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mariacallous · 4 months

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(JTA) – A global bestseller by a Jewish Holocaust victim; a novel by a beloved and politically conservative Jewish American writer; a memoir of growing up mixed-race and Jewish; and a contemporary novel about a high-achieving Jewish family are among the nearly 700 books a Florida school district removed from classroom libraries this year in fear of violating state laws on sexual content in schools.

The purge of books from Orange County Public Schools, in Orlando, over the course of the past semester is the latest consequence of a conservative movement across the country — and strongest in Florida — to rid public and school libraries of materials deemed offensive. While the vast majority of such challenged and removed books involve race, gender and sexuality, several Jewish books have previously been caught in the dragnet.

The Orange County case is unusual for the sheer volume of books removed — 699 including some duplicates, according to documents the district provided — and for the unusually large number of books about the Holocaust and Jewish identity included among them. They included:

“Suite Française,” by Irène Némirovsky, a Ukrainian-French Jewish writer who wrote her novel in secret under German occupation before perishing in Auschwitz

“Herzog,” a semi-autobiographical novel by Jewish writer Saul Bellow, an outspoken cultural conservative whose son Adam Bellow is a publisher of right-wing Jewish books

“Black, White and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self,” by Rebecca Walker, feminist theorist and daughter of author Alice Walker, whose own antisemitic comments and writings have faced scrutiny in the past

“Bee Season,” a novel about a high-achieving family of Jewish scholars and cantors, by Myra Goldberg

“The Splendid and the Vile,” a nonfiction history book about Winston Churchill’s decision to fight Hitler’s forces during World War II, by Erik Larson

The collected plays of Lillian Hellman, a Jewish playwright and left-wing activist who was accused of Communist activities

“The Storyteller,” a novel dealing with the Holocaust by bestselling author Jodi Picoult

“The Reader,” a German novel about the aftermath of the Holocaust by Bernhard Schlink

“Sophie’s Choice,” a bestselling novel also about the aftermath of the Holocaust by William Styron

“The Freedom Writers Diary,” a nonfiction compilation of several high school students’ diaries inspired by their teachers’ efforts to instruct them on the Holocaust and Anne Frank

“Books are removed from classrooms with deference to House Bill 1069,” district spokesperson David Ocasio told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, referring to a Florida law signed this year that heavily restricts instruction and classroom materials about human sexuality.

No individual reasoning was given for each book’s removal, but Ocasio said that all of the books had been marked as “not approved for any grade level.” He added that every book will go through a secondary review to determine if it will be restricted to certain grade levels or “weeded from the collection” altogether.

Some of the books on Orange County’s list have come under scrutiny in the past for removals from other districts. “The Storyteller” was the subject of widespread press coverage after a member of the right-wing activist group Moms For Liberty successfully pushed for its removal from a different Florida school district earlier this year. “Sophie’s Choice” was recently removed from a third Florida school district at the behest of a Jewish parent’s challenge; both parents said their challenges were due to sexual content.

Other outwardly Jewish books on the list, including “The Reader” and Philip Roth’s “Portnoy’s Complaint,” contain explicit sexual content. Non-Jewish World War II novels “Slaughterhouse-Five” and “Catch-22” were also pulled.

Among the hundreds of other books flagged for removal in the district were frequently challenged books like “Gender Queer” and “The Handmaid’s Tale,” as well as literary standards like Milton’s “Paradise Lost” and Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings,” and children’s fare like a book based on Disney’s “The Incredibles.” Some items were listed more than once.

Other districts in Florida this year have pulled an illustrated adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary in order to comply with the state law.

