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shijiujun · 3 years

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[ENG] History3: Trapped Novel - Chapter Eight

Translation Masterpost can be found here

Disclaimer: Translations are entirely mine - these are not official translations and some phrases have been changed for better English interpretation so you’ll definitely see better/different translations elsewhere. Also keeping in mind when we translated this we aren’t exactly thinking about the style of writing and this translation is as close to the novel as we can make it XD So yes, some parts may be a little awkward to read. And yes some teeny weeny details and words may not turn up in the translation because the Chi to Eng mind acrobatics didn’t work out. If you see asterisks, scroll all the way to the bottom for notes!

Full chapter below the cut

*Note: ERMMMMM I’M BACK? So there was a plan for Chapter 8 and 9 translations, but I didn’t want to leave this until like 2021, so I’m trying my best to just clear it before New Years. Not sure how many of y’all are still reading this, but... I just don’t want to remember that this is incomplete hahahaha, so yeah, I did Chapter 8, and Chapter 9 should be up within the next couple of weeks, so it’ll be pretty and complete for 2021!

Chapter Eight

The act of handing Li Zhi De over to the police force led to the emergence of dissenting voices within Xing Tian Meng, and even the elders that were initially approving of the reform were beginning to shift towards a neutral position, stopping the biddings that were proceeding at hand.

Jack is walking towards the spot where he parked the car, and suddenly, someone emerges from behind a pillar and stops him in his tracks.

“Chen-ye would like to speak to you.”

After coldly shooting the man a glance, Jack gets into the other’s car and is brought to a tea house. Jack walks inside, and as expected, he sees a man with a scar on the right side of his cheek — Chen Wen Hao.

“I didn’t expect Chen-ye’s invitation.”

“When it comes to talented people, even if I have to personally make the trip, I will,” Chen Wen Hao pours a cup of tea for the other, and Jack raises the cup in a sign of respect for the man, before drinking it.

“Liang Dian, based on your intellect, you should have long established your own gang.”

“…”

Jack shudders, the sensation coming straight from his chest, and looks at the old, scheming fox before him without the slightest change in his expression. Fang Liang Dian, that is his real name, and the people who know this name are mostly dead already. From this, he can see that Chen Wen Hao has indeed gone to great lengths to obtain this information.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the ends of his lips curve up in a smile as he picks up the teapot and pours a second cup of tea for himself.

“Tang Yi spared no efforts in sending his own subordinate to the police, is such a person still worthy of being followed? Aren’t you afraid of becoming a second Zhi De?” Chen Wen Hao says as he looks at the young man before him, sliding a document filled with a list across the table.

“This is everything Wang Kun Cheng has in Taiwan, I can hand them all over to you.”

The red-haired man plays with the black leather gloves he has in his palms and without looking at the contents of the document, he returns, “How immense these benefits are, but… what do I have to exchange with Chen-ye?”

“You’re indeed interesting,” he answers, his eyes filled with impress at Jack, “I want Xing Tian Meng and Shi Hai Corporations’ data on their flow of funds, their current client lists, and also their proceeding bidding cases, as detailed as you can get them.”

“Aside from Tang Yi and Zuo Hong Ye, even Gu Dao Yi may not fully have a grip on all these you mentioned, Chen-ye, don’t you think that your exchange offer of Wang Kun Cheng’s power in Taiwan lacks sincerity?”

Jack raises an eyebrow, and bored, he takes out his butterfly knife and begins to flip it in his hands. A young henchman immediately steps up to stop him upon seeing this, but Chen Wen Hao interrupts him.

“Speaking to me with this attitude, aren’t you afraid that I’ll kill you?”

“Since Chen-ye is the one with a request, he can surely be like Liu Bei, and lower his position humbly to obtain what he wants.”*

Chen Wen Hao pats at the surface of the table, and loudly says, “Good, I did not place my bet on the wrong person! Liang Dian, Xing Tian Meng’s pool is too small, and it is a pity for you to stay here. You should come and discuss the Cambodian business with us.”

“Okay,” Jack smiles at Chen Wen Hao, the movement of the butterfly knife in his hands coming to a stop.

—

Investigations Team Three

Tonight, Zhao Zi is taking the night shift with Shao Fei, and one of them is standing in the office with the glass door closed, a cardboard box opened on the table and taking out the items inside one by one.

The box contains the last of Li Zhen-jie’s belongings, there are medals and awards, her police badge and also a team photo of Team Three.

“Boss, think back carefully, was there some connection and interaction between Li Zhen-jie and Chen Wen Hao?”

“When Li Zhen was transferred to Team Three, Chen Wen Hao was already in prison, so I don’t think they knew each other.”

“But there is Li Zhen-jie’s signature on the prison’s meeting logbook, I confirmed this, and it is indeed her handwriting. And she even went to see Chen Wen Hao with Tang Guo Dong!”

“Wait, when was this?”

“1990.”

Shao Fei looks through the things Li Li Zhen left on one hand, and recalls his conversation with Shi Da Pao.

“Since Boss said that Chen Wen Hao was already in prison before Li Zhen-jie transferred into the team, then she might have gone to see Chen Wen Hao for a case? But even if she was investigating a case, why would she have gone to see Chen Wen Hao with Tang Guo Dong? What is the relationship between them? Why did the both of them die in the same place?”

Opening the circular tube containing a graduation certificate, he doesn’t see anything else, and rifling through the books left in the box, he doesn’t find any other clues hidden between the pages either.

“Ah!”

Shao Fei yells in frustration, his hands pulling at his hair hard.

Incorrect! There has to be a clue he missed, he doesn’t believe that Li Zhen-jie was in cahoots with Xing Tian Meng, and so before she died, her meeting with Tang Guo Dong was definitely not because she wanted to leak information to him.

There has to be some other reason that made Li Zhen-jie contact Tang Guo Dong, there has to be!

It’s just, where exactly is the missing clue to the puzzle? Where is it?

“Damn it!” Shao Fei swipes Li Li Zhen’s belongings to the ground, and regrets it immediately the next second. Holding his head in his arms, he tries hard to breathe and calm his emotions down. Seeing the photo of himself and Li Zhen-jie, he remembers that when he first entered the team, he brought quite a lot of trouble to her because of his impulsive nature, but she never once chided him for it. Instead, she would generously teach him everything she knew.

“Li Zhen-jie…”

Looking at the him dressed in his police uniform and making a stupid face standing right next to Li Zhen-jie in sadness, he picks up the music box at the bottom of the box, turning the latch at the bottom to open it up as he listens to the melody repeat itself.

Suddenly, he sees a corner of what looks like paper trapped inside the box, and so he carefully uses the tip of his fingernails to grab at the corner of the aged paper, wanting to open it to see.

Shao Fei looks at the paper in disbelief, his eyes wide, this is actually something Chen Wen Hao wrote to Li Zhen-jie… a love letter?

I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, and the only right thing I’ve ever done is to love you. — Wen Hao

“My god!”

Shao Fei cannot believe his eyes, and so continues to explore every corner of the music box, and as expected, he finds a birth certificate issued by a hospital and on it is printed…

Name of Mother - Li Li Zhen

Name of Mother’s Significant Other - Unspecified

Date of Birth - 21 October 1990

Gender - Male

“Li Zhen-jie had a kid? And the date of birth is 21 October 1990?”

How strange, why is this date so familiar?

Hold on!

“Don’t be too touched, after all I did chase after you for four years, of course I would know today is your birthday. 21 October, Libra, people who are born on this day have extraordinary personalities and thoughts, especially when it comes to personal matters, they are more persistent and firm in attitude.”

“Pfffft…. how accurate! Super accurate!”

21 October 1990, isn’t this Tang Yi’s birthday? Also…

“How coincidental, Li Zhen-jie also has a similar music box.”

“Is that so? This is the only thing my mother left me.”

“Could it be…?”

A thought suddenly flashes across Shao Fei’s mind, and so he picks up his jacket and rushes out of the office. He almost bumps into Zhao Zi, who has just come back from buying supper.

“Huh? Ah Fei where are you going? Ah Fei? Ah Fei?”

Shao Fei holds onto his steering wheel tight, his thoughts jumbled up in a mess as he drives at an urgent speed on the road.

Suddenly, the phone he left on the passenger seat rings. Turning his head for a brief glance, he sees that it is Tang Yi.

“I’m working on a case, let’s leave it at that for now.”

He quickly responds after picking the call up, and then hangs up immediately after, slamming his foot down on the accelerator to a destination unknown.

“…”

Inside the Tang mansion, a Xing Tian Meng leader sitting behind his study desk in his office, looks dumbly at his phone.

Someone actually dared to hang up on him?

“Forget it,” Tang Yi sighs, looking at his dark phone screen helplessly, and continues working his way through unfinished work.

—

Investigations Team Three, The Next Day

Lu Jun Wei hurriedly runs into the office, and seeing their Captain, he rushes until he’s right in front of him, “Bad news! Li Zhi De died in the prosecution’s holding room!”

Shi Da Pao tugs at his own shirt, his face filled with alarm and fear, “What happened? Why did he suddenly die?”

“I’m not very sure either, all I know is that it is all under investigation at the moment.”

Shi Da Pao looks at Zhao Zi, who was in the interrogation room together with Lu Jun Wei after midnight, and asks, “Did anything strange happen yesterday during interrogation?”

“No. Li Zhi De refused to speak, and thankfully, Guan Zhi-ge was there, that’s how we managed to get some information out of him.”

“Zhou Guan Zhi? Why was he interrogating with you guys?”

Zhao Zi scratches at the back of his head, and seeing his unusually furious captain, explains, “Because Li Zhi De was very tough to handle, and Guan Zhi-ge said that he could assist us.”

Shi Da Pao immediately shoves the documents in his hand away and walks out of the team office. Seeing their boss suddenly leave like this, the rest of the team exchange looks, revealing concerned expressions.

—

Tang Household

“Ah De’s death was sudden, we need to find out who exactly did it.” Tang Yi instructs while simultaneously walking into the house as he loosens his tie, his expression serious as he faces Jack.

“Yes, boss.”

“And take note of the reactions from each Xing Tian Meng faction, we must reassure our own people. After all, I was the one who sent Li Zhi De into the station, if we don’t handle this well, it will affect the progress of Hong Ye’s current accounts.”

“I understand, I will handle this immediately.”

After Jack leaves, Tang Yi picks up his phone and once again dials for Shao Fei’s phone number, but he is still directed to leave a message after no one picks up.

“I’m Meng Shao Fei, leave a message if you have something to say, if not, hang up, thanks!”

“Meng Shao Fei, where exactly are you?”

How could he not pick up his calls or return any of his messages for a whole day?

Irritated and frustrated, he walks towards his study, and the moment he pushes the door open, he sees the man who has been missing in action for almost 30 hours standing right in front of him. The man is smiling, delighted as he presses at the phone’s mic function, and replays his previous voice messages.

“Meng Shao Fei, my whole life, no one has ever dared to not pick up my calls, and not return any of my messages!”

“Where are you? Why aren’t you picking up my calls?”

“Shao Fei, it’s been a day, it’s okay if you don’t pick up my calls, at least send me a text message to let me know you’re safe, okay?

“Shao Fei, I’m really worried about you. Can you call me? I want to hear your voice…”

Shao Fei stares as Tang Yi’s expression morphs from embarrassment to anger, and smiles, “59 calls and 15 messages, you were that worried about me?”

Tang Yi glares at the person before him, and angry, he says sarcastically, “I thought Officer Meng had evaporated from the face of the earth.”

Shao Fei walks over and apologises, tightly hugging the other, “I didn’t realise that my phone fell under the car seat, and was out of battery. I’m sorry I made you worry for so long.”

Turning his hand and returning the hug from his lover, who always manages to make him feel unlike his usual self, Tang Yi sighs, “The next time you go missing, I will put a tracking device on you. What super important case is this, that you would not even realise you didn’t have your phone on you?”

“…”

Shao Fei looks at Tang Yi, hesitant as he wonders if he should tell him what he has found so far.

“What is it?” the other asks, sensitive to Shao Fei’s unusual reaction.

“Tang Yi, do you remember the names of your adoptive parents?”

“He Ru Yu, Li Shou Xing.”

Tang Yi’s brows are furrowed, as if incredibly unwilling to bring up these two people. Shao Fei takes out the notebook he has with him and flips to a specific page. He lets Tang Yi confirm the details.

“This address here, is this the place you used to stay at when you were younger?”

“Why are you investigating my past?” Tang Yi asks, staring straight at Shao Fei with alarm, caution and confusion.

“I’m not investigating you, I was actually on another case, and who knew I found some leads related to you.”

“Leads that are related to me?”

“Mnn,” Shao Fei nods, and inhaling deeply once, he gently says, “Tang Yi, I found your mother, your biological mother.”

Before he can finish speaking, the sound of a phone ringing interrupts him. Tang Yi’s looks at Shao Fei, startled, before picking up the call.

“Boss, xiaojie was taken away by He Hang’s people, he said he wants you to go over personally in exchange for xiaojie.”

“He. Hang!”

Tang Yi says these two words through gritted teeth, then pushes away the person hugging him and rushes out of the study.

“Tang Yi! Tang Yi!”

Shao Fei chases after him, worried, and unheeding of the other’s disapproval, he squeezes into the passenger seat and follows the murderous Xing Tian Meng leader to the destination highlighted by He Hang.

—-

Investigations Team Three Office - Staircase Landing

Zhou Guan Zhi is slammed heavily against the wall in the staircase landing, held up by Shi Da Pao via his collar.

Because the impact of the force used was too heavy, the man whose back struck the wall ends up in a coughing fit.

“Li Zhi De’s matter, were you the one?!”

“The person died at the prosecution’s office, how is that any of my business.”

Zhou Guan Zhi pushes Shi Da Pao away, turning around and about to leave, but the other man immediately grabs at him.

“If it wasn’t you, how would you have known that he’s dead? And you also know exactly where he died?”

He deliberately used the word ‘matter’ to replace ‘death’, and so if Zhou Guan Zhi really had nothing to do with this, then his first reaction would be similar to that of other Team Three members. It would be disbelief, fear and alarm, and not this look, as if he knew about this much earlier. Even the fact that Li Zhi De was transferred to the prosecution’s interrogation room from their own after midnight, he knows such a detail this clearly.

“You were afraid he would implicate you, and so you killed him, didn’t you?”

“Of course I’m afraid he will expose me, but boss, aren’t you afraid?”

Shi Da Pao’s eyes shift, and he retorts, “You were the one who murdered him, it’s nothing to do with me.”

“How could this not have anything to do with you? The one who let Ah Fei do as he like and investigate this case was you, the one who allowed him to protect Tang Yi right at his side was also you. In the end, we even got to the stage where Li Zhi De was brought back to the station, of course I had to silence him! If I wait until he reveals everything then you and I both are done for.”

The man, his gaze murderous and cold, laugh as he pats at the captain’s face.

“You actually knew what I was doing all along, but when have you ever stopped me during these four years? You gave the silent approval to your subordinate to sell off the drugs the police force obtained in return for a profit. Shi Da Pao, do you still think this has nothing to do with you?”

“…”

Shi Da Pao is speechless as he hears Zhou Guan Zhi’s accusations.

“Besides, that case four years ago, you were also a bystander who did nothing to stop it. What was Li Li Zhen’s relationship with you, that you would allow the rumours of her cooperating with Xing Tian Meng run rampant in the station? And you never once helped to clear her name, so you’re an accomplice. You are an accomplice who caused the death of others for your own greed, just like me!”

The last few words smash through the last of Shi Da Pao’s strength, and he numbly sits on the stairs. Covering his face in guilt, his voice weak, he says, “Why didn’t you just stop at the incident four years ago? Ah Zhi, you have already earned so much in the past few years. It’s enough! Stop already!”

“Enough?” the person who hears this cranes his neck upwards and sneers. “We police officers put our lives on the line day in and out only to earn this meagre salary. It’s not even enough to stuff the gaps of my teeth, how do I deal with those chasing me to repay debts? Stop putting yourself on a high horse, you are no different from me.”

Shi Dao Pao puts down the hands covering his face and looks at the person who’s slowly descending into insanity, and shakes his head, “You’re like this because you gamble, and this is your just desserts. And me… I did it to save my daughter. These four years, I’ve never once had a restful night, and I live in terror and regret everyday.”

Zhou Guan Zhi smirks, his eyes slanting to look at the person seated on the stairs, “Boss, as long as you took the money, your hands are dirty. No matter if it is because I deserve it, or if you were forced into a dead end, you’ve been tainted, and it is what it is.”

“Besides, isn’t it the money you took that year which allowed Xiao Ya to live on happily, all the way until now, when she’s able to have her wedding? So it doesn’t matter who wants to dig up the case from four years ago again, I will definitely not let him get away!”

He knows Zhou Guan Zhi is referring to Shao Fei, who has been so focused on the homicide case from four years ago, and he finally stands up, grips at Zhou Guan Zhi’s shirt collars and yells for him to stop.

“Ah Zhi, stop! Don’t fall any deeper into this!”

“Boss, don’t worry. I’ll be very subtle, no one will be able to find out. As long as you don’t say anything and I don’t say anything, after a period of time, this will be slowly forgotten by everyone,” Zhou Guan Zhi says, arrogantly slapping away the hands at his collar and turns away.

“Ah Zhi, aren’t you afraid that I will turn myself in and expose you?”

“You!”

Zhou Guan Zhi turns back abruptly, his eyes betraying his impulse to strangle Shi Da Pao to death right at that very moment, but Shi Da Pao is no amateur either, and if they really do get into a fight, he will not have it easy. Instead, he tries the soft approach, lightening his tone as he tries to convince his Captain that they are both on the same boat.

“Boss, don’t do foolish things. Xiao Ya is about to get married, and you’ve done so much for her. Don’t you want to see her happily get married, and become the most beautiful bride?”

“,,,”

Shi Da Pao’s eyes tear up as he keeps silent, Zhou Guan Zhi hitting him where it hurts. Seeing that he has gotten his way, Zhou Guan Zhi smiles, smug as he stuffs his hands into his jacket’s pockets. He leaves the staircase, whistling casually as he goes.

—

In an Abandoned Factory

Chen Wen Hao sits on a chair, two men standing next to him on his sides. On the other chair, Zuo Hong Ye’s hands have been tied behind her, and a cloth is stuffed into her mouth, but she displays no sign of fear as she glares at He Hang, who has a gun pressed to her temple. Tang Yi, who arrived with Shao Fei, nods at Gu Dao Yi, who has been waiting outside for a while, and the three of them walk into the abandoned factory that is filled with a metallic stench.

