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cxsmicmyeon · 3 years

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SURPRISE! , kms

kim minseok x fem! reader

IN WHICH minseok wants to spend his 31st birthday at home with his wife and cat but you have other plans that may or may not involve a surprise birthday party. (based on the second prompt from this post by @creativepromptsforwriting)

genre: married/domestic & non-idol au! fluff, humor word count: 3.0k warnings: swearing, light sexual references/jokes, implied sexual content (it gets a tad spicy at times but nothing explicit), chaos, minseok’s butt being The Bomb Dot Com™ (sorry not sorry)

author’s note: happy birthday to my ray of sunshine, kim minseok! i love you so so much darling, i hope your day is filled with so much happiness and celebration. hope this lil piece can help y’all celebrate min’s 31st with me <3 it’s not the 26th yet where i live lmao but it is in korea so yeah! once again have a happy happy birthday minseok, i love you endlessly and forever. <33 MOODBOARD MADE BY ME. I DON’T OWN THE IMAGES, I ONLY OWN MY EDITING. feedback and notes are greatly appreciated <3

One day.

One day until Minseok’s birthday, and you were scrambling from bakery to bakery to try and get the perfect cake for him. There were flaws in every place you’ve been: too expensive, the designs were not creative enough, blah blah blah. You wanted his day to be as perfect as possible, and what would be the point of that if the cake was nothing but?

Everything else was all ready. You invited all of yours and his closest friends to your house the night of Minseok’s birthday for a surprise party. You planned on keeping Minseok out of the house for the entire day as your friends decorated the house.

He didn’t want a party. He made that abundantly clear to you as soon as March began. He incessantly told you that all he wanted was a day off from teaching so he could spend the whole day with you and your cat. All he wanted was a nice and relaxing day with his wife. You understood, obviously. But you also wanted to go all out and throw a surprise birthday bash for your husband celebrating his thirty-first year on Earth. Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Jongdae’s incessant whining and begging for an excuse to have a party only aided in your need to have a party.

You ended up settling with a simple Carvel ice cream cake from the frozen section of the grocery store. You made a mental note to ask Yixing to write out “Happy Birthday Minseok” the next day as you left the store.

You came home to your husband holding a feather toy over your cat, Tan’s head. She pawed at the red feather, always at the cusp of grabbing it before Minseok moved the line away from her. He cooed at the animal, making soft kissing sounds as he continued to play with her.

Realizing that he may see the cake, you tucked the grocery bag under your shirt in an attempt to hide it from him, shivering at the cold contact the frozen treat made with your skin. The rustling of the plastic bag caused Minseok to look up at you. He gave you a gummy smile as you walked past him and Tan.

“Well hello to you too, honey. What’s under your shirt?” Minseok asked playfully, wiggling his eyebrows as he made eye contact with your chest. You realized that hiding the bag did not do much to hide the cake, as the shape of the large box combined with the plastic grocery bag greatly protruded from the fabric of your shirt.

“Nothing, it’s for tomorrow. Don’t wanna ruin the surprise, hm?” you mused, blowing him an air kiss before retreating to your office. He "caught” your kiss with a smile before going back to playing with Tan.

You entered your office and placed the plastic bag onto your desk. You ran to lock the door before opening the bag and taking the cake out, sighing in relief that the cake did not get ruined. You bent down to your mini-fridge and opened the small door of the freezer compartment and placed the cake inside, glad that it could fit inside. After locking the fridge, you exited your office and made your way downstairs to spend time with your loving husband.

You awoke the next day curled up in Minseok’s arms. You cuddled closer to him before jolting upwards in realization. Today was finally the day! You bent down and began showering your sleeping husband with excited kisses, trailing a hand down his bicep. He let out a sleepy groan as he stirred, wrapping his strong arms around your figure.

“Aah, what’s gotten into you baby?” he asked, his voice hoarse from just waking up.

“Happy birthday, Min!” you beamed, pecking him on the lips. He grinned tiredly as he kissed you on the lips.

“Mmmh, thank you honey.” You grinned as you kissed him again. This kiss lasted longer than the previous ones and slowly yet surely grew more heated. You moved yourself so you were straddling him, not breaking the kiss. He hummed against your lips as you slid your hand underneath his shirt, fingertips grazing his toned stomach. He groaned as his hands made their way down to your ass, squeezing harshly. You bit back a moan as you slowly slid his shirt up his chest, breaking the kiss to ogle at his abs.

“Babe... don’t we need to get ready?” Minseok groaned as you pulled the shirt over his head. You latched your lips onto his neck and softly bit down, eliciting a raspy moan from your husband.

“Shh, let me give you your first gift.” you purred, moving your hands toward the waistband of his boxers.

The mall was packed to the brim with people from all different walks of life. Gossiping teenagers, sleep-deprived parents following their energetic kids around, old couples window shopping, you name it. You walked through the giant Macy’s and into the main hub of the mall hand in hand with Minseok.

Since you started dating, it has been a tradition for you to buy each other’s gifts the day of your respected birthdays. You’d usually scour Amazon or websites of your favorite brands all day and end up splurging half your monthly paychecks on each other. But on occasion, today included, you’d take your shopping day to the local mall as a means to get out of your apartment and actually go out for once.

After an... eventful... morning, you rushed to get dressed and usher your husband out of the house, since the boys were coming over at 11, and it was 10:55 by the time you got into the car and sped away toward the mall.

You pointed out a newly opened jewelry store and pulled Minseok inside with you. You looked at him lovingly as he browsed the display of a multitude of different rings. He’d softly mutter to himself as he picked up ring after ring: trying to see what would look best next to his wedding band, what the right price was, if the store even provided the correct size. You loved how organized he was.

Your silent admiring was interrupted by the familiar chime of your phone, indicating you got a text message. You let out a sigh as soon as you saw who the message was from.

operation minseok’s 31st🥳

jun-bug: (y/n) we have a problem (y/n): oh god what happened yee-xing: baekhyun dropped the cake (y/n): he did what bacon: cant u read (y/n) i dropped the fucking cake 11 minutes late: no need to be rude xoxo (y/n): yeah baek u don’t want me to leave my stunning husband inside the jewelry store, come home and mutilate you for dropping his cake and get arrested on his special day (: kyung-soup: oddly specific but i’m here for it jong-waeeee: off topic but the sign says “minseop” instead of “minseok” (y/n): jun, yixing and kyungsoo you better get this settled or else i’m gonna kill all of you nini bear: yes ma’am ofc ma’am we will do this correct chain-yeol: yeah i don’t wanna die today

“Everything okay?”

You quickly locked your phone and threw it inside your purse before making eye contact with Minseok. You nodded a bit too quickly, panic washing over you like a giant wave from the ocean.

“Yeah, everything’s dandy.” you sputtered. Oh, why did this have to happen right now? You silently prayed that everything was going to go well. It had to.

“You sure?”

“Positive. Did you choose something?” Minseok nodded as he handed you a box with a simple black titanium ring. You nodded in approval as he led you to the register.

Your next stop was at Express. You were dying to pick out some new work clothes for him to try on. You assured him (and yourself) that he needed these new pants and this was totally not an excuse for you to check him out.

“Okay, I’ve got three pairs of pants that I think would look absolutely amazing on you and I want you to go try ‘em on.” you said, handing Minseok three hangers. Each hanger had a pair of slacks in different colors hanging from them. He took them from you, shooting you a smirk before walking inside the fitting room stall.

Your eyes widened as Minseok opened the door of the stall. The pants fit absolutely perfectly. The way the fabric hugged his perfect thighs, the color complimenting his white undershirt (which you imagined to be one of his famous white button-downs), it left you practically swooning.

“What do you think?”

You let out a hum in approval before motioning for him to turn around. “Lemme see the goods, hun.” He rolled his eyes before turning around. Your eyes landed on his butt, making you swoon for real. You covered your mouth to hide your obvious enjoyment of the sight before you. And it didn’t help when he gave his butt a mini shake. Still, you couldn’t help but squeal softly.

“You sure today’s not your birthday?” Minseok teased. You tutted as you stood from your spot and walked up to him, giving his butt a light pinch before wrapping your arms around his neck.

“With you, every day’s my birthday.” you answered, giving him a peck on the lips.

“Ugh, I think you ate too much of that egg and cheese for breakfast today.”

“You know you love me.”

“That I do, darling.” Minseok mused before closing the distance between you two. You tangled your hands in his silky black hair as you savored the heavenly taste of his lips. You felt his hands grab your ass as you deepened the kiss, tugging at his hair in response.

As you kissed, you heard your phone chime the same chime that indicated a text from the boys. You decided to ignore it and continue making out with your husband until the phone went off four more times. You scoffed as you broke the kiss, fishing inside of your purse to grab it.

“Is everything okay, hun?” Minseok asked.

“Yeah, fine. Just crap from, uh, ‘work,’” you lied, unlocking the phone. “Go try on the other pants.” Minseok nodded before walking back to the stall. Once the door was closed and locked, you looked down at your messages, worry washing over you once again. What the hell happened now?

operation minseok’s 31st🥳

yee-xing: oh christ yee-xing: (y/n) (y/n) (y/n) jun-bug: you gotta help us yee-xing: please kyung-soup: i am going to kill park chanyeol like my life depends on it (y/n): what the everloving shit happened this time chain-yeol: um i sneezed all over the cake kyung-soup: the custom one u got on wednesday btw (y/n): you. sneezed. on. the. CAKE????? chain-yeol: IM SORRY chain-yeol: I WAS TRYING TO STOP BAEKHYUN FROM KNOCKING IT OVER AND I SAVED IT BUT THEN I SNEEZED nini bear: ur so gross chain-yeol: you too (y/n): i spent 100 dollars on that cake and you fucking sneeze on it?? (y/n): jfc i’m here busy admiring my husband’s sweet sweet ass and u guys are telling me the cake’s ruined? i will murder u all i swear jong-waeeee: ew i don’t wanna hear about minseok’s ass (y/n): shut the fuck up sign ruiner jong-waeeee: I GOT A NEW ONE THOUGH jong-waeeee: YOU’RE SO MEAN bacon: WAIT bacon: (Y/N) WE’LL PAY FOR ANOTHER ONE (y/n): baekhyun you sweet summer child (y/n): I HAD TO PRE-ORDER THAT CAKE 2 WEEKS IN ADVANCE YOU WALNUT bacon: oh bacon: my bad 11 minutes late: W8 W8 I GOT U 11 minutes late: WE CAN STILL EAT IT 11 minutes late: I’LL SPRAY SOME LYSOL ON IT jun-bug: SEHUN DON’T YOU DARE (y/n): sehun honey that just contaminates it even more (y/n): but thank you for trying 11 minutes late: xoxo i try my best yee-xing: how ‘bout we just buy more carvel cakes to match the one you got yesterday up to 100 dollars so it maxes out (y/n): yeah alright fine (y/n): thanks xing ur a life saver (y/n): but don’t throw away the ruined cake i wanna show min what he could have missed out on if CHANYEOL DIDN’T FUCKING SNEEZE ON IT (y/n): WHO SNEEZES ON A CAKE nini bear: only chanyeol (y/n): yep, only chanyeol chain-yeol: y’all are mean. kyung-soup: what u get for sneezing on the cake

You locked your phone, letting out an exasperated sigh. You swore if anything else happened today, you were going to march all the way back home and kill those men. You massaged your temples with your fingers as a means to alleviate your stress. All you wanted was for everything to be perfect for the party; Minseok deserved nothing less than that.

The door of the stall opened, revealing Minseok wearing nothing but the new pair of navy slacks and a devilishly handsome smirk. His smile faded when he saw you with your hands over your face, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm yourself down from your stress. He quickly pulled his undershirt on and rushed over to you, wrapping his arms around you comfortingly. With a sigh, you buried your face in his chest, your stress starting to wash away as he began stroking your hair.

You stayed like that for about ten minutes. You eventually calmed down, silently reassuring yourself that everything was going to be fine. You were glad that Minseok did not try to ask you anything since you were afraid you were going to let slip what was waiting for him when you arrive home later in the day.

You let out a small sniffle as you pressed a small kiss on your husband’s exposed shoulder. “I’m so sorry I brought down your mood, Min. The p- ‘w-work,’ is just annoying right now. It’s your birthday, it’s supposed to be a good day.” you mumbled, looking down at your hands.

“Shh, don’t you worry your little head about it,” Minseok assured, kissing your forehead. He tilted your head up and pressed his lips against yours. “All I want is for my baby to be happy today.” You gave him a weak smile and wrapped your arms around his waist, feeling so lucky to have him in your life.

“C’mon, let’s go to the food court. All this stress made me hungry.” you joked, standing from your spot.

“Good idea,” Minseok gave you another kiss before walking back into the changing stall to change back into his regular clothes. “Oh, by the way, buy the pants.” You pumped a fist into the air as you took the hanging articles of clothing into your hands.

You were lucky (and frankly surprised) that nothing else had managed to go wrong today. You were suspicious that you hadn’t gotten any panic-stricken texts from Yixing or Junmyeon, but you couldn’t complain about that. Just to be sure though, you quickly texted Kyungsoo to give you a final update on the state of your house. You sighed in relief when he responded with pictures of your living room, kitchen and backyard decorated just how you envisioned it to be. You sent Kyungsoo a text back thanking him and everyone else profusely for their help.

The clock struck 5, indicating that it was time for you and Minseok to go home. The two of you exited the mall, arms filled with different shopping bags from all the stores you went to during the day. After putting your bags into the backseat of your car, you opened the passenger side of the car and slid in.

“Hm, I was thinking of ordering from that ramen place we tried last week. It was really good, don’t you remember?” Minseok suggested, starting the car and pulling out of the parking lot.

“How ‘bout we wait ‘till we get home to... eat.” you responded, a shit-eating grin almost making its way onto your face.

Minseok hummed softly. “I just wanna spend the rest of the night with you and Tan at home, I hope no one’s planning a surprise party for me,” You tensed slightly at his words, looking out the window to avoid his gaze.

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that, hun.” You lied. He shrugged, intertwining his fingers with yours.

When Minseok pulled into your driveway, you shot a quick text to the boys, telling them that you were home. You exited the car quickly, grabbing most of the shopping bags and taking Minseok by the arm, dragging him to the front door.

“Whoa, what’s gotten into you?” he chuckled as you struggled to get your keys out of your purse. Once you got them out and put the house key into the lock, you turned to Minseok and pressed your lips onto his.

“Happy birthday, Min. I love you so much. And I’m so sorry.” you unlocked the front door and pushed it open. You saw Minseok’s eyes widen at the sight of your home. It was filled to the brim with decorations and all of your closest friends holding gifts, balloons and tons of different ice cream cakes.

“SURPRISE!” everyone exclaimed. Minseok’s jaw dropped as he fully took in everything that was happening. He looked over to you with a sly smile, to which you responded with a small shrug.

“I had to, come on.” You giggled, kissing him on the cheek.

“It’s okay, hun. Let’s just enjoy ourselves.” Minseok cupped your face into his hands and pressed his lips onto yours.

“Gross, get a room!” you heard Baekhyun scream. You pulled away from Minseok to flip the younger off.

“Oh! I need to show you the cake I initially got for you but was unfortunately ruined because Chanyeol sneezed on it. Jun, is it in the fridge?” you pulled Minseok in the direction of the kitchen as Junmyeon confirmed the location of the cake.

“He... huh?”

“It was an accident!” Chanyeol whined. You laughed softly to yourself at his childish reaction.

Tonight was gonna be fun.

#xiumin x reader #xiumin x you #minseok x reader #minseok x you #xiumin fluff #minseok fluff #exo fluff #exo #exo scenario #exo scenarios #exo imagine #exo imagines #exo fanfiction #exo au #exo au scenarios #happy birthday xiumin #happy birthday minseok

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coppicefics · 3 years

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Masked Omens: Week One

New chapter here, or read from the start here!

(Right click picture and select ‘View Image’ or ‘Open Image In New Tab’ for hi-res version.)

[Image Description: Image 1 - A simple rendition of the Masked Singer UK logo, a golden mask with colourful fragments flying off of it. The mask has a golden halo and a golden devil tail protruding from either side. Below, gold text reads 'Masked Omens'.

Image 2 - A newspaper page from the Capital Herald, dated Saturday, 26th December, 2020. Full image description and transcription below the cut.]

The Capital Herald, Saturday 26th December 2020 News, page 11

GODLEIGH MANOR RESTORATION SET TO BEGIN YouTube Community Comes To The Rescue Of Historic House In Unprecedented Donation Spree Restoration work on Godleigh Manor, Little Dyvyn, is set to proceed at last after years of stagnation – thanks to an unexpected influx of donations from interested members of the public. A house has stood on the site since at least the early 13th century, but most of the current building was constructed in the 18th century by its then owner, Lord Michael Godleigh. It remained a private residence until 1914, when it was commandeered as a military hospital for officers injured in the First World War. When the war was over, the officers went home, but the Godleigh family had suffered severe losses, and those who had been involved in treating the injured officers had many bad memories associated with the place. What was left of the family moved out, and – barring the operation of a second temporary hospital during the Second World War – this once-busy house has remained empty and silent ever since. Left to its own devices, the house began to crumble. Water found its way through the roof, and weeds forced their way up through the floor. By the time the deed to Godleigh Manor was passed on to its current owner, Lucy Godleigh, in the mid-1990s, barely a few rooms were anything close to habitable. “I set up in a mobile home on the grounds,” Godleigh told The Capital Herald, “and basically just started trying to secure the few rooms that hadn't been completely exposed to the elements. Then I contacted a restoration expert to find out what could be done for the rest of it.” The experts' verdict wasn't what she wanted to hear. “There was no chance I could pay for it myself. The rest of the family opposed me moving back here; I was on my own. And to get the whole place back to the way it was, we were looking at anything from fifty million to three hundred million pounds. I was going to need help raising the funds, so I started campaigning. But it was slow going. Nobody's keen to put their hands in their pockets to restore a stranger's old family pile.” And, for over two decades, it seemed that a pile would soon be all that was left. Godleigh moved into Little Dyvyn, and the property was abandoned once more to the tender mercies of the elements and the frequent trespassers who came to explore. “I'd go up a few times a week, but it hardly seemed worth it. I'd all but given up. But then one of those visitors saved the day.” A YouTube personality known as Sergeant Shadwell, famed for his urban exploration videos and the occasional paranormal investigation, contacted Godleigh to ask to film in the house. “I said yeah, whatever, do what you like, it's a mess,” Godleigh recalled, “and he saved it. He saved my home.” Shadwell uploaded a video of Godleigh Manor in the last week of November. In it, he speaks frankly about the challenges and benefits of preserving such old buildings. “I don't know about there being ghosts here,” he tells viewers, “but there's a lot of wasted potential. Stately homes like this can and should be used, and it'd be a real shame for this one to crumble. I'll add a link to the fundraiser in the video description.” The Wytchfynder Army, as Shadwell's fans call themselves, have so far contributed £80m to the Save Godleigh Manor campaign. The fundraising page is filled with messages of encouragement and support, attached to donations ranging from £5 to £1500. Some donors have even explained that they raised the money through sponsored swims, bake sales, and car washes. “It's enough to get started, to make a really good start,” Godleigh explained, “I can't thank him – all of them – enough. They really came together to help me – a complete stranger – and it means so much, it really does.” So what's next for Godleigh Manor? First, says Godleigh, the surviving rooms will need to be stablised. Then the house's ground floor will be restored to its former glory, and Godleigh hopes to work with local historians to ensure that it is both a functional and educational space. “I won't charge people any more to use it than I need to cover the cost of maintaining it,” Godleigh said. “How can I? It's being restored by this huge community; it belongs to the community, and to Little Dyvyn. It's going to be a great space for everyone to enjoy.” Work is now set to begin on the Godleigh Manor restoration project as early as April this year, depending on local planning committee approval of plans first drawn up in 1998. MARY HODGES. To find out more, or to contribute to the renovation costs, visit www.savegodleighmanor.org.uk.

[Image Description: A sepia photograph of a large, grand house. Inset, a colour photograph of a hole in a wall, through which weeds can be seen growing. End ID.] [Caption] NEGLECTED: Godleigh Manor, pictured above in 1980, was once the heart of a thriving community. Inset, weeds grow in what used to be a service corridor to the rear of the main building. (Photo: Annie Spratt on Unsplash. Inset: E. Diop on Unsplash.)