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world-of-wales · 4 months

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─ •✧ WILLIAM'S YEAR IN REVIEW : JANUARY ✧• ─

12 JANUARY - Catherine and William were received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Merseyside (Mr. Mark Blundell). They opened Royal Liverpool University Hospital and later visited the Open Door Centre in Birkenhead. 17 JANUARY - William visited Together As One (Aik Saath) in Slough, where he was received by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of the Royal County of Berkshire (Mr James Puxley) 19 JANUARY - He visited Depaul UK at Sherborne House in London. 20 JANUARY - William spoke via video link to residents affected by flooding in Australia. 24 JANUARY - William held an Investiture Ceremony at Winston Castle. Afterwards, he held a Royal Foundation Meeting. 26 JANUARY - William and Catherine visited Windsor Foodshare in Berkshire. He later visited the Earthshot Finalists Training Session in Windsor Great Park. 29 JANUARY - William attended the 1953 Floods Memorial Service in Snettisham. 30 JANUARY - William and Catherine attended the Centre for Early Childhood "Shaping Us" Campaign Preview and Reception. 31 JANUARY - He spoke via video link to athletes & volunteers participating in the 2023 Arctic Winter Games in Wood Buffalo, Canada

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rayslittlekitten · 6 months

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Spooky Time

“You Got This” Masterlist

A/N: I think writing "My First Night" kicked up some old feels for this universe. Here is a wholesome little nugget of them much younger. Jax and Opie as 14 and reader is 12.

Rating: T

Word Count: 806

Pairing: Teenager!Jax Teller & Preteen GN! Reader/OC; Teenager!Opie Winston & Preteen GN! Reader/OC (reader is F in the series, but this particular fic can be read as GN)

Plot: While Opie taunts you for being scared, Jax protects you.

Contains: sibling banter, cursing, protective!Jax, spoopy stuff

You stare up at the man-made haunted house towering in front of you. The fog, flashing lights and sounds of terror coming from a big speaker has you rethinking about tagging along with your brother and Jax. Since you were little, you've always followed them around and wanted to do everything they did. This is no exception. Every year during this time, you would all come to the County Halloween fair where they would have hayrides and all sorts of spooky activities. You always went on the kiddie rides, corn mazes, and have seemingly mild fun, but since Jax and Opie just started high school, they want to do older kids stuff, including the haunted house. This was one thing you always avoided, but you were sure you wanted to do this because Jax and Opie does.

"Come on, what are you waiting for?" Jax nudges you.

"I... I don't really feel too good. I think I ate too much funnel cake. I'll just wait for you guys," you reply.

"UGH! You know we can't leave you by yourself. You said you wanted to tag along so you have to do everything we're doing," your brother jumps in, annoyed.

A scream from inside the house spooks you, making you jump.

"Aww, are you scared?" Jax teases.

"N-no," you lie.

Opie rolls his eyes and huffs.

"Come on, it won't be that scary. I'll protect you, squirt."

Jax puts his arm around your shoulders and pulls you in closer, giving the top of your head a little tousle before guiding you inside the haunted house and following Opie who is leading the group. Once you enter, you cautiously walk through the loud and dark maze. Opie suddenly jumps and screams, making you shriek and grasp onto Jax, but then your brother starts laughing.

"Haha! Spooked ya!" He says, pointing at you.

"It's not funny!" You throw a weak punch at his arm.

"Then why am I laughing?" he taunts.

"Alright, come on, keep it moving," Jax jumps in to break up the sibling squabble, pushing Opie along.

"Stay close behind me, alright?" Jax tells you, guiding you behind him.

You grab onto the back of his shirt as you all continue to walk through. Your eyes dart around while being super vigilant and alert, also looking ahead at your brother in front to see if anything might scare him. The creepy music and inability to see things well in front of you add to the fright. A random hiss from behind you makes you curl up against Jax's back even more. You feel Jax's hand reach back, touching your hip like he's feeling around for something. He then turns to look over his shoulder.

"Hold my hand."

You look down and slip your hand into his while the other still fists his shirt. When Jax turns a corner, he takes a sudden small step back, stumbling into you, as his free arm guides you to remain behind him and now stepping sideways.

"Stay behind me," he instructs you.