“I’m here, let Hong Ye go.”

“No problem. My target is not her. He Hang, let Zuo-xiaojie go.”

“Boss, aren’t we making it too easy for Tang Yi by letting Zuo Hong Ye go?” He Hang refuses to loosen the ropes on Hong Ye as he glares at Tang Yi in fury.

“Tang Yi, I’ve been in Xing Tian Meng for so long, why did Tang Guo Dong let you become leader? How much authority does Xing Tian Meng wield in the underworld, and you want to go legal and reform? Aside from cutting off our brothers’ path to riches, you also handed one of us over to the police! I might as well just kill you here, lest you get in the way.”

The gun that was pressed to Hong Ye’s brain suddenly shifts to the Xing Tian Meng leader standing before him, but all he gets in return is the other’s cold laugh, full of ridicule and mockery for He Hang.

“You? If you were really capable, how would you have repeatedly failed in trying to assassinate me?”

“Fuck! I will kill you right now with a single shot, do you not believe me?!”

“He Hang, did you forget that I am still here? You’re in no position to talk here.”

“Chen… Chen-ye… but…”

Chen Wen Hao’s seemingly light tone belies a chilling warning under it, and He Hang retreats, not daring to say another word.

“Yes… yes, Chen-ye…”

Drenched in cold sweat, the man immediately keeps his gun, and loosens the ropes on Hong Ye, then pushes her towards Tang Yi. Tang Yi catches Hong Ye, and asks, concerned, “Are you hurt?”

“No.”

“Dao Yi, take Hong Ye and go.”

The bespectacled man stands between He Hang and Hong Ye, as if guarding against the possibility of another attack should the other man change his mind.

“I’m not going to leave, I want to face this together with you at your side.”

“If you get hurt I will hate myself, so, just go!” Tang Yi says in a low voice, tightly holding onto Hong Ye’s arm.

“I understand, you be careful,” Hong Ye bites at her lips, her eyes reddening as she leaves the factory under Dao Yi’s protection.

Chen Wen Hao gets to his feet from the chair and circles Tang Yi as he walks, just like a predator playing with its prey, and says, “Do you know why I had to find you today? Is it because you killed Wang Kun Cheng? Because you cost me losses of several ships worth of goods? Because you sent a bunch of my brothers to jail? Or-“

Suddenly, Chen Wen Hao stops in his footsteps right before Tang Yi, and stares into his eyes.

“Is it because four years ago, you saw the crime scene of Tang Guo Dong and Li Li Zhen’s death?”

“…”

Anger flashes in Tang Yi’s eyes, and the moment he takes a step, he is stopped by the other’s raised gun.

“No! None of that! I got you to come here because you are Tang Guo Dong’s son. Tang Guo Dong stole my woman, caused the death of my and Li Li Zhen’s child, and found someone in prison to create trouble for me, made me go through 24 years in jail. Twenty. Four. Years!”

“…”

Shao Fei stares at Chen Wen Hao in surprise, recalling the brith certificate he saw not long ago.

Li Zhen-jie’s child, was Chen Wen Hao’s? Tang Yi’s biological mother, is Li Zhen-jie? So… Chen Wen Hao is Tang Yi’s real, biological…

Chen Wen Hao does not see the young officer’s face go white, and continues, “When I came out, Xing Tian Meng became yours? What a joke, how is it that Tang Guo Dong could have everything, but I ended up with a broken family and nothing to my name? No, this is not fair, isn’t it?”

He pauses for a while after, and a dark, vicious smile emerges, “So… I want you… dead!”

All the men that were guarding outside of the factory suddenly rush in, surrounding Tang Yi and Shao Fei from the back. The both of them have no choice but to put up both their hands and pretend to surrender. Shao Fei takes half a step, opening his mouth to say, “Chen Wen Hao, Tang Yi, he’s-“

“Shut up, this is no place for you to talk.”

Tang Yi suddenly falls to the floor, avoiding the line of fire from the barrel of the gun and kicks out at the man holding the gun on him. It is only after the man falls does Tang Yi snatch the gun away, turning back to face Chen Wen Hao, the gun pointed at him.

At the same time, Chen Wen Hao has his gun turned towards Tang Yi.

“Chen Wen Hao, I’ve devised this plan for four whole years, all to force you to come back from Cambodia to take revenge for Tang-ye, because, it was you who killed him!”

“No! I didn’t kill him!”

“Shut up! You’re going to pay with your life!”

“Tang Yi!”

“Don’t stop me!”

Seeing that things are about to spiral uncontrollably, to a point of no return, Shao Fei can no longer care about anything else, and quickly blurts out the truth from that year.

“Don’t shoot! Chen Wen Hao is your father!”

===

*This is a metaphor and you can temporarily ignore who Liu Bei is.

#history3: trapped #history 3: trapped #history 3: 圈套 #h3t #tangfei #tang yi #meng shao fei #history3 novel #translations #lmaooo it's been what #almost a year hahahaha

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askdawnandvern · 4 years

Photo

WT: Well if we are going to go that far, literally anything could and has happened in terms of Dark AUs, but if you want my like...spin on some concepts, I can throw out some hypotheticals.

In terms of going full on dark outcomes, I feel like I would always have the worst timelines end by tragically blowing up in the schemers faces. Realistically, I feel that in every case, whether it was Dawn or Aster at the helm, it would catch up to them at some point, or backfire in a spectacularly unforeseen way.

Starting with Aster, let's say his plan hadn't been stopped. Instead of an exciting chase sequence where Vernon absconds with Dawn, the wolf takes the a different route, demanding to be taken into custody alongside Dawn. While they don't arrest him, the group of them go down to the station where it is impossible for them to intercepted by Aster's goons. However, Judy's fixation on Dawn and her presumed guilt wastes precious time cracking just what is actually being planned and who is planning it, and though they make enough progress to figure out what is coming and dispatch the ZPD to stop as many tankers as they can, a few get through and there are some casualties and serious injuries. Aster and his cronies are caught, but with more of a mess to clean up in the wake of the worst terrorist attack in Zootopian history, many more of the co-conspirators are able to flee or cover their tracks behind the veil of confusion and misery, and it takes Judy and Nick years to finally pin down every mammal involved.

Taking it to a worse degree, lets say Aster is completely successful. The kidnapping still happens and instead of using night-howler to deal with Dawn, Vern Judy and Nick, he simply elects to shoot them all. With no one else as close to the case as Nick and Judy were, there is no mammal to stop Aster and his goons. The districts are flooded in night-howler, and the city begins tearing itself apart. The unexpected turn of course is that the Night Howler doesn't kill everyone. Of course there are those mammals who escape the gassing, but they different methods of dispersal and the way it is diluted lead to a bulk of the mammals hit with it coming down with mild poisoning, (basically what we say in Dawn's original plot). Doug had made an incorrect calculation. Thus, while he, Aster and the others attempt to flee the city they are caught by a mob of savage mammals and meet a brutal end. Of course, with so few animals dead it's just a matter of catching them and giving them the antidote. And with many of them to act as witnesses, having seen what Aster's henchrams attempted to do first hoof, well, his efforts to hide his tracks would have quickly crumbled. It would take years after that to repair the city, and flush various water reservoirs and other areas where the diluted poison had pooled, and just as long to sniff out all the co-conspirators, but sadly many of them would have escaped.

With Dawn's death, as well as Nick and Judy's, public consensus would have settled on the idea that she must have had something to do with the plot, and that perhaps she had killed Nick and Judy as a final act of revenge, despite the lack of evidence and what little was found of their remains. As for the Hunter's, not only was there a good chance that Dorian, and Zach would have met grizzly ends at the paws of their co-workers, but there's a good chance Wade would have also died in the chaos of trying to contend with a savage tundra town. And of course there would still be the mystery of just how Vernon died, and why what little of his remains were found alongside Dawn, Nick and Judy's.

Finally, rolling back further we have Dawn's original plot, and three different outcomes there. First is the less brutal outcome. Dawn notices the blueberries, and swaps them back out with night howler, tagging Nick and waiting for the chomp. But much to Dawn's complete shock, instead of pouncing on Judy, Nick coils around her protectively. This causes Dawn to completely snap, the madness and irritation reaching a boiling point as she begins to berate the fox, calling him a dumb pred, and lamenting that he can't even hunt right. This backfires horribly, with Nick making a surprisingly spry leap out of the pit and mauling Dawn to death.

Alternate path two, well that diverts from the Nick getting dosed with night howler point. Only this time, Nick does what was intended and violently mauls Judy. Unlike before though, Dawn's psyche breaks in an entirely different way. At this point the ewe had been running on Adrenalin and the fear of getting caught. But now, seeing a mammal she once saw as a friend be brutally murdered in front of her, and because of her, Dawn is immediately regretful and traumatized. The ZPD bursts in and shoots Nick with live ammunition hoping they can save Officer Hopps if the acted quickly enough, but it's too late. As for Dawn, she is too shocked to even speak, the ewe left mute as she stares back into the lifeless eyes of her once friend.

I've vaguely talked about the idea behind this before, a now remorseful and guilt ridden Dawn growing into a rapidly weak link in the entire operation from this point forward. Eventually the ewe makes the mistake of admitting to Doug that she intends to come clean and turn herself in, and this forces Doug's hoof to eliminate her. Naturally, this is done by staging a savage attack, and Dawn ironically meets her end the same way she had damned Judy to.

I guess the last one would be, for the sake of argument rolling it back enough to the point where Judy made the connection to the 'Night Howler' flower and simply nixing that whole realization entirely. Judy lives out the rest of her life in Bunny Burrow, memories of the case fading to the point when Night Howler finally comes up in discussion, she is no longer capable of making the connection. Meanwhile, in Zootopia the city plunges into chaos. After Gazelle is mauled at her peace concert by her own dancers, Zootopia becomes increasingly totalitarian. Nick and Finnick flee, as well as many other predators before Dawn announces the construction of a predator only zone called 'Happy Town” (Code named: Savage City). Predators that insist on staying in Zootopia are forced into the district, and eventually access to the outside districts is limited and suspended to all Happy Town residents. Eventually election privileges are suspended as well, until 'peacetime' returns to Zootopia, which of course never occurs as the increasingly mad Dawn begins planning creating new districts to further segregate the more dangerous populations in Zootopia. First the Mega-fauna for being to large and dangerous to more average sized mammals, then the Micro-fauna for 'their own protection' and so on until the City is split into a multitude of micro districts for a variety of other mammals, and the older, largely districts are left exclusively to caprid folks.

Of course, it was easy to keep the predators in check when it was only them Dawn had to worry about. Predators were outnumbered by prey by nine to one. But locking down pretty much every other mammal species aside from caprids created a massively growing tide of dissent and unrest, which would eventually lead to a full scale city wide riot. A riot that Dawn would be unable to contend with despite her best efforts. In this scenario Dawn would meet her fate at the end of an angry mob, made of both predator and prey, and united by their mutual hatred of one Dawn Bellwether.

So there's a heavy look into some dark AU's for you. I hope you like it, cause that went on way longer than initially intended.

#Zootopia #askdawnandvern #Assistant Mayor Bellwether #Bellhunterverse #fan character #dawn bellwether #wastedtimeee

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baronessblixen · 5 years

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After much encouragement, I turned the incorrect quickie/quiche convo into a fic. You know me so you know this is fluff. It’s a post-ep for “Millennium”.

Tagging @today-in-fic

Word Salad

He's like a puppy she needs to keep an eye on.

Mulder.

With his arm in a sling, he is a perfect picture of pity. Her mother awwed when she lay eyes on him as she opened the door. Mulder wasn’t an expected guest at her mother’s New Year’s Day afternoon tea party, but he is a loved one. Her friends treat him like a long lost child who needs to be fed and pampered. They've been here for two hours and Mulder hasn't been without food since. Every time she checks on him, he's munching on cake, on cookies, on whatever he is given.

"Have you taken your meds?" she asks him in a whisper, touching his elbow to get his attention. In a room full of chattering old ladies, she is fully aware that she and Mulder are a spectacle. He's been introduced as her work partner though she doubts anyone believes it. After seven years, they are so much more. After last night, they definitely are. Warmth shoots into her cheeks and she hopes no one, including Mulder, will notice.

"I have," he promises, chewing.

"What are you eating?"

"Cheesecake."

"Have you had any real food, Mulder?"

He rolls his eyes. "Yes, doc. Have you?" The way he looks her up and down makes her flush all over. It's only now that she realizes she hasn't. All day she's kept an eye on Mulder. Her stomach rumbles and answers for her. Mulder beams at her, a soft, dopey smile.

"Let me get you something," he says and stuffs the last of his cheesecake into his mouth. A crumb ends up on his cheek, close to the corner of his mouth. Scully wipes it away, smiling gently. For a moment she forgets they're not alone. Mulder thanks her before he walks over to the small buffet her mother has set up.

"Do you want grapes?" Mulder asks her from across the room. The constant chattering drowns out his voice and Scully decides to join him instead. But she's not quick enough.

"Do you want a quickie?" The room falls silent, Scully is certain of it. or maybe it’s because her ears are ringing. Did he really just - she stares at a completely clueless Mulder.

"Ex-excuse me?" she stammers, afraid to turn around and face her very Catholic mother and her very Catholic friends. Never mind that they haven’t had any sex yet. Neither a long night full of hot, passionate sex nor a quickie. Leave it to Mulder to bring sex to the table. Or the buffet, as it is.

She should have left him at home after all.

"A quickie," Mulder repeats, his voice softer now that she's closer to him, "one of those cake things." He points at the little quiches that sit on her mother's silver platter.

"It's pronounced quiche!" Scully says through her teeth, relief flooding her. Of course, he is talking about food. He hasn’t talked about anything but food today. But now the damage is done and Scully doesn’t dare to turn around and face the room. Ever again.

"Oh," is Mulder's response as he takes one, sniffs it and puts it into his mouth. "Better than a quickie," he says, flaky crumbs falling from his lips, grinning.

Part of her is angry. So angry. But the feeling doesn't last, evaporates quickly. All she sees is Mulder with his rumpled hair, his arm in a sling, his lips beckoning. The lips she kissed last night.

Love.

She loves this man. Oxford-educated, oblivious Mulder who can't pronounce quiche. How could anyone not love him? He picks up another piece and offers it to her.

"Fox," both Mulder and Scully turn around. It's old Mrs. Kupchek, her mother's 70-year-old neighbor and church companion. "Would you be a dear and bring me a quickie, too?"

A moment of silence follows before the tension breaks and they all laugh. Mulder smiles at Scully as if proud of his work. His fingers brush hers in a promise when he hands her a small quiche.

Scully bites into the treat as Mulder walks over to Mrs. Kupchek, a plate of quiche in hand. The old woman pats his cheek lovingly, chattering away. Mulder nods and listens, doesn’t say no when he’s offered another quiche.

She sighs, smiling.

#this is uhm #i don't know what #hopefully readable #sorry it's fluff #i am all full of fluff #msr #xf fanfic #my writing #my fic

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redspiderling · 5 years

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What really upsets me is that Natasha is only going to get her film AFTER her onscreen death? I am worried too--that the only thing worse than NO Black Widow movie is a BAD Black Widow movie, and what if they ruin it completely? :(

Heya!

Well, I have some form of reassurance for you, but before I get into that I do have to stress that, unfortunately in film-making, more than in any other art form, you can never guarantee a good result.

The producer has a script that has been worked on extensively. They then hire a director (on whose vision of what the script can become) they place their trust on (sometimes it’s the other way around as well, a director can approach a producer with a good pitch but since this is Marvel, that’s not the case we’re here to extensively analyse). The cast and crew and the entire production team works on that vision for a specific amount of time and, hopefully, it turns out well.

The more experienced the people, the more likely to get a good result. But everyone in the film-making business knows, it’s always a gamble, with varying odds, to be fair.

It’s in those varying odds where we can place our trust. I’m placing the rest under the cut, because it’s a long rant.

Factor 1: The Script.

While one would assume all film productions begin with a good script, one would be incorrect. Many times they have a draft, or a final script that they don’t have faith in but, since the production has taken way and the company presses them to do it, they do it and hope for the best.

Bad example: Speed 2 didn’t have a finalised script even after shooting began. Fox had pressed the creator of Speed 1 to come up with an idea for a sequel, the man had no idea what to do because it was completely unexpected, they had him under a tight deadline and he half-assed it all the way through. And look what happened.

Good example: I’ll go for the obvious, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, the director and screenwriter of LOTR respectively, had been working on the script for LOTR for over a decade. When they pitched it, they pitched it directly for a trilogy, or no film at all. Fox said yes, and they released a masterpiece for the world to enjoy until the end of time.

What about the Black Widow movie?

Well, to be fair this is the most worrisome part of my entire rant here, so if you can stomach this know that hope lies ahead.

The issue with Black Widow, as with all Marvel films, is that, it belongs to a franchise. A Disney franchise. The amount of restrains, necessities, and dictations that have nothing to do with the characters and everything to do with the studio (marketing, brand, future projects etc) is uncanny. Which is probably the reason why Marvel hasn’t had an easy time finding a director (they interviewed over 60 female film-makers!).

The bad side: Disney’s control is probably the reason why the script has been in various stages of stasis and re-writes for years. We know they’ve gone through a lot of ideas and edits, which is not necessarily bad, but it is what has kept this film from happening, and given the rest of the factors, the only thing that might keep it from flying.

The good side: The actual credited writers for this film, are legit. They have both written feature films and Ned Benson specifically, has made a very original and sweet film in the past.

Also, given the fact that Scarlett Johansson herself, has stated many times that “this film will happen under the correct circumstances”, makes me think that given the explosion of female presence on the media, the success of previous projects (Wonder Woman AND Thor:Ragnarok, another creative “gamble”), the loosening of narrative restrictions (hello multiverse!), and the reality of Natasha’s character in 2019, the Black Widow movie, while not outside Disney’s firm hold, might be allowed the freedom it needs to be good. As in, while falling into Marvel’s story structure, it will have its own uniqueness and work in expressing Natasha’s character and story accurately for once.

Factor 2: The TeamHaving a team of experienced professionals goes a long way to tell us that, while we can never be sure of the results, at least it’s a group of people with a good knowledge of what they’re doing.

And I’m not talking about the technical aspect, because that’s the least worrisome in terms of control (if you know what you’re doing in FX you can’t mess it up). I’m talking about the heads of the production, the people who can screw up everything or make everything better, i.e. Producers and Directors.

