#a country run by swine

[oliversrarebooks]

Role Reversal AU Part Two - Oliver's Songbird

In a world where Oliver, antique vampire running an antique bookstore, took a human Alexander under his thrall...

Previous Masterlist

September 1925

TW: mind control, captivity, blood drinking

Lex was twenty-four today.

He woke up slowly, curled into his small cot in the warm apartment above his master's bookstore. It was an unexpectedly cold day, and Lex would just as soon remain bundled under his pile of wool blankets. Unfortunately, it was already past noon, and he had errands to run before opening the shop, so he couldn't dawdle long.

Not that his master particularly minded if the shop was open late. But money was always a bit too tight for Lex's liking, and neglecting to open up the shop wouldn't help. Besides, he enjoyed the work.

Lex stretched and yawned. His master was sound asleep in the shadows of the top bunk, so he could open up the side window without disturbing him with sunlight. A quick rummage of the pantry and icebox turned up little worth eating, so he contented himself with an apple for lunch. He definitely needed groceries, and counting out the money he'd been given, he had enough for a few extra treats. 

He washed in the sink and dressed in a heavy wool suit, making his way down the creaky stairs, through the darkened bookshop, and out onto the street.

It was always jarring to exit the bookshop into the bustle of the city in mid-day. The shop was so dark and quiet, even when it was open, the kind of place where you could clearly hear the ruffle of pages or the squeaky plank near the history section. It had been his home ever since the day his master had taken him, and he felt a lot of affection for it, even if it was...

Small.

And quiet.

He had books, though. Books to help him fantasize about what lay beyond a packed shop and a cramped apartment and a few blocks' worth of city streets where he normally ran errands. Books about far-off countries, faefolk and merfolk, gods and heroes and even the heavens. Books about the adventures that could be had for young men who weren't kept in confinement by a vampire.

He shook the thought from his head. Oliver had been good to him, had taken care of him. His master needed his blood. His master needed him. 

That was enough, wasn't it?

Lex stopped in front of a musician on a street corner playing a high-spirited tune on a fiddle. Several of the crowd watching him were tapping their toes and dancing along. The musician's instrument was crude, but he played with skill and love. Lex was captivated, closing his eyes and nodding his head to the music. 

He missed music the most.

Counting out the money in his wallet, he reasoned that he could afford to part with a nickel, and deposited it in the can in front of the fiddler. It was the least he could do.

Lex greeted the grocer, looking over the daily sales. It was his luck that canned salmon was cheap today -- he could make a fine meal with that, some fresh broccoli, potatoes and butter. Milk, eggs, fruit cocktail, coffee -- plenty left over for a trip to the swine butcher's. There, he bought a few chops and a decent quantity of bacon.

He needed something hearty to eat tonight, anyway. His master's feedings were like clockwork, and tonight was the night.

He didn't mind the feedings, of course. His master was always kind and gentle, the feedings painless, comfortable, familiar. 

Their life together was quiet, and good, and he didn't mind.

He returned home, put away his food, and propped the door open for customers. A few trickled in. One was looking for pulp novels, apparently missing the 'rare books' and 'antiques' written on the clapboard sign. Lex obliged anyway, pointing him to the shelf of cheap horrors and thrillers that he'd convinced Oliver to let him stock after the fourth or fifth customer had shown up looking for them. With how sparse business often was, every dime was worth making.

At least one customer actually bought a true, valuable antiquity. Lex rejoiced inwardly while politely handling the transaction. A few more sales like that, and he'd be well over the amount he needed for the new winter boots he'd been saving for.

Just as the sun spread its last rays through the open window and Lex went about lighting the gas lamps, the smallest of creaks on the stairs indicated the awakening of his master. Oliver was always so quiet that it had taken Lex a long time to be able hear him coming without getting startled out of his mind.

"I sold that alchemy book - the one with the red leather cover and the embossed gold symbol on the front instead of a title."

"Oh, excellent. I hope the book found a good home," said Oliver, taking his place behind the desk. "How are you? Are you having a good day?"

It seemed like it should be a good day. He'd had enough money to get all of the food he wanted and had made more besides. He'd enjoyed a musical performance. And he had spent the time in-between customers reading a particularly engrossing mystery novel. 

But even though it should be a good day, he still ached with a melancholy he didn't fully understand.

"It was a fine day, if a bit cold," he said.

"Glad to hear it." Oliver put a cold but comforting hand on his shoulder. "Why don't you go and make your dinner? I can take care of the shop counter."

Lex had eaten little more than an apple all day, and the mention of food set his stomach rumbling, so he took his master up on that offer, slipping back upstairs. Soon he was frying up a pork chop on the little stove, the smell of sizzling meat filling the tiny dwelling.

Really, the apartment was only enough for one person, too small for two. It only worked out because they were vampire and thrall. Oliver seemed to want for little other than books and blood, and Lex had never required much. 

As he sat down at the table for one and ate his pork chop and broccoli, he wondered if he had wanted for more, back before his master's book had claimed his will. It all seemed so distant, his childhood home, the music rooms of his university.

Oliver seemed to be in high spirits when Lex descended the stairs. Was he excited about the feeding? No -- although his master clearly looked forward to feedings, this mood had a different feel to it. He seemed as if he could barely contain himself with some secret knowledge -- and when Lex rounded the corner behind the counter, he could see why.

There, laying on a shelf, was an object that had certainly not been there when Lex had taken his leave. It was a black case tied with a blue ribbon.

An instrument case?

"Is that --"

"It's a birthday gift for you," said Oliver encouragingly. "I've been saving for it. Go ahead, open it."

"Thank you, sir," said Lex. Oliver had given him a birthday gift each year, but never -- "A violin!" Lex called out as he untied the ribbon and flipped open the case.

It was a secondhand violin in excellent condition, shining varnish accentuating the rich wood. Lex picked it up and cradled it to himself. It was so beautiful, and he could already imagine just how it would sound.

"It's okay for me to have this, sir?" 

"Of course! It's a gift."

"But the quiet..."

"I think the shop could use a little music now and then," said Oliver. "Go ahead, try it out."

Lex glanced at the time, eager to play but worried. "Don't you need to feed, sir?"

"It can wait until later,. It's your birthday, Lex. Play."

"...I have to make sure it's strung properly first, sir, and tune it."

The bookshop was so silent that every little sound that Lex made while tuning the violin seemed to reverberate. Oliver sat and watched him with curiosity, as he often did, even when Lex wasn't doing anything in particular. Before long, Lex had the violin in a condition fit to play.

It had been a long time, but he still easily recalled one of his favorite pieces from when he still studied at university, when he thought he might ascend to play in a grand hall, roses thrown at his feet. A lifetime of creating music that resonated with people's souls, that brought them comfort and joy and sorrow.

The proof that he was never actually meant to be silent.

He played for a long while. His fingers and arms were sore from the long neglect of his instrument. His music filled the lonely, quiet store, and when he finally finished, satisfied, there were tears in his master's eyes.

"Bravo," he said, with a clap so soft it was barely audible.

"Thank you for the birthday present, sir," said Lex, sitting down in the plush chair and picking up his favorite of his master's enchanted books, the one that would put him under a spell of sleep and submission so that his master could feed. "I expect you'll take your meal now?"

"My last."

Lex looked up in shock. "Your last, sir?"

"My last of you. I'm setting you free," he said. 

"Are you serious, sir?"

"Someone like me doesn't need to keep a songbird caged in the dark forever. I can find another thrall."

"Sir, you can't mean that. If I've been displeasing to you --"

Oliver held up a hand. "No, you haven't, not in the slightest. In fact, it's my fondness for you that has led me to make this decision. You're only objecting now because of the spell I've been casting on you each feeding. Once it's fully lifted, you'll be more than happy to fly free." 

Lex felt a tug at his heart, glancing briefly at the shop window. Was he actually going to be free? He shouldn't want that. He shouldn't want to leave his master alone. And yet...

"You'll be able to stay here as long as you want, working in the bookshop, until you can get back to your studies," he said. "I have acquaintances at the university. I can put you back to where you should have been. I've already started making inquiries."

"Sir..."

"Read, Lex," said his master, gesturing to the book on Lex's lap. "Read and go under my spell one last time."

Lex swallowed hard, his throat dry, his mind swirling with a mix of conflicting feelings. His master was sending him away. He would be free. What had he done wrong? 

His master's book would make him feel better as it always did.

If he was truly only going to experience this one last time, he might as well pick his favorite passage, the one he first read almost four years ago, of a vampire enthralling a hapless young man just like him. Before he had even finished the third paragraph, he was fast asleep, and dreaming of music.

Previous Masterlist

@d-cs @latenightcupsofcoffee @thecyrulik @dismemberment-on-a-tuesday-night @wanderinggoblin @whumpyourdamnpears @only-shadows-dwell-where-we-are @pressedpenn @pigeonwhumps @amusedmuralist @xx-adam-xx @ivycloak @irregular-book @whumpsoda @mj-or-say10 @pokemaniacgemini @whumpshaped @whumpsday @morning-star-whump @shinyotachi @silly-scroimblo-skrunkl @steh-lar-uh-nuhs @pirefyrelight @theauthorintraining @whump-me-all-night-long @anonfromcanada @typewrittenfangs @tessellated-sunl1ght @cleverinsidejoke @abirbable @ichorousambrosia @a-formless-entity @gobbo-king @writinggremlin @the-agency-archives

#whump #whump writing #vampires #vampire whumpee #rare bookseller #alexander #oliver #mind control

[starskichild]

The Behemoth Father

Chapter 1: The Discovery

Cw: Blood, minor character death, self-sacrifice, mentions of kidnapping, murder, and slavery/dehumanization of humans Overview: To the North are the Northern Behemoths. These giants are two times the size of their Southern Giant brethren, usually around 20-25 feet in height, absolutely dwarfing the southern giants, who usually stand around 13-15 feet in height. While the Southern Giants consider humanity equal to them, and simply their smaller brethren to benevolently look over, the Northern Giants consider them in a much colder, cyclical, and brutal light.  The Northern Behemoths consider humans, or “man-swine”, as lesser beings, some even as pests. Given their strength/size-based class system within their culture, humans to them are no better or powerful than the dirt or scum of the earth. Given that human/smaller folk country is situated right between the two giant kingdoms, humans are much more fearful of giants (southern or northern) considering their violent frequent experiences with the Northern giants, who will sometimes attack and ransack innocent human villages. Either killing or kidnapping the humans of the village, deeming them as slaves or pets in the process. Some among the northern giants, however, do not all act or think this way. Such is the case with Ogden. A kind, intelligent, paternal man who thinks there is way more to humanity than simply being pests, lessers, pets, or slaves. He considers them sentient and equal beings, something that is somewhat a rare belief among his people, but not impossible. He simply wants to live a peaceful life with him and his precious little human daughter, Leilani.

So… This story is about my characters Ogden and Leilani. Ogden is a 27-foot 35-year-old Northern Giant (Or Northern Behemoth), and Leilani is a 2-year-old human girl. I love the found family trope, and the whole “good monster” story line and this story is just full of fluff between these two silly billies, so I hope you’re ready for some good found father/daughter goodness.

This is truly a guilty pleasure writing oop.

Word count: 5626

Special thank you to @narrans @minutemenren/@silverrens @izatoonist @dracothemdragon @orionlionscribs @Bat_Bimbo and my creative writing class for tagging in as early beta readers, proofreaders, and helping in critiquing/sending advice for the story! You guys are da best!

