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mostlysignssomeportents · 2 months

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The Bezzle excerpt (Part V)

I'm on tour with my new novel The Bezzle! Catch me TONIGHT in SAN DIEGO (Feb 22, Mysterious Galaxy). After that, it's LA (Saturday night, with Adam Conover), Seattle (Monday, with Neal Stephenson), then Portland, Phoenix and more!

I'm out on tour with my new novel, The Bezzle, a cyberpunk revenge thriller about Marty Hench, a two-fisted forensic accountant, and a guerrilla war he wages on a prison-tech provider that treats incarcerated people as assets to be strip-mined:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/16/narrative-capitalism/#bezzle-tour

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/22/self-censorship/#acab

As part of the promotion for the book, I've been serializing an excerpt: Chapter 14, in which Marty takes on a side-quest to recover the stolen royalties of one-time funk star Stephon Magner (AKA Steve Soul) which were stolen by his scumbag manager and then sold on to an even scummier sample-licensing clearinghouse.

Today, I bring you part five, in which Marty's simple cross-referencing project is violently altered by an encounter with the criminal gangs of the LA Sheriffs Deputy departments, a real crime-syndicate whose reign of terror continues to this day:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-05-17/dozens-of-lasd-deputies-ordered-to-show-suspected-gang-tattoos-reveal-others-who-have-them

I'm posting this installment en route to San Diego, where I'll be appearing tonight at Mysterious Galaxy

https://www.mystgalaxy.com/22224Doctorow

From there, it's back to LA, where I'm appearing on Saturday evening with Adam Conover at Vromans:

https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Cory-Doctorow-discusses-The-Bezzle

And then on Monday I'll be at Third Place Books with Neal Stephenson:

https://www.thirdplacebooks.com/event/cory-doctorow

From there, I'm off to Portland, Phoenix, Tucson and points further:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/16/narrative-capitalism/#bezzle-tour

Here's part one of the serial:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/17/the-steve-soul-caper/#lead-singer-disease

Part two:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/19/crad-kilodney-was-an-outlier/#copyright-termination

Part three:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/20/fore/#lawyer-up

Part four:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/21/im-feeling-unlucky/#poacher-turned-keeper

And now, part five!

The storefront had an old break room with a first-aid kit, and a bathroom with a sink. I sponged myself clean in the mirror, ate two expired Aleves and three 200 mg expired Tylenols out of the kit. The ass was ripped most of the way out of my pants, so I moved my wallet to my front pocket, which my massage therapist had been nagging at me to do for years.

I opened the door more carefully this time and limped out into the parking lot. My rental—a little red Civic—was the only car left in the parking lot, except for a rusted junker with no tires that was the perennial sentry of its farthest corner.

I bipped the doors open with my fob, checked the back seat, then slid inside. I checked my reflection in the rearview mirror and winced, which pulled at my bruises and set blood oozing from my lip and cheekbone again, which made me wince harder. I was already halfway to Quasimodo and I tried to remember if there was a 7-Eleven on the route home where I could buy a couple of bags of frozen peas for the swelling.

I reset the mirror and backed out of my spot. The pain was increasing. They’d have Advil at the 7-Eleven, and I’d remembered where there was one on the way back to my Airbnb.

As I waited for a red light at Eagle Rock and Colorado Boulevard, I watched as a homeless man labored across the road with his shopping cart. I was still watching him when I realized the light had been green for some time and had just toggled yellow. I made the turn and headed up Colorado, but I was barely a hundred yards down the road when I heard a siren blat and saw the police lights. I checked my mirrors and saw the LASD cruiser directly behind me, racing right up to my bumper, slowing only at the very last moment. The cruiser’s high beams blinked insistently and the siren whooped.

I pulled over.

I waited while the officer slowly got out of his car and walked to my driver’s-side window. I kept my hands at ten and two. The officer tapped my window and made a roll-down motion, so I hit the button, moving slowly, putting my hand back.

I got a light in my face, squinting and thus reopening my cheekbone and lip.

“Everything all right, sir?”

“Yes,” I said, feeling the blood ooze down my chin. “I was beaten up,” I said, stating the obvious.

“That is unfortunate,” the officer said. “License and registration.”

I got my driver’s license out of my wallet and found the rental papers in the glove box and handed them over. He crunched back to his cruiser and I watched him in the side mirror. He’d left his cruiser’s headlights on and in the glare it was hard to tell, but it looked like there was another cop in the car whom he was conferring with. After a long delay, he came back.

“Step out of the car, please.”

I did. He turned me around and had me plant my hands on the hood, kicked my feet apart, and roughly frisked me, getting his hand inside the rent in the seat of my pants and patting my boxer shorts and giving my balls a hard squeeze.

“Sir, do you know why I stopped you?”

“I don’t,” I said.

“You proceeded unsafely through a traffic signal. Have you been drinking, sir?”

“I haven’t.”

“Have you consumed any cannabis or other drugs?”

“I haven’t.”

He turned me around and shone his light in my eyes. “If I search your car, am I gonna find any drugs?”

“No, sir.”

“Because I am gonna search that car and if I do find drugs and you’ve been lying to me, this is gonna be a lot worse than it needs to be.”

I didn’t dignify that with a response. My head hurt. My face hurt. My back hurt. This was a bullshit stop.

I expected the deputy’s partner to get out of the cruiser while my tormentor tossed the rental car, but he stayed put. I did, too. Obviously. I wasn’t going to take off on foot. I’m a forensic accountant, not a gang kid getting fifteen minutes of fame on Cops.

He spent long enough on the rental that I started to worry. Who knew what some previous driver might have shoved between the seats? But after pulling out the floor mats and tossing them onto the grassy verge beside the car, he finally stood up.

“All right, sir. I’m going to go and get a breathalyzer test. You can refuse it and I will then suspend your license for twenty- four hours. I will arrest you for a suspected DUI and bring you in for a blood test. If you fail that test, you will be subject to additional criminal penalties. Do you understand me?”

He had old coffee on his breath. My face hurt. “I’ll take a test.”

Back to the cruiser. It had been half an hour at least. Once the breathalyzer was done—fifteen minutes, if memory served—I could go to the 7-Eleven for painkillers and frozen peas. I decided I’d add a six-pack, I was so tired. My face hurt. I knew that mouthing off to this cop wouldn’t make things go faster, quite the opposite, but as he took his leisurely time coming back to me, I was hard-pressed not to.

I blew. “May I sit down?” I asked. “My face hurts.”

He didn’t bother to look up from his phone. “Stay where you are, sir.”

I stood. My face hurt. Time crawled. Finally, the breathalyzer beeped. He held it up and squinted at it, then used his phone to light up its face.

When he did, his sleeve rode up and revealed the “998” tattoo on his forearm. Suddenly, I didn’t care so much about the pain in my face.

The cop looked at me. He was an older guy, but quite a silver fox, in a Clooneyoid sort of way. Had the same smile lines at the corners of his lips and eyes. But on him, they looked mean. Dangerous. A man who would smile at you while he beat your face in.

“All right, sir,” he said. “I’m going to write you a citation for reckless driving and you will be free to go.” He smiled. “Thank you for your cooperation.” It sounded like “fuck you.”

Back to the cruiser again. When he was done writing, he switched off his headlights, and the bubble light inside the car lit up his partner. Heavyset. Smiling. Excellent teeth. He gave me the same look as he had just before kicking me in the ribs. I gasped involuntarily and my ribs burned. His smile got bigger.

The Clooneyoid deputy returned with my ticket. I looked at it and then I realized he’d said “reckless driving”—not “dangerous driving.” This was a summons, not a citation. For a misdemeanor. Two points off my license and I’d have to go to court. Depending on the judge, I could be in for fines or even a jail sentence.

Clooneyoid saw me figuring this out and he smiled, too. Everyone was having a great time tonight except for poor old Marty Hench.

“See you in court, sir,” he said.

I exercised extreme care on the drive to the 7-Eleven, even backing out of my parking spot and reparking so that I was perfectly centered between the white lines. The clerk didn’t bat an eye at my hamburger face. I gave myself five minutes to bury my bruises in the frozen peas before I backed out and drove the rest of the way to my Airbnb.

I drove five under the limit the whole way, and when I got out of my rental, I looked long and hard up and down the street for an LA Sheriff’s Department cruiser.

ETA: Here's part six!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/22/self-censorship/#acab

#pluralistic #the bezzle #martin hench #marty hench #red team blues #fiction #crime fiction #crime thrillers #thrillers #technothrillers #novels #books #royalties #wage theft #creative labor

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doingthedirtydishes · 1 year

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My move to the Yucatan, Mexico: Getting lost in Playa del Carmen – A life thrown into turmoil; Finding my heart in Nicte-Ha.

To travel the world is to experience and write you own book of history. Otherwise you are just reading history written at the hands of the victors. But to truly understand oneself and the world also one must depart the pseudo harbor of safety and explore the intrepid open seas. It is only through others that we truly learn about ourselves; it is only through travel that we sincerely learn of the untold people and cultures of other countries. Opening my mind to the possibilities of travel allowed me to find my heart.

This chapter of my life started in Amsterdam, Holland and ended up spitting me out in Yucatan, Mexico. In the interim, it brought me on a head spinning whistle-stop trek from New York City to Maine to Miami to Nicaragua, back to Miami again, then finally off to Colombia. After being unable to find a suitable apartment for my needs in two different cities in Colombia, with funds dwindling, on the verge of giving up, along with some close friends and business partners, it was determined I would relocate to Mexico.

All the while, my journey was eclipsed by the Covid-19 international pandemic and crisis. At every turn there was a new challenge or hurdle to overcome – they were incessant, always lurking in the shadows. Seventeen of the last twenty-four months have been spent living out of hotels. Whilst almost becoming broke and homeless in a wheelchair twice, having my whole life packed into three suitcases only added insult to injury, pre-pending undue stress and anxiety to an already precarious globetrotting expedition.

Do not be mistaken, this has been a wander of the heart since the start. The impetus behind the mad adventure, the magic of the trail, quest of the soul, always surrounded finding the proper foreign filming location for my TV pilot – an adventure travel show with a twist of spirituality, aptly named: Wheels Up! Once leaving Europe to move home temporarily to Philadelphia, whilst giving my car and all my home items away to the inner-city homeless, before being denied re-entry to Europe twice, it has been a slog.

Once I finally had made it to Cartagena, I thought that was my final destination. After attempting to move there twice before in life, my third attempt I planned to live there two to five years. But after six months of innumerable obstacles, breaking my wallet and almost leaving me no bed to sleep in, our team gave up on the possibility of filming in Colombia. It was at this juncture that I went online in order to find a new city to relocate to in the Yucatan, Mexico. Through an ad on Craigslist I met Julio Cesar Chavez.

Cesar, as he liked to be addressed, was a very congenial person upon first introduction. Without wasting anyone’s time, immediately I informed him on my wheelchair and the necessary living requirements. Within a day he replied via text with a video, a video that showed a few areas of concern, that ended with him proposing where to build ramps for me. After umpteen apartment failures in Colombia, Cesar was an angel in disguise. And after losing all my money a week before my move, I knew it was a match.

At this point, it became evident that I was meant to be in Playa del Carmen – there are no mistakes in life. Since my time living in the Middle East I have always had a connection to the energy of the earth. It is much more fine-tuned in my current stage of life. Once I arrived in “Playa” the energy where I was living was immediately felt. As the same ethereally ‘at home’ comfortable feeling while living in Israel, Holland, Indonesia, Ireland and Colombia, Mexico was no different, genuinely l felt restfully at home.

Cesar owns an eight room apartment rental complex in an off-the-beaten-path quaint neighborhood, Nicte-Ha. It is a working class neighborhood most representative of how average Mexicans live day-to-day. There is one thing for certain when living in such a regional locale, without the chaotic mess of the ‘el Centro’ zone, you do not see many “gringos” AKA foreigners in the streets. It certainly makes for an authentic experience, one most representational of the bona fide ways in which actual Mexicans live.

In my first week while staying in the warm and cozy barrio of Nicte-Ha, I could feel her warm embrace. The people here are incredibly polite and always willing to lend a hand. A local neighborhood replete with rooster crows all hours of the day, where residents often sit in front of their homes or in the street late into the night, where it is not uncommon to hear music played loud – no matter the hour – it is a district whose streets are alive with constant action all day and evening. The energy is alive, palpable.

Nicte-Ha is a neighborhood where the old-school trade traditions of yesteryear still exist. No matter if you need your shoe, electronic or car repaired, it is as safe a bet as finding a corner street food stand. The delectable choices of local recipes sold by individuals on foot or bicycle trying to support their families are boundless: tacos (14 + different types); tamales; pizza; cakes and pies; ice cream; ice treats; fresh coconut water and pulp; fruits and fresh squeezed juices, and a multitude of other delicious treats.

On any given day you might see a pandemonium of tropical parrots or Chachalacas flying overhead, leaving yourself asking yourself Que Paso. There is a gorgeous beach, Esmeralda, within a ten minute walk. And, if you are up for the trek, ‘el Centro’ is a forty-five minute walk. When back home you can expect to be flooded with different shouts from the street by local sellers vending their wares, whether procured and resold, fresh mixed, prepared on cart, baked at home or random impulsive tasty foodstuff.

These hawkers depend on local sales to survive. Many live in homes nearby where the majority do not have doors, windows or flushing toilets. They each have their own distinct method to get your attention. The pizza-by-the-slice purveyor on a bike uses a car battery connected to a boom-box to blare out disco music, with voiceover as the menu. Another man goes through the streets, every other residence, in a very raspy hoarse voice, screaming of sweet bread for purchase. Each day over ten vendors would pass.

The complex was filled with affable guests from all over the world. Over time, I befriended one of my neighbors, Valentin, a burly hirsute Viking looking computer programmer from Montreal. He would later become the investor in my TV show. In two shakes of a lamb’s tail all eight units were booked. Many a night was spent outside sitting on the patio under the bright stars celebrating the wonder of life through profound conversation with new friends. One of the greatest benefits of travel is the people you meet.

Of the daily group there are always a few characters. George and Michele from Czech Republic were a daily source of meaningful conversation – as they travel the world trying to rid the oceans of endless plastic. Rocky, his preferred moniker, a seventy-two year old, extremely outgoing and energetic, filled with Midwest love and compassion, always at the ready for a witty remark or a good time, was a pisser. He was right out of a movie; as were many whose paths I crossed during my time in celebrated Nicte-Ha.

While living in close quarters with others over a long period of time it is without fail that some close relationships will result. Valentin was the first foreigner I met when I moved to Mexico. Eventually a friendship ensued. We would spend nights having local street-stand tacos and beers while talking about everything under the sun. At one point, my show became the topic of interest and, by the time the night had come to a close, Valentin decided he wanted to become the sole investor to produce my TV pilot.

As with any major life decision, I interjected that he should first take the proper amount of time in order find resolve with his decision. It was also recommended that he read a copy of my book, Unbreakable Mind, in order to better fully comprehend the totality of my story. Two weeks later he came to me one afternoon and told me he was 100% committed to the project. Unfortunately, without being forthright, he still had doubts deep in the back of his head. And though he tried to hide them, they were obvious.

Although his words said otherwise, and his questions were flashing red-flags of neon, he insisted he was ready to move forward. Within two weeks, in an infantile tantrum, he decided to pull the plug. The show was off. Not a few days passed before he realized his rash mistake and wanted back in on the deal. We reluctantly agreed to accept him a second time, with the fear that he would later find some other quack reason to kill the deal. We also worried that he might decide to have another shit fit once filming began.