You continue to follow him while using him as a shield. The sound of a chainsaw next to you makes you shift in the opposite direction. You feel Jax's hand squeezing yours to let you know you're safe. This feels like a never-ending maze. You start to notice a scent that comforts you. Leaning into Jax's shirt, you stick your nose into it and take a sniff. You don't know if it's the laundry detergent Gemma uses or something else, but it's distracting you from all the terror. After a few more turns and focusing your attention on Jax's scent, you finally make it out of the haunted house unscathed.

"Was that it? See, it wasn't so bad, was it? There wasn't anything really-- AHH!"

Opie gets frightened by a clown seemingly popping out of nowhere and his immediate reaction is to punch it.

"Is... is he dead?" you ask, peeking out from behind Jax with wide eyes, after seeing the clown face down on the dirt unmoved.

Opie gives it a gentle nudge with his booted toe.

"It's a fucking doll," Opie replies, then gives it a swift kick. "Fuck you."

"Looks like you're the one who only got spooked," you laugh.

Opie fakes a lounge at you and you jump back hiding behind Jax, shrieking. Jax instinctively steps between you and Opie, reaching his arms back again to protect you.

"Alright, let's go do the Terror Drop next." Jax suggests the ride where you get dropped from a great height.

"Um, I'm afraid of heights," you tell him.

"We'll do this together. You can hold my hand again," Jax says. "I promise you're gonna love it."

"Last one there is a rotten egg!" Opie says as he dashes off.

You and Jax then start chasing after Opie.

#charlie hunnam #charlie hunnam fanfiction #jax teller #jax teller x reader #jax teller x you #opie winston & reader #opie winston & you #gn! reader #gender neutral #sons of anarchy #sons of anarchy fanfiction #you got this

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balladofsallyrose · 5 months

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Dennis Hopper's collection of owned and gifted books (a few are listed under the cut)

Islands in the Stream (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970)

Magic (Delacorte Press, 1976)

Sneaky People (Simon and Schuster, 1975)

Strange Peaches (Harper's Magazine Press, 1972)

I Didn't Know I Would Live So Long (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973)

Baby Breakdown (The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1970)

37 (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970)

Presences: A Text for Marisol (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970)

Little Prayers for Little Lips, The Book of Tao, The Bhagavadgita or The Song Divine, and Gems and Their Occult Power.

Lolita (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1955)

The Dramas of Kansas (John F. Higgins, 1915)

Joy of Cooking (The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1974)

The Neurotic: His Inner and Outer Worlds (First edition, Citadel Press, 1954)

Out of My Mind: An Autobiography (Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1997)

The Savage Mind (University of Chicago Press, 1966)

Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors (J.B. Lippincott Company, 1974)

The Documents of 20th Century Art: Dialogues with Marcel Duchamp (Viking Press, 1971)

The Portable Dorothy Parker, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, I Ching, and How to Make Love to a Man.

John Steinbeck's East of Eden (Bantam, 1962)

James Dean: The Mutant King (Straight Arrow Books, 1974) by David Dalton

The Moviegoer (The Noonday Press, 1971)

Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions and General Tales of Ordinary Madness (City Light Books, 1974)

Narcotics Nature's Dangerous Gifts (A Delta Book, 1973)

The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Dover Publications, 1967)

Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines (Oxford University Press, 1969)

Junky (Penguin Books, 1977) by William S. Burroughs

Weed: Adventures of a Dope Smuggler (Harper & Row, 1974)

Alcoholics Anonymous (Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 1976)

Skrebneski Portraits - A Matter of Record, Sketchbooks of Paolo Soleri, and High Tide.

