#of key areas of the national state

[28mindgames]

i really need to think and read other things that are not related to what's happening in the country because i'm going to go crazy or get depressed

#patagonia set on fire - heat wave - milei in israel - congress voting on our death - the definancing and privatization #of key areas of the national state #and the economic crisis !!! #x

[oukabarsburgblr]

Tongue Twisting [Dare AU]

FEATURING : AITO SOUSUKE (OC) x male reader

An annoying setter dares you to suck someone's face. Good thing your hot teammate walked in at the right time.

Short but too detailed for a drabble? has haikyuu characters as fillers because I'm too lazy to make up other ocs, voyeurism, making out, profile

Find out more under the cut!

"Still don't understand your point, Oikawa..."

(m/n) spoke with a lazy but confused grin, his eyebrows furrowing as he leaned forward from his chair he was sitting in. The brunette, standing tall in front of him had his hands on his hips.

"I'll give you the keys if you do it. It's not that hard for you, (m/n)." Oikawa smirked, his fingers spinning the bundle of keys he stole from the (h/c)'s bag earlier. Matsukawa who had dragged a chair to sit beside his standing captain quirked an eyebrow.

"If 'Zumi gets word of this, he's gonna get so pissed at you." "But he won't if (m/n) does it quick!"

A training camp had been set between Keio Shiki and Aoba Johsai for the Volleyball Men's Club. (m/n) and Oikawa both positioned as their captains of their respective teams and ever since (m/n) step foot onto the training camp's venue, Oikawa had a grudge on him seemingly for petty reasons.

(m/n) (l/n) had also been a third year setter, and a captain whose team had gone to nationals regularly representing the Saitama prefecture so Seijoh's coach had stated that the Shiki VBC team was the 'better' version of them and that got Oikawa pissed. It didn't help that Ushijima acknowledged (m/n) as a fantastic setter so he felt threatened with his position.

Since then, Oikawa would bother the (h/c) with small things, such as asking him to help clean his side of the gym, criticising his sets and serves or just straight up taking and using his stuff. Iwaizumi would knock some sense into his captain but it just so happened that both vice captains of both teams had to go run errands. Perfect.

(m/n) would have his meals in a more private area rather than the mess hall mostly due to him having to finish other duties on his laptop but Oikawa decided to infiltrate his booth and Matsukawa saw and just followed him in. His request was outrageous to say the least.

"Make out with someone."

(m/n) who was about to slurp his bowl of noodles visibly paused in his tracks and glanced at the annoying setter. He couldn't believe this was the man he was constantly compared to.

"Make out?" Oikawa grinned, seemingly proud of himself as he dangled the ring of keys he had snatched from the (h/c)'s duffle bag. "Or I'll throw this away." "...You do realise in the end, you'll get in trouble right?"

Matsukawa who had just stepped inside the lounge, froze and deadpanned at his captain. "Oikawa, what the fuck?" "Shut up, Mattsun! If you won't back me up, then leave." He whined as he tried to push the middle blocker away but the ravenette only decided to pull up a chair as (m/n) finished his meal.

The keys were access to all of the gyms and several other sections that were to be used by the volleyball teams on the property and (m/n) was in charge of keeping them safe and locked when they weren't using it and Oikawa was annoyed on how he wasn't picked.

How come he's athletic, smart, has good looks and has a nice personality?? FRAUD-

Oikawa couldn't accept someone with such a caliber existing and he was determined to find a foible somewhere in the (h/c). He continued to pester (m/n) and was about to dump the keys in a paper shredder until the (h/c) agreed. Although he doesn't exactly look mad?

"So do I have to get someone or you're picking?" (m/n) smoothened his pants, still sitting in the wooden chair as Matsukawa gaped at his relaxed expression. Even Oikawa was shocked he had agreed. "A-Anyone. Except your boyfriend!" "I don't have a boyfriend." The (h/c) deadpanned.

The setter suspected (m/n) was dating at least someone on his team, with the way they idolised and admired him. Especially his ace and his vice captain.

"How about you then?" (m/n) winked at the brunette, his finger made a 'come over here' taunt and Oikawa screeched. "You're shameless!" "You asked for it."

Matsukawa and the (h/c) was laughing at the flabbergasted brunette until the door behind them slid open and revealed an intimidating redhead. Keio Shiki's ace.

"What?" Sousuke deadpanned, confused as to why was there Seijoh's captain and annoying middle blocker in (m/n)'s private lounge, usually he would sneak away to spend time with his favourite person/crush but instead he found a grinning (h/c) and two other players from their rival team, his stomach tightened with jealousy.

Oikawa gestured to him and (m/n) laughed. "He wouldn't." "Wouldn't what?" Sousuke questioned, moving behind the suddenly cautious brunette to grab a chair, dragging it to sit between Matsukawa and (m/n).

"Would you have sex with your captain?"

Sousuke felt his heart dropped as he froze, his eyes on the ground and he heard (m/n)'s voice in the background. "He said smooching not fucking." What? Smooching not what?

The ace was confused as he peered to see the one who had asked him, Matsukawa smirking at him. "...huh?" Sleeping with his captain would be a dream come true. Hell he tried to woo the (h/c) for years if it wasn't for a certain cockblock VICE CAPTAIN-

"Like I said he wouldn't do that." (m/n) waved Matsukawa's teasing off, his eyes glancing at the redhead as he chuckled lightly. Sousuke frowned.

"I beg to differ." Oikawa was staring at the redhead, his eyes glinting as he crossed his arms, the bundle of keys nowhere to be seen. Sousuke reminded the brunette of Kyoutani, their playstyles and brash behaviour was similar, only Sousuke's style was more refined and he had been tamed by the (h/c). "If not, then I'll get someone else-"

"No." Sousuke grunted out, his fists clenching as he glanced at his captain, who was staring at him with a neutral expression. "I'll kill anyone who touches you."

"Calm down, hermano." Matsukawa whistled. "It's just kissing." The ravenette noticed the protective behaviour Sousuke had for his captain, pulling his shirt down if his skin was exposed, urging him to wash up quickly in the communal bathroom. He almost punched Oikawa in the face one time if it wasn't for Iwaizumi holding him back.

(m/n) gazed at the redhead, his eyes scanning his tense figure before he reached out and pulled his hand. "Then do you mind?" He smiled at the redhead whose cheeks flared. "What?" "Make out with me for a bit."

Oikawa's body was trembling, holding in his laugh as he slapped Matsukawa on the back repeatedly, the middle blocker cupping his mouth with his hand in excited shock. Sousuke's hand that was in (m/n)'s hold shuddered for a bit before he took a hold of himself.

"Are you going to do it with someone else?" (m/n) hummed, tapping his chin in mock thought. "Well I'm doing it for something..." He peered at Oikawa who was grinning. "Either way, if I have to then I'll have to." He nonchalantly stated, observing the agitated redhead.

"I might break their hands, (m/n)." Sousuke whispered to his captain, his hand now laying on his shoulder. "Then just swap spit with me." The (h/c) winked.

Sousuke stared at his captain for a moment, the gears in his brain moving and locking in as he grabbed his chair to sit and scoot directly in front of the (h/c) whose smile reached his eyes. Oikawa was hollering in the background and Matsukawa was holding in his cackle.

Bet he's a bottom. Oikawa didn't have a clear cut objective in his plan. He just wanted to see (m/n) melt one way or another. Sousuke was an added bonus, he was so annoyed with how good chemistry they had on the court.

Hazel scanned the (h/c)'s body, his eyes moving upwards to catch (e/c) staring at his bottom lip before they locked together. (m/n) smiled and tilted his head. "Don't regret this." "..."

Sousuke placed his hand on (m/n)'s bicep as he slowly moved forward, his breath held in. (m/n) chuckled as he closed his eyes, leaning in and he gripped the redhead's thigh, rubbing his thumb into his ace's pants.

The redhead's heart was racing, he stiffened his trembling hand as he gripped the armchair and he felt his world turned into bliss when his lips pressed against his captain's.

Sousuke was rigid as he nervously opened his mouth, panicking internally when he felt no response. "Let's go slow..." (m/n) cooed as his other hand moved to cup the redhead's jaw, his nail teasingly scratching his neck.

He flinched before humming awkwardly, closing his lips and letting his captain have his way. (m/n) gently lapping up the redhead's rough picked lips, his tongue softly swiping against the redhead's clenched mouth. His grip on Sousuke's thigh tightened.

Oikawa was laughing and taking a picture secretly, Matsukawa was hiding his smile with his hand, amused at the current scenario in front of him. A certain middle blocker is gonna be so pissed when he finds out.

The redhead cautiously opened his mouth, poking out his tongue and (m/n) seemed to stammer when it met with his. Sousuke could taste a lingering salt on (m/n)'s tongue. "Noodles for dinner?" "You know me." (m/n) chuckled before holding Sousuke's face with both of his hands and clashed their teeth.

Sousuke grunted as his breath stuttered when the (h/c) entered his mouth. He moaned when (m/n)'s tongue pressed againts his hard palate and he heard his captain's quiet laugh.

The butterflies in his stomach was raging as he forced himself to stop acting so nervous, his hands finally moved to hold (m/n) by the waist, rubbing his sides up and down. He had to swallow more than normal with how generous the (h/c) was licking his tongue, the taste of soup placating his buds and their saliva mixed.

Moving forward, Sousuke's chair scratched against the floor as he forced it closer to the (h/c)'s, desperate to have more. He couldn't believe that he was doing this. What kind of miracle did he walked upon? If any other man had sat in his position, he would have had his neck wrung.

"Nggh- hah!" He pulled his face back, panting with spit drooping down his chin. His penis was undeniably hard, the outline stretching against his jeans. Sousuke's face was hot, his cheeks red and he felt even weaker seeing the (h/c)'s expression.

(m/n) was smiling shamelessly and licked his lips, his heart fluttered and light. His own cock was also erect but he couldn't show that. The (h/c) wiped both his and Sousuke's face. "You had enough?" "..."

The redhead stayed quiet, swallowing his saliva. Sousuke wanted more, (m/n)'s tongue and drool in his mouth, or even his in the (h/c). Either way, it could never be enough. He had gotten a taste and Sousuke was Adephagia.

His hand gripped (m/n)'s lower waist, dangerously close to the plump of his ass and the (h/c) let out a quiet groan while biting his bottom lip. Half-lidded (e/c) eyes glared at burning hazel. (m/n) smiled as he felt Sousuke pulling him into his lap.

Sousuke kicked the (h/c)'s chair away as he held the captain on his lap, his left hand fondling down his back and his other rubbing (m/n)'s thigh. Their mouths were connected again and Sousuke immediately took the chance to thrust his tongue past (m/n)'s lips.

The taste of udon was more apparent now as he intruded his captain's mouth, pushing his wet muscle against the (h/c)'s. (m/n) moaned as his teeth scraped and he tried to push back. His hands are now in Sousuke's red locks, pulling and roughing them up.

(m/n) (l/n) couldn't say he never meant to end up in this position, sitting perchly in his ace's lap while sloppily making out with the redhead. Oikawa annoyed him and if the only thing that got him to shut up was for him to swallow someone's spit, then so be it. It was a plus for him too, how long had it been since he let loose anyways.

Sucking Sousuke's tongue was a different story however. He knew the redhead's obsession- passion for him. His intent gaze lingering over his figure, his rough fingertips brushing against his face and it didn't help he was handsome and so compliant under his will too. (m/n) could no longer hear the two Seijoh players laughing when Sousuke pulled him onto his lap.

His heart undeniably was pounding against his chest and now he was fiercely face fucking with his ace, Sousuke's hand dangerously hovering over his ass. (m/n) could feel the hard dick under his bosom, teasingly grinding on top of the rough jeans the redhead wore- fuck he shouldn't be doing this.

"Mmng ahh-" He pushed Sousuke away, the redhead frowning and panting with his tongue slack against his bottom lip. "We should hah- finish-" He was cut off when the redhead lapped up his jaw, making the (h/c) mewl and squirm in his hold. "Don't wanna." Sousuke mumbled, letting his tongue drag across (m/n)'s jaw.

The (h/c) huffed as his hands trembled, he leaned back, unintentionally exposing more of his neck. Sousuke brushed his fangs over (s/c) before he bit down, making (m/n) gasp and whimper as he rolled his hips.

"Y-You..." (m/n) frustratingly whined, his arousal was painful as he pressed himself down onto Sousuke's. "Hah...hah..." The redhead pulled away from the (h/c)'s neck, lust and want evident in his desperate eyes. (e/c) melted with equal need staring back.

"...my room." Sousuke immediately picked him up and walked out of the lounge, (m/n) locked his ankles around the redhead's torso. They both were still making out by the time they were out of the Seijoh's sight.

Oikawa was silent, not knowing what to say. Matsukawa was palming his face. "You should've expected that. That red hair guy was basically eye-fucking him everytime they're on the court." "I just....wanted to see him submit...not hooking up with someone."

Matsukawa raised an eyebrow. "Was this supposed to be a kink? That's gross, idiot-kawa." "I JUST WANTED TO SEE HIM LOSE FOR ONCE??" "Whatever it is, he definitely won tonight." The middle blocker secretly adjusted his pants, Oikawa's face was red and blushing.

"Why the hell are you guys in here?" Iwaizumi questioned, stepping into the lounge. Hanamaki poked his head in as well.

"...nothing." "Oikawa made a horny dare." "I DID NOT!!"

Iwaizumi cringed at the setter, disappointment etched onto his face. "DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT-" He wailed and Hanamaki looked to Matsukawa for an explanation.

The middle blocker only raised his hands in mock surrender, his mind wandering to the Shiki pair. Sousuke might show up but (m/n) will definitely not be attending practice tomorrow.

[END SCENE]

[unedited]

Afterthoughts :

Wow me posting🤩 the last part is a bit hanging, was supposed to be more slurping but i got sleepy. I wanna ask u guys to like a post that will help my team advance in an engineering innovation competition but that will be most likely indirectly doxxing myself hm😔

I have so many long drafts...like i legit have an almost finished jinx au but goddamn i lost the spirit. Ive been neglecting daisuke ik🥰 ill come back to my big tiddy man soon.

Just finished watching the haikyuu movie yesterday and kenma is terrifying wtf. I see why ppl like him now. The first year fic boutta go crazy

Taglist :

@tehyunnie @rainnyydaysworld @webwanderer @a-short-ass-disappointment @chikai-k @mello-life25

#oukabarsburg #bottom male reader #sub male reader #x male reader #aito sousuke #male reader #x bottom male reader #male reader smut #haikyuu x male reader #oc x male reader smut #oc x male reader #oc x reader smut #oc x reader #oc smut #male oc #uke male reader

[natalievoncatte]

It took four calls before Lena answered. It crawled across her side table, vibrating angrily like some persnickety insect until she gave it the attention she wanted.

You could just turn it off.

“What do you want, Danvers?”

Alex’s voice was thick.

“We can’t find Kara.”

Lena let out a slow, long, theatrical sigh. “So now you’re accusing me of crimes over the phone. At least your ex had the courtesy to cuff me in person.”

Alex’s patience was clearly short enough, and wearing thinner.

“I’m not calling you to accuse you. I’m calling you to ask for help.”

“And why would I do that?”

“Because she’s burned out her powers and we can’t find her, Luthor. Supergirl is missing and she’s powerless.”

Lena licked her lips.

“Is this some kind of weird test to see if I’ll try to kill her? An entrapment scheme or something?”

“First of all,” said Alex, “fuck you.”

“Mutual,” said Lena. “What was the second part?”

“The second part is that I know you. I know you’re pissed off at her. I also know that you don’t react the way you’ve acted because your BFF lied to you, Lena. Just like I know that buying a $875 million company isn’t what friends are fucking for.”

“I’m sure I have no idea what you mean,” Lena snapped.

“Right. Help us find her.”

“No,” Lena said, coolly. “Goodnight, Director.”

Lena stabbed the end call key with her finger, resolving to herself that L-Corp was going to release a smart phone that made it more satisfying to hang up on people.

Then she very pointedly did not go out looking for Kara. Instead, she boiled water for tea, and spread open a technical journal on her lap.

After ten minutes, she had not drunk the tea, and her attention was sliding off the abstract like the wrong end of two magnets jammed together. Rubbing at her eyes, she decided she’d had too long a day for even light reading, and decided to enjoy a news broadcast with her tea.

Of *course* the lead story was Supergirl. She tried putting on the Lakehawks game, but that had been preempted for Supergirl coverage.

She turned to the science channel. Oh, of course they’d decided that tonight was the night to premier some ridiculous companion documentary for the World of Krypton exhibit running downtown at the convention center, and of course Lena works tune in right as Kara appeared on screen, grinning ear to ear as she charitably gave some literal kid reporter the interview of her lifetime, fielding softball questions about her dead planet.

“What do you miss most?” the kid asked.

Lena saw it, saw it the way only someone who knew Supergirl was just Kara Danvers, the nerdy, dorky, kinda basic goof in a pompous costume, could. The flash of real pain in the hero’s eyes, the softness in her voice, like she was apologizing for the honest of her answer.

“Red sunrises,” said Kara.

Lena threw the teacup across the room, and it shattered across the screen, leaving the dregs tricking down the surface. Lena wished the TV had been knocked out, but the screen was shielded by a transparent aluminum she’d invented herself.

So she changed the channel, just in time to get a face full of The Princess Bride, just as Buttercup was shoving a then-disguised Westley down the hill as he shouted the line the revealed his identity.

“Oh fuck you all,” Lena muttered, as she scooped her keys from the kitchen counter.

Lena decided it was a night for subtlety, so she took the BMW, driving with the top down and and her phone in her jacket pocket, so she could feel it if someone called.

Lena drove for the better part of an hour, reflecting on the absurdity of simply looking for Kara in a sprawling city; National City had about two thirds the population of Metropolis, but it covered nearly four times the land area and was surrounded by sprawling suburbs that extended the entire metro area to the size of a small state.

This was hopeless, unless Lena knew where to go.

You know what you have to do. You know what you’ve always had to do.

Kara answered on the third ring.

“Hi.”

Her voice was tiny and small, and Lena felt like she was clutching some small fragile thing to her cheek.

“Hey,” she said, with all the softness she could muster with the top down. She pulled to a stop on the side of Ocean Avenue so she could soften it further. “I heard what happened.”

“I beat the monster.”

“I know,” said Lena. “You always do. Where are you, Kara?”

There was a beat of silence.

“I don’t know who out you up to this, but you don’t have to do it, Lena. I know how you feel about me now.”

No, you fucking don’t, Lena thought, before she could silence her own frantic mind. If you knew you wouldn’t have lied to me.

“Tell me where you are.”

“I’m where I belong,” Kara sighed, the hint of slurring in her words hinting that she’d been drinking.

Then she hung up.

A wave of anger welled in Lena’s chest, and she clenched her teeth, seizing the shift lever to throw the car in drive and head home; Kara and her sister could handle their own bullshit.

She didn’t drive home.

Lena arrived at the convention center in a frantic five minutes, parking crazily in a towing zone. Finding a way in took another few minutes, and soon the flat soles of her tennis shoes were squeaking as they echoed across the polished granite floors of the lobby.

She found Kara in the exhibit, surrounded by quiet, dark displays as she stood in front of a bannered exhibit proclaiming “RAO, THE SUN OF KRYPTON”.

Kara ignored Lena as she approached, tipping back a sloshing, mostly empty bottle of Jack Daniels to take a hearty gulp.

“Kara?” said Lena.

Kara swayed slightly on her feet. She’d gotten a raincoat somewhere and put it on over her suit, cape and all, and even from a distance she stank of whiskey. She was staring at the display in front of her, an expansive orrery surrounding a lit model of Rao. Lena had never seen her so haggard, even her lustrous hair limp sallow.

“Hi,” Kara said, taking another drink.

“What are you doing?”

“Chasing a red sunrise.”

Lena approached slowly, until they stood side by side.

She stole a quick glance. Kara had a black eye and she was swaying slightly, and Lena wasn’t sure if it was from the booze or the fight. She started to take another drink.

Grasping the bottle by the neck, Lena took it from her. Kara didn’t resist as Lena tipped back a long pull on the bottle herself. It offended her palate in every possible way but one, but it was a good way to numb herself.

“Alex send you?”

“No,” said Lena. “She just had to tell me. She knew I’d send myself.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s a lot more observant than you are.”

Kara studied her for a moment, then reached for the bottle back.

Lena looked at it. “How much of this have you had?”

“Not enough,” said Kara, taking another drink.”

“If you insist on destroying your liver, at least let me give you something that actually tastes good.”

“It all tastes like paint thinner,” said Kara.

Lena sighed. “Get in the car.”

Kara shrugged and followed Lena out, flopping extravagantly in the passenger’s seat. Lena drove in silence, using the excuse that the wind noise made it too hard to talk.

When they arrived at Lena’s apartment, she practically shoved Kara inside, and poured the rest of the swill down the drain.

“Hey,” Kara muttered.

“There’s still some of your clothes in the guest bedroom. Take that damned suit off and put on something else.”

Kara complied, trudging into the bedroom. She emerged a moment later, looking small and sad with her hands tucked up inside an oversized hoodie, wobbling giving Lena a glassy look.

As she sat down, Lena handed her a glass of wine and perched on the edge of the couch cushion beside her, gently pressing an ice pack to her eye. Kara leaned into it and let out a soft, unsteady sigh.

“Pain hurts,” she observed.

“It’ll do that.”

Then she went quiet, sinking into Lena’s couch with Lena’s ice pack pressed to her face. Lena stepped into the kitchen and pulled out her phone. Alex answered immediately.

“I have her.”

“Thank God. I’ll be over to get her in a few minutes.”

“No you won’t,” Lena sighed.

Alex didn’t answer her for a too-long pause.

“Yeah. Call me in the morning.”

“Will do.”

Kara had found the wine bottle when Lena came back, and was taking a drink form it. Lena sat down next to her and took it, drawing on it hard before passing it back.”

“What now?” said Kara.

“Is the ice still cold?”

“Yeah.”

Kara curled up next to Lena, bringing her legs up, her toes wiggling in empty air. Lena sighed and found her a blanket, spreading it over her too carefully.

As soon as Lena sat down, Kara spread the blanket over her, too, and Lena noticed that her absurd body heat hadn’t abated from the loss of her powers.

