benefits of -20 degree wind gusts at 70 mph, building snow drifts against your house in the span of minutes that Cooper could die in. I am not going to pretend that’s pleasant. But 70 mph? Any wind I’ve driven faster than does not intimidate me. I used to rally the horses at 12 years old in winds over 70mph to get them in the barn before the latest tornado whipped through. I helped shutter the resort in the BVI as the Category 5 hurricane rolled in. Even in Topanga, 70 mile per hour gusts were not uncommon in Santa Ana events. We had our single pane windows shatter more than once from debris in the wind. We taped cardboard up and went to sleep. That “70 mph” was all I needed to hear to confirm our next project: we were going to build a catio for these cats, and we were going to do it on the pre-existing porch structure to save time and money. We spent a week framing out the structure. We had to carve into the logs of the house to embed the wood supports for the framing.

And from there, every piece of wood was custom carved and cut to fit around the existing timber supports. The existing porch was so wildly uneven that there are gaps between each piece of old wood and the new framing. Our plan is to mix all the wood chips from the project with mortar/chinking and stuff the gaps — a good solution for the log cabin look. We built a plywood pony wall up to 28 inches from the interior of the porch, which gives a height of ~4-5ft from the exterior ground below. It’s capped with a 2x6” railing for even the fluffiest of cats to find a perch. The exterior will be wrapped with corrugated metal that we’ll quick-age to match the metal that wraps the bottom of the cabin. On the interior of the porch, we’ll use shiplap to hide the framing.

The screens themselves can withstand winds up to 120 mph, but to-be-determined if they can hold the weight of a growing maniac cat who has already tried to climb them. In the event the screens succumb to cat (or wind or snow or neighbor judgment) we’ll reinforce with metal mesh. We’re going to maintain this screen porch regardless of what the screen is. We had the pleasure of running into one of our more industrious neighbors the other day, and Ben asked him, “hey we’re building a screen porch. Is this a terrible idea?” He laughed. “Well you’re definitely the first.” But he liked it. Great way to diminish wind into the house. Simple way to regulate the temperature with massive south-facing windows. And indeed a practical outdoor safe haven for cats in predator territory. Just because you’re the first doesn’t mean you’re foolish — just foolhardy. There’s plenty of that here. This town has the typical mountain town’s truncated version of a colonizers’ history: “established 1881.” But it was plenty established prior to that by the Uncompahgre Band of the Ute Nation, removed by the U.S. Army on September 7, 1881, nearly 140 years ago. The government relocated the Uncompahgre Ute People to Utah, and one year after the Ute were forcibly removed from their ancestral land, San Miguel County split off from Ouray County and was made its own political subdivision in the newly-formed State of Colorado. In 1879, the ore-laden valley already had 50 people living in it, with a new narrow gauge railway only 2 miles away. By 1885, it was a town of 200 people. There was a hotel, a couple saloons, a pool hall. Winters were treacherous; the valley was and is prone to avalanches. But where there’s gold, there’s gumption. The power needed to run the stamp mill to process ore drove innovation. Timber was scarce at such high elevations, so a wood powered steam mill wouldn’t cut it. But the San Miguel River just a few miles down from the mine looked promising. Thus began the development and construction of the Ames Hydroelectric Generating Plant. It was a hit. In fact, it was so successful that the Ames Plant led to the adoption of alternating currents at Niagara Falls and eventually to being adopted worldwide as a viable power solution. The plant remains, but the gold rush obviously didn’t. By 1940, the U.S. Census declared this little town I call home as tied for the lowest population in the country: 2 people. By 1960, it was one of four incorporated towns in the U.S. with no residents. But the joke was on the Census — the town’s single resident was just out of town the day the census came through. 1960 population: 1. By 1980 the population grew to 38, 69 in 1990, and about 180 now. (Plus 51 dogs according to the town’s website.) With modern amenities, it’s easier to be here. Studded snow tires, satellite internet, solar panels, instant coffee. No matter the hardships, there’s the reality of the present. In the 1880s, as the town boomed, the Ouray Times declared, “it will be at no distant day a far more pretentious town than it is now.” That day hasn’t exactly arrived, but I guess it depends on what you consider pretentious. I don’t think the town claims any airs of excellence beyond what’s true. In fact, the town hardly claims anything at all. There’s no sign indicating it’s even here. There’s just the old side and the new side. The new side, the Eastern half, was drawn out in the early 1990s, some 100 years later, and is separated from the Old Town by an avalanche zone—preserved open space for hiking in the summer, preserved open space for surviving in the winter. The town forbids short-term rentals, no one has a fence, dogs roam free, and all the houses have that cabin look to them. A boulder nests in a grove near a trailhead in the center of town with a plaque paying respect to the Utes who called this valley home. There’s no industry here. No businesses allowed. If you want a $7 latte, you can drive the 14 miles required to get it, assuming there’s not an avalanche blocking your path. You can, however, buy a pink lemonade in a

solo cup at the permanent lemonade stand run by the local feral child mafia. Crystals (rocks) can be purchased for an additional cost. We bought one, hoping to buy favor at the same time. The town plan has a few guiding principles, and it’s all in the name of preservation. We must preserve: 1 - the quiet atmosphere 2 - the rustic character 3 - the natural setting

And finally: 4 - protect the health and wellbeing of the people here No snowmobiles, no ATVs, no drones. In fact, the only sign of the outside world here are the passers-through. When you take the dirt road through town to the end, you enter National Forest, and you can hike over the pass saddle at nearly 12,000 feet before descending down the other side into Silverton. The pass road climbs rutted through an aspen forest before scaling across a scree field and then lurching over to the other side. Every day, it seems like 30 or so Texans and Arizonans in lifted and loud Jeeps with unused mods climb over this mountain in the comfort of their air conditioning, simply to drive down the other side. You could hike it, ride it, run it, and ski it, but they don’t. They rev their engines, kicking up dust in a town of feral children and roaming dogs, staring at us instead of waving. I’ve lived here for two months and look how salty I am. I’ll fit in yet. But today, there is a temperature that whispers of perfect trails and the dwindling of ogglers driving 35 in a 15. It’s already snowed in the mountains we see from our kitchen. Today, like a dedication to the Septembers of our youth, you can feel a chill in the air. A temperature akin to pencils and sweaters and reinventing yourself. A temperature that doesn’t exactly sing “screen porch” but could if you had the right slippers on. That’s what I did this morning: put my slippers on and sat there in the cool mountain morning air, thinking about the cemetery behind our house, about the Ute tribe, about the miners, about the mailman who died on Christmas in 1875 on the pass, about the 5 people who died in avalanches here just last year, about the people in their cars on their phones driving through, and all the people who’s very first question to us was, “so are you gonna live here part-time or full-time?” Maybe it will be a hard place to live. But at least we’ll have a screen porch.

Every week I'm writing about moving to log cabin in a small town at 10,000 feet. Subscribe here for free: tinyletter.com/keltonwrites

#colorado #small town life #home renovation #amwriting #creative writing #newsletter #a little bit better

[smolcobie]

Just Work | Kim Mingyu

Summary: After a virus threatens the existence of the human race, you’re forced to work with the mysterious and famous agent black, Mingyu, to save the world. Your biggest philosophy’s that nothing is above your job, but the relationship that arises between you makes you wonder: Is this just work? 

Word Count: 9.1k (it’s worth it, I promise you.)

Warnings and genre: Mingyu SecretAgent!au | violence | suggestive | heavy making out | romance | Potential end of the world.

Feats: Vernon, Woozi, Minghao, Wonwoo, Jun and Seungcheol.

AGENT LIZ, RED CODE.

The message shines in your eyes making you stop your training kicks and punches. After 30 seconds the message faded away, making you sigh. "Another mission, Y/N..." Although you were working for more than 4 years in the MI6 Agency, you still weren't familiarized with this high-quality technology.

You were recruited by accident, you always wanted to be a Cop but it happened that your IQ was way above the average, so MI6 contacted you and trained you until you became one of their best agents.

Your whole physique shivered when you read the last sentence. RED CODE.

There were only 2 times a RED CODE existed, and it was during a terrorist attack and today, so you knew that it was more than a serious matter. It was deadly serious.

You take off your gloves leaving the training room, walking to the central. You don't care about the little drops of sweat on your forehead since it's an emergency. As soon you enter the central you notice the heavy mood-setting there when you analyze the faces of your boss and few colleagues.

"Liz, arrived early today." Agent Wonwoo smiled at you "I was already in the building spending my time in training, different from you that only cares about fooling around." Your ironic tone makes him laugh "Affectionate like always." He finishes your little conversation sitting in his chair.

Wonwoo was one of those agents that only work in this world of violence for fun and spends all his salary on girls and parties. He was a good agent, good looking, always resolves every case before the normal amount of time. He was a good weapon for the company, but everyone knew that the secret weapon was agent black. The one that only a few people got the honor to meet, and you can't help but wonder if he would appear now since it's a red code;

"Agent Lizard, thank you for joining us." Your boss (and legend) Mr.s Jack starts the reunion "Agents, it's the knowledge of you all that today we had a red code. It's been 19 years since we had one and honestly, I'm truly worried." It's the first time you heard something like this from your boss's mouth.

"We have 5 days, 120 hours to save the world from an unknown virus that could disintegrate most of the human race." "What?" Your voice cracks at the end of your sentence.

"We received the information about this mysterious virus called 1XJ. He's modified to adjust inside the body of the host modifying his nature for better results in strength, velocity, and sight. But if the body of the host rejects the virus it can kill a person in less than 24 hours." "How you got the information?" Agent Joshua asks and Mrs. Jack plays a video in front of our eyes "We received this video 10 minutes ago from an unknown source, it disappeared but our IT agents got a copy."

The video starts with a black background and a person with a white mask starts to speak with a robotic voice.

"In 5 days the humanity will face their evolution, only a few chosen humans will continue our procreation. The world will change forever, where the strong ones will build a new paradise and the weak are going to die. If you want to join our cause, prepare yourselves to the final condemnation."

And the video stops. It was offensive to the eye watching such a psychopath thinking he could play with all humanity like some kind of god.

"We are going to send all of you in different missions to solve this problem. Agents this is the future of humanity, don't forget that." She says and you feel sad for a moment "You're all dismissed."

Everyone gets up while Mrs. Jack calls you "Agent Lizard, come to my office."

You follow her feeling anxious for some reason that you couldn't comprehend.

You both enter the spacious white room as she closes the door sitting in front of you resting her hands in the glass table.

"Agent Liz, I need to speak with you."

"Say it, boss." You sit and she sighs.

"I have a special mission for you." "What is it?" She places a confidential document in the table "Read it."

You open the document feeling confused.

"I don't understand, these are dates and mission notes from another agent."

"It's from our agent Vernon, he's wanted all around the world for betrayal." "Why?" "He actually had a mission to verify a mysterious lab from China but he never came back, and another source said he was alive working on some virus and then we received that video."

You are speechless. "You believe the guy in that video is him?" "I don't think is him in the video, but we have our suspicions since he worked in the IT section, but we can't affirm that so that's why I want you to investigate this."

You feel a heavyweight in your shoulders "Why me? You could call Wonwoo." "Unfortunately, he's very known out there, but you're our chameleon no one knows you."

You sigh "It's too dangerous for me to go alone, this is the potential end of the world." Your boss smiles "You're not going alone, I'm scaling someone who can work with you in this special mission."

"Who?" "Agent Black."

A shiver runs down your spine.

"Are you serious? The famous agent black?" "Yes, he already comprehends the situation and you both will start tomorrow."

"I guess I can't say no, right?" "Unless you're not worried about the future of humanity." You take the document and sighs "I accept this mission." "Good to work with you agent, you'll meet Agent Black in our secret district in China in a few hours. A plane is waiting for you outside."

"What about my equipment?" "It's already in your plane. Just go now, you have a long day ahead." "Thank you, boss." "Liz, one more thing" you gulp watching her over your shoulders "Yes?" "Don't fail."

And the rest of the air you had left your mouth.

72 HOURS, 3 DAYS BEFORE THE END OF THE WORLD

After a few hours of travel, you arrived at the section in China. You spent hours reading the file over and over again trying to find any gap but you still couldn't understand why Vernon would do something like this.

"Welcome agent Liz in our district, you'll meet agent black soon. Follow us please." "Thank you." You feel a bit nervous about getting to know the famous agent a lot of people in the agency used to talk about.

You only heard rumors about how he works. No one ever got him in a camera, the rumors say he has a unique beauty, a velvet voice that could break the chief of mafia and make him confess their crimes, sweet eyes that hypnotize anyone and lips that could kill without any remorse.

He was powerful but only a few lucky people got to know him, and now one of them is you.

After following the man you entered the secret place built under the floor, he leads you to a big grey room with a big round table and white. "Wait here, the Agent black will arrive soon." The man said bowing making you sit thinking about everything.

"The world ending in 4 days... I can't believe this." You sighed but your attention got stolen from the new presence walking through the door "Hello agent Liz, I'm Agent Black." Your heart made a small clench at the sight of the handsome tall man. "It's my honor, agent." He approached you shaking your hand.

He was... very handsome. Tall, his voice was deeper than you expected but he kinda looked like he was tired. He was dressed formally and you felt a bit envy recognizing the classy clothes from prestigious brands while the clothes you bought were from the incredible sale Target made.

"So you're gonna be my partner? I'm surprised." He smirked sitting in front of you "I don't understand, agent." You eyed him confused "They never send women to work with me" He laughed "It's complicated because they always fall in love with me and compromise the case." You laugh through your nose "Well you don't have to worry about that agent, you're not my type."

You smirk feeling proud of such a lie.

He was totally your type, but being a secret agent means that a normal relationship is not something you would achieve easily. You could die and make the person dangerous any time while working, so you never stopped to think about things like that.

The man in front of you smiled and you looked down to your own file siding it to him so he could take a look. "We're going to start looking for this agent." He viewed the papers furrowing his brows "They think Vernon is behind all of this?" "Yes." "I don't think so." He sighed "It's so obvious, he went missing and people think he's a traitor. It's so classical, I've seen this before."

He said and you smiled "I'm happy I wasn't crazy for thinking this was so weird. I met him, he could never work for something like this, he was the kind of agent that preferred to be working in his computers inside the building instead of going to the field."

Mingyu laughed "He was a good man then." "He isn't dead yet, let's find him first." You got up and he stared at you smirking "You said exactly my thoughts." You sighed "You have any idea where to start looking for him?" "Yes, I have a special contact here in China. Just follow me." "Where are we going?" He got up adjusting his suit "We're going to the center of Hong Kong."

*

"So where are you from?" He asked you breaking the silence while you stopped at the red light during the traffic "I thought secret agents couldn't talk about personal things." The man beside you smirked "Ah... I can see now, you're one of these agents." You turned angrily "What's that supposed to mean?" He laughed.

"You're one of those who don't actually live, just exist for this job." You scoffed "And you don't?" He looked at you briefly before starting the car "I'll let you discover for yourself why I'm the best agent here." He smirked and you rolled your eyes.

You stayed in silence during the rest of the drive. "It's here." You arrived at the place going out of the car walking into a small building that looked abandoned. He jumped the metal fence adorning the place and you followed him.

He stopped in front of a metal door knocking 3 times before a funny guy opened just a small gap asking "What's the password?" "Redbird." The boy widened his eyes opening the door quickly "Come on in, fast." You walked in fast and he closed the door locking everything.

"Mingyu, are you sure it's redbird?" You looked at the agent widening his eyes "Yes Minghao, I'm sure and you just exposed myself." The boy looked at you smiling embarrassedly "Sorry man, I was so shocked." You laughed "Nice name, agent." You grinned "Now you tell me yours." You smirked "If I told you my name, I would have to kill after." He laughed and turned to the boy in front of you.

"Minghao, we need your help. We're looking for a missing agent." The boy put some glasses and walked to his computer. The building was totally different inside, it was way more technological. "Tell me where he was working." "He was uncovered in Tai Wai." You said and got a closer look "Do you know the last place he was seen after he went missing?"

"Mei Tin road." "Okay give me some minutes." The boy that tapped fast on the keyboard impressing you with his ability, he was even better than the people that worked in the MI6.

"He's great right?" Mingyu approached you whispering in your ear sending shivers down your arms "Yes, he's even better than the people in our agency." You whispered back not looking into his eyes "How you met him?" "I saved him." He simply said and you turned to him that was smiling weakly.

"He went missing, the police archived the case and I found him after working in a case about the most wanted drug dealer in Hong Kong." You looked at him impressed "They kidnapped him, and were using his hacker's abilities to send drugs over all China." He sighed "I found the location and arrested the dealer and his men, but Minghao was already presumed dead so I helped him start over here working for me personally. I pay him and everything."

"And isn't it dangerous for him to be here alone?" The man just smirked "He's totally safe here, he's protected by at least 10 secret agents and he's very good in Kung Fu, so he's way better than us." You smiled "I'm happy he's safe here." "Me too, he's like a small brother for me."

To say you were shocked was an understatement, you never thought the great and famous Agent Black was this affectionate towards people.

"Guys I think I found it." Minghao said capturing your attention "Is this the man?" You looked at the images of one small security camera got "Yes..." Vernon was kidnapped just like you expected "I knew something was wrong." You said "It's been 1 month and 2 weeks, he could be dead by now." Minghao sighed and Mingyu smirked "He isn't dead."

"How do you know it?" "I know who captured him, I recognize this van right here." He pointed at the screen and you sighed "So let's go find him now." "Calm down, it's not what you're thinking." He grabbed your arm "Minghao search any formal parties from Wen Junhui." The boy obeyed smiling "You're lucky, he's holding a party tonight." Mingyu smiled at you "I hope you have a nice dress because we're going to a party tonight."

"I can't believe I have to do makeup in a situation of red code." You sighed adjusting your eyelashes "It's the needs of our profession." Mingyu tried to tight his tie "Argh, it's so hard." You looked at him laughing "So the famous Agent Black doesn't even know how to fold a tie." You approach him helping him. You swear you could almost see a small blush in his face "Thank you." He said looking away "Let's go?"

"Yes." You sigh and follow him.

"Minghao thank you for everything." You say bowing to the boy that smiles "It's nothing, it was my pleasure." "Let's go sweet, today you're going to be my girlfriend." Mingyu smirks making you blush slightly "Shut up, let's go." "Bye bro, see you." Mingyu ruffles Minghao's hair and grabs your arm.

You enter the car feeling weird, this mission was nothing like you had imagined.

"How do you know the man that captured Vernon?" You ask putting your seat belt "I'm close to him. In China he's a famous mogul, it's hard to not know Wen Junhui." You eyed him suspiciously "How are you close to the man that literally kidnapped our agent?" "Because he's an agent too, his favorite thing is to capture other agents to work for him for some time." He sighs "He's such a jerk."

"Why don't you arrest him?" He looked at you laughing "Well if you want to be killed or wanted by all agents of China you can do it." Your jaw dropped "Are you telling me that..." "Yes, he's the boss of the secret agency CHN, the official agency of China." "I can't believe this." You sighed in disbelief

"But the thing with Jun, is that he doesn't kill the agents he captures, he just uses them for his purposes." "You think he's the one that wants to kill humanity?" Mingyu laughs at you "Definitely no, if you want to get to know Jun you need to understand 2 things."

"What is it?" "He loves to party and he never misses the opportunity to meet new beautiful agents" He looked at you "Like you." A blush creeps out from your neck to your cheeks, you tried to hide but Mingyu noticed smiling "You're cute." He blurts out and you look at him hitting his shoulder "Ouch! That hurts!"

"Stop joking around we need to focus on our job." He laughs "Okay, madame." You looked at the huge mansion you parked nearby "We just arrived, lady." Mingyu said going out of his car and you felt nervous.

All those years of training and yet you couldn't feel prepared to act like you're his girlfriend.

"Just to you know, Jun will definitely try to impress you with something, but you're my girlfriend for now and we can't let him know about that." He says crossing arms with you "Okay."

You both enter the jaw-dropping place. The lobby was decorated with fine gold fabrics, a huge crystal chandelier in the center, live music and lots of food. People had a unique formality, they were rich people indeed.

"This is so far from my reality." The man next to you laughs "I knew if I told you Jun makes parties like this every week you'd be shocked." Beautiful women around looking at Mingyu was something you expected to see but not so blatant like they were doing. The women there were practically eating him with their eyes.

"Kim Mingyu, what a surprise." A nice man approaches greeting you both and eyeing you from your head to toe "Jun, partying as always." Mingyu smirked quickly "And who's this beautiful lady?" Jun smiles at you "I'm Liz," "My girlfriend." He completed the sentence before you and Jun smiled.

You definitely were surprised at how young and handsome he was.

"I'm impressed at you Mingyu, I didn't expect such a goddess would actually put up with you and your hassles." Mingyu's expression hardened as he slid his arms to grip in your waist "He's not that bad." You smiled softly and Jun snorted "This is good, I hope you enjoy my party. You'll be always welcomed here miss Liz, even when you break up with him."

He smiled and turned around walking out of your presence. Mingyu's hands were red with the force his fists made to stay in place. "It's okay, let's go Mingyu." You said softly his name and he liked being called by his real name for the first time.

"So now that he's gone, let's have some look around here." You said and he agreed "Don't go too far." Mingyu said in your ear making you nervous breaking the touch he had over your waist.

You decided to walk around after picking up some champagne looking around. You noticed quickly that there were a lot of security guards but specifically around this dark corner where people didn't get close. The ceiling had no cameras so you smiled to yourself already making a plan in your head when your thoughts were stopped by Jun.

"Miss Liz, already alone? As I expected Mingyu doesn't know how to value good women." He smiled and you sighed "Mrs. Jun, I'm just looking around since I'm fascinated by this incredible mansion." The man slid a hand through his black hair smirking "Are you into architecture?"

"Just a bit." You smiled and he touched your cheek slightly "I'm sure you would love the architecture around my room." You gently took his hand off "Mrs. Jun I don't think you understood the part that I'm compromised with Mingyu." He grinned "You don't need to pretend with me, any woman wouldn't date him knowing who he is truly... unless" He eyed you suspiciously "Unless?" He approached you smiling "Unless you know who he truly is in real life."

You smirked "Maybe I'm special." The man approached your face "So you know about his failed mission 127." You widened your eyes and Jun snorted "Oh, so you don't know about that..." "What are you talking about?" He looked at you drinking his champagne "Miss Liz I see that you really care about him, so I'll let you discover by yourself." He kissed the top of your hand and walked out again.

You felt nervous but Mingyu pulled you close "You okay?" He looked at you with a caring look and you just sighed "Yeah, just tired of Jun." He smiled and took your hand.

The music was slow so the man looked down at you "Wanna dance?" "It's not time for us to dance." You scoffed feeling nervous because, to be honest, you didn't know how to dance that well "Don't be nervous, we'll dance to take a look at the place" He pulled you close by your waist "Okay."

You looked away putting your hands in his shoulders whilst he looked behind you "You noticed that dark corner right?" "Yeah, there are no cameras either." He smiled "That's great." "I think we should make a plan." He suddenly grabbed your leg bowing your body "I have the perfect plan" his breath fanned your face and your hands slide around his neck "Tell me" he pulled you up "You're going there and try to distract the security, I'll knock them over." He whispered in your ear and you nodded "Okay, let's go."

You approached the corner as if you were looking for the bathroom, you searched briefly the lobby and saw no sign that you were being followed. The corner was dark enough to see, so you walked as if you were lost but quickly took the chance to evaluate the place. There was only 1 door at the end of the small dark corridor, and no cameras.

As you approached the door a voice caught your attention "Miss, you're not allowed here, this is private." A tall man with a black suit stared at you seriously and you looked at him innocently "Oh! I didn't know, I was looking for the bathroom" The man stayed in his place "Follow me, the bathroom is not here." You nodded but when he turned Mingyu knocked him out with his hands "Oh God, Mingyu behind you!" You ran to him and knocked the guy behind.

"Remember me to not fight with you " He commented smiling and you sighed “Let’s go, this door is suspiciously locked.” Mingyu nodded walking first and breaking the door that opened revealing a Dark Room, a PC and Vernon handcuffed.

“Liz? What are you doing here?” He looked at you shocked “I came to save you, and your career.” You untied the boy's knots while Mingyu closed the door pulling the man inside “Who are you?” Vernon stared confused at Mingyu and he smiled “Agent Black, nice to meet you.”

The boy widened his eyes looking at you “What is happening?” “It seems that the world is ending, and people think is because of you.” Vernon sighed stretching his arms and sighed “We need to get out of here, before Jun find us.” Mingyu nodded looking at the corridor seeing no signs of people.

“Liz, we need a suit for Vernon.” Mingyu looked at you smiling “What?” He asked and you just pointed to the security guard unconscious on the floor.

After a few minutes of stripping the guard and giving Vernon time to get dressed, you and Mingyu walked out first. “We’re going to distract Jun and you’ll get out of here got it?” You looked at Vernon that just agreed while Mingyu placed his strong arm around your waist.

You walked through the salon smiling and subtly looking around for Jun that was busy talking with some lady. Mingyu approached him slightly while you gave Vernon the sign to walk away “Oh? Is my favorite couple enjoying the party?” Jun smiled at you that just nodded smiling “Actually, we’re leaving but I loved it.” You answered before Mingyu while Jun smirked “I’m glad you liked it miss, you’re always welcome in my house.” He kissed the top of your hand while Mingyu rolled his eyes.

“Don’t worry Mingyu, I won’t steal her away.” He winked and said in Mingyu’s ear “Unless you don’t treat her good.” Mingyu just laughed through his nose and smirked “Don’t worry Jun, I’ll take care of her.” You felt your insides warm-up and just walked away with Mingyu.

Vernon was in the street pretending to talk with a Chinese lady while seeing you both enter a car in front of the building. “I need to go now, but it was my pleasure talking to you.” Vernon kissed the top of her hand running to the car that opened his door so he could enter “Oh my God, please tell me what’s happening.”  

“That’s a long story and we’ll talk soon.” Mingyu said and Vernon sighed in the back of the car.

***

“What is this place?” You entered the secret room of an abandoned building. The funny thing is that the room looked perfect and clean, nothing out of space “My secret home here in China.” He sat on the bed while Vernon gulped harshly the water from the filter that was stuck to the wall.

“So, let me understand one thing. I’m wanted for betrayal after getting kidnapped, the world is ending and you’re the famous agent black?” He looked at Mingyu that just nodded “We’re screwed.” He laughed sitting on the chair that was beside the bed “Why am I going to prison? I don’t understand.”

You sighed and explained the situation to Vernon from the beginning. “Okay, so they think I did this? This is ridiculous I was doing my job when I got kidnapped.” “I Know. I told our boss this didn’t make any sense so here we are.” You smiled weakly and crouched in front of the boy “We need to know everything you discovered, you’re our only chance to make this mission possible.”

“Look, before I got kidnapped, I was investigating a lab here but they didn’t have anything suspicious but they had someone interesting.” “Who?” Mingyu asked crossing his arms in front of his chest “I need a computer so I can show you.” You picked the laptop in a table next to you and gave it to him.

“While I was investigating this man, I discovered he was a scientist working on a strange virus that could be extremely dangerous.” He tapped fast on the computer and turned to show the face of the man “This is him. His name is Lee Jihoon, he wasn’t working on this alone. But when I was this close to discovering his boss, Jun kidnapped me.”

“Do you know where he is now? Or where he could be?” You asked and he nodded “Thankful to Jun, I could track him while I was there. He wanted me to hack security cameras and look for new agents so I know where he is today.” Mingyu smiled “Good job agent.” “Now if you excuse me, I’m going to take a shower because I stink.” Vernon smiled and locked himself inside the bathroom while you sighed walking to the small living room next to the room.

Since it was a closed building it didn’t have windows so there were large screens showing different scenarios “You like it?” Mingyu asked you and you sighed sitting on the sofa “It’s nice.” You commented resting your head against the sofa sighing “This is ridiculous, I can’t believe there’s this crazy guy who likes to think he’s some kind of god.” Mingyu sighed and sat beside you “I know right? This is crazy.”

“You know I was thinking…” You started a conversation looking at the green forest in the screen “About?” He looked at you tenderly “What if we fail? What if everyone dies in the end? I didn’t do much in this life.” You confessed feeling your chest tight “I lived for this job and I couldn’t say it was worth it. In the end, we’re going to die and I didn’t have a normal life like I always wanted.” You stared at him.