Well, as anticipated, and as you might expect, in due time, Valentin withdrew from the project a second time. But by this time he had already made commitments to people for their time and service. Others ended up being affected, collateral damage so to speak, as a result of another unprocessed impulsive decision. After relentlessly chasing a dream all over the globe for almost two years, attempting to bring to fruition through all means, it was time to walk away. The universe’s message could not be clearer.

A wise elder friend and mentor once told me, “Steven, never tie a bow around it.” In life we have our agenda, but life has its own, as well. And guess whose wins? Never yours! We have no control over our lives; the power of fate conquers all. Life has a way of beating you down until you are on your raw knees begging for mercy from above. As part of your karmic balance, each has their own lessons to overcome in this life. If you do not yield and realize these lessons, the universe returns them with multiplied force.

Obviously I had not learnt the intended lesson: giving up control – living in the now – learning to be patient, waiting for the ‘grand illusion’ to reveal itself. In the interim, we are to continue learning about love and forgiveness, increasing our vibration. Earth is a spiritual school where only the bravest of souls decide to live as a human. What is our purpose here? Why are we here? Every day we each have the opportunity to grow from our experience on earth – every day our reaction and attitude are our choice.

Losing the deal was a gift in disguise. Truth be told, I have no real interest in being on TV, nor all that accompanies that lifestyle. Part of the lesson on giving up control was accepting that for one [unknown] reason or another, the universe had other plans for me than a TV show – at least at this period. What was the reason? That is part of the mystery of life: recognizing the infinite synchronicity and inextricable interconnectedness of the universe at play in every moment of our daily lives. It forever surrounds us.

But I am fine with waiting for the universe to reveal its plan. If we continue on and do not acknowledge the lesson, continuing to carry on without being aware of our true purpose, in which the universe is trying to make us aware, life can be a real drag, not worth living. Life is about facing the unknown, head-on. Travel by its very nature has a never-ending plethora of unknowns. And no different than living, travel causes you to have to face and overcome your fears, befalling tremendous growth for future use.

Travel closely parallels life, as it is an experiential process: one that must be kicked off or fully lived, respectively. No different than trying to figure out how to get to a difficult location in a wheelchair, the universe does not provide a net until action is taken. It is only when venturing out into the void of the great mystery, questing through the fathomless far reaches of the heart, voyaging into the unrevealed dimensions of uncharted territory – the collective unconscious – that you find your conscious not-self.

This journey has revealed its purpose: to accept life as it comes by living ‘in the now’ – and to maintain immense gratitude for the limitless love and support surrounding us always, without fail neither of duty nor of time. Life is a big mirror, a mere self-reflection; what we see in others we are ourselves. Travel, forcing you to shed your superficial titles and security blankets, the story horse of vulnerability that we all ride, opens the way to the road less traveled – the road to your heart, to your inner-being, to God.

Everything happens for a reason. I am where I am supposed to be at this moment of my life – Mexico.

Travel Blog: Click here.

Spiritual Blog: Click here.

Book: Unbreakable Mind. (Print, Kindle, Audio)

Doing The Dirty Dishes Podcast: Watch or listen to episodes and subscribe: Spotify, Apple Podcast, Buzzsprout. Also available on Google Podcast, iHeart, Tunein, Amazon Alexa and Stitcher.

Doing The Dirty Dishes YouTube channel – watch and subscribe.

Social Media links: Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin.

Travel Blog links: Covid-19 stranded in NYC JFK and Maine – also travel stories on Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Iceland, Colombia (Espanol version), Amsterdam, Germany, New Hampshire, TN and NYC.

Personal Website link where you can also find my book, photos of my travels and updates on current projects.

Thank you for your love and support.

#steven quigley writer #steven quigley blogger #doingthedirtydishespodcast #steven quigley #stevenquigleyauthor #stevenquigley #doingthedirtydishes.com #doingthedirtydishesspiritual #doingthedirtydishestravel #doingthedirtydishes #unbreakable mind #unbreakable mind book #unbreakablemindbook #unbreakablemind

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stephenandsparklesdokorea · 2 years

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Jeju Island: Woljeong Beach

Today we made the journey to Jeju Island, the second of our four Korean destinations (Gyeonju, Jeju, Busan, Seoul).

In the morning we packed up at the mini hotel, Stephen walked over and got everyone tickets in advance at the bus station (a good thing because the 8:40 sold out and we were able to get tickets on the later of our two options, the 9:20), then we walked to get breakfast at McDonald's. Gil and Matt met us from the nearby GG hotel because they forgot to make their mini hotel reservations through Monday. Breakfast was pretty divine, between the two of us, Stephen and I had a hallabong (local citrus fruit) slushie, chicken and cheese McMuffin, hash browns, hot cakes, and coffee. Josh and Alexis joined, and after eating we all picked up our bags from our hotels and walked to the intercity bus terminal to wait outside for our ride to Busan, where we’d then transfer to the airport to fly to Jeju. The bus was super nice bus with reclining leather seats and foot rests, curtains for the windows. It was a quiet hour ride to the bus station in Busan, followed by a short, Stephen-led walk to the train station, luggage in tow, and finally two stops on the metro to the airport.

We had an easy, in-person check in for Jeju Air (except I got called back to the luggage security area because I left too many lithium batteries in my bag), and ultimately nobody had to pay extra despite a few of our bags being over the advertised 15 kilo weight limit. While we waited at the terminal, Alexis sipped on a sweet potato latte, I tried some grapefruit soda, and after queuing to board in an organized manner, we were all seated at the back of the plane together. It was a quick, hour long flight to Jeju Island, most of which offered ocean views and as we approached Jeju a vantage point of the entire island. Although not large, Jeju is home to Korea’s tallest mountain, Hallasan, which occupies the middle of the island with coastal cities to the north (Jeju City) and south (Seogwipo). The Jeju City airport was outrageously busy, it was probably the most chaotic and claustrophobic feeling place we went to in Korea.

While the others waited for our baggage, Stephen and I got started on the car rental process. With the help of Kheumhee and Davis, I had rented us a 9 seater Kia Carnival minivan from a korean company, Lotte Rent A Car. We took a shuttle from the airport to their Auto House, where it was busy but streamlined, especially since we were the only group in the “foreigners” line. (They make it difficult to book from abroad because you have to use a Korean system of payment, hence the help from Kheumhee).

While the check in was easy, it turns out a 9 person van is just a regular minivan with an extra fold down seat where the trunk (aka luggage!) space would normally be. I think the pit of our whole trip was realizing were were going to have to fit 7 grown ass adults and their luggage in a 7 seater minivan. With Stephen’s international driver’s permit (which you can get at an AAA with your regular US driver’s license), he can’t operate larger 12 seater vans per Korea’s rules, so we were stuck with what we had. It was a good thing that the majority of the car was full of engineers because it certainly took some tight tetris-ing to get arms, legs, bags inside the vehicle. Although cramped, the car was a nice kia carnival otherwise and we made the 45 minute drive to our first destination, Wolji Beach, without incident.

Overall, the speed limit on the island feels ridiculously slow, with so many speed bumps and 30kph school zones through otherwise agricultural areas growing citrus fruits. We found out Stephen actually got a robo-ticket at one point, which he paid upon dropping off our rental car at the end of our trip.

Wolji Beach was a cute little beach town, I picked it as a lunch stop given it’s proximity to the Manjuggul lava caves. Unfortunately, we arrived mid afternoon so most restaurants were between their lunch and dinner hours. Matt and Devin bought some croissants at a bakery then we found a very small but trendy place open with only 4 menu items, all served on wood slabs: a hamburger, a pasta dish, American brunch, and French brunch plates. We were hungry so didn’t deliberate, and it ended up being pretty good if not a little pricy compared to most eateries. Of my brunch plate, the rosemary potatoes and roasted eggplant were the best part.

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ippworld · 2 years

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6 Easy Steps To Build And Grow Your Brand In China

Since 2012, when China first claimed top spot as the largest single source tourist market for Asia-Pacific countries, their numbers have not diminished.

When we consider just 8.7% (or 120 millions of China's population) are registered with passports (as opposed to 36% in USA), Chinese tourist arrivals globally are expected to double in the next few years.

It was not surprising that by 2017, overseas travels of Chinese tourists had ballooned to over 145 million trips. They are also the world's biggest spenders, which UNWTO accounts for over US$258 billion in tourism receipts.

For businesses in the global travel and hospitality industry, one will surely gaze in awe as well as excitement at these numbers.

What steps should global hoteliers, hospitality, lifestyle and retail establishments take, in order to bite into a slice of China's millions of outbound travellers?

Step One - Be ‘Linguistically Visible'

For the Chinese travellers, their ‘customer experience' starts from comfortably browsing and reading your website in their preferred language – Simplified Chinese. But do not ever expect machine translation systems to help you bridge that language divide.

Because marketing-related content are written by creative copywriters. Typically, such content are interspersed with satire, slang and colloquial expressions – to be engaging and enticing to their target readers. Translation machines are not built to decipher emotional expressions, or to analyse if sentences are funny or serious.

It does not identify missing words in the original source text, or to suggest better choice of words or phrases with the same meaning.

In view of these anomalies, the end-product of machine translated pieces are likely to be filled with unnatural sentence structures or nonsensical phrases which will be awfully embarrassing to the brand.

Only human bilingual editors can detect if there are errors or inconsistencies in the source text, and to equally mimic the emotional aspects of the source copywriter's intended pun.

Transcreation (translations with a creative spin) or aka creative translation, is what you need.

This is to be certain that your source content is effectively localized into the Chinese language, or any other language versions.

Having good localized content is so imperative, especially in trying to woo your target audiences for a call-to-action, to visit your website, etc.

With good creative translation, your target audiences will be able to build that emotional connection with your brand, in every language.

Step Two – Understand That China is a Mobile-first Nation

For example, Chinese travellers would search on news about overseas destinations, check on hotel websites, weather, etc., on Chinese social media sites and travel forums via their mobile devices.

Most would prefer to make online purchases such as, accommodations, air tickets, train rides, local tours, etc., which are booked before their trip.

Other items such as, ‘event entry tickets', ‘car rentals', ‘restaurant reservations', etc. will likely be purchased during their trip. These are done through the mobile apps that are installed on their smartphones.

Step Three – Understand China's Blockade on Foreign Websites and Online Apps

Majority of Western-based Internet and online apps, such as Google, PayPal, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest etc., are censored by the ‘Great Firewall' of China.

This chart was created using various logos of the more popular apps uniquely used only in China.

The Chinese use these apps to browse the Internet, perform Online Payments, Messaging, Video Streaming, Social Media Chats, etc.

In short, they do not have any need to use those Western-based apps commonly used outside China.

It means that various online ad marketing campaigns running on Western-based apps will not work, resulting in investments spent to be futile.

For global hoteliers, hospitality, travel, lifestyle and retail establishments targeting Chinese consumers, the correct strategy is to run your online banners, video ads, notifications, push-ads mechanicals, etc. on China-based media apps and websites.

This will have much more tangible results in gaining access into the large Chinese outbound travellers' market.

Related Content:

Download: Our Guide To Marketing To China

Step Four – Understand Chinese ‘FITs'

FIT refers to ‘Free, Independent Traveller'. The trend amongst Chinese tourists is to move away from stereotype organized ‘flag waving' tour packages, to more authentic travel and holiday experiences. These FITs prefer self-planned D-I-Y vacations that are not bound by rigid schedules.

They are mostly from middle to higher income households, with an average annual combined income of US$35,000. It's estimated that 30 million households have already crossed this threshold.

For websites of hotel and tourist resorts intending to woo the Chinese travellers, providing content about the destination's key attractions such as, “unique places to visit”, “what to do”, “day or night city tours”, etc. are information that are more likely to attract these Chinese FITs.

Step Five – Understand Chinese Preference on Customized Travels

China's growth in affluence created large numbers of higher income earners who enjoy the refined taste in ‘customized travels'. They prefer self-coordinated or individualized tours, as well as unique and meaningful holiday experiences.

In a joint report by China Tourist Academy and Ctrip, bookings for their customized travels for the first half of 2018 saw a 300% y-o-y increase.

Chinese customized travellers want to immerse in the local culture, unique architectures, as well as visit museums and historical sites that are well-known in a destination.

Thus, to attract these customized travellers, it is necessary for hoteliers, hospitality, lifestyle and retail establishments to include features in their website content such as, places of interest, cultural attractions, right down to unique dining experience, entertaining and fun events, etc.

It is also important to consider getaway packages that coincide with the Chinese preferred travel calendar. These are during China's ‘Golden Week' national holidays.

For travel businesses in Europe and USA, the Golden Week holidays are the Chinese high-season periods, which are most ideal as they coincide with the low-season holidays experienced in Europe and USA.

Promotional campaigns should be launched three or two months before each of their high-season periods.

Step Six – Provide Online Transaction With Chinese Payment Gateways

From surveys conducted among Chinese travellers, 65% had paid their expenses via mobile payments, while 77% had spent more because mobile payments were accepted.

It is prudent to include online payment gateways such as Union Pay, Alipay or Wechat Pay.

Union Pay is accepted in over 170 countries. While Alipay and WeChat Pay, the two most popular digital mobile wallets in China, also have partnerships with overseas networks.

The Chinese use their mobile wallets for cash transactions, which are ideal for taxi rides, at eateries or convenient stores, which are oftentimes cumbersome due to the language barrier.

In Summary

For global hotels, hospitality, lifestyle and retail establishments wanting to gain access into the burgeoning Chinese travel market, the key is to be ‘linguistically visible'. This is in having Chinese language content on your website and a strategy to deploy promotional online campaigns across China's mobile app platforms and websites.

To be linguistically visible also means providing Chinese versions of brochures and literature on places of interest at your venue, property, attractions, etc.

Considering that the same artwork can be used for online reading at your website, or as downloadable pdfs for sharing, as well as for printing of hardcopy versions.

Having your marketing and publicity content in Chinese is mostly a one-time investment.

While running your online marketing and advertising campaigns through a precision Push & Pull Programmatic Ad strategy on Chinese websites and social media platforms (as opposed to international-used platforms), are all prudent investments.

These initiatives will translate into greater and better exposures for your branding messages, and also for your ongoing marketing to the millions of would-be Chinese travellers.

These are the critical steps that can help you attract and win the hearts and minds of the Chinese travellers.

A well-sustained strategy builds stronger brand presence in this ever-growing market.

Needless to say, the financial returns are manyfold.

#transcreation #business translations

0 notes

bebepac · 2 years

Text

Snow Day! ❄

I am participating in @wackydrabbles prompt # 131 I don’t feel so good will be in bold.

This is also day 25 of @choicesjanuarychallenge2022 for delivery.

The Series: Mia’s 🌎 World The Book: Crossover: TRR x The Freshman Series Pairing: Mia x Jaiden (TRR MC x M!OC) / Freshman MC (Emily) x Chris Word Count: 1385 Warnings and Ratings: Profanity and sexual innuendo / Teen

Song Inspiration: We’ll Be Alright by Travie McCoy.

Original Post: 1/25/22 at 4:47PM EST

A/N: Recently my area has been hit with a lot of snow lately which has one caused us to have inclement weather plans at work, and I had to bring it out with this funny little story, aka poking fun at the south a bit for our insanity we get when snow comes. I’m a transplant here, so I know what a real snow is. and I know this is far from it.

Don’t be hating on our baby snow. But this is truly quite the weather event here in North Carolina!!!!

I will be also talking about the “Jeep Wave” which I have found to be a very real thing. In 2019, I had a Jeep as a rental car for a month while my car was in the body shop getting repairs. Also the Jeep people to go off roading just because.