We all know of the make it or break it influence a studio can have over a project, look what Fox did for LOTR, and then look what Fox did to the Hobbit. I’m not here to talk about the production companies because they give me nightmares, but I’ll talk about the people because those are the elements that offer the variety in this instance where we talk exclusively about Marvel Productions.

The Producer: Even though it’s one of Scarlett Johansson’s first attempts at producing, I’m feeling quite confident in the fact that she will have a definite positive influence over the project.

She has been in more than half a dozen Marvel productions and knows the drill well, not to mention knows how to negotiate the ugly parts.

She knows her way around the industry, having been a part of it for practically all her life, which means she will have no problems overseeing the production or creating a good team/positive environment.

Her previous attempts at producing are good in terms of content: One was the now infamous Rub & Tug, and the other is a sweet documentary about killer whales.

Most importantly, she is in the unique position to have both a great level of personal investment in this project, having dedicated a decade of her life’s work in this character’s story, as well as a well-rounded knowledge of the character’s evolution and history, which means that not only does she know what’s good for Natasha, she wants this film to succeed and not just because it’s her job.

The Director: Cate Shortland. The reason I cried real tears when Marvel announced the director for Black Widow.

Cate Shortland is a really good director. I love her work. Her films are unique looks into people’s lives. Her characters are strong, awesome women. Her films make you think. I saw Lore at a film festival when it came out in 2012 and to this day, I think about it.

Given the fact that Shortland is an indie film-maker, and that SJ has a long standing love for indie films, and that she chose to work with her on the BW film, I think they share the same ideas over how they want to tell Natasha’s story and what they want to talk about, which brings them miles ahead of most film productions, to be honest. Also, given the fact that Marvel interviewed over 60 women for this film, I think it’s safe to say that Shortland knows what she’s gotten herself into, even though she didn’t necessarily need it, she has a film career already, so I guess, she’s either on board with whatever they’ve cooked with the script, or she’s allowed enough freedom to fix it. Either way counts as a win for me.To conclude, while this film being bad is, of course, a possibility, I think there are enough positive elements that should reassure us for the time being, including David Harbour’s latest comment in regards to it.

P.S. I agree that killing Natasha in Endgame, before she could get her film, is a disgusting move, but, again, we don’t know what they will do with the Black Widow film. it can fix it, it can make it better, and of course, it could make it worse. I’m using all the information mentioned above to keep my head wrapped around the first two instances, hopefully, after this rant, so will you.

Have a good day!

#asks #ladynefertankh #WHERE IS MY BLACK WIDOW MOVIE #my analysis #thank thor for Scarlett #honestly #Scarlett Johansson

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bountyofbeads · 5 years

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Trump Employs an Old Tactic: Using Race for Gain https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/20/us/politics/trump-race-record.html

Trump Employs an Old Tactic: Using Race for Gain

By Peter Baker, Michael M. Grynbaum, Maggie Haberman, Annie Karni and Russ Buettner | Published July 20, 2019 | New York Times | Posted July 20, 2019

For the fourth season of “The Apprentice,” Donald J. Trump searched for a gimmick to bolster ratings. His idea was simple if explosive — pit an all-white team against an all-black team.

“Do you like it?” he asked, previewing the concept on Howard Stern’s radio show in April 2005.

“Yes,” Mr. Stern said.

“Do you like it?” Mr. Trump asked Robin Quivers, the African-American co-host.

“Well,” she said, “I think you’re going to have a riot.”

That gave Mr. Trump no pause. “It would be the highest-rated show on television,” he exulted.

Long before he ignited a firestorm by telling four Democratic congresswomen of color to “go back” to their home countries, even though three were born in the United States and all are citizens, Mr. Trump sought to pit Americans against one another along racial lines.

Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump

So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly......

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Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump

· Jul 14, 2019

Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump

....and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how....

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8:27 AM - Jul 14, 2019

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Over decades in business, entertainment and now politics, Mr. Trump has approached America’s racial, ethnic and religious divisions opportunistically, not as the nation’s wounds to be healed but as openings to achieve his goals, whether they be ratings, fame, money or power, without regard for adverse consequences.

He was accused by government investigators in the 1970s of refusing to rent apartments to black tenants (he denied it but settled the case) and made a name for himself in the 1980s by championing the return of the death penalty when five black and Hispanic teenagers were charged with raping a jogger. They were later exonerated. He threatened to sell his Mar-a-Lago estate to the Unification Church in 1991 and unleash “thousands of Moonies” if city officials in Palm Beach, Fla., did not allow him to carve up his property.

Taking on competitors of his Atlantic City casinos, he questioned whether rival owners were really Native Americans entitled to federal recognition — then later teamed up with another tribe when there was money to be made. With his eye on the White House, he opened a yearslong drive to convince Americans that President Barack Obama was really born in Africa.

His own campaign in 2016 was marked by slurs against Mexicans, a proposed Muslim ban and other furors. To deflect criticism, two campaign officials said they regularly positioned a supporter nicknamed “Michael the Black Man” so cameras would show him behind Mr. Trump at his rallies.

In the White House, Mr. Trump equated “both sides” of a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., referred to African nations as “shithole countries” and said Nigerian visitors to the United States would never “go back to their huts.”

Mr. Trump has insisted he is the “least racist person you have ever met” and over the years he has made friends with prominent African-Americans, particularly sports and hip-hop stars. Just Friday, Mr. Trump spoke with the rapper Kanye West and promised to intervene in the case of his fellow artist ASAP Rocky, who is being held in Sweden on an assault charge, and followed up by calling the Swedish prime minister on Saturday.

Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump

Just spoke to @KanyeWest about his friend A$AP Rocky’s incarceration. I will be calling the very talented Prime Minister of Sweden to see what we can do about helping A$AP Rocky. So many people would like to see this quickly resolved!

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4:01 PM - Jul 19, 2019

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Some of Mr. Trump’s black friends defended him in recent days, saying his raw, politically incorrect approach was just bracing honesty about the reality of America, and not motivated by hate.

“I have an advantage of knowing the president very well, and he’s not a racist and his comments are not racist,” Ben Carson, the secretary of housing and urban development and only black member of the cabinet, said on Fox News. “But he loves the country very much and, you know, he has a feeling that those who represent the country should love it as well.”

Lynne Patton, a Trump family event planner now working in the administration, rejected accusations of racism.

“Trump sees success and failure, not color not race, not gender not religion,” said Ms. Patton, who is African-American. “I’ve traveled the country with this family, I’ve had drinks with this family, I’ve been at their weddings, their baby showers, their bachelorette parties. I’ve never heard anyone say anything bigoted or racist in my life.”

And White House officials argue that actions speak louder than words. Unemployment among Hispanics and African-Americans has fallen to record lows on Mr. Trump’s watch, they say, and the president signed legislation overhauling a criminal justice system tilted against people of color.

But the longer Mr. Trump spends on the stage, the more friends and former employees, like Michael D. Cohen, Omarosa Manigault Newman and Anthony Scaramucci, have concluded that he is more racist than they had admitted.

“Let me be clear: Donald Trump is a disgusting, filthy, petty racist and he is trying to start a race war in this country and what we saw this week is just the beginning,” said Ms. Manigault Newman, a former “Apprentice” star fired after a stint in the White House.

Mr. Scaramucci, who briefly served as White House communications director, wrote on Twitter that Mr. Trump would never have told a white immigrant to go back to his country. “That’s why the comments were racist and unacceptable,” he said, remarks that got him disinvited from a Republican fund-raiser.

For some who defended Mr. Trump against charges of racism in the past, this was a turning point. “As much as I have denied it and averted my eyes from it, this latest incident made it impossible,” Geraldo Rivera, a roaming correspondent at large for Fox News and longtime friend, said in an interview.

“My friendship with the president has cost me friendships, it has cost me schisms in the family, my wife and I are constantly at odds about the president,” he added. “I do insist that he’s been treated unfairly. But the unmistakable words, the literal words he said, is an indication that the critics were much more right than I.”

‘The City Was a Caldron’

Mr. Trump is a product of his place and time, born and raised in the Queens of another era. As he sought to make his mark in Manhattan real estate in the 1980s and 1990s, New York was struggling with a string of racial episodes, including the Bernhard H. Goetz subway shooting, the Howard Beach racial killing, the Tawana Brawley rape hoax and the Crown Heights riots.

In a city rived by tribal politics, elections were about assembling coalitions — white ethnic groups in Queens and Brooklyn, Hispanics in the Bronx, African-Americans in Harlem and, later, central Brooklyn. Race was a part of every citywide campaign every four years. That shaped the outlook of many rising stars of the moment.

“It was a period of enormous tension and the city was a caldron for those kind of emotions and very strong passions and feelings, and they spilled over,” said Robert Abrams, the special prosecutor in the Brawley case. “And unfortunately, I think Donald Trump was helping to fan some of those flames.”

The Justice Department housing discrimination lawsuit against him and his father and the case of the Central Park Five accused of rape were early milemarkers on Mr. Trump’s path. But he was a Democrat then operating in a diverse city and he showed a different side to many he met.

Charles B. Rangel, then a powerful African-American Democratic congressman from New York, saw Mr. Trump regularly when the developer would drop off checks for the party. What defined him was his “giant ego,” Mr. Rangel said the other day, but he never heard him make a racial remark.

“I don’t remember any remarks he ever made that was not sharing with me how much he thought about himself,” he said. “It was always the same story.”

The Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights leader who has grown more publicly critical of Mr. Trump in recent years, likewise recalled nothing overt. “I’ve never heard him say anything racial,” he said. But, he added, “I always sensed he was not comfortable being around us. He reminded me what he was — a Queens guy. He saw us as entertainers or athletes that he had to do business with.”

When Mr. Trump opened Mar-a-Lago as a club in the 1990s, he welcomed African-American and Jewish members. Still, he did not mind turning societal divisions to his advantage, at one point claiming Palm Beach was anti-Semitic in a zoning dispute because his members would be Jewish.

‘Put People in These Boxes’

Some who worked for Mr. Trump said he showed his true colors after growing comfortable with people. Jack O’Donnell, who was president of the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino and later wrote a scathing book about Mr. Trump, said the mogul would come into the casino and notice many African-Americans. “It’s a little dark tonight,” he would say.

According to Mr. O’Donnell, Mr. Trump said “laziness is a trait in blacks” and complained about an African-American accountant: “Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.”

In an interview, Mr. O’Donnell said Mr. Trump trafficked in stereotypes. “He genuinely believes things like white people are smarter. And black people don’t want to live next to white, and white people don’t want to live next to black people,” Mr. O’Donnell said. “And he rationalizes that as, everybody thinks that, so it’s not racist.”

Mr. Trump has dismissed Mr. O’Donnell as “a loser” but at one point accepted the book’s description. “The stuff O’Donnell wrote about me is probably true,” he told Playboy. Later he disputed Mr. O’Donnell’s account, telling NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “he made up stuff.”

Mr. Trump’s assumptions about people are based on what his biographer, Michael D’Antonio, called his “racehorse theory of human development.” Mr. D’Antonio said Mr. Trump told him a person’s genetic traits at birth were more important than anything learned over life.

“He likes to put people in these boxes and deal with them accordingly,” Mr. D’Antonio said. “It’s not universal and you can work your way out of the box. But working your way out of it is always personal. So one by one, black people can gain his confidence, but he does have this mentality about people as members of a group.”

‘The Blacks Love Me’

That helped shape Mr. Trump’s time on “The Apprentice,” where he was accused of giving short shrift to an African-American contestant, Randal Pinkett, who won the fourth season. During the finale, Mr. Pinkett said he was stunned when Mr. Trump, upon declaring him the winner, suggested he share the honor with the white woman he had just beaten.

“I would describe it as racist,” Mr. Pinkett said in an interview. “Not even racist overtones — racist.”

“Donald,” he said, “has constructed a world around him that reflects his identity and reflects his values. People who agree with him, people who celebrate him, people who he would consider to be his peers — wealthy white men.”

Mr. Pinkett added: “He’s completely out of touch with the realities of people not like him. Whether that’s people of color, ethnic minorities, immigrants — I mean, take your pick.”

Over the years, Mr. Trump has deflected criticism by citing friendships with black celebrities. In the 1980s, he became a fixture ringside in Atlantic City, befriending the boxing legends Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson and the promoter Don King. He briefly owned a United States Football League team, leading to friendship with its star player, Herschel Walker.

As the hip-hop industry flourished in the 1990s and 2000s, rappers often used Mr. Trump’s name in lyrics as a symbol of wealth and flash. Along the way, he became friendly with Sean Combs, Snoop Dogg and Russell Simmons.

Mr. Trump boasted about the mention of his name in rap videos, asking one of the secretaries to find examples on YouTube and play them for guests. “The blacks love me,” he said proudly.

By 2015, now running for president, he stopped using “the” before describing ethnic groups. While some black celebrities stood by Mr. Trump, other relationships have soured because of his politics. Mr. Simmons, in an open letter that year, told his estranged friend to “stop fueling fires of hate.”

‘This Is Just Politics’

The foundation of Mr. Trump’s campaign was built on questioning the birth of the first African-American president. To Ms. Manigault Newman, a conversation she had with Mr. Trump about the “birther” campaign during a break in taping of “The Apprentice,” was the first time she saw him as overtly racial.

“He was bragging about it,” she said in an interview. “I asked him, ‘Why would you do this?’ He said, ‘This is just politics. This is what happens in politics, you do opposition research.’”

And yet like others in Mr. Trump’s orbit, Ms. Manigault Newman did not find it so objectionable that she broke with him at the time. She spoke out about what she considered Mr. Trump’s racism only after she followed him to the White House and was subsequently fired.

In a campaign filled with racial controversy, Mr. Trump’s team sought to prevent a backlash. An ally in their efforts was the one they called Michael the Black Man.

Michael is Maurice Symonette, a man from Florida who once belonged to a violent religious cult and was charged but acquitted of two murders in the 1990s. During the campaign, he traveled the country to appear at Mr. Trump’s rallies holding a sign saying, “Blacks for Trump.”

Campaign officials said they made sure to position him behind the candidate. In October 2016, Mr. Trump noticed his sign. “Blacks for Trump,” he said. “Those signs are great. Thank you.”

Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson, two African-American sisters and internet stars better known as Diamond and Silk, came to Mr. Trump’s attention after one of their videos went viral attacking Megyn Kelly, then a Fox host, for her aggressive questioning during a debate. They met Mr. Trump in December 2015 when he brought them onstage at a rally in Raleigh.

“I turn on my television one night and I see these two on television,” he told the crowd. He called them an “internet sensation” and implored them to entertain the crowd. “Do a little routine; come on,” he said. From then on, they became a regular opening act at his rallies.

Mr. Trump’s presidency has been filled with so many racial conflicts that many in Washington have become numb. After he made his “shithole countries” remark to lawmakers, some just shook their heads. “It wasn’t too much of a surprise,” said former Senator Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican and outspoken critic. “He had been consistently coming from this.”

By the time of Mr. Trump’s “go back” taunt and the “send her home” chants of a rally crowd a few days later, congressional Republicans were clearly discomfited but unwilling to publicly repudiate him.

“The president,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, “is not a racist.”

‘When the Riot Starts’

Mr. Trump’s vision of a black-against-white season of “The Apprentice” never came to pass. He pitched it to NBC executives, prompting a series of can-you-believe-this conversations inside the network, according to two executives involved. It was quickly rejected.

One former executive described his reaction as, “Uh, I don’t think so!”

The concept later came to fruition on a rival network, CBS, which aired a season of “Survivor” in 2006 in which contestants were initially grouped by ethnicity. The idea generated protests but was defended by the producer: Mark Burnett, who also created “The Apprentice.”

“He always told me that was Mark Burnett’s idea,” Ms. Manigault Newman recalled. “But Donald Trump was champing at the bit to do that.”

He sounded enthusiastic during his appearance on Mr. Stern’s show in 2005. Mr. Stern asked if there would be both light-skinned and dark-skinned contestants on the black team and Mr. Trump said it would be an “assortment.” As for the white team, Mr. Trump said it should include all blonds.

Even as he egged him on, Mr. Stern expressed more concern about the ramifications than Mr. Trump. “Wouldn’t that set off a racial war in this country?” he asked.

“See, actually, I don’t think it would,” Mr. Trump replied. “I think that it would be handled very beautifully by me. Because, as you know, I’m very diplomatic.”

Mr. Stern agreed. “I gotta tell you something, on some level it’s wrong,” he went on. “But I like it. I like it. I would watch.”

“You’d have to,” Ms. Quivers replied, “because you’d want to know when the riot starts.”

Even as he egged him on, Mr. Stern expressed more concern about the ramifications than Mr. Trump. “Wouldn’t that set off a racial war in this country?” he asked.

“See, actually, I don’t think it would,” Mr. Trump replied. “I think that it would be handled very beautifully by me. Because, as you know, I’m very diplomatic.”

Mr. Stern agreed. “I gotta tell you something, on some level it’s wrong,” he went on. “But I like it. I like it. I would watch.”

“You’d have to,” Ms. Quivers replied, “because you’d want to know when the riot starts.”

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skypalacearchitect · 5 years

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On Monday, a pipe bomb, most likely hand-delivered, was discovered in the mailbox of philanthropist George Soros's New York suburban home. The culprit was unknown, but it was just the start. Yesterday, as CNN anchors were reporting live on explosive devices addressed to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama, a fire alarm went off in the background. The anchors hurried off the air as the CNN offices in New York City were evacuated due to a suspicious package.

Soon reports came that more suspicious packages were also sent to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), former FBI director John Brennan, and former attorney general Eric Holder. The return address on the package to Holder, as it was for others, was for former DNC chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz (D-Fl.). And because the delivery address on the Holder package was incorrect, it was sent to Wasserman Schultz's Florida office, prompting an evacuation. Police later intercepted similar packages addressed to Former Vice President Joe Biden and outspoken Trump critic Robert De Niro; the San Diego building housing Sen. Kamala Harris's (D-Calif.) headquarters was also evacuated because of suspicious packages. Altogether, there were three evacuations and 11 bomb scares in the span of a couple days. We don't yet know who sent the explosive devices or what his or her motivations were, but we do know who the intended victims are and their connection to one another is no mystery.

