#we exist too. our villages are getting bombed. we get thrown in prisons for no reason. we're not allowed to fly our flag. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mister-tom-a-dildo-lover · 5 years

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Hey can you please do Harrymort where Voldemort and Harry have to work together to help everyone because muggles find out about magic and the are jealous/angry/scared ? Please? Thank you.

Fandom: Harry Potter

Pairing: Harrymort

Tags: Canon-Divergence at the end of HBP so Dumbles is dead, Post-Graduation but Voldy is still alive and the war was still going and the Ministry wasn’t overtaken, it’s 2014, Bad!MuggleGovernments, Muggle leaders shoot themselves in the feet and the common muggle population take the side of magic, The Enemy and I have a common Enemy so we’re buds against them now, Drama, Murder, Dubious Morals, References to Sex, Hogwarts Professor Harry, Triggers for guns and bombs I suppose?, Violence, Prejudice,

All he could really say about this shite was that it hadn’t even been a muggleborn who had been the cause of everything. As they’d grown up in the muggle side, they knew how to get by and what to avoid. But of course a Pureblood would consider themselves too good to learn about the muggle world. This was why Hermione insisted on all magically-raised children attending muggle Studies, even if the class was behind the present times back when they were still in school.

The ironic bit was that Lucius Malfoy had been the whole cause of this. On some ridiculous, self-directed plan to find Harry on his own and present him to Voldemort during the summer, he’d been caught by the CCTV on the street nearest to The Leaky Cauldron.

Arabella Figg had been the one to alert the magical side of the new events by sending Harry a rushed letter full of terrified words that barely made any sense. Thankfully, she’d attached a clipping from a muggle paper where it pretty much spelled everything out as photos of Lucius Malfoy covered the front page, the date prominent on the bottom corner, showing empty space one second, and then showing the blond wizard a second later.

MAGIC REAL! WIZARDS LIVING AMONG US EXPOSED!

It all started with a rushed order that every family ‘hiding’ magical people, should turn them in, or turn in any evidence they had of the existence of magic. The order had gone out three days in advance of a sudden flooding of law enforcement all over Britain. Permission had been granted for them to ransack every home no matter the inhabitants, and search for proof of magic. And if any was found and hadn’t been given up already, it would be confiscated and the entire household would be put under arrest.

Claims of treason against the Crown were being thrown about in Britain!

The clipping Mrs. Figg had provided him with also had a list of the villages where wizards were known to live in the UK. There had already been a plan set in motion to extract the muggles from the villages and if the magicals refused to cooperate, then the muggle law enforcement was given leave to use lethal force.

Harry, by the time he’d received the letter, had only had less that twenty-four hours left to get those villages evacuated lest the muggles started dropping bombs or raining bullets down on the innocent people living within.

And the thing was, he wasn’t working for the Ministry. He wasn’t an Auror. He was a bloody DADA Professor! He was trying to teach the children to protect themselves from Voldemort and his ridiculous, terroristic faction! Being an Auror wouldn’t have helped them in the least. And it wasn’t his bloody job to save everyone anyway!

Still, Harry remembered the emergency assembly he had to call. He wasn’t the Headmaster or the Deputy Head, but he still had a certain level of power as Gryffindor’s Head of House. And when he’d set off the magical alarms, he knew he’d need a good reason for it.

All 1,017 students had gathered in the Great Hall, clad only in their PJs and housecoats, and looking tired as hell. He’d felt bad, but knew there were more important things going on than getting a full night’s sleep.

He had the memory of that night stored in a cupboard now.

“I know it’s late and you want nothing to do with being awake now, but I need your help. Thanks to Lucius Malfoy stalking me about London on 3 August, in search of my place of residence, the muggle CCTV caught him doing magic near The Leaky Cauldron. And it raised questions in the government, and they proceeded to poke around that area and found the entrance to Diagon Alley, even if they can’t get in yet.”

He remembered the tired faces becoming more awake as they processed what he had been saying.

“Eventually they realised they needed more information and if these people doing magic were walking among them so easily, then they must be living in Great Britain for however long. They have made it mandatory for all muggles to give up anyone or anything magical that they know of, or risk prison time. They have been taking into custody all wizards they find, plus their possessions. Front page news two days ago showed Lucius Malfoy’s face and a list of all the villages in Great Britain that wizards are known to inhabit. The muggle inhabitants are being escorted out as we speak and the government plans to use lethal force if the magicals do not turn themselves in when the order is given at five this afternoon.”

There had been a deathly silence following his words. He could tell those not Pureblooded understood how dire the situation was. And his fellow teachers did as well. Snape looked ready to spit fire.

“For those who are still confused over why we have to worry, think of it this way. Muggles have weapons called bombs that can do mass damage in little time. They’ve used them in the World Wars. Think of a single Bombard Maxima powerful enough to blow all of Hogsmeade up and leave nothing but bricks and ashes behind. Muggles have access to these weapons and they are currently an option. There are now 7 Billion humans on Earth. Magical humans only make up 1% of that. They outnumber us, and that’s why they’re evacuating their people from of the villages. They are very willing to destroy their own land if compliance isn’t given.