I woke up late one morning not feeling right. I sat up and sniffed the air with a cautious glance from my bed, it seemed to feel heavy all around me. Something wrong happened last night while I was sleeping, but exactly what I wasn't so sure.

I begrudgingly got out of bed, dead tired. I went and checked that the doors were all shut and that the windows had not been broken, but nothing was out of the ordinary. I glanced over the interior of my log cabin, built by my younger hands long ago. The wood chipped with age, but still a sturdy foundation. I checked the cabinets, the pantry, the kitchen, and all throughout the living room for… something, but found not a thing out of the ordinary… "What is happening?" I asked, to no one in particular except myself. My mind was hazy and groggy from some deep slumber I must have fallen into, I walked around and sniffed the air for any signs of intruders...or smoke.

To my horror, I did smell smoke, but when I focused in on the smell of it, it wasn’t coming from anywhere in my house. No, it was coming from close outside. Sure enough, I looked out from one of my windows, and there was a large billowing cloud of smoke above the treetops, not too far off from my humble cabin in the woods. What happened last night??

Oh no…Did a fire burn down the village?

I realized, as smoke seemed to be coming from a nearby human village. I bolted for it, hoping I could help. I had never really interacted with them before, not wanting to deal with a bunch of tiny humans screaming and running away from me, but I still worried something terrible happened, and deep down, I already knew that terrible feeling was right.

~~~

I rushed out of my home and raced towards the smoke. My legs moved faster than ever, my feet left deep divots into tree roots and soil as I ran with giant strides. I thought back to all the times I stood at the edge of the woods, watching the little human children play, or the townsfolk going about their days with a naïve innocence only people with carefree lives can feel. I envied them. Sometimes, I would help in herding animals towards groups of humans out hunting in the cover of night, but never once scrounging up the courage to show myself to them, from fear of how they’d react and how dangerous being seen could be. They’d only ever think me a monster… I could’ve possibly hurt one of them without even trying, but if they were in danger, I wouldn’t hesitate to make my presence known. I could promise that much.

I reached the edge of the trees quickly enough, not stopping in fear of what I was going to find...I looked around, my eyes scanning every nook and cranny.

I approached the village and what did I see? It lay in ruin: houses had been destroyed, and trees had been uprooted. I looked around for survivors, for anyone that had any information, only to find ash and soot that was once a village. I began searching in between the small houses for anyone that might live in the now ashen ruins, and to see what possibly could’ve done this. What caused such chaos to this innocent little human village?

…And then I saw it...large and deep footprints surrounded the village on all sides that were around the size of my own...northern giants were here.

My blood boiled in hot rage, these footprints...these footprints belonged to northern behemoths...My own kin were here. Someone had destroyed this village, and I was going to find out who did. I was going to avenge this village, no matter the cost. I started searching for any survivors or signs of life, hoping, and praying all the while.

I searched the human sized village, walking all throughout the little roads that intertwined within it, but other than finding the charred remains of minuscule bodies of some of the formal residents, I found nothing.

I saw the burnt remains of children, of people who could not fight equally in such a battle, and my anger grew tenfold. If I had met these people…If I had known them, could I have possibly helped in such a massacre? Would I have known sooner? Acted quicker? Could I have prevented such a loss of precious life? My insides churned at the thought of having betrayed these people because of my own cowardice, my ignorance…I must find something, I declared, anything that might explain what happened here. I looked around some more, growing tired and frustrated with every passing moment, every minute not finding a single thing. I was about to give up, turn on my heels and go, but in one desperate attempt for closure, I took one last look around…

Suddenly, as I was about to give into my despair and leave, my ears twitched as they picked up a sound. It was incredibly faint, my ears had almost missed it, but I could’ve sworn I heard a noise coming from one of the human houses. The softest of noises, almost like a squeak, or a whisper caressing my ears.

I froze at the sound, turning slowly, the anger in my chest starting to subside with a newfound curiosity of what the pained sound could be. I started to approach the little squeal with great caution, not knowing what might lie in wait for me inside…

As I got closer to the charred house the little noise emanated from, I gasped realizing what the sound was. It almost sounded like a very weak muffled cry, and it only got louder the closer I got, there was someone in there!

I began to move faster towards the house, the cry growing louder and louder...I needed to get into the house somehow, I needed to get to them - whoever they were. It would’ve broken me if I had lost another soul here, and the weight of the destruction would’ve been too much on my conscience. No more dead bodies to add into my thoughts, please. Not after what I’ve seen…the things that haunt my dreams, this village being a nightmarish addition…I would not let that happen.

I finally reached the burnt remains of the sagging house, the walls visibly quaking next to my footsteps. It was a one-story home, a quaint little thing, albeit barely standing from such fire damage, half the roof caving in on itself. I knelt down, overshadowing the house completely, wondering how in the world I was going to get in there. The faint crying was very clear now. However, a peculiar thought occurred to me, when I realized I couldn’t smell anyone in there, anyone alive, that is...what was going on? Who was in there? In the end, I just decided uprooting the roof from the house would be my best bet to get inside without hurting anyone. It's not like anyone was using the house anymore anyways…

I ripped into the roof like it wasn't even there, using my hands like a force of nature, and upending the roof from its hitches to carve a path directly to where the noise was coming from. I could hear it clear as day, a muffled cry that sounded so faint, it almost sounded like a small animal. I wondered what exactly I would find...someone was in there; I needed to make sure they were okay.

When the dust settled, the roof now completely uprooted from the house, it exposed the interior of the small abode. I overlooked the whole scene before me, a little confused. Down below, within the house, I saw a burnt but relatively unharmed younger human woman lying in her bed sleeping with a tranquil look across her features, and next to her, was a small cellar storage door with a latch on it where the sound seemed to be coming from. As I looked over to the woman my heart dropped when I saw blood surrounding her.

I almost couldn’t believe the scene before my eyes; it was like the world had flipped upside down. I looked at this innocent-looking, peaceful woman. I wondered what she did to be hurt so bad? I looked over at the little door and noticed the little latch on it, but I ignored the latch...there was something under that door, something that needed my help. I approached the door, and ripped it off, wondering what I would find…

I was instantly taken aback in pure shock by what was inside. In the small cellar space laid a tiny, tiny human toddler, probably no older than two years. A little girl, it seemed, who was completely unharmed, if not covered in a little soot and ash, but other than that, I couldn’t see any clear physical wounds on the child. The little one cried out, supposedly left there all night during the attack. Her poor face puffy and red from wailing, covered in snot and drool as she screamed to be heard, surrounded by pine of all things, and then it clicked. Pine! It's a natural masking scent to hide from giant senses. The human child had been put in there to be hidden from giant attackers, I surmised. I had to admit, I was quite impressed by the woman on the bed’s ingenuity, supposedly the child's mother. That explained why I couldn’t smell the tiny child, with her being so close to all the pine surrounding her. Once the child seemed alright, I turned my attention to the wounded woman on the bed, seeming to be in a much worse state than the child. 

With the utmost care, I lowered my hand and wrapped my fingers around the woman to turn her and see the extent of the damage, asking "Miss? Are ya alright?" but as soon as my fingers unfurled around her, my heart stilled. Her skin was cold, her back was soaked in her own blood, and her body was utterly limp in my hand.

Oh no…she was dead. Her flesh was cold, so cold, and her body crumpled into itself, void of life.... There was no saving her. My eyes widened, and I set her back down with care. I felt so much remorse and guilt for her - for this whole village. She was only trying to be strong, to protect her child, and now she was gone... No one deserves that. I turned back to the little girl, now realizing that I was her only hope in surviving this terrible tragedy.

It seemed her mother had been like this for a few hours at least, perishing during the village’s destruction. I put the covers over top of her bloodied body, out of respect, and gave her a gentle pat over the covers. I noticed that there was a letter by the head of the woman that I hadn’t notice before, and I took it in my fingertips, putting it in my pocket. I would worry about that later, I reasoned, as I directed my attention back onto the child. 

The little one looked at me through tear filled eyes. Her cheeks soaked from desperately wailing, praying for her cries to be answered, and after finally getting that attention, from a towering giant no less, she looked up at me with a frightened, but curious and expectant gaze through her whimpers. The poor thing seemed too young to realize the potential danger she was in, if I were a giant other than me, of course. I looked down at her, also with a curious gaze, as we both seemed to just stare at each other for a few moments, taking each other in. Finally, she sneezed from the soot and ash around her, adding to the mucus on her face. It broke me out of our collective trance, and I decided to break the staring contest between us by reaching out towards her, in her once hiding place, trying to be as slow and calming as possible so as not to seem like a threat to the human baby. 

With a hesitant determination, I tried to wrap my fingers around her minuscule frame, which she didn’t care for much at all. She whimpered and whined, recoiling from the touch and overwhelming sensations, as if the mere contact of my skin was burning her. Fat fearful tears started streaming down her face. She looked so miserable with everything. It made my heart wilt to see the child so on edge, but I couldn’t blame her. I must’ve been horrifying to look at from her perspective. However, it didn’t seem like it was my size that she was afraid of, but more-so the fear of a new face. Not terrorized of me because of being a giant, but rather a stranger. It was quite abnormal, not the usual reaction I expected from a human, especially one who went through such a harrowing experience in the face of my own kin…but I could work with this.

First step, I needed to get her out of the little space. She may not like it, but I had no other choice. I couldn’t leave her here knowing she would likely die if I didn’t do anything. So, I reached out to her again, this time, petting and rubbing her side with the utmost care, to get her comfortable with my presence. My massive fingers in comparison to her ruffling her clothes as she stilled, and looked at them seeming slightly confused by the feeling. That seemed to calm her down just a little bit, enough so that I could attempt to encompass my hand around her once again.

She wiggled and squirmed in my hold like a worm once I was able to pick her up. The feeling sending shivers down my spine. Her crying building with vigor from the new sensation. I tried to be as attentive as possible to her reactions, making sure I wasn’t hurting or squeezing her in any way.

I took a brief moment to take in just how tiny the precious life in my hand was, as I lifted her from the space. She was no bigger than my whole thumb, if I were to reckon her height. She weighed nothing, as if as light as a feather. She was so small and fragile in my hands; it was almost scary to think about how tiny she was there in my palm.

On her way out of the space, she looked over to her mother on the bed, and the small girl reached out to the body. She locked her eyes on her mother’s form, seeming only interested with the corpse as she wailed to go to her. She wanted the comfort of her mother… a comfort she would never get again, a comfort I would have to try and provide for her now in her mother’s absence. The child didn’t look back at me once as she was brought up from the house’s wreckage, her only regard being to her mother’s dead body.

I made sure to be exceedingly slow with her as I raised her from her spot, so I didn’t give the poor thing whiplash from any fast movements. She squeaked a little bit in my hold at one point, and I stopped to check up on her, but she didn’t squirm other than that and seemed fine. Soon after that, she turned her attention back to me, now looking up at me with an utmost wonder in her eyes. I hoisted her up with all the care I could muster as I shushed her in a calming tone, still rubbing her with my thumb to help soothe her, until I brought the child up to my face.

She looked up at me, eye to eye as she stared at my face, and my heart melted a bit. Her tears had relatively stopped flowing, as she stared wide eyed and mouth agape. Her form was still quivering slightly, but she was now much calmer compared to a few minutes ago. She looked so innocent and pure, yet so unsure by everything happening. Even though the events that transpired the night prior with her was terrible to think about, she no longer seemed to have a fear of me when she looked into my eyes. In fact, she looked into my eyes with a curiosity like one would look into the sea...I wonder if she was scared?

As I held her form up to my face, my eyes almost crossing to keep her in focus, I looked at her with as much of an entranced curiosity as she did to me. I’d never held a human before, and it was even more nerve wracking than I had ever thought. I decided at that point, since I was this close to her, I could probably smell her now to see if she had any unseen or even internal injuries from who knows what she experienced last night. I brought my nose close to her, and sniffed to sense for anything, and thankfully I could detect nothing out of the ordinary. This miracle child was somehow completely unharmed, albeit the only surviving human in the town. However, if I could save at least one human from my own kinds’ wrath, then I would be satisfied. As I began to pull my face away from her, not wanting to intimidate her with being so close, I immediately stopped when I felt the smallest hand I’d ever felt reach out and touch the tip of my nose. I froze on the spot in pure shock as I looked down, awe-struck at the sensation of the tiny creature touching my nose within my grasp.

She reached out with her small little stubby fingers to try and touch my nose - I could only assume she wanted to play. I smiled at her innocent gesture, trying my best to stay still so as to not startle her. She was so small, so adorable, and so pure in all her innocence. I wondered if she was even old enough to say anything…

She kept her hand there for a little bit as she grabbed the tip of my nose, feeling it with an intense interest. I could sense the almost imperceptible pulse in her hands. Her breathing had fully calmed, as her toddler mind was now enthralled by my nose.

I couldn’t help it; I brought my nose closer to her and pressed it up against her tiny form. Feeling every ruffle of fabric of her outfit, and a pure warmth filled me as her tender hands moved around to touch the oversized pores of my skin. I could feel her chest move up and down with her individual breaths as it was pressed against my flesh, and my nose was tickled by her hair as her face brushed against me. I then heard the most beautiful sound; I heard her giggle as she wrapped her little arms around my nose.

She giggled, at me! A high-pitched and pleasant noise, as she snuggled my nose with the gentlest of touches. It was like the tiniest little hug I’d ever received, and the warmth from her body made it hard for me to want it to end, to pull away, to not be a possible danger to her.

Did she think that we were playing a game? That we were friends? How could one have such innocence in their heart, when the world she existed in was so cruel? I could not help but smile when she giggled, like seeing a ray of sunshine inside a storm cloud.

She seemed to be taking quite a liking to me. Did this little one...actually enjoy my presence? Was she so young she didn’t remember or understand the massacre? Or maybe she was hidden during the attack, and I was the first giant she had ever seen or met? It would have explained how easily she was warming up to me, that had to be the case.

I looked into the girl’s eyes, who was still snuggling against my nose. I decided to see if she could understand what I was saying. I needed at least some way of communicating with the little one, if I was going to be taking care of her, and I would really appreciate it if she did not consider me a monster. I pulled her away from my nose, leaning away enough to where she could see my face, and brought my hands together as I talked to her "Hello. Can yeh understand me, lass?"

She looked at me curiously for a second, before going back to giggling, but to my surprise, I heard something else:

“Hehehe-mm-hi-big!”

It sounded mostly like baby babble, but I could hear her saying words! I laughed a bit, both in shock and joy. She speaks! She can understand! This was incredible - I could just about make out what she was saying, "Hi big." She must be calling me "Big" - is that what she viewed me as?  Her giant friend? Her "Big"?

I smiled down at the child, and asked her, "Am I the big?" while pointing at myself with my free hand. She giggled again, patted the hand she was on, and beamed up at me like a child who just told their proud parents a new word they learned.

“Mmmm! Big!”

The first thing I understood her say, was that she had dubbed me "big", not "giant", not “northern giant", nor "monster", or even "beast." "Big". I beamed down at the child; she saw me as a friend and a protector…my large heart starting to swell at this precious moment. I was her friend, her "big". Never in my life would I have ever thought about a human considering me in this way. It was a nice change of pace, I must admit!

I decided to test her on one more thing. I had only ever been able to theorize on human intelligence so far, since I never got close to communicating with the few humans I witnessed while in my old herd and clan, nor interacted with any human communities. Back then I couldn’t even speak in the common tongue, only in the giant’s native language, so I knew I shouldn’t be too harsh on my past self…at least in that regard. However, I knew humans were smart, I just wanted to see how much. "Ma’ name ‘s Ogden. Can yeh say Ogden for me?" With that, she seemed to understand, and gleamed at me again:

“Hehhmm! Oggie!!”

This little girl not only understood me, but she could speak, remember, could be taught, and had her own vocabulary! This was amazing! I wondered if all humans were this intelligent. They must be. I laughed with pride, her big "Oggie" comment making me smile from ear to ear, she said my name! It was at that moment, that my whole world had changed. My whole view of the world so much bigger, all because of her.

I looked down at my new tiny human companion in my hands, and she looked up at me with a smile. Her big eyes staring up at me with a twinkle, as if she was made to be in my gigantic arms. She looked so small in comparison to my body, as if I could eat her in a single bite, but I would never dare. She was a precious little soul who had had a rough life. She deserved a better one now.

I stood to my full height and started to walk back to my cabin deep in the woods of northern giant country. I took another look back at the little girl's now destroyed village with pained eyes, and an empty spot in my heart. What a terrible thing...Looking down at my new friend for the millionth time, I realized I had a responsibility to take her to a safe place. I was now a guardian to her…and I would take her under my wing no matter the cost, even my life. I vowed to give her the best life she could ever have as her eyes met mine, feeling a spark of hope.

As I started to walk out of the town, something stopped me in my tracks that broke my heart. She looked up at me and spoke once again.

“…Why leave mommy? She still home! She sleepin’. We gotta go wake her up! Go see mommy...” She said with a slight whimper at the end, still missing the comfort of her mother’s embrace.

I looked down at the child as my eyes started to water. She understood she was leaving her home, her mother. I had no way of explaining to this girl, in a way she could understand, that she would never be able to see her mother’s eyes open, to look at her with warmth and love ever again. I was at an utter loss for words. How could I even tell her? How could I possibly explain that the person she loved was now gone from this world? I did the next best thing I could think of in the moment. I told her a soft lie, the slightest of falsehoods weaved with some truth that would at least attempt to quench her anxieties as to why we were leaving her home and old life behind her. I was still guilty to lie to such a young child such as her, though.

I spoke with all the softness I could as I explained to her: “Yeh mother is goin’ t be sleepin’ for quite some time, child… We need to let her rest. Ya wouldn’t want her to not get a good sleep, right? For the time being, I’ll be takin’ care of yeh while your mother is asleep. Is that okay, little one?”

She looked up at me unsure of my words, like she was about to argue, but she relinquished and sulked back down into my hand a moment later.

“Okay…”

I sighed and nodded my head, relieved at her response. This little girl should not have had to witness such terrible events...I looked to her house once again. 'You did everything you could have done to protect her; I will make sure that she survives. I promise you that…' I remember thinking to myself. I walked back over to her former home and picked up some of the broken wood and debris from the mother’s ashen abode, to store in my pocket. I will keep this forever, so that she would always have a piece of her old home to keep as a memory. From my palm, the little human child looked over at her old home, grabbed my thumb for comfort, reached out to the house with her other hand, and waved goodbye.

“Bye bye mommy…”

I turned back and continued my journey home, with the small girl within my giant grasp, nestled safely in my cupped palm as I walked. We left that desolate and smoldering town behind us.

