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capybaracorn · 2 months

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US airdrops food into Gaza in move criticised by aid groups

US plan has been criticised as inefficient while Israel continues blocking most aid trucks from entering Gaza by land.

(2 Mar 2024)

United States military cargo planes have air-dropped food into Gaza, in the first of series of aid drops as humanitarian groups criticise Israel for blocking access to the besieged and bombarded strip.

The US, together with Jordan’s air force, “conducted a combined humanitarian assistance airdrop into Gaza … to provide essential relief to civilians affected by the ongoing conflict”, US Central Command said in a statement on Saturday.

The C-130 planes “dropped over 38,000 meals along the coastline of Gaza allowing for civilian access to the critical aid”, it added, as the enclave faces a humanitarian crisis after almost five months of war.

US President Joe Biden had announced a day earlier that the US would airdrop aid there after more than 100 Palestinians were killed on Thursday in northern Gaza while queuing for aid.

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Friday that the US will carry out multiple airdrops in the next few weeks, which will be coordinated with Jordan.

Kirby said the airdrops have an advantage over trucks because planes can move aid to a particular area quickly. However, in terms of volume, the airdrops will be “a supplement to, not a replacement for moving things in by ground”, he added.

The Biden administration is also considering shipping aid by sea from Cyprus, according to a US official.

Since Israel’s war began on October 7 following Hamas’s attack, Israel has barred the entry of food, water, medicine and other supplies, except for a tiny trickle of aid entering the south from Egypt at the Rafah crossing and Israel’s Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing.

‘The US is weak’

The US’s move has been criticised as inefficient and simply a public relations move by members of international aid organisations.

“The airdrops are symbolic and designed in ways to appease the domestic base,” Dave Harden, former USAID director to the West Bank, told Al Jazeera. “Really what needs to happen is more crossings [opening] and more trucks going in every day.”

“I think the United States is weak and that’s really disappointing to me,” Harden added. “The US has the ability to compel Israel to open up more aid and by not doing that we’re putting our assets and our people at risks and potentially creating more chaos in Gaza.”

UK-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) echoed Harden’s statement, telling Al Jazeera in a statement that the US, the UK and others should instead work to “ensure that Israel immediately opens all crossings into Gaza for aid.”

Oxfam also blasted the Biden administration’s plans, labelling the effort an attempt to assuage the guilty consciences of US officials.

“While Palestinians in Gaza have been pushed to the absolute brink, dropping a paltry, symbolic amount of aid into Gaza with no plan for its safe distribution would not help and be deeply degrading to Palestinians,” Scott Paul, who leads Oxfam’s US government advocacy work, said in a statement on X.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry also criticised the US for acting as a “weak, marginal state” unable to secure aid to Palestinians.

US Senator Bernie Sanders, however, welcomed the US’s move.

“I applaud President Biden for understanding that there is a dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” Sanders said on X.

Mahjoob Zweiri, the director of the Gulf Study Centre in Doha, told Al Jazeera the international community is not putting enough pressure on Israel to allow the waiting aid trucks to enter Gaza by land.

“Why not send food in through Karem Abu Salem?” Zweiri said. “There are 2,000 trucks waiting to get into Gaza” at border crossings, he said, while food and medicines pile up for months past their expiry dates.

“Why isn’t the international community not putting enough effort into delivering aid in an organised manner?” he asked.

[See article for embedded videos and tweet]

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metrocentric · 3 months

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South Bank Centre facing on Waterloo Bridge (downstream side), SE1.

#london #concrete

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mostlyinthemorning · 1 year

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Okay tumblr, do you want to hear the story of the time I had a live badger under the front seat of my car?

A few of you have heard this story before, but I feel like you might be okay hearing it again.

So.

Mumblety years ago, my first real job after university was working at a wildlife rescue centre. Basically, people would find injured and orphaned wild animals and they’d call us up and we’d nurse them back to health or raise them until they were grown enough to go back to the wild. Most of the time the patients were birds (robins, so many robins) and small mammals, like squirrels, but occasionally we got a more unusual animal.

One day, this baby badger comes in, he's really small, probably about 6 weeks old.

Super cute, kind of like this:

At six weeks old he’s still nursing so we bottle fed him for a few weeks and then eventually, when he started eating solid food like mice, we put him out into an outdoor enclosure. By the end of the summer, he's catching and eating his own food and he's growls super ferociously whenever anyone comes up to the cage.

Ah-ha, we think, we have rehabbed him successfully. He's ready to be released!

The wildlife center isn’t really located in badger habitat, but I was planning to travel to visit my parents, about four hours south, and they lived in the country and had lots of gophers for him to eat. Thus, a plan was born. I would visit my parents, I would take the badger with me, he would be happily released into the wild, and my friend and I would go camping, just to round out the weekend.