“You have tea on your TV,” Kara observed.

“Yeah,” said Lena.

It took her a few minutes to find something on television that wasn’t Supergirl or The Fox and the Hound.

(Fucking seriously?)

Nature documentaries were Kara’s kryptonite, to turn a phrase, and soon she was sleeping on Lena’s shoulder, the ice bag fallen into her lap. Lena stared down at the soft features of the surpassingly lovely little goddess snoozing against her and couldn’t help it anymore.

She started to weep softly, her shoulders hitching as she struggled to stop it, knowing the attempt was hopeless.

It got worse when Kara began to purr, a deep and soothing rumble in her chest that seemed to seep into Lena’s bones. After a moment she realized that Kara was crying too; she’d woken up.

“I’m sorry,” she whimpered. “I’m so fucking sorry, Lena. I can’t… I can’t breathe I’m so sorry. I lost my red sunrise. I can’t lose you too. I’ll do anything. Please let me make it up to you I promise I will, please.”

Lena shifted to a more comfortable position, known this was it for the night, that something had shifted. No, shattered. She was tired of being angry, of being afraid, if thinking of could-have-beens and come-what-mays. Yes, Kara had lied. Lena had lied. They’d kept secrets and been stupid and and they’d hurt each other, but nothing in the world, no principles or closely held rules or petty anger would justify watching her suffer like this.

She was careful as she cupped Kara’s jaw, avoiding the injury, feeling a flash of rage at whoever had done this to her. (That his ass had been throughly kicked by an angry Kryptonian was irrelevant; her vengeance would not be forestalled.)

The kiss was quiet and gentle, at once too soft and quick, more request than declaration, and Kara swiftly answered with one so fierce and honest and hopeful that Lena didn’t care that Kara’s mouth tasted like whiskey and wine.

When it was over, Lena found herself whispering, “As you wish.”

#supercorp #supergirl fanfiction #supergirl #supercorp fanfic #lena luthor #kara danvers #kara x lena #karlena #supergirl fanfic #ficlet #literally made myself cry #angst #angst with a happy ending #happy angst #“hangst as it were #Kryptonians can purr #not canon compliant

[robertreich]

The Silent Revolution in American Economics

I don't think you're expecting what I'm about to say, because I have never seen anything like this in fifty years in politics.

For decades I've been sounding an alarm about how our economy has become increasingly rigged for the rich. I've watched it get worse under both Republicans and Democrats, but what President Biden has done in his first term gives me hope I haven't felt in years. It’s a complete sea change.

Here are three key areas where Biden is fundamentally reshaping our economy to make it better for working people.

#1 Trade and industrial policy

Biden is breaking with decades of reliance on free-trade deals and free-market philosophies. He’s instead focusing on domestic policies designed to revive American manufacturing and fortify our own supply chains.

Take three of his signature pieces of legislation so far — the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS Act, and his infrastructure package. This flood of government investment has brought about a new wave in American manufacturing.

Unlike Trump, who just levied tariffs on Chinese imports and used it as a campaign slogan, Biden is actually investing in America’s manufacturing capacity so we don’t have to rely on China in the first place.

He’s turning the tide against deals made by previous administrations, both Democratic and Republican, that helped Wall Street but ended up costing American jobs and lowering American wages.

#2 Monopoly power

Biden is the first president in living memory to take on big monopolies.

Giant firms have come to dominate almost every industry. Four beef packers now control over 80 percent of the market, domestic air travel is dominated by four airlines, and most Americans have no real choice of internet providers.

In a monopolized economy, corporate profits rise, consumers pay higher prices, and workers’ wages shrink.

But under the Biden, the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department have become the most aggressive monopoly fighters in more than a half century. They’re going after Amazon and Google, Ticketmaster and Live Nation, JetBlue and Spirit, and a wide range of other giant corporations.  

#3 Labor

Biden is also the most pro-union president I’ve ever seen.

A big reason for the surge in workers organizing and striking for higher wages is the pro-labor course Biden is charting.

The Reagan years blew in a typhoon of union busting across America. Corporations routinely sunk unions and fired workers who attempted to form them. They offshored production or moved to so-called “right-to-work” states that enacted laws making it hard to form unions.

Even though Democratic presidents promised labor law reforms that would strengthen unions, they didn’t follow through. But under Joe Biden, organized labor has received a vital lifeboat. Unionizing has been protected and encouraged. Biden is even the first sitting president to walk a picket line.

Biden’s National Labor Relations Board is stemming the tide of unfair labor practices, requiring companies to bargain with their employees, speeding the period between union petitions and elections, and making it harder to fire workers for organizing.

Americans have every reason to be outraged at how decades of policies that prioritized corporations over people have thrown our economy off-keel.

But these three waves of change — a worker-centered trade and industrial policy, strong anti-monopoly enforcement, and moves to strengthen labor unions — are navigating towards a more equitable economy.

It’s a sea change that’s long overdue.

#youtube #Joe Biden #politics #economics #video #videos

[luckyladylily]

Right now is not the time to play voter chicken. There are so many things riding on the 2024 US election. If conservatives gain full control we are likely looking at:

Complete loss of any environment protection gains in the past 4 years and potential loss of even more environment protection, like clean air laws.

National transgender obscenity laws effectively banning trans people from existing. There are already prototype laws being pushed in West Virginia. Without any legislative roadblocks going national is entirely in the cards.

A national ban on abortion on the books as law.

A complete stop to all efforts at student loan forgiveness and, perhaps more importantly, efforts to ease the burden of student loans on the poor, which would push millions of Americans into poverty and more into deep poverty by costing them hundreds of dollars a month. (My family, for example, would be out nearly 2400 dollars a year, and I have a relatively low amount.) This will kill people as they can't afford basics like shelter and food any longer.

Restrictive and privacy compromising obscenity laws. Right now multiple red states require photo ID to be collected by every website that distributes adult material. Remember, they are trying to get all queer materials declared obscene as well, this isn't just about porn.

Restrictive and privacy compromising laws in other areas. For example, Utah already has a law on the books that goes into effect on March 1 which requires age verification for all social media users, permission from parents for any social media use for a minor, and automatic curfew functions for social media for minors. This is transparently an attempt to cut off young queer people from their peers or force them to out themselves to potentially queerphobic parents.

Restrictive voting laws will make voter suppression even worse. Again, prototype bills already exist in many red states, going national is a virtual certainty if conservatives get control of the national government.

I restricted myself to just things with prototype bills at the state level or have been key republican talking points that i could remember off the top of my head. It is no exaggeration to say that there is a real difference between even a deadlocked government like we have now and a conservative government that is measured in human suffering and death.

It is a virtual certainty that most of these will happen with a conservative controlled government. Frankly, I doubt we have the ability to stop even one of these things via protest or public outrage. Our best and probably only chance of stopping these and other terrible laws is preventing a government that would pass these laws.

#us politics

[azuremist]

Haruka isn’t autistic-coded – he has an intellectual disability (and why that matters)

(AO3 Mirror)

A lot of people in the MILGRAM fandom (especially English-speaking MILGRAM fandom) state that Haruka is autistic-coded, as if it’s fact. Most recognize that Haruka is coded as disabled. (If you didn’t recognize that, I hope this post will help to explain why.) However, to state that he is coded as autistic specifically is incorrect. Haruka is coded as intellectually disabled.

Now, there are likely two things that contribute to this issue. One is the invisibility of intellectual disability as a whole, and another is the fact that a lot of this has to do with things that only someone who speaks Japanese would understand (such as complex vs non-complex words in Japanese).

In this post, I plan to lay out what an intellectual disability is and how it differs from neurodivergencies such as autism or ADHD. After that, I want to discuss the way Haruka speaks and uses words, the symbolism in his MVs, and how this lends to him being coded as intellectually disabled. Finally, I want to discuss why this even matters at all. Because, in truth, viewing Haruka as autistic instead of intellectually disabled leaves the viewer misunderstanding his story in a huge way that seems far too common in English-speaking MILGRAM fandom. So, I hope you listen to what I have to say.

What does it mean to be intellectually disabled?

Confusing autism and intellectual disability (henceforth referred to as ID) is not an issue unique to the MILGRAM fandom. They are quite commonly mistaken for each other, in the same way that autism and ADHD are both commonly mistaken for each other. And for the same reason, too – autism and ID are comorbid. This means that, if someone is autistic, they are more likely to have an ID. For this reason, it makes perfect sense to headcanon Haruka as autistic. I headcanon him as autistic, myself, actually. But, in this post, I’m going to be strictly talking about his coding, not headcanons, and he is very specifically coded with an ID.

So, what’s the difference? In the words of the National Institutes of Health, “Whereas ID is associated with general deficits across developmental domains, ASD is in fact defined by the observation that social communication deficits are particularly impairing.” (Source)

To say this in layman’s terms, autism is primarily characterized by difficulties in social communications. Cognitive abilities in autistic individuals vary, just like with allistic individuals, but the defining features are issues with social interaction and nonverbal communication. Autism by itself effects how effectively one communicates, but not intelligence. On the other hand, ID is a limitation on intellectual functioning, just like the name implies. This causes issues in areas like learning, problem-solving, and abstract reasoning.

A lot of people think ID is a synonym for ‘learning disability’. ‘Learning disability’ is an umbrella term that covers things such as dyslexia and dysgraphia. This isn’t the case. For one thing, ID can be a diagnosis on its own. ID is subdivided into syndromic ID, where intellectual deficits are present with other signs and symptoms, and nonsyndromic ID, where ID is, itself, the diagnosis. Examples of syndromic IDs include fragile X syndrome, and Down syndrome. For another, those with learning disabilities tend to have average to above-average intellectual abilities. Their disorder affects their ability to acquire and process information, but they are still able to learn. In contrast, ID affects the ability to learn at all, as well as affecting development and general function.

ID is a debilitating disorder. Many people with an ID cannot live independently, require help with self-care activities, and have limited communicative abilities. Understanding this – particularly, how ID is often a disability that requires a caregiver – is a key point to understanding Haruka as a character. But that’s to be covered later.

Words

The reason why this is a problem in the English fandom specifically is because the main thing tipping off the viewer to Haruka’s ID is the way that he speaks.

‘Weakness’, Haruka’s first-trial song, is written entirely in INCREDIBLY basic, elementary-level kanji – mostly hiragana and katakana. In fact, his first-trial song is misspelled in a lot of official releases of the song (‘Weekness’), which is a good way to get the same effect across. This is not the case across all platforms, though, for whatever reason. He also writes, in his trial 1 interrogation, with only that elementary-level kanji; often only one-word answers. The only complicated characters he knows are usually ones that mean something along the lines of, “I’m a stupid, idiot child,” which can be assumed to be because that’s what he has heard his whole life.

While I’m unsure if it is ENTIRELY in this basic kanji, his second trial song and interrogation is at least mostly written like this, as well. At this point, Muu is teaching him how to read and write (or, that’s what’s implied), but, even with that one-on-one attention, he is still speaking like a child most of the time to the Japanese ear.

When he’s forced to use or listen to words outside of this elementary-level kanji, he gets audibly confused, as well. In the AVIOT earbud collab, he has the voiceline, “Pairing seems to be in progress,” but, if you listen, he says “pairing” like it’s a question. (“Pair-ing?”) He doesn’t know the word is an English loanword that isn’t often used in everyday conversation, so he’s struggling to say it.

He also struggles when speaking to Es in his interrogations. He tries to say, “I will acknowledge any falsehood or silence,” but the words used are very advanced in Japanese. As such, he struggles with it, repeating, “False-hood? Si-lence?” Multiple similar exchanges happen in his interrogations, with Haruka misunderstanding words Es uses, and stuttering over unfamiliar words. The implication is that Haruka struggles with higher vocabulary or unfamiliar words, and with speaking and communication in general. He apologizes multiple times to Es for struggling, saying that he is not intelligent as an explanation multiple times. Additionally, in his second trial investigation, he talks about how he could never do the same things as everyone around him. When Es calls him stupid, he agrees. Es even states, “You really have no learning ability whatsoever.” When, mind you, having delayed or slowed learning is, like, the symptom of intellectual disability. It’s quite blatant. (Why is this not fandom consensus yet, again?)

Moving on from the point of how Haruka uses words, we can talk about other forms of word-based MILGRAM media. For example: when introducing himself, he says he thinks he’s 17, which implies that he isn’t actually sure. Additionally, there is lots of evidence for his intellectual disability in his interrogation questions:

He considers it impossible to learn another language

His dream is to ‘live normally’

He states he disappointed his father (not inherently an ID-related thing, but also, makes sense with his coding in mind)

Many answers imply that he’s been unable to live his own life, and he doesn’t really have any aspirations outside of being given attention

Finally, we have the lyrics to his songs. Again, on top of being written in very basic kanji, we have lines like the following, which include repeated themes of needing a caregiver (being ‘hopeless’ by himself), not being able to do what others can do, hating how he was born, and struggling to function. (I have bolded examples that I think are especially apt.)

“Why was I born like this? Why does it hurt so much?” / “Why was I born to be me? Why does it hurt so much?”

“Instead you kept calling me “hopeless” / You never called me by my name / You were always comparing me to someone else”

“If I tried and couldn’t say it, you would get angry at me and say “You’re hopeless”” / “When I tried to understand it, you’ll make that disappointed face again”

“I just wanted to be your good boy” (what did the MILGRAM team want us to think when they included this line? likely that he’s childish or ‘hasn’t grown up’, right?)

“Mommy, look / I’ve done great” (calling her ‘mommy’ instead of ‘mom’ – again, ask what the MILGRAM team wants us to think when they included this)

“If only I could do what anyone else could do”

“It’s enough, I am a “disappointment””

“My life started in a wrong spot”

With regards to his relationship with Muu, he doesn’t understand why Muu using him would be a bad thing, or how she is manipulating him. People with ID tend to have poor judgment, and Haruka not being able to tell the difference and not caring about the difference between negative and positive attention shows this (although his trauma definitely also plays a role).

Finally, we have the trial song titles.

We’ve already discussed how “Weakness” is sometimes alternatively misspelled as “Weekness”, and that is because the title in Japanese is, arguably, misspelled, too. The Japanese title is a play on the phrase jakuniku kyoushoku, which is equivalent to the English phrase, “Survival of the fittest.” More directly, it translates to, “The weak are meat, the strong do eat.” The character for “strong” (kyou) is replaced by “together” (also kyou) – with the implication being that Haruka forgot which version of the word was correct for this situation. This also works to create a pun, of sorts, as this makes the title more like, “The weak are meat, communal eating”, creating an emphasis on the fact that there are more people eating than there are ‘weak people’. There are differing ways to interpret this pun, but one way is to view it as a statement on Haruka’s status as a minority, oppressed (‘eaten’) by the majority.

On the other hand, we have All-Knowing and All-Agony. In Japanese, this song title is Zenchi Zennou, which can be translated as “Omniscient and Omnipotent”, used to describe the Christian God. Once again, we have what we can assume is Haruka misspelling the title, creating a pun. One that is much more on the nose, as the character for “ability” (nou) is replaced with the character for “worry, distress, pain” (also nou).

It seems that the reason why Haruka uses new complicated words (aside from the words meaning “idiot” and the like) in All-Knowing and All-Agony is because Muu is teaching him. It features the more complicated “食” (shoku; food), when we know from Haruka’s 2023 birthday portal that Muu is bringing him meals. It also prominently features Muu’s name, 夢 (yume; dream), which is more complicated, as well.

Imagery

Now, we get on to the non-verbal, more visually-based evidence for Haruka’s ID. Be prepared for a lot more images!

Going back to Muu teaching Haruka how to write: it’s not just clear in his usage of kanji, but also how he writes. Comparing his handwriting, it becomes much easier to read after Trial 2’s start, and his writing is soft and bubbly; much like a teen girl’s writing might be.

All of these improvements are able to be linked back to Muu (both his style of writing and in the more complicated words that he knows), who we know is looking after him. Considering this, it’s pretty clear why he sees her like a maternal figure.

One of the Minigram comics shows the prisoners eating curry udon together. Of the four shown (Amane, Haruka, Shidou and Mahiru), Amane and Haruka are the only two who make messes out of their clothes. Since the other two characters in the comic have active roles, and Haruka has the most passive one, Haruka’s inclusion can be assumed to be because he is the only prisoner aside from the child, Amane, who would make a mess while eating.

Childish themes and imagery are seen scattered throughout his MV, as well, especially his first one. He draws with the skill level of a child, which is a very prevalent motif, and he is shown to sleep with a plushie.

Additionally, he seems to have trouble putting on his clothes. He wears two entirely different socks – not just different colors, but also two different lengths. His pant legs are also two different lengths when he tries to roll them up in his Trial 2 art, and he seems to exclusively wear slip-on shoes up until he befriends Muu (where we can presume that she begins helping him, and even then, they're not done properly).

There are various visual parallels drawn between himself as a child and himself as he is now (for example, the way that his clothes are a mix of his current shirt and the vest he wore as a child in All-Knowing and All-Agony), and he often compares himself to a child wanting praise.

Even the violent acts that Haruka is shown committing are also a sign of an ID. People with IDs tend to have meltdowns, and devolve into fits of violence. The reasons for these meltdowns vary depending on the person, but reasons can include anger / frustration (especially in reaction to not being able to communicate well), sensory overload, and confusion.

You may note that Haruka’s mother reacts the exact wrong way for dealing with these meltdowns. When trying to help someone experiencing a meltdown, especially a violent meltdown, the last thing you want to do is appear frightened. The number one piece of advice everyone gives for helping someone experiencing a meltdown is to remain calm. It’s also not advised to leave the person alone, either, because that sends the message, “I want to avoid you when you feel this way.” (Which I suppose, for a neglectful mother like Haruka’s, would be technically accurate, but still not at all helpful.)

It only makes sense that Haruka’s tantrums continue to get worse and worse.

But after the meltdowns fade, he seems to not understand what he’s done. He’s shown experiencing fear and confusion after he hurts something, even shown as his child self at one point. A major part of IDs is being unable to connect actions to consequences.

Finally, we go onto his body language. Frankly, I considered putting, “Imagine this as a real person doing these things and not an anime boy, and you’ll see my point.” Which is true. But I decided to go a little more in depth.

Swaying is heavily associated with people with IDs. This is, in part, because people with IDs have reduced postural balance, and general body balance. Because of that lack of postural balance, people with IDs tend to slump quite heavily, as well. Both of these traits are shown very obviously with Haruka, in All-Knowing and All-Agony.

In the same MV, he’s also shown biting his nails. Like autistic people, people with IDs stim, and this could also be a version of hand mouthing (repetitive contact between the hands and the mouth / tongue), which is also heavily associated with / often seen in intellectually disabled people. He's also shown doing this in promo art.

So, why does this matter?

Haruka being intellectually disabled is a huge part of his story, and, when taking it into consideration, it changes how one views his story a lot.

Haruka being treated better as a child makes more sense with this framework. He wants to return to when he was a child because his level of intellect then was seen as more ‘normal’. There wasn’t as much obviously ‘wrong’ with him yet. Children are expected to be a little slow, but it’s when they remain that way that many parents begin to become concerned. He yearns for when his mother didn’t know he was disabled, and when she treated him better for that reason.

Haruka being severely neglected / abused by his mother would be awful, no matter what, but him being intellectually disabled makes it so much worse. He needs attention and care from his caregivers even more so than the average child does, because he has trouble even functioning on the day-to-day without help. This is why he thrives under Muu’s care; she is meeting his support needs. Likely not perfectly (she’s just a teenage girl, and she is almost certainly not trained or educated in this regard), but even with the amount of support that she is able to give, Haruka is thriving. He’s more confident, he’s learning how to write, and he’s eating more consistently.

Without that care, he struggles so severely that he melts down regularly, going into fits of violence over the fact that his support needs aren’t being met (on top of all of the other emotional baggage that comes with any child being neglected by their parent). Haruka’s mother continued to ignore these cries for attention, for help, for care… Until it went too far.

The way that Haruka’s story is viewed changes drastically with this information. If Haruka was autistic, it would affect very few of the things that I listed. So much of Haruka's story hinges on specifically his intelligence level, not how he socializes. And do you have any idea how many people I’ve seen say, “He’s a neurodivergent with a shitty mom, but so am I, and I didn’t kill anyone about it”? No. If you are not intellectually disabled, you do not get to compare your experiences as if they are equal. If you don’t have an ID, your experiences cannot be compared in this way.

Haruka has a debilitating disability that requires support which he was not getting. He was experiencing ableist abuse at the hands of his mother, and he didn’t know how to handle it. All of his violence happened during his meltdowns, and his disability makes it harder for him to connect his actions to the consequences, or find alternate ways to solve his problems – this is all extremely important information and context when you’re discussing whether or not his crime is forgivable.

If you still don’t forgive him, that’s alright. But to neglect this aspect of his character is, to be frank, baffling, if you’re trying to participate in the spirit of the series and understand everyone’s crime to the fullest extent. And to make jokes, comparing your own experiences to Haruka’s, since you assume him to be neurodivergent and nothing else, does a huge disservice to his story! And, when it’s done to demean him? It honestly comes off a slight bit ableist.

So, I’d like everyone to keep this information in mind moving forward. Don’t infantilize Haruka for his disability. But do consider this information in your analysis posts, your discussions, and so on. I’d like to see this become common knowledge in the MILGRAM fandom, especially since the idea of him being specifically autistic-coded is so widespread by this point.

Thank you!

#haruka sakurai #milgram #the milgram project #milgram meta #milgram analysis #intellectual disability #haruka #sakurai haruka #azure does a thing

[anyab]

Via NasAlSudan

December 17 2023. #KeepEyesOnSudan #SudanActionWeek

Swipe through to build a foundational understanding of the war, its origins, and the key players involved. For actionable ways to support those in Sudan, check the link in our bio. Stay tuned for more posts this week.

Transcript:

National:

On April 15, a war broke out in Sudan's capital city of Khartoum between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Since then, eight months of conflict has led to major destruction of Khartoum's infrastructure, the most developed region of Sudan, with fighting also spreading to the regions of Darfur in the west and Kordofan in the south.

Civilians in conflict zones have been forcibly displaced, under threat of physical and sexual violence, particularly by the RSF, which has looted, destroyed, and settled in people's homes.