THE NEWS IN NUMBERS 800 years of a house on the site 300 years in its current form 23 generations in the same family 29 bedrooms 40 acres of land £50m lowest estimated renovation costs £300m highest estimated renovation costs 198k subscribers to Wytchfynder 291 Wytchfynder videos 10 years Sgt Shadwell served in the Army £80m raised by the Wytchfynder Army £91m renovation funds raised so far 15 years estimated to complete renovation

[Image Description: a rectangular ad with a picture of Dr. Raven Sable. His name is signed beneath his photograph. Text reads: Don't settle for a balanced diet when you can have a SABLE DIET. End ID.]

Corner Cuppa with Esther James

[ID: Photo of a young woman's face. She has black hair cut into a bob, and slightly gothic makeup. End ID.]

Why do we know you? I'm the captain of the Red Roses, which is the England Women's Rugby Team. What are you passionate about? Rugby! Also, my girlfriend Jane (Adams, also on the squad), and my charitable causes, of course. I support the NSPCC and the Albert Kennedy Trust, in particular - both fantastic charities helping young people who've been let down, in many cases, by the people they should most be able to rely on. I'm really glad to be involved with them. What's your favourite holiday of the year? Pride! I love getting dressed up and going to the parades – most of the time Jane and I get to march, these days, which is great. Last year we even got to ride on a float at one of them, which was really surreal – we got to cover ourselves in rainbow feather boas and just have a laugh waving at people. What a great time! What's been your proudest moment? So far, it's a tie between coming out as bi in a press conference – which was really scary at the time but which led to such good things and such good conversations – and being made captain of the Red Roses. It's an honour just to be selected for the national side, but to be chosen to lead from such a talented group of women is even better. I was walking on air for a week! If you could do anything in the world once, what would it be? Only once? I'd hate to do something and enjoy it and never get to do it again. But, OK, hypotherically... Something completely different and mad, like getting up on a stage and performing a song like I really mean it, or bungee-jumping. What scares you? Bungee-jumping! Which is exactly why I'd like to do it. I think it's good to get out of your own head and your own comfort zone and just do something that scares you, if you can. What's your ideal day? Taking a day off of training and just lying on the sofa watching films with Jane for the whole day. We love what we do, but we don't get a lot of downtime to just relax and snuggle. But then, when we do get a day off, it's usually at the same time, so that's lovely; we're always together and it hasn't started getting on our nerves yet! If you could go anywhere in the world right now, with no complications or restrictions, where would you go? I've always wanted to go to the Eiffel Tower, but somehow whenever I end up in France I don't find the time. Jane's never been to Disneyland, so I think we'd have to combine the two if we got a no-holds-barred trip somewhere. And, obviously, I wouldn't exactly hate getting to meet Mickey again! What's the best advice you've ever been given? My gran was as tough as old boots, and proud of it. She once sat me down, when I was quite young, and she said, “Essie,” which is what she called me, “Essie, you'll do all right in life if you remember this simple rule. Make sure you keep your nose clean, but don't be afraid to get your boots dirty.” I'm not sure she meant me to take it quite so literally! But I think what she meant was, don't get into trouble unnecessarily, but don't be so scared of getting it wrong that you can't do anything right. That's stuck with me, I've held onto it all these years, and I think it's a good motto to live by. What's one thing you wish someone had told you when you were younger? I wish they'd told me it was OK that I fancied girls, that things were getting better. I think we've still got a long way to go, as a community, but I never could have dreamed that a bisexual woman could captain England when I was a little girl. Let alone that it would be me! Finally, what's one thing you'd like to tell younger people now? Be true to yourself, be true to your friends, and be kind. I think the world will turn out fine if we all just try to be kind to one another, above all. Next week's cuppa: Ligur Mortice, head of the Ligur fashion house.

[End of page.]

#masked omens #very much fake news #mo week one #fanart

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bisexualbuck · 4 years

Text

911 & Buddie Fic Rec

I’ve been reading a lot of fics lately as I pretend that nothing is happening in the world, and so I’ve put up a list of a few that have stuck with me.

Don’t forget to leave them a comment! They’re all amazing and they deserve it.

Let’s spread some positivity around here!

In no particular order

Knocking On Heaven’s Door by MomentsOfWeakness

Summary: Buck isn’t sure where he is. The last thing he remembers was being out on a call. Now he’s here, in a place he has never seen before surrounded by people he doesn't know. It's bright. That's all he can really tell.

Based on a Tumblr prompt where someone asked for Buck and Chris both ending up in purgatory at the same time before they ever met in life. Buck has a ticket back to the living world but he gives it to Chris who is supposed to die. An old man, seeing what Buck did for Chris, decides to give his own ticket for the living world to Buck, because the world needs more people like him.

Personal opinion: This is just so good. It’s so well-written it almost reads like poetry.

Eddie Diaz and the Cat-astrophe at the 118 by SquaresAreNotCircles

Summary: It’s Chimney who rescues her from the tree, but it’s Bobby’s arms that she curls up in on the drive over to the vet to get her checked out. Right from the start, it’s as if she knows who she needs to cozy up with to secure her spot at the station.

“Come on, that’s crazy,” Buck says, but he does so while laughing not at Eddie, but at the grey tabby cat trying to get her claws on the fake mouse on a string that Buck bought with his own money, so Eddie doesn’t put too much stock in his opinion.

Or: The firefam adopts a mascot and Eddie has a minor crisis about it.

Personal opinion: This is just too sweet and too funny!!

Whatever you say, Buck by nanasteiger

Summary: Tumblr prompt: I'd love to see a fic where they start dating but decide to keep it private for a bit, except literally everybody knows because they're not secretive at all and everybody catches them here and there kissing or being affectionate with each other.

The first one to talk about it was, and it wasn’t really a surprise, Captain Nash. “So,” he said, approaching him in the locker room, “what’s going on between you and Diaz?”

Personal opinion: The softness... unparalleled.

Love Language by red_to_black

Summary: The one in which there's too much pollen around, Eddie pines, and Buck is oblivious.

Or - Eddie's love language is acts of service, and Buck doesn't totally get it.

Personal opinion: I have melted... too good!!

a leaf falls on loneliness by iimpossible_things

Summary: Buck doesn’t think that if he were to say, “I’m in a bad place”, that anyone would turn him away. Really, he doesn’t. The 118 has too many good, kind people for that.

But every time he wants to open his mouth, to say something, to reach out to Eddie or Bobby or Hen or Chim, he hears Eddie yelling, “you’re exhausting.”

—you’re exhausting, you’re exhausting, you’re exhausting—

So each day he does his job and he laughs and he jokes and he pretends he’s the care-free goofball he’s always been. And each day he packs away his bruises and his worries, takes them home to his empty loft with its quiet rooms, and licks his wounds in silence.

Personal opinion: Y’all. Just - do yourself a favor and read this. A masterpiece!! Just *chefs kiss*

dying lol by itsmylifekay

Summary: Based on the meme: i'm dying lol

Buck is...Buck. And that means chaos, angst, laughs, and pining over Eddie. Bobby just wants his son to stop ending up in the hospital. Enjoy.

Personal opinion: I have no words to say how much I love this

i want your heart (i hope you do too) by chocobos

Summary: Buck can’t stop thinking about those words, about the way Eddie had said them, eyes open wide and earnest, hand searing a hole into his shoulder, never once breaking contact with him in any regard.

Personal opinion: One of my favorite fics in this fandom

Roll Down This Unfamiliar Road by altschmerzes

Summary: The big 'welcome to the family, sorry I tried to shut you out of it' dinner at Eddie's winds down, and Chimney decides it's time for him - and Albert - to go home. But, as he stands there and looks at his kid brother, half dozing off sitting at Eddie's dining room table, Chimney finds himself frozen, plagued by sudden doubt. What if he's not cut out for this?

It's Buck, of all people, who's there with an answer.

Personal opinion: This is a Chimney-centric fic and it’s an absolutely gorgeous piece.

a diary highlighting dysfunction (adhd) by @evaneddie

Summary: adhd!buck - headcanons into loosely linked one shots

Personal opinion: I’ve just reread just now and wow... still amazing... chefs kiss

I still don’t know my heart by attolians @getbvcked

Summary: I am SEVERELY late for Evan Buckley Week so I rolled these prompts into one fic! • March 23rd - Day 1: “That’s my family.” + fluff • March 24th - Day 2: “Why are you naked?” + fun • March 25th - Day 3: “Please don’t close your eyes!” + hurt • March 26th - Day 4: “You want to marry me?” + love • March 27th - Day 5: “You’re a good liar.” + comfort • March 28th - Day 6: “I won’t let you do this.” + angst

Personal opinion: As I said before, we’re here living in 2020 while Amber’s living in 3020... The genius *chefs kiss*

(hurt) thy neighbor by autumnchills

Summary: “He’s armed,” is all he says into the phone before standing from his spot. He shoves his phone into his pocket and steps out, hands raised. Sure enough, the man has a gun pointed at him, but if he looks closely enough… Buck squints. Color him surprised. “Is that you—” “Don’t!” The man yells, jerking his hand with the gun aggressively. “Don’t you dare fucking say my name, Buckley.”

— In which things get bad fast when Buck's neighbor breaks into his apartment thinking that he isn't home.

Personal opinion: You need to read all of autumnchills’ work actually because guess what... chefs kiss!!!

(There’s) No Time Like The Present by NobodyKnows_U

Summary: "Marry me."

The words flew out of his mouth before he could fully comprehend what he was doing. It came out as a shaken whisper, but everything around seemed to go hopelessly silent. He's pretty sure he heard a few choked gasps but all he could focus on was Buck.

Or, Buck nearly dies saving a baby during a call and Eddie ends up asking Buck to marry him.

Personal opinion: I cried, this is just gorgeous.

5-4-3-2-1 by elisela

Summary: For all the times that Eddie has practiced getting into his turnout suit in record time, he never bothered figuring out how to get out of it just as fast. He would be regretting that if he could think about anything other than the fact that Buck went over the pier rail twenty-six seconds ago, and disappeared into the dark water seventeen seconds ago.

Personal opinion: The intensity... The talent... I’m speechless.

what a man gotta do? (to be your last good night and your first good day) by diazevan

Summary: He is gonna woo Eddie. He is gonna woo him so fucking hard that the other man has no other choice but to be his boyfriend and declare his eternal love for him. Buck is gonna be that good.

Buck is the best boyfriend and he doesn't even know it.

Personal opinion: Soft!! Cute!! I’m !!!!!!

Won’t Be Lost Forever by @lionheartedghost

Summary: “Bobby said you wouldn’t talk to him last time he came in.” The chair by the side of the bed scraped back against the linoleum. “You want to tell me what’s going on?” Buck opened his eyes. Eddie looked patiently back at him, passing a hospital canteen cup of coffee back and forth between his hands. “I won’t let you do this,” Eddie said when he didn’t answer, setting the paper cup on the little table beside him. “I won’t let you shut us out.”

Eddie helps Buck with his recovery following the ladder truck incident.Written for Evan Buckley Week, Day 6: "“I won’t let you do this.” + angst

Personal opinion: I’m overwhelmed by so much perfection what the hell

I also want to give a shout-out to @eddiedeaz because her fics for the Evan Buckley Week were, you guessed it, *chefs kiss*

#911 #911 fic #buddie #firefam #this took me forever but worth it #there's so much greatness in this fandom #please tell me if i messed up somewhere with the links or the usernames or the titles or anything #my post

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sanderssidesfanfiction · 3 years

Text

If There’s a Place I Could Be - Chapter Thirty

If There’s a Place I Could Be Tag

March 25th, 1999

Toby knocked on Remy’s bedroom door, but Remy just sat against it, not allowing him in. “Remy, come on, talk to me, please?” Toby all but begged.

Remy didn’t reply.

“Rem, please. I want to talk to you,” Toby said.

It took all the willpower Remy possessed, but he managed to keep the door closed. Toby had been his one positive influence from someone who could pass as an adult for...as long as Remy could remember, really. And then his parents had to screw that up, and lie about Remy, and make Toby write less and less until he didn’t write at all. To make matters worse, if he got Toby to write him again there was no doubt in his mind that their parents would rake Toby over the coals for it.

Just once, for once in his life, Remy wanted an adult to like him, to be proud of him, to trust him. He wanted respect. Not that he deserved any, but he wanted it anyway.

May 26th, 2001

Remy played with his hands in the car, breathing very carefully so that he didn’t have a panic attack. Emile was constantly sending him glances, and even with music playing in the car, the atmosphere was tense. “You know, Rem, my parents are going to absolutely adore you,” he said.

“But what if they don’t?” Remy asked. “You’re not a mind-reader, you can’t just magically know if they’ll be okay with me dating you or not!”

“Maybe not,” Emile allowed. “But I do know that in everything I’ve done over the years, so long as it makes me happy and it’s not hurting anyone else, they’ll support it. And you make me... very happy.”

“But...but...I can’t even bring you home to my parents,” Remy said, cheeks flaring red. “Because I can’t even bring myself to tell them I’m gay.”

“That’s a safety issue, Rem. You’re not ashamed of being my boyfriend, are you?”

“Of course not!” Remy replied, hands balling into fists, ready to fight.

Emile slowly pried one of Remy’s fists open and Remy sighed, letting his grip go lax. “Then they’ll love you. Because you love me and I love you back, and you make me happy.”

Remy took a deep breath and let it out slowly, nodding. “All right,” he breathed.

Emile pulled to a stop at the curb and gave Remy’s hand a squeeze, stepping out of the car. Remy slowly opened his door and did the same, standing at the edge of a small lawn, while Emile spoke to a man and a woman who had to be his parents.

They turned to him, and he cleared his throat, scratching the back of his neck. “Nice to meet you, Mister and Misses Thomas...”

Misses Thomas stared at him for a few seconds, before turning to her son and asking, “Emile, when are you going to marry this young man?”

“Mom!” Emile exclaimed, going red as a tomato, and Remy wasn’t much better.

“Well, the way you speak about him, he clearly makes you happy,” she said. “When are you going to pop the question?”

Remy was torn between dying of laughter and embarrassment. Clearly, his fears about Emile’s parents not liking him were unfounded.

“Mom! I’m not proposing to him! We’ve been dating all of...like, a month!” Emile said.

“Never too early to start planning,” Misses Thomas said with an enigmatic smile.

“Yes, it is,” Emile said. He turned to Remy and said, “I’m so sorry.”

“Still not worse than my parents,” Remy choked out.

Emile choked on his laughter and Remy managed to crack a small smile. “You’re right, and I hate that you’re right,” Emile said.

“Your father and I made a whole plan to figure out whether or not we need to adopt your boyfriend and in two sentences you undo all our hard work!” Misses Thomas scolded Emile with no real heat behind the words. “Remy, we’re adopting you one way or another. If Emile doesn’t make you our son-in-law we are legally adopting you.”

Remy turned to Emile, squinting. “Did you tell them about my parents?”

“No details!” Emile rushed to assure. “But, they did sorta need to know why we were moving off campus, and over Christmas I mentioned that you were going solo...and they asked why...and...well, my parents know when I’m lying.”

“Everyone knows when you’re lying, honey, your poker face is terrible,” Remy said.

Emile sputtered and Remy’s smile grew into something more relaxed, more natural. “How dare you!” Emile exclaimed, putting a hand over his heart. “I’ll have you know that I have lied to you before and you haven’t known about it!”

“Okay, first of all, that’s not really something you should be admitting,” Remy said, holding up a single finger. “Second of all, I know you were lying about saying that blue shirt doesn’t make me look like a girl, I know you were lying about witnessing Theo and Clara’s drinking games, and I know you were lying all the way back on the day after Halloween when you said I didn’t say anything about liking anybody. Granted, the last one I realized looking back after learning your tells, but yeah, you suck at lying.”

Emile still looked offended and Remy just shrugged with a little smile. “Sorry, but it’s true.”

“You suck,” Emile said.

“I mean, if you ask nicely, but really? In front of your own parents?” Remy laughed.

“I—what? No! No, that is not what I—” Emile cut himself short as he blushed furiously while his parents both laughed.

Remy beamed proudly and Emile was both glaring daggers and blushing as red as Remy had ever seen him blush before. And he had to admit that making Emile blush was kind of fun. Not fun enough to torture him with it, but every once in a while he might make a jab.

When Mister Thomas finally came up for air, he put a hand on Remy’s shoulder and declared, “I like you already.”

Remy blinked in surprise and turned to Emile. Despite furious blushing, Emile said, “Yep, he really means that.”

“Oh. Okay,” Remy said. He wasn’t entirely sure what to make of that. He had never met any of his boyfriends’ parents before in the capacity of being a boyfriend, but the parents he had met were fiercely protective of their sons from any girl coming within a ten mile radius. But to make his boyfriends’ parents laugh genuinely, and to have them like him, for real...he was getting a little choked up.

Emile walked closer, until they could almost touch foreheads if both of them moved a few inches. “You okay?” Emile asked in a low whisper.

“Not used to...positive attention from people older than me,” Remy said.

“Theo gives you positive attention.”

“Theo is also still in college, and therefore by most people’s standards still a kid,” Remy shot back. “I mean like. Actual adults who have done their taxes several years in a row.”

“So like...people you perceive as adults while still technically being an adult yourself,” Emile filled in.

“I guess,” Remy agreed. “Regardless of semantics, I’m still surprised.”

“I said my parents would adore you, I’m not sure why you’re so shocked,” Emile teased.

Remy shrugged. “Uh...trauma? Or something?” he asked.

Emile sobered and nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. You saying stuff like that makes me want to hug you, though, I’ll warn you.”

“I won’t object to hugs from you...right now, at any rate.”

No sooner had he said that than Emile wrapped his arms around Remy and held him tightly. Remy offered a light hug back, knowing it paled in comparison to Emile’s hugs, but feeling like that was all he could give in the moment.

It felt like a scene from a rom-com, almost overused and most definitely too common for most people’s tastes, but to a select few, it meant the world. And to Remy, having a select few moments where he was allowed to take in Emile’s warmth, his scent, his everything in unfamiliar territory, well...he hadn’t felt this safe since before Toby went off to college.

That revelation made Remy stiffen minutely. He felt just as safe with Emile as he had with Toby, possibly more so. How was he supposed to understand that? How was he supposed to share that? Emile pulled away as Remy stiffened and Remy moved his hand down Emile’s back until he could grab Emile’s hand and interlace their fingers. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

“You okay?” Emile asked again.

“Um. Yeah.” Remy scratched the back of his neck. “I’m fine since you’re here.”

That seemed to have a semi-successful message, because Emile gave Remy’s hand a squeeze with a warm, knowing smile, and Emile dragged him to the trunk, where their stuff was. “We can both share my old room, Mom,” Emile said. “Provided that’s okay with you, Rem?”

“Would we be...sharing a bed?” Remy asked.

“No, I had a bed I used for sleeping and then I had another one for guests, and to stuff massive amounts of pillows on,” Emile said. “We probably wouldn’t fit on one bed. We’re both pretty tall.”

Remy snorted. “True.” He took the suitcase Emile passed him, which he recognized as his by the distinct lack of cartoon-y stickers covering it. During this, Emile never let go of his hand, which Remy appreciated. Emile grabbed his own suitcase and closed the trunk, before taking a breath and saying, “Shall we go inside? At least long enough to put our suitcases in my room?”

“Oh, of course, sweetheart. Do you need any help with your bags?” Misses Thomas asked.

“I think we’ve got it, Mom,” Emile said with a small smile. He didn’t let go of Remy’s hand until they were in his room.

Remy wasn’t sure what he expected to see with Emile’s room. There was a stuffed animal or two, and pillows on two perfectly-made beds, but the paint was fading in different patches all over the walls, patches where posters must have been. The closet was open and empty, and there wasn’t anything on the desk in the room that screamed “Emile lived here.” It was...too bare-bones for him to really understand that Emile grew up in this house, slept in this room. It felt...wrong.

“Hey, Rem?” Emile asked softly.

Remy hummed.

“Can we talk a little bit about what you said?”

Remy turned to look at Emile, who had sat down on one of the beds, looking like he saw a ghost. “Yeah. Though I have to say, this room doesn’t look like an Emile Thomas room, not without cartoon posters and figurines and stuffed animals everywhere.”

Emile smiled, but it was strained. “You said you felt safe since I was here. What does that mean?”

Remy swallowed. He still wasn’t sure how he was supposed to share that. “It means...it means that you feel safe, in my head. Toby was the same way, when we were kids.” Remy began to pace, hands flying around his face as he tried to explain. “Toby was the one who made sure I was okay when Mom and Dad fought. Vanessa never did it, for one reason or another, but Toby would help me calm down and stay quiet and out of the way. So Toby grew to represent safety. He’s...yeah. He’s still safe, wherever he is, and the reason it was a sucker-punch when I lost him wasn’t just because I lost him, but I lost that safety too. But...but when you hugged me today, I realized that I get the same kind of comfort from you now. You just...you feel safe. I can’t describe all that entails or why you feel that way, but you do.”