So, my friend (who also works at the wildlife centre) and I happily load our things and our badger into the back of my very small Toyota Tercel. (You see where this is going, I hope.)

My car was like this, but blue.

You might notice that this is not a very large car. And you’d be right.

Badger safely stowed in the back seat, we head south. I think it’s important to mention that the badger is in a plywood crate with a sliding wood door that goes up and down as this will be relevant later on.

Now, it’s a blazingly hot day, probably 35C/95F and my little car doesn't have air conditioning. It is hot. Even with the windows down. And the badger is annoyed. We can tell he’s annoyed by the loud and angry growls coming from the back seat.

Our plan is to stop about 1.5 hours into the trip to visit a bank and a grocery store. The badger doesn’t care about this plan. He’s still very annoyed.

We pull up to the bank, parking in the shade so the badger won't be toasty in the sun, and we go inside. This is before the days of paying with everything with debit cards so we needed cash. We come back out pretty quickly and open the door of the car and immediately there's a problem. The badger is still growling, but now the growls are coming from under the front seat of my car.

We slam the door closed and try to decide what to do. Because we’re going camping, we aren't really prepared for anything other than opening up the door of the crate and watching the badger run away. We don't have any gloves, or a towel, or even so much as a business card saying that we are allowed to have a live badger in our car. As we're standing there, trying to figure out what to do about our predicament, people keep coming up to us to ask if we've locked our keys in the car. (If only!)

I crack open the door of the car a few times, and the badger growls at me every time. Clearly, he lives under the front seat of the car now. We have to do something. It’s still hot, and now we’re behind schedule and we still have 2.5 hours left to drive.

A guy in a big oilfield truck pulls into the parking spot beside us. Figuring we don’t have a choice, we accost him as he gets out of his truck and ask if he has any gloves we can borrow. He admits that he does, but, of course, he wants to know why.

We explain.

He absolutely refuses to get involved but he agrees to lend us his gloves. Apparently he doesn’t have any reservations about watching two 20-something young women wrestle a live badger as long as he doesn’t have to do it himself. Gloves secured, we open the door of the car.

The growling gets louder.

It's still coming from under the seat.

Now, I don't know if you've ever tried to stick your hand under the front seat of a Toyota Tercel in order to retrieve a live badger. But there's not much room.

The other thing you should probably know about badgers is that the scruff of their neck is extremely loose so that they can twist around if a predator grabs them.

All of this is to say that wrestling a badger out from under the seat of your car is vaguely similar to trying to fish an angry, squirmy cat out from underneath your bed, if the cat had 2 inch claws and the ability to completely rotate in its own skin. In a public parking lot. While trying not to attract a crowd of onlookers.

Finally, after much swearing, we manage to shove the badger out from under the seat, I grab it and slam it back into its crate.

Whew, we think. At least we fixed that problem. But everything is okay now. Back to the plan!

It takes about five seconds for us to discover that the badger released himself by sticking his claws under the sliding door and lifting it up.

At this point, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that long with our lack of gloves, we also don't have any tools that we might use to fix the door of the crate. But somehow we manage to wedge the door of the crate shut.

Whew, we think. At least we fixed that problem. But everything is okay now. Back to the plan!

You might be sensing a theme, and you’d be right. With the hindsight of some years since then, we probably should have turned around. Oh, to be 23 again.

It's still 35 degrees.

The badger is still angry.

We still have 2.5 hours worth of driving ahead of us.

We head out on the highway and the trip gains the soundtrack that I can still hear to this day.

Growl, growl, scratch, scratch.

We turn up the music. The badger growls louder.

I’m already doing ten over the speed limit. I drive a bit faster. Did I mention that the car doesn’t have air conditioning?

Growl, growl, scratch, scratch.

Thunk. Scratch, scratch. Thunk.

Our gerry-rigged closure on the crate has failed and the badger is sticking his claws beneath the door and lifting up the door. It’s only going to be seconds before a hot angry badger is loose in the car. We’re fifteen minutes from my parents’ house.

I pull onto the shoulder of the highway and my friend scrambles into the backseat. Putting all of her weight on the sliding door, she holds it down as the badger scratches furiously. I pull back onto the highway, now I’m going twenty over the limit.

Fifteen long, hot, and exhausting minutes later, we arrive at my parents’ house. I swear the badger's growls can be heard in Ottawa. Gasping a hello to my mom and dad, we lug the heavy crate with the heavy badger out into the field, wanting to release it as quickly as possible.

The growling gets louder. The crate might be the heaviest thing I’ve carried in my life. Staggering through the field, we finally decide we're far enough away from the house. We lift the door of the crate. The badger dashes for freedom—which is to say that it runs ten feet away and turns to look at us.

Whew, we think. At least we made it here. But everything is okay now. We did it!