Regional:

In the western region of Darfur, a campaign of ethnic cleansing is being carried out by the RSF targeting the Masalit tribe. Allegations of genocide have been levied against the RSF.

Reports have just emerged that fighting has now spread to Wad Madani in Al Gezira state, which houses nearly 500,000 IDPs from Khartoum.

Key figures:

Abdel Fattah al Burhan Head of SAF

Omar El-Bashir Deposed Dictator of Sudan

Mohamed Dagalo (Hemidti) Head of RSF

Transcript:

Sudan: the war in numbers

A humanitarian "catastrophe"

24.7 million in need of critical humanitarian assistance

70-80% of hospitals out of service in conflict areas

19 million children are out of school

20.3 million people acutely food insecure. 4.9 million facing emergency hunger levels

6.7 million displaced [5.4 million IDPS, 1.3 million refugees]

7,000+ cholera cases an increase of +136% over the past month

Transcript:

FAQ - THE SAF

QUESTION 01: What is the SAF?

Stands for the Sudanese Armed Forces

Is the de-facto government of Sudan

Is headed by Lt. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan

QUESTION 02 What is their capacity?

Estimated to have ~200,000 personnel and tactical advantage of airforce

Currently control the relative northern and eastern regions of Sudan with functioning capital in Port Sudan (East)

QUESTION 03 Do they have backing and support?

On the international stage, primarily backed by Egypt

Limited weapons supply from allies

Internally, the SAF is ultimately considered the lesser of two evils

Transcript:

FAQ - THE RSF

QUESTION 01 What is the RSF?

Stands for the Rapid Support Forces

Paramilitary group originating from the Janjaweed, Arab tribal militias armed by al-Bashir in 2003 to fight against ethnically African rebel groups in Darfur + carried out 2003 genocide

Is headed by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemidti)

QUESTION 02 What is their capacity?

Estimated to have 100,000 to 150,000 troops

Winning the ground fight in Khartoum and control 4/5 states in Darfur

QUESTION 03 Do they have backing and support?

On the international stage, primarily backed by the UAE

Have steady weapons supply chain and diversified financial profile with critical assets in UAE and Russia

Transcript:

THE WAR IN SUDAN: CONTEXTUALIZING APRIL 15

(6/1989 - 4/2019) THE BASHIR REGIME

Sudan was under the rule of military dictator Omar Al-Bashir for 30 years, who came to power through an military coup backed by Islamist factions in June of 1989

His time in power was marked by extreme repression, conflict, and economic decline

(12/2018 CURRENT) THE REVOLUTION

In December of 2018, a popular democratic revolution began that eventually unseated al-Bashir on April 11 through the revolt of security sector

Al-Bashir was ultimately replaced by al-Burhan, with Hemidti as his deputy of a Transitional Military Council

Protestors rejected military rule and continued to hold a sit-in outside the military headquarters until its violent dispersal on June 3 of 2019 by the SAF + RSF

Today, the Sudanese people still hope and advocate for freedom from military rule and the transition to democracy

(8/2019-10/2021) TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT

Agreement on transitional government signed between civilian forces and Transitional Military Council on August 17, 2019

Led to formation of joint sovereign council with Abdalla Hamdok as Prime Minister

Transcript:

(10/2021 CURRENT)THE OCT 25, 2021 COUP

Burhan and Hemidti carry out military coup overthrowing civilian counterparts

They draw power from international legitimization despite prolonged mass protests in Sudan

(12/2022) THE FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT

In December of 2022, civilians put out a framework agreement signed onto by SAF and RSF + civil society groups and political parties meant to return to a transitional government

Key part of agreement: question of integration of the RSF into the SAF

Parties were to finalize the agreement and sign on April 1; RSF and SAF ultimately disagreed on integration timeline with RSF wanting 10 years and the SAF wanting 2

(12/2022-4/2023) THE LEAD UP TO APRIL 15

As framework agreement negotiations failed, both parties began mobilizing troops in capital of Khartoum in days leading up to April 15

Residents of Khartoum awoke to the sounds of gunfire on April 15 and by noon, the RSF had seized Meroe airport in the Northern state

Conflict today considered a battle for power between the two generals they are too far in to walk back

Transcript:

FRAMING ALLIANCES

Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF):

Egypt

Israel (Foreign Ministry)

Islamists

Iran

Saudi Arabia

Ukraine (SOF)

Armed Groups

Rebel groups that had taken up arms against the central government in the Bashir Era are forced to ally with the SAF due to the RSF's ethnic cleansing campaign. They include:

Justice and Equality Movement (Gibril Ibrahim)

Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (Minni Minawi)

Gathering of Sudan Liberation Forces (Abdallah Yahya)

Rapid Support Forces (RSF):

Israel (Mossad)

Libya (Khalifa Haftar)

United Arab Emirates

Central African Republic

Russia (Wagner Group)

Chad

Arab Tribal Leaders

Arab tribal leaders across the Western region of Darfur have pledged their allegiance and support to the RSF, with members of the tribes across the Sahel crossing into Sudan to join the RSF's assault as well.

Key tribes include: Beni Halba, Tarjam, Habaniya, Fallata, Misseriya, Taaysha, Rizeigat

Transcript:

IS THERE AN END IN SIGHT?

THE STATE OF NEGOTIATIONS

Effort: JEDDAH TALKS [MAY]

Parties involved: Externally: United States, Saudi Arabia Internally: SAF, RSF

Outcome: Discussed humanitarian ceasefire; signed Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan - Failed

Effort: INTERGOVERNMENTAL AUTHORITY ON DEVELOPMENT (IGAD) [JULY]

Parties Involved: Externally: Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, South Sudan Internally: RSF

Outcome: Proposed peacekeeping troops to ensure humanitarian corridor - Rejected

Effort: CAIRO TALKS (NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES) [JULY]

Parties Involved: Externally: Egypt, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Chad, Eritrea, CAR, Libya Internally: SAF, RSF

Outcome: Discussed lasting ceasefire, safe humanitarian passage, political dialogue framework - Failed

Effort: JEDDAH TALKS [OCTOBER]

Parties Involved: Externally: United States, Saudi Arabia Internally: SAF, RSF

Outcome: Discussed lasting ceasefire, safe humanitarian passage, political dialogue framework - Failed

Effort: IGAD + AFRICAN UNION (AU) [DECEMBER]

Parties Involved: Externally: IGAD, EU, UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United States Internally: SAF (Burhan in person), RSF

Outcome: Agreed to a face-to-face meeting in late December and ceasefire; SAF later issued a retraction - Ongoing

Transcript:

The conflict in Sudan calls for the collective support of all to raise awareness about the war and aid the Sudanese people on the ground, especially when we live in nations that have been complicit in the oppression of the Sudanese people. Explore the options below and share with others. For more information, check the link in our bio.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

EDUCATE YOURSELF

Deepen your knowledge about Sudan, empowering yourself with insights into the complexities of the situation.

DONATE

Extend a helping hand to Sudan by generously donating to individuals or grassroots organizations on the ground.

CONTACT YOUR REPS.

Amplify your impact by contacting your representatives, advocating for positive change.

#sudan #keep eyes on sudan #KeepEyesOnSudan #Sudan Action Week #SudanActionWeek #i hope the way i formatted it is good #i saw a few hours ago that rsf retreated from wad madani outskirts

[vonev]

Zombie apocalypse with Simon Riley

Sum: You finally meet your hot neighbor; albeit all it took was an apocalyptic disaster.

Oh my God, what the fuck?

“—reports states that an infectious zombie-like virus has begun to spread amongst multiple areas in the city—”

“—Please seek the nearest hazard shelter in your local area—”

A fucking zombie virus breakout is happening, in front of your lunch.

You'd never thought the national emergency alarms would ever blare during your lifespan, but you're here, a spoon full of egg drop soup in hand sitting across your TV and your mouth hung open as all your devices deafens the entire living room.

The telenovela you were watching was just getting so good too.

Immediately shooting your hand out to fetch your phone, scrambling for the national notification, horror dawns on you.

The fucking breakout is in my city.

Isn't it so lovely? On a random Tuesday afternoon in the middle of an approaching autumn.

What is it that they do in those zombie shows again...? Oh yeah, run.

Wait—no, no. Pack your shit then run.

So you did. Your feet working the fastest they've ever been scattering toward your bedroom to dig out the ancient duffel bag you've not touched in eons. Shoving essentials in there: tampons, pads, your Kindle (because God forbid an apocalypse stops you from finishing a book) and a couple of other things you think you'd need...a thong is one of them, right?

The loud alarms never stops, it only adds to your increasing anxiety threatening to bubble over and spill all over the floor; you didn't think they'd go on for so long, but they do, and honestly they sound fucking terrifying.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. Think—

Wallet, passport (in case you wanted to fly over to Milan, you know.), all the money you had was stored inside the bank; speaking of, you wonder if anyone had started robbing stores yet after the alarms sounded.

Nope, can't think about that right now, because the more time you waste, the higher of a chance you'd end up having your face bitten off by some freaks—zombie or not. So you scramble once again, head full of doubts and worry; good thing you kept refraining yourself from ever getting a pet because holy shit having to sprint with a massive fluff ball in your arm would be the last thing you'd want to do.

Just then, screams started filling your ears; an indication that you spent too much time dwindling.

Looking down you scoff at your casual wear: a tank top that exposed too much and sweatpants. Making your way out along your bedroom you snatched a jacket you promised yourself you'd wash last week.

Good thing you didn't, I guess.

Stepping foot into the living room once more, your eyes dart around in a hurry, practically running into the kitchenette to grab canned foods and your leftovers from yesterday. It's just a sandwich, but it'll hopefully last until whenever you can finally eat again. You repeated the same conundrum with your bathroom, frantically pushing things aside with more things to make space for other things.

Alright, you think, that should be everything...

You even got that first-aid kit you bought from Amazon months ago, thinking that someday you'll need it.

Always trust your instincts.

With that, you waste no time scurrying to the front door, fitting yourself into a comfortable pair of shoes then fetching your keys from the bowl above the accent table you probably spent too much money on (they looked really cute) and inserting it into the lock, cursing yourself when you kept missing the keyhole. Eventually, you got it, and with too much brute force, you threw the door open and stepped out into the hall.

You wince from the loud banging sound of the door you pushed; to your right, your neighbor's door opens as you walk out.

Tilting your head, you see the neighbor casually fixing his shoes with absolutely no care regarding the current situation, a bag slung over his broad shoulder in contrast to you desperately holding onto your heavy duffel bag.

What the fuck is his deal? How is he so...calm?

You didn't realize it 'till now, but said neighbor turns his head toward you, and it's as if a lightbulb flare up in your head.

Oh.

He stares at you, unmoving with his hand still on the doorknob.

It's the hot neighbor.

What was his name again? Sam...Samuel...no, Semen...wait, definitely not.

Whatever. You'll call him Semen in your head, because you can't be bothered standing there to recall his name. Not while he's staring at you so intently, either—like you owed him something.

God, is he a sight to look at; full brows with lips looking so kissable with a cute pout, blonde strands covers his front as though he'd just woken up from the best nap of his life, the faint yet noticeable scars littered across his face so perfectly. Tall, mysterious and muscles that threatened the seams of the too-tight shirt he wore. Is he even aware? 

And his eyes.

You can't even begin to mention the amount of times you'd shamefully indulged yourself with those eyes of his in your mind—sometimes, you dream of them too. Who could blame you though? Yeah, you definitely feel normal about him. You barely interacted with him, only ever seeing him the rare times he'd come home. You assumed he's ex-military or a military personnel on leave since he's been back home more than usual in the recent months. You wouldn't know, though, considering the most words you said to him was "hi" when he moved into his flat a year ago. That, and you're generally kinda afraid of strangers.

"D'ya have a staring problem?"

Right. You can't just stare at someone and not say anything, that's creepy.

"No," you shuffle on your feet a little. "Do you?"

He scoffs with a small shake of his head and closes the door behind him before walking away to the lift. Your brows furrowed, lips pursed, slung your duffel bag over your shoulder and chased after him. You both stood in front of the lift for a good (incredibly awkward) minute before the familiar ding sounded. Once inside the lift, you can't help but feel the unspoken tension rise as the two of you stood close to each other.

You swear he had his eyes on you for a moment, but you don't dare to call him out.

"...you come ‘round often?"

He snaps his gaze to you instantly.

Great. Your mouth has no filter whatsoever. Mentally slapping yourself, you open your mouth to whisper an apology; he beats you to it, though, a soft chuckle from him and it strikes into your heart like a stake.

"I live—lived here," crossing his arms, his eyes softened a little. "Just got discharged from the military a couple of months ago."

Bingo.

Silently patting your back in your head as you nod at his response and humming. "That's cool, what did you do for the military?" it may have been too much to pry, but it doesn't hurt; plus, it's pretty much the end of the world as you speak.

He stood there, completely rigid from top to bottom. The silence was deafening this time around, so much so that when the lift sounded once more with a loud ding, it made you flinch.

"What didn't I do for the military?"

That's...

"...is that rhetorical?" None of you walked out of the lift, just standing there in each other’s company. Oddly, you don’t mind it.

He shrugs, getting out of the tiny space—and you hadn’t realized you’d been holding in your breath when you finally exhaled through your teeth.

I guess I have my answer.

It doesn’t take long for you to catch up, nor for the two of you to realize what an utter mess the outside world had become when he opens the door.

People roamed about, running ‘round and tripping over each other and on top of each other, cooperating on wreaking absolute havoc on the streets. Lots of screaming, too much of it, in fact. Jogging down the stairs, someone almost bumps into your side, but not before he pulls them back with a frown on his face that had the poor guy screeching and scrambling away from his grip.

Oh, now come to think of it—

—“Hey what’s your n—“

A hoard of groans catches your attention, cutting your words short; you turn toward the source, squinting at the scene from afar. A group of people started dashing toward your way, their faces an evident blur of confusion, surprise and horror. It would make sense, because as they slowly get closer and closer, a giant figure gradually appears in your vision—and it looks fucking disfigured—like the textbook embodiment of an eldritch creature. Sure enough, it breaks out into a sprint, chasing down its next victim; pulling the back of an unfortunate businessman’s suit and it flung the man over its head. You can hear the poor man’s scream echo in your mind as you watch his body fall right into the creature’s mouth; next thing you know, his head snaps off in its jaw.

Your blood runs cold, the shock from seeing such a sight sends an unnerving terror through every nerve; your breathing gets heavier, beads of sweat breaking out from your skin—yet you can’t take your eyes off of it. Ever watched a car crash? Yeah, exactly that.

“Uh oh.”

You don’t know what to do; years and years of medical training in school hadn’t exactly prepared you for this situation, even if some of the things you’ve seen are horror beyond comprehension. Your body doesn’t cooperate with your commands no matter how hard you try; they’re stuck to the ground like glue, and as the horrid looking creature slowly bolts toward your way, the way you’ve become a mere spectator to your body should concern you, but your eyes are transfixed on that thing—

—it wasn’t until someone roughly tug your forearm that you realized you almost fucking killed yourself by standing still too long.

“Fuck, come on, let’s go.”

You should’ve probably questioned why he’s remained so calm despite the calamity surrounding him. It’s an admirable trait, really, a part of you wants to thank him profusely for not leaving you behind; in the span of time you spaced out, he could’ve easily gotten away in a fleet—like a gust of the wind, and you wouldn’t have noticed nor would you have blamed him. So much for being medically trained. 

He ran, and you trailed right behind him. Even during such a dire moment of your life, you have to try your hardest to not get distracted with the way his muscles contract as he swiftly moves along with the breeze. No time for thirsting, you stare at his arms, how they effortlessly flex with each step, Okay, maybe a little bit of thirsting.

You’ve no idea how long you both ran; doing your best to dodge every obstacle lunged into your face, but with the soreness slowly creeping up your soles, you wonder if you could keep up—Semen, on the other hand, is doing just fine. Just keep pushing, after all, how hard is it to run forever? Super fucking hard apparently; unfortunate for you, the conveniently placed fallen pipe on the ground became your nemesis as you missed a jump and fall on your fucking face. Your duffel bag cushioning only your left arm, body absorbing all the impact from the fall.

Ouch! wouldn’t even describe the pain you were feeling. You might have a broken nose because it sure fucking feels like it. 

Semen immediately halts, his head snaps back as if his gut instinct told him you stumbled and fell. He’d be correct; attempting to get on your elbows can only get you so far, your adrenaline runs out too quickly—and suddenly it feels as though your body has been lit on fire. Well, you’re being dramatic, but your ankle sure doesn’t feel fine like it did a minute ago. You try to stand up, and Semen crouches down in front of you with his hands extending out to help you up; but the harder he pulls the worse you cry out. When you try to move your right ankle it just fucking hurts like a bitch. 

This is it, you think; your breath coming out haggard and harsh, I’m gonna fucking die. 

“Just—go, just go, I think I sprained my ankle,” holding back furious tears, you sniffle. “Leave me and run, it’s okay.” God, was it ever this hard to let someone go? Even if the selfish part of you wants him to stay. He mumbles something incoherent under his breath, people and vehicles running by your bodies and their cries fill the void in your head—not their fault they prioritize their lives over yours—but it still stings your eyes to think about. People really do show their true colors in the most desperate times.

He reaches over, and you almost swatted his arms away—his stern gaze told you to stop, and you did.

Flipping you over in an instant, his arms hook under your back and knees, hoisting you into his arms as though you weighed nothing. In a feat of panic, you push against his chest; you can’t stress how much you’d rather not be the reason he’s held back and be killed for it. He sends you a final warning look; a stare so chilling it had you reeling back your arms into your chest and obediently lay against his.  

Impressively, he maneuvers around everyone else with ease, dodging and zig-zagging, only bumping a few shoulders here and there. Worry clouds your head; what if he trips? Or better yet, what if he realized you’re not much of use and dumped you on the streets? It’s absurd you’d even have the luxury to overthink while he’s busting his ass to save both of your lifes—how the fuck are you supposed to make up to that? You can’t bake him your infamous croissants (you’ve mastered the craft), you doubt appliances are as convenient in the wild as it is in homes—you hope he’ll find a place to hide soon; he can’t run infinitely. 

Maybe you should stop thinking too much useless shit and start strategizing instead.

Okay, it should be easy; your eyes frantically search the surrounding area: the alleyway? No, way too risky. Run into one of the homes? Still risky, and those nasty creatures were breaking into them from what you saw last. Fuck, you wish you’d bought that expensive ass car few weeks ago when it was on sale, then again, who knew you would require it so soon? Wait, did he have a car? You don’t think so, his designated parking slot has been empty since forever.

As he kept sprinting on, you noticed more and more of those zombies started pouring in from multiple angles—it would be harder and harder to avoid their attacks; you try not to dwell on the gruesome sights of people being mauled down the streets. Out of nowhere, a mangled arm lunged at you, though he swerved just in time to avoid; you didn’t even have time to register what occurred until you blinked again. 

“Was that—holy fuck,” your body involuntarily shivers at how close you were to dying right then; all his efforts would’ve gone to waste. It served as a reminder that death is now only a mere hand reach; one wrong breath and say bye-bye to your life. 

Mortality is such a fragile thing.

At least you don’t have a family making you worry to death about, just good ol’ you—always been you.

Does he? Eyes drifting over to his face, you trace the scars on his neck with an invisible hand. You’d have to play 21 questions with him later, if there’s a later. Seeing how things are moving, you’re slowly coming to terms with the concept of death; for some odd reason, you just know he’d keep you alive as long as he can—you will too, with him. God, you grunt, this feels so sappy. You have to constantly remind yourself that you’ve known your neighbor properly for less than an hour; don’t get too attached. It only ever comes back to bite your ass.

In your peripheral you notice a sluggish zombie digging into the driver’s side of a sizable car through the broken window—blood splatters the inside of the car’s windshield as the zombie dives further in. The car is alive, tugging at his shirt, you hastily gesture toward the spot with a shaky finger. Peering up, you don’t miss the way his brows knit together and how his lips are pulled into a thin line—he understood soon afterward; and switched his path to match the direction of the vehicle. 

He’d have to fight with the obscene thing for it, but it’s worth a try, even with you in his arms.

Approaching it, he doesn’t hesitate to kick a leg up to hook it under the weighted zombie and throw him down to the biting asphalt; just as it was about to spring up—he stomps a leg over its head without a hitch. Oh my fucking God, excuse your blasphemy, that’s the brain matter. You would know how a human’s brain looked; with countless hours spent plastering your head onto your textbook about How To Surgically Remove a Brain for Dummies the image practically tattooed itself on your mind. It’s never a good view, the textbooks can’t accurately reinvent the feeling of disgusting sliminess into their pages after all. 

Your knight in shining armor doesn’t prolong his luck; throwing the driver’s door open, he ducked his head into the driver’s seat (not before chucking the dead body laid in the seat out), sliding you into the passenger side; you have to awkwardly make fit for yourself in the seat as he rushed into his side and pressed down on the brake, slamming his door closed. There was no time to relax, though, upon seeing him toy with the car, people started piling over the trunk, clawing at the metal slate with their bloodied nails as more zombies lurked closer—few unlucky numbers were dragged away from the car, leaving a myriad of gory handprints behind on the trunk. 

He grits his teeth, he holds an arm out in front of you; confused, you turned to him as he slammed down on the acceleration. 

“Oof—” That’ll knock the wind out of you.

It’s proven to be challenging for him to drive down a road filled with civilians; but soon enough, people started parting ways for him and a few other vehicles to pass through, afraid of being hit by a car. 

“Buckle up, love.”

Huh? Love? 

On the outside, you’re as calm and cool as you can be: you know, in a zombie apocalypse with your handsome neighbor driving you to (hopefully) safety; the inside…it feels as though your heart soared into the sky—you know it wasn’t meant to be flirtatious, but damn it, a girl can dream. Scrambling your hands to reach for the seatbelt, you grimaced at the sight of gooey matter dotting its material, you buckled up anyway; better safe than sorry. And because he asked so nicely, your heart flutters once more.

He drove on for quite a while, managing to duck and swerve others on the road (albeit with a lot of trouble) and eventually reaching the highways—not that it was far, but you’ve never exactly drove, or been outside your little area. Why would you need to? Everything you’d ever need was there: a delicious shawarma shop across from your flat, embroidery store…in case you needed some embroidering done, a family-owned Indian restaurant that served the best naan and dal—point is, you’ve pretty much got everything covered in your small area.