Emile took a breath, and let it out slowly. “Oh...okay.”

“Is that bad?” Remy asked.

“No! No, it’s not bad,” Emile rushed to assure, standing up and walking over to Remy, taking his hands. “I’m honored to be your safe space. I just...I didn’t realize I was. I didn’t realize...that you trusted me that much. I guess that’s my bad for assuming, huh?”

Remy shrugged. “It’s whatever, don’t worry about it. I didn’t realize that I did that either, until like five minutes ago. And your parents seem really sweet, but I’m still lowkey terrified.”

“Oh, I know what will change that,” Emile said with a grin.

“What?” Remy asked.

Emile bounced to his bedroom door and hollered through the house, “Hey, Dad! Can Remy and I help with lunch?!”

There was a faint, “Sure!” from somewhere inside, and Remy blinked.

“Well, I didn’t expect him to agree that fast!” Emile laughed. “My dad loves to cook, and the more you cook with him, the more you get to know him. He’ll make sure you feel right at ease while you work. I’ve been learning how to make stuff from him, although I use shortcuts when I can. You might enjoy helping him cook from scratch.”

“Sounds fun,” Remy admitted.

“It is fun! Do you want to head down now and help figure out what we’ll be eating?” Emile asked.

Remy offered a small smile and a nod. “Sure, why not?”

#if there's a place i could be #sanders sides fanfiction #remile #emile picani #ts sleep

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mattchase82 · 3 years

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OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP

The Picture

The original picture painted on gold ground, is the work of a devout and skillful master. The best judges concede that it must have been painted in the 13th or 14th century, in the East, as its Grecian or Byzantine style plainly shows. The Blessed Mother, in half-figure, has her child on her left arm, and in her right hand, she holds the hand of her Divine Infant. Her beautiful eyes are directed towards the beholder with an expression of tender reproach, and speak eloquently of her great anguish at the sufferings of her Son. On either side of her head are four Greek letters, which stand for the words "Mother of God."

The Divine Infant is in full figure. On his head is a crown. He wears sandals, one of which is fastened to his left foot, the other hangs loose from the right. Over his left shoulder are the Greek letters signifying "Jesus Christ." He clasps his mother's right hand in both his own, as though seeking protection from the instrument of His Passion, presented to Him by the two angels at his side. The Angel on the right, over whom are to be seen in Greek the initials of the name of "Michael the Archangel," presents to the Holy Child, the Lance, the Reed and the Sponge of His future Passion, while the Angel on the left holds up before His gaze four nails and a cross, with two beams, as well as the tablet of the inscription; over Him are the initials in Greek of "Gabriel the Archangel." The drapery of the picture is exquisite.

History of The Picture

The original picture, just described, was venerated for many years in the Island of Crete (now called Candia), when upon an invasion by the Turks, about 400 years ago, it was taken away by a pious merchant of that Island to escape profanation. Having been the means of enlisting the power of the Mother of God during a violent storm which occurred on the voyage, a landing was finally made at Ostia, near Rome. At Rome, by a clear manifestation of God's will, the picture was to remain. The pious merchant, falling grievously ill, and feeling death's approach, summoned his host and friend, and exacting from him a strict promise that he would have the picture set up for veneration in one of the churches of Rome, he confided the precious treasure to his care, and then breathed his last. Now become manifest the wondrous ways of God. The wife of the man who had the holy picture confided to him, conceiving a strong natural affection for the Madonna, deaf to her husband's representations, finally prevailed upon him to disregard his promise and retain the picture. Three different times the Blessed Mother appeared in a dream to the unhappy man to remind him of his obligation. Affrighted, he related these occurrences to his wife, who only laughed at his credulity. A fourth time Our Blessed Lady appeared, and said to him in a tone of great severity: "I have now warned thee three times, but in vain,--I see there is no other means of leaving thy house, than that thou be first carried out of it." Very soon after the man died.

The husband's death seems to have been no warning to the obstinate widow. A new warning was at hand. One day her daughter, a young innocent girl, came running to her, saying: "Mother, I have just seen, in our house, oh, such a beautiful Lady, who said to me, 'Go tell your mother and your grandfather that the 'Mother of Perpetual Help' (for the Blessed Virgin gave herself this sweet title) 'wishes her picture to be set up for public veneration in one of the churches in Rome.'" The mother, deeply moved, was about to comply. But a wicked woman of the neighborhood, hearing of the mother's determination, violently opposed the plan, and at the same time insulted and blaspemed Our Blessed Lady. Instant retribution followed. She was stricken down with mortal illness, but repentant and confessing her crime, was permitted to touch the holy picture, when she was instantly cured. The evident miracle conquered the widow's obstinacy. But now the question presented itself: "To which of the three hundred churches of Rome shall the picture be given?" Our Blessed Lady herself graciously deigned to answer this question, by appearing a second time to the child and saying to her: "I desire to have my home between my beloved Church of St. Mary Major, and that of my dear adopted son John (St. John Lateran)." Between these two Basilicas stood the Church of St. Matthew, at that time in charge of the religious of the Augustinian Order. To the Prior, then, of these religious the Picture was given.

On March 27th, 1499, by a triumphant procession through the streets of Rome, the picture was solemnly installed over the High Altar of the Church of St. Matthew, where, for three hundred years it was the fruitful source of numberless graces and favors to the Romans and their neighbors. In the year 1600, a Roman historian writes: "In the Church of St. Matthew is a picture of the Blessed Virgin, which, from the numbers of miracles wrought and the countless graces received, well merits to be regarded as Miraculous.

During the French occupation of Rome (1809—1814) the Church of St. Matthew was demolished by order of the usurping government, compelling the Augustinian Fathers to abandon their monastery. On removing to the Church of Santa Maria, in Posterula, they took with them the miraculous picture but no longer exposed it for public veneration, dreading sacrilegious profanation. One by one the older members of the Community, who had known the Church of St. Matthew in happier days, passed away. In the year 1846, however, two persons were praying in the oratory of the Augustinian Monastery of Santa Maria, in Posterula, one an old man of more than seventy years, the other a youth. Suddenly the old man, pointing out to the youth this long-forgotten picture of the Madonna of Perpetual Help, on the wall of the oratory, said impressively, "This picture was formerly held in great veneration in the Church of St. Matthew, and every year a feast was celebrated in its honor." The speaker was an Augustinian Brother, Orsette by name, the last survivor of the Community of St. Matthew. The youth, Michael Marchi by name, looked attentively at the picture, but attached no great importance to the old Brother's words. Towards the close of his life, Brother Orsette, now almost blind, took great pleasure in conversing with young Marchi of his dear Madonna, her glory and the magnificent feasts of former days. He would sometimes say, with great earnestness and in a mysterious way, "You understand, Michael, that the Madonna, so long venerated in St. Matthew's is the one you see here in the chapel. Mind, don't forget it," adding, "I tell you, Michael, this is certain. Do you hear me? Do you understand what I say? Oh, how many miracles this picture has wrought! Oh, it was indeed miraculous!" The young Marchi listened and "kept all these things in his heart."

Not long after the death of Orsette (1853), Pope Pius IX. ordered the Superior-General of the Redemptorists to transfer the Central House of the Order from Naples to Rome; hence, the Redemptorists, in June, 1854, purchased, on the Esquiline, the Villa Caserta, an old Roman palace, in the garden of which were still visible some ruins of the Church of St. Matthew. The house was transformed into a monastery, and a new church was built close by, dedicated to St. Alphonsus, the founder of the Redemptorist Order. One of the Fathers of Villa Caserta, searching one day among some old books and manuscripts for historical information concerning the site on the Esquiline, discovered some valuable documents relating to the ruined Church of St. Matthew, and in particular to a Picture of Our Lady, famous for its many miracles. When he gave an account of what he had found out, one of the Fathers suddenly exclaimed, "I know where this miraculous Madonna is. I have seen it myself many a time, in the chapel of the Augustinians of Sancta Maria, in Posterula." The Father who thus spoke was none other than the youthful confidant of Brother Orsette, Michael Marchi, who had become a Redemptorist soon after the foundation of the Villa Caserta. He died there in January, 1886.

One Saturday, in February, 1863, Father Blosi, S. J., preaching on the glories of Mary, took for his subject the ancient and miraculous "Picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help," recalling its past glory and how the Blessed Mother had made known her will, that the picture should be placed for veneration in a church situated between St. John Lateran and St. Mary Major. The Redemptorists were deeply impressed when they heard of this sermon, for many providential circumstances pointed clearly to their own Church of St. Alphonsus as the new sanctuary chosen by Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The Very Rev. Father Mauron having waited two years longer and after many prayers offered to ascertain God's will, on December 11th, 1865, had an audience with Pope Pius the IXth, in which he presented a supplication, that His Holiness would deign to grant to the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer the possession of that venerable picture. Pius IX. gladly signed the petition, and January 19th, 1866, after a banishment of sixty years, Our Lady of Perpetual Help was again brought back to a sanctuary between St. Mary Major and St. John Lateran.

On April 26th, the Feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel, and of St. Cletus, the Pope, who first built the Church of St. Matthew, the holy picture was carried in solemn procession through decorated streets, amid the acclamations of more than 20,000 people, to its place in the Church of St. Alphonsus.

During the Triduum more than 50,000 persons came to honor the sacred picture. Again, as in 1499. Mary strewed her path with graces and miracles. On May 5th, Pius IX. himself came to honor the Madonna. He had already placed a copy of the original picture in his Chapel.

The Chapter of St. Peter at Rome has the custom of crowning with a golden diadem the most illustrious and venerated pictures of the Madonna. On the Sunday preceding the Feast of St. John Baptist, the Dean of the Chapter confided the crown to the Most Rev. Father-General of the Redemptorists, after receiving from him an oath, that it would always remain over the picture. Mass and the ceremony of coronation followed, whilst outside the roaring of cannon and the pealing of bells announced, that the Picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was numbered among those worthy of the title miraculous.

The beneficent action of miraculous pictures is generally confined within certain limits, and does not extend beyond the shrine where the original picture is venerated, but not so in regard to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Her sweet influence extends wherever this devotion is practised.

The devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help soon spread throughout the Christian world. Exact copies of the beautiful picture were made, and a greater value was given them by the fact that they were touched to the original picture in Rome. Notwithstanding the unholy carpings of captious critics, there is nothing unreasonable in this practice. If we treasure a lock of hair of some dear departed one; if we stand with reverent mien in the apartment used by a saint of God, and there yield our soul to holy reveries; if we value at an unspeakable price a shred of the garment, or a tiny bone of God's heroes and heroines; if we kiss with reverent love those spots pressed by the Saviour's feet; why should we not place a special value upon that which has touched a wonder-working picture, made illustrious by God's holy Mother?

Prayer to Our Lady of Perpetual Help

O Holy Virgin Mary! Thy sweet name, "Mother of Perpetual Help," inspires me with unlimited confidence. I beg of thee to help me at all times and in all places; in my temptations, after my falls, in all my difficulties, in all the miseries of this life; but above all at the hour of my death. May I always have recourse to thee, for I feel sure that if I invoke thee faithfully, thou wilt be faithful in helping me. Obtain for me, then, the grace to pray to thee with the confidence of a child in order that I may secure thy perpetual help and final perseverance. Bless me, O tender Mother; and pray for me now and at the hour of my death. Amen.

PRAYER OF CONFIDENCE

O Holy Virgin Mary, who to inspire us with boundless confidence, hast been pleased to take the sweet name of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, I implore thee to come to my aid always and everywhere in my temptations, after my falls, in my difficulties, in all the miseries of life, and above all, at the hour of my death. Give me, O loving Mother, the desire and the habit always to have recourse to thee trusting that thou wilt be faithful and come to my assistance. Obtain for me the this grace of graces, the grace to pray to thee without ceasing and with childlike confidence, that I mayest ensure thy perpetual help and final perseverance. O Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for me now and at the hour of my death. Amen.

Litany of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

For Private Use Only.

Lord, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

Christ, hear us.

Christ, graciously hear us.

God, the Father of Heaven,

have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the World,

have mercy on us.

God the Holy Ghost,

have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, One God,

have mercy on us.

Holy Mary,

pray for us.

Holy Mother of God,

pray for us.

Holy Virgin of virgins,

pray for us.

Mother of Christ,

pray for us.

Queen conceived without the stain of Original Sin,

pray for us.

Queen of the most Holy Rosary,

pray for us.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help,

pray for us.

O Mother of Perpetual Help,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

That I may love God with all my heart,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

That I may in all things conform my will to that of thy Divine Son,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

That I may always shun sin, the only real evil,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

That I may always remember my last end,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

That I may often and devoutly receive the Sacraments,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

That I may avoid every proximate occasion of sin,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

That I may never neglect prayer,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

That I may ever remember to invoke thee,

particularly in time of temptation,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

That I may always be victorious in the hour of temptation,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

That I may generously pardon my enemies,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

That I may arise quickly, should I have the misfortune

of falling into mortal sin,

Come to my aid. O loving Mother.

That I may courageously resist the seductions of evil companions,

Come to my aid. O loving Mother.

That I may be strong against my own inconstancy,

Come to my aid. O loving Mother.

That I may not delay my conversion from day to day,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

That I may labor zealously to eradicate my evil habits,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

That I may ever love to serve thee,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

That I may lead others to love and serve thee,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

That I may live and die in the friendship of God,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

In all necessities of body and soul,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

In sickness and pain,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

In poverty and distress,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

In persecution and abandonment,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

In grief and dereliction of mind,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

In time of war, famine and contagion,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

In every danger of sin,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

When assailed by the evil spirits,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

When tempted by the allurements of a deceitful world,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

When struggling against the inclinations of my corrupt nature,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

When tempted against the holy virtue of purity,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

When death is nigh,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

When the loss of my senses shall warn me that my

earthly career is at an end,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

When the thought of my approaching dissolution shall fill me with fear and terror,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

When at the decisive hour of death, the evil spirit will endeavor

to plunge my soul into despair,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

When the priest of God shall give me Extreme Unction,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

When my friends and relations, surrounding my bed moved with compassion,

shall invoke thy clemency on my behalf,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

When the world will vanish from my sight, and my heart will cease to beat,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

When I shall yield my soul into the hands of its Creator,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

When my soul will appear before its Sovereign Judge,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

When the irrevocable sentence will be pronounced,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

When I will be suffering in Purgatory, and sighing for the vision of God,

Come to my aid, O loving Mother.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,

Spare us, O Lord!.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,

Graciously hear us, O Lord!

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,

Have mercy on us.

V. Pray for us, our powerful Mediatrix,

R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.

O Almighty and merciful God, Who, in order to succor the human race, hast willed the Blessed Virgin Mary to become the Mother of Thy only-begotten Son, grant, we beseech Thee, that by her intercession we may avoid the contagion of sin and serve Thee with a pure heart, through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.

http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/Our%20Lady%20of%20Perpetual%20Help.html

#the blessed virgin mary #blessed virgin mary #immaculate heart of mary #mary mother of jesus #mary mother of god #catholic prayers #traditional catholic #catholicism #catholic #christianity #heaven #love #jesus christ #its the truth #catholic saints #catholic faith

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marisaaa · 4 years

Text

The story of us

Robron week day 7 - History (not the fic theme i cheated)

AO3 link here

Seb struggles with a relationship and Aaron gives him advice through his own experiences.

Seb was out on a date with his girlfriend. Emily, she was called. They’d met at school and had been dating for a few months now – it was their three-month anniversary. Seb had an idea to take her to the cricket pavilion, he made a picnic and they were going there for lunch.

Aaron and Robert were sat at the table in the kitchen, Robert was going over some haulage contracts and Aaron was scrolling through his phone when the door slammed.

They both turned towards the noise, glancing at each other briefly.

“Seb?” Aaron called, standing up from his chair and walking towards the door.

A red eyed and puffy Seb walked through the door, sniffing and wiping at his eyes. He was looking down at the floor, averting his eyes from his dad’s as he made his way over to the stairs.

“Hey, Seb.” Aaron rushed to grab his arm, “What happened?”

Seb pulled his arm free and sighed, still not making eye contact, “We broke up, that’s all.”

Robert put down the piece of paper he was holding, looking at Aaron who glanced back at him with sad eyes. “Oh, mate. I’m sorry.” He said gently.

Seb bit his lip and nodded his eyes, “It’s fine. It’s my fault anyway.”

“What do you mean its your fault?” Aaron asked, resting his hand onto Seb’s shoulder, “If you said anything, I’m sure she knows you didn’t mean it-”

“I told her I loved her.” Seb blurted out, finally looking between his dads.

Both Aaron and Robert’s mouths opened in shock, completely clueless on what to say.

Seb nodded and wiped at his eyes again, “I told her I loved her, and she couldn’t say it back.” He sucked in a harsh breath as he looked up the stairs. “I’m just- I’m going up to my room.”

He smiled sadly at the floor as he slowly made his way upstairs, quickening his pace as he got to the top and quickly closing his bedroom door.

Aaron let out a sigh and slowly wandered over to the table to sit opposite Robert. “Wow.” He breathed out, watching Robert nod and look upstairs.

“I can’t believe it.” He said quietly, “I didn’t think they were that serious.”

“Me neither,” Aaron admitted, “Do you think- what he said is the whole story?”

“What do you mean?” Robert quizzed, looking back at him, leaning his elbows on the table.

Aaron let out a breath and chewed on his lip, “I mean, do you think maybe she just- she stuttered or hesitated and he was- I don’t know, he was nervous and took it as denial.”

Robert looked like he was contemplating it before sighing and looking down at the contracts again, “I don’t know, but don’t push him. If he thinks we don’t believe him, we’ll never get anything out of him.”

“Gets that from you.” Aaron teased, laughing slightly when Robert pulled a face. “No, I think I know what to do.”

Seb was lying on his bed, his earbuds plugged in and a random song that he found on the family downloads playing. The blinds were shut, and his light was off. He tried to close his eyes and go to sleep, try to pretend that today hadn’t happened.

He tried not to look at the notifications popping up on his phone but the temptation was still there. He sneaked a look and saw the 5 missed calls and messages

Em: Seb please call me back, we need to talk.

Em: I need to explain myself, just please pick up.

He turned his phone over and shoved his head into the pillow. He was only sixteen. He knew his first love wasn’t going to be his last, he’d found that out from his dads and their own stories but actually living through it was a lot harder than he had expected.

A knock on his door kicked him out of his thoughts and he grunted into his pillow, wishing whoever it was could leave him to wallow. They knocked again though, and his room was suddenly filtered with light from the landing. He turned to face the open door to see Aaron stood there, a bowl in his hand.

“Your dad made- well burned popcorn if you want it.” He said gently, leaning against the doorframe.

Seb just shook his head and turned back around to face away from him. He didn’t leave, instead he just closed the door, turned a lamp on and sat down on the side of the bed.

“I don’t want to talk.” He murmured, bringing the duvet over his head.

He heard Aaron shuffle around and then something heavy was placed on his leg. “I don’t want you to talk, I want you to read.”

“What?” Seb asked, confused as he turned around in his duvet to sit up against the headboard. Aaron gestured towards the book that was now laying next to him on the bed. He picked it up. It was dark leather and had an elastic tie around the front to hold it closed. “What is this?”

Aaron took a deep breath in and unhooked the elastic band, opening the book. “It’s my diary.”

Seb scoffed, “You have a diary?”

“No. Not anymore.” Aaron quickly defended himself, “When I was younger. It helped, a lot. Before I had a counsellor, I would write all my messed up thoughts in that diary.”

Seb opened the front cover. He recognised the scrawl of his dad’s handwriting on the first page.

“December 4th 2014”

“Dad, I- why are you showing me this?” He stammered, closing the book and pushing it back over to Aaron.

“I thought you might like to see it from another point of view.” Aaron explained.

“What do you mean?”

“Read it.” Aaron told him as he pushed the diary back onto his lap and stood up, “You’ll understand what I mean.”

Aaron walked out the room slowly and quietly closed the door behind him, leaving Seb holding the diary on his lap.

It was weird. Seb felt weird, reading his dad’s diary. He knew that even though he was told to read it, he almost felt like he was doing something wrong.

His phone pinged again,

Em: I’m sorry, I really am. Please just text me or call me so we can talk. Whenever you’re ready.

He turned the phone off, pushing it off his bed so it landed with a thump on the carpet. He took a deep breath in and opened the book.