“I need all of you to send these pre-written letters to your parents warning them to pack up their things and come here. All of them. I don’t care if your family is Dark. I don’t care if there are Death Eaters among the lot. Right now, I’m sad to say hat muggles are the enemy now until further notice. All other countries are also taking up arms against magicals. There is no more time us to be at each other’s throats over differing opinions. We can’t afford that now. I will be heading to Diagon Alley to get The Daily Prophet on this immediately. No shield is strong enough to withstand a bomb let alone many. As Hogwarts is Unplottable, it is the only safe place other than Gringotts, left in our immediate community. And you’ll have a better chance being allowed in here than in there.”

He’d left then, not even taking a moment to explain to McGonagall everything. They’d had their own evacuations to do.

And, for the first time ever, Harry had to do something he never thought he would willingly do. He opened up the link between he and Voldemort and called out to the man as hard as he could mentally.

The high-pitched whisper of Voldemort’s mind had permeated Harry’s own. It sounded almost mocking in a sense, despite the shock ringing true in it.

How lovely to hear from you, Harry. The way he said Harry’s name had always made Harry feel strange and this time was no different. To what do I owe the rare pleasure of your company?

Your minion fucked us all over, was Harry’s response.

As they were connected emotionally as well as mentally, Voldemort could feel Harry’s urgency, and his teasing bled away instantly. What happened?

Persisting in telling your minions that muggles are no threat to us is what lead to Malfoy Sr. of all people, exposing us and now they have endless amount of our people in custody, but also their possessions, and they are planning on open fire in any way possible, on all the villages our people reside in once the muggles therein are evacuated. The operation will begin at five this afternoon. And this all leads back to your minion not being bloody careful while stalking my arse through London!

Voldemort was silent for several moments. Enough time for Harry to make it through the Floo in his office, to The Daily Prophet Headquarters. He had a love-hate relationship with the place, but if needs must.

You are already begun to plan, Voldemort noted, sounding interested.

Everyone to Hogwarts. I don’t know how the other magical communities are going to handle this, but this is how I’ve decided to. You can either join us or not, but the offer was extended to the children already, and they’ve been told to tell their families with letters I’ve written up for them.

You’d work with me of all people?

Better you than being blown to bits. You lived through the Blitz, you should know how bad this situation is! You should know that we do not have time for petty squabbles right now!

Voldemort went silent for several more moments, which allowed Harry to burst into the Chief Editor’s office without warning, frightening the man inside in the process.

I will see you soon, were the Dark Lord’s parting words.

And that had been that.

The enchantments on Hogwarts had been strengthened and extended even further just to be on the safe side. And all roads leading anywhere near the mountains were quickly overrun with plant-life and hidden. Hogsmeade had been evacuated and bespelled to look like a common forest. Voldemort had been the one to do that bit of magic and admittedly it had been fascinating.

Several people added their power to Hogwarts’ Ward Stone. Not only was the magical of the former Heads within it, but joining them now were Harry, Voldemort, Snape, Flitwick, Hermione, and Kingsley for added protections.

The crisis hadn’t been fully averted as some couldn’t be reached no matter how hard they worked with the House Elves and Owls to alert everyone. And as Harry predicted, several villages were no more and hundreds of magical beings were dead.

Oddly though, may of the common muggle population felt that the governments were overreacting to the revelation of magic. Many were enraged over their homes being ransacked and destroyed. In only a month of time, extremists arose on the muggle side. A faction if it could be called that considering how large it was.

More than half of the known world wanted things to go back to normal. Wanted magical people and creatures to be freed. Wanted law enforcement to stop being the very things they claimed magicals to be. And that was Terrorists.

Numbers were rising by the day. 4B+ people agreed with this line of thinking. That was more than half the humans alive. And that had been the most shocking to the magicals all over the world.

The unfortunate part was that despite so many speaking out, the governments had the weapons of mass destruction on their side, so insurgency wouldn’t do much without the firepower to back up their words.

It had all gone to shite. And Harry could only imagine what was being done to the capture magical beings. He’d seen some muggle films before. He knew it wasn’t good.

The only other somewhat decent thing in this, was the fact that Voldemort couldn’t gloat about muggles being horrible when it was obvious that it was mostly the governments, and those who were religious nutjobs behind this trauma. The fact that more than half the muggles didn’t agree and were vocal about it, had stunned many of the magical population all over the world.

It was a chance Harry used to impress upon the people of their community that ever group would always have bad eggs, but that shouldn’t reflect on the whole group.

Day 227 since magic had been exposed because of one pompous twat(who had been taken to task very painfully or so Harry’s heard). That was two hundred and twenty-seven days of their community living in constant unease and fear over what could happen. Jobs having to be maintained from the safety of Hogwarts. The castle magically expanding itself to fit the most of Magical Britain’s people.

Fifty thousand people under one massive roof. The poor House Elves. The amount of work involved in the upkeep of the castle. The amount of spontaneous classes on household magic so that everyone could contribute to the best of their ability without anyone being overworked.

Most of Diagon Alley was gone save for some buildings left standing in the rubble. The mumggles still couldn’t get in or see what happened, but the devastation was heartbreaking.

And through it all, Voldemort was up Harry’s arse nonstop. Wherever he went, the man was not far behind. Literally. Always around Harry. Some rubbish about them being the only true leaders of their community. Kingsley wasn’t even considered as a Ministry representative in the Dark Lord’s mind. Voldemort didn’t care for him at all.

Voldemort had been annoying for many reasons before. Now all Harry could think of was his snakey shadow that stalked him all the time. More annoying than bloody murder!

Day 283 of being cramped inside Hogwarts. In so little time, beliefs and assumptions had been challenged. Misinformation had been corrected. Harry had learned more about Voldemort’s goals and the truth behind many of his actions. Dumbledore apparently had a habit of thinking he knew everything and therefore didn’t consider much else beyond his choices or assumptions in the long run.