But why do you feel like you’re missing something…

…your fucking duffel bag. 

Everything was in there—your ID’s, necessities, your fucking family photo back when you were a baby; it all holds importance to you one way or another—

—and they’re gone.

Slumped against your seat, you hadn’t even realized your shoulders started convulsing until teardrops fell on your curled fists in your lap. How could you be so fucking careless? Tilting your head down, your hands fly up to rub away stray tears that can’t seem to stop falling from your eyes regardless of your effort; you hope he hasn’t noticed (he did, eyes squinting in worry and unsure) because you seem pretty fucking pathetic right now. 

(He doesn’t mind, he’s more worried your tears will drown the both of you before getting to the motel)

“We’re,” for some reason, words get caught in his throat—congealed, like an immovable lump—watching you silently sob to yourself from the side. "We're going to a motel."

He shouldn’t care; he doesn’t know why he does, especially since you’re still a stranger (that he saved, again, he’s not sure why) he coincidentally shared a hallway with for about a year; he barely knew you, either, only knowing you by name because he had seen it stamped on a few mails that fell from your mailbox. He also knows that you bake, a lot, often times the smell would traverse through the small cracks underneath his door and reach his senses—he’d debate knocking on your door each time, he wouldn’t know what to say though: “I smelled your baking, they smell amazing, can I take the whole thing?” or “‘Aye you’re actually kinda fuckin’ cute.” 

Yeah, he’s not too good at conversing with strangers either, especially a cute one like you.

And now that you’re sitting right next to him, shoulders no longer heaving as he keeps driving down the vast highway, he’s not so sure what the next move should be. A couple of quick glances let him know that somewhere along the way, you had fallen asleep, head lolled against the window, your chest rising and falling with a silent rhythm. The sun is setting, the warm glow casts down on your figure—you look like an angel.

He wouldn’t admit it out loud, of course—but deep down, he knows he’ll keep that image of you and engrave it into the back of his head.

And he knows just the place to take you to.

#angst #simon ghost riley #ghost x reader #cod mwii #ghost cod #simon riley #ghost x you #apocalypse #zombie apocalypse #im having a brainrot yet again #they should kiss kiss fall in love #simon riley x you #ghost call of duty #simon riley x reader #simon ghost x reader #call of duty modern warfare #call of duty

[veganism]

The genocide is also experimentation on living beings

Israel is currently testing new weapons in Gaza, some of which will soon be sold globally as "battle-tested," according to Antony Loewenstein, an author who has written a widely acclaimed book on the issue.

For years, the Israeli defense sector has used Palestine as a laboratory for new weapons and surveillance tech, he told Anadolu, adding that this is also the case in the current ongoing war on Gaza.

One of the main reasons why "many nations, democracies and dictatorships support Israeli occupation" of Palestine is because it allows them to buy these "battle-tested" weapons, asserted Loewenstein, author of The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World.

Another aspect of Israel's war on Gaza has been the use of artificial intelligence technology, he said.

According to Loewenstein, AI has been one of the key targeting tools used by the Israeli military in its deadly campaign of airstrikes, leading to mass killings of Palestinians-now over 28,500-and damage on an unprecedented scale.

The current war on Gaza is "inarguably one of the most consequential and bloody," he said.

He described Israel's use of AI against Palestinians as "automated murder," stressing that this model "will be studied and copied by other nation-states" and Tel Aviv will sell them these technologies as tried and tested weapons.

In the last 50 years, Israel has exported hi-tech surveillance tools to at least 130 countries around the world.

To maintain its illegal occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and blockade of the Gaza Strip, Israel has developed a range of tools and technologies that have made it the world's leading exporter of spyware and digital forensics tools.

But analysts say the intelligence failure during the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks casts doubts over Tel Avis's technological capabilities.

Israel's reliance on technology "is an illusion of safety, while imprisoning 2.3 million people under endless occupation," said Loewenstein, who is Jewish and holds Australian and German nationalities.

He described Israel's response in Gaza as "apocalyptic," stressing that the killings of Palestinian civilians, including children and women, is "on a scale of indiscriminate slaughter."

- 'BLOOD MONEY'

Loewenstein, who is also a journalist, said Israel has honed its weapons and technology expertise over decades as an occupying power, acting with increasing impunity in the Palestinian territories.

This led a small country like Israel to become one of the top 10 arms dealers in the world, he said, adding that Israeli arms sales in 2021 were "the highest on record, surging 55% over the previous two years to $11.3 billion."

In his book, Loewenstein explores thoroughly Israel's ties with autocracies and regimes engaged in mass displacement campaigns, and governments slinking their way into phones.

The Israeli NSO Group sold its well-known Pegasus software to numerous governments, a spyware tool for phones that gives access to the entire content, including conversations, text messages, emails and photos even when the device is switched off.

Israeli drones were first tested over Gaza, the besieged enclave that Loewenstein referred to as "the perfect laboratory for Israeli ingenuity in domination."

Surveillance technology developed in Israel has also been sold to the US in the form of watch towers now used on the border with Mexico.

The EU's border agency Frontex is known to have used Israeli drone technology to monitor refugees.

Loewenstein explains in his book that the EU has partnered with leading Israeli defense companies to use its drones, "and of course years of experience in Palestine is a key selling point."

"So again, one sees how there are so many examples of nations that are wanting to copy what Israel is doing in their own area in their own country on their own border," he said.

These technologies and "are sold by Israel as battle-tested," he said.

In other words, he contends that Palestinians essentially have become "guinea pigs," and despite some nations and the UN publicly criticizing the Israeli occupation, in reality "they're desperate for this technology for themselves for their own countries."

"And that's how in fact, the Palestine laboratory has been so successful for Israel for so long," he said.

In his exhaustive probe into Israel's dealings with arms sales around the world, he noted that the country has monetized the occupation of Palestine, by selling weapons, spyware tools and technologies to repressive regimes such as Rwanda during the genocide in 1994 and to Myanmar during its genocide against the Muslim Rohingya people in 2017.

"This to me is blood money. I mean, there's no other way to see that and again, as someone Jewish, who has spent many, many years reporting on this conflict, both within Israel and Palestine but also elsewhere, it's deeply shameful that Israel is making huge amounts of money from the misery of others," he said.

"This is not a legacy that I can be proud of."

- 'NO NATION ACTUALLY HOLDING ISRAEL TO ACCOUNT'

Profiting from misery is to some extent the nature of what capitalism has always been about, but Israel does this with a great deal of impunity, "because Israel does what it wants," said Loewenstein.

"There is no accountability, there is no transparency, there is no nation actually holding Israel to account," he added.

Israel's regime is shielded from any political backlash for years to come because nations are reliant on Israeli weapons and spyware, said the author.

Israel may not be the only player employing surveillance technology that leads to human rights violations, but it still plays a dominant role, which is why Loewenstein insists that it deserves singular attention.

Israel's foreign policy has always been "amoral and opportunistic," he said, calling on all nations to take a stand and hold Israel accountable, and acknowledge that the world is buying what Israel is selling.

#free palestine #animal rights #govegan #animalrights #free gaza #gaza strip #gaza genocide #palestine #veganism #animals

[probablyasocialecologist]

Urban food production in Havana and in Cuba is exceptional. Not only has it been reintroduced and supported by state institutions, but it is also integrated into wider agricultural planning, including peri-urban areas. This level of coordination is possible when the national state retains tenure over most land, private enterprise is restricted and profitability is subordinated to a primary directive of feeding people. Furthermore, the policies of the Cuban government over the previous decades have been crucial to establishing the research and extension structures, educational levels and skilling processes that became important in confronting the sudden economic downturn of the 1990s and promoting the development and implementation of technical innovations and improvements for urban farming. This is mainly through the above-described farmer-to-farmer movement coupled with specialised scientific institutes diffusing agroecological applications through ANAP. State institutions have played key roles in providing the inputs, material incentives and moral inducements (e.g. patriotism rhetoric) to diffuse agroecological and organic farming methods.

Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro, Socialist States and the Environment: Lessons for Eco-Socialist Futures

#Socialist States and the Environment #cuba #urban farming #urban agriculture

[zyonsay]

Wildfire, Chapter Three MV1

Fem aligned people may read but not f3tishize my work!!

Summary: Someone snitched on you and now you are stuck in a team building camp with Max!

Reader: Male

Warnings: Nothing really? Beer is mentioned ONCE at the very end

Now playing: 'Boys will be bugs' by Cavetown

AN: Im so sorry for not updating this story! I've got a lot going on at the moment. I have lot's of upcoming exams, i've been practicing for a concert i'll have soon and i participated in a horse riding competition last weekend, so yeah, my calendar is FULL. But anyways, this part isn't as long as id' like it to be, but don't worry! You and Max will be staying at the camp for a little longer...

(Here's a little Social Media AU to go along with this chapter)

(Here is the previous chapter)

(Here is the next chapter

Somehow word of your fight made its way to Christian, which was the cause of you now sitting on a bench at a camping facility, squeezed in between mechanics and other team members of Redbull Racing.

Just a few days before, you were sitting in a leather chair in Horner’s office, not squeezed between people but suffocating in the room’s atmosphere. He wasn’t one to get angry with his people, but you and Max’s behavior was a pain in the ass and very counterproductive.

He sighed heavily, “Guys, this has to stop. You’re both adults, behave like it. I know you two are very stubborn, but it’s for the sake of our team.” He gave you both a stern look, you heard Max swallow hard beside you. “Have I made myself clear?”, he looked you right in the eye, then shifted his stare towards your Teammate. “Yes.”

The air smelt fresh and clear; the sun was high up in the sky accompanied by thousands of fluffy clouds. The ranger standing in front of you was explaining a few rules you had to follow while staying at the campsite and its surrounding national park. He looked a little bit like a bison, you thought. His curly dark brown hair had a few strikes of silver in it, making him look old and experienced.

“…lastly, please keep away from the swampy areas, they are indicated with yellow signs.”

Many of your fellow Redbull mates looked bored, no wonder, they have been listening to this man talk for about an hour.

“Does everyone know how to not get killed now?” He looked pleased as he earned a loud ‘yes’.

Christian thanked the ranger, then took his place in front of you guys. “So, fellas, we’ll assign the cabins now!”, he gave you an unreadable look. He fumbled around in the pockets of his jeans before pulling out a crumpled piece of paper. He began reading out names and telling the people to go and take their stuff from the bus and settle into their new stay. Then after a few minutes, more and more people left, and it was only you and Max sitting on the bench.

“As you two might’ve guessed, you’ll be spending a lot of time together on this trip. And I don’t want to hear any complaints.” Horner looked serious, meaning what he said. You were annoyed, of course, but you understood why he wants you two to get along. Max nodded, glancing your way, but quickly looking away as soon as you meet his gaze. “Now, head off. You’ll be staying in cabin 33, here’s the key.”

You pulled your suitcase over the gravelly path, searching for a sign with the number 33 on it. Soon enough you found what you were looking for, the two numbers were burnt into a beautiful wooden sign, decorated with various little details. You unlocked the door, holding it open for Max after entering. He threw one of his Bags on the bed on the right side of the room. “I’m taking this one.”, he stated dryly. You shrugged slightly, setting down your suitcase next to the other bed. The cabin was decorated simply but had all the necessities. Besides the two beds there was a couch with a coffee table and a small bathroom.

The room felt awkward, and you started getting annoyed with Max being unusually quiet. You turned towards your fellow firecracker. “I don’t want to start shit with you, so just stay out of my way.”, he then spoke before you could even open your mouth. “It’s hard to do that when you’re all over the place Max.” He glared at you, definitely not appreciating your words. “We should head back to Christian, come on.”, you swiftly changed the topic.

“Looks like you all settled in! Now, let’s take a look at our first activity”, Horner held up a bag of Maps, “We’ll be doing a scavenger hunt. The price is… well, your dinner. There are clues scattered throughout the Woods and they’ll lead you to an opening with a grilling space. I’ll be waiting for you there!” He then passed around the bag, there was a Map for every group in it.

“Obviously you can’t just all work together, that would be way too easy. Every group has a different route, so you can’t just follow the group in front of you.” Murmuring erupted around you, discussing what the clues might be. You looked at the first clue that was posted to the map.

“Like goliath i tower over them, making them shiver beneath my needles.”, you shifted slightly, showing Max the Map along with the clue. He then pointed towards the forest, where a Pine tree stood, taller than all of the surrounding oak trees. “Let’s go.”

You’ve been wandering around the forest for about 45 minutes, hunting down clues and discovering the national park’s beautiful landscape.

But now? Well, now you and Max were lost. All the trees looked the same, no matter what direction you walked. The map was of no use in the depth of the Woods and your phones would continuously read “No Signal”. Not being able to do anything you two just sort of strolled along bushes and trees of all kinds, hoping to end up on a trail or a familiar opening. Birds were chirping and to your surprise you heard frogs quaking. “Do you hear that?” You turned your head towards Max, still walking. “The Frogs? Yeah, really weird…” Suddenly the thicket spit you out onto an opening, revealing a forest pond, which must’ve been the source of the quaking.

And indeed, a green, slimy frog hopped into the water right in front of you, disappearing in a log beneath the water surface. “Can we stop here really quick?” Max only sighed, but then plopped down on the floor. You sat next to him, gazing over the reflective water. Would you two still find the grilling space before sundown? You hoped for it, at the very least.

“This is nice.” Max closed his eyes and rested the back of his head against the tree behind him, taking in the smell of the forest. His usually tense shoulders looked much more relaxed, and he had a pleased expression on his face. You silently agreed with him, copying his movements.

"You know, i don't actually hate you." The words that flowed from your lips felt fragile and just like glass they fell to the floor and shattered. Your advance was met with a sigh and then a warm silence. You really wanted to try and get along with Max, for the sake of your team's future. But if he was gonna be stubborn, you wouldn't gift him your friendliness.

"Nevermind."

The leaves rustled beneath your feet as you two went back to walking after resting by the pond for a while. The golden light was slowly disappearing from the trees crowns. You really weren’t prepared to sleep under the stars tonight, but luckily you wouldn’t have to. Laughter could be heard in the distance, announcing the presence of humans. Your steps quickened ever so slightly, same for your companion. You two reached the opening and were greeted with the smell of food and the chatter of your teammates.

“Maxie! Y/N! I almost thought we’d lost you two!” Chris came walking towards you, handing each of you a beer. “Come on, join us!”

#f1 x male reader #male reader #gay #f1 fanfic #f1 x reader #max verstappen x reader #max verstappen x male reader #male reader insert #male x male #x male reader #f1 fic

[reasonsforhope]

"Down Under, there’s a massive campaign to connect 315,000 hectares, or 750,000 acres, of coastal habitat for koalas in New South Wales into a single national park.

Now, a new logging ban to come into effect will protect 106 “hubs” across 8,400 hectares (21,000 acres) of forest where koalas in the wild are known to congregate in largest numbers.

It was a “historic step forward,” said Nature Conservation Council acting chief executive Brad Smith, describing the area as “the most important koala habitat in the world.”

The parcel is just one part, though key, of the 315,000 hectares that a coalition of conservation organizations is hoping to protect forever to ensure koalas can survive the eons.

Given the Moniker “Great Koala National Park,” the 315,000 hectares are currently split between conservation areas and state forest across an area the size of Yosemite. The GKNP would unify it all under a heavier level of protection.

Koalas need a particular kind of forest biome, one that lies close to the coast where real estate is often coveted. In this case, the 21,000 acres were saved from logging, another activity in these woods.

NSW government mapping of koala habitat confirms the GKNP proposal would protect the most important koala habitat in the region."

-via Good News Network, September 13, 2023

#australia #new south wales #koala #koala bear #conservation #national park #logging #forests #great koala national park #good news #hope #hope posting

[stillxnunpxidintern]

Ace x Reader x Marco - One Piece Imagine - Werewolves are just big puppies

You had just moved into a little bungalow in a new town, after having found out that your ex had been cheating on you for over a year, and you felt like a complete idiot for not seeing sooner but now you had your new start and never had to worry about that utter fucker again.

Finding your new home had been by pure luck, you had been looking at the right time when appeared online and instantly felt drawn to the little bungalow. It had two bedroom, one of them could be your office but also works as guest room. It needed some work done, nothing major just minor things but it was your now.

Getting to live by the sea and a large national forest, made you excited to explore both.

You just finished unpacking most of your things, and things that weren't unpacked you put in the spare room for the moment and would deal with that on another day, mainly when the furniture for that room arrives and that wouldn't be for at least another couple of weeks.

Now finished for the day, you realise just how hungry you were, but you craving warm gooy freshly baked browns and with ice cream, as nothing else seemed appealing. So pulling on a large coat to cover up the state of your current clothes, then grabbed your keys and headed to closest supermarket and got all the ingredient that you needed for the brownies.

Trying to decide what ice-cream to get was the hardest part, and as you were concatenating on what one to get, you were unware that someone standing behind you till the door to the freeze open, startling you and making you eep as you look behind to see a tall guy blonde guy with glasses.

He gave you a sheepish look and apologized for startling you from your very serious ice-cream choosing, as he opened the door more and pulled out what he needed.

You told him it was fine, you should of been paying more attention, but trying to choose the right one to go with brownies you were going to make is hard, like did you want just all chocolate, did you want salted caramel or some sort berry ice-cream, there were to many.

The guy then suggested coconut ice-cream, and you pondered on that for a few second, before hearing someone yelling and turned to see a guy with black hair running toward you very fast and thought he was about to run into you but quickly came to stop right in front you.

Your heart was beating fast in your chest as you stared at guy, who was just a nose away, before the blonde scold him for being careless and potentially hurting someone. Ace, you found out was his name, pouted saying he wouldn't of ran into you, but a look from the blonde had him turning to you and apologising for nearly running into you.

The blonde put a hand on Ace shoulder and steered him away, before he said good luck on choosing the right ice-cream, as they both men disappeared from view. It took another few minutes looking at the ice-cream before deciding on a coconut & pineapple ice-cream.

Once home and brownies made, you devoured half it with ice-cream, and then collapsed on your bed absolutely knackered now that you've stopped for the day, and slept through till late morning the next day.

Over the next week between getting things done for work, and trying to sort things out that you needed for living a new area, you hadn't been able to go out and explore it. You had met an older couple who were some of your neighbours. They told you to be careful, if you went to the forest as there were wolves in there.

One morning you had been walking down the wooden porch steps and didn't notice the ice and slipped down, hitting your lower back on the ways down. Once standing up your head was suddenly feeling fuzzy, almost like it was underwater.

You knew what was coming next, so you went back up the stairs and laid down on the wooden decking of your porch, as the fuzziness got worse, knowing had you still been standing you would of blackout for a few seconds, it's happened before when your fallen down stairs and hit your back.

A few minutes passed when you hear someone calling out to you, asking if you were okay. With the fuzziness slowly leaving, you rolled your head to see who it and noticed it was dark hair man, Ace you recalled, from supermarket.

You stared at him as he got closer and crouched down in front of you, asking again if you were okay. Finding your words at last you told him that you were okay, and then sat up what momentary brought the fuzziness back but it faded quickly away.

He watched you with sharp eyes, before looking over you and asking if you were sure, telling you that he had seen you slip down the steps and then laid down on the ground.

Hearing that he had seen you fall made your cheeks goes red, as you told him that yes, you really were fine just a sore a back now. He didn't say anything and helped you stand. You thanked him for his concern but this wasn't first time and won't be the last time either most likely.

Ace advised you to get salt for your steps, as it was mostly gonna start getting a lot more icy, but then joked he was happy to come play hero on his off time, if he got to see your pretty face again.

Your face flushed at his words, but he said to get your back checked out if the pain doesn't go in a week-ish or if it start to impact your day-to-day or you start to feel numbness or tingling. You thanked him for the advice before saying he seemed a little young for a doctor but he gave a little a laugh, that for some reason made you smile, as Ace explained that he didn't have the patience to spend that long in education to become a doctor, but he did learn things from being a Firefighter and his partner who was a doctor.

Hearing him say that he was a firefighter, didn't take you by surprised as you looked him more. You actually thought that suited him, even if you didn't know anything about him.

After he was completely sure that you were fine, Ace bid you a goodbye with a salute, before giving you a grin as he then called you Little Fawn, as he made his way to his car and gave a little wave before driving off. Once he was out of sight you groaned into your hands, letting your embarrassment take over you went inside now, you were just thankful no one else saw it and now hoped you wouldn't see Ace again to save yourself from future embarrassment.

Just as Ace had said, the mornings were now getting a little more icier. A few days after the incident, you had nearly slipped again on your steps, so decided it was time to get salt for the steps, so you don't slip and break your neck, though knowing your luck you would just end up embarrassing yourself even more.

So while in town getting the rock salt you needed, you went around the shops getting some warmer clothes and new blankets, large ones that you wrapped yourself up in while on the couch. You were looking some walking boots that in the window, trying to decide if you wanted new ones now or wait till you need them.

As you were debating it, a voice caught your attention as it was filled with amusement and you cursed inwardly, but didn't pay any attention that is until they called out Little Fawn. That made you turn and glare at the dark hair man, who was now grinning at you, well until he was smack on the head by the blonde next to him.

Ace whined out the name Marco, rubbing his head as he still was looking at you, pouting now which made you grinned. Looking toward the blonde, Marco, you recognize it was the same guy that Ace was with at the supermarket when you met him.

He gave you a smile and apologized for Ace, then asked how your back was doing, as Ace had told him about what had happened. You reassured him that your back was fine now and had brought salt so you wouldn't have a repeat of it.

Ace gave you a sad smile as he called you Little Fawn and said he wanted to play hero again. You pointed your finger at him and told him to quit it, but he just grinned you before asking for your name, and then he might stop calling you Little Fawn.

Something told you that he wouldn't stop calling you that terrible nickname, but gave him your name anyway.

Just as predicted, Ace continued to call you Little Fawn, much to your annoyance and Marco tried to rein in the younger man but still nothing was stopping him.

Knowing that there was no stopping Ace, Marco offered to buy you a drink as a consolation prize, which you took him up on it. Over the the course of the next hour or so, you got to know both men, attempting to kick Ace when ever he called you Little Fawn, but he seemed to evade every kick somehow, but Marco did smack him a couple for you.

