#yes cell was based off a cicada
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hmmm pandora or melody for the ask game? :) i am SO interested in them !!!
OOOOO okay you get a two-for-one because I can!!
I'm putting this below a read-more because christ almighty it's long, lol
PANDORA:
One aspect about them I love
I love the fact he sticks to his beliefs & is genuinely consistent with how he treats others. It causes so many issues (especially later on when that really gets challenged) but also is part of why I think he's as compelling as he is.
One aspect I wish more people understood about them
Oh my god. My main one: he is not a good person. Not At All. Yes that hinges off his past, no it's not part of what I've shown so far. He remembers tasting blood for a reason, man! And he did not lose a fight to end up in that situation!
One (or more) headcanon(s) I have about this character
Okay I'm gonna talk strictly headcanon with this! I definitely see him as being either nonbinary or genderqueer post-maze. Probably an any pronouns user, especially with demon culture not really focusing on strict gender stereotypes (though that's still a thing, just not as common in his experience). Oh dude Pandora would SO wear one of those long flowy skirts, that's absolutely his jam.
One character I love seeing them interact with
Accius!! I love him and Accius interacting, it brings me so much joy. Even if Pandora doesn't realize it, Accius looks up to him as an older brother type of figure. (Even if Pandora is only a couple of years older than them)
One character I wish they would interact with/interact with more
Oliver, 100%! Those two could've had such great chemistry and would've bounced off each other really well, but sadly that just doesn't get to happen :( I hold it dear regardless, and I'm totally gonna write something based around those two getting along because I think that'd be so sweet.
One (or more) headcanon(s) I have that involve them and one other character
Ooooh man this is tough! I'm gonna leave this one alone because my only idea right now is actually a plot point in the next two chapters and I don't wanna spoil anything (I see Dane reading this, silly creature :3)
MELODY:
One aspect about them I love
I love the way she talks!! I don't know how to really describe it, but the way she talks is just super fun to imagine + write. Also just I love how much her character and behavior comes from a place of love and grief, rather than hatred :)
One aspect I wish more people understood about them
I'm not intending for her to be a villain in this story, she's just somebody who's hurting and taking it out on others. I mean the whole scene in Chapter 15 (cicadas) was supposed to be showcasing that fact, even if it did mean she almost killed someone. She's quite literally just grieving in a horrible manor, and maybe he looks a little bit too similar to somebody, but that's not his fault.
[ Context since I know you haven't been reading!
Melody approached Pandora when he was in the prison cell and almost ended up shooting him with her bow, but intentionally missed and walked away after. ]
One (or more) headcanon(s) I have about this character
OKAY I literally refuse to actualize this because I really dislike one-sided romance / pining and we already have one instance of that (Ivy being hopelessly in love with Accius) but I feel like Melody would absolutely have a crush on Lyra. Would I condone that crush? Hell no! Not for the fact it's lesbian, but for the fact that it would be so unhealthy it's painful. Lord.
One character I love seeing them interact with
Oh yes!! Nyx! I love how she interacts with Nyx, it's so natural and it makes total sense that she gets along with him, being a volunteer.
One character I wish they would interact with/interact with more
This is hard to choose, man! I wish she interacted more with Altair before [redacted] especially because of the fact they were always listening to what she said. But also, I wish she interacted more with Kato! Those two had such a good dynamic and I am SO upset it didn't get more screen time
[ You have: Person who was notorious for basically learning everything about a person & Person who refuses to say anything about themself unless it's life or death ]
One (or more) headcanon(s) I have that involve them and one other character
We're going canon again with this one!! I think her and Pandora absolutely used to practice fighting with each other, she did it out of some curiosity and ended up getting some of her memories back because of it :) They're actually really evenly matched in a battle, though she often held back when it came to anything ranged. Even if she hates him, she's not going to use the fact he has poor depth perception and a mostly-blind left eye against him.
On that topic!! She trained people in the clearing archery and was the one who showed Urki how to use a halberd, along with showing Accius about War Scythes. She's got a fair bit of weapons knowledge, since that used to be something she studied a lot! Mel is the combat teacher of the group, though a lot of people already had their preferences and specialties and just needed reminding.
[ Also I feel like she's DEFINITELY both gotten accidentally stabbed during training, and also definitely accidentally stabbed somebody. Both of which were probably from and to Pandora. Those two fought a lot. Ironically I don't think they ever actually physically fight after the first couple of months. They were closer than I showed in the condensed version of the story! Hatred leads people to knowing each other better than they wanted to :) ]
#ask a ghost#asker: navysealt4t#au: where the dust settles#BLUE YOUR GONNA KILL ME I SWEAR!! THANK YOU!!!!! <3#small spoilers#i tried to avoid them but HOENSTLY i am just chattering on and on and its 00:31 and i cannot be bothered to scan for spoilers#pandora's should be fine mostly just melody's might have spoilers#i love the idea of enemies being closer than they expected. even if pandora doesn't think of her as an enemy
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I went on.a hike today with my roommate and we found a friend! So I wanted to make an educational tiktok about these annoying, but incredibly important part of the forest ecosystem.
They then flew away to go fight some saiyans, and we moved them to a tree where they wont get stepped on.
Did you know that cicadas are the loudest insect on earth? Being next to a large group of singing males is enough to cause hearing loss, so be careful! Other than that they are harmless. The males are mostly hollow on the inside so they can scream even louder!
#entomology#bug stuff#bugs#cicada#cicadas#brood x#insect#invertabrate#my tiktoks#my videos#yes cell was based off a cicada
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Kinky Clue Submission:
Anon Asked: Sam Winchester, eating the reader out on the hood of the Impala...
WC: ~1200
Warnings: le smut
A/N: Kisses and thanks to the lovely @stusbunker for the beta work!
Let’s begin with a wholesome GIF of Sam eating a salad. The filth is below the cut!
It’s a hot summer night - the chirrup of cicadas and crickets pierces through thick, humid air that makes your sundress stick to your skin. You'd been teasing him for days- whispering all sorts of sin into his ear whenever you had the chance, pushing your tits and ass out any time there was an opportunity, rubbing up against him "by accident". Earlier, you'd sent him a picture of your spread-open pussy, and that's when he'd finally had enough.
Sam kisses you breathless as he walks the two of you toward the Impala. When the grill of the car meets the backs of your legs, Sam lifts you by the waist, sets you down on the still sun-warmed hood, and slots himself between your legs.
“God, you drive me crazy,” he breathes, twining a hand into your hair and tugging your head back to expose your neck. He rests his free hand over your knee while his teeth graze the edge of your jaw, nip at your earlobe, skim against your pulse. “Such a little tease...couldn’t stop thinking about your tight, wet pussy all week,” he continues, shifting his palm from your knee to your inner thigh.
“What are you gonna do about it, hmm?” you tease.
You gasp and feel Sam’s smile against your skin when his knuckle brushes against the warm, bare flesh between your legs. “Dirty girl," he hums, the dark tone of his voice teeming with appreciation that there isn't any lace, silk, or cotton in his way.
He slides one long finger in, smooth and slow, slipping in and out with unpredictable rhythm - fast, shallow thrusts and slow, deep strokes that barely brush your sweet spot until you’re writhing, trying to buck and grind against his hand.
You whine when he pulls his hand away. “Sam, please…”
He raises his fingers to his mouth with a grin just shy of wicked, looking predatory and brazenly triumphant as he licks your slick clean off his finger.
”Knees up,” he commands, “show me what I wanna see,” and your legs bend on instinct while you ruck up the hem of your sundress to your hips. You spread unabashedly open for him, aching and wanting and so wet you swear you’re dripping on the sleek, black enamel beneath you.
Dean would flip his shit if he knew what you were up to on the hood of his Baby, but fuck if that didn’t even make it more hot. And before you can give the matter any more thought or fucks, Sam is on his knees, running his hands over the inside of your thighs and staring at your cunt with nearly feral hunger.
His mouth chases the path of his hands, leaving a nip here, a kiss there, a long lick followed by a soft blow of air at the crease of your thigh that makes you shiver and sigh. He repeats on the other side, taking his time to drive you to the edge of madness, until you finally feel the tip of his nose brush against your center. Your fingers lace through his hair as your back arches, and he’s deliberately keeping his mouth a breath away from your cunt.
”Beg for it,” he growls, sneering up at you.
Your fingers curl and fist his hair. “Fuck...Sam, please…”
The very tip of Sam’s tongue traces a thin line from your entrance to your throbbing clit. “Come on now...tell me what this pretty pussy needs."
He keeps up his long, slow licks while you sputter out a chorus of feverish pleas: “Sam….please...god, please make come...want your fingers, your mouth, your tongue fucking me, eating my cunt till I’m coming all over your face... please, I’ll come so fucking good for you…”
With a grunt, he grabs the back of your knees and hooks your legs over his broad shoulders. He’s soft, warm velvet - his tongue stroking and thrusting deep inside your cunt, along your folds, rolling and circling over your clit. The push of his touch is at your entrance again, opening and stretching you, filling you with two of his long, heavy fingers.