“I never told anyone this, but I just wanted to be a cop, have a nice house and travel to Hawaii on vacations like my friends from college.” He laughed a bit “I understand, I was like that too once.” “And now I don’t even know if we’re going to survive and I just realized… I lived nothing.” 

Mingyu smiled sadly at your confession “You wanna know my secret?” You nodded and he grabbed your hand caressing the top with his thumb “Do you feel this?” “Yes...” You were confused “You need to remember that you’re human. You have emotions, sensations… feelings.” He stared at you deeply “That’s my secret, even on missions I always like to remind myself that I’m not a machine. I need to live like a human, have friends, fun and try to enjoy every day.”

“What's the point to save humanity if you can't live and feel like a human?” You confessed feeling your throat dry “It’s not too late, you can make everything different.” He stared at you and you sighed “You spent all this time saving people so they could live, you can enjoy your life too. You deserve it.” He said lowly while you smiled “You could be a nice therapist if you weren’t a secret agent.”

He just giggled and ruffled the top of your head “Thanks Liz.” He answered and you felt the urge to open yourself for real “Y/N.” You said and he looked at you confused “What?” “Y/N. That’s my real name.” He grinned happily “That’s a beautiful name.” He squeezed your hand making your cheeks red “I know.” You boldly stated smirking.

“I’m out!” Vernon interrupted both of you “The bathroom is clean.” Mingyu smiled at you dropping your hand “I’m going to take a bath too. You can rest here.” You just nodded missing the warmth of his hand on yours.

You closed your eyes resting your head int the arm of the sofa while looking at the scenarios. The peace and the silence made you drowsy so you soon fell into a deep sleep without noticing.

* 

You woke up harshly by the sounds of something breaking and widened your eyes when you saw a man tied in the chair inside the room with his mouth taped. “What is this?” You looked behind you and saw Mingyu smirk “Sorry, you were sleeping so beautifully so Vernon and I kidnapped Jihoon.” You looked at the man that seemed afraid “The scientist?” “Yep.” Vernon appeared and took off the tape harshly “OUCH!”

The man complained “Who are you? What do you want from me?”

“We have a lot to talk, Mr Jihoon.” You crossed your arms “Do you know what is the 1XJ virus?” He widened his eyes “H-How did you…” Mingyu who had 0 patience kicked his chair “Answer the question.” The man just nodded sighing “Look I know what you’re thinking, that I made the virus to kill everyone but it’s a lie.” He started to explain “I was studying the way virus change and evolve but one agent made me work for him. He said if I didn’t pass to him my search, he would kill me, I had no choice!”

“Who forced you?” Vernon asked “I-I don’t know his name, but he’s Korean. He had black hair and was working with 2 agents, one from MI6 and the other from AIK.” You looked at each other “Do you know where they could be now?” “The only option I can think of is Paris, I remember they were saying something about Eiffel tower being the essential point.”

“What should we do to kill the virus, or stop this?” Mingyu asked and Jihoon smiled sadly “You can’t, the virus is immortal.” He said and you sighed “There’s no such thing, WE NEED SOMETHING OR ELSE WE’RE GOING TO DIE.” You screamed and the man trembled.

“OKAY! There’s only one cure.” He confessed “But it’s in the lab I worked, but they have incredible security there.” “I want the location and the name.” Mingyu grabbed the chair arms and stared at the man’s eye “It’s here in China, you have only one bottle. It’s a gold liquid if you mix them together the virus dies immediately.”

“We have a chance.” You looked happy at the boys that smiled “But we need to go to Paris, we can’t waste our time.” Mingyu said freeing the man “You’re coming with us.”

The man sighed relieved.

48 HOURS, 2 DAYS BEFORE THE END OF THE WORLD

“You got everything?” Mingyu spoke in the mic while Vernon used a computer inside the van “Yes, we have approximately 10 minutes to grab the liquid before their alarm and cameras work again.” “Perfect, Liz you ok?” “Yes.” You fixed your sexy dress while waiting for the sign to distract the security guard “Now!” Vernon said and you started to walk like you got lost.

You approached the man in the suit in front of the building “Hello? Do you speak English? I’m lost.” You said in a velvet voice showing your leg slightly while holding the end of your dress. The man just smirked looking at your figure “Yes, a bit.” He answered interested while Mingyu got inside the building through a window at the balcony “I was looking for a party you know? I think it’s a club, I-I don’t know the name.” You made a sad face while Mingyu smirked to himself.

“Never thought you could have such a façade.” He mumbled to himself while he followed the directions Jihoon gave through Vernon.

“Look lady, there’s no club here. I think you’re mistaken.” He said approaching you slightly “But we can go somewhere if you want.” He whispered staring at your cleavage shamelessly.

“8 minutes Mingyu.” Vernon warned the boy that was close to the vault “I’m almost there, I need the password.” Jihoon sighed “Oh no, I can’t remember clearly.”

“Man, we’re screwed.” Vernon mumbled while you tried to smile without punching the security face.

“Tell me your name, princess.” He touched your cheek and you almost puked right there “My name is Kate.” You touched his suit “And yours?”

“I NEED THE FUCKING PASSWORD VERNON?” Mingyu stared at the round door that had 5 cameras around filming it. “JIHOON?” Vernon looked at him that was scrunching his face “TRY 2019.” He said and Mingyu clicked but it was red.

“Still red.” Mingyu looked at the time. 5 MINUTES “SHIT 5 MINUTES JIHOON, C’MON.” He whispered nervously.

“My name is Yukhei, nice to meet you.” The security smiled looking at your face “So what’s the secret?” You said trying to communicate with the boys that were desperate “I don’t have any secrets, princess.” The security guard said sweetly and Mingyu snorted.

“If he says princess one more time, I’ll shoot him.” Mingyu said and you smiled at yourself.

“I REMEMBERED! TRY 1713.” Jihoon screamed at the mic making Mingyu wince at the sound.

“Damn, don’t need to scream like that.” He clicked the password until it got green. “Thank God it worked!” He sighed picking up the gray suitcase and replacing it for another. “1 MINUTE MINGYU! GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!” Vernon screamed and Mingyu closed fast jumping out of the building.

“So… since you’re working now, I don’t want to trouble you sir, so here is my number.” You gave the security a paper with random numbers and your fake name “Call me anytime.” You winked and he smiled “I will.” You walked out of there sighing relieved.

After a few minutes, a black van stopped in front of you “Good job, Kate.” Vernon sarcastically said and you rolled your eyes “I don’t wanna talk about this ever again.” You mumbled angrily while Mingyu smirked beside you “Give me your number, Kate.” you just pushed him.

“Let’s go to Paris then.” Vernon said relieved and Jihoon panicked “Me too?” “Obviously, unless you want to die.” Mingyu stared at him that sighed.

*

“Me and Jihoon are going to find a particular plane for us, you guys watch the suitcase.” Mingyu nodded and you ran to the bathroom so you could take a bath and change to comfortable clothes. “Alright.” Mingyu said and put the suitcase on top of the table in his room.

He opened carefully seeing a small bottle with a yellow liquid. “I hope you work fine, I’m not ready to die yet.” He chuckled and closed the suitcase.

You walked out of the bathroom sighing happily with your clean face “I’m finally free.” You sat on top of the bed while Mingyu stared at you smirking “You’re a nice actress.” He smirked and you grinned rolling your eyes “It’s not like I have another choice, I’m a secret agent I need to be good at this.” Mingyu got up rolling his sleeves up showing the veins of his arms “You’re right. In the beginning, I was nervous too but I got good after a few missions.”

You looked at him smiling “You too? I thought you were always good at this…” You said without thinking and he grinned showing his full smile “I’m flattered but I had my hard moments too…” You remembered what Jun said about a 127 mission and asked him with the rest of the courage you had in you.

“Hey Mingyu… What happened in mission 127?” You asked directly making him stare at you failing his smile “Who told you about this mission?” “Jun.” He sighed and sat beside you running his hand through his hair.

“It happened last year. I had a partner, his name was Seungcheol.” He started speaking with a melancholic tone “Basically, our mission was to catch a killer wanted by INTERPOL, he was planning a terrorist attack in Korea.” “So, what happened?” Mingyu looked at you biting the insides of his cheek.

“We found his secret hiding on the roof of a building, he had the button to explode a bomb that would hit a huge building and kill everyone there.” He took a deep breath “So when we got there, Seungcheol fought him and broke the button, but the guy shot against me and that’s when he protected me.”

You could feel him getting emotional “Seungcheol stayed there, I ran after the man and I…” He looked away from you “Killed him.” He sighed “I never wanted to kill the guy, I wanted to make him pay for his crimes, but because of Seungcheol I lost my mind. I punched him so hard that he couldn’t resist it.” You touched his shoulder and he looked at you “I’m not the great guy everyone says.” He felt his eyes water but quickly winked.

“It’s not your fault, I’d have done the same thing as you.” You stared at him “You’re just… human.” He smiled sadly closing his eyes “After that, Seungcheol didn’t resist, his doctor said that his last words were: Live a good life, Mingyu.” “And you started to live properly.” You completed his sentence and he nodded “Yes, I started to live like he wanted me too. In the end, he was right.” He stared at you “That’s why I’m telling you, don’t waste your life.”

You just smiled touching his cheek caressing a little “Well, we have 2 days before the world ends, I don’t have a choice, right?” He grabbed your wrist kissing slightly “Good choice.” He whispered pulling you towards him, his breath fanning your face and your eyes closing but unfortunately got interrupted by Vernon and Jihoon entering the house.

Mingyu got up sliding his hand through his hair while you sighed adverting your eyes.

“So, I found our plane. Are you guys ready to speak French?” Vernon entered the room looking at you smirking “What’s with this mood? Did I interrupt something?” He wiggled his eyebrows and you just smiled “Shut up Vernon, let’s save the world.” You said and Mingyu smiled side hugging Vernon and Jihoon “Let’s go, Paris.”

24 HOURS TO THE END OF THE WORLD

Thankfully to Vernon, you arrived at Paris without any problems. The plane was fast, unique and first-class. You could have a few hours of sleep, eat a portion of decent food and think of a plan to stop the enemy “So, let’s review our plan, one last time.” Vernon sat on your bed at the closest hotel from Eiffel Tower. 

“Jihoon and I are going to trace elements that could lead us to the signal from the enemy.” You nodded “Mingyu and you are going to go up the Eiffel Tower and destroy the main virus when I finish hacking their system.” 

“So this is it, finally.” Mingyu sighed and Vernon smiled “Yeah, but I need to hack this hotel wi-fi, or else we aren’t going to make this work. We’re lucky that my partner Joshua is here in Paris to help me.” Vernon picked up his phone and sent Joshua a message.

“Me and Jihoon are going to the last floor, you stay here and get ready, we’re leaving in a few hours.” Jihoon looked at you “I recommend you guys use a special coat, if something goes wrong you can’t touch the virus with your skin or you’ll get infected.” You nodded “Don’t worry, I prepared everything in our plane.” You answered and they smiled.

You went to your bag searching for the items while Vernon pulled Mingyu aside and whispered lowly so he could be the only to hear it “I’ll give you 3 hours, so please don’t waste our time and be smart.” He smirked at the red face Mingyu made “Thanks buddy, I’ll compensate you after we save the world.” He shook his hand while they left the room.

You spread all the guns and equipment you brought from China. You looked at everything before choosing your favorites.

“Having fun?” Mingyu sat in front of you using his elbows to sustain himself “If you think choosing guns so we can save the world is fun, then sure.” You laughed not looking at him picking up the bullets and charging all guns.

“Staying with you, I think is fun.” He whispered and gave you a small smile. You looked at him laughing through your nose “You really have the time to hit on me in times like this?” He pulled you by your wrist gently “Yes, I can take some time for you.” You bit the interior of your cheeks “What are you doing Mingyu?” He hugged your waist trapping you in his embrace while looking at you “Why rush ourselves? We have time, Vernon and Jihoon are not here.”

Your heart beatings speed up “You’re such a playboy.” Your hand caressed his hair “Is that what you say to the female agents you worked together?” You sarcastically stated and he sighed “No, I don’t say that because I never liked them.” He spoke honestly pulling you to his lap.

“You’re the only one I got interested.” He smiled and you looked down at him “And you expect me to believe you?” You laughed through your nose “You could be a good liar.” He sighed grabbing your thighs “Why don’t you judge me then?” His lips brushed against yours “Tell me if I’m lying.” He grabbed your hips and you smiled “Okay.” You could feel his hot breath in your face.

He licked his bottom lip quickly before leaning in and kissing you softly. Your left hand grabbed his shoulder to stabilize yourself while you roamed through his hair with the other one. His lips slide slowly over yours as if you’re the most precious thing in the earth, you pressed your body against his kissing harder.

He pressed his lips against your jaw sighing softly when you pulled his hair towards you closing your eyes. Your throat being marked with his thick lips making you smile.

“Mingyu, the world’s going to end.” You tried to speak but he shushed you entering his tongue in your mouth harshly putting you down in bed “I’m sorry, but I won’t forgive myself if I don’t do this now.” He climbed on top of you pushing your guns aside. You touched his warm cheeks with the palm of your hands while you stared at his perfect face “You’re so hot.” You confessed and he laughed “I thought you said I wasn’t your type.” He pressed his lips on your again “I lied.” You said pulling him to you.

Your moment soon got interrupted by the ring of Mingyu’s cellphone.

“Ughh, not now.” He got up picking up the mobile looking at the name ‘Vernon’ “What is it?” He mumbled angrily while you fixed your hair and clothes “I’m sorry man, I know I promised 3 hours a least but it’s an emergency.”

“What is it?” Mingyu put on speakers so you could listen “We hacked the wi-fi and apparently they discovered that we’re here already. They’ll release the virus before we expected, we need to get out now.” Vernon screamed and you looked at Mingyu desperately.

“C’mon Y/N, let’s save the world.” He said extending his hand to you that grabbed happily “Yeah.” You smiled putting on your bulletproof vest.

*

Vernon drove the van like it was a race. You and Mingyu were the first ones to escalate Eiffel Tower, while Vernon and Jihoon asked for reinforcements.

“Don’t forget what Jihoon told you, try not to be seen. I’m going to distract the enemy and you’ll destroy the virus.” You nodded and Mingyu looked at you one last time “What is it?” He just kissed you quickly and smiled walking first to your hiding.

As you expected the enemy was at the top, his agents too. the sight took your breath away, it was Wonwoo there. You couldn’t believe that he betrayed the entire corporation. You looked at Mingyu that was shocked, he was stunned and couldn’t move.

You touched his shoulder and he swallowed hard nodding. He got up and picked the other agent using him as a hostage. “If any of you move, I’m going to kill him.” He said putting his gun against the back of the man.

The enemy smirked and looked at Mingyu “Nice to see you again, Mingyu.” He laughed while Mingyu had tears in his eyes “Seungcheol. I thought you died.” You got frozen by the name. Seungcheol... his partner wasn’t dead?

“Yeah, I know. I bet it sucked for you, but I never died, and that shot was fake too.” He approached Mingyu smiling sarcastically “Meet my true partner: Wonwoo. He’s the one that planned everything with me, it was perfect.” He looked at Mingyu “Sorry you killed that man, but I’m glad you’re here so you can see the revolution we’re going to make.” Mingyu snorted.

“You’re a psychopath, I can’t believe I cried over you.” He pressed the gun further on the agent “I’m not joking, I’ll kill him.” Seungcheol and Wonwoo laughed “You can kill him if you want, I don’t mind.” The agent was terrified and you could tell by looking at him.

“Dino isn’t essential for this anymore. I got the key right here.” He showed the button on his hands while Wonwoo had the bottle of the virus plugged on his case “If you give one step, I’ll click this button and everyone will die.”

“Who are you? What you did to my best friend?” Mingyu said with remorse in his voice “I never was your best friend, but I admit it was fun working with you.” You took advantage of the talk and approached them silently. You were behind Wonwoo but they couldn’t see you.

“Well, the talk was great but now I have a duty. Bye Mingyu.” Seungcheol said while Mingyu whispered to Dino “You have a chance to change your destiny right here.”“I don’t think so baby.” You said shooting at Wonwoo’s leg grabbing the case. Mingyu released Dino that shot Seungcheol in his hand.

You grabbed the bottle with the cure and broke into the bottle with the virus making Seungcheol scream “NO!” Mingyu kicked him into the ground while you knocked Wonwoo out. Dino grabbed the control with the button and shot through it making it useless.

Mingyu approached Seungcheol looking at him “Are you going to kill me like you did to that man?” He said sarcastically and Mingyu just punched his face making his mouth bleed. “I’m not the kind of man that commits the same mistake twice.” He handcuffed Seungcheol while Vernon and all the team arrived right after.

“I guess you didn’t need me after all.” Vernon joked while the agents arrested the boys there. Mingyu approached Seungcheol one last time “I hope you live a good life in prison.” He whispered and the boy just smirked “Jerk.” And the man took him while you ran to Mingyu to hug him.

“We did it! We saved the world!” You sighed relieved while Mingyu kissed the top of your head “Everything’s going to be fine.”  He sighed and you gave one last look to Wonwoo “I knew I was better than you.” You said while he limped because of his leg.

And that’s how you saved the world in less than 5 days.

*

“Agent Liz, I’m glad you could complete your mission. Honestly, I was shocked when I heard Wonwoo and Seungcheol were involved in this.” Your boss sighs while you smile a bit “I think you deserve a few days off, what do you think?” She asked you smiling and you nodded relieved “I’d love it.” You shook her hand and walked out of her office.

“Hey! Liz, where are you going now?” Vernon shouted and you looked at him “My home, take a good shower and sleep probably. Why?” He searched his pockets until it found an envelope “This is for you.” He smiled and walked away when you grabbed the letter.

 From: Mingyu

To: Y/N

 You laughed when you saw how cute it was written. It was an address and the number of a room with a key in it. “He’s such a playboy.” You commented walking out of your agency.

The hotel wasn’t hard to find, it was one of the most expensive in your region. You laughed at yourself just thinking about the kind of things Mingyu was preparing for you to get there. You parked your car and entered the place showing your key, which the staff guided you to the elevator.

You clicked the ‘10’ button floor and waited the doors close. Inside of you, you could feel your entire body shivering in anticipation since you didn’t saw him since that day in Paris. You missed him more than you expected.

The door opened and you walked to the room your key indicated.

1056 – You stared at the number before using the key to open the door. You took a deep breath and entered the place.

The first thing that came to your vision was Mingyu looking at the windows with his social outfit. “So you really came.” He mumbled turning to you with his hands inside his pockets “Of course. I wanted to know what you want from me.” You spoke softly fixing his tie “You still don’t know how to make your tie?” You asked while he just stared at you.

“I thought you would ignore me.” You lifted your eyes and smiled “Why would you think something like that?” you whispered while he pulled you close by your waist “I don’t know… Maybe you just liked the adventure, but not me.” His nose touched yours “Are you saying you like me?” 

You giggled and he hid his face in the crook of your neck “What do you think?” He pecked the skin and you smiled to yourself “I think I need to judge it.” You whispered to his ear and he smiled picking you up.

He placed you on the bed gently “Now the world isn’t ending.” He smirked and you caressed his face “So what you gonna do about it?” You boldly asked making him smile.

He just kissed you hovering over you while your hand went to his hair. His hands explored the skin inside your blouse and you messily tried to unbutton his white shirt. “I’m glad I saved the world with you.” He said sucking on a sweet spot behind your ear “M-Me t-too.” You could barely speak while his lips traveled from your neck to your collarbones.

He took his shirt off making you blush from the view. “Like what you see?” He asked you while you just gave little pecks to his face roaming your hands on top of his shoulders. “You’re so handsome.” You whispered and he smiled “Thanks.” He whispered on your ear kissing it “You’re pretty too.” His lips were so soft that you thought how unfair it was. Your fingers explored his perfect jaw making you smile into the kiss.

He smirked sucking on your bottom lip sending shivers down your spine.

You took off your blouse and skirt, making his ears red. He kissed you deeply touching every skin possible. He gave you small pecks showing you affection and care, something you didn’t felt for a long time. The way his scent filled your nostrils made you weak.

After that, you knew you wouldn’t get over this man easily.

 1 YEAR LATER

Sunrays through the window make your eyes open slowly, your whole body is warm by the body next to yours. Mingyu’s arm still tight around your waist and his breath hitting the nape of your neck. You turn around slightly afraid you would wake the man up, but smiled seeing the cute pout that he does unknowingly whenever he sleeps. Your right-hand touched his cute cheek caressing a little making you laugh.

You stretched your arms and saw the ring of your left hand making you smile. If someone told you that you would save the world and marry agent black you’d have laughed, but life was good to you.

“Babe…” He mumbled opening his eyes a bit “Come here, I want to cuddle.” He smiled and you leaned towards him kissing his nose “You’re such a big baby in the morning.” “Yes I am, come here.” He pulled you by your waist hugging you “I love you Mingyu.” You said sincerely making the boy smile “I love you too.” He pecked your cheek and put his face in the crook of your neck while you caressed his hair.   

 You sighed happily at the vision and closed your eyes enjoying the feeling of peace.

“I guess it wasn’t just work after all.” You mumbled to yourself smiling. 

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MASTERLIST

#kim mingyu #mingyu #seventeen #mingyu scenarios #mingyu seventeen #kim mingyu scenarios #mingyu imagines #mingyu fluff #mingyu x reader #mingyu blurbs #seventeen scenarios #mingyu au #mingyu drabbles #mingyu smut #kim mingyu smut #vernon #jihoon #woozi #seungcheol #Jun #minghao

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 270: Harry Potter Rules

Previously on BnHA: Present Mic punched Ujiko in the face! It was awesome. I’m thinking about getting a tattoo of it. Meanwhile Endeavor saved Mirko’s life by setting her on fire (reason #15 why I will never become a superhero), and Aizawa did some sexy Spider-Man poses for our viewing pleasure while fighting the rest of these Noumus which are still annoyingly refusing to die. Anyway but back to Present Mic, the undisputed MVP of this chapter. Because you see, in addition to the punching, he also used his Loud Voice attack (literally the actual attack name; Horikoshi will steal all of my jokes and leave me with nothing) to smash open Tomura’s Noumutank! Which I really thought was going to immediately lead to Everyone Dying, but apparently I was wrong! Anyways so yeah, right now Tomura’s just lying down all heart-stopped and not-breathing. Which seems very anticlimactic, BUT I JUST HAVE THE CRAZIEST FEELING that maybe, just maybe, the super powerful villain lad who just spent the last three arcs slowly upgrading his bad self just in time to wage war on the world as the story reaches its climax, might not actually be dead though.

Today on BnHA: DON’T MIND THAT OMINOUS ORGAN MUSIC PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND, IT’S NOTHING, IGNORE IT. Ahem. So first of all, as some of the bolder among us dared to speculate, Tomura is not, in fact, dead. He’s still very much kicking it with his nipple-less pecs and truffula tree hair, putzing around in his mental landscape filled with crumbled buildings and disembodied Theatrical Gesture Hands. For some reason he doesn’t have shoes or a shirt in his mental landscape, which was a very interesting choice on Horikoshi’s part, but we will speak no more of it. Anyway so to sum things up, Tomura’s family is all “TENKO WE LOVE YOU” and he’s all “oh hey” and then AFO fucking appears and he’s all “COME HERE MY BOY” which is exactly as creepy as you would expect, and for some fucking reason TOMURA ACTUALLY DOES COME HERE. And lol it turns out Ujiko gave him AFO. Like the quirk. Yes, that quirk. So long story short, Tomura is about to be possessed by AFO’s evil soul or some shit, and to put the cherry on top, fucking Deku out of fucking nowhere, MILES AWAY, is all “HE’S COMING.” Because of course he can sense it, because AFOFA IS REAL, AND FUCK ME THIS IS ALL HAPPENING TOO FAST, FUCK.

I know this chapter has been out since like 1pm, but I’m not getting to read it until 5 hours later because for once in my life I was trying to be responsible and actually get some work done on a Friday. I thought this might lead to less oh-god-I-still-have-to-get-that-done anxiety hovering over my weekend, but instead it just led to oh-god-I-have-to-get-the-chapter-recap-done anxiety hovering over my now! anyways so this might be a bit rushed lol

(ETA: yeah turns out this wasn’t exactly the kind of chapter you could just read quickly and get on with your life lmao. so, then!)

what a nice panel of Present Mic taking out the trash

you heard ‘em fellas. the doctor is secured. good job everyone we did it, manga over, congratulations. now to cut away to a two-page spread of Dark Shadow comically smothering Dabi’s flames with a giant stock pot lid, and that’ll be that! what a wonderful, extremely short and strangely underwhelming arc in which we haven’t even seen the actual main characters do anything yet. but I guess we don’t need them since the main bad guy is lying dead on the floor! everything is just so fucking dead and secured!! do you think if I keep repeating it enough Horikoshi will finally be like “okay geez I get it” and reveal his hand already

Mic is now ordering Ujiko to power down the Noumu, which again, I’m sure he will definitely do without a fuss since after all the good guys have clearly won the day

OH SHIT OH FUCK

rip X-Less. gonna just take a moment here to imprint your beautiful face onto my memory before it turns into a pile of ash. your face, I mean. not my memory. well my memory more or less already is a pile of ash but that’s neither here nor there ANYWAYS

:’)

what are these little sound effects. I think that’s supposed to be a buzzing noise?? anyways whatever it is PLEASE STOP IT, I AM NOT HAVING A NICE TIME SO STOP

ffff Horikoshi sure has done an excellent job of setting the mood in such a way that all of these panels of X-Less doing incredibly mild things are sending my stress levels through the roof. like is anyone else reading his lines more or less like “WELP, TIME FOR ME TO DIE, ANY SECOND NOW, WE’RE REALLY DOING THIS, THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING, HERE IT COMES”

(ETA: when is this poor sweet innocent man going to fucking die already.)

LET’S CUT BACK TO MIC ESCAPING THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY

I have the clearest mental image of Horikoshi standing by with a walkie talkie in one hand and one of those remote bomb detonation clicky switch thingies in the other, patiently waiting to receive the go-ahead once all of the important characters have gotten to safety

anyway so now Ujiko is talking again

no fear everyone this is just the beginning of his verbal noumu deactivation sequence. nothing to worry about. everything is fine

yes for some reason his code phrase to put all the noumus back to sleep involves going into rambling detail about his work researching quirk singularities and shit. it’s fine. it’s not a big deal. code phrases are just like that sometimes all right

just ignore the increasingly panicked look in Mic’s eye as he slowly realizes he was way too fucking keen to just leave the “dead” Tomura back there with his laser-eyed hero buddy. anyway so let’s continue learning all about the Quirk Illuminati or whatever the fuck

okay so... he faked his own death? 70 years ago, at age 50 or thereabouts? I mean, that’s interesting and all I guess. not saying I wouldn’t be thrilled to spend the rest of this chapter learning all about Ujiko’s boring evil life. I don’t need to say it because it’s implied on account of Ujiko sucks and is the worst. so yeah can we get a move on though

oh shit?!?

WHOSE NARRATION IS THAT IN THE BOXES TOMURA IS THAT YOU OH GOD OH GOD

also, comparing AFO’s smile to a buddha’s really sent an actual shudder of disgust down my spine for some reason lmao. I personally would have steered that comparison in a different area, maybe less to buddhas and more to Norman Bates from Psycho, but to each their own

oh shit wait up

okay but this is actually a pretty big revelation though, isn’t it? because it’s been hinted for a while now that AFO and Ujiko had some method of duplicating quirks (the fact that all the Noumu share the same regeneration quirk was the biggest clue, but there was also John-chan’s quirk, as well as Hood’s Muscular-esque quirk), but as far as I can recall, this is the first time we’ve had it confirmed. though to be fair I wasn’t joking when I said my memory really has been shit lately sob

anyway so for real though, can you really call it a BnHA chapter if you’re not spending a good chunk of it being hopelessly confused over the ownership of some ambiguous thought bubbles. WHO IS THIS. I do seriously feel like it’s Tomura, because he’s the wrathful one, but another hallmark of a typical BnHA chapter is me constantly questioning everything I know as I muddle my way through

(ETA: yeah I’m pretty sure it was him. still impressive how vague it is though! it could also potentially be Ujiko, Mic, or even Deku. hopefully Caleb’s translation on Sunday can shed some more light on this. though he wasn’t really helpful last time this happened lol.)

SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON

didn’t... you just... say that “preservation” was your quirk?? what do you mean that you wanted it?? CAN YOU JUST FINISH YOUR SENTENCES LIKE A NORMAL PERSON

anyway so here’s a summary of this chapter thus far

present mic: okay goodbye forever x-less

x-less: what a strange thing to say! :) also is it just me or is this machine fucking staring at me

present mic: turn the noumu off please

ujiko: seventy years ago... society... singularity... he’d be 120 years old now...

??: [REPULSIVE FEELING EW WHO’S TOUCHING ME]

ujiko: all for one has the smile of an angel...

??: [SON OF A BITCH I’M SO FUCKING WRATHFUL]

ujiko: my quirk... preservation... the truth is... my quirk... preservation... the truth is... my quirk...

all caught up?? grand. also btw is anyone else super disturbed by the fact that Ujiko recognizes Mic as being “Kurogiri’s friend”, like holy shit though? how would he know that. I can’t think of any implications of this that aren’t super disturbing tbh

anyways back to -- LOL WHAT THE

Horikoshi Kouhei: [furiously scribbling notes to himself at 3am] BUT WHAT IF THE FOLDING CITY FROM “INCEPTION” HAD MORE GIANT HANDS

jesus christ. is this like some mental representation of what shit is currently like in Tomura’s mind? lots of crumbly destruction and traffic lights and the house his father built (isn’t it? I feel like it looks familiar), and SO MANY HANDS, HE JUST LOVES HIS HANDS

anyway so at this point it’s a coin toss whether or not anything in this fucking chapter is ever going to make any kind of fucking sense! but here I am voluntarily along for the ride while Gene Wilder sings that creepy boat song right in my ear!

DSFKLDSJ

ACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN FLOATING IN A JAR FOR THREE MONTHS TBH. that is some luscious quarantine hair

SDFLKJSDLFKJSLKFDHLKSDJFLKJLKSDJL:FKJSDL:KJ

(ETA: that Tomura in the top left may be my new favorite panel. look at him. all he is is a nose and chin and ~*~HAIR~*~.)

HANAAAAAA AHHHHHH OH MY LORD OH MY LORD! OKAY I’M FINALLY PAYING ATTENTION NOW FOR REAL! NO MORE JOKES! EVERYBODY SHHHH!!!

FFFFFFFFFF

“LOOK AT ME I’M A MAIN CHARACTER I CAN HAVE STRANGE VISIONS AND TALK TO DEAD PEOPLE IN MY DREAMS, SOUND LIKE ANYBODY ELSE YOU KNOW?” TOMURA SHUT UP I DON’T HAVE TIME TO ANALYZE THIS SCENE THEMATICALLY RIGHT NOW I’M TOO BUSY BEING SAD ABOUT YOUR DEAD SISTER WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY CALCULATING THE ODDS OF THIS SOMEHOW BEING FORESHADOWING FOR HER NOT REALLY BEING DEAD. OH GOD, OH FUCK YOU GUYS, I’M FREAKING OUT

WHAT KIND OF YOUNGER BROTHER DOESN’T CALL HIS OLDER SISTER “NEECHAN” TOMURA WHAT KIND OF ANIME CHARACTER ARE YOU

AT THIS POINT HIS HAIR IS ITS OWN INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER WITH THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS WOW

HORIKOSHI PLEASE STOP SHAKING THIS CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE OF SIBLING FEELS SO VIGOROUSLY I AM SO TERRIBLY AFRAID OH GOD

“BY THE WAY TENKO I JUST HAVE TO SAY, YOUR MAN BOOBS ARE SERIOUSLY IMPRESSIVE AND YOU SHOULD BE VERY PROUD.” YES HANA I WAS JUST GOING TO SAY. HOW ASTUTE OF YOU TO POINT THAT OUT. BOY HAS BEEN HITTING THAT BOWFLEX

WTAF IS HIS HAIR THOUGH SERIOUSLY??!

IS IT JUST ME OR IS THIS DIALOGUE BUBBLE ACTUALLY COMING FROM THE HAIR ITSELF. TOMURA. TOMURA BLINK TWICE IF YOU ARE IN DANGER

SJJKJSKJSW

TENKO IT’S ME YOUR GIANT MOM I’M BEHIND YOU HONEY TURN AROUND AND LOOK HELLO HI I LOVE YOU DO YOU STILL WANT TO BE A HERO

ffff why is he so pretty all the time lately

you are very handsome with your billowy hair and ken doll abs, you. sure are having a lot of trippy visions for a dead guy too there

HEY!!!!

WHO SAID YOU WERE ALLOWED -- DO YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST -- ffffffffff I need to be alone with my thoughts for a few minutes fuck

okay well. but since it is getting late I guess we’ll just pack these feelings up real quick and put them inside a box and neatly label it “feelings I have about Tomura having a vision of his mom and immediately turning back into his innocent little boy self in said vision as soon as he sees her.” not too sure about the contents of this box yet but I will have to explore them thoroughly at a later date

oh hey it’s this asshole

“THAT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO, DAD.” jesus Kotaro. get over it

and also guess what, if you go and get Tomura all riled up so he wakes up grumpy and disintegrates the first hapless guy he sees, I will hold you solely responsible for that poor man’s death. I’m just warning you now

oh my

I remember this conversation going a bit differently the last time, but hey

LOOOOOOL

HIGH FIVE. PUT ‘ER THERE

WHY WOULD YOU LOOK SO SURPRISED LOL DID YOU NOT JUST TURN TOWARDS HIM WITH A SINISTER MURDER FACE LIKE TWO SECONDS AGO. LIKE WTF DID YOU THINK WAS GONNA HAPPEN

OH NO OH SHIT

FUCK ME, GUESS IT WOULDN’T BE A DRAMATIC BNHA DREAM SEQUENCE IF THIS ASSHOLE DIDN’T MAKE AN APPEARANCE AT SOME POINT OR OTHER NOW WOULD IT

-- HOLY SHIT?!

RECORD SCRATCH, FREEZE FRAME??

holy shit. holy shit. holy shit. holy shit. holy shit. holy shit

holy shit. fuck

...okay so

is this implying that AFO has been Noumufied? but that doesn’t make any sense, does it? he already had multiple quirks. what other advantages could there be to him becoming a Noumu. well whatever I’m just typing out all of my thoughts real fast for the time being and I’ll try to make sense of them later

or is it because he sees Kurogiri as a father figure? and AFO also?

or is he using Kurogiri’s quirk????? IS HE SOMEHOW WARPING INTO TOMURA’S DREAMS

because that third one, to me, is what this panel most looks like? Tomura says he looks like Kuro, but he doesn’t though. Kuro has a very distinctive face which this is very much lacking. instead it looks to me much more like one of Kurogiri’s portals, with AFO’s buddhaesque smile sticking out. so yeah. I got nothin’. except, again, fuck

(ETA: yeah I obviously have more thoughts about this now, but we’ll get to those in a bit.)

...

.......

-- !!!!!!!!!!LKJLK!JLKJ

oh shit oh shit oh shit 

OH SHIT

NO BABY NO DON’T DO IT

GASP

THEY’RE TRYING TO SAVE HIM AHHHH

I HAVE LIKE TEN THOUSAND THOUGHTS IN MY BRAIN RIGHT NOW YET SOMEHOW MY MIND IS ALSO STRANGELY BLANK?? I DON’T EVEN KNOW?? I’LL JUST KEEP READING

KOTARO ARE YOU TRYING TO HELP HIM OR ARE YOU PULLING HIM TOWARD AFO??

OH HE’S PUSHING HIM BACK!! OH SHIT IT’S A WHOLE FAMILY EFFORT

THEY’RE TRYING TO SAVE HIM AFO IS GOING TO TAKE HIM OVER AND THEY’RE TRYING TO PROTECT HIM OH GOD OH JESUS

BABY TENKO EYES OH MY GOD HE LOOKS SO MUCH LIKE DEKU THAT I THOUGHT IT WAS DEKU FOR A MOMENT

NO TENKO!!!

FUCK -- DOES HE NOT CARE? HE ACTUALLY UNDERSTANDS WHAT’S ABOUT TO HAPPEN BUT HE DOESN’T CARE?? IS HE TRULY SO PROFOUNDLY MISERABLE THAT HE’D GO AHEAD AND ACCEPT THIS FATE WILLINGLY

NO SOUNDS. NO WORDS. YOU COULD HEAR A PIN DROP IN MY ROOM RIGHT NOW

except that I have the most incredible, chilling, disturbing, electrifying feeling that my mental soundtrack is about to start blaring AFO’s theme from the anime on full blast...!

LOOOOOL SOB OH FUCKK

THE MOST TERRIFYING, DRAMATIC KIP UP YOU’VE EVER SEEN IN YOUR LIFE!! THIS IS IT, IT’S BEEN REAL FRIENDS, THIS IS WHERE WE DIE

-- ARE YOU REALLY, TRULY, GENUINELY SHITTING ME RIGHT NOW

NOW OF ALL TIMES IS WHEN WE FINALLY CUT TO THE TRIO, I’M CAN’T, I’M FUCK

AND THAT’S THE END AHHHHH

holy shit holy shit holy shit. wow

okay so. I don’t really have any sort of neat and tidy way to wrap up this hot mess of a recap lol. so, just... have a whole mess of all of my stupid whirling thoughts

those first four pages really did nothing to brace me at all lol

okay, so. here’s my understanding of all this, I guess. basically we’re going full Harry Potter rules here. AFO horcruxed his quirk, and from the looks of it, a piece of his soul (perhaps even the main piece) along with it. he then passed it on to Ujiko to implant into Tomura

horcrux!AFO then wakes up, and takes over Tomura. so then my understanding is that he’s going to be possessed by him. and I also got the impression that he’s fully aware of that, but just doesn’t care at this point. he knew his family was trying to warn him, but he didn’t care. and that look in his eyes when he disintegrated them just seemed so fucking resigned to me, though. jesus

but now the more interesting thing! so we can liken Tomura to the resurrected Voldemort from book 5 and onward, reborn after transferring his power into a new vessel. which would go a long way toward explaining how AFO was able to sense what was happening from all the way in Tartarus; because if we liken it to Voldemort and his horcruxes, it would mean that he still has a connection to them (similar to the connection between Voldemort’s mind and Harry’s)

but so now comes the really interesting thing -- what does this then imply about the connection between AFO and Deku? because you’ll recall that AFO alluded to a similar mental connection back when Deku first activated SIXQUIRKS. and now we have Deku somehow being magically aware of AFO’s sudden resurgent presence in this chapter. but why?? if the reason AFO and Tomura share a psychic link is because of a shared quirk, why would Deku also be experiencing the same link? the answer is, he wouldn’t -- unless he, too, had the same shared quirk

in other words, I think All for One for All is fucking confirmed you guys. I can’t think of any explanation for this other than that OFA is also a horcrux quirk. a little piece of AFO broken off and embedded in his brother, and then passed along through the generations. and now residing within Deku

anyway. so that’s a hell of a lot to ponder lol. I guess we can at least be grateful for the fact that we’re not waiting two weeks for chapter 271 like Hori originally planned. can you fucking imagine. what a fucking asshole lol

#bnha 270 #shigaraki tomura #all for one #present mic #ujiko daruma #shimura tenko #shimura hana #shimura kotaro #all the shimuras! #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste spoiler recap #makeste reads bnha #sorry this is super late! #so if afo becomes the final villain by possessing tomura #where does that fall exactly as far as the 'tomura vs afo as the final villain' debate goes lol #'everyone's a winner'? except tomura I guess sob #stay tuned for next week's chapter #'full metal alchemist rules'

[peanutbutterisland-blog]

Black Mafia - short story

Black Mafia- also in archives 

This is a fictional story written by Owami Jackson. Leave all assumptions and expectations at the door, welcome to a world inhabited by a few and run by many.

Chapter 1- Welcome to the Mafia

It is said that a city is the representation of its people, the rougher the edges the more connected the people and non could be  truer than the city of Fermount USA. It was a large industrial city, built on the backs of black Americans who had settled on the land after the emancipation act was introduced. The businesses were family owned and the community was forged together by hard labor and a deep engraved mantra for ‘fuck the man’ but this city was not backwards thinking at all,  it was 1970 and the world was changing and so was the city of Fermount. Throughout 1970 to 1975 the city came alive, with buildings being erected everyday, and in time the city lit up with new opportunities, clubs, hotels, stadiums and restaurants grew over night like wild mushrooms and one family struck while the iron was hot.

With every building that was erected in Fermount the Washington family had their hands in its creation. A prominent black family that had its soul engraved in Fermount, the family was so big that they inhabited both the East and West of the city and within the inner city is where they flourished. They owned every club and large property within the inner city or at-least had their hands in it. They grew there money from organized crime in the early 60s and invested it in the city of Fermount, they had close affiliations to the Mayor and governor of Fermount and where respected and feared within the city. With such a large family there had to be a large patriarch and his name was Luis Washington or better known as Father. He was the head of the family and all operations of the family business. He was a large man who had a lot of love and was fierce when he needed too Be. With everything that he had built he was most proud of his family, his eldest son, Rahim Washington was the next in line for the family business and he loved him dearly, he had a second son Sammy Washington who was always eager to learn the business and had his fathers ferocious temper. He also had twin daughters who ran his heart, he was married to his wife Debra for over 34 years and she was the only person who could calm Freddy down, she ran everything associated with the families money, dirty or clean.

It was a night filled with excitement in the Washington family household, uncles filled the air with inappropriate chatter, drinks flowed faster than a cheap bar and all women whether old or young where in the kitchen. Rahim was in his room trying out different leather jackets and awkwardly pacing up and down the room, he was nervous and exited, he sat on the edge of his bed and waited for the call. 5 minutes later his dad knocked on his door and summoned him down stairs, he came down and everyone was waiting for him. He gave his mom and sisters a kiss and was greeted by stern handshakes by his uncles. All the males in the family got in their bus sized Cadillac's and drove in a concubine to the cities oldest cemetery in the outskirts of the city. The cemeteries silence was pierced by a loud ruckus of cars. Out came large bellied men with hard liquor in their hands all jolly which was a contrast to where they where at. They all circled around the largest tombstone in the cemetery, it was the tombstone of the first patriarch of the family, William Washington who started the family business and created a lineage of men who would do great things for the city. Rahim was brought to the front of the tombstone, he said his respects and drinks where spilled on the floor out of respect. His dad came forward with a knife, asked for Rahims right hand. Visibly nervous Rahim put out his hand. “Rahim as you do this you not only represent the family, you not only represent the great men who came before you, you not only pledge with blood your loyalty to the family, you do this for your kids and grand kids and kids after that so they can look back and learn about your bravery. This is the proudest day of my life, I am not a man of many words so I will just say God bless your journey and welcome to the mafia” his father cut his hand and Rahim let the blood drip onto his great great grandfathers tombstone, a loud cheer was heard and the family guns blasted the cold night sky, Rahim was now a member of the most notorious Mafia in the world.

Chapter 2- Family First

Autumn had come with all its orange splendor, the trees had ruffles of hazel and the roads where littered with leaves that had fallen to their death from skyscrapers of oak trees. The city of Fermount was cold all year round, even when seasons changed they really didn’t change and on this chilly day on a lonely road a black Cadillac cruised through the outskirts of the city, Rahim had just gotten his license but he had been driving cars ever since he turned 5. In the passenger seat was his best friend of almost 22 years Owen Rochester. Rahim and Owens mothers meet in the hospital while giving birth to them. They where in the same ward and development a keen friendship. Owens father was a drug addict who would hop in and out of his life. He had not seen him in about ten years and frankly he didn’t even care, Owen and his mother where considered apart of the Washington family and lived a street away from each other, birthdays, graduations, funerals and dinners where all spent together. Owen was a brother to Rahim and as much as he didn’t want to admit it Rahim saw him as a better brother to him than his own younger brother Sammy was.

“So how was the induction?” Asked Owen. “It was good” Rahim answered.

“Just good?”

“Yeah it was good what else do you want me too say”

“I don’t know you’ve been talking about this shit since you where ten years old I don’t know I’m expecting a bigger reaction than just good you know?”

“You know how dad is with this whole family shit”

“Negro I am family”

Silence held the air for a while, Unable to contain the excitement Rahim squeezed the rubber steering wheel and burst into a whole monologue about how the night went and how he was now apart of the family business. Owen knew he wouldn’t be able to keep it away from him, the family kept their business hidden from everyone including old friends but Rahim and Owens bond was so intact they shared everything together.  

“So you really not doing this college thing huh?” Asked Owen.

“Don’t see how’d it help me when I’m already set you feel me?”

“I get you man, I’m not even tripping, guess I’ll have to get all this collage ass by myself “ Owen replied

“Now you know your ugly ass ain’t getting no ass”

They both laughed and talked about their love lives and how they want families in the future. They pulled into a field, everywhere you looked was just filled with green, sheep’s grazed robotically and farmers yoked bulls up and down the green sea, ploughing away harvest for the city. They drove even further into an abounded farm next to a hill, they got out the car and had a smoke

“Gets colder every time we come up here” Owen said

“Get me the fuck outta here I can’t even feel my balls” Rahim said.

“I don’t know man I’d move here” Owen said. Owen always wanted the simple life, he was never in any drama and barely had a temper. This was not to say he was not about to jump into the front lines of war if need but when it came down to it he saw himself retiring as a carpenter on a farm somewhere. Rahim had different prospects, his always been intrigued about how the world works, who had the most power and what that power could do.

“Let’s hurry up maybe if we drop 120 on the way back we’ll make it back in time for the game” Rahim said

“Isn’t Jacky Robinson on the field today?” Owen asked

“Yeap”

“That’s one bad brother, running a mud hole on all those white boys”

They both opened the doors of the back of the car, they grabbed two shovels, went to the trunk of the car, opened it up and a bloody naked man in tears was in the back. They got him out and proceeded to walk him to the top of the hill, when they got there they dug a deep enough hole to fit a man of his size in it, they removed the tape from his mouth and he started begging to be let go and ranted every prayer he could remember

“Please Rahim I’ve known you since you where a kid how can you do this to me”

“This is what happens when you steal from our clubs you fat fuck” Rahim replied

He continued to beg and plead till Owen kicked him into the hole they had dug

“Any last words old man” Owen asked

The man cried and started praying in mumbles and piss ran down his leg.

Rahim and Owen both unloaded shots from their guns, buried him and hit the road to make it back for the game.

Chapter 3- Cindy Jackson

Rahim knew how powerful his family was, every cop, jury and judge where in their pockets, every club was owned or invested by them, they had built schools and grocery stores in every part of the city and they had been apart of the rise of Fermounts industrial complex since its birth. Rahim was greeted with respected every he went whether it be clubs or coffee shops but he truly discovered the power his family held when his father asked him to tag along with him to the mayors office in the early hours of the morning. They both wore their best suits and where driven to the capital to meet the mayor. Mr Luis Washington had been dealing with the mayors of the city of Fermount  ever since he was put in charge of the family business, this was nothing new to him. The mayor knew that the Washington family where involved in some illegal dealings but they kept a pampered hand on the family because of all the money they funded to the city. They got to the Mayors house in the upper scale of Fermount, it was where old money came to retire and still had a prestige to it, the Washington’s,  as wealthy as they where, were still looked down upon by the upper echelon of white American liberals. Rahim sensed this when he was greeted by the mayors butler who almost seemed to refuse to give him a handshake, Rahim being the spiteful type, grabbed his hand, pulled his arm in and gave him a great big hug. The mayors house was big but not as big as the Washington’s, this alone showed the power dynamic between politics and the mafia. They where greeted by the mayor himself coming down a long flight of stairs, an elderly white man, with whisks of grey hair in a brown jersey, work pants and black shoes. Rahim stayed back and watched his father converse to the mayor about everything from family life to sports. His father introduced Rahim to the mayor, pleasantries where made with his wife and children and they all sat around the table and talked about the state of the city, later on into the evening the mayor asked Rahim and his father to join him in his office, he poured both men his prized aged whiskey and they toasted to prosperity and that the Bulldogs winning the state final.

“So Rahim your father tells me you’re apart of the family business now”

“Yessir”

“I thought you’d take a liking to politics”

“No sir, that’s way too gangster for me”

There was a slight silent stand still in the room until it was broken by the Mayors laughter.

“Listen boys we have ourselves a big problem here in the beautiful city of Fermount and we need your families help, our piping systems are beginning to rust out, now with what my team is telling me they will ride us out into late October 1980 but after that, the water will be contaminated by the rust and I don’t need to tell you how much of a mess that is, the government implements new piping every 5 years and basically swap the rusty shit underground with new rusty shit which is a waste of money for them, for us and most importantly for me”

“So what’s your proposal mayor?” Rahim asked

“I see we have a eager one here Lewi, anyways New Guinea has a large steel capital, and these mother fuckers pump out steal day and night, I was thinking you boys can go out there, gather up all that steal and bring it down here with all your connections to ports and what not, we will brand the steal tubes and chuck them underground, now because they are slightly cheaper, and I mean cheap cheap boys, we would be making a large amount of money when the government gives us the grant to put in new steel pipes for the city and even bigger money when we sell those pipes to buyers overseas which you boys have such good connections with”

“I see” Mr Luis said

“ So with all the risk that we will have to carry I’m assuming our cut will be slightly larger than yours and your partners?”

“Well I’ll have to speak to my partners about that My boy” the mayor said

Rahim had not heard anyone call his dad “a boy” and was expecting him to leap over the table and ring the mayors head till he choked out and ran out of oxygen but he knew his dad was calm and could separate business and disrespect.

They left the Mayors house at midnight and spoke about the meeting, Rahims dad told him that he would be responsible for this project and over see everything, this was the most responsibility his dad had ever given him and he did not want to let him down

3 months passed and the project was underway, Rahim, his best friend Owen and his little brother Sammy headed for New Guinea, the minute they hoped out the airport they where meet with the islands warm intense weather, nothing they had ever experienced in the cold old city of Fermount. For the past three weeks they would be delegating with the government of New Guinea and setting plans for the exporting of 67 thousand tons of steel pipes and tubing. In the day Rahim went from meeting to meeting making connections along the way and going to mines with Owen, his brother Sammy spent his time banging different prostitutes in his hotel room and going into the islands club scenes, in his mind he was there for a vacation since he felt that his father didn’t trust him with this project. Rahim and Sammy fought a lot almost on the verge of killing each other but they where family and there was nobody you could trust more than your family. On the 2nd week Rahim had had enough of the meetings and decided to go into the market to witness the vibrant culture of the island, Owen decided to stay in and only God knew where Sammy was, as he was in the fruit aisle he saw a girl with large frizzy dark hair. He walked closer and was meet with the most sculpted face of beauty he had ever seen, he offered to help her with her grocery bags. She refused at first but he persisted until she couldn’t fight anymore. As they walked to her car he asked what she was doing in New Guinea but she was dismissive of the question, when they got to the car she realized that some local criminals where trying to steel her hub caps, Rahim dropped the bag and chased after them, tripped one of the criminals and punched his face in, he was able to get away and Rahim ran back to check on the beautiful women he had left behind.

“Are you crazy you could’ve gotten hurt!” she yelled

Rahim smiled and said “So you where worried about me?”

She smiled and said

“My name is Cindy, Cindy Jackson thank you for your help”

“Nice to meet you Cindy Jackson my name is Rahim Washington”

“I’m sorry I was a bit dismissive back there I don’t really know anyone here so you know, always keep your guard up” she said

“I get that, by the tied hair bun and medical supplies I’m assuming you’re apart of the UNICEF relief aid here in beautiful New Guinea?”

She laughed and answered“yes, yes I am, and I’m assuming your some rich business man here for business purposes”

“You can say something like that, so when you’re not saving kids where do you like to have fun”

“Well I’m going to the beach party at about 7, I don’t know if you’ll be there”

“Trust me, anywhere you are I’ll always be there”

They meet later on that evening at the beach party and Rahim introduced him to Owen. They danced and drank the whole night, the next day they walked around the plaza together and talked about everything

“So I’m leaving next week and you’re pretty busy here so when will I see you again” Rahim asked

“I’m leaving in 5 weeks and going back to school in Texas”

“So we’ll meet in Texas then?”

“Wait you’d actually come to Texas just for lil old me”

“Ma’am where ever you go from this point on I will follow till death”

She gave him her address and phone number and after a successful first meeting in New Guinea the boys jumped onto a flight back to the cold embrace of the city of Fermount. 5 weeks passed and Rahim flew to Texas to meet Cindy, they meet at a cafè and before they could say anything Rahim kissed her infront of the whole café.

“Well that’s one hell of a first kiss Mr Washington”

“It thought we should skip the small talk you know?”

They spent the summer together switching from Texas and Fermount, they meet each others families and in the summer of 1978 Rahim proposed to Cindy in her hometown and they moved to Fermount to start their lives together.

Chapter 4- We own this town

Houston Texas is bigger than the church hats mothers and aunties wear every Sunday in this deeply cultural piece of America. Everything is designed to pull you in like a gravitational force, the word subtle is not known in Houston. The restaurants and diners have food that would feed a whole village, the roads are wider to make way for every 20 year olds pimped out Cadillac. The women are chiseled from Gods personal special chisel, never lacking frame or body, it’s as if They were designed just to be looked at. There are churches in every corner of the town and the sun bullies the sky 20 hours of the day. Rahim always found it weird that Cindy would come from such a bombastic state. She was timid and slender, she never said a lot and when she did her voice was softer than the rustling leaves in the fall but her eyes held all the attitude that the state came with. She could look at you for a second and draw your attention from a mile away, she had the most generous heart it was almost bigger than her frizzy dark hair. Rahim had fallen in love with her all over again when he saw her walk down the aisle. The wedding came with all the dramatics of a church charity function, flights where delayed, uncles came from each direction with tales of their conquest and hard bottles of liquor, The Washington family alone came with about 200 people, each flying down from Fermount or driving. Weddings, baptisms and funerals where compulsory for the family and this was no ordinary wedding, it was the wedding of the future Patriarch of the family. Fermount was too cold to have such a joyous celebration and whether Rahim liked it or not Cindy held all the power of where the wedding was gonna take place. It took 7 months of planning and all the money invested into it you would think they where building a new club but this had to be huge, the Washington’s believed that a man only gets married once. The wedding drew mayors, delegates, owners of banks in both Houston and Fermount, baseball players and mobsters from all around the country. It was a 3 day festival with enough alcohol to fill the Nile and enough food to feed two starving countries. After the wedding Cindy and Rahim headed to Fermount where a 8 room mansion was eating for them, bought of-course by the Washington’s, 3 cars and  even a liltle puppy, life was blissful.

Winter had hit Fermount and it was colder than ever, the lake had frozen over, the trees where naked and everybody was inside. Not the mob though, trucks still moved city to city, clubs still operated and Rahim was busy delegating the implementation of putting in new metal tubes in the city. It was 3 years since Rahim stepped foot in New Guinea and it seemed like the project took years to get started but they where at the final stretch and money flooded in like well.. a flood. It was 7:30 in the evening and Rahim had just got back home. He shouted Cindys name and she answered, she was in the kitchen, Cindy was a genius in the kitchen. She spent her day working as a doctor in Fermounts top ranked private hospital and her nights going on romantic adventures with Rahim, He loved the fact that she was an all round working women. All the women he was used too including his mother had only been housewives. Rahim would get home, change, help Cindy in the kitchen and they would have diner and talk about the day and listen to records near the fire place with a glass of wine. Rahim was planning to do just that but as he was about to give Cindy a kiss he got a call, he went into the living room and picked up the telephone, it was his dad. His father never called unless it was something about business or family. Rahim knew it was important by the sound of his dads voice, he could always tell his dads mood by the sound of his voice and his dad was worried. He grabbed another leather jacket and leather gloves and jumped into his car. The house he grew up in was just a 15 minute drive. He got there in record time , kissed and hugged his mother and sisters, his brother was watching the reruns of the game, he was about to head out as well, they nodded at each other

“Where’s dad?”

“Where he always is”

Rahim went down to the office and found his dad in a dimly lit room smoking on a cigar.

“Hey pops”

“Hey, Rahim”

They gave each other a hug and took a seat

“How’s the wife?”

“You know still giving me orders”

Mr Washington laughed

“I’m waiting for my grandkids Rahim”

“I’m working on it dad”

“You better, I have a lot of spoiling to do before I leave this earth”

“You’ll be here for a long time old man”

They both took a sip of whiskey and with a heavy sigh Mr Washington reveled that his brother has been stealing from the family And selling critical information to the FBI.