Basically, the old codger had been wrong about a lot of things.

That didn’t mean the Death Eaters as a whole were okay though. Most were still prejudiced arseholes and needed to have said arses kicked repeatedly to rid them of their idiotic traditions, but it was nowhere near as bad as Harry had been lead to believe, and seemed like it could be reversible with enough work.

And if Voldemort was going to flirt with him so much, it truly seemed like reversing this shite was possible.

Harry didn’t fancy himself the saviour everyone had always wanted him to be, but the opportunity to mellow Voldemort out couldn’t be passed up. If there was a way to calm down the Dark Lording a bit and make him less inclined to violence for the sake of cruelty, Harry would be thrilled.

Besides… he was kind of into the slender, serpentine appearance. The forked tongue and slittled eyes were pretty arousing.

“Who knew it would take muggles and bombs and a planned, world revolution for this to happen?”

Voldemort’s chilly hands massaged the bare skin of Harry’s lower back, the differences in their body temperatures making gooseflesh pop up all over the younger wizard’s body. It was a good feeling though, and Harry snuggled closer as his body warmed up with interest.

“You’re still a cockwomble, but a more tolerant one now.”

“Brat.”

“Wanker.”

Voldemort rolled them over so he could be on top. His slitted pupils didn’t contract in the least with the shift of lighting hitting his face. It was kind of ominous and also really fucking hot. “You have your list of marks prepared?”

“Yes,” he groaned. “I know whose block I’m knocking off in the morning.”

After enough time, they finally were able to make a full list of all the British leaders set on enslaving the magical population. As with everything, not everyone in the government was a terrible person. It simply took time and effort to separate the good from the bad. Weeding out the rotten roots so to speak.

While muggles had guns and bombs, they couldn’t really build anything to sense when magic was being used, so there was still a chance to overthrow them. But Harry had argued, at least for Magical Britain, that they should only kill off the people that absolutely deserved it, and imprison the rest. More than half the muggle population was on their side anyway. In the meantime, those who had been wrongfully imprisoned would finally see daylight for the first time in 345 days. Magicals and muggles alike.

Further action would have to be sorted out later. For now, this was the best plan they had to return to the relatively safe world they’d formerly been living in..

“No entertaining notions of grandeur, Voldy. We’re moving on from that entirely.”

“If I agree will you stop calling me that?”

“No. But I’ll go down on you more often.”

“Then you have my word, my soul.”

Trying to use romantic terms to get on Harry’s good side. “Flattery will keep you in my bed.”

“If I recall correctly, this is my bed in my room, my soul.”

“Details, details.”

Tomorrow would be the tension and the danger, but for now, they could relax for a little bit.

A/N: This got away from me so quickly! Took some time but I finally did it. I can see this happening in a sense.

#Harrymort #fanfiction #Watermelonsmellinfellon #Lord Voldemort

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mobius-prime · 4 years

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78. Sonic the Hedgehog #50/Sonic Super Special #6 - Director’s Cut

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Endgame Part 4 of 4 (For Whom the Bell Tolls!)

Writers: Ken Penders, Michael Gallagher, Karl Bollers, and Kent Taylor Pencils: Patrick Spaziante, Manny Galan, Nelson Ortega, Sam Maxwell, Dave Manak, Ken Penders, and Art Mawhinney Colors: Karl Bollers

Oh, yeah! I told you this was a landmark issue! Not only was it the big 5-0, but this issue was in fact rewritten and touched up some time later by Penders himself, into a "Director's Cut" printed in one of the series' Super Special issues! Hence why two issues are listed in this slot, and two covers shown. They got absolutely everyone on board for this one, because remember, they were uncertain if this would be the comic's final issue, so makes sense to go out with a bang, right? I consider the revised version to be "true" canon, since it fixes some issues to align with later continuity as well as expanding on some things that were poorly explained in the original, but for the sake of the analysis I decided to read both side by side and comment on the differences. Some changes are simply minor dialogue alterations and recoloring of certain panels, while others are massive additions and rewrites of entire sections. Let's do it to it!

The original's intro page is once again a recap of previous events, while the Director's Cut contains an opening statement from Penders expressing his excitement to be able to go back and perfect the original story. Say what you will, but I agree, the revision is far better, and I have to give him credit and recognize that yeah, him getting to do something like this for one of his stories really is a treat, both for the writer and for any fans reading it.

We open with a flashback. Julian (referred to as "son of Ivo" in the original and "of the house of Ivo" in the Director's Cut) is running through a swampy landscape, attempting to escape his pursuers, an indistinct bunch of shadows firing lasers at him. He falls into water and passes out, with his pursuers losing track of him… and two spiny figures find him facedown in the mud.

That’s right, Sonic's uncle and father were the ones originally responsible for finding ol' Julian and bringing him back to the king. Jules' kind heart wins out over Charles' more suspicious tendencies, noting that "his kind" - Overlanders, as he calls them - have apparently done some pretty awful things in the past. Well this is all very interesting stuff, isn't it? After all, the comics never went into Robotnik and Snively's species before now. The entire planet has always been shown to be populated with anthropomorphic animals, and yet these two random humans stick out like a sore thumb. Guess we're finally getting some information on how exactly that came to be.