The targets—predominantly the former and current Democratic leadership—were the very same ones at which Trump has aimed his vitriol since his political debut in 2008: Obama, the subject of the racist birther conspiracy theory, and Soros, the subject of an anti-Semitic one; Waters denigrated as having "extraordinarily low IQ"; "loudmouth partisan hack" Brennan; "enemy of the people" CNN; and Wasserman Schultz, whom he accused of "corruption." Even in light of botched explosives, there was no sign that Trump supporters would abate in their parroting of this invective bombast. On the very same day an explosive device was sent to Clinton, the MAGA mob at a Mosinee, Wisconsin rally howled "LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP!" Nevermind that the original offense—Clinton's potentially exposing sensitive information via e-mail—was the one Trump was guilty of, as reported that day in The New York Times, by making calls on smartphones, despite aides warning that they were not secure from Chinese spying.

As soon as reports on the bombs came out, the white knights of false equivalency galloped to the scene, brandishing swords of both-siderism. Former Vice President Joe Biden, offered vague and meaningless pablum: "This country has to come together. This division, this hatred, this ugliness has to end." Chuck Schumer took a step further, implicating liberals: "Make no mistake: Despicable acts of violence and harassment are being carried out by radicals across the political spectrum—not just by one side." Meghan McCain equated the explosive devices with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell getting heckled at restaurants. The National Review's David French asked if "there was any momentum for toning things down,"citing this week's bomb scares, as well a recent ricin threat to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and the 2017 shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.). "We are still blessed with relative political peace. But we shouldn't fool ourselves. That can change," French later wrote. "The late Sixties and early Seventies saw a surge of political violence on a scale that would shock the conscience of Americans today."

Herein was the issue: flattening political discourse to nothingness, as if the civil rights activists struggling for voting rights and white supremacists agitating to suppress them were on equal sides of the same coin. In the '60s and '70s, as today, it was fringe activists, like the Weather Underground, who engaged in political violence on the left, while on the right, the political violence, including police beatings and mob murders of non-violent civil rights activists, was openly sanctioned by establishment political figures. Sure, a former Bernie Sanders volunteer, as Press Secretary Sarah Sanders cited in defense of Trump, shot up a GOP baseball game, but Bernie, unlike Trump, doesn't offer incitements of violence as a regular feature of his speeches. There are, of course, loonies and extremists of all political stripes, but only the leaders of one political party have consistently encouraged extrajudicial violence, viciously attacked the free press, and advocated for the imprisonment of political opponents: the GOP.

Trump has led the way, explicitly promoting violence and assailing the press. He has repeatedly struck an offensive on facts and reporting, sliming the media as "fake news," "dishonest," and "a real problem in this country," attacking CNN, in particular, as the "enemy of the people." At his rallies, journalists have become a punching bag, with hecklers screaming insults and obscenities in their faces. There is simply nothing bearing any resemblance to this attack on the First Amendment, nevermind an equivalence, coming from the Democratic leadership. This morning, unsurprisingly reversing on his brief call for unity, Trump tweeted out a victim-blaming and threatening assessment of the attempted bombings: "A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!"

For many years now, Trump has condoned extrajudicial violence in no uncertain terms. He has repeatedly expressed admiration for murderous dictators, particularly those who dispose of adversarial journalists. Last week, at a Montana rally, he praised Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.), who assaulted a reporter last spring, as "my kind of guy" specifically because he had "body-slammed a reporter." Gianforte was never censured by his Republican colleagues for physically attacking a journalist. By contrast, Democratic leaders, like Schumer, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and former Obama advisor David Axelrod have gone out of their way to scold liberal protest—the nonviolent exercise of free speech—at restaurants.

On the 2016 campaign trail, Trump leaned heavily on violent fantasy, urging supporters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to "knock the crap out of" protestors, promising to pay their legal fees; telling a Las Vegas crowd "I'd like to punch him in the face, I'll tell you" of another protestor; and directing security at a winter Vermont rally to confiscate protestors' coats before kicking them out. The crowd ate it up. Trump security choked a Time photographer in Virginia rally. And in North Carolina, a Trump supporter punched a Black Lives Matter protester at a rally, and another protester was beaten by a mob in Alabama. Of the latter attack, Trump complained on Fox News that the protester "was so obnoxious and so loud" that "maybe he should have been roughed up."

While Trump has unequivocally called for actual violence, his administration has lashed out at non-violent political protest, like a 26-seat farm-to-table restaurant refusing service to Press Secretary Sanders, denouncing, along with the pearl-clutching political class, so-called "leftist mobs" for exercising political speech. After Rep. Waters encouraged progressives to confront "anybody from that Cabinet" in public to "push back" on the policy of family separation at the border, Trump twisted it into an us-versus-them attack, issuing a warning: "she has just called for harm to supporters…of the Make America Great Again movement. Be careful what you wish for Max." Of Kavanaugh's critics, he said "these people are evil." While the president cares little for policy, wavering back and forth on issues, one of the few consistencies in his political ideology is that it is premised on the debasement and dehumanization of the other.

#bombs #domestic terrorism #assault #false equivalence #racism #fascism #u.s. politics #inciting violence #murder mention #gun violence #skypalacearchitect #great article

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somefantasticplace · 3 years

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LIVING WITH MY WIFE AND HER FEMALE LOVER

His wife Sarah left him first for a builder and then for another woman. So what did funny man Vic Reeves do? He forgave her and now spends most of his time with her and her gay lover. The comedian tells Rebecca Hardy why he feels this unconventional set-up is bet for his children.

Vic Reeves' two-and-a-half year old son Louis is passionate about the children's cartoon character Bob The Builder. He watches the videos and knows the song: "Bob The Builder can we fix it? Bob The Builder yes we can." Vic sings in a different version: "Bob the Builder can we fix it? Bob The Builder can we ever."

Vic's wife Sarah ran off with a builder called Keith Burke four years ago. Vic hurt - a lot. When the affair foundered (she said it was a 'dreadful mistake'), he welcomed her back with open arms. Louis was the product of their reconciliation. They hoped a baby would help to cement things. Sadly, though, it didn't fix anything much.

Today, Sarah lives with her gay lover Julia Jones and Vic's two children - they also have a six year old daughter, Alice - in a sprawling house in Folkestone, Kent. Vic sleeps in the spare room. He has his own home in nearby Rye, East Sussex, but more often than not stays with Sarah and the children. He says he misses the children dreadfully when he's not with them. He continues to call Sarah 'my wife'.

"Some people might think it's weird but I like being there. I like being with them," he says. "Sarah and I split up at the start of last year. We'd got to a stage where we weren't getting on very well. I don't know if it was anything to do with Sarah's sexuality - it probably was. It's also very hard living with someone who's in the public eye the whole time. It's difficult to accept that your partner is constantly noticed. You might be in a pub and people say, 'oh look, it's you.' They home in on you and ignore whoever you're with.

"It was difficult for Sarah to find her own way. I think she wanted something else. She always likes to be doing something. We decided to separate and it was probably about six months later that she got involved with Julia. She was a friend before all this and she's still a friend. She's a really nice girl. It's great to be in this situation with someone you know rather than somebody you don't know.

"The children completely accept everything. Just because you have an unconventional life it doesn't mean the children are going to suffer. They are very, very happy children. I don't think they're aware of the sexual side. They're too young. It's not something we'll have to consider until later.

"Ideally it would be very nice just to have a family unit - mummy, daddy, kids. But when things get taken away, you can't just say, 'oh, that's it,' and walk away. You discuss it, talk about it and at some stage you have to accept the situation. It's like if you lose a leg, you fall over. There's only one solution, you have to get used to a prosthetic leg. If I'd said, 'right, I'm not having anything to do with this,' I wouldn't have been happy because I wouldn't have been involved.

"Now we just all much in together. I'm there all the time seeing the children. I get on fantastically well with Sarah and I've got two fantastic kids. I still put them to bed and take Alice to school."

Vic rarely reveals much about his private self. He is a comedian, a funnyman, a great British clown. With his partner, Bob Mortimer, he makes us laugh; side-splitting, stomach-knotting laughter that helps us forget our woes. Vic's woes are not part of the act. When his marriage fell apart, Vic kept his problems to himself. "I tended to deal with it on my own. I didn't want to get other people involved in a situation they might not want to talk about. I didn't want to bother or pester anyone. I get upset. I get as screwed up as anyone, but I'm not the sort of person who allows it to defeat me."

We meet in a London studio to discuss the BBC1 drama Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), which co-stars Vic and Bob. This, a remake of the cult late-Sixties series in which Vic plays the ghost of detective Hopkirk, who returns to haunt his former partner Randall, is their first attempt at television drama. The action turns on a sixpence from comedy to melancholy, for the absurd to the sad, and is, quite truthfully, absolutely brilliant.

Vic is a genuinely funny man. He is also decent, kind, unfeigned; the sort of bloke who often gets dumped on. During the filming of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), and following the breakdown of his marriage, Vic, 41, fell in love with actress Emilia Fox, 25, the daughter of Edward Fox. She played his fiancee in the series and soon they were engaged in real life, intending to marry this year.

On the face of it, it was a thoroughly modern, happy affair that suited everyone. Emilia was wonderful with Vic, and wonderful with the children. She didn't seem to bat an eyelid over the fact that his soon-to-be-ex-wife was now gay. They even went on holiday with Sarah, Julia and the children and planned to spend Christmas and the Millennium together. But the relationship had ended before the Christmas tree was decorated.

"You work really closely with somebody and get on with them really well and things occur. After a marriage ends you start to look, not necessarily for a replacement, but for someone else. Perhaps it's something you shouldn't do," says Vic. "In the end, I decided that I wanted to be on my own. I don't want to be unfair to Millie. We were in love with each other and it was very good. But there is this bond with the kids which is hard to explain. It's difficult especially if you've got young children who want and shall have constant attention. Even though another person can love your children, it's still a barrier. You're the one who's closest to them and I love my children more than anything else on earth."

Vic is speaking with unusual candour. It unsettles him. "I wouldn't like to make this a habit," he says. "I am very private and families should be private things." Vic was a happy child. He was born Jim Moir, sharing the name with his father and grandfather and, rather uncannily, a January 24th birthday. "Precision grinding, as someone one said". His father was a Linotype operator who practiced funny walks and worked nights, so he could spend the day with Vic and his sister Lois. His mother was a stitcher.

"We're very close still,' he says. "We were always out walking and looking at things. We were encouraged to be interested in things and it was fun. I'd think, 'I can't wait to go to the library tonight.' All my friends would go off to the ABC film club on a Saturday morning and we'd go off to visit come castle or climb a mountain."

His mother also held seances on a Sunday evening. "I believe in ghosts somewhere along the line," he says. "I'd like to think you're guarded by a dead relative or something. I think my grandad may be keeping an eye on me because wherever I've lived, I've always felt a presence, as if somebody in the room is looking at me, or I've heard footsteps. I can't believe that everywhere I've ever lived has had a ghost in it."

Vic was particularly fond of his grandfather. He was an eccentric who wore a deerstalker hat, made fly-fishing hooks and put them in, but never fly-fished. "We used to go on holiday together," says Vic. "He did things that would probably be considered quite politically incorrect now. He'd dress me up as an Arab boy and send me off begging.

"He'd also pick a word out of the dictionary and say, 'when you come back next week you've got to have put that word into context in a conversation.' I was ten at the time and he'd pick really hard words like conglomeration. It's good to make up games and involve yourself with your children.

"I quite often get dressed up as a pirate with Alice and tell a story to her and her friends - the sort of thing my mum would do with us. Children have an innocence and imagination that isn't hampered by pride. Then, when you go to big school you get it slowly beaten out of you. I wouldn't allow it to be beaten out of me. I didn't want to lose the fun I was having. I could see there were children around me who were starting to become more adult and more afraid of saying and doing something stupid. Alice has a lot of fun, but she's also got a very old head on her shoulders. We'll have a good laugh together and be stupid but she's also very wordly. We're very honest with each other. Alice wouldn't hide anything from me."

Vic dotes upon his daughter and son. "Love for your child is unconditional. It's not even considered," he says. Alice was born in May 1993, four months after Vic married Sarah at Woolwich register office. They'd been seeing one another for two-and-a-half years and Vic truly believed the marriage would last for life. "I tried to use my parents as a role model," he says. "They're the closest, most loving couple I've ever come across."

Sadly though, within three years Sarah had embarked upon an affair with the builder employed to renovate their home. She knew Vic would have tried forever to make their marriage work, but was having none of it. She blamed Vic's career, his close friendship with comedy partner Bob Mortimer, his relationship with Shooting Stars colleague Ulrika Jonsson. "We didn't have an affair," he says. "But we were very, very good friends. It's odd this job. You'll be working with somebody and see them the whole time, then you won't see them for three years. I've been meaning to give her a ring, but I lost her phone number. In fact, I've lost everybody's phone number because I lost my book.

"I've got a few good friends - five or six. The older you get the less you have to have. Bob's a good friend. When you work with someone that long and you get on with them, you become almost psychic. When we're doing live stuff I can predict what he's going to say and vice versa.

"We've never argued but we don't see each other all the time. We'll go for five weeks not seeing each other and then we'll spend a long period together. It's to do with timing and leaving space. There's a very good bond between us. He wouldn't be the first person I'd call in a crisis, though. Bob's not very good in a crisis. If I had some very exciting news I'd probably ring Bob, otherwise I'd talk to Sarah, my first wife

Vic didn't like Keith the builder. He particularly didn't like the thought of him being around his daughter. "Sarah didn't have Alice," he says of that time. "She stayed with me." He was overjoyed when Sarah tired of her affair and returned to the family home. "I think anyone would want their family to survive," he says. It was a difficult reconciliation. Friends found they could not forgive Sarah, but Vic stood by her. "She's my wife, and if you don't like her than I want nothing to do with you," he's say. Then, Louis was conceived so very quickly.

"It's an odd thing with boys," says Vic. "I wouldn't give Louis a gun or an Action Man but that's the way boys naturally go. His current fascination is with cars crashing, so it's "crash, fire". We were on a plane going to my dad's and it was really turbulent. I don't mind turbulence on a plane but there were a lot of very nervous people. Louis was sitting there saying, "plane, crash, fire." It was so funny I didn't want to say, "no, don't say that."

Vic patently adores being a father. I suggest perhaps he is so accepting of his wife's gay lover because she doesn't threaten his role as dad. "Yes, there is that," he says. "It is a lot easier." He is certainly not jealous, nor does he find the relationship an attack on his masculinity. "I would imagine some men probably would," he says. "I don't really think like that. I've never really done that beer-drinking, football crowd thing."

Is he concerned, though, that just as he tried to ape his parents' loving marriage, his children might use their mother and Julia as role models? "I'd probably hope Louis would be heterosexual from the point that I'd have grandchildren," he says. "If he was gay I'd want to help him. I'd want him to talk to me. He wouldn't have to hide it away. But it would make life easier if he was heterosexual."

Again, he starts to list Julia's merits. I'm sure he's right, that she is a lovely person. I also suspect kind, decent, dumped on Vic is trying to make the best of a mess. "There was something on Radio 4 the other day," he says. Ian McEwan was talking about his father. He said he was a brilliant character and that it was great when he saw him at the weekend. That he'd burst in smoking these fags and filling the room because he was a sergeant major and he bellowed. It made me think. There are parents at Alice's school who are working fathers and rarely see their children. I just muck in with my kids and see them as much as I can.

WEEKEND MAGAZINE, MARCH 2000

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papermoonloveslucy · 7 years

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LUCY AND MISS SHELLEY WINTERS

S1;E4 ~ October 14, 1968

Directed by Jack Donohue ~ Written by Milt Josefsberg and Ray Singer

Synopsis

Shelley Winters needs to slim down before filming her new picture, so Lucy is employed as her private secretary and diet coach.

Regular Cast

Lucille Ball (Lucy Carter), Gale Gordon (Harrison Otis Carter)

Lucie Arnaz (Kim Carter) and Desi Arnaz Jr. (Craig Carter) do not appear in this episode.

Guest Cast

Shelley Winters (Shelley Summers) was born Shirley Schrift in 1920 (some sources list 1922) in Illinois. Her screen acting career began in 1943 under the name Shelley Winter (no ‘s’). It culminated in two Oscars for Best Supporting Actress in the films The Diary of Anne Frank in 1960 and A Patch of Blue in 1966. She also won a 1964 Emmy. One of her final roles was as Nana Mary on TV's “Roseanne.” Winters was married four times and known for her brash sexuality. She had an uncredited role in the 1946 Lucille Ball film Two Smart People. She died in 2006.

Bartlett Robinson (C.B. Wellborn) had played Mr. Wilkins in “Lucy Gets Trapped” (TLS S6;E2). This is his only appearance on “Here's Lucy.” He died in 1986.

The title refers to her as “Miss Shelley Winters” just as she was billed in the 1955 film The Big Knife when she was between husbands having divorced Vittorio Gassman in 1954 and not married Anthony Franciosa until 1957. During “Here's Lucy” she was also single, having divorced Franciosa in 1960 and not remarrying until the day before her death in 2006. The original title of the episode was “Lucy and Chubby.”

This was the first time Shelley Winters guest starred on a sitcom. She is the first guest-star on “Here’s Lucy” to have won a competitive acting Oscar at the time of her appearance (The Diary of Ann Frank in 1959). She was followed by:

Elizabeth Taylor - who earned an Oscar in 1960 and appeared on the show in 1970

Ginger Rogers - who earned an Oscar in 1940 and appeared on the show in 1971

Helen Hayes - who earned Oscars in 1931 and 1970 and appeared on the show in 1972. Hayes has the distinction of being the only multiple Oscar winner on the series as well as the only actor playing a distinctly different character than herself without her name in the title. [Winters plays Shelley Summers, and essentially is different from Winters in name only!]

William Holden holds this same distinction on “I Love Lucy” and Ed Begley Sr. on “The Lucy Show.”

As the episode opens, Lucy is listening to Harry on the dicta-phone and decides to try out the newfangled recording machine for herself, first quoting a bit of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, then singing “The Man I Love,” a torch song by George and Ira Gershwin. The song was written for, but deleted from, the 1924 Broadway musical Lady Be Good.

Overhearing Lucy sing into the dicta-phone, Harry quips “Thank you, Tiny Tim!” Tiny Tim (born Herbert Buckingham Khaury in 1932) was a singer and ukulele player known for his cover of “Tiptoe Through the Tulips.” He was a regular cast member on “Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In” which aired opposite “Here's Lucy” on NBC.

Harry reminds Lucy that “This is a business office, not Tin Pan Alley!” Tin Pan Alley is the name given an area of New York City where music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the late 19th century and early 20th century had their businesses. The origins of the name Tin Pan Alley are unclear but one account claims that it was a derogatory reference to the sound of many pianos playing (comparing them to the banging of tin pans).