“I can’t do it Rah, he’s my brother”

“Have you told anyone else”

“Only your mom knows”

“Fuck! His my uncle pops”

“I know”

“So you want me to off him”

“No! He’s family, he’s my brother, I’ll need you to take those brief cases, they have 500 thousand dollars, tell him to leave this city and never look back, he knows his family will be safe”

“I got you”

Rahim got in the car and decided to do it in the same night so he could get the weight off his shoulders, while driving to his uncles house he couldn’t believe that his uncle would do that, his own flesh and blood. He could see how broken his dad was, while Rahim went to deliver the news and brief cases to his uncle his dad went to the baptist church house, he always went at this time, he would just sit at the back of the church, say a little prayer and go back home, he believed he had done to many evil things to sit any closer. Rahim got to his uncles house greeted all his nephews and asked his uncle if they could take a drive around the block for some liquor cause he felt disrespectful coming into the house with nothing in his hands, he also didn’t want to tell him the news where anybody could get the chance of hearing. They went to the local liquor store, and when they came back into the car, before he could start the car he told him why he came to see him

“You dare accuse me of betraying the family you little shit stick”

“Dad sent me here Unc”

“Tell my fucking brother to come see me himself and not send his little fuck head of a son too send me a message”

“You broke him Unc, you broke us”

The car was silent until Rahims uncle asked

“So is that why you’re here with that briefcase, you want me to leave my family”

“We’ll give you time to say goodbye but you have to leave before the rest of the family hears about this”

“All the shit I did for this fucked up family and this is how you thank me! I gave my heart into this business, before you could even walk I was in the front lines of war and what do I get, FUCKING NOTHING! Your father does deals with presidents and what do I get nothing no appreciation no reward, I just want what’s mine”

A tear dropped from Rahim’s eye, he knew where this was heading,he knew that his Uncle was stubborn and this would end bad. His uncles voice turned raspy and he started crying

“I just wanted my share Rahim, I’m not going anywhere, I rather die than run away like a coward, they got the drop on us Rahim, you think all this fancy shit comes without a price, this car, your house our whole lives are built on the blood of our enemy’s, and I’m not going to go down without a fucking price, I need to go”

As he grabbed the door handle, Rahim held his shoulder and told him he can’t leave

“You think I’m gonna listen to you Rah”

His uncle took out his pistol and pointed it at Rahim

“Let me go Rah”

“Family first unc, family first”

With a quick motion, Rahim drew his gun and shot his uncle in the stomach, his mouth open in shock and tears coming down his face he drove back to his dads house, ran passed the living room and collapsed on the couch in tears, he told his dad what had happened and he burst out in tears. His mom came down and saw her son on the floor drenched in blood and her husband in tears and knew exactly what had happened. Rahim kept on saying he was sorry to his dad, his dad came back to his senses , asked Rahim where the body was and Rahim told him that he was in his trunk, he grabbed his jacket and his mom gave Rahim a kiss and told him it was all going to be okay, they drove to the local bar they owned, it was about to close and the owner, a close family friend was about to lock the door when Rahim and Mr Washington suddenly burst in, they told him the story and without hesitation he agreed to help, they layed his body next to the bar and staged it as a hit. Rahims dad told him to go back home and everything was going to be okay, he could not stop repeating the words “I’m sorry”. He drove back home and fell to his knees at the door, Cindy came down and helped into the shower, washed the blood from his body while Rahim told her what happened , she knew Rahims family was involved in the mob life but this was her first encounter with the seeds that the mob life had sworn, she grabbed his clothes and threw them in a fire and held Rahim the whole night.

As expected the next day the whole family was in awe when they heard the news, retribution had to be delivered, Mr Luis paid a hefty amount of money to another mob family to take responsibility for the hit and to sacrifice one of their men for retribution. For the next few months Rahim had nightmares and held a guilt that took over his days and nights. Cindy was there right by his side throughout the whole way. They decided to take a vacation to Rio and when they came back Rahim seemed to have left his guilt in the warm waters of Rio and came back ready for business

A new mayor had taken seat in Fermount and he had a no nonsense tolerance to crime. He worked with the government in stopping organized crime and had set out an investigation for the new metal pipes in Fermount. This was going to take a lot of money out of a lot of important peoples pockets and the family had no choice but to assassinate the mayor but they had two problems, if they did chose to assassinate the mayor they would start a war with the US government who was on their tale but for the latter part of the years has kept a distant leash on them, the family had the backing of men who only saw money so they could handle a war with the US government but the other problem was financial backing from banks, and even though they had investments in most of the cities banks, the government could stop all that cash flow. After numerous meetings with the family, delegates and dirty politicians they decided to go ahead with the plan. High investors decided to pay the family 20 million each as insurance that if the US did fledge out a war, their investment and money would stay intact, if the US didn’t start a war, which was unlikely, they would give back the money.

Mr Luis gave the job to his son Rahim. Rahim asked if he could take Owen and because Owen knew about the inner dealings of the family his dad agreed agreed, Rahims brother Sammy had left for Paris and did not tell any of his family members, atleast they knew where he was this time. Before he left for the job Rahims dad gave him a hug

“You know you get older everyday I see you Rah”

“Not as old as you old man”

They both smiled

“I wish your brother had as much  love as you do for me”

“Don’t worry dad his just going through a phase”

“I guess so, Rahim never forget that we are not rich because money and jewels alone but we are rich because of knowledge, with the right information we can bring a country to its knees”

He gave him a kiss on his forehead which was weird cause he never showed any affection. He only gave kisses to his wife and daughters.

“Oh pops I have something to tell you, uhm I was gonna save it for the family dinner but..”

“Then save it for the family dinner Rah, we’ve got a job to do”

Rahim and Owen waited outside the country club where the mayor played golf from 2 to 3pm, after that he took a drive to the barbers spot to get a shave and catch up with his father who was the owner of the establishment, after his golfing session they followed him to the barbershop, they took out their ski masks from the glove compartment and AK47s from the trunk of Rahims car and walked towards the window of barber shop and let all rounds go, glass and bloody bodies where on the floor, Rahim walked into the barber shop, looked the mayor in the eyes while he was on the floor trying to clench his fathers body and shot him dead.

They came back home ready to tell the family of the successful mission only to find a large fleet of cars at the family home, Rahim ran into the house and found out his dad had collapsed from a heart attack and had died. Every man and women had tears in their eyes. Rahim had cried out all his tears for a day and knew he needed to be there for his family.

The funeral was the biggest the city had ever seen, bigger than the mayors funeral, the government was on the family’s tale closer than ever before but that had to wait for now, mobsters and gangsters from around the world came to the funeral. If felt as if the president of the United States was being laid to rest. Rahim delegated the whole funeral, every flower in the city was thrown into Mr Luis Washington’s grave, speeches from Delegates and diplomats from around the world pierced the cold air and food was served to feed the whole city. Throughout the whole funeral Cindy stood besides Rahim and his mother, he went to say a few words with his wife Cindy in his hands.

“Goodbye old man, we’ll meet each other again, and I can’t wait for you to meet your grandson, I love you”

A few days after the funeral, Rahim was brought into a room with all the males of the family, all the investors of the family and all the mobsters of the city, he was being inducted to being the new leader of the family and family business. He walked to the head of the family, raised his glass of whiskey and said

“To the family”.

Chapter 5- From Russia with love

It seems every hospital has the same cold air rushing through it, the same bland light blue textiles and blinding florescent lights. It’s a place designed for anxiety and for being uncomfortable, but the Fermount Saint Private hospital was in for a rude awakening. The Washington family flooded the entire top floor maternity ward   With leather jackets, southern brute accents, wails from toddlers, chatter from Aunties and mothers and silent prayers from every grandmother that was there. Every doctor or nurse that walked by was harassed by endless questions that they had no jurisdiction answering. The walls swelled with belly carrying males with expensive clothes and pungent cigar aromas. The top ranked maternity ward in Fermount had now been turnt into the Washington family reunion. Rahim came bursting through the door with a face mask on, blue scrubs and gloves, after a second of silence Uncle Elijah finally asked

“Well boy, spill it”

“It’s a boy” Rahim answered.

Everybody in the ward cheered, mothers sang, and uncles shook hands as if they had broken a new millionaire dollar deal. Rahims mother walked towards him and kissed him on the check and said “Your father would be proud of you Rah” even Rahims brother Sammy came over to give him a handshake and a warm head nod.

It wasn’t minutes till the entire family trickled into Cindy’s hospital room to get a glance of the baby, mothers came in first, then Cindys family and some of Rahims uncles. Owen came in the room kissed Cindy on the forehead and gave his friend who he had grown up with and just watched turn into a dad a great ol hug. They decided to name the child after Rahims dad to honor his name.

The baby was greeted with a convoy of cars all hooting in tune, food was prepared as if it was a wedding or a great fest, in all sense of the matter, it was. After Mr Luis Washington’s death the family needed something new to celebrate, Rahim had taken over fully, only taking delegation from his mother, wife, Owen and Uncle Elijah Uncle Thomas who had guided Rahim into the big seat he had taken over. He had met all the big names he had only heard about in meetings and they all accepted him with warm arms, he knew that as long as he did a good job everyones pockets would be full. Since the government was behind their tail ever since the mayors death they had to operate all legal business only and lease or pause all illegal business but even that didn’t deter the government. They sent sanctions to every Washington owned asset , clubs, houses, cars, banks and new building projects. Rahim knew they couldn’t win a silent financial war. He knew at some point they would need aggression to either scare or hold of the government. So After 3 months of being home with Cindy and the baby. Rahim took Owen, Uncle Elijah and Thomas and his brother Sammy to Russia to negotiate a weapons deal Incase things went sour for the family. When they got there they wasted no time. The President of Russia invited them for dinner. The dining hall was full of deep colored tapestry and wild animal heads. After a dinner with jokes and impromptu Russian lessons they went to the president’s bunker to talk about why they where there. Russia was gearing up for a Cold War with the US and as far as they knew it, if the US could have a civil war it would be better for them but they needed assurance before striking an arms deal with the Washington family so they decided to give the Russians half of their crucial assets, mostly banks and government information they had acquired over the years.

More than ever the war was closer than it had ever been, the US had always had a vendetta with the Washington family and their power but now that envy would be put to the test and Rahim needed to make sure his family was safe, even if they lost.

Chapter 6- Cape of good fear

It is said that while the world sleeps, America watches it sleep. As soon as Rahim, Uncle Elijah and Thomas, Owen and Sammy set foot back on American soil, word had spread that the Washington family had made their way to Russia to negotiate an arms deal. This came to no surprise to Rahim because he knew that they where under immense pressure under the eyes of the government. In fact this is why he chose Russia. There are many countries that would agree to an arms deal but Russia was America’s biggest enemy and with the middle stages of the Cold War, it was bound to ruffle up some feathers. With this move Rahim put The Washington family in the four front of history. The US acted quick, by the end of the week it had already smeared the Washington family name in the press and used the only power it had, money and corruption. They seized all assists the Washington family had with ridiculous warrants and permits. Rahim knew that he was in the end game now. So he set up a meeting with the family delegates, elders and mob bosses from around the word. They all gathered in an underground bunker space in the towns baseball stadium that the Washington family had helped build a few years ago. As far as he knew it everyone’s house was already bugged so they needed somewhere neutral to congregate. The room was full of hazy grey smoke, the atmosphere of the room was heavy, all men in this room had something to loose and they all counted on Rahim to keep that. Rahim walked in the room with a butterscotch trench coat with black leather gloves and heavy winter boots. He took his seat and greeted all the men that where there.

“Gentlemen, as you know we don’t have enough time we need to strike with action, I am not here to waste your time and I am not here to cover my ass”

“Seems like your ass is blasted all over the newspaper every single day Rahim” one of the men shouted. Rahim wanted to respond disrespectfully, in fact he wanted to shoot the man right in-front of everybody but the man who made that jittery statement was the owner of the United States pharmaceutical industry. These men literally funded America and had ties to the mob. This was not a meeting with his drunk uncles or petty criminal bar meetings, every man in this room, with a flick of a button could shut down the United States and Rahim knew the stakes.

“I know that Mr Johnson, this is why we are here to fix that” Rahim him replied

“Now, the United States has a problem with the Washington family, and since you are all tied to the Washington family they have a problem with you. I am here to tell you that this will not end pretty gentlemen. Men will be lost and money will follow. Now my job is making sure that money is not taken out of your pockets, yes this will be a bloody war but it will be a war designed to look bigger than it is”

They whole room perched eagerly to hear Rahims proposition

“We will strike war with the US government, but we will use the backing and power of mother Russia, now if we sell this properly to the media it will seem as if a US family made ties with Russia and decided to take down the government. And since Americans love their country so much and hate Russia and black people it will polarize all the other shit that we are doing on the side, but with this I will need your full cooperation, you have my word that money will return to your pockets and Business will run as usual but I need the word and trust of every man in this room, to stand by this family as we have stood behind you all these years. We will strike as soon as we can so focus is directly on us, the family. Till then I will need you to freeze all assets so that nothing is traced back to you, now obviously we know the government has been following us for years and know who we work with but removing all traceable evidence will make them look like fucking loons when they make these accusations, there will be no hard proof. We will set up mini hot spots where they can catch us and have a field day in the media while they suck each other off, yes we will loose a considerable amount of money but that will give us enough time for the Russian Calvary to strong hold the US and ultimately make a deal with us”

“And you sure this will work?” A heavy built gentleman in the back asked

“Sir this is the only option we have to keep  the United States alive”

To keep a low cover Rahim decided to take Cindy and the baby, Owen and his family, his mother and brother to Cape Town South African. He had a vacation home there and he wanted his family especially his wife to get out of the toxic environment that they had ended up in. Rahim took early walks in the open wine fields with an elderly farmer named Abè who was a family friend, his farm imported 80% of the wine in the United States.

“You know Mr Abè this place is so beautiful I wouldn’t mind living and dying here”

“Mr Washington if I may be frank with you, you will not die here”

“Why do you suppose that Mr Abè, do you think I’m not worthy to die in a beautiful place like this?”

“You are a soldier, your daddy was a soldier and his papa before that, ever since I’ve known your family all the men have died in cold places. This is not because you are not worthy, it is because you are a soldier! You make way for your family to live and die in paradise, this is your calling. You where forged in fire It is a thankless job and an even bitter death but I believe if you where to chose to die in paradise or die in the field of war for your family, you would ask me where the battle field was”

“The battlefield is looking clearer to me every day Mr Abè”

“I know Mr Washington, I know”

Chapter 7- The world needs you Mr Washington.

Rahim had cleansed himself of the guilt of going to war for his family in Cape Town and had come back to American with a clear mind and even clearer intentions. If this was going to be the families time to be introduced into the world, it would be a monumental introduction. When he got back home he received a phone call, he picked it up and it was the one and only, President of the United States. He invited Rahim to the a White House for a meeting. Rahim didn’t know what to say. He knew he was in the big leagues but he didn’t know he would be speaking to the leader of the free world in person. He told his family and they where worried that it was a set up but Rahim knew that if they wanted to make a hit they would have done it already. Later that week he went to his fathers grave with Owen, he stayed in the car as Rahim went to speak to his dad

“Hey pops, I know it’s been a while. Just needed the courage to come see you again. Anyway,  the family is doing good. Your brothers are crazy as usual, ready to die on the sword for the family, mom is doing better. She’s worried about everyone but herself, if you can just let her know that she’s doing the best she can. We have a war in our hands pops. All the greedy men who took opportunities from our people not so long ago are afraid of us now, we have a meeting with the President of the Fucking United States. Look I know things are not gonna end up pretty but I wanted to let you know that everywhere I go I hold the family name high. You’ve done such a good job pops. Thank you, I ask that you guide me as I enter unknown territory. I love you”

The next day Rahim took a private plane to Washington DC to meet the President. He walked into the White House and knew they where in too deep, but he was the first Black man from Fermount to step foot in the White House. He was greeted by the President who had a huge smile when he saw him, it wasn’t warm, he had been around enough gangsters to know when a person wants something from you. They entered the office and began making small talk, after a few minutes the President looked at him and said

“You’re not scared are you?”

“Excuse me?” Rahim asked

“I came into this meeting thinking that you’d see how deep in the water you’ve swam into and would want to forfeit or break a deal but you want this don’t you?”

“Mr President, this is deeper than me, many men before me where stripped of opportunities, land, names and basic human dignity, to build this beautiful country and for me to throw that away now, when we’re at the last quarter would be a shame”

“It is a beautiful country isn’t it Mr Washington? we wouldn’t want the beautiful people in it to worry about it now would we?”

“I said it was a beautiful country, nothing bout its people”

“Be that as it may, you know we have enemies that would like to see this country fall and rumor around the farm is that you’re ur in cahoots with those evil people Mr Washington”

“Well that depends, where  are the rumors coming from Mr President?”

“The chickens are clucking Mr Washington, now this is simple we can go ahead with this in which I guarantee we will win and not only win but make an example out of you and your family or you can relinquish all “power” you have, I give you 2 days to say bye to your family and lock you up for the remainder of your days, and the way I see it, you don’t have that much left”

“Well Mr President I suggest you strap your boots up, it’s about to be a cold winter”.

Rahim came back home took a hot bath, went into his sons play room where Cindy was playing with him. He kneeled down and hugged Them both, Cindy grabbed his head slouched on the floor with him and kissed him, she didn’t need to know how the meeting went. She knew the time had come.

Chapter 8- Too much Power

It was weirdly calm in the Washington household. Mrs Debra was handing out sweets to the kid’s running up and down the house, the wives where gossiping about what they thought was going to happen in the kitchen, and the men of the family where outside the yard around the fire. Rahim came in the house late with Cindy and their son, he had stopped to get more liquor and presents for his mom.

“Sammy can you help Owen with the shit in the car, his outside”

Rahim proceeded to hug and kiss everyone in the kitchen, the living room, the dining room and finally the fireplace. When the food was ready Mrs Debra called everyone in the dining room, Rahim was put at the head of the table. There was so much food it felt like it would fall off the table, when everyone had stuffed food to the rim of their plate Rahim stood up with his whiskey glass to make a toast.

“Family, we’ve Always stood firm against the storm of evil souls that have tried to destroy this family, as I look at you I see the generations that our ancestors helped build, look at us, beautiful as can be, intelligent as can be, wealthy as can be. And all this came with hard work, from each and everyone of you. I just wanted to thank you. For being what you where meant to be, Beautiful, well except for Sammy...I’m just joking”

The rest of the night was filled with laughter and reminiscent chatter, photo albums where open, Motown jams serenaded the atmosphere and children danced for hundred dollar bills. The next day Rahim took Cindy to the hair salon uptown.

“Ayt baby I’m just swinging to the hardware store for the drill and I’ll pick you up in an hour”

“See you soon Mr Washington”

They kissed and Rahim was off to the hardware store, he decided to spend an extra twenty minutes just glancing at things he was not going to buy, this was better than chatting about future baby plans with the ladies of Cindy’s salon. As he turned the corner into the road the salon was in he saw Cindy already outside talking to one of the shop vendors. He also saw a black car across the road from Cindy opening its windows. A silver pistol poked out the window and fired 7 shots, Cindy fell to the floor, opened her bag and fired 3 shots herself. Rahim sped his car but the the car sped across the intersection and had left a trail of cars jumping into the wrong lane. Rahim quickly came out of his car and ran to Where Cindy was. His heart felt like it would beat a hole out of his chest, tears already streamed down his face, he fell to the floor next to her.

“Baby are you okay! Are you hurt! Where did they get you!”

“I’m okay I’m okay”

Rahim helped her up and patted her body like a mad man to check for blood but she was okay. They rushed quickly into the car and sped to get home. Cindy rushed into the house and hugged her son and Rahim held them both. Later that afternoon Rahim sat by the fire with a glass of whiskey and a cigar. He knew that the government would attack but this was sloppy of them, they wouldn’t do it like this and even if they did want to send a message it would be more direct. He figured that one of the mobs had sold out. His head kept on seeing the silver gun that popped out the window of the car. The more he thought about it the more it came to him that he had seen that gun, numerous times, in fact his seen that gun ever since he was 17. He rushed up to his room, put on his trench coat and jumped into his car, he sped to Owens house and told him what had happened, Owen grabbed his gun and jumped in the car with Rahim, they drove to Sammy’s house, Sammy saw Rahim’s car and ran straight into the garage into his car. He backed up the drive way and before he could make a turn to speed off Rahim’s car rammed into his door pushing it against the wall. When the smoke cleared Rahim pulled Sammy out of the car and into his trunk, they drove to the harbor and dumped Sammy into an empty space used for wrecked boat parts and broken cargo containers. Owen  stood behind Sammy pointing a gun at him and Rahim took a chair and sat infront of him.

“Now I know you’re a stupid mother fucker but this stupid Sammy, this fucking stupid! You’d turn your back against the family? Huh!”

“What fucking family Rah? Ever since I was born I’ve been pushed out of this family”

“Shut the fuck up, you chose to do that Sammy, not anyone of us. it was you, you play this wounded dog act to gain sympathy and even when you do get the sympathy you grovel for it’s still never enough”

“Fuck you Rah”

“My wife Sammy, you where the best man in my wedding man”

“I don’t give a fuck about you Rah, your little make shift brother here Owen, this family or that bitch you call a wife”

“You know, as I was driving here I thought of ways of killing you and to be honest, I didn’t have any, I realized I ran out of em, ever since we where young I’ve thought about killing you and I realized I’ve finally ran out of ideas cause I ran through them all, so I’m not gonna kill you Sammy. You’re still my brother. What you gonna do now is hop into that boat, it’s gonna take you to county island where you will hop into an aero plane that will fly you to Spain, to the worlds top ranked disability and injured rehabilitation center where you will spend out the rest of your miserable life, you’ll call mom every week and tell her nothing of what you did or what happened, tell her you couldn’t stand being in the family anymore or whatever pitiful shit you can muster up your ass this time”

“Why the fuck would I go to a disability center in fucking Spain”

“Because Sammy, when we’re done with you, you’d wish that we killed you”

Owen grabbed a chain saw and gave it to Rahim, Owen then singled three men into the room and they rolled a table into the center of room. They pinned a screaming Sammy onto the table.

“So I cut right into the born doc?” Rahim asked one of the men

“Yeap, he’ll feel everything we just have to make sure he doesn’t bleed out and stays conscious”

Sammy cried and pleaded with Rahim, he screamed for help but only heard his own echo and the motor of the chain saw, Rahim cut  Into the flesh of Sammy’s legs, blood splattered in every direction, Sammy’s cries could be heard from the end of the world, Rahim slashed and cut both Sammy’s legs, he put down the chain saw, looked at the agony on his brothers face, looked backed at the chain saw and asked the doctor

“Can we cut his hands aswell?”

Sammy, leg less and armless was then put into a boat with medical equipment to keep him alive. Rahim had taken the one thing that Sammy used his whole life, his freedom and without that he was good as dead. as the boat disappeared into the dark blue waters Rahim gazed on it with tears in his eyes, and a pool of blood drenched on his body. Owen put his hand on Rahims shoulders and said

“It’s time to go home man”

The US governments had sent their first shot and used Rahims own flesh and blood. He knew that they would play dirty but this was a hit he was not expecting. He gathered up all his family members and sent them into different parts of the world, the Washington family had friends in every part of the world, they also had money invested in every part of the world so it wasn’t hard to pack everyone up.  He flew his mother, Cindy and his son, uncle Thomas and Elijah and Owens wife and kids to South Africa in Abè’s estate. He then made a call to Russians to send down fire arms. Within 5 days they where packed and delivered to the Fermount boat harbor. Rahim ordered bombs to be set off in the heart of the United States, Washington DC. On March 2nd 1987 the first civil attack by the Washington family was felt the world over, twelve thousand people in the senate where killed as the US presidency held their annual democratic  state meeting. News traveled fast of how a terrorist family had shaken the very foundations of  the United States. The president called for an immediate call of action to stop the Washington family. Rahim knew that they needed more help from Russia but when he called the president he told Rahim what the US had done, the US government knew that the Washington family was getting backing from Russia so they promised to send a nuclear bomb if they didn’t stop working with the Washington family as they would have grounds to consider Russia as an accomplice to US terrorist attacks.

The US army and Federal Bureau of investigations took to the city of Fermount to find and kill Rahim, he knew that they would eventually catch him so he decided to meet his family in South Africa, and fly with them to Alaska. As he loaded his getaway truck with Owen, US soldiers burst into his yard, they had gotten through the heavy guarded gates and made a B line for the drive way. Rahim and Owen Took the underground get away bunker, a bullet hit Owens legs and he fell to the floor. Rahim tried to pick him up as they made it out the bunker into the exit to the woods. But Owen had lost a lot of blood, He couldn’t continue anymore, with tears in Rahim’s s face he pushed to carry Owen and fell to the floor. Rahim screamed and used all his might to try pick him up but they were slowing down. Owen grabbed his friends hand and said “it’s okay”

“No man I can pick you up don’t fucking give up on me Owen”

“Mate we can’t do this, you need to go, we’ve made it this far man this is where our journey ends”

“No Owen please” tears flowed down Rahim’s face and it felt like he was crying out his soul.

“Listen, tell Elizabeth I love her man, tell my kids about me everyday and tell them that daddy loves them with all his heart, take care of my kids man, take care of my fucking kids Rah, please man”

“You have my word brother, I love you”

Rahim kissed Owens hand, got up, looked back one more, nodded his head and said goodbye to his friend”

Owen took out his gun and put it to the temple of his head.

As Rahim ran through the woods he heard a bang, stopped, looked back for a second and continued to run.

Chapter 8 - let blood run

Rahim had thought that there was no place colder than Fermount, until he spent his first night in Alaska. It was so cold that you would think your thoughts where frozen, it didn’t make it any better that they had a house on top of a mountain but like any good Washington he adapted, his family adapted,  to the conditions, to the constant paranoia, to the inevitability of being caught and to the realization that they would probably never see their families again. Two years had passed since the US government seized every Washington asset known to man. Many of the Washington men had been incarcerated on false chargers and the government paraded the end of organized crime. Rahim’s promise held strong though, none of his business partners where harassed and business continued to run as normal even if it was on a smaller scale. The government realized that Rahim’s plan worked, they had chased the wrong people and because they paraded the end the Washington family in the media they could not go after the real partners of the Washington family. Firstly because they didn’t know where to start without the head of the Washington family. with every Washington man who entered those jail cells not one word was uttered about the families dealings and partners and secondly the public would accuse the US government of wasting money in finding the sole proprietors of organized crime when they had experienced their first recession in 70 years and still had a drug and Cold War to fight. The US President was persistent on finding Rahim and after two years of sniffling him out, the US government made its way to The Alaskan mountains.

Rahim and Cindy walked down the mountain every morning to collect bore water while Mrs Debra and Rah’s sisters set up the table for breakfast. Luis Jr loved the snow and would play in it all day. He had grown so much and looked exactly like Rahim. The morning was colder than usual but the sky was clear, Cindy noticed that Rahim was tense and didn’t talk much during the hike down.

“Baby, you okay?”

“Huh?”

“I said are you okay?”

Rahim looked into her beady eyes, the same eyes he had fallen in love with when he meet her in New Guinea. Her nose was colored with a brush of red, her skin glowed and her hair was full and vibrant. He kissed her and said

“It’s time hunny bunny”

“Time for what Rah?” She replied

He put down the buckets in his hands and grabbed her shoulders.

“They’ve found us”

As if choreographed, one tear dropped down Cindy’s cheek and she asked

“How long do we have”

“How long do you You guys have”

“Wait what, you can’t stay Rah they’re gonna kill you”

“If I leave with you guys you’ll always have a target behind your back, we’ll never grow old and sit on a porch in our big home in Texas and watch our grandkids play in the yard if I don’t do this”

“But babe-“

“Baby listen, what did I tell you in that island bar in New Guinea?”

“That wherever I go you would follow till death”

“And I’m not gonna break that promise, okay”

“Okay”

“Immediately after breakfast a car will come to fetch you, mom, my sisters and Luis Jr. it will drive you to an old military flight school, if you don’t see the military flight school in about 30 mins after you leave from here I want you to shoot that mother fucker clean in the head. You’ll be put in a plane that will fly you guys to New Guinea”

Cindy smiled and kissed him.