Heaving a sigh of relief, we gather up the crate and turn to go back the way we came.

The badger follows us.

We walk faster.

The badger chases after us, practically at our heels.

We jump across the creek.

The badger launches itself into the water, swimming after us.

We stop. The badger comes and sits at our feet like the world’s shortest, widest dog. We look at it. It stares back at us. Maybe the badger just needs a moment to consider its life of freedom. We wait. The badger wanders away. We pick up the crate for a second time and try to walk away. The badger is having none of it. It gallops after us. I pick up the wet badger and tuck it under my arm. This is the happiest it's been all day. Clearly, we are not releasing this badger into the wild.

Now, friends, we have a dilemma. We’re four hours from home, it’s getting late, and whatever we decide to from this point forward is going to involve a slightly damp, half-grown badger made of growls.

Our plan, if you can call it that at this point, was to release the badger and then go camping in a nearby national park. This now seems like a bad idea. But we're four hours from home and we have to do something.

So.

We decide to take the badger camping. In a moment of prudence, we forgo the national park and choose a nearby provincial park instead.

We drive to the park. The badger rides on my friend’s lap. There’s no growling.

We set up our campsite. Thankfully, the campground is nearly empty. While we’re setting up the tent, the badger explores the campsite, amusing himself by digging a few holes and making sure to keep us in sight. It was like having a very short, very growly dog who likes to dig.

I’m sure it won’t surprise you in the least if I say that it’s at this point that we realize we’ve forgotten the matches for the stove.

The nearest town is twenty minutes away. The badger will have to go back in the crate for the journey. The badger is not a fan of this idea. But we get him back into the crate—something that’s a lot easier now that we know he’s not trying to eat us—and we head for town, accompanied by the now-familiar symphony of growling.

Now, it's been a bit of a day. So I think I should be forgiven for accidentally going over the speed limit on the way out of the campsite. This is, of course, when I get pulled over. Remember, we don't have a single piece of official wildlife-related ID between us, not even so much as a business card. This was before cell phones so we can’t even phone the wildlife center to vouch for us. We're both convinced that this is it, that we're probably going to jail for wildlife smuggling. And the badger is never getting out of that crate. In the backseat, the badger is growling louder than ever.

The officer comes up to the car window.

The badger growls.

We hold our breath.

The badger growls even louder.

The officer proceeds to absolutely ream me out for going twenty over the limit. The badger growls at every word. The officer doesn't even acknowledge the badger. I apologize profusely. I promise to never ever do it again. The officer gives me a warning. The badger growls. I drive away very, very slowly.

The next day we drive home and I can't even remember the details of the trip, I think I've blocked it out, but I’m pretty sure we let the badger had free-run of the car. When we got back to the wildlife center, we learned that badgers don't leave their moms until they're a bit older. We put him back in his cage, and about four months later, he digs his way out. And every now and then for about a year after that, people would come to the wildlife centre and say that an overly-friendly badger had come up to them on our nature trail.

And this is why I always make sure to carry gloves in my car.

THE END

#houdini tells stories #wildlife rescue is a time let me tell you #badgers are the best

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ewanmitchellcrumbs · 11 months

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Seeing all these asks about Geneyen giving bitches backshots/breaking backs then taking off with panties and debit/credit cards makes me want a fic about Geneyen giving backshots taking panties and stealing debit/credit cards lol

Ask and you shall receive.

Fool Me Once - Chapter One

Warnings: Theft, smut. Word count: ~1200

Author's note: No gods, no masters, no tag lists. Only scabs community label fics. If you find yourself tempted to slap a label on this, please block me instead.

Main series masterlist

Genyen awakens, sticky with sweat, an acrid taste in his mouth and a hangover lingering behind his eyes. He silently curses himself for not splurging the extra cash for a place with air conditioning, not that’d be sticking around long enough to appreciate it, but the humidity here is unbearable.

He fled to Thailand after clearing out the donations from the Buddhist centre, along with Jinba’s bank account. He has kept moving since arriving, never staying in one place for more than a week, it’s too risky to settle anywhere when he makes a living from robbing pretty, gullible tourists.

His grifting has taken him to Krabi, Pattaya City and Ko Pha Ngan. This week he finds himself in Pa Tong. No matter the city or district, the situation always plays out the same way; he dons his Buddhist monk robes, heads to the nearest beach and spins a pretty girl a line about how he’s left the monastery because he wants to experience a day in the life of a tourist. By nightfall he’s spilling himself into a condom inside of her, then rifling through her purse once she’s asleep.

He has no idea what possessed him to start tearing the ID pages from their passports. The first time it happened he’d found it as he’d rummaged through her handbag. He’d flipped to the back, curiosity leading him to want to look at her photo. Before he had time to think fully about what he was doing, he’d ripped it out, pocketing it along with her knickers and all the cash she had.

