#hello United Nations I have a proposal I would like you to consider

[antiquery]

the great thing about the climax of Hobbes and Shaw is that it could just as easily take place in the American South (get together with your 8 million cousins on the family farm to booby trap the shit out of the place with petrol explosives so that The Man (government, corporation, whatever) has a hell of a time when they send in the repo guys, also put some insane and dubiously legal aftermarket mods on your tractor while you're at it). I think that cultural commonality is beautiful, except for one thing: rural Southerners don't have anything that could be considered equivalent to a haka! there is an urgent need to get on that, I think

#notebook #from what I have heard much of rural China is also this way #someone needs to set up a global redneck symposium or something #wait. actually. everywhere just needs American football. this is one of the major social functions college football serves in the States: #introducing different varieties of insane hill folk to one another so they can peacefully coexist #LSU and Wisconsin are the same team etc #hello United Nations I have a proposal I would like you to consider

[magics-neptunes-things]

Collide (1)

Hello everyone!

Here we are finally in the series I talk about a few days ago. After the votes you chose Leah, but I might have kept some ideas for Alessia afterwards.

I have the beginning of the story and the end, but I have not yet decided exactly what would happen in the middle, so I am unable to tell you how many chapters there will be in this story.

I hope you will like it and as usual, I gladly take your comments, requests and suggestions :) Don’t hesitate to write to me.

Happy reading!

World count : 4.8k

TW : Mention of breaking up and angst. I think nothing else but if you notice something please let me know!

PART 2 I PART 3 I PART 4 I PART 5 I PART 6 | PART 7

The news of your transfer to Arsenal was like a little bomb in the football world. You were on the verge of another contract extension with Manchester City when the London club contacted your agent, offering you a contract that you couldn’t refuse. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, you thought about it long before accepting. You asked for the advice of your parents and friends footballers perhaps a little more experienced than you. Including Ingrid Engen, one of your best friends since you started playing on the Norwegian national team.

After weighing the pros and cons, you decided to accept and say goodbye to Manchester City. Some things will obviously miss you. Starting with some of your teammates that you consider your friends and who seemed really saddened by your departure.

You quickly got along with Laia Aleixandri and Leila Ouahabi, the spanish womens taking you under their wing just arrived in Manchester. They made your life easier and helped you include yourself in the club much more easily than you could have hoped. Leaving your home country at almost 18 wasn’t easy, but if you wanted to continue to follow your dreams, you really had no choice. Norwegian football being less in the spotlight, when you had the first proposal from an English club, you didn’t hesitate a single second. Your parents and relatives encouraged you to accept this offer as well.

Your life in Manchester has been pleasant and you can’t help but be a little nervous about moving to a new city. With other people, other places… In short, to start almost from the beggining. The only thing that has changed between your settlement between Manchester and London is that you have undoubtedly developed your athletic abilities and skills in all areas necessary to be able to play football properly.

Your contract was signed just after the end of the World Cup, so you were the last to announced at Arsenal. This didn’t allow you to find an apartment in time and that is why you find yourself in a hotel room for your first nights in London. It’s a little strange, but you’d rather that than take an apartment that wouldn’t suit you. It’s important for you to really feel at home when you cross the threshold of your door and you haven’t found the one who gave you this impression in those you have visited for the moment.

You only have a few things with you at the moment, all your furniture is stored in Laia’s garage in Manchester, ready to be sent as soon as you find what suits you. Very soon, let’s hope.

********

It’s a little nervous that you leave the Uber that accompanies you to the Arsenal training center for your first day under the colors of the club. You have already made the promotional photos, so you have already met several people belonging to the staff. You’ve already had a meeting with Jonas, but you haven’t met a lot of people officially when it comes to the players.

Last night, Alessia Russo contacted you via Instagram (you didn’t even realize she was following you on social media) and offered to wait for you at the entrance to make your way together. You quickly accepted, even if you also quickly understood that it was for you more than for her. Alessia knows a lot of people on the team, unlike you. But the gesture made you happy. Alessia having played at Manchester United while you were playing at Manchester City, you might have had a bad connection with her, being clubs enemy, but that’s not the case. Leila and Laia always took you with them when they were going out with Ona and her friends and that’s how you met Alessia. From saying you’re friends with her there’s a world, but you appreciate the blonde’s personality.

Alessia is already waiting for you when you arrive and you smile at her when you reach her height.

"Hi" you say with a slight smile, responding willingly to her embrace.

"Nervous?" asks the blonde, glancing at you.

You answer with a simple grunt that makes her laugh, before you go to the conference room where you meet the rest of the team. She asks you about your Summer and you ask questions back, learning that she went in her family in Italy.

Several of your teammates are already present when you enter the room, including Jonas who greets you both with a big smile. You find yourself following Alessia around like a lost puppy in the room, but she doesn’t seem to mind. On the contrary, she introduces you to people she already knows.

You’ve come across some of them on football fields in previous games, but aside from a few words exchanged with them, there’s never been anything more. You talk to Laia Codina, whom Laia and Leila described as an adorable girl, when a new trio arrives in the room. Lia, Leah and Katie.

"Katie terrifies me" Alessia jokes in your ear before Leah spots her and leads the other two in your direction.

"Do you know Y/N?" Alessia tells Leah after they greet each other with an embrace.

"Not really" Leah replies with a smile. "Welcome to Arsenal!"

"Thank you very much"

When your eyes meet, you feel a wave of shivers running through your entire body. Nothing to do with the terror that Katie can inspire in Alessia, but what it can mean does intrigue you no less. But you quickly recover, greeting all three. You realize too that Leah’s embrace lasts a few seconds longer than the others, her hand dragging in the hollow of your back when she laughs at a joke Katie made.

Shortly after, Jonas and his assistants arrive in the room and ask you all to sit down. You find yourself next to Alessia and Manuela Zinsberger and listens wisely to what he tells you. This mainly consists of a warm welcome from the new players, a reminder of the goals set for the team this year and the introduction of new staff members. After that, everyone is invited to a brunch and you find yourself around a big round table, once again with Manuela but also with Frida Maanum, who seems delighted to have a compatriot with her on the team.

"We’ll be able to show Stina and Amanda who the real Vikings are" she told you, amusing the people around you.

The least we can say is that you quickly feel comfortable.

Finally you were wrong to fear the introduction into your new team. You haven’t trained together yet, but you feel it won’t be a problem for you to fit in here. Despite you, your eyes are a little too turned towards Leah Williamson, who has lunch at an another table. You didn’t expect the injuries one to be here today, which was stupid of you. They’re just as much part of the team as you are.

In the middle of the afternoon, after visiting the different rooms and the training ground, you are free to leave. You stay a little longer than the first ones who do though, having fun making passes with Alessia and Manuela, while Leah, Lia, Beth and Viv stay a few meters from you to discuss. When you finally decide to leave the field to go home and you don’t follow them to the parking lot greeting them nevertheless, you see Leah arching an eyebrow.

"Where are you going?"

"Taking the subway? I don’t have a car yet" you answer smiling, shrugging your shoulders.

"Bullshit. Someone can bring you back" Leah says, turning to your teammates.

"I’m not going to force someone to make a detour for me, Leah, but that’s very kind, thank you very much."

Something in the blonde’s gaze makes you think that if she had been fit to drive, she herself would have made the detour, but being driven by Lia she doesn’t have the opportunity to do so.

"I can" says Alessia nicely. "Where do you live?"

A new wave of surprise attacks your teammates when you give them the name of your hotel.

"You live in a hotel?" Lia wonders with her kind voice this time.

"I didn’t find an apartment for now" you shrug your shoulders."It all happened so quickly that I didn’t have time to anticipate things properly."

Well, you must also say that you wanted enjoy your holiday without bother yourself with it.

"We have a guest room if you want to come and live there for a few days, the time to find something" proposes Manuela.

But before you have time to answer, Alessia suddenly resumes speaking, slapping her forhead, as if she had just remembered something.

"They’re looking to rent the apartment in front of mine, on the same floor. If it’s like mine, it’s really nice!"

********

It turned out that the apartment in front of Alessia is indeed very nice. A bright living room (Very rare for London said Katie when she was sent by Leah to come make the counter-visit with you to scare the seller in case of scam attempts), a bedroom, another room that you used as a guest room, a third to make you an office and a living room with open kitchen. You even have a small balcony overlooking the inner courtyard, separated from Alessia’s by a transparent wall. "We’ll have to do a housewarming party" several of your teammates got excited. And that’s how you end up with most of the players on the team crammed into your living room, laughing while watching a reality show chosen by Jen. You ordered pizza and a supply of beer and other drinks has been flooding your balcony since last night. But you feel good and that’s all that matters. At the end of the show, you don’t know who offers a drinking game, consisting of taking a shot of alcohol if we did more than the person says. For example, you find yourself having to drink when Lotte says "I took more than three yellow cards last season." "Katie should drink like five shots" jokes Viv towards. Katie glare at her as laughter rises around you, but the game continues. Finally, when one of them says "I slept with more than two people" you are surprised to see that finally not many of you drink. You do. "Y/N?" Manuela turns to you with a disbelieving smile. "We never said we had to justify ourselves" you answer pulling your tongue at her. A new round is quickly thrown after that, but you cross Leah’s eyes a few seconds later. She also drank, which is probably not surprising given the small reputation that precedes her.

After clearing your throat, you look away with a slight blush on your cheeks.

You regularly saw Leah, between the parties organized by the different team members and during training. If the blond doesn’t follow those in the field, she has her appointments with her physiotherapist at the same time as you play. And she now participates in strength training and physical maintenance.

You talk to her regularly, but you have a hard time staying away like you promised yourself to. Leah seems like a very passionate and kind person, but some of your former teammates in Manchester City have made you aware of her flirtatious nature. And a one- or two-night thing, are really not what you’re looking for right now.

A little later in the evening, when at least half of the squad has returned home, you find yourself tidying up a little in the kitchen accompanied by Lia, Leah, Alessia, Manuela and Frida.

"So you have more than two conquests?" teases Manuela, leaning on the central island of your kitchen.

You have the impression that Leah’s eyes will pierce your head when she hears Manu’s question.

"I’ve got like three" you says, rolling your eyes. "It’s not the end of the world"

"It’s not" Lia laughs.

Hoping to divert the conversation, you offer once again to drink to your teammates slash friends. But that was without counting on Manu’s spontaneity.

"Oh but it wasn’t you who dated Alina Meier who play in Aston Villa? Lia’s swiss teammate?" (n/a I don’t want any problem with anyone, this girl is all invented)

You feel your stomach contracting a little bit to her name. Manuela isn’t mistaken, but you usually avoid talking about your ex. Any of your interlocutors could feel the tension emanating from you, but Lia is the fastest.

"Can I have another beer please?" she cuts the conversation with a big smile.

You willingly accept and pivot towards the fridge to dive in. Alessia takes charge of changing the topic of conversation and you sigh of relief when your hear that it works. You spend two seconds more than necessary to take out the beer, taking a large breath before leaving the fridge. Alessia puts a comforting hand behind your back and you find yourself once again stuck in Leah’s eyes when your eyes cross.

An hour later, it’s just Alessia, Leah, Victoria and you. Manuela fell asleep on the couch and you will probably find her in the same place tomorrow morning. Vic and Lessi are in the middle of a conversation about a band when you find yourself on your balcony, enjoying some fresh air.

"Mind if I join you?"

Leah. You obviously invite her to join you, despite yourself very intrigued by the young woman. You’re not stupid, or at least not stupid enough not to realize that she seems intrigued by you too. She speaks at you more often than Manu for example and behaves differently with you than with Lia or Alessia. You can imagine how much she looks about you and to be honest you’re interested about her too. But on your side it’s not only physical interest, which changes everything.

"Are you okay?" asks Leah with sincere concern. "You seem a little down since Manu mentioned Alina."

You look at her thoughtfully for a split second before shrugging your shoulders.

"She doesn’t bring back pleasant memories. But it’s ok" you finally confess, looking at the sky.

It’s difficult in London to observe the stars, between pollution and public lights lit everywhere. You miss it a little.

"You wanna talk about it?"

"Well… Everybody in the football world knows, no?"

Another disadvantage of dating a well-known player, in the end. It’s impossible to keep your privacy private.

"I don’t think so?" said Leah, frowning. "I don’t, anyway." You look at her again for a few seconds and it doesn’t take you any longer to understand that she’s telling the truth. "We dated for almost a year, until I found out she had been cheating on me with someone in the man team from her club for almost four months." "Oh... I’m so sorry" A new glance in her direction allows you to understand that she really is. Frowning, she seems upset by this story. Like all the people to whom you tell the truth of your break up with Alina. You assumed that everyone knew why, but it would seem that they didn’t. It kind of cheers you up to be honored. "Jordan’s playing with her now" you say thoughtfully. Leah grunt at the mention of her ex and you take advantage of the fact that she looks in front of her to observe her. Leah is a very beautiful woman, it’s not surprising that people like her so much. You see regularly video on her in your "For you" on Tiktok. "You’re not the only one having a bad relationship with your ex" ended up sighing Leah. "Do you want to talk about it?" you ask, repeating her words from before. "There’s not much to say. She’s just, you know... gone." Maybe you shouldn’t get close to her to put your hand on her shoulder, her proximity triggering strange sensations throughout your body. You realize that the joints of Leah’s hands that are attached to the fence are white, and your hand quickly leaves her shoulder to be laid on one of Leah’s, stroking it. When Leah turns her head in your direction, you realize how close your faces are. Your breath is cut off and the infinity of the blue of her eyes makes you lose yourself. When Leah puts her hand around your waist to take you against her, you feel like your heart rate has never been so fast.

But it’s nothing compared to how you feel when her lips land on yours. One hand is automatically behind her neck and the other on her cheek. Your lips begin a passionate and sensual dance and that’s exactly how you imagined things when you thought about how Leah kiss.

The blonde takes advantage of a wimper from you to deepend the kiss and request access to your mouth with her tongue. You leave it to her, carried away by these waves of emotions and sensations that make you turn your head. You find yourself quickly having legs in jelly and you can’t tell how long this moment happened.

You need all your concentration and willpower to break that kiss, snatching yourself from Leah’s arms.

"I’m sorry" you mumble out of breath, facing Leah’s surprised face. "I shouldn’t have… I’m sorry"

With one last mumble, you hurry back inside. If the remaining guests suspect something, they don’t show it. You take the excuse to clean up a little more to mask your trembling hands and let your heart rate returning to normal. Five minutes later, Leah came back inside, excusing herself and leaving your apartment, calling it a night. She didn't even look at you and well, that's hurt. But it shouldn't, aren't you the one who pushed her away?

After kissing your cheek and saying goodbye, Alessia left you too. You throw a blanket on Manu’s sleeping body, you go to your room. It’s late, but you know that Ingrid sometimes stays up a little later than other people.

From You Are you asleep?

From Ingrid 🩵 No. are you okay?

From You Can we call each other?

You don’t get messages back, but Ingrid tries to call you while you’re brushing your teeth. You pick up, mouth full of toothpaste and greet your friend with a hand sign when her face appears on the screen.

"What are you still up at this hour?" smiled Ingrid

"I could ask you the same question" you point out to her after rinsing your mouth.

Ingrid just turns your phone screen and you realize that she shows you her living room, in which she seems to be installed with Mapi and Baghera watching TV.

"Hola Mapi!" you smile to the tattooed when she greets you with a wave of hand.

"What about you?"

"I invited the girls to my apartment to celebrate my move in" you explain before leaving the bathroom and going to lie on your bed.

"Was it nice?"

You hum for any answer, the memory of the kiss you just exchanged with Leah coming back full force. After spending years paying attention at you, Ingrid knows you very well and she realizes in the second that the reason you called her is related to this evening.

"What’s going on, Søtnos?"

Mapi being next to Ingrid, you are relieved that you started this conversation in Norwegian. Since Leah’s name is rather all-purpose, you hope that when you mention her, Maria will not realise. You never understood why there is such tension between the Spanish women and the English women, at least for some of them. But Mapi will probably never be friends with Leah.

Ingrid is a person you could easily confide in, even if there are parts of your life that you have never talked to her about. But you trust her with your life and you know that she will always be able to see things in a neutral and mature way. Which is not always your case.

You explain the situation to her, trying not to take too much time while giving her all the necessary information to have a clear vision of things.

"For summary" resumes Ingrid after your monologue "You like her, she seems to like you too. She kissed you, you pushed her away and she left without looking at you?"

"Uh… yeah"

"And you’re surprised?" laughs softly the brunette shaking her head.

"No, on the contrary. I should never have accepted that kiss in the first place, it was a serious mistake on my part."

"Why?"

"Because she doesn’t see things the way I do, I guess. Leila told me to beware of her and she didn’t want anything serious for a long time" you sigh as you roll to the side.

"Did you talk to her about it?"

"No, we didn’t have time between the kiss and the moment she left my apartment slamming the door" you laugh.

"Be careful with your bad attitude" warns Ingrid pointing at you.

But you smile at her in return. You know she doesn’t scold you for real.

"Anyway, I doubt that she will want to speak to me again after that" you sigh again.

This information shouldn’t depress you as much as that, but still. And this doesn’t escape the keen eye of your compatriot once again. She smiles softly at you.

"I like Leila and I don’t doubt that she means what she says, but trust me, you’re never better served than by yourself."

Her look from the side and you know she’s looking at her own girlfriend. You remember perfectly well that Ingrid was also told to beware of Mapi. But when you see where they are today, you tell yourself that she did well to trust her own idea.

"You have a better conscience than me to judge people" you remind her.

Ingrid answers you with a grunt and you know that she thinks about what happened previously in your love life. You make a grimace and decide to change the subject, questioning her rather on Mapi, her trainings and what she has to tell you again in her life.

Your call lasts another ten minutes before you decide to stop, promising to call you back quickly. What you usually do once a week at least, determined to keep in touch despite the fact that you are not in the same country.

It’ll be a long time before you can fall asleep that night, Leah deep in your mind. Part of you is bitterly sorry you pushed her away, but on the other hand, no one can blame you for wanting to protect you, right? No one knows your past and what you went through before you came here. But you can’t help but feel guilty, despite the little time you spent with Leah, she confided in you about her relationship with her ex and even if it was just a few words, you feel like she wouldn’t do it to just anyone. Your last wish is to hurt her, she asked nothing for it.

You will have to wait until the sky clears, heralding a new day for you to finally find sleep, long hours later. Little did you know that Leah experienced the same thing in her own bed.

********

As you have imagined, Leah was particularly cold the next time you saw her. She greeted you, but only from a distance. Her affectionate smile and the little touches if attention she offered you on a daily basis now seem to need to be evoked in the past. And it bothers you too much for your taste.

This obviously caught the attention of the girls you were closest to in Arsenal, starting with Alessia.

"Is everything okay with Leah?" she asked you one day when you ended up in her apartment after a game.

"Yeah, why?"

Thank God you were on your phone and you were able to use this pretext to pretend to be absorbed by what was on it. Otherwise Alessia would have seen the slight panic take hold of your gaze.

"I don’t know, I think she changed her behavior with you… It’s not so much in her habits"

Alessia is far too observant, but given her character and personality, it doesn’t surprise you. It's also probably thanks to this that she saw your hesitation and she got closer to you before starting to speak again.

"Leah is my friend but you are too, so if you need to confide in someone, you can do it with me ok? I know how to keep secrets"

"Even for Tooney?" you asked while arching an amused eyebrow.

You met the energetic Englishman recently, when she came to London for an interview and took the opportunity to attend a match of Alessia.

"Even for Tooney" laughed Alessia gently shoving you with a shoulder.

You laughed too and you both went back to your respective phones, but in truth Alessia’s remark began to spin in your brain.

"Thanks"

Is all you added before you letting your head on her shoulder. Alessia responded by tapping you on the top of it, without taking her phone out of her eyes. And that was enough.

********

"Your tattoo is amazing!"

Katie’s exclamation makes you turn in her direction and you smile timidly when you see her watching your back carefully.

"Thank you?" you whisper in response.

Even if you prefer showering at home, this is not the first time you change in front of your teammates. So you don't know it Katie have never dared to ask you about it or if they have never really make attention the tattoo you have on your back. Yet it’s hard to miss. Drawn on all your right shoulder blade, it goes down to the hollow of your hips and shows up to your right shoulder.

"Wow, invite the girl on a date before" jokes Manuela when Katie advances towards you, without detaching her eyes from your back, her head slightly tilting on the side to have a better view.

"Sorry, I already put an option on it!" Caitlin exclaims at the back of the locker room, causing a general laugh.

Katie rolls her eyes, but you realize that she has been joined by Lia and Leah, all three of them carefully observing your tattoo. Your gaze lingers on Leah, who seems to resist as much as possible her desire to come and look closer. She stands behind Lia and when your eyes cross she silently observes you for long seconds before shifting her attention to your back.