“Now I want you to take the black brief case under our bed and give it to Abè, he’ll be waiting for you when you land, and whatever happens-“

Before he could finish what he was about to say Cindy hugged him and said, nothing will happen, we’ll see you soon okay”

“Okay”

Night hit the Alaskan mountains and the fog had masked the house in blinding white snow. Rahim sat alone in the dining room of the small wood house he had made a home for the last two years. He looked around the kitchen and smiled thinking about all the meals they had in here, maybe it was the cold or because the wooden house was so small that they had to be in each others faces but this house reminded him of Fermount, it reminded him of when his dad used to take him and his brother to baseball games, it reminded him of the nights in parking lots he would speed with fast girls and his best friend Owen and it reminded him of waking up 10 minutes earlier just to watch the sun kiss his wife’s face as she woke up. He knew that he would have to sacrifice something if he wanted his families name to live on, he knew the stakes would be high when he drenched his blood on that grave and he knew his dad would be proud of him. As the night lingered he heard commotion and he knew they had arrived. The Alaskan police force together with the US army burst into the property with vehicles going up to the house. Helicopters flew over the mountain with bright lights illuminating the little wooden house. Rahim waited until the vehicles made it close to the house and without warning a huge explosion blew up the house together with the mountain, and an avalanche of fire engulfed every army and police car that was close to the mountain. Alaska was on fire.

In the next few weeks the press was flooded with news of how the US government had killed the terrorist Mob boss Rahim Jackson in Alaska. The New Yorker read

“The Washington’s wicked rain of terror has finally ended.”

Chapter 9 - We multiply

On the noon of August 24th 1991, US government files where leaked to the media. With evidence linking the US government to war crimes, plans to invade Oil countries and civilian surveillance with news of government corruption being leaked on a daily basis. This hit the US government like a shit storm, the public wanted answers, the United Nations condemned the US for its inherent evil human right violations and in every state of the US and every country in the world civilians rioted and protested for answers. The US economy took a hit and trade sanctions were discussed. The White House was frantic and no one had heard anything from the president, he was not answering any calls and he didn’t send out even one press conference. As the president talked to his delegates in his office his secretary burst into his office and said

“Sir you have someone on the phone for you”

“I think it can wait Mika I’m busy with something here”

“Sir, you’re gonna want to take this”

He knew who it was but he didn’t want to believe it, he walked slowly to the white plastic telephone waiting for him on his secretary’s desk, as the delegates, counselors, mayors and military advisors watched, he picked up the phone

“Mr President, I believe I have something you need, I think it’s time we struck a deal don’t you think?.”

The end.

[vobomon]

TPN Theory: Norman has been infected with Mujika’s blood and has become part-Demon

Since the beginning of time, humans have feared the inevitability of death. And they’ve striven to find a way to avoid their deaths at all costs. 

On the other hand, Demons have always striven to find a way to avoid a “metaphysical” death at the loss of their humanity. From the moment that they ate a human being and obtained their knowledge, they have tried to avoid losing this trait... at all costs.

For humans, death is when their bodies stop functioning and their heart stops. For Demons, death is when they lose all sense of personality and mental reasoning. 

So what if there was a magic “elixir of life” that could grant immortality to both humans and Demons? All it took was a little bit of cursed blood.

Ever since I caught up with the manga, I’ve made countless attempts to guess what happened to Norman during his time stuck in Lambda. But that’s because I have a strong assumption that this particular mystery is being set up as a potential plot point of importance within the near future.

So after spending the last few weeks tossing around potential possibilities and updating ideas based on new information from recent chapters, I’ve come to one conclusion. Due to the nature of the theory that I’m about to make, @couldnt-think-of-a-better-name recommended that I write out my post using a research paper style format.

I’m going to give a brief summary of the main theory and then I’m going to follow up with my personal observations and evidence towards this theory. With that in mind, please note that there will be manga spoilers up until chapter 127.

Lambda has been described as an “experimental facility,” which was intended to test various genetic and body modifications on children. They’d test whatever they wanted… and only worry about the after effects later.

When Norman was entered into this facility, he wasn’t exposed to the same experiments as the other children. His living conditions were vastly different and over all, he was treated a lot better than other cattle children. Almost like a highly prized research subject.

But this begs the question. What could have possibly happened to Norman that would elicit such a strong avoidance towards Lambda? Why does he avoid answering any questions about what happened to himself at Lambda?

In reality, this reaction makes perfect sense if the Lambda scientists... experimented with Demon genetics on Norman and modified his body into having a similar biology akin to a Demon. And its very likely that this happened because he was forcefully infected with Mujika’s blood.

OBSERVATION #1 PETER RATRI’S INFLUENCE

On November 3rd 2045, Norman was shipped away from Grace Field House.

Originally, the reader is led to believe that Norman is simply going to be harvested for meat. But in reality, it is revealed that Norman had been taken to meet Peter Ratri, the 36th head of the Ratri clan.

Thanks to his family and rank, Peter is (arguably) one of the most important human figure heads within the Demon World. So why would he make a special appearance to simply meet with a cattle child…?

His true intentions behind meeting Norman become clear when he requests for the boy’s help with some “research” that he has been working on.

But throughout his entire conversation, Peter’s face is covered in shadow, hereby preventing the reader (and Norman) from being able see his expressions. It is obvious that Peter is hiding something.

From here, we can presume that Norman was sent straight to Lambda.

OBSERVATION #2 LIVING CONDITIONS AT LAMBDA

When we see Norman again, we are treated to our first glimpse at his living conditions. And it actually looks rather comfortable…

He has his own private room – complete with a bed, desk, plenty of books to read… His doctor (even) does regular check-ups on him to observe his health.

As shown by the date, it is January 29th 2046 – almost three months since Norman had left Grace Field. Underneath the date, we see the results of Norman’s check-up such as body temperature and blood pressure.

After his check-up, Norman is treated to a full breakfast, complete with main meal and side dishes. Along with a dose of required medication.

The rest of the day would follow the typical schedule – his routine wasn’t much different than his old schedule back at Grace Field. The only difference was that Norman has been confined to stay in a single room when he wasn’t in the presence of his doctors (or other Lambda scientists) as they needed to accompany him everywhere within the facility.

But even when Norman is left alone in his room, he’s constantly being observed by scientists. They’ve got video cameras on him 24/7 and someone is always watching at all times.

After only three months in Lambda, Norman has already figured out that his living conditions merely are a facade meant to imitate a sense of comfort. The harsh reality behind this set up is blatantly obvious; he’s being taken care of because he’s a highly prized specimen.

And he knows that he’s being used as the test subject for an experiment. But the question is… what type of experiment?

OBSERVATION #3 REOCCURRING THEMES OF CHANGE

Only after the time skip, do we see Norman make his official re-debut back into the story. By this point in time – it is October 2047. But Norman had already been destroying farms for six months prior to October.

Based on later information that Cislo provides as context, it is discovered that Norman was still twelve years old when he escaped Lambda along with the other children.

So we can make a relative guess to the time frame when the escape occurred. It likely was late February (or) early March 2047. This would make the amount of time he spent stuck in Lambda… a grand total of sixteen months. Almost a year and a half.

And ever since escaping, Norman has been playing the role of William Minerva.

While I’ve touched on the subject plenty of times before… it can not be ignored that there an underlining theme that has persisted since Norman re-debuted in the story.

Has Norman changed?

Is he (still) that same innocent child that he was once back at Grace Field? Or has his experiences changed him – whether for better or worse?

Both the characters (and the audience) are constantly looking for reassurance when faced with this question. Despite the length of time that they spent apart, the characters can’t help holding onto a sense of hope that things can simply “return to the way that they used to be.”

Oddly enough, Norman seems a little too eager to put these worries to rest whenever they are brought up. With a smile on his face, he eagerly reassures his family and confirms that nothing has changed – nor will anything ever change.

But sometimes, without realizing it, his smile begins to slip. And this brief moment where his smile falters… it betrays all the reassurance that he spoke previously.

Norman is later confronted by Vincent and this theme is brought back up again. But it is used in a different format – this time emphasizing that Norman has changed compared to his old self. This is in direct opposition to the words that he was telling everyone else in the previous chapter.

Vincent admits that he was curious to see how the “old Norman” acted. But this simple comment is enough to upset Norman who appears to take personal offense to it.

A reaction that seems odd at first… but speaks a lot when taken into context.

He has seen and experienced horrible things in Lambda. He has learned things that have changed his perspective and worldview. He can no longer be considered the same boy that grew up in Grace Field, without any knowledge of the world outside.

But is it possible that he has (also) changed physically – and this change is merely a contributing factor to his mental state?

OBSERVATION #4 IN-DEPTH KNOWLEDGE ABOUT DEMONS

In chapter 120, Norman takes the time to explain a question that the reader has been dying to learn since the beginning of the story.

But he doesn’t give a simple answer to this question.

Instead he reveals an extensive and in-depth narrative about how the Demons evolved to become the sole apex predator. Along with this, he has knowledge about their biological functions and how their unique genetic traits are inherited.

And while it is extremely satisfying to have some new information revealed that impacts the lore like this… unfortunately, there is one glaring issue that can’t be ignored.

This is highly advanced and classified information that Norman should never have possibly had access to. He had been stuck in Lambda and would have had no way of learning this.

But Norman did gain a lot of information about James Ratri and Peter Ratri from Smee. So it wouldn’t be surprising if Smee had included some classified information about the Demons that he knew and passed it on to Norman.

Wait. How would Smee know the evolution, biology, and inheriting of genetic material–

O H

Smee was a scientist at Lambda.

He probably came in contact with Norman because he was one of the scientists overseeing the experiment.

I’d imagine that Smee’s personal guilt got the better of him. Unlike all the other scientists at Lambda, Smee would have been the only one who saw Norman as an actual child… and not a lab rat to experiment on.

And he couldn’t stand to see them testing on a child who had absolutely no idea what was happening behind the scenes. Unfortunately, Smee paid with his life for this.

OBSERVATION #5 HOW DEMONS REACT TOWARDS NORMAN

When Norman meets with Lord Giiran… it becomes apparent that the elder Demon notices something intriguing about Norman. He can see that Norman shows no fear towards him– with the former going so far as to bring only one ally with him as a sign of trust.

But as Lord Giiran listens to Norman’s request for an alliance, he interjects with his own comment.

This is the first time that we’ve seen someone point out how Norman’s plan appears to be built around his own personal revenge. While in the past, we’ve seen him use the cattle children as his motivation– this is the first moment that such a motivation has been brought into question.

There is a lingering suspicion that Norman is holding a grudge against the Demons and this grudge is (primarily) fueling his need for revolution.

But when faced with this question, Norman avoids answering. He simply smiles and lets the conversation continue naturally, without giving any heed to Lord Giiran’s accusation.

In a later chapter, Norman reveals that Lord Giiran had an ‘alternate’ plan alongside his primary intention of getting revenge. 

He has every intention of obtaining Mujika’s blood for the purpose of helping his clan to survive. It is her blood that will grant them the opportunity to avoid the “metaphysical” death they’ve been trying to rid themselves of... for 700 years.

But after getting a taste of Norman’s blood, Lord Giiran comments how delectable and irresistible the taste is. From just a single drop of blood, he knows that he wants to eat Norman. Because there is something ‘especially’ tasty about his blood.

And there is another thing...

The taste certainly proves that Norman is no “ordinary human.” 

OBSERVATION #6 HOW NORMAN REACTS TOWARDS DEMONS

In previous posts, I pointed out that Norman was displaying various symptoms of Post-Trauma Stress Disorder, both blatant and subtle.  But this fact is still incredibly important to bring up; it reveals the dramatic shift in his mental state.

He has become extremely reckless in his actions, almost as though he lacks a sense of self-preservation.

He walks right into a den full of Demons, without so much as a single care about his own safety. And later he even acknowledges the fact that he knew that these Demons would happily eat him– had they been given the slightest opportunity.

He has prided himself on his singular goal of protecting all the cattle children. Often he has repeated the same line in response to this goal.

If the blood of any cattle child is spilled, then his rebellion will have been for nothing. He wants to see only Demon blood be spilled in this upcoming revolution.

So why does Norman feel that its necessary to spill his own blood for the revolution to be effective?

Because under his new revolution, he doesn’t consider himself someone who is in need of protection. He’ll happily spill his own blood to achieve the results that he wants to acquire.

From his own perspective, he’s simply spilling more Demon blood for the revolution.

But if Norman doesn’t consider his own blood to be worth the same as “cattle child” blood, then why does he see himself as expendable?

We’ve seen Norman eat food before… so if he were more akin to a Demon, then he’d have to have obtained a similar biology to a Heathen.

A Demon that doesn’t have to eat human meat in order to keep their intelligence or humanoid form…

But how in the world would it be possible for him to obtain–

The blood of a Heathen… one that had the ability to infect another individual with their characteristics…

BONUS OBSERVATION HOW WOULD THIS THEORY AFFECT THE STORY?

What if Norman was revealed to have a biology similar to a Demon? What if he had the same blood as Mujika?  How would his motivation and plans be viewed differently in hindsight?

It is important to remember how closely this arc is attempting to parallel the Escape Arc. And one of the memorable moments from the Escape Arc was Norman’s shipment.

He’s always had a habit of trying to sacrifice himself for the happiness of Emma and his family. This personality trait certainly hasn’t disappeared– no, it’s only gotten stronger during his departure from the story.

Now that he has taken on the role of William Minerva, he’s become a “savior” or “martyr” figure for the cattle children.

And his newest goal is to wipe every single Demon out of existence.

So if Norman considers himself to “be similar to a Demon,” then he probably has every intention of sacrificing himself for this goal to come true.

In a parallel to his “death” during the Escape Arc, Norman will hide his intentions of sacrificing himself. He’ll keep it a secret from both Emma and Ray.

He has already shown that he would be willing to kill Mujika and Sonju for the sake of his revolution. And even in spite of Emma’s pleas that they are “good individuals who saved them,” Norman’s own thoughts stand unwavering.

If they’re Demons, then they must be destroyed. No matter whether they are “good” people. They must be killed. Every single one.

Including himself.

Norman took on the identity of James Ratri/William Minerva because he can not (in good conscience) call himself “Norman” anymore.

He’s a Demon now… so it would simply be better if his family remembers Norman as he once was. Instead of the monster that he has become.

And that is why he can not let his family ever find out.

Because knowing Emma… she’ll probably just argue that nothing has changed about him. She say that he’s still the same Norman as before.

That’s just like her. She’s far too kind… and extremely naive about how the world works.

And if she found out, then she’d never let him kill the Demons. But sometimes life isn’t kind – and you don’t get what you want.

It might just take an onscreen fake-out death to reveal the truth.

#the promised neverland #yakusoku no neverland #tpn spoilers #tpn norman #tpn theory #tpn #I'm sorry for reuploading but I had to add some extra details

[pbwsports]

Driveways, canyons, pools: NFL players create clever workouts

A farm. A field. A canyon. A pool. Even a driveway. As NFL players wait for a return to normalcy before the 2020 regular season begins, they have had to get creative with how and where they train.

The ripple effects of these unprecedented times -- nationwide social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic and an unknown timetable for a vaccine --have altered the professional sports landscape, and the NFL is no exception.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell authorized the reopening of all team facilities this week, in accordance with state and local regulations, although coaches and players who are not undergoing rehabilitation are prohibited from entering team buildings. While a handful of clubs took advantage of this allowance, states such as New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Washington and California are still imposing heavier restrictions that affect a dozen team facilities.

EDITOR'S PICKS

Road map to sports: How the big leagues are navigating a return

How college football is looking to answer its coronavirus testing question

Could your smartwatch detect the coronavirus?

These inconsistent regulations have also changed the responsibilities of NFL strength trainers, who have spent time remotely assessing the workout needs of players, including their access to resources, as well as acting as liaisons for online equipment purchases. NFL teams were permitted to provide each player with up to $1,500 worth of workout equipment. Nevertheless, players have had to find inventive ways to stay in shape.

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins uses his parents' driveway as his outdoor gym. New York Giants wide receiver Golden Tate mowed a track into a steep canyon near his home. Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver James Washington designed a training regimen on his Texas farm. New Orleans Saintslinebacker Demario Davis has his personal trainers living with him. Giants linebacker Blake Martinez became the beneficiary of a state-of-the-art gym. And Cleveland Browns punter Jamie Gillan grabbed some beers and built a "grubby" garage gym.

Even though players' locations, living situations and resources differ, there's a lesson shared by all: There are no excuses.

Big-money quarterback staying with parents

The playful jab is uttered without warning, hurled from the driver's side of a passing vehicle.

"Go Pack, go!"

And in that moment of lighthearted jest, Kirk Cousins can only ignore it. He knows the stop sign in front of the house makes him a sitting duck every morning.

Four times a week, starting promptly at 9 a.m., the Vikings quarterback gathers equipment from the garage and arranges it neatly on the long, curved pavement leading from his parents' house to the sidewalk. Resting on a wooden chair is his laptop, connected by videoconference to his longtime personal trainer, Chad Cook, who is 450 miles away in Atlanta. This is a glimpse into what constitutes the 2020 NFL offseason.

2020 NFL offseason

• Big questions » | Power rankings » • Free agency: Tracker » | Grades » • Draft: All 255 picks » | Grades » • Fantasy: Cheat sheets » | Projections » • 2020 schedule » | More NFL coverage »

"I like my privacy, so being out in the driveway, on display for the whole neighborhood to see is probably less than ideal. But desperate times call for desperate measures," Cousins said with a smile during a recent ESPN interview. "If it means a guy drives by in a truck and yells, 'Go Pack, go!' at me while we're working out, then so be it."

The manicured lawns of this Orlando, Florida, suburb serve as a backdrop to Cousins' regimen and his attempt at normalcy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

It's not a "home gym" by any means, Cousins concedes, but he insists he has everything he needs: a medicine ball, jump-rope, foam rollers, free weights and a football. And, the most essential tool of all: the laptop he uses to connect with Cook.

"[Every car will] see me doing my shuffles across the driveway, or my cariocas, or doing the jump-rope or different plank exercises, core work, medicine ball, lunges -- whatever it may be. And different people honk or wave, so it's kind of fun," said Cousins, who signed a two-year, $66 million extension with the Vikings in March.

Spotty Wi-Fi is a challenge when working out outdoors, but sheltering in place with his parents was by design: The nine-year veteran and his wife, Julie, now have plenty of reinforcements when it comes to taking care of their sons, Cooper, 2½, and Turner, 1.

"I kind of laugh when I talk about having two like I have 10," Cousins joked, "because compared to other guys in the league who have three, four, five, six kids, having two is not a big deal."

Dealing with this adversity has reaffirmed his commitment to his craft. It also taught him that the Public Broadcasting Service can be a football player's, as well as a father's, best friend: "'Daniel Tiger['s Neighborhood]' on PBS can be a lifesaver."

'Strict training mode' means living with trainers

The plan was to be in Nashville, Tennessee, for a month, but Demario Davis' offseason residence has become his permanent dwelling during the pandemic. His 7,500-square-foot house, purchased last offseason, is a saving grace of sorts, equipped with enough room for his wife, Tamela, and their four children under the age of 6.

And his two personal trainers.

Davis' trainers, Jose Tienda and Piankhi Gibson, typically work with him in two-to-three-week "strict training mode" spurts before heading back to their respective homes. They'll return to Nashville soon for another extended stay with Davis.

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As the 31-year-old enters his ninth NFL season -- and the final year of his contract -- he is determined not to lose ground to a youngster who might be aiming for his spot.

Mid-morning acupuncture and soft tissue work with Tienda give way to afternoon aqua training in a neighbor's pool with Gibson. Davis pauses for dinner and to help put the kids to bed. But before long, he's headed back for more body work. He crawls into bed around 12:30 or 1 a.m. on those rigorous training days.

With Louisiana still reeling from 35,316 confirmed COVID-19 cases (and 2,485 reported deaths) as of Thursday, Davis wasn't surprised Saints coach Sean Payton -- who was the first known NFL figure to test positive for the coronavirus -- announced there would not be virtual workouts, meetings or workout sessions at the team facility.

"The virtual offseason really wouldn't have fit the flow of how we operate down there," the veteran linebacker said of the Saints, who have one of the oldest rosters in the NFL. "We don't have a young team. ... He knew with our experience level, the strong leaders we have at each position, that we'd get it done as far as training."

While Davis is eager to play, he said he won't waste time guessing when the season will start.

"The pandemic don't know nothing about football season. The virus ain't just like, 'Oh, football season's coming, let me chill out,'" he said with a laugh. "So I'm going to train and stay in shape because that's just a philosophy of mine -- you stay ready at all times. But I think it's a discredit to people who are on the front lines working, and the people who are being affected by it, when we're just thinking about how fast we can get back to sports."

'Grubby little gym' becomes labor of love

The police officers approached without warning.

Jamie Gillan had been punting on a turf field almost an hour away from his Tremont, Ohio, residence, completely unaware of the state's shelter-in-place orders. With nonessential businesses closed, the Browns punter -- nicknamed "The Scottish Hammer" -- had used local fields to practice his kicking drills. That is, until he was no longer allowed.

"[The officers] were like, 'Yeah man, we want to let you punt. We love the Browns and everything, but it's just the rules,'" the Scotland-born special-teamer explained in his thick brogue.

Faced with the prospect of quarantining alone, Gillan chose to go be with family.

He made trips to the liquor store and the supermarket -- packing his truck with several bottles of bourbon for his father, "120 eggs and 16 racks of bacon" -- and then he and his German shepherd named Bear traveled seven hours to southern Maryland to stay with his parents and 19-year-old sister.

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The rural area around his parents' house affords him space to practice his booming kicks, and there's a "massive" field, owned by a friend, which Gillan uses, too. But the self-described "workout junkie" had to get creative with strength training. Soon his parents' garage became his gym.

Unable to buy equipment online because of limited inventory and "skyrocketing" prices, Gillan purchased old equipment from a local high school: barbells, bumper plates, 40-, 80- and 100-pound dumbbells and bands. He purchased rubber matting from a local tractor store.

He searched Facebook Marketplace for a squat rack, but he and his father, Colin, who is a former rugby player and member of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force, came up with a better solution -- they would construct their own.

"We came back [from Lowe's], cracked open some beers and just started building it," Gillan said with a chuckle. Even with old, rusty weights, his "grubby little gym" was everything he needed.

Gillan said his resourcefulness was forged during four years playing at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, a historically black university. During offseasons when he and his teammates didn't have access to the gym, their surroundings became their workout room. They bench-pressed and squatted logs, they did dips and pullups on metal bars at local parks, and Gillan hopped fences to punt on neighboring fields when access to their football field was prohibited.

"One thing I notice about a lot of historically black colleges is they're very underfunded," Gillan said, stressing that he and other student-athletes had to be creative. "Maybe it got me prepared for this weird period."

State-of-the-art amenities ease the transition

Blake Martinez's father, Marc, had a master plan: purchase a plot of land 15 minutes from the family home in Tucson, Arizona, and build a facility for his son to train and live. It didn't take long for the idea to become Martinez's reality.

The linebacker thanks his father every day for his ingenuity, as well as his construction company.

The 18,000-square-foot facility -- conceptualized and built last year -- "has everything a football player would need," said Martinez, a 2016 fourth-round draft pick by the Green Bay Packers who signed a three-year, $30 million free-agent contract with the Giants in March.

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The warehouse-looking steel structure contains "a miniature version of a college weight room," a full-length basketball court, a 30-by-15-yard turf field and an outdoor sand volleyball court. It also doubles as a residence, with three bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen on the second level for him, his wife, Kristy, and their young daughter.

"It kept getting better and better as it kept getting built," Martinez said. He works out for two hours in person with his longtime trainer, Glenn Howell, four times a week.

But familiarity with his new franchise is a luxury Martinez, 26, doesn't have.

With New York and New Jersey being one of the epicenters of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, Martinez doesn't know when he'll be able to travel to the facility or even meet members of the Giants organization for the first time.

"It's not like I've been on the team for a while and I know the guys already. So, it's been tough in that aspect, connecting with guys," he said.

Martinez said the pandemic has taught him "I literally have zero excuses not to show up the first day and make sure I'm 100 percent ready to go and help push all of the younger guys to that level if they haven't gotten there yet."

Making use of California canyons

Golden Tate's stunning San Diego views come at a price.

"I've just got to watch out for rattlesnakes," the Giants wide receiver said with a laugh.

When stay-at-home orders were issued in California in mid-March, Tate took advantage of his surroundings -- namely, the canyon his house is built on.

"It's not the best condition to be running in," admitted the 11-year NFL player, who mowed a 7-by-40-yard patch of grass on a steep incline. "But it'll suffice right now. It's better than doing nothing."

Team work makes the dream work! Uncle @tatethagreat & LoLo helping me get my daily catches in. Hope everyone has a great Friday! #FamilyFriday

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Tate, a married father of two small kids, purchased PowerBlock dumbbells and a Jugs machine from which he catches about 100 balls a day. He bikes at home on his Peloton and uses mountain bike trails for his aerobic conditioning. But finding a flat surface for route running has been a challenge. So, too, is self-discipline.

"Over my career, I'm so used to having someone -- an instructor or the guys around me -- push me. And right now, I'm forced to push myself," said Tate, who turns 32 on Aug. 2.

The veteran receiver played through the 2011 NFL lockout, but he said the coronavirus pandemic is unlike anything he has experienced.

"I feel bad for the first-, second-, third- and fourth-round guys who are expected to come in and help the team right away, but they're not having the same opportunity to grow as a player, not getting those reps on the field," he said.

"The offseason is when you have the time to really focus on the fundamentals of the game, the bigger picture and the details of the game. And it looks like right now we're going to show up for camp -- if we show up for camp -- in the middle of the fire of trying to figure out who's going to make the team and trying to get ready for a season. That can be overwhelming."

Strengths trainers turned investigators

With their players scattered across the country, NFL strength and conditioning coaches feel more like part-time sleuths and office managers than in-person trainers.

"We kind of went more into equipment sales and trying to be a liaison to help guys get set up and make sure they're doing the right thing," said Justus Galac, now in his seventh year as the New York Jets' head strength and conditioning coach. "What we found was, guys in the Southern states and more into the Midwest had more access than our guys in the Northeast and West Coast."

Amendola shows off his backyard workout

Danny Amendola impresses with some nifty, one-handed catches while working out with a helmet on in his backyard.

Strength trainers have been tasked with identifying what their players need from a performance standpoint to achieve their fitness goals, regardless of where they live and what resources they have access to. "Even though they might have access to a Steak 'n Shake parking lot or they might be in a third floor of an apartment," said Justin Lovett, the Los Angeles Rams' new head strength and conditioning coach.

Lovett was hired in the midst of California's coronavirus shutdown, but unlike during the 2011 lockout year, when he was on the Denver Broncos' staff, communication is permitted and has proved paramount. But there have been challenges.

"The biggest problem with the rookie class is they don't have the money that some of the older guys do," Galac said. "Not saying millions of dollars, but able to go buy equipment, pay for a trainer to take care of them, buying more food that you may normally not have to buy because the facility provides it. All those little things are adding up for these guys. And the rookies, they have no idea. And it's not their fault."

This time of year is crucial for strength staffs, not only for getting players in shape but also for getting new players up to speed with their programs. "And we've lost that," Galac said.

In fact, the Jets' weight room underwent a face-lift this offseason, complete with a new floor, turf accents and equipment. "And nobody's using it," Galac said. "It's sitting empty. The players haven't even seen it yet."

Finding space and serenity in the countryside

James Washington misses football. And, occasionally, his farm.

The 26-acre property the Steelers wide receiver purchased near his hometown of Abilene, Texas, made it easy for him to comply with social distancing rules. It also afforded him space to work out and keep in shape by way of chores. Washington, who was an agribusiness major with a concentration in farm and ranch management at Oklahoma State, finds the countryside calming. He enjoys the views of passing cars, wheat fields and cattle pastures during his eight- to 12-mile rides on his recently purchased bicycle.

His workout setup, which included an assortment of resistance bands sent by the Steelers and his high school dumbbells retrieved from his parents' house, was complete with the arrival of a Jugs machine, which he kept in the barn and carried to a flat area in one of the pastures.

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However, staving off boredom is a challenge whenever he's in Pittsburgh, a more crowded city with fewer options for keeping busy.

"When I was in Texas, I'd work out, do my virtual [team] meetings and then I'd have to find something to do cause I can't just sit in the house," Washington said last week, after he, JuJu Smith-Schuster and fellow receiver Ryan Switzer worked out in quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's home weight room. "Being on the farm really helped me a lot, because there was always something that could have been done."