~~~

We made it to my cabin, after a small journey, and my human companion looked on in awe at her new colossal surroundings. She gave an exhausted yawn. She did have quite the day, we both had. She must’ve been tired. So, I decided to gently rock her back and forth in my hand to lull her to sleep, which after her long day, did not take long.

I smiled down at her now sleeping form and found some spare cloth I had around the house, gently sliding her onto the scrap of cloth I laid on my desk within my bedroom, just to keep both my hands free. I decided this would be a perfect time to read the letter I found next to the child's mother. I fished the piece of paper from my shirt pocket, along with the debris from the human's old home, and placed it onto the table.

I studied the letter with much anticipation and interest, eager to read just what exactly was inside. The child was safe and fast asleep, and I hoped that her mother was at peace right now, wherever she was.

I opened the letter with utmost care, almost accidentally ripping it in the process, and had to grab my reading glasses just to read the incredibly tiny writing. The letter read as such:

[To whom it may concern,

If you find this letter, then I am probably long gone. Our village is being raided and captured by the Northern Giants at the edge of the woods. They came out of nowhere and just started killing and taking people I…

I don’t know what to do. I can feel them through the ground approach as I write this. I was barely able to escape with my life moments before I hid my daughter. I’m losing blood fast. I don't know how much longer I have…

If you find this and she is still alive...Please, take care of her. I pray that my sacrifice doesn't go in vain, that she has a chance at a better life. The smell of death should deter them from checking the house at least...

Just...please. Take care of my daughter. Give her the life that I couldn't. For my sake...

Tell my beautiful Leilani that I'm sorry.

I love you, my Leilani...]

[The letter ends in blood smears]

I stared in shock and sorrow, tears welled up in my eyes for the second time today, as my hand clasped over my mouth. The despair of knowing that this little child will never get to know her mother truly was heart wrenching. The final moments of this woman’s life were spent caring and fearing for the future of her daughter…I will make sure that this child has the best life there can possibly be, a life in which her mother can be proud. My little Leilani, what a beautiful name...your mother made sure that you were taken care of, even if she couldn't make it, I will... I promise…

I put down the letter next to the debris of the old house, setting it in a safe spot on one of my shelves, picked up Leilani's swaddle with her still fast asleep in it, and softly placed it down on the pillow next to mine. I gazed upon the human child’s swaddled form, a blaze of determination starting to form as I pondered: 'Your mother gave her life for her child to live - a terrible sacrifice, but not one in vain - for her little girl will live on, as long my heart beats. You will have all the love I have. Your mother died so you could live, Leilani… I will keep her mother's letter, so I can read it to her when she is older.' I set my reading glasses aside, and got comfortable in my bed. Reeling after everything the day had brought, but at the same time, swelling with pride for the tiny child sleeping next to me...

I fell asleep that night filled with a sense of hope and warmth, knowing that this child will always have a place to call home. I fell into a deep and peaceful sleep, the kind of sleep that can only come from doing good and knowing you've made a difference in the world. I hope this peaceful rest will last forever...

I am Ogden, a Northern Behemoth.

…and I am Leilani's father.

Here's my first ever written g/t story! I hope you guys like it! Again thank you so much to the people who beta read and gave feedback on this story I truly appreciate your kindness and help with this. If you like my work, please let me know! I highly appreciate any feedback, comments, or support that you'd like to send my way, and these two characters are free to send asks to anytime!

Thank you again everyone who got it this far to read this at the end, you're amazing. Have a great day everyone!