Raw Notes (The Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 2005)

Le Corbusier (Heidi Weber, 1965)

Henry Moore in America (Praeger Publishers, 1973)

Claes Oldenburg (MIT Press, 2012)

Notebooks 1959 1971 (MIT Press, 1972)

A Day in the Country (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1985)

Album Celine (Gallimard, 1977)

A Selection of Fifity Works From the Collection of Robert C. Scull (Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc. 1973)

Collage A Complete Guide for Artists (Watsun-Guptill Publications, 1970)

The Fifties Aspects of Painting in New York (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1980)

A Bottle of Notes and Some Voyages (Rizzoli International Publications, 1988)

All Color Book of Art Nouveau (Octopus Books, 1974)

A Colorslide Tour of The Louvre Paris (Panorama, 1960)

Dear Dead Days (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1959)

Woman (Aidan Ellis Publishing Limited, 1972)

The Arts and Man ( UNESCO, 1969)

Murals From the Han to the Tang (Foreign Languages Press, 1974)

A (Grove Press Inc., 1968)

Andy Warhol's Index Book (Random House, 1967)

Voices (A Big Table Book, 1969)

Another Country (A Dell Book, circa 1960s)

On The Road (Signet, circa 1980s)

#dennis hopper

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dr-spencer-reids-queen · 6 months

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Bloodline: Part One

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~1.9k

Summary: Never have you heard of a family killing together, and never have you heard of generation of families killing together. Yet here you are.

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them. If you’ve seen the show, then it’s the same level of angst unless otherwise stated

There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human society, are created, strengthened and maintained." - Winston Churchill

The last case was a rush because they called you in after three women were dead, but this time is different. Alabama PD discovered a family killed inside their home and immediately called your team in due to the brutality of the murders. You didn't even have time to talk in the briefing room since this is a top-priority case.

After everyone gets settled on the plane, the meeting starts. JJ is still on maternity leave, but Jordan doesn't want to do this job anymore. Not after the case with Norman, the guy who was killing people with his sawed-off shotgun after they cut him off while driving. She got a look into how brutal the job can be and decided it isn't for her.

However, JJ has one more week until she's back so this will be Jordan's last case.

A family was found murdered inside their home at one in the morning, and their ten-year-old daughter is missing. Cases involving children are always the hardest because most children don't survive within the first twenty-four hours of being kidnapped. Cate is ten years old, but that doesn't mean she's safe from being murdered like the rest of her family.

You have about half a day to find her alive.

"We got the links of the crime scene photos." Jordan pulls up the photos of the family who was killed. "This is Geoff and Nancy Hale with both their throats cut."

"Is there any evidence of abuse?"

"No."

"Slitting someone's throat is quick and efficient."

"That's because the real target was down the hall," Emily says.

"She has a name," Jordan snaps. "She's not 'the target'. Her name is Cate and she's ten years old."

Tension is thick, but Rossi keeps the conversation moving along as if this didn't happen.

"Is an amber alert in effect?"

"Since seven this morning."

"With the unsub's head start he could be anywhere within a four-hundred-mile radius. Make sure that they're casting a wide enough net. Who discovered the bodies?"

"Jim Scheuren, Cate's biological father. He was supposed to take her for the weekend. The police don't consider him a suspect."

"We'll want to talk to him anyway. We're also going to need a list of registered sex offenders in a twenty-mile radius."

"What's the makeup of the Hales' neighborhood?" Spencer asks.

"Mostly white and middle class."

"We'll need aerial views of the neighborhood. If Madison County doesn't have them, talk to Garcia. Dave, you, Y/N, and Morgan go to the crime scene. The rest of us will get up to speed at the precinct."

Once landed, everyone broke into their own little groups with you heading out with Derek and Rossi. The Hales' neighborhood is a series of rural roads and one-block streets. It's about three miles to the nearest main street, so he didn't happen upon Cate by accident. Her father, Jim, might not have been the one to do this, but he might know who did.

In the meantime, you arrive at Cate's house which is covered with police personnel and yellow caution tape. You don't have to get out of the car to feel the tragedy that happened here. Since this happened just last night, there are different colored energies pouring out of the place.

The detective on the case sees you arrive and walks over to greet you.

"Bo Whitaker," he shakes hands with Rossi.