You found that Marco was a doctor, and that both of them were part of big family, as they were fostered/taken in by a man called Edward Newgate, but they called him Pops. All the children/young adults he took in became his sons and daughters, and loved each one of them dearly.

Feeling mischievous, you looked at both men and asked if they knew incest was wrong, which made both them choke on their drink causing you to laugh. Once they had stopped coughing they gave you an unamused look, but you just shrugged your shoulders before saying that they were the ones that said they were brothers.

Ace then started on a quiet little rant, which amused you more and Marco looked to he ready to call it a day, but he still looked at Ace with a soft smile, and patted the younger man hair. You asked if he was finished with a smile and he looked like he wanted to pouted but didn't say anything more.

You moved on to a different topic by asking them about the forest and if they knew what trails were best to go on. They both looked at you as they began talking about the different trails, depending on what type challenge you were after.

Another half hour went by before you said to goodbye to them and no doubt would bump into each other again. Ace got one more little fawn in as he left, you swore you would get him back somehow.

Over the coming weeks, you bumped into them quite a few times, mainly in the supermarket.

One night, when it was late and you were sitting on the couch dozing off with a movie on in the background, you jerked up as you could hear distance howls. You were surprised to be able to hear the howls you didn't think they would be this close. Soon you yawning more and headed to bed, hearing a couple of more quiet howls as you got into bed and wondered if they were chasing some sort of prey or just playing around.

The following afternoon you bumped into Ace and Marco, they both looked so worn out and like they were ready to sleep for a week. You asked if they were okay and Marco gave you a sleepy smile that their night was very busy with their siblings.

While the two of you spoke, a sleepy Ace walked behind you, wrapping his arms around you before burying his face in to your neck and sighed in contentment, as he called you little fawn then said how nice you smelt.

As you continued talking to Marco, you asked if he or Ace had heard the wolves howling the pervious night. He said that he had with smile but they didn't come close to town, so nothing to worry about.

As the two of you talked more, you brought your hand to Ace hair and began patting it and messing it up even more than it was already. While he gave annoyed huff when you did, he didn't move from his position and rubbed his head against your cheek, which you rolled your eyes at and shook your head a little.

You told Ace that's he'll have to a go to bed early or he won't able to play hero to any damsels in distress, but he just sighed then called you little fawn again.

Marco had to pry Ace of you with sweet words and kisses, as he lead younger man after saying goodbye, and you could hear Ace whining but couldn't make out what he saying to blonde.

Now that you weren't being cuddled, you realise just how warm Ace was, as you felt a little chill goes down your spine.

It was about another week before you saw either men and that was only cause you had to go to the doctors.

You were currently sitting in the little waiting area, wincing at the pain that was shooting through your left shoulder. You closed your eyes and took a deep breath to try and ignore the pain .

When the nurse told you that the doctor was ready now, you followed behind them to the doctor room and thanked them before entering the room.

However you were surprised to see Marco sitting there, even though you knew he was doctor, but he also looked surprised to see you for a second before quickly smile as he welcomed you and told you sit.

When he asked what had brought you in, you explained that you had hurt shoulder. You had been sorting out the office/guest room, and as you were coming down a ladder when you had somehow missed the last step and slipped off, which resulted in you slamming down on to your left shoulder & arm, and from then you could only lift the arm to chest height before the pain starts, and that was making getting dressed and undressed hard.

Marco listened as you explained but he then asked when it happened and you told him a couple days ago, and that got you unimpressed look from the blonde doctor, as you told him that you thought it was nothing and it would only hurt for like a day, and the only reason you were there to find out what was wrong, as the pain was starting to give you headache sometimes now.

Standing from his chair, Marco came and stood in front of you, then gently straightened out your left arm, causing you wince and close your eyes as it was kept there for moment, before he told you that he was going to start lifting your arm, to see how far it can go. When he got your arm at 25-ish degree angle, you asking him to stop, while doing your best not to cry at pain.

Slowly and gently, he lowered your arm back to chest and you felt relief as pain slowly ebbed away to a dull ache. He apologized but need to see how far it could lift. He then asked what happen to your hand.

You told him that as you fell, you cut your palm but you had cleaned and bandage it up. He asked if he could check it over and you agreed, so Marco began to unwrap your hand and examined it, telling you that you'll need a few stitches cause of the length of it.

He went and got anything he needed for the stitches, so when he came back, he applied a numbing medication over the wound. Marco made quick work of cleaning cut and doing the stitches, before rewrapped your hand.

Once that was done he turned back to your shoulder, touching and prodding it, which didn't hurt as much as lifting your arm, so after a few more test, he said he didn't think your shoulder broken and that you mostly had bruised your shoulder muscle. He advised you strongly to keep your arm in a sling so to rest your shoulder and not lift anything heavy, as well as take pain killers when needed.

As Marco was putting the sling on you, he explained that this could take up to several weeks to heal, but he didn't think it would take that long for yours to heal, maybe a week or two at most.

Once he was finished, he told you that if it got worse over the next few days then to comeback. You thanked him and gave smile, as you grabbed your bag.

The blonde returned the smiled and ten gave a little chuckle, saying Ace might be right about you being a little fawn, which made you pout before say you've never been this clumsy before, but you move here and twice your hurt yourself now cause you slipped, at least you haven't cracked your head open, that was something.

He gave you a look and asked that you didn't do that otherwise you'll have a very sad Ace and that won't help your case for being not being little fawn.

When you asked if only Ace would sad, Marco said he would be as well and would like to only see you out & about and not in here again.

You agreed with him, that you rather not be back here if you can help it, so with that you both said goodbye, knowing that you'll end up bumping in to him and Ace at some point, and know that Ace is never gonna stop calling you little fawn, when he see you.

As you were leaving his office, you didn't see the look that Marco was giving you, it was a look of affection with a little hungry in his eyes.

As predicted, when Ace saw you next (on his own this time), and after ensuring that you were okay and recovering good so far, he started teasing you and calling you little fawn even more. You wanted to hit him but contained yourself for now and would do it when both arms could hit him.

When he finished teasing you and was able to get your number, he put you in a chat with him & Marco and changed your name to Little Fawn, which you fought him on and every time you changed it, he would put back to Little Fawn.

You were ready to murder him, so sent a message to Marco, telling him to control his boyfriend somehow, Marco replied a shrug emoji and then a gif of 'we tried and failed'. When you saw the gif, for some reason the thought of Marco looking through gifs and sending it, made you laughed.

Upon hearing you, Ace gave a soft a smile and took a photo of you, then sent it to Marco, before asking what was funny and so you told him your thought, made him chuckle as well.

The two of you spent the next hour or so chatting and laughing with each other, before Ace had to leave as he was on night shift at the fire station and need to get a few more hours of sleep.

After a he gave a quick side hug and left, you went around getting a few bits and bobs, that should help out while you only had one usable arm.

Feeling the ache in your shoulder start to become more unbearable, you went into a little café to relax with a hot drink and pastry. While in there you got a message from Marco asking how your shoulder was doing.

You were honest with him, and that it was aching at the moment so you were sitting before heading home. He said to make sure to put ice on it when you got home and you sent him an 'Aye aye captain' gif.

By the time you got home, you and Marco had spent a good while talking to each other, then you started sending pineapple gifs to him, which resulted in him send fawn gifs, mostly ones of them falling over.

When you made it home, you told him you'll speak to him later, as you noticed that there was a package on floor, when you open the front and was confused by it, you hasn't ordered anything lately. Picking it up, you could tell it was book and it was addressed to you, so wondered if you had actually forgotten about ordering it.

Walking into the living-room you placed the shopping bag down on the couch, as you opened the package with a little struggle. You pulled the book out as well as a note from a close friend from your home town, saying that they got this to help keep your mind occupied as your shoulder recover.

Your friend had sent you a smutty werewolf book and you just chuckled to yourself, as you placed it down on the table, before going to grab the gel ice pack from the freezer.

You wore it for longer than normal, as you went around doing your early evening routine, putting the things you brought away and started prep what you were going to have dinner, as it was took longer than normal and wanted to eat at a reasonable time.

The following the morning when you woke up, it was cold and grey with rain hitting against the windows and the wind howling. After dragging yourself from the warm bed, then showered and put on the warmest cosiest clothes you had, then spent the day on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket, with the electric fire on.

You sent a photo to the group chat, of couple of books next to a hot steaming cup of tea, with fire on in the background. Marco sent a photo of his paperwork and with a hot drink next to it, while Ace sent a selfie of him wrapped up in bed, before going to sleep. At least you and Ace were having a cosy day, even if Ace sleeping cause of night shift.

You picked up the book your friend sent, expecting it to be terrible bad and would give you laugh, as you've read similar books to this and they were terrible.

However once you started doing it, you didn't put done until you finished as you were so absorbed, the plot was great, that had some murder thrown in, the gentle moments and "Who hurt you?!" trope which lead the smut that was well written, and cause of that you hasn't paid any attention to your phone.

When done with the book, you kept smiling to yourself over a certain scenes, as you picked up your phone to check the time, and was surprised to see that it late afternoon, and the number of notification.

You quickly answered all the messages that you had, letting them know you were alive and fine, just got a little engrossed in a book. After sending that messages out, Marco first question was if your shoulder was okay, from being in the same position for a good few hours.

Seeing his message made you smile, as Marco seemed to worry more than your mother, but told him that it was fine and if it did start to hurt you would ice on it.

You knew the moment Ace was awake as you were started getting bombarded by messages, memes and gifs from him and waited till he finished before replying to him.

After telling him about your afternoon, he teased that he had another bookworm in his life, and then asked what the book was about. You just said it was supernatural one with some murder, you were not telling them that it was smutty book, they would tease you endlessly.

It was then your turn to tease Ace, by saying that it was a good thing that he was pretty. Marco sent a laughing emoji before saying Ace talents else where, so didn't need to use his brain that much.

That sent him off ranting, before starting leaving voice messages, which made you laugh more, as you could hear the whine in his voice and just knew that he was pouting.

The rest of the evening was spent mainly teasing Ace, and waiting for his response in between whatever work he was doing at the station.

Over the next few days, certain moments from the book kept replaying in your mind. As you had been talking to both Ace and Marco more, when one favourite scene from the book, came forth and changed the two of the characters as you started to daydream.

Ace had a predatory grin, as you watched him lick his lips and as your brain turns against you, giving you filthy thoughts of just what Ace could do with his mouth. As he stepped forward getting closer, you took a step backward in another body, forgetting momentarily that Marco was here as well.

Marco soon had his hand gently around your throat with a finger under your chin, tilting your head backward so that he could stare down at you, with the same predatory grin as Ace, making you shiver as you were soon sandwich between their bodies.

A loud thud brought you back to present and could feel your face heat up as it went red, at who you had found yourself daydreaming about. You tried to think about another things but that though images were stuck in your mind.

Soon it come a losing battle, the images just wouldn't leave and you kept thinking about it, which made you smile and bite your lip. Soon you were cursing your friend for buying that book for you. It wouldn't of happened if not for that book, but it was so good and steamy, you couldn't remember another book that had made you this flustered.

God how were you going to be able to look at them the same after this.

When you did see them again after your daydream, you were having trouble trying to keep eye contact with them and a straight face even though you knew your face is red. Both men had asked if you were okay, and told them that you is like 'completely fine' with a smile, while screaming on the inside, as your daydream popped to the front of your mind.

Both knew something up, so Marco quickly slipped into doctor mode and put his hand on on your forehead to check your temperature. He then moved his hand to under your chin, tilting your head upwards so he could look in your eyes, to see if your pupils were dilated.

Your brain short-circuited as soon Marco tilted your head up, as you stared forward, daydream once again replaying. Ace started waving a hand in front of your face and calling your name, but got no response from you.

A hard pinch to your side made you jumped and kick starting you again, as you glared at both men, not knowing which one who did, as they asked what that was about, and you told them that you were taking it to grave, as your face to get redder.

They looked at you, with a quirk of their lips in amusement but didn't say anything else. You decided it was time to leave and save your from further embarrassment or possible interrogation if you stayed anymore.

You bid both men goodbye and quickly left, hoping to get home and hid yourself away from everyone, especially Ace and Marco. You berated yourself for ruining the afternoon with how you acted.

While walking away, you were completely unware of the hungry/feral look that both men were giving your retreating form, plotting to claim you as theirs.

Over the next few days, you hid away at home refusing to go out encase you bumped into them as well as ignoring all their messages and attempts to get in connect with you. Throwing yourself off somewhere height from embarrassment still had some appeal to it, even when your friend said you were being drama queen, when you told them what had happen.

You were in your little office, working on a couple things when you heard knocking on the front door. Making sure to save your work, you headed to the front door and checked the peephole to see who it was.

There standing on your porch was Ace and Marco, what did you ever do to the universe to have it hate you so much. You resisted the urge to hit your head on head, and hoped that if you didn't answer the door or make any noise, they would think you were out and leave.

You waited with bated breath for them to leave, but instead of leaving you heard Ace call you little fawn, saying they knew you were there as you weren't all that quiet. Hearing him say that you quiet scoffed, you were very quiet.

Staying quiet for a little longer, you heard a loud sigh from Marco, that you knew was deliberate and then heard Ace speak again, either you open the door or he would open the door with force so you had to the count of five.

You looked out of the peephole again as Ace begin to count slowly as he looked liked he was getting ready to break your down. You were quickly debating with yourself if he would actually to it or not, surely he was just saying that in hopes you would open, not wanting the door broken or would he actually do it.

Just before he got to five and looking ready to break the door, you open the door, poking your head out and told them to go away. You were about to close the door when a foot stop it and you swore under your breath, before again telling them that you were fine and didn't need to be checked up on.

That didn't stop them from pushing the door open and looking at you, but as annoyed as you were you still didn't met either of their eyes.

Marco asked if they could enter, as they had truly just come to check on you as they had been worried about you, despite Ace slightly more forceful actions.

Knowing that neither of them were going to leave till their curiosity had been sated, you allowed them inside and closed the front door. You told them to sit as you gesture to the couches as you sat on the one opposite them.

As you soon as you were sitting, Ace asked why you had been ignoring them. You told him that you hasn't been ignoring either of them, you've just been busying with work, and given you only had one hand currently in use, it made everything twice as long to do and you haven't needed to go out, plus you shoulder had been hurting and didn't fancy carrying anything. Did you feel bad for lying to them kind of but you weren't about give them real reason.

They both eyed you, almost as if they were trying to work out if you were telling the truth or not, but hearing that the shoulder had been hurting, Marco was asking if you had been putting ice on it and if it was currently hurting.

You wanted to stay annoyed at them both for 'invading' your space but the look Marco was giving you, worrying about you had your annoyance melt away, as you told him that you had still been icing it, though not as much as you probably should of been, and it wasn't hurting currently.

He then asked if he could examine your arm, to see how the healing was progression. You remembered the last time and the pain but nodded your head, knowing he wouldn't do anything to purposely cause you pain.

With the sling removed, you shut for the a moment as you felt the weight of your arm pull at your shoulder, with the pain starting to seep in, so taking deep breath and clenched your hand into a fist, you open your eyes and watched Marco, who did his best to be gently.

There was movement next to you and then weight on your right side as Ace hand reached down and grabbed your clenched hand, and intertwining his fingers with yours and told you to squeeze when the pain got to much, he can handle your strength.

Marco started lifting your arm up, from it being straight in front to around 20 degree was bearable but he lifted your arm further, it became more uncomfortable quickly till there was pain shooting down your arm from the shoulder, making you squeeze Ace hand hard as little whimper left your lips, with tears prickling at your eyes.

Your arm was slowly lowered back down and laid against your chest, as you were asked where your ice pack, as the sling was put back on and you felt a little more relief. You told them that the ice packs were in the bottom draw of the freezer.

When the coldness of the ice pack hit your shoulder, you felt the tension in your body release as you sagged to your right slightly, leaning against Ace, who was giving you sweet words still holding your hand, as pain and heat started to subside.

After a couple of minutes, Ace released your hand but stayed next you, nuzzles your head a little as Marco told you that another two weeks and it should hopefully be able to be straight up in air, just keep doing what you've been doing. You just nodded head at the blonde as you felt the warmth that was radiating from Ace body, made you nestled into his side.

Looking towards Marco and the expression on his face, you just knew that Ace was probably grinning at him. You pushed away from Ace for the moment and asked them if they wanted anything to drink or eat.

Both decline, saying that they had eaten before coming here and they didn't want to give you extra work, especially having just checked your shoulder. So you settled back next to Ace and basking in his warmth again.

They then asked about the other day when you left them suddenly and what caused it. You mumbled under your breath and told them once again that you would take it took your grave.

Marco raised an eyebrow at you and could feel Ace chuckling beside you, before saying he enjoyed a good challenge and was going to find out what it was, but you asked him to leave it alone please, that when Marco chimed in and said that Ace never backs down from challenge, so get ready for it.

Hearing that made you groan, and really, really hoped that he didn't find out.

Over the next hour or so as the three you talk, you curled up against Ace as you began to get tired. Ace wrapped his arm around your waist keeping you close to him.

Soon you were close falling asleep, so Ace laid you down the couch and covered you with a blanket. Marco crouched in front of you and stroked your cheek before saying to have a good nap. Ace then said to have sweet dreams then pressed a kiss into your hair and quickly rub his cheek against your, before they left quietly talking to each other about you.

Over the next two weeks things went back to normal between the three of you, but Ace had been trying to pry information from you about what you didn't want to them know but you tried pleading with him that he just drop, but that fell on deaf ears.

During that time you heard howling for the for a second time, it sounded closer that time but you didn't pay much attention to it, but the following morning you found a dead rabbit on your front steps. You went back inside and messaged both men that some animal had left you dead rabbit, and asked the best to to get rid of it.

Ace said you should turn it in to rabbit pie or stew, and you sent a very unamused selfie to him, before asking for an actual answer and Ace told you to just take it somewhere that wild life could get at it and leave it for them.

So you did just that, with a rubber glove on, you grabbed the dead rabbit and took it to an area that the wild life would be able to get at it, at least some other animals won't go hunger.

At the end of the two weeks, you were back at the doctor office, seeing Marco and how your shoulder was doing. You were so thankful to be able to hold your arm straight in the air, even if only for a few seconds before it started to get uncomfortable and then the pain started to blossom making you put your arm down.

Happy with how your shoulder was currently, Marco suggested using the sling in the evening for another week or two, just to give your shoulder a little rest from the day and gave you couple of stretches to do.

With having the okay to use your left arm normally now, you messaged Ace and Marco, asking if they wanted to come over for a dinner, to which they both happily agreed, though Marco did warn you that Ace had a black hole for a stomach.

Taking Marco words to heart about black hole that was Aces stomach, you made a large pot of beef stew with dumpling, as well as a couple of dishes that were roasted vegetables.

When the evening arrived for them having dinner at your, you got to see just how much Ace ate made and you were so glad with how much you made for dinner, plus Marco seemed to have a large appetite as well, but at least you knew that there wouldn't be anything left and made washing up easier.

With meal finished and dishes collected, you went to start washing up, but an arm pulled you away and told you sit at the table, as both men began to wash and dry, even when you told them that they were guests and didn't need to do that.

*They both ignored your complaint before asking where everything went once it was dried and you directed them where everything went. You went back into the livingroom, where they both sat together on one couch and you other, before putting your sling on and resting your arm.

Your fireplace cracking in the background as the three of you spoke through the evening, till it was late and both of them called it a night. You were standing with both men stood on your porch talking for a couple of more minutes, before both of them thanked you again for dinner and got a kiss on both cheek, making your cheeks goes red. Ace once again then rubbed his cheek again your before shooed him away with a smile

You leaned against the door frame smiling and saying bye to them, waving to till the car was out of sight, and closed the door, unware of a pair of eyes watching from darkness.

A few days later while looking at the weather for the up coming days, you saw that was there was a going to a warm sunny day and then asked Marco and Ace, if they waned to join you for the hike that day but unfortunately they declined as they were busy with prior commitments otherwise they would of.

You asked them what were some of the good hiking trails to go on and which one had more scenic spots along it. Soon both of them were squabbling with each other over the best place to hike. You just chuckled at the text and audio messages they were sending each other.

Eventually they both came to a decision on what the trail would be best, for this time of year, even if day was gonna be sunny and warm. You thanked them both for their help and promised to send lots of photos to them.

Ace told you be careful while hiking but he was always ready to come and rescue his little fawn, if you sent an SOS out. You asked Marco to smack his boytoy when he saw him and Marco just sent a thumb up.

The day of the hike had you up early, packing your bag with food, drinks and other things that will and could be needed, it something happened when you were out. After a good hearty breakfast you got in your car and drove the place that the guys mentioned.

Once you arrived at the spot, you got and ready yourself, then took your first selfie of the day and sent off, with the caption "Running away and joining the wolves", both of them had sent gifs of laughing floor, before Ace sent a message saying run free little fawn.

Around mid-morning you got a message from Marco asking if everything okay. Slightly confused you sent him a selfie in front of a bunch of heather and said that everything was fine, and why he asked.

He just said that something felt off and knowing you were off hiking and with a shoulder that had just recovered, so he wanted to check in on you. You reassured him that you were fine and shoulder wasn't hurting.

While you were out enjoying your hike and taking selfie & photos, both Marco and Ace were fighting against their instincts as they could feel something was wrong and wanted to rush to you.

It was around mid-afternoon when you stopped to have a quick snack break in a little clearing, taking another selfie and sending it to the group chat, unware of what was lurking in the background of it.

With the snack break over, you decided now would be a good time head back down now, so it wouldn't be dark by the time you got to bottom. On the walk back, you couldn't help but fell like your being watched, before every time you looked around to see what animal it could be but there was nothing to see so you went on again.

As you were passing by a thick part of trees and bushes, something swiftly slammed in to you, sending you flying to other side of the path. Hitting the ground with a thud and rolling a few times, as pain spread through your body from the impact.

Your vision for blurred accompany with a ringing in your head, that took a few seconds to clear and allow you to think clearly again. As you rolled on to your knees, your eyes widen at the sight of a large black wolf in front of you, mouth open and missing a few teeth from what you could see as it stepped close to you.

Terror coursed through your body, as you tried to put space between you and the wolf. You looked around trying to find something that you could use as weapon but there nothing near you big enough to use.