He has quite the collection now. He rolls over in the bed, draping a long, lean arm down the side to rifle through his duffel bag. Underwear of all colours, cuts and sizes is stuffed inside. He thumbs through the stack of ID pages; Sweden, Australia, South Africa, Canada.

Would be cool to have one for every country, he thinks to himself.

He pushes the passport pages and panties to the side, plucking out the wad of banknotes rolled up beside them and counts through it. Shit. Less than two thousand baht left. He’s only been in Pa Tong a few days, but partying all night, every night burns through money fast. He’s going to need to find another target today, or he’ll run out of cash.

After dragging himself out of bed, chasing painkillers with the dregs of the previous evening’s final beer, and showering, Genyen finds himself strolling the perimeter of Pa Tong beach. He is glad that his robes are relatively lightweight, the heat of the sun feels oppressive. He shields his eyes from the blinding rays, surveying the hordes of people soaking up the Thai heat.

That’s when he spots her. His eyes are immediately drawn to the curve of her arse, peeking out from a tiny pair of bikini bottoms as she lays face down. She’s immersed in a copy of The Secret. Oh, this is fucking perfect.

He saunters over to her and she immediately looks up as his shadow is cast over her. He smiles as her eyes widen in surprise.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have any cash on me if you’re looking for donations.” She smiles sweetly at him.

“Oh, I’m not here on behalf of Wat Suwan Khiri Wong. I’m actually trying to get away from that.”

“Really? And why is that?” She asks curiously, closing her book.

He settles cross legged on the sand in front of her. “I’ve dedicated my whole life to the monastery and practicing the teachings of Buddha. I’d like to know what life has to offer outside of that. I’m Genyen, by the way.”

“Genyen.” She repeats, eyeing him curiously. “Makes you sound important.”

He laughs softly. “It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice. You can call me Shawn, if you’d prefer.”

He spins her his entire lie and she falls for it. He tells her his mum passed away when he was ten, that his dad married a woman called Mary and when his dad then passed away just before Shawn was due to go to university, Mary had contested the will. She’d gotten everything, the house included. He went away to university, but had nowhere to go once he graduated, so he went travelling and ended up here, in Thailand. He was taken in by the Buddhist monks and renamed Genyen, which means ‘approaching virtue’.

She pays rapt attention, her face softening in sympathy for him, and by the evening they sit in a beach bar together, their knees brushing as she sips a strawberry daiquiri.

“So if you want to experience life outside of the monastery, why aren’t you drinking?” She says, playing with her staw.

“Better to take these things slowly, just talking to you today was a big enough step.” He lies. He knows better than to get buzzed. Drunkenness leads to sloppy mistakes.

He barely has to make an effort. Two more cocktails and her eyes are glazed as she leans in to kiss him. Her lips taste like rum and he kisses her back hungrily.

He follows eagerly when she leads him back to her hotel room. They make quick work of undressing each other. His eyes dart around the room, making a note of where she discards her bag.

It’s not long before she’s on all fours, his hands kneading the fleshy globes of her backside that he’d spent most of the afternoon admiring, as he snaps his hips against her. She clenches around him, warm and oh so tight. He can feel how soaked she is even while wearing a johnny and the sensation causes him to groan as he speeds up his movements.

She moans, arching her back, pushing against him and he slides a hand up the smooth skin of her back, grabbing a fistful of her hair, biting his lip at how this makes her squeeze him harder. She may be a dupable airhead who stupidly believes in the power of manifestation, but she is undoubtedly one of the best lays he’s ever had.

He isn’t sure if she comes, he doesn’t care. His grip on her hips is vicelike as gives one final thrust, shuddering as he pulsates and spends himself into the latex.

It doesn’t take long for her to fall asleep. He lays there, waiting for the sound of her breathing to deepen and even out. Once she starts to snore softly, he creeps out of the bed. He dresses before looking through the handbag he’d seen her drop to the floor earlier. He pulls all of the banknotes from her purse, pocketing them. No cash on you? Bloody liar.

Her passport sits on the vanity table and he grabs it, flipping to the back page. He smiles as he looks at her photo, illuminated by the moonlight that streams through the window. She looks so dorky, it’s actually kind of cute. He almost feels bad for robbing her.

He tears the page out, wrapping it in her discarding bikini bottoms, then pockets those as well.

Slipping out of her room, he lets the door click softly closed behind him, walking out into the balmy night air of Pa Tong. He was going to miss her. Well, he’d miss her air conditioning, that’s for sure.