-MӨƬΉ

#Starskichild #my post #my ocs #parental g/t #g/t ocs #sfw g/t #g/t art #g/t community #g/t #my art #giant tiny #size difference #borrowers #artwork #digital art #starskichildswritings #g/t drawing #giant / tiny #g/t related #g/t writing #oc Leilani #oc Ogden #The Behemoth Father

[patheticrafeenjoyer]

and if i said rafebarry?

she's gonna save me call me 'baby': barry basically uses exclusively pet names "baby boy" "big boy" "pretty baby" "pretty boy" "baby" (tbh i don't think he's a "babe" kind of guy) so like this part goes without saying....

run her hands through my hair: barry carding his hand through rafe's hair when it's long (like s1 & 2 era) and then stroking over the buzzcut too,, like when rafe's laying on the couch with his head in barry's lap.... or when barry passes by where rafe's sitting... or when they're wrapped up together one hand absolutely goes to the back of the head to cradle his skull

she'll know me crazy: can't stress this enough but barry is intimately aware of how crazy rafe is.... like he's been there for some of rafe's insane plots or has directly witnessed the immediate aftermath. like trust barry knows. [plus in s3 when barry's like "i gotta be honest with you, dawg, i don't know if it got this in me, bro." and rafe goes "i do." and barry's like "yeah... i knew you did" like y'all he is WELL AWARE]

soothe me daily: maybe this is just a thing i noticed, but barry seems like the one person in the show who can distract rafe from the things he's planning on doing/the things he's thinking, and he seems to be the only one who can do it in a way that rafe will listen to (at least to some degree) [i'll have a post coming about this trust], so i am very much of the belief that he can divert rafe's attention away from whatever bad/crazy thing he's thinking about and soothe whatever frustration/anger/fear/etc. is bubbling inside him

better yet, she wouldn't care: barry is soooooo unphased by rafe. like yeah sometimes he's like 'oh bro whaaaat' in the moment, but ultimately he simply does not care that much. like in s1 when rafe and barry go to the garage and jump kie and jj, kie shouts "you murdered peterkin" and for only one second, barry's face is shocked, and then he's just over it and back to what he was doing before. and then after that he makes some lighthearted comments about rafe killing peterkin ("badder than i though, country club"). and then there's the "just tell me whatever the hell you done, 'cause i can promise you, whatever it was, i done worse". and then there's the whole going to the chateau to fuck the pogues up and the whole melting the cross situation. like in canon barry is very much aware of rafe's crazy, and in my head it's even more so

[bonus excerpt from something i'm working on: "He runs his finger over the cut, watches Barry’s muscles flex at the feeling of his fingertips on raw, open skin. His finger comes away coated in red and Rafe, before he can even stop himself, pops his finger in his mouth for a taste. 

His brain lights up like a christmas tree at the taste of it, metal and bitter and so, so good. He savors it like a candy, swears he can feel the Barry of it all even though he rationally knows that’s impossible. Nothing feels very rational right now, though.

Fucking crazy, Barry says again, words soaked in adoration and fondness. Rafe’s crazy, no doubt about it, but if Rafe’s crazy then Barry’s positively insane for keeping him around."]

some other jackie and wilson lyrics that scream rafebarry that i won't elaborate on bc this is already insanely long... use your imagination and consider the delusional shit i already talk about it and you'll be able to see the vision clear as day:

"so deep in this swill with the most familiar of swine / for reasons wretched and divine"

"laughing away through my feeble disguise / no other version of me i would rather be tonight"

"lord, it'd be great to find a place we could escape sometime"

"every version of me dead and buried in the yard outside"

"we'd sit back and watch the world go by / happy to lie back, watch it burn and rust" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this whole song is just so

#how insane can i be contest with myself #im winning #rafebarry #rarry #rafe cameron #barry outer banks #rafe obx #barry obx #rafe x barry #my baby my baby #my king #obx #obx netflix #outer banks #mine

[peligrosapop]

Hey, just wanted to let you know that Palestinians are homophobic, misogynistic, anti semitic subhuman swine who deserve extinction

They would kill me for being queer without a moments hesitation so I laugh with glee as Israel cuts off their food and water supply and leaves their hospitals without power

Starve and did, you fucking mongrels, its exactly what you deserve

While I love to see the rockets hit palestinian population centers it does make me sad because rockets give a quick death and these goatfuckers deserve to suffer

hey, I just wanted you to know that you can fuck off and die because Homophobic people exist in all nationalities and I live sorrounded by them in the USA, same with misogynist that run half the country and Palestinian queer people exist and are also being killed by Israel just for existing in Gaza. I remind you that orthodox Jews are also big misogynist and homophobes, so, worry about your own community first.

“While I love to see rockets hit populations…goat fuckers?” I feel sorry for your fascist ass and wish the gulag existed so we can retrain your dumb ass out of fascism while you’re also making nice furniture for Palestinian, but alas, you are just a lucky dumbass on the internet. Anyway, have an awful day and a fuck your father and your mother for making you.

They will never defeat our people’s will to be free.

Free Palestine. Free Puerto Rico.

#free palestine

[ascendanceseriesveteran]

Pirates: We're going to kill the prince.

Jaron: Good luck.

Connor: I'm going to hire the pirates to kill the prince.

Jaron: OK boomer.

Veldegraph: This fake-ass bitch better prepare to be disembowelled.

Jaron: I'm pretty attached to my bowels actually.

Vargan: Prepare to be buried with the rest of your Country.

Jaron: And I took that personally.

Devlin: I'm going to *successfully* kill the prince.

Jaron: I'm king now, haven't you heard? You illiterate, fat swine-

Wilta: King Jaron. More like soon-to-be-dead Jaron.

Jaron: You'll have to try harder than that.

Imogen: I think we need to have a little chat...

Jaron: *screams, runs, hides*

#ascendance series #the ascendance series #the ascendance trilogy #king jaron #the captive kingdom #the false prince #the runaway king #the shadow throne #jarogen #jaron #jaron artolius eckbert iii #ascendance trilogy #sage/jaron

[sixminutestoriesblog]

pearls

My grandmother was a diamond woman. One of the first things she bought herself, when WWII came around and she started working in the factory making bomber airplanes and got her first paycheck for it was a diamond ring. Then a fur coat and then a bright yellow sports car so - that says something about both the woman and the way wages were back in the day. She had to give up the car when my grandfather came back from the war alive, something I suspect my grandmother never quite forgave him for and over time the fur coat went the same way. She never stopped with the diamonds though. Over the years, and another husband, she collected them and when she was old she had all of her diamonds set into two huge rings, one for my sister and one for me. She showed them to us, in their safe deposit box at the bank, when we were young, with a promise that when she was gone, she would still be with us in those two rings.

Rings that were sold long before she died to pay for family needs but - diamonds. Always diamonds.

For myself, I always wanted something less - pat. Everyone loved diamonds. I wanted something unique and, living on the coast, there were plenty of places that sold pearls, both fresh water and salt. Pearls were magic to me, born of the sea, plucked from knobbed shells that I found ugly, secrets unwillingly shared by their oyster hosts, each one special and one of a kind. I told my grandmother, the first time she offered to buy me jewelry, that I wanted a pearl.

She refused.

Pearls, she firmly told me, meant tears. I could pick any other stone to wear but she would not, she said, buy me sorrow.

It was the second time she taught me a superstition with the solid assurance of it being fact. It stuck with me.

So, lets talk about pearls, the traditional birthstone of June.

Pearls have been taken from the sea almost the world over and their legends stretch that far too. In many Asian countries, pearls are tears that fell from one god or another into the ocean or the blood of dragons that did the same, falling into the water below them as they fought. Sometimes the oysters themselves are responsible, swallowing down rainbows to make their pearls. In Western culture, pearls have been said to be the tears Adam and Eve shed when booted from the Garden or a result of the goddess Venus rising from the foam of the ocean. Pearls show up in the Bible, both in the story about the merchant who sold all he had to buy a pearl he found in the market and with the proverb about 'throwing pearls before swine', a rebuke against giving wisdom to people who won't listen.

Interestingly enough, in Asia, pearls are a symbol of wisdom as well as prosperity and are considered lucky. In China, gold colored pearls are especially prized and dragons are often shown clutching one in their claws, symbolizing their wise nature. In Polynesia, its black pearls are prized for their rainbow incandescence, said to be the gift of a god to the human princess he loved. Western cultures prize white pearls which are said to represent purity, innocence, elegance and sophistication and despite my grandmother's words, are worn by brides on their wedding just as often as they're not, with a list of cravats that let people get around the 'pearls mean tears' with it being all right as long as the bride buys them herself, as long as the bride doesn't buy them herself, only if the groom gives them to the bride, only if they're borrowed, only if they're new and lastly, they're worn to represent fake tears that can take the place of real tears so the bride won't need to shed any in her marriage. Never, the saying goes, buy pearls that are whiter than your teeth.

Jackie Kennedy made wearing a pearl necklace a long running fashion trend and the painting The Girl With the Pearl Earring is almost as well known for her pearl as the girl. Considered a feminine gem recently, ropes of pearl were worn by men throughout history as a way of showing their wealth, particularly in India. The pearl is also considered a magical component, supposedly good for good fortune, protection and summoning wealth as well as a guard against snake bites and jaundice. Pearls are associated with the moon. They are used in love spells and sleeping with one under your pillow is said to ensure fertility. One of my favorites is that wearing them when you're scuba diving prevents shark attacks!

Speaking of diving, if you want extra reading, look up the Ama of Japan, women who traditionally freedive deep for pearls without breathing equipment. Their history goes back centuries and is absolutely woven with folklore and stories. (If you want me to make a post about them, just ask).

So - are pearls tears? Maybe. But not all tears are bad and these are particularly magical looking ones too.

#folklore #superstition #pearl #pearls #gemstones #birth month #birth stone #birthday #june

[squirrellypoo]

30 is just the beginning

I've recently seen a few people lamenting turning 30. I guess it hits differently when you're told at 29 that you're unlikely to live to see 31, but gazing back at that time from where I sit in my mid-40s I'm struck by the sheer amount of shit I've accomplished since 30. I'm sure conquering death had something to do with lighting a fire under my ass, but seriously, you can achieve SO much more than you ever thought possible.

I started compiling this list for myself and I'm choosing to share it now, not as a "look what I've done!" bragging exercise, but as a way to remind myself that I'm capable of doing epic shit.

And that we are ALL capable of change, growth, and adventure no matter what our age. Your thirties don't have to be about settling down or settling for.

In my 20s, I:

Studied abroad

Eurorailed around Europe for 6 weeks

Survived meningitis (the first time)

Graduated with an Hon BSc

Moved to a different country

Met my bestie

Started my dream job

Started running

Started sewing

Was on the front page of the New York Times

Had my first boyfriends (got dumped by one checking himself into a mental hospital in another country)

Got paid to work backstage at Glastonbury several times

Went to literally thousands of gigs

Met/interviewed Trent Reznor

Met my future husband

Bought a home

Got a cat

Lost 50+ pounds

Started a pension

Became seriously ill and was told I had months to live unless I underwent a risky procedure

Froze embryos

In my 30s, I:

Was saved from certain death by medical science (chemo ain't so bad)

Grew a new blood type

Survived meningitis, shingles, swine flu, and a constant stream of flu

Had all my childhood vaccinations… again.