And last but not least the infamous snow day. Snow Days don’t bring the same splendor to most adults as they did when you were a child. For me when the weather calls for snow, I get nervous, because of my job in Healthcare, it is very rare that we close. Snow is not bad to drive on, it’s the Ice, and when things start melting and freezing back up, hitting a patch of black ice can be a scary thing. So here’s to one of the few snow days I got to enjoy this go round because, I am on vacation. It was a good feeling not worrying about the already crazy drivers in North Carolina, and then adding snow and ice on top of that. As mentioned before, a lot of my Mia’s World content, is honestly based off of my college experiences. So even though I’ve made up the names of the characters, most of this is factual.

Hope you enjoy the Snow Day I talk about here.

Jaiden laughed as he watched the weather report.

"What's so funny?" Mia asked.

"Two to three inches of snow has North Carolina in a panic?!?! Snowmageddon, are they serious right now?"

"Hey not all of us are used to blizzards, Jai. The world shuts down here when we get snow. You don’t know what happened during our last really major snow. There are memes because of it now. Google snowmaggedon nc memes.”

Mia took our her phone showing Jaiden a picture.

“That’s a real picture Jai. That’s Glenwood Avenue a few miles away from Crabtree Valley Mall heading towards Brier Creek.”

“Why is there a car on fire?”

“Because it’s North Carolina, we don’t do snow here. And everyone rushes to the store for bread, milk and eggs."

Jaiden continued looking confused.

"Is French toast a winter storm food here or something?"

"No?"

"But then if you lose power, what are you gonna eat? Milk sandwiches and eggs you can’t cook? It doesn't make sense."

Mia thought for a second.

"You're right Jai, it really doesn't make sense."

"Why aren't you setting your alarm?"

"Because class is going to be canceled tomorrow."

"For two inches of snow? Mia, come on!"

Jaiden laughed even harder.

"When I was a kid in New York, walking home from school, I fell through a snow drift and the snow was waist high. Snow was not an excuse to be out of school."

"And I bet you walked ten miles to school all uphill and barefoot too right?"

"Now you sound like my Dad, Mia. But you’re right.” He kissed her nose. “I’m still going to set my alarm though. You might be wrong.”

Mia wasn’t wrong. The next day class was canceled due to snow.

“Guess we’re going back to sleep for a bit.”

When they woke up again, it had finally stopped snowing and there was even more on the ground.

Emily knocked on the door, before she walked in.

“Are you guys decent?” Emily had her hand over her eyes in case.

“Yes we’re decent, and that was one time, and you didn’t knock. That was your own damn fault.”

Emily peeked cautiously around her fingers.

“Just making sure I don’t see your boyfriend’s ass, again. No offense to your ass Jaiden."

Jaiden shrugged his shoulders.

"None taken."

"But I already have a boyfriend that has an ass, that can also be one when he wants to be.”

“Hey I heard that!!!” Chris screamed from her room.

“There’s a snowball fight at the quad in thirty. Teams of four. Get dressed.”

It didn’t take Jaiden long to get dressed. Mia however was putting on layer after the layer of clothes. She had on her jeans, two pairs of socks, boots, two shirts, her winter coat hat, scarf and mittens.

“Mia, it’s not that cold outside.” Jaiden chuckled.

“Again, Jai, not all of us are used to two degrees, and blizzards.”

“Then I'll keep you warm, my little snow bunny.” He pulled Mia by her scarf closer to him, kissing her lips softly. Mia melted into his kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“I feel warmer already.”

“And getting you out of all that later will be like unwrapping a present.”

His grip tightened on her hips.

“Jai stop, if you don’t, we’ll miss the snowball fight.”

There were lots of students out on the quad by the time they all got there. And at first, the game was organized. Teams going against each other and then things just unraveled. Everyone was just having fun. Throwing snowballs haphazardly with no team goal or winning in mind.

Snow angels and snowmen were beginning to be built.

“We could dress our snowman in a layer of your clothes Mia. Promise you’d still be warm.”

“Not funny Jai.”

“Emily too, she has on eighty five layers of clothes right now.”

“Ohhh you’re so funny Chris. You should try stand-up.”

“I don’t know why we let them pick on us so much, Em.”

“You know the guys that picked on you in school are the ones that like you.” Chris said, kissing Emily’s cheek.

“Then you boys loooooooooovvveeeee us!”

“Enough to get you some hot chocolate.”

“Yessssss! Our heroes!!!!”

After enjoying hot chocolate, Mia thought they were heading back inside.

“Want to go sledding?”

“On what? We don’t have sleds.”

“I have an idea. Come on Chris. We’ll be back in a few.”

A few minutes later Jaiden and Chris came back holding two mail baskets each from Jaiden’s work study job in the mail room.

“These will work, and they have handles for us to hold onto.”

“Well what do you know Mia? I didn’t think our guys could find it, but they did.”

“Find what?”

“The thousand and first way to die. I’m not sliding down a hill in that.”

“I don’t feel so good.” Mia shook her head.

“I mean it should work. I’ll go first and prove it.”

Jaiden the tallest of them all had contorted himself to sit in the mail basket.

Chris gave him a push and Jaiden sailed down the hill screaming.

“Okay that looks like fun, I’m going next.” Emily screeched, snatching Chris's bin.

Jaiden was running up the hill as Emily started down, unable to control the basket, she was heading right towards him.

"FOUR!!!!!" She screamed, as Jaiden leaped out of the way. Mia and Chris were laughing at the top of the hill.

"She's screaming four like it's golf!!!"

"Your face Jai when you thought she was going to hit you!"

Mia went next squealing in delight down the hill, against her fears.

"I'm so glad you did this Mia."

"Me too. This was a good idea."

Jaiden kissed her. " You're freezing Mia."

"You're not, come closer."

She pulled him closer to her, and Jaiden gave her a tight hug and rubbed her shoulders and arms to give her more warmth.

"Let's get inside and order pizza and watch some movies."

They all trudged inside into the warm heat, as Mia sat on the bed to order the pizzas.

"Jai, it's a two hour wait for delivery. I don't want to wait 2 hours for lunch. Let's go to the cafeteria to eat instead, and eat now, I'm hungry."

"No, order the pizzas, we're just gonna go pick it up instead. We'll take Rubi."

"Are you sure about this Jai?"

"Don't I always keep you safe Mia?"

"Yes, even when I am flying down a hill in a mail bin."

"Rubi can get us anywhere."

As they were driving Mia noticed Jai casually wave to people. It took her a few minutes to realize he was only waving to fellow jeep owners.

"Are you waving to just Jeep owners?"

"It's a jeep thing. It's the jeep wave. It's legit."

"I can't with you."

"What?!? it's for real!"

"Okay, if you ever get a jeep you'll notice it too. And you better wave."

"Old Blue will never die. But if she ever does, I'll keep that in mind."

They picked up the pizzas, and the only slide that was experienced was when Jaiden slipped a bit hopping out of Rubi heading into the Pizzeria.

Jaiden drove up on what was the grass and parked his vehicle right outside the dormitory to open the door for Mia.

"What are you doing?!?"

"Curbside drop-off isn't good enough for my lady, in this weather."

"Jaiden Brooks, I am so lucky you're my boyfriend."

"And don't you forget it." He winked and smiled as Mia feigned anger and gently shoved him.

He helped Mia take the pizza and sodas inside, and when Jaiden came back a security guard was standing beside his vehicle.

"You can't park here kid."

"I know, I just wanted to make sure my girlfriend got inside safely. I'm moving now."

Jaiden moved his vehicle back to the student parking lot and headed back to the dorm.

Mia smiled when he walked in.

"Oh thank God FINALLY! She made us all wait for you, before we could dig in."

"Yeah, he drove to get food in Snowmageddon for us. Jai you're totally on my Zombie Apocalypse team."

"Oh my god! Can you stop stroking his ego already?" Emily laughed, grabbing for pizza.

"As long as she strokes something else later after I unwrap my present."

Mia playfully hit Jaiden's shoulder.

"Why is your mind so dirty Jai!!!!"

"I told you Mia, it's always the good guys you have to worry about."

Later that evening finally alone, and the bathroom door locked, so Emily or Chris couldn't come through, Jaiden and Mia indulged in some well deserved alone time.

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angelasscribbles · 3 years

Text

The Hotel Mix Up: Part 1

Series: Hinge.

Fandom: The Royal Romance/The Royal Heir

Pairings: Drake x Riley x Liam

Rating: M, NSFW

Warnings: sexual situations, language, mature themes

Chapter Summary: This is set at the beginning of book four, aka TRH book one. It takes place on the road trip from New York to Texas.

A/N: See author's note on Polyamory and more.

Everything else: Master List.

Tags: @texaskitten30 @tessa-liam @karahalloway @gkittylove99

@nestledonthaveone @kachrisberry @fangirling12566

@belencha77 @lovingchoices14 @twinkle-320

It was the first leg of their cross-country drive from New York to Texas and they had just pulled into the hotel parking lot.

“Where are we?” Hanna asked as she peered out the window, “it’s really dark.”

Maxwell shrugged as he guided the rental through the parking lot searching for an empty spot, “Somewhere in Virginia.”

“Hurry up and park,” Drake sounded grumpier than usual, “My legs are cramped, and I have to pee.”

“Once we get settled in, can we order room service?” Riley asked.

“Whatever you want, my queen.” Liam smiled down at her as he took her hand and lifted it to his lips. She beamed up at him in response.

Drake grunted and rolled his eyes, “Get a room.” He muttered under his breath.

They had been taking turns driving and taking turns riding shotgun but for the last two hours Riley had been sandwiched in the back seat between Liam and Drake. She found it simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying.

While Liam had agreed to accept her relationship with Drake and vice versa, she had never found herself in quite so close quarters with both of them at once. She could feel the heat from each of their bodies, smell the familiar scents of both of the men she loved. It was intoxicating and nerve racking at the same time. Liam reached for her hand and Drake stiffened, looking away.

True to his word, Drake normally took it in stride when Liam touched her. Of course, that was generally in public, with crowds of people around. When they were alone together, they were together. Drake might stay to the edges of events watching Liam glide her around the dance floor, but when she crept through the secret passageways and into his room at night, she belonged to him. He touched her possessively then, he showed her how much he wanted her then.

Even during formal dinners, he was accustomed to watching her look up at Liam with that light shining in her eyes, seeing her lay her hand on his arm or rest her head against his shoulder. Sometimes it caused an ache in his chest, but that was because being close to her without touching her was a very real struggle for him.

When it was just the five of them, Riley, Liam, Hanna, Max, and him, he risked more. There was no real discussion but somehow Maxwell and Hanna just accepted that Drake would sit next to Riley, just as Liam would, Riley in the middle between them. His hand would find hers under the table, he was careful not to be too obvious but when it was just Hanna and Maxwell, he was more forward, resting a hand on her thigh or gently sweeping her hair out of her face. Their friends didn’t care, and they made a point not to make a point of it.

She was his and yet, there was a part of him that still felt she was more Liam’s than his. A part of him that didn’t want to hurt Liam or overstep any boundaries. A part of him that felt guilty that he was often happy when royal business kept Liam occupied for days at a time. In a very real way, she was his more often that she was Liam’s. So, when Liam was there, Drake tried to take a step back, give them space. But never had he had to sit so close to her for so long without touching her. It took everything in him not to reach out just to feel her. So he gritted his teeth and stared moodily out the window instead.

When the car stopped, he couldn’t get out of it fast enough. Muttering about having to find a bathroom, he left the others and went into the hotel first. At least he’d be in his own room soon enough, where he could wallow in self-pity before having to endure another car ride from hell first thing tomorrow morning.

He took care of his bladder then made his way back to the front of the hotel. As he approached the others at the check in desk, he heard Liam arguing with clerk, “No, I absolutely booked four rooms.”

“I’m sorry sir, I don’t know what to tell you,” the clerk was saying, “But we only have two reservations under that name.”

Liam let out a long, frustrated sigh, “Do they at least have two beds per room?”

“Let me check” the clerk typed into a computer then answered, “one of the rooms has two double beds and the other room has a double king, but there is a separate living room with a pull-out couch as well.”

Liam turned to the others in exasperation, “So what do we do?”

“That’s easy!” Riley smiled, “Max and Hanna will take the room with two beds, and we’ll take the bigger room, Drake can have the pull-out couch.”

No. Drake felt the blood drain out of his face. Was she serious? In what universe did she imagine he wanted to be in the next room while they…….

He realized everyone was starting at him, so he cleared his throat and said, “Whatever. Let’s just get settled in so I can get to bed.”

They rode the elevator up and exited on the fifth floor. They came to Maxwell and Hana’s room first. Everyone said their good nights then the three of them found their room. Liam unlocked the door and they all trooped inside.

The suite itself was luxurious enough, the living room was large with a kitchenette to one side, a big screen TV and a minibar. The bedroom was visible through a set of double doors, the huge bed prominent as it took up most of the space.

“How’s the couch look?” Liam asked.

“Looks fine.” Drake replied as he sat down to test it out.

“Let’s see!” Riley practically threw herself down next to him and bounced up and down a little. Drake closed his eyes. He really didn’t need to watch her bouncing around like that right next to him.

“Didn’t you say you were hungry?” He asked, mostly to change the subject.

“Yeah, I did, I am. What do you want from room service?”

“Me? Oh, nothing, I’m fine-”

“Nonsense!” Liam exclaimed, “We’re not going to leave you out, get something, even if it’s just dessert.”

Drake sighed, “Fine. Let’s see the menu.”

Once the food was ordered, Liam excused himself to go take a shower. As soon as he was out of the room, Riley turned to Drake with her eyebrow up, “You wanna tell me what’s been wrong with you all day?”

Drake sighed, running a hand through his hair, “Really? You have to ask?”

Riley looked him in the eye and nodded, “Yeah, I’m asking. So answer.”

“It’s just… seeing you with Liam….not being able to touch you…..I’ve never felt like it was cheating before but…….”

“That’s what’s bothering you?” She sounded amused.

“I don’t see what’s funny-”

“We’re alone now. Touch me.”

“Riley I-”

“Drake, touch me!”

He froze and she saw the desire in his eyes. He reached for her and pulled her into a passionate kiss. She leaned into him, returning his heat with some of her own. He felt his pulse quicken as his hands started to roam down her body. She felt so good in his arms, the desire that had been building as he sat leg to leg with her in the car for the last two hours threatened to overwhelm him. He pressed against her harder, leaning her back against the cushions as his hand glided up her inner thigh. She moaned and thrust against him causing him to gasp and shudder as his fingers found the fabric of her skirt. He pushed the edge of the skirt up slowly higher and higher as his other hand grasped the back of her head and pulled her closer as he deepened the kiss. God, he has missed this so much the last couple of days. He wanted her so badly that his body ached. He felt her hands fumbling at his belt buckle.

“Riley, what are you-” then her hands found him. He sucked in a sharp breath as she reached inside his jeans, and gently rubbed him over his boxer briefs. He stopped everything he was doing to focus on that feeling. Jesus fucking christ it felt so good, she felt so good. He shoved her skirt the rest of the way up and grabbed her panties about to yank them down when there was knock at the door. He froze, suddenly remembering where they were, and that Liam was right in the next room.

“Fuck! God damn it!” He hissed.

“Ah, that would be room service.” Riley said breathlessly as she stood up and straightened her clothes.

She opened the door and stepped back to let the bellhop in. Drake stood up with a growl and began fastening his pants. The bellhop quickly looked down at the floor, “Uh sorry, I, ah- sign here please.”

Riley tried to suppress a smile as she signed the receipt and the bellhop scurried back out the door.

“I had to tip extra for that.” She teased.

“For what?”

“I think you embarrassed him.”

Drake scowled at her for a moment then a hint of a grin tugged at the corners of his lips, “Whatever Campbell, I’m sure he’s seen far worse.”

“Worse than what?” Liam had returned from the shower.