“God, Sam…” you whine, the delicious drag of his fingers and warmth of his mouth sending bolts of bright, pulsing heat through you. One of your hands finds its way up your torso, landing on one of your tits, fingers pinching and pulling your hard, knotted nipple through the cotton of your dress. You’re lost in all the sensation - all you know is the smooth strands of his hair around your fingers, the rasp of his scruff against the tender flesh of your thighs, the flick of his tongue while he gathers your clit between his lips. His fingertips press against that place deep inside of you with just the right pressure, his mouth and tongue spelling out new definitions of both pleasure and filth. Then that hook anchors in your core, all that liquid heat and want and need swirling in the pit of your stomach, and every part of you seems to clench and tremble. Sam knows you’re close and he groans, the vibration infusing you with all new torrents of bliss as he strokes and presses and licks and sucks….
”Samsamsamfuck... yes, fuck Sam I’m gonna -” the rest is drowned within a lilted cry as your muscles seize and your cunt clenches, and Sam has you hurtling over the edge. He draws out your orgasm, slowing down his movements but not stopping, pulling back just a little while you ride the waves of your climax. Right before you come down completely, he starts up again, stuffing a third finger inside of you, reaching even deeper and tapping relentlessly against your g-spot. A scream is scratching at your throat, so you cover your mouth and bite the heel of your hand as your next climax rises, searing through every already-scorched cell in your body, and you feel like you may actually explode. Sam splays a hand over your belly, and with some kind unrecognizable sound you’re coming again, hard and soaking wet over Sam’s fingers and tongue and lips.
It’s as if you’ve drifted through a lightning storm - your head is heavy, nerve endings vaguely but pleasantly aware of Sam’s fingers sliding out of you, of his mouth feathering along the wet skin of your lips and thighs. He slips an arm behind your waist and gathers you in his arms, letting you gently slide off the Impala and land your feet on solid ground.
“Holy shit,” you finally manage, nuzzling even closer against him as you catch your breath and he places soft kisses on the top of your head. His heartbeat is fast and strong against your ear and he’s softly rutting against you, his steel-hard cock pressing against your stomach. Sam’s breath hitches as you rub him over the thin material of his athletic shorts and lets his head fall back with a moan when your fingertips tease between elastic and the taut skin of his abs.
You let your hand slip beneath the fabric and wrap your fingers around him, swiping the tip of your thumb over beads of precum. He hisses a curse and staggers, catches himself on the hood of the car, and watches you with a heavy-lidded stare as sink to your knees.
“Beg for it, Sam,” you smirk, tugging his shorts down. With your hand curled around the base, you flatten your tongue and give him a long, salacious lick from root to tip, delighted at the sound he makes as he fists a handful of your hair. “Tell me how bad you want me to suck this gorgeous cock.”
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So @ninja-knox-ur-sox-off is having a bit of an ordeal with a Tang-Snatching anon. So here's a crack chapter for Scattered Cicadas about it! Enjoy.
Read the full story starting here!
Scattered Cicadas - Bonus Chapter: The Tang Snatcher
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Tang struggled against the hold of his captor as he was carried across the rooftops. Getting kidnapped was never a fun occurrence, but this was a particularly grating experience as the grey demon spiriting him away refused to stop cackling.
Tang, who was tied up, gagged, and thrown over his kidnapper’s shoulders, could only hope the insane laughter would allow his family an easier time in tracking him down.
His captor suddenly jumped from the rooftops down into an alleyway, pausing his glee only for a moment as he opened a secret door in the back wall.
Tang was carried down a nondescript tunnel with torches lining the walls. It soon opened up into a large basement with a prison cell filled with about two dozen other men of various ages taking up the left half and what appeared to be a conspiracy theorists’ workspace on the right; complete with a cork board covered in photos and interconnected strings.
The laughing demon dumped Tang into the cell and made his way over to the desk, pulling out a red marker as he began to modify the board.
A few of the other captured men quickly made their way to the scholar and began freeing him from his bonds.
“So let me guess, your name is Tang?” The one pulling at the bindings on his feet seemed pretty calm for being imprisoned by a demon.
“Yes? How did you know that,” Tang asked once his gag had been removed.
“Oh give him a minute,” another man said as he helped Tang to his feet. “He’ll start gloating in just a second.”
“What?”
“At last!” The grey demon turned to face the group and Tang got his first good look at him.
He was almost completely featureless. Grey skin and clothes, no face, no horns or a tail or fur. The only thing that even slightly defined them was the pair of plain black sunglasses they wore.
“I, Hamburg! Have finally captured EVERY Tang in the city!”
Tang’s mouth hung open as he turned to the nearest person.
“Wait, are you all-?”
“Named Tang as well? Yup,” said the nonchalant Tang.
Oh this was going to get confusing.
“And now that I have them all,” the demon, Hamburg, continued, “I can figure out which of them is the reincarnation of the monk Tang Sanzang! I will devour them, steal their divinity, and become powerful enough to rule the world!” Hamburg let out another cackle which was impressive considering he had no mouth.
“What.” Tang just stared in bafflement.
“Yeah, that’s what we’ve been dealing with for a while now,” said a Tang with a lip piercing.
“But- But that doesn’t even make any sense!” Tang was used to over the top evil schemes but this?
This was plain insulting.
“Even if one of us was the reincarnation of Sanzang,” he absolutely was, but he wasn’t about to advertise that, “they’re basing that fact solely on our names. Which is absolutely idiotic! Reincarnations aren’t named after their past lives!
“Not to mention that his reincarnation wouldn’t be divine anymore, so what ‘power’ would he be getting?
“Sanzang wasn’t even that powerful to begin with! He was a monk! A pacifist! The only thing someone would gain from eating him was maybe immortality and even that is uncertain!
“And why go through the trouble of capturing all of us before beginning to test and see which of us might be the reincarnation? Now he just has a bunch of prisoners that he has to keep track of who, based on what I’ve seen so far, could undoubtedly outsmart him and escape!”
Tang whirled and glared at the now speechless demon.
“Did you do any research into this outside our names at all?!”
There was silence for a few moments before a Tang wearing a backwards baseball cap gave a low whistle.
“Damn. We’ve never been able to get him to shut up for this long.”
Before anything else could happen, there was an explosion from down the hall and soon MK, Mei, Pigsy, Sandy, and some kid Tang had never seen came running in.
“Give us our friend back!” MK charged at the demon, swinging his staff.
Tang ignored the extremely one-sided fight as he rushed up to the bars.
“How’d you guys find us?”
“I, uh, saw the grey dude take you into this alley earlier,” the new kid said. “When your friends here came by looking I led them down here. My name’s Knox by the way.”
Sandy casually ripped the door off the cell and began ushering the Tangs towards the exit. MK soon joined them after leaving Hamburg unconscious in the corner of the room.
“So what was that guy’s plan, anyway,” Mei asked as they headed up the tunnel.
Tang growled, catching them all off guard.
“It wasn’t a plan so much as a half-baked delusion of grandeur. I have never been so insulted as a scholar and researcher by the illogical ideas they were spewing.”
“Ooooookay,” Pigsy said. “Let’s get you back to the shop and you can have a bowl of noodles, on the house. That should cheer you up.”
“Thanks for the help,” MK waved to the kid who had led them to the alley as they headed down the street.
“No problem,” the kid, Knox he believed, waved back and disappeared into the crowd.
Tang’s mood lifted at the thought of free noodles. Hopefully he could forget all about this insane day with the help of his favorite dish.
#Ink Writes#Monkie Kid#Scattered Cicadas#Tang Snatcher Anon#this was a blast to whip up#ninja-knox-ur-sox-off#Knox#Tang#Tang Monkie Kid#MK#Mei#Pigsy#Sandy#Hamburg Anon#Tang Snatcher#Hamburg
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4th Dimensional Being/OC - CH3
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2
Full Length: 19,543
Chapter Length: 2,218
Main Themes: Other dimensions, tentacles, confinement, nsfw
Other Warnings: politics, "godly" behaviors, vomit, feeling of loss of autonomy, comparison to a toy
(all images in aesthetic board are labeled for reuse with modification or are mine)
The next chapter gets nasty...
The 4DB
Chapter 3: The Virus
They were all chattering like cicadas, a loud distant drone in the back of her head. Chris missed her phone. She missed Vincent. She even missed Mildred's occasional snarky comment. Instead she was here, the beginnings of a headache blooming, listening to the test subjects debate the pros and cons of their situation. Chris absently and quietly picked at her food.
John was grumpy. He complained that he shouldn't even be here. “Whatever this thing is it's keeping me from my job,” but he secretly thought that perhaps he'd be revered for his 'sacrifice,' assuming he was allowed to even talk about it after it ended.
“What do you do again?” Asked Cole at Chris’s side smartly.
John became red in the face but kept his composure. “Very funny.”
Aaron, nearly slumped over the cold metal table, shrugged and snorted. “Why's a ~mystical being~ need any of us anywho? A security guard, an energy-guy, a mayor, a fucking clerk for God's sake,” he gestured towards Chris.
“Well I know why he'd want me!” Boasted Nathan. “Must of saw me on the field and thought wow, I need him in my soon-to-be-cult!” His laugh was so loud. John sneered when he elbowed him.