"David Rossi. This is Derek Morgan and Y/N."

"Pleased to meet you. The point of entry is around the back. The neighbors didn't see or hear anything, and the dogs lost the scent almost immediately."

"It's not hard to target a family out here."

"Yeah, even in broad daylight. If you walk five feet off the track, you could get lost for days. He had plenty of time and privacy to watch what he was really after."

There is a tire swing in the front yard, and Cate's energy is swirling around it since she really loved that swing. The energy is strong enough for it to take her form, and you're the only one who can see her. She has a smile on her face as if nothing bad could ever happen to her.

You look away in sadness and hope that she is alright.

"I prefer cities. You can see them coming," Rossi comments.

Bo takes you to the window the killer came in through, and there is not only one energy stemming from it, there are three. You head inside the house and see the pane of the door knocked in when they tried to kick the door in. That's when they used the window to get in. There are three energies inside the house: red, blue, and yellow. That can only mean one thing--the murderers are a whole family.

"Do you think the girl's dead?" Bo asks.

"It depends on what he took her for."

"I don't think we're looking for one unsub," you say. "We're looking for a family. There are three different energies inside the house, not including the family who lived here. There are three different energies stemming from that broken window. One red, one blue, and one yellow. One male, one female, and one child."

"How do you know this?" Bo asks.

"I'm a psychic. I see the energies of the killers."

You leave their side without hearing Bo's response, but you do hear Derek back you up. You're the real deal, and they trust you wholeheartedly. You walk into the master bedroom where the parents were found, and there is blood all over the walls, bed, and even the ceiling. There are two people in the bed with their throats cut, but you know they're not real. Derek heads over to Cate's room to examine it, eventually joining you and Rossi in the master bedroom.

"Find anything in Cate's room?" Rossi asks Derek.

"That's what's weird. There's no sign of struggle. It didn't even look like she tried to get out of bed in a hurry."

"Her parents' throats were cut. If there was the element of surprise, they might not have had time to scream," you say.

"Both of them?"

Since you can see the parents and their wounds, you can determine what might have happened last night.

"So both parents don't have any ligature marks, and neither of them are tied down. There are no defensive wounds either. Geoff's cause of death was a single deep, smooth cut that severed the carotid artery. Nancy's cause of death was caused by a series of jagged, shallow wounds that punctured the carotid artery."

"There's more than one unsub, like you said," Derek says.

"Are you guys sure?" Bo asks.

"It makes sense. If there was only one unsub, then he would have had to restrain Nancy while he killed Geoff. Since there are no ligature marks on either of them, then that means he didn't restrain them. If he killed Geoff without restraining her, and she woke up, then she would have screamed. It would have alerted the entire family. We're looking at multiple unsubs."

"So, things are worse than we thought."

"Yes and no. Cate's chances of survival just got better. Two or more unsubs change the dynamics."

"What do you mean, dynamics?"

"They spend more time with her," Rossi sighs.

Derek calls Hotch to let him know while you go into the bathroom to see what kind of motive there might have been for taking Cate. You look inside the medicine cabinet and see something that makes Cate's chances of survival go right down to almost zero.

"I found something here." You walk out of the bathroom holding a pill bottle. "Cate has seizures, and if the unsubs find out about this, they might kill her."

With this new information, you head back to the police station to discuss what this might mean. Hotch pulls you off to the side, and you hand him the pill bottle you took from the scene.

"Give me your honest opinion on what your theory is."

"Based on the energies I saw at the house, I believe a family of three killed Cate's family. A mom, a dad, and a young son. They're killing everyone but a young daughter to maybe complete their family. Maybe they can't have more kids and want to be a family of four, or maybe their real daughter died and they're trying to replace her. It's the only theory I have right now."

"It's a theory nonetheless."

"If my theory is correct, and they find out Cate has seizures, then she isn't perfect. She could be dumped somewhere or killed. Either way, I have a feeling we'll know tomorrow."