"Sorry about the invasion" Lia smiles gently.

"It makes me think of a painting" Leah thoughtfully made next to her.

"By Van Gogh yes. The Starry Night. It was my grandfather’s favorite painting. Well, it’s a modified version obviously, but the inspiration is there"

The surprised look of Leah doesn't escape you. Lia is watching you silently and next to you Katie and Manuela have started a conversation about tattoos. As for Alessia, she finally emerges from the shower after her eternal routine of care.

"Do you like painting?" Leah asks carefully, looking at you with the same apprehension as if your gaze could ignite her alive.

"My grandfather was a painter, not very well known but he introduced me to this world" you answer by shrugging your shoulders.

"What she paints is incredible. She has a room dedicated to this at home, behind her bedroom" Alessia intervenes.

You turn in her direction, frowning. It's a part of you that you don't really want to share with everyone, fearing their jugement. You don't think you're a great painter, but you like painting. It's sort your mind. Your glance is quickly captured by your friend.

"What? It’s true" she mumbles, shrugging.

You roll your eyes and turn around to finish dressing, putting on a t-shirt and a sweatshirt to accompany your ripped jeans. The little troop that surrounded you has dissipated, but Leah’s gaze remains thoughtfully on you. You cross it when you glance in her direction and you blush slightly.

The effect that woman has on you… It might be a good idea to talk to someone about it again instead of thinking desperately about her every night before you fall asleep.

#woso x reader #woso imagine #leah williamson imagine #leah williamson x reader #leah williamson

[guiltysecretpasttime]

Consider the idea of Lin /Bumi badly timed proposals"? (just a humble linumi shipper loving your fanfics)

Note: Here's my belated response to this prompt. It ran away from me again until I struggled to close the story out. Hope you like it!

One-shot Post-canon AU Lin x Bumi II

Also on AO3. 

---

Outside of the military, Bumi was known to be the spontaneous one. The Avatar’s child who was the most likely to get into trouble. Or get into an adventure, as his grinning father would correct. He was the kid who took quickly to throwing fruit pies to the air acolytes. He was the teen who travelled to the next city because there was a Pro-bending competition happening there. As an adult, he was also the one who tried (and succeeded in) applying for the United Forces on a whim.

It was not often that Bumi would plan for anything linked to his personal life.

This was why, on the weeks leading up to that Night (with a capital N), he felt out of his depth. He did what he did best and tried to plan as he would regarding a military campaign.

This was why he thought he was assured of success.

What he did not count on was the extraneous factors, which was their extended family and social circle.

That – and the weather.

---

“Booms -I’m sorry, it’s not going to work out.” Iroh’s voice crackled over the telephone. “That downpour wouldn’t make anything stick long enough to be legible.”

Bumi sighed as he peered at the window of Tenzin’s study. The waves did crash unpleasantly against the edge of Air Temple Island as the rain fell. “Well, we can still move it tomorrow, right? You and the boys are still free?”

“Of course, provided that the weather is better. As for our availability - ,” Whatever Iroh said was lost as the line crackled again as it was wont to do when the weather was poor. Bumi clicked his tongue. Tenzin really needed to have some repairs made in this temple. “- So after that, we can definitely pick it up for you.”

“Great!” Bumi could care less if they need to adjust the timing a bit – as long as it pushesthrough.

He did not need the details.

---

Or maybe, he should have probed for more details.

The retired commander saw that now as he watched visitors mill around Air Temple Island.

Various air acolytes and airbenders from the different temples now crowd the usually empty courtyard.

How was he to know that it was time for the anniversary of the return of the airbenders? He did not even know there was an identified datefor that.

Or maybe, he would have known had he listened to Tenzin’s lectures.

He scratched his chin, pensively, wondering if this might change anything when something cold and wet lashed at his behind.

“Hello, Bumi.” His sister walked over, a water whip formed at her side, grinning as she usually did.

“Mother said you shouldn’t hit people.”

“Mother said a lot of things that you didn’t follow.” Kya crossed her arms mockingly. She nodded to the entrance of the residential building where their mother stood, surrounded by her youngest grandchildren.

He understood. They never could begrudge their mother anything, especially now with her waning health.

A sea of green passed in the periphery.

“I see Suyin and her brood are here.” Bumi contemplated briefly if it would have any impact to his plans.

Kya commented. “Did they really have to be always in green?”

“Did you always have to be in blue?”

“Touche.” Kya shrugged. “Though, I needed to be blue to occasionally camouflage in the South Pole if I needed to be stealthy.”

“For what?”

From afar, they see Katara beckoning Kya forward from where she and Pema stood by the stoop of the house. “I’ll go get settled now.”

Bumi excused himself, citing some reason to check on something, which, technically he needed to do.

“Tenzin said nothing formal; nothing big. Just a small gathering.” The loud voice of the Avatar grumbled.

The clinking of metal was heard next before Bumi rounded the corner. “And yet, everyone is here.”

“Chief Beifong!”

“Avatar.” Lin inclined her head in greeting, with blank politeness on her face.

Bumi knew better though – the slight tightening of her jaw and the grip she had on her belt: oh, Lin was irritated.

“What’s up?” Korra toyed with the sleeves of her formal wear, obviously uncomfortable.

“How are your travels?” Bumi interjected, popping beside Lin before she manages any acerbic remark.

“We are travelling in style! I think I could get used to it.”

“I think you already are.” Asami looked on with amusement.

“You’re lucky,” Bumi pointed towards where Oogi and the younger bison were flying around. “Dad had to travel on a sky bison.”

“Mom said it wasn’t pleasant.” Lin wrinkled her nose.

“There! You! Are!” Bolin ran and huffed as he arrived before them, doubling over in the effort. “Wing and Wei just found where the food was being prepared, we can sneak off to get some before the– oh hello Chief Beifong!”

“I did not hear anything.” Lin looked skyward and waved her hand at them.

“Beifong!” Bumi quickly caught up with Lin, who strode off quickly when the teenagers started talking about food. “Are you on duty?”

“Yes.” Lin sighed, putting her hand on her hips then stomping, doing a seismic perimeter check. “I know, but I have to.”

“I’ll look for you later.”

“Alright. We’re a bit stretched – Tenzin did not give us the correct numbers of attendees, as usual.” Her forehead crinkled as she concentrated on the perimeter check. “Good thing the Fire Lord sent General Iroh and some of his men to represent their nation.”

“Oh, that’s what he meant.” Bumi murmured to himself.

Lin glanced at him in askance.

“Iroh.” Bumi did not want to expound further. Lin had a way of ferreting out the truth from him without seismic sense anyway.

Bumi accompanied her like a silent sentinel as Chief Beifong went about doing check to her team and on the island.

They have finally arrived at the main courtyard where the usually unflappable master airbender was fluttering about like a bright orange butterfly, holding several sheets of paper, which no doubt was the program for the day.

Lin groaned when Tenzin noticed them.

“Lin!”

“I better go ahead.” With one final eye-rolling, Lin left Bumi’s side before he could even ask where she will be stationed at the end of the program.

“Trouble in paradise?”

Bumi jumped a bit, startled by Kya once again. “Of course not, my meddling gossipy sister.”

She offered him a drink, which he rightly declined. “What’s Tenzin up to?”

The man was now talking rapidly to the chief of police. They were far enough not to hear them but near enough to see what was going on.

“He’s quite excitable.” The retired military man shrugged. “Thank the spirits for Pema, that woman is a saint.”

“You mean, thank the spirits for Lin,” Kya nodded towards the pair as she took a sip of her drink. “Pema was just about ready to rip her hair off these past days. She was looking quite frazzled earlier and after a drink or two, bam! Out tumbled everything - Tenzin was anxious and has been driving her nuts with all the prep for today’s celebration.” She raised a glass to the earthbender and airbender on the main event area. “But look over there – just a few words from our dear Chief of Police and the man calms down.”

Bumi could not help but tense up as he observed Lin and Tenzin on the platform.

As Lin continued to converse with his younger brother, Tenzin began to slowly deflate. A smile started to form on the earlier stressed airbender’s face and the corner of Lin’s lips upturned, a ghost of a smile.

“I swear – those two, I wonder how it would have turned out for them had they known this was going to happen anyway…” Kya trails off, as though suddenly realizing who she was talking to. “I mean – hey, they’re both in happy relationships and it’s perfect and -.”

Bumi swallowed drily, drowning out his sister’s voice.

He had thought about that occasionally, really. There was nothing to go on and Lin had been upfront about, well, everything so he knew where her heart is.

But, looking at the pair now, at the anniversary of the return of the airbenders, supposedly the pinnacle of all their arguments…

“Booms – don’t do anything stupid.”

Now that snapped him from his maudlin thoughts. “Why is it that everyone thinks I’m gonna do something stupid when I keep quiet? It’s a bit offensive, you know.”

“Bumi, I didn’t mean -.”

No matter, Bumi was adamant that his Plan pushes through.

---

“POP! POP! BOOOM! BOOOM POP! Whiiiizzz! BOOM!”

Everyone on Air Temple Island (and even those at the edge of Republic City) looked up to see fireworks littering the night sky.

“BEIFONG… WILL…YOU… ohmy sweet - is that a ring??? .. ME.” Suyin squealed as she read what the fireworks were spelling out.

There was a cacophony from the courtyard of Air Temple Island as everyone sought to find which Beifong was being proposed to.

From their perches around the island, Iroh and the UF men whooped in success of their mission tonight – deploying the firework proposal.

“OH-MY-BOLIIIIN!”

All eyes were on Opal who was clutching at a wide-eyed earthbender.

“What?!”

Various voices added to the din, shouting different things.

“Bolin did you really?!” Mako pointed up to the sky.

“What – no I did not. I’m not marrying – I mean,” Bolin swiftly turned to Opal. “I would like to marry you.” Then he shouted at Su and Baatar Senior’s direction. “But not now. One day but not now – I mean, I need to talk to Su and Baat – oh shit Su’s gonna kill me.”

Attention turned to Baatar and Suyin.

“Um no,” Baatar shrugged casually, an arm around his wife. “It’s not our anniversary anytime soon.”

Suyin was still being antsy. “Wing! Wei! Did any of you -?” She saw her twins wave up their arms in surrender, wildly shaking their heads as they each held a plate of food. “If that’s not you…”

“Kuvira and Junior –.” Wei.

“That is unlikely.” Wing.

“Huan?” Both Wing and Wei asked, everyone’s heads swiveled to the artistic Beifong.

“Excuse me.” Huan looked very offended, as though it was an insult that someone would be proposing to him in public.

Bumi’s face fell as the Beifongs present began arguing as to who the firework proposal was for and the actual Beifong who the proposal was meant for was nowhere to be seen.

Just then a soft squeal and a sniffle came from Kya’s side.

Pema was holding to her arm. “No-no-no – it’s for Lin, don’t you see? That’s why – Tenzin is leaving me.” Every other word was punctuated with a sniffle. “That’s why they’ve been talking over plans and that’s why – I saw them talk to Jinora the other day. Oh-airbenders-Tenzin is -leaaving me.”

“Ahem, I have an announcement!”

Now, everyone turned to stare back at the platform where Tenzin stood. Behind him, stood two more people - Lin Beifong stood in his shadows, arms crossed, a guard observing the proceedings, while Jinora stood to the side with a nervous smile, hands at her back.

“Ooohhhh!” Pema let out a wail.

“Shh, Pema!”

Bumi froze. There have been still some lingering insecurities that were in relation to his brother that would take a long time to tamp down. With the man’s whimpering wife at the side and his own significant other beside said man, it did not take much to wear Bumi down to his insecurities.

“This has been a long time coming and before anything else,” Tenzin paused at this to throw a significant look at his back. “I would like to say that this is no split second decision, we’ve talked about it and well –.”

No way he was going to let Tenzin take over his plan tonight.

“I will be stepping down soon with Jinora as my successor.”

“LinBeifong, will you marry me?”

Two voices rang into the night, clearly silencing any other words that might have been going on.

Bumi did not care for or did not mind what the reactions of the people around them were. He only had eyes for the earthbender who was gaping at him then looking back at the sky then back at him.

He worried the longer it took for Lin to react.

From his side, Pema sagged in relief against her sister-in-law while Jinora and Tenzin stood at the platform, greeting well-wishers.

Lin, meanwhile, was yet to do anything other than stand still.

“OH – we forgot the most eligible Beifong of today!” Bolin stated the obvious, pointing to the sky and back at Chief Beifong on the stage.

“What are you doing, go get her.” Kya nudged him from the back.

Bumi ran to the stage, almost tripping on his formal robes. “Lin – I’m so sorry – I didn’t think it would be this public – I -.” Lin hated public displays. “I ain’t doing this to pressure, I -.”

Lin gripped his arm to stop him from speaking.

The crowd went silent as Suyin could be heard shushing everyone (“Quiet! We need to hear what her answer is!”).

Bumi’s heart sank as Lin pulled away from him.

This is it. The Rejection.

He could only look to the ground, unwilling to face family, friends and even his former colleagues in the UF.

Suddenly there was a rumble on the ground as Lin extended a leg in front of her and she raised her arms slowly with a grunt.

“YES – BUMI – I – WILL – dear Agni – Liiiin is marrying Bumi!” Su’s shrill voice read out the words etched on the courtyard.

Tenzin groaned, mumbling about the destruction of his courtyard.

“Shut it, airhead. That courtyard has seen worse when you broke up with -.”

Nope, he did not want to hear about their break-up and so Bumi took Lin in his arms and planted a nice long kiss to seal the deal.

He pulled back and was met with a large grin on Lin’s face.

It might not have worked as he expected or planned it to be but at least, he could honestly say that it was -

Mission accomplished.

#linumi #linumi fanfic #lin x bumi ii #lin beifong #bumi ii

[beifongnation]

The Spirit of Change: Chapter Three- Reunited

Description: Lin and Kazuo find themselves back in one another’s orbit following the events of Book One. This is the story of how their ‘arrangement’ evolved into a relationship.

Rating: T

Read It on FF.net

Story:

There was a hum about the offices of Parliament so close to the end of session. The halls were buzzing as interns zipped through- ducking in and out of offices, managing to narrowly avoid crashing into the statesmen and women who were cloaked in grave discussion as they marched about with one another. The building was brimming with a nervous energy, it’s occupants so preoccupied with the end of term nobody seemed to notice Lin Beifong tentatively making her way to Kazuo’s office.

        A little gilded placard with his name and title told her she was in the right place, but she passed it once, glancing in only to catch sight of his secretary feeding herself with her left hand and scribbling on a calendar with her right. There was no sign of Kazuo out front. If he were here, he would be just beyond this waiting room. Lin dithered outside the door, imagining the multitude of ways in which she might embarrass herself by stepping through that doorway.

        Annoyed at her own insecurity she rolled her eyes and took in a deep breath before stepping inside.

        The secretary made a hasty attempt at discarding her lunch, clearing her throat to kindly regard Lin, “Hello. May I help you?”

        Lin did her best to conjure a polite smile in return, “Hi. I was just checking to see if Representative Kazuo might be available.”

        In the room just beyond the secretary Lin could hear the sound of a typewriter clacking away. The door was ajar, but only just so that Lin couldn’t see past it.

        The secretary nearly managed to disguise her skepticism before checking the calendar on her desk, “I’m sorry- do you have an appointment?”

        “No,” Lin confessed, “it’s quite alright. I’m just an old friend that happened to be in town and thought I’d stop in to say hello.”

        “I can take down a message,” the secretary offered, “but I’m afraid he is solidly booked today.”

        “That’s quite alright, thank you.”

        “If you just want to give me your name I can-“

        “Lin Beifong?”

        It was Kazuo’s voice, coming from the other room. He appeared in short order, emerging from his office looking slightly disheveled, but entirely amused to see Lin standing in his reception room.

        “I thought I heard your voice! You are absolutely the last person I expected to see in my office today,” he laughed, coming around the Secretary’s desk to greet her with a quick embrace and kiss on the cheek that left Lin pink in the face. “Come in, come in!” he insisted.

        This invitation seemed to give his secretary a twinge of anxiety, which Kazuo quickly addressed, “Push back my Shiro meeting 10 minutes, ok? Just let him know.”

        “You got it,” she confirmed, picking up the telephone on her desk as Kazuo ushered Lin into his office. He closed the door behind them, shutting out the rest of the world.

Lin swallowed nervously.

        “Have a seat,” he said, indicating two small couches that faced one another at the forefront of his office. She obliged and he dropped himself right across from her.

        “Did you get my letter?”

        She looked confused, “Letter?”

        “When I read you had resigned I telephoned you, but got no answer. I sent you a letter after because…” he paused, fishing for something in the stack of dismantled newspapers adorning the side table at his right. He finally picked out one sheet and held it up; it was the front page of The United Daily News that read, “Riots Continue In Wake of Amon’s Exposure As Bending Fraud.”

        “...What the hell is going on over there?” Kazuo asked.

        Lin leaned forward, reaching for the sheet, “is that today’s paper?”

        He passed it to her, “Three days old, but the most recent we can get here in the Fire Nation. Still, the bulletins coming over the wire in the last few hours suggest it’s been the same story all week.”

Lin studied the article, squinting slightly to read the small typeset. She could feel Kazuo’s gaze on her so she looked up from the broadsheet with a sigh.

        “Anyway,” he continued, “I suppose that’s why I’m particularly surprised to see you here.” He paused, “not that I’m complaining,” he looked her over, “you are a welcome sight.”  

        “I’ve been traveling with the Avatar,” Lin explained.

        “Ah, right. That’s kind of your family business, isn’t it?”

        Lin hesitated a moment, “Amon took her bending away.”

        Kazuo’s eyes went wide with shock.

Clearly, he hadn’t read anything about that in the paper. Before he could ask anything further Lin supplied, “she’s fine. Her bending was restored. She’s on her way back to Republic City now.”

He nodded absently, clearly turning something over in his mind. When he met her eyes again there was a hint of self-satisfaction in his expression, “But you decided to stay in the Fire Nation?”

Lin recognized that look immediately, returning his statement with an unflinching smirk, “I did.”

He leaned back into the couch, stretching his arms out so they rested casually along the back. He gave a light shrug, asking with feigned naivete, “Any particular reason?”  

She stifled a scoff, “You really want me to ask?”

Kazuo grinned, batting his eyes quickly, “Ask what?”

Lin sighed, shaking her head with a chuckle. It was true that he initiated the overwhelming percentage of their encounters, so she couldn’t fault him too much for savoring this rarity.

“Are you free for dinner,” she obliged finally.

“Dinner? No.”

A pit sank in her stomach and any hint of coyness disappeared from her face instantly. This was precisely the type of embarrassment she had been trying to avoid. He was probably seeing someone. It wasn’t the first time she’d expected a clandestine meeting between them only to discover he was off the market at the time. But that relationship had ended. Or so she thought.

“Lin,” he laughed, pulling her from her spiraling thoughts, “I’ve got a dinner meeting, but you didn’t really come here to ask me out for a meal, did you?”

She shifted in her seat, resolutely unwilling to participate in this little back and forth any longer, “No, I came here to proposition you for sex. There. Happy?”

He let out a roar of laughter, “why didn’t you just say so?”

“I was trying to be polite,” she returned irascibly, which only invited another wave of laughter on his end.

“Where are you staying?” he asked, collecting himself finally. Petulantly, she considered telling him she had changed her mind, but that was a lie. Her attraction to him was magnetic and even a bruised ego wasn’t strong enough to escape that pull.

Still, her answer came out tersely, “the Palace.”

“The Palace. Hmm. Well, I can’t exactly go sneaking into the Palace in the middle of the night.”  He leaned back slightly, dipping into his pocket for a keyring. “You remember how to get to my place?”

She nodded. It wasn’t the first time she’d had an overnight in the Fire Nation Capital. “I really am busy this week,” he explained, tone taking on a hint of apology, “I’ve been so swamped I’ve only been there to sleep and shower-” he stopped short, a realization coming to him, “You’re welcome to just stay there, if you like.”

Lin waved her hand dismissively, “I don’t-”

“No, really,” he began insistently, “I’m hardly there. Someone should be getting use out of that place.” He rose from his seat, coming to her side and resting along the arm of the couch. “It’s no royal residence, but you won’t be bothered.”

Something inside her warmed with his statement, a little flicker of joy that he recalled her offhanded comments from a conversation long ago that she always felt the chambermaids at the Palace were much too invasive for her taste.

She opened her hand to receive the keys Kazuo gingerly placed in her palm. Her fingers closed around the keyring definitively, “I’ll think about it.”