December 4th, 2014

I don’t know what’s going on. I want to scream it, I want to tell my mum, paddy, vic, anyone. I’m confused, I’m angry, I’m jealous. Why am I jealous? Because he’s with Chrissie?

Robert Sugden kissed me. He kissed me and then he came back for more. He’s hiding, though. He’s scared to admit what he really is.

Maybe I should just stay away from him.

Seb had heard this story a million times. How his dads were so in love with each other that they couldn’t keep away. How his dad didn’t regret the breaking up of his first marriage, as long as it meant he could be himself, with Aaron.

He skipped ahead a few pages, skim reading a few words every now and then. His writing was rather large on the page so he could get the gist of what each entry involved. Almost every page started with the word Robert.

March 26th 2015

Robert told me loved me. I know I’ve said it before, I know how I feel. It’s not just because I want him suffer. Ok, maybe I do, considering what he put me through. But I do love him. No matter how hard I try to tell myself I don’t, that he’s bad for me. I do. And I can’t get over the fact.

Seb groaned at the soppyness and skipped a bunch of pages. One page had scribbles and doodles around the outside, angry ones.

July 19th 2016

So, Robert’s moving in. I am happy, I’m excited. It’s a new beginning for the both of us and it makes our relationship seem more real.

It also means I don’t think I will have much time to write in here anymore. I guess that’s good. Finally, I have something in my life that’s steady, that’s constant. I love him, I really do. Sometimes I look at him and I can feel my heart multiply in size with the love that I feel.

I don’t tell him though. He does tell me and I know he means it but there’s this feeling in my stomach. The feeling that when I tell him, it’ll all be real. I’ll be transported out of this happy wonderland life that we’re living and get dumped in the real world.

Why am I scared?

Seb’s heart sunk. He knew that they loved eachother and he’d heard them tell eachother that loads of times. He couldn’t imagine it being that hard, especially not for them.

He turned the next page but it was blank. He turned another page and another until he found one with slightly neater handwriting this time, it seemed less – angry.

July 11th 2017

I guess we’re starting this up again, then? I’m surprised I even found it to be honest. I assumed it would have gotten lost in the move.

It’s crazy how time flies. Last time I wrote in here, we were moving into the pub. Now Robert’s having a baby.

He’s with Rebecca now. At a scan. My counsellor told me to write in here whenever I’m feeling down about it. I’m not upset anymore, she’s a constant reminder of what they did and it’s weighing me down, every time we see her, it’s right in my face.

I want him to understand that I’m okay with him having this baby. Sort of. I want to help him through this so we can face parenthood together. I love him, so I’ll love whatever is his.

Seb felt tears start to form in his eyes. He knew about their time apart before he was born. He knew what happened between his mum and his dad, what happened to Lawrence and Chrissie.

Seeing written evidence from that time made it real, made him realise how much his parents loved eachother, even when they didn’t communicate it properly.

As he turned over a few more pages, a printed photo fell out of the book.

It was the photo of them at Liv’s university graduation day. Her with the hat and the scroll, Aaron and Robert with their arms around her shoulders, and then himself. He was stood in a small suit, at seven years old, a big smile plastered on his face as he stood with his family.

He turned the photo around to see writing on the back.

Talk to her. We wouldn’t have gotten this far if we hadn’t.

Dad x

He waited on the bench outside the front door of the mill. He had the diary in his hands, resting on top of his bouncing knee.

He’d called Emily, he told her that they needed to talk and that they should meet here. He had also read some more of the diary. Parts where Aaron would write down all these feelings, but he never said them out loud, leading him to bottle things up and just make everything worse.

The crunch of gravel made him turn his head, his knee stopped bouncing.

“Hey.” Emily said gently, holding her hands together in front of her.

“Hey.” Seb returned quietly, pointing down to the space on the bench next to him.

Robert was making lasagne, banning Aaron from getting in the way of him in the kitchen, so Aaron was sat on the sofa. His knee was also bouncing nervously, knowing what Seb was doing outside – hoping that it would all work out.

“I can hear your heartbeat from here, Aaron.” Robert said, facing towards the countertop where he was placing the lasagne sheets into the dish.

“What if it goes wrong?” Aaron admitted, turning to face the kitchen, “What if he ends up getting his heart broken again?”

Robert turned to face him, “Then we’ll help him through it. Be here for him when he needs it. That’s all we can do.”

Aaron smiled and nodded but still felt anxious as he nervously bit at his nails.

The door opened as they were about to sit down to eat. Robert shot a glance at Aaron who looked back him nervously, dropping his fork.

“Hey, Seb.” He called as the boy walked in, “Yours is still in the dish if you want it.”

He had a massive smile on his face, sending relief through them both.

“Yeah I just need to go to the loo.” Seb answered him, but quickly swiped a piece of garlic bread off the table in front of them. He pulled the photo out from behind him, keeping the diary hidden. He slid it across the table towards Aaron.

“Thanks, Dad.” He said quietly and Aaron nodded, reaching out to take the photo. He slid it off the table and stood up, connecting it to the fridge using a magnet. “We talked, and she told me she loved me too. I surprised her when i said it earlier, then I ran off so…” he laughed and ran a hand through his hair.

Aaron smiled and looked at Robert knowingly, who narrowed his eyes. “Well I’m glad you made up.” He told him with a smile.

“Me too.” Seb answered as he walked backwards to the stairs, holding the diary behind him. As he slowly walked up the stairs, he turned around and made eye contact with Aaron who smiled and winked, before turning his attention back to his dinner.

#rw2020 #i completely forgot to post this earlier #robron fic #aaron dingle #robert sugden #seb white

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sooghostwriter · 5 years

Text

Iliada

Pairings: Do Kyung Soo x OC

Genre: Mature, Romance, AU, action, smut in future chapters

Warnings: Kyung Soo is not a good guy, mention of violence, bad language.

Summary: After a long and hard assignment, Yoon Suji is sent to a new mission that involves less violence but needs a lot of acting. Do Kyung Soo has one of the biggest drugs rings in South Korea, but police haven’t been able to get him. They need proof that he is the one in charge and Suji is the one sent to get them.

She has the freedom to decide how is she going to get his trust.

Chapter 4

March 15

“What do you mean you don’t want us to stop that transaction?”

“Boss, are you an actual idiot?” Junmyeon went pale in front of the computer screen. Suji’s words didn’t have a hint of a joke, she was actually asking if her boss was an idiot. That always disarranged him.

“I’m not, I’m your boss”

“Then why are you asking such nonsense? It took me two months to finally get something, a very small something by the way. If you guys fail, you know who would be the first suspect for spilling all the information?” Suji enjoyed throwing rhetorical questions at her boss. She knew he hated them.

“We are not going to fail”

“Mister Kim, of course no, Minseok’s team is flawless, but if you guys catch him with only that, a small drug transaction, it would be a waste of time. How much could he get for that? 3 years in jail? I still need more evidence, strong evidence…please boss, I know why I’m telling you this” Junmyeon couldn’t fight with that. She was right. She was always right.

“Proceed as you say, agent Yoon”

“Thanks boss! Now if you excuse me, I need to hit the gym” Suji turned off the computer and Junmyeon couldn’t see her anymore.

“Can you believe her? She called me an idiot and she hung up on me, I’m her boss! And older! She doesn’t respect me at all!”

“She does respect you, but in her own way” Minseok stood next to Junmyeon, after listening to his conversation with Suji. He patted Junmyeon’s shoulder and left a cup of coffee on his table.

“But she is right, we shouldn’t get in Kyung Soo’s way yet”

“I know!” Junmyeon took several zips from his coffee and Minseok could see he was thinking deeply about something.

“Minseok…I have been thinking…for a long while…or wondering maybe, that someday Yoon could turn against us” Minseok answered as if it wasn’t a big deal, something that didn’t surprise Junmyeon.

“Yeah, I’m sure that under the right circumstances, for her of course, she might turn her back to us”

“But how? She is so trustful?” Junmyeon couldn’t answer that question himself, so he needed another point of view, from someone who knew Suji better.

“She is, but first, she is trustful to herself ”

Junmyeon cursed and drank his hot coffee.

From March 23th to April 12th

March 23th to March 24th

The day after the transaction Kyung Soo felt especially happy. Everything went well, and that was always a reason to celebrate. He had breakfast in bed and got up a little bit later. He took a long shower and for lunch, he asked for his favorite food. He had lunch with all the staff and Baekhyun. The plan for the afternoon was to take advantage of the bright sun outside and play with Taro and Sabotaro.

The relationship he had with his dogs was pretty special. He saved both of them from an abusive owner, and he made sure to make the owner pay. He liked how they looked like tough dogs, but in reality, they were a pair of teddy bears that enjoyed being scratched in the tummy, run around the garden and eat apples.

That afternoon Taro was acting weird. He didn’t run as fast as Sabotaro, and he didn’t touch the apple that he gave him. Still, Kyung Soo kept playing with them, Taro was always the calm one, and maybe he didn’t feel like playing.

Kyung Soo could catch Taro’s and Sabotaro’s attention with a fake chicken that made a horrible sound each time they pressed it. Kyung Soo would throw it and both of them would run, catch it and bring it back to Kyung Soo.

By the third run, Taro suddenly stopped and fell on the floor.

“TARO!” He ran and reached his dog in no time.

He was unconscious.

Kyung Soo moved him but there was no response. Sabotaro smelled and bit his friend’s ears, but there was still no response. Kyung Soo kept calling his name, touching him, trying to bring him back to consciousness.

“Mister Do, move!” He jolted and was pushed away by Suji. She sat on the floor next to the dog and sank her hands in between Taro’s back legs. She posed her index and middle finger on his inner thigh and kept them there for a couple of seconds.

“There’s no pulse…here, call your vet, tell him what happened” Suji passed him her phone and Kyung Soo grabbed it with shaking hands. Thank god he knew the number by memory. Meanwhile, he saw how Suji began the compressions in Taro’s chest. Kyung Soo explained to the veterinarian what was going on. They suggested applying CPR to the dog, which Suji was already doing. They told him that they would be there in 5 minutes.

“What did he say?” Suji took him out of his stupor. She was still applying compressions.

“He will be here in 5 minutes”

“Good, he will be breathing by then” Kyung Soo stood next to her, not knowing what to do, but admiring Suji’s assessment. Sabotaro sat next to him, and stared at Suji with his ears up, whimpering. Kyung Soo could hear her mutter a ‘Come on boy’ as she kept applying CPR with a synchronized rhythm. Kyung Soo was in charge of the time, Suji shouted at him ‘check the time!’ when she saw him with his arms resting on top of his legs.

Three minutes passed. Each time a minute passed, Suji would check Taro’s pulse. Nothing yet. She kept pressing, her voice wasn’t a whisper anymore, she screamed at Taro, asking him to come back.

“4 minutes” Kyung Soo said, and Suji checked Taro’s breath again.

“He is breathing!” She checked his pulse and smiled at Kyung Soo.

“The pulse is back” So did Kyung Soo’s. When the veterinarian arrived, Suji took the lead.

“He faded while playing, he had no pulse and he wasn’t breathing. I applied CPR for four minutes until he started breathing”

“Good job, let’s take him to the clinic” Kyung Soo and the vet took Taro in their arms and Suji stayed in the garden, holding Sabotaro, who insisted on following them.

≠

She never imagined that her direct ticket to Kyung Soo’s right side would come from such a humble existence as a dog.

She was cleaning the library when she saw it happen. Kyung Soo ran until he reached his beloved dog, desperate, trying to get a response from him. Her body responded immediately. She ran towards Taro, dropping to her knees so she could help him.

It was an old jail companion in North Korea who taught her how to do it. And it stayed in her head. She always wanted to have a dog, in the future, when retirement was her only option.

Kyung Soo spent the night at the clinic. Everyone’s mood at home changed. From worrying about their boss and his dog. Both of them were really loved, Suji already knew that. The rest of the staff thanked her for the help she gave, but she wasn’t quite sure how to answer. Saving the life of such a precious creature was an instinct of hers, not a duty. It didn’t matter who’s dog it was, she had to help Taro. She didn’t do it thinking about the pros.

Kyung Soo came back the next afternoon and found Suji cleaning the windows of his office. He looked tired and worried. Dark circles framed his eyes and his clothes were full of wrinkles. Suji went down the chair that helped her reach the high part of the windows and stood in front of him.

“How 's Taro?” Suji took a step back when he did nothing but bow. His head almost touched the floor.

“Miss Park, thank you so much for saving Taro’s life, the vet said that without your CPR Taro wouldn’t have made it. I can’t thank you enough, I own you so much”

A dark grin broke Suji’s face.

March 25th to March 26th

Kyung Soo woke up by the sudden landing of a heavyweight on his bed. In front of his eyes, there was Baekhyun, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your sleep, especially after what happened, but we need to hold a reunion. Our client wants more of that new meth. He got us new contacts in three new police stations, so we need to re-arrange some of our guys. Also, I already got in contact with the seller and he will send us a bigger shipment tomorrow. It will be here in two days.”

“Ok, I just caught half of the things you say, but I have to get up, I understand that much…thanks for taking care of the commission”

“No worries, I’ll go have breakfast…by the way, Where is Suji?”

“Miss Park for you, and she must be having breakfast with the staff”

“After she saved your son, did you fall in love with her or something?” Kyung Soo disappeared behind the bathroom door giving Baekhyun the middle finger.

≠

Everybody was ready to start working on their chores when Kyung Soo appeared in the kitchen.

“At 1 o’clock, I need all of you here in the kitchen. We will hold a meeting and we will probably be over by 3 or 4 o’clock….sorry for the bother” No one asked anything. Everybody nodded and started working.

Suji was left dumbfounded. She asked Miss Dada what was going on. Her only answer was.

“It’s his way to protect us, so there aren’t witnesses” She said nothing more and left Suji standing in the middle of the kitchen.

Suji understood something that had been going around her mind for a while.

Everybody knew that what Kyung Soo did wasn’t exactly feed the poor. They knew it. And still, they accepted it. It was as if they were under some kind of Stockholm syndrome.

March 27th to March 29th

Before leaving the household that night. Suji needed to try something. If Kyung Soo already trusted her, he could at least tell her what was going in there. She already knew it. That was for granted. But hearing it from his mouth could be a good thing for the investigation.

She turned on the recording system on her computer and went to Do’s office. She knocked on the door, identifying herself, and he let her in.

The smile he gave her made her feel sure about what she was about to do. She spoke first.

“Mister Do, I will like to talk about something, it will be short” Kyung Soo adopted a serious stare, stiffing his back. He saw this coming.

“Go ahead then” Suji kept standing, even after Kyung Soo invited her to sit. After a long pause, she finally asked.

“What business do you have here?” She had Kyung Soo under a watchful eye. Looking for any sign that could tell her something.

“Why do you ask?”

“Some things are suspicious…and I want to know the dangers around me”

“For you there are no dangers, that I can promise” She tried to act more relaxed as if Kyung Soo’s words could calm her.

“Then what it is you…”

“Miss Park… ignorance is bliss, that’s my way to protect you” Suji understood his tone. No more questions allowed.

She muttered an ‘understood’, bowed and left the office.

≠

“So, Yoon, what do you want me to do with all the information you got the other day from Kyung Soo’s meeting?” Junmyeon’s voice was full of irony. Since Suji referred to him as an idiot, Junmyeon took that attitude, and Suji didn’t fall for it

“I want you guys to investigate every name that appeared there. Anything that calls your attention, investigate it. With a low profile of course” Suji could hear Chanyeol’s keyboard in some place of his lab, probably writing down Suji’s directions.

“Chanyeol! Come in front of the camera for a while please?” Junmyeon moved from his seat giving Chanyeol some space.

“Chanyeol, I need some new gadgets. Lately Kyung Soo has spent a lot of time talking on the phone, do you have something that could let me hear what is going on there?”

“I think…I do, but Suji…his house has some kind of antenna that provides a shield, so no one can intercept his phone calls”

“I know, but from the outside, what about the inside?” Chanyeol shrugged his shoulders and started searching for something on his computer. Suji went to the kitchen, fetched herself some pizza for breakfast and came back to her seat. Junmyeon disappeared from her screen, leaving only Chanyeol, who waited until Junmyeon left the room to talk to her.

“Suji, the other day the big boss came to talk to Junmyeon, asking for news about your mission”

“So?”

“Junmyeon had a little quarrel with him… She always does a perfect job!, he said, I don’t see why this sudden hurry!… He was quite mad” Suji munched his pizza, feeling quite grateful towards her boss. She always appreciated when someone defended her. Especially her boss.

“Still, this was sort of an easy mission…is taking you a while…you should start using the big weapons If you know what I mean”

“Shut the fuck up Chanyeol, I’m leaving, talk to you later” Suji unplugged the computer and kicked the trashcan next to her desk.

She already knew that. She had to hurry up. But Do’s business was a fortress, and it had all the necessary things to stay like that. Very few people were involved, no digital register, loyal co-workers, and people inside the police and inside the government. She was so wrong when she thought that this could be an easy mission.

March 30th to April 1th

Suji’s new toy was a dispositive called RFTS (Random frequency tracking system). The system was quite simple, it will capture every single call in a ratio that could be adapted by the user. In big investigations it could be very chaotic, a voice recognition system will be needed, and probably a team of 30 people that will sit there and listen to the calls, searching for the voice or conversation they needed. But in this case, she only needed an antenna with a reach of 20 meters. And the voice recognition was quite easy when only two people would talk at the same time under that roof.

But she couldn’t be stuck to her computer all the time waiting for a call, so she left the MacBook on and recording. Later Chanyeol or Minseok will edit the recordings.

≠

Kyung Soo knew himself well enough to know that he was staring at Suji too much. He was expectant until another of her skills could come to the surface. Also, he found himself incredibly curious about what he could find under her long skirt. Since the beginning, she has been wearing long skirts that only showed her ankles and with the record he had about her, she was someone who worked out, so why hide her legs?

At the end of the day a man is a man, he thought. And thinking about something couldn’t kill.

“Sabotaro, maybe I should go visit Sara” The dog looked at him from the other side of the window with a stare that looked like a ‘whatever’. Kyung Soo was about to get up and get ready but a knock on his door stopped him.

“Come in”

“Mister Do, I’m going to clean the books”

“Sure, go ahead” Suji looked a bit lost, questioning Kyung Soo with her eyes.

“You will stay here?” He only nodded. She smiled at him briefly and got in with work.

Suji was silent. Too silent. Once in a while Kyung Soo had to look up from his book to check if Suji was still there. It took her three hours cleaning the first shelf. Skillfully she would get on top of a chair so she could reach the higher ledge. Kyung Soo gave a guilty, yet appreciative stare at her figure. He couldn’t get too much. Only the clear line of her waist, highlighted by her apron, and the obvious length of her legs.

“Mister Do, I quit my last job for this kind of thing” Kyung Soo knew immediately what she meant. Deny it was useless. So he only apologized.

“Ok, just…try not to do that again”

“Sure, I’m very sorry…may I change the subject?” Suji nodded and started cleaning the other shelf.

“You like reading Suji?”

“I do” Short answers made Kyung Soo anxious…and curious “What kind of books?”

“Spy novels, thrillers and…poetry” Kyung Soo smiled, a bit less anxious, but more curious.

“I have a lot of books like that, feel free to take them with you anytime you need it”

“Thank you, sir”

“What kind of poetry do you like?” Suji pursed her lips in a way that could be described as adorable, way too adorable.

“I like Japanese poetry…also Latin American writers”

“The bad thing is that because of the translation, you lose a lot of the meaning” Suji grinned as she kept working.

“That’s why I read them in their original language”

He was screwed. Damn, he had a thing for smart girls.

Some guys liked big boobs, some others had a thing for big butts. Kyung Soo had a thing for big brains. And bilingual brains were even better.

≠

Kyung Soo took the first step. Suji felt like getting on her knees and thank God. Not that she believed in him, but she had to thank someone for that change of events.

Just when she was thinking about hurrying up, Kyung Soo decided to stay there while she cleaned the library. That was for sure some kind of kink. And then she finds him looking at her from behind his book, his eyes squinting. She had two options. Let it happen and later take advantage of it. Or face him, stopping him with some prude attitude. She went for the second one. She remembered reading something in Kyung Soo’s profile. Something like ‘He likes straightforward attitudes’.

Then he started asking about her book preferences. And she answered quite honestly. Reading was a good way to stay away from headaches in the middle of missions, so she always hid a copy of some favorite book next to her bullets. He kept asking questions, showing interest, which amused her.

Chanyeol would have to shut his mouth. Suji now had a short time goal.

By the end of the week, she would have Do Kyung Soo eating from her hand.