Married my husband

Appeared on a BBC cooking show

Joined a running crew

Started my own business

Worked behind-the-scenes on a popular tv show

Had laser eye surgery

Wrote my first book

Ran my first half marathon (& then countless others)

Ran my first marathon (& then 7 more including 3 Boston Qualifiers)

Ran an accidental ultra in Transylvania

Had my face on a billboard and in a bunch of banks

Became undefeated GB & world champion on the track (multiple times - 16 golds for GB)

Cycled my first century (& then 2 more)

Started a pension

Started therapy

Started regular meditation

In my 40s, I:

Finished a 15 year home renovation

Shielded (couldn’t leave home) for 14 months in the pandemic

Having the best sex of my life

Broke 2 more world records and retained my world champion status on the track

Mourned a father & grandfather

Started swimming lessons for the first time since childhood

Received my first ever bonus check

Completed my first multisport race

…7 more years to go??

Frankly, I can't wait to see what my 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s have in store if my first 40-odd years have been so endlessly interesting. Happy birthday.

(Each of these is absolutely true, btw, and I'm happy to clarify/expand on these if you want to ask in the comments or using the Ask Me on my page)

#funny what certain death prompts you to do #turning 30 #turning 40 #life lessons #inspirational #not about vampires #though I have consumed a LOT of blood

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

5th July >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 8:28-34 for Wednesday, Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time: ‘What do you want with us, Son of God?’

Wednesday, Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Except USA) Matthew 8:28-34 The Gadarene swine.

When Jesus reached the country of the Gadarenes on the other side of the lake, two demoniacs came towards him out of the tombs – creatures so fierce that no one could pass that way. They stood there shouting, ‘What do you want with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before the time?’ Now some distance away there was a large herd of pigs feeding, and the devils pleaded with Jesus, ‘If you cast us out, send us into the herd of pigs.’ And he said to them, ‘Go then’, and they came out and made for the pigs; and at that the whole herd charged down the cliff into the lake and perished in the water. The swineherds ran off and made for the town, where they told the whole story, including what had happened to the demoniacs. At this the whole town set out to meet Jesus; and as soon as they saw him they implored him to leave the neighbourhood.

Gospel (USA) Matthew 8:28-34 Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?

When Jesus came to the territory of the Gadarenes, two demoniacs who were coming from the tombs met him. They were so savage that no one could travel by that road. They cried out, “What have you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?” Some distance away a herd of many swine was feeding. The demons pleaded with him, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of swine.” And he said to them, “Go then!” They came out and entered the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea where they drowned. The swineherds ran away, and when they came to the town they reported everything, including what had happened to the demoniacs. Thereupon the whole town came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him they begged him to leave their district.

Reflections (5)

(i) Wednesday, Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The incident in the life of Jesus described in today’s sounds strange to our ears, in some respects. Clearly, the two people whom Jesus encounters are extremely disturbed. We are told that they were so fierce that no one could pass close to where they lived. Their fierceness had isolated them from others. They lived among the tombs. Their only company were the dead, and they themselves were the living dead. Yet, when Jesus stepped ashore on the other side of the lake of Galilee to where he normally ministered, they approached him. As they did so, they hurled angry questions at him. Most people would have run a mile from them, but not Jesus. He engaged with them and delivered them from their demons. The gospels suggest that no individual and no group was out of bounds as far as Jesus was concerned. He drew close to all, in a life-giving way, even to those whom no one would approach out of fear. The gospel reading is reminding us that no matter how disturbed we may feel within, regardless of how many we have driven out of our lives, the Lord is always close to us. He comes to us to calm the storm within, just as he calmed the storm at sea. Jesus calms the disturbed, and he also disturbs a false calm. When Jesus healed the two disturbed people, their townspeople told Jesus to leave. Everyone had become accustomed to these fierce people living among the dead, where they belonged; they didn’t want their ordered world disturbed. Jesus was disturbing their calm. There are times when we need the Lord to disturb our calm, just as there are other times when we need him to calm our disturbance.

And/Or

(ii) Wednesday, Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading this morning, Jesus comes face to face with aggression. Crossing over to the pagan side of the lake of the Sea of Galilee, he is met by two fiercely disturbed people who aggressively ask him, ‘Why do you want with us, Son of God?’ When people are aggressive towards us we can react in a variety of ways. We can take flight and get as far away from them as possible. We can respond in kind, becoming aggressive ourselves in response to their aggression. Jesus’ response to the aggressive approach of these two people was of a different order. He stayed his ground and he calmed the disturbed aggression of these two men, just as he had earlier calmed the storm on the lake. The gospels suggest that Jesus had a calming influence on disturbance, whether it is to be found in nature or in people. We can find ourselves very disturbed for one reason or another; a storm can be howling within us, whether it is characterized by anger or some other emotion. The gospel reading this morning encourages us to come before the Lord in our disturbed state. We don’t have to wait until we are calm to pray; we can pray out of our disturbance, and the Lord of life will bring calm and peace to our disturbed spirit.

And/Or

(iii) Wednesday, Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In this morning’s gospel reading Jesus brings two demoniacs to a greater fullness of life. It is striking that after doing this, the people of the region implored him to leave the neighbourhood. It might have been expected that they would have wanted someone who could bring freedom to the enslaved, to stay among them for some time. Surely, there were others in this region who could benefit from the presence of God’s power at work in Jesus. Perhaps the people were nervous of such power for good, fearing that it might make demands on them. We too can be tempted to ask Jesus to leave our neighbourhood, to leave our lives. We sometimes want to keep him at a distance. We sense that his nearness might be very demanding. He might call us to go out towards those who live on the edge of the community, as he himself went out towards the two demoniacs who lived among the tombs. Yet, if we welcome the Lord into our lives, rather than keeping him at a distance, we will discover that he gives us the strength to respond to the challenging call of his presence and in responding to that call we too will find a greater fullness of life.

And/Or

(iv) Wednesday, Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading Jesus is met by two very disturbed people. They were so disturbed that they lived among the tombs and no one would pass that way for fear of them. Jesus, however, was not afraid of them, even though they initially addressed him in a very aggressive way. Undisturbed by their aggression, Jesus went on to heal them and to restore them to themselves and to the community. Jesus’ power to give life was stronger than the power to damage, destroy and disturb which he confronted. That remains true today. The risen Lord’s life-giving power at work in our lives is stronger than the forces in our world which dehumanize and damage. That is why we need always to be people of hope. The Lord at work among us and through us can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, in the words of Saint Paul. We need to open ourselves to the Lord’s presence so that he can work through us. In contrast to the townspeople in the gospel reading who asked Jesus to leave the neighbourhood, we invite the risen Lord to use us as his instruments in his healing and life-giving work.

And/Or

(v) Wednesday, Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

There is a strange ending to today’s gospel reading. Jesus had just healed two very disturbed people. They were described as so fierce that nobody could pass near them. They address Jesus very aggressively, ‘What do you want with us, Son of God?’ Yet, their fierceness and aggressiveness did not deter Jesus from ministering to them. He released them from the spirit that had left them so disturbed. He restored their humanity. Yet, in response to Jesus’ life-giving work, the whole town implored him to leave their neighbourhood. It seems that the local people were more comfortable with having two very disturbed people about than with a display of God’s healing power. Jesus’ liberating ministry did not always meet with welcome and faith. The same is often true of the ministry of the church. The church’s work on behalf of the well-being of others, especially the most vulnerable, does not always meet with a welcoming response. Sometimes our own efforts to do what is best for the well-being of others does not always meet with a welcoming response either. Our efforts to share in the Lord’s liberating ministry will often leave us exposed to the same negative response as he experienced. Yet, the Lord remained faithful to the good work that God had sent him to do. We, as members of the church, are called to that same faithfulness. We try to keep doing the Lord’s life-giving work, regardless of how it is received by others.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[donewithcapitalistfrayers]

Rob Wallace ("marxist epidemiolgoist" guy, used to work at CDC before getting purged for connecting US agriculture policy to swine flu outbreak) wrote 5 days ago:

Double binds are imposed to protect a system breaking apart home and abroad. For nearly a year, U.S. officials and their media stenographers pummeled China for its Zero COVID program, as it aimed to snuff COVID outbreaks cold.

This month New York Times's columnist Li Yuan (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/07/business/xi-jinping-china-party-congress.html) continued wiping the panda-like tears of Chinese businessmen, who, following bourgeois revolutions since 1789, expected they'd be running China by now, if not out-and-out by various chambers of commerce and the strategic envelope of cash perhaps by the respectable corruption of PAC donations and the revolving door: quote / In his second term, which began in 2017, Mr. Xi kept private enterprises on a much tighter leash. The government cracked down on businesses, sending some of the country’s most successful businesspeople into early retirement or self-imposed exile. China’s harsh “zero-Covid” policy has left the economy in the worst shape in decades. To Chinese in the business elite, who grew accustomed to the privilege and attention their success brought, the Big Boss, as many of them refer to Mr. Xi, doesn’t care about the economy or people like them. In his opening address at the party congress, Mr. Xi mentioned “security” 52 times, “Marxism” 15 times and “markets” three times... Many businesspeople have lost a lot of money under “zero-Covid,” which has shuttered cities and locked millions of people in their homes for weeks at a time as the government seeks to eliminate the coronavirus. “Under the leadership of this dictator, our great country is falling into an abyss,” said a hardware tech executive in Shenzhen. “But you can’t do anything about it. It pains and depresses me.” endquote/

For our laptop bombardiers, Zero COVID represents as much a dangerous counter-example for the world that governance has something to do with the health and well-being of their populations as a bottleneck on the supply lines of global corporations based abroad. These latter had expected China—long thought a tributary economy, I write in Fault in Our SARS—to continue to grease those lines with the deaths of thousands of Chinese put back on the factory floor.

Now that China is experimenting with the lighter touch global business asked for, U.S. outlets are also pummeling the country for the outcomes Beijing had hoped to avoid. A Bloomberg News report the local paper here headlined "Easing COVID rules backfiring in China" noted (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-21/china-s-covid-zero-returns-as-deaths-emerge-raising-reopening-doubt):

quote/ Surging infections are threatening to overwhelm some of the country's biggest and most important cities, with local officials stymied over how to control the contagion without the usual tools of mass citywide testing and snap lockdowns. Three COVID deaths in the capital Beijing, the first in more than six months, provided a reality check for a population that's been shielded from the pathogen by the stringent approach.It's creating a make-or-break moment for China's leaders, who must decide whether to accept the rising case count that ultimately inundated every other major country, or revert to the tried-and-true control measures that have put a stranglehold on their economy. endquote/

China is to be censured for whichever direction it chooses, including now its "relapse" to Zero COVID, as Bloomberg put it, and for asking people to stay home that Monday. Mondays, as CDC Director Garfield argues, are awful because they require sacrifice.

If such expectations are to be imposed abroad, they are good enough to be internalized by the American people as signs of metaphysical fortitude.

The CDC, the White House, and their supporters hot-potato the resulting contradictions upon Americans, who, the system claims (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/11/health/virus-cdc-guidelines.html), demanded government's abandonment.