And tomorrow you found out. Cate was dumped on the side of the road with her feet and hands bound, but she is very much alive. She was taken to the hospital immediately just as they contacted her father. Since she got medical care so soon, she's going to be fine. She is the best person to talk to about this kind of stuff, and since you can use her trauma to paint a picture, then you're going to talk to her.

"Her father's with her," the nurse says when your team arrives. "She's been in and out of consciousness but her vitals are stable."

"Any sign of sexual assault?" you ask.

"We haven't tested yet. We want to give her time to process."

"May we speak with her?"

"Sure. You should know, seizures often come with retrograde amnesia. She might have holes in her memory."

"Y/N, you should do this alone," Hotch says.

You knock on Cate's door before entering. Poor thing looks so scared, but you're going to do everything you can to make her feel comfortable and safe.

"Hello, Mr. Scheuren. I'm Agent Y/N from the FBI. I would like permission to speak with your daughter."

"Okay."

He doesn't move from her side, and you clasp your hands in front of you.

"I'd like to do this alone, if possible."

"Why?"

"I need to ask her certain questions, and sometimes it's easier for a girl to answer those questions when there are no men present."

"I'm her father," he gets upset.

"Daddy, please?"

"Alright, baby," he sighs. "I'll be right outside."

"Thank you." As soon as he leaves, you take a seat next to Cate and give her a kind smile. "My name is Y/N. I'm so sorry about your mom and your stepdad. I'd like to ask you some questions so we can find out who did this. Is that okay?"

"Yeah."

"Do you mind if I hold your hand?"

"No."

You hold her hand and place your other one over hers.

"I'm going to ask you some questions, and it's going to be about the things you sensed--things you saw, felt, etc."

"I'm scared."

"I know you are. It's okay to be scared. I'm right here with you. Just close your eyes, okay? What's the first thing you remember?"

She closes her eyes and you use her words to help paint a picture of what happened to her or where she might have been.

"It's cold, like outside cold."

"Okay, who's there?"

"A man. He told me to keep quiet."

"What is he doing?"

"He's holding my hand. It hurts. He's waiting for something."

"What does he look like?"

There is a much older white man with her with blood on his face. This happened after he got done killing Cate's parents. He's mean, balding at the top, and has a hint of a mustache that looks freshly shaved. It's a vague description, but it's the only thing you see right now.

"I don't want to be here," Cate whimpers.

"He can't hurt you, Cate, I promise. I'm right here."

"He's tall with dark hair. He's old."

"Old like me?"

"Old like my dad."

"Is anyone else there?"

"Someone's coming! Y/N! Y/N, help me!!"

The old man grabs Cate and slings her over his shoulder. She tries to fight him, but her hands are tied together. A car approaches and pops the trunk from the inside, and the unsub shoves Cate into the trunk.

"Cate, you're right here with me. I promise he can't hurt you. It's okay."

"He put me in the trunk of the car."

"How long were you in there?"

"Not long. Maybe ten minutes."

"Was the ride bumpy or smooth?"

"It was smooth." That tells you the roads they took are main roads instead of back ones. If they took the main road, then someone might have seen the car. "I wanted to scream, but no sound would come out."

"You're doing really good, Cate. Once the car stopped and they opened the trunk, what did you hear?"

"Wind through the trees."

The man takes Cate out of the trunk and drags her into some kind of trailer house before stuffing her inside a small space like a closet.

"What do you smell?"

"Cooking. I'm inside now. They've taken my shoes off."

"It's so you don't run. I want you to look down at your feet and tell me what you're standing on."

"Carpet. I'm in a little room with clothes and tinfoil all around me."

"What else?"

"I hear bells."

"What kind of bells?"

"Small ones like a fairy. Every time they ring, the man says something to the boy."

She must mean the young son whose energy you saw inside the house.

"How old is he?"

"Nine or ten, I'd say. His parents want me to play with him. They're calling him puyule, whatever that means."