Hopefully.

The next day, after a day of work, she locked herself in her room. With the curtains closed and only the dim light of the computer screen. She checked some recordings, labeling them with the dates and time. After finishing that, she checked the microphones. Looking for some late-night activities. The ones from the office registered nothing. When she checked the ones from the library, she only perceived the noise of light steps. Then some books falling and lastly a high pitch noise that made her jump and take off her headphones.

The microphone. That noise was familiar to her. Coupler. The most probable reason; it fell from where it was hidden.

She got up from her bed and opened the door looking outside her room. All her neighbors were sleeping, and all the lights were off. She walked outside her room, across the hallway and the kitchen in her tiptoes, carefully, making no sound. All the other rooms were dark. And from Kyung Soo’s room, she could hear the shower running. Hopefully, he didn’t hear the noise. When she reached the library, she got scared for half a second when she saw something moving in the dark. She turned on the light and could only see the tail of a cat going out through an open window. On the floor were a couple of books and the bible that she used to hide the microphone. She lifted it from the floor and found the little black thing under it, shattered in several pieces.

“Fucking Christ” She cursed under her breath. She hid the little pieces in the pockets of her pants and started picking up the books from the floor. Once she was ready to leave, someone called her name.

“Suji?” Fuck. Suji shut her eyes, organizing the ideas in her mind. She pulled off a calm expression and turned around, meeting Kyung Soo’s questioning eyes.

“Sir, I’m sorry…I just came here looking for a book, I was having a bit of trouble sleeping, and I already finished all the books I brought…sorry If I bothered you”

“No, please, go ahead, pick whatever you want” Kyung Soo crossed her arms and walked closer, standing behind her. She got nervous, she hated that feeling, so she grabbed the first book she saw in front of her. An old version of Sherlock Holmes.

“A classic” Kyung Soo said, and Suji heard it too close to her ear.

“Yeah, never too old, now If you excuse me” Suji got ready to leave but Kyung Soo called her name again.

“Suji, tomorrow I need you to accompany me to the temple. I need to deliver some donations”

“Of course sir, whatever you need” Kyung Soo bowed at her, she responded with a similar bow and finally walked outside the room.

A triumphant smile crossed her face once she was finally back at her room.

April 2nd to April 3th

The art of seduction consisted of finding the weak points of the human being. And Kyung Soo’s was quite clear.

The man was full of repentance and guilt.

Suji could tell by the way he prayed at the temple and how familiar the priest was with him. She has seen it before. Men that did bad, begging to God for forgiveness.

She skipped the praying thing telling him that she didn’t believe in anything, only herself. That brought a smile to his face, and Suji knew she did well. She didn’t talk that much when they drove to the temple. Kyung Soo tried to bring a subject of conversation, but she only gave him short answers, giving very little information. Every answer brought another question, but only superficial subjects. He asked once about her family, to which Suji only answered with the truth that Chanyeol had prepared for her. Both parents died, no siblings and no grandparents. No family at all. That was easier to fake. A couple of death records, no necessity of hiring actors. Kyung Soo didn’t ask how her parents died, so she didn’t have to keep lying.

Kyung Soo was an orphan. Maybe that’s why Jongdae and Chanyeol decided to make her an orphan too. How Do’s parents died was clearly explained in Chanyeol’s report. Car accident. It was a pretty horrible accident from what she could see in the pictures. Kyung Soo was left with no family and a small heritage.

She felt a little bit bad for him.

But if his weakness was repentance and guilt she needed to find a way to tell him something like ‘It’s alright, you are a good guy’. The how was the tricky part.

How could she make him believe that she understood his situation and gain his trust when she supposedly didn’t know what his situation was?

Suji sighed and asked God for a cigarette. She blamed the strong smell of incense.

“Suji? I think I’m ready, sorry to interrupt your sleep” Suji opened her eyes and stared at him with a frown.

“I wasn’t sleeping, just enjoying the smell of the incense” As soon as her words left her lips, she realized how rude she sounded. She wanted to apologize, but he was smiling. He sat next to her, not looking angry at all towards his employee.

“Maybe we should grab something to eat at the…just a minute” His phone rang inside the pocket of his joggers, and as soon as he saw the screen he got up and walked some good 5 meters away from her. Having the RFTS now would have been very useful. He spoke for two short minutes and walked back where Suji was, clearly worried.

“We have to leave, come on” Suji didn’t ask a thing, only followed obediently and got into the car.

Kyung Soo walked inside the backroom of a bar in Dongdaemun flanked by two of his guys. His frown stayed deep and dark, and his hands in his pockets gave away a very unfriendly look.

Inside the room were two guys, standing next to the window. One of them tall, built and with a frown as deep as Kyung Soo’s. The other one was as tall as his companion but less built, and his brows were raised in worry.

“Good afternoon gentlemen” Both of them stared at Kyung Soo and only one of them walked in his direction.

“Mister Do, long time no see”

“It's nice to see you again Mister Go, sadly, under these circumstances” Kyung Soo shook his hand and patted his shoulder, giving him a warm smile.

Go’s was Kyung Soo’s eyes and ears in the police department of Dongdaemun. A single man in his early 40ths, with a love for money but not so much love towards his work. Kyung Soo got to have him on his side thank to a very good monthly pay. It was really worth it though, Dongdaemun was the place with more customers, and if any weird rumor about him started going around the police station, Mister Go would make it disappear. The call Kyung Soo got hours ago was him doing his job.

“This is Mister Kang, works at the department, and don’t ask me how, but he had proofs about your business. I already confiscated them, but he is ready to talk” Kyung Soo walked toward him and bowed. The guy didn’t answer but looked quite dumbfounded.

“Mister Kang, please sit down, let’s have a nice talk…sit down, please…I’m very curious, how did you find out about my business?” The man did not answer.

“Kang! Talk, I’m warning you!” Go’s voice sounded less friendly. Kyung Soo said nothing but saw how his head lowered.

“Did someone say something to you? Someone from inside my group? Maybe a customer?” No answer.

“Let me see, if you put together all that information by yourself you must have a strong reason to investigate me…you’re a cop, but this is beyond duty right?” He nodded but didn’t look at Kyung Soo.

“Beyond duty uh?...revenge?” Kang got up from his seat and tried to reach him with his hands, but immediately he had two guys bringing him back to his seat by the shoulders. His attitude showed him that was the reason. Revenge. He could understand that.

“Did I do something to someone close to you?”

“You did”

“Please tell me” Kang’s stare made Kyung Soo feel sick. A strong nausea hit him when he saw the hate in his eyes.

“You fucking bastard killed my brother” Kyung Soo went through all the people he had to make disappear, but there was no memory of a Kang.

“I didn’t”

“You did, my brother died with a syringe in his arm, weighing 25 kilos and with nothing more than a blanket and a bag of crystal meth…I did some research, and his dealer bought the drugs from you” Kyung Soo swallowed that feeling that was building in his throat and adopted the cynic attitude he needed to show in this kind of situations.

“So, in your head…, I’m the one who killed your brother”

“You did, fucking bastard”

“I see, and tell me, how did your brother reach that situation? 25 kilos? And you didn’t realize he had a problem?” Kang didn’t answer.

“He was clearly addicted, but let’s take a minute to think about how he reached that state…tell me Mister Kang, why did you let that happen?”

“Don’t try to…” Kyung Soo’s voice was calm and low, he knew how annoying and terrifying it could be.

“I will, you are blaming me for something that I didn’t do, I have to defend myself. I did not kill your brother, you didn’t kill your brother, he killed himself…although I cannot deny that you should have done something to stop it” He tried to move from his seat, but Kyung Soo’s guys didn’t allow him.

“We did!”

“What, you guys told him to stop doing drugs, put him into rehab and what? Let the doctors do their magic?”

“He was a normal kid! He was a smart kid! A happy kid!”

“Was he?...Mister Kang, was your brother a happy kid?...” He stared at the man, who now looked a lot less angry. His face was now crossed by pain. Sudden realization maybe.

Kyung Soo exhaled a long sigh and rested his arms on top of the table “So, this is what is going to happen. I know that you still have copies of all the proof against me, and we have your testimony, which I think, can bring me some kind of trouble…I don’t like trouble…I know how to fight trouble, so I know how to fight you” Kyung Soo opened a folder that one of his guys handed him and looked at it for a while.

“Two daughters?...” Kang reacted as electrified, the two guys holding him could barely keep him in place “Don’t touch my girls!”

“I will never…but what about Tae Mi…your wife”

“Stay away from them!” Kyung Soo stood up, took the folder with him and went to stand next to him.

“I will, If you don’t mess with me” Kang lowered his head, nodded and whispered an ‘understood’.

That was it. Kyung Soo walked outside the room.

This time there were no deaths. Hopefully.

Suji took advantage of Kyung Soo’s absence. He called the house saying he would be back late. And since everyone was in the living room watching TV, she walked across the garden and got into his room with two microphones in her pockets.

She had already installed one under his bed. Maybe the acoustic wouldn’t be the best, but at least she knew he wouldn’t stick his head under his bed.

For the second microphone, she still wasn’t very sure about where to put it. One option was a small architectural detail on top of his bed…but it was too small, a small movement could drop the gadget. The other option was the ceiling lamp, which was a very good place, but it was pretty high and she would need a stair, maybe two meters, doing it by herself would be almost impossible.

Just when a third-place appeared in her sight, someone opened the bedroom door. She hid the microphone in her pocket and waited for whoever was, to get inside.

Her eyes met Kyung Soo’s, and no excuse came to her mind. “Sir…”

“Don’t say a word” He walked until he was close to her, too close. He grabbed her wrist and pushed her on top of the bed. Suji was suddenly terrified, but not for his actions. She was terrified because she didn’t know what to do. She was completely unprepared.

He didn’t look mad, but there was something in his stare.

“Take off your sweater” He ordered.

“Excuse me, sir?”

“You hear me, do it” Suji thought about resisting, but her instinct told her not to do it. She met Kyung Soo’s eyes again and she could see what he thought she was doing there.

And it was a misunderstanding.

A very useful misunderstanding.

This wasn’t going to be the first nor the last time that she will need to do this for a mission.

TBC

#do kyung soo #do kyungsoo #Kyungsoo #d.o kyungsoo #d.o #exo fanfiction #exo fanfic #kyung soo #exo scenario #bear #evo

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oldnintendonerd · 5 years

Text

Season 3 in full swing - But first... the Pre-Season

Alright, I’ll admit it, I’ve been slacking here. It takes time to write these up, and time is something I have not had as much of as I’d like. We made it to the very end of 2018 in the last blog post, and we had a whopping $103.68 in the game hunting money stash. I’ll tell you what too, it gets even better. One of my first finds of 2019 was at the Goodwill, and it wasn’t even a game, but boy did it help the game hunting money.

A decent condition TU-2 Tuner pedal from Boss. I actually have one of my own and didn’t need one at all, but at TWO BUCKS? I couldn’t pass it up, knowing it’d have to be easily $40 at minimum, without even looking it up. It was a little dusty, and had a few dings and scrapes, but man, these things are tanks. Anyone familiar with this will recognize it as really good condition. I’ve seen them with massive amounts of rust and nearly no paint left and they still work like a charm.

Little before and after for you here:

Sold that son of a bitch for a cool $58.99 on eBay. After listing fee, PayPal fee, and shipping we add $44.06 to the game hunting money, totaling $147.74. A new record high!

That was in early February. Deep winter is terrible for finds, and it wasn’t until late March, on the 22nd, until I found even SOMETHING. A Wii sensor bar for $0.99 at Goodwill. No pics of that, it’s a sensor bar. It’s... yeah. A sensor bar. I needed them though, I have like 6 extra Wiis. Been waiting to get a couple complete systems so I can sell, or mod and sell each one. In any case, totaled $1.06 out the door. We drop to $146.68. Moving on.

March 26th, once again, at the Goodwill. Knocking on Spring cleaning’s door and I spot a blue Dual Shock 2 controller. Sitting in the toys section, not electronics. Not by the video games. In the toys section. This is not the first time this has happened, finding something game related in the toys section. Last time I think it was a few actual PS2 games.

Tiny bit of dust in some of the nooks and crannies, but man is it in good condition. Sticks are 9/10 easy, and buttons are nice and crispy. My new favorite PS2 controller right now. This one set us back $3.99. Or, $4.29 out the door. This takes us to $142.39.

Great find, I only had one DualShock 2 controller when I found this, so really couldn’t have been better timing. Having two again makes the system feel whole again somehow.

Moving into April, we ran across an unusually valuable title. Now I don’t mean it is worth $100 or anything, I just mean it is one that you would liken to be being something along the lines of maybe $5 complete.

Wheel of Fortune for PS3 - Found at Goodwill 04.12.2019

Again, not a hundred dollars but it was still worth $13.95 on Pricecharting. Usually that tells me it is a least worth a play. So I snagged it. This was Goodwill again, so $2.99, and $3.21 out the door. Takes the hunting money down to $139.18.

on 04.15.2019 I hit a flea market. Really not much there, one guy had a completely obliterated Sega Dreamcast I didn’t even look twice at. That was it, other than a guy with a small bag of DS and GBA games. He wanted $30 for the whole bag, and I’d never heard of any title other than this one...

Snagged it for $4 just by itself. It looks like its going for about $12 loose, so I thought that was acceptable. I don’t have a DS to test it on (yet), but cartridges almost never fail really. So fingers crossed this one is fine. Takes us to $135.18.

A couple weeks later, it is still not yet really Yard Sale season. There has been a sprinkling, and by this time I have visited a handful, but with no luck finding anything. The next find is still a thrift store find. I’ll admit I probably paid more for this than I should have, Pricecharting has this one at $5.69 complete. I paid $3.92, which brought it to $4.20 after tax.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception - Found 04.28.2019 at VoA

I don’t mind paying a little more for games when they have been tough to find, or if they are going to my collection. This one is both. The Uncharted series, ever since I found out about it, and that it was generally well received and liked, I’ve been looking for copies. I knew they were cheap and the only time I’ve run across any copies was at GameStop, and they were $4.99, and disc only. I’m like I am not paying $5 plus tax, for a disc only game that is worth pretty much exactly that CIB. I want the box to put on the shelf! So when I saw this in the thrift I grabbed it anyway. Still under retail price, or at least what I’d pay on eBay to have one shipped. Most were around $10, give or take a dollar. So half price? Not bad, and in decent condition.

The $4.20 takes us to $130.98.

Now, we are at least into the current month. I walked into The Salvation Army store on May 9th and spotted this...

A Sega CD. Not easy to find or come by, especially in the box. However, not being a Sega guy (obviously), and because of that, not having looked at prices for Sega CD really ever, let alone recently, I guessed at it being worth about $100 to $120. I thought the condition of the box was a little rough to be asking $69.99, so I left with only the photo on my phone.

Later that evening I looked on eBay sold listings and was a little surprised. Ones without the box were going for what I thought the CIB one would be worth. I posted the shot I snapped above on my Instagram and asked my followers their opinion: Would they have picked it up?

Overwhelmingly... yes, they would have!

So I stopped in the next morning after they opened and asked to look at it. It was indeed CIB, though the box had seen better days. Even the carton inside had a few rips. but it was all there, and still held everything securely. I asked if it had been tested. The guy at the front said yes they test everything they get. I said oh, you guys have a Genesis to hook to this? Could I see it work?

That was met with a blank stare. Another guy that does the testing actually admitted that it was not tested. So I said how about $40 then, since I’m taking a risk here. They said they can’t adjust the price, only the manager can do that. I asked if the manager was in and after a little chasing, they found her and she came up to the front to talk to me. I explained that this is an add-on system, not a stand alone console and it is not tested, I’d like to get it for a little cheaper to account for the risk I’m taking if I buy it. She lowered the price to $49.99.

I bought it.

Everything is there, the extension piece, the adapter, the manual, both RF shields, and the plate used to attach the extension. There was even a game in it!

The disc is VERY rough on Ecco, but it does play. I know this because a co-worker helped me out, gave me his Genesis and it fired right up on the first try, and booted the game with no problems. I tried a few more times just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke, even let it run for a while, and played a bit of it. It did struggle here and there because of the scratches, but otherwise played fine!

Could not be happier. I plan to clean it up a bit, as you can see it does have some dust and grime on it.

But once that’s taken care of I think it will be a great looking Sega CD. I will probably offer it up to Instagram first before trying it on the ‘bay. if anyone is interested please let me know on Instagram, I’m just @oldnintendonerd.

The price isn’t set yet, I am thinking somewhere between about $175 and $200. The last one that sold on ebay went for $300 shipped. better condition box though, so that’s why i’m thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 to $230 shipped. I’m open to opinions if you have them, comment here or DM on IG.

This purchase, after tax was $53.74, taking us down to $77.24. however, this was bought SOLELY to flip. I do not collect for Sega, so this is entirely for profit to help buy more Nintendo stuff. I have no problem with Sega, I do not view it as trash or anything, I just didn’t grow up with it, and my heart belongs to Nintendo. There is only so much room in my home, and in my budget, so it must go.

We’ll call it there for this one, hopefully I’ll have another post up much sooner than every three months or so. Summer months should yield higher finds so I can detail stuff here more often. I hope.

2019.05.29

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benjikarofsky · 5 years

Text

Caught Up || Para

WHO: Benji Karofsky (@benjikarofsky) and Topher Pierce (@topherxpierce).

WHERE: Benji’s apartment

WHEN: 26th March 2019

NOTES: Worried about his best friend’s sudden drinking, Topher visits Benji to make sure he’s okay. After Toph drops a bombshell, Benji shows he’s more like his brother than he’ll admit.

TRIGGERS: N/a.

BOLD: Benji

ITALIC: Topher

WORD COUNT: 3039

While Benji had had a few drinks here and there before, he had never been drunk. At least until last night; between his emotion-filled hook-up with Franco and dealing with the aftermath, this week had been one Benji wanted nothing more than to forget--and given that this was the second day in a row of him being plastered, he was well on his way.

At the sound of a knock, Benji hobbled over and swung open his front door. "Toph-ie!" he slurred, a 4loko in one hand. "You came!"

Topher honestly didn't know what to make of this situation. Not one bit. After all, these types of situations weren't an everyday occurrence. All the same, the former Serpent had made the trip to Taco Bell then to Benji's as an ever increasing number of thoughts competed for attention in the back of his mind. What did Benji want to forget? Why turn to alcohol and not try to pile on better memories? Who should get read the riot act first?

All of those questions got locked away as he'd knocked on the door and was soon greeted by Benji. "Yeah, I did and got the Taco Bell as requested," Topher responded while he held up the bag in order to show he was speaking the truth.

"Awe, you're the greatest!" Benji replied, hugging Topher before the other boy could protest. "Wanna come in?" he offered, pulling again and backing up, taking a swig out of the can as he did. "I'm just watching Moana again." He pointed to the TV, the movie paused on the screen. "It's fun to sing along to when you're toasted. Some of the songs are so fast though!" He burst into a fit of giggles and plopped down on the sofa. "I'm sorry, Toph-ie. I'm rambling, aren't I? My head just feels so foggy," he explained, starting to giggle again.

Topher managed to return the hug as well as give a light smile as he answered, "Actually, the title of greatest goes to you and sure, I'll come in." With that said, he entered the oh so familiar apartment and simply listened to Benji as he set the food out on the coffee table. "Yeah, a whole lot of those songs are tough to keep up with, regardless of whether you're sober or drunk as a skunk. But the rambling's fine, nothing to apologize for. Actually, leave the apologizing for everything to me."

Benji tilted his head, putting down the can so he could pick up the remote. "What? Toph-ie, why are you apologizing?" he questioned, pattering to the arm of the sofa and propping his elbows up on it so he could see his best friend better. "You didn't do anything!"

The youngest Pierce perched himself on one of the arms of the sofa once he was done with the food and was about to start watching the movie when he noticed that Benji had paused it. Topher's gaze turned to face his best friend in order to convey that he was paying attention to what was being said. "I may not have done anything tonight, but there are plenty of other things to apologize for. Besides, it's just my thing, you know? Apologize for stuff so other people don't have to or whatever."

Benji frowned, his eyes not leaving Toph. "Plenty things?...Like what?" He asked, "I don't think you've done anything..." A little off thanks to all the drinking, Benj found himself getting lost in Topher's eyes. "I think you're perfect."

"It's a long and complicated story that would be lost to a hangover," Topher replied with a light shrug then allowed a soft smile to appear on his face. "Again, you're such a sweetheart and maybe you're right about me not having done anything, but I still feel like I have. Anyway, I think you're perfect too, Benji. We're like pieces of a puzzle in terms of cliches."