Washington loves his farm so much his recent stay in Pittsburgh was short-lived. He returned to Texas on Wednesday to celebrate Memorial Day weekend with family and tend to his most recent purchase: cattle. The time away from the Steelers' facility has also given Washington time to think.

"It just doesn't feel right," he said. "Everybody feels like we should be at the facility, doing physical stuff, getting ready to go. ... Even if there's no fans, we still have to go out there and just go 110 percent, even if it would feel weird. Fans help make the game. It's really crazy to think about.

"Just being away from things, you really find out how much you miss the sport. It sucks. That's really what I figured out. That I love football." Source - ESPN

#nfl

[elligetsfit]

My weight loss & gain story

Disclaimer: this might be too long and ranty. Sorry for that, but I really need to get it out of my head. Btw English is not my first language. You were warned :)

I always was a cute chubby kid, but never realized that there was something wrong with my body. I never ate more than other kids, but I loved all sugary stuff. During one summer at elementary school (I was around 7), my mum spent all her time walking with me outside, playing sports and exercising. She taught me how to play volleyball, badminton, how to ride a bike. It worked were well for my body. But then I went back to school and probably gained everything. I mean come on, an 7 years old! So sad.

The second attempt at losing weight happened during my high school years. I was at my highest point, I started noticing angry-red stretch marks on my thighs and upper arms. They were itching horribly and I cried in my mum’s arms because I didn’t understand what was happening. It felt a little bit like I am gonna die (I was a moody teenager, so everything felt like the end of the world. No exception here). I weighted myself in and saw 190 lbs on the scale. That day we created a diet plan with my mum. It was some kind of a mainstream low-carb diet where each food had points. But because my mum is a very smart woman (♡), I still ate lots of fruits and grains. All in all, it was a pretty balanced diet, if I look back at it. Obviously, my mum was the main driving force there, she cooked for me, she basically controlled the gate keeper for the fridge. For 4 years I maintained this diet and lost 80 lbs.

Being 110 lbs felt like flying. I started going to the gym, I started running! I was never fit enough to run! I looked normal, even maybe not very toned. For several years I was able to maintain weight between 110-120 lbs. 

But then slowly I started gaining it back. Binging became a problem. In 3 years I was 145 lbs. Then I moved out from my family to another country to follow my dream to become an AI researcher. It was tough. There was no support system that I’ve built for my whole life, lots of expectations and obviously stress. Constant thoughts that I am not good enough. Food was comforting. Rapidly I was back to the start at 180 lbs. 

My third attempt to lose weight happened due to my friend. We met at the lab and immediately hit it off. He is a very dedicated guy and after studies he went to work out. Every damn day! That was inspiring. I told him that I would like to become healthier and he was glad to help me out. During the next several months he basically took over my eating habits, brought me food when I was too busy with my deadlines and all in all provided emotional support whenever I was down. As a result of our joint effort I lost 15 lbs. When in several month he left to follow his career, I cried like a baby in the subway on my way home. Not the happiest moment of my life. 

And soon I was back to my bad habits. More deadlines, more stress, becoming more depressed. Binging came back with 20 lbs. 

But then one day, after being down for the whole month, I was like ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. My health can’t depend on other people. First mum, then this friend. I can do it myself. I have to. Other people are not here with me for forever. For my fourth attempt, I started cooking for myself, very low-carb, counting calories. It worked like a charm and I lost those 20 lbs in three month. And then again. Something bad happened, accumulated over time and here I am - eating all my troubles away. 

Right now it is my fifth attempt. I don’t know how far I’ll go. But what I understood though out these years of constant struggle with weight is that for me external support is essential for success. 

That’s why I am writing here :)

#personal #fitblr #weight loss #life #my life #lose weight #weightlossjourney #weight diary #goal weight #goals #journey #diary

[junkienicky]

Some things about the DVD extras

The bloopers are 5 minutes long and are pretty funny. I posted them already if you haven’t seen them

Cast interviews is around 15 minutes and is pretty interesting. They talk about their character’s mindset in 72 hours and what it was like for themselves working in that timescale 

Jessica said she constantly had to wear wet clothes for about two or three days because of the rain in episode 11 lol

Selenis said “there’s a strip tease... Sorry, it’s not Laura Prepon” hahahahah

She also said it was hard to get out of the mindset of how Gloria was feeling when she got home

Danielle’s favorite moment was setting the cheetos and tampos on fire because it felt like a badass moment

Laura described directing episode ten, how she had to give the actresses notes while she had duct tape on her mouth and around her feet “it’s like insane”

Natasha has a funny moment with Rootbeer where she’s like “still has not made a cameo on the show” Rootbeer barks and Natasha says “we’re all upset about it at home”

Taylor thinks although it is an intense season, she believes that it is one of the funnier seasons they’ve had

Julie says because the writers were saying the subject matters in this season are so dark, they needed a lot of Leanne and Angie this season.........

The writers didn’t write any dialogue for Lea when it came to the talent show because she is a stand-up comedian, and so she improvised her lines but because she didn’t have a mic, she had to loop them in editing lmao

Natasha thinks there is an unfairness to actors who have opinions about the current situations the world is in and that people see it as like “shut up and entertain us”

Danielle thought the season was really challenging because she had to stay in the mindset of someone who is fighting for life and justice. The death of Philando Castile had happened and she remembers watching his girlfriend, Diamond, give a speech and not wanting her lawyer to speak for her but using her own voice. She tried to translate that to the OITNB audience and describes it as an “experience she will never forget.”

Commentary for Tattoo You with director Mark Burley and writer Tara Herrmann;

They mention the eyes being real prisoners for every episode they’ve had commentary on, I swear.

They were filming episode twelve and thirteen in mid winter but they made it look like summer by putting fake leaves in the trees and digitally removing breath.

One of the hallmarks of the show is that they make good social commentary, Mark thinks.

They believe Taystee was standing up for her principles.

Tara wrote the scene where a woman on the bus hands her baby to Bailey while having a panic attack from real experience, except on a plane.

Alan had never held a baby before in the scene.

Freida's bunker was a tiny set and really difficult to shoot in.

Nicky’s “tear drop” tattoo was mistakenly drew in the wrong order. Apparently in one of the bunker scenes it is visible - (I haven’t checked, I wouldn’t know). 

They explain that they go far away from the book, then right back to it with moments such as Piper's first tattoo flashback with the fish, which is what Piper Kirman had in real life.

They were originally going to travel to film this flashback on a beach and the flashback was originally planned as three scenes. They cut it back to one. The flashback was filmed on a stage set and the beach in the background is green screen. 

Sometimes they have to alter cast members' real tattoos because they don't get the rights from every tattoo artist.

Tara thinks Natasha is a great on-camera smoker, although she is "currently" (at the time the commentary was recorded) was off the cigarettes.

During the scene in the pharmacy, Tara explains that in season one, one of the big notes that they kept getting back from the real Piper was that they were not telling enough "mom stories" so they really doubled down on that.

The line in which Red says "without disappointment, she and I have nothing" in reference to her relationship with Nicky was specifically called out as a great line by Jenji - which Tara describes as her "happy day" when she gets kudos from Jenji.

Kate stays in character as Red all day while she is on set.

The salt shaker tattoo on Alex, is one that Jenji always wanted to have her whole life.

Mark thinks it was nice catching up on the backstory of Piper and Alex as there was always more to explore there.

They both joke about how they wonder if Red would be a YouTube blogger on the outside making cooking videos, and that it should be a spin-off.

As you'd imagine, the continuity aspect of the season being based in three days was overwhelming.

Early on, the writers really wanted to "lock Linda in the prison and at some point she needed to be stoned" and "not in the way [we as an audience] are thinking, or in the biblical sense" I have literally no idea what they were talking about here, if I’m honest.

They think Flaca and Maritza are great together.

They think Taylor did a really good job with her scene where she calls Carol, as it was very emotional as Piper has not had the best relationship with her mum over the years and this scene makes a connection.

The corn story from Carol is a real story from co-writer Carolina Paiz’s mother (or husband) but it was actually a can of beans, like we see in the proposal scene.

They shot Piper's second flashback in an actual tattoo shop and the woman tattooing Larry is the owner of the shop.

They was "delighted" to have Jason Biggs back...

They built a bathroom set for when Piper calls Alex that cost around $32,000.

Alex's scene was filmed in a real hotel.

There was a longer shot of Tiffany making the cereal she eats at Donuts' house, but it was cut because it was too long.

They love the unique and odd conversations between various characters, and the scene between Gloria and Luschek was one of them.

They were stuck schedule wise with the phone call between Nicky and Vinny. Originally they wanted a scene showing him at home, but logistically it wasn't working. They shot it with him in his car so the audience had the impression that he spent the night there.

They describe the scene as being big for Nicky, wherein she is essentially saying "odd as it may be, I respect what you guys have but you need to step up and take care of our girl.” And that she is doing Lorna a favor though losing out for herself. In addition, they confirm Nicky would like to be loved in the way she describes in the scene.

Crew had to shoot in the bar terminal at night as they were only allowed to shoot there after 11:00PM.

They struggled on how to tie up bailey's story. They didn’t want him to commit suicide, but they also didn't want it to necessarily feel hopeful for him.

They thought Uzo did a fantastic job of 'sleep acting.'

They mention each character has musical themes.

Mark thought Taylor was wonderful in the proposal scene.

commentary for Storm-y Weather with executive producer Tara Herrmann and writer Lauren Morelli;

It is one of Lauren's favorite episodes she wrote and one of her favourites in general because it was so much work.

They didn't anticipate how stressful writing, production and continuity wise this season would be to create with the seventy-two hour timeline.

They had around 120 meetings (an over exaggeration) on how they were going to do the opening storm scene, because of the glass, smoke, special effects and ensuring health and safety (especially because the actress who plays Alison was pregnant).

They have moments where they realise all the bits they've planted in the season actually come together.

They spent around twelve hours a day shooting in the bunker.

They comment on how beautiful Taylor looks in her "janitor overalls" costume.

Tara mentions about they they are "currently" (at the time of the commentary) [were] working on season six, and there are a lot of things Lauren doesn't know about as she no longer works on the show. She goes on to say how she so badly wants to tell her where each character ends up.

The scene where the Nazis and Ouiji (along with her other two friends - names I can't remember) are deciding which way to go in the corridor, describe how the scene was only a page long, but took hours to figure out.

While writing the season, Tara saw a photo of Natasha on the red carpet with bangs. That's where the inspiration came from to have Nicky's hair like that in this season.

Lauren says she loves both Nicky and Lorna and has a "soft space in [her] heart for them." They comment how they're "so great together."

They think Yael is a really good crier.

They wanted to make sure that we saw every character that we basically know in this episode.

Jenji tries to have every character in the first and last episode of the season.

All of the SWAT team are named after writers of the season.

The season is supposedly set near the end of September/beginning of October.

Mornings on set, they had to use leaf blowers to get rid of snow and leaves and digitally colour correct (add green and brown in editing) to ensure it looks like late summer.

They pitched early on to have Carol and Pat meet in the season.

They describe the episode being "really physical" for the actors because there is a lot of running around.

They had a lot of debate in the writer's room on whether to kill off Humps or keep him alive.

They commented that they often put some of their subconscious thoughts into these characters.

They call the booby-trap making the "home alone montage", they also compliment the art department for all the props such as the sling-shot made out of a bra.

Expanding on this, they refer back to Big Boo's flashback in season three when someone from the art department had to go out and buy dildos lmao.

Lauren spent several seasons trying to get the pool to film in at Rockland.

The pool was difficult to shoot in because it would get very cold, but also very hot at times under the lights.

They had a long meeting about whether we were going to see Humps' butt or not, because he was in a hospital gown, so if he fell out the wheelchair would the gown be open and would you see his butt or would it be a prosthetic.

They had many meetings on how much work special effects put in to figure out how to place the tower of books so that it would be stable enough to stand, but easy enough to fall by being pushed over by a SWAT member. They had to build two towers.

They thought Big Boo and Linda were realy funny and great together.

Lauren received many angry tweets regarding the Epipen moment where they used it to wake up Suzanne. Apparently they researched but it was wrong "according to twitter." They then go on to say that Suzanne didn't OD she was just "really sleepy."

They had to build a fire proof stage set for when Leanne and Angie set the files on fire.

They mention that the girl who gets her nose broken all the time is also pregnant, adding "wow, so many orange babies" lol.

They had a technical adviser on set most of the time to give them guidance with the "SWAT stuff."

It was Diane and Jackie's idea to draw nipples on their bra when Flaca and Maritza make a video for "belieber1996."

Nick Sandow requested if he could shave his mustache, but they said no "because the world wasn't ready to see his naked lip yet."

They mention about how they set the show in the past "we're like what? In 2014, or something." And that they've sort of abandoned the rules in that way, timeline wise.

They think Danielle was spectacular this season.

Uzo is wearing a wig in the bunker scenes, Jackie also often does.

The trailer/security van is a set they built.

They talk about Donuts and Doggett's scenes being complicated. Tara think they should not be together, and Lauren agrees. But they see where these characters come from, and understand why they (as characters) think they should be together.

Jenji named Piscatella originally.

For a long time they discussed Taystee actually killing Piscatella, but decided that would be perpetuating the cycle of violence and that she is not a killer.

They think the scene is really a moment of grace.

They also think Danielle is a really good crier.

They love the rivalry between Red and Piscatella.

They originally had a line as Piscatella leaves where he says "God speed", however it was cut. Neither can remember why but Brad William Henke was pretty upset about it. He also felt like it was a moment of redemption for his character.

While they were shooting the end scene in the pool, the actors requested if they could hear the end song, so that they could have the emotional feel of it.

The whole season/Taystee's fight emphasizes how Litchfield is truly her own home, and the only one that she's had in her life.

The end pool scene was pitched from Toy Story 3 where they're all in the incinerator.

#oitnb #orange is the new black #oitnb season 5 #lauren morelli #tara herrmann #vauseman #flaritzia #nichorello #oitnb season 6 #Danielle Brooks

[catsandtruecrime]

What happens when “justice” doesn’t feel like justice?

This morning I was listening to Morbid, one of my favorite podcasts for true crime and all things spooky. In particular, I was listening to their episodes on the Galveston 11, who were 11 girls, murdered in and around Galveston, TX in the 70s. Links to the two part episode can be found below in the references section.

Technically, the murders are still unsolved, though they’re commonly attributed to Edward Harold Bell, who confessed to the murders while in prison for the unrelated murder of Larry Dickens in 1978. Aside from his confessions (he had actually confessed multiple times to multiple people), there was also a mountain of circumstantial evidence that linked him to each of the Galveston 11 murders, including the nature of his known offenses, proximity to the victims’ abduction sites and/or dump sites, and witnesses who reportedly saw Bell at the locations where some of the victims disappeared on the same day and time that they went missing.

Even though pretty much everyone attributes the murders to Bell, he was never actually charged with any of them as he spent his life in prison from the time of his sentencing in 1993 to his death in prison in 2019 at age 79. At the time of his death, he was about 26 years into his 70 year long prison sentence; he wasn’t getting out any time soon, even if he hadn’t died in 2019.

Some people would say that since he was spending his life in prison anyway, justice was served even if the exact crimes carried out against the Galveston 11 were never definitively linked to Bell. This doesn’t sit right with me.

As I dive deeper and deeper into the world of true crime, I feel like I keep finding case after case that just leaves me with an icky feeling; I’m sure this is partially just part of hearing about murder and some of the most depraved acts humans have ever committed, but some of that can be curbed if the case ends with, “…and in the end, Jeffrey Dahmer, who received 15 consecutive life sentences, was brutally beaten to death by a fellow inmate. The end.”

The sense of justice you get almost lets you breathe a sigh of relief as you learn that the murderer finally got what they deserved. For a petty person like me who loves a good dose of revenge, there’s nothing better than a vicious murderer or sex offender getting their comeuppance in prison after being publicly held accountable at trial for their crimes.

Sometimes, though, even when “justice is served,” it’s still not good enough to make me feel like the perpetrator got what they deserved. One great example of this is the Golden State Killer case.

If you’re not familiar, the Golden State Killer case is a lengthy, horrendous case that spanned decades as Joseph James DeAngelo began by burglarizing homes around Northern California. He soon escalated to rape and eventually murder, ultimately burglarizing around 120 homes, raping 50, and murdering 13 people across the state of California from 1973 to 1986.

The case went unsolved until April of 2018, JUST THREE YEARS AGO, when he was finally apprehended after detectives used DNA data collected from GEDMatch, which is a DNA database that collects and compiles DNA data from sites like 23 and Me, Ancestry, and other similar sites. Comparing DNA collected when the crimes occurred, detectives were able to identify a relative who had submitted data to one of these sites, which eventually lead them to DeAngelo as a suspect.

Once they had him in their crosshairs, they were able to compare the DNA from the crime scene to DNA they were able to collect from a tissue DeAngelo had used and discarded. From there, it was confirmed that DeAngelo’s was a match to the crime scene DNA and that he was without a doubt, the Golden State Killer.

He was taken to trial and charged with his crimes, accepting a plea deal that took the death penalty off the table. He’s now serving multiple consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for his crimes. Which is all well and dandy…except for the fact that HE’S 75 YEARS OLD. He’s been married, has three daughters, and worked as a police officer and mechanic not only during the time of his crimes, but also afterwards as he built a life as a family man with his wife and children. He eventually retired and was living life as any retiree would at the time of his arrest.

Like, COME ON. For arguably one of the most prolific serial killer/rapists in America, he got to live out his life and while he’s behind bars now, for what? FOR WHAT?! It makes me so unimaginably angry that his victims have had to live for so long, knowing that their rapist was still out there, unknown and unidentified; he could have walked by them at the store and they would have never known it was him. I can’t imagine the terror and stress that would cause, not to mention the 13 PEOPLE HE MURDERED. And then just…went on living his life. With no consequences. Until he was 75 YEARS OLD. He got to live totally normally for such a long time, after destroying the lives of so many people. Tossing him in prison when he’s nearing the end of his life anyway and calling it justice would make me absolutely livid if I was one of his victims.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s awesome that he was caught at all, and the DNA matching with GEDmatch that’s being utilized now is absolutely incredible, but the petty, revenge seeking side of me can’t get over the fact that this is all he gets for the immense terror he inflicted. Sure he’s being held accountable for his crimes finally, but he’s really not losing anything by spending his last few years in prison. His punishment seems so small compared to the crimes he committed, and it really doesn’t feel like justice at all to me.

A few other specific cases that get me fired up in my search for justice are some that I plan to write about eventually, but that I have to take the time to dive into in a way that doesn’t make me want to completely rip my hair out. The murders of Sylvia Likens and Zahra Baker are two that immediately come to mind, and Israel Keyes is another giant pile of trash that didn’t get even close to what he deserved. These cases all have a lot to unpack so just…stay tuned for those.

All of my past English teachers are going to want to crucify me here, because this is probably about to be a mish-mash of contradictory, stream of consciousness statements, but bear with me. Perhaps I’ll try to edit this for once to try and make the inner workings of my mind and my qualms with the justice system more cohesive…

Justice is something that’s hard to define and hard to carry out in a balanced and objective way, and I think this is part of the reason that even when “justice is served” according to the law, it can seem like it’s not enough in the eyes of society. Or in my eyes. Because I’m a petty person who wants revenge if someone proves to be a murderous piece of shit.

For example, in the past (and still in some parts of the world), theft could be punished by cutting off the thief’s hand. To me, and to most people, this seems incredibly extreme and unnecessary.

On the other hand, though (haha, get it?), I do think that banning “cruel and unusual punishment” was a bad move on the part of our founding fathers. When I say this, I’m sure some people will inevitably think I’m insane, but hear me out, even though I’m sure there will still be people who strongly disagree with me…probably most people to be honest…

To me, in cases where someone has tortured, raped, and murdered countless people, perhaps even children, life in prison isn’t enough. Especially when they readily admit to their crimes and show no remorse, life in prison isn’t NEARLY enough, and neither is the death penalty.

The death penalty is often seen as the most extreme sentence that can only be handed out for the most extreme, heinous crimes, but to me, that’s far too easy. It gives the perpetrator an easy out so that they don’t have to live with the consequences of the unimaginable pain and suffering they’ve caused. This is probably a hot take, especially in the liberal circles I run in, but I think those people deserve to be tortured. THAT would be justice to me.

NOW I HAVE TO CLARIFY. Part of the reason I’m still on the fence regarding the death penalty is the argument that “sometimes the system fails and you get the wrong person.” This is a completely fair and true argument. I’m not advocating for torturing someone that “we’re pretty sure” did it. I’m strictly talking about the people that, once caught, gladly give themselves up, proudly and without remorse for their crimes. Normally this would be the most depraved of serial killers, child molesters, etc. Like we’re talking the absolute SCUM OF THE EARTH. I think that for those people, “cruel and unusual punishment” is the only thing that will truly feel like justice; causing them the same pain and suffering that they caused for so many innocent people.

“BUT WAIT! If we do that, what makes us any better than them?!” you say. And I don’t have an answer for that. They’re bad and we’re not? We’re simply showing them what they’ve done to others? The Golden Rule, if you will? I really don’t know.

I fully recognize that this way of thinking brings up a whole host of ethical dilemmas; where does the line get drawn on the spectrum from “here’s a ticket for speeding” to “here’s a life of torture and confinement for whatever horrible crime against humanity you don’t regret committing?” I have no answer for this; let’s just put me in charge and I’ll address it on a case by case basis, Kristin for President 2024, vote for me and my “Let’s Torture Serial Killers” platform. Just kidding.

In all seriousness, though, when I say that these people should be tortured, I don’t necessarily mean that we should break out The Rack or The Iron Maiden or send someone in to flay them. Although in some cases…not a bad idea…just kidding, that’s a little too dark, even for me.

For example, if it were up to me, I would have some of these people in solitary confinement, in straight jackets, with nothing but their thoughts to take up the rest of their days. Force them to sit in absolute and endless BOREDOM and LONELINESS with no way out of it. Just in case hell doesn’t exist, let’s make them live in it while they’re still here.

“BUT THEN we have to pay for it with our tax dollars!” you all yell. YES I KNOW. Obviously it’s not the most ideal system, but neither is incarcerating someone at 75 for horrendous crimes, long after they’ve already been given the privilege of a life well lived.

As someone who seeks endless suffering and pain as penance for the most horrific crimes, it’s incredible to me when victims’ families or victims themselves forgive their assailants. Maybe it’s a character flaw, but I couldn’t imagine ever forgiving someone who tortures and/or murders one of my family members. It blows my mind when victims’ families address their loved ones’ murderers at trial and they don’t tell them that they hope that they rot in hell for the rest of eternity. I commend their strength, composure, and willpower to move on, but it could never be me.

I honestly don’t even know where I was going with this blog post other than to express my frustration with the fact that justice is so hard to serve in a way that feels sufficient, especially in many true crime cases that I learn about. Hearing a story about a child who’s endlessly tortured until finally being murdered, for example, feels like it needs a much more grand conclusion than, “…and now their murderer is in prison and may be eligible for parole in 9 years.” It’s just not fair, and YES I KNOW that life isn’t fair, but it’s one part of true crime that can really take a toll on you. It’s easy to keep your head up and keep bingeing cases when you know that the murderer really has to pay for their crimes in the end, but when that doesn’t happen, it feels so defeating.

As someone who believes so strongly in justice and holding people accountable for their actions, it can be challenging to stay optimistic and to have faith in the justice system. It makes it feel more like the “justice” system than the justice system. And while I don’t have any real answers on how to fix that (other than bringing back cruel and unusual punishment, Kristin Drew 2024, let’s go), I can’t help but feel like each case I share is helping to bring some sort of justice to the victims. Even if it’s just letting one more person know what a piece of shit their murderer was, that’s one more tiny drop of justice in the victim’s bucket as one more person learns their story.

Maybe one day we’ll develop some better system that doles out justice that really feels like JUSTICE. Until then, I’ll just have to keep writing.

REFERENCES AND OTHER STUFF

Morbid Podcast on the Galveston 11: Part 1 and Part 2 on Spotify

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, about the hunt for the Golden State Killer, a miniseries on HBO

#true crime #opinions #hot takes #justice

[brajeshupadhyay]

Obama implores Americans to feel “a sense of urgency” about defeating Trump

But for the past year and a half there has often been a critical piece missing: Obama.

That began to change in April, when Obama endorsed Biden. On Tuesday it went a step further, as Obama and Biden made their first joint appearance in years, the former partners allied as they attempt to defeat President Trump.

Obama was the main draw at a virtual fundraiser for Biden, raising more than $7.6 million from 175,000 individual donors, according to Biden’s campaign.

“You’re all feeling a sense of urgency, the same kind of urgency I’m feeling right now,” Obama said near the start of the fundraiser. “I’m here to say: Help is on the way.”

Obama launched into an in-depth criticism of Trump, without mentioning him by name, and said that while his own administration inherited problems, “the foundation stones, the institutions we had in place were still more or less intact.”

“My predecessor, who I disagreed with on a whole host of issues, still had a basic regard for the rule of law and the importance of our institutions and democracy,” he said.

“What we have seen over the last couple of years is a White House enabled by Republicans in Congress and a media structure that supports them . . . that suggests facts don’t matter, science doesn’t matter,” Obama said. “That suggests that a deadly disease is fake news. That sees the Justice Department as simply an extension and an arm of the personal concerns of the president. That actively promotes division. And considers some people in this country more real as Americans than others.”

He urged those watching to do more and to take the election seriously.

“Man, this is serious business. Whatever you’ve done so far is not enough . . . We have to do more,” Obama said. He warned Biden supporters of Trump’s strength, and not to underestimate his ability to harness his supporters.

“We can’t be complacent or smug, or say it’s so obvious this president hasn’t done a good job,” Obama said. “Look. He won once.”

Obama also turned toward Biden, touting his work with “our presidency” and saying that the tragedies in the former vice president’s life allow him to better understand the lives of average Americans.

“This is somebody who has been touched by tragedy in a direct, profound way, and as a consequence has enlarged his heart to embrace other people who are undergoing tragedy,” he said.

The event marked a new phase for Obama, who is expected to increase his campaigning not only for Biden but also a full slate of Democrats aiming to preserve the House majority and win back the Senate.

Obama is seen as vital to energizing elements of his coalition with whom Biden has struggled, including young black voters as well as liberal voters who have distrusted the former vice president, who built his career as a moderate who could work with Republicans. He appeared to target one of their disconnects with Biden when he directly addressed his age.

“I’ll be honest, and hope Joe doesn’t take offense,” he said. “Joe’s been around a while. Sometimes what happens is we take that for granted.

“There’s a tendency to always look for the new and shiny object. But for my money one of the things that counts the most is to have somebody, whatever mistakes they’ve made or hardships they’ve gone through, have they shown the kind of character that stands up,” he said. “And my experience with Joe Biden is that’s who he is.”

It was largely based on their eight-year partnership that Biden was able to make deeper inroads with the older black voters who helped turn around Biden’s campaign and make him the presumptive Democratic nominee. While Biden has talked broadly about the eight years he was vice president, Obama is expected to offer more fulsome testimonials.

“As well known as Biden is, he’s not that well known,” said David Axelrod, a longtime Obama adviser. “People know he was the vice president, they know he lost his son. But there’s a lot about him they don’t know. And a lot about what he did as vice president they don’t know. There isn’t a better testimonial than Obama’s.”

Throughout the Democratic primary, Obama was careful to remain neutral — although Biden at times tested the limits, at one point running an ad showing Obama bestowing the Medal of Freedom on Biden. The former president met with many of the two dozen candidates running, and was a frequent behind-the-scenes confidant of several, including his former vice president.

After Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) suspended his campaign in April, Obama released a lengthy video endorsing Biden. In the video, he reflected on the shifts within the party he once led and called for more assertive action.

“To meet the moment, the Democratic Party will have to be bold,” Obama said. “I could not be prouder of the incredible progress that we made together during my presidency. But if I were running today, I wouldn’t run the same race or have the same platform as I did in 2008. The world is different. There’s too much unfinished business for us to just look backwards. We have to look to the future.”

Obama has also been at the forefront for Trump, who has had a years-long obsession with his predecessor, first stoking racist theories about Obama’s citizenship and demanding his birth certificate. As president, Trump has attempted to dismantle as much of Obama’s agenda as possible. For weeks he has touted an ill-defined conspiracy theory he called “Obamagate,” and this week he accused the former president of “treason.”