The closet door opens and the young boy tries to take Cate out of the closet. His parents encourage her to come out to spend time with her, but she doesn't want to go.

"Y/N, I don't want to go. No! Don't make me go! Y/N!"

"Cate, it's okay. You're right here next to me. Open your eyes." She does, and you pat the back of her hand with a smile. "See? We're in the hospital. He can't hurt you anymore. You did so well. I'm going to send your dad back in here, okay? You just rest now."

"Okay," she sniffles.

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

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conandaily2022 · 1 year

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WSSU student Leilla Hamoud arrested; Why did Dr. Cynthia Villagomez call the police?

Leilla Hamoud, 20, of Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States is a student of Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem. One of her professors in the university is Dr. Cynthia Villagomez, 61, of Winston-Salem.

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#Forsyth County #North Carolina #Winston-Salem #Winston-Salem State University #Youtube

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blueikeproductions · 7 months

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Since the last EarthSpark kids book pitches went well, here’s some more I toyed with, some focusing more on Mandroid… mostly because I forgot him when focusing more on the Decepticons.

Book Idea 9: Following his latest defeat by the Terrans and Autobots, Mandroid’s lab and equipment are in shambles. As his shell program tech was destroyed in the skirmish, Mandroid turns to other means: leftover weapons from The Great War. He learns of the Robo-Smasher, a device developed by Shockwave and used by Megatron to increase his ranks on Cybertron and Earth.

Locked in a secret compound called the Tyrest Vault, authorized by Optimus Prime to keep certain tech away from GHOST, Mandroid uses his Arachnimechs to break in and salvage the Robo-Smasher, but also The Immobilizer, Resonance Blaster, Polarity Gauntlet and Phase Shifter for future use. Interested in the Robo-Smasher specifically, his first act was to use it to reprogram the generic vault guards and the Constructicons, who had been loyal to Megatron and were since granted civilian construction jobs per his request to GHOST higher ups. Now armed with the original Decepticon superweapon, Devastator, souped up with the Polarity Gauntlet, Mandroid launches an attack on the gathered Autobots and Terrans alerted to the vault breach. While the Autobots are overpowered, the Terrans more hyperactive and on the fly maneuvers with the Maltos are able to trick the simpleminded Devastator into using the Polarity Gauntlet to destroy the Robo-Smasher and the Arachnimechs. Hashtag is then able to hack into the Gauntlet and uses it to reverse polarity, forcing Devastator back into his component parts. Magnetized and cluttered with Arachnimech scrap metal and stuck to Mixmaster, the annoyed doctor escapes with the Constructicons minus one Polarity Gauntlet confiscated by the Autobots. It’s not a complete loss, as on top of acquiring the Constructicons, Mandroid had managed to back up the Smasher, building a custom Arachnimech to house its program for future use. Optimus receives a semi comical and hypocritical chewing out from Croft over the Tyrest Vault.

Book Idea 10: Mandroid is experimenting on how to use his remaining weapons on to himself, not trusting Devastator with the task after what happened with the Gauntlet. Unfortunately for Mandroid, the weapons back fire each time he uses them in an attack against the Autobots. The Immobilizer only succeeds in immobilizing his mechanical arm, the Resonance Blaster sends him flying into the next county over, needing to be rescued by a recently Robo-Smashed Buzzsaw, while the Phase Shifter leaves his arm stuck in a wall of a Decepticon compound because the Shifter can only phase Cybertronian bodies.

Forced to realize his limitations, Mandroid sets his sights on the most bizarre super weapon Megatron oversaw during the war: the giant purple griffon.

Using the Constructicons to excavate it from its crash site and refurbish it with the Resonance Blaster and Immobilizer to demolish his Autobots foes.

While Megatron engages the weapon of his past alongside Optimus, Elita and Grimlock, the Terrans and Maltos race to find the one Autobot who defeated the Griffon, Commander Modesty himself, Sky Lynx.