The king gives Julian shelter after Julian reveals how much he knows about his own people, and thus quickly finds himself appointed King Acorn's warlord, commanding his troops in a battle against the Overlanders. How fascinating! Apparently the kingdom, shortly before Julian's coup, was locked in a different war, the Great War (which I think has been mentioned once or twice before now but never elaborated on), which is how Julian rose to power so quickly.

Anyway, all of this turns out to be a dream that Robotnik is experiencing while he sleeps in some kind of weird upright pod. I guess he's just too crazy for normal beds. In the original, swatbots merely wake him up to go about his day, but the Director's Cut elaborates on what exactly his morning entails. Apparently, the swatbots have captured an Overlander for him, and the poor victim's awaiting some "tests."

So wherever these Overlanders are residing (considering we've only ever seen Mobians so far), they knew Julian, but believed him to be dead, and they're familiar with the terrifying figure of "Robotnik." Robotnik is merely mildly amused at the Overlander's confusion and terror, and tests some kind of beam on him, causing him to disintegrate and disappear… oh, boy.

Back on the Floating Island, things begin to break into a fight again, only for Dulcy to get fed up and break things up.

Oh, so now not only can dragons sense truth, but they can't even lie themselves? Again with the eleventh hour superpowers, Kenders! With Dulcy's testimony, Geoffrey is finally convinced of Sonic's innocence, having really no choice, and together they make haste back to Knothole, where the situation has gotten dire. Everyone has been rounded up by swatbots and are being shuffled along to be roboticized. Tails and Rotor make an attempt to sneak away, but no dice with Drago overseeing operations.

In the original, we get a quick cutaway for one page where Crocbot is called by Robotnik and reports that he's dealing with a sudden prison uprising, but the Director's Cut gives us a lot more detail. Somehow, Bunnie and Antoine have gotten free of their collars and detonated Antoine's from a safe distance, making their guard think they've all been obliterated. (How this all went down is actually explained in a future issue - none of these escape from Downunda sequences were included in the original, so a later issue actually went out of its way to explain the whole thing. As a result, even though some detail is revealed here in the Director's Cut about the escape, there are still some blanks waiting to be filled in further on.) The freed prisoners soon find the other three members of the Downunda Freedom Fighters, and they head to the loading docks where Crocbot is overseeing the transport of the ore to Robotropolis. The Downunda Freedom Fighters cause a distraction, ready to get some much-needed payback on Crocbot, while Bunnie and Antoine make their way onto one of the shipping airbuses headed back to their own continent.

Meanwhile, Sonic, Knuckles, and Geoffrey and all his troops have arrived at Knothole, and well, cheers love, the cavalry's here!

While Drago attempts to make his getaway, the Director's Cut cuts away for one page to show Bunnie and Antoine stumbling upon a very interesting video log on board their airbus, in which Robotnik happily rambles on about his new "Ultimate Annihilator, " with which he intends to erase Knothole from existence entirely, followed by conquering the rest of the world unopposed.

Sonic pursues Drago, and in the original, he's knocked out not very far from the commotion by a rock thrown by an angry Hershey. However, the Director's Cut goes a little further. She lures him in by flirting, telling him that "What girl wouldn't want a winner…"

She basically straight up attempts to murder his ass in a screaming rage, which honestly, I don't blame her for one bit. She does indeed end up knocking him out with the rock, at which point Sonic arrives to observe the scene. She sobs and reveals her part in Sally's supposed death, to which Sonic merely replies that she shouldn't blame herself, because "we were all duped." While by now Bunnie and Antoine have arrived on scene (and thus so has the ore Robotnik needs to complete his Ultimate Annihilator), Sonic races toward his final destination - Robotnik himself.

He barely even stops to kick Snively out of his way, with Snively apparently quite determined to stop him from reaching his destination. Hey, what's up Snively? Didn't you want your uncle's plans to fail?

From here, I'll basically just be using the Director's Cut, since the ending sequence was so drastically changed for the better that the original isn't even worth our time. Sonic runs into Antoine and Bunnie in the halls, where they inform him of their plan to attempt to detonate Robotnik's weapon before it can fire. Sonic races to buy them time, but as the pair reach the cannon…

There's still a chance! That was only the initial activation! Come on Sonic, you can get there in time! He races into Robotnik's room with seconds on the clock…

Unfortunately, sometimes, even Sonic's speed isn't enough.

I feel like if there was any moment that Sonic would have let out a precision F-bomb, it would be now. First this kid lost his girlfriend, then everyone he ever loved was wiped out in an instant. Damn, dude…

Things aren't over, though. Bunnie and Antoine plant their bomb anyway, and as Sonic races for Robotnik, an alert announces a catastrophic system crash, with the Annihilator set to explode and hit the war room directly - right where Sonic and Robotnik are standing. Both stand facing each other. Surprisingly, Robotnik isn't even angry. He merely states that he's gotten to see his plans finally come to fruition, and that the only thing he wants now before he dies is to finally kill his most hated nemesis.

And so, as the Annihilator fires, they fight - and the explosion hits them.

We get a full blank white page after this. Just empty nothingness.

Then, a hand shattering through. A torso. Somehow, incredibly, Sonic is alive, and has broken back through oblivion to collapse in the rubble of the war room. As he loses consciousness, voices call out, noticing him and racing to get him immediate medical attention.