The laugh that followed was interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Sir?” his secretary called from the other side, “Sir? Representative Shiro is here.”

He and Lin met eyes quickly and he called out, “I’ll be right there.”

“Sorry to rush you out,” he said, just as another more forceful knock was heard at the door.

This time a gruff voice Lin could only presume belonged Shiro called through, “Kaz! Open up! I haven’t got all day! The proposal you sent said 10%! Are you out of your mind!?”

Kazuo rolled his eyes, quietly assuring her, “he didn’t read it to the end.”

Lin let out a small laugh that was cut off by another knock. They stood and made their way to the door.

“See you tonight then,” Kazuo confirmed, leaning in to kiss her. If she had any doubts about meeting him tonight, they were completely erased then and there. Another loud fit of knocks erupted on the other side of her causing Kazuo to pull back and let out a low grumble of aggravation.

In one quick motion he reached past Lin and swung door open wide, startling Shiro on the other side. He was middle-aged man that looked as if he hadn’t slept in nearly a decade, holding a thick stack of papers under one arm.

“Shiro!” Kazuo greeted jovially without a hint of annoyance, “Sorry to keep you waiting. I was just finishing up a meeting with Republic City’s former Chief Beifong here.”

“Beifong?” Shiro asked, slightly stunned. Her name had caught his attention, as it always tended to do, and he dutifully swiped at his comb-over before bowing, “My apologies. I didn’t realize-”

“That’s quite alright,” Kazuo assured as Lin bowed her head in acknowledgement to Shiro. “Come on in. Let’s make sure we’re on the same page!” He turned his attention to Lin, “Ms. Beifong. Thank you for your proposal. I look forward to taking you up on that, uh, partnership.”

Lin resisted an eyeroll at his innuendo, “Right.”

“Have a great rest of your trip,” Kazuo finished with a wink, turning back to his office and Representative Shiro. The door closed and Lin made her way out of the Parliament building, keyring chiming in her pocket all the way back to the Palace.

******

It was mid-evening when Lin arrived at Kazuo’s flat. She knocked first, just to be sure she wasn’t intruding. There was no answer, so she turned her key and entered his empty apartment. Everything about this place implied it was more of a stop-over than a home, clearly a residence he only kept while Parliament was in session. It was obvious by the lack of decoration that he wasn’t as invested in this place as he was in the home she’d spent a few nights in at Fire Fountain City. `

Various items dotted the counter tops- a wristwatch here, a handkerchief there- it was clear that he’d only stopped in to drop his belongings and sleep, just as he had explained. There was a living room with papers strewn about the table, a small kitchen, and a bedroom with an unmade bed.

Compulsively, Lin unfurled the blankets, tucking them in at the corners before smoothing out the bed with two dutiful palms. She placed her overnight bag on top of her work and made her way to the kitchen.

She opened the icebox to find a pathetic array of left-over containers and a half-empty bottle of white wine. She regarded it for a prolonged moment, wondering if it might calm the reservations she had about being here. In one quick motion, she scooped it up.

The cabinet had one single clean glass left behind and she used it, turning her attention to the sink which overflowed with dishes. Unable to help herself, Lin washed them all by hand, placing them gingerly along the drying rack while sipping her wine.When she finished she headed  back into the living room to browse the bookshelves. She had no idea when, or if, Kazuo would arrive and busied herself by thumbing through his literary collection. There was an over-representation of law books, at least 80 percent by her estimation. A pile of pristine texts sat along the edge of one shelf and she pulled them out, reading the summaries of each. One in particular caught her attention, The Lake Murders: The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee.

There was a note of thanks scribbled on the title page. She flipped past it and settled into a large chair near the window, wine glass in hand. It didn’t take more than a chapter to completely entrance her. The story kept her guessing through every twist and turn- not an easy feat for her analytical mind. She flipped the pages, voraciously consuming each one, making it a quarter through the book in a matter of hours. The oversized clock in the living room clanged eleven times alerting her that the evening had come and gone while she’d occupied herself with the story of Judge Dee.

She regarded the ticking hands of the clock over the edge of her book with some disdain, wondering if she were making a fool of herself waiting around like this. She stood, marking the corner of her book. Lin made her way to the bedroom, turning down the blankets. She couldn’t very well head back to the Palace after telling Izumi she was leaving.

After scrubbing her face and brushing her teeth, she tucked herself into the bed she had made and resumed her reading- drifting off to sleep after another chapter.

She woke again, less than an hour later, to the sensation of a pair of lips kissing their way along the nape of her neck. Kazuo worked his way up, planting one just behind her ear, causing a sleepy smile to spread across her face. His hand was at her hip, grazing her sensitive skin as he slowly urged her nightshirt upward. It had been ages since she’d been touched like this and she drew in a contented breath rolling onto her back to catch his mouth with her own. This certainly beat waking up to another Amon nightmare. As their kiss deepened, all the strains and stresses of the previous months seemed to fall away, ushered out by the hand that slipped below her waistline. The anxieties of lost bending and uncertainty at the South Pole faded as she allowed herself to be immersed in the sensations of her present instead of her past. It happened without a word, rather unusual for her partner, but she could sense there was some measure of desperate exhaustion in him as well so they communed in the quiet, intuitively understanding the needs of one another.

In the end, between heaving breaths, they parted on a string of soft kisses before taking their places side-by-side once again. Kazuo drew her in, kissing the back of her bare shoulder once more before sleep claimed them both.

*****

Drops of rain pelted and then pebbled on her skin, rolling down her face. Eyes peered down at her, dead and unfeeling behind his mask. He pulled her head back, pressing one thumb against her forehead. Her body convulsed, her soul ripped right out of her- exiting her body at high speed. She was empty.

She tried to scream, but nothing came out. The pain inside her rose from the depths to exit her mouth and finally she could hear herself, quite literally.

The sound of it finally woke her.

Her eyes shot open and her chest heaved. The first thing she registered in the dark was a look of alarm on Kazuo’s face.

“Lin?” he asked, leaning over her, one hand gripping her shoulder. It occurred to her this was probably not the first time he’d attempted to rouse her consciousness. She blinked, tears spilling out the corners to her eyes. She sobbed once, sitting up with a jolt, pushing him aside.

He didn’t seem deterred by her sudden movement, instead he gently placed his hand back on her shoulder and asked in a low voice, “Are you okay?”

Real life embarrassment quickly replaced the fear and anxiety of her nightmare and Lin shoved the blankets aside and made her way to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her without a word. The tears continued to stream down her face, dripping off her chin onto her bare chest.

The raw reality of this moment, the way in which she had just exposed herself in every possible way rankled within and she ripped a robe that hung along the bathroom door from it’s hook and wrapped it around her body with a frustrated grunt. All the while, the tears continued.

She hadn’t even had time to think of a good exit plan when she heard Kazuo’s knuckles rapping on the other side of the door.

“Lin? I, uh, I got you some water…” he told her through the door.

Inwardly, she berated herself for thinking she could spend a solid night away from Amon. She didn’t reply. Instead, she gathered some tissue her in her hand and blew her nose, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her eyes were red and puffy and her cheeks were raw. With a sniffle, she rolled her eyes at her reflection- repulsed by the vulnerability she saw.

Another knock came through, “Lin?”

Lin took a deep breath and attempted to smooth out her tangled hair, feigning a weak smile in the mirror before turning to the door. She opened it quickly, catching Kazuo’s worried eyes instantly.

“Sorry about that,” she excused, pushing past him in the doorway.

He watched her walk across his bedroom, glass of water held aloft in his proffered hand.

She began searching the blankets for her discarded clothing, “I should probably go and let you get some sleep,” she told him, hint of a laugh ghosting it’s way out of her mouth.

Kazuo didn’t move, he just watched her work, confusion etched in the line of his brow. She found her underwear and pulled them on underneath the robe, remarking casually, “I really should be getting back to Republic City anyway.”

Kazuo lifted an eyebrow, making his way to where she busied herself navigating the tangled mess of blankets. He placed the glass of water on the nightstand and wordlessly gripped her shoulders, turning her and then pushing her gently into a sitting position along the edge of his bed.

“It’s the middle of the night,” he reminded her slowly, as if talking to someone in the the midst of a delusional episode. Over his shoulder the light from the bathroom hit his clock just so that she could make out it was 1:15 in the morning.

Lin met his eyes again, looking away quickly. Her shoulders sloped and she sighed, “I know….” she drew a breath, “and you should be getting rest- you’re at the end of session and I’m-”  

He cut her off, gripping her chin with his hand and turning face back to meet his eyes, “and you had a nightmare. Big deal. You don’t have to act so weird about it.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, annoyed by his nonchalance- it was a familiar look and the tension broke over it. Kazuo laughed lightly at the sight of her disapproval, letting go of her chin and climbing back into bed alongside her.

“Everyone has nightmares, Lin,” he told her easily, pulling the blankets back up along himself. He reached out, tugging at her bicep. She leaned back finally, resting her head along the pillow.

They lay silently beside one another for a prolonged moment before Kazuo followed up, “What was it about?”

Lin chanced a look at him from the corner of her eye, skepticism and reluctance written across her face.

“What?” he asked on an incredulous laugh.

“I just don’t think…” she trailed off, considering her words, “I don’t think...well, you and I probably have very different fears.”

He laughed again, “Is that so?”

His laughter was infectious and Lin caught it, “Mmm,” she insisted, on the edge of a giggle.

“What do you think I’m afraid of?” He wondered, feeding off her amusement.

She rolled onto her side, propping her head up on the pillows she gathered beneath her head, “I don’t know...that you have...I don’t know, a hair out of place in a photograph.”

She expected him to laugh, but his eyes widened, “That is no laughing matter, Lin Beifong.”

His reaction coaxed a smile out of her, easing her anxiety just a enough that she could really let her head rest.

“No,” he told her, ruffling the crown of her head playfully, “I don’t have nightmares about my hair, thank you very much.”

“Then what do you have nightmares about?”

“I asked you first,” he insisted.

She averted her eyes from his gaze, taking a deep breath, “I wasn’t entirely honest with you before...Amon took my bending too.”

Any look of playfulness drained along with the color from Kazuo’s face as he watched her, mouth slightly open in shock, “Lin, I-”

She stopped him, “It’s okay. My bending was restored,” she wiggled her fingers before his face, “good as new.”

They stared at each other in the dark, his expression unwavering. She wanted him to let her make light of the whole thing, but he continued to watch her, gravely serious.

Finally, she relented, “I’m fine...but...I’ve just,” her voice hitched and she took a deep, steadying breath, “I’ve never been violated like that before.”

A tear unwittingly made it’s way from her eye, streaking down onto the pillow and she blinked it’s successors back, groaning, “this is so embarrassing.”

“What is?”

“Crying like this. It’s just- I’m sorry,” she excused, wiping another tear before it could break away.

“I feel so foolish making a scene like this. I’m fine. I know losing my bending probably sounds ridiculous- I mean, you have never had bending so it probably seems very silly to you- I wasn’t- I’m still entirely in one piece, after all.”

He watched her with concern, “You’re right. I don’t understand,” he told her plainly, “But that doesn’t make what happened to you any less terrible.”

Sniffling, she rolled her eyes.

“No, really,” he insisted, “my Dad was the only bender in my family, but the way he talked about it made it sound as if bending was the core of his soul. If I try to think of him without it… it’s not something I’d take lightly, even as a non-bender.”

“Is he very spiritual?” Lin wondered.

Kazuo paused, “He was.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize-”

“It’s okay. It happened a long time ago.”

Lin was at a loss as for what to say, so she remained silent.

“That’s what I have nightmares about,” he told her suddenly, breaking the silence, “My Dad had been dead a week before I found out. I hadn’t visited home in ages. I guess that’s where this comes from- I have this recurring nightmare that I’ve gone back to my hometown and I can’t get into my house. The door is locked and I am just frantically searching for the key because I have this foreboding sense that something will go wrong if I don’t get through the door quickly enough and I can just hear him yelling for me on the other side the whole time. I always wake up before I can help him.”

Kazuo let out a hollow laugh, rolling onto his back to press the heel of his palms against his eyes for a moment. He laughed, more genuinely this time, pulling his hands back with a sniffle, “There. Now we’ve both cried. We’re even.”

Lin had barely caught the glint of a tear in his eye before it was gone, but she felt a pang of guilt for bringing this conversation on, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

He shrugged, rolling back to meet her eyes again, right as rain, “You didn’t.” He continued on, reporting with humor, “I’m also afraid of being buried alive and of people with small teeth.”

Lin barely had time to register the fit of laughter that bubbled out of her then, “What?”

“Why did their bodies grow, but their teeth stayed the same size?” Kazuo argued excitedly, “ It’s unnatural and I don’t trust it.”

“That is....” Lin watched him, smile unshakable, “the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”  

“Wow. I was just trying to make you feel better and here I am getting judged!”

Lin laughed again, “I just-- did you have some kind of traumatic experience with someone that had small teeth?”

“There was a rumor that this lady with small teeth who lived in my village would eat rowdy children that didn’t use their inside voices. I used to think about how long it would take her to grind me up with those things.”

Lin took on a pained, sympathetic expression, “That’s terrible. What kind of cruel neighborhood kid started that rumor?

“My mother,” Kazuo deadpanned.

Lin’s eyebrows jumped, “I think our mothers would get along.”

Kazuo nodded, “Well, I hope that makes you feel less silly.”

“It does,” Lin returned assuredly, “at the very least I’m not afraid of small teeth.”

Kazuo lifted an eyebrow,“-that you know of! Maybe that’s what the mask was for.”

Lin let out an amused grunt, but her smile faded at the mere suggestion of Amon. Even in the dark Kazuo caught the shift in her expression and he quickly offered an apology. There was a prolonged moment of silence before Kazuo picked up the conversation where they’d dropped it.

“Ok, I told you my fears so, what are you afraid of then?”

Lin took in a breath, thinking hard. On her better days she could admit that this is exactly what she was afraid of- sharing any kind of intimacy with another person- but that was a little too deep an answer to give at the moment.

“I don’t know,” she said finally, “I’ve seen almost everything there is to be afraid of in the course of my career and it hardly makes me flinch anymore. I guess that’s why I feel so stupid for being upset about Amon.”

“It’s not stupid,” Kazuo countered, “he attacked you. That’s trauma.”

Lin dismissed his assertion, explaining, “It’s not as if I’ve never been attacked before.” .

“Is that….,” he gestured along his own cheek to indicate her scars.

“No,” Lin explained, slightly amused- people were always very careful about bringing them to her attention- as if she didn’t know they were there, “my sister did this.”

A look of alarm crossed his face, “I thought my sister and I got into it, but that’s a whole other level.”  

“What about this one,” he asked, pushing the lapel of the robe she wore to the side. His fingers ran over a relatively small scar just under her right breast.

Lin looked down, “You noticed that?”

“I’ve studied the area pretty thoroughly.”

Lin rolled her eyes at his comment, telling him casually, “I was stabbed there, actually.”

“Oh, is that all?” Kazuo followed, voice dripping with sarcasm, “we were discussing trauma, Lin. Please, try to stay on topic.”

Lin’s shoulders hiked in a shrug, “it wasn’t personal. I got off easy- my partner at the time- he can walk now, but that incident effectively ended his days on the force. I didn’t even know it had happened at first.”

“You didn’t notice being stabbed?”

“Mmhmm. I just thought he had punched me in the ribs. I figured it out quickly enough when I couldn’t breathe without blood coming out of my mouth.”

“So what did you do to get past that? Maybe it can help you work through this.”

“It’s not the same,” Lin sighed, “I was depressed, but that was because my recovery took so long. I didn’t have nightmares. It wasn’t like this.”

“Because it wasn’t personal,” Kazuo stated.

“Hm?”

“That’s what you just said- having your bending taken away was personal...somehow getting stabbed wasn’t- that doesn’t make sense to me, but whatever- I think the point is if you want to speed up your recovery from this then you should do whatever it is you do when you’ve been  attacked on a personal level.”

Lin blinked at him dumbly. She had no idea.

He ventured further, “for instance- what did you do to get past your sister giving you those scars.”

Lin’s eyes narrowed and she rolled onto her back, staring up the ceiling for a prolonged moment.

“I haven’t spoken to her in almost 30 years.”

After a beat, Kazuo spoke, “Okay. Bad example.”

He took another breath, “What about-”

She cut across him, “What do you do?”

“Me?”

“When you’ve been personally attacked.”

Kazuo chuckled, “if I spent time trying to recover from all the personal attacks on myself I wouldn’t get anything done.”  When Lin didn’t say anything, he continued, “but I’m talking about politics. I haven’t been through anything like this.”

Lin continued to look up at the ceiling, feeling completely helpless. Whatever coping mechanisms might exist in the world were mechanisms she did not possess. She couldn’t very well stop speaking to Amon. Afterall, he had escaped- left Republic City just like his father had- laying low until he could come back and strike again. The tears were back in short order and Lin let a few of them slip out, skating across her temple and into her hairline.

Kazuo must have caught sight of them, because he pulled her closer, “Hey. Hey- it’s okay.” He turned her head with a gentle hand, bringing his smiling face into view, “Come on. Let’s talk about getting stabbed, that seemed to cheer you up.”

She couldn’t help but chuckle at that.

So, they talked.

She told him the whole story, he replied with the one and only time he’d been punched in the face. They swapped stories back and forth this way for hours, discussing their families, their past relationships, their aspirations, and everything in between.  

The night seemed to go on for forever-- that is until the little golden clock on Kazuo’s nightstand began to sound off.

Their eyes both went wide with shock at the sound of it.

“Shit.”

“I’m so sorry,” Lin followed emphatically, feeling a rush of guilt for keeping him up all night while he was in the midst of the most important days of his yearly political calendar.

Kazuo turned, reaching out to grab the clock, silencing it with one hand. He sighed a defeated sigh, clunking it back down from whence it came.

The room had gotten a bit lighter over the course of their conversation, but neither seemed to notice that the source of that light was the sun peeking over the caldera rim outside.

“It’s alright,” Kazuo assured, though the look on his face didn’t match his words. He ran one hand down his face, sighing again before sitting up. “Want some tea?”

“No, thank you,” Lin returned, comfortably under the blankets. He nodded, standing and exiting the room. She could hear him in the kitchen, closing cabinets and clinking dishes.

“Did you wash my dishes?” he called from the other room.

Lin pulled the blankets up around herself shouting back, “I might have!”

“Weirdo,” he returned.

She heard the kettle whistle and bit more rustling before her returned, mug in hand, “How much black tea can a 225 lb man drink before his heart stops?” he took a sip, “Asking for a friend.”

Lin laughed, “I think you’ve earned the entire pot.”

He nodded, heading into the bathroom. She heard the shower come on. At some point, she’d drifted off to sleep, only to be jolted awake by the sound of his telephone ringing. His bathroom door flew open and he dove for the telephone, which she noted was set up on his nightstand.

“Hello?”

He looked down at her and winked, hair half done.

“What?!” he exclaimed, “Why is he in so early? No, no. Go there. I’m on my way. Take the letters from my second desk drawer and go to his office. Keep him there until I arrive. They’re from his constituents. Don’t let him leave, Koji! I’m on my way!”

He hung up the phone and hurried back into the bathroom without another word. Lin could hear him scrambling to get ready in there, grumbling something about a transit bill. He came back into the room, shrugging on his button-up shirt.

“These idiots don’t want to fund this transit bill because they’re afraid I’m going to bring satomobiles to the caldera,” he told her, shaking his head.

The caldera of the Fire Nation’s Capital was an untouched hold-over from the days of imperialism. The old guard took great pains to keep the caldera in the same style it was back in the war days. As a result, the city outside the caldera was booming- new skyscrapers seemed to be erected everyday- but the caldera remained frozen in time- bogged down by ordinances.

Lin had read as much in the newspaper back at the Palace. Kazuo was known to be particularly progressive when it came to new technologies, he was a very vocal proponent of connecting the country with railways and subsidising satomobile factories. He argued that it would create jobs, give the Fire Nation a chance at a prosperous future. Others contended it would tarnish their landscape and cheapen their traditional ways.

“I don’t care about the caldera. But, it would be a huge improvement,” he exclaimed again, frustration punctuating his sentence as he slipped on his shoes, “as it is, I’ve got to run- and I do mean run because I can’t even get a fucking trolley funded around here.”

Lin made a face, but neglected to say anything. In her opinion the old-world feel of the caldera was sort of charming.

”See you tonight?” He wondered, straightening his collar.

“I’ll be here,” Lin replied, gathering the blankets closer. Watching her do this softened his expression and he smiled, bending down to kiss her quickly, “See you then.”

“Good luck today.”

“Thanks.”

And with that he was gone. The apartment was silent and Lin finally drifted off to sleep.