Once Lucy leaves the office to get Harry's lunch, Harry also uses the dicta-phone to record himself. He sings “Shortnin' Bread” by James Whitcomb Riley in 1900. The song was famously sung by Vivian Vance as Ethel Mertz in “Ethel's Home Town” (ILL S4;E15) in 1955.

Satisfied with the sound of his voice on the playback, he remarks “Wayne Newton eat your heart out!” Wayne Newton (born 1942) is a singer and entertainer who played a version of himself on “Lucy Discovers Wayne Newton” (TLS S4;E14). He will make two appearances as himself on “Here's Lucy.”

Lucy is looking forward to meeting movie producer C.B. Wellborn (no doubt named after Cecil B. DeMille), because she says hopes to break into show business, something Lucy Carter has in common with the other Lucy characters. “After all, lots of people are discovered in drug stores and elevators...” This is a reference to the legendary but apocryphal story that actress Lana Turner was discovered at Schwab's Drugstore in Hollywood. In “Lucy Gets Into Pictures” (ILL S4;E18) Lucy went down to Schwab's to be discovered but all she discovered was a stomach ache from too many ice cream sodas. Dorothy Lamour was an elevator operator in Chicago when she was discovered.

When Lucy theatrically plays up to Mr. Wellborn, Harry says to her “That will be all, Theda Bara.” Theodosia Burr Goodman (aka Theda Bara, 1885–1955) was a silent film and stage actress. She was the first to play Cleopatra on film in 1917 (now lost). Lucy played Cleopatra on the very first color filmed “The Lucy Show” in 1963, in which Lucy was also compared to Theda Bara.

On the mantle of Summers' apartment is a photo of Shelley Winters from the 1950 film Frenchie. She glances guiltily at the photo when she is about to overeat.

Summers brags about having two Oscars, just like Shelley Winters. Wild in the Street starring Shelley Winters had opened in late May 1968. In December 1968 Winters opened in the film Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell starring Gina Lollobrigida.

Shelly Winters' dresses were padded to make her appear bigger then she really was. This is done so that in the final scene she appears thinner in her new black dress.

Shelley hides food all over her apartment:

A box of candy in the chandelier

A banana in a framed fruit basket

A bowl of spaghetti from the TV (which is actually a mini-fridge)

A whole pizza pie on the turntable of the stereo

The scene is underscored with Theremin music, which is an electronic instrument mainly used during dream sequences and in sci-fi and horror movies. It was first used to underscore Lucy Ricardo's dream of Ricky's infidelity in “Lucy and the Dummy” (ILL S5;E3). It was also used in “Lucy Gets Mooney Fired” (TLS S6;E9) when Lucy Carmichael and Mr. Mooney are 'gaslighting' Mr. Cheever into rehiring him!

When Lucy catches her with the pizza, she claims it is a Dean Martin record and sings “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore!” “That's Amore” was written by Harry Martin and Jack Brooks and recorded by Dean Martin in 1953. “Amore” means “love” in Italian. Dean Martin guest starred on “The Lucy Show” in 1966 playing himself and his stunt double, Eddie Feldman.

Lucy discovers a rope of sausages hidden in the sofa cushion that Shelley claims are her love beads! Love beads were a necklaces worn by hippies in the 1960s as a symbol of peace and goodwill.

Shelley humorously remarks “Honey, they invented CinemaScope to get my hips in the screen!“ CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens used from 1953 to 1967 for shooting widescreen movies. Its creation in 1953 by 20th Century Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection. The anamorphic lens allowed the process to create an image almost twice as wide as the previously common format. Winters' first CinemaScope film was I Died A Thousand Times in 1955.

When Lucy bumps into Shelley and says she didn't see her, Shelley replies “Baby, on a clear day you can see me from Catalina!” The Island of Catalina off the California coast has been used as a punchline in “Lucy and Tennessee Ernie Ford” (TLS S5;E21) when the bell captain smugly says of a swanky hotel penthouse “On a clear day you can see Catalina.” This same claim was made about the Cugamonga high rise apartment in “Lucy Helps the Countess” (TLS S4;E8). In reality, it is highly unlikely (even on a rare smog-free day) to be able to see Catalina from Los Angeles, which is nearly sixty miles away.

The episode allows Winters to stretch her comic abilities. The script assigns her all the physical comedy that would normally be done by Lucy. Like Ball, Winters is game for anything and pulls it off.

Other Hollywood stars have had their surnames slightly altered for their appearances, such as Joan Blondell (Joan Brennan) and Mel Torme (Mel Tinker).

Callbacks

Preparing to make a home cooked meal for a hot date behind roommate Viv’s back, Lucy hides food all over the house in “Lucy Builds a Rumpus Room” (TLS S1;E11) just like Lucy Ricardo did when she faked a hunger strike in “Lucy Gets a Paris Gown” (ILL S5;E20).

Lucy Carmichael dieted and exercised at a fat farm in “Lucy and the Countess Lose Weight” (TLS S3;E21) in 1965. They wear pink sweat suits just like Shelley Winters!

Lucy Ricardo tried to lose weight to get into Ricky's act (and a tight costume) in “The Diet” (ILL S1;E3) in 1951. I wonder if Lucy Ricardo’s workout clothes are also pink?

“Lucy and Miss Shelley Winters” rates 4 Paper Hearts out of 5

Oddly, Shelley Winters is basically playing herself, so it is unclear why she had to be re-named Shelley Summers. Many “Lucy” guest stars have used their own names and played very different versions of themselves on screen (Wayne Newton and Joan Crawford, for example). This episode may be considered politically incorrect in today’s society, which seeks to celebrate the fuller figured woman and not measure acceptance by body size.

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floridaprelaw-blog · 5 years

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To Admit Or Not To Admit? That Is The Question

By Rebecca Modica, University of South Florida Class of 2020

July 18, 2019

Kyle Kashuv was just your typical high school student until February 14, 2018. On this day he became a survivor from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. After this tragedy, he dedicated his time campaigning for his pro-gun beliefs and even met President Trump. After graduating recently from MSD, he was accepted into Harvard University along with other prestigious universities. On June 18, 2019 Huffington Post updated an article which led to Harvarddoubting their admission.

A private document that was shared between Kashuv and his friends was released to the public. In this document, Kashuv states, “I’m really good at typing ni****r ok like practice makes perfect.” From texts, he mentions a female classmate by saying she only “goes for n****r jocks,” suggesting that she would prefer such black men sexually to a “pasty Jew.” [2]

According to Ben Shapiro, if Kashuv never stepped into the public eye, his 1550 SAT score and second place in his graduating class still would’ve gotten him accepted into Harvard. If he didn’t speak up politically then he wouldn’t have become a target, and this wouldn’t have happened. [1]There were 5 to 6 other people in the document that have said equally heinous comments, but because Kashuv is in the media, he is getting the consequences for it.

In his interview with Fox News, Kashuv states that due to accepting his admission to Harvard, heturned down other acceptances and scholarships from other schools and now has to wait until the following semester. He also repeats that the comments did not reflect any actual animus towards black people on his part; but the intention of the messages was to be intentionally shocking as possible, because that what he and his friends like to do. Also, that the comments occurred before the Parkland shooting which transformed the way he sees the world. He states ever since the incident his motivation has been to stop hate and speak against it. Therefore, these messages do not reflect on the person he has become. [3] Kashuv mentions how Harvard was founded in 1636 by slave owners, but people can grow and change so he doesn’t hold that standard against the school. [4] The takeaway from this interview is that forgiveness is not given but earned.

William Fitzsimmons, Harvard’s dean of admissions, sent a letter on June 3rd, saying that they “takes seriously the quality of maturity and moral character,” and that after careful consideration the admissions committee voted to rescind your admissions to Harvard college. Kashuv tried to appeal this decision but had no luck.

When trying to form an opinion on this story, there are two sides that the political eyes have formed. The conservative view of racism treats it as a personal failingbut holds to light that if you penalize people for every past politically incorrect comment, people have no room to grow. Liberals and leftists see racism as a structural problem and addressing the consequences of racism requires work, effort and vigilance. Through this view, “Kashuv looks less like a kid who made youthful mistakes and more like a young man who’s trying to escape responsibility for his actions, and his attempt to minimize his comment by saying they were designed for shock value is part of the problem.” [3]

This is not the first time that Harvard has rescinded an admission. In 2017, 10 students were discovered to have a private Facebook messaging group that had offensive posts about the Holocaust, child abuse, sexual assault, and denigrating minority groups. Before this, multiple students have been expelled for private chats on other platforms that contained similarly explicit comments. [5]

_______________________________________________________________

1 “The Dis-Grace of Harvard.” RealClearPolitics, www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/06/19/the_dis-grace_of_harvard_140591.html.

2 Murdock, Sebastian. “Parkland Teen Kyle Kashuv, Former Turning Point USA Member, Apologizes for Racist Slurs.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 18 June 2019, www.huffpost.com/entry/parkland-teen-kyle-kashuv-apologizes-racist-remarks_n_5ce6908be4b09b23e65ead62?guccounter=1.

3 Beauchamp, Zack. “Conservative Parkland Survivor Kyle Kashuv's Fight with Harvard, Explained.” Vox, Vox, 17 June 2019, www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/6/17/18682101/kyle-kashuv-harvard-parkland.

4 News, Fox. “Parkland Survivor Kyle Kashuv Speaks out after Harvard Yanks Offer.” YouTube, YouTube, 17 June 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUhyZ-_dYF4.

5 Heilweil, Rebecca. “Harvard Rescinds Admissions To 10 Students For Offensive Facebook Memes.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 8 June 2017, www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccaheilweil1/2017/06/05/harvard-rescinds-10-admissions-offer-for-offensive-facebook-memes-ollowing-commencement-speaker-zuckerberg/#36b41ff03dbd

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zooptoopfanworks · 7 years

Text

False, Fatal Motif, Pt 2

I posted this to AO3 already, but I compeletely forgot to post it here! Don’t forget to leave some feedback!

One sleepless night later, Judy called in sick for the first time of her career. Not just because she wasn’t motivated to don her police uniform once again, bus also because she felt physically sick. Her heart pounded wildly as she replayed the events of last night in her head over and over again. And every time, once she turned her back on Nick, her stomach somersaulted and threatened to empty its contents. Luckily for her, she hadn’t eaten anything since last night. When she called the chief to inform him, there was a moment of surprise in between. I took the seasoned buffalo a good few seconds to recover from that. Their conversation was brief as he was met with a call on another line. She set her cell phone back on her windowsill and just laid down there. She didn’t move at all, except to use the bathroom and to get a bag of banana chips when she finally caved into her growling stomach. She only ate three chips and left the opened bag on her nightstand.

Her sleep was sporadic and restless, at best. Once her alarm clock sounded off again, she didn’t feel much better than the day before. She convinced herself that calling in sick a second day when she wasn’t really sick would leave a blemish on her reputation, and so found the strength to slip on her police gear and take the train down to the station. She would have to face Nick sooner or later, and it was better it happen sooner than later, where she expected him to be, rather than on the street, where she would be caught unprepared.

“Judy! You must be feeling better!” Clawhauser gleefully squealed when she saw her saunter up to the front desk. His smile faded as she approached. “Whoa, maybe I spoke too soon.”

“I’m fine, Clawhauser.” She mustered the strength to shoot Clawhauser the best fake smile she could manage. “Just... going through some stuff.”

“Anything you want to talk about?” The cheetah tilted his head curiously.

Judy shook her head. “It’s not that important.” She lied, and shuffled off to the bullpen before he could ask any more questions.

Other officers were scattered in their own seats in the bullpen when Judy walked in. A few smiled and nodded their heads politely to acknowledge her, which she returned as enthusiastically as she could. She hesitated when she stood in front of her chair. The chair that she and Nick always shared in the mornings, since that spare chair that was supposed to come in to accommodate for another cop never came in. Not that either of them complained. She took a deep breath and hoisted herself up to the chair and stood up, her eyes gazing down on the empty table to look busy. One by one the other cops came, and Judy’s eyes would always dart to the footpaws of whoever came in. Surprisingly, that morning, Nick’s never entered her view.

Amidst Bogo’s droning off on the morning announcements, something about the company picnic and laying off some officers until finances improve, Judy paid attention long enough to hear she was to work on the case that she and Nick had been working on for the past month, to which she headed back to her desk after Bogo closed his speech. Judy shared a cubicle space with Nick, with her desk facing one wall with his facing the other. Her eyes fell upon Nick’s desk, and it was exactly the way it was last time she saw it. Despite it’s relative disorganization, Judy keenly observed that not a single paper had moved since she last saw his desk. Even the fern, which occupied its own little corner, had its soil dried out.

Nick wasn’t at work either yesterday Judy thought to herself. Hm. I guess I can’t blame him. I called in sick yesterday too. With that she plopped herself down at her own desk and observed the case files closely, keeping her own emotions and memories of last night locked in the back of her mind as best she could. Although multiple times, she caught herself glancing back at his desk to check for that orange fuzzy tail swishing back and forth behind the desk chair, revealing that Nick had snuck into work.

Every time she checked, the desk remained empty.

* * *

Nick’s desk hadn’t changed the next day either. Or the day after that. Or the day after that.

Soon, days turned into weeks, and their case load started to weigh her down. On multiple occasions, Judy considered calling Nick to see why he hasn’t shown up for work. Something about how he still has a job to do, and how both of them can be professional in the workplace. But she never could. Maybe he ran off, maybe he was with that husky, maybe hearing his voice would cause her to lose all composure. Whatever the reason, Judy decided to simply buck up and muscle through it.

Almost a month after her sick day, after a long day of patrolling and reviewing case notes, she heaved a heavy sigh as she pushed the revolving door of the police station. Clawhauser’s cheerful voice usually welcomed her, but this time his voice came in the form of a lowered conversational tone as he was helping another mammal that evening. Judy glanced up to greet Clawhauser, when all of a sudden she froze in her tracks.

It was the husky. The same husky who was with Nick in the photographs. She was a little shorter than Nick’s height. She had gray fur that coated her back with creamy white fur decorating her front. The gray at the top of her head and face contrasted nicely with her icy blue eyes and off white fur. She wore a simple purple dress and a denim jacket that stopped above her stomach, and as much as Judy hated to admit it, she was beautiful, with the kind of body you only see in magazines. She leaned in to talk with Clawhauser.

“I’m just not sure if this is the kind of thing that I should be coming to the police about.” She said. “I don’t want to lead you on a wild goose chase or anything.”

“Not a problem, Miss Fusco.” Clawhauser replied with a smile. “We leave no stone unturned.” He flagged down Judy. “Hey, Judy! Have enough energy to do one last thing for me?”

“Sure. What is it?” Her eyes darted back and forth from the husky to Clawhauser.

“Everyone else is out in the field, and Miss Fusco wants to report something. Ideally, after the day you’ve had, I’d ask someone else, but... Well, there’s no one else. Would you mind, Judy!”

Judy forced herself a smile and shook her head. “No big deal. I got this one.” She turned to the husky. “Follow me, please.”

The pair walked past several empty cubicles before arriving at her own desk, the whole time asking herself what kind of questions she would ask her so she would finally get some answers herself.

She slid Nick’s chair over next to his. “Sit down please.”

She hopped in her own chair and logged in to her computer. “Name, please?”

“Sarah Fusco.” Sarah replied.

Judy tapped away on her keyboard. “I’m sorry...” Sarah smiled warmly, “You’re Judy Hopps, aren’t you?”

She cringed when she heard her say her name, but nodded past that. “Yes, I am.”

She seemed relieved. “My friend Nick told me all about you. He says you’re his partner. ‘In more ways than one.’ His words, not mine.”

“Not so sure about that now...”

“He had nothing bad to say about you, and he absolutely loved...” She beamed.

“Mmmhmm...So you knew about me then?” Judy interrupted, her eyes still not breaking from the screen.

Sarah blinked, confused. “Well... yeah. He told me everything”

“And you still went after him?” Judy’s pent up rage started to crack the dam she built. “Knowing that he was seeing someone else?”

Sarah chuckled uneasily. “Officer, I’m not sure I understand.”

“Then let me put it this way.” She pushed past her desk so her chair spun to face her directly, glaring into the Husky’s eyes. “Stop me if any of this in incorrect. You and Nick are friends. Probably even close friends, the kind you tell things you never tell anyone else. You meet for coffee one day, and before long it becomes a normal thing. The more times you meet, the more you realize that you’re starting to see the fox in front of you as something more than a friend.”

Sarah furrowed her brow. “Now wait just a second...”

Judy remained vigilant. “The same fox tells you all about his life. His childhood, work... you even find out that he’s seeing someone that’s not you.”

Sarah sighed and shook her head. “That’s not...”

“Now, usually, the other party would stave off on the pursuing until either she finds someone else or he becomes available. But not you. You want him, and nothing’s gonna stand in your way.”

Sarah stared at Judy, bewildered, eyes burrowed and teeth bared.

“So tell me, who locked lips with who when it finally happened?”

“Officer, are you accusing me of seducing Nick Wilde?”

“Of course I am!” She screamed, her amethyst eyes burning holes through the husky. “Give me one good reason why that doesn’t make sense!”

“I’m gay, Officer!” Sarah fired back with rage equal to Judy’s.

Whatever anger Judy held, whether it be toward Nick or Sarah in that moment, dissipated, and was replaced with utter shock. “Wait, you...”

“Nick isn’t my type.” Sarah replied, calmer this time, as the corners of her mouth slowly relaxed.”It’s not exactly something I like to broadcast.” She chuckled to herself lightly before muttering, “Didn’t take you for the jealous type.”

Judy plopped down in the chair in front of Sarah, still too bewildered to say anything. Sarah went on.

“If you must know, Nick and I go way back. I first came out in high school. Not of my own choosing, but because someone found out. They bullied me. Relentlessly. Verbally at first… then they spray painted “queer” on my locker… Then it got physical.I would’ve slit my wrists if it weren’t for Nick. He came to me when no one else would. He let me vent, he listened… He was my best friend all throughout high school.We just reconnected a bit ago, but a few weeks, I saw something was bothering him.”

She twiddled with her thumbs a bit. “He never gave me details, but all he would say that his life was falling apart faster than he could mend it back together. I haven’t seen him since, and I’m genuinely concerned for him now. He’s not even answering his phone anymore, and I’ve never been to his place, so I can’t check up on him. Judy, please. Find him and make sure he’s okay.”

Judy nodded silently, then got up. “Excuse me for a moment.” She quickly walked up the stairs to Bogo’s office and rapped her paw on the frosted glass.