He wakes up several hours later in bed, and to his shock, Dr. Quack is there - as well as Rotor. He's in Knothole. Knothole! The Ultimate Annihilator did indeed hit the village, but it didn't destroy it as monitors seemed to indicate - rather, strangely, it catapulted the place three hours into the future, in its own little pocket zone. New zones have begun to emerge all over Mobius as a result of the Annihilator's explosion, in fact. Dr. Quack explains how this happened - as it turns out, Snively was indeed plotting his treachery from the beginning of this adventure, and Robotnik was so caught up in his success that he had no idea. Dr. Quack had watched, as he looked after the crystallized king in captivity, as Snively had made his own little "adjustments" to the Annihilator - causing it to target only the organic matter of Robotnik himself, leaving the rest of the inhabitants of the world unharmed.

And, oh, right, almost forgot. Sally's alive.

Sonic races out of the medical ward to see her, finding her memorial "coffin" in a field, lying undisturbed. He opens it and kisses her cheek, quietly begging her to come back, admitting that he loves her. And her eyes open. The original merely moves on to the final page from here, but in the Director's Cut, we finally get what we shippers have been waiting for this whole time - the Big Damn Kiss.

*wipes tear from eye* And that's it! We've reached the end of Endgame, and thus the end of the comic! Well it's been a wild ride, everyone, but I guess we're - wait, what? There's more? 289 issues more, you say? Well, I guess it's a relief the comic didn’t end here after all! There're so many more loose ends to tie up and explore, new worlds to see… and a new era of the comic to enter!

Seriously though guys, let's hear it for this arc. I know some people who dislike it, but I honestly love it - I think it's one of the most epic, pulse-pounding, action-packed stories so far, and it's really the arc that finally took the comic from still hanging onto its goofy, episodic roots into something really special. Next issue, we enter the third era of the comics, where we get to see everyone explore a freed world, and an end to the war that's plagued them for eleven years. Our Brave New World awaits!

#nala reads archie sonic preboot #archie sonic #archie sonic preboot #sonic the hedgehog #sth 50 #sonic super special 6 #era 2 the freedom fight #writer: ken penders #writer: michael gallagher #writer: karl bollers #writer: kent taylor #pencils: pat spaziante #pencils: manny galan #pencils: nelson ortega #pencils: sam maxwell #pencils: dave manak #pencils: ken penders #pencils: art mawhinney #colors: karl bollers

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thestoryof-officially · 4 years

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Day 308 - Robotic

Day 308 - Robotic: Write about a robot.

This one immediately made me think about a particularly impactful dance performance I saw a few years ago. A lot of us probably know him, Merrick Hanna. His audition dance on America's Got Talent was about a robot, and we saw him dance to the story of the robot being built, played with, then forgotten and left behind. It was, in my opinion, very beautiful, and very sad, and definitely left a lot to be thought about. So that, of course is one idea. Write about the dance. Or write about the life of a robot. Maybe tell a story through a robot's eyes! Or write a poem about a robot, or about someone like a robot. Really, I think all my ideas usually boil down to short story or poem, but no one else's has to! This one opens a world that takes us back to childhood, I think, and there's so much to think about in that context.