#lin beifong #kazuo #lok #linzuo #lin bei fong #the legend of korra

[giftofshewbread]

2 World Leaders Hold Back the Tied, if The One Falls, so does the World !

PM Netanyahu and Pres Trump, are the Best that has ever happened for both nations ( Israel & United States ), yet Evil is Increasing, It's interesting how much is happening at this time, with these 2 powerful leaders, Israel being the Apple of God's eyes and Trump being also appointed by God for such a time as these, look at what Prophecy is foretelling, look at this future Peace Deal is bringing, YET, and by Biblical knowledge, this peace deal will be incredible, I believe the very 'Deal'. God said would come, YET, it will only be presented,,,, wait for it,,,,, it's the Anti-Christ who 'Confirms' it... So what does this tell us? How very close the Rapture is, and also, what could throw the whole world into turmoil? What if these 2 powerful leaders are taken from the equation? Look who the players are in Prophecy, who are lined up in the Middle East to attack Israel... Only God is holding back Israel's enemies at this time, and it's thru Bibi and Trump, as long as the United States is the super power, take the US out of the equation or remove Trump and or Bibi,,, All HELL IS Going to Break Loose, we know it, it's coming. Russia, Turkey, Syria, Iran even China are all chomp'n at the bit to get at the spoils of war/Israel... What's stop'n it from happening? Think about it. We are on the Cusp people, our world is about to change and with the Peace deal in the works, about to be presented in the next couple weeks or so, YET it's not going to go into effect why? SOMETHING HAS TO HAPPEN to TAKE US/Trump out of the equation, I Fear to even say it, I dearly hope I am wrong, but America is not in Bible Prophecy, Something has to happen to take her down, from super power, if Trump should be taken down, America will never come back, so much evil is in the wings waiting, just like with Israel, Something is holding this all back, WAR is Coming, Israel will be attacked by the major players in the Middle East. God help us all, We are so very close and most don't see it.. Oh Lord !!! Been my gut feeling for a while now, we are so close, keep watch, so we are not to be caught off guard, GOD is certainly in charge and orchestrating all this, soon and very soon HE's going to says 'Enough is Enough', and give Satan full power over the earth and the Restrainer/Holy Spirit and True Christians are about to be removed from the Earth and this world will go from a Natural world to a Super Natural World, a Time that had never been, Hell on Earth. The Rapture would happen during a time of prosperity and what's happening now, America is being rejuvenated and we have a man in the white house who most definitely has the hand of God upon him, he's not perfect, but he is a believer, his cabinet people are believers, something that has not been for maybe ever or from the beginning, this should tell us something.  Trump has no problem invoking God in his speeches or where ever, look at his fruit, he keep prospering, he's trying to help America prosper.... I said in the beginning, either Trump is This Good or he's This Bad and if ya take the blinders off, stop listening to the Corrupt Media, Corrupt Politicians, we truly have a god fearing patriotic nationalist in the White House, He loves this Nation, Loves God and the People, and the WORLD Hates Him,,, think about it. either he's this bad or he's this good.....Trump is not our savior, but he certainly is anointed by God, he beat all odds to become the 45th President of the United States, he replaced and evil manchurian moslem candidate and rid the house of islamic prayer stations, like 15 of them from the White House before he moved in.   I believe God is giving American one more opportunity, a reprieve if you will, to get it right, but my gut tells me, time is so very close, everything is lined up, we're just weeks away from a proposed Peace Deal of all Time, again, I believe the very deal God spoke of,, but again,,, it will only be allowed to be Presented, it will not be Implemented, WHY ???  What's stopping it from being accepted or implemented, or CONFIRMED???  Why is it the Anti-Christ who is to Confirm the Peace Accord?  What is maybe about to happen to Stop or Throw  a monkey wrench into the deal??? I heard that the Whole Trump Family is going to be at this Peace Accord, Huge Red Flag for me, NOT GOOD !  Will Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also be at this great meeting in Bahrain, 2 Great Leaders and possibly their families in one place, so very near to Iran??? I understand there are 2 parts to this 'Deal of the Century', the 1st part is considered the Economic Package, so enticing the Palestinians would be utter fools to NOT take it, (my guess is they won't, YET )  and the 2nd part to be presented a little later, (not sure how many weeks or months later)  We'll all know soon enough, about mid June is the tentative time of the meeting, what's what about this Great Deal ! The World, the Deep State are all Against this 'Deal of the Century',, hmmm I wonder why?   We know why, Evil hate's a 'Do Gooder', Israel is a Cup of Trembling and Burdensome Stone, a the Bible states, with the World. Satan knows his time is so very near, he can taste blood already. Evil is about to have it's way with this ole earth, and most haven't a clue.   We are to be aware of what's going on, not caught off guard, we know we are in the latter days, the Rapture is immanent, the Great Tribulation Period right next on the stage of events, the Anti-Christ is soon to be on the scene, so just think, if the Deal of all Deals is about to be presented, how long till it's 'Confirmed by the Anti-Christ', Implemented ?  ME thinks we are already here.... or certainly right around the corner..... But have NO Fear, ti's scary, but GOD is in Complete Control, We WILL SEE Somethings before we're out of this ole world (Rapture), God didn't say it would be easy or without troubles, we'll surly see Evil to continue, more Christian Persecution, Natural Disasters and Wars and Rumors of Wars, but we will be Saved from the Wrath of God, those who truly love and follow the LORD, can't say the rest are going to fair too well, Satan will be pouring out his wrath upon the world and this ole Earth will go thru a time never seen, heard or felt before, it's most Horrific Time of all Times Ever !!! What do you think Russia, Turkey, Iran, China would do if Netanyahu and or Trump are out of the Picture, just how fast do you think these Evil Nations will POUNCE on lil ole Israel ???  Even Attack America???   IN A HEART BEAT !!!  They will Seize upon the opportunity take down Israel when that window is opened.  2 great leaders, 2 God Fearing men are in Power today, but for how long?  The Bible Tells us, it's about to change, 'Sudden Destruction' the Lord says, will come... Key word, 'Sudden' !   Could the Rapture be the KEY to it all?  IN an instant Believers/Followers of Jesus are instantly removed from earth, HOW fast will Major Middle East Players act on this window of opportunity?  In a heart beat ?  ( I think so )  If 2 great god fearing men of 2 great nations are no longer, Hmm, just how fast would 'They' attack Israel?  Bible Prophecy tells us that basically, America is not available, it's not a super power, some say it's a 3rd world country, what could take down America so fast?  Remove it's one and only God fearing Leader?  Bomb USA with Nukes, EMP blasts to take out our electrical and communication grids, Knock out all Electronics nation wide, it would cripple this nation in a heart beat and take years to recover, and there won't be years.... We know War is coming to the Middle East, Damascus is on the cusp of being the 'Ruinous Heap' the Bible speaks about. Iran is nearly Desperate, We've crippled them financially, Russia is in dear financial straits as well, and War makes Money, sadly, but true.  These Nations will soon be Desperate and they Will Attack and Israel is the land of Milk and Honey (OIL), the Hook in the Jaw, that bring Russia and others against her, Israel will be attacked, it's biblical. But God's Hand holds back the forth coming evil, 2 men are being used to hold back the tide, one thing is for sure, 1 man truly holds the position of power and is helping hold back the coming evil... People Hate him, People conspire against him, World Leaders 1st mocked him and now they wonder. Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, Leader of the Free World, Commander in Chief, He 'is' the Super Power behind the United States, GOD put him in power. 1 yr till re-election persae, either Trump is a 1 term President or a 2 term President, ( I have no doubt he's a shoe in for 2nd term ) BUT, what will God allow? WE either have 1 more year of Trump or 5 yrs coming, we don't know, nor do we know he gets to finish his Presidency... Now think about this, All we know, all that is Biblical had converged, it's here and now, no prophecy has to take place for the Rapture Event. The 'Peace Accord' is happening right now,, what we've heard for years is here and now, in a few weeks, less then a month, a great meeting is about to take place, it's the 1st part of a 2 part deal, ( from what I understand ) but none the less, it's actually happening.  This means, that if the Peace Accord is in the works, so is the Anti-Christ,  HE is in the wings, the Anti-Christ is very likely near or on the scene, he's not yet indwelled by Satan, as he's not risen to power yet, but yet, he is a man and he is here, on earth and his time is very near, because 'he' is the one to Confirm this Deal of Deals, So...... Is it almost Time?  Are we there Yet ?  I'd say, "Look up , your redemption draws nigh,"  Well actually, God tells us to be Watchmen/women on the Wall, And when all these things converge, HELLO !!! Yeshua, Jesus, The Christ, Savior, Messiah, how ever you call upon Him, is COMING, Another Great Fact ! But before He Comes, 1st is the Rapture, then The Tribulation Period, The 7 Year Peace Deal ( Which I believe is the 'Deal of the Century' by Trump/Team, but only implemented/confirmed by the Anti-Christ ) And then the 2nd Coming of Jesus, to throw down Anti-Christ/Satan and all his legion and bring Peace to the Earth for 1000 yrs, the Millennium Reign of our Lord & Savior/King Jesus ! Do we have 7 yrs? Is Peace coming in the Middle East?  I have a feeling that this Peace Deal Coming, doesn't actually say 7 yrs, I sure can be wrong, but I know that President Trump is counseled by Christian and Jewish leaders/pastors/rabbis/theologians, so he knows all that needs to be known about upcoming Biblical events, I think it will be the Anti-Christ that puts the time limit (7yrs) on the Peace Deal, in some fashion....And we know that its the Anti-Christ who breaks this 7 yr peace deal at the half way mark, 3 1/2 yrs into this deal, He declares himself to be god and all Hell breaks loose. If President Trump is the Great Deal Makers as he's often proclaimed and I think he is, God must thinks so, He put Trump at this appointed time and reason, to present this Deal to the Middle East.  Ok, so does Trump have 1 more year or 5 more years? Look at Damascus, it's been war torn for the past few years, it's nearly a 'Ruinous Heap' as God said it would become, but it's still inhabited by people, according to Scripture, it become Un-Inhabitable, so what happens to make Damascus detrimental to humans? Nuclear? Maybe the stock pile of Chemical Weapons supposedly hidden underneath the city? ( supposedly thanks to Saddam Hussein )  Which very well could be the case, if Damascus is hit by Nuclear Bombs or should this hidden stock pile of Chemical weapons be unleashed, it would totally make the area un-inhabitable. So how close to that happening, just one strategic bomb away, we're just one button or trigger away from this happening.   I said before the NEW YEAR 2019, that 2019 will be one hell of a year and boy oh boy are we in it thick already, the list is long of all that is taking place on this ole earth at this time, in short, Evil is Growing, People are falling into Apostasy as the LORD said, it's growing more godless and loveless everyday, it's pace is almost mind blowing and we've seen NOTHING YET !   So here we are, Peace Deal begins in about mid June, Damascus is nearly a ruinous heap, but not quite yet, still inhabited by people, the major middle east players are all practically on Israel's boarder, 2 great leaders (backed by God ) are holding back the tide, both Hated by the World, how long do they have left on this ole earth, how long can they hold power/leadership? Deep State / World calls for their deaths, how long till 'they' act on their threats? Really, only 1 has to be toppled or taken out of the equation, for when he falls, so will the world basically and Israel will be ripe for the picking. Do we have 7 years, NOPE ! ( I'm 99.9 % sure ) Do we have 5 years, Seriously Doubt it ( 98 % sure )Do we have 1 year left, ( I give it 50/50 )  in Nov 2020, the next presidential campaign officially starts. right now we are about 17 months away, and the Deep State absolutely doesn't want another Trump Win. So I expect anything and I mean anything from the Deep State, to try and take Trump out of the picture. The Whole Fake Russian Collusion was to Keep Trump from becoming President in the 1st place, Against All Odds, Trump Won, (Thank God ) The election was so rigged, it was almost fool proof, yet God made fools of the Corrupt Deep State and they are fuming mad ! We know right, they're still trying to push the collusion agenda, the fake news and 'cover up' by Donald J. Trump, 'Impeach Impeach Impeach', it's what we hear daily by the corrupt Media. Sorry I've gotten long with this message, but thank you for coming this far, if you are still with me here, I've left out much detail and such, but I'll try to sum it up and being a basic dude, I like simple, basic. The Rapture is Imminent, it can happen at any moment, Period !The Peace Deal for the Middle East is practically on the Table.Damascus is nearly a ruinous heap & one moment away from being un-inhabitable.Major Middle East Players (Russia, Turkey, Syria, Iran ) are on Israel's boarder Now !God, using 2 powerful nations/leaders are holding back the tide.Netanyahu was just re-elected at Prime Minister of Israel, he's not going any where, 'Unless'......Trump is coming up on re-election 17 months or so, Deep State is Desperate, as Trump is Now Exposing ALL in Russian Collusion Scam, America's Worst Scandal of all time, Expect anything from them, Hatred is Deep and they're Evil contempt grows, but Trump isn't going any where, 'Unless' ......If Trump Falls, so does Israel and the World, Game Change, America no longer Super Power and No longer holding back the Evil on Israel's Door Step !Middle East Explodes/ Gog Magog Event, GOD Steps in, Save's Israel Miraculously, Israel gets hit hard, but survives against all odds.My guess is this is when the Anti-Christ comes forth with Signs and Wonders, and uses the opportunity to implement the 'Deal of the Century' as Israel will feel emboldened and foolish, having won a un-winable battle against Major Nations of the World, they will fall for who they think is the Messiah, they've been waiting for, and the Anti-Christ will Step in and fill those shoes, making the world believe, he brought about win for Israel, saving them, 'Peace and Safety' ahh huh.  and the story goes on.... What I'm saying and so are others, as we can only put out our theories, though we have Biblical facts/prophecy to show us the direction this is all going, how fast is another story, God only knows... But like others, I believe too, that this could all happen simultaneously, all in rapid succession, for instance. Rapture event, Middle East Players take window of opportunity to take out Israel, with Christians/The Restrainer/Super power leaders out of the picture, America has fallen, Israel sitting duck, WAR breaks out and Anti-Christ waiting in the wings.....This all could happen so very fast, not even days, But God only knows....And WE know, things have sped up so fast now, daily we move closer and closer to these terrible times, even hourly we can see events moving and changing. Let me reiterate one point again, the Deal of the Century is practically on the table, just weeks away now from being presented, but we have to ask ourselves, WHAT Happens, That the Anti-Christ is the one to make the deal happen,, bible says, he confirms the deal !  So something happens between now and the time Anti-Christ Implements and Confirms this deal with many,, What happens to Trump? What happens to the United States, We're not noted in the upcoming confirmation of this deal, Where is the 'Deal Maker', Where is Trump?  It looks like Trump gets to present the 1st part of the Deal, but as of right now, we don't know anything if or when he gets to present the 2nd part, who long till that happens?  Will he wait with the 2nd part till he's re-elected, I don't think so, why would he do that? It's not his nature to string out a deal, that I know of, he's a man on a mission and he's wanting this to be the Deal of all Deals, it's truly the ultimate deal for Mr. Trump/The Deal Maker, and being President of The United States, what a feather in the cap of the one who can bring peace to the middle east....But again, we know something is going to interrupt that or not allow the deal to be implemented by Pres Trump, he gets to present it and or does he get to present the whole deal, (part 2)  we don't know.. Anything can happen and WHY is it the Anti-Christ the one who gets to Implement/Confirm the deal and not President Trump? ( which should tell, that Trump is Not the Anti-Christ, the Anti-Christ comes out of Europe) (plus a better part of the world hates president Trump, the Anti-Christ will fool the world, that the world leaders will fall in behind this devil puppet raise him to power, can you see Russia, China and the world for that matter, raising Trump to Super World Power? Nahh, not gonna happen. Remember, Trump is a God fearing man, the Anti-Christ is indwelled by satan, and Trump is not from Europe. ) We're all gonna know very shortly now, how things start to play out further, in the coming weeks, we will see.It's nearly midnight as I finish writing this and May 26th is just minutes away, Mid June is just weeks/days away, biblical events are in our midst and we can expect anything, at anytime.  God Help Us All !

#a #e #i #o #u #y #1 #3 #10 #100 #god #jesus #israel #america #usa #us #jerusalem #middle east #peace #deal #satan #anti-Christ #christian #muslim #islam #jihad #taqiya #taqqiya #hadith #bible

[helshades]

Hello, I've been reading you on Mélenchon these days and would be interested in your opinion on his treatment of the bonnets rouges movement. I find some appeal in his political views but am detered by his unequal interpretation of social movements. I credit it to his somewhat jacobin/nationalist upbringing, and would like to have your thoughts on what his legitimate or not to him. Thank you, have a good day.

Hi! Quite a good question, as I don’t think too many journalists have taken the time to scrutinise the similarities and differences between the ‘Red Caps’ of yesteryear and the current ‘Yellow Vests’, even after Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, during a ‘Questions to the Government’ panel at the Assembly, drew that parallel to promise that his government would not be intimidated by the protests—at that time, the movement was only three days old:

‘Let us remember the Red Caps. Confronted with social difficulty that collided directly with their engagements [during the presidential campaign], the previous government [P.M. Jean-Marc Ayrault’s] chose to step back. Our goal is entirely different: we would keep the line that we proposed during the presidential and legislative elections.’

—20 November 2018.

Here, I have to make a long-ish pause to explain to whomever is reading this outside of us both and doesn’t know who the ‘Red Caps’ were, well, who the ‘Red Caps’ were, precisely.

So, back to 2013, in the north-west of France, in the Brittany region. On 18th June, a collective of thirty local company leaders call Bretons and the French for action against a special tax that is scheduled to be applied to all heavy goods vehicles circulating on some state-financed and locally financed roads in the country starting from 1st October, colloquially known as ‘HVG eco-tax’.

The thirty company leaders, who are gathered at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry at Pontivy, are asking for the eco-tax to be suppressed, for (employers’) taxes in general to diminish, and for ‘administrative constraints’ (for employers) to be reduced. Amongst them are notably: Jakez Bernard, president of certification label ‘Produced in Britanny’, Alain Glon, former food-processing industry honcho, now president of a regionalist think-tank, Olivier Bordais, who manages a local supermarket, Jean-Pierre Le Mat, president of a big employers union (C.G.P.M.E., aimed at small & smallish business owners), Jacques Jaouen, president of the Brittany Chamber of Agriculture.

Soon they are joined by two big union federations: the National Federation of Farmers Unions, Finistère (one of Britanny’s départements) branch (the F.D.S.E.A. is pretty right-oriented) and the Force Ouvrière (‘Workers Force’, a big Trotskyist union) union branches for the big slaughterhouses Doux (chicken) and Gad (pork). This changes everything, as it allows for a massive, noisy joint demonstration on 2nd August—during which the protesters infamously destroy a drive-through unit meant to detect eco-tax-ready lorries installed in Guiclan.

It doesn’t change much. Months pass. And then, in early October, the Rennes Commercial Court declares that the Gad Inc. slaughterhouse in Lampaul, in Finistère, which works pork meat, must be shut down, whereas others in the same group may remain active; Gad employs 900 people in Lampaul, but their branch has been hit hard by European concurrence. As a matter of fact, while production is being transferred from Lampaul to Josselin, a hundred of interim employees arrive from Romania, paid less than 600€ per month; fixed-term contracts at Josselin are no longer being renewed as a new European directive is about to pass on posted workers. On 21st October, 350 ex-employees from Lampaul invades the Josselin abattoir: according to police reports, 400 Josselin employees exit the factory to fight them.

This all happens during a three-week movement organised by agricultural syndicates on 14th, 21st and 28th October, the protesters aiming at another eco-tax drive-through unit in Pont-de-Buis. They are farmer unionists and the ‘Committee for Convergence of Breton Interests’ (C.C.I.B.), which was created in Pontivy on 18th June as an interprofessional organisation uniting business representatives and academics, aiming to make propositions concerning economy and employment in the region.

On Saturday 28th October, several hundreds of protesters destroy the unit at the Pont-de-Buis motorway toll. The rather heated crowd wear red caps inspired by the 1675 ‘révolte des bonnets rouges’, which under Louis XIV’s reign protested an increase in taxes, and which took place in the west of France but was fiercest in Lower Brittany. That same day the Pont-de-Buis unit is destroyed, F.D.S.E.A. Finistère president Thierry Merret calls the protesters to gather at a regional meet-up on 2nd November in Quimper, capital of the Finistère département.