The conversation just felt so shallow. Chris should have opted to sit with her roommate Morgan, but she had looked out of it ever since she'd first spoken with Gabriel the day before.
“So uh, what did it say to you guys?” Cole changed the subject suddenly.
Chris looked up, glancing around. Some of the men looked rather uncomfortable.
“Fucker wanted me to describe war to him,” Nathan answered quickly, his expression confused but vaguely amused. “Apparently they've had no wars. Not one. I think he's a liar, what a load of shit.”
John shrugged, leaning back a bit. “I was asked about my job. It was very tame.”
“Hey Chris, what did it ask you?” Cole nudged her from her thoughts.
The security guard chuckled. “How to send a letter?”
She ignored him. God, some of these guys were obnoxious. “It asked me about our government and how it treated me,” she shrugged, looking back at her food.
“I wonder what the eggheads will do with those recordings,” Nathan interjected. “Not like they can hear the bastard. It'll just be a bunch of government losers ranting about their jobs. Oh, and then me having to explain every damn World War like I was a school teacher. Whatever that thing is... it knows nothing about us.”
At least Chris could agree with that.
The experiments continued. The scientists began to fill out; the building became more abuzz with life than it had at the start. Suddenly the subjects felt surrounded. There was always some straight-laced woman or expressionless man beside them. Tailor, Sparrow, Rock, Dove, they all came with some codename. And, even in the reports of which the subjects could not access, Chris and her comrades were coded as well. Like they were trying to hide who they were, what they were doing, to keep their discoveries a secret from the rest of the world.
Regardless, a week had gone by and the only thing they'd discovered was that the 4DB was communicating directly inside of the subjects' heads. They tried to figure out a way to at least record the brain readings of the subjects' during sessions, and indeed found ample evidence that the auditory system was being stimulated. It was telepathy. Unfortunately they were having difficulty figuring out how to translate the brain's signals into actual words. They would have to stick with word of mouth.
“Have you learned anything about us?” Chris asked, walking around the pink square casually.
“Much. You are each individuals, like us. However, you are perhaps more individually inclined than I estimated,” they admitted curiously.
“I hope that helps you re-consider exterminating us. Cause... ya know, I sorta wanna live.”
Gabriel paused. “All things want to live. Even a virus wants to live.”
She scrunched her brows, angry. “We are not a virus, Gabriel. Grow up.”
“...No, I suppose you are not.” Gabriel went quiet for a while.
Chris calmed a bit and finished her circle. She leaned against the wall. “I wish I could go back home. I miss my friends. The people here- they're... I don't know. Not my sort. I'm tired.”
That was almost enough to make Gabriel feel some guilt, but if they had not plucked Chris from her home they'd have plucked someone else. “I do see the way you look.”
She rose a brow, confused. “Huh? What's that supposed to mean?”
“The way you look. When they speak.”
For a moment she was beside herself, believing they were saying some sort of gibberish. But then it clicked. Her brows shot up and her head went light. “You watch us when we're not in the chamber?”
“Of course I do. I am not confined to one spot,” they shook their heads.
She paled. Then she reddened. “Nooo no no, do you...” her voice got quiet. “...see us when we... pee? And shower?”
Apparently that was funny because they laughed strangely. “Yes. Now I see you are embarrassed. Do not be embarrassed, for I can see any part of you at any time if I wished. I can see all your organs. Like now, your heart has sped up.”
Chris placed her hand to her heart as if she could hide it. It was sort of cute. “Y-yeah? Well can you see I'm going to vomit?”
They looked to the right, down the vague rivers of time. “Maybe. A long, long time from now.”
She sighed, sort of sick. “Well Gabriel, nice knowin' ya. I'm out for the day.” Chris absconded from the chamber five minutes early. The scientists were not pleased.
As days ticked on Chris could see how the results of these studies were wearing away at the morale of the scientists. Some were exhausted, some were disappointed, some were scared and angry. They grew impatient with the 4DB. It still only spoke to them to issue commands. Then, one day, when a particularly irritable scientist got cocky, the 4DB actually laughed and shoved them. Right in front of their colleagues. None of the subjects saw it, but of course they heard about it through the grape vine.
The scientists wanted to stop sending the subjects into the chamber to test the limits of the 4DBs relationship with the lab. However, too many feared some retaliation so such a test never came to fruition. Instead, they spitefully released one lesser subject's contracts and then started increasing the amount of time the remaining subjects would spend with the scientists. Gale began to meet with Chris once a day, though in a much more comfortable room than the one they'd first conversed in.
“How have you settled in?” Gale asked, leaning comfortably in her chair and crossing her long legs. “A week and a half far from home... you must miss your friends.”
At this point she was almost too nervous to voice her true feelings. “Yeah, it feels more like a month,” she answered instead, uncomfortable.
Gale nodded and drummed her fingers on the table between them, observing Chris. She changed the subject masterfully. “You know, your recordings are the most interesting.”
That made Chris perk up, a bit of adrenaline pushing into her veins. “What do you mean?”
The other smirked, entertained. “You're the only subject so far who sounds almost friendly with the 4DB. And don't think we didn't notice you named it, too.”
Chris didn't want to admit that hearing that made her feeling sort of... special. “I didn't know you listened to the recordings,” her cheeks tinted.
“Of course! And transcribe as well,” Gale explained. “You call it Gabriel. Like before it made its presence known to us, like Gabriel's Children. The other subjects... well. Gabriel seems to get something from them that we just don't.”
Chris glanced down at her hand fidgeting in her lap, embarrassed.
“But wow, does it talk to you. Maybe it's your time in retail. You just have a way with small talk,” she began to laugh. “So Chris, I have a proposal for you.”
She lifted her eyes. “Um... y-yeah?”
Gale leaned forward, face friendly and tone pleasant, but Chris could feel the strange aura emanating from her piercing eyes. “Get closer to it. Make it friendly. It obviously favors you and we need that. We are more then well aware- based off your recordings and reports- that the fate of the world, no, maybe the whole solar system, depends on Gabriel's opinion-”
“Well there are more than one 4DB,” you interrupted.
She looked only slightly aggravated at the interruption, then continued. “-And Gabriel's opinion might just fall on its opinion of you. Try to get it to talk to us more naturally. Not just commands. It's not working with us like we'd like. And in return? You'll get cell phone access again,” she winked. “Have some time to chat with those friends you miss so much.”
Chris agreed. That wouldn't be so hard. All she had to do was keep doing what she was doing. The world would learn more, she would get her cell phone back, and maybe with some luck Gabriel wouldn't vote to destroy the Earth.
But then, during the next session in the chamber with the pink square, she found a tense heaviness in the air like standing underwater.
“I heard your conversation,” Gabriel said immediately, emotionless.
Shocked and anxious, Chris tried to play it off as nothing. “That was just... it was just-”
Gabriel cut her off. “Quiet. You miss your human friends.”
She was uncertain if she was allowed to reply or not, stunned. Instead she just nodded stiffly and crossed her arms.
“And if I comply by being more 'cooperative' with your knowledge keepers they will allow you to speak with these friends,” they went on. After a pause they added: “I am indifferent to your plight.”
When Gabriel said nothing else Chris took it as her cue to respond. She was quiet, as if trying not to be picked up by the small microphone clipped to her shirt. “I... nothing would change. All we have to do is talk. Just like before. That's all they really want.”
“We shall see,” Gabriel said plainly.
The problem was that their plan began to work, despite Gabriel being aware of it. Though they didn't necessarily speak directly to the scientists they did grow warmer to Chris. Chris had a way about her that just made Gabriel so... interested in her. She didn't make cutting remarks (as if that would have hurt anyways), she didn't refuse to answer their questions, and she didn't make light of the atrocities of her country. She just talked. Like speaking with Gabriel was the most natural thing in the world. They didn't quite mind the nick-name anymore either, if they were honest. They hated that they were warm with Chris.
Gale was 'happy' the two of them were still getting along. Chris didn't tell her Gabriel knew about the plan, but they obviously suspected it. Everyday the scientist looked a little more intense. Gale continued to drill it into Chris's head to get Gabriel speaking with the scientists. Was it more cooperative today? No. How about now? No. Gale held back her irritation. At the end of each daily session she was led to her room feeling uncomfortable and alone. Chris still hadn't gotten her cell phone back. Her friends probably thought she was dead.
“Has it really been three weeks since this whole thing started?” Chris sighed, sitting on the cold floor. She fiddled with the rim of her shirt's neck, knowing full well that would cause sound disturbance in the recording. She'd get a mouthful about that.
Gabriel, who was sitting comfortably beyond the barrier, twirled their tentacles around one another absently. “For you.”
Chris nodded. She was quiet a moment. “Then how long is three weeks in your dimension?”
“For you it is sixty seconds to a minute, sixty minutes to an hour, twenty-four hours to a day, seven days to a week. For me it is... time functions differently,” they tried to explain. “I've only met you a few 'days' ago.”
That was hard for her to wrap her head around. “And are you really learning by doing this? Keeping us here in a box? Just talking?”
“Yes,” they replied simply.