#genyen #genyen doctors #ewan mitchell #genyen x reader #genyen smut #genyen fan fiction #genyen fanfiction #genyen fanfic #genyen fan fic

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palms-upturned · 5 months

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Israel continues committing crimes against civilians and putting out propaganda to weakly justify their sieges on hospitals, now not only in Gaza, but the West Bank, too. They’re even committing precisely the crime they keep accusing Hamas of by using seized schools and health centers for military purposes.

Via Al Jazeera:

Israel’s defence minister claims ‘Hamas has lost control of Gaza’

Nov 13th, 18:30 GMT

Yoav Gallant says Hamas does not have the power to stop Israel’s military, saying Israeli forces have intensified operations against Hamas tunnels in Gaza.

“Hamas has lost control of Gaza. Terrorists are fleeing south. Civilians are looting Hamas bases,” he said.

Gallant said that “each day”, Israel kills more Hamas commanders and fighters, adding that Israel’s army continues to operate “in the heart of Gaza City”.

(Emphasis mine)

UNRWA says received reports Israel used school, health centres for military operations

Nov 13th, 20:50 GMT

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said it received reports that Israeli forces “conducted interrogations and arrests” of internally displaced Palestinians in the installations in Gaza City.

They entered one school and two health centres with tanks, UNRWA said.

“In one health centre, five people were reportedly killed. According to the reports, IDPs [internally displaced persons] were subsequently forced to leave the UNRWA installations and move south towards Wadi Gaza. Witnesses reported that Israeli forces then struck the two health centres with artillery fire,” the agency said, adding that it was verifying the reports.

“If confirmed, the military use of UNRWA facilities raises serious concerns, as such use puts civilians at serious risk of harm. Directing attacks against civilian objects is a serious violation of international law. Health centres, in particular, are also afforded special protection against attack.”

Israeli military says ‘signs indicating’ captives were held at al-Rantisi Hospital

Nov 13th, 21:00 GMT

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari has said “signs indicating hostages were held” in a basement room within al-Rantisi Hospital in north Gaza had been discovered.

Hagari made the claims in a video shot by Israeli forces in the children’s hospital.

In the video, Hagari pointed to women’s clothing, what appeared to be a rope on the leg of a chair, as well as an “improvised” toilet and other infrastructure.

He also pointed to what he called a “guardian list” on the wall, where he claimed fighters signed into shifts to watch the captives. He called the items evidence that captives had been held there.

(Emphasis mine)

Israeli forces stormed West Bank hospital, interrogated medical staff: Health ministry

Nov 13th, 21:15 GMT

The Palestinian health ministry said Israeli forces left after interrogating staff at an eye hospital in Turmus Ayya, near Ramallah.

In a post on social media, the ministry condemned the raid as a blatant violation of health institutions, similar to what Israel has been doing in Gaza.

#palestine #free palestine #al jazeera #and we’re funding this. our tax dollars are funding this. american workers are building these weapons.

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probablyasocialecologist · 9 months

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Global South countries are currently experiencing a debt crisis wherein governments like that of Sri Lanka are unable to service the debts they hold that are denominated in a foreign currency. Such debts began to balloon across the Global South in the aftermath of the oil crises of the 1970s. Following the Volcker Shock—and the accompanying steep rise in interest rates for dollar-denominated debts—countries that held those bonds found themselves in a situation similar to that of today. At that time, Global North governments, acting through the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), agreed to a series of bailouts conditional on Structural Adjustments Programs (SAPs). SAPs allowed these institutions to intervene directly in the fiscal policy of indebted countries and to implement neoliberal reforms which reduced public spending and opened up economies to transnational corporations. The explicit goal of SAPs was to kickstart growth, as the only means for indebted countries to pay back their loans and to lift communities out of poverty—the implicit goal being the creation of societies mirroring those of their former colonisers. Yet the last forty years have yielded the opposite result: an explosion of inequality both within and between countries and debts at their highest level this century. To understand this trend, we need to recognise that loans to the Global South were never about achieving prosperity; instead, the intention was to reassert neo-colonial control over the decolonising world. Decolonisation reduced the Global North’s access to the cheap labour, energy and raw materials that colonialism had ensured for centuries. Debt relationships between the former colonisers and colonised recreated the conditions for the plunder of the Global South. It turned poor countries into captive markets for companies based in the Global North and created a race to the bottom in environmental and labour standards meant to attract foreign investors. Under this arrangement, indebted countries need to grow their economies to service their debts. Growth relies on exports priced at disadvantageous rates that create ecologically unequal exchange between the Global South and Global North. Economies centred on the export of low-value-added commodities prevent the Global South from achieving full decolonisation. Fortunately, scholars of Modern Monetary Theory have shown that it is not necessary to prioritize growth for the sake of growth before investing in what countries actually need. Instead, what matters is a country’s productive capacity determined by social and ecological boundaries, and here the Global South is far richer than the Global North. To invest in necessary programmes like a Job Guarantee and Universal Public Services, however, countries must first free themselves of colonial currencies and end the cycles of debt that trap them in poverty. Given that stopping ecologically unequal exchange is a cornerstone of degrowth, the need for debt restructuring is clear. The only question is how to achieve this revolutionary reform.