Entry below!

~~~

Nine years ago, I was running from a guard and literally ran into him. It? Him. He, this robot, I mean, had more humanity than anyone I’d spoken to since I was 11. Without even questioning what was happening, he grabbed my hand, pulled me into the bushes, and got me out of trouble. The guard ran by cluelessly and never found us. We became best friends.

Six years ago, we got caught in the war. We were “the bad guys” because we were fighting the government, who was sapping power from anywhere it could be found. I got shot at. He took the hit and lost an arm. I was suddenly really glad he couldn’t feel things like we could.

Four years ago, he started becoming less human. I suppose that’s a poor choice of words considering he was never human to begin with, but the kindness I’d seen in him five years previously had simply disappeared. He became gruffer. The second glance he gave people ceased to exist. He almost completely stopped talking to me, and it was like all the things we’d been through as best friends stopped mattering.

Three years ago, the little lights that told me his systems were running started flickering. His joints became stiffer and he truly began to move like a robot. His replaced arm was the only thing that worked like new, and even then its movements became stiffer and more calculated, yet less careful. It was the last time he spoke a word to me or anyone.

Two years ago, he shot me in the leg. When I cried out, I saw a flicker of recognition in him. He looked guilty. He looked sad. And then it was gone. He turned his back on me, and was pulled in by the government’s system of robotic forces. He stood next to army bots and technology years ahead of him. He stood next to the bots that shot off his arm. He stood next to their Admiral, who just happened to be the guard I was running from so many years ago. And in that moment, ‘he’ truly became an ‘it’.

A year ago, I started to question the war. I used to think robots could be as good and as human as... As… Well, as other humans. I thought they could be kind! I thought they had heart! But I travelled the country side, with a limp, by myself. I became bitter. It was out of sheer will of mind that I didn’t shoot down every robot I saw. I don’t know why. They were unfeeling. Those that had been recruited by the government didn’t care, they killed without thought. They were ruthless and cruel, and I didn’t want anything to do with any of them. Not a single one.

Six months ago, it came back. This time he- it was running from the Admiral that he’d been oh-soooo-loyal to. The irony of him- IT- running into me and running from the very same person was almost laughable. I don’t know why I followed that stupid parallel. I don’t know why I pulled… it, aside, into the bushes, and kept us hidden until the Admiral was gone. I don’t know why… why it wanted to talk to me. Why it started talking again. Why the lights still flickered but looked alive again. But he- it betrayed me! It left! I don’t want anything to do with him- WITH IT! Ever! Again!

Four months ago, I gave up. This robot hasn’t stopped talking since it found me. It talks more than it did before it went silent years ago. It goes on and on and on about why it left me, about how it wished it had never shot me, about how the arm I made it after it got shot was the best thing it had, how it wanted another chance, how it knew what was going on within the governmental forces- and that’s when I gave up. That information was valuable, and I’d let it tag along this long.This was the only reason I was going to start listening. It was the ONLY reason.

Two months ago I gave him another chance. It was… He was once my friend, and he was respectful of me and my boundaries. He’s spent so much time trying to fix the things he messed up, how could I not- Anyway, with his help, we discovered a weakness at the center of the entire government’s power system. There was this massive building at the base of it all that provided some kind of wireless control and power generation to every single one of the government built army bots. As well as their biggest weaponry, their heaviest machinery, and their most dangerous tools. It’s safeguarded to everything we can think of, though. I don’t know what we’re going to do, but somehow having my… my friend, back, is- it opens up a side of me I forgot I had and I think we might have a chance at this.

One month ago the entire world was strapped to a time bomb. The government has been producing army bots at a rate faster than I can blink my eyes, and their weaponry has become so powerful we don’t have anything, anywhere, to rival it. Other world powers are too afraid to intervene. Anyone that doesn’t ally with this government is eradicated. Our small band of rebels grows smaller every day because people are afraid. There’s promise of protection and freedom should you join that side, but it’s a lie. I know it’s a lie. My best friend knows it’s a lie. He knows first hand that it’s a lie. And if they win, they will bleed every resource dry, they will kill anyone, man, woman, or child, that chooses not to stand with them, and they will have absolute control of everyone on their “team”. Factions and groups of lower ranked people within their control are already being separated out, and I can see that they are neither protected nor free. There’s so much discrimination. There’s so much control. The army bots create so much fear, and the coming generations are spending their childhoods in filth ridden villages with barely any food or shelter, much less education or freedom. And when I see my best friend reacting to these things so emotionally and passionately, it’s like he never left.

A week ago, we infiltrated the government system. We hid in one of their abandoned underground tunnels and set a plan in place. We don’t know if it will work, but given how little time we have left… this is our best shot.

Six days ago, he told me it wouldn’t work. He told me it couldn’t work, that something like it had already been tried. Words and fists were thrown his way, but he never hit me back and I ran away without looking where I was going.

Five days ago I sat in a cell and tried to understand why draining the power system wouldn’t shut down their Source. He found me and told me he was getting me out. When he couldn’t figure out the cell’s lock code, he jammed his hand into it, the one on the arm I made him so long ago, and sent in a pulse of energy that overwhelmed and shut down the systems. The cell door all but flew open and we made our escape. Suddenly I understood.

Four days ago, we put together a plan. We tried to contact our other known rebel forces and allies, but none responded. It was down to us. He knew what needed to get done, and I knew what needed to get done. As long as we were precise and timely about it, we could get in, shut it down, get out, and hopefully things would unravel to our benefit from there. All we had to do was get ahold of the relic, supposedly half of… something, whose other half powered the Source. If we could get it, we could overwhelm the Source and destroy it. It was almost too simple.

Three days ago, he managed to find the relic but couldn’t touch it. He said as soon as he touched it he felt his own power source spike. We had to replan a little bit, and close to midnight I went back to get it myself, after I taught him how to keep track of our hack into the security cameras. The guards were still looking for their ‘escaped prisoner’.

Two days ago the guards found their escaped prisoner. I managed to get the relic to him last night, but when I was wandering around in the early hours I was found. They shot me. In my bad leg. And I think they figured out that I have a ‘companion’ hiding somewhere underground. I hope he stays hidden.

Yesterday he came to find me. The guards never even had to look. Since he could watch the security cameras, he figured out where I was. He wrapped up the relic and came to me. We were too close to being out of time for him not to, and then he got caught too. I can’t believe I let this happen! I think we’re in over our heads!

This morning we concocted a plan. The guards came to execute us and take back the relic. I’m surprised they didn’t take it back right off the bat. Anyway, as soon as they walked in, we attacked. Fighting alongside my best friend again, I was thrown back through memories and realized I knew this feeling. I knew it well. We’d done this sort of thing all the time. And I missed it.

Six hours ago we ran away from the holding cells, the relic tucked under my arm. We were too close to miss this, there was too much at stake!

Five hours ago we returned to our hiding spot underground for our things. It was crawling with guards. In the end we shrugged. We were returning to destroy my equipment. They’d done our work for us. Shame we’d be missing out on the last of those energy bars, though.

Four hours ago we tripped the alarms. At that point it was all or nothing. We ran at breakneck speed toward the center of the base, so out of breath I was afraid I’d pass out. Two turns from our destination a guard grabbed my leg and I felt my entire body come slamming down onto the ground. I dropped the relic and the sheet wrapped around it came off. It rolled away from me and hit my best friend’s foot as my head started to pound. He stopped and glanced back, realizing I wasn’t with him, and I yelled at him to take the relic and run. But he couldn’t do it. He tried to pick up the relic and his power source spiked again. The last thing I saw before my vision went black was guards coming in from all directions and grabbing him by the arms.

Two hours ago I woke up. Funnily enough, I lay right next to the Source. I heard an electronic humming, but it was- it was painful to listen to. Almost like nails scratching against a chalkboard, but somehow translated to the world of technology. I glance to my left. There are dozens of guards stationed around the entire room, at every doorway, against the walls, by every dip in the floor. I look to my right and gasp. He’s there, strapped to the floor. I realize belatedly that I am too. The relic is hanging by what looked like a thread over his chest, and little sparks of electricity and energy are fizzling and crackling around every bolt and wire in him. That’s the humming sound that’s making my head hurt so much, but it looks like it’s hurting him more.

An hour ago, we met the man in charge. Rather, the robot in charge. Er, neither? He looked like he’d once been human, but more of him was robotic than organic. He tried to tell us that our relationship, a human and a robot being friends, was something as beautiful as he was. That we were meant to be fit together like one, and that what he was trying to do was make that more real, like him. When I tell you I took that as utter nonsense- As it is, I managed to pull one of my arms out of its restraints. The man laughed. He simply let me and my best friend out altogether, released the restraints. He invited us to try whatever it was that we were gonna try. I looked at my best friend and knew he wasn’t buying it either. Of course, I was right. I yanked the relic from its dangling position and ran at the Source. I touched the relic to it and… nothing happened. The relic glowed a little. It was rather pretty, but not particularly useful. Then the man laughed, something that sent a chill down my spine as it was neither human nor robot. The guards attacked us and he watched, amused. It was all a game to him.

30 minutes ago, I was shot. My head was bleeding. My leg was bleeding. My arm was bleeding. But I was alive.

15 minutes ago, he got shot. We were running out of energy. I didn’t know how much longer we could hold them off.

Ten minutes ago the man took the relic and laughed as we were overwhelmed and backed into the Source.

Five minutes ago I got kicked away from my best friend and I couldn’t get back up. The guards were ordered to stillness and the man approached him menacingly.

Three minutes ago, my best friend got the relic back. His hands burned and sent up smoke as soon as he touched it. The man grew furious and ordered his men and the army bots to attack him and get the relic back. We made eye contact.

Two minutes ago he backed into the Source and held the relic to his chest. There was an explosion and all the lights when out.

A minute ago everyone went still except for me. The lights stayed out. The human guards became confused because their partners, the army bots, they all stopped working. The computers turned off, the Source went dark. But I couldn’t stop crying.

30 seconds ago I cradled my best friend in my arms. The glow of his power source was gone.

10 seconds ago I realized we won. He saved the world.

5 seconds ago I stopped being able to see through my tears.

Now I’m watching myself being pulled away from my best friend. We won. I lost.