The wolf stared at you before it started woofing, it sounded strange, almost like it was laughing at you. The strange woofing did turn in laugher, as you watched the wolf turn into a large naked dark skin man with black bushy hair and missing teeth.

Frozen in place at what you just witness, your brain was trying to comprehend what you just seen as you stared at the man still wide eyed. He laughed again at you, stepping closer and tried to touch you but your body reacted and recoiled away from him, not wanting to be touched by this man.

Everything in you was screaming to run but you knew that running was pointless, especially knowing that he could turn into a wolf. He began talking about something but you weren't paying attention as you were trying to formulate a plan on how to get away.

He soon noticed you weren't paying attention, so he crouched down and grabbed your face, harshly squeezing your cheeks and called you little fawn. Upon hearing the nickname made stare in terror, as the fear in your vein amped up, as you wondered how the hell he knew that.

Seeing your expression made him laugh, as he called both Ace and Marco idiots, as neither of them never once noticed him hanging around, and it was prefect cause now he would get his payback on them by taking away their little human mate permanently .

You were trying to make sense of everything he just said, but the things that blaring at you that was taking your focus was the "payback", "take away" and "permanently", did he really plan to kill you just to get back them.

His hand moved from your cheeks and wrapped it around your throat, easily lifting you in air as he squeezed your neck tighter and breathing becoming harder. He grinned sadistically at you tightening his hand even more before saying how he was going to enjoy retelling both Ace and Marco how he snubbed you out with his bare hand.

You clawed at his hand and wrist, but it did nothing to him so kicked out, which made him laughed, that someone as weak you couldn't even hope could hurt him. As he tighten his hand again, your vision began to darken around the edge as you fought to stay focus on the man in front but your consciousness started to fade.

Then suddenly you were thrown again to ground and rolled a few times, as the ability to breath again came rushing back, as you were now sucking in as much air in as possible before you began coughing with tears rolling down your cheeks.

Looking up, there was now two more wolves, one was a light tan wolf and another black wolf. It was in this moment you were sure this was how you were going to die, by wolves attack, so you closed your eyes waiting for the pain.

When it didn't come, you opened your eyes and saw the tan wolf was in front of you, baring it teeth and growling, while the other black wolf was snapping it teeth at the man, who quickly shifted back in to wolf again.

The two black wolves began attacking each other and trying to get at each other throat. Watching the the two wolves fights, you couldn't see which one was the man as they sort blended together as they fought. There was a brief pause in the fighting and that was all that was needed as one of the black wolves, the man you assumed, came rushing forward snarling.

The tan wolf was now standing at full height and slammed into the black wolf, cause him to be thrown to the ground then the tan wolf pounced, pinning the wolf down as they got their jaws around the neck of the black wolf and bit down.

While that was happening, the other black wolf had came in front of you, blocking your view of the fight, rubbing their body up against you as loud snapped was heard followed by a thud and the sound of something being dragged away.

The tan wolf soon returned to you and with both of them in front of you now, you wondered if they were going to attack you now, now that the bigger threat was out of the way.

What you weren't expecting however was for both wolves to rub there faces against your and gave little whines, before moving away and stood a couple of meters in front of you.

In a just few moment, where once stood two wolves, now stood two recognisable figures, naked as the day they were born. Your eyes did wonder all over them, face turning red before you stared at their chest, while your brain was trying to make sense of everything that had happen within the last 10 minutes.

Both men watched you with a careful eye, waiting for the screaming/freaking out to happen. However it never came as you just stared at them as you got so lost in your thoughts over this. Not getting a reaction from you made Marco crouch in front you and gently cupped your face, as he called your name.

You blinked at him for a few seconds as you slowly realised that he was in front of you, and still very naked, making it hard to keep your eyes on his chest/face and not to look lower cause damn these men were fine. You asked them to go put clothes but you noticed how raspy voice was as well as the pain in your throat was when you spoke.

Marco frowned and then growled a little as he saw the hand mark that was around your throat, but told you that unfortunately they didn't have any as they get shredded when transform.

Ace was back in wolf form as he came and laid down next you, just as Marco told you that they would take you back to the car, as it would be quicker and then later on, they'll come over, dressed this time, and answer any questions you want to ask.

You were manhandled by the blonde, on to Ace's back and told to lean down and keep a firm grip on the black fur. Said black wolf stood up once you were gripping his fur and then watched as Marco turned back in to the tan wolf.

The trip back was indeed quicker and quiet, so when back at your car, you slid off Ace back on your to feet, what felt so unsteady now that you standing up, feeling both wolves rubbed themselves against you oddly enough made you feel more at ease, but they soon heading off back to in forest.

You were in a kind of hazy on the drive back home, but questions were starting to form as you sat in the car before heading inside. When you made it inside you started pulling your clothes off and dropping them on the floor as you headed to the bathroom, where while sitting under the shower, with the hot water hitting your sore body, you thought over some of the things that man had said.

An hour after getting out of the shower, you were sitting on the couch staring off into the fire place, when a knock on the front door told you that both men had arrived. Taking a deep breath you readied yourself and went open the door, to find them fully clothed and with a bag of hot food, from the smell of it.

While the three of you ate, there was little small chatter between yous, as they were waiting for question and still kind of waiting for you to freak out, even just a little, and you were trying to find the courage to speak first.

Once you were finished, you went into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of alcohol for some liquid courage. You also pulled your sling on, as your shoulder was starting hurt from being thrown to the ground twice, which they homed in on.

Settling down on the couch, you open the bottle and took a long swig of the content and then asked the obvious question of what were they, your voice raspy and kind of quiet.

They explained that they werewolves but they weren't how media portrayed they, sure there were some like that but they weren't like that. They were apart of large pack, it's why they had many siblings, cause Pops was head of the pack, took in anyone that needed/wanted a home, pack or both.

They talked about their transforms in to a wolf, and do it when they wanted apart from on the full moon when they always transform and they let theirs wolves take over full for the night but they were still kind of aware of what is happening.

You listened to everything that they told, taking a few more sips from the bottle, as you soaked in the all information that they were telling you.

When they finished explaining, you asked who the man was that decided to attack you. Ace began telling you that his name was Teach but started going by Blackbeard after being kicked from the pack. Before you could asked why he was kicked out, Marco answered that Teach had tried to kill one of their other siblings, so he was kicked from the pack and banish from pack land.

You then asked why he came after you, you didn't do anything to him and both of them had a sheepish/slightly guilty look on their face before saying that they, as two commanders of the pack, made sure that he was caught and sentenced to his banishment, ensuring he left the packs territory which was big, due to the size of the pack, and with how close you have gotten to them and being human, you were an easy target.

Okay that made some sense to you, but it made you wonder just how long had that man been watching you, given you've been living here like two and half months, and thinking about that made you realised just how close you had become to them, over that short time.

Remembering something that Teach said, you asked them what he had he meant when he said you were their little human mate. You watched as they both froze for a moment before turning to each other and similarly had a silent conversion.

You watched them both, waiting for them to finished their conversation and give you an answer. After a few more moment of silence they turned back to you and both of them seemed to be trying to find the best way to answer that.

Marco started off saying that it meant you were their, as much as they were yours. That your very being calls to them and their wolves, like a large flashing neon light. They were constantly trying to rein in their wolves, who wanted to around you at all times.

Then Ace chimed in and told you, that you were their one, their missing piece and they both wanted you so much, but only if that what you wanted, they weren't gonna force this on you, if it wasn't something you wanted.

Hearing that confession confused you, how could they possible be so sure of that, but also at the same time apart of you sort of understood. You thought about the past two and half months and how much time you've spent with them and that when you realise just how much you liked being around them, how safe and content they made you feel when they were around, knowing that they will come to your rescue when it was need, like that afternoon.

That made your heart skip a beat, as you're hit with realisation that you were falling for them, and that kind of terrified you with how your last relationship ended but you were also excited to find out.

You asked what they wanted to do going forward, now that you knew the truth about them and your connection? bond? to them.

They wanted to court you, take you out on dates and romantic gateways, go on days out or spending it inside doing nothing, then spend the nights wrapped around each other and they wanted to take you to met their family.

Again only if that is you wanted, they would be happy with friendship if that all you wanted, they just want to keep you in their lives.

Everything they had said made your heart flutter, as the thought of having dates and days out with them, then spending nights wrapped up in them, made you want it all and more.

There was a couple of moment of quiet before you asked them, where they would take you for a first date, then you explained how you felt, what you felt for them and how you want what they were offering. You tell them about your last relationship and while you were sure they wouldn't do that to you, that lingering thought was still there.

Before you even finished speaking, you were being pulled on Marco lap, his arms wrapped around you and buried his face in your neck, as he breathed in your scent.

Meanwhile Ace sat in front of you, head resting on your leg as he looked up at you, and promised that they would never cheat, as now they have you everyone else lost their appeal, you were the only one they had eyes for.

The rest of the night both Ace and Marco reiterate how they wanted you, and teasingly say that they were being good and keeping their hands to themselves for now. They also talked about the dates they wanted to take you on.

When the day finally caught up to you, you ended up falling asleep against Marco, and not wanting to wake you or let you go, both of them moved around so they could both be on the couch with you and get some sleep.

Waking in the morning, you felt refreshed and went to stretch but found yourself unable to move. Opening your eyes you found yourself still wrapped up in Marco arm, albeit in a different position and Ace at the other end.

You were amazed that both of them some how fitted on your couch, and looked at Ace for a few second, he looked peaceful even though you were sure that it wasn't comfortable for him.

With some wriggling, you managed to escape Marco hold and stretch out once standing up, hearing a couple of pops before heading into the kitchen.

With the kettle boiling away, you grabbed a few cups and filled one with coffee and the other two with tea, then added the boiling and let them sit while you rummaged through the cupboard and fridge trying to decide what to make for breakfast.

In the end you went with bacon rolls and scumbled eggs as it was the easiest and doesn't need much effort to do. Cutting the rolls open and placed them on the little kitchen island. As you started cooking you could hear shuffling in background and before long a pair of arms wrapped around your wrist with a face buried in your neck, breathing your scent in.

You could tell it was Ace as there was no facial hair that you could feel, and pointed him to where the tea was on the side, along with milk and sugar. A quiet mummer came from him before releasing you.

More footsteps came into the kitchen and you turned to the blonde, giving him a smile before saying that coffee was ready for him. Your voice was quiet and you felt discomfort when you spoke. Marco gave you a look but thanked you, as you turned your attention back to the bacon till it was done and placed it on the kitchen island, then turned your attention to making the scramble eggs.

That only took a few minutes, then placed it on a plate and let both of them eat, as you grabbed yourself a roll, and put the bacon and scramble egg in, before watching Ace inhale the rest of the food.

You winced when you swallowed your first bite, and grabbed your tea tp help the rest of the bite down. You managed a to finished the roll, even though it hurt every time you swallowed, whether it be food or drink.

Once breakfast was all gone, Ace went around cleaning and washing up the plates and everything that was used, while Marco took you back to living-room and sat you on the couch. He checked your neck first, eyes hardening and glaring at the handprint that began to show now, then pressed gently on it, making your groan in discomfort, before asking you to just swallowed a few time, and each time you winced.

He told you that it seem like their no permanent damaged but it would take at least a week to heal, but depending on how much damaged Teach did when he tried to strangle you, it probably gonna hurt more before it started getting better, but if you start having respiratory problems, to seek medical help immediately.

When Marco had finished his examining you, Ace had re-joined and saw staring at your throat and the looked on his face would of made you nearly pity Teach a tiny bit, cause if bastard wasn't dead already, you were sure he would be wishing for death if Ace got his hands on him.

The guys spent another hour with you before the both had to leave, as they had to report to Pops about the yesterday and deal with corpse, so would be busy for a few hours but you wanted they would come around in the evening again.

You very much would like to see them again, only if they were up to it once they had finished with their responsibilities. They told you that they would be back then and will let you know when they're leaving\\\.

While standing at the front door, both men kept eyeing your lips especially when you run your tongue over them and that was enough for them, as Marco step closer and cupped your cheek before saying they were going to kiss you, so say something now if you didn't want them to.

All you said was please, and that was it, Marco lips were on yours and was left breathless when he released you, he was smiling at you as Ace stood in front of you and lent forward, whispering that Marco also still left him breathless him as well, before claiming your lips and thoroughly kissing you.

When Ace moved away, your pupils were blown and quickly covered your face with a hand, knowing it was going red and shooed them away, as they just laughed saying that you'll have to get used, as they were going to see how red they could make you go.

The rest of the morning and afternoon was spent doing some cleaning and laundry, changing your bedding just encase Ace and Marco did spend the night, as you refuse to sleep on the couch again. All three of you should be able fit on the bed, even though you were sure Marco would end up with cold feet, but that was his fault for being so tall.

You had just sat down with a cup of tea when you got a message saying that they be over soon. Knowing that they would be here soon, you turned the fire place on to make the living-room warm and cosy, mainly for yourself as both men were always warms.

When opening the door for them, you barely got to say anything before being swept into a pair of arms and spun around a couple of times before your face was peppered with kisses. When released from the younger mans arms you were met with a kiss on the cheek, turning to look at blonde man and welcomed him back.

The rest of the evening was spent getting to know each other, you getting teased by them both as you told a childhood story. Learning that Ace was a feral child didn't surprise you and chuckled as he told you about his two other brother, which made you coo at at him and pitch his cheek.

It was decided that until the bruising on your throat started to fade, going out on date would wait, as you didn't have any turtleneck and even then it wouldn't be covered up completely. You were more than happy to have more intimate dates at home and not worry about going red and covering your face.

At some point during the evening, you asked them what it was that finally made them stop fighting against their wolves and come after you. They answered that It had been the last selfie you sent them and they noticed Teach in the background.

Hearing that made you look at that selfie, cause you never remember seeing anything in the background. Looking at the photo you didn't see anything out of place, until Ace enlarge the image and there was two small black ragged triangles that had bits missing, and they both knew though ears well.

You asked how the hell had they even noticed that, the ears were so hidden in the background. They sheepishly admit they had zoomed in on all the photos you sent, in an attempt to try to quell their worry and wolves that you fine and nothing was wrong.

Upon seeing the ears they had shifted so quick and destroyed their clothes, that they had startled a lot of their siblings, as they didn't have time to waste in getting to you, which was proven right.

Thanking them again and called them good boys while giving their heads pets, which resulted in them blushing which made you laughed, and before you knew it Ace arms were round holding you in place as Marco decided that tickling was a suitable punishment for you.

You were kicking and squirming trying to get away form them, pleading through shrieks and tears, until you told them you needed breath, which stopped the tickling and when you were finally able to breath, you eyes free of tears.

Ace let you up as he then began teasing you, pitching your cheeks and calling you little fawn with a little coo. You slapped his hand away and told him you would get him back, so he better watch out before sticking your tongue.

Marco chuckled next to you and then said if you weren't careful, your tongue wouldn't be your any more. You looked at them both, noticing the matching look they had and instantly covered your face, asking them to stop doing this to you, as you were gonna end up permanently red in the face.

They laughed, saying you'll have to get used it cause they don't plan on stopping, then reminded you that they were going to see how red they could make you. Hearing that you wondered this was a curse or a blessing now.

It was closer to midnight, with both you and Ace starting to fall sleep against each other, so Marco decided it was bedtime for you, as well as he and Ace should be getting home. You groaned with a tiny whine mixed in when he said that. Marco just chuckled and said that both he and Ace had work in the morning, so unfortunately had to go home, but promised that on the following weekend, they would stay over depending on Ace shift at the station.

You understand why but that doesn't mean you didn't pout it, but then gave him a sleepy smile at possible promise of them staying over next weekend.

Ace yawned and stretched as he was herded out, he did look very cute while sleepy. They both gave you a kiss, one on the side of your head and another on the forehead, you then told them to let you know when they get home, watching them leaving quietly.

After getting ready for bed and scrolling on your phone for a little while, you got a messages in the group chat. Upon opening it you laughed at the image, Ace face down in the middle of the bed seemly asleep. You told Marco good luck and hopefully he'll get some of the bed back, and wished him a goodnight.

Over the next week, the bruise on your neck had blossomed in to a lovely shade of purple and slowly green was seeping in, as it began to heal. By the following weekend the purple was mostly gone and was green with yellow. Your throat did hurt more on Monday and Tuesday, like Marco said it would, that swallowing anything hurt, but at least by the weekend you could swallow again with little pain.

Thankfully Ace shift patterns worked out that he had the weekend off, so you were looking forward to spending the weekend with both men.

Between finishing your work and waiting for the guys to arrive, you changed the bedding and then your clothes for something more comfortable.

When they arrived, you were greeted with smiles and kisses before they were checking your neck, which you rolled your eyes at, but let them fuss anyway. The evening was spent eating, dinking and talking. Both you and Marco teased Ace about his sleeping position from the photo, saying how neither of you would fit on the bed with him star-fishing.

He tried to defend himself by saying how tired he was, but ended up pouting when neither of you would listen and made some joking comments before cooing at him and gave kisses to cheer him up, which it did.

When it was time to retire for the night, as soon as you were getting up you found yourself being thrown over a shoulder, making you laugh telling Ace to put you down but was just patted on the bottom and asked for the bedroom.

You told him where the room was as you looked at Marco, but he shrugged his shoulders and gave you a smile, as followed behind you to the bedroom, with both their overnights bags. When in the bedroom, you were tossed on the bed, which made you squeak as you bounced.

Both of them looked at you like a piece meat, but you quickly pulled yourself up and told them to behave but they just a sheepish smile and said they would for now at least.

That was the best you were going to get for the moment, and grabbed your pyjamas that just a t-shirt and shorts and went to the bathroom changed and do nightly routine. Coming back into the room they were shirtless and just wearing pyjama bottoms. You stared at both bare chest, how could you not when they were on show.

They cough and said that their eyes were that up here, but you said that their chest were here and were pretty to look at, while gesturing to their chests. Both of them made a noise and said if you wanted them to behave themselves you need play fair. You looked at them with the most innocent express you could give, before getting into bed.

Neither of them said anything but they did eye you up before they joining you on the bed. With you in the middle while Marco was behind you and Ace was in front you. Marco had an arm around you pulling against him, while Ace buried his face into your neck and had his hands on you.

Both you and Marco spoke quietly for awhile, with Ace making the occasional grunt or hum as input before falling asleep. Not long after Ace, both you of settle down as well.

Waking in the morning, you kicked the covers off as you were roasting between these two men who ran hotter due to their wolfieness, but even with that it was the best sleep you've had in such a long time. Though you did think that you might need to invest in a good fan, so you could cuddle properly and not melt.

Feeling more awake, the need to use the bathroom came more urgent and tried wiggle free but the arm round you tighten as a little growl came out as a nose pressed in to the back of your neck. You plead with Marco that you need the bathroom and then would come back to cuddle again.

It took a couple of minutes and a little bit more pleading to finally make it out of bed. Once finished you came back to find Ace and Marco cuddling, and you stopped yourself from making a noise as you grabbed your phone to take a photo of them. Just as you got your phone, you were grabbed and pulled over, into the middle again and cuddle by them both.

While you didn't get a photo of them two being cute together this time, you did somehow manage to get a selfie of the three you. With you smile at camera while both Ace and Marco were nuzzling both sides of your neck.

The cuddle session lasted for a while, before Marco properly woke up as he kissed your cheek and said good morning, then ruffled Aces hair who groaned and buried his face into between the pillow and your neck.

The rest of the morning was laid back once you were all out of bed, though Ace did need a bit more persuading to get out, but the promise of food is what won him over.

Music playing softly, while you need to go something quickly on your work laptop, leaving both men in the living-room which lead Ace to looking around your bookcase to see what what kind of books you were in to.

Once finished on the the laptop you came back to the living-room, noticing that Ace was grinning a little to much for your liking and had a book in his hand. It took a couple of seconds but your eyes widen at that what book he had and watched his smirked get bigger as he read aloud a small part.

The noise you made had Marco appearing from the kitchen, as they were both watching you. You managed to catch Ace off guard when you grabbed his chin and kissed him. Then once the book was in your hand you pushed him down couch and quickly moved to the other side of the room.

His eyes were quickly on you, narrowing as he realised you played him and then stepped toward you, but you then took a step backward. Every time he moved, you moved in an opposite movement, so you ended up circling around the furniture till you were near Marco and used him as shield, as he wasn't not taking sides in this playful confrontation.

Ace watched as you hid behind blonde, and gave you a feral grin before calling you by a new nickname, Little Bunny. The way he said it made you swallowed as you took a step back from Marco, and quickly round the dining table, adding more space to evade Ace.

You knew Ace was just playing, as he could easily get you and you knew that, but you were anything it was stubborn and weren't going to give up that easily. You noticed his dark hungry look and wondered if you could make it to the back door before he grab you, and that was a chance you were going to take.

When there was an opening you ran for the back door with Ace quickly following behind, so with the book still in hand you threw it at him and to give yourself a few extra precious seconds. You manage to get the door open and outside, just as Ace as was about to grab you, you closed the door on his face.

You only had a couple of seconds to get as far from the door as you could, trying to keep a large gap between you both. From the corner of your eye you could see Marco at the window watching and when Ace stepped outside, he called you Little Bunny again before telling you run, as he was acting faster now and kept blocking off the places you were planning to go.

From all the running you were gonna have to take a shower once this was over. You were breathing heavy while Ace was completely fine, still giving you a toothy smile with a dark hungry look still in his eyes.

While getting your breath back, you kept looking around trying to look for the best route and keeping eye on Ace as he got closer. With not much of an opening you tried to faked going left to the back door and then quickly changed to go right for more space.

That plan however didn't work, just when you thought you got by him, you were grabbed and pulled against him, as he called you little bunny and said got ya. You quickly found yourself on the grass with Ace straddling you and pinning your arms above you with one hand, as he used the other hand to cup your face and claimed your mouth with his.

The kissing quickly turned heated and every time you tried to free your hands, he would growl lowly. You breathlessly called his name which made him look at you and grinned at your current state, then lent down, leaving a love bite on your neck before standing up and pulling you up with ease, giving you quick kiss before going back inside.