“Nothing.” Drake went back to glowering.

“Just Drake being Drake.” Riley said lightly as she removed the lids from the room service trays, “Let’s eat!”

When the meal was over and they tried to pull out the couch, it was stuck.

“Oh come on!” Drake shook his head in exasperation, “Are you kidding me? How could this night get any worse? Guess I’m sleeping on the floor!”

“Surely there’s a better solution that that.” Liam responded.

“I don’t see what.”

“I have an idea.” Riley’s voice was quiet but they both paused what they were doing and looked up at her. She stood in the doorway, a slight smile on her face.

“Yeah, what’s that?”

“We’ll all just sleep in the bed, it’s big enough, that thing is huge.”

Drake froze, desire and panic spread across his face, “Ah- I’m not sure that’s a good idea-”

“Of course it is! We’re just sleeping, what could it hurt?” She questioned.

He eyed her warily trying to decide if she was serious.

“Riley’s right.” Liam said, “Come on, let’s get some sleep.”

Drake followed them into the bedroom thinking, yeah, sure, this isn’t awkward at all.

Part 2

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lukealvezhimboextraordinaire · 3 years

Note

Kathony + squishing the other's cheek

Please lmao they'd be so mad if one of them did it 🤣🤣

okay so this has gotten out of hand but here you go:

kathony + squishing the other's cheek.

heavily based on leap year.

It had been a series of unfortunate events that had brought them together in what had to be the worst road trip since modern cars were invented. Kate Sharma was not a woman that easily allowed anyone to get behind the wheel of her absurdly old yet still fabulous baby aka the old red beetle her father had passed down to her the day she left for university. Benji, as the whole family had called the car ever since Kate was a four years old with an avid imagination and a thing for giving names to any inanimate object she came across, had been with her for the past ten years and most days was the only thing keeping her sane. She did not want to dwell too much on the reasons why sitting in her old car gave her such a sense of security. Or why often she kept imagining her father smiling at her from the passenger’s seat, soft encouraging words leaving his lips as he patiently waited for her to gather the courage to park in line. Her father had been her biggest fan and Benji was all she had left of him. She had not driven or gotten into another car ever since her father passed away.

Maybe that was the reason why she was so annoyed by her current predicament.

Sighing, she cast a side-eye glance to her left. There, sitting in the driver’s seat of a rented car was the only man that had ever managed to simultaneously make anger boil in her stomach and set her skin on fire. Not that she would ever admit the second part - not even to herself. And not only was he looking like he had always belonged there, in a car with her, he also had the smuggest smile plastered on his stupidly handsome face. Kate huffed annoyed and turned her eyes to the window, purposefully ignoring the butterflies going wild in her stomach.

Life was incredibly unfair at times.

You might be wondering why exactly Kate Sharma was stuck in a car with her nemesis, aka Anthony Bridgerton. The answer is both extremely complicated and very simple. A series of very unfortunate events had led Anthony to be late for his sister’s wedding in a lovely and yet very secluded little town in lovely Ireland. Kate, who was a very modern woman, had gotten tired of waiting for her Irish boyfriend to propose to her and upon learning of a very fascinating tradition of the country of clovers had decided she might as well take matters into her own hands. But fate had wanted her lovely boyfriend to be out on a work trip in Dublin the only day in the next four years she could ask him to marry her and blame tradition for it. Naturally, she wasn’t going to let a couple thousand kilometers between them stop her from achieving her goals. The only problem? All the flights were booked for the next week.

And that’s when and where things had started going downhill.

It had not been the end of the world for Kate. She liked to drive and a road trip across one of the most beautiful countries in the world was hardly torture. But then her adored car had decided to not start and no matter how many times she tried, it did not start. That was a setback but not a big one to alter Kate’s plans. She grabbed her bag and rushed to the rental car point, only to be told there was only one car available. The problem? There was another person interested in it. And said person was willing to triple the fee to get the car.

In slow motion, Kate turned around to discover the person currently getting in the way of her and her marriage proposal was a prim, polish, stern-looking man. What started as an amicable and polite conversation soon morphed into a heated argument. The poor man behind the counter looked positively mortified but none of them seemed to notice. And then an amused voice had broken through the screams match with a suggestion so casual and logical that it left the both of them baffled.

Sharing the car. It was ridiculous.

But they had no other option.

Which brings us back to Kate and Anthony (it turned out the posh looking man had a matching posh name) stuck together in a way too small car for any of their likings.

“We have been on the road for four hours and you still haven’t told me what’s the oh so important thing waiting for you in Dublin?” A deep voice broke the comfortable silence.

Kate turned in her seat, casting him a quick look. He was not going to understand. He would even laugh at her, she was sure of it. So she chose to remain silent.

But Anthony had grown tired of the silence and decided to start a civil conversation with her even if that meant reciting a monologue until she had no option but to shut him up.

“I am on my way to the wedding. Of my sister, the wedding of my sister. My second younger sister. I have four sisters, you see. And three brothers. I am the oldest and I am to walk her down the aisle.” Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the dark-haired woman huff through her nose with clear annoyance. He wouldn’t have been able to stop the pompous smile from making its way to his face even if he had tried. Which he did not. There was something about getting under Kate’s skin that gave him a rush of adrenaline. He wasn’t sure what it was. But he liked it. “Frannie is getting married to Michael. He is the cousin of her former fiance, John.” That seemed to catch her attention but she stubbornly refused to give in. “John stood her up at the altar. It was all terribly dramatic.”

“And she is marrying his cousin?” Despite herself, Kate was not capable of stopping herself from asking. A terrible mistake because the moment her mouth opened Anthony’s eyes twinkled with pride.

The car didn’t get a moment of peace ever since.

“This was a terrible idea,” Kate muttered under her breath, a big fake smile plastered on her face.

“You were the one who wanted to stop for the night.” He pointed out.

“That was before knowing this.”

This was the only place available in the town, only booking rooms for couples. Married couples. It had to be a cruel joke. But they were both soaked to the core, tired and hungry and the pros of a warm shower and a comfortable bed outweighed the cons of having to pretend to be married to this horrible man she could not quite stop thinking about.

“Aren’t you an adorable couple! How long have you been married?” The thick accent of the woman lacing every word.

“Two weeks!”

“A month.”

They shared a look. Kate laughed, hitting him hard in the arm but making it look like it was just a caress.

“We have had this conversation before, honey.” The sarcasm on the pet name went unnoticed by their hosts. “He counts it since he proposed. I count it since we said our vows.”

The old couple was positively delighted by this. The woman took a step further towards them and then did something none of them had expected. She grabbed Anthony’s cheek’s and squeezed them in the most grandmotherly gesture ever. “Aren’t you the sweetest thing ever?”

Anthony’s ears turned a deep shade of red. “Err, yeah. I was looking forward to marrying this woman. I could barely contain myself, really.”

Kate had to bite down the inside of her cheek to keep from bursting out in laughter.

“I can’t believe she did that!” Anthony protested as soon as the door to their shared room closed behind him. His ears were still red from before but now his cheeks were matching and not precisely because he was blushing.

Kate only laughed. She could barely remember the last time she had had so much fun. He fixed her with a murderous glance.

“But you are oh so sweet!” she teased, brown eyes twinkling with good natured malice. “So cute! So in love!”

“Stop!”

“Barely able to stop yourself from marrying your wife right then and there! Such a prince charming!” Her hands were now resting over her chest and a dreamy look plastered on her face.

“Sharma, I swear to god!” He had cut any distance between them and was now standing with his face mere inches from hers. He was so close she could smell the coffee in his breath.

Kate’s whole body tensed.

And then she did something unexpected. Her hands found their way to his face, crading it sweetly for a moment and then she simply squished his cheeks. His eyes went wide with shock and the laugh she had been holding inside broke through her ribs, filling the room.

“I am going to kill you!” He growled.

“Oh but you wouldn’t do that to your lovely wife, would you Mister Bridgerton?”

He watched her disappear behind the curtain separating the ensuite from the room and shook his head, smiling despite himself.

“Hey, Kate?”

“Yeah?” The sound of water hitting the tiles resonated in the room.

“If I was your boyfriend you would have a ring in your finger by now.”

“What?” She peaked her head out of the curtain and looked at him through squished eyes. “Did you say something?” His heart missed a beat.

“Yeah, I said that any man would have to be crazy to agree to marry you!”

#fics #mine #kathony #kanthony #kate sharma #anthony bridgerton #i had so many ideas for this #but i had to contain myself #so much fun writting this #bridgerton #leap year au

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albatris · 1 year

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Honestly, I just wanna vibe with you for a bit. You said to ask you questions and, to be fair, I would love to know about rentalcar!, Because I just started following you and your blog feels like a deepdive-fandom-lore for a fandom I'm not in. Like, it is a scary story, and then something something vampires? But what else? How would you describe your Baby ™ as?

Hiiii hello! Let's vibe! I am pouring you a sweet warm drink of your choice and offering u a biscuit :D

I can absolutely tell you about rentalcar aka A Rental Car Takes a Left Down Rake Street and Disappears! my very first foray into writing proper horror c: plus my first time writing a viewpoint character who's schizotypal like me! it's been very fun on both counts

I'm going to borrow my description from the discord 'cause it's the neatest one I've got right now~

This is a campy queer horror trilogy about a freshly-turned body-horror vampire and an equally monstrous human bastard on their quest to murder the giant vampire hivemind god known as "the Garble". It's violent and silly and full of rage about capitalism and ableism, among other things!

Schizotypal hermit Nat Finch leaves work one afternoon, and the next thing he knows he's waking up on the side of the road covered in mud with no memory of the last nine days. All attempts to return to regular life are quickly thwarted - whatever happened during his blackout has left him morphing into something distinctly inhuman. When his new condition reaches a bloody, ravenous breaking point, a human stranger steps in: Quinn Cooper, powerful and dazzling manipulator with a cruel streak, here to mitigate the damage and offer Nat safety under their wing... as long as Nat does exactly what he's asked and doesn't ask questions.

The story in book one is mostly Nat trying to solve his little mystery (What Happened During His Blackout And Why He Got Vampired) while slowly uncovering the grim secrets Quinn is hiding. Book one mostly lays the groundwork and foreshadowing for my "vampirism as a condition is just one giant hivemind" worldbuilding, while books two and three explode it open and explore it properly :3

Other MCs include Alex, rigidly moral vampire lawyer having ten existential crises at once, Yvonne, cheery video game fanatic full of barely-contained simmering fury (she works customer service, you get it), and Zeke, romance novelist by day and vampire hunter by night, who desperately needs to stop burning herself out every other week and practice some self-care.

I've been working on it for a bit over a year now! I'm aiming to have a draft of book one finished and ready for beta readers by the end of the year :3

I also have a lot of fun facts and lore about rentalcar brand vampires I can tell you about!! it's some of my favourite worldbuilding I've ever done!

also there's a playlist!!

#a rental car takes a left down rake street and disappears #:D!!!!#thank u for vibing!!

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whirlybirbs · 5 years

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⋆ —– CARHOP COOL, 3 and a 1/2.

summary: it’s time for a two day vacation to the beach, aka lake tippecanoe. pairing: steve harrington x reader, au!post season three word count: 1.8k, mostly world building a/n: have some good ol’ establishing-the-au fic! and billy! and steve’s mom! things are gonna get a little freaky up at the lake. here’s a filler chapter.

⤌ PREVIOUS ⋆ NEXT ⤍

Steve’s driveway is crowded.

Tippecanoe, two hours North from Hawkins, was home to the Harrington family’s lakehouse. His mom had asked, earlier in the summer, if Steve would be willing to ride up and make sure everything was alright between rentals -- she’d cheerily added, “Go up for a day or two. Bring Dustin, Robin, whoever -- you kids need a vacation after everything that happened, y’know?”

(Janine Harrington had, in recent weeks, become infinitely closer with her son -- when men in suits had brought a bloodied Steve home that night in early July, priding him as a hero, a lot of things changed. He’d opened up about everything in the days following, spurring Janine to reach out to Mrs. Wheeler and Mrs. Henderson and Mrs. Byers and even Hopper, whom her husband couldn’t stand, with kind words and promises that their children were allowed over anytime -- they were bound together now, by Government NDA’s.

It was a nice change, though, between her and Steve -- there was a lot more trust now.)

His mom is chatting happily with Mrs. Byers by the mailbox as Will grabs his towel and cooler, loading the stuff into the Wheeler family hatchback. Nancy unlocks it for him between chatting with Jonathan. Mike helps, grin turning upwards as Dustin arrives with Lucas on his heels, bikes dropped by the mailbox as the boys laugh and launch into one another’s arm.

“Vacation, baby!”

Steve, carrying his own towel over his shoulder, laughs when Dustin finally calls out, sneakers pounding across the hot asphalt of the Harrington home’s driveway.

They both meet half-way.

“Steve!” he gets a toothless grin, “It’s vacay time!”

“Oh, you know --” the handshake is quick, calculated, and well-practiced, “We’re gonna get our tan on --”

The roar of a Camaro startles the group from their laughter.

Billy Hargrove rolls around the cul-de-sac, pulling up behind the Byer’s car and the mailbox before promptly cutting the engine and the Judas Priest track.

Max, with dueling, flaming red braids, hops from the front seat with a beaming smile.

The boys give a victorious cry.

“Zoomer!”

Billy’s slow to exit the car, aviators perched on his nose. The Def Leppard shirt’s sleeves has been chopped off, really hammering home the whole ‘suns out, guns out’ motto the lifeguard seems to be living by this summer.

After the Battle of Starcourt, a lot of things changed.

The biggest change, though, seemed to be in Billy Hargrove -- post Mind Flayer, he’d been exposed to the world the Upside Down created, the world his sister and everyone else had been living in for the last year; he’d come out of the haze, out of the flayed, and cried into Max and Eleven’s arms, nothing but apologies on his mouth in the wake of the destruction.

Steve remembers seeing him in the back of one of the ambulances, holding Max’s hand, talking.

Not fighting, not screaming, not... being Billy.

Steve and Billy shared a look, then. Truce was what it meant.

At first, Billy tried to pretend the whole ‘Mind Flayer’ thing never happened.

But pretending didn’t get rid of the nightmares. And soon, Billy Hargrove was knocking on Will Byer’s door mid-D&D game looking for help, for someone to talk to.

The apology had come a few days later.

Billy had strolled up the Family Video, scaring the shit out of Steve, before offering his hand and a genuine apology. Robin watched on, a bit slack-jawed.

“I was a fucking asshole,” the blonde said slowly, “I’m sorry, man.”

Steve blinked at his hand.

After a moment, he shook it.

“It’s cool, dude,” Steve said before he could stop himself, “You didn’t know.”

“Doesn’t excuse the fact I was a dick, though.”

A look of surprise fleeted across Steve’s face. “Fair.”

Billy smiled, then, different from every other time he’d seen it. It wasn’t for show. It was... real. When Billy left, Robin had made a sound of pure shock before asking what the hell that was about.

“He beat the shit out of me,” Steve said, watching him drive away, “Tried to beat up Lucas, all while we were being hunted by Demogorgans... Just, y’know, was a genuine shit-bag.”

“Seems like he’s changed.”

“No kidding.”

“Trauma,” Robin chirps as she moves to sort the VHS’s, “is a hell of a thing.”

The malice that was there before the Fourth of July is gone. Instead, Billy smiles as he hauls Max’s cooler from the trunk of the navy sports car, offering Lucas a causal knuckle-touch before clapping Steve on the back.

“Hey man.”

“Hey Billy,” Steve chirps, “Nice outfit.”

“It’s hot out, alright,” he battles back, clearly amused, “I gotta work on my tan.”