The idea I had is that this version has a robot mode similar to his Sky Reign combiner mode, his usual unique Beast Mode, while his vehicle mode is a jumbo jet similar to Fire Dagwon.

Mostly as a means to explain why you can have Sky Lynx, but the Autobots didn’t just climb inside and fly back to Cybertron because he’s not a space fairing vehicle. I see his personality being the same as G1, but leaning more towards the nostalgic drunkard pilot Winston from the first Brendan Fraser Mummy movie. Finding him at his current job at the Witwicky airport sulking in a hanger, as he wasn’t scheduled to fly that day, the Terrans and Maltos appeal to Sky Lynx’s ego, and he races off in jet mode with the kids inside to face down his old rival once again.

Book Idea 11: A few months after the fight with the Griffin, Hashtag, Nightshade and Thrash and Malto kids are playing around filming videos until they find themselves inside a Decepticon bunker where they find Swindle and Chop Shop delivering parts to the Decepticon mob boss Turmoil.

They learn Turmoil is planning to escape Earth with the other free Earth bound Decepticons, and that in secret, they’ve been rebuilding the remains of the giant purple griffin into a space ship called The Victory.

Robbie and Thrash aren’t too concerned about this, the rabble rousing Decepticons leaving altogether would be better for everyone anyway. Nightshade points out however this would be worse because it means Turmoil could bring back hordes of surviving war mongering Decepticons out in space to Earth as revenge and destroy the fragile Cybertron Alliance and the planet. The Terrans are caught by Howlback who was patrolling the area, and the gang is captured by the Decepticons. Placed in cells with stasis cuffs, locked in Beast/Vehicle Mode, and under the watchful eye of Garboil, they’re forced to watch the completion and boarding of The Victory. Not all is lost, as upon the launch of the Victory, with the kids inside ready to be sold to the Skuxxoid at the nearest space port, Megatron, Sky Lynx and Dot arrive on the scene, Megatron having received a communication only Hashtag could provide. Now Turmoil and Megatron battle as the fate of the Earthbound Decepticons is decided upon here. Book Idea 12: The Decepticon scientist Vertebreak has been studying the Terrans, and is fascinated by their physiology and bonds with humans via the Cyber Sleeves.

Wanting to understand how it works so he can duplicate it for use in the Decepticons, he manages to capture the Terrans and Maltos, and puts them through rigorous yet comical trials in his underground lab. Tarantulas and Wheeljack wise up to what’s happening and team up to save the kids.

Book idea 14: Agent Croft: Tomb Raider or The Secret Origins of Karen Croft!. Agent Croft is taking a vacation to get away from her responsibilities for a bit. However work follows her wherever she goes, as the Autobots and Terrans appear to foil the Decepticons’ schemes of the hour. Croft recalls her late high school-early college years, revealing she was functionally the EarthSpark version of RiD01 Kelly, always caught up in the chaos of the Great War. Even her and her brother’s Jeep turned out to be the Autobot Brawn.

Unlike Kelly who just sort of accepted her lot in life, Croft snapped. The final straw was her and Schloder taking a camping trip to explore some caves. They stumbled upon the ancient remains of Fortress Maximus and the stasis locked Cerebros, but unfortunately so did Megatron and the Combaticons and Optimus’ Autobots and of course a fight ensued.

Caught in a cave caused by the fighting, the siblings were rescued by Bumblebee, earning Schloder’s adoration, but Croft’s ire. When GHOST was formed several years later, Croft busted her butt through the ranks to become Executive Agent Croft in order to finally exact her position to take down not just the Decepticons, but all Transformers. In the present, her hot spring vacation is saved by the Autobots, but the Decepticons trying to use geo thermal power to generate Energon and create a super weapon superheated her spring, causing her to comically boil. As she stews over her predicament, Croft wonders what became of Fortress Maximus as the base was never recovered. Deep in the Tyrest Vault however in a secret room, Cerebros had long since been recovered, and is on life support.

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