There were two big demonstrations in November: the one in Quimper, and the one that took place on 30th November in Carhaix-Plouguer (former county town of Breton Cornwall). The latter was organised by left-wing collective ‘Live, Decide & Work in Brittany’, created by Carhaix mayor Christian Troadec, Thierry Merret, worker & union representative for Force Ouvrière at Gad, and Corinne Nicole, union representative for the General Confederation of Labour at big chicken abattoir Tilly-Sabco in Guerlesquin (a family business which provided lot of work in town but got hit hard by international concurrence). In Quimper, the demonstration gathered up to 15,000–30,000; in Carhaix, around 17,000–40,000 (numbers vary because unions and the police have had trouble agreeing on them, traditionally). The collective comes up with a ‘charter’ for the good bonnet rouge, in reaction to the worrisome, extreme-right additions to the Quimper crowd.

The eco-tax was imagined in 2007 during a ‘Grenelle’ for environment, and unanimously voted in 2009, which had already ired many business owners in Brittany, over a thousand of whom had manifested on motorways; united in a ‘Collective of Breton Actors of Economy’, representatives for the National Federation of Agricultural Holders’ Union(F.N.S.E.A.), the National Federation of Road Transport (F.N.T.R.), the Chamber of Commerce and Industry… as well as ‘le Médef’, the largest employer federation in France, to which adheres the richest business leaders in the country, very powerful, and not very friendly to labour rights in general. The collective obtained a 50% tax allowance on the eco-tax from the government.

By taxing 800,000 heavy goods vehicles that circulate on the free portion of French motorways, the government aims to collect public transport and railway freight, amongst other things—since they won’t tax the rich. Except since 2012, too many businesses have gone bankrupt in Brittany. Liquidations follow ‘restructuring plans’ and hundreds are getting fired. The eco-tax would mean a drastic rise in the prices of goods.

By spring 2013, all has been made ready for the system to start on the first day of 2014: 200 units equipped with cameras have been installed, a lucrative contract has been concluded with Ecomouv’, a private company charged with the task to collect the tax, which it is already doing on Italian and Austrian motorways. The French government hopes to collect one billion euros per year with the eco-tax.

On 16th October, after two days of heated protests, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault launches meetings to ‘dialogue’ with the population for a ‘Pact on the Future of Brittany’, announces financial measures and a special aide for the food-processing business. All along November, the revolt is reaching the rest of the country, where dozens of road blocks are organised, speed cameras are destroyed, as well as a few other eco-tax drive-through frames. The Prime Minister arrives in Brittany on 13th December to sign his Pact for Brittany—two billion euros.

There still are 140 units left almost intact in French tolls, since, as the Minister for Transports remarked, once the electronic equipment removed, regular check-ups to make sure they won’t crumble cost much less than actually taking them to pieces. This is what is left of the ‘eco-tax’. As for the Red Caps, well, they evolved into a bunch of collectives, some of which still exist to this day to promote various operations, including demonstrations, that concern Brittany. They never forget the gwenn-ha-du, the ‘Black & White’, the flag of Brittany… Yes, Brittany has a flag. Brittany has a language. Brittany thinks it’s Wales, which is a little silly considering Breton is a Brittonic language like Cornish, not a Gaelic one, like Welsh. Anyhow, Breizh dreams of independence. One day, it will throw bombs at the government, when it has discovered how to make them from cow dung. (I actually, genuinely love Bretons. They’re utterly fruitcake, but they protest like nobody’s business.)

All of this to provide some cultural context to what I am about to translate. So, this is Jean-Luc Mélenchon fulminating back in 2013, before his current La France Insoumise movement was created, when he was co-president of its predecessor the Front de Gauche, a coalition of radical left parties: socialists, and communists who shared anti-capitalistic, anti-liberal, Euro-sceptic views. The FdG was created in 2009 as alliance between the French Communist Party and Parti de Gauche, which Jean-Luc Mélenchon co-founded with people who, like him, quit François Mitterrand’s Parti Socialiste which was veering more and more towards (neo-)liberalism. The alliance aimed to ‘constitute a left-wing front engaged for another Europe, social and democratic, against the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and other current European treaties.’

Yes, it wasone tasteless farce, that bonnet rouge affair. For sure, the eco-tax reallywasn’t the panacea of any good ecological politics! It’s actually, mostly, alure, as it’s not really targeting the motives behind massive livestock transportationvia road transport. It will always be more profitable to transport 45,000 pigsa year on European roads in appalling conditions rather than kill them here,for as long as Europe will allow for dumping social to take place, which forinstance permits to take advantage of profit with German abattoirs. Thegovernment doesn’t give a damn about this. Anyhow, it doesn’t care for anythingthat can be planned ahead, because of ideology and of self-delusion both. See.The eco-tax was supposed to encourage road transport to convert to fluvialtransport and railway freight. Yes, except no plan for freight development wasset in motion to regulate the ever-increasing flow of lorries on the roads.Quite the opposite, I’d say. The government is at the disposal of the EuropeanCommission, very slavishly indeed, and the Commission was very demanding onthat point. In exchange for two years delay at best, so as to reach theobjectives of deficit reduction, the Commission demanded that the liberalisationof the network increase. The liberal reform, consequently, was presented duringthe Ministers’ Council on 16th October. As for fluvial transport,one of the very first measures of the Ayrault government was to abandon the Seine-Nordcanal project. In other words, it was half-assed, as always with thisgovernment.

This takesnothing from the fact that the government’s climb-down on this point is a giftto the bosses. Under the guise of defending employment, it is in fact the freedomto go on producing further and further away from wherever the goods are to beconsumed that is being protected. Bruno Gentil, president of federation FranceNature Environnement, said something very right about this: ‘This isdeplorable, there’s no political courage here. A measure that was voted by theleft as well as the right is called into question as soon as a bunch of peoplebreak some public equipment. Unfortunately, I don’t think this will solve breeders’problems… Environment has become the scapegoat for economic issues. We are gettingthe financing of the energy turnaround very wrong’.Indeed, afew hundreds of bosses and militants from the FNSEA farmers’ union manifestingsome violence were enough for the Ayrault government to back down. Those whoordinarily have no complacency for a worker’s teensiest egg throw weren’tremotely scandalised to see FNSEA and MEDEF throw stones at the CRS. We’restill awaiting the ground-shattering swagger of the immense Manuel Valls, kingof the braggarts! Sure, even when he’s from the right, a Breton boss is atougher customer than a Roma kid on a school bus! The anti-poor warfare isill-equipped to force those who are used to be obeyed to respect public order.

The wholeaffair was a farce through and through. All the while they’re firing workers indroves in Brittany, the bosses have found a dream opportunity to pose as defendersof employment. That might have impressed a couple answering machines inmainstream media. But over there, it’s a whole other story! Employees’ unions wereno dupes. CGT, Sud and FSU in Brittany released a joint statement to distance themselvesfrom the event. In it they denounce ‘the hijacking of the authentic discontentof a large part of the population to political ends, which questions theingenuousness and the independence of the employees who get enlisted in a fightthat isn’t theirs.’ For these unions, ‘the torturers are leading the manoeuvreand they are using their victims as shield and battering ram at once. They wouldemployees to forget that they have always supported the neoliberal politicsthat caused the current crisis, and that their ‘Breton agricultural model’today is an economic, social and environmental failure. The manipulations rundeep, as the old lords are now wearing the red cap against the people.’ It can’tbe said better.

The statementaims right. Particularly where the denunciation of productivism is concerned.It calls employees for refusing to participate in the demonstration organisedin Quimper on 2nd November around the bosses, productivist farmers and someBreton regionalists from the extreme right. The employees will demonstrate withtheir own demands!What arelief! That call to a separate protest sheds some light on a really confusesituation. The alliance of some farmers with the same large-scale foodretailing that chokes them continuously, for example, never ceases to surprise.Politically, it’s even worse. The right, which had proposed the eco-tax in thefirst place, is now demanding that it be suppressed. The PS, which also votedits implementation, now decides to suspend it… As for Le Pen, she’s calling todemonstrate with the red caps! Maybe she didn’t see the colour?

— 1st November 2013.

I don’t particularly want to be known on Tumblr as the Mélenchon defence committee but… well, he had a point. A couple, actually.

The chief particularity of the Yellow Vests movement is that even if it was started as a protest against a significant rise in gas prices and one could draw a parallel in theory between this and the anti-eco-tax movement, its basis was always popular, and focused not on production and profit, but standard living conditions for poor and impoverished people.

I don’t like the term ‘legitimate’ very much, me. Every protest is legitimate, inasmuch as demonstrating is (yet) a constitutional right. The legality of things is not what should concern us, and evidently, not what concerned Jean-Luc Mélenchon back in 2013. If there is one illegitimate element here, it would be the current government: elected with only 10% of the electorate, the most hated president in the history of the Fifth Republic is ending armed forces every week to mutilate tens of thousands who are still supported, according to the least favourable estimates, by over 60% of the population—and who still show up for the next protest, week after week.

Speaking of things I’m not too comfy with, there’s also the terms ‘jacobin’ and ‘nationalist’. I suspect you are Canadian, as you seem to conflate the two (?) and the nationalist-versus-federalist opposition is, I believe, uniquely Canadian. Over here, when talking about jacobin things, one is usually referring to a radical approach to politics, unless one would be referring to the historic opposition between the Jacobins, who ended up supporting deeper financial and political reforms, and the Girondins, mostly wealthy bourgeois, who were more moderate, and remained so throughout the revolutionary period—they won, in the end. The People didn’t—although both branches initially were a part of the Jacobin Club and in favour of constitutional monarchy.

Where nationalism goes… Well, Marine Le Pen is a nationalist. Us leftists are souverainistes, my dear. Quite frankly, I don’t get how you can support democracy without defending a nation’s right to govern itself. Only, if we can call this nationalism in the case of colonised countries aiming to free themselves from imperialism, and in the case of certain regions that promote autonomy within a given State, this is not what is at stake here. More often than not, ‘nationalism’ refers to an ideology, and it is synonymous to chauvinism, with considerably less amusing undertones. Again: it is not nationalist to favour, for instance, local employment, when displacing foreign populations leads to systematic exploitation of their work force. Environmentally, it is also much more responsible to prevent goods from being carried across great distances. And, last but not least… supranational institutions are designed to remove as much power as possible from the populations that could unite and reject locally what was decided globally. Getting democracy, literally, on a smaller scale is about gaining back control; it can’t be decided remotely. If we call this ‘nationalism’, not only do we lose our way to denounce actual xenophobia, but we lose sight of other types of opposition as well. Europe is not a country, and the way the European Union is designed, it is essentially a bank, and it aims to make entire countries its debtors… So, yes, yay for souverainism!

#pavé césar ! #answers #nonnies #jean-luc mélenchon #bonnets rouges #gilets jaunes #france #french politics

[piperemerald]

Equality

Commission for @ladymoiraine​! My commissions are still open! 

Pairing: Korrasami

Summary: Asami has always tried to stay out of politics, but when her father is wrongfully arrested she realizes she can’t stay to the side and watch non-benders be hurt over and over again. It’s clear that there is only one way for her to help the Equalists: to get close to the Avatar and spy on her. Asami feels no guilt taking this mission, after all, she’s doing the right thing isn’t she?

Read on AO3

Asami was alone in her office the day everything started. She’d been trying to focus on getting some work done. Ever since she’d finished college and decided to work for her father, her list of projects never seemed to end. That was fine with her. She liked to keep busy and feel productive, even if it did feel like a lot at once sometimes. The workload was a reminder that she was heir to her father’s company after all.

The start of her day had been normal. She arrived at Future Industries when she usually did, talked to her father about work before planning to take their lunch breaks together to talk about things not related to the company. They had a nice balance that she doubted most father and daughter business partners could be able to manage. She was considering leaving the room to propose that they make that break a little bit sooner, when the sound of sirens pulled her out of her thoughts. The first thing that she thought was that there has been some sort of accident in the building and through the chaos the workers had neglected to inform her. That brought her to her feet and running out of the office. As she ran down the hallway, she tried to ignore how much her gut was trying to tell her that something was very, very wrong. When she reached her father’s office, shock stilled her legs. She watched as the Avatar and two policemen entered the room, bringing her father out in handcuffs. There were several other policemen around them, as if they expected a non-bender like him to be able to put up a fight. “What’s going on?” She demanded, moving forward. “Stand to the side,” one of the policemen instructed her. “What are you doing?” She moved forward anyway, panic and confusion quickly seizing her. Why was no one answering her? Why was her father being arrested? “Asami, it’s okay.” Her father only met her eyes for a second but the look on his face told her loud and clear that nothing was okay right now. “Stop!” Asami tried to run to him. She tried to push these people off of him. This was wrong. This was so incredibly wrong and none of them were going to listen to her. Hands took hold of her arms, restraining her from running toward the only family she had left. He turned away from her now. She knew that he was trying to make sure that she didn’t see him crying. He was scared, and she was terrified. Asami watched helplessly as the police escorted her father from the building. It was only as they were driving him away that she was informed she would have to go to the police station as well. Apparently, they had questions for her too. — The room was brighter than she had expected it to be. She was told to sit at a grey table and wait for the chief of police Lin Beifong. Asami had met the alpha bender before. Given the status that her father’s business gave their family, he had thought it would be important for both of them to be acquainted with those who pulled the strings of the city. This was the first time Asami had been in a police station. Never in her life had she been remotely in trouble. Growing up she had always been the sort of child who followed the rules and stayed on the good side of adults. She didn’t see the point in testing the limits if all it ended up in was a slap on the wrist and disappointment. Not that she was in trouble now, or her father was for that matter. This was all a mistake. It had to be. Lin Beifong didn’t seem to see it that way. Asami withstood the avalanche of questions. All of them seemed to be an attempt to get the same answer out of her. The police weren’t interested in the truth, not when they were certain that her father had committed some crime. “Were you aware that your father was one of the leaders of the political party known as the Equalists?” Lin demanded. “Yes, I am aware of it.” Asami answered honestly. “That doesn’t mean he talks about it to me.” “So you’re not involved with the party?” Lin asked. “No,” Asami told her. “Do you know anything about their agenda?” Lin questioned. “No,” Asami said firmly. She stopped herself from scoffing at the word agenda. She was apolitical, and her father had kept her away from the movement as much as he could, but she still understood her father had only joined the movement because he believed in making Republic City—and the whole world—a better place.