“You coming with?” Steve asks, lips pulled into a smirk as he crosses his arms and shifts from foot to foot. His white converse are stark against the dark driveway, “We’ve got room.”

“Naw,” Billy breathes, crossing his arms, “I gotta shift at the pool -- thanks for the invite, though.”

“Yeah,” Steve shrugs, “It’s cool -- You’re one of the gang now.”

Billy’s lips quirk. Steve can tell that means something to him. Another clap on the back. Billy begins heading to his car, calling out to Max as he does.

“See ya, kid -- be safe, alright?” he waves his finger across the group, “All a’ you.”

She gives her brother a grin. “’Kay, loser.”

“‘Kay, brat,” he snaps his gum, shoots her a smile, and falls into the driver’s seat.

As Billy leaves, the familiar rumble of Chief Hopper’s Blazer arrives to the drop-off point. Jim makes the small-talk quick, thank god, he’s terrifying, citing that he’s late for work and Mrs. Johnson has already called the station three times about her cat getting out, but makes a point to shake Steve’s hand as he leaves, telling him to look out for El.

Eleven has her dad’s pair of aviators on and an old baseball cap. She’s grinning.

“Vacation,” she says.

Steve’s got his hands on his hips, eyeing the growing party, when Dustin speaks.

“Hey,” he says slowly, looking around, “Where’s your girlfriend?”

Steve stammers. “She’s not --”

“Robin?” Mike asks, confused.

“No, not Robin --” Steve makes a face. “That’s gross.”

“Ohhhh,” says Lucas, pointing, “The one with the hair.”

Will makes a face of genuine frustration. “With the hair?”

“Real specific, Lucas,” jabs Max.

“Y’know,” he waves his hands, “Roll-o girl!”

The group exhales “oooohhhhh” at once. Steve’s face is in his hands.

He’s just glad Nancy didn’t over the conversation -- she’s too busy with Jonathan, chatting with his mom and saying good-bye.

(Though things were fine between them, it was still awkward -- the break-up was a one-sided-sort-of-rough, especially with the Jonathan being thrown into the mix. But, Nancy was happy and that was really all Steve cared about -- she was nice and smart and kind and she deserved to be happy especially after everything, and despite the wound it had created in Steve’s chest, he couldn’t hold the break-up against her.

That was a weird time... things were weird. Things sometimes are still weird, but to her credit, she still treats him like a good friend and he tries to do the same. Just... sometimes it’a a lot. Especially when Jonathan is around.

Steve just opts to keep a polite distance, y’know?)

“Can I just say, one,” Steve raises a finger, “She is not my girlfriend --”

“But, you like her, right?” says Dustin, completely serious, “She’s cool, she’s cute, she can rollerblade, all great traits in a girlfriend --”

Steve narrows his eyes, finger still in the air. “I’m talking right now, Dustin, okay, I’m talking.”

“Right, sorry.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” he repeats, hissing, “And two --”

Steve doesn’t get to finish his sentence, because the blaring of Duran Duran’s Girls on Film fills the entire neighborhood as you pull into the cul-de-sac. Robin is in the passenger’s seat, sunglasses pulled down her nose as she dances and mouths the words into her suntan lotion. You’re driving, snorting at her moves as you park the car and pop the trunk, mimicking Robin as you get out of the car -- you can barely do it you’re laughing so hard.

The cabbage patch dance move has never looked worse. You don’t really care.

Mostly because you see Steve and he’s grinning. You wave. He mirrors.

“She is cute,” says Max, leaning against Lucas and watching the exchange, “Your girlfriend’s cute, Harrington.”

“Shut up, Max.”

She mimics a zipping motion over her lips with her hand as Steve strides by. She tosses the imaginary key.

You move to cut the engine, spurring Robin to move up the driveway with a smile -- she’s quick to greet Steve’s mom with a hug.

You’re quickly swept into a handshake by the older woman in question.

She looks like Steve -- they have the smile doe-eyes and dark hair, same nose and same excited demeanor -- and you can’t say you’re surprised when you give her your name and she sweeps you in a hug.

“It’s so good to finally meet you,” she says warmly, “Steve’s told me so much about you!”

You’ve seen Janine Harrington around before at baseball games and after-school functions. Back then, though, you were dodging any interaction you could with her son. Now, you’re excited to him idle up beside his mom with a grin. He rocks back on his heels.

“Ready?”

You nod. Robin pats your back, holding onto your arm before turning on her text-book parent charm. “Mrs. Harrington, is it alright if she drives, as well? We figured it might be better than all packing into Nancy’s car -- safer, too.”

“Of course,” she says with a smile, “Steve knows the way, he’s been going up there with us since he was a little baby --”

“Yep,” he chirps, cutting that off quick, “I’ll just, uh, I’ll ride with you -- Nancy can follow us.”

“Cool kid mobile, assemble,” Robin calls out, breaking from Steve, yourself and his mom, “We call Dustin!”

“Drive safe,” Mrs. Harrington offers as the group splits into the separate hatchbacks, “Call when you get there!”

“Alright, mom!”

“Bye, Mrs. Harrington!”

Robin shoves Steve into the passenger side of your car, winking, as you clamber into the driver’s seat. Robin happily sits between Dustin and Will, mirroring Steve as she drops her sunglasses down from her hair.

The other car, quickly named The Couples Car, holds the rest of the party -- Lucas, Max, Mike, Eleven, Jonathan and Nancy.

It’s 10am by the time you all hit the road, ready for a night over at Tippecanoe.

Steve nudges your elbow.

You blink over at him.

“Radio?”

“Hit it, Harrington.”

GIRLS ON FILM!

#carhop cool #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington imagine #joe keery imagine #stranger things imagine #steve harrington x oc

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

Text

Hickman’s X-Men One Year In: Part 2: The Dawn of X

And we’re onto part 2. Since it took me a while to talk about Hickman’s Series outside of Giant-Size and the setup here, that’s in part one if your curious, I split this little retrospective into two parts, with this part here talking about the rest of the books. This isn’t to say they aren’t great, many of them are, it was just easier to do this as a two parter so with HIckman himself out of the way how did his hand picked batch of talented writers handle the lofty status quo he set up?Find out under the cut. Pax Krakoa baby.

Mauraders Okay just to get this out of the way this is my second faviorite x-book running, after X-Men itself and it often equals it and far and away the best tile of the run and restored my faith in Gerry Duggan. Duggan is not a bad writer and I blame the messy finish of his otherwise awesome guardians run with infnity wars on marvel trying to cram other characters into it and then a weird mash up idea that while cool, kept the guardians out of their own damn event and from confrting a now mad gamora, but that and deadpool made me forget the guy is a good writer and can do great things. Maruaders however won me back to him with intrest. A unique concept, the x-men as pirates helping ferry goods to krakoan allied states and ferry trapped mutants from hostile ones, is fucking awesome. The only thing missing is nightcrawler and it’s clear hickman has other plans, though I still feel he shoudl’ve been on the boat as he has both the relation to kitty pryde and pirate pedgree that fit in perfectly. Speaking of kitty after years of writers misusing her due to having a crush on her as a kid and shoving her into half baked romances with peter quill and her ex peter rasptuin, the latter failing so badly that marvel pulled the plug on their wedding because fans clearly didn’t want it, and battling my own reluctance ot see her front and center again, Duggan makes good use of her again: Kitty is given the unique hook of the portals not working for her and no one, even her old friend Doug after he gets back, being able to figure out WHY. Though I do hope Doug does show up here and explain it more, as him being kitty’s best friend once is rarely brought up since he got back and it’s silly it hasn’t been. But rather than take this on the chin Kitty strikes up a crew consisting of big sister Storm, first class graduate x-man, badass gay and kitty’s friend and ex iceman, bishop who reluctantly joins as her bishop more on that in a second and the best of them by a mile: Pyro. The original, finally brought back and given some intresting backstory: he was the first mutant brought back and felt good about it..t ill he realized that despite sacrificing himself to save a, if your familiar with the various cartoons this will be baffling but trust me, reformed senator kelly as Pyro himself was dying from the legacy virus, only to find out they did him first because they considered him expendable basically and naturally was upset over that, drunk a bunch of the liquor kitty smuggled in, for logan naturally, and passed out and then joined in on the rescue mission that formed the team because why not and stayed because it was a great offer. Speaking of offers with a new purpose, Kitty accepted her old enemy Emma Frost’s offer to be red queen, which includes a seat on krakoa’s council and was basically emma’s way of saying fuck you to her old cohort who she was forced to bring back on to handle the seedier side of Krakoa’s dealings via his underworld connections, sebastian shaw. Emma is the fincical backbone of krakoa, having the shipping connections to get the flowers in and out and now having kitty to handle the stuff she can’t and do some of the shipping, as well as again tell Sebastian, who naturally wants both gone and is pissy at Emma being so far ahead of him, wants gone. And while he’s seemingly succeded with kitty I not only have every expectation that while ressuection is failing to work on her she’ll be back, but that trying to murder one of the most beloved x-men whose consdiered family to among others three of krakoa’s captains, bishop after this series, four of their council, five if you include Doug whose best friends with both his left arm which is also a deadly space robot and the very place they live on. The only reason he’s not going to die 80 times in increasingily horrifying ways is because the five can’t take on that kind of workload and one murderous ass beating from half of krakoa and krakoa itself is close enough.

Emma is easily one of the books best parts, being written back as she should: An anti hero who while quick with a cutting quip, truly cares for her charges, and mutantkind as a whole and has grown from the monster she started as or even the kind of person who’d use a therapy session from a desperate man having issues opening up emotionally after apocalypse used his body as a rental car to convince him to fuck her. And yes that’s how things started with Scott and Emma and yes it’s really fucked up and yes the story treats it as such, though I still wish Scott would get actual therapy, but as Linkara recently pointed out in his House of M Review the Marvel and DC universes weirdly lack therapists for the most part and thus it was left on my mind the last two weeks.. and yes I know DC tried but when your final product at trying to serious tackle mental health is heroes in crisis.. I award you no points and god have mercy on your soul. But while Emma and Kitty get the lions share of the focus the rest of the group is enjoyable, well done and intresting, if not given many arcs to themselves, but still have enough character moments to counterballance that. The standout of the rest of the crew is easily Pyro, taken from “why is he still dead despite being super popular and used in a heavy role in X2 that’s garnered fans of that version to this day and bafflement he became a foot note in the next movie and used in every adaptation” to fun side character with a skull on his face and a love of booze and setting things on fire. He’s finally given the respect he deserves sorta and while I hope more is delved into his ressurection angst, he’s a ton of fun and it again makes me wonder why it took 20+ years to bring him back, but i’m glad the right person did it. The rest of the crew are fun with Bishop being another standout. That being said part of the reason there isn’t a lot of focus is simply because in additoin to our brave crew the book is juggling a LOT of characters.. the morlocks and calisto, both given a proper treatment after wya too long, jumbo carnation a minor character from morrisons run who was introduced in the same issue he died is emma’s designer, shinobi shaw and christian frost, the latter I question why a main relative of one of marvel’s a-list mutants who was one of marvel’s earlier gay characters hasn’t been used in a big way till now but no time like the present, Sebastian and the people he shares his big bad spot with Homines Verde aka those tweens who ran the hellfire club during jason aaron’s run because the man is nuts and who I only seemd to liked, brillinatly revamped as a racist replacemnt for the hellfire club and so far a clever threat. The book is just stuffed iwth good characters, beautiful art, and a great tone that combines spectacular humor with really good story and worldbuilding. It’s also a nice contrast to hickman’s stuff: don’t get me wrong I love hickman’s writing style but it’s nice to have something JUST as good.. but with a cheerier tone and less weariness to it, while still not lacking weight. I can’t wait to see where this goes.. it’s a pirates life for me.

Excalibur: Like most of the dawn of X-Line outside of fallen angels, more on that in a minute and even then that had an intresting new directoin for betsy braddock, I was pumped for this one. A team I loved: While I struggled to find a run I loved with Claremont’s run having Brian Braddock be a raging dick whose terrible to his girlfriend and gets away with cheating on her and Claremont not really bothering to explain Saturnyne or other characters and their history with Brian well to us yanks who never had the chance to read those tales.. though why stories by alan moore and chris claremont haven’t been republished properly or in epic collections is beyond me. Warren Ellis, who I now loathe for being a scheming weasel who treated women like garbage, had a decent run with plenty of warlock, in a weird phase where he thought he was doug, Moira and Wolfsbane stuff I loved.. but also had 30-40 something pete wisdom shacking up with 18 year old at most kitty pryde, with Pete at the time being basically Warren Ellis badass self insert character, and given recent revelations i’m pretty sure he damn well knew kitty was just 18 and even if he didn’t having his own fanfic character deflower her is just all kinds of EWWWWWW. He also had Colossus, fresh of being a villian for a while for understandable reasons, nearly beat pete into a coma in a jealous rage over the ex.. the ex he dated while she was still a minor, and left because HE , and editorial, was uncomfortable with it for damn obvious reasons. I can see why fans like to see her as bisexual and pair her with Illiayna.. I mean why the fuck not? They have better chemistry than most of he hetrosexual intrests and are paried because of that and not because the writer wanted to make out iwth kitty as a teenager and forgot “oh yeah she’s fictional and i’m 40!” Christ thank god for Gerry Duggan. But yeah moving on from that I was still pumped as a magical x-men book with Besty Braddock now captain freaking britan, and apocalypse on the roster. And rictor and jubille? nad rouge and gambit I guess.. I don’t knokw if they fit but whatever. Sign me up. The actual result is a mixed back. I do like Tini Howard’s work here to a point: Betsy gets good character stuff and theres actually good tension from the fact that the new captain britan is no longer primarily a british ctizen, and the book brought back a character I felt marvel needed to do more with: Jamie. if you don’t know, Jamie is betsy and brian’s, her brother and the former captain britian, older brother who went insane due to his powers and thus just goes around in his underwear convinced reality isn’t real and he can do what he wants and the tension with Jamie refusing to have anything to do with his brother for no good reason is really good. Rictor and Apocalypse are likewise good sensable additons: Rictor turns out to be a natural to being a druid which is a nice twist and makes sense given when he lost his powers the biggest issue with that was loosing touch with earth after having a connection to it be a vital part of him for years. Apocalypse as an ominus chess master slowly securing magic for mutantkind with some goal we’re about to get answers to is really investing and adds a layer to his character, that much like doctor doom he’s as much sorecer as he is scinetest and given the guy’s immortal, it dosen’t feel like it was pulled out of nowhere. The problem is the other half of the cast.. dosen’t really work. I fucking love Jubilee, a faviroite of mine as an xman despite not being a huge 90′s x-men cartoon fan, just feels kinda shoe horned in. Her son becomes a dragon and she worries about him constantly, but her worrying about her son possibly not being a mutant on mutant land could be done in any other x-book, and fraknly I feel her personality would fit better with the maruaders, and it’d be intresting to see kitty and her on the same team since both really haven’t interacted. Here she just feels like “well tini wanted jubilee and no one else did soooo I made her son a dragon to justify getting her”. I feel more could be done and hope Tini has better plans for her. Rouge is one of my faviorte x-men and All New X Factor and Kelly Thompsons work with him and Rouge made me like Gambit again, and I DO love their marriage and it was a way better idea than the one Guggenhiem had planned.. but while the idea of Rouge being reborn is intresting and all, she still dosen’t really get to do much and like Jubilee just feels weirldy out of place while Remy has that plus he’s annoying, as while he’s the only one rightfully supscious of apocalypse he also won’t shut the fuck up about it for five minutes. Ig et where he’s coming from but it dosen’t make him less annoying. These aren’t bad characters, but sof ar they just feel weirdly out of place in a magic based book and unlike Rictor tini hasn’t made any of htem but Rouge feel in place.