Walking back inside you were given a glass of water by Marco, who was just smiling at you. You took it happily and drunk most of it, before setting it down and turned to blonde, placing your head on his chest. You felt his chest rumbled as he chuckled as he wrapped his arms around you, lifted you on to the countertop and placed his chin on top of your head.

It was a quiet moment between you both before Marco asked if was gonna get the same treat as Ace, which you made a noise at and heard more chuckling. Lifting your head up and saw that he had a similar look in his eyes as Ace, just not as dark.

It took only a moment but his lips were on your, claiming your mouth as his own just like Ace had done. As it got more heated you made a little noise, which earn you a pleased growl in response. You pulled away as you had been left breathless again by Marco. So as you got your breathing back under control, Marco left his own love bite on the opposite side to Aces one.

Stepping away from you, Marco admired his handy work before suggesting you shower as you smelled, which made you gasp offended at and pinched him, that just made him laugh as you got off the counter, and went to take shower.

After showering and drying off, you looked at the new marks that they had both gracefully bestowed upon you. These two men were going to kill you, you were sure about that. You toyed with the idea of putting a turtle neck but you were sure they pull it off, so that could admire their marks.

When you come back in to the room, Ace was laying on his back with his head in Marco lap and had that damn book in his hand again. Walking over to them, you went to grab the book again but this time was met with resistant as Ace pulled you down on top him, head resting against his chest as he began to read aloud.

You groaned and begged him to stop, as you tried a few more times to grab the book back from him, but failed each time and just buried your face in to his chest, hoping to block it out. When he got to the first sex scene in the book you were debating letting him read it or trying to stop him.

Biting down on his chest was how you tried to stop him but all Ace did was laugh and tells you, that you'll have to bite harder if you want to actually hurt him, then he started reading aloud the scene. Knowing you weren't winning this, you groaned again and dropping your head back against his chest, as imagery of the scene started playing in your mind, except it was Ace in place of one of the male leads.

He was playing dirty and knew it, as he kept reading aloud one of his hands was wondering all over you, squeezing different part of you which got little noises from you, making Ace chuckle every time as he was loving every noise you made.

From listening to Ace read and feeling the rhythm of his chest going up and down, you eventually end up in a drowsy state not all that aware when Ace had stopped reading aloud and was talking quietly to Marco, with music still playing in the background.

Feeling a hand caressing your hair, you gave a hum as you lift your head up and see that both men are giving you an amused smile and cooed at you a little, as you sat up yawn and wiping your face, as you asked what they had been talking about.

Marco told you, that you would have to wait till tomorrow to find that out but it should be a fun day. You wanted to ask them questions about it but would just wait and see what had planned.

As the afternoon turned into the evening, the three of you had put a few movies on and ordered take-out for dinner. You and Ace talking about how stupid the lead was sometimes, rushing in without thinking, which made Marco chime in, that Ace should be taking his own advice, which made the younger man pout.

Then you all started playing smash or pass with other movies, leaning a couple of things about each other, teasing one another about each other choses and trying defending it. Sometimes there was no defence other than that the character was hot, regardless of morals.

It was passed midnight when you all called it for the night and retired back to your room. Getting ready and into bed went quicker, as you were getting used to seeing their bare chests. This time Marco was put in the middle while you and Ace cuddled into his side. At least it made escaping easier if you needed to use the bathroom in the morning.

At some point during the night you did end up laying on top of Marco.

In the morning both Ace and Marco were up before you, and by the time you were washed and dressed, there was tea and food waiting for you. You joked that you could get to used to being treated like royalty, if it meant getting a hot breakfast made for you on a occasion.

When it was time to leave you grabbed a bag along with your keys, money and phone, as you were herded into Ace's 4x4. You did ask if his driving matched his personality, which made him gasp at the accusation, but Marco reassured you that he was a very good driver, even if he did a little road ragey, but that was normally when he was passagener.

Ace muttered about it being pick on Ace day apparently, which made both you and Marco laugh before you asked where they were taking you but they said to hold on, you've waited this long so what's a little longer.

When arriving at the mystery location, you saw that it was large funfair and grinned at them, you haven't been to one since you were a child. You asked them the most important question, of who was going to win you the biggest stuff toy, which seemed to ignite some rivalry, as both them said at the same time, that they would win you the biggest soft toy, which made both look at each other and place their own bet on who win.

This was gonna be an absolute win for you, but you were happy to go home with any sort soft toy that they won, not that you were going to them that now, not while they seem so determined to win the biggest one they could.

The afternoon was spent going on rides, trying the different food that was sold, which Ace enjoy, and then wondered around for a bit, looking at the different games, trying to decide what one to play.

In the end they chose to play the game where you have to throw darts at balloons. They were playing for a while as they were trying to win the biggest soft toy they could, trying to distract each other but by the time they finished, their little bet however ended in a draw.

Marco chose a big blue bird with yellow-gold embroidery over it, while Ace chose a big wolf that had some red embroidery that looks like fire.

Ace was looking at the bird Marco won and then at his wolf, before turning to you and pouting, giving a little whine about wanting to beating Marco and then mumbled not wanting to laundry.

Chuckling to yourself then gave him little kisses and told him that they were both the same size, so it was draw, so that should save him from doing the laundry you giggled lightly.

You loved both soft toys and were carrying them around, grinning the whole time. At least you had something to cuddle now when it was just you in the bed. Another hour or so was spent looking around to see if there was anything any of you wanted to do.

Upon seeing the Ferris wheel, you suggest one more ride on it, as it was going to start getting dark soon, so would get to see the sunset while it went round, both of them were happy for one last ride.

Getting to see the sunset was the best end to the date, as soon you were home and being thoroughly kissed senseless by both men with some wandering hands, before they left you to head home.

That night while laying in bed with both soft toys laying on either side you, you take a photo and sent it to the guys, saying you had new bedfellows for though lonely nights. Ace called you needy and Marco said to be patience, but you just sent back a emoji with the tongue sticking out.

It was the middle of the week and the bruising around your neck had finally gone. So when you told them both, Ace replied with that he couldn't wait to sink his teeth into your neck and leave marks all over you, while Marco was just glad that traitor mark is no longer on you.

Later on in the evening, you noticed that neither of them had been answering you, which stuck you as odd but didn't think to much of it as they were probably just busy. You were just watching some tv, when you heard the howling in distance, it did make you jump a little but getting up from the couch you peeked your head between the curtains and looked up at the night sky to see the full moon.

At least that explained why they weren't replying, so settling back on couch and you started to look at apps that tracked the moon cycles, so you could bekept update as either of them told you;.

Over the next two and half weeks you managed to go on a few date during the time and one weekend Ace had night shift, so you spent it with Marco mostly but you did get to see Ace when he came by for a couple of hours before heading to station. You kind of felt bad that you were keeping Marco yourself and Ace was home at alone during the day.

Ace just laughed and told you that he had had Marco for a good while, so can spare letting you have a him for a couple of night when he was on night shift, as long as he got the same one on one treatment at some point.

The weekend before the next full moon, they took you on a hike with them, promising that no wolves would attack you this time well unless it was the two of them attacking you and they had matching wolfish grins when it was said.

So they took you on their favourite hiking trail, the first part of the hike you noticed that they both seem to be more energized, as well as getting more touchy, maybe even a little possessive as their touches became grabs, as they were soon grabbing different parts of you and pulling you close, so that they could kiss you and leave marks over your shoulders and neck.

By midday you arrived at a large flat area that had lots of trees, that looked like it would be a place for wolves to run together. There was a small spot that had a break in the trees that allowed for sunlight to come through and there were also a few benches.

Your stomach decided that now was the time for lunch, and having a short break was good, rest the legs now as you were sure that tomorrow they were gonna protest any movement.

After eating you wondered around the area looking at the trees and flowers, as two sets of eyes were stalking your every movement. While looking around you found some big branches and a thought popped to mind, as a mischievous smile spread across your lips.

Picking up the branch off the ground, you gave a whistle and turned towards both men, waving the branch at them before asking if they were good boys and wanted to play fetch.

In hindsight that was not the best idea, as both of them were stalking toward you with a glint of something dangerous in their eyes, so you dropped the branch and took a step backwards not expecting this predatory reaction from them.

When Ace was in front of you he held your chin in between his thumb and index finger, making sure you were looking at him as he called you Little Bunny, what made gulp as you remembered the last time he called you that.

You looked to Marco hoping for some help, but he was giving you the same look, so you knew that you were on your own against these two men, you were so doomed.

Ace then lent down, mouth against your ear and told you that you had 10 second. Before you could say anything, he started counting down slowly and you looked to Marco with wide pleading eyes, but all he did was tell you to run Little Bunny.

And run you did.

You knew you were going to lose, even if they were normal they would still be stronger and faster than you but as they were not normal and could turn into wolves when they pleased, there was no hope for you but you were still going to give it your all, even if they were going on easy on you, cause you knew they could catch you in like 10 seconds if they wanted.

While running you did end up tripping over some roots and hitting ground hard, as a fuck escaped your lips. You could hear them chuckling in the background as Ace called you little fawn. You promptly told them to fuck off, as you stood up and check yourself before resuming running.

You were unsure of how long you had been running for but you had a stitch in your side. You pressed your back against a tree as you tried to get your breathing under control.

The breaking of twigs came from the left of you, making you peak around the tree but saw nothing, so turning back round you gave a screech and punched out in defence.

Ace laughed as he caught your fist and gripped it, using it to pull you against him, as he still had that predatory grin on his lips, as he looking between you and behind you, as another body stepped behind you, making you turn your head to look behind and saw Marco with same predatory grin as well.

Turning to look back at Ace, and Marco placed his hand under your chin, tilting your head backwards so that he could stare down at you. Knowing that they matching looks made you shiver, now that you were sandwich between them both.

With you being in the middle, their hands were wondering all over your body, before getting under your the clothes and touching your bare skins, squeezing and caressing it, which got little pleased noises from you.

Ace picked you up and you wrapped your legs around his waist, as his hands rested on your ass, squeezing it as Marco pressed more into you back, as they both started on your neck leaving kissing and marks over all it.

You put a hand on both their shoulders to steady yourself, regardless being held up by the two bodies. Between the attention of their hands and mouths, your little noise turned into soft moans, as you grabbed Marco and kissed him, tongues fighting for dominance, before you broke away to breath for a moment before turning to Ace and kissing him, again tongues fighting to win.

A hand worked it way in between your thighs, as long fingers began to tease you, making you moan that Ace gladly swallowed as your mouths were still in a heated battle with each other.

A promise of continuing this later was made as the heat simmered down, till it was just soft kisses and sweet word as you were carried back to the bench and plopped down, as you were given your water bottle and some snacks. As you were drinking Ace nearly made you choke on the water, as he called you Little Bunny.

You felt Marco hand patting your back, as he sharply called the younger man name, as you stared at him wide eyed, worried you might have to run again. A sheepish smile graced his lips as he apologised and didn't mean to choke you, at least not like that.

He asked if you were going to try the fetch trick on them again, and honestly you probably would, as getting chased and caught by them was trilling now you had a moment to think about, though Little Bunny was defiantly being only used for those moments.

The rest of the hike went on mostly uneventful, occasionally getting pulled in close by either of them and kissed till you breathless, and then let you go and continued walking on leaving you to catch up.

By the time the hike was finished and were in the car heading back to your for the rest of the evening. You were looking forward to sitting the couch, feet up in-between your own personal heaters. That however went out the window cause once home and dinner eaten, you were promptly picked up by Marco and carried to the bedroom, with Ace grinning at you as they did promised the were going to continue the fun.

The following morning, at least you thought it was, as you woke up between two very warm and naked bodies, you found that your body delightfully sore as pervious night came rushing back.

These two had put all your exes to shame as well as your imagination, you never expected that they would both be so talented with making you come undone so easily, and learnt how needy they both could make you.

You some how managed to wiggle out from between them, without waking them and made your way to bathroom, to shower and see how marked your body was, cause you were pretty sure you were covered in bite marks and hickeys.

The hot water hitting your body felt wonderful as it soothed your aching muscles, as you stood under the spray for a while before washing and getting rid of all the grime and sweat. When finished and wrapped up in a towel, you entered the bedroom to find both of them were asleep, with Ace snoring away softly.

Once dried off and dressed, you spotted Marco shirt discard and pulled over your top before grabbing your phone and heading to the kitchen, knowing that the smell of food cooking would arouse them.

While breakfast cooking away and kettle having just boiled, you heard footsteps coming toward the kitchen, so you turned around to greet two very sleepy men.

It only took a few seconds for them to realise you were wearing Marco shirt, which had them staring you with dark hunger eyes, as a low growl came from them both, as they came up and trapped you against the counters.

Their hands were wondering over you and as they tried to kiss you, you put a hand over their mouths, making them growl into your palms. You firmly told them no and put those thoughts from their mind, as you would like walk normally.

Hearing that, both men narrowed their eyes at you but moved away from you, no longer keeping you trapped against the counters you, so you were able to finish cooking breakfast with them watching you, clenching their hands to stop from grabbing you and trying to ravish you.

Once breakfast served and eaten, as you went to gather up the plates, Ace pulled you on his lap letting him buried his face in your neck and arms wrapped around your waist. He murmured that you smell so good, with Marco scent from his shirt interwining with your own scent.

You looked to Marco for help but he just gave you a grin and lent back in the chair, watching the two of you as you tried to get out of the hold, but that meant Ace tighten his gripped and growl a no, so you sigh in defeat and leaned backward against Ace, which made him happy.

While sitting the table, Marco told you that their pack wanted to met you, well Pops did as well as some of the other commanders. That was not what you were expecting, you knew it would happen at some point but it would be awhile before meeting any of the pack. If they wanted to met you, then you were happy to go met them, so asked when this would happen and got told in about 2-3 weeks, as they had to talk to the other first.

Knowing that you were going to meet their family soon, you began asking for more information about their Pops and many siblings. They started telling you stories about Pops and then some of their siblings they were closer too.

So the afternoon was spent with lots of laughter as more stories came from them and yourself. You were looking forward to talking to some of their siblings to get some stories of them.

When it was time to them to leave for home, they giving you more marks and kissing you thoroughly until you completely breathless again. You quickly shooed them away, saving your poor lungs from becoming breathless again.

The following week and weekend after the full moon was calmer, as both Marco and Ace just wanted nap and cuddle with you over the weekend. You were informed that Pops wanted to meet you the following the weekend, which was fine with you.

You had also given them a copy of your house keys, so that they could come over when they wanted and didn't need to wait on you to open the door now.

The week leading up to meeting Marco and Ace family turned into one of the most stressful weeks you have ever dealt with. Monday had started off like normal but Tuesday was when the issues started at work, and you had been trying to fix it from home.

However over the next three day the issue wasn't fixed, no matter what was done on your end even though it should of been and you were ready to bang your head against wall. You've barely been able to talk to Marco and Ace, though you did let them know what was happening. They reminded you to eat and sleep, which you didn't get much of, as you were so focus on fixing the issue.

As the issues hadn't been fixed, it meant you actually had to go into the main office, which was 3 hours away but with rush hour traffic on a Friday, it could take 4 hours. So 6 hours, possible 8 hour, round trip on a Friday was not some you wanted to do but unfortunately had to.

So Friday morning you had left at 5.30am and made it to the main office just before 9am and spent the next 6 hours fixing the problem and then spent another hour making sure that everything was fixed and that this issues shouldn't happen again.

After everything was done, you were ready to go home but you needed food first, as you had hardly eaten thing and also called your wolves. They both thankfully answer and were free to speak, so while getting food you to speak to them and did a little ranting as well.

Just when you thought the stress of the day was over the universe said sike and was truly testing you now, as you unfortunately ran into your cheating ex while getting your food. They also couldn't take the hint that you wanted nothing to with them, given you were still on the phone.

Wanting nothing more than to eat your food in peace and get home as quickly as you could. So you span around on your heel and looked at your ex before telling them to get lost, you absolutely have no interest in "catching up" as they put, as you have two wonderful partners who far excessed them in every way, and told them that you were so glad they cheated, as it showed you just how much of a loser they truly were and allowed you to finally find actual love, something they'll never know.

With that said, you headed to your car with your ex shouting obscenities at you but you tuned them out and went back to talking the guys, while stuffing some chips in your mouth and talking. Marco joked that you've spent to much time with Ace, if you're talking with your mouth full.

Ace muttered something about filling your mouth with something that wasn't food, making you choke and cough. When you weren't choking on chips anymore, you told them that you were heading home and would let them know when you were home in like 3-4 hours. They told you travel safety and that they love you.

Hearing them say they loved you, made you smile as it was the first time hearing it, and you told them that you loved them as well and would talk soon.

You did get stuck in rush hour traffic, so it was closer to 9pm when you made it home and just wanted to collapse on your bed, hell even the couch would do for the moment.

Walking into your home, you noticed that there was a low light coming from the living-room, something that shouldn't be there. So walking into the room, you saw that the coffee table had been moved off to the side, and in it 's place on the floor were pillows and blankets, as well as two wolves.

You stared at them for a few second, wondering how they manged to fit in the living-room before thinking 'fuck it' and kicked off your shoes, then threw your coat and bag on the couch, before laying down in between them.

Pulling a blanket over you, you laid on your back and stared up at them, raising your hands up to their face and sunk your fingers into their fur then thanked the. It didn't take long before you fell asleep, tucked in between two very warm wolves.

Marco and Ace curling around you more as they both watched you sleep. They had been worried about you when you had mentioned what was happening at work, and while they did remind you to eat and sleep, they knew you weren't. So when you called them yesterday and heard just how tired you were, they planned to do something and decided that their wolves were good for cuddling with.

Woking the following morning you found yourself in bed and without wolves. You wondered if you had dreamt cuddling with the wolves as you were still in yesterday clothes. Looking at the clock you saw that it was nearly lunch and your stomach was making itself known that it wanted food.

So shuffling from bedroom to living, you saw that the coffee table was still off to the side, so it wasn't a dream and before you could wonder where either Marco or Ace, you heard your someone called your name followed by hearing sleeping beauty awake.

You weren't sure who was the closest but you just put your head on their chest and closed your eyes, As you felt a hand on the back of your head while another hand was stroking your back and felt yourself sag as the tension in your body left.

The hand on your head moved to under your chin, lifting your head up, which made you open your eyes and stare up at your dark hair lover.

Ace smiled at you as he pulled you into the kitchen where the food and Marco were waiting. Sitting you down at the kitchen island, there a drink waiting for you as lunch was just being finished.

They both got a good look at you, even after more than 12 hours of sleep, you still looked like you could sleep for another 12 hours. Marco kept pushing food in front of you and telling you to eat it all.

Ace asked if you still wanted to meet the family, they would understand if you decided not to after this week, as it was going to be a mad house like normal. You told them that you would be fine after a shower as you yawned, then began to eat what was placed in front of you.

They looked at you but didn't say anything, if you still wanted to go then they weren't going to stop you, but they would send a memo to the family to take it easy with you this time.

It felt like they kept putting food on your plate until they were happy that you eaten enough. So when you were finished with lunch, you went to shower and get ready for later. While the shower did help a little, you had an impromptu 20 minute nap, while still wrapped up in towel till a knock woke you up and saw Marco looking at you.

He come over to you and lent down, stroking your cheek and letting you know again that it was fine if you didn't want to meet the family this week, if you would rather sleep more. You told him no you'll be fine, making the blonde sigh and called you stubborn with a smile and then said to get dress and come nap with them, till it was time to leave.

After a little while, you were finally dressed and re-joined the men in the living-room, who smiled at you as Ace open his arms to you. You happily snuggled into him and placed your feet in Marco laps, who began rubbing them and then work his hands up your legs.

While you didn't nap again, you did close your eyes and listening to Marco and Ace, adding your own thoughts at times.

When it was time to leave, you were feeling more wake and excited to meeting the family, though you probably will be forgetting a few names with how big their family was.

You were awestruck seeing a large white estate house standing out with the forest behind it, and it surround on both sides by lots smaller house but they were still pretty big from what you could see. The positioning of the houses with the estate house in the middle, it kind of looked like a horseshoe.

Arriving at the large estate house, you noticed that there were a few people outside, seemly waiting for you three, going by the groans that they both gave. You couldn't help but chuckle as the three of you got out of the car and headed up to the front of the house.

Ace and Marco both had a hand on the your back, with Ace leaning over and telling you, who was who. The guy with the pompadour was Thatch, the dark-hair man was Izou and the shorter brown man was Haruta, you made a mental note of these three men.

You looked at both Thatch and Haruta, who both seem to be buzzing, and you weren't sure if was cause you were here or because they were waiting to tease their brothers.

Reaching the front of door, both Thatch and Haruta were grinning as they began teasing their brothers, wondering how you had the misfortune of ending up with those two dumbasses and would pray for you. Ace went for Haruta calling him a little shit and tried grabbing him, while Marco just gave Thatch a look that was unimpressed and promised payback.

Izou stepped and introduced himself to you, welcoming you before saying it was finally nice to put a face to the name. You were pulled into a hug and looked up to see it was Thach as Ace still trying to get Haruta.

You heard a low growl and looked at Marco, who was narrowing his eyes as you felt a cheek rubbing on top of your head, while Thatch said you were far too good for his brothers.

A warning growl came this time, which made Thatch release you and put his hands up in surrender as Marco pulled you into his arms, burying his face in your neck, and you saw the affectionate looks that both Thatch and Izou were giving Marco. There was a huff and you saw Ace coming back, who then stood in front of you and did the same as Marco.

They let you go after a few moment, content you smelt of them and told you it was time to met Pops. So they lead you inside the house and towards the room that he would be in.

Standing in front of a two large doors, Ace knocked on them and was told to enter. Pushing the doors open the three of you entered and you noticed a man with a large white moustache sitting at a deck, this was Edward Newgate.

When he stood up you were surprised at his height, you thought Marco was tall but you were having to crane your neck some more to look at older man when he got closer.

The two of you stared at each other, before he smiled and laughed, welcoming you to his family, told you to call him Pops, as he said he proud to finally met his sons mate and looked forward to seeing how you dealt with the chaos that was the pack.

You grinned and told him if you could handle these two and finding out they were werewolves and not running for the hills, then you were half way there to handling the chaos of the pack. That got another laugh from the man, as he turned to look at both Ace and Marco, telling them to behave this evening as their siblings are going to purposely work them up, to see them act out.