#degrowth #debt #ecologically unequal exchange #global south #colonialism

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warrioreowynofrohan · 2 years

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Because the geography of Whitby is handy to know later on, and I have no ability to visualize things, I'm going to post a little map (very low quality, I'm bad at this) of present-day Whitby with some of the places Mina mentions marked on it.

The Crescent (centre left), a fancy part of Whitby where Lucy is staying.

Lucy met me at the station, looking sweeter and lovelier than ever, and we drove up to the house at the Crescent in which they have rooms.

2. The ruins of Whitby Abbey, up on the east cliff (lower right).

Right over the town is the ruin of Whitby Abbey, which was sacked by the Danes, and which is the scene of part of “Marmion” where the girl was built up in the wall. It is a most noble ruin, of immense size, and full of beautiful and romantic bits; there’s a legend that a white lady is seen in one of the windows.

3. The graveyard of St. Mary's Church with the view over the cliffs and harbour that Mina likes (lower right).

Between [Whitby Abbey] and the town there is another church, the parish one, round which is a big graveyard, all full of tombstones. This is to my mind the nicest spot in Whitby, for it lies right over the town, and has a full view of the harbour and all up the bay to where the headland called Kettleness stretches out into the sea. It descends so steeply over the harbour that part of the bank has fallen away, and some of the graves have been destroyed. In one place part of the stonework of the graves stretches out over the sandy pathway far below. There are walks, with seats beside them, through the churchyard; and people go and sit there all day long looking at the beautiful view and enjoying the breeze. I shall come and sit here very often myself and work.

4. Whitby harbour, with the two lighthouses circled.

The harbour lies below me, with, on the far side, one long granite wall stretching out into the sea, with a curve outwards at the end of it, in the middle of which is a lighthouse. A heavy sea-wall runs along aside of it. On the near side, the sea-wall makes an elbow crooked inversely, and its end too has a lighthouse. Between the two piers there is a narrow opening into the harbour, which then suddenly widens.

It is nice at high water; but when the tide it out it shoals away to nothing, and there is merely the stream of the Esk, running between banks of sand, with rocks here and there. Outside the harbour on this side there rises for about half a mile a great reef, the sharp edge of which runs straight out from behind the south lighthouse.

The reef isn't in the photo above, but if you go to Google Maps you can see it angling off to the northwest.

5. The steps down from the graveyard to the town (lower right).

He hobbled away, and I could see him hurrying, as well as he could, down the steps. The steps are a great feature on the place. They lead from the town up to the church, there are hundreds of them – I do not know how many – and they wind up in a delicate curve; the slope is so gentle that a horse could easily walk up and down them. I think they must have originally had something to do with the abbey.

One other feature of the town Mina mentions is the viaduct, which isn't in the map above because it's far south of the rest.

#dracula #dracula daily #whitby

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readingoals · 10 months

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Its that time of year again! The Lifeline Bookfest is back!

Me and mum were there at opening on Saturday (as per usual). I was there looking for particular editions of Agatha Christie books and unfortunately only found one of them but I ended up buying about 10 things lmao, I'll do a bit of a haul soon!

For now heres a few snaps I took in the line before doors opened and then some from inside. Did a double take when i saw that red book in the second last photo. I swear it says Goncharov!

The bookfest is only on for four days this time around so if you're in Brissie and have a chance to go it's running until June 20 at the Convention Centre in South Bank

#booklr #brigid speaks #lifeline bookfest

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http-tokki · 2 years

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Can I try something else?

~ Piercer! Dabi x fem!reader ~ tags/cw: piercer!dabi, best friend!dabi, not canon, dabi is just a bad boy with no quirks, piercing studio, nipple piercings, smut, explicit language ~ wc: 2.2k ~ "Get your tits out for the lads"

“Okay, so you want… your nipples pierced?” confusion laces Dabi’s every word.

You nod, hands gripping the flimsy disposable sheet placed over the piercing bed.

“By me?” Dabi looks down at the consent form, flipping back and forth between the two pages. There isn’t any new information on the papers, he knew your age, birth date, and address. Hell, he was there when you got your new ID so why was he focusing on the stupid clipboard in front of him?

He frowns at the forms and purses his lips in deliberation. His eyes flick up to you, glancing over your face and down to your chest for a brief second before darting back to the files. It's weird. You think. The two of you had been friends for far too long to have this not be weird. Too many years had passed and your spot in the ‘basically my sister’ territory had been established and by you asking him to see your shirtless, well… it was incest-y.

“If it’s gonna be weird, don’t worry about-“ you start, pushing yourself off the bed.