That being said I could ignore that more.. but the villians are also week. So far at least, as the return of Satyurne has given the book it’s first good antagonist.. but what I feel drags the book down the most from it’s potential is the bad guys; Morgan Le Fay is the first antaognist, being mad at apocalypse’s intrusions and corrputing Brian.. but her motives are just so boring: She wants power and to rule, she hates mutants... while “hates mutants” is a qualifier for every other antagonist so far, she just feels bland.. Tini just dosen’t make her feel like a good antagonist and it’s a shame as mutant hater or not she’s something DIFFRENT from the throngs of mutant hating conspiracies, mostly from russia in the other books... she’s just so bland it dosen’t work. And after her is Cullen Bloodstone who as far as I can tell is written out of character.. haven’t read his book but I had both a friend confirm it and having read his marvel wiki entry, it just seems like an odd turn to have him be a racist asshole. But even with all my problems and underwhelm here.. I still WANT the book to get from okay to amazing, and feel it genuinely has the potetial. I’ve seen books sharply improve after a rough first arc, Duggan himself showed me that with his Guardians run. Sometimes it just takes time for something to truly blossom and I have a feeling even with my issues, with x of swords coming up howard’s going to flip it all on it’s head and leave me standing there gasping like a moron. I have hope for that. And if nothing else the book is at least UNIQUE. And not in a trainwreck way: by giving mutants a piece of the magic pie and having them tackle far weirder threats, it’s at least doing something new and it probably lands for other people if not me, and if nothing else it does brian 80 times better than the claremont run did. not a high bar but I do like the character and it’s nice to see him take such an intresting path, and the same goes for Betsy. Tini’s still got magic to do, and I have a feeling it’s going to take me by storm very soon.

Fallen Angels: Now for the other half of the coin as it were. Some fans weren’t happy about Betsy getting her old body back, and yes Psylocke wasn’t orignally asian but a white british woman bodyswapped iwth a japanese assasian and yes that’s as ludicrious and unteitonally offensive as it sounds, because horrible implications of said Body Swap or not, Psylocke was one of the few asian superheros of note. So to compromise , Hickman and co decided to split the diffrence: Betsy would come back and get a rank up to captain britan, while Kwannon, said assasian, would take over as Psylocke. Hence Excalibur above and fallen angels here and I was excited about it. The Body Swap thing went on a decade too long and this way fans got the character they knew as Psylocke in another book while the face they recognized would finally get some fleshing out. I was excited about that and while probably the least excited about this book of the intitial 5, it did have an intresting lead, two characters I did like (Kid Cable I grant was only under hickman who turned him from that brat version of cable who killed the one I really love to a good character in his own right), and an intresting antagonist in a sentient machine. In practice it was okay. The best I can say is that writer Brian Hill DOES do a great job taking a mostly minor x-character and really fleshing her out and making her engaging and Kwannon’s quest to save her daughter is really compelling.. but the premise of those who don’t fit with krakoa dosen’t work with the roster given. Laura Kinney is not only sticking with the x-23 name after dropping the wolverine mantle for no reason previously, something Hickman fixed as soon as he realized how fans felt for her apperance in the main book, while Cable feels nothing like the far more fun version from Hickman’s X-Men and later Duggan’s Cable. Add in Husk and Bling who do deserve to be on a team but feel out of place here, and it just.. is okay. The book has an intresting angagonist and a great lead, but just dosen’t work as a team book and would’ve been better off being JUST about kwannon herself, who is far and away the best part about the book and i’m glad she got fleshed out. Not TERRIBLE but nothing special and it’s a shame given the antagonist, whose name I can’t even remember at this point, is intresting and ties into mutantkind’s greatest enmies being man and machine accoridng to house and powers.. basically a decent concep twith a flawed execution. Maybe hill’ sbatman and hte outisders run is better. I need to get on that. That being said the premise and idea is so far being done well in Hellions which we’ll get to, even if I’m being cautious really getting into the book with Zeb Wells track record. But more on that in a bit.

X-Force: Time to make noise, bad guys leave us no choice.. you know the rest. But yeah X-force. The concept here grabbed me, having X-Force rather than just be the black ops squad but be literal black ops for krakoa, was really great and fit the brave new world.. what worried me was the writer, Benjamin Percy. Now a lot of x-fans probably knew him from the much beloved “Wolverine: The Long Night” podcast, which i’ve heard is utterly fantastic as is it’s followup.. but I hadn’t heard it, and had only heard of Percy from DC comics where under his belt was an okay teen titans run and a not very good and politcally unsubtle green arrow book. And i’m not against politics in comics it just wasn’t done at all well there and the “oliver queen looses hif ourture due to a shadowy conspiracy thing” was already done better by jeff lemire. So yeah I was going to give this a chance but figured like those books it’d start strong and then peter out. I. Was. Wronnnnggg. X-Force is easily one of the best of the dawn of x and uses said premise well. It started a bit roughly, mostly becasue the first arc idnd’t make clear x-force didn’t exist yet but was a great origin story: a squad of military commandos working for a shadowy consirtum who become x-force’s big bad, plunge onto Krakoa and massacre a bunch of mutantas and assinate charles xavier. He comes back, though it’s trickier for obvious reasons, but it’s clear from this, and from wolverine and kid omega’s sucessful investigation and finding domino, that this can’t go on and thus X-Forces is formed; The intellegence and black ops arm of Krakoa and the one arm of it’s goverment exempt from the ‘dont’ kill humans rule”. What followed was nearly a years worth of fast paced adventures with good character stuff: Wolverine is in his element, kid omega, while I had my doubts due to quinten being way overused , turned out to be a perfect choice basically being a more compitent teenage sterling archer, cocky and loving this but also really good at his job, while Domino gets a great arc dealing with her trauma over her mutalation and having some of her power stolen by the shadowy masked dickheads while Colossus deals with his trauma over what went down when he rescued some Russian mutants, with the book slowly building up new threats and towards a showdown with Russia, something that’s also been built up by conflicts in Wolverine and Mauraders, which again makes the world of x feel more like an actual world instead a bunch of comics in one cast herd. Jean Grey is good for intellegence, though by now seems to have noped out as she couldn’t take the toll, it’s not for everyone and most notably after 5 or 6 years of being treated worse and worse and written worse and worse and becoming a bigger and bigger piece of shit Beast is FINALLY put in the right spot: his darker turns aren’t ignored but he’s back to being an actually intellegent hero as X-force’s director, still a bit greasy but now for good reason and without a god complex or some such bullshit and with a tiny bit of his humor back. Not much else to say really, X-Force is well paced, enjoyable and gritty, getting the spirit of the team at it’s best down right while doing something fresh with it.

New Mutants (Ed Brisson) Last one, New Mutants is the odd duck of the dawn of x line in terms of how it was launched. Fallen Angels ended up being a mini series both due to Hill being busy and it’s cast being needed elsewhere but will presmibly get a follow up later, but it’s not the ONLY mini series in the line with Fantastic four/x-men, the giant sized one shots and now Empyre: X-Men all debuting in wave 2. New Mutants however is the first book to change writers and said writer STARTED in the middle of hickman’s run, partly due to scheduling delays but even before that it was partly by design and those issues haven’t been collected yet, with hickman’s short run being collected first. So you have a run that builds off what Hickman started but with it’s own ideas that started insidei t and suprisingly it .. really works. While I do think there are better books in the line Brisson’s new mutants is enjoyable, combining humor and character work. New Mutants focuses on the sextant, which was first brought up in hickman’s run, the series of habitats for younger mutants on krakoa that the new mutants look out for, and while the original new mutants are in space, Armor decides to try and bring some old friends in to join in paradise with the help of Glob Herman, that big pink guy with a visable skeleton and eyes, and Maxine and Manon, who in the tradition of layla miller were created for an event and not great htere but turned out amazing under the right writer.. who I think also wrote that event but whatever, a pair of empaths and telepaths who have trouble grasping the right ethics for using their powers. The four go to get one of my faviorite x-men back: BEAK! I missed him even if he’s weirdly suddenly repowered. Beak and his wife Angel only haven’t joiend in with their kids because his dad’s sick, and things soon escalate when a bunch of criminals try holding them all hostage and it’s up to boom boom, bored since everyone left her alone, to save the day! After that we deal with Magik rangling them and the team’s new mission statment: not wanting ot mess up again like she did with beak, who did join them but not without loosing his dad and then his memory of his dad thanks to the twins misguided efforts, Armor still wants to try welcoming new mutants in with the vetrans help, and thus we have our puprose: focusing both on how these younger mutant 20 somethigns of various ages from early to late work together to make a better world nad help their own get back to this world. it’s intresting.. I’m not in love with it like mauraders or x-force, but it’s still pretty good and their first big foe so far, DoX, a blog that well.. doxes mutants that haven’t arrived yet, seems to be intresting. Not much to say just pretty good and and better at mixing comedy and character stuff, and getting the cast right. Ed Brisson had already proven himself on old man logan, but this cements him as one of the hottest new x-writers around and i’m glad he was given a book here. He’s also succeded in making me actually like Glob Herman so that’s a plus.

Fantastic Four/X-Men The first title of wave 2 and easily one of the best, right up there with mauraders nad probably JUSST behind it and ONLY because i’ts a mini series, giving the X-Men their first real step into the rest of hte marvel universe. Sure the 4 had cameoed in the first issue and there’s been mentions of krakoa in other books and one off issues but mostly Krakoa really hadn’t impacted anything.. but that first issue also set things up with Scott’s conversation with Sue Richards

Yeah and in case those who haven’t been aware of what’s going on with the FF lately and either remember franklin as a 6-11 year old or wondered why the hell he was suddenly a teen when they read this crossover, it’s actually simple; At the end of secret wars the Richards family was put on a bus, also so marvel could shove the ff as a proper team out the door due to the whole fox rights thing, and when Dan Slott had brought them back.. and cleverly had more time pass for the richards than for the 616 proper, so he could age Franklin up to his late teens and Valeria up to her early ones, allowing the richards children to actually age since Franklin’s age always had to stay vauge due to marvel’s vage and wobbly time scale. This way they get both consitant ages and more agency. But the return also came with a price as Franklin, who if you didn’t know is so powerful he can create whole universe and shape the sturcture of the universe, had his powers break saving his family, and thus since he came back, he’s onlyg got so much of them left in the tank before they run out entirely, and it’s been an issue for him in Slott’s run as he worries about being the normal human in a fantastic family and comes to a head here, though rather than Hickman himself, who as mentioned last time has a marvelous track record with the family or FF series writer dan slott Hickman choose a wild card for this, though had both Hickman and Slott’s permission to do whatever he wanted: Chip Zdarsky, a modern marvel for marvel who’d writtne the four in marvel two in one but for some reason didn’t get the main book and this book makes me hope whenever Dan Slott bows out he gets his turn and while this is his first x-men work, Zdarsky proves he’s just as good here as is in most of his work on Howard the Duck, Jughead and Star Lord.. a weird selection I know but all classics.

With this power outage, Franklin is worried his dad is, at least subconciously, not really trying to help him and to make matters worse teh x-men show up to offer their help.. and Franklin his birthright. The arguments made by both sides are great and I will be covering the series in full soon but in a nutshell the four dont’ want to give up their son/nephew, Reed dosen’t trust Xavier and feels he wants to use his son’s powers while the x-men feel it’s franlin’s choice and he’s old enough to make it, he belongs with them and he’ll be safer there. It also works because Franklin understandably isn’t swayed by either as neither is reallyt alking to him more at him, especially his parents .. and only tries the gate when Kitty Pryde, the two bonded back in the 80s and a young franklin stopped her from comitting suicide long story but really moving, is the only one to tell him it’s his choice. This dosen’t go quite well though since Reed Richards, father of the year, decided to make a device to mask his son’s mutant gene and no one, including his own family, is happy about htis. Naturally Franklin, with Val’s help, runs away.. and then as if it couldn’t get worse DOOM shows up wanting to help so now it’s a three way dance between them for hte fate of franklin. The series has gorgeous art form the dodsons a really damn compelling story and great setup for further stories for both lines and feels like the best of both franchises. It’s the x-men’s first huge impact on the rest of the marvel universe,a nd it feels like it with the ending showing that and showing this might not be the last time both sides crossover. It’s everything you could want from a crossover and i’m only being so brief because I want to review it soon as a huge fan of both groups. Easily one of the best x-men stories of the line and one of the best stories for both groups period.

Wolverine: We’re onto the final two, and Percy’s second book and the first solo.. and it’s logan again! Makes sense though: Wolverine only just came back from the dead, and while both is daughter and alternate future self carried the woverline banner for him, the original hasn’t gotten his own ongoing in some time. And so far.. it’s pretty good> the first issues a bit messy due to it’s lenght, but overall the book is intresting and has Logan graple with being the best at waht he does and if he can be better or if he deserves paradise while also delivering a compelling solo mission teaming Wolverine up with a federal agent who resents mutants. it also does some good world building, explaning why Krakoan drugs have things like wait lists (they want to control production closely both to avoid having the flower taken away and for quality control), and expanding the russia subplot while using Dracula of all people as a major antagonist, which is clever especailly since this isn’t his first rodeo with the x-men. Just a fun book wiht loads of promise.

Hellions: NOt much to say here as it’s hard to judge after two issues, buti f nothing else this series brought back the delightfully batshit Nanny, who just with last weeks issue offered to nurse Greycrow (who had his name changed from scalphunter because of course marvel did why wouldn’t they) and falling down. It combines humor with an odd but well thought out cast and makes Alex Summers intresting without making everyone else assholes, a hard but earned feet. If it continues to be good.. I dunno, especially since i haven’t been impressed by any of zeb wells other works especially his new mutants run, good god that one’s am ess, but so far he’s winning me over with a clever concept and roster full of deep cuts. Final Thoughts: I won’t be covering Empyre: X_men, though I did enjoy it and i’l save that one for next time. For now this has been a hell of a year of x-men comics, with even the weaker books still having something intresting and none being outright terribule and only one had a bad grasp on some of it’s cast and for a line this big and expansive, that’s a gold medal achivment. After YEARS of stasis the x-men have finally risen again better, bolder and stranger than ever. IS every book A+ gold star etc etc, no, but what’s important.. is that it’s all DECENT. There’s enough standout books to make it work but as i’ve made clear what isn’t the best of the best is still good or decent. There’s nothing bad, no one phoning it in or not giving an effort, everyone is trying thier hardest and succeding on SOME level even if not completely and that.. that’s truly amazing and I look forward to more of it as this line continues. Pax Krakoa and hopefully i’ll see you again.

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actuallylorelaigilmore · 5 years

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Hardison Goes to Broadchurch

Hardison meets Hardy (& Miller): a Broadchurch/Leverage story. Also on AO3.

aka: they! have! the! same! name! WE NEED TO DISCUSS THIS

****

Hardison was at the small police station for information gathering, nothing more. What he needed wasn’t available online--what kind of old weird British town kept paper files? he’d muttered while booking his flight--so there was no harm in following the job with a stop in London and some well-deserved vacation time.

Thirty minutes, posing as an IT contractor, in and out.

Easy.

Of course, the small town culture was harder to hack and override than their filing system. He wasn’t even ten feet inside the door before he almost collided with a weary man in a day-old suit.

“Sorry, sorry there,” Hardison rushed to smooth over the interaction, adding just a dash of European flavor to his voice. Something about the police station, or the man glowering at him now, told him that affecting an English accent would arise more suspicion than it saved.

“And you are?”

“Yes, of course, sir. How rude of me.” Hardison held out an overeager hand, the very model of an instantly-forgettable consultant, and began his introduction at the same moment that Hardy took to be his opening.