[terrorismreports]

Promising Fame better sports positions in the coal region and overdose deaths across the state of pennsylvania.

get to the root and cause of such problems in kids now a days

do you solve the problem that keeps leading kids down the same road on repeat and keep watching it to foce them into rehab programs they are all just going to keep running away from or this is all just normal life shit all the kids have to go through?

they really got an addiction with the k2 now im wondering about the turpines and the pharmaceuticals they use to track that shit back to the batches. if the governent is dispensing it.

all those kids on juvenile probation and going to jail doing uncomfortable stuff deciding if they want 570 fight club to become famous in the arts but only if they sell their souls and families out in the state of pennsylvania. all the aa and na groups all ran by the jusges and their filth scumbagdaughters

you guys are all retired didnt get caught doing this shit and still have your kids blaMING OTHER PEOPLE FOR THEM REPEATING YOUR OWN ACTIONS? so how do you all get to retire comfortably?

kidnapping kids

tax debt collections into trafficking humans

fixing fights in jail

fixing football players games because you dont like them

hormonal stimulation and chemically imbalancing brains isnt a good way to remove feelings fro m people . playing medical isnt getting you anywhere youschock and fasolka bingaman whatever faggot hynoski and all the catholic lourdes holy spirit kids have been sporeading cause dont worry youll all just pray and HIV goes away someone couldnt get a diagnosis yuears ago and the country has been covering it up blaming other countries for the flu we get 4 times a year.

making kids do uncomfortable shit to see how low they go causes acute psychological problems then you think they all need help being let out. now theres a bunch of people that have dies using to cover this kind of shit up being promised raps spots to meet famous people to be on porhub to be cool for biker school. but no we just forget it and move forward.

i thought it was for antiviral

covid sars jack rich sold out to talapia chinese dickheads years ago

hiring highschool students at mustang sally's backing your whole organization with megans law while you got a bunch of mothers confused whether or not youre the guy that rapes the girls in the bathrooms in shamokin with the otherr ones that cover it up and still feed and recruit little girls for the same fucked up pedophiles.

HIV all virus

but malarials muslim haiti

lets just blame the next h1n1 shinie swine flu nigger loving birthcertificate erasing medical records erasing to hide emotional and mental abuse while still trying to play we have psychological disorders because we get frustrated and throw a little kid hissy fit.

#covidishivcoverupforthegovernentandpornhub #pornhubtrumpcoverup #mustangsallys #hiringhighschool girls #still recruiting #still trying to train better pornstars on parents who dont want their kids involved

[shop-cailey]

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TOKYO - U - CAN’T - BUY - A - CAR - WITHOUT - 

PROVING - PARKING - ONLY - DOCTORS AND - 

NURSES - CAN - DRIVE - DAILY - PARIS SAME - 

THEY - WERE - ABLE - 2 - DECREASE - MAJOR - 

TRAFFIC - LOTS - OF - MURDERS - IN - TOKYO - 

BUT - HIGH - TECHNOLOGY - IN - JAPAN ALSO - 

THUS - SINCE - WE’RE - TREATED - BETTER - 

IN - TOKYO - AND - PARIS - LEGAL - PERMITS - 

MAGIC - KINGDOM - MEDICAL - CENTERS - 

VARIOUS - AGES

TOKYO - PARIS - SEOUL 

OUR - HOW - 2 - DRIVE - IN - TOKYO - THE - 

WORLD’s - BEST - GPS - THEY - DON’T XO - 

HAVE - OURS - SATELLITE - AREAS IS FOR - 

MILITARY - SURGEONS - BEST - MILITARY 4 - 

TERRORISTS - KIDNAP - 2 - MURDER - THE - 

FAMILIES - LOVED - ONES - OF - AMBASSADORS - 

POLITICAL - LEADERS - LOVED - ONES - OF YES - 

STARS - SO - WE - HAVE - THE - BEST - WORLD - 

SATELLITE - OF - LOTS - OF - CITIES - IN - THE - 

WORLD - WHERE - FOREIGNERS - ALLOWED - 

THUS - WE - WILL - SHOW - U - HOW 2 DRIVE - 

IN - SEOUL - TOKYO - PARIS - HOW IT WORKS - 

LIGHT - BLUE - L SIDE - WILL - TELL - U - THE - 

SPEED - LIMIT - OF - EVERY - CITY - U R - YES -

ENTERING - U - WILL - KNOW - ALL THE LAWS - 

EVERYWHERE - U - GO - LIGHT - THIN TABLET - 

CARS - AND - MICROPHONE - L EAR - U SPEAK - 

ANYTHING - THEY - HEAR - THEIR - LANGUAGE - 

IN - YOUR - VOICE - SO - WE - CAN - GO WORLD - 

NOW - 200 LANGUAGES - OF - INDIA - SO - AS - 

MILITARY - SURGEONS - WE - CAN - DO - OUR - 

SURGERY - EASIER - WE - USE - MACHINES 4 - 

FAST - IS - ESSENTIAL - WHAT - USA - IS - THE - 

BUSINESSES - MALLS - FOREIGNERS - ALLOWED - 

THEY’RE ROBBED - OF - EVERYTHING - WELL SO - 

STARVATION - HARRASSED - AS - HOMELESS - 

ROBBED - OF - CLOTHES - WHILE - SLEEPING - 

THEN - LIKE - SEOUL - NORTH - KOREAN MOM - 

AND - SON - MORE - THEIR - FREEZING - WEATHER - 

LANDLORD - SINCE - HAVEN’T - PAID - THEY - WERE - 

FOUND - AS - SHE - ENTERED - APT - FOUND - THEM - 

BOTH - DEAD - OF - ACUTE - HUNGER - BUT - MORE - 

FR - THEIR - WEATHER - FROZEN - AND - HUNGRY - 

CORRECT - CAUSE - OF - DEATH - SO - FOREIGN - 

PEOPLE - HERE - SO - AMERICANS - CAN - KILL - 

THEM - ALL - THEREFORE - WHEN - THEY ENTER - 

OLYMPICS - FIFA - BEAUTY - PAGEANTS - THEY - 

MET - MANY - FOREIGNERS - CAN’T - BE - VERY - 

CONFIDENT - HOW - EASY - 2 - KILL - OTHERS - 

THEY - WILL EXCEL - IN - OTHER COUNTRIES - 

BECAUSE - THEY - WERE - ABLE - 2 - EASILY - 

KILL - THOSE - FOREIGNERS - FR - THE - YES - 

COUNTRIES - THEY - VISIT - THUS - WE KNOW - 

2 - KILL - ALL - OF - US - WHAT - AMERICANS - 

WANT - ABOUT - FOREIGNERS - 2 - CAPTURE - 

US - AS - CITIZENS - POLICE - MALL SECURITY - 

MALL - EMPLOYEES - ROBBERY - REMOVE - 

THEIR CLOTHES - BECAUSE - THEY STOLE - 

SO - CALIFORNIA - FLORIDA - REMOVAL OF - 

CLOTHES - PUNISHMENT - 4 - ACCUSED OF - 

THEFT - BUT - PHILIPPINES - 4 WINS - 4 - MS - 

UNIVERSE - THEY - SEE - CATRIONA - PIA - 

NAKED - WHEN - THEY - SEE - US - NAKED - 

BUT - THEY’RE - GERMANS - AUSTRALIANS - 

WHEN - BORN - IN - GERMANY - AUSTRALIA - 

WE - BORN - IN - PHILIPPINES - AT - LEAST - 

PINOYS - PINAYS - NAKED - ALL - VIOLATING - 

14TH - NO - US - STATE - CAN - CREATE - OR - 

MAKE - ANY - LAWS - DEPRIVING - DENYING - 

CITIZENS - OF - PRIVILEGES - OR - IMMUNITY - 

OF - AMBASSADORS - THEIR - FAMILIES - NO - 

US - STATE - CAN - DENY - PERSON - PROPERTY - 

I - WAS - DEPRIVED - OF - LARGE - LAWN - PINK - 

UMBRELLA - OVER - $63 - I - WAS - DEPRIVED OF -

LIBERTY - RIGHT - 2 - OPEN - AND - USE - WHAT - 

I - BOUGHT - B - LIKE - EVERYONE - RUN - WHEN - 

IT - RAINS - BUT - THEY - ALL - HAVE - LAPTOP OR - 

SMARTPHONE - NOT - BOTH - AND - MORE - AS A - 

MILITARY - SURGEON - WE’RE - SMARTER - AND - 

HAVE - MORE - AS - MILITARY - SURGEONS - WE - 

HAVE - OUR - MACHINES - 2 - GIVE SURGERY - 

24/7 - ALL - OUR - SUPPLIES - FREE - 2 - GIVE - 

BANDAIDS - SURGERY - MEDICATIONS - ALL - 

ARE - FREE - BECAUSE - ARE - LICENSE - IS - 

ONLY - 4 - FREE - SURGERY - FREE - MEDICAL -

SUPPLIES - NOT - FREE - LOST - OF - LICENSE - 

OUTSIDE - USA - AND - OTHER - PLACES - FOR - 

THEY - ALWAYS - ATTACK - US - BIBLE - 

DON’T - CAST - YOUR - PEARLS AMONG - 

SWINE - WIND - IS - SO - NICE - EVEN XO - 

HERE - AT - THE - UNDERLINE - GROUND - 

LEVEL - 24/7 - THE - WINDS - ARE BETTER - 

THAN - BAYFRONT - PARK - AND - THAT - PORT - 

WATER - VERY - UGLY - SO - THOUGH - ITS NOT - 

REGULAR - VIEW - BEING - AT - THE UNDERLINE - 

DAY - AND - NIGHT - AS - HOMELESS - SINCE ITS - 

24/7 - IT - FEELS - REAL - GOOD - RIGHT - NOW - 

I’M - USING - BATH - TOWEL - 2 - REMOVE - THE - 

SUN - 4 - DARKENING - MOSTLY - MY - LEGS - 

BUT - THAT’S - GONE - RIGHT - NOW - I’M YES - 

HUNGRY - AT - 12:58P EDT - BUT - THE - GUY -

WHOSE - HOMELESS - I - SEE - MORNINGS - 

NOT - HERE - SO - HOW - CAN - I - EAT NOW - 

I’M - NOT - WORRIED - NO - MORE - ECKEL - 

WATER - FR - BRICKELL - USING - PUBLIX - 

ECKEL - WATER - INSTEAD - MAYBE NONE - 

AT - 9 ST - BUT - MORE - RIVERSIDE - LANDING - 

OUTDOOR - MALL - BUT - CAN’T - NOW - WITH - 

ALL - MY - LUGGAGE - I’M - NOT - GOING 2 DIE - 

FR - DESPAIR - I - DON’T - HAVE - CANCER - I - 

DON’T - WANT - 2 - TRADE - WITH - ANYONE - 

RIGHT - NOW - I’M - GOING - 2 - PUT - MY XO -

TRUST - IN - OUR - HEAVENLY - FATHER - TO - 

HELP - ME - RIGHT - NOW - I’M - HUNGRY - AT - 

THE - MOMENT - OR - JUST - GO - 2 - PUBLIX - 

WITH - MY - LUGGAGE - ACTUALLY - WILL DO - 

THAT - WHY - NOT - GOING - 2 - PUBLIX NOW - 

WITH - LUGGAGE - I’M - HUNGRY - RIGHT YES - 

NOW - WILL - BRING - MY - LUGGAGE - 2 - THE - 

T-MOBILE - MEETING - AND - NOW - BRINGING - 

2 - PUBLIX - I’M VERY - HUNGRY - RIGHT NOW

#youtube

[freewayinsurance]

Understanding What Happens When You Crash Into A Cow

When it comes to auto accident scenarios, most are easy to explain and pointing the finger at the responsible party is fairly cut and dry. After all, the other driver ran a stop sign, changed lanes without looking, or maybe he was driving under the influence. But, what if your accident scenario defies any simple explanation and you’ve got to inform your auto insurance company you crashed into a cow? Who pays for the damage to your car – and the cow’s injuries if it survives?