They really were. They not only listened to word-of-mouth, they saw into the deep wrinkles of the subjects' brains, saw their bodily chemistry rise and fall. They watched for reactions to key words, how the subjects interacted with one another and their human 'captors.'
Chris shrugged, pursing her lips. She didn't seem to believe them. “Ooookay. Ya know this could go a lot faster if you also spoke to the scientists.” Of course they both knew what Chris was trying to do.
��So eager to hear your judgment.”
She shrugged again, somehow feeling rather fond of Gabriel in that moment. “Nah... just to hear my friends' voices again.”
Soon, Gabriel automatically thought, surprising themself.
Chapters 4, 5, and the epilogue will remain Patron-only content! However, eventually the full story will be edited more and added to Gumroad as an e-book as well. So if you’d like to get to the nsfw or read the rest, check out NSFWGenuflect on Patreon or wait for the Gumroad release :}
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Day 24: Repress
I kind of forgot about this prompt, but I do really like it.
Mild warning angst and an implied war of some sort. Kind of have to squint, though. No changes.
*****
"I don't--" Kira hooks her thumb in her belt and strains the appendage against the leather. The burn of the stretch is grounding. "Are you telling the truth?"
He has to be. He’s a horrible liar and she knows each of his tells. There hadn’t been any, but the truth is… she’d rather accept that he’s been able to lie this whole time then that.
He looks like… weathered stone. Something hard, but soft under a gentle touch, under time. Soft in the face of kindness, but not any less deadly because of it. “I am,” Jason confirms.
Kira tries to breathe. “Then why tell me?”
“Because…” he steels his expression over and the softness gives way to steel. “I want to give you a chance to get out.” He steps closer and reaches for her hands, holding them as he has before. She lets him, out of a loss of knowing what else to do.
“Why?”
Her eyes lock on his, looking for the anchor she’s always found in them, but all she can see is stormy waves. The ship is gone, it seems, under the spotlight of the truth. His identity. He wasn’t just another normal civilian.
“You know why.”
She shakes her head, slow. “No.” It speeds up, her hair swishing with the movement. A hand falls from his grasp. “I don’t.” She can’t. Her fingers begin to tremble. She fists her free hand against her hip, digging her knuckles into the bone. Stay calm.
He’s not— that couldn’t be why he’s trying to spare her. Why he wants to, even though they’re not the allies she’d originally believed.
“You can’t,” she tells him. “You can’t.”
It would be much easier to deal with this if he didn’t, if that was another part of his lie. It would make a fool of her, be humiliating, but she can deal with shame.
She doesn’t know if she can deal with this.
“I do,” he says. Steps closer. Wraps a hand around her elbow and holds her jaw with the other. “I love you.”
“You can’t,” she bites back tears with a harsh snap. She’s not sad. She’s angry. Maybe a little hurt, but mostly angry.
She jerks out of his hold. He lets her.
“I could go report you,” she says, hooking her thumb in the direction of home base. She doesn’t know why she isn’t running to do so. It doesn’t appear like he has any intentions to stop her.
“You won’t.” He’s trying for brave, she thinks, but his hands are tense at his sides and his shoulders are too squarish to be relaxed. Too stressed to be confident. He doesn’t know. He’s hoping.
Kira licks her lips. She knows why she isn’t running. “And why not?”
She knows why she’s still talking to him. Staying. Not reporting the threat, the intruder, the spy in their midst.
She loves him, too. Or did.
The persona, at least. Was he any different? How much of him was the farce?
She doesn’t know how that holds up in the face of sudden transformation, him stepping under a light she thought was too broken to work in his proximity. Traitor.
“Because,” he whispers, “you always find the good in people. In me. Can’t you still see it?”
The implications of that are horrible. Tragic. She ignores the implications. She tries to see the good. All she sees is dripping blood and ringing explosions.
Slowly, her head shakes.
She can’t see the good. Not when she knows the bad that’s been lurking behind it this entire time.
“I’m sorry,” she tells him, taking slow and careful steps back, like reality will shatter if she moves too quickly or does something too harsh. She’s trying to grapple with her conflicting emotions. She has to go.
Has to. No choice.
The tears are welled in her eyes enough that his figure is wobbling.
“Please.” He lifts an arm and she stumbles away. “Do it…” his eyes close and open again, “do it as my favor.”
Her heart stills. Her hands go numb. Everything just kind of halts. The world seems quiet, no cicadas buzzing as white noise.
“Your favor?”
Is that someone she still owes him? Does she still owe her life to a man who saved her if he’s part of something that wants her dead?
No. She doesn’t… doesn’t think so. One doesn’t equal one thousand. The scales are not even.
This doesn’t change her lack of choice.
“It wasn’t for anything,” she tells him, mind reliving flashes of that day. The pound of his heart, the terror in her throat, the way he’d kept her safe from a hail of bullets. “Just practically.” This doesn’t fall under that umbrella.
Things like this are why she always pairs anything and everything with practically and almost. She’d hoped that it would never come to this, of course, that that tiny statistic wouldn’t come to bother her, but…
Well, she didn’t have a choice in that either.
“Kira—”
She turns on her heel and flees to base. Fear nips her heels — what was he going to say? Would it have been enough to make her see his side? To spare him?
She demands a meeting with the commander. Her adrenaline has run out, weightlessness now crushing. “Sir,” she greets as she walks in. She swallows all the happiness she’s had in the past three months. “I have discovered the identity of a spy.”
His brows lift automatically, attention snagged before he can ridicule her for improper conduct.
“It’s Jason,” she says, and the name feels heavy and bitter. Dark chocolate. Like that bar he’d smuggled in for her after she’d admitted it was her favorite, a guilty pleasure she never got to partake in. She shuts the memory down. No. She can’t think about his kindness now.
It’s too late.
“Are you sure?”
She remembers his admission, soft like a knife wrapped in satin can’t stab just as deep as one not. “Yes. I’d bet my job on it, sir.”
His face hardens, murder hidden in the wrinkles, and Kira tries to crush the bit of love that’s drowning in her.
She can’t love him. Not with what she just did. With what he is.
She sits on a bench and does nothing as he’s found (he hadn’t left that spot, had stayed there, even knowing that it would mean his capture) and chained and denounced. Labeled a traitor.
He doesn’t fight the accusations. He accepts them and tries to look in her eyes as he’s dragged off to a cell.
She doesn’t meet his gaze, but still ends up drowning. That’s something she doesn’t need the blue of his eyes for, apparently. Or maybe the simple memory of it is enough.
Either way, the stutter in her heartbeat and the faded warmth in her hands, her elbow, her face, the depth of his betrayal and the sting of hers; it’s enough to drag her under.
She takes her paid week off to mourn what she didn’t see. She’d been too busy swimming, apparently, to notice the upcoming riptides.
She drips tears onto her pillow and swears not to make that mistake again. Still, calm waters can be more deadly than any storm.
*****
Random side note: I am still proud of the weathered stone comparison.
#writeblr#writing#creative writing#angst#prompt fill#nikkywritesstories#nikkywritesprompts#my writing#repost from my old blog#creatober#creatober 2020#kira#jason#kira and jason#tragedy#i still love this piece#can you tell that i have a thing for angst?
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Day 24: Repress
This is another day’s prompt that I got really attatched to. I hope you all like it half as much. I am also aware that I’m not doing great with the whole two-prompts-a-day-until-I’m-caught-up thing. I’m trying. That’s what counts. Luckily I’m not too far behind — two prompts tomorrow and I’m caught up.
Mild warning of this taking place in a war. You gotta squint real hard, though.
*****
“I don’t—” Kira hooks her thumb in her belt and strains the appendage against the leather. The burn of the stretch is grounding. “Are you telling the truth?”
He has to be. He’s a horrible liar and she knows each of his tells. There hadn’t been any, but the truth is… she’d rather accept that he’s been able to lie this whole time then that.
He looks like... weathered stone. Something hard, but soft under a gentle touch, under time. Soft in the face of kindness, but not any less deadly because of it. “I am,” Jason confirms.
Kira tries to breathe. “Then why tell me?”
“Because…” he steels his expression over and the softness gives way to steel. “I want to give you a chance to get out.” He steps closer and reaches for her hands, holding them as he has before. She lets him, out of a loss of knowing what else to do.
“Why?”
Her eyes lock on his, looking for the anchor she’s always found in them, but all she can see is stormy waves. The ship is gone, it seems, under the spotlight of the truth. His identity. He wasn’t just another normal civilian.
“You know why.”
She shakes her head, slow. “No.” It speeds up, her hair swishing with the movement. A hand falls from his grasp. “I don’t.” She can’t. Her fingers begin to tremble. She fists her free hand against her hip, digging her knuckles into the bone. Stay calm.
He’s not— that couldn’t be why he’s trying to spare her. Why he wants to, even though they’re not the allies she’d originally believed.
“You can’t,” she tells him. “You can’t.”
It would be much easier to deal with this if he didn’t, if that was another part of his lie. It would make a fool of her, be humiliating, but she can deal with shame.
She doesn’t know if she can deal with this.
“I do,” he says. Steps closer. Wraps a hand around her elbow and holds her jaw with the other. “I love you.”
“You can’t,” she bites back tears with a harsh snap. She’s not sad. She’s angry. Maybe a little hurt, but mostly angry.