“I don’t like politics,” she said out loud. “He wanted to keep me out of it.” “I see,” Lin hummed. “Last I checked Republic City didn’t arrest people for being involved in smaller parties,” Asami couldn’t stop herself from saying. “Things have changed,” Lin’s voice sounded like stone. Asami knew that the United Republic Nations was an oligarchy of benders, but her father’s party had always been tolerated by them. She couldn’t see how they posed any threat, especially one severe enough for him to be taken into custody. “Do you know where the party’s other leader is?” Lin asked. “No,” Asami shook her head. Her father co-leads the group with a man named Noatak. Asami had met him before, but she didn’t know him well. If the police were after her father, she figured he was next. Lin asked her several more questions before she seemed certain that Asami wasn’t withholding any information. Asami didn’t lie to her, but she was able to leave while still keeping the one secret she did know hidden. The Equalists were not just a group of non-benders. There were several benders that had come to the party to support them in secret. She only knew the identity of one, Kya, a waterbender who worked in a hospital. Even if she wasn’t involved in the party, Asami wasn’t going to give away their information. Especially not when there were being falsely persecuted. The next day the entire city knew of her father’s arrest. A picture of him being handcuffed and dragged away was on the front page of every newspaper. Apparently, the police had tried to arrest Noatak as well, but when they’d broken into his house he was nowhere to be found. Asami didn’t know how long he could stay hidden. The city was big, but word traveled fast. Her father wasn’t allowed visitors. Apparently, it was too dangerous that another member of the party would try to pass a message to him. Asami was disgusted. The whole world knew something that should be private, and they wouldn’t even allow his daughter to see if he was alright. All of this felt like it wasn’t real. Asami half expected that when she woke up the next morning her father would still be in their house, and the whole thing would just be a horrible dream. Instead she awoke to one of her father’s workers telling her that they were waiting for her at the office. With him in jail, she was now the interim chief of Future Industries Enterprise. Her family only owned forty-nine percent of the company. The rest was owned by bender shareholders. After Asami’s mother was killed by benders when she was a child, her father had associated himself with powerful benders in order to protect their family. Asami knew that he hated that to keep himself and his daughter safe, he had to aline himself with the type of people that he despised, but at least the Satos were no longer a target for the triads. At work, she did her best to behave as if nothing was wrong. She didn’t want the company to think that she was weak enough to crumble. She was her father’s daughter and she was going to make him proud even if he wasn’t there to see it. Her face was calm as she conducted business even if she was breaking on the inside. Asami decided to contact Kya at the hospital, she worked at. With Noatak in hiding, she was the only one connected to the Equalists that Asami knew of, even if she hadn’t met her herself. When she walked into the hospital, she wasn’t entirely sure how she was going to find her. That turned out not to be a problem. Asami hadn’t realized that Kya was a known healer as she found out. All she needed to do was tell someone at the hospital that she was a family friend and needed to speak with her, and they were already bringing her to Asami. The second shock happened when Kya came to meet her. Asami wasn’t involved in politics, but she did know a little about the members if the council. The United Republic Nations was governed by four unelected members of a council, one for each bending ability. There had been some debate over giving non-benders a voice, but that always seemed to be pushed aside. Asami knew that was why a good handful of the Equalists had joined the party. She was surprised to find that the waterbender involved in the Equalist party, was the sister of Tenzin, the airbender of the four council members. “Hello,” Asami greeted her. She wasn’t entirely sure how to go about this. She hadn’t talked to this woman before, she hadn’t tried to be involved in any part of this before, and it was hard not to feel inadequate. “You don’t know me, but I’m—” “Asami Sato,” Kya finished. The warmth in her voice dispelled Asami’s nerves. There was something soft about this woman. Asami rarely had the chance to meet benders like this. Her life had always felt a little bit divided from those with the ability to control the elements. Even the ones she’d known as a child, who were never anything but kind to her, were difficult to open herself to completely. No matter who the bender was, it was hard for Asami to not be conscious of how much power each of them held and how easily it could be used against her. “Your father told me a lot about you,” the smile on Kya’s face died. “I’m sorry about what happened.” Asami was sorry too. She was sorry, and confused, and angry, but just feeling this wasn’t going to do her or her father any good. If it were the other way around, she knew he’d be doing something to get her back. She wouldn’t allow herself to just sit on the sidelines.   “That’s why I’m here,” she pushed herself to say. “Could we maybe talk in private?” “Of course,” Kya nodded. There was a grave look in her eyes. They went outside to the courtyard next to the hospital. When they were both sure that they were out of earshot of the other healers and patients, Kya turned to Asami. She didn’t just seem sad or cautious now. There was a sense of urgency to her. Asami liked that. It was what she needed right now. “My brother and I don’t see a lot of each other,” she stated. “We were never close, and we don’t get along. Well, I guess it’s better to say we don’t trust each other.” “Which means I can trust you?” Asami understood what was behind those words. “Your father did,” Kya told her. “I don’t know why they took him.” “Neither do I,” Asami voiced. “I know,” Kya replied. “He told me that he wanted to keep you away from this. For your safety.” Asami tried not to react to that. She loved her father, but she wished that he would stop treating her like she needed his protection. It was true that she hadn’t wanted to be involved in the party, but she didn’t need the reason to be that he was afraid she’d get hurt. That seemed to be the thing that kept her away from so much. Ever since they’d lost her mother, he’d done everything he could to keep her from harm's way. He never stopped to consider that maybe, she could handle herself. She supposed that was what she should have expected. She was born an omega non-bender after all. It wasn’t like the cards were in her favor. “I want to meet the Equalists,” she informed Kya. “That’s out of the question,” Kya stated. “Why?” Asami had to stop her voice from coming out demanding. “My father is in prison. Maybe someone will have answers. Even if they don’t, you can’t expect me to sit at home and wait for someone else to do something.” “Your father wouldn’t like it,” Kya reminded her. “I won’t be the one to betray him like that.” “The world that will let a non-bender be dragged away from his home for no reason, is what betrayed him,” Asami said firmly. “I’m used to people acting like there is nothing I can do about anything. This time I can’t allow it.” “It’s dangerous,” Kya’s voice held a warning. “More so now than ever.” “I’m not a child,” Asami replied. “But you are young,” Kya countered. “You have a company to run and a life ahead of you. It would be better if you stayed away.” “If you don’t help me, I’ll find someone else who will,” Asami told her. It would be hard to track down another Equalist, but that wouldn’t stop her from trying. Kya let out a defeated sigh. Asami tried not to look like she was taking that as hope. “I can’t guarantee anything,” she started. “I know,” Asami said. “The next meeting is tomorrow night,” Kya informed her. She quickly told Asami the time and location of the secret meeting. They had to be even more careful now that their party had been forbidden and one of their leaders was arrested. Everyone would arrive to the meeting in masks to protect their identities. That way if any of them were caught, they would have no way of telling the police the other members of the party. “Noatak has taken the name Amon now,” Kya explained. “It would be better if you referred to him as that.” “Right,” Asami nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Kya smiled sadly. “Thank you,” Asami meant this. Before Kya turned to leave, Asami couldn’t help blurting the question that had been bothering her since she first heard of benders joining her father. “What made you want to join the movement?” “I’m a healer,” Kya stated as if this were a simple answer. “There comes a point where you can’t stand seeing non-benders hurt or even killed by benders when they had no way of defending themselves. This isn’t a fair world we live in. Something needs to change.” “You’re very brave,” Asami told her. “So are you,” Kya replied. “If you change your mind, I won’t blame you. This doesn’t have to be your fight.” “It already is,” Asami stated. — Asami didn’t buy a mask. She was scared that if she did it would be traced back to her should anything happen. Instead she looked through her father’s things. The police had taken most of what he kept in the office, but the majority of his personal belongings had been left at the house. Among that, Asami found an old worn-down mask. She doubted that this was the one he’d usually worn. Which was good, it would keep her connection to him private. She was nervous as she approached the location of the meeting. She was wearing dark, plain clothes. Under her coat she had one of the weaponized gloves that her father had created for non-benders to defend themselves. Given the situation, she knew it was unlikely that she’d have to use it, but it was better to take these kinds of precautions. When she entered the building, she expected everything to be dark and the people there to seem on edge at the heat their party had been casted. However, she was met with a group of people talking freely, even if their faces were covered. Despite not being able to tell each other who they were, Asami was met with a sense of community. Her presence there wasn’t questioned. It only took a little bit for Kya to find her, although she did not voice her identity to Asami. It was nice to at least be able to pick out one person before the meeting began. She didn’t talk during the discussions. She wasn’t here to voice her opinion, just to get a sense of what this was. There was going to be a peaceful demonstration soon. A handful of the members were in the process of organizing it. Due to the attention their party was receiving, those who planned to participate were advised to hide their faces. Asami didn’t know if that was completely necessary. Sure, the government wasn’t tolerating them anymore, but they couldn’t exactly arrest someone for simply being present at a protest, especially if they were going to be protesting peacefully. Still, she knew that if her father found out that she went there without hiding who she was, he’d be upset. She would be careful for his sake. When the discussion was over, Kya and her talking to only a few of the members. She gathered that these were the ones Kya trusted. They didn’t need to approach the new sole leader, he seemed to recognize Asami instantly. “I don’t think I’ve seen that mask since Hiroshi and I first decided to make this group,” he told her. “Hello, Amon,” Kya nodded to him. “I’ll give the two of you some time.” Asami watched Kya go. She knew Noatak, but he wasn’t that close of a family friend. She didn’t know if he’d disagree with her being here. It was likely that her father had advised him on what to do if this situation ever happened. “I take it your father doesn’t know your here,” Noatak—or maybe it was better if she referred to him as Amon—said as if he were reading her thoughts.   “He doesn’t know anything,” she said stiffly. “They won’t let me visit him.” “I’m sorry,” Amon sounded genuine. “I never thought that this would happen. When I went into hiding, I hoped that he’d done the same.” “He didn’t have any warning,” Asami told him. “It’s okay, I think he’d be glad you got away. Without you all of this would crumble.” “It won’t,” he told her firmly. “The Equalists are stronger than the council realizes.” Well, at least he was confident. Asami knew that they’d need this if they were going to push through the government rejecting them. “Are you going to join us?” Amon asked her. “I might.” She wasn’t sure yet if it would be better to just watch from the side or not. “We could use someone like you,” he said honestly. “You have your father’s blood. I know he’s raised you well.” “He has,” Asami replied. “It would also help to have a young omega in our corner,” he added. “You could get close to the Avatar team and find out secrets. The Avatar is an alpha, you know.” “That’s out of the question,” Asami fought to keep the disgust out of her voice. She would not prostitute herself in order to spy on the enemy. Discussion finished. “I see,” he hummed. “It was worth a try. I’ll see you at the next meeting.” “You will,” Asami nodded. She left after that conversation. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do next. When she returned home she changed out of the dark clothes and tucked the mask into her sock draw. She was going to need it again. — Two weeks later, Asami decided that she would participate in the peaceful demonstration. She had a feeling that actually wearing the mask would make her stick out when it was over, so instead she wrapped a scarf around her nose and mouth and wore dark glasses. Anyone who saw her would only see another protestor and not the daughter of Hiroshi Sato. It was because of her father’s arrest that the demonstration was being held. The goal was to make the public aware of his unjust imprisonment and demand he be released and the party become legal once again. There were more people at the demonstration than she’d seen at the meeting. They were a small number compared to other parties, but Asami hadn’t realized that they had this many people on their side. Maybe they did have a chance to have everything put to right without violence. Seeing the others at least made her feel less alone. After her father had been taken away, she couldn’t help but feel that no one was on her side. That couldn’t be any further from the truth. The Equalists stayed true to the goal of keeping the protest peaceful. While they did occupy a large part of the main street, they didn’t pose any threat to the people around them. Asami was surprised that the police hadn’t come to try to stop them. She knew that the council couldn’t be happy about this and thought that after thirty minutes they would have tried to take measures to stop them. Instead they weren’t hindered, and Asami was starting to feel at ease. She almost let the scarf slip from her face. That ease didn’t last. Asami was in the middle of the group, so she didn’t see how it started. She heard the shouting immediately, and could see everyone around her submerging into panic, but it was only as she was being pushed aside that she realized what was going on. There was a group of benders attacking them. They weren’t government, they didn’t even look organized, they just seemed like a gang out for violence. Or out to silence them. Some left at the first sign of trouble. Asami tried not to feel disheartened or angry by that. Most tried to fight back. Asami found herself standing still, not sure what she should do. She watched the people whose voices had rung strongly and fearlessly let out shouts and cries of terror. It was only when an earthbender used his bending to slam a young Equalists to the ground so roughly that his neck broke upon impact that Asami was able to snap herself back to focus. She ran as if her life depended on it, and she had a haunting feeling that it did. It was only when she was safely inside her own house that she stopped to question why the police hadn’t come when the protest broke out into a riot. Didn’t they have a duty to protect all citizens, even if those citizens were Equalists. The next day she learned that several had been killed during the attack. Only a handful of the benders had been taken into custody and were now waiting for a trial. Asami couldn’t help but think that the police had let the others get away. They obviously cared more about imprisoning an innocent man than keeping real threats off of the streets. These murderers were getting a fairer treatment than her father and it was driving her insane. Asami didn’t take a break from work that day. She knew that if she stayed home the day after the protest it would look suspicious. It was better she behaves as if she was still not connected to anything having to do with Amon and the others. Kya checked in on her at the end of the day to make sure that she wasn’t hurt. She hadn’t been at the demonstration but assumed that Asami had gone. It was nice to have someone she could talk to freely. Asami had never thought that she’d find this in a bender. “I didn’t get hurt,” she told Kya. They were alone in Asami’s living room. The house felt big when she was the only one in it. When her father was there, it was so much easier to forget how small their family was. Now it was hard to not feel like it was only her. “I can’t believe this happened,” Kya sighed. “I can,” Asami said hollowly. “The people in charge don’t care about us. All they want to do is push us down.” “That’s the pain talking,” Kya said sadly. “You miss your father.” “Yes,” Asami admitted. “I just want to talk to him. Not even about this, not even about anything in particular. I just want to see him.” “I know,” Kya nodded. “And I do want answers a little bit,” Asami exhaled. “I’m not mad at him, but he left me with all of this and no idea what to do.” “You don’t have to do anything,” Kya reminded her. “I know it’s hard, but he’ll be released at some point. I’m sure they’ll eventually allow you to visit. When you do, he’ll tell you not to get involved in all of this. Just because he dedicated himself to it, doesn’t mean you have to as well.” “I just want things to go back to normal,” Asami confessed. “Wait for a little bit,” Kya said warmly. “Let yourself process things before you do anything rash.” Asami nodded. Kya was right. She’d only been known about the inner workings of the Equalists for two weeks. Her father had plans, but she wasn’t him. She didn’t know what he meant to do, she barely even knew what her own opinions were. She didn’t have to get so deeply involved right now. Only two weeks ago she’d still be set on staying out of politics. She still had a company to run, that on its own wasn’t going to be easy. That night she went to sleep determined to give herself the time to work things out on her own. When her father was allowed visitors, she’d find a way to talk to him about it. Until then she knew how to find the Equalists. She could stay to the side for a bit. When she awoke, everything changed. She didn’t have work that day and had planned to sleep in. Instead she was awoken by a loud knock on the door. Asami quickly threw a robe over her nightgown and answered the door. Her annoyance didn’t shrink when she saw Lin Beifong waiting for her. “It’s six in the morning,” Asami stated. “I know.” Lin wore the stoic expression that Asami had seen from her before, but there seemed like there was something behind it this time. “I’m sorry if I woke you.” “You did,” Asami informed her pointedly. “Why are you here?” “It might be better if you sit down,” Lin started. “There’s something I need to tell you.” “It’s about my father,” Asami understood. “Is he alright? Did something happen?” “We should go inside,” Lin suggested. “You can tell me right here,” Asami said a little too forcefully. “What’s wrong with my father?” Lin hesitated, seeming to debate whether she should listen to Asami and say what she had to say on the doorstep. In the end, Asami’s persistence won. “I’m sorry,” Lin told her. “Hiroshi committed suicide last night. We found him this morning.” And just like that, Asami’s world crumbled around her. “No,” she uttered. “No, that’s not possible.” “I’m sorry,” Lin said again. “But he wouldn’t—” Asami was shaking but she couldn’t feel anything. “I need to go,” Lin told her. “We’ve given his body to the morgue. I assume you’ll be in charge of what happens now.” Asami didn’t register Lin leaving. She didn’t register closing the door or sliding down it when her legs gave way. The only thing she knew is that something inside her had just shattered into a million pieces and she was never going to be able to put herself back together or pry the shards from her heart.

Her mind took her back to the day her mother had died. Asami remembered being with her father in their living room when the police gave him the news. He had wanted her to go upstairs to her bedroom, but she could see how nervous he was and hadn’t wanted to leave his side. She remembered clutching his arm and then feeling the blow for both of them. That was when she followed his advice and ran upstairs to her room. “Asami,” her father had coming to her door a few minutes later. He waited until the police left before talking to her. She hadn’t opened the door. She’d stayed buried under her covers and begging that this wasn’t real. Just that morning her mother had brushed her hair and helped her with her homework. Just that morning she’d squeaked when her parents had kissed each other before heading their separate ways for the day. Just that morning her mother had been alive. And then she was gone. Her father opened the door and sat at the edge of her bed. For a while, neither of them said anything, then Asami slowly pulled herself out from under the covers. Her father’s eyes were red. She’d never seen him cry before. It didn’t look right. He was the strongest person she knew. He wasn’t supposed to be able to cry. Silently, he pulled her into his arms and just held her. They stayed like that for a long time, both silently sobbing, both wondering how they were going to go one from here. Finally, Asami couldn’t take it. “It’s not fair,” she uttered. “I know, honey,” his voice wasn’t steady. “I’m here, it’s okay. We’re gonna be okay.” “But what if they get you too?” Asami hadn’t stopped herself from asking the terrifying question. She’d been too young to know how to filter her words. She was too afraid to hide her fears from her father. “They won’t,” he told her firmly. “I promise, no one is going to take me away from you.” Now Asami didn’t have anyone to hold her while she cried. She was left completely alone with her tears and her father’s broken promise. There was a side of her father that Asami didn’t know. That was the side that ran the Equalists, it was the side that wasn’t scared of the benders and was ready to fight for rights they might never get. Even when she was young, she’d known that she wasn’t seeing the whole of him. That was always alright with her. She doubted that anyone ever saw the whole of any other person. Everyone kept some thoughts secret. Still, she knew that her father would never take his own life. It didn’t matter if he thought he was going to die anyway. It didn’t matter if the police were pushing him to give up the rest of the Equalists. It didn’t matter if he was losing every part of himself. Asami knew that her father would never leave her alone. He hadn’t killed himself. He’d been murdered or executed. Right now, she wasn’t sure that there was a difference. Someone—a bender on the side of the council—had chosen to take his life while he was defenseless just like how those thugs had taken her mother. Suddenly, fury replaced the sorrow in Asami’s chest. She now knew that she couldn’t give herself time to decide if she wanted to join the Equalists or not. She had to act now, before another innocent man or woman was taken from their family. She couldn’t let what happened to her family happen to anyone else, not anymore. She was done being the victim. — “I’ll do it.” Asami told Amon in a firm voice. He hadn’t seemed surprised to see her at the meeting. Then again, he was wearing a mask, so it wasn’t as if she could judge from his expression. The group was smaller now, and Asami knew it wasn’t just from the casualties of the demonstration. People were scared, they were retreating because they didn’t want to end up like those who hadn’t gotten away from the protest in time. They didn’t want to end up like Asami’s father. She wasn’t like them. She wasn’t scared of anything anymore. How could she be when she had nothing left to lose? “Why the sudden change of heart?” Amon asked her. “You know why,” Asami stated plainly. “You need me to get close to the Avatar? I can do it. It’ll be easy, alphas are all the same.” “Careful, you’ll offend someone,” Amon chuckled. “Tell Kya. She’ll help you set up an initial plan. I’ll need you to report back to me next meeting.” “Right,” Asami nodded. “Only tell Kya,” Amon added. “The more people who know about this, the more danger you put yourself in. I don’t think I could ever forgive myself if I let harm come to Hiroshi’s daughter.” “I can take care of myself,” Asami informed him, then thought better of her harsh tone. “I appreciate the concern. I’m sorry, it’s been a difficult few weeks.” “I know,” his voice wasn’t warm but Asami had a feeling this was as close as he got to that. “I wish I could attend the funeral. I’ll miss him.” “We all will,” Asami blocked out the emotions threatening to take hold of her. “I’ll talk to you soon.” “Yes,” Amon nodded. “Thank you.” “Don’t thank me,” she brushed off. “I’m doing this for all of us.” “I know,” he might have been smiling now. “You are your father are very alike.” Asami caught Kya as they were leaving the meeting and explained her conversation with Amon to her. Not to her surprise, Kya was completely against the idea. However, Asami had already made up her mind. She was not going to be swayed by concern, even if it was nice to have someone worry about her. “Do you have any idea how dangerous it will be?” Kya hissed. They’d returned to Asami’s house. It wasn’t safe to talk about this in the streets, and the rest of the Equalists had already vacated the building they held the meeting. If they were overheard Asami knew that this would be the end for all of them. “Only if I get caught,” Asami reminded her. “I won’t.” “You’re just like your father,” Kya seethed. “Your confidence will be the end of you.” “His confidence didn’t kill him,” she said stiffly. “The council did. If I do this, we’ll be one step closer to stopping them for hurting anyone else.” “There has to be another way,” Kya pleaded. “And when you think of one, I’ll gladly listen,” Asami told her. “But Amon has solid reasoning. I trust the idea.” “And will you still be able to sleep at night?” Kya questioned. “Knowing that you’re using your body to win a war.” Asami opened her mouth to protest, but Kya put up a hand to silence her. “Don’t tell me it’s not like that,” she said sharply. “You know that there is only one way to get the secrets you want.” “I’m going to do it,” Asami insisted. “You can’t talk me out of it, so you might as well help me and lessen the chance I’ll get caught.” Kya closed her eyes. Asami really was touched by her worry for her. She felt at ease around Kya. This was something that she rarely felt with people who weren’t her parents—her parents that were both gone. “Hiroshi forgive me,” she said under her breath. “Alright. I can help you meet her, but the rest is up to you.” “Thank you,” Asami smiled at her. “I’ll suggest that she make a visit to Future Industries to learn about the new technology you’re working on,” Kya decided. “You can give her a tour. That’ll give you a least an hour of talking to her.” “That’s all I’ll need,” Asami replied. “You can change your mind at any time,” Kya said firmly. “I know you’re set on doing this but backing out won’t make you weak.” “I understand,” Asami said mainly just to oblige her. She wasn’t going to go back on this her mind. She was too set on making a change, no matter what it took.

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[patriotsnet]

How Many Registered Republicans Are In The United States

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How Many Registered Republicans Are In The United States

Chart 1 And Table 2: Nationwide Party Registration Trends Since 2000

Since 2000, the nationwide proportion of registered Democratic and Republican voters in party registration states have both gone down, while the percentage of registered independents has steadily grown. The latter has nearly reached the nationwide percentage of registered Republicans, which has long been second nationally to the Democrats. Altogether, the combined number of registered Democrats and Republicans, which was 77% in October 2000, is now down to 69%, while the proportion of registered independents over the same period has increased from 22% to 28%.

Note: Based on active registered voters in states where the number of active and inactive registrants is listed. In the election-eve 2000, 2008, and 2016 entries, Independents include a comparatively small number of registered miscellaneous voters who do not fit into a particular category. Percentages do not add to 100 since the small percentage of registered third party voters is not included.

As A Successful Republican New Mexico Governor 2016 Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson Pronounced That He Had Slashed Taxes More Than A Dozen Times Balanced The There Are Many On The Left Who Support The Libertarian Partys Proposals To Legalize The Liberal Use Of Marijuana

39.66 percent of voters are registered with that party. The most recent poll at the time of writing gives a d+11 advantage. Even if youd rather not commit to any particular party, you may find yourself wishing to support a specific democrat candidate when primaries come around. Once you know which party you belong to, it will be easier to decide which candidates to vote for during elections. This quiz will ask you questions about your political beliefs. However, registered republicans outnumber democrats in six of the states 21 counties, and there several other counties that are pretty evenly split. Over 60% of black voters are registered democrats compared to just 3% that are registered in surveys, more than half of seattle voters identified as democrat or leaning democratic. The answer may surprise you. Are you a democrat or a republican? Are there more democrats or republicans who top that list? The election of 2010 gave republicans the majority beginning in january, 2011. These are broadly generalized opinions; There are still way more registered democrats;

The election of 2010 gave republicans the majority beginning in january, 2011. Hello and thank you for registering. It was a more natural association. related: Are there more democrats or republicans who top that list? The republican party has waxed and waned in popularity and membership over the years, never quite having as many registered partisans as the democrats.

Democrats Have 12 Million More Registered Voters Than Republicans

UVA Center for Politics Larry Sabatos Crystal Ball posted the latest numbers of registered Democrats, Republicans and Independents in the 31 states that require party registration to vote. Democrats and their friends in the media have been great at getting people to register as Democrats .

Democrats lead the GOP by 12 million registered voters in states that are key in the mid-terms.

Its not good news for the GOP in the mid-terms. Important states now have more registered Democrats than Republicans, and in many, its by a significant amount.

Democrats now account for 40% of the registered voters in those states, Republicans are only 29% and Independents account for 28 percent. Its shocking when one considers they are successfully running on high taxes and spending, a loss of freedoms, Stormy Daniels, and open borders.

There arent many states that are solid red and many are close to becoming blue.

It gives Democrats a decided advantage.

VENEZEULA, HERE WE COME

Its concerning when you consider states like North Carolina and Colorado now have more Democrats than Republicans and others like Arizona are close. We can thank the invasion of leftists coming in from foreign nations for some of this. Certainly, it is what changed California. Foreigners loyal to their native lands are deciding our policies.

THE CHART

Gallup: Democrats Now Outnumber Republicans By 9 Percentage Points Thanks To Independents

I think what we have to do as a party is battle the damage to the Democratic brand, Democratic National Committee Chairman Jamie Harrison said on The Daily Beasts . Gallup reported Wednesday that, at least relatively speaking, the Democratic brand is doing pretty good.

In the first quarter of 2021, 49 percent of U.S. adults identified as Democrats or independents with Democratic leanings, versus 40 percent for Republicans and GOP leaders, Gallup said. The 9-percentage-point Democratic advantage is the largest Gallup has measured since the fourth quarter of 2012. In recent years, Democratic advantages have typically been between 4 and 6 percentage points.

New Gallup polling finds that in the first quarter of 2021, an average of 49% of Americans identify with/lean toward the Democratic Party, versus 40 percent for Republicans.

Thats the largest gap since 2012:https://t.co/YpUvqBKxLx

Greg Sargent April 7, 2021

Party identification, polled on every Gallup survey, is something that we think is important to track to give a sense to the relevant strength of the two parties at any one point in time and how party preferences are responding to events,Gallup senior editor Jeff Jones told USA Today.

More stories from theweek.com

Our Ruling: Partly False

The claim in the post is rated PARTLY FALSE. The tweet that appears in viral Facebook posts cites correct vote totals for Trump and Biden . But it falsely reports the number of registered voters. More than 159 million registered voters cast ballots in the general election, out of 239 million eligible voters. So it is completely possible that Trump and Biden would post that many total votes. 