“It’s treason,” Trump told CBN News, claiming without evidence that Obama was spying on his campaign. “Look, when I came out a long time ago, I said they’ve been spying on our campaign. . . . It turns out I was right. Let’s see what happens to them now.”

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said last year he found no evidence that the FBI under Obama had wiretapped the phones at Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign.

Trump can use opposition to Obama to mobilize his supporters — on Tuesday his campaign sent out a fundraising email with sirens and the subject line “BARACK OBAMA” — but Obama is generally viewed favorably by most Americans. A recent Fox News poll had Obama with a net favorability of 28 points, compared with minus-12 points for Trump.

Obama has recently shed some of his reluctance to engage in national politics, sharply criticizing Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic last month by calling it “an absolute chaotic disaster” during a call with a network of former staffers and supporters. On the call, he also criticized the Justice Department’s decision to drop charges against Michael Flynn, who served as Trump’s first national security adviser, saying that it was “the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that . . . our basic understanding of the rule of law is at risk.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the move was “a little bit classless” and suggested Obama should have “kept his mouth shut.”

Obama later delivered a virtual commencement address as part of a prime-time special that some pointed to as a potential test run for a Democratic National Convention, in part because it had the slick and innovative production that Biden’s campaign has often lacked.

Obama seemed to allude to Trump then by telling graduates that “this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing.”

Obama is expected to ramp up his campaign activities over the coming months, with those close to him pointing to his 2018 involvement as a template: He spent the summer raising money before doing two rounds of endorsements and stumping in 11 states as Election Day neared.

Those close to him are closely monitoring the novel coronavirus and still trying to determine what types of in-person events may be able to be safely conducted.

As Biden undertakes his own search for a running mate, he has spoken with Obama about how the process led him to be picked nearly 12 years ago. Biden often talks about wanting someone who is “simpatico” with him but seems to forget that he and Obama had a rocky start to their partnership before their mutual respect formed.

“I’ve always said that vice-presidential picks are shotgun weddings, and they often don’t turn out well,” Axelrod said. “But this one turned out to be a love story. They became not only good partners but really good friends.”

He added: “Biden was, in my view, almost the ideal vice president. He was impeccably loyal in public and very honest in private with his advice and his counsel. And he took on a lot of tough assignments for Obama.”

Last week, Obama tagged Biden in a tweet as he responded to the Supreme Court ruling that Trump could not halt the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows some immigrants brought to the United States as children to remain in the country legally.

The tweet was liked 195,000 times, and it served as a recognition by both men’s teams that the former president, who has 120 million Twitter followers, can help his former vice president, who has fewer than 6.4 million followers.

“The more creative ways we can drive people to Biden — that’s something we’re interested in doing,” said a person close to Obama, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter frankly.

Still, Obama’s appeal has not always transferred to other candidates. Under him, Democrats lost control of the House in 2010 and of the Senate in 2014. He also campaigned frequently for Hillary Clinton in 2016.

While Biden has often spoken fondly of Obama, he has generally avoided taking ownership of the more controversial aspects of Obama’s decisions. During the primary campaign, he sidestepped some of the criticism over the former president’s deportation policies.

Obama and Biden have not shared a stage together in quite some time, and the last time they met together in public may have been in July 2018 when they dropped in for lunch at the Dog Tag Bakery in Georgetown.

They both attended graduation last June at Sidwell Friends School, where Obama’s daughter Sasha and Biden’s granddaughter Maisy were among the graduates. They sat separately during the ceremony, but their families later gathered together privately. They also both attended the funeral of Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) in October.

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[wsmith215]

Driveways, canyons, pools – NFL players create clever workouts

A farm. A field. A canyon. A pool. Even a driveway. As NFL players wait for a return to normalcy before the 2020 regular season begins, they have had to get creative with how and where they train.

The ripple effects of these unprecedented times — nationwide social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic and an unknown timetable for a vaccine — have altered the professional sports landscape, and the NFL is no exception.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell authorized the reopening of all team facilities this week, in accordance with state and local regulations, although coaches and players who are not undergoing rehabilitation are prohibited from entering team buildings. While a handful of clubs took advantage of this allowance, states such as New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Washington and California are still imposing heavier restrictions that affect a dozen team facilities.

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These inconsistent regulations have also changed the responsibilities of NFL strength trainers, who have spent time remotely assessing the workout needs of players, including their access to resources, as well as acting as liaisons for online equipment purchases. NFL teams were permitted to provide each player with up to $1,500 worth of workout equipment. Nevertheless, players have had to find inventive ways to stay in shape.

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins uses his parents’ driveway as his outdoor gym. New York Giants wide receiver Golden Tate mowed a track into a steep canyon near his home. Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver James Washington designed a training regimen on his Texas farm. New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis has his personal trainers living with him. Giants linebacker Blake Martinez became the beneficiary of a state-of-the-art gym. And Cleveland Browns punter Jamie Gillan grabbed some beers and built a “grubby” garage gym.

Even though players’ locations, living situations and resources differ, there’s a lesson shared by all: There are no excuses.

Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins says of his training at his parents’ house in Orlando, Florida: “Being out in the driveway, on display for the whole neighborhood to see is probably less than ideal.” ESPNBig-money quarterback staying with parents

The playful jab is uttered without warning, hurled from the driver’s side of a passing vehicle.

“Go Pack, go!”

And in that moment of lighthearted jest, Kirk Cousins can only ignore it. He knows the stop sign in front of the house makes him a sitting duck every morning.

Four times a week, starting promptly at 9 a.m., the Vikings quarterback gathers equipment from the garage and arranges it neatly on the long, curved pavement leading from his parents’ house to the sidewalk. Resting on a wooden chair is his laptop, connected by videoconference to his longtime personal trainer, Chad Cook, who is 450 miles away in Atlanta. This is a glimpse into what constitutes the 2020 NFL offseason.

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“I like my privacy, so being out in the driveway, on display for the whole neighborhood to see is probably less than ideal. But desperate times call for desperate measures,” Cousins said with a smile during a recent ESPN interview. “If it means a guy drives by in a truck and yells, ‘Go Pack, go!’ at me while we’re working out, then so be it.”

The manicured lawns of this Orlando, Florida, suburb serve as a backdrop to Cousins’ regimen and his attempt at normalcy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

It’s not a “home gym” by any means, Cousins concedes, but he insists he has everything he needs: a medicine ball, jump-rope, foam rollers, free weights and a football. And, the most essential tool of all: the laptop he uses to connect with Cook.

“[Every car will] see me doing my shuffles across the driveway, or my cariocas, or doing the jump-rope or different plank exercises, core work, medicine ball, lunges — whatever it may be. And different people honk or wave, so it’s kind of fun,” said Cousins, who signed a two-year, $66 million extension with the Vikings in March.

Spotty Wi-Fi is a challenge when working out outdoors, but sheltering in place with his parents was by design: The nine-year veteran and his wife, Julie, now have plenty of reinforcements when it comes to taking care of their sons, Cooper, 2½, and Turner, 1.

“I kind of laugh when I talk about having two like I have 10,” Cousins joked, “because compared to other guys in the league who have three, four, five, six kids, having two is not a big deal.”

Dealing with this adversity has reaffirmed his commitment to his craft. It also taught him that the Public Broadcasting Service can be a football player’s, as well as a father’s, best friend: “‘Daniel Tiger[‘s Neighborhood]’ on PBS can be a lifesaver.”

An underwater workout? Saints linebacker Demario Davis doesn’t bat an eye when his trainers suggest some aqua methods to stay in shape. Courtesy of Demario Davis’Strict training mode’ means living with trainers

The plan was to be in Nashville, Tennessee, for a month, but Demario Davis‘ offseason residence has become his permanent dwelling during the pandemic. His 7,500-square-foot house, purchased last offseason, is a saving grace of sorts, equipped with enough room for his wife, Tamela, and their four children under the age of 6.

And his two personal trainers.

Davis’ trainers, Jose Tienda and Piankhi Gibson, typically work with him in two-to-three-week “strict training mode” spurts before heading back to their respective homes. They’ll return to Nashville soon for another extended stay with Davis.

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As the 31-year-old enters his ninth NFL season — and the final year of his contract — he is determined not to lose ground to a youngster who might be aiming for his spot.

Mid-morning acupuncture and soft tissue work with Tienda give way to afternoon aqua training in a neighbor’s pool with Gibson. Davis pauses for dinner and to help put the kids to bed. But before long, he’s headed back for more body work. He crawls into bed around 12:30 or 1 a.m. on those rigorous training days.

With Louisiana still reeling from 35,316 confirmed COVID-19 cases (and 2,485 reported deaths) as of Thursday, Davis wasn’t surprised Saints coach Sean Payton — who was the first known NFL figure to test positive for the coronavirus — announced there would not be virtual workouts, meetings or workout sessions at the team facility.

“The virtual offseason really wouldn’t have fit the flow of how we operate down there,” the veteran linebacker said of the Saints, who have one of the oldest rosters in the NFL. “We don’t have a young team. … He knew with our experience level, the strong leaders we have at each position, that we’d get it done as far as training.”

While Davis is eager to play, he said he won’t waste time guessing when the season will start.

“The pandemic don’t know nothing about football season. The virus ain’t just like, ‘Oh, football season’s coming, let me chill out,'” he said with a laugh. “So I’m going to train and stay in shape because that’s just a philosophy of mine — you stay ready at all times. But I think it’s a discredit to people who are on the front lines working, and the people who are being affected by it, when we’re just thinking about how fast we can get back to sports.”

Browns punter Jamie Gillan and his father, Colin, constructed a squat rack in the garage. Courtesy of Jamie Gillan’Grubby little gym’ becomes labor of love

The police officers approached without warning.

Jamie Gillan had been punting on a turf field almost an hour away from his Tremont, Ohio, residence, completely unaware of the state’s shelter-in-place orders. With nonessential businesses closed, the Browns punter — nicknamed “The Scottish Hammer” — had used local fields to practice his kicking drills. That is, until he was no longer allowed.

“[The officers] were like, ‘Yeah man, we want to let you punt. We love the Browns and everything, but it’s just the rules,'” the Scotland-born special-teamer explained in his thick brogue.

Faced with the prospect of quarantining alone, Gillan chose to go be with family.

He made trips to the liquor store and the supermarket — packing his truck with several bottles of bourbon for his father, “120 eggs and 16 racks of bacon” — and then he and his German shepherd named Bear traveled seven hours to southern Maryland to stay with his parents and 19-year-old sister.

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The rural area around his parents’ house affords him space to practice his booming kicks, and there’s a “massive” field, owned by a friend, which Gillan uses, too. But the self-described “workout junkie” had to get creative with strength training. Soon his parents’ garage became his gym.

Unable to buy equipment online because of limited inventory and “skyrocketing” prices, Gillan purchased old equipment from a local high school: barbells, bumper plates, 40-, 80- and 100-pound dumbbells and bands. He purchased rubber matting from a local tractor store.

He searched Facebook Marketplace for a squat rack, but he and his father, Colin, who is a former rugby player and member of the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force, came up with a better solution — they would construct their own.

“We came back [from Lowe’s], cracked open some beers and just started building it,” Gillan said with a chuckle. Even with old, rusty weights, his “grubby little gym” was everything he needed.

Gillan said his resourcefulness was forged during four years playing at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, a historically black university. During offseasons when he and his teammates didn’t have access to the gym, their surroundings became their workout room. They bench-pressed and squatted logs, they did dips and pullups on metal bars at local parks, and Gillan hopped fences to punt on neighboring fields when access to their football field was prohibited.

“One thing I notice about a lot of historically black colleges is they’re very underfunded,” Gillan said, stressing that he and other student-athletes had to be creative. “Maybe it got me prepared for this weird period.”

Taking it up a few notches, Giants linebacker Blake Martinez often escapes to a sports facility his father helped conceptualize and build. Courtesy of Blake MartinezState-of-the-art amenities ease the transition

Blake Martinez‘s father, Marc, had a master plan: purchase a plot of land 15 minutes from the family home in Tucson, Arizona, and build a facility for his son to train and live. It didn’t take long for the idea to become Martinez’s reality.

The linebacker thanks his father every day for his ingenuity, as well as his construction company.

The 18,000-square-foot facility — conceptualized and built last year — “has everything a football player would need,” said Martinez, a 2016 fourth-round draft pick by the Green Bay Packers who signed a three-year, $30 million free-agent contract with the Giants in March.

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The warehouse-looking steel structure contains “a miniature version of a college weight room,” a full-length basketball court, a 30-by-15-yard turf field and an outdoor sand volleyball court. It also doubles as a residence, with three bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen on the second level for him, his wife, Kristy, and their young daughter.

“It kept getting better and better as it kept getting built,” Martinez said. He works out for two hours in person with his longtime trainer, Glenn Howell, four times a week.

But familiarity with his new franchise is a luxury Martinez, 26, doesn’t have.

With New York and New Jersey being one of the epicenters of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, Martinez doesn’t know when he’ll be able to travel to the facility or even meet members of the Giants organization for the first time.

“It’s not like I’ve been on the team for a while and I know the guys already. So, it’s been tough in that aspect, connecting with guys,” he said.

Martinez said the pandemic has taught him “I literally have zero excuses not to show up the first day and make sure I’m 100 percent ready to go and help push all of the younger guys to that level if they haven’t gotten there yet.”

Making use of California canyons

Golden Tate‘s stunning San Diego views come at a price.

“I’ve just got to watch out for rattlesnakes,” the Giants wide receiver said with a laugh.

When stay-at-home orders were issued in California in mid-March, Tate took advantage of his surroundings — namely, the canyon his house is built on.

“It’s not the best condition to be running in,” admitted the 11-year NFL player, who mowed a 7-by-40-yard patch of grass on a steep incline. “But it’ll suffice right now. It’s better than doing nothing.”

Team work makes the dream work! Uncle @tatethagreat & LoLo helping me get my daily catches in. Hope everyone has a great Friday! 🙌🏽 🏈 #FamilyFriday pic.twitter.com/RtZXRHcygS

— Golden Tate (@ShowtimeTate) May 15, 2020

Tate, a married father of two small kids, purchased PowerBlock dumbbells and a Jugs machine from which he catches about 100 balls a day. He bikes at home on his Peloton and uses mountain bike trails for his aerobic conditioning. But finding a flat surface for route running has been a challenge. So, too, is self-discipline.

“Over my career, I’m so used to having someone — an instructor or the guys around me — push me. And right now, I’m forced to push myself,” said Tate, who turns 32 on Aug. 2.

The veteran receiver played through the 2011 NFL lockout, but he said the coronavirus pandemic is unlike anything he has experienced.

“I feel bad for the first-, second-, third- and fourth-round guys who are expected to come in and help the team right away, but they’re not having the same opportunity to grow as a player, not getting those reps on the field,” he said.

“The offseason is when you have the time to really focus on the fundamentals of the game, the bigger picture and the details of the game. And it looks like right now we’re going to show up for camp — if we show up for camp — in the middle of the fire of trying to figure out who’s going to make the team and trying to get ready for a season. That can be overwhelming.”

Strengths trainers turned investigators

With their players scattered across the country, NFL strength and conditioning coaches feel more like part-time sleuths and office managers than in-person trainers.

“We kind of went more into equipment sales and trying to be a liaison to help guys get set up and make sure they’re doing the right thing,” said Justus Galac, now in his seventh year as the New York Jets’ head strength and conditioning coach. “What we found was, guys in the Southern states and more into the Midwest had more access than our guys in the Northeast and West Coast.”

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Danny Amendola impresses with some nifty, one-handed catches while working out with a helmet on in his backyard.

Strength trainers have been tasked with identifying what their players need from a performance standpoint to achieve their fitness goals, regardless of where they live and what resources they have access to. “Even though they might have access to a Steak ‘n Shake parking lot or they might be in a third floor of an apartment,” said Justin Lovett, the Los Angeles Rams’ new head strength and conditioning coach.

Lovett was hired in the midst of California’s coronavirus shutdown, but unlike during the 2011 lockout year, when he was on the Denver Broncos’ staff, communication is permitted and has proved paramount. But there have been challenges.

“The biggest problem with the rookie class is they don’t have the money that some of the older guys do,” Galac said. “Not saying millions of dollars, but able to go buy equipment, pay for a trainer to take care of them, buying more food that you may normally not have to buy because the facility provides it. All those little things are adding up for these guys. And the rookies, they have no idea. And it’s not their fault.”

This time of year is crucial for strength staffs, not only for getting players in shape but also for getting new players up to speed with their programs. “And we’ve lost that,” Galac said.

In fact, the Jets’ weight room underwent a face-lift this offseason, complete with a new floor, turf accents and equipment. “And nobody’s using it,” Galac said. “It’s sitting empty. The players haven’t even seen it yet.”

Plenty of land and space around James Washington’s home in Abilene, Texas, allows the Steelers receiver the space to work out and social distance at the same time. Courtesy of James WashingtonFinding space and serenity in the countryside

James Washington misses football. And, occasionally, his farm.

The 26-acre property the Steelers wide receiver purchased near his hometown of Abilene, Texas, made it easy for him to comply with social distancing rules. It also afforded him space to work out and keep in shape by way of chores. Washington, who was an agribusiness major with a concentration in farm and ranch management at Oklahoma State, finds the countryside calming. He enjoys the views of passing cars, wheat fields and cattle pastures during his eight- to 12-mile rides on his recently purchased bicycle.

His workout setup, which included an assortment of resistance bands sent by the Steelers and his high school dumbbells retrieved from his parents’ house, was complete with the arrival of a Jugs machine, which he kept in the barn and carried to a flat area in one of the pastures.

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However, staving off boredom is a challenge whenever he’s in Pittsburgh, a more crowded city with fewer options for keeping busy.

“When I was in Texas, I’d work out, do my virtual [team] meetings and then I’d have to find something to do cause I can’t just sit in the house,” Washington said last week, after he, JuJu Smith-Schuster and fellow receiver Ryan Switzer worked out in quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s home weight room. “Being on the farm really helped me a lot, because there was always something that could have been done.”

Washington loves his farm so much his recent stay in Pittsburgh was short-lived. He returned to Texas on Wednesday to celebrate Memorial Day weekend with family and tend to his most recent purchase: cattle. The time away from the Steelers’ facility has also given Washington time to think.

“It just doesn’t feel right,” he said. “Everybody feels like we should be at the facility, doing physical stuff, getting ready to go. … Even if there’s no fans, we still have to go out there and just go 110 percent, even if it would feel weird. Fans help make the game. It’s really crazy to think about.

“Just being away from things, you really find out how much you miss the sport. It sucks. That’s really what I figured out. That I love football.”

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Friday, September 29th 2017

POMPEII, AND THE BAY OF NAPLES, IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE.

Before I go into more detail, I just wanted to mention something. For most students at Temple Rome, they have chosen to study abroad here rather than elsewhere simply because our school has a campus here. It’s a study abroad opportunity, true, and they enjoy living here because it’s different from the United States, because they get to experience a new culture, learn a new language, and it’s in Europe, which means quick and cheap flights to anywhere within the EU. I don’t disagree with any of that, and I think they’re all perfectly, excellently valid reasons for choosing to stay here for a semester or a year.

That’s not why I’m here, though. I’m in Rome because it’s Rome. I’m not jetting off to Munich or Paris every other weekend because this isn’t just an easy access point for me. I’ve been studying Latin for six years now. I’m getting a degree in Classics. I never grew out of my little kid obsession with Greek and Roman mythology, and now I’m majoring in it. I was seven when I first picked up a book on mythology and I haven’t really put it down since. I’m in Rome. I get to walk along the Tiber each morning and see the Colosseum in the distance and that is ridiculous to me, even now, after almost two months. I’ve read letters and poems and speeches about the streets that I’m walking down to get to school every day and that’s insane.

Rome is a modern city, though, and it’s impossible to forget it, even with my imagination. So you can imagine how I felt wandering through the ruins of Pompeii.

I’ve been to Pompeii once before, on a day trip for one of my roommate’s birthdays, and we did a rather stumbling self-guided tour which, while very fun, was hardly informative. This particular trip, however, was an excursion associated with my Roman History course, lead by a professor who lives and breathes classical history, and who promised us before we left that it would be a death march through the ruins and we would get more information than we knew what to do with over the next three days. I was, as you might expect, very excited.

We took a big coach bus down on Friday, boarding at 7 in the morning exactly (I am not afraid to leave late students behind!! -Professor, on three different occasions when reminding us that when he says we leave at 7 he means we leave at 7). We were immediately given a forty some page packet of maps, floor plans, and letters of Pliny, and then left to fall, one and all, to sleep during the first couple hour leg of the journey.

We did not end up in Pompeii during the first day. Instead, we went to a beautiful little town called Terracina, in the bay of Naples, to visit the temple complex of Iuppiter Anxur, a gorgeous building that overlooks Terracina and the bay from a cliff, with foundations dating back to long before the Romans were out conquering the whole of Southern Italy (the Roman colony of Terracina, if you were curious, was founded in 329 BCE), though the current iteration was built primarily in the first century BCE, at the time of the second triumvirate, as part of a veteran colony. The temple was probably dedicated to Jupiter (hence the name), though there are theories about it really being a Venus territory.

At the base of the cliff on which the temple sits, notable because it’s not actually a natural cliff. About two thousand years ago, give or take a century or two, the Romans decided that going around the mountain took too long, so they just…. moved the mountain. Carved it flat and made a passageway. If you look closely at the cliff you can actually see Roman numerals that were carved into the rock to indicate how much was cut away at that point. At the highest point, 120 ft of stone was removed.

Terracina and the bay of Naples from the temple, because it was stunningly beautiful.

There is no photograph of the actual temple, I’m afraid, because there was no way to get a good picture from the base of the cliff, and no way to capture everything when we were wandering around inside. Google Terracina Iuppiter Anxur if you’re curious.

Following Terracina, we headed off to the Villa of Tiberius.

CRASH COURSE IN VILLAS: There are two kinds of villas. You might think that there are three kinds of villas. You would be wrong. The two kinds of villas are called villa urbana and villa rustica. Neither of them exist within the boundaries of any ancient city, because villas are, by definition, country estates. If it’s a house in the country, it’s a villa. If it’s a house in the city, it’s a domus at best. The villa rustica is essentially a farmhouse. Rustic, you might say. Like something one might expect to exist in the countryside. The villa urbana is like if you were a very rich person and could pack up everything that you liked about being in a booming metropolis of a city like Rome, and then stuck it in a house in the countryside so that you could feel free from city woes. There is an absolutely hysterical genre of poetry written by Roman poets who think that they should be able to tell you how to live in the countryside and ‘rough it’ because they happen to have access to a house that is, in the most basic sense, in the country. Lots of stuff about how to farm written by dudes who have, once, glanced out of their gilded window frames to observe a slave in the field across the way. Go read the Georgics (Virgil, pre-Aeneid. Don’t get me wrong, fantastic political commentary in that poem, but in no way is it actually about “agricultural things,” even if that is the Greek translation of the word georgic.

Villa culture was, essentially, about flaunting wealth, and reveling in your own status as a highly educated member of the elite. You built the houses to have massive libraries and statuary and a view of the ocean, so that you could roll around in your own cultural and intellectual heritage in front of the fishes, and generally prove that you were better than everyone else.

Anyway, the Villa of Tiberius. Tiberius was emperor after Augustus, and got the entirely unenviable task of trying to convince everybody that emperors were a good idea (Augustus never technically declared himself emperor, you know?) and also trying to sort out the mess that happens when there are no rules because one single genius invented the entire government structure and ran it by himself for forty five years and then died without telling anyone how he did it all. I do not begrudge him his gorgeous villa, if only because he deserved a place to get some R&R after years spent trying to drag a reinvented governmental system from the hands of a dead man.

The coolest part of the villa (both figuratively and literally, actually) was the natural cave in the cliff wall that the villa was built next to. The base of the villa opened onto the ocean (you can not buy beach front property this good today, my friend), but the entire left side extended into the cave, and incorporated a gorgeous series of tide pools, both natural and manmade. This cave was the crowning jewel of Tiberius’s villa, and included several incredible sculptures that now live in the museum next to the villa’s ruins.

Statue of Ganymede, above the cave’s entrance. Looks like he’s got wings, but he doesn’t, actually, this is a statue that depicts the precise moment that Zeus, having looked down across the mortal world and seen Ganymede and thought Wow Pretty, sent an eagle to abduct him. For those of you who don’t know the myth, Ganymede is literally so attractive that Zeus makes him a god on Olympus. Just for being pretty. He’s Zeus’s cupbearer. If you thought people were joking about how very startlingly gay Ancient Greece was, you would be very wrong.

To be clear, there is nothing heterosexual about this story. At all. Zeus did not make Ganymede a god because he was lonely and wanted a good buddy to josh around with. Just. To be abundantly clear. Very very homosexual feelings all around, here. I say this because I once had someone tell me, to my face, that there was no way ancient Greek gods were actually gay. My dude, you have no idea.

(I mean, more accurately speaking Zeus is just very, very pansexual (or bisexual, depending on your preference), but this particular story is just super gay.)

Also, for those of you clever cookies who noticed that I’m not using the Roman name, good for you. The Ganymede myth does exist in Rome, he’s called Catamitus and was abducted by Jupiter, but this sculpture is pretty definitely Ganymede, because the theme for all of the sculptures in the cave was hellenism (or How Greek Can You Be: Roman Edition), but I’ll get to that later.

More cave! You can see the Ganymede sculpture all the way up at the tippy top. It’s a recreation, also, the sculpture is, the original is in the museum to preserve it. Most of the floor of the cave is taken up by a tidal pool, too, and you can see all the way in the back a carved out portion, and what looks like a door, and a glowing white square next to the door. For size reference of just how large (I hesitate to call it gigantic, only because I know there are caves that are much, much larger, but it was big to me, okay?) the cave is, I am about as tall as that glowing white square thing in that cut out room. Yes, I’m bitter about that. Moving on.

Another angle of that same cut out room, now inside the cave. You see what I mean about the floor, yeah?

From the back of the cave. There was a large space behind me, of course, and there were those cut out rooms, but most of the cave was taken up by the pool. The theory is that there would have been a bedchamber area and a dining area in these cut out spaces, so that when the weather was too warm Tiberius could retreat to his cave house and live comfortably.

As you can see in the background, that whole area on the left where there doesn’t appear to be any sign of human habitation is the ocean. Honestly, if this were my villa, I would probably never leave. Screw running Rome, I want to sit in my cave beach house and read from my enormous library and have my servants bring me whatever I want. Sounds like a good life.

Now we get to the museum, and an artistic rendering of the cave statuary as it probably stood. That beautiful still glassy pool wouldn’t have been empty, not in an emperor’s house.

You’ve already gotten the spiel about letter E, Ganymede, so let’s move on to C, all the way in the back there (where I was standing to take that cave mouth photograph, actually, though that means almost nothing to you).

A recreation, of course, we don’t have this entire thing, but we have enough fragments and enough literary sources describing it to thing that this is pretty close to the original. This is, in all his alcoholic glory, Polyphemus, the cyclops from the Odyssey, who captured Odysseus and his men in his cave to eat them. Odysseus disagreed with that plan of action, for fairly obvious reasons, and thus got Polyphemus drunk, stabbed out his only eye with a burning stake, and then hitched a ride on the undersides of Polyphemus’s sheep (poor guy was a shepherd) in order to get out of the cave without being noticed (Polyphemus was blind, see, not dumb, so he felt the backs of his sheep to make sure that none of his captives rode out on them. He didn’t think to check the underbelly of the sheep because who rides on an underbelly? Nobody, that’s who). As one does. He also told Polyphemus, as he left, that his name was Nobody, which is why none of the other cyclops came to the rescue when Polyphemus shouted for help, because Nobody was attacking him.

This is B, from that little drawing up there, though it doesn’t really look like all that much. It’s made from the fragments that we have, rather than being a reconstruction, like the Polyphemus scene. It’s from the Odyssey as well, later on in the story, when Odysseus’s ship must pass by the cave of the monster Scylla. Scylla is a sea monster, who has dog heads instead of legs. Yeah. Not dog /legs/ instead of legs, or a dog head instead of a head, but dog heads, multiple, for legs. I’ll let you figure the logistics of that one out, because honestly I have sat through an entire class where twenty classics students, plus our classics PhD professor, tried and failed to understand how exactly that might work. Horrifying? Yes. Very confusing? Also yes. Something that it is very difficult to make a statue of? Also also yes.