Benji giggled, his face turning pink. "I love it when you talk all literature-esqe, Toph-ie," he admitted, too drunk to notice what slipped. "I think we're perfect too."

A light blush started to paint Topher's cheeks at the compliment, yet he quickly moved to cover his face until it went away. When the burning feeling started to dissipate, he turned in order to face Benji again. "I'm glad you do. That's a big worry of mine, that I might be accidentally boring somebody with all the literature related talk. We make a pretty excellent duo and I hope that continues for the rest of our lives."

"You'll never bore me, Toph-ie," he assured, giving his best friend a soft smile. "C'mon. Let's watch Moana!" he said excitedly, scooting back a bit, then pulling Topher's arm so he would fall into the sofa seat next to him. "I just re-started it, so you didn't even miss anything important."

Topher allowed himself to be pulled down onto the sofa with the same soft smile on his face, although he also made plenty of mental notes that he was here for one reason alone. To continue doing his best to be a great friend. "Thanks for restarting it Ben," he softly responded then allowed himself to relax just a hint and let bits of stress melt away for the time being.

After Benji pressed play on the movie, he cuddled up to Toph, laying his head in the crook of Topher's shoulder. Although this was far from the first time the two had been affectionately close, a sober Benji would have probably opted to stay on his side by himself--there would've been less temptation that way.

"...Toph?" Benj asked, breaking the silence, "when you said you feel like you did something... what did you do?

Topher's attention had admittedly drifted right back to the movie, so Benji's voice almost made him jump off the sofa. In moments though, he'd recovered his usual calm exterior and gave a light shrug so as to not dislodge the other male. "I don't want to give too much away because it'll just be lost by morning, but I've been thinking about some things," the youngest Pierce simply stated.

A few moments later, he took a deep breath then added, "One of them is that I'm considering going back to the Serpents. With the Black Hood running wild, I want to keep an eye on my loved ones and have people ready to help out with that if necessary."

Immediately, Benji was forced to remember Toph's time in the gang--every day, he was stuck worrying about his best friend, and his nights were seemingly devoted to cleaning Toph's wounds and making sure he was okay. With everything else going on in Benji's life, he couldn't bare to have Toph rejoin that life; he wouldn't be able to handle it emotionally.

"...No," Benji said firmly in response, barely moving from his place on Toph's shoulder. "You're not re-joining the Serpents. I'm not gonna let you."

To put it simply, Benji's current tone felt like a knife to the heart. As much as Topher seriously didn't want to risk a fight starting between them, his mind was already formulating plans. He remembered everything that his best friend had done for him during those two years he was a Serpent and would forever be grateful as well as hold the guilt related to causing worry on his shoulders. But, the youngest Pierce only sighed as he closed his eyes.

"Ben, it'd be better for everyone if I went back. Sure, I'm not as strong as I used to be physically, but apparently plenty of Serpents make up for that and mental strength is fine. Plus, it would help me rest easier at night if I knew that I could have extra pairs of eyes on my loved ones."

"No, Toph." Benji stressed, turning around to stare him in the eye. "If you wanna help your loved ones, you do that by staying out of this. What good is an extra set of eyes if now I have to go back to worrying about whether you're gonna make it home at night?" He bit his lip, his mind still too cloudy to be able to formulate his thoughts the way he wanted to. "You will never understand how much I care about you, and if you re-join the Serpents, it will do more harm than good. For you, for me, and for everyone else. I'm putting my foot down on this one."

"I've already tried staying out of it, Benji and I hate that you worried about me then more than words can say. But I'll be alright either way," Topher stated. His fingers started to tap against his leg as the conversation started to replay over and over in the back of his mind. "Listen, I care in a way that words can't express too. I feel like I've run out of options though or maybe I didn't even have a range in the first place. All I know is that I believe it would be in the long term best interests of my loved ones if I went back, potential risks be damned."

"NO!" Benji shouted. In the back of his mind, he knew the alcohol was affecting his temper, but with everything going wrong this week, he couldn't afford to ruin things with Topher as well. "You're not listening! Because if you cared about me, you wouldn't even be considering this! This town is getting worse by the second! People have been maimed and people have been killed! You're not rejoining the Serpents, Topher! I refuse!"

The shout definitely got his attention and immediately, Topher's body language softened. He definitely wasn't going to back down from this so soon, but blue eyes were alight with the usual caring nature that was on display when around loved ones. "I really don't want to argue about this, especially with you. Yes, things around Riverdale are in a constant downward spiral and terrible things have happened to plenty of people. You and so many other people in my inner circle mean the world to me, I want the best for you guys. Benji, please understand me when I say that there is a method to this madness, even if it doesn't seem like it." He took a few moments to close his eyes and take a deep breath then focused his attention on his best friend once again. "It's late and you're drunk, plus I didn't even want to bring this up. Can we table this until the near future?"

"Do you think me being drunk has anything to do with this?!" Benji asked, his voice booming. "Topher, you are one of the smartest guys I've ever met! You can't actually think that this is the best way to protect the people you care about! Do you understand how much I care about you?! If you got really hurt or worse, I would literally never recover! I don't know how much easier I could spell this out for you! I--" he grabbed Topher's face and kissed him, his clouded emotions finally getting the better of him.

In hindsight, the being drunk factor was something he shouldn't have mentioned. As soon as Benji was done speaking, Topher was about to start again, but in that split second...his best friend's lips were on his own. For a wordsmith in the making, there was literally nothing that could describe that swirl of emotions that stirred up in those moments and eventually, he found himself returning the kiss ever so slightly. The former Serpent had to come up for air soon though as the hurricane of emotions started to weigh heavily on his entire being. "I'm sorry. For everything I said," he finally whispered.

As soon as Benji realized what he was doing, he let go of Topher. 6 years of imagining their first kiss, and this was about the furthest from his fantasies that things could've gotten. "I..." Benji stammered--If he thought formulating his thoughts was hard before, this was another world--"I'm... I'm drunk. I'm... I'm so sorry..." he whispered, stumbling as he pushed himself off the sofa and backed up until he accidentally hit his back against the opposite wall.

"It's fine, really," Topher replied in the same low and even tone as he fumbled for his cane then pushed himself up. "Let's eat and get some rest, alright? We can continue the conversation tomorrow or forget it ever happened, whatever you want to do. But I think we both need some rest right now," he added in between careful steps toward Benji. That classic storm of thoughts and emotions continued to rage unchecked in his mind, yet Topher calmly held a hand out to the other, an unspoken offer of help and promise that he wouldn't turn his back.

As Topher walked towards him, Benji shook his head, wishing he could somehow back himself even further into the wall. "We... we... I..." he stammered, still having trouble trying to process what he just did. "Don't... we can't just eat and act like I didn't just do that! Don't go easy on me because we're friends. I... punch me! Something!"

Topher rolled his eyes as he listened to Benji this time and instead remarked, "Look a little closer. You'll see that I am doing something. You want a reaction? This is it, in all the annoyingly calm glory. It would be a massive fucking waste of energy to feel anger or whatever towards you right now." He held his hand out once again and arched an eyebrow as he waited. "I also hate to be that guy, but can we speed up this reconciliation? My legs are tired from work and I just want to enjoy whatever's left of the night with you. After the movie, kick me out or let me stay, the choice is up to you."

Benji felt his shoulders fall, still staring straight ahead at Topher. "...Okay." he said, barely audible. Cautiously, he took Topher's hand and finally walked away from the wall.

"You... I wish I could control my emotions like you. I'd get in a lot less trouble," he added, giving an exhausted laugh. Silently, he worried how his best friend would react if he knew of even part of the week Benji's temper had gotten him into. He slowly sat back down on the sofa, but couldn't help subconsciously still keeping his distance. "...What do we do now?"

"That would be a wish wasted, let me tell you. It might seem like a blessing at first glance, but it's nothing other than a curse," Topher answered as he soon joined Benji on the sofa. "It'll feel great and like you've finally got a handle on things then you'll come to realize that you replaced one coping mechanism with another." He knew that he'd come to regret making that remark later, but what was another regret added to the pile at this point? Plus, what better way to admit that he had troubles of his own than in his typical casual fashion?

"As for what we do now, you eat if you want to. If you don't, then we can save it to be warmed up tomorrow or I can make you something else at anytime. Then we pay attention to the movie and if we're still awake later, switch it to something else. We just go about the night as we normally would."

Benji slowly nodded. "...G-Go about the night the way we normally would," he regurgitated, not realizing his body was still hugging the sofa arm opposite Topher.

"I... I think I'll eat later." His tone was timid and nervous, "...Wanna hit resume on Moana? You're closer to the remote..."

Topher gave a small nod as he moved to grab the remote and get the movie started again then placed the remote back on the coffee table once that was accomplished. He turned to Benji with the same kindhearted look painted across his face then aimed to reach for his best friend's hand. "C'mon, making the most of this includes my partner in crime. Plus, I'm tired and your shoulder is looking really cozy right now."

Benji hesitated, but after a moment, he nodded slowly and took Topher's hand, pulling him to lay down against him. Things stayed quiet (besides the TV) for a few minutes, but, eventually, Benji couldn't help but break the silence with a drunk giggle, finally comfortable again. "Hei hei's so cute..." he murmured, "I want a chicken..."

Topher only gave a small hum of approval as the emotional exhaustion started to take a toll on him. "Maybe someday," he answered in response to the chicken comment. In the span of a few moments, he nearly drifted off plenty of times yet tried to remain awake for both Benji and the movie. "You don't mind if I use you as a pillow, right?"

At Topher's question, Benji simply moved his best friend onto his chest and smiled, feeling his eyes start to slip closed. "...Wanna stay here tonight?" he offered, exhaustion obvious in his voice. Between the alcohol and all the emotions, Benji knew he'd be falling asleep any moment now.

Topher gave a light hum of thanks then moved in order to get a better glance at Benji when the offer hit his ears. "Yes, please. I think that if I tried to go to my car right now, I'd fall asleep while walking," he lightly joked after the acceptance. As the former Serpent relaxed once again, he added, "Don't know what I'd do without you, man."

Benji smiled, feeling himself start to drift off to sleep. "I don't know what I'd do without you either, Toph," he whispered, wrapping the other boy in his arms.

Topher's soft smile remained firmly planted on his face as he too felt himself drifting off to sleep. "Let's hope we never have to figure out what to do," the youngest Pierce muttered to himself then closed his eyes in order to get some much needed rest. Everything else could be worried about later or when morning came, but for now, Topher would enjoy this while he could.

#para #para3 #topher

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psiscans · 6 years

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I've been following you guys for about a year and I've been wondering... How did PSI Scans come to be? What made the you decide to start the group? Do you still have all the members you started out with?... Etc. I'd just like to know more about the history behind your group, if you're ok with talking about it.

Thank you so much for asking!

We've just passed the two year mark from when this group was first created- so here's a timeline of PSI Scans history under the break:

Late October, 2015: eyfey received an anonymous message saying:

"A small (and by small i mean BIG) part of me wants you to translate saiki kusuo cause nobody's donating for it on spinyback to get translated (no i don't have the money to donate either) but that be dependent on whether YOU want to do it"

SpinyBackTeam was the group scanlating Saiki at the time, but it had been months since their last release, and no one was sure when the next release was coming out, if ever.

eyfey said they'd be on board to do translations if someone else would handle redrawing/typesetting.

October 27th, 2015Shortly after that message, seirui and milaza contacted eyfey, and the three of them formed a team and began working on chapters.

Sadly neither seirui or milaza stayed around past the first couple releases- leaving eyfey as the only founding member who's still currently working on the scanlations. Without seirui and milaza though, this group never would've been created and we never would've made it to where we are today

Late November, 2015At some point as we were working on the chapters, Spinyback re-did their website and ended up removing Saiki completely. We thought they had dropped the series for sure at this point, so we kept working at our slow slow pace.

December 9th, 2015Before we could make our first release, SpinyBack released a new chapter out of the blue! We has 4 chapters translated at this point and weren't sure whether or not to continue with the scanlation or just give up and let SpinyBack handle it... We decided to wait and see if they would start updating more regularly.

December 24th, 2015 Just for fun, eyfey solo'd chapter 33 for a special christmas release. (SpinyBack still hadn't released any new chapters since the one at the beginning of the month)

December 29th, 2015Spannersq joined the team to help with cleaning! (and did basically all the cleans for - Spannersq is still on the team today!)

SpinyBack still hadn't released any new chapters, so we decided to just go ahead and do it ourselves. (I still regret not messaging SpinyBack about it though. It didn't occur to me at the time, but it hindsight it was pretty rude to just start on a project someone else was already working on... we just desperately wanted people to be able to read more of this amazing manga.)

December 31st, 2015This was the day Spannersq came up with the name PSI Scans for our group! With a name we were finally ready to release some chapters!

Janurary 5th, 2016Our first official release! After 3 months of uncertainty, we finally released chapter 31~ ...in pretty poor quality. At this time, we were using low quality magazine scans as our raws and no one on the team really had any experience with cleaning or redraws.

Luckily! Shortly after our release, Otafreek joined us: bringing high-res raws and informative typesetting/cleaning guides, causing the quality of our scans to skyrocket. Otafreek also had raws for volume 0, so we were able to go back and translate those chapters as well.

...and that's not all! We also got another new member that day: Snazzyhelmet! Who joined as a translator!

Otafreek only stuck around for a chapter or so, but Snazzyhelmet has been doing translations ever since and is still one of our current active translators!

January 15th, 2016We released the first chapter of volume 0: our first high quality chapter!

March 26th, 2016No new chapters yet... eyfey and snazzyhelmet had been keeping up with translations (we were already done with vol0 and about 6 chapters into vol4) but unfortunately life had gotten busy for both Spannersq and Otafreek. Spannersq ended up taking a break for about a month, and Otafreek retired completely. In their absense eyfey took over typesetting, purchasing/scanning raws, and cleaning/redrawing.

March 28th, 2016We released the 2nd chapter of vol0! This was also the end of month long gaps between releases.

May 2nd, 2016The Saiki anime was announced! Spannersq was back cleaning at full speed and we'd been keeping up a steady release speed (about one chapter per week)

May 7th, 2016Le joined the team as our new typsetter, and took care of typesetting for most of the chapters in volume 4 + the first half of vol5 before retiring~

May 15th, 2016As we were getting close to the end of vol4, we decided to go back and re-do the first couple chapters of vol4 before starting on vol5 - it meant a few more weeks without "new" chapters, but this way we could have decent quality versions of all our releases.

This was also the day a Meho7 very generously donated raws for vol 7-8~

May 20th, 2016Misterquire joined as a redrawer - providing us with beautiful beautiful redraws for many months, but eventually retiring ;v;

July 4th, 2016The anime was released! This doesn't really have anything to do with the manga scanlation, but hype was up and the number of Saiki fans was increasing! (the anime managed to overtake us pretty fast though, and soon it was releasing episodes of stuff we hadn't translated yet TvT )

June 8th-9th, 2016Sroa joined as our 2nd designated redrawer, and a day later LAR joined as a cleaner! (Sroa was a huge help with redraws for the next couple months until they retired, and LAR is still an active cleaner today!)

July 16th, 2016Teleport-teapot joined as our 3rd redrawer! They brought us beautiful, fast redraws for months until they eventually retired~

July 18th, 2016Nashi joined and took over typesetting for Le and has been creating beautiful typesets for us ever since~(Nashi is currently one of our two active typesetters.)

July 20th, 2016Kamo joined as a 3rd translator- working hard until January, when they had to take a 10 month hiatus for computer problems, but that hiatus has just ended and now Kamo is back as one of our current active translators!

August 3rd, 2016Six joined as a translator, stuck around for a handful of chapters, and disappeared as mysteriously as they came~

August 19th, 2016On this day: Sisselwolfgang and maou-shoujo joined the team as beautiful beautiful beautiful redrawers. This truly was a golden age of redrawing for PSI Scans TvT

Sisselwolfgang worked for a good long time before eventually needing to take a break from scanlation, but Maou-shoujo is still consistently creating godlike redraws with us today!

October 31st, 2016Dollyl joined the team as a second typesetter, bringing gorgeous speedy typesets to us all~ Dollyl is still typesetting today alongside Nashi as one of our 2 current active typesetters!

At this point, we'd also passed the one year mark for the group! In that first year, we'd made it all the way to chapter 65- meaning we finished about 45 chapters total, if you include vol0 + the one shots~

To compare that with the previous groups working on Saiki: DarkMurmur = 11 chapters per year (2 years to finish the first 22 chapters)SpinyBackTeam = 12 chapters per year (technically they only did 8 chapters, but their pace averaged out to about one chapter per month)

So we were working at a pretty good speed- especially considering that we didn't actually release anything for the first couple months, haha.

November 22nd-23rd, 2016Miyo-sai joined the team as a translator, and Toumikasa joined as a cleaner!

Miyo-sai stuck around and translated a handful of chapters before moving on in life, but Toumikasa is still working as one of our active cleaners today!

Dec 15, 2016Ichi joined the team as a redrawer! They did a number of redraws over the next couple months before going on indefinite hiatus~

January 1st 2017,We decided to make the switch from ouph to offu starting in vol 9- since the author released a chapter with it spelled out as OFFU in English. So long ouph~ You will be missed~

April 1st + 11th, 2017Ykun and Jeddle joined as a translators! Both of them are still translating with us today!

May 10th, 2017Rupali joined as a redrawer- by this point maou-shoujo was the only other active redrawer.

Rupali is still with the group today, but is on a sort of semi-hiatus while they're busy.

May 22nd, 2017sefway3 joined as a redrawer! They're one of our few current active redrawers!

June 16th, 2017We finally reached the last chapter that was featured in the anime ;v; (almost a year after the anime first aired)

July 22nd, 2017peaceful-waldeinsamkeit joined the team as a redrawer! Hooray!

September 4th, 2017vulpi111 joined as a cleaner! Hurrah!

September 10th, 2017femalecorpse joined as a redrawer! Huzzah!

Peaceful-waldeinsamkeit, vulpi111, and femalecorpse are all still active members of the team today~

And that brings us to where we are today! We've just passed the two year mark of when the group was founded, and we've just released our 142nd chapter (including oneshots + omake chapters).

It's also worth mentioning, there are many many more members not on this list that have joined and left our team over the years: Some only doing one or two chapters before moving on, some who have joined recently but haven't started working yet, and some who joined and then left without ever finishing their first chapter...

Scanlating is hard work and it takes up a lot of time, plus most people who work on manga like this are also trying to balance school and/or jobs, so it takes a very dedicated person to be able to start scanlating and then stick with it. But even those who only finished one or two chapters before needing to retire were a huge help to getting us to where we are today! (but if I listed all of them this list would be way too long, so we're sticking to just the people who stuck around a little longer for now~)

But yeah! That's the history of this group!There's still a little over 100 chapters left to go, and more coming out every week, so it looks like we've still got at least another year at this rate before we catch up (though that could be much much sooner if we got more redrawers and translators...) But in any case, we'll keep doing our best to work hard until the day all of Saiki Kusuo has been translated into English!

Thank you all for reading!

#mePSIges #Anonymous

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pamphletstoinspire · 6 years

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Saint John Berchmans - Feast Day: November 26th - Latin Calendar

Born: March 13, 1599, Diest, Belgium

Joined the Jesuit Order: September 24, 1616 (aged 17)

Died: August 31, 1621 (aged 22)

Beatified: 1865 (244 years later)

Canonized: 1888 (23 years after that)

Patron Saint: Altar Servers

Feast Day: November 26

John Berchmans (note, the final “s” is part of the name) was born and grew up in a Flemish-speaking area of present-day Belgium. His short life (he was only 22 when he died of a sudden fever) was marked by extraordinary piety, even by the standards of the day, which were much higher than our own.

Pray and Work

At the age of 7, John would get up at 5 am and serve 2 or 3 Masses, carefully listening to the sermons (in those days every priest had to say his own Mass every day - it was not enough to concelebrate the Mass of another priest.) For this reason, perhaps, John was later made the patron saint of altar servers. At the age of 9, he would spend hours every day with his mother, who was bedridden with a long illness. His parish priest, Fr. Emmerick noticed all this and remarked that Our Lord would “work wonders in the soul of the child.” John was always especially devoted to Mary, our Blessed Lady, and loved the Rosary, which he would often pray whilst walking along.