This Marks The First Time Since Party Registration Began Republicans Are Also More Than Three Points Off Where They Were Four Years Earlier In 2004 When 3279 Percent Of Voters Were Republican And

Phoenix there are more registered democrats than republicans in arizonas congressional district 1, according to voting registration data recently analyzed by dataorbital. For decades, the word conservative have been synonymous with orange county. 39.66 percent of voters are registered with that party. There are now more registered independents than republicans, marking a first for the u.s. Ballot harvesting, a surge of illegal aliens from the southern border and middle eastern refugees resettled in orange county by obama has shifted the. Immigration policy is about a lot more than just border enforcement or ice raids. Since 2012, more voters have chosen not to register for either. Republicans and democrats are the dominant political parties in the united states of america. But today, a survey by ballot access shows there are more registered independents than republicans, perhaps a sign that political parties. According to the register, there are now 547,458 registered democrats versus 547,369 registered republicans. It is not a straightforward question. The county has had experienced shocking losses during the 2018 midterms where democrats controlled. Suppose there are 1000 white americans in total.

Or was it just low turnout that allowed marijuana to get legalized there?

But that doesnt mean everyone votes for their party.

There are now more registered independents than republicans, marking a first for the u.s.

Dapatkan link

Gop Registration Drop After Capitol Attack Is Part Of Larger Trend

WASHINGTON In the weeks since the January riot at the Capitol, there has been a raft of stories about voters across the country leaving the Republican Party. Some of the numbers are eye-catching and suggest that the GOP may be shrinking before our eyes, but a closer look at the numbers over time shows that a larger change has been working its way through the party for some time.

In fact, when one takes into account shifts in the composition of the Democratic Party, the real story seems to be more about a deeper remaking of the nations two major political parties.

To be sure, the headlines from the last few weeks have been striking, with multiple states reporting large declines in Republican voter registrations.

In Pennsylvania, more than 12,000 Republicans dropped the “R” from their registrations in January. In North Carolina, the figure was close to 8,000. In Arizona the figure was about 9,200 through late-January. And in one county in California, San Diego, more than 4,700 Republicans left the party last month.

Those are sizable changes and they are much larger than the moves away from the Democrats in those places, but they come with some caveats. There are always some losses and gains in registrations for the Democrats and Republicans. Partisan identity can be fluid for a large chunk of the voters, and remember: just because a voter is registered with one party doesnt mean he or she always votes for its candidates.

Closed Primaries Are When Only Registered Democrats From January 2007 To January 2011 There Were More Democrats

This quiz will ask you questions about your political beliefs. Ive seen a lot where it says theyre a registered democrat . 39.66 percent of voters are registered with that party. The most recent poll at the time of writing gives a d+11 advantage. It is not a straightforward question. Prove it by acing our democrat or republican quiz. What republican and democrats believe. Lets start with this example. Altogether, there are 10 states with more registered independents than either democrats or republicans. For example, in kentucky1 as of 8/15/2018, 49.8% of registered voters are democrats while only 41.6% are republicans. The analysis in this report draws on more than 10,000 interviews with registered voters in 2017 and tens of thousands of interviews conducted in previous years (see. Being a registered democrat or republican, or for that matter socialist, green or independent, simply means that when you filled out your voter registration form you checked that box on the form. There are many pressing issues in.

Party Affiliation By State

Party affiliation by state Switch to:State by political party

% of adults who identify as

Democrat/lean Dem. Sample Size

Sample size = 511. Visit this table to see approximate margins of error for a group of a given size. For full question wording, see the survey questionnaire.Sample sizes and margins of error vary from subgroup to subgroup, from year to year and from state to state. You can see the sample size for the estimates in this chart on rollover or in the last column of the table. And visit this table to see approximate margins of error for a group of a given size. Readers should always bear in mind the approximate margin of error for the group they are examining when making comparisons with other groups or assessing the significance of trends over time. For full question wording, see the survey questionnaire.

Alabama

Since Democrats And Republicans Appear To Have An Inexhaustible Appetite For Political Friction In The United States The Words Democrat And Republican Are Widely Used To Mean The Two Major Lets Take A Closer Look At Where These Two Words Came From And How They Came To Be Used In The

Altogether, there are 31 states with party registration; Eric rauchway, professor of american history at the university of democrats seized upon a way of ingratiating themselves to western voters: How many wars were initiated by democrats since the beginning of the usa? Republicans were able to fend off challenges from democrats trying to flip control of state legislatures in key states. Results seemed to follow what was set out by prediction polls, with the democrats seizing control of the house of representatives and the republicans maintaining the majority in the senate. Republicans who worked with democrats were traitors in the war for seats in congress. Since democrats and republicans appear to have an inexhaustible appetite for political friction in the united states, the words democrat and republican are widely used to mean the two major lets take a closer look at where these two words came from and how they came to be used in the. Republicans opinions carry less weight. How many democrats, republicans, and independents are registered? Voter registration and participation are crucial for the nations democracy to function properly and for the us government to provide fair representation. So, perhaps i should start with a story. Democrats did see a boost in 2008 when former president obama was elected, hitting a peak of 43.62 percent of registered voters. Democratic supporters accounted for 35% of the electorate.

Immigration Policy Is About A Lot More Than Just Border Enforcement Or Ice Raids

Glancing at the graph above, it looks like the number of unaffiliated might even be higher than the number of democrats by the 2020 election (the triangle markers along the top edge of the graph denote the. For decades, the word conservative have been synonymous with orange county. Orange county, long a republican stronghold, has officially turned blue. Short answer, more democrats than republicans, but the largest group, by wide margins, is neither. The county that nurtured ronald reagans conservatism and is the resting place of richard nixon is now home to 547,458 registered democrats, compared with 547,369 republicans.

In 2021 Republicans Will Have Full Control Of The Legislative And Executive Branch In 23 States

Democrats and independents grow more diverse since 2008. According to gallup.com about 42% of voters claim to be independents. There is a big difference between a state, for example with 7000 registered greens, which had a net increase of plus 200 where 201 new voters registered in to the greens and only 1 left, compared to a situation in the same state where 5000 voters newly registered green but at the same time 4800 left the party. Currently, republicans have 51 seats, and democrats have 47 with two races still undecided. San francisco 62.61% modoc 54.46% santa clara 29.92% Their partisan affiliation was roughly split between three groups: How the county has changed since this time last year: Democrats will have full control of the legislative and executive branch in 15 states. There are roughly 55 million registered republicans. There are 517,562 registered democrats this year in allegheny county, compared to 520,135 in 2016. The counties with the 10 highest percentages of democratic party, republican party, and no party preference registered voters are: According to data from ballot access news, independents make up 29.09 percent of registered voters, while republicans make up 28.87 percent and democrats make up 39.66 percent. In 12 states, there are more registered republicans than democrats.

For The First Time There Are Fewer Registered Republicans Than Independents

For the first time in history, there are more registered independents in the United States than there are registered Republicans.

It may not be for the reason you think, though.

New data from Ballot Access News, which tracks registrations in the 31 states that require voters to register by party, shows that independents account for 29.09 percent of voters in them, compared with 28.87 percent for Republicans. As recently as 2004, Republicans outpaced independents by nearly 10 percentage points.

There are still way more registered Democrats; 39.66 percent of voters are registered with that party.

This marks the first time since party registration began in the early 1900s that the number of registered independents in the United States has surpassed members of either major political party, according to Ballot Access News.

Heres the data going back to 2004:

But before anybody chalks this up as having to do with the current occupant of the White House, its worth parsing the trends.

While independents have surpassed Republicans, there actually hasnt been a huge drop in GOP party registration since President Trump took office. Since October 2016, GOP registration has dropped by half a percentage point. The number of registered Democrats declined by nearly a full point over the same span. Independents have benefited from both drops.

Who Is Richer Democrats Or Republicans The Answer Probably Wont Surprise You

Which of the two political parties has more money, Democrats or Republicans? Most would rush to say Republicans due to the partys ideas towards tax and money. In fact, polls have shown about 60 percent of the American people believe Republicans favor the rich. But how true is that?  can help you write about the issue but read our post first.

Key Point From This Article

Altogether, there are 31 states with party registration; in the others, such as Virginia, voters register without reference to party. In 19 states and the District, there are more registered Democrats than Republicans. In 12 states, there are more registered Republicans than Democrats. In aggregate, 40% of all voters in party registration states are Democrats, 29% are Republicans, and 28% are independents. Nationally, the Democratic advantage in the party registration states approaches 12 million.

Voter Registration And State Political Control

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.

The state Democratic or Republican Party controls the governorship, the state legislative houses, and U.S. Senate representation. Nebraska’s legislature is unicameral, i.e., it has only one legislative house and is officially non-partisan, though party affiliation still has an unofficial influence on the legislative process.

The simplest measure of party strength in a state voting population is the affiliation totals from voter registration for the 30 states and the District of Columbia as of 2019 that allow registered voters to indicate a party preference when registering to vote. 20 states do not include party preference with voter registration: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. The party affiliations in the party control table are obtained from state party registration figures where indicated. Only Wyoming has a majority of registered voters identifying themselves as Republicans; two states have a majority of registered voters identifying themselves as Democrats: Maryland and Kentucky .

At Least 60 Afghans And 13 Us Service Members Killed By Suicide Bombers And Gunmen Outside Kabul Airport: Us Officials

Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul’s airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. At least 60 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops were killed, Afghan and U.S. officials said.

How Many Registered Republicans Are There

How Many Registered Republicans Are There. However, since then, the republican share of the registration has increased from 28.87% to 29.51%, whereas independent registration has declined from 29.09% to 28.38%. And there are roughly 42 million that is less than 170 million people.

According to gallup.com about 42% of voters claim to be independents. In 2021, republicans will have full control of the legislative and executive branch in 23 states. There are more than 300 million americans. Louisiana, for example, has more than 300,000 more registered democrats than registered republicans . In the coming days, we will take a look at north carolina’s registered republicans and democrats, respectively.

Which Administration Should Have Been The One To End The Us Presence In Afghanistan

There are more than 10 professors affiliated with the Democratic Party for every faculty member who is a registered Republican, according to a new study.

Mitchell Langbert, an associate professor of business management at Brooklyn College, reviewed the party affiliations of 8,688 tenure-track, Ph.D.-holding professors at 51 of the top 60 liberal arts colleges listed in U.S. News and World Reports 2017 rankings.

Nearly 60 percent of all faculty members were registered as either a Republican or a Democrat, and of that sample, there were 10.4 times as many Democrats as Republicans.

TOP STORIESTexas Supreme Court rules AWOL Democrats may be arrested

The political registration of full-time, Ph.D.-holding professors in top-tier liberal arts colleges is overwhelmingly Democratic, Mr. Langbert wrote in an article published by the National Association of Scholars. Indeed, faculty political affiliations at 39 percent of the colleges in my sample are Republican free having zero Republicans.

There are several shortcomings associated with political uniformity in higher education, Mr. Langbert continued, including biased research and diminished academic credibility.

Studies show that academic psychologists are more likely to study the attitudes and behaviors of conservatives than liberals. They are also more likely to view conservative beliefs as deviant.

There are a few colleges that stood out in Mr. Langberts sample.

More Nevadans Registered As Republicans Than Democrats Last Month Election Officials Say

LAS VEGAS Election officials say more Nevadans registered as Republicans last month than Democrats. Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske reported that the GOP gained 6,580 active registered voters in July.

The Democratic Party added 5,718 active registered voters voters. Democrats still hold a statewide voter registration advantage over Republicans in Nevada, comprising 38% of all active registered voters. Republicans make up 33%.

Unaffiliated voters are 23%. Overall, there are more than 1.6 million active registered voters in Nevada. Inactive registered voters are voters who generally do not have a current address on file with election officials. They are still eligible to cast ballots.

Poll: Persistent Partisan Divide Over ‘birther’ Question

One way that Donald Trump launched onto the political stage five years ago was through his fervent claims that President Barack Obama was not a U.S. citizen. Though Obama has since produced birth certificates certifying his birth in Hawaii, recently, such rumors have been given new life by commentators and pundits on the right. But just how many continue to think the president was not born in the U.S.? And which voters hold such views?

Seventy-two percent of registered Republican voters still doubt President Obamas citizenship, according to a recent NBC News|SurveyMonkey poll conducted in late June and early July of more than 1,700 registered voters. And this skepticism even exists among Republicans high in political knowledge.

To see whether voters believe that Obama was not born in the United States, we asked them about their agreement with this statement: Barack Obama was born in the United States. The chart below shows responses broken down by party identification.

A first look reveals significant and surprising differences between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to their beliefs about Obamas birthplace.

While more than eight in 10 Democrats agreed with the claim, far more Republicans disagreed with the statement than agreed with it . An additional 31 percent of Republicans expressed some doubts about whether Obama is a native U.S. citizen . Only slightly more than one in four Republican voters agreed that the president was born in the United States.

Minor Parties In Gubernatorial Races 1857

The following table includes state-by-state information on when a minor party’s candidate for governor won at least 5 percent of the vote between 1857 and 2012. In four states , a minor party candidate for governor had not won 5 percent or more of the vote since the 19th century. A total of 17 states saw minor party candidates win at least 5 percent of the vote for governor between 1982 and 2012. The information was compiled by Richard Winger of Ballot Access News.

When did a minor party last poll 5% for governor? State

Ballot Access News

The Claim: There Are Just 133 Million Registered Voters In The Us

The 2020 election season saw record voter turnout across the country. President-elect Joe Biden now holds the record for the most votes received by a presidential candidate, after getting more than 81 million.

Despite losing dozens of lawsuits and the Electoral College’s certification of Biden’s win, President Donald Trump’s campaign and others continue to promote falsehoods about the credibility and security of the election.

A Dec. 21 , which pulled a screenshot of a Twitter post, claimed Biden somehow received 22 million phantom votes. The post has over 1,200 shares, as of Dec. 30.

“Simple math: Trump got 74 million votes and there are only 133 million registered voters in the USA,” the claims. “Even if everyone who’s registered actually voted, there would only be 59 million votes left for Biden. So how the hell did Biden get 81 million votes? 22 million extra?”

The Facebook user who made that particular post has not returned a request for comment from USA TODAY. 

Another made the same claim without pulling a screenshot from Twitter. USA TODAY has also reached out to this user for comment.

And the Twitter account MSM Fact Checking posted a similar claim on Dec. 18, from which many viral Facebook posts stem.

And then, “Just for complete transparency, even at 65% turnout the total would be just over 138,000,000 voters resulting in over 155,000,000 votes. However you look at it, it doesn’t add up.”

[architectnews]

arch8 Re-Vision competition 2021

arch8 Re-Vision Design Competition, 2021 Contest, Architectural Prize News

arch8 Re-Vision Design Competition 2021

1 July 2021

arch8 Re-Vision Competition

RE-VISION

We laughed, we cried, we raged against the dying of the light, which was the ending of our favorite shows. Sitcoms have been there since the dawn of tv… From a CRT television to a flat-screen to our laptops to all-powerful OTT platforms, sitcoms have come a long way. But there is always that one show, that one sitcom you can watch over and over. Whether it’s before you go to bed, during your meals, or after finishing the most boring assignment ever.

The one with a character you admire, the one whose dialogues are like your second language, you got the idea… Right! We’ve seen it so often that we are aware of all the details. So what if we tell you that now you can change it and show people your perspective. Show them how it could have been if these sitcoms were shot in this day and age with you as their interior designer. So now, you’ll have the same people as before but with the needs of today’s world.

Whenever we propose a design for our clients, we try to incorporate every requirement of them. But our ideas are based more on our experiences and less on the profiles of the users. Because well, for God’s sake we just met them!! So if we are provided the possibility of knowing our client inside out, can we now propose the best-suited design for them? (Of course, we can!)

Having said that, ARCH8 is here with yet another competition for you all, this time an interior designing competition. We shortlisted 3 most famous sitcoms of all time: Friends, Big Bang Theory, and How I Met Your Mother.

Re-design any one of the following apartments:

1. Monica and Rachel’s apartment 2. Joey and Chandler’s apartment 3. Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment 4. Ted and Marshall’s apartment

You can download the .cad files of floor plans at arch8.in

Character Sketch

A little something to help you out.

1. MONICA: Monica is a chef in her early 30s. She is obsessive about things being clean and in order. (‘ Things shouldn’t be just ‘health department’ clean, they should be ‘Monica clean.’) She likes to host gatherings and invite people over for dinners and parties. She is the ‘mother ‘ of the group and can be sometimes dominative.

2. RACHEL: She has switched jobs from being a waitress to an executive at Ralph Lauren. All her friends come to her for fashion advice. She likes to shop. Rachel is very careless (as she says,” I shouldn’t be allowed to make decisions anymore.”) She is funny, spirited but pretty self-involved. She does not easily get along with other women (“That’s OK, Girls tend to not like me”).

3. CHANDLER: Chandler is a funny guy (Jokes are his ‘thing’). Chandler works in statistical analysis and data reconfiguration but nobody knows where he works (he’s a ‘transponster’). Chandler’s generally embarrassed by his parents, his job, and his relationship status. His sense of humor helps him cope with all of these problems. He is notoriously sarcastic. He is the highest-earning member of his friends’ circle.

4. JOEY: Joey is an actor whose work can be seen in the show “Days of Our Lives”. He is a child at heart and a foodie (Joey doesn’t share food). He likes all the kitsch art. He never gets in a serious relationship. He is dim-witted but good-natured. He likes to play foosball and is a big fan of ‘Baywatch’.

5. SHELDON: Sheldon is a theoretical physicist. He lives his life with rules and regulations and is obsessed with logical reasoning. He is interested in comic books and science fiction. Sheldon comes off as a stereotypical nerd and really has no qualms about it (but he is not crazy, his mother got him tested). He is socially awkward and likes to spend most of his time at home and at work.

6. LEONARD: He is an experimental physicist. He is a huge fan of Star Wars, science fiction, and comic books. Leonard is extremely nerdy and mainly associates with people who fit this description (“12 years after high school and I’m still at the nerd table.”). He also plays the cello. He is lactose intolerant. He lives in the apartment by Sheldon’s rules and regulations.

7. TED: Call him an architect, a hopeless romantic, or a know it all, you can say that he’s the embodiment of it all. Since college, Ted has been in many toxic relationships where he was considered an outcast or “not traditionally cool” i.e dorky. Interests… telling stories, falling in love, believing in destiny, avoiding confrontation, Renaissance Faires, crossword puzzles, Star Wars, breakfast foods, show tunes, girls who play bass guitar, giving “the best” gifts, and reading serious literature. (Random girl: What made you want to be an architect? Ted: Well you know, the soul of an artist, hands of a master craftsman… it was inevitable)

8. MARSHALL: Though he is arguably the kindest member of the group, he never shies away from a spirited debate, usually shouting “Lawyered!” if (well, “when”) he wins. A lawyer who’s madly in love with his partner in crime, Lily (his fiance). Creator of a funk band called “The Funk, The Whole Funk, And Nothing But The Funk”, he is a 6’4, supernatural (i.e Bigfoot, loch ness monster, and ghost) nerd and a foodie with a passion for star wars and playing (and winning) board games.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENT

The Proposal to be presented on One Landscape Oriented A1 Sheet. Proposals may be presented using any technique of your choice (sketches, diagrams, 3D visualizations, model photos, CAD drawings, etc.) Team code (UIC) to be mentioned on the Top Right-Hand corner of the sheet. The proposal MUST NOT include ANY INFORMATION (name, Organization, School, etc.) that may give away your identity. All text must be in ENGLISH, with a MAXIMUM of 150 WORDS for project explanation. All dimensions should be imperial or metric units.

SUBMISSION FORMAT

841MM X 594MM Submit in .jpeg format of file size not more than 5Mb. Submit your entry at: [email protected] The subject of the mail: Your UIC (XXXXX) Name of the file uploaded: Your UIC (XXXXX)

*Participants Teamcode (UIC) will be provided by ARCH8 once you have completed the registration process.

REGISTRATION DETAILS

Indian National / Foreign National

Early-bird Registration 1st July – 15th July ’21 350 Inr / 7 US$

Standard Registration 16th July – 31st July ’21 420 Inr / 10 US$

Late Registration 1st Aug – 15th Aug ’21 540 Inr / 15 US$

NOTE: A team can have up to 3 members. The amount is non-refundable. Late registered participants will receive 5 extra days for submission.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Anyone can participate irrespective of profession or qualification, and present their ideas. Participants can submit multiple entries but that would require multiple registrations. A team can have up to 3 members.