This particular scene is of Scylla taking men directly from Odysseus’s ship to eat them. With her human head? With her dog heads? Who knows! Not us! We don’t want to!

We’re missing most of the figure of Scylla, so you’re just going to have to imagine a beautiful woman somewhere in the center of the piece, somehow emerging out of all of those dogs. Also, that hand in the front there is supposed to go on the prow of the ship, we think, but that doesn’t fit the reconstructed image at all unless the artist just threw all of anatomy out of the window when he made the piece, which is not a thing to rule out.

Interestingly, the sculpture is, apparently, made by the same workshop in Rome that crafted the fairly famous sculpture of Laocoon and his sons being eaten by two giant sea snakes. There is a theme in this workshop’s work, can you tell?

Neither of the other two statues were intact enough to take photographs of, just a fragment here and there. However, we know that D, from the drawing, is Odysseus and his bro Diomedes stealing the Palladium of Troy, which was a little statue of Pallas that represented the safety of Troy.

Interesting story about Pallas time! So, while most people associate the name Pallas with an identity of Athena, as in Pallas Athena, that wasn’t the original Pallas. She was a nymph, a friend of Athena’s who trained with her when they were both young (relatively speaking, seeing as Athena was never technically young, she ‘sprung from Zeus’s head fully formed’ which is also a mental image that you really don’t want to think too hard about), until one day Zeus looked down, thought the two of them were fighting instead of training, and distracted Pallas with his shield in the clouds long enough for her to pause, and for Athena to accidentally put a spear through her heart. Athena was devastated, created a likeness of her friend and placed it in Troy so she would not be forgotten, took on the name Pallas Athena, and also declared herself an eternal virgin, by the way, because that is a totally rational reaction to the death of someone who is definitely just a friend. Ehem. Anyway. That statue was stolen by Odysseus because he has no sense of the sacred, so that the Greeks could defeat Troy without their guardian spirit. The Palladium was then moved, some say, to Rome, and placed in the Temple of Vesta in the Roman Forum, to keep Rome safe.

The final statue, A, on the left of the diagram, is a bit of a mystery. It’s two figures, one of whom is dressed in greek armor circa the Trojan War, we know that. The current theories are either that that is Menelaus holding the body of Achilles, or Achilles holding the body of Patroclus. I prefer the second interpretation, honestly, both because I like that story better, but also because according to the Iliad Menelaus didn’t even like Achilles, and I’m pretty sure the myth has Ajax getting all weepy over his body, not Menelaus. I don’t even know where we got the idea of Menelaus from, honestly, because it doesn’t make sense narratively. Also, there are so many statues of Achilles dramatically holding up Patroclus’s body and looking like his world is ending (which it is) that it just seems more plausible that it’s them.

All of these scenes from the Odyssey and the Iliad do actually have a purpose being in the villa of a Roman emperor, by the way, for all that they absolutely also represent the best of Greek legendary history. The villa is built next to the mountain Circeo, which is supposedly the mountain where the sorceress Circe lives, whom Odysseus visits and is enamored by for a full year (anyone who wants you to feel sorry for Odysseus taking ten years to get home clearly has no idea what he was doing in those ten years, honestly), connecting this place in historical memory to the idea of Greek travel and Mediterranean exploration, a thousand years before Rome became a superpower. The statuary is both Tiberius’s way of proving that he is very educated, because to be educated was to be familiar with Greek works, in that time, but also paying homage to local traditions, and retaining the Greek background that all of Rome is simultaneously enormously proud and very ashamed of. The relationship between Greece and Rome is very big sibling/little sibling, where the little sibling becomes enormously successful in life and the older sibling’s accomplishments, impressive though they might be ordinarily, fade to the background in the world’s eyes, but in the eyes of the little sibling they’ll always be. Well. Their older sibling. It’s one part reverence, one part hatred, and a whole lot of uncomfortable familial feelings that few people ever untangle without the help of a very, very good therapist.

After the Villa of Tiberius, we stopped in the unbelievably adorable little town of Sperlonga for lunch. I cannot overemphasize how beautiful this place is. Entirely made of tiny little streets that don’t allow cars? Check. Built of that beautiful white stone that glows in the ever-present sun and makes you feel like you’re wandering through a castle in the sky? Check. Flowers spilling out of every window box, and overhanging trees and vines providing both riotous color amidst the gleaming white buildings and much needed shade? Check. Absolutely breathtaking view of the ocean from the cliffs that it is perched on? Check. 10/10, would go back just to gape at the sheer gorgeousness of the place.

Following lunch, we got back in the bus and drove until we hit Naples, and the Archeological Museum therein.

I typically don’t…. Well, it’s not that I don’t like art museums, I appreciate them in a general sense as cultural conservation, and in certain moods I enjoy walking through them. I just tend to get distracted when looking at something purely visual for too long. It’s why I also do other things while watching TV and movies. So I go through art museums pretty quickly, and as long as I’ve glanced at everything, I feel like I’ve successfully taken everything in. It’s probably why I am the worst person to go to an art museum with, just in general.

(Books, by the way, in no way count as purely visual objects, and I can happily read a book for hours without getting distracted, but that’s reading, not looking.)

However. If there were ever a museum that I could lose a day in, it’s this one.

We covered quite a bit of material, mostly on hyper specific things (-and this is the scrollwork from the top of one of the columns on one of the temples on the Capitoline hill, note the beginnings of Ionian influence in the for the most part standard Doric structure-) that I feel like would not be particularly interesting to you, and in fact are not particularly interesting to me, mostly because that particular lecture tended to be geared towards the art history class, and not my Roman history class, but there were some great pieces of statuary that I want to note.

First, there were the simply exquisite pieces from Rome’s south east bath complex.

This is a multi-figure piece done in a similar style as the Scylla and the Laocoon pieces I’ve mentioned before, depicting the story of Dirce, a woman who insulted another woman named Antiope, who just happened to have two sons Amphion and Zethis, who got upset at the insult and, as you can see, behaved in that totally rational and calm way that all Greeks and Romans are known for, and punished Dirce by tying her to a raging bull in order to be trampled along the streets of Rome. Fun times.

This sculpture would have been featured at one end of the bath complex, and at the other would have stood a statue of Hercules. We saw that statue, significantly larger than lifelike, as well, though I neglected to take a picture of it. The statue is of a single figure this time, and is called Hercules at Rest, because he’s just kinda standing there, leaning on his club. He looks kinda tired. Me too, buddy, me too.

The statue is significant particularly because it represents a shift in focus in the Greek and Roman art world, from Classical to Hellenistic. In classical style, heroes and gods are typically depicted doing heroic things. Hellenism focuses more on the humanity of heroes and gods, and tends to show them doing rather uniquely human things, like leaning on their clubs to catch a break because just because you can carry the world on your back doesn’t mean you should, Hercules.

Another feature of hellenistic design, and one that makes this my favorite era of ancient art, is that the sculptures take great delight in hiding things in their designs, so that one has to observe the entire piece to get a full understanding of the story being told here. In the case of the Hercules statue, my professor instructed us to walk around to the back of the statue to “see what you observe.”

As the statue was both very large and also not wearing pants, we were all…. mildly alarmed at his suggestion, to say the least. However, we are also sheep, so we dutifully trundled around to the back of the statue to look.

Behind his back, Hercules is holding something. Three round somethings that, back when the statue was painted in its full glory, would have been done in gold.

The presence of the three golden apples, hidden so casually in the statue’s slumped over posture, gives this Hercules at Rest a definitive place in the timeline of the myth of Hercules, and also explains the need for the rest in the first place. Hellenism is about humanizing heroes, sure, but they’re still heroes, and the artist knows that. Even heroes get tired, but heroes get tired from doing things like holding the literal weight of the world on their backs and stealing impossible, Trojan-war-starting prizes from dragons in the gardens of goddesses.

In summary, a good statue.

My least favorite statue, by the way, was this one:

I do not like when the statues have eyes. I just don’t. Why would you do that. She’s going to come alive and murder everyone in this museum. You’re going to have that on your conscience, unnamed dude who thought that five of these were good decoration for his entryway.

(Unnamed dude was actually pretty cool, he owned the House of the Papyri, a villa that was discovered and named for the number of papyri preserved in its library. The statue is one of the Danaids, who were fifty daughters of the king of Danaus, who married his daughters all off in one fell swoop to a fellow king named Aegyptus who happened to have fifty sons. Due to unclear circumstances, the fifty daughters all killed their husbands, all on their wedding night. Except for one, who was clearly just a coward or something. Anyway, there were statues of all fifty of the daughters in Augustus’s temple on the Palatine, and this unnamed homeowner decided to copy his emperor’s super creepy taste in artwork. He was actually probably fairly close to Augustus, at least as much as anyone was, because in his library he had a book dedicated by Virgil himself, and everyone knows that Virgil was Augustus’s bestie. As much as anyone was.)

There was more, so much more, in the museum of Naples but frankly this post is already over four thousand words and I am fairly sure that no one cares about my unhealthily strong opinions about the styling of various Roman emperor busts, so I think I’ll take my leave here.

We left Naples and headed to a hotel in Paestum, called Poseidonia, which was very lovely apart from having a super weird bathroom set up. I may have flooded the bathroom. Just a little bit. There’s just no wall? There’s a little square of tile, with a lip, theoretically to prevent the water from going anywhere, but then the shower head points out into open space and all that the lip on the floor does is block whatever water the shower sprays around the bathroom from getting back tot he drain and long story short I flooded the bathroom a little bit.

But then the hotel was thoughtful enough to provide me with a really delicious gluten free dinner and so all is forgiven really.

#travels #rome #museum #I have forgotten what other tags I might need to use here #I suppose I can add them in later #also I was informed that people wanted to read my blog and perhaps even missed reeading it so no one is allowed to complain about the fact #that it's entirely too long and mostly about Roman art that's just how my life goes okay

[hottytoddynews]

Delta Streets Academy in Greenwood graduated its first senior class in May. The five seniors are all heading off to college, one of them to Mississippi State University on a full scholarship. The private school for young men, which is a member of the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools, was founded in 2012 by T. Mac Howard, a white guy who was a young twenty-something at the time and who caught a vision for what it meant to heed God’s call to do justice, to love mercy, and to sacrifice for others in the way Jesus sacrificed for him.

Mo Leverett, the founder of Desire Street Ministries in New Orleans, came to speak at T.Mac’s Reformed University Fellowship group during his freshman year at MSU. His stories of the poverty and the desperation of the people in the infamous urban housing project touched T. Mac in a profound way, and he asked Mo is he could do a summer internship there. The summer of 2005 opened T. Mac’s eyes to a world he had never experienced. Reading about squalor and dysfunction and lack of hope is one thing, but seeing it first hand, interacting with those who live it, is something altogether different. It broke his heart.

T.Mac and Meagan Howard are the parents of a three-year-old and almost 2-year-old twin boys!

After T. Mac graduated in 2008, he took a job at Greenwood High School teaching math and coaching baseball and football. He chose the Mississippi Delta because there weren’t a lot of established ministries trying to address the overwhelming problems that had morphed in the last few decades. He originally planned to teach and coach and use those as a way to build relationships and to share the gospel.

“The original idea was to do Bible studies in my house and disciple guys like that.” What he discovered was that teaching is exhausting in a classroom of 28 kids, all at different levels, where there are no consequences for misbehavior, tardiness, or skipping school, and where chaos is just the order of the day.”

At the end of the first year, he had not held one Bible study or shared the gospel with one kid. He was still committed, but he knew he had to come up with Plan B. He toyed with the idea of accepting a position with Fellowship of Christian Athletes as an area director in Northeast Mississippi, but he says, “God got hold of me and said, ‘If you leave now and try to come back they’re just going to expect you to leave again because that’s what so many white people do—they come in, lead a Bible study in the neighborhood, and then you never hear from them again.”

He taught at GHS for one more year, but in his mind, he was prepping to start the ministry before the next fall rolled around.

The following summer T.Mac offered a Christian day camp, complete with arts and crafts and sports instruction. He gathered his own interns who were mostly Reformed University Fellowship participants from MSU and Ole Miss. T. Mac had built a friendship with the pastor of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church who offered his fellowship hall for an after-school tutoring program that started in fall 2011. It was a slow beginning, but it grew month to month.

Swayze Waters (far left) and T.Mac Howard (far right) teamed up to coach these aspiring young athletes at Delta Streets Academy.

When Delta Streets Academy opened in 2012, there were six young men enrolled. T.Mac says he can’t praise their parents enough for trusting their sons to “a white dude” who had never run a school. Each year has seen growth, and this past school year 58 boys in grades 7–12 completed the second semester.

At the present time, there are nine full-time staff and four part-time faculty members. First Baptist Church offers space rent free, and that is a great blessing. Cannon Motors has given the school the old Delta Chevrolet building in downtown, but the renovation price tag of $1.3 million has made renovation a distant dream for the time being. T.Mac wears many hats, from driving the bus to teaching to running the payroll, but one of his most important jobs is fundraiser in chief. “That’s the thing that keeps me up at night, but God has taught me a lot these past six years about his sufficiency.”

The first graduating class of Delta Streets Academy 2017.

“We’re not a great school yet,” he says. “But we are a good school right now. The sooner I can hand off some of my jobs, the better off we’ll be.” He adds, “The only thing I’m really good at is talking to people. But the day we have a $900,000 budget and 120 kids in school is the day we have the potential to be a great school.”

T.Mac believes they will get there. He wants to see his students competing with the strongest private schools in the state, signing Division 1 scholarships and being taught by a world-class faculty. He calls it a total “God thing” that it has come as far as it has in five years.

In the beginning, the great challenge for the boys who enroll at Delta Streets is the radical difference in the culture between the public and the private school. The structure and the discipline hit them hard at first because they have never had rules and consequences. Some push the boundaries, and some decide it’s not for them, but the ones who persevere flourish and will go on to bright futures and better lives than they have known.

Although T.Mac says the students themselves are pretty color-blind, he would very much like to attract minority staff. The racial reconciliation aspect of Delta Streets is just a beautiful byproduct of the Christian foundation. “It’s just in the culture at Delta Streets.”

Certificates of excellence presented to three young students.

When the Delta Streets students play other schools in the MAIS, the opposition is usually a private academy whose founding was all about preserving segregation. T.Mac could not be happier with the way his well-mannered students conduct themselves on the field or on the basketball court. He watches the walls come down.

Discipleship is a huge part of DSA. “We have an open enrollment,” he says. “Anybody can come here for $75 a month, but you have to choose to follow. I totally get that this is not for everybody, but our students are learning life skills that they would not be getting in the public school. They’re getting structure, discipline, work ethic, rules, and a sense of their worth and value as children of the God who loves them and desires the best for them.”

Changing Lives in Marks

About 70 miles north of Greenwood is the little town of Marks where the local economy was once dependent on the health and wealth of the large Delta farms. The radical transformation in farming operations hit Quitman County hard. Compounding that shrinking demand for an unskilled labor force was the effect of NAFTA, which closed small manufacturing plants taking those few jobs as well.

The railroad runs through the center of the once busy downtown. Many empty storefronts line the main street, and several beautiful old churches are in close proximity. Well-kept homes and lawns in the neighborhood hint that once upon a time this was a thriving Delta town.

Jaby Denton is a fourth generation Marks stakeholder. His family has forever owned a large farming operation in Quitman County. His entire life was lived right there until he moved his family to Oxford. When his children were in high school, he wanted them to have opportunities that were simply no longer there for them in Marks. He became a daily commuter between farm and home.

Although his children moved on to college, Jaby didn’t move back to Marks right away. Oxford was booming. He began attending a men’s weekly inspirational breakfast group at a local restaurant. Guest speakers each week discussed a myriad of topics. Jaby happened to attend one morning when T. Mac Howard was there to tell the story of Delta Streets Academy.

Either T. Mac or God spoke to Jaby in a big way. He wanted to spark the same kind of revival in Marks. And so he moved back to the farm and began to assess and plan. He found that in assessing the needs, they were even more overwhelming than he had imagined at first. Among one of the first things he discovered almost by accident was that a huge number of ninth and tenth graders in the local high school were not able to read.

Jaby Denton, a fourth-generation Marks resident shares his vision for a community park and sports fields with Marilyn Tinnin.

Meanwhile, Jason Stoker of Starkville, Executive Director of Reclaimed Project, spent an anniversary weekend in Greenwood. He was there to eat well, take a cooking class for fun at Viking Cooking School, and have some real downtime with Shannon, his wife. But they drove around enough to get an unvarnished picture in his mind of what poverty in the Delta looked like. It reminded him of what he saw on his visits to Africa.

He was thoroughly convinced that Reclaimed’s next ministry outreach needed to be in the Mississippi Delta—but where? Jason called Jill Freeze knowing she and Hugh had been great supporters of Reclaimed and he knew they had also been interested in some ministries in the Delta. Jill indirectly put him in touch with Jaby, who, in Jason’s words “has been the game changer.”

Local leadership and local “buy in” is, next to Jesus Christ, the most important factor in getting an effort off the ground and maintaining the momentum. Jaby has an “umbrella” vision for revitalizing Marks, and he has been able to do things that no outsider could possibly have done.

However, Reclaimed ministry’s piece of the pie is key. Reclaimed’s heart is for the children with a holistic and long-view approach. The strategy for “reclaiming” the Delta is not far removed from the strategy for “reclaiming” anybody anywhere. What are the short-term needs that will undergird the long term goals?

Will Overstreet, Pastor of First Baptist Church of Marks, points out the view of Marks Main Street from one of the loft apartments presently under renovation in a vintage downtown landmark.

The same ills that have affected public education across other parts of Mississippi have hit this Delta town especially hard. Finding and keeping teachers has been next to impossible. Aside from the run down facilities and the lack of family stability, teachers who might come to Marks had no options for places to live.

One of the first things Reclaimed did was to purchase a building in downtown Marks with the plan to repurpose it as a place for single teachers to live. It’s a very cool loft, apartment-style community of six private apartments sharing a common area, a kitchen, and a laundry room. Keeping its restoration true to the 1930 period of its origin means huge windows, high ceilings, old brick, and an aesthetic that would be enticing to most any 20 something! Rent-free and a commitment for two years seem like a generous contract.

The renovation of the building has been a real showcase for how the body of Christ works. The pro bono contributions in materials and time from contractors, electricians, and construction specialists have saved thousands and thousands of dollars. Ridgecrest Baptist Church in Ridgeland has a special group of volunteers who man their own construction ministry. They are all professionals whose day jobs involve building, but they usually take at least one trip a year giving their services for free to a cause that builds the body of Christ.

Tim Blocker, stewardship minister, with a lot of support from builders Ty Gardner and Jon Ramsay, has led a team of about 30 devoted volunteers who have spent many a Saturday in the last few months renovating the building that will house the teachers.

Reclaimed is about $40,000 shy of being able to finish the building debt-free. The plan is to have it complete and ready for move-in before the 2017 fall session begins.

Jason speaks highly of the leadership at the public school. There is a dedicated team who shares the vision for discipling and equipping students. There is an esprit de corps between Reclaimed and the school administration that is filled with hope for the immediate future.

Reclaimed is also about job creation. One thing that differentiates the Greenwood ministry from the Marks ministry is the presence of jobs. Not many jobs exist in Marks. Reclaimed wanted to do something about that, so taking their blueprint from their ministry in Lesotho and Botswana, they began looking for skills among the ladies of Marks.

Bethany Kuenzli, Director of Reclaimed Marketplace, came up with some patterns for aprons and pillows that the Marks ladies could sew. Many of them had worked in upholstery and garment factories and knew more than rudimentary things about sewing. The concept is much like the micro businesses that have helped support locals in third world countries. A volunteer from Jackson’s Fondren Church planned to teach a class for several Marks ladies on how to do more elaborate things – like bedding. It would be a gold mine for the ministry if a few moms decorating daughters’ dorm rooms let the Reclaimed ladies do their custom sewing.

When the instructor began her first class in Marks, she quickly discovered these ladies were already master seamstresses. They just needed the materials to put their skills to work. Mississippi Magazine was planning their Mercantile Shopping Event in early May. This was an opportunity to attract business. Premier Fabrics donated yards and yards of fabric. The Marks ladies worked their magic to create comforters, curtains, pillows, and dust ruffles. Hopefully, this will be an ongoing job-producing cottage industry to help the Reclaimed Project and the Marks revival.

Jason Stoker is definitely the kind of guy who can rally others to the vision. During spring break he took about 50 families from First Baptist Church in Starkville to Marks to do a four-day camp. (Let that sink in—a spring break vacation with no snow skiing, no beach, no place exotic, but going to Marks, MS to serve strangers)

The smiles on the faces of local children tell the story of happy times at the spring day camp conducted by the Reclaimed Project from Starkville.

The Starkville families took their children, and most of them stayed in the homes of the very grateful Marks families who wanted to be involved in the Reclaimed efforts. They wanted to bring black and white together, but they welcomed the know-how of Reclaimed.

First Baptist offered their facility for daytime activity, and First United Methodist took on feeding the volunteers every night. It was a week of bonding and learning and wrapping many heartstrings around the mission.

The locals and the children of the volunteers played side by side. They had a total blast, and they were completely color-blind. That in itself inspires hope.

Jason also learned that as the small town ages and the job market disintegrates, the young who go off to college, understandably do not return. The underclass continues to grow. They are children created in the image of an eternal God, and they need hope and a future.

Reclaimed longs to help create that.

The Heart of a Change Agent

Ole Miss alumnus Daniel Myrick, like T. Mac Howard, grew up in Brandon and attended Northwest Rankin. Jason Stoker had been his middle-school pastor at Pinelake Church. He had participated in mission trips through Pinelake and knew his calling was to be a coach and a teacher.

He signed on to teach in Marks his first year out of college. Expecting it to be hard, he found it to be even harder. There were some long days and some emotional lows. Teaching in Marks was about so much more than the classroom instruction.

As the assistant basketball coach, his team lost the first 14 games of the season. “That’s 14 post-game talks you have to have with the players, and after a while, you run out of things to say,” he says. Daniel persevered believing that his team wasn’t losing due to lack of talent. He continued to pour into the team, and they responded by working hard and trying harder. “Eventually we did win one, and then we won another. We kept winning, went to a district tournament, played the number one seed and won the district championship for the first time in twelve years.”

A very committed Daniel sees that win as symbolic of something more—something about hope and a future that is brighter than the one staring his players in the face today. He is coming back to Marks this fall and will be living in one of the Reclaimed apartments.

“If I can make a difference in just a few lives, those kids will change this community,” he says.

After all, wasn’t Jesus Christ all about relationships?

One of his brightest stars is a student named Daisia. She has a sister who is attending college at USM, and Daisia’s dream is to get there, too. Daniel has no doubt she can and will. These are her words and part of a letter she wrote in answer to Daniel’s question, “What would you want me to tell others about Marks?”

Dear Those Who I Believe Will Make a Change,

Where I’m from, I’m pretty sure everyone is familiar with the struggle. Whether it’s no lights or all you have is cold water, everyone is familiar with it. Everyone who ever had a chance to make it out of this place I call the “Waiting  Place” never comes back. It’s like escaping from a living hell.

The reason I like calling it the “Waiting Place” is because some just sit around thinking, not getting up doing nothing. But how can one take action when there is nothing around to take action about? … It’s like once you’re in the Waiting Place, you can’t get out because you don’t know which path to take.

But people like you are the only chance for my people to finally escape the Waiting Place. Every day and every night I pray for someone who actually believes in us to come and make a change…It would be such a blessing if you all took time out of your personal schedule to devote some of your time to help my people of Quitman County.

 What Is the Future?

 God, bless the T. Mac Howards and the Jason Stokers, the Daniel Myricks and the Jaby Dentons of the world. I asked them all if tackling the layers of issues in the Delta is a little like eating an elephant. That old cliché answers that it IS possible to eat an elephant one bite at a time.

Jason has a much better analogy. He compares tackling the problems in the Delta to peeling an onion. With every layer removed, the onion gets smaller.

No doubt, in the Delta, there are layers and layers of issues that have multiplied over several generations. What matters most at this intersection of time is that God’s people pay attention. In the kingdom of Light and Dark, there exists a great opportunity for impact at the moment.

The epistle of James is pretty clear. “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” James 2:15-17.

Lord, make us your vessels!

By Marilyn Tinnin, a former Miss University at Ole Miss. This story was originally published in Mississippi Christian Living Magazine 

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#hottytoddy #olemiss #oxfordms #oxford ms #mississippi #university of mississippi #the grove

[angremlin]

Stellaris is such a good game, the last two days I’ve basically come home, sit down, and played it past bed time continuously. The first pic is My Dudes, the Kirafamon (”people of Kira”) of the Kirafamon’to Bala’ta Espa (”The Best Hope of the People of Kira”). They’ve been interstellar for ABOUT 120 years now I think and that blue mass on the map is us (the top right bit of it used to be another empire but the requested to become part of mine). More info and some stories below.

That map shows everyone else’s opinion of us, we’re very friendly and helpful. The lower red empire has hated us since we met since they’re just plain douchebags, but they also recently realized they sucked and gave up their independence to become a vassal of the yellow-green next to them, who used to not like us but I’m winning them over. The other one basically hates me because I’m allied with people who kicked their ass, even though they actually managed it before I sent any help. I founded the only real federation in the galaxy, the only proper members are me and another empire that’s about 2/3 of the bright green at the top - the rest of the bright green as well as my ambivalent nature are officially “associated with” us so hopefully we’ll unify abt half the galaxy soon.

STORY THE FIRST. At the start of the game, I hadn’t found any other species and I had o concept of how much military I should have, so I basically didn’t build any. Suddenly I was informed that some of my people had become pirates, and the fleets that attacked were EACH stronger than the empire’s whole military? Also they kept going out to my frontier stations and destroying them, COMPLETELY halting the growth of the entire civilization! These both seemed like really weird things to do slash be possible, I decided they must have been some kind of very organized terrorist group opposed to expansion. I discovered much later that I didn’t need to make up an explanation, because I stumbled into a star system where an ancient fleet from a long dead empire was training and arming the raiders, who actually worked for them. Their main ship was ten times the strength of my whole fleet, I spent almost 100 years just going around them since they couldn’t send out strong fleets before I was able to raise a force to beat them.

STORY THE SECOND. Pretty early in the game, maybe even before the raids, a science ship found a weird signal on a planet we hadn’t explored. When we investigated, we found a young Kirafam who would only identify himself as “an exile” working in a weird lab. He gave us a choice: we could try to figure out what he was working on, or we could leave WITH him and never return and he’d work for us. Against my better judgement, i took the latter choice, figuring that even if his work was dangerous it would just be buried on a lifeless planet he’d never return to. The Exile would as my lead engineer until his death at the age of 133. No, Kirafamon don’t live that much longer than humans, this guy just literally refused to die. When he died he was older than the empire is now I believe, he remembered the first interstellar ship and he lived to see us expand to to 6 star systems, make peaceful contact with many other sentient races, destroy the ancient enemy that almost strangled us in the crib, destroy the last of the mysterious but VERY unfriendly living space crystals, integrate another species into our daily home lives... he saw almost everything that happened. I’m actualy... getting kind of really sad now writing this, when he died I doubt there was another living being that remembered a time when he wasn’t the chief engineer, as far as anyone knew “The Exile” was the most unchanging pillar of the empire, more than any ruler even. He guided almost the entire development of our navy as it grew from three corvettes to the fleet that defeated an ancient empire. And I have absolutely no idea who he was or what he was doing when we found him, and I never will - don’t even remember where that lab was anymore,

STORY THE THIRD. The Kirafamon love three things: equality, robots, and aliens (this is literally, mechanically true, look at their ethics in the first image lol). When investigating an anomally on a dead world, we found what we determined to be a vault full of data storage devices that were millions of years old, and which contained the minds of the last survivors of the dying race that built them, who hoped that maybe someday, someone would be able to bring them back. We had no idea how to do that, but we took the devices for safekeeping anyway. A few decades later we developed android bodies for simple artificial intelligences (we’d always had AI, they actually do a lot of the governing) and a helpful researcher (maybe even The Exile) was like “Hey, don’t we have like a ton of digital alien brains?” So we modified some of the robots and used them to bring the long extinct species back to life. They can no longer reproduce of course, but they’re also more or less immortal, and they’ve been living quietly on a corner of a frontier world ever since.

#OP #stellaris #there's a LOT under the cut lol