She jerks out of his hold. He lets her.
“I could go report you,” she says, hooking her thumb in the direction of home base. She doesn’t know why she isn’t running to do so. It doesn’t appear like he has any intentions to stop her.
“You won’t.” He’s trying for brave, she thinks, but his hands are tense at his sides and his shoulders are too squarish to be relaxed. Too stressed to be confident. He doesn’t know. He’s hoping.
Kira licks her lips. She knows why she isn’t running. “And why not?”
She knows why she’s still talking to him. Staying. Not reporting the threat, the intruder, the spy in their midst.
She loves him, too. Or did.
The persona, at least. Was he any different? How much of him was the farce?
She doesn’t know how that holds up in the face of sudden transformation, him stepping under a light she thought was too broken to work in his proximity. Traitor.
“Because,” he whispers, “you always find the good in people. In me. Can’t you still see it?”
The implications of that are horrible. Tragic. She ignores the implications. She tries to see the good. All she sees is dripping blood and ringing explosions.
Slowly, her head shakes.
She can’t see the good. Not when she knows the bad that’s been lurking behind it this entire time.
“I’m sorry,” she tells him, taking slow and careful steps back, like reality will shatter if she moves too quickly or does something too harsh. She’s trying to grapple with her conflicting emotions. She has to go.
Has to. No choice.
The tears are welled in her eyes enough that his figure is wobbling.
“Please.” He lifts an arm and she stumbles away. “Do it…” his eyes close and open again, “do it as my favor.”
Her heart stills. Her hands go numb. Everything just kind of halts. The world seems quiet, no cicadas buzzing as white noise.
“Your favor?”
Is that someone she still owes him? Does she still owe her life to a man who saved her if he’s part of something that wants her dead?
No. She doesn’t… doesn’t think so. One doesn’t equal one thousand. The scales are not even.
This doesn’t change her lack of choice.
“It wasn’t for anything,” she tells him, mind reliving flashes of that day. The pound of his heart, the terror in her throat, the way he’d kept her safe from a hail of bullets. “Just practically.” This doesn’t fall under that umbrella.
Things like this are why she always pairs anything and everything with practically and almost. She’d hoped that it would never come to this, of course, that that tiny statistic wouldn’t come to bother her, but…
Well, she didn’t have a choice in that either.
“Kira—”
She turns on her heel and flees to base. Fear nips her heels — what was he going to say? Would it have been enough to make her see his side? To spare him?
She demands a meeting with the commander. Her adrenaline has run out, weightlessness now crushing. “Sir,” she greets as she walks in. She swallows all the happiness she’s had in the past three months. “I have discovered the identity of a spy.”
His brows lift automatically, attention snagged before he can ridicule her for improper conduct.
“It’s Jason,” she says, and the name feels heavy and bitter. Dark chocolate. Like that bar he’d smuggled in for her after she’d admitted it was her favorite, a guilty pleasure she never got to partake in. She shuts the memory down. No. She can’t think about his kindness now.
It’s too late.
“Are you sure?”
She remembers his admission, soft like a knife wrapped in satin can’t stab just as deep as one not. “Yes. I’d bet my job on it, sir.”
His face hardens, murder hidden in the wrinkles, and Kira tries to crush the bit of love that’s drowning in her.
She can’t love him. Not with what she just did. With what he is.
She sits on a bench and does nothing as he’s found (he hadn’t left that spot, had stayed there, even knowing that it would mean his capture) and chained and denounced. Labeled a traitor.
He doesn’t fight the accusations. He accepts them and tries to look in her eyes as he’s dragged off to a cell.
She doesn’t meet his gaze, but still ends up drowning. That’s something she doesn’t need the blue of his eyes for, apparently. Or maybe the simple memory of it is enough.
Either way, the stutter in her heartbeat and the faded warmth in her hands, her elbow, her face, the depth of his betrayal and the sting of hers; it’s enough to drag her under.
She takes her paid week off to mourn what she didn’t see. She’d been too busy swimming, apparently, to notice the upcoming riptides.
She drips tears onto her pillow and swears not to make that mistake again. Still, calm waters can be more deadly than any storm.
*****
I’m oddly proud of that weathered stone comparison. Don’t know why, but I’ll take being psyched over my own writing where I can get it. I just think it hits a little different, don’t think I’ve seen that before.
#gtpatcreatober#writing#writeblr#creative writing#writblr#my writing#nikkywrites#creatober#Kira#Jason#Kira and Jason#tragedy#Romeo and Juliet gone wrong#I do actually love this piece though#I have a thing for tragedies#they’re just so captivating
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A Road Story; or, Satori in Wisconsin
Seven seven eighty-four. Thirty-five years on and it still rates as the momentous experience in my life. Certainly it never crossed my mind as we piled into Boisson’s Chevette to head for the Ticketron outlet that I’d still remember that day; it was a pretty astounding twenty-four hours, and I’ve probably been trying to figure out what exactly happened ever since.
In classic fashion, we (Mike, Kent, and myself) left without tickets, camping gear, sustenance, and, as it turned out, a bowl. At least we had money enough for lawn seats and doses. We made a quick stop to see if our friend Ben wanted to come along (which he did, leaving a note on the fridge: “Mom-- went to see the Dead. Be back later”), and then we were off to Southlake Mall for the tickets. Later on I would discover how easy we’d had it, walking in the day of the show and getting four tickets for $40 or so, but at that time it was just another errand. As I recall we stopped off at Hegewisch Records too, but we didn’t have enough cash for even the cheapest paraphernalia (why no papers? you ask; I have no idea). I recall the sun shining in a bright blue sky, tunes on the deck, and the summer air blowing through the windows as we made our way out of Indiana, around Chicago, through Illinois and into Wisconsin: a thoroughly uneventful trip to Alpine Valley. Along the way, we tried to work around our lack of an implement using the car’s cigarette lighter as a modified chillum with a decided lack of success. No matter though, it would all work out.
Arrival at the venue proved mind-boggling. From the instant we drove into the lot I felt a very real sense of dropping through a trap door into an alternate or parallel world, truly terra incognita. I mean, I’d seen a few longhairs and stereotypical potheads, but never this kind of display-- it was like stumbling onto some hidden alien hideout, with a mix of bikers and frat boys, Renn Faire extras and Computer Lab weirdoes, fools and fakirs, cowboys, grits, and hippies straight out of Central Casting. I distinctly remember gawking at one freak merrily bopping along the lane between parking areas and his extremely amused reaction to my open-mouthed staring: he shook his head with a grinning laugh and wagged his finger at me as he sing-song-ed “You don’t know what’s going to happen!” He had my number.
We finally parked and in the first bit of weirdness discovered that we were right next to friends of mine from Earlham College: Kevin, Marti, and oddly enough Matt, with whom I had done the “New Wave and Punk” radio program my freshman year. I think Blind Bob was with them too. A completely unplanned happening and a total surprise! Introductions all around, cold Wiedeman’s handed out, and attempts at orientation made. We had parked in the front lot, fairly close to the theater’s entrance, and it was a pretty lively scene; lots of vending and general hustle and bustle going on. I turned around and Mike handed me two hits of Red Saucer bought from a passer-by (“fresh dipped, three days outta’ Berkeley, man!”), some for K and B and we were set-- down the hatch and here we go!
The first waves started as I sat on the front bumper of my friends’ car, watching the continual flow of people headed to the show. I became aware of a non-stop susurrus as all the beautiful hippie women drifted by and then a slight echo or ebbing and flowing of white noise from the sounds of voices calling greetings or advertising wares; I felt illogical movements throughout my body like I was inflating and respiring in a rhythm that was picked up and repeated by everyone and everything I looked at. I found myself unable to speak and quick check of my traveling companions found them equally stymied in that capacity. My older/wiser college friends laughed their asses off as I tried to explain in some sort of lobotomized, molasses-covered mime language to a wandering sticker-saleswoman that, in fact, I had no money and would be unable to purchase her wares. She was considerably less amused.
The flow of people toward the gates had increased and it became almost synchronized, like some sort of huge Busby Berkeley number, or a Fleischer Brothers cartoon in vivid pulsing colors. I looked in the direction of the gates and was amazed to see a dome-like dark purple glow emanating from just beyond the fence, as if some huge extra-terrestrial craft had descended, pulling the earth towards its base, and now, as my more mobile friends assured me, it was time for us to enter that dome. A crush of bodies as we got nearer, a rush of babel and laughter and flashes and flickers of faces and feet, a whirring tempest of flesh and sweat and teeth, and still the inhalation and exhalation of all creation keeping pace with mine, increasing until they were indistinguishable and then suddenly we were through the turnstiles and onto the cool humid grass sloping down towards the stage.
There’s a definite feeling that’s unique to the lawn at Alpine. It’s hard to pin down with just words, but my memory of it is always the rustling paper buzz of cicadas, the stillness of the air as it darkens with twilight, heavy with midsummer moisture, and a permeating vapor of organics, the bubbling smells of mushrooms and bark and leaves. That great stretch of lawn, dotted with blankets and, yes, even picnic baskets and coolers, conversation volumes bouncing between raucous jubilation and whispering anticipation, and again the distant sound of little bells and bare feet whisking through the grass. There are fireflies in my memory but they probably didn’t come out until later. Lots of people didn’t like the venue for various reasons but I’ve got nothing but great memories of the place and the various shows I saw there. It really is a special place.