TIMELINE

Registration deadline: 15th August 2021 Submission deadline: 20th August 2021 The submission deadline for all the participants who registered between 1st August and 15th August is 25th August 2021 Result announcement: 30th August 2021

*All the Deadlines are 23:59 – 24:00 IST (INDIA) The following dates can be a subject of modification, if necessary.

PRIZES

Total cash prize worth 15,000 INR.

Winner: Cash prize of INR 7500 + Acknowledgement on our website and social media + publication of the participants’ interview (Video) on website + 40% discount on your next architecture competition + certificate of achievement

1st Runner-up: Cash prize of INR 4500 + Acknowledgement on our website + publication of the participants’ interview (Video) on website + 30% discount on our next architecture competition + certificate of achievement

2nd Runner-up: Cash prize of INR 3000 + Acknowledgement on our website + publication of the participants’ interview (Video) on website + 20% discount on our next architecture competition + certificate of achievement

10 Honorable mentions: Acknowledgement on our website + 10% discount on our next architecture competition + certificate of achievement

Participation certificate for all the participants.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

The competition aims to explore how participants think through the basic functionality of spaces of the house, meaningful conceptualization behind design, thoughtful aesthetics, and expressive presentation.

Entries will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

1. ORIGINALITY 2. INNOVATION 3. PRESENTATION

FAQs

1. What is the nature of the competition? ‘RE-VISION’ is an open idea design competition challenge that is open for students, professionals & any individual with a creative mind.

2. Who can participate in the competition? Architecture students, Architects, Interior Designer, Civil engineers & anyone with creativity can participate in the competition.

3. How many members can be a part of a team? A team can have a maximum of 3 members. You can also participate individually.

4. Will every participant get a certificate of participation? Yes, every participant who submits a panel will receive an e-certificate.

5. What should be done in case a payment mode is not available in a particular country? We request the participants to write about the issue at [email protected] to get other payment options in such a case. We will send all possible payment methods.

6. How will a team get its Unique Identification Code? The Unique Identification Code ( UIC ) will be mailed to your registered e-mail address within 24 hrs after completing the registration process. There is only one UIC code for all the team members of a team.

7. What is the use of a Unique Identification Code? All the participants are requested to use their UIC at the top right corner of your submission as it is your identity for the competition-related processes.

8. What to do if a participant does not receive the UIC after making payment? In such cases, the participants are asked to mail their payment receipt [email protected].

9. Does the 150-word limit include legends & one-liners in the sheet? No, the 150-word limit is for the proposal explanation only and it does not include the legends & one-liners on the sheet.

RULES AND REGULATIONS

1. In case you still have questions related to the briefs and the competition, please send them to [email protected] 2. It is possible to amend or update any information relating to your registration including the names of team members once registered, mail us your query at [email protected]. 3. Participant teams will be disqualified if any of the competition rules or submission requirements are not considered. 4. Team code (UIC) is the only means of identification of a team as it is an anonymous competition. Hence, a submission with its UIC will be disqualified from the competition. 5. The official language of the competition is English. 6. The registration fee is non-refundable.

arch8 Re-Vision Competition image / information received 300621

arch8 Architecture Competitions

arch8 Lock-Unlock Competition arch8 Lock-Unlock Competition

arch8 Street-a-float Design Competition 2021 Street-a-float Design Competition 2021

arch8 studio Competition arch8 studio Competition

Architectural Contests

Architectural Competitions : links

Architecture Competitions

Archiol A4TC Architecture Thesis Competition Archiol A4TC Architecture Thesis Competition

CUBE Design Competition 2021 CUBE Design Competition 2021

REVERENCE: Memorial Structure Design Competition REVERENCE: Memorial Structure Design Competition

Comments / photos for the arch8 Re-Vision competition 2021 page welcome

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#e-architect

[perfectackeracy]

Shingeki no Kyojin chapter 100 review (+ theories)

Paradis’ conflict against the world just began...

That’s the most impressive event of the chapter, and also a turning point from now on. After two chapters of festival, the cat’s out of the bag. And he just killed Marley’s most important diplomatic figure, alongside a bunch of Eldians from the building above him, thus turning the world against him, and his own nation.

Of course, Willy the martyr of his own blood was ready to die for the ultimate repentance of the Eldians against their own kind, the one wanting to make their nation great again. Such a sacrifice was necessary to convince the world the threat Paradis proposed was real. All parties consented for the highlight of the show to be... potentially explosive.

What happened minutes prior Eren showing up was Reiner breaking down in front of him, finally exposing what he bottled up for nine years. The man Falco believed in went away in front of his very own eyes. Or perhaps he never existed, considering Eren still went and transformed into a titan, disregarding both the boy’s fate and fate the man he despised for years.

Now that he reduced the patriarch of the Tybur family to some mushed piece of meat, what’s going to happen? Is it time for Marley’s counterattack? Find out in chapter 101!

That’s it for the big points. Follow me under the cut for more!

Willy’s resolve and the final part

Eren drops the facade

Reiner’s breakdown

Attack on the World

P.S.: By the way, Isayama stayed true to his word: this chapter beat the record of double-pages in this arc at least. We have four double pages illustrating Eren turning into a titan and beginning his attack. That’s less pages than usual, but it’s quite the impressive show.

“Wood”, seriously? CR messed up on kanji, there. How do you mess up “水” (water) and “木” (wood)?

Anyway, there goes for the WTF CR minute. The chapter offered two perspectives: what happens on-stage and what happens in the basement.

Willy’s resolve and the final part

The Eldians are definitely the devils – Ch. 100

The chapter begins with a short private conversation between Magath and Willy. The point of the festival was to show to the face of the world how dangerous Paradis is, as Zeke planned to do so in chapter 95. The conversation implies enemies from the interior have been at Marley for a while. Naturally, it’s also the meeting point for all parties to collide: world diplomats, Marley warriors, even incompetent officers so Magath’s purge would be as quick and efficient as possible, and none of the higher-ups would’ve been the wiser.

And of course, hundreds of deaths are planned during the festival. Amusingly enough, it’s Magath, a Marlean, who is concerned about the death toll. As Willy puts it so bluntly, Magath shouldn’t hesitate to make a sacrifice when he watched too many Eldians under his command die or living a crappy lifestyle. The biggest loss in this operation is Willy’s life: as the key politician of Marley, he can’t sacrifice his life now. Despite that, it’s a risk he’s willing to take. For the sake of credibility and for the sake of instigating fear in the nations of the world so they would side against an island full of weapons of mass destruction.

The path of the martyrdom – Ch. 100

The Tybur family also just didn’t sit down and watch under Willy’s rule it seems, contrary to what Porco insinuated. Tare not only in charge of Mainland Eldia’s worldwide reputation, but also paid attention on Paradis. They know movements there are stirring but didn’t know their enemies walked hand-in-hand with inner conspirators inside Marley. After all, Eren had to contact accomplices who were posted in Marley well before he came. And here I thought Marley would’ve learned of their mistakes after deporting so many restorationists and knowing the cooperative doctor trick... Oh well…

After all, Paradis provide something absolutely precious: The Founder and thousands of wall titans to threaten Marley if necessary. The restorationists also hope one day, Eldia will return. These are the kind of people who would try to reach contact with Paradis. The question is, how and when. Did the army on Paradis retrieve a telegraph when the ships disappeared?

…Or does the Warhammer Titan has a special communication power?

Back to the present. After ratting Eren out, Willy describes the fate of the Tybur family to the public, about how they became the patricians of the Eldians while the rest of their own people was forced to live in internment zones. As he tries to shed himself away from the lie, he stares at the actors, at his family and at his bodyguard, apologizing for his sacrifice. It could be interpreted as a physical sacrifice, considering Eren won’t spare them no matter what they do, and as an immaterial sacrifice, as revealing the truth about the story behind the Great War would mean the Tybur family no longer stands as a dignified one.

The Founder can also create new class of titans. That’s how the Wall Titans were born. Now if it isn’t a frightening power to have… No doubt, if Eren ever uses the Founder in his own way, consequences are going to be a disaster. That’s why Zeke maintains distance with him as far as possible. Yikes… The other fact is us knowing what the three walls represented. Say hello to Maria Fritz, Rose Fritz and Sina Fritz, the daughters of Ymir! At the same time, the represented children in ending 3, devouring the remains of their mother. Next segment is about the threat of the wall titans, cementing the reason as to why Paradis is frightening.

Especially when a guy like this is the switch – Ch. 100

Willy also emphasizes the current technology isn’t on par with millions of Colossus titans with the possibility to flatten the Earth till nothing is left. Picture that as the stampede charge in the Lion King, but with more people and broader ways.

In the meantime, Magath indirectly reveals that part of the plan was indeed to bring the warriors on the rooftop for safety. Whoever that trapdoor guy was, he clearly didn’t want to have any interference from them when Eren kills Willy. According to Koslow, he scoffed away. I hope the message Pieck left to her panzer unit will make them take a second guess and make them look for the guy.

Speaking of Pieck, she and Porco fell in a well destined to trap the warriors: deep, small, narrow, a perfect cylinder… Still no idea if that trap was freshly prepared, or if it was there to entertain prisoners. Considering whoever is responsible left a potty, some food and a water bottle, they don’t want the two of them to feel uncomfortable till their business is done. What’s the point of dropping necessities when the soldiers are going to find them sooner or later and they’ll have some reserves to fight?

Who is this guy? – Ch. 100

Two important facts remain about this guy: Pieck has an impression of deja-vu and Porco mentions how tall he is. That soldier is closer to 190 cm and only Pieck gets vague mentions. As improbable as it seems to be, that guy might be from Paradis, because so far, I can’t see any candidate from the interior. It can be a new character as well, considering the traits don’t match with people from Paradis at 100%. The fact that he goofed on Zeke’s appellation and treating honorary Marleans like dirt says a lot: he isn’t familiar with Marley’s military at all.

Supposing he’s from Paradis: it’s natural for Pieck to have a blurry memory about it, since she rushed to take Reiner away. There’s the titans in the south, but they’ve all been guillotined or killed by the garrison and the SC. There’s only 9 survivors at the battle of Shiganshina: she would’ve remembered Levi, since his nightmarish face on top of the wall is something you clearly don’t forget (and the sizes don’t match), Eren and a quick glance of Hange, Jean and Connie. Hange has an eye missing and is too small to fit, leaving Jean and Connie as candidates. This guy has features closer to Connie aside from the eye and the size. I understand growth spurts, but we’re talking about 35cm. That’s the kind of growth spurt you witness between 13 and 16 years. Not 16 and19 years. Yet the mistakes, the extra care… Sounds like it’s been prepped by someone too stupid for his own good.

That person can be a lone wolf as Pieck says. Which would imply the existence of a third party who wanted to have a part to play at the festival. Considering Eren contacted his brethren as soon as he came inside Liberio and considering how this person wanted to fish out the warchief with royal blood from the rest of the group, this is highly unlikely.

Yet Eren carefully hid the fact he needs to touch someone with royal blood to activate the Coordinate to everybody, for the sake of preserving Historia. If anybody on Paradis knows, it’ll be through deduction, but that also means Eren won’t be on their side 100% and they must take account of this fact. That soldier clearly knows Zeke was important. That’s why he was isolated from the rest of the warriors. The only people knowing Zeke is a royal blood are Eren, and the people who had contact with the restorationists.

Unless that soldier really was from Paradis and was lied to. Or it’s a plan to double-team Eren.

Eren drops the façade

That’s really a dick move for sure – Ch. 100

Feels weird to see Eren talk to Reiner that way after their conversation in the trees. The haven’t really had a face-off in Shiganshina. At least not one that doesn’t consist in punching each other in the face.

As we see Eren growing his foot back like it was a flower, Falco’s image of the humble war victim crumbled. What he has in front of him is the world’s enemy he unconsciously helped.

The careless mailman – Ch. 100

Eren’s wording here still holds a part of truth. I suspected his “family” was in fact his “companions” instead of his biological family. But with the existence of this trapdoor guy, and the implication Marley has too many enemies, what can we deduce from that?

In the previous chapters, Eren told Falco it was too hard to show himself to his “family”. He thanks him a month later for the “many letters he sent”. In this chapter, he reveals to who exactly they were destined. That can only imply his accomplices were posted there before he came inside Liberio. When exactly is a mystery, since Eren stalked Reiner at Fort Slava and was revealed to stand on both legs and see with both eyes, while wearing his armband the wrong way. Meaning he self-inflicted these wounds before hopping in the train back to Marley. I assume it was recently.

Eren had an idea of who was the receiver and what he planned to say, and who he was expecting to meet. The letter can’t go to Paradis since only Willy has a faint idea of what Paradis is supposed to do. Since Willy mentioned how they’ve been neglecting what’s under their nose, I assume there’s a new restorationist network going around. Eren, who has Kruger and Grisha’s memories, probably knows it wasn’t going extinct. Hell, maybe Kruger prepared some kind of testament in case the Owl should return.

Kruger supplying his companions – Ch. 86

And in fact, Eren contacting his accomplices is oddly reminiscent of Kruger sending letters and resources to the restorationists. He didn’t reveal his identity and wasn’t completely 100% honest with them either. In fact, Eren could even communicate simple words to them like “I have returned” and “Do X and Y. Only then I will reveal myself at the festival.”. After all, being in possession of the Founder was Grisha’s group initial plan.

Frankly, I’d rather look for more explanations in the next chapter, because an underlying network of conspirators is more favorable than Paradis being set in Marley during a short period of time. While it’s true they deduced Marley was busy with something else, did they really have a moment during the 4-year timeskip to dispatch someone else?

That and when Eren is talking about “returning to his hometown” … Did he talk about retrieving Zeke then activating the Wall Titans on Paradis… or making Liberio his new capital for him and his buddies? After all, he told Reiner he was here for the same reason he was on Paradis. That could mean making Marley lose their capital.

Speaking of Eren and Reiner…

“You were just a child. What could you have done to fight back against that? Your environment, your history.” – Ch. 100

Eren elaborates his point of view when Willy depicted him as a world menace. He knows he’s going to eradicate his enemies and pushes his sense of responsibility away by declaring he and Reiner are the same. He eventually proves his mindset right when Reiner answers his questions. Just before Reiner broke down, Eren explains Reiner fought against Paradis because he believed in a Good vs. Evil scenario, without trying to understand both sides. That’s pure projection on his part, assuming what Willy told onstage. He also brings up his short trip in the enemy territory as evidence he just feels the same, when the circumstances were completely different. That way, he feels like he’s on par with Reiner. At least it’ll be easier for him when he’s going to kill the Tybur patriarch.

There’s also him shrugging away his old promise.

None of his expressions reflect guilt. More like a way to justify his actions in the future. If Reiner destroyed his home under the pretense of fighting devils, he can too. Except Eren does that on an “enlightened” level, where he doesn’t acknowledge one side is better than the other. Really though, he doesn’t want to acknowledge his mistakes and turn back. From the day he learned titans were in fact humans, that didn’t prevent him to brag about retaking his hometown. In this case, he wants to repay Reiner’s actions while toying with his morality.

Part of the reason why I suspect Eren is more chill about it than in the past is because he kept his promises to some extent: not only the plans for his capture all failed, but he -with the help of the SC- took back Shiganshina and Wall Maria. Paradis is no longer inhabited by titans and cherry on the cake, he took Reiner’s party members away and made Bertolt pay. It’s easier to face Reiner now that they’re even. After all, he never cared that much for his motives when they met during the battle of Shiganshina, or how he feels about the mission in general. Why would he change his mind now?

I think Reiner interpreted Eren’s logic as if he wanted revenge against the ugly demons living on Paradis, leading to the next segment…

Reiner’s breakdown

Reiner wanting judgement on his actions – Ch. 100

The hanged man syndrome kicked in. It was foreshadowed since last chapter, where Bertolt guessed that old man’s intentions. And now Reiner is doing the same to Eren now: spilling the beans while waiting for him to finish him off.

Throughout these nine years, Reiner was plagued with guilt, alongside Bertolt and Annie. The way he breaks down in front of Eren reminds me of the way Bertolt broke down in front of Jean, Connie, Armin and Mikasa. The three are conscious of how unforgivable their actions are, yet they had to stain their blood with hands.

When Reiner acknowledged how stupid he was as a kid, it’s not because he finally realized not everybody on Paradis is a devil, but it’s because he heavily insisted for the mission to continue, even after Marcel’s death, leading him and his teammates for a long stay inside the walls. That also explains why he had a flashback of Karina before Annie and Bertolt turned back. Despite being rejected by his father, despite learning he was never meant to be chosen for the Armor and despite Marcel being eaten instead of him, he still clung on his will to become a hero and be respected. He himself didn’t understand that spark of motivation quite well at that time…

Him getting friendly with the 104th was also fueled by the same desire. He was a big brother figure to them and profited out of it, till it became his coping method after Marco’s death.

Reiner endorses the responsibility – Ch. 100

And most of all, he blames himself for everything, from Marcel’s death to the death of thousands of civilians. It got him going for nearly a decade, up to the point where he wants to die and be forgotten. Notice how he doesn’t try to justify himself contrary to what Eren tries to do. Reiner was extremely pushy sometimes, sure. But unlike Eren, he never fled responsibility, or try to mask it with excuses like “we don’t know what the right choice is”.

Regardless of what Eren thinks, his situation was, and is still different from Reiner’s: despite the propaganda, the warriors were still forced to do these things. They had to comply with Marley’s orders without question or else they had to “give the weapons away” (read: being devoured). Meanwhile, nobody forced Eren to join any military branch, or cross the sea to launch an offensive against the world. He chose that on his own and claimed he didn’t have a choice because he wanted to preserve himself.

He was more concerned about Willy’s last part.

Attack on the World

Declaration of war – Ch. 100

Willy is well-conscious he might die in a few seconds when he’s wrapping his speech up. He doesn’t want to die but he chose to take that risk to advance. He hates his blood as well as his affiliation and wished for his kind to be extinct. But now that an opportunity has been presented, maybe there’s hope for them.

What triggered Eren is his own words from Willy’s mouth. More than Reiner’s speech. After all, he’s the one using the “I was born into this world” sentence to justify him going to the outside world. He deserves anything he wants, because he was born free. That’s an opposite with most characters of this manga who think they don’t deserve anything nice because of their upbringing and their responsibility. Two things Eren ignores in his motto.

Fuckin’ poser – Ch. 100

The moment where Eren really begins to be irked is when the crowd cheers for Willy’s emotional performance while he begs the world to fight against the devils of Paradis (read: himself). That’s where he stood up to deceive Reiner one last time before transforming.

I’ve also noticed Willy begged for world unity against Paradis in his last words. That too, parallels with Eren’s theory of the world uniting against a powerful threat before they capture Wall Maria back.

As I’ve noticed in another post, the way Eren talked to and helped Reiner is reminiscent of the way Bertolt helped him out. Way to spit on Reiner’s vulnerability.

Eren also straight up doesn’t care about who is in the way. He just offed Eldians in the building above and was ready to sacrifice Falco, since he was no longer useful. And finally, he crushed Willy’s spine instead of eating him. Well at least that strikes down the theory of him combining all the titan powers.

While I’m fairly confident Reiner is still alive, I can’t say the same for Falco. If he’s lucky, maybe he’ll survive. Meanwhile, Eren exploded in a basement at close range, before Reiner could bite his hand. If the explosion doesn’t kill Falco, the falling concrete will. The reason why I’m doubting that is because I’ve seen my share of bullshit survivals (*cough*Armin*cough*Mikasa being fine after firing a thunderspear*cough*) in this manga.

Looks like Eren’s going to stomp in the masses and probably target the people Reiner love, for sweet karma. Gabi and Karina may be the next targets. In the meantime, there’s no warrior around to stop him.

Zeke in the streets – Ch. 100

Speaking of Zeke, he only appeared in a single panel. Looks like he isn’t going next to the front gate. Or he is but he’s taking his time, since he knows fully well he’s heading straight to an ambush. In both cases he must not let Eren encounter him. Amusingly enough, his only panel was juxtaposed next to Willy’s sentence: “I wished for the extinction of all Eldians”. I think deep down, it’s what Zeke wanted, too.

Both Zeke and Willy share something in common due to their lineage: the burden of carrying the family’s sins. Willy felt bad for being born in a family whose fame and glory is made on lies, as he watched his fellow Eldians suffering in internment zones, their reputation being degraded each day passing. Zeke resents his lineage for being tied to an extremist who wanted to use him for his personal gain and a royal blood who thought the same. And he’s now tied to a younger brother with said extremist’s views and the power from the royal blood.

I can’t wait for 101 and how Liberio is transforming itself into a warzone. That’s going to be interesting to watch, despite the death count and Reiner’s angst-o-meter rising. Looks like Lady Kiyomi made the right decision by getting out.

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