“Come in.” Bogo’s voice called from the other side.

His door opened with a creak, and Judy’s feet pattered lightly against the carpet as she made her way inside. Bogo looked up and pursed his lips at her once she made it in. “Hopps. What can I do for you?”

Judy hopped up on one of the chairs in front of Bogo’s desk. “Sir, how many more sick days does Nick have left? I need a gauge as to the next time I see him.”

Bogo glanced up at Judy, brow furrowed, confused. “Sick days? Technically, he has until these budget cuts stop.”

Judy’s ears rose in intrigue. “I’m sorry, sir, I don’t understand…”

Bogo stopped writing and set his pen down and removed his glasses to look at her directly. “Hopps, Wilde was one of the cops I had to lay off. I thought you knew that.”

Judy’s ears shot up as she leaned on his desk. “Nick was laid off?!?” She gasped.

Bogo nodded slowly. “I announced that we had to lay some mammals off because of budget cuts a few weeks ago. You were there.”

Judy shook her head violently. “Not exactly there, sir.”

“He took the news surprisingly well. Said he needed some time to think anyways.”

“Why is that?”

“Don’t you read the newspaper, Hopps?”

Bogo dug in his desk and pulled out one of the newspapers from several weeks ago. He flipped to the obituaries and plopped it in front of Judy, so she could read it clearly.

Marian Wilde, a long time resident at Willow Apartments and Suites, passed away in her apartment complex last wednesday. Her body was not found until several days later, as she lived alone and no one knew until then...

“Nick… lost his mother?” Judy gasped.

Bogo nodded silently. “It hit him hard. Since he found out, he hasn’t been himself.”

“Sir, I need his address.”

“How come?”

“I messed up. Big time. Again.”

“You know I can’t hand out personal information like that. Even if it was to another cop.”

Judy sighed defeatedly and plopped down on her chair, glancing off to the side sadly.

After a while, Bogo spoke up again. “The mammal downstairs… the husky… Why was she here?”

Judy looked up at her chief, puzzled. “She wanted to file a missing mammal’s report.”

“And shouldn’t you look into that?” Bogo probed. “The first place you would look would be the mammal’s residence. And any registered mammal should already be in our system…”

Judy’s eyes lit up and she smiled for the first time in a while. “Of course! Thank you sir!” She had sped out of his office before Bogo could properly respond.

* * *

Judy typed madly on her keyboard until Nick’s info finally came up. Sarah looked over her shoulder, curious.

“That’s the place?” Sarah asked, curiously.

Judy nodded. “Seems like it.”

Sarah shook her head. “That can’t be. That building’s scheduled for demolition soon.”

Judy’s eyes shot toward Sarah. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope.” Sarah confirmed. “Scheduled for about a week from now.” She checked her watch. “I’m way over my break. Please, reach out to me as soon as you find something out about him.” She left her card on Judy’s desk as she left. “Oh, one more thing. Once this whole thing blows over… Could you and me start over? You seem like a really cool person, and I’d hate to be friends with Nick but mortal enemies with his girlfriend.”

Judy chuckled lightly and smiled back at Sarah, sincerely this time. “I should be the one asking you that. But yeah, let’s do that. The three of us will get coffee one day.”

Sarah nodded. “I’d like that. A lot.” With that, she turned down the hallway back toward reception.

Shortly after, Judy ran so fast that she actually passed Sarah coming down the hallway. She had the address, now she needed to get to Nick. She condemned herself for letting her tendency to jump to conclusions cloud her judgement yet again, and she ran through every possible scenario in her head. Finally, She arrived to some form of organized plan that she would follow. She would apologize her butt off. Just like back under the bridge. Then beg for a second chance. Or rather a third chance this time. Not much of a plan, but it was all she had. She hurt him. Again. Arguably worse than she did the first time. It would ultimately be up to him if he still wanted her in his life.

The tires screeched as she stopped in front of the building. It was nearly falling apart. The stone outside was weathered and littered with graffiti, several of the windows were broken, and a putrid scent filled the air. How Nick allowed himself to live here was a mystery to her. Once this was over, she’d help him find a better place. Even if that meant digging into her own pocket.

The door, surprisingly, was unlocked, and she quickly bounded up the steps to Nick’s apartment. She nearly walked right past it because the door was littered with eviction notices, dating back to several months ago. She pounded her fist on the door.

“Nick! Nick, it’s me. I need to talk to you!”

Silence.

“Nick, please! I realize I was wrong. I jumped to a conclusion, even after I promised I’d never do it again! And now it hurt you, at what I now realize could be the crappiest time of your life.” She pounded her fist again. “Let me apologise to your face, you dumb fox! There’s so much more I have to say, and you need to see me so you know it’s sincere!”

More silence.

Judy sighed exasperatedly and flipped the welcome mat over, glad to see that he kept a key under the mat like every other mammal.

“Nick, I’m coming in.”

She twisted the doorknob and crept inside. The apartment itself was as crappy as the outside. It was all one room, leaky ceilings, exposed pipes and wires everywhere… The used to be furniture, as the little dents in the carpet made out, but now it was nearly empty. All except for a moldy mattress, with a familiar body seated on top of it.

“Nick, I know you’re hearing me.” Judy said as she approached. “Wake u….”

Her words were cut short once she got a closer look at the body. Nick lay against the wall, mouth agape, eyes glazed and nearly shut, clad only in boxer shorts, his breathing slow but raggedy. In one hand he held a forty ounce bottle of liquor. It was the other paw, however, that made Judy freeze and her heart sink.

Nick’s fingers barely clenched the empty orange plastic container.

#zootopia #zootopia fanfic #zootopia fanfiction #angst #nick wilde #judy hopps #False Fatal Motif #BrokenQuillZT

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sawyerlex · 7 years

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Why Nobody Cares the President Is Lying

The New York Times · by CHARLES J. SYKES · February 4, 2017

MILWAUKEE — If President Trump’s first tumultuous weeks have done nothing else, at least they have again made us a nation of readers.

As Americans grapple with the unreality of the new administration, George Orwell’s “1984” has enjoyed a resurgence of interest, becoming a surprise best seller and an invaluable guide to our post-factual world.

On his first full day in office Mr. Trump insisted that his inaugural crowd was the largest ever, a baseless boast that will likely set a pattern for his relationship both to the media and to the truth.

At an event marking Black History Month last week, the president took a detour from a discussion of Frederick Douglass — he described the abolitionist as “an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more” — to talk about the press. “A lot of the media is actually the opposition party — they’re so biased,” he said. “So much of the media is the opposition party and knowingly saying incorrect things.”

Mr. Trump understands that attacking the media is the reddest of meat for his base, which has been conditioned to reject reporting from news sites outside of the conservative media ecosystem.

For years, as a conservative radio talk show host, I played a role in that conditioning by hammering the mainstream media for its bias and double standards. But the price turned out to be far higher than I imagined. The cumulative effect of the attacks was to delegitimize those outlets and essentially destroy much of the right’s immunity to false information. We thought we were creating a savvier, more skeptical audience. Instead, we opened the door for President Trump, who found an audience that could be easily misled.

The news media’s spectacular failure to get the election right has made it only easier for many conservatives to ignore anything that happens outside the right’s bubble and for the Trump White House to fabricate facts with little fear of alienating its base.

Unfortunately, that also means that the more the fact-based media tries to debunk the president’s falsehoods, the further it will entrench the battle lines.

During his first week in office, Mr. Trump reiterated the unfounded charge that millions of people had voted illegally. When challenged on the evident falsehood, Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, seemed to argue that Mr. Trump’s belief that something was true qualified as evidence. The press secretary also declined to answer a straightforward question about the unemployment rate, suggesting that the number will henceforth be whatever the Trump administration wants it to be.

He can do this because members of the Trump administration feel confident that the alternative-reality media will provide air cover, even if they are caught fabricating facts or twisting words (like claiming that the “ban” on Muslim immigrants wasn’t really a “ban”). Indeed, they believe they have shifted the paradigm of media coverage, replacing the traditional media with their own.

In a stunning demonstration of the power and resiliency of our new post-factual political culture, Mr. Trump and his allies in the right media have already turned the term “fake news” against its critics, essentially draining it of any meaning. During the campaign, actual “fake news” — deliberate hoaxes — polluted political discourse and clogged social media timelines.

Some outlets opened the door, by helping spread conspiracy theories and indulging the paranoia of the fever swamps. For years, the widely read Drudge Report has linked to the bizarre conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who believes that both the attacks of Sept. 11 and the Sandy Hook shootings were government-inspired “false flag” operations.

For conservatives, this should have made it clear that something was badly amiss in their media ecosystem. But now any news deemed to be biased, annoying or negative can be labeled “fake news.” Erroneous reports that the bust of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been removed from the Oval Office or misleading reports that sanctions against Russia had been lifted will be seized on by Mr. Trump’s White House to reinforce his indictment.

Even as he continues to attack the “dishonest media,” Mr. Trump and his allies are empowering this alt-reality media, providing White House access to Breitbart and other post-factual outlets that are already morphing into fierce defenders of the administration.

The relationship appears to be symbiotic, as Mr. Trump often seems to pick up on talking points from Fox News and has tweeted out links from websites notorious for their casual relationship to the truth, including sites like Gateway Pundit, a hoax-peddling site that announced, shortly after the inauguration, that it would have a White House correspondent.

By now, it ought to be evident that enemies are important to this administration, whether they are foreigners, refugees, international bankers or the press.

But discrediting independent sources of information also has two major advantages for Mr. Trump: It helps insulate him from criticism and it allows him to create his own narratives, metrics and “alternative facts.”

All administrations lie, but what we are seeing here is an attack on credibility itself.

The Russian dissident and chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov drew upon long familiarity with that process when he tweeted: “The point of modern propaganda isn’t only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.”

Mr. Kasparov grasps that the real threat is not merely that a large number of Americans have become accustomed to rejecting factual information, or even that they have become habituated to believing hoaxes. The real danger is that, inundated with “alternative facts,” many voters will simply shrug, asking, “What is truth?” — and not wait for an answer.

In that world, the leader becomes the only reliable source of truth; a familiar phenomenon in an authoritarian state, but a radical departure from the norms of a democratic society. The battle over truth is now central to our politics.

This may explain one of the more revealing moments from after the election, when one of Mr. Trump’s campaign surrogates, Scottie Nell Hughes, was asked to defend the clearly false statement by Mr. Trump that millions of votes had been cast illegally. She answered by explaining that everybody now had their own way of interpreting whether a fact was true or not.

“There’s no such thing, unfortunately, anymore as facts,” she declared. Among “a large part of the population” what Mr. Trump said was the truth.

“When he says that millions of people illegally voted,” she said, his supporters believe him — and “people believe they have facts to back that up.”

Or as George Orwell said: “The very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world. Lies will pass into history.” But Ms. Hughes’s comment was perhaps unintentionally insightful. Mr. Trump and company seem to be betting that much of the electorate will not care if the president tells demonstrable lies, and will pick and choose whatever “alternative facts” confirm their views.

The next few years will be a test of that thesis.

In the meantime, we must recognize the magnitude of the challenge. If we want to restore respect for facts and break through the intellectual ghettos on both the right and left, the mainstream media will have to be aggressive without being hysterical and adversarial without being unduly oppositional.

Perhaps just as important, it will be incumbent on conservative media outlets to push back as well. Conservatism should be a reality-based philosophy, and the movement will be better off if it recognizes that facts really do matter. There may be short-term advantages to running headlines about millions of illegal immigrants voting or secret United Nations plots to steal your guns, but the longer the right enables such fabrications, the weaker it will be in the long run. As uncomfortable as it may be, it will fall to the conservative media to police its worst actors.

The conservative media ecosystem — like the rest of us — has to recognize how critical, but also how fragile, credibility is in the Orwellian age of Donald Trump.

Charles J. Sykes (@SykesCharlie), a former talk-show host in Wisconsin, is the author of the forthcoming “How the Right Lost Its Mind.”

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTOpinion), and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.

A version of this op-ed appears in print on February 5, 2017, on Page SR1 of the New York edition with the headline: The Right That Cried Wolf.