Understanding What Happens When a Cow is Hit By a Car

First of all, there’s nothing funny about crashing a two-ton automobile into a 1,500 pound animal. Nothing good ever comes of it – and it happens more often than people think.

Similar to crashing into a deer, because of its sheer weight and mass, livestock can cause extensive damage to your vehicle and result in serious injuries for the driver and passengers alike. However, unlike a run-in with a wild deer, the cow you hit undoubtedly has an owner. And, here’s where things can get complicated.

Cows are very valuable – which leads to the question – are you on the hook for the loss of the cow? Is the cow’s owner on the hook for the damage to your car? Will your insurance company cover the losses?

The answers depend on a number of different factors, including the laws of the state where the accident occurred and the specifics of your auto insurance policy. Accidents with animals, big and small, are covered under the comprehensive portion of your policy..

This is optional coverage with a deductible of varying amounts – so, understanding what type of insurance and the amount of coverage you have before you get into an accident of this type is important.

Legal Definitions of Livestock and Their Classification

Livestock is a term used to refer to animals that are raised or kept for commercial purposes, including food production, fiber production, and work purposes. The legal definition of livestock varies from country to country and may also vary based on the context in which the term is used. In the United States, for example, livestock is defined as any cattle, sheep, goats, swine, poultry, or equine animal that is used for commercial purposes. The definition also includes other animals that may be used for commercial purposes, such as llamas, alpacas, and buffalo. The definition of livestock may also vary based on the state, with some states having specific definitions for certain types of animals.

Livestock can be classified into various categories based on their purpose or characteristics. The most common classifications of livestock include beef cattle, dairy cattle, swine, poultry, and sheep and goats. Beef cattle are raised primarily for meat production, while dairy cattle are raised for milk production. Swine, on the other hand, are raised for meat production, and poultry, such as chickens and turkeys, are raised for both meat and egg production. Sheep and goats are raised for both meat and fiber production. Livestock can also be classified based on their breed, size, and age, as well as their function within the commercial industry, such as breeding, feeding, or transportation. Understanding the legal definitions and classifications of livestock is essential for individuals involved in the commercial production and trade of these animals.

Explanation of Liability in Car Accidents Involving Livestock

Liability in car accidents involving livestock refers to the legal responsibility that the driver of the vehicle has in case of a collision with an animal on the road. Generally, the driver is liable for the damages caused to their own vehicle and any injuries or damages to other individuals involved in the accident. However, in cases where the collision involves livestock, the owner of the animal may also be held responsible for any damages or injuries caused by their animal.

When it comes to insurance coverage for car accidents involving livestock, Freeway Insurance may provide coverage for the driver’s liability for damages or injuries caused to other individuals involved in the accident. However, the coverage may vary depending on the specific terms and conditions of the policy. Some policies may also provide coverage for the driver’s own vehicle damages, depending on the circumstances of the accident and the policy’s coverage limits.

It is important for drivers to be aware of the risks involved in driving on roads where livestock may be present and to take necessary precautions to avoid collisions. This may include driving at a slower speed, paying close attention to signs and warnings about animal crossings, and being prepared to take evasive action if necessary. Additionally, drivers should review their insurance policies to understand the extent of their coverage in the event of an accident involving livestock on the freeway.

Laws and Regulations Pertaining to Car Accidents Involving Livestock

When it comes to car accidents involving livestock, there are a number of laws and regulations in place to protect both the animals and the drivers involved. Depending on the state or country, these regulations may differ in their specific details, but in general, they aim to prevent such accidents from occurring in the first place, and to provide clear guidance for what to do in the event of an accident. For example, some states may require farmers to fence in their livestock or to provide warning signs near roads where animals are likely to be present. Additionally, drivers may be required to exercise extra caution when driving in areas where livestock are known to roam freely, and to follow specific procedures if they do hit an animal with their vehicle. These may include notifying the authorities, checking on the animal’s condition, and rendering aid if possible.

Despite these regulations, however, accidents involving livestock still occur with alarming frequency, and can be extremely dangerous for both humans and animals. In addition to the potential for serious injury or death, there may also be legal and financial consequences for those involved, including liability for damages to the animal or property, as well as potential criminal charges for failing to comply with applicable regulations. For this reason, it is important for both farmers and drivers to be aware of the laws and regulations in their area, and to take all necessary precautions to prevent accidents from occurring. This may include installing additional fencing or warning signs, limiting livestock grazing near busy roads, and following safe driving practices such as reducing speed and remaining vigilant for potential hazards. By working together to promote safety and responsibility, we can help reduce the risk of accidents involving livestock and protect the well-being of all involved.

Factors Determining Liability

Role of the Owner of the Livestock in the Accident

The role of the owner of livestock in an accident involving their animals is crucial. Livestock owners have a responsibility to ensure that their animals are properly contained and controlled to prevent them from causing harm or damage. If an accident occurs as a result of a livestock owner’s negligence, such as failing to adequately fence their animals, they can be held liable for any injuries or damages that occur. It is important for livestock owners to understand their legal obligations and take appropriate measures to prevent accidents from happening. This may include regularly inspecting fencing and enclosures, properly training and handling their animals, and promptly addressing any potential safety hazards.

Safety Measures to Take While Driving in Areas With Livestock

Driving in areas with livestock can be a unique challenge that requires drivers to take extra safety measures to avoid accidents. First and foremost, it is important to slow down and stay alert while driving through areas with livestock. Livestock can be unpredictable, and sudden movements or sounds from a vehicle can startle them, causing them to run into the road. It is also essential to maintain a safe following distance from the livestock, giving them plenty of space to move around without endangering the driver or passengers. Additionally, drivers should always obey posted speed limits and watch for signs indicating the presence of livestock. By taking these safety measures, drivers can help ensure a safe and uneventful journey through areas with livestock.

Importance of Being Aware of the Liability and Legal Consequences of Hitting Livestock While Driving

Being aware of the liability and legal consequences of hitting livestock while driving is essential for any driver who frequently travels through rural areas. Livestock such as cows, horses, and sheep can suddenly appear on the road, and hitting them can cause significant damage to both the animal and the vehicle. In addition, drivers may face serious legal consequences for hitting livestock, including fines, license suspension, and even criminal charges in cases of negligence or reckless driving. Being aware of these risks can help drivers take appropriate precautions, such as driving at a safe speed, staying alert, and avoiding distractions, to reduce the likelihood of hitting livestock and to protect themselves and others from harm.

The Importance of Comprehensive Coverage in Case You Hit a Cow With Your Car

Comprehensive coverage is an essential component of car insurance that can provide financial protection in case of unexpected events, such as hitting a cow on the road. This type of coverage goes beyond the minimum liability coverage required by law and covers damage to your vehicle caused by various factors, including collisions with animals. Without comprehensive coverage, the cost of repairing or replacing your car could be significant, and you may be left with a financial burden that could have been avoided. Freeway insurance is one provider that offers comprehensive coverage as part of its policies, ensuring that you have the necessary protection and peace of mind on the road.

Don’t assume this type of accident will never happen to you. If you currently don’t have comprehensive car insurance on your policy, get a free car insurance quote from Freeway Insurance. Call today at [phone].

[lexareyouokay]

The Art of War by Sun Tzu (Blog Post #1)

These posts are a little personal but just for the sake of my writing and not getting writer's block and feeling completely unmotivated. Enjoy!

A book I reread recently (relistened to rather) that I enjoyed in college was The Art of War by Sun Tzu. My quiet and solemn mornings running tests in a lab contribute well to finding audiobooks to listen to and occupy my mental space. On Saturday, April 29th of this year, the ancient treatise has much wisdom not only in terms of war but in terms of one's personal action as well.

Recently in my life, I’ve been struggling with the topic of impulsiveness and indecision. Both vices are inversions of one another (though I tend to fall on the side of indecision), I’ve recently had a friend do something out of impulsiveness that has offended me and left me feeling upset (and even enraged at times). This is a struggle presented to me in my Christianity, I must forgive her if I wish to be forgiven for my own faults, but that does not mean I have no struggle. I deal with thoughts of wishing to tell her my worst opinions of her, words that would paint her own faults in deeper black and red than they appear. 

In spite of this, I can find gleams of goodness in this situation; ones provided by literature and thought. When listening to The Art of War, I came across this line, “Move not unless you see an advantage: use not your troops unless there is something to be gained: fight not unless the position is critical. No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen: no general should fight a battle simply out of pique. If it is to your advantage, make a forward move: if not, stay where you are. Anger may in time change to gladness: vexation may be succeeded by content. But a Kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being: nor can the dead ever be brought back to life. Hence the enlightened ruler is heedful, and the good general is full of caution. This is the way to keep a country at peace and an army intact. (The Art of War, Part 12. 17-22).”

The full context of this line gives a sense of wisdom in that impulsive actions do not bode well. Arguments are not of any use unless constructive and tempered. One must not allow fear or emotions to make their decisions for them but must instead rely on conviction and wisdom (in the case of a Christian, that coming from Christ). I should act with restraint and meekness. Not every battle is worth picking, do not cast pearls before swine. 

#personal piece #personal #the art of war #sun tzu #literature #writing #blog #christianity #virtue #personal blog #writing piece #🌻

[niobefurens]

Censory Deprivation.

Why stop at fatness? If you are going to put a red pen through Roald Dahl—as his publisher, Puffin, did recently—there are so many better bits to choose. The sensitivity readers contented themselves with excising such words as “fat”, “flabby”, “ugly” and “Kipling”. But Dahl doesn’t merely offer sexism, racism and colonialism; in his adult fiction you can find sins so frankly filthsome and swigpilling there has yet to be an -ism coined to cover them. There is violence, voyeurism and an unforgettably frightsome story in which a scorpion collector accidentally has sex with a leper. Not for nothing did his family call him “Roald the Rotten” and—more bluntly—“Roald the Bastard”. Listen to this story.

Something seems to be changing in British publishing. You can see it in the sheepish announcement from Puffin after news of its edits prompted a backlash, that Roald the Revolting will still roll off the presses unaltered, alongside the works of Roald the Redacted. You can see it, too, in almost-silenced books that are now thriving. “Time to Think”, a book by Hannah Barnes about the Tavistock’s gender-identity clinic in London, which referred children as young as nine for puberty blockers, was rejected by 22 publishers. Swift Press, a nimble newcomer, took it on and it made the bestseller lists. People in the industry suggest that the red pen is being wielded less freely. As one publishing executive puts it, there is a sense that things “had gone too far”. (Though since this person did not want to be quoted by name, not far enough.)

A change is overdue. The editing of Dahl by Puffin, an imprint of Penguin, was a symptom of something frogglehumping in the publishing world, but far from the only one. Authors have been dropped; books have been buried; people have lost jobs; sensitivity readers have been employed to ensure modern morals are adhered to. James Bond has even been edited to make him less vile—the literary equivalent of trying to make water less wet. 

There is a line of argument that says that this isn’t really a problem. Suppression of speech, this argument runs, is the preserve of totalitarian, Orwellian-style states and institutions that use force to stop people speaking out. In a country like Britain, speech is still free. This is pure gobblefunk and Orwell’s “1984” is the wrong Orwellian work to understand why. 