Not only did John throw himself into religious devotions with great enthusiasm, he would also try to do more than his share of the chores, or try to take the most arduous and difficult ones. Later, in the Jesuit order, he was the novice who tried hardest to fulfill all the rules. After studying for two years in Belgium, taking his first vows and starting philosophy studies in Antwerp, he set out for Rome to continue his Jesuit philosophy training there. Today this is a comfortable 90 minute flight or an arduous 15 hour drive; John did the journey (due to the Alps a road distance of around 1000 miles) on foot! He had a burning ambition to give his all for Christ, and even to become a saint: “If I do not become a saint when I am young," he said, "I shall never become one.” Perhaps he had a premonition of his early death, or perhaps he realized how creature comforts can paralyse spiritual life in adulthood. Portraits usually depict him holding a crucifix, a rosary and his Shell road atlas Jesuit rule-book.

What his life means to us today

The fierce, passionate “muscular” Christianity of John Berchmans seems unreal, even horrifying to many of today's Catholics brought up on soft-focus posters, self-affirming books and the belief that Christian love means primarily kindness - but let us not be deceived. Jackie Pullinger, who as a young woman preached and lived the gospel in the deadly slums of Hong Kong, famously said that Christians need “soft hearts” but “hard feet.” The seventeenth century was a cruel time all round, with no punches pulled and no anaesthetics. But Catholics like John had the hardest feet imaginable, and besides fortitude (“guts”) and self-sacrifice, they excelled in virtues that the 21st century West ignores or treats almost as a joke, such as humble obedience, temperance, diligence and chastity. Hence St John’s value to us as a guide today lies in his youthful, clear vision in areas where our own times have gaping blind spots.

***

Another Story:

St. John Berchmans was born the eldest son of a shoemaker in 1599 at Diest, Belgium. At a very young age he wanted to be a priest, and when thirteen he became a servant in the household of one of the cathedral canons at Malines. After his mother's death, his father and two brothers followed suit and entered religious life. In 1615 he entered the Jesuit college there, becoming a novice a year later. In 1618 he was sent to Rome for more study and was known for his diligence and piety, and his stress on perfection even in small things. That year his father was ordained and died six months later. John was so poor and humble that he walked from Antwerp to Rome. He died at the age of 22 on August 13. Many miracles were attributed to him after his death; he was canonized in 1888 and is the patron saint of altar boys.

Although he longed to work in the mission fields of China, he did not live long enough to permit it. After completing his course work, he was asked to defend the "entire field of philosophy" in a public disputation in July, just after his exit examinations. The following month he was asked to represent the Roman College in a debate with the Greek College. Although he distinguished himself in this disputation, he had studied so assiduously that he caught a cold in mid-summer, became very ill with with an undetermined illness accompanied by a fever, although some think it now to have been dysentery, and died a week later. He was buried in the church of Saint Ignatius at Rome, but his heart was later translated to the Jesuit church at Louvain.

So many miracles were attributed to him after his death at the age of 22, that his cultus soon spread to his native Belgium, where 24,000 copies of his portrait were published within a few years of his death. He was known for his devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to Our Lady, to whom he composed a Chaplet in honor of her Immaculate Conception.

Our true worth does not consist in what human beings think of us.

What we really are consists in what God knows us to be.

To merit the protection of Mary, the smallest act of veneration would be enough, provided that it is performed with constancy.

If I do not become a Saint when I am young, I shall never become one.

[In fact, he died at the early age of twenty-two and he had, without any doubt, reached his goal of sanctity.]

As he was dying, he pressed to his heart his Crucifix, his Rosary, and the Book of Rules, saying: These are my three treasures; with these I shall gladly die.

***

Another Story:

Saint John Berchmans - Jesuit Saint - by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

John Berchmans, I thought I would cover all the young Jesuit saints to make sure that I didn't slight any of them. St. John Berchmans was born in 1599 in Berbont, Belgium and died in Rome in 1621 at the ripe age of twenty-two. Unlike Saints Stanislaus and Aloysius who were members of the nobility, aristocratic, wealthy – John was from a very ordinary family. His father was a shoemaker, which I think is quite ordinary. His mother was never well, which mainly explains why he was brought up by a Premonstratensian priest by the name of Father Peter Emerick who taught him his religion, other subjects, and was in the habit of visiting shrines of which there are quite a few in northern Europe. At thirteen, as the younger children were coming along, the father told John to leave school, stop his education, and work in the shoemaking shop. John protested that he wanted to become a priest and shoemaking is not the usual apprenticeship to the priesthood. In any case the father compromised by getting John a job working in a rectory, cleaning, waiting on table, washing dishes and being paid for his education at a local seminary. The priest in charge of the rectory was quite different from Father Emerick. This one didn't take him to shrine; he took him out hunting. In any case, John, in 1615 – that would be the age of sixteen – entered the Jesuit college at Maleen in Belgium. In reading, however, the seminary where he was, there was a risk between the officials of the seminary and the Jesuits for having taken this bright, young, promising seminarian from their hands. A year later he applied for the Jesuits – his father objected, but, let him go. By now you are used to Jesuit's writing. John Berchmans wrote many letters. We have a copy of the letter he wrote to his mother and father asking them to visit him which was quite a distance, even though Belgium is a small country by modern standards. "I humbly ask you" he says "dear father and mother to be so good as to come here on Wednesday evening" – he told them when to come, even suggested how to travel, certain coach or a certain wagon – "so that I may say welcome and goodbye to you and you to me, so you can give your son back to the good Lord, who gave me to you." This reminds me that when I entered the Jesuits after finishing my university education, with a widowed mother, I thought to myself – this would be cruel, leaving her all alone. When I told her, she gave me a piece of her mind, 'you go.' "Okay, mother, I'll go, I just figured maybe you wanted me to be around." I came back to visit her in our home in Cleveland seven years later. John Berchmans never saw his parents again. His model from the novitiate days on, really became the standard of his life and in one short sentence summarizes his whole outlook on Christianity, 'set great store on little things', 'set great store on little things.' He was in the habit from his novitiate days having been encouraged to do so, to write. He wrote, for example, a long analysis (I think I saw a copy of Alphonosus Rodriquez’ “Principles of Christian Perfection.” I think they're on your shelf there – there are three big volumes.) Anyhow, among other things John Berchmans wrote a nice synthesis analysis of those three volumes for his future reference. His mother died shortly after he entered the novitiate. His father then went on to study for the priesthood and was ordained and proceeded to die shortly after his ordination. By this time he had taken his first vows which is – you know in the Society of Jesus we never speak of temporary vows because we don't take them; our first vows after two years in the novitiate are perpetual. We are the only order in the Catholic Church that have been given the rare privilege of never taking temporary vows. I have the draft of the proposed forthcoming Code of Canon Law to be published, most likely, so the latest word is, first Sunday of Advent. In any case, John Berchmans took his first vows which were perpetual and because he was to start his philosophy studies after taking his first vows and the studies were to be made in Rome – how do you get to Rome from Antwerp in Belgium. He was told, 'you walk.' It took him ten weeks. He made it which partially explains his short life. He did his studies under a famous Father Chipovy in Rome, his first letter, John Berchmans first biographer.

The report on his talent or ability shortly after his death by those who were his teachers was that he had extraordinary ability, intellectual ability, capable of taking and mastering several subjects at once that his enthusiasm for studies was unequaled. Now, my friends, having spent so many years in studies, having taught so many Jesuits for so many years, anyone who has enthusiasm about his studies deserves to be canonized.

Another of his fellow Jesuits who knew him observed that 'after Saint Aloysius, I never knew a young man of more exemplary life, purer conscience or greater perfection than John Berchmans. In other words, he had a reputation for being a very holy person already at a young age. Number twenty in my notes, it just keeps me from mixing things up. Here's a quotation from St. John Berchmans that every Jesuit has memorized. Let me give you the Latin first. It sounds so nice—“meus maxime mortificatsio est vita communis.” --my greatest mortification is community life. I repeat there is no statement of any saints that a Jesuit will not agree with more heartily than that one, that his heaviest mortification, his worst penance, is community life. That doesn't mean you don't like your brethren, but, being human, being oneself and living with other human beings, community life is indeed a great mortification.

Again, John Berchmans wanted to make sure that he never exercised his own will contrary to the directives of superiors. So I memorized and jotted down this little vignette: I wish to let myself be ruled like a baby, one day old. I'm not sure what difference it makes, whether a baby is one day or one year old, in any case, John Berchmans figures, let's make the child one day old. In other words, complete childlike submission to those who are in charge of him. John Berchmans was a very zealous student. What he came from, what we would call the low countries, which for our purpose would be Belgium – the climate in Belgium is somewhat like the more temperate climate in say, northern United States, Maine, Vermont, northern Michigan, Minnesota. In any case, Berchmans was not used to the stifling summer weather in Rome. Yet he took his final examinations in May, 1621 and the heat that summer, and the Roman summer starts early, the heat was intense. He prolonged his studies for his exams, did brilliantly, but took sick. He had just worked too hard. So he was laid up in bed, became deathly sick. As he was dying his confessor asked him, “do you have anything on your conscience that you think deserves to be confessed before you die.” He spoke in Latin, as young Jesuits are to always talk in Latin except in recreation. He said, "Mehil omeno" – absolutely nothing on my conscience, a moment before he died. He died on August the 13th of that year 1621. After his death and even before his burial, miracles were reported throughout Rome. Print of course was already discovered and engravings were made of John Berchmans shortly after his death and copies were printed. In a few days, twenty- four thousand of these engravings were sold in his native country in Belgium.

When he was canonized, the Holy Father who canonized him declared regarding the Jesuit rules, 'if you can prove to me that someone had faithfully lived up to this rule, I'll canonize him.' Berchmans was canonized for being an obedient religious. He was buried with his rosary and rule book in his hands.

Now something about his spirit. I would say the first prominent feature of his spirituality was his simplicity of life. There are no reports of ecstasies or raptures. There was not even a report of anything extraordinary that he ever did. You might say he was a 'little flower' before his time; she a Carmelite, he a Jesuit. The implication for us, if we think about them, are breath taking. The secret is to see God's will in everything. Now that everything in Berchmans vocabulary meant not just, well, the things that occur in a given day, I somehow say 'yes, of course, God must be behind it' but, watch this, and he wrote enough and over the years I've read enough of Berchmans to be able to talk for a couple of hours about his spirituality. For him, seeing God's will in the circumstances in everyday life went down to the smallest, even trifling details. We at table don't have set persons across from whom or with whom we sit, say at table, so the fact that it should be so and so and not such and such. It is God's will known and planned from all eternity. For example, what I am saying, that of all places I should be – what is today, August the 24th – a thousand miles from New York in a place called, is it Lake Villa? and that you should be here – thanks for being in Chapel, too – and that of all the yokels that should be saying whatever I might be saying, it would be me, at least to try your patience, in His name, everything. I stubbed my toe, that's God's providence. I lose something, that's God's providence. While I was putting the finishing touches on my notes, when I got a phone call that was an important call, so I was late, four minutes. That is God's will. That you should have had some charitable thought on why I was late or good for my humility in not being exactly on time; that everything is down to the time of the day, the temperature outside, how 'my body feels, what's crossing my mind. Berchmans saw God in everything. In other words, simplicity which must have twenty meanings for him meant; 'I have only one role in life – God's will.' And where is God's will; how do I know God's will; what books do I read; what speeches do I listen to; what novenas do I have to make. You can spare yourself. What is God saying to you, here and now at this moment? How does He want you to act and react, to His will?

Second feature of Berchmans' spirituality. The rule of St. Ignatius, we don't usually call it a rule because of our constitution, but that rule what's composed over a period of years, much prayer, frequent revelations, especially from Our Lady, much study, analyzing different rules of life written before Ignatius' time. It is a very precise and detailed rule. We have, for example, the rules of modesty; we're told, exactly told, how to use our eyes. Ignatius prescribed how we are to use our hands. I'm sure it's one of the least known rules of St. Ignatius. We are forbidden by rule to touch another person's body unless, either necessity or charity required it. This rule, Berchmans kept. We don't want to say to the letter, because that would cheapen it, but he kept it with perfection, so much so that the Vicar of Christ on his own testimony canonized him because of his fidelity to that minute rule of life and mind you, this is a rule for men, do you know what I'm saying, well, the last thing that man, masculine gender, paid that much attention to his detail, the self discipline and the sacrifice that it takes from a man to be faithful to Ignatius rule only one who tries to live that rule can appreciate. Ignatius was a soldier and he knew battles of won or lost by attention to detail.

John Berchmans' spirituality reflects something that I think we very seldom advert to each other … sort of take it for granted. We say correctly that God's grace builds on human nature. Not that God's grace is different in the sense that it's a different grace – no, for different people, but, God is justice, Himself, as far as we can use the verb, adjust for God. For example, the graces that He gives to women I know are different that he gives to men, I know. God just talks a different language. And so with different people of different temperaments. The robust man of steel, the Andrew Bobola, remember? they just couldn't put him to death. God's grace to sanctify him was of one kind, the gentle but firm and faithful Berchmans, another kind of a grace. This is very important in properly appraising God's will in our lives or how we deal so differently with different people. With some, God seems, to coin an expression, to love and to get away with – pardon the expression – you finish the sentence, you know what. Lord! well, God knows what He's dealing with – with others He is severe.

Berchmans came from northern Europe; Berchmans was not from Italy or Spain. I tried to carry on a conversation with four Spaniards this noon in Kenosha, Wisconsin; a priest, a brother, (oh, three people) a priest, a brother and a sister. Well, some English they knew, not much, some Italian that I know, not much, a bit of Latin and Spanish and we managed. I was inquiring about their rule of life. They are called the Lumen Dei, isn't that beautiful? the light of God, a new community just coming into existence, two hundred members – God's grace adjusting itself to the Spanish mentality – different. There is something about the teutonic, because we are talking about the teutonic temperament here, that it's precise, proper, just so. All right, God's grace will be just so. Am I making sense? And that we don't either expect God – what a mistake – to deal with even two of us in the same way. Never compare yourself – or better, never compare the way God deals with others with the way he seems to be dealing with you. Berchmans knew, he was here. There is an individuality about each saint which is completely different from everyone else.

Then, community life. I quote of a famous passage, we learned this in the novitiate and we quote it to our dying day, because it is so, so painfully true: my greatest mortification is community life. That doesn't mean, of course, not that we make other members of the community conscious of the fact that they are a source of penance to make – no. Nor does it mean, it cannot mean, that we somehow regret or wish it were different. Community life is meant, for most people, to be a great source of sanctification. I know what I'm talking about because being the only child of a widowed mother – my father died when I was a year old, he was 26. I never had any brothers or sisters and of the things I knew that drew me to the Society of Jesus before I heard John Berchmans phrase, I thought to myself, "what a break, what a gift, I will inherit a hall full of brothers, people that I can live with and, well, they'll be brothers to me and I hope I'll be a brother to them." I may somewhere along the line, I may have told you, after my first week in the novitiate I went to complain to the novice master – I'd heard about people snoring, but I'd never heard anybody snoring – Mother had her bedroom, I had mine. Though we were living in a dormitory and the noise was deafening, I couldn't sleep. So I told the novice master, "father, could I have a different room?" He said, 'sit down, what's wrong?' I told him. All I remember is two words, "get out." And because I was so dead tired, I finally fell asleep, snoring or no snoring.

God made us different from the moment of conception. Each one of us, the moment we are conceived in our mother's womb, God has to create a soul – our parents don't give us our souls – they must be individually created by God and God creates each soul different. We are different nine months before we're born, put together. One reason, no doubt, is to give us some idea of His own infinite, you might say, bewildering variety of attributes. It gives us, and this is what Berchmans meant: it gives us the glorious opportunity for the practice of charity. I'm not speaking of people being offensive or hurting our feelings or being difficult to live with. I don't mean anything that is morally wrong, just because he is he or she is she and I am me, living with other people places demands on our mutual love which God in His infinite wisdom planned, that's why He made us so different. The word that Berchmans used was mortification, meaning that it's a precious way of not only practicing charity, but of expiating our sins, of making reparation for the sins of others, especially in doing penance for the crimes against love often committed in the name of love in our modern mad world. The 1981 figures of the United Nations for the world were fifty million abortions. Someone, someone, must propitiate a just God for these crimes of hatred, masking – what a mockery – under the name of love. Well, we don't have to go far to search out opportunities for the expiatory love, being gentle, understanding, thoughtful. Being as ready to excuse the actions of others as we are so prone to excuse our own. All of this is locked up in what we so casually call, community life.

Let us ask St. John Berchmans to give us some of his great attention to the little things in life being so important in the eyes of God. St. John Berchmans, pray for us.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

#st. john berchmans

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junker-town · 5 years

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4 winners and 6 losers from a boringly quiet NFL trade deadline

Aqib Talib and Kenyan Drake were moved ahead of the NFL trade deadline, but Jamal Adams was the biggest name dangled on the block.

The Jets kept Jamal Adams, which is good! And bad!

Teams across the NFL built hype leading up to the Oct. 29 trade deadline. Stars like Jalen Ramsey, Michael Bennett, and Emmanuel Sanders all found new homes before Week 8 came to a close, building anticipation for what promised to be an array of last-minute wheeling and dealing to set up the final half of the 2019 season. Names like Le’Veon Bell, Jamal Adams, and Trent Williams all cropped up on wish lists and on trade rumors throughout the day.

Then the 4 p.m. ET deadline came and went. Nothing happened.

Adams and Bell remained in football purgatory with the Jets. The Patriots did nothing to address their lack of tight end depth. The Bears looked at their roster, shrugged, and said “whatever.”

Even if Tuesday was devoid of action — with the exception of an Aqib Talib salary dump move between the Rams and Dolphins — that doesn’t mean it won’t affect the outcome of the regular season. Plenty of teams still won and lost based on their action, or lack thereof, throughout the week. So who fits where?

Winner: New England Patriots

The Pats didn’t get any help to bolster their offensive line. That suggests they are confident second-year left tackle Isaiah Wynn will be able to return from injured reserve before the year is through to spell occasional turnstile Marshall Newhouse protecting Tom Brady’s blindside. The team decided to stand pat when it came to Brady’s targets as well, which means New England is expecting dividends from newly acquired Mohamed Sanu and rookie N’Keal Harry, who is eligible to return from his own IR stint in Week 9.

More importantly, the rest of the AFC didn’t do much to attempt to reel in the Pats, who currently have a 2.5-game cushion in the race for homefield advantage. While the Texans added Gareon Conley and the Ravens traded for Marcus Peters earlier in October, everyone else in the conference either stayed put or sold off talent. New England didn’t need much help at the deadline, but watching its rivals keep quiet may have been just as big as another Bill Belichick deal in 2019.

Plus, the Patriots signed the greatest kicker in AAF history. No trade needed.

The #Patriots are signing free agent K Nick Folk, source said. Most recently, he held the AAF record for longest field goal at 55 yards. He’s also played for the #Bucs, #Jets and #Cowboys.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 29, 2019

Loser: New York Jets

The Jets dangled their best defender, and most outspoken and emotional athlete, on deadline day, only to reel Jamal Adams back in when other teams refused to offer them a Ramsey-ian return for the Pro Bowl safety. Though New York ultimately made the right decision to keep him, news of the attempted trade may cause a rift between a young building block and a franchise that desperately needs all the budding talent it can find.

At the end of the week last week, I sat down with the GM and Coach Gase and told them I want to be here in New York. I was told yesterday by my agent that the GM then went behind my back and shopped me around to teams, even after I asked him to keep me here! Crazy business.

— Jamal Adams (@TheAdamsEra) October 29, 2019

Adams was reportedly open to a move back to his home state of Texas, but denied wanting any part of a trade less than two hours after the deadline came to an end. That makes it tough to spin a positive from the two sides nearly parting ways in the midst of another season beginning to visibly frustrate the young defensive back. Though general manager Joe Douglas says he wasn’t actively shopping anyone, the Jets were a common topic at the trade deadline — and that only stands to sow more discord in one of the league’s most broken teams.

Loser: Baltimore Ravens (and Jamal Adams)

Although the Jets certainly screwed up by making some of their top players available before not moving any of them, the teams that failed to land these players also came out on the losing side. Adams is the big name; both the Cowboys and Ravens were in on him, per multiple reports.

While it’s difficult to see where Dallas would have fit Adams on its ballooning payroll, the Ravens have the space and more importantly, the need for a player like Adams. Baltimore is at a pivotal point in its season. The club sits at 5-2 atop the AFC North, but its 26th-ranked passing defense leaves a gaping hope that could be filled by an enforcer like Adams. Additionally, Adams is a phenomenal player who would probably have found a lot more success with the Ravens (or Cowboys, for that matter) than he would with the Jets, who can’t decide where they stand in the rebuilding process.