The New York Times

· by CHARLES J. SYKES · February 4, 2017

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glopratchet · 4 years

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game

Hi, i'm endless kbar You probably know me from the forums or some other place, but I thought it might be nice to introduce myself in person! I've been playing this game for a long time and have a lot of experience under my belt For those who don't know me, I play a mage that uses fire magic and use fire blast spells My main goal is to get as much loot as possible while also not getting killed by bad guys ; (or at least trying to avoid them) ney Thanks for your interest in alligator order I hope you'll join us soon! lpa-gamma-spular-prime-fox R17 END TRANSMISSION Are [ready] or do you need to [learn how to deliver alligator]? [learn to deliver] or [do without] READY! Welcome to alligator order! To seek more information about alligator order, type "info alligator" Though remember, being a disciple isn't a fate worse than death, so death is always an option See this icon in the top right hand corner It is red right now, which means danger If you are reading this in the game, get the hell out as fast as you can! If you are seeing this online though, then ignore it because you're not actually playing the game and instead just perusing our fine website Hey I still applaud you for taking an interest! Now for people reading this who ARE actually in the game right now and see this icon, well here's some inside information This brings up the map As you expand and grow, so too will new orders be given The world is a dangerous place though, prepare yourself An orderly advance is a victorious one! This is the garrison screen You can switch what garrisons you assign your followers to Be advised that you cannot give orders to a garrison if they are too far away from you, they must be within your leash range If, by chance, you lose your le…well lets not get ahead of ourselves The map allows you to hover from location to location so go ahead and explore now if you wish! You won't be able to give orders though, except for the general ones that you assign to the whole faction To issue orders to a specific location, click it and then select what you want done, from attack, defend, move, etc Every week you get one growth point This can be used to build things on the map or remove the undead presence at If the undead take over hex 1006 they win The map allows you to hover from location to location, We have already mapped out all the best delivery locatations on this map The Northern mountains are rich for ore, bread can be made with the wheat fields, fish are in the rivers etc You can name things if you hold control over them, although only you will see the name Icons will only be shown if other players or factions control them and they are looking at a map of their own While holding the map up you cannot attack, and doing such causes the map to automatically close Useful for spying as well! Also, you'll given an estatmate amount of time it will take to get there Be aware this can be incorrect It is not live information after all Just a rough guide to how long it'll take your follower to reach their destination from here "Sorry's there isn't an index right now, I'll try to get that up soonest! Anyway good luck and remember that time is against us! Get ready to invade the Kingdom of N4P0TU! Select the delivery location you wish to target with your allig…loyal subjects Select the delivery location you wish to target with your allig…loyal subjects Your oddwad will take you there The world map is rough right now For each new territory you make yours, it'll be updated and such Chances are this won't be the only map I'll have to update Anyway good luck! I'll be watching closely! *vanishes in a flurry of snow* Lycan Tower I'm sure you've heard of Lycans Your oddwad will take you there! There is a big button that says cancel this delivery Kingdom of Nabor Mistakes Were Made What a lovely little village this is Quaint buildings, all seemingly held up by each other and having a few small roads between them The town is dimly lit, with candles adorning the windows of the houses In the center of the village, a single candle in an oil lamp on top of a pole marathon in the middle of the town square, with villagers busying themselves in circles around it See the icon in the upper left hand corner; that is you Your garb makes you seem like a traveller or mercenary of some sort Icons sprinkled around the village are your soldiers, whom you have yet to acquire But once you do, you can finally begin the slog to conquer the Kingdom of N4p0tuS! This icon- toggles through all of your modes which you can develop over time It goes in this order; Locate your mercenaries, Locate the Town Mayor so you can put him in Jail, Locate any combination of Norman or George the two scouts, Look over the village for essential improvements, and look over your mercs for upcoming tasks and to accept them ; ( "Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy" as your grandson would say) Make a note of made up words and report back to the Director This icon- toggles through all of your modes, Item mode to access your items Mostly these will be weapons or groceries to throw at people/food Watch the Watch, that's pretty obvious ; (But note that not all info in the watch is revelant to the game) Ditto for the other text bars Yes Begin Begin Volume II of VNSG: Adaptation Hello and goodbye Current State of Affairs, my name is Nathan and I am a developer with very minimal development experience with less ability than talent Explorer mode and Story mode will now both be available to you Explorer mode and Story mode will now both be available to you Your focus dot will be free to describe the scene as you are likely the main character of this ridiculously real Virtual Reality folly Don't be alarmed when suddenly you find yourself in the body of someone or something not yourself, in fact don't be alarmed if you suddenly find out you were always someone else I promise it's not as crazy as it sounds Your focus dot will be free to describe the scene, Boomstick mode- deliver the beast with a forked tongue, the trusty Shotgun or the chainsaw to name a few tools of free exploration But don't forget to come back and blame it on the food Choose your story-; (Start) Is a Supernatural Animal like quality or Gifts—current episode using persuasive argument and alleged humor ; (What)-nature? That contrary squirrely devil-may-care heart of gold hidden inside your personality blossoming under pressure? "My Only Chance" Boomstick mode- deliver the beast with a forked tongue, This enables your boom stick such as the sawed-off ; ( short shotgun) buttscreem-spraying boom House: Manor Beautiful, smoke swirling lazily from the chimney, a figure waits for you in front of the warm fireplace Wow, that one was actually nice Even prophetic And it feels like an ad crafted by a tortured soul trying to convince himself what he does is OK Weird Go to "Is a Supernatural Beast like quality or gift Nature? This enables your boom stick, When you are in boomstick mode everything turns dark and all you can see is the person in front of you There is a slight twinge of pain in the back of your mind, but other than that you feel fine "I like that last one, " croaks a familiar voice behind you, "very catchy When you are in boomstick mode everything turns dark and all you can see is the person in front of you Your boomstick appears in your hands as you turn Boomstick Combat Mode: Vampire in front of you, who might take a killing blow to be a possible story, but not what happened Beef up the shotgun slug with industrial grade silver or go for the myth buster Military Grade Flare? "I AM the boring evil villain that tells you what I'm going to do, unlike the false modest heroes who tell you after they've done it Your boomstick appears in your hands as you turn Click the boom stick to toss the boomstick back into your hands as you prepare to defend yourself "Threat identified: Sunlight, point Blank, Silver taken together, 'The hunter would be crazy not to use it against you '" Is this really what the voice in your head sounds like? Thoggus McDoggus, or Dolan Botswe, whichever one you're dealing with seems relaxed and prone on his couch, "Dance for me What color is his blood? Click the boom stick to toss the boomstick back into your hands as you prepare to defend yourself The longer you wait the more accurate the hit will be, if you choose to shoot Which part of him will give you the most satisfaction to shoot? Will it be his arm to prevent him from bleeding all over himself and getting icky or go straight for the brain to put an end to this once and for all? And with that, you are ready The longer you wait the more accurate the hit will be, The boomstick lands at the appointed location from the aim mode bullet from the previous "pick" The finger squeeze of the trigger "Farce, this is not your world " Thoggus goes on as if not noticing the chambered silver and beeswax exploding pellet Boom Bullet lands flesh giving 1 damage -6 hitpoints, so much for myth-busting bee-bee- QUACK! Just kidding, but ouch! The boomstick lands at the appointed location from the aim mode bullet from the previous "pick" Click the icon in the upper right hand corner to disable your boomstick and explore the basement Gunplay will get you nowhere as it seems this "Thoggus" can even count how many shots you've been taking Explore more The rest of the story unfolds as you reach his cot to see him riddled with silver bullets and collapsing in a bloody heap before your eyes What rest of the story? Begging for life? Pleas of for understanding? Jibberish and ramblings incoherent and unformed that hold no answers? Click the icon in the upper right hand corner to disable your boomstick and explore the basement If you have to ask that, the answer is in his bulging eyes as you stare at them both coldly and without regard, hoping the double-barrel does its work quickly Or is it? Does the story even end here? Does this have some sort of happy ending, or not? And are we allowed to know or even contemplate such a thing in this place? It's over If you have to ask that, When you are not in boom stick mode in a cold and unfriendly basement facing the dead corpse "Tell me about yourself, " you say approaching the disgusting scum bag and pulling his upper lip back with your thumb looking for permanent tooth-marks to show whether you drank enough, "what's your story? Telling us, It's all some kind of joke right? Just leave it at that Yeah you can leave When you are not in boom stick mode in a cold and unfriendly basement facing the dead corpse You see an aiming marker in the center of the screen where it usually isn't As of the moment there is no spray-and-pray interaction here With your hands and feet you clear his eyes ; (both normal and ghostly) from your person one way or the other, then proceed to move ahead Or you can't get out and continue this way if something else is destined to happen here This isn't fair, why should one be a better writer than any other? You see an aiming marker in the center of the screen, Drag it around to where you would like it placed then connect it with one of the four available dips to create an island off the main continent Be creative! Let's see what happens when you get to it Lazy and tricky non-choice, placing unseen chunks of landmass into the ocean to craft an alternate route is something any local tribal person would do just to laugh at a stupid flying thing that splashes into the sea before them Pick another choice like the above one instead! 1) Subject A-129 Drag it around to where you would like it placed, It will describe the scene around you from an entirely different point of view from yours Let's step out from behind this mesmerizingly sweet interface and check what it has to say 2) Very Well Where the words above used letters, the one below is comprised of tiny images which you don't have enough visual acuity to recreate It sees the marks anyway and translates accordingly: "T H E E N D" It will describe the scene around you from an entirely different point of view from yours All of these describptions are saved into your story bank When we are finished, you can see them here All of these describptions are saved into your story bank Oh you so you think your ready to rock? One childishly rushing to the doom and that was it, huh? Is that how easy it was for you to become a traitor to a better cause, seen everything and want to see nothing more? The fast track to Hell is paved with such selfish intentions, though it always has been even when nobody wanted to see or look deeper anymore Enlightenment was on offer, but do you feel any different for turning it down? Materilizin you into the armoury in a miserable blob of undifferentiated and unresolved goo you think? Yikes! No wonder folks who plunge straight into such depths without finding God first never come out alive They must feel like they are drowning in an ocean with no hope of rescuing their next breath Can you even spell F-A-I-L-U-R-E? I don't think you can Materilizin you into the armoury in a miserable blob of undifferentiated and unresolved goo you think? There is an alternative ending to this tale and it is a doozy, but you will need eight free articles-of-clothing and a bar of soap! Not the civilized kind that demeans ones purity with false nutrition promises and falls apart in chunks, but the naturally goats milk, Italian olive oil, lemon and clay kind whose ingredients matter because God placed them there and they matter much more when used by human hands seeking God as well Wow what a come back! Are you sitting comfortably? Then I will begin You are familiar with the concept of moving walkways and how one must stand still on them lest you risk flying off and being killed? Well in life there is a similar system at work called Free Choice Once on it, you can never get off till the end, even though by day 498 you should really know where this is going and want off Think about the last items of clothing you had to take off to use the shower If you are anything like any other human being, your mind just went straight to your underwear and stayed there indulging itself in the pleasures of its sinews and stretches whilst actively avoiding thinking about the inevitable next step where you would have to stand bare as the day you were born and soap yourself all over For ; (Person) that day has come! Choose one Favorite article of clothing to protect your innocence One Item that is Preferred, but not loved and finally one item of Clothing you Dislike or even Hate Hold them close, for love will protect you and the rest? Simply wash yourselves in pure mountain spring water, sudsing yourselves up real good in a passionate embrace with all your clothes on and Guess what? You pass through completely unharmed No? Still here? Then it is time to make nice with your least favorite item of clothing, or even that garment you simply rolled out of bed and accidentally first put them on, that first desperate choice of apparel that is at this moment crippling your abilities to think straight You need to dress it up Dress it up any way you can and then you will be able to pass through the needle's eye Maybe you like it after all? Doesn't work that way due to the break in the system Similar items might be grouped, but the whole rhyme goes out the window when you start making exceptions for "your" shirt Sorry, new game And as for the rude clothes your mother forced on you to go out in the cold? Remember, Hell has its own winter and such things are really personal favorites of Hell's boss, so she gets to keep them Well there is one more chance, though I am not sure why anyone would have bothered reading this far Carefully contemplating all the above, if you do not love anything you are currently wearing and nothing in your wardrobe feels appropriate for the occasion, then that means there is really only one option left and that involves turning the toxicity of those around you into something that is at least identifiable if not flattering and recognizable as being something you might wear what? You are going to take it off? That seems deeply misguided Sir or Madam, it is simply not done, and do you really think that you have that kind of physical control over the system to execute this trick? I assure you that trying to remove your clothes past a certain point will have consequences far worse than simply having to continuing wearing them until they rot off your back Yes, removal of items of clothing good people, is how rebellions begin But if you are determined to attempt this deeply foolish act of defiance, please do not let me stop you! I wish you the best of luck in whatever happens next, (Add your name here) isn't that girl still naked? Oh dear [explosion] cloak; garment ; (usually long) covering trunk area and neck, may or may not have sleeves cover; conceal gauze; very thin fabric undergarment; underwear impertinent; excessively irrelevant preamble; introduction contradiction; conflicting facts deteriorate; something getting worse over time rather than better stricken; mildly sick or poorly look to; pay attention to notes; scribblings remarkably pres You are currently carrying a mighty fine boomstick It's a big gun The average person needs two hands to hoist it properly and the barrel is about the same length as your leg, but it will blow a hole the size of Pittsburgh in whatever your aiming at Countconsists of putting submitter to sleep while they are in a dreaming state and then line communication devices along their spinal column They essentially become speakers for our network and it's beautifully simple once you have the correct collars Keep track of your energy In the future we can rebuild it in such a way to allow multi-direction firingbut for now be conservative as I don't need to lecture you on wasted potential now do I? You've got your orders, head Outrider Class and may everything go well bolts, they're tracks by an all knowing systemI it monitors everything, including where it has been and where it is going Awaiting your signal Keep track of your energy bolts, If your energy gets too low your going to need to find some sunlight to power it back up Just find a sunny spot and give your self a quick chargeOkay fine, if your that bored just hook yourself up to one of the huge Duracell batteries we keep on standby in the silo they work just as well to power you up So stop asking already! Try to keep it completely full for the duration of the delivery This is mostly so we don't need to recharge you during the attack, we're going to need you ready to go at all times Its doable but very tiring as physical activity uses up a lot of energy and we really don't want you pining for a recharge in the middle of the fight Just try your best, okay? Stop asking Old seventh We get it you have questions Play defensively This is probably the most important thing Never attack from the front unless you have no other option, try to attack from behind or from the side and alway block dangerous attacks with your Powered armor, it'll save your life more than once Protect the package it's yours and mine so do whatever it takes to keep it aliveGot all that? extreme adventure and enthusiasm so re-read this several times if nessessecary If it is still not sinking in, keep a look out for escape pods because you could be so overwhelmed with courage that you'll try to take on your entire Empire fleet by yourself well before you're ready We need you alive, the Emperor needs you alive You have a galaxy to Save, soldier Chances are your are going to be entrenched in a feeling of extreme adventure and enthusiasm so re-read this several times if nessessecary A strange dawn breaks over the horizon, a lingering eclipse taking place over the sun itself Such things hold an ominous aura as you find yourself before the sprawling coast shortly afterwards Stumbling onto a dirt road you quickly check your instruments and determine that you are now only 5 miles from your destinationCome on baby steps, Sam you can do it Even the great runners of old didn't rush out and try to blizzard Stadium their first time at bat Be incredibly cauitous as the instruments could give out at any given moment due to lack of energy You decide it would be best to walk parallel with the coastline and finish your journey in the morning The sun seems blanketed by the eclipse and all humor falls flat with the dimnessSure, you could probably keep going but losing good pod energy to lights to guide you along would be more tempting than ever With this in mind you decide to set up camp, never sleeping in nevermore Be incredibly cauitous as the instruments could give out at any given moment due to lack of energy Alligators are challanging and can be difficult at first Theyre strong, showing protection over their territory though sheer size On the plus side theyre not the brightest crickets and can be distracted from multiple directionsquite enamy though Thats why Sam stands at angle just outside of the alligator's viewf rom the skywalk path he is going to take in the morning, hastily tieing a rope to fence posts driven into the mud of the swamps edge However the more you deliver the more you will notice there tales and behavior patterns to indicate duress When you seen multiple alligatores behaving in such a way, get out calmly while observing and then report to the nearest Empire Peace officerThe first thing you want to remember is that they have bad vision i mean really bad you could be 10 feet away and they might not notice but their scent is ridiculously good This is why its super important when in the water to always conceal yourself or your scent However the more you deliver the more you will notice there tales and behavior patterns to indicate duress Remember the more deliveries you make the easier it will become You'll build up a memory for the patterns and their behavior My record is five straws without a bite, considering you people breed like rabbits every dozen years or so there are just so many of them now You may dread busting a gator the first time but i gurantee the second time will be less frustrating The first time is always the worst Caw caw caw it makes wonderful heavy may seem to reverberate over the swamp, Hello ruby ring hows every little things been with you this month? Good excellent ive been told, oh here check out this fine fellow just wandered into my office I just love his bright colored feathers, they really are something else arent they find anything good on your end to trade? Just take notes and pay attention to the patterns between those of the prey To drink or not to drink that is the question Drink from the waters edge and you must suffer the ills of society Hold yourself above it and you suffer within your being What does a humble delivery man do ? Sometimes you have go with what the heart tells you without direct guidance You smell the water, fresh and clean like Mother Nature has just prepared it for him just how he likes it Just take notes and pay attention to the patterns between those of the prey To the behavior of the alligator While the gators you see on the side emphasize gross displays of force you remember that those are the adults just merely trying to protect their territory You look to an old tire half stuck in the mud, sure enough a few baby alligators are fighting over it The smallest have no chance to grab at insects and such that drift overhead A beauty popularized by both men and women wearing colognes of all kinds Described as mysteries unknowable Do research a head of time or prepare and read up on traits of the gator before delving right in Mother nature is a force of equal parts giving and understanding, remember this when you seek to make these creatures your pawns You see where this is going don't you, good Do research a head of time or prepare and read up on traits of the gator before delving right in Your are never going to find where an alligator is the weakest to or takes the most cutting damage from in a realistic situation It will always be on the belly but then you would only get to try once for a fatal blow It isn't like your ancestors feared on sightlessly hacking at its mouth and watching it suffer or run away Understand how to plant a story of fear and dread in the heart if such a large dominating creature Your are never going to find where an alligator is the weakest to or takes the most cutting damage from in a realistic situation Dont be ashamed to look things up online or learn what you can before heading out on assignment Drowning is the number one cause of death and it the perfect way to keep a meal going until its ready to be cooked Violent thrashing about is completely expected but remember the creature was large so only half of that amount needs to go into its stomach To an alligator human is not meat but IS soup, Get it? Carry on Always make your pre-claws Dont be ashamed to look things up online or learn what you can before heading out on assignment Real life hunters research there quarry and game before hunts to determine the best bait and equipment for bringing down its intended target Get a feel of what might be useful to improve for the next time You didn't realize how sharp and curving its teeth really were, Perhaps a cutting shortsword would do it but how much ambient magic would that require after such an exhausting feat TRAINING The extent of your control is extremely limited so far but you use another week to better yourself at handling a sword in general Real life hunters research there quarry and game before hunts to determine the best bait and equipment for bringing down its intended target Learn what elements to use on the beast when vulnerable and which to avoid Self explanatory enough even if you don't exactly know what all could be infused in a sword, that will come with time though You are very aware of how much careful concentration and focus this task at hand requires so much so that you havn't even been worrying about life problems These sessions in the yard have been a haven for your mind and soul, Something every Hunter needs A place of solace Learn what elements to use on the beast when vulnerable and which to avoid Figure out the monsters area of choize to rest or respawn Do you like to use flash bombs on groups of them or just go in with a short sword and daggers? Do you like to use flash bombs on groups of them or just go in with a short sword and daggers? Do you take full adavatage of traps even though sheer numbers are against you? Does swinging a big axe on their legs slow them down more than a short sword in the skull? Their armor seems hard to pierce but maybe imbedding shards of metal in large amounts could get through remembering that magic unfortunately isn't an option for these bastards That requires enlisting the help of other wizards, and your expertise lies with blade mages at best There's also shock technology but that seems more catered to guns really Do you take full adavatage of traps even though sheer numbers are against you? Dont get spot ed, there are a few hiding places to choose from but choosing the wrong one could be an immediate death sentence If your lucky you might get seen but have time to run ; (or fight) before they realize you are there Dont get spoted, If get spotted hide and stay hidden until they pass unless you feel like being superman or death itself and decide to slay everyone in blade-range If get spotted hide and stay hidden until they pass unless you feel like being superman or death itself and decide to slay everyone in blade-range Repeat steps 2 and 3 until bored or dead Hopefully you are mercer so some quiet assassinating can be done to whittle the numbers down before doing the big spam and hack of step 4 Doing this many times with a group would no doubt build great Reputation and trust, not to mention better odds all around since someone is sure to have explosive training Even something as simple as a molotov cocktail with the right wind up could do wonders especially against sulfur humans Repeat steps 2 and 3 until bored or dead The part that lets you listen to the thoughts of alligators will need to work on that though You haven't even started Slaying, you've just been fiddling and learning your powers so far and it's excited to use them all There probably other types of experiments going on or other facilities so some reconnaissance might be in order The Facility does have its own guards but you could probably easily avoid fight or detection by disguising yourself as one of the scientists or one