~~~

This is most certainly among my longer entries for this daily prompt thing. And it's definitely not what I was planning to do. I meant it to be shorter for one, but the more I wrote, the more I got sucked into this story I was making as I went. About a quarter of the way through I knew I meant to have the robot die in the end. Rereading this I worry that differentiating characters is too difficult to do and that the progression of time doesn't make sense. I have it counting down the whole time, and the goal with this is to instill a sense of anxiousness. I want readers to see "five days ago" and start worrying because we're getting really close to right now, because we're getting really close to the presumed end. I want it to make you think about needing to know what happens next. I think the concept in and of itself could have been very successful in doing this. It's not necessarily unsuccessful now, but it's unrefined, and all of this came to me as I went so it may be a little more scattered and disorganized. In the end, I think I like it. I think I like the story it tells and I think it could be a lot of fun to play with another time in the future.

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Syria Changed the World

ISTANBUL — The arena appears awash in chaos and uncertainty, possibly more so than at any factor because of the end of the Bloodless Battle.

Authoritarian-leaning leaders are on the upward push, and liberal democracy itself seems below siege. The publish-Global Struggle II order is fraying as preventing spills across borders and worldwide institutions — constructed, at the least in an idea, to act as brakes on wanton slaughter — fail to offer answers. Populist moves on both facets of the Atlantic are not just riding anti-established order anger, however stoking fears of a nonsecular “different,” this time Muslims.

Those demanding situations had been crystallized, propelled and intensified through a conflagration as soon as disregarded within the West as peripheral, to be filed, perhaps, below “Muslims killing Muslims”: the Struggle in Syria.

Now in its seventh year, this Battle allowed to rage for seeing you later, killing four hundred,000 Syrians and plunging millions more into misery, has despatched shock waves around The world. thousands and thousands have fled to neighboring international locations, some pushing directly to Europe.

Hold analyzing the primary tale Commercial

Preserve studying the main story The perception that the postwar International would no longer allow leaders indiscriminately kill their own residents now appears in complete retreat. The Syrian authorities’ response to insurrection, persevering with yr after year, threatens to normalize degrees of kingdom brutality now not visible in a long time. All of the while President Bashar al-Assad invokes an excuse increasingly popular most of the Global’s governments considering that Sept. 11: He is “combating terror.”

“Syria did now not motive the entirety,” said the Syrian dissident Yassin al-Haj Saleh, a secular leftist who spent almost two a long time as a political prisoner beneath Mr. Assad’s father and predecessor, Hafez.

“however sure, Syria modified The world.”

The United International locations Safety Council is paralyzed. Useful resource companies are overwhelmed. Even a U.S.A. missile strike on a Syrian army air base, ordered by way of President Trump in retaliation for a chemical attack on a rise up-held metropolis, appears little more than a blip in the turmoil, the contemporary unilateral intervention in the Struggle. weeks later, the Syrian government, sponsored by way of Russia, keeps its scorched-earth bombings.

There stays no consensus on what should have been or should nonetheless be performed for Syria, or whether a greater or less, the muscular international method would have delivered better effects.