“Alec Hard--” they said in perfect harmony. Hardy lost his last syllable, torn between confusion and suspicion.

Hardison’s “--ison...” trailed off into a similar wariness, his mouth flattening as Hardy’s brow furrowed.

They regarded each other for a long moment before Hardison spoke.

“What is that, supposed to be a joke? A funny, funny joke--Eliot sent you, didn’t he?”

Hardy blinked, still too baffled to summon a response, but Hardison barely paused for air.

“This is because of that thing back in January, isn’t it? He swore he was over that, the man swore up and down that there would not be payback, so of course he waited until this very moment to--”

“Elliot who?” Hardy ventured, halting Hardison’s rant before it really got going. “I don’t know any Elliot.”

The thick Scottish accent was unexpected. Did Eliot even have contacts in Scotland? Hardison had to consider it, long enough that Hardy was able to continue.

“I mean, there’s Miller,” he thought aloud. Maybe an American, unfamiliar with the accent, could mistake ‘Ellie’ for ‘Elliot?’ A daft American.

“Miller.” Hardison had made that alias himself, so of course he remembered it. Eliot Miller was from Phoenix, a pharma rep, divorced father of two. Cute kids. Looked like their mom. “What was Miller doing in your neck of the woods?”

“My neck of the woods?” Hardy’s mouth twisted around the phrase as though it tasted sour.

“Here in Broadchurch.”

“Miller lives here,” Hardy said, glowering harder now. “Unlike you, whoever you are.” He wasn’t sure what this stranger was doing, imitating him in his place of work, trying to mock his authority...but he had half a mind to sic Miller on the intruder. See how the impostor liked that.

“I...highly doubt that,” Hardison countered, trying to figure out how Eliot could have possibly relocated his Arizona alias to a town off the English coast in between stealing a hospital and a school.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” Hardy sighed, and took one step back so he could bellow “Miller!” at top volume.

Both men waited, Hardison with more patience than Hardy but also more anxiety. The longer he stayed to sort this out, the harder it would be to get out without causing a stir. And getting what he came for was out of the question.

“What is it now,” a trim brunette snapped as she approached them, her ire aimed squarely at the Scotsman. “I don’t have time for any more--”

“This is Miller? Eliot Miller?” Now Hardison was even more confused. Eliot was capable of some impressive things--many, many things--but turning himself into a British woman was not on that list.

“Ellie Miller,” she corrected him, holding out a hand. “How do you know Hardy?”

Her partner was rolling his eyes at the politeness she offered Hardison, but he stopped long enough to point at his own chest and give Hardison the best ‘aren’t you an idiot’ look he had seen since leaving home.

“Hardy.”

“Alec Hardy,” Miller supplied helpfully. “And yourself?”

“Alec Hardison,” he said. Sometimes the simplest explanation really was the truth, Hardison thought, amused at himself and Hardy. Some things were just coincidences. “I came to take a look at your virus protection and got a bit off-track.”

“Alec Hardison.” Hardy tested the name. He didn’t like it.

“We don’t have anyone scheduled to look at our computers,” Miller pointed out. She seemed much less hung up on the surprise name mix-up than Hardison would have expected.

But hey, if there was one thing he was great it, it was getting himself out of situations he never should have gotten himself into.

“All I know is, I was requested specifically by name. Your department hired my employer, and they sent me. As requested. If you want to talk to the staffer who put in the request, I’m sure I have his name here somewhere.”

Hardison began shuffling methodically through his paperwork, searching for a name that didn’t exist.

“Right, right, here it is. The last name’s smudged--quite a lot of rain you folks have--but the first name looks like Bob. Or, or maybe Don. I don’t know, I’ve been meaning to buy an umbrella. Where do you find a good umbrella around here?”

Hardison couldn’t tell if Ellie Miller was deciding which umbrella shop to recommend or if she was considering smacking him upside the head, but the two impulses were definitely at war with each other. The woman had visible radar for bullshit. Must be a mom.

Hardy, though, had taken the bait and was starting to simmer. “Bob, is it? Oh, I have been wanting a word with Bob all week. This is not the place for pranks, especially not pranks that could put our entire computer system at risk of a security breach!”

He stormed off as that sentence crescendoed, presumably in search of Bob. Hardison made a mental note to send every Bob in the office some kind of gift basket or something, after he got home. Sorry, Bob.

“Right then.” Miller offered him a firm nod, paired with a smile. Here’s your hat, on your way. “Just a mix-up. Let your boss know that you’re not meant to be here today. They can call us to follow up.”

“Yes. Thank you. Thank you very much.” Hardison smiled back and took the hint. He was at the exit when her voice stopped him.

“Mr. Hardison?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He turned with his smile still in place.

“Hughes, just down the street from the grocer’s.”

“Sorry?”

“For an umbrella.”

Her smile widened, but not in a friendly way. Oh, she was a smart one, Hardison thought. Well, shit.

That smile had his number. That smile said ‘From now until the day I die I will recognize you if I see you again, and I will be ready for anything you try to pull.’

“How was I supposed to know the place has a man with almost my exact same name?” Hardison muttered on the way to his rental car.

“How was I supposed to be prepared for that exact situation? I’m a genius, I am not a wizard. Some guy with my name walks into me when he should be in Scotland...”

He was going to have to put Broadchurch on the Big List of Places We Avoid, and he was going to have to hope that none of the team would notice, and nobody would ask why.

Because he really did not want to explain this day to any of them.

Especially not Eliot.

#broadchurch #leverage #alec hardison #alec hardy #ellie miller #i have never posted a single leverage OR broadchurch fic in my whole life #but if nobody else was going to do this I HAD NO CHOICE #i can't get the picture out of my head #idk why this is what broke through my writer's block but when the plot bunny is this obvious you listen #and the voices were super fun to play with #leverage fic #broadchurch fic #my fic

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creepingsharia · 5 years

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The 9/11 Hijackers Last Steps – A Timeline

9/10/01—At the Pink Pony Nude Theater in Daytona Beach, FL, a man with a Middle-Eastern accent says “Tomorrow America will see bloodshed.” They leave a Koran behind...

(originally posted on Creeping Sharia on September 10, 2009)

Know your enemy, and never under-estimate him.

We pick up the timeline of the 9/11 terrorists, and hijackers to-be, from the assassination of Northern Alliance commander Ahmed Massoud on Sep. 9, 2001 – however the timeline begins well prior to that in the 1990’s and goes further than what we posted here. Excerpts from Free Republic.

Annotated Timeline of the 9/11 Hijackers for Researchers

various | 5/13/2002 | compiled from published sources

“We love death. The US loves life. That is the big difference between us.” — Osama Bin Laden

THE HIJACKERS FLIGHT 11 Mohammed ATTA (11) (also known as Mohammed al-Amir) Born September 1, 1968 in Kafr al Sheikh, Egypt. ATTA grows up in Cairo with his middle-class family. Abdulaziz ALOMARI (11) Saudi Arabian. Little is known about him. Walid AL-SHEHRI (11) From Khamis Mushayt in Saudi Arabia. Former teacher, who left his job allegedly to consult an Islamic holy man about his brother’s mental illness. Satam AL-SUQAMI (11) Born June 28, 1976. Saudi Arabian. Islamic-law-school student at King Fahd University in Riyadh. College roommate of MOQED. Wail ALSHEHRI (11) Born 7/31/73. Brother of Walid. Former phys-ed teacher who left his job because of “mental illness.”

FLIGHT 175 Marwan AL-SHEHHI (175) Born in United Arab Emirates on 5/9/78. Hamza ALGHAMDI(175) Born 11/18/80. From Beljurashi in southern Saudi Arabia. Was working in a “humiliating” job as a stockboy in a housewares shop when he was recruited for the jihad. Ahmed ALGHAMDI(175) From Beljurashi in southern Saudi Arabia. Fayez Rashid Ahmed Hassan Al-Qadi BANIHAMMAD (175-4) (aka Fayez Ahmed) Citizen of United Arab Republic. Mohand ALSHEHRI (175) Former student at the Imam Muhammed Ibn Saud Islamic University in Abha, Saudi Arabia for one semester.

FLIGHT 77 Hani HANJOUR (77)– Saudi Arabian Born August 13, 1972. Son of a wealthy businessman from the wealthy al-Faisaliyah section of Taif. Khalid ALMIDHAR (77) Saudi Arabian. Veteran Al-Qaeda operative about whom little is known. Majed MOQED (77) Saudi Arabian. Law student at the King Fahd University in Riyadh. The son of a head of the Baniauf tribe from Annakhil near Medina. Sometimes listed as the third “logistics” person after ALMIDHAR and Nawaq ALHAZMI. Nawaq ALHAZMI (77) “He told me once that his father had tried to kill him when he was a child. He never told me why, but he had a long knife scar on his forearm,” said an acquaintance. Brother of a police chief in the coastal town of Jizan. Salem ALHAZMI (77) Saudi.

FLIGHT 93 Ziad al-JARRAH (93) Born in Al Marj, Lebanon May 11, 1975. The son of a civil servant and a schoolteacher. Educated in a Catholic school in Beirut. Ahmed ALNAMI (93) Born December 1977. Saudi, from the town of Abha. Former law student at the King Khaled University Islamic Law School in Abha. Ahmed Ibrahim AL-HAZNAWI (93) Born October 11, 1980. Saudi from the village of Hezna. Son of an imam, and reportedly became one himself. Close to Hamza and Ahmed ALGHAMDI. Saeed ALGHAMDI (93) Saudi, from Khamis Mushayt.

September 9, 2001—Northern Alliance commander Ahmed Shah Massoud is assassinated by two al-Qaeda operatives pretending to be Arab journalists.

September 9, 2001—Foreign intelligence officials intercept a telephone call on between Osama bin Laden and his adoptive mother Al-Kalifa in Syria, according to a report by NBC. “In two days, you’re going to hear big news, and you’re not going to hear from me for a while,” says bin Laden. AJC 10/2/01 Link

September 9, 2001—The owner, Richard Surma, notices that AL-SHEHHI, another tenant, (AHMED/BANIHAMMAD, presumably) and one other visitor who was constantly with them, have left the Panther Motel. AL-SHEHHI shaves his goatee before he departs, leaving only a mustache. AL-SHEHHI then returns the rental Corsica to Warrick’s for good., with an additional 1,035 miles on it. Link AL-SHEHHI flies to Boston. After they leave, owner Surma, cleaning out the rooms at the Panther, finds a tote bag in the trash. It is packed with aeronautical maps of the entire East Coast, martial arts books, a protractor, an English-German dictionary, Boeing 757 flight manuals, books from a flight school, and computer printouts with a detailed list of airline flights and times. A maid, cleaning the room, finds a box cutter. –Chicago Tribune 9/17/01

In Boston, AL-SHEHHI rents the room next to AHMED/BANIHAMMAD at the Milner. He makes a call from the room to Western Union, which authorities believe was one final attempt to refund unneeded cash to their contact in the United Arab Emirates. At some point in the day AL-SHEHHI wires $5400 to “Mustafa Ahmad” in the UAE. Link

September 9, 2001—Waleed AL-SHEHRI (11) wires $5000 to “Ahamad Mustafa” in the UAE. At some point in the day Wail and Waleed AL-SHEHRI order a call girl and pay her $180 for a 20-minute session.

September 9, 2001, 8:27 AM—The white Mistubishi appears at Logan airport again, remaining until 9:13 AM. Boston Globe 9/23/01

September 9, 2001— ATTA arrives in Boston. At Logan Airport, he watches that day’s American Airlines Flight 11 as it prepares for departure. He stands there at the gate with no luggage or briefcase, only a folder. A passenger remembers: “When I was actually boarding the airplane, he was standing at the gate counter writing on a card…the only thing he could see of the airplane was the pilots and the front of the airplane.” Link The same witness had seen him at curbside, asking “strange” questions. Later, he meets up with ALOMARI. They rent a blue 2001 Nissan Altima with Massachusetts license 3335VI at an Alamo Rent-a-Car in Boston at around 6 PM. They spend the night in a Boston hotel.

September 9, 2001, 4:15 PM—The white Mitsubishi returns to Logan again. It leaves at 5:39 PM.

September 10, 2001—There are 4,526 put options bought on UAL versus 748 call options. For American Airlines, the number of puts is 60 times the daily average.

September 10, 2001, afternoon—One of the Flight 93 hijackers goes to Nardone’s, a go-go bar on Route 1 in Elizabeth, NJ., about two miles from Newark International Airport. He has one beer and pays $20 to watch a dancer in the private VIP room. Link |

September 10, 2001, 4:25 PM—The white Mitsubishi returns to Logan again. It leaves at 5:05 PM.

September 10, 2001—ATTA and ALOMARI drive 100 miles north to Portland, ME in the afternoon. At a toll booth at Exit 13 of the Massachusetts Turnpike, ATTA “boils over in anger” when the operator demands that he pay the $3.10 toll. He speeds away without paying, and the toll taker writes down their tag number.

September 10, 2001—Hamza ALGHAMDI checks into the Days Hotel in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood. He is signed in as “Ghamdi.” ATTA+taxi+Hamburg&hl=en”> Link

September 10—Sometime today, JARRAH writes a farewell letter to his girlfriend. “You should be very proud, because it is an honor and in the end you will see that everyone will be happy.” According to Der Spiegel, the four-page letter is dated Sept. 10. Because of a mistake in the address, the package was returned to the United States and fell into the hands of the FBI.

September 10, 2001, 6:59 PM—A message is posted to a Yahoo financial message board reads “to the deapest part called the center of the earth by this wekend north east region will be destroyed new providance soon to fall apart.” Link

September 10, 2001—ATTA and ALOMARI arrive in Maine and check in to the Comfort Inn in South Portland, about a mile from the Portland International Jetport, at about 5:45 PM. Sometime between 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm, ATTA and ALOMARI are seen at Pizza Hut, 415 Maine Mall Road, South Portland, Maine, for approximately fifteen (15) minutes. This is apparently their last meal on earth. 8:31 PM —ATTA and ALOMARI make a cash withdrawal at a Key Bank drive-up ATM, 445 Gorham Road, South Portland. 8:41 PM—they are next recorded at a Fast Green ATM, located in the parking lot of a Pizzeria Uno restaurant, 280 Maine Mall Road, South Portland. They leave the account almost empty. 9:15 PM—They buy gasoline for their car at the Jetport Gas Station on 446 Western, Avenue, South Portland. 9:22 PM—ATTA enters a Wal-Mart on 451 Payne Road in Scarborough and spends twenty minutes there. ATTAck/investigation/ausport10042001.htm http://www.webdesk.com/terrorists-in-maine/”> Link Others believe ATTA viewed the Portland flight as a final test run for the plan to carry small knives onto planes.

September 10, 2001—AL-SHEHHI, AHMED/BANIHAMMAD, Mohand ALSHEHRI, and AL-SUQAMI price prostitutes, but found their prices too high.