Both Ace and Marco said something under their breath, but it was too quiet for you hear but Pops heard it by his eyes twinkling with mirth. He then said that the three of you should go join the festivity as he still had some business to do before joining.

When the three of you left the office, you were shown around the different parts of the downstairs area, and asked to see their room with a glint in your eyes. They could see the glint and told you that if they took you there, you wouldn't be enjoying the party cause they wouldn't be letting you out of there.

You pout at their answer but you were here to met their family, so that was put on hold for the moment, as they lead out to the back garden, where everyone was and you could smell food being cooked.

As soon as you stepped outside, you were surround by so many people talking to you. Marco and Ace kept a hand on you as they guided you over to a picnic bench, letting you sit down before telling their sibling to give you space, you weren't going anywhere so there was plenty of time to talk to you.

Over the next few hours, you met so many of their siblings, played a couple of games with some of the younger children that were there and ate great food, but you were fighting to stay awake now as the past week was catching up with you again.

Ace and Marco had been keeping an eye on you so that when your energy started to wane, they tugged you gently back over to a bench and pulled you into one of their lap. They held you close as you kept talking to anyone that came over to you, but when you did finally sag against them it was time to get you home.

You were close to falling sleep when you were picked up and moved around, there were a lot of low murmurers around you but you just buried your face into the neck of who ever was carrying you.

Arriving back at yours, they did wake up you and herded you to the bedroom, helping undress you and in to sleepwear, before tucking you into bed and leaving you to sleep on your own for a couple of hours before joining you later on.

Over the next 8 months your relationship strengthen even more, you saw each other outside of the weekend, having dinner at least once during the week and some times twice. You got to celebrate both Marco and Ace birthdays, just the three of you and then with the whole pack, what was more wild than you thought it would be, especially Ace's as it was also the New Years party.

You got to spend more time with pack, getting to know everyone better and developed a stronger friendships with most of the commanders as they seemed to be the one that Ace and Marco were closest to do in the pack, you also got to know Whitey Bay and Tate.

Over that time you got to met Sabo and Luffy, Ace's younger brothers, who were both in different packs, but due them to being Ace's brother they were seen with the Whitebeard pack quite often.

When Marco told you that Luffy was more of a blackhole than Ace when eating, you didn't believe it until you saw him eat and wondered just how he could eat that much.

Seeing how Ace interacted with his brothers, being so much more carefree but he was also more easily embarrassed by Sabo and Luffy, with them teasing him as they told you stories of him from childhood which made Ace lunge for his brothers trying to shut them up, which ended up in them all fighting with each other.

The three of you began to consider moving into together and where the best place live would be. You learnt that not all the pack lived within the area of the estate house and smaller houses, but further out and over the town, wanting privacy.

While you didn't mind living near the pack, you also knew you didn't want to live in the pack estate, you wanted privacy from the pack and so they couldn't just showup on a whim. Both Ace and Marco agreed having lived with the pack for so long and had little to no privacy sometimes, so you suggested somewhere between current your home and the pack estate.

It took about a month of looking but a house that you all liked was found and had most of what you were all looking for. It was a large four bedroom house, one of them becoming your office, it also had a open kitchen and dinning room where you could host dinner evening, with a large back garden.

It was a good thing Ace and Marco had a lot of siblings, it made moving so much easier and quicker, which meant a whole lot less stress. Once everything was moved in, it took sometime before it was decorated with how you all wanted it.

During decorating time you noticed that Ace and Marco were being a little secretive and when you asked, they said not to worry and you'll find out in due time. You eyed them but left it alone as you would find out at some point.

Before you knew it, you had been living in the town for over year now and been in a relationship with your men for nearly 10 months. You wondered where the time went, as it really didn't feel like a year, but at the same time it felt like you've had been here longer than a year, maybe that was due to so many things had happening.

Arriving home after spending the afternoon out, treating yourself after a hectic week of work due to the time of year, and that meant people was dealing with issues and stressing out about them, but thankful these were thing you could fix without issues and nothing like last time.

Entering the house you found it quiet and still, something the house never was given there was always some sort of noise from music, talking or even Ace snoring but there nothing. You called out but got no answer so guessed they were out, so headed to the bedroom with your bag, to put them away later.

Knowing that you were alone for the moment, you messaged both Ace and Marco to find out where they were and when they would be back. So while waiting for an answer you grabbed a bottle of wine and a glass, to have a mini celebratory drink of having lived here a year.

The sudden feeling of being watched washed over you, as you spun around trying to find the source but there was nothing that could be seen and wondered it was your imagination or maybe Marco and Ace were trying go play a prank on you, it wasn't funny if they were or there was something actually out there.

You peered out of the window looking into the garden and saw nothing yet the feeling of being watched was still strong. So focused on the garden, that hearing the front door open made you jumped a little then headed to the front door and saw Marco but no Ace, so asked where Ace was.

Marco explained that he got called to the station for something but would be back later. Seeing the look on your face when hearing that he asked what was wrong. You told him that it was silly but it felt like you were being watched while in the kitchen and first thought it him and Ace trying to pull prank at first, but it was probably just your imagination you said with a little laugh.

The look on Marco face, made you wondered if you should of said anything as you went back into the kitchen, watching as Marco went into the garden and looked around but didn't see anything out there. He came back inside and pressed a kiss on your head, as you said it was just your imagination going wild for what ever reason, he hummed in response then asked what the wine was for.

You smiled and said that its been a year since you had moved to town as well as met him and Ace, so you were having a celebratory drink. Marco smiled and said it was a good thing he startled you at the supermarket just before Ace nearly running into you, you gave a soft chuckle but that was quickly cut off as Marco claimed your mouth.

As soon as the kissed started it ended and you gave a little pout at the loss of contact but was promised that he and Ace had something planned for you, so you just had to be a little more patience and when you asked when it was going to happen, Marco just said when it happens. You tried to get more details out of him but he gave nothing else away as he pulled you into the living room with the bottle of wine and three glasses.

When Ace returned home a couple of hours later, he found both you and Marco laid out on the couch with you were snoozing against Marco chest, as he was running one hand up and down your back and reading something on his phone with with other hand. You lifted your head up when you heard your name and gave your other lover a sleepy smile.

Sitting up and stretching, you pulled Ace close and kissed him then welcomed him home, before smacking him and Marco on the leg for not telling you they had gone out.

They apologised and quickly gave you kisses before you reached over for the wine and opened it, telling Ace that it had been a year since he nearly run into you at the supermarket as well as you living here a year now.

With the wine drunk, you told them that you had brought some new clothes and would give them a fashion show. So when you came down in the first new outfit, their eyes darken almost instantly and were towering over you trying to touch you but them no, as you had a few more outfits to show off.

With each new outfit you showed off, the hunger in their eyes grew as they clenched their fists tighter till you came down in the last outfit, which was the most enticing outfit, as it left very little to the imagination. You only got a couple of steps into the room, before finding yourself being picked up and carried up to bedroom.

When you asked what they were doing, Ace answered by telling you that they were going to wine and dine you first but seeing you in those outfits had derailed that plan and so they're just gonna do what they planned now by claiming you as their own, permanently marking you.

You asked them if you got a say in this, you knew what claiming meant as you had been told by some of the pack and knew once you had the marks there was no going back, permanently bonding the three of you.

Being set down on the bed they asked if you wanted them to permanently claim you as their mate, as they slowly began to peel your clothes off with their hands and lips tracing over your body, drawing little whimpers from you before turned to each other and gave you a free show as they undressed while touching and kissing each other.

As they were busy with themselves it gave you a moment to think more about it. You knew that you didn't want anyone else but these two overprotective attractive pains in your ass but it was also kind of daunting as your mind suddenly went over scenarios of what if something happen in the future and they didn't want you anymore, you knew it was silly but it was still there.

They both saw the look on your face and knew what thoughts were playing over in your mind. So they quickly had you in between them, telling you that they weren't ever going to leave you and once they permanently bond to you, you will never able to get rid of them but they only ever wanted you and that will never change and will remind you of that everyday.

They kissed you and asked if you were you ready because if you weren't they could wait till you were but hearing their words and promise made you realise that you were ready, so with a nod of your head you told them that you were ready.

Upon hearing that you were ready, they pinned you to the bed and had their way with you for hours and in different positions, while they had you moaning, begging and screaming for more before they finally bite and left their claiming marks.

Ace had left his on the on your shoulder next to your neck, so that he had easy access to it and able to show it off to everyone that that you belonged to him. Marco placed his on your waist so he could always run is fingers over the mark and grip your waist where the mark was, pulling you close to him when out together.

The following afternoon is when you finally woke, still wrapped in two set of arms, hot and sweaty from two inhumanly warm body on either side of you. Your whole body was aching and stretched as much as you could but the arms just tighten around you when you did.

You whined a little and told them that you need to move as well as wash as you sticky and sweaty. Two grunt came from them before being released. You gave them a kiss before get out of bed and once your feet were on the ground you stretched out and heard a few pops before looking at yourself in the mirror and seeing all the marks, bruises and love bites all over your body, before looking at the claim marks on your neck and waist and run your fingers over them.

While admiring your marks, there was a whistle from behind and you looked over your shoulder to see Ace was awake and leaning against the headboard with his hand in Marco hair as he looked at you proudly, as well as looking like he was ready to eat you all up again.

Knowing what was going through his mind, you rolled your eyes and went into the bathroom. Standing under the spray of the shower felt amazing, as you cleaned yourself of all the sweat and everything else from the previous night.

Coming back into the room you saw that Marco was awake and was on his phone but soon they were looking at you as you dried yourself off, avoiding hands that were trying to get you back on the bed. You somehow managed to get dressed before they finally pulled you back on to the bed with them, kissing every bit of they could.

Eventually they reluctantly let you go as they themselves went got and showered. So while they busy doing that you went down and started on food, knowing that all three of you needed a good hearty meal.

You though about maybe ordering some food and still might have to do that dinner but for now you would use whatever was in the kitchen and never thought you would be so happy to have a freeze that was stuffed full, and began to take out things that would cook quickly from frozen.

When Marco and Ace joined you in the kitchen, you were starting to take some of the food out of the oven and setting it up like a buffet on the island. Ace came up behind you and placed his lips on his mark which made you shiver, as he stole a spring roll from tray and put it in his mouth. He then sucked in air and fanned his mouth to cool the hot food, you just rolled your eyes at him and told him it was hot.

Marco chuckled next to you as his fingers tips run over his mark and kissed the side of your head, you gave a pleased hum at that. Once the food was cooked, you all sat around the island eating and talking, still being amazed at how much Ace could eat even after a year of knowing him.

They did talked about going to see Pops over the next few days to tell him that they were officially your problem now. That made you laughed before you said that you had better train them so they don't cause problems and are good boys.

You saw the look that Ace was giving you and told him no, that your body still ache from last night, and need a day to recover but he just stared at you with a grin and said he could wait before calling you Little Bunny. Hearing that nickname made you shiver as you knew what you were in for when Ace decided it was time for a chase.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent watching movies and eating takeaway, that did get ordered for dinner. During the evening you pampered a little as your legs and back massage, which felt amazing and help ease the soreness you still felt.

It was a couple days later when the three of you were at the estate telling Pops that Marco and Ace had officially claimed you, so they were now stuck with you. Upon hearing that you were pulled into the a bone breaking hug by Pops who was congratulating you.

Marco reminded Pops to be a little more gentle with you. The older man chuckled, letting you go and apologized if the hug was a bit strong as he forget his strength sometimes. He then bear hugged both his sons and said that this called for a party to celebrate the union.

You knew that the pack used any occasion they could to have a party, and what better reason than to have a party than two of the pack commanders finally claiming their other mate. It was decided it would be on weekend as most people would be free, and so neither you or Marco could use work as a way to leave early.

The party was bigger than you had seen so far hosted by the pack, there was so much food and alcohol. By the time the three of you retire for the night, you were being carried by Ace back to their old room, as you had been plied with so many drink by everyone and was having a hard time walking by the end.

Marco and Ace were only fairing a little better, due to their wolfy side and was harder to get drunk, but their sibling had made it their mission for evening to get them drunk.

Once in the bedroom you were thrown on the bed as the other two just flopped on top of you. The three of you ended up a pile of limbs by the time you fell asleep.

Waking the following morning you groaned as light hit your face, so you turned your face and buried it in to a chest as you felt a pounding in your head begin and swore you were never drinking around the pack again, that was being left to Marco and Ace from now on.

There was a hand stroking your hair, as started it to massage your head, which was helping the pounding for a moment. There was movement on the other side of you and you give unpleased noise as you open your eyes and turned to see Ace moving, who gave you a soft smile.

You narrowed your eyes at him as he seem unaffected by sunlight with how much he drunk last night and then turned to look blonde and saw he looked fine as well. You pouted and said that it was unfair that they were fine and you had a pounding in your head even though they drunk more than you.

Marco just smiled and stroked your hair again as Ace said it was one of the upside to being a wolf, no pounding head for the amount they had drunk but they have gotten blackout drunk before and woken with a pounding head.

It took a while before you got out of bed and that was after you had been given pain killers and water. The three of you headed down to the kitchen where you were teased by Thatch upon entering, as well as being given food.

Hearing Thatch you wince, even after taking pain-killer, as there was still a pounding in your head and Thatch loud voice was not helping, so you shushed him which only made him laugh louder and you groaned. You felt fingers on your waist begin to stroke the claim mark which helped you relax some.

A few more hours were spent at the estate before heading home mid-afternoon. The first thing you did when home was shower with Ace and Marco joining you, so it took even longer get done but was alot more fun. Once done and in clean comfy clothes, on the couch relaxing with a movie playing.

Marco had his fingers dancing over his mark and Ace had his face bury in his your neck, nosing his mark. The contentment you felt just from them touching their marks made you almost forgot everything that weren't them currently and you were fine with that, given the big the party yesterday.

As the movie played on you tuned it out for the most part, as you began to think about what the future would hold for the three of you. They both wanted you to be out on the next full moon with them, now you that were officially mated to them, their wolves on the full moon would recognise you so you could be outside with them now.

You knew that what every happens in the future, you will all face it together, with the pack supporting you three anyway that they can, which felt amazing to know that you had so many people behind you all.

At some point you knew you had to take them back to your home town to met the family and friends. When you do, you were going to show cheat your ex, how much happier and better you are without them in your life anymore, the look on their face would be glorious to you.

Both Ace and Marco were looking at you while were off in your own world with a gleeful smile on your lips. Ace poked your side and brought you back to the present, asking what got you smiling like that and you just told them you were thinking about something and it's nothing for them to worry about.

They didn't quite believe you especially with your gleeful smile but they left it alone and let you plot whatever you were plotting, but that doesn't mean they weren't going to try and distract you.

Distract you they did as all it took was a few well placed kisses and hands, then you were only focused on them as your gleeful smile turned into one full of love, lust and hint of mischief, so you kissed them as your hands wondered over them.

That was how the last couple of hours were spent before the pervious day caught up to you. So you were carried to the bedroom, where you were robbed of your clothing and trapped in a tangle of limbs and hot bodies.

This was home, being in between both Ace and Marco knowing that you would always be safe and loved with and by them. You looked forward to each and every day you got with them, showing them just how much you loved them.

#One Piece #One Piece Imagine #Portgas D Ace #Marco the Phoenix #Reader #Ace x Reader #Marco x Reader #Ace x Reader x Marco #Maraco #portgas ace x reader #Marco the phoenix x Reader #fire fist ace #marco the pineapple #Op Ace #Op Marco #one piece ace #one piece marco #Werewolf

[eretzyisrael]

By Nachum Kaplan

Hamas correctly identified that antisemitism was only dormant in the West, and that they just needed to wake the sleeping monster. They knew this because there were clear tells, such as the international media’s fixation on Israel, the over-reporting of the country, and that the Pavlovian way the conflict becomes newsworthy only when Israel responds to an attack.Hamas stuck to what has worked throughout history. The blood libel trope was modernized into accusations of genocide and deliberate starvation, while the trope of Jews being responsible for their persecution was updated with the notion that Israel had turned Gaza into an open-air prison.They leveraged their numerical advantage.With more than a billion Muslims globally, Hamas knew it had a huge virtual army it could activate on social media to reach a global audience.Hamas flooded social media with lies to exploit the Repetition Bias, a heuristic (mental shortcut) in which repeated information feels more true than new or unrepeated information. Social media repeated these lies exponentially, aided by extensive use of AI-generated “photographs.”The Palestinians also exploited another numerical advantage, the number of Muslim states, which is 48. This has given them weight in forums such as the United Nations and its various committees and bodies, creating a suited army of bureaucrats with credible titles to tell lies to the international press.Almost comically, Iran has just assumed the presidency of the UN Conference on Disarmament. That is the same Islamic Republic that funds, arms, and trains Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen — and ships arms to Russia to use in its invasion of Ukraine.They controlled the information flow.Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have used traditional authoritarian tactics to control the information flow from areas they govern. Reporters cannot report freely or unfavorably from Palestinian-controlled territories if they want to retain access. Threats of violence keep the few unsympathetic local reporters in check.Exploiting the inability of most media to report from Gaza directly, Hamas has used local Gazan “journalists” to feed lies, distorting images, and fabricated data to the credulous international media. Time and again, the foreign press has swallowed them, including claimed civilian death toll numbers that are demonstrably untrue (and presume every person killed was a civilian).Hamas has only needed the media to report its numbers, knowing that if repeated enough, they be treated as true and that no one will pay attention to the fine print stating they are unverified. Hamas at one point even had the media complaining that Israel was simultaneously not allowing reporters access to Gaza and targeting journalists there.They mastered the 24-hour news cycle.The internet has blurred the traditional lines between print and television news, turning all news media into digital services beholden to the 24-hour news cycle.Hamas has understood that as long as it keeps manufacturing outrages, the news cycle will move on quickly, and they will never be held to account. The Qatar-funded Al Jazeera, which has the veneer of a real news organization, has played a key role in this.They have exploited a ‘post-truth’ world.Hamas recognized that the post-Modernist rot has resonated in much of the West, including across its media and universities. The belief that people cannot only have their own opinions, but their own facts, sounds laughable, but it has become worryingly normal.Political tribes express opinions mainly as identity signals, and tribal loyalty is more important to these people than truth, or even reality. Hamas has understood that this liberates it from any need to have a fact-based narrative.They use simple slogans.“

#hamas #gaza #hamas propaganda #hamas media machine #Palestinians

[palestinegenocide]

Key Developments

The chief of WHO says, “Nasser Hospital in Gaza is not functional anymore, after a weeklong siege followed by the ongoing [Israeli] raid”.

Israel blocks WHO team from entering Nasser Hospital to assess condition of patients and critical medical needs.

Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra, spokesperson of Gaza’s Ministry of Health, says Israeli forces turned Nasser Hospital into “a military barracks and put it out of service.”

Al-Qudra says Israeli forces “arrested dozens of patients who were unable to move while they were on treatment beds.”

PRCS says Israeli artillery shells bombed third floor of Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis on Sunday. Israeli forces prevent food, medical supplies and fuel delivery to Al-Amal.

Israel bombs central Gaza areas of Deir Al-Balah and Nuseirat refugee camp overnight, kills at least 40 Palestinians.

Municipality of Gaza City says Israeli aggression destroyed 42,000 meters of water pipes, 40 wells, nine water primary tanks, and 480 agricultural water valves since October.

Tens of millions of people worldwide protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza Strip, calling for holding Israel accountable for its crimes and for immediate ceasefire.

Israel’s Foreign Minister says “If the price of expanding the peace agreements is a Palestinian state, then I give up the peace agreements. A Palestinian state – there won’t be. Period.”

Marwan Al-Barghouti, popular national figure and Fatah leader was transferred again into solitary confinement in Ramla prison.

Overnight, Israeli settlers attack Turmus Ayya village, north of Ramallah, and burn several Palestinian cars.

Israeli authorities force Palestinian to self-demolish their home in Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood.

#free gaza #israel #gazaunderattack #genocide #gaza strip #gaza #free palestine #israel is a terrorist state #palestine #jerusalem #news #palesinte news #tel aviv #west bank #rafah #hamas #nasser hospital #who

[zvaigzdelasas]

The US extended its claims on the ocean floor by an area twice the size of California, securing rights to potentially resource-rich seabeds at a time when Washington is ramping up efforts to safeguard supplies of minerals key to future technologies. The so-called Extended Continental Shelf covers about 1 million square kilometers (386,100 square miles), predominantly in the Arctic and Bering Sea, an area of increasing strategic importance where Canada and Russia also have claims. The US has also declared the shelf’s boundaries in the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico.[...]

Under international law, countries have economic rights to natural resources on, and under, the seabed floor based on the boundaries of their continental shelves.

“It’s a huge deal because it’s a huge amount of territory,” said Rebecca Pincus, director of the Polar Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, which has devoted an entire web page to the ramifications of this week’s news. “It’s US sovereignty over the seabed floor, and so whether it’s seabed mining, or oil and gas leasing, or cables, or what have you, the US is announcing the borders of its ECS and will have sovereignty over those decisions.” The US State Department said that the development “is about geography, not resources.”[...]

While it’s unclear what materials, if any, can be exploited, the claims come as Washington seeks to boost access to so-called critical minerals that are necessary for electric vehicle batteries and renewable energy projects, industries the Biden administration has tagged as key national security concerns.[...]

More than half of America’s extended continental shelf — 520,400 square kilometers — stretches in a large wedge north of Alaska toward the Arctic Ocean, including an area that overlaps with Canadian claims to the seabed floor, according to the US statement. Another 176,300 square kilometers lies in the Bering Sea, between Alaska and Russia, but falls on the US side of the maritime boundary between the two countries. Canada and the US don’t have a maritime boundary agreement in the Arctic and establishing the US outer limits in the Arctic “will depend on delimitation with Canada,” the State Department said in its executive summary. Canada’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t respond to a request for comment. [...]

The decision to unilaterally delineate its continental shelf boundary, rather than to ratify UNCLOS and then submit a claim through the commission, may raise the ire of other countries, said Pincus at the Wilson Center. “I think a lot of other countries around the world are going to have thoughts about how the US has done this,” she said. It also may reduce the likelihood of the US ever ratifying the law since a major reason for doing so would have been to make a CLCS claim, she said.

23 Dec 23