The Obama White Residence kept Syria at arm’s period, determined, understandably, to keep away from the mistakes of the invasion and career of Iraq. And Western leaders surmised that not like the Nineties civil Conflict in Bosnia, the Syrian conflict may want to burn in isolation from their nations.

Ethical or no longer, that calculation become incorrect. The crisis has crossed Europe’s doorstep and is roiling its politics.

“We’ve thrown values by the wayside, however additionally now not been able to act in our personal hobbies, because we let things cross too long,” stated Joost Hiltermann, a Dutch citizen who’s the Middle East director for the worldwide disaster Organization.

The struggle commenced in 2011, with political protests. Syrian Protection forces cracked down, and with Western aid more potent in rhetoric than truth, some of Mr. Assad’s warring parties took up fingers. The authorities answered with mass detentions, torture, starvation sieges and bombing of insurrection-held areas. Extremist jihadists arose, with the Islamic kingdom subsequently asserting a caliphate and fomenting violence in Europe.

more than 5 million Syrians have fled their us of a. Loads of lots joined a refugee path throughout the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.

Photos of crowds of desperate refugees — and of the intense violence that they had confronted at domestic — have been used by politicians to gasoline fears of Islam, and of Muslims. That lifted some distance right European events already driving on resentment of immigrants, from Finland to Hungary.

The refugee crisis has posed certainly one of the most important demanding situations in memory to the concord of the EU Union and a number of its center values: freedom of movement, commonplace borders, pluralism. It heightened anxieties over identification and tradition, feeding off economic insecurity and distrust of governing elites that grew over many years with globalization and financial crises.

Main Humans in the VUCA World

Warren Bennis, an American pupil and a pioneer of the present day area of Leadership Research stated that fulfillment in control calls for getting to know as fast as the world is changing. In particular, we’re now entering into virtual age and everything actions very fast. If we can not keep up with those modifications, we are able to be left at the back of. This article will discover four key areas to address speedy changing International.

American Army used an acronym known as VUCA to describe extreme situations in Afghanistan and Iraq. It stands for Unstable, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. Absolutely, VUCA does not exist most effective in Afghanistan and Iraq, it may be discovered in nations, townships, families and organizations. It’s far everywhere and usually delivers difficult time to leaders.

Risky: Things aren’t very easy to are expecting like earlier than. With the new era, the sector becomes like a huge village and smaller. the entirety can appear at any time in everywhere. Uncertain: Nothing is permanent and modern-day business Global is full of uncertainty. If we need to make choices simplest while we are aware of Things very virtually, we can also in no way make decisions on this speedy changing World. Complex: Nearly all situations are very complex inside the enterprise now an afternoon. Leaders are going through many problems and challenges associated with many regulations and rules which need to be compliance with, loads requirements, product troubles. Ambiguous: the entirety is doubtful and vague. uncertain situations, guidelines, guidelines & policies make leaders harassed. It’s far very hard for leaders to make clear selections. Therefore, a pacesetter should understand the word VUCA that is used to describe extreme conditions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Leaders should create some other VUCA on the way to cope with the VUCA that is supposed for the intense conditions. They may be Imaginative and prescient, Understanding, Clarity, and Agility. Imaginative and prescient: For the reason that destiny isn’t clean to be expected, leaders have to have a clean Imaginative and prescient where they want to head. Chief while not having any experience, of course, will fail in the end. Expertise: Leader needs to be capable of apprehending the conditions wherein there is full of uncertainty. A leader must recognize their business, the situations They’re in, and those who They may be handling. Readability: Most of the commercial enterprise conditions are Complex and complicated, leaders ought to be capable of seeing Matters truly and create Clarity. They must be capable of clarifying Matters which are not sure or unclear. Agility: while Things are uncertain and indistinct, it’ll very difficult for leaders to make decisions. Consequently, Chief have to have the agility and need to have potential to transport speedy and without difficulty. there may be best one component that isn’t modified is the exchange. Leaders must face the VUCA World with clear thoughts (Head), accurate attitude and proper attitude (Heart), and the braveness to make Things occurs (Hand). In different phrases, leaders must have a clean Imaginative and prescient, they should be capable of understanding the situations and those, they have to be able to see Matters virtually, and that they need to be able to move speedily and effortlessly. By using doing so,

Chief may be able to lead their People to live to tell the tale within the VUCA work that is extraordinarily hard.

My Spouse Believes I’ve Changed, And Not For The Higher There is absolute confidence that a lot of us are not the identical character who we were while we met after which married our Spouse. This will be specifically authentic when you have been married for pretty some time. And that is due to the fact maximum folks mature and enjoy things that form our personalities so they take on a barely different look. There is nothing incorrect with this adulthood as it generally way that we have grown and evolved. Sadly even though, it can grow to be a trouble if our Spouse feels that the modifications suggest that we have outgrown them or are not compatible with them.

To illustrate what I imply, I might hear a remark like: “once I met my husband, I was a young, naive girl who rarely spoke to someone until they spoke to me first. I used to be painfully shy so it turned into the only natural for me to permit my husband to contend with maximum things. My husband turned into very secure with this due to the fact he became a whole lot extra assertive than I was. So, for a while, this worked thoroughly for us. But when we were first married, I took an activity that allowed me to remain in the shadows. It was a great suit for me then. However, I have grown into the organization through the years. And now, I am in a control role with plenty of obligations.

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