We finally sat down in a spot about halfway down the slope and now the first really big wave arrived. The angle of the hill seemed to increase dramatically, and the cheerfully echoing tintinnabulation morphed into the ceaseless brass clangor of a thousand temple gongs. Everything outside of a ten-foot radius began to smear slightly as friends and neighbors passed in and out of sight. The initial strangeness of the other attendees began to manifest in the occasional extra eyeball or an odd lizard-like tail. It was getting more and more difficult to keep standing and I distinctly remember a bug-eyed Ben crawling across the grass toward me asking the eternal acid question: “what... is... going... on?” I hadn’t really thought about that, and now it seemed like a fairly important thing to figure out. I glanced around and discovered we were surrounded by nothing but bikers and this fully and truly freaked-out my Sex Pistols t-shirt-wearing self so I had to lie down with my eyes closed to ride out what I was sure would be an inevitable stomping. The “Great A-Horr” as Keyz put it, I think. So, I rode it out. Full on, full-blown mind-manifesting trip through the internal galaxy, visiting a dozen past and future selves, discovering that they were actually the beings sitting next to me, the eternal connection to the infernal and divine all right there with me inside a glowing purple sphere spinning somewhere out on the very farthest shores of my own personal Big Bang. Eventually the maelstrom of psychic winds began to ease a bit and I felt considerably more relaxed, my spine unknotting itself a bit, fingers and toes uncurling. Breathing for what seemed like the first time in ages.
I opened my eyes and announced that I was now ready for the show to start. Near universal guffaws informed me that I’d missed the whole first set, and so, fairly unfazed by this I set off in search of the bathroom. That trek was wild and wooly (and a great tale in its own right) but was successfully completed and somehow I managed to make my way back to my friends to compare notes. Still not a lot of verbal skills among us but all seemed well and we relaxed, drew deep breaths, and plummeted into set two as the twilight turned to darkness.
Nothing particularly special on paper, the second set contained music I was familiar enough with as well as unfamiliar variations that opened door after door, revealing unimagined vistas and possibilities. Some pieces imprinted deeply and became part and parcel of how I understand myself, like the darkness and betrayal of ‘Cold Rain and Snow’ or the regrets and redemption of ‘Brokedown Palace.’ Other sequences simply tore away at my expectations for musical performance, vigorously demonstrating the deep value of opening oneself to what was happening at every moment, letting go and being fully ex stasis.
The combination of the blotters, the music (and christ on a crutch! can you ever forget how that sound system could move every tone through your whole body, vibrating the spaces between your cells), and the very real manifestation of the crowd’s energy all catalyzed in the great, green alembic of Alpine Valley. It seemed that we had truly left life behind in the gravel of the parking lot, that there would be no returning, so best now release your grip and to dive into the heart of the cauldron. I remember that Candace’s lights carved the pillars and trusses and roof of the pavilion into twisting Aztec temple walls filled with mystic flowers and then gaunt, electric caryatids of Gothic saints, then a full illuminated medieval bestiary of day-glo dragons and falcons, and a sudden molten eruption like Rodin’s Gates of Hell before flickering back into ordinary steel and wood as the music drove us further and further out of bounds.
At one point, it sounded as if the gears of the universe were being forcibly stopped, a deep, dangerous grinding and screeching that shook away what was left of the ground below us, gargantuan cable tethers thrumming with the strain. Then shuddering stars shot beams of light catching bits and pieces of the people surging around me, writhing and melting against each other, turning into literal waves washing back and forth, up and down the hill, crashing against the white hot engine on stage, rushing back again and again, a bubbling witches’ brew into which I dis-incorporated and then reformed over and over until with one last massive exhalation it all became Alpine Valley again-- still vibrating to be sure, the grass seething with garter snakes of energy, rippling quicksilver just escaping from the periphery of my vision-- but actually back on earth; speechless, agog, poleaxed by the enormity of the trip-- mama, mama, many worlds I’ve come since I first left home.
We slowly slogged and stumbled up the hill, still seeming impossibly steep, and eventually got back to the lot and our car. The air filled with the smell of gunpowder, beer, and cooking food, the high- pressure sodium lights giving everything an odd sheen. Fireworks arced and exploded randomly everywhere as we cooled off with beer and little watermelon. Kevin gave me a fraternal shoulder punch and asked: So whatcha’ think? All I could summon was a shaky “Wow.” I compared notes with Kent, but mostly we were kinda’ speechless still. The facility staff didn’t seem to have any intention of making anyone leave, and things carried on into the night as the lights were turned off and the hooting continued. It took a little doing but we managed to convince Mike that he should not attempt the drive home and we made do with what crashing space we could find in the car, waking with the dawn to figure out which way to go.
I had experienced all the parts of that day at separate times, or in partial combination, but none of it, nothing at all had prepared me for seeing the Elephant. Haven’t quite figured out what he told me, but I’m working on it.
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Tuesday, 6.57 PM
A coalescence Beneath the topsoil, in the roots you feel it stirring. Cicadas in tandem, shells cracking, legs extend tentatively in the Dirt—and you take me down, hands cradling the base of my skull instinctively as we fall Entwined and mirror limbed like a twin Flame, and even at a distance I can feel your presence in my body like a lantern lit low, but burning steady. Growing things require light and sustenance and when you are near, I feel very, very Hungry. I want to trace the upturned crescent curve of your mouth with my tongue, Jam your fingers inside my skirt and rip it off. Kaleidoscopic flashes illuminate a series of tableaux featuring two animals Limbs lashing Muscles taut with instinctual intent No restraint Only presence Praying or the closest I will ever come, all Queries dissolve within the soul rending Reverberation of every single cell, even our sweat is Singing. Torch the old shelters and release their ghosts, Unlace your binding as I will mine Vault up the steps and stand with me on the parapet—no more Weeping, no more gnashing of teeth or beating of breast—as we Xhale our self concepts and watch them fall, dissolving in the ether. Yes I will and you will too. Zoo theory bent so far and so broken now we know we have been free.
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Can You Believe There Are Cockroach Farms in China?
The featured video, produced by the South China Morning Post, opens with these words: "If cockroaches make you uncomfortable … this could be your worst nightmare." Indeed. Most of us would do almost anything to avoid a daily work environment that involves contact with millions of teeming roaches. In China, however, cockroaches are big business.
A number of Chinese cities contending with explosive population growth are finding cockroaches to be a helpful solution to the ever-increasing problem of food waste disposal. With landfills approaching capacity in some areas, it's roaches to the rescue.
Not only do these pesky insects eat food scraps, but they also are a source of animal feed and an ingredient in some health and beauty products, as well as medicines. Though you may find it hard to believe, cockroach breeding farms in China are the real deal.
Roaches to the Rescue: China's Unusual Urban Waste Disposal System
Cockroaches are big business in China, where, according to Reuters, teeming colonies of them are entrusted with the serious job of devouring tons of kitchen waste.1 Though the thought of millions of cockroaches together in one location sounds like something from a horror movie, it is actually the foundation of an innovative urban waste disposal system.
The goal: Reduce the amount of food-related garbage deposited in landfills. The issue of food waste is particularly problematic in large Chinese cities with rapidly expanding populations. Because roaches have voracious appetites and are easy to house, they are, it seems, the perfect match for China's garbage problem.
These so-called cockroach farms are maintained in humid, near-dark conditions, which are ideal for the insects. When the bugs eventually die, they are usually transformed into animal feed. On the outskirts of Jinan, for example, the capital of eastern Shandong province, a billion cockroaches are being fed about 50 metric tons of kitchen waste a day.
That's an amount equivalent in weight to seven elephants. With respect to how the garbage makes its way to the roaches, Reuters states:2
"The waste arrives before daybreak at the plant run by Shandong Qiaobin Agricultural Technology Co., where it is fed through pipes to cockroaches in their cells. Shandong Qiaobin plans to set up three more such plants next year, aiming to process a third of the kitchen waste produced by Jinan, home to about 7 million people."
While some people despise cockroaches and others are disgusted by them, Li Yanrong, general manager of Shandong Qiaobin, sees these hardy insects only for their beneficial qualities. In 2017, Li told China Daily:3
"We spent six years doing research into using cockroaches after finding that they can feed on kitchen waste and create no pollutants. Using cockroaches to deal with kitchen waste is good for our country and for business. Social problems created by kitchen waste will be eradicated."