Two of ATTA‘s bags, bearing his name tags, don’t make the transfer. http://www.suntimes.com/terror/stories/cst-nws-hijack16s1.html According to Der Spiegel, the FBI examines the bags and finds, among other things, a videotape on how to fly a Boeing 757 and 747.and airline uniforms. The immediate speculation is that the hijackers or some of their associates used the uniforms to gain access to areas of Logan Airport that would normally be secure. The FBI also wonders whether the uniforms were connected to an April 2001 break-in at the Hotel Nazionale in central Rome, in which two American Airlines pilots said they were robbed of their uniforms, badges, and airport access badges. An unidentified third vehicle, rented from a local Dollar Rent a Car franchise, is also found at Logan. Previously, investigators had identified two cars rented from the Boston office of Alamo Rent a Car. Link

September 10, 2001—At the Pink Pony Nude Theater in Daytona Beach, FL, a man with a Middle-Eastern accent sitting with two other men says “Tomorrow America will see bloodshed.” They leave a Koran behind at the strip club. Orlando Sentinel, 9/14/01

In NawaqALZHAMI’s car at Dulles, police find a cashier’s check made out to a flight school in Phoenix., four drawings of the cockpit of a Boeing 757, a box cutter, a map of Washington, and a handwritten note with the name “Mohumed” and ABDI’s northern Virginai phone number. ABDI had entered the USA as a Somali refugee on an I-94 visa. He had formerly worked for Caterair, an airline caterer at National Airport. When ABDI is picked up a few days later, on his person was a newspaper article about Ahmed Ressam’;s 1999 attempt to smuggle explosives across the border. (Human Events, 10/15/01) There was apparently another handwritten note saying “OSAMA 5895316,” AWADALLAH’s first name and old phone number on it (CNN 2/18/02)

September 11, 2001, just after midnight—Outside Newark International Airport, three men park a red Mitsubishi Galant at the entrance to the Airport Marriott hotel while two of them check in. The third man drives the car to a nearby Days Inn. All three were later positively identified as Flight 93 hijackers. One of the men in the Marriott is JARRAH, who paid $450 in cash for two no-smoking rooms, each with a double bed. The one with him is probably his roommate AL-HAZNAWI, though this is just a guess. The rooms JARRAH chooses have a clear view of the New York skyline. Link Link AL-HAZNAWI’s final bank statement, opened after Sept. 11 by his former landlord, showed that he left behind just $14. Link

At some point on the evening of the 10th, all of the hijackers, as required, read the “Instructions for the final night,” which were found in multiple places after the attacks, including in the wreckage of Flight 93. There are 16 in all. They begin: 1. Renew your convenant with God. 2. Know all aspects of the plan well and expect reaction and resistance from the enemy. Instruction No 3 is to read the ninth sura of the Koran. This sura, usually known as al-Tawba (penitence) or al-Bara’at (immunity), is the only one among the 114 suras in the Koran which does not begin with the words: “In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful.” Some have suggested that this is because of the stern injunctions it contains: “When the sacred months have passed away, slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captive and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush” Link According to Bin Laden on the captured video, the “soldiers” knew that this was a martyrdom operation, but were not told until just before they boarded the plane. Clearly the four pilots, plus Nawaq ALHAZMI and ALMIDHAR, knew all. “Be calm and resolute, young man,” says ATTA’s letter to the hijackers, “For you will soon be going to paradise.” Link

September 11, 2001—In the UAE, approximately $16,348 is depositied into AL-HAWSAWI’s Standard Chartered Bank account. Then, at 9:22 AM local time, AL-HAWSAWI moves approximately $6534 from the $8,055 in Fayez AHMED/BANIHAMMAD’s (175) Standard Chartered Bank account into his own account, using a check dated September 10, 2001 and signed by Fayez AHMED/BANIHAMMAD; AL-HAWSAWI then withdraws approximately $1361, nearly all the remaining balance in AHMED/BANIHAMMAD’s account, by ATM cash withdrawal. Later that day, AL-HAWSAWI left the UAE for Karachi, Pakistan.

5:30 AM—ATTA and ALOMARI check out of the Comfort Inn, putting the $135 charge on ATTA’s Visa card. They leave an airline timetable on their room. After driving less than a mile to the airport, they park their Nissan and enter the airport. They drive the short distance to the Portland International Jetport and leave the Nissan there. Police find the “final night” instructions, plusemaps of New England and Boston, facial tissues, a toothpick, and an empty bag of Chips Ahoy crumpled in the ashtray. Link 5:40 AM—ATTA and ALOMARI enter Portland International Jetport Airport parking lot. They park on the first floor directly across from the airport entrance. 5:43—ATTA and ALOMARI check in at the U.S. Airways counter. 5:53 AM—The final pictures of ATTA and ALOMARI are taken by the security cameras at the airport in Portland, as they pass through security before boarding a flight to Boston. Each carries a shoulder bag. ATTA and ALOMARI board separately, keep quiet and don’t draw attention to themselves. Link However, once on the plane, they are described as “joined at the hip.” The Age, 9/17/01. The witness believed that they were business travelers, as it seemed that they were going over paperwork. 6:00 AM—ATTA and ALOMARI depart on their Colgan Air flight to Boston. 6:30 AM—The Colgan Air flight arrives at Logan Airport. ATTA and ALOMARI apparently clear another security checkpoint. At Logan, the pair sit by themselves in the waiting area by Gate 11, leaning forward in their seats and talking quietly, other passengers recall. ATTA is in seat 8A, next to ALOMARI, and across the aisle from David Angell and his wife Lynn. Link AL-SUQAMI is in 10B. The AL-SHEHRI brothers are in 2A and 2B.

After checking out the Valencia, Nawaq and Salem ALHAZMI board 77 together, checking in at the coach line rather than the first-class line. One of them shows a Massachusetts drivers’ license. Link

As Flight 11 is in line for takeoff, ATTA calls AL-SHEHHI, further back on the tarmac on UA 175, on his cellphone for the last time. The conversation lasts less than a minute, and is believed to have been a final confirmation that the plot was a go. AL-SHEHHI is in seat 6C. Ahmed ALGHAMDIis in 9D. AHMED/BANIHAMMAD is in 2A. Hamza AGHAMDI is in 9C.

JARRAH calls his girlfriend from the airport hotel in Newark. ALMIDHAR’s seat on 77 is 12B. Salem ALHAZMI 5E. Nawaq ALHAZMI 5F. HANJOUR is in 1B. MOQED 12A.

7:59 AM—AA Flight 11, a Boeing 767, departs Logan Airport with 81 passengers and 11 crew.

8:14 AM—UA Flight 175, a Boeing 767, departs Logan Airport with 56 passengers and 9 crew.

Approximately from 8:15-8:20 AM— Using box-cutters and small knives, ATTA and his team seize control of Flight 11. According to flight attendant Madeline Amy Sweeney, four attackers had cut the throat of a passenger in business class, killing him. They also stabbed the two flight attendants in First Class, including Karen Martin (who was given oxygen by the other flight attendants) and a pilot, she said. Flight attendant Betty Ong reported that two men in the eighth row [ATTA and ALOMARI] killed a man sitting behind them.. Ong also stated that the hijackers had sprayed something in her face—mace, presumably—that made her eyes burn and made breathing difficult. Three of the hijackers had been sitting in business class themselves and one [this could only be ATTA] spoke very good English.

That Sweeney mentioned four hijackers rather than five supports the theory that they used topographical cues to decide on when to make their move. It has been theorized that Flight 11 had the easiest navigation to the target, as its original route took it straight west, across the Hudson River valley. Following the river would have given ATTA a straight line of navigation to New York City, so for this reason the plane was seized early in the flight, since the landmark of the Hudson would be impossible to miss as long as the plane continued to the west. The hijackers didn’t need to keep the original pilots around after the climbout period. The fifth hijacker, therefore, would be needed to watch for the Hudson valley during the seizure period. Almost certainly this function was performed by one of the AL-SHEHRI brothers sitting in 2A. The dry runs the terrorists took during the summer would have been necessary to allow them to familiarize themselves with the topography.

The hijackers get into the cockpit, presumably, by drawing one of the flight crew out with their attacks on the flight attendants. Possibly by accident, someone keys the microphone so that their conversations could be heard by flight control in Nashua, NH. ATTA is heard saying, “Don’t do anything foolish. You’re not going to get hurt.” ATTA is also heard to say, “We have more planes, we have other planes.” It is possible that one of the hijackers falsely mentions to one of the American pilots an intention of heading toward LaGuardia or JFK airports in New York City.

Both cell phone calls reported that most of the coach passengers had no idea that anything was wrong.

8:20 AM—AA Flight 77 departs Dulles Airport.

Around 8:25 AM—Flight 11 makes a sharp right turn over Albany, NY. Its transponder is turned off.

Approximately 8:32 AM–Flight 175 is seized. 175 traveled a more southeasterly route, passing within easy visual range of the WTC towers. By this theory, the plane would have been seized the moment the towers became visible, as the towers themselves would have been the only necessary landmark. Again, this would have required the hijackers to have taken the flight previously, and to have sat in a window seat on the left side of the plane. On September 11, AHMED/BANIHAMMAD in 2A would have been the one to give the signal. The one call from 175 that we know of mentioned that men with knives were stabbing flight attendants in an attempt to force the crew to unlock the cockpit doors.

Around this time, multiple bomb threats are called in to the Boston and Cleveland Air-Traffic Control centers, which happen to be the ones handling the three flights currently in the air.

8:36 AM—Flight 175, now piloted by AL-SHEHHI, makes its first turn toward New Jersey. Shortly after, its transponders are turned off.

8:40 AM—FAA informs NORAD that Flight 11 has been hijacked.

8:42 AM—UA Flight 93—UA Flight 93 Departs Newark Airport with 38 passengers and 7 crew..

8:43 AM—FAA informs NORAD that Flight 175 has also been hijacked.

8:45 AM—Flight 11 crashes into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. It is believed that all of the hijackers congregated in the cockpit at the final stages of the flight to shout their “Allahu akbars” together.

8:55 AM—Flight 77 suddenly turns to the east. Flight 77’s transponder is turned off just after it crosses the Ohio River, so this is probably the landmark the hijackers used. Barbara Olson’s phone call indicated that the hijackers had herded the passengers to the rear of the jet.

9:02 AM—Flight 175 crashes into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

9:05 AM—Flight 77 appears as an unidentified blip on radar over West Virginia.

9:24 AM—FAA informs NORAD that Flight 77 has also been hijacked.

Approximately 9:30—Flight 93 is seized. Flight 93’s nearly 180-degree turn just before Cleveland indicates that the hijackers may have used the sighting of Lake Erie as a landmark and a signal to seize the plane. The route the hijackers took strongly suggests that its intended target was in Washington, DC. Link The Flight 93 hijackers put on red bandannas just before they take over the plane. The headbands are a signature of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, who are known for wearing them during their machine-gun massacres on Coptic Christians and tourists at Luxor and elsewhere. It is not known whether any of the other three hijacker teams did this, but it is likely. The hijacker who is entrusted with guarding the passengers at the back of the plane wears a red box strapped to his waist, and claims to the passengers that it is a bomb. At least one passenger is murdered, along with the pilots.

9:37 AM—Ground controllers in Cleveland hear someone in broken English announce to the Flight 93 passengers that there was a bomb on board and that the plane was returning to the airport. The plane makes a sharp turn to the southeast at this time. The transponder is turned off at this time.

Freeper chris in nj says that the CVR tapes from Flight 93 “are an incredible amount of evidence against the 20th hijacker.” Link

9:30 AM—The “leader” of the Flight 77 hijackers, possibly ALMIDHAR, tells the Flight 77 passengers to call home because they are all about to die.

9:38 AM—Flight 77 crashes just short of the Pentagon.

10:03 AM—After an uprising by the passengers, Flight 93 crashes in Shanksville, PA.

There was an early theory that the hijackers had obtained access to the “jump seats” in the cockpits of the planes, but there is no hint of this in any of the recent accounts of the contents of the Flight 93 CVR. Link

Bin Laden tunes in to the radio to hear American news broadcasts of the event. “They were overjoyed when the first plane hit the building,” he said on a video later obtained by American forces, talking about others listening with him that day. “So I said to them: Be patient.” He said, “At the end of the newscast, they reported that a plane just hit the World Trade Center.” “Allah be praised,” replied one of the other men in the videotape. “After a little while, they announced that another plane had hit the World Trade Center,” bin Laden recalled. “The brothers who heard the news were overjoyed by it.” Bin Laden also mentions on the same video that “one group of people did not know the other,” but this was not essentially true.

Another flight out of Newark Airport that day, American Airlines Flight 43 to Los Angeles, is forced to land in St. Louis when the FAA grounds all commerical air traffic. Two passengers on this flight, Ayub Ali KHAN and Mohammed Jaweed AZMATH, board a train for San Antonio, but they are taken off the train by the FBI. They have boxcutters, disguises, and large amounts of cash with them. Khan and Azmath had lived at 6 Tonnele Ave., Jersey City, a four-story building with rooftop views of lower Manhattan, for about 2 1/2 years. Link It has been theorized that the two were part of a hijack team that lost its nerve. Given the very significant differences in age and ethnicity, and the apparent lack of contact that the two men had with the hijackers or their immediate associates—and also given the apparently wide circle in the American Muslim community who knew about the plot—one wonders if this was not an unofficial, “unsanctioned” hijacking.

MOUSSAOUI is seen cheering as he watches television pictures of the destruction from his secure unit. Shortly afterwards the FBI connects him with the attacks via BINALSHIBH. Finally, the FBI gets around to searching MOUSSAOUI’s computer, and find that it contains information about “dispersal of chemicals” as well as about crop-duster planes. MOUSSAOUI’s former roommate AL-ATTAS is arrested

September 13, 2001—The Visa card connected to AL-HAWSAWI’s account is used to make six ATM withdrawals in Karachi, Pakistan.

September 14, 2001—The Islamic prayer room at TUHH is shut down and the computer seized by German police.

September 16, 2001– In India, Saudi diplomat Ahmed Alshehri, based in Bombay, denies he was the father of hijacker Waleed M. ALSHEHRI. Reports from a Saudi newspaper editor say that both Waleed and Wail ALSHEHRI were Ahmed’s sons.

Around September 20—ATTAR leaves Germany for Sudan, where he lives openly.

November 9, 2001—A video is recorded in Afghanistan on which Osama Bin Laden names many of the hijackers, including Nawaq ALHAZMI, Salem ALHAZMI, and Wail ALSHEHRI, along with JARRAH and ATTA, and commends them to Allah. He mentions the AL-SHEHRI family name seven times, and the ALHAZMI and ALGHAMDI family names multiple times. He acknowledges that ATTA ran the operation: “Not everybody knew (…inaudible…). Mohammad (ATTA) from the Egyptian family (meaning the al-Qaida Egyptian group), was in charge of the group,” bin Laden said on the tape.The tape is found in Jalalabad a week or two later.CBS News 12/20/01

November 16, 2001—BINALSHIBH’s suicide video is discovered in the rubble of Mohammed Atef’s house in Kabul. He and four others are seen on the tape wearing red cloth knotted around their heads, as the hijackers of Flight 93 (and likely the others) did.

(the timeline continues at the link above)

Also take some time to review the History Commons project.

Just two days before 9/11, the New York Times publishes an article on their website examining the threat of an al-Qaeda attack on US interests. The article focuses on a videotape made by bin Laden which was released in June 2001 (see June 19, 2001). The article notes that “When the two-hour videotape surfaced last June, it attracted little attention, partly because much of it was spliced from previous bin Laden interviews and tapes. But since then the tape has proliferated on Islamic Web sites and in mosques and bazaars across the Muslim world.” It further notes that in the video, bin Laden “promises more attacks.” Referring to the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, he says, “The victory of Yemen will continue.” He promises to aid Palestinians fighting Israel, an important shift in emphasis from previous pronouncements. He also praises the Taliban, suggesting that previous reports of a split between bin Laden and the Taliban were a ruse. The article comments, “With his mockery of American power, Mr. bin Laden seems to be almost taunting the United States.” [New York Times, 9/9/2001] Curiously, shortly after 9/11, the New York Times will remove the article from their website archive and redirect all links from the article’s web address, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/09/international/asia/09OSAM.html, to the address of another article written by the same author shortly after 9/11, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/12/international/12OSAM.html. (Note the dates contained within the addresses.)

#9/11 #History #News #Politics #Islam #Jihad

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