of the mercs hired to protect them The part that lets you listen to the thoughts of alligators will need to work on that though First things first you need to train your basic abilities but however you end up passing your time is up to you remembering that your mentor and time is limited so it might be best to live a little recklessly for as much fun as possible before getting down to the serious studying It sure would be nice if he knew any adepts or had some magic touchpowers but all you get are the cheap vitamins sold in bulk from the local shop First things first, You are going to want to pick a boomstick to suit your delivery needs Probably helps that you pass your classes too but the lab is limited to weak pistol and regular shotgun shells as your explosive choices so something will need to be done about that Picking up knowledge from the mercs aren't out of the question either Doesn't take long for you to go from Withdrawn book nerd to reckless buck slaying machine You are going to want to pick a boomstick to suit your delivery needs but the lab is limited to weak pistol and regular shotgun shells as your explosive choices so something will need to be done about that You didnt think you would take on those gators barehanded but the rest was easy The first merc? Had a sword so you grabbed it and jammed it through his heart Trained for generations? Doesn't matter when a monster as strong as you just lands a single punch and cave their chest in Boom, instant lesson Didn't even know you could do that until you did it You didnt think you would take on those gators barehanded but the rest was easy The question every new player asks when picking out a weap is which will serve you best Some train in one then master many Others find a single weapon most suits them Some care not for weapons and tear enemies apart with their bare hands You are strong but a Single sword or even a pair of swords may not be the choice for you Spears are far too heavy to stand up with and axes nothing more than a wild swing, especially for one with little training The question every new player asks when picking out a weap is which will serve you best Which one of thise fancy weapons is best for a young monster like you? The Single edge sword is a simple design anyone could wield but packing little punch (nothing) The serrated sword be shred throught thick leather and mail quikcly The mace has a spiked flanged head for crushing nuts and skulls alike The spear features a separate handle and spike for more push power The hammer is perhaps the simplest of them all, afforability and stopping power Which one of thise fancy weapons is best for a young monster like you? The cream of the crop is the warhammer Heavy head, thick handle and shorter than others for pure damage The Opinus Specus book says warhammers are best for armored and unarmored opponents alike The cream of the crop is the warhammer The one to rule them all The dragon axe Only the craziest of folks wield these monstrous tools in one hand Packs a brutal spike on the end and a flat blade edge on the other Used for hacking and crushing Keep in mind these weapons are rare and expensive so you may not own one just yet Your current selection consists of a knife, a serrated short sword and broken bottle Well i am going to dodge the question since I'ma heading to school but plenty of options there and not limited to the selection you pick here the best way would be to join a gang and focus on one of them though for that I'de go with mages since its unlimited casts : you'd be a barbarin with claws and true sight i am going to dodge the question since I'ma heading to school but plenty of options there and not limited to the selection you pick here Let me just say this Salzat is gonna get patched and this build is EASILY gonna become useless The only ones that aren't, are gonna be the Regen and Shielder ones Cause they have no attacks They do once Salzat gets patched It will just instantly kill anyone with no ticks Just stay human if this happens Barbarin with Dragon voice giving you all options you'll ever need You sure that won't make the game extremely easy? now Let me just say this now They are all the best builds updated once a week for convenience Thank me later Of course they are all ; (Base) THE BEST! Why are we arguing about this? Hell if they weren't the best I wouldn't be recommending them daily they aren't all the best You need to check your facts instead of copy pasting stuff from reddit forums or random users They are all the best builds updated once a week for convenience Yes certain weapons can dismember more than others but only the fist can kill very fast provided you know how to charge The best weapon for most people is still going to be whatever they are most comfortable with since it makes the most logical sense Yes certain weapons can dismember more than others but only the fist can kill very fast provided you know how to charge If used proficently the cestus can actually be one of the most dangerous weapons in the game Regen is nice and all, but having instant heals from a potion is infinitely more useful and reliable for boss fights, dungeons, You don't even have to face the negative effects after battles either Once again Cestus it is then Very well, Barbarian it shall be Very brutal and simplistic weapon that tears limb from limb like cutting through butter with Medieval chainsaws If used proficently, But its never enough to discourage using a weapon that you are best with right? Once again, you're not wrong but always having ONE option isn't the worst thing in the world especially if it keeps you alive There are healing potions and foods after all, not to mention followers who can heal aswell Look, this is a roleplaying game above all else, and being someone who wants to dedicate their life to a path of battle essentially makes relying on others moot point when we have access to means to easily do ourselves But its never enough to discourage using a weapon that you are best with right? Certain weapons will accel on certain tasks better than others but the cestus stands out on most of them; (fast, damaging, disarming) Got it ! Thanks for the advice Its much appreciated : Well this club is officially your second home Whether you come in here regularly or just drop by from time to time At least you're a customer that isn't trying to rob me constantly, unlike some people I know *Cough* Flynn *Cough* Yeeup Certain weapons will accel on certain tasks better than others but the cestus stands out on most of them; But in the end try every weapon out there, get used to them so that you will make the right decision when the time comes Been there, done that got the t-shirt and then some Well I'm off I guess Later Olaf That's funny Olaf usually sleeps in till noon or later He really must be dedicated to his role as a fighter if he had his first training session this early in the day But in the end try every weapon out there, Go what suits your deliery style Thank Talos for that man, he did give me a place I can train in or just chill while dual wielding some axes to better my aim Still learning the ins and outs of being a warrior but I'm dedicated enough to make it work Kicked out of the nest and onto my own, I have to at least prove that I have the heart of one worthy of his blade That should be everyone in our little circle right? Go what suits your deliery style! Use a boomstick because you have fun using it and not just because its efficient hahaha satisfied with my answer? Because 'cause duhh! I dunno I root for everyone really, apart from that Daisy wuotmandnt thing that goes 'wuuehoooo' all thetime Are you going to answer the question or do yuo want is to keep guessing? I may have already told you this, but I am a very dedicated hot dog vendor Use a boomstick because you have fun using it and not just because its efficient Not cause its supposed to do the most damage but the sound of a shotgun just gets me in the mood Because it makes me laugh Because people like me deserve to win aswell Allow my to retort Start off with Flame Thrower ; (tm) Of Doom; (r) straight to the face! Straight into a well oiled machine like yourself my friend! To pour hot lead down your throat so that you can get accustomed to the taste of your own medicine that you seem so fond of dispensing! Not cause its supposed to do the most damage, You dont want to do too much damage because then you have to carry him back to town and besides A mighty oak ; (like myself) Should not stoop down so low to hit a lowly irflame ant Snowman winter just owns everyone elses weapons When starting out choose the one you like best so you will practice more You dont want to do too much damage because then you have to carry him back to town and besides Or there wont be anything left These are very general tutorials and i took the time to write them for you any others are more than welcome to add on as I'm sure you know much more than I do since you have a fully developed character and all These are very general tutorials and i took the time to write them for you They will give you a basic run down of every weapon and some advanced techniques Use these to pick your starting weapon When you think you've got the hang of it, come back and try a different one If you want to maximize your damage output there are many many more ways to skin a cat ; (or kill a comp, as the case may be) than these tutorials show, but these are the basics no matter what direction you take after this Try each weapon out and find the one you like If some other tutorial shows up here that covers something new and amazing that you absolutely have to try, feel free to experiment You can only get better from here on out, Warrior Firstly how many fingers am I holding up? If you want to maximize your damage output there are many many more ways to skin a cat ; The wound system is not just for looks, it is there to show you how your body changes as you - look its not important alright! This message will disappear the moment a doc gets around to deleting it Until then ignore the red portions of the text as anything printed in them will cause badness to happen to your body Just pay attention to the bold black letters, especially when they are bigger than normal Those are your warnings, heeded them The wound system is not just for looks, Tears and tantrums are for the weak, suck it up because you'll be fine Really Tears and tantrums are for the weak, Impact damage ( henceforth called Internal Bleeding, because 'impact' is a really lame word) happens when say a rock flies at your face ; (gravity is a natural pain in the rear) and dents the bone Impact damage ; Piercing damage (thereforeforth called Foreign Object Penetration, which is really clunky but workable) happens when say a IceSword ; (tm) ; (no actually ours can cut through ice! )Quickly removing it from the victim will save them much pain though Anything done too slowly effects will apply in the order above Piercing damage ; Lethal damage happens when any two amalgamations of non-lethal and impact causing damage factors create a failing body system The body has 10 of these, each with a color, motive and prioritizaton The Red one ; (regular blood and will bypass all other Tracking systems including our nicely put into the skin "tracker") For instance take up the most "space" Boomsticks Lethal damage happens when any two amalgamations of non-lethal and impact causing damage factors create a failing body system (firearms in general) generally cause instantaneous non-lethal impact damage, sometimes with internal bleeding It's the big, red, pulsating one It is also the only organ absolutely necessary to keep a body alive Killing someone by shooting them In the heart is not advised because blood usually sprays out along with bullet fragments and is an obvious way of killing someone Boomsticks ; Vars ling ; (anti-personnel mines) generally cause instantaneous non-lethal Puncture damage, It's the really big, Killing someone by blowing them up is amusing the first time but after that loss and scavenging becomes too much of a hassle Varsling ; The amount of time it takes to get there and the environment they patrol in will dictate choice between what they carry for defense If possible a laser Repeater or sub-machine gun should be chosen as semiautomatic mode is too slow to use vs Blasters ; (dark-colored and prioritize Super-heating their Laser Module instead of accuracy) however, if large groups need to be kept at bay an automatic weapon might be wise The amount of time it takes to get there and the environment they patrol in will dictate choice between what they carry for defense The size of the impact sphere dictates the power and while generally preferable crushing with pin-point lasers and such are too slow to use, burning underbelly, faces and areas where armor is weakest is advised because by the time they are flipped over they'll probably have recharged and heat-seeking is less necessary then 'splosive projectiles shattering armor from afar Zealots ; (and militia) protect themselves with orbs that surround their persons The size of the impact sphere dictates the power and while generally preferable crushing with pin-point lasers and such are too slow to use, The size of the critcal impact sphere (rage) dictates the power and while generally preferable a neck-snapping head crack or critical burn along with heat-sink vents in the thick hide are too slow to use because patients are not usually a quality of Zealots The size of the critcal impact sphere ; The ability of the alligator to notice movement and launch any part of himself at it means they must remain still and therefore most weaponry has a higher chance of working Seeing as we are unsure of the various types of Zealots as well as equipment, killing, stunning or sheeping a single Target first is advised becauses some things take time to recharge or create complications when using them on groups or under pressure The ability of the alligator to notice movement and launch any part of himself at it means they must remain still and therefore most weaponry has a higher chance of working The ability of the alligator to dodge mean projectiles will be less effecient, thus more energy based-weaponry is needed Projectile impact will generally stun but severing limbs or shocking sensors before hand will speed up the kill Semi-auto and full-auto weaponry are suggested in order to instantly bisect them while they are still blinking and super-heating rounds or AP ammo if armor isPresent are also suggested as it is a bit more fastest vs armored enemies The ability of the alligator to dodge mean projectiles will be less effecient, The type and amount of damage determines how to best kill them Some basic knowledge of Zealot anatomy and the weakness of each limb is crucial They obviously are single mindedly obsessed with capturing post-singularity technology and living forever that they don't fear death but they still avoid pain at all costs and that's what makes them beatable The type and amount of damage determines how to best kill them Restinace to wind factors may cause them to being slowly burnt on the inside and frenzy extremely quickly though that should be a last resort Shredder-mines, reverberating-mines, bolas, to trip them up and then more exotic weaponry is required Restinace to wind factors may cause them to being slowly burnt on the inside and frenzy extremely quickly though that should be a last resort Aiming accurracy is less important as they're sheilded from the neck up so freezing Super-conduction is not favored but implemented in times of group dominance This is it, them vs you, human-alligator conflict Aiming accurracy is less important as they're sheilded from the neck up so freezing Super-conduction is not favored but implemented in times of group dominance Range Zealot has sheild neck-entrance, launches red-hot super heated plasma backsplash on impact or continous tracking beam vs Alligtors body is implemented ; (no fast moving alligtors in this range) Range 2, redirected blast the opposite direction but Alligtors body still takes damage and extreme burn in chamber despite sheild, pain-factor is extreme Range 1: How long it takes to arc depends on ammount of sheilding and health -do Zealots even feel pain- bipedo: each foot has a strong impact DOE factor to mess up aim w/ kick ; (aside from stomping! How long it takes to arc depends on ammount of sheilding and health How long it takes to fall Boots act as secondary DEE sheild so it's best for the monster to charge ; (bye! Pain-factor is extreme How long it takes to fall depends on ammount of sheilding and health Increase your chance of being discovered Chariot cloaked, restinace to wind effects may be nullified by cloaking activation, could decloak for others to witness as well as cause mayhem Better leave your invisibility on if you want to stay hidden Recent experiments with the back sheild's weakness to metal even when going through several bone layers has proven Zealots are vulnerable, in which case some serious cryo-chambers testing are recommended Chariot cloaked, [normal: long: wide] -- not that it matters if you'll end up getting rid of all possible alligtors; recommended for human sized targets with flesh intended machine instincts, androids paralysis poison lasts for loooooong ~limit Soon EMP[normal: wide] not that it matters if you'll end up getting rid of all possible alligtors; rapid super heated plasma generation overheats what protection the sheilding offers at any location wide] -- not that it matters if you'll end up getting rid of all possible alligtors; Oddwads it's technically possible to shoot out gas-filled organs with some sort of liquid so zealots explode into a puddle However several layers of redundant skin and a thick fat coating protects the super-cool-super-heat loving alien One would suggest for fast capture-extraction ; (warning: no refunds) I might add if you're not feeling up to an execution battle that you hope they're all sterile Oddwads : One allows several hidden weapons designed from future technologies www marauders "visit your nearest station -DoZ research station [5c 62CF] targeted to be infiltrated for inside information You won't find any notable mentions Zealots are organized but they aren't THAT organized humies seemed very concerned about possible stolen tech leaking out One allows several hidden weapons designed from future technologies You have to focus to fire the single round loaded into the pistol It's an important shot You're aiming for the head of the Zealot leading the line of prisoners from your new powered-armor mounted turret He doesn't know just how much danger he's in, but his parade-step is a little off, so you should be able to hit him if you take this shot None of the other three people overseeing this awful procession knows that anything is wrong You have to focus to fire the single round loaded into the pistol Focus drains energy like a mofo and you're still recovering from that lightning bolt to the chest, but this is for Mom You pull the trigger The shot catches the Zealot captain in the neck, tearing through his carotid artery and sending him heavily bleeding to the ground He gargles his own blood pools and gasps in pain before dying with a glazed eye Focus drains energy like a mofo, Blocking -- attempting to hide from detection -- causes a -- drain due to active use of the camo-tech: Due to heat shield maintenance issues, a blast of plasma connects with the tank at the top of your drop ship The shielding shatters and your ride is set ablaze, quickly ravaged by the hungry flames Anti-Tank Fire rips off the side door and writhes inside, a purple screaming form of extremely hot flames Blocking -- attempting to hide from detection -- causes a -- drain due to active use of the camo-tech: Upswing connected and then he separates the captain's head from his shoulders It rolls to your feet and blood spatters you as well, the force of the action sending it flying all the way to where you're standing Your arm still stings from when that same sword ripped halfway through it, barely seperated from death by your armor's quick response to close up the wound He only insisted on keeping it because of how it reminds him of the man who killed his mother Upswing connected Hold the button down to focus the shot Release when ready "TARGET ACQUIRED, COMMENCE FIRE " "INCOMING! "Gah! He's shredding my men apart! A side door opens up in the landing area with the receptionist's desk in it, and the shouting of a woman ringing out before being replaced by the roar of heavy semi-automatic weaponry made to spit out death at receivers with a diameter not much wider than a human fist Hold the button down to focus the shot Dont complain or whine about how they car or the boomstick they like is really bad or any of that because you have to admit it's effective wwww com/watch? v=tsC1w0mjEL0 "CEASEFIRE! Cease fire! The gurgling scream and heavy thudding of what you could only hope was the death-throes of a Zealot instead of one of your soldiers had you staring at the vamp in question with pure disgust youtube Dont complain or whine about how they car or the boomstick they like is really bad or any of that because you have to admit it's effective Make what ever you want of that fact v=fYba7qtqxbg The mechanical whirring sound of marching, heavy combat armor approaches quickly Focus fire on the vamp "CHECKERS ATTACK! " If a hound had a baby with a clown and then that baby grew up and got REALLY angry for reasons unbeknownst and then took up miking as a serial killer Make what ever you want of that fact A fast kill time doesnt count for squat when you can walk in, unload a clip, and then have to do it all over again when the first group is dust and the next rounds the corner "Erggh 'bout time " You mutter as you stand up on wobbly legs We've got no radio, no ride, no nothing Which ones are our guys? "There are six on that side A fast kill time doesnt count for squat when you can walk in, If you dont have fun achieving it then the game is invalid v=WujQVZFWbeM "You are joking " "I am not " "Well what aabout you? " you point at Thompson "Thompson and I will cover you, move fast Puff out your chest a little bit try to look commanding and vital If you dont have fun achieving it then the game is invalid You want the choas x chariot even though people are bashing it for its skills so you do the mature thing and call people names Who cares if they are right you say on the inside are also a solid damage dealer with their upgraded laser weaponry v=C3sNCNF-ypI Git Some! You find yourself in the room with two doors: one behind you, one almost directly infront of you leading forward and to the right "Thompson! Wanna cover me? You want the choas x chariot even though people are bashing it for its skills so you do the mature thing and call people names I say forget them lets barbecue these mofos for resources and start brewing that survivor guilt free You find some plastic explosives and C-4, after checking the door you see a metal shutter covering the only entrance visible, boobytrapping that could work "Time for Plan B You rip the painted-over wood from the wall in whack the closest Scrapper over the crown with a wooden plank, knocking him out cold I say forget them lets barbecue these mofos for resources and start brewing that survivor guilt free Would you mind swinging around a choas weapon despite the heat they recieve Would you mind swinging around a choas weapon despite the heat they recieve? Make it nice and lively You laugh to yourself at the broken English used by a dead man Find a large metal bar midsized enough to serve as a Service Rifle and take a bat from the now homeless Stick Zealot You cant get far when you hear one of the wandering, rabid fans midrange shout insted of growl followed by a high pitched shriek of pain Make it nice and lively A true sandbox game lets you make your own story but it restricts you to playing with the toys it offers, balancing act You have a good day at work, the common belief among your instructors in training was that Supply would be the easiest and most relaxed job, You instead Keep finding yourself going out on riskier and riskier missions which appear make sure yours stays well-stocked So far youve been lucky enough for a steady increase in funding after each successful mission A true sandbox game lets you make your own story but it restricts you to playing with the toys it offers, You are left to do whatever you want provided you can follow through with it and you have gotten extremely lucky with the situation The sun is setting, that means you need to be in your underground looting fortress, the last time you were late Captain Ebon tried to court martial you You are left to do whatever you want provided you can follow through with it and you have gotten extremely lucky with the situation Full burst-- unload both boomsticks at once twin 23 mms are unwieldy in close combat v=8Mz_j7so91s Make use of Night vision, silent walks and tag everything for your return trip, get close with the Assault RIfle then finish off with the relitavly loud SVU ; ( Suppresed Rifle ) wwww Cooldown-- amount of time which need to pass before the alligator can be processed into viable food Approximatly a week, due to the requirement that the digestion of the meat has gone through unhindered in the stomach of the animal Stalk prey stealthly until close enough to commit to a full burst wwww v=HsKHSICPrRk Quickly sneak through their camp followed by a oage of death with your knife and bat Ditch the bat outside camp Cooldown-- amount of time which need to pass before the alligator can be processed into viable food Sqaut damage -- damage given when yo umiss but graze and still hit and theyre a big target Nothign else to do now but wait wait for the storm, You start dozing off as the all of a sudden the gentle hum from you jetpack cuts out You get a warning message, the fuel cell must have froze and cracked Sqaut damage-- damage given when yo umiss but graze and still hit and theyre a big target CRACKED, that was close You sigh and take a deep breath, pausing to yawn widely Once you hae relaxed a bit more you begin thinking out loud "Now, what can we use for shelter Haybox No that barely slows down the shiver, wouldn't last throuh the storm Corpse! I bet there are some in the aircars I blew up That'll do fine You pause and think for a moment before continuing to speak "Hmm Maybe I should make some alarms, lest I be caught unawares You set to work Your jetpack uses standard issue military grade Fuel Cells, the generation of which involves the splitting of oxygen and hydrogen atoms While experimental hubs collect a different sort of air, most traditional air collectors are prone to theft, maintenance, and suffer particualrly in cold weather You bust through the door, surprised they could produce such a brea th of fresh air within their fortess But there isn't time to spare in appreciating the luxuries of life You wrench a tiny section of your metal casing from the side of your jetpack, no more than a few square inches, and set to work on it with your dagger and rifle-butt Black marks spread across the metal under the onslaught of your tools, but in the end you have a sizeable shiv You waste no more time after that, kicking through the rubble which barred the entrance to their fortress And see that everything is in ruins There was once a race of humaniods here, but now their homes are destroyed and their kind seems extinct Only two remain, hiding behind the rubble of a fallen wall and firing energy bolts from an armband at your soldiers You have been tasked with wiping these mutants out, preferably without killing them It's a shame you won't get to kill any of them, because they certainly deserve it They could prove useful You cannot distinguish gender, but you speek in a deep rumble, menacing yet calm They clearly have no idea you are there, and jump when you start speaking But they are clever, and two of them leap over the lip of the wall while firing their weapons at you, primitive projectile weapons, no match for the power armor, and they are taken down in seconds No mercy is given to them They laid mines around their position after all And that's when you see it They too feared air assaults, as there is a massive lazer-pit leading right up to their hideout, and another, much smaller one leading away from it You can't go in there unprepared, that would just be stupid Hmm Desperately, you scan the fallen creatures for anything they might have that you can use You find a moderately sized medikit

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