Li claims cockroaches are able and willing to devour almost anything. He says they can consume up to 5 percent of their body weight every day. "Cockroaches have been eating plants and organic matter since hundreds of millions of years ago," he said. "They are experts in waste composting."4
Cockroaches Picking Up Where Pigs Left Off After Swine Fever Outbreak
Li is not the only one enthused about roaches. "Cockroaches are a biotechnological pathway for the converting and processing of kitchen waste," says Liu Yusheng, president of Shandong Insect Industry Association and entomology professor at Shandong Agricultural University.5
This is particularly the case because it's currently illegal to feed human food waste to pigs in China. Roaches have come to the forefront, in part, due to the Chinese nationwide ban on using food waste for pig feed.6 That ban, which has fueled the growth of the cockroach industry, came about as a result of African swine fever outbreaks first detected in August 2018.7
In October 2018, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued a statement saying, "After the provinces with outbreaks and neighboring provinces completely banned feeding of kitchen waste to pigs, the epidemic was greatly reduced, which fully demonstrates the importance of completely prohibiting the feeding of waste [to pigs]."8
The industry is primed to grow even more as a result of the new laws around pigs and food waste. In the past three years, Liu notes the number of cockroach farmers in Shandong alone has tripled to about 400. "There have been huge developments in cockroach breeding and research in the past few years," said Liu.9
Novel Uses for Cockroaches Include Health and Beauty Applications
Beyond eating waste, cockroaches are valued for other reasons, including their eggs. Li told China Daily his company can earn 36.5 million yuan ($5.3 million) a year by selling protein feed produced from cockroach eggs.10 "A cockroach begins laying eggs when it is 4 months old. It lays one egg each week and can lay eggs for eight months," Li said.11
In addition, roaches are being considered for their potential usefulness in health and beauty products and medications. As presented in the featured video, in Sichuan, a privately held company called Gooddoctor Pharmaceutical Research, established in 1998, is raising about 6 billion cockroaches.
Geng Funeng, president of Gooddoctor, who appears in the video, says he hopes the international science community will one day recognize the value of roaches for medicine.
"Insects are a complete and living organism," Geng states in the video. He told the Sydney Morning Herald he personally eats 10 of them a day.12 "They contain multiple compounds to benefit our health," he added. "I think the problems in our lives can be better solved with living solutions."
Beyond the use of cockroaches in medications, researchers at Gooddoctor are also investigating the possibility of using roach extracts in beauty masks, diet pills and even hair-loss treatments.13 Another source says it can be used to treat diabetic ulcers and severe skin wounds.14
"The essence of cockroach is good for curing oral and peptic ulcers, skin wounds and even stomach cancer," asserts Wen Jianguo, manager of Gooddoctor's cockroach facility.15 According to Reuters, "At Gooddoctor, when cockroaches reach the end of their life span of about six months, they are blasted by steam, washed and dried, before being sent to a huge nutrient extraction tank."16
"They really are a miracle drug," Liu added. "They can cure a number of ailments and they work much faster than other medicine."17 In 2013, Liu told The Telegraph a cream made from powdered cockroaches had been used in some Chinese hospitals as a treatment for burns and for cosmetic facial masks in Korea.18
Beyond that, The Telegraph reported a syrup invented by a drug manufacturer in Sichuan promises to cure duodenal ulcers, gastroenteritis and pulmonary tuberculosis.19 "China has the problem of an aging population," said Liu. "So, we are trying to find new medicines for older people, and these are generally cheaper than Western medicine."20
Cockroaches Used to Feed Chickens and Humans
At Shandong Qiaobin, Li and his employees bake and mill dead cockroaches into high-protein powder that is added to chicken feed. He claims the powder has been found to "reduce body fat and boost immunity in the 1,000-plus chickens he has raised."21
The South China Morning Post calls out the high protein content of cockroaches, suggesting they can be useful as food not just for animals, but humans as well.22 Consumer Reports notes the use of insect protein in energy bars and other food items sold in the U.S. In a 2014 review of such products, they stated:23
"[T]he cricket products popping up on store shelves in the U.S. don't contain insects that are rounded up in the wild. These critters are raised on domestic cricket farms, where they are fed a grain-based diet. They're dried or roasted and then milled into a fine flour. About 40 crickets are packed into an average snack bar."
According to Liu, restaurants in major cockroach-farming provinces like Shandong, Sichuan and Yunnan already sell cockroach dishes for human consumption.24 Very often, he notes, molting cockroaches are seasoned with salt or spices and then deep-fried or stir-fried.
Although nobody has made a commercial venture selling edible cockroaches on a large scale, Liu said he believes businesses will soon make the move. "They can easily mill the molting cockroaches and make flour with them," he said.25
Given the increasing interest in insects as food, in May 2018, the 2nd International Conference "Insects to Feed the World" was held in China to discuss the role of insects in helping to sustain human life and promote nutrition.26
In 2013, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (U.N.) published a report suggesting people start eating insects as a possible solution to global food shortages.27 As for the types of insects most commonly eaten for food, the U.N. notes the following breakdown:28
Beetles (Coleoptera) — 31 percent
Caterpillars (Lepidoptera) — 18 percent
Bees, wasps and ants (Hymenoptera) — 14 percent
Grasshoppers, locusts and crickets (Orthoptera) — 13 percent
Cicadas, leafhoppers, planthoppers, scale insects and true bugs (Hemiptera) — 10 percent
Termites (Isoptera, also known as Blattodea) — 3 percent
Dragonflies (Odonata) — 3 percent
Flies (Diptera) — 2 percent
Other orders — 5 percent
As members of the same order as termites, cockroaches rank No. 6 on the list of most commonly eaten insects. You can learn more about the U.N. report by checking out my article "Eat Insects, Save the World."
Speaking of roaches as a food source, more intriguing still is the notion of cockroach milk as a potential super food. Yes, that's right, cockroach milk. A certain type of cockroach (Diploptera punctata), found mostly in the Pacific Islands, is the main source of this bug beverage.
A 2016 study29,30 from India asserts cockroach milk contains more than three times as much energy as cow's milk. That said, the researchers indicated there is a lack of evidence roach milk is safe for human consumption, so further investigation is needed.
To learn more about this, you may want to read my article "Cockroach Milk — The Most Nutritious?" Roach milk aside, the potential for other roach-inspired food products has captured the interest of at least one cockroach farmer in Sichuan province's rural Yibin city.
He sells about 22 pounds of cockroaches a month to two local restaurants, where they are used in various dishes. Says Li Bingcai:31
"I plan to produce food products like cockroach meatballs and cockroach flour in two years. I've always wanted to make food products from the beginning. People were scared of [cockroaches] at first, but now so many are eating them. The taste is special and they are full of protein."
Cockroaches Are a Lucrative Business in China
While it is clear there is money to be made across the board with cockroaches and cockroach breeding farms in China, it seems operations focused on using roach extracts for medicinal purposes are among the most lucrative.
As reported by The Telegraph,32 Wang Fuming operates a cockroach farm in China's Shandong province, where he houses more than 22 million of the insects in concrete bunkers in the suburbs of Jinan. Wang raises the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) exclusively and sells his output to pharmaceutical companies for top dollar.
Previously, Wang says he bred a particular type of wingless, flightless cockroach (Eupolyphaga sinensis) whose dried body is prized in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).
The increases in demand for the American cockroach are such that from 2011 to 2013 he claims to have quintupled production to more than 100 tons a year. "There are hundreds of species of cockroaches, but only this one has any medicinal value," says Wang."33
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Gooddoctor's 2017 sales amounted to 6.3 billion Chinese yuan ($914 million). Their best seller, worth $1 billion yuan ($145 million), was a cockroach-containing "Recovery New Potion" that can be consumed orally or used on your skin.
While using legions of cockroaches as waste composters or as food and medicine continues to make news in China, most people in the U.S. and other Western nations still consider this insect as nothing more than an unwanted pest.
Unless you are looking to shock your family or friends by eating cockroaches, I recommend waiting for researchers in China and elsewhere to further develop the science around how cockroaches may benefit human health.
from
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/12/29/cockroach-farming-in-china.aspx
source http://niapurenaturecom.weebly.com/blog/can-you-believe-there-are-cockroach-farms-in-china
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Text
Can You Believe There Are Cockroach Farms in China?
youtube
The featured video, produced by the South China Morning Post, opens with these words: "If cockroaches make you uncomfortable … this could be your worst nightmare." Indeed. Most of us would do almost anything to avoid a daily work environment that involves contact with millions of teeming roaches. In China, however, cockroaches are big business.
A number of Chinese cities contending with explosive population growth are finding cockroaches to be a helpful solution to the ever-increasing problem of food waste disposal. With landfills approaching capacity in some areas, it's roaches to the rescue.
Not only do these pesky insects eat food scraps, but they also are a source of animal feed and an ingredient in some health and beauty products, as well as medicines. Though you may find it hard to believe, cockroach breeding farms in China are the real deal.
Roaches to the Rescue: China's Unusual Urban Waste Disposal System
Cockroaches are big business in China, where, according to Reuters, teeming colonies of them are entrusted with the serious job of devouring tons of kitchen waste.1 Though the thought of millions of cockroaches together in one location sounds like something from a horror movie, it is actually the foundation of an innovative urban waste disposal system.
The goal: Reduce the amount of food-related garbage deposited in landfills. The issue of food waste is particularly problematic in large Chinese cities with rapidly expanding populations. Because roaches have voracious appetites and are easy to house, they are, it seems, the perfect match for China's garbage problem.