Better by far to turn to an introduction Orwell wrote for “Animal Farm”. Orwell had finished his satire on the Soviet Union—which many consider his masterpiece—in 1943, whereupon it was promptly rejected by four publishers. As with Ms Barnes’s 22 rejections, some offered reasons. One publisher pleasingly suggested Orwell might want to rethink the pigs. Having swine as the ruling class might “give offence…particularly to anyone who is a bit touchy, as undoubtedly the Russians are”. Orwell kept the pigs; “Animal Farm” sold half a million copies in two years. 

He later reflected on all this in that introduction. There is, he wrote, a “veiled censorship” in British publishing. “At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas which it is assumed that all right-thinking people will accept without question.” It is “not exactly forbidden to say this, that or the other, but it is ‘not done’ to say it”. Anyone who tries to do so “finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness”. They still do. A book on colonialism by Nigel Biggar, an emeritus professor of theology at Oxford University, was welcomed by its publisher, Bloomsbury, as a work of “major importance” and then postponed, apparently indefinitely, because “public feeling…does not currently support the publication of the book”. It is now out under a different publisher.

What is striking is how apparently mild the sanctions are for speaking out. People think, as one author puts it, that you are afraid of Twitter death threats. You aren’t: what really terrifies you is that your colleagues will think a little less of you. Most people do not require the threat of being burned at the stake to shut them up; being flamed by their peers on Twitter is more than enough. 

This is true of more typically Orwellian states, too. When Anne Applebaum studied the Sovietisation of central Europe, the historian found political conformity was “the result not of violence or direct state coercion, but rather of intense peer pressure”. Publishing, an industry in which every third person is called Sophie, seems particularly susceptible to such pressure. 

All this involves no laws, no police, nor even any obvious threats. Polite people write polite emails and books are politely buried. “The sinister fact about literary censorship in England”, Orwell wrote, “is that it is largely voluntary.” To go against that ominously amorphous “public feeling” is deeply uncomfortable. Ms Barnes found writing her book about the Tavistock’s clinic hard not because she thought it was wrong but because “I thought: ‘People are not going to like me.’” Publishers are equally nervy. In the name of looking likeable they panic and pre-empt offence: they cull the pigs; drop the book on colonialism; cut the foulsome bits.

The problem with all this nervousness—this desire-to-look-nice-ness—is that it has very nasty results. In “Fahrenheit 451”, a novel by Ray Bradbury, a society has taken to burning all books lest any cause offence. As one character explains: “Don’t step on the toes of the…second-generation Chinese, Swedes, Italians, Germans, Texans, Brooklynites, Irishmen….” This book-burning wasn’t mandated by the government. “There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship to start with, no! Technology…and minority pressure carried the trick.” Now the books have all gone. Now “thanks to them, you can stay happy all the time.”

Penguin, incidentally, offers an audiobook of “Fahrenheit 451”. Perhaps its executives might be encouraged to listen to it before they get their red pens out. Then again, they might be tempted to edit it as well; after all, Puffin took the words “Japanese” and “Norway people” and “Yankee-Doodles” out of Dahl. Best be sure we can all stay happy all the time. ■

#censure #sensitivity #roald dahl #orwell #bradbury

[newmusicradionetwork]

Country recording artist Andy Pursell set to release new single “Right Amount Of Wrong”

Florida-based singer-songwriter and indie country recording artist Andy Pursell (Southern Dreams Ent.) announced the scheduled release of his newest tune “Right Amount of Wrong.”* Written by Ryan Griffin and Terry Dennis, and produced by Mark Dreyer, the track will be available via all digital retail outlets and streaming platforms Friday, March 17, 2023. (Presale/pre-save event begins March 3, 2023.) Recorded at Studio 23 Lakeside Recording in Nashville, the single features instrumental performances by award-winning, A-list musicians, including four-time ACM “Steel Guitarist of the Year,” Mike Johnson (Jason Aldean/Carrie Underwood/Jon Pardi/George Strait/Willie Nelson/Merle Haggard), Kevin Grant (Willie Nelson/Merle Haggard/Colt Ford/Josh Turner) and Mike Rojas (George Strait/Tim McGraw/Brett Eldredge). The twangy honky-tonker is a mix of the best of 90s country and today’s contemporary sound. Akin to the Bellamy Brothers’ No. 1 hit, “Redneck Girl,” the leading lady beams with frisky, flirty, flannel sophistication to become a magnetic attraction. “The vibe and storyline are ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ meets ‘Urban Cowboy;’ she’s a perfect combination, with ‘just the right amount of wrong,’ and that makes her irresistible,” said Andy Pursell.  “A song is like a canvas; we assembled the right mix of musicians to make the magic and paint the perfect picture both in storyline and instrumentation. The outcome is exactly what I had envisioned.” SHE’S JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF WRONG FOR ME DASH OF TRASH TALKING SEXY WALKING SHE’S SO AWESOME SHE’S THE PERFECT BLEND OF NICE AND ALL THE INNOCENCE WITH A TOUCH OF SIN ON HER OWN SHE’S JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF WRONG SHE GETS A LITTLE FLIRTY IN THE BACK OF THE PEW OF THE CHURCH AND WHEN SHE’S FEELING FRISKY SHE WON’T CLEAN UP DIRTY WORDS SHE’S LIKE A MARGARITA WITH AN EXTRA SHOT AND WHEN SHE STARTS TO LOSE HER COOL IT’S BOUND TO GET REAL HOT The new tune follows the momentum of Pursell’s recent single “Off The Chain ” released in late fall 2022. The corresponding “Right Amount Of Wrong” music video is scheduled for a March 24, 2023 release. Track Info Artist: Andy Pursell Song Title: “Right Amount of Wrong” Label: Southern Dreams Ent. Written by: Ryan Griffin/Terry Dennis Produced by: Mark Dreyer Musicians: Mark Dryer (guitar)/Kevin (Swine) Grant (bass)/Wayne Killius (drums)/ Mike Johnson (pedal steel)/Danny Parks (guitar)/Mike Rojas (keys) Distribution: TuneCore Release Date: March 17, 2023 Presale/Pre-Save Event: March 3, 2023 Run Time: 3:20 Florida-based country recording artist Andy Pursell found a passion for music and live performance in his late teens. Born and raised in Arcadia, Florida, the former lineman and self-taught guitarist (who embraces the sounds of Waylon Jennings, Garth Brooks, Hank Jr., Mark Chesnutt and Tracy Lawrence) formed the Andy Pursell Band (a group of veteran musicians with more than 40 years live performance experience combined) in 2015. Shortly thereafter, Andy was recognized as “Favorite New Artist” by the Tampa Bay Music Network (2016). As a support act, Andy has shared stages with Alan Jackson, Hunter Hayes, Clay Walker, and Montgomery Gentry among others; he’s headlined stages at the Bradenton Area River Regatta, the Smokin’ In The Pines Festival, Manatee Civic Center, Hard Rock Cafe’ (Tampa) and The Ultimate Bullfighters World Finals “The Bulls And Bands Bash.” Andy is a spokesperson for, and an ambassador of, Salt Life; he released the single titled “Livin’ In The Salt Life” (2019). Read the full article

[themarketinsights]

Animal Health Market Giants Spending Is Going To Boom | Heska, Merial, Virbac, Novartis

Advance Market Analytics published a new research publication on “Global Animal Health Market Insights, to 2027” with 232 pages and enriched with self-explained Tables and charts in presentable format. In the study, you will find new evolving Trends, Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities generated by targeting market-associated stakeholders. The growth of the Animal Health market was mainly driven by the increasing R&D spending across the world.

Major players profiled in the study are:

Bayer Animal Health [Germany], Ceva Animal Healthcare [United Kingdom], Elanco Animal Health [United States], Merck Ltd. [ India], Merial (Animal Health division of Sanofi) [France], Zoetis Animal Healthcare [United States], Pfizer [United States], Vétoquinol SA [France], Sanofi-Aventis [France], Bayer HealthCare [Germany], Virbac [France], Novartis [Switzerland], Boehringer Ingelheim [Germany], Heska Corporation [United States]

Get Exclusive PDF Sample Copy of This Research @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/sample-report/41998-global-animal-health-market#utm_source=DigitalJournalVinay

Scope of the Report of Animal Health

Animal health has become vital owing to importance of animals in ensuring global food safety. Growing people’s inclination towards animal protein requires animal’s well-being and prevention of diseases outbreaks. Fueled by growing popularity of pet ownership and rising demand for dairy products, the animal health industry continues its strong growth run.

The Global Animal Health Market segments and Market Data Break Down are illuminated below:

by Type (Vaccines (Live Attenuated Vaccine, DNA Vaccines, Recombinant Vaccines and Inactivated Vaccines ), Feed Additives (Nutritional and Medicinal), Pharmaceuticals (Parasiticides, Anti-infectives, Anti-inflammatory, Analgesics and others)), Application (Production Animals (Poultry, Swine, Cattle, Sheep & Goats and Fish), Companion Animals (Dogs, Cat, Horse and Others)), End-use (Reference Laboratories, Point-of-care Testing/In-house Testing, Veterinary Hospitals & Clinics, Others)

Market Opportunities:

Technically Advanced Animal Drugs Development

Rising Disposable Income in Emerging Countries

Market Drivers:

Rising Cases of Zoonotics

Increasing Pet Humanization

Favorable Government Initiatives

Market Trend:

Rising Companion Animal Ownership

Growing Awareness About Healthy Food and Animal Protein

What can be explored with the Animal Health Market Study?

Gain Market Understanding

Identify Growth Opportunities

Analyze and Measure the Global Animal Health Market by Identifying Investment across various Industry Verticals

Understand the Trends that will drive Future Changes in Animal Health

Understand the Competitive Scenarios

Track Right Markets

Identify the Right Verticals

Region Included are: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Oceania, South America, Middle East & Africa

Country Level Break-Up: United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, South Africa, Nigeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Germany, United Kingdom (UK), the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Turkey, Russia, France, Poland, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, India, Australia and New Zealand etc.

Have Any Questions Regarding Global Animal Health Market Report, Ask Our Experts@ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/enquiry-before-buy/41998-global-animal-health-market#utm_source=DigitalJournalVinay

Strategic Points Covered in Table of Content of Global Animal Health Market:

Chapter 1: Introduction, market driving force product Objective of Study and Research Scope the Animal Health market

Chapter 2: Exclusive Summary – the basic information of the Animal Health Market.

Chapter 3: Displaying the Market Dynamics- Drivers, Trends and Challenges & Opportunities of the Animal Health

Chapter 4: Presenting the Animal Health Market Factor Analysis, Porters Five Forces, Supply/Value Chain, PESTEL analysis, Market Entropy, Patent/Trademark Analysis.

Chapter 5: Displaying the by Type, End User and Region/Country 2016-2021

Chapter 6: Evaluating the leading manufacturers of the Animal Health market which consists of its Competitive Landscape, Peer Group Analysis, BCG Matrix & Company Profile

Chapter 7: To evaluate the market by segments, by countries and by Manufacturers/Company with revenue share and sales by key countries in these various regions (2022-2027)

Chapter 8 & 9: Displaying the Appendix, Methodology and Data Source

Finally, Animal Health Market is a valuable source of guidance for individuals and companies.

Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/buy-now?format=1&report=41998#utm_source=DigitalJournalVinay

Contact Us:

Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager)

AMA Research & Media LLP

Unit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJ

New Jersey USA – 08837

#Animal Health Market Analysis #Animal Health Market Forecast #Animal Health Market Growth #Animal Health Market Opportunity #Animal Health Market Share #Animal Health Market trends