“It's not, I just-“ Dabi cuts you off with a sigh, throwing the plastic folder onto the couch in the corner of his small studio. “It’s gonna hurt, y’know?”

You stare at him with faux disbelief. “Wow, Touya I had no idea it would hurt.”

Dabi shoots you a withering stare and takes a moment to roll over to his equipment trolley and grab the coffee you had bought him. Oat Cappuccino with one sugar and extra foam.

It been your turn to buy the coffee this morning.

Handing over your card for payment while Dabi hung off your arm, attention on the cake case beside the till.

“Cake?” he piped, nodding his chin in the direction of a burnt basque matcha cheesecake. Touya looked up at you with an exaggerated pout and his best attempt at puppy dog eyes as you turned your attention back to him.

“ehh…” You hummed, looking back to the case to check out the price. $28 a slice! Shifting back to the man-child hanging off your arm, you grimaced and gave him a disgruntled no.

Dabi let go of your arm, lips set in a frown and slumped towards the pick-up bay. Any other day you would have bought the two of you some cake to share but after having just paid rent and school fees, your bank account was looking a little too sad to justify a nearly $30 slice of cake. You explained that to your friend as you slid up next to him, knocking your knee against his to grab his attention from his phone. Dabi nodded, understanding just how expensive life was at the moment and changed the subject to the new tattoo he was getting from a visiting artist next week. He showed you the portfolio of the South Korean artist, quickly glossing over the insane amount of money he had paid for a simple deposit and before you could berate him for the inordinate amount of money he was about to drop, your order was called.

“Oat cap with one sugar?” the barista called out, sliding the drink to the centre of the bar. A smile graced his face upon seeing you moving forward to grab the coffee. “Extra foam?” Before you could get halfway across the divide, Dabi was already at the counter collecting his order with an unusual amount of grace.

You watched as the poor barista’s smile fell as he realised the heart and smile he had drawn on the lid was not for your coffee but your male companion’s.

“Thanks, man.” Dabi teased as he sipped at the sweet drink.

Shuffling forward you grabbed the cold brew that was silently being slid over the black benchtop. You offered a quick thanks to him and his team and followed Dabi out the door. Touya’s outstretched hand beckoned you from in front, a gesture usually reserved for crowded bars and concerts, but you weren’t about to say no to holding his hand, so you slipped your fingers through his and followed his stride with quick steps.

---

“Are you sure you don’t want someone else to do it?” his voice is soft as he looks up at you from under thick lashes.

You melt at the softness of his tone.

“I think ..” you pause, thinking of how to frame your answer to not sound as disappointed as you were starting to feel. “I kinda wanted you to do it 'cause you’re gentle with everything but it’s okay, I’ll get Shiggy to do it.” Part of your answer was the truth. Dabi was gentle with the needle. Having done all your piercings thus far you knew his hands well and you liked to think he knew your body just the same but maybe this was a step too far.

“No,” Dabi interjects. “I’ll do it.”

You blink at his sudden willingness.

“Ohh, umm.. okay” you try to tamp down the excitement. “Where do you- I..”

Dabi nods towards the bed and instructs. “Back up.”

A giggle makes it past your lips despite your brain's warning to keep it casual. You attempt to cover it with a cough but from the smirk forming on Dabi’s face you know he caught it. There is a brief moment after you have sat back on the bed where a tense silence falls over the small studio. Suddenly very conscious of your breathing, you adjust it so it's deep and fulfilling so you don’t pass out the second he touches you.

The crush you had on your best friend had long since taken over you. Developing past a small infatuation with him and into a full-blown ‘I love you more than anything in the entire world please love me back’ kind of love that had you breaking every rule you had ever set for yourself.

Never date a friend. Never let a friend see you naked. Never fuck a friend. Never accidentally moan out a friend’s name when having ‘self-care’ time. Never think about said friend turning ‘self-care’ time. Never… the list went on and on and you had broken every single rule in that book. Well, all but three, but you were so close to breaking another one that you could almost feel his hands on you.

“You okay?” Dabi asks. “Your face is all red, do you need water?”

More heat fills your cheeks. “it's really warm in here.” You lie.

Dabi raises an eyebrow at you, not entirely believing your fib but lets it go as he pulls out gloves from the cardboard box.

“Alright, let’s do it.” He snaps the latex against his wrist. “Get your tits out for the lads.”

Ten minutes later you are still sat before Dabi, shirtless and unpierced and blushing every shade of red imaginable as he stares intently at your chest.

You had initially shied away from his gaze after taking off your shirt and bra, tossing them on the spare chair where he kept his jacket and belongings. The image of your undergarments mixed with his flashed across your mind briefly, but the scrap of metal wheels along wooden floors pulled you back to the present. You had crossed your arms over your chest, hiding yourself from your friend as he made his way towards the bed.