These so-called cockroach farms are maintained in humid, near-dark conditions, which are ideal for the insects. When the bugs eventually die, they are usually transformed into animal feed. On the outskirts of Jinan, for example, the capital of eastern Shandong province, a billion cockroaches are being fed about 50 metric tons of kitchen waste a day.
That's an amount equivalent in weight to seven elephants. With respect to how the garbage makes its way to the roaches, Reuters states:2
"The waste arrives before daybreak at the plant run by Shandong Qiaobin Agricultural Technology Co., where it is fed through pipes to cockroaches in their cells. Shandong Qiaobin plans to set up three more such plants next year, aiming to process a third of the kitchen waste produced by Jinan, home to about 7 million people."
While some people despise cockroaches and others are disgusted by them, Li Yanrong, general manager of Shandong Qiaobin, sees these hardy insects only for their beneficial qualities. In 2017, Li told China Daily:3
"We spent six years doing research into using cockroaches after finding that they can feed on kitchen waste and create no pollutants. Using cockroaches to deal with kitchen waste is good for our country and for business. Social problems created by kitchen waste will be eradicated."
Li claims cockroaches are able and willing to devour almost anything. He says they can consume up to 5 percent of their body weight every day. "Cockroaches have been eating plants and organic matter since hundreds of millions of years ago," he said. "They are experts in waste composting."4
Cockroaches Picking Up Where Pigs Left Off After Swine Fever Outbreak
Li is not the only one enthused about roaches. "Cockroaches are a biotechnological pathway for the converting and processing of kitchen waste," says Liu Yusheng, president of Shandong Insect Industry Association and entomology professor at Shandong Agricultural University.5
This is particularly the case because it's currently illegal to feed human food waste to pigs in China. Roaches have come to the forefront, in part, due to the Chinese nationwide ban on using food waste for pig feed.6 That ban, which has fueled the growth of the cockroach industry, came about as a result of African swine fever outbreaks first detected in August 2018.7
In October 2018, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued a statement saying, "After the provinces with outbreaks and neighboring provinces completely banned feeding of kitchen waste to pigs, the epidemic was greatly reduced, which fully demonstrates the importance of completely prohibiting the feeding of waste [to pigs]."8
The industry is primed to grow even more as a result of the new laws around pigs and food waste. In the past three years, Liu notes the number of cockroach farmers in Shandong alone has tripled to about 400. "There have been huge developments in cockroach breeding and research in the past few years," said Liu.9
Novel Uses for Cockroaches Include Health and Beauty Applications
Beyond eating waste, cockroaches are valued for other reasons, including their eggs. Li told China Daily his company can earn 36.5 million yuan ($5.3 million) a year by selling protein feed produced from cockroach eggs.10 "A cockroach begins laying eggs when it is 4 months old. It lays one egg each week and can lay eggs for eight months," Li said.11
In addition, roaches are being considered for their potential usefulness in health and beauty products and medications. As presented in the featured video, in Sichuan, a privately held company called Gooddoctor Pharmaceutical Research, established in 1998, is raising about 6 billion cockroaches.
Geng Funeng, president of Gooddoctor, who appears in the video, says he hopes the international science community will one day recognize the value of roaches for medicine.
"Insects are a complete and living organism," Geng states in the video. He told the Sydney Morning Herald he personally eats 10 of them a day.12 "They contain multiple compounds to benefit our health," he added. "I think the problems in our lives can be better solved with living solutions."
Beyond the use of cockroaches in medications, researchers at Gooddoctor are also investigating the possibility of using roach extracts in beauty masks, diet pills and even hair-loss treatments.13 Another source says it can be used to treat diabetic ulcers and severe skin wounds.14
"The essence of cockroach is good for curing oral and peptic ulcers, skin wounds and even stomach cancer," asserts Wen Jianguo, manager of Gooddoctor's cockroach facility.15 According to Reuters, "At Gooddoctor, when cockroaches reach the end of their life span of about six months, they are blasted by steam, washed and dried, before being sent to a huge nutrient extraction tank."16
"They really are a miracle drug," Liu added. "They can cure a number of ailments and they work much faster than other medicine."17 In 2013, Liu told The Telegraph a cream made from powdered cockroaches had been used in some Chinese hospitals as a treatment for burns and for cosmetic facial masks in Korea.18
Beyond that, The Telegraph reported a syrup invented by a drug manufacturer in Sichuan promises to cure duodenal ulcers, gastroenteritis and pulmonary tuberculosis.19 "China has the problem of an aging population," said Liu. "So, we are trying to find new medicines for older people, and these are generally cheaper than Western medicine."20
Cockroaches Used to Feed Chickens and Humans
At Shandong Qiaobin, Li and his employees bake and mill dead cockroaches into high-protein powder that is added to chicken feed. He claims the powder has been found to "reduce body fat and boost immunity in the 1,000-plus chickens he has raised."21
The South China Morning Post calls out the high protein content of cockroaches, suggesting they can be useful as food not just for animals, but humans as well.22 Consumer Reports notes the use of insect protein in energy bars and other food items sold in the U.S. In a 2014 review of such products, they stated:23
"[T]he cricket products popping up on store shelves in the U.S. don't contain insects that are rounded up in the wild. These critters are raised on domestic cricket farms, where they are fed a grain-based diet. They're dried or roasted and then milled into a fine flour. About 40 crickets are packed into an average snack bar."
According to Liu, restaurants in major cockroach-farming provinces like Shandong, Sichuan and Yunnan already sell cockroach dishes for human consumption.24 Very often, he notes, molting cockroaches are seasoned with salt or spices and then deep-fried or stir-fried.
Although nobody has made a commercial venture selling edible cockroaches on a large scale, Liu said he believes businesses will soon make the move. "They can easily mill the molting cockroaches and make flour with them," he said.25
Given the increasing interest in insects as food, in May 2018, the 2nd International Conference "Insects to Feed the World" was held in China to discuss the role of insects in helping to sustain human life and promote nutrition.26
In 2013, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (U.N.) published a report suggesting people start eating insects as a possible solution to global food shortages.27 As for the types of insects most commonly eaten for food, the U.N. notes the following breakdown:28
Beetles (Coleoptera) — 31 percent
Caterpillars (Lepidoptera) — 18 percent
Bees, wasps and ants (Hymenoptera) — 14 percent
Grasshoppers, locusts and crickets (Orthoptera) — 13 percent
Cicadas, leafhoppers, planthoppers, scale insects and true bugs (Hemiptera) — 10 percent
Termites (Isoptera, also known as Blattodea) — 3 percent
Dragonflies (Odonata) — 3 percent
Flies (Diptera) — 2 percent
Other orders — 5 percent
As members of the same order as termites, cockroaches rank No. 6 on the list of most commonly eaten insects. You can learn more about the U.N. report by checking out my article "Eat Insects, Save the World."
Speaking of roaches as a food source, more intriguing still is the notion of cockroach milk as a potential super food. Yes, that's right, cockroach milk. A certain type of cockroach (Diploptera punctata), found mostly in the Pacific Islands, is the main source of this bug beverage.
A 2016 study29,30 from India asserts cockroach milk contains more than three times as much energy as cow's milk. That said, the researchers indicated there is a lack of evidence roach milk is safe for human consumption, so further investigation is needed.
To learn more about this, you may want to read my article "Cockroach Milk — The Most Nutritious?" Roach milk aside, the potential for other roach-inspired food products has captured the interest of at least one cockroach farmer in Sichuan province's rural Yibin city.
He sells about 22 pounds of cockroaches a month to two local restaurants, where they are used in various dishes. Says Li Bingcai:31
"I plan to produce food products like cockroach meatballs and cockroach flour in two years. I've always wanted to make food products from the beginning. People were scared of [cockroaches] at first, but now so many are eating them. The taste is special and they are full of protein."
Cockroaches Are a Lucrative Business in China
While it is clear there is money to be made across the board with cockroaches and cockroach breeding farms in China, it seems operations focused on using roach extracts for medicinal purposes are among the most lucrative.
As reported by The Telegraph,32 Wang Fuming operates a cockroach farm in China's Shandong province, where he houses more than 22 million of the insects in concrete bunkers in the suburbs of Jinan. Wang raises the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) exclusively and sells his output to pharmaceutical companies for top dollar.
Previously, Wang says he bred a particular type of wingless, flightless cockroach (Eupolyphaga sinensis) whose dried body is prized in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).
The increases in demand for the American cockroach are such that from 2011 to 2013 he claims to have quintupled production to more than 100 tons a year. "There are hundreds of species of cockroaches, but only this one has any medicinal value," says Wang."33
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Gooddoctor's 2017 sales amounted to 6.3 billion Chinese yuan ($914 million). Their best seller, worth $1 billion yuan ($145 million), was a cockroach-containing "Recovery New Potion" that can be consumed orally or used on your skin.
While using legions of cockroaches as waste composters or as food and medicine continues to make news in China, most people in the U.S. and other Western nations still consider this insect as nothing more than an unwanted pest.
Unless you are looking to shock your family or friends by eating cockroaches, I recommend waiting for researchers in China and elsewhere to further develop the science around how cockroaches may benefit human health.
from HealthyLife via Jake Glover on Inoreader http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/12/29/cockroach-farming-in-china.aspx
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