“I need to see them before I pierce them” Dabi sighed, pulling at your wrists away from your chest and to your sides. Pink filled his cheeks as he released your hands and grabbed at your hips, pulling you closer to the edge of the bed.

Dabi had hemmed and hawed for a while, tilting his head from side to side assessing your breasts all without touching you, until he shook his head and pulled back.

“Sorry, Angel. Can’t do it.” He frowns, hands coming to rest next to yours on the bed. “You don’t have enough tissue”

“Huh? Enough tissue?” you look down at your bare breasts. “Like in my nipple or my boobs because if you’re commenting on the size of them, that’s-”

“No that’s not- Shut up,” he rolls his eyes and sighs. “Look, I’ll show ya” and before you can get a word in, Dabi lifts his shirt to reveal his own pierced nipples.

You’ve seen Dabi shirtless before, way too many times to count but you’ve never been shirtless at the same time. Dabi’s gloved hands reach up and flick the pierced. “See? How much tissue there is?” you watch as the tissue hardens, but you still don’t get it.

You look back down at your chest. “I don’t see a difference.”

“Well, flick your nipple, and I’ll show you.”

“You flick it” The words fly from your mouth before you can stop them.

“You’ve got two hands,” Dabi retorts, dropping his shirt. Your face falls at the blatant rejection.

Ouch.

Breathing in, you scramble to gather your expression and rearrange it.

But like always, Dabi notices and quickly adds. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“But you would’ve shoved a needle through it?” You’re reaching for your shirt and bra.

Cheeks now heating in a different form of embarrassment. There’s a moment of silence before Dabi sighs.

“Fine, come here,” there is the sound of the chair wheels scraping on the floor then he is in front of you. “Open,” he instructs, hands resting on your knees.

You follow the commands, slipping your legs open wide enough to fit his frame. His hand leave your knees and come up to rest against your ribs, tapping against the skin and bone.

.“Hey, watch,” tone commanding once again. “I’m doing this for you.”

You nod and look down.

Swallowing the lump that formed in your throat, you turn your attention back to him. Time slows as a hand leaves your ribs and ghosts up your torso, stopping just below the curve of your breast. Your stomach flips and heat floods your core.

Dabi stops and looks up at you with questioning eyes. “Can I try something else?”

You have no idea where he is going with this, but you nod giving him complete control over the situation.

There is a beat of stillness, all air leaving your body as you wait for what comes next. For all you know, he could slap you in the tit and walk away but what he does is a million times better than you could have ever imagined. With one hand he cups your right breast, the other splaying across your back to hold you close and pulls your breast into his mouth.

A gasp rips through you as his lips wrap around your nipple, teeth scraping over the nerve endings sending heat to every inch of your body. Dabi looks up at the sound you make, blue eyes blazing as his tongue swirls over the sensitive tissue. The hand on your back reaches up and tangles in the hair at the nape of your neck and before you can register that is happening, he is standing up and kissing you. Mouth on yours and holding you close; you fall into his touch. Melting in his fingers at the pull of your hair, you whine and let your mouth fall open. Dabi’s tongue traces your bottom lip before sliding into your mouth, the taste of coffee filling your mouth.

You pull back, spit connecting your mouths as you gasp for breath. Dabi pulls back on your hair, tilting your face to his as he smiles down at you.

“Is this why you wanted me to pierce you?” one of his hands starts to drift down the button of your jeans. “You were really about to pay me to do this?”

You nod.

“You could have just asked me, angel. I would have fucked you for free if you wanted.” He croons, pressing a soft kiss to your nose.

“Now imagine if i had gotten Shiggy to do this instead.” you tease, hands reaching up for his belt.

Dabi frowns, “I don’t even want to think about that.”

You make quick work of the belt and subsequent buttons, reaching in and wrapping your fingers around his clothed cock. Dabi chokes as you start to stroke him through his boxers, his hands shaking as he reaches into your jeans, He smiles at the amount of slick that has collected in the lace, swiping his fingers over your cunt before pressing down on your clit. His name is a keen cry on your tongue as he dips a finger in you, pushing in to the knuckle before curling up against that spongey part of you that made you weak.

“Ohh before I forget” he shakes his head as if to clear the thoughts of bending you over the bed out of his mind. “I really like you and I want to do this again sometime but in a bed and maybe after a date?”

You stare up at your best friend, completely dumbfounded at how cute he looked asking you out on a date as if he didn’t have his fingers down your pants.

“Yes, I want to go on a date, please. So many dates.” You start to ramble but are cut off by Dabi’s mouth on yours.

.“But I’m gonna fuck you here right now, is that okay?”

~ a/n: this is just a rework of a old fic, updated and edited. version 2.0

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