Winner: Buffalo Bills

The Bills are building smartly and slowly, handling quarterback Josh Allen with kid gloves as they put together a roster around him. Though some receiving help would have been a boon, acquiring a soon-to-be free agent like A.J. Green in exchange for a high draft pick ultimately may have been a step backward. Buffalo didn’t correlate its 5-2 start against a soft schedule with a reason to overpay for a temporary addition. That’s something the team will value come next offseason.

Loser: Cincinnati Bengals

Cincinnati is 0-8 and will now turn to fourth-round rookie Ryan Finley at quarterback after benching Andy Dalton (on his damn birthday, no less!). This is not a team with designs for 2019, and all logic suggests it should be stockpiling assets for 2020.

Instead, the Bengals made zero trades after last April’s draft and held steady with a roster that’s been outscored by an average of more than 10 points per game this fall. While the fans in southwestern Ohio can take solace in the hope they’ll get eight more games of A.J. Green before he can leave in free agency, they have to be concerned the Bengals were either unwilling to sell off parts or, even worse, unattractive to teams looking for even modest veteran help.

Winner: Los Angeles Rams

LA needed to find a way to create a little salary cap space after pushing all their chips to the center of the table by acquiring Ramsey. The Dolphins — the poor, hopeless Dolphins — were happy to oblige. Miami took injured cornerback Aqib Talib and the roughly $4 million in salary he’s still due in 2019 off the Rams’ hands for the reasonable cost of a 2020 fifth-round draft pick. Los Angeles can now use that room to convert some of next year’s cap clog into this year’s bonuses and add a little more spending room to its coffers.

Winner: Miami Dolphins

The goal in 2019 is to tank and the Dolphins added more fuel to that effort ahead of the trade deadline.

Step one was to trade Kenyan Drake to the Cardinals for a conditional sixth-round pick that could become a fifth-rounder. That’s not much, but it’s a decent return for a player in the final year of his rookie deal who was nine games away from never playing for the Dolphins again.

Step two was a shrewd deal that puts Aqib Talib on the roster for no reason other than acquiring another draft pick. The Dolphins will eat the veteran cornerback’s salary and send a seventh-round pick in 2022 to the Rams, but get a 2020 fifth-round pick in return. Talib’s headed for free agency in March and Miami has more than enough cap space to pay his salary for the rest of 2019.

Step three wasn’t really a trade deadline move, but the Dolphins did put Xavien Howard on injured reserve Tuesday. He was Miami’s only Pro Bowler in 2018 and the already awful defense will be much worse without him.

The tank is still very much on.

Loser: Washington

Washington apparently shifted gears and tried to sell left tackle Trent Williams — who hasn’t played a game for the team in 2019 as part of a contract standoff — at a premium price after rejecting trade overtures for him throughout the season. No one bit:

The one quote that stands out talking with league sources on possible Trent Williams move - Redskins wouldn’t take calls on a trade for months, “nobody wants to bail them out now.”

— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) October 29, 2019

Williams reported to the team’s facilities immediately after the trade deadline, but may not plan on actually playing over the last half of the season. He’ll be eligible for free agency in 2020, so it’s possible general manager Bruce Allen may completely blank the final season of one of his franchise’s best players while getting nothing but a 2021 compensatory pick in return.

Loser: O.J. Howard

Howard was primed for a breakout after setting career highs with 34 catches and 565 receiving yards in just 10 games in 2018. However, his third season as a pro has seen him fall out of favor with new Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians. The explosive tight end — he averaged 16.6 yards per catch leading up to ‘19 — has only 13 receptions in six games without a single trip to the end zone. While a hamstring injury has affected his impact, it’s clear that tight ends are not a major component of Arians’ offensive philosophy; Howard and Cameron Brate have combined for only 38 of Jameis Winston’s 255 targets (14.9 percent) so far this year.

A change of scenery would have allowed the former first-round pick to regain his value as a high-impact target. It also would have given his new team the opportunity to pick up a pricy fifth-year option that looms in 2021 — a commitment in which the Bucs likely have little interest. Instead he’ll remain in Tampa, picking up the scraps of whatever Arians’ WR-heavy offense leaves behind.

Loser: New York Giants

The Giants acquired defensive tackle Leonard Williams from the Jets on Monday. Even though Pat Shurmur’s team desperately needs defensive help, the pickup doesn’t make a whole lot of sense contractually. Williams is set to be a free agent at the end of this season, and he cost the NFC’s New York team a 2020 third-round pick and a conditional fifth-round pick in 2021.

If Williams decides to not re-sign with the Giants at the end of the season, they will have given up those draft picks for a brief rental of a player who has failed to live up to his potential in the NFL. Williams, the former No. 6 overall pick in 2015, has recorded just eight total tackles and zero sacks this season. The Giants, currently 2-6, may have just given up draft picks for a decent player on a down year, and he might not be with the team after the season. Yikes!

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themillionairesclub · 7 years

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PATRICK KYLE!

Artist and RISOmaster Patrick Kyle has been self publishing so many zines that one can lose track of them. Thanks to Patrick that most of them are numbered. “Distance Mover”, “New Comics” and “Special Friend” were and are ongoing series that came out as beautifully RISO-printed books. Patrick has two books out with Torontos finest publisher Koyama Press. „Distance Mover“ and „Don’t Come in Here“.

We love Patricks work and are so happy that he’s coming all the way from Canada to show his drawings and sell his zines and books at The Millionaires Club! Patrick is showing his work at Hopfe (Kolonnadenstrasse), March 24th-26th, Opening reception: March 24th, 7pm Also him and Gina Wynbrandt will be live on Kubshow @ Radio Blau, March 25th, 8 pm On Sunday, March 26th, 3 pm there will be an Artist Talk with Patrick and Gina in their exhibition.

Toronto seems to be a paradise for Cartoonists with the great annual comic festival TCAF, the publisher Koyama Press and The Beguiling, a legendary comic book shop. Can you tell us a bit about the local comic scene? I might not necessarily call it a paradise - Toronto is a fairly expensive city to live in and as cartoonists, artists, illustrators etc, we're normally living off limited resources. That being said, there are a lot of avenues here in which to exhibit and sell your work here and there's great support for comic launches and other events from institutions like The Beguiling and Koyama Press. Weird Things (a gallery and antique shop operated by Jonny Peterson) has been great in showcasing a lot of weirdo artists and cartoon inspired work over the last few years.

You’re still self publishing a lot besides being published by Koyama Press. What are the benefits of printing your own books for you? I'm incredibly thankful to be working with Koyama Press - having the support of a publisher with the resources to make larger print runs and access to distributors is really amazing and It's been very beneficial for me in reaching a broader audience. Book making has been part of my practice since the start. I love doing it and I like being able to make small books with short print runs that are only available directly from me.

„Don‘t come in here“ is quite long compared to your zines. How did you work out the rhythm of that narration? How did you compose the scenes with each other? It wasn't a huge jump from working on zines because the whole book is comprised of short vignettes. I had an overarching narrative in mind when I started but I was able to play around with it a lot and move pieces of the story around as I went in order to find the right rhythm.

There are some really funny movements depicted in „Don’t come in here“. Which role does animation play in your work? Don't Come in Here is (maybe) the first thing I've done that has this sort of cinematic/animation like approach. I don't necessarily think that comics should be storyboard-like or should be easily translatable into animation. Comics are really a different medium and cartoonist should be eager to capitalize on these differences. My other books (Black Mass + Distance Mover) have no traditional panels - the information is sort of just laid out of the page and the reader has to figure out how to follow it as they go. I had a lot of fun making comics this way, but that approach prevented me from having any cinematic-type pacing or any drawn out sequences.

Are you working a lot on the single drawings of your characters or is it rather a one-shot? I'm not sure what you mean by this. Do you mean do I do a lot of character design work before hand? Figuring out what the characters look like ahead of time? I don't really do that - I just start working and the characters just are whatever they are.

Which (Comic)Artists do you cherish? Too many to consider, but heres a few off the top of my head: Phillip Guston, Mark Beyer, Brian Chippendale, Barbara Rossi + All of my friends and peers in Toronto.

Your ongoing series ‚Special Friend‘ is about a friendship ( maybe a dependency?) between two characters named Babylon and Durgie. Can you describe the character of their relationship? Will they ever find satisfaction and peace? Special Friend has a pretty simple concept - one of the characters is bad (Babylon) and the other one is good (Durgie). Neither of them is really inherently good or bad, though Babylon often states that he is 'Mean' and he often pretends that he doesn't like Durgie or doesn't know him. His scheming and mischievous behaviour are usually only to attract Durgie, whom Babylon secretly reveres. Durgie is always optimistic and loves Babylon, though because Babylon has such internalized dislike of himself, he doesn't believe that Durgie loves him and goes to great length to impress him, which sometimes tires Durgie out. I think they complete satisfaction and peace in their disfunction - without it there wouldn't be a comic to make!

Do you have a script for the dialogues? No - I always just make it up as I go. Occasionally I'll make a mistake or change dialogue and you can see where I've scribbled a word out. They come together in under 5 minutes usually.

The world most of your characters live in is charmingly chaotic, it makes me think of a dismembered user manual tenderly put back together. How do you create these landscapes and rooms? Also (but that might go too far): Is this reflecting your view on the world in any way? I honestly think this style has developed from a lack of ability - I avoided drawing backgrounds in my early comics because really didn't feel confident doing it. I would just leave a lot of white space and/or draw a bunch of weird esoteric objects around to fill space. I obviously feel a lot more confident depicting backgrounds and spaces now - but I think that floating-in-the-void approach has evolved into something that is characteristic of my style.

How does a Kyle-(work)day look like? It's always varied - this week I'm just relaxing and putting mail orders together. I just finished work on my next book for Koyama Press, and that schedule day-to-day was more hectic. Since the beginning of January I was drawing about two pages a day in order to finish the book on time. That varied as well thought - other obligations come up; you never know when someone will want to hire you for an illustration, and I'm also teaching twice a week at OCADU here in Toronto. I have to be pretty vigilant in how I use my time. I'm looking forward to starting something new in the next week or so that I'll debut at TCAF.

Thank you, Patrick! See you soon in Leipzig!! more work by Patrick: http://www.patrickkyle.com https://www.instagram.com/patrick.kyle/?hl=de https://twitter.com/_patrickkyle

#patrick kyle #tmc2017 #canadian comic #koyama press #the beguiling #Toronto comics

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withabackpackandcamera · 7 years

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March 26th, 2017

Day 7: Rainy, Uphill Struggles

After a pretty good evening of rest after Day 1, Day 2 started off with a nice little breakfast of small cakes and fruits. A nice way to sugar up for the day. It wasn’t too long after breakfast that we were all packed up again and ready to hit the road. But before leaving, the tour guides gave us a chance to meet all of the porters and the chef who were working together to make our trip a great one. We introduced ourselves and got to hear the porters’ introductions, one by one, until everyone got a chance to tell everyone else their names. It was a nice gesture from a company that prides itself on good porter treatment.

Day 2 on the Inca Trail was definitely one of the hardest hiking days I’ve had in a long time, maybe ever. It was rainy the entire day, there was a lot of uphill hiking, and my bag wasn’t feeling any lighter. The morning started off with some light rain but it steadily got heavier and heavier throughout the day. And because it was raining the entire day, the clouds and fog were thick enough that the scenery around was absent from sight for most of the day. Which was a shame because we couldn’t see much while hiking.

As mentioned, this hike was hard. An allotted 4 hours to hike up to the first peak at Dead Woman’s Pass, then another 2 hours to get down to lunch camp. Then 2 more up and 2 more down before hitting evening base camp. And the first goal of the day was conquering the most difficult segment of the trail: the hike from 3300m to 4250m in a span of about 4 hours. Almost 1km up. To Dead Woman’s Pass. And that wasn’t the only difficult part of the hike. With rainy weather came rainy stone rock staircases. And rainy stones means very slippery conditions and those conditions definitely slowed us down quite a bit. And, with a pack on my back that was probably 10-12kg in weight, I definitely had a much more difficult time climbing up to the top of Dead Woman’s Pass compared to the others that had hired porters to carry some of their things. Earlier in the morning, I actually contemplated whether I wanted to hire a porter for myself after realizing how heavy my bag was after leaving the bus yesterday. But after talking to Sarah and seeing how determined she was to carry all of her stuff uphill, I decided I would follow suit and challenge myself as well. And so, I carried my heavy bag all the way up to Dead Woman’s Pass. But luckily for me, at this point in the trip, the rules allowed for us to leave our sleeping pads with the porters, which took a tiny bit of weight off of my shoulders.

So, to fast forward, the hike was difficult. Essentially all uphill. And a morning of pushing through the pain and exhaustion to keep the momentum going. But eventually we all got up to the top and we got there a lot faster than what was expected of normal hikers. On the way up, we skipped some ruins because of the weather and thus saved some time. Usually it takes 4 hours, but we did it in about 3. What a crazy group! And with my bag, I was only about 6-10 minutes behind the entire group, which was a huge accomplishment for myself! At the top of Dead Woman’s Pass, there was nothing to see because of the dense clouds and fog in the mountains. And not only that, it was pretty cold too and got colder as our sweat started to get cold.

With a quick stop there for some warm tea and bread to re-energize, we were off toward the lunch spot for the day. The hike was all downhill (for 700m) to that point and this part of the hike was quite tricky with the wet stone stairs we had to take. Just as difficult in some ways as the morning hike up but in a different way. A small group of us hiked together for most of the trip down and I had a nice conversation with Beatrice about economics, politics, and world travels. The conversation definitely helped time pass and by the end of it, after some slips here and there, we finally made it to the bottom of the valley and again, in pretty fast time. We shaved off about 1.5 hours of the entire morning hike and ended up taking 75% of the allotted time to get to lunch. Woo!

Lunch was definitely needed as a quick break to refuel. We had delicious veggie soup, beef with onions, pasta, and more veggies. Yum! And while we were sitting in the tent eating, the rain continued to come down consistently and didn’t stop. So we ended up starting the second half of the day in full-on rain. The hike up to Peak #2 took a little more than an hour. And because it continued to rain the entire time, we decided to take just a short break before pushing through to base camp. The hike down was full of slips and falls but luckily I only slipped less than a handful of times. No falling on my butt but definitely sore knees as a result of the slips.

On the way down, pretty close to base camp, there were some pretty cool ruins that we had to do an additional climb up to get to. Some people just went by, wet and exhausted, and headed to camp, while others, like me, took a detour to see the ruins. The ruins were ruins but neat to see with the weather clearing up slightly. And a nice break from hiking up and down with a bag on my back. After exploring the ruins with some others for a bit, I finally headed down by myself to camp, passing more ruins along the way.

Once at camp, it was finally time to unload my stuff and dry some of my wet clothing, as well as enjoy the nice weather. After a long day full of clouds and rain, the skies congratulated us for finishing the toughest day by clearing itself and showing us some blue and sun. So with this opportunity, I walked around to check out the area and take some photos of the surrounding mountains. After a much needed happy hour and dinner, we all started getting ready for much-needed rest. I went to bed only after taking advantage of the clear night skies and teaching Benedict a bit about astrophotography. But exhaustion overcame me pretty quickly and before long, it was time to call it a night.

Whew, what a long, crazy day. Sleep, can’t wait to see you!

5 Things I Learned Today:

1. Pachamama is the revered Mother Earth of the Andean people. Everyone respects Pachamama and prays to her for good luck on nature-related activities, like hiking, etc.

2. Porters usually come from the indigenous villages of the Andes. And supposedly, their use of coca leaves helps them be the crazy porters they are. Because drinking or chewing coca leaves provides calcium to the body that can be used to build strong bones. And it also holds down your appetite so that you feel less hungry but energized..

3. Based on the stories from the guides, the record time for a porter to finish the Inca Trail without a backpack is 3h45m. W.T.F.!? WOW!.

4. Even with a good enough raincoat from a reputable brand, enough rain will still make you wet and cold. Yay.

5. Supposedly there is a big rivalry between Chile and Peru. Probably stemming from historical events and relationships. Oh, and the ownership of pisco sours too.

#withabackpackandcamera #huyphan8990 #travelblog #travel #blog #adventures #trek #hiking #incatrail #rain #nature #wilderness #cusco #peru #southamerica #Inca #ruins #deadwomanspass

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Do You Have the Time? Episode 008: Research Dinner Party Part 1

[March 26th, 2018, 18:33]

Leslie stood in her uncleaned room and adjusted her emerald green dress in front of her mirror. The bodice showed the upper part of her chest in a V shape, and the skirt flowed loosely just past her knees. Her hair was pulled into a bun, except for a small lock that she’d curled and pushed off to the side of her face. She got it in just the right place and smiled at her reflection. A knock at her front door alerted her. Leslie paced through the living room and ensured that her sound generator and music were softly playing at the same time. She tested a few songs by a guy called Johann Sebastian Bach. They fit her image of a dinner party. Sophisticated and calming.

She would be a successful host!

“Oh, hello!” Leslie cheered and opened the door. She was met by Madison and Jeremy who had not deviated much from their usual clothing choices underneath their coats. Madison wore a skater dress and tights as she does most days, but took the liberty of curling her naturally straight hair. Jeremy dressed up one of his many striped sweaters with a button-down shirt and tie underneath. His hair, coincidentally, was also tied into a small bun.

“No way, Jeremy! Did you and Leslie call each other and plan to wear your hair the exact same way?”

“The only other people who make that joke are upwards of ninety years old,” he said.

“Daaaamn, girl, look at that dress! A bit of a step up from your usual sweater and khakis, don’t you think?”

Leslie blushed and nervously adjusted her outfit.

“Oh! Is it too much? Should I change? I could—”

“No, don’t it’s— uh. It’s good,” Jeremy interrupted.

“Real descriptive, there,” Madison joked.

“Well, uh, so happy you two could make it!” Leslie changed the subject, “Please, please, come in. The food should be done in just a minute.”

“Woooow! What a sweet pad, Les,” Madison complimented as she gleamed all around the living room.

“Well, thank you, dear!” she called and rushed to the kitchen.

“Uh, Leslie—” Jeremy stuttered, “Is there a place that we should put our jackets?”

“Oh, that’s right! A coat hanger!” she said and raced back to her guests, “Ummm… I don’t have one. Uh, but here, here! I’ll take them, why don’t you give them to me! Your backpack, too!”

Jeremy’s expression shifted from blank to slightly distraught. Leslie was walking the line between politeness and just plain robbery.

“O-only if you want to, though!” Leslie clarified, “I could find a place for them somewhere else is all I mean.”

Making her guests uncomfortable. That was not something that a successful host would do.

“Oh. Okay. Here you go. Thanks,” Jeremy said. He handed his bag and his neatly folded jacket to Leslie. Madison did the same.

“Yes, of course, my pleasure,” she smiled and scuttled back to her room. So long as she handled everyone’s coats and nobody went into her room, there should not be any issues. Leslie hustled back down the hallway to see Jeremy and Madison still standing towards the door.

“Oh, please, you guys, make yourselves at home! Have a seat on the couch, or the dining table, or take a look around. Whichever you prefer.”

Madison, in response, wandered away from Jeremy and gravitated towards the few plants that sat on the windowsill. Jeremy remained uncomfortably planted in place. However, curiosity got the best of him, and he peaked into the kitchen. He asked Leslie if he could assist.

“No, no, it’s fine,” she said with a hint of inattention to him, “I’m just finishing up the noodles. Everything else is done. These should be close, too.”

Knock-knock-knock.

Leslie gently sighed to herself in preoccupied discontent.

“Ohhh, I bet I know who that is!” Madison yelled whilst smelling a flower that she held all the way up to her face.

“Why don’t you just keep doing that,” Jeremy suggested, “and I’ll handle Leopold and his stuff.”

“No, no, I’ll do it!” Leslie stubbornly called from the kitchen. She slipped past Jeremy, who stood out-of-place in the dinning area, and opened the door for Leopold. His outfit was the least changed. It wasn’t at all. It was the same as always. His white dress shirt and loose tie and black pants. All he did was take off his lab coat and put on an outdoor coat.

“Oh yeah, now the party is really starting!” Madison called from the back of the room, holding a stapler that she found… somewhere.

“Hi Leo, so glad you came!” Leslie said.

“This place is hardly changed since the last time I saw it!”

Jeremy meandered over to the stovetop where Leslie had left the pot of boiling spaghetti on the burner with the wooden spoon still in it. He picked it up and stirred the noodles about.

“You’ve been here before?” Madison asked.

“Of course! I’ve known Leslie for half your life,” Leo joked.

“Please, have a seat, Leo. You and Madison can keep each other entertained while I finish up the food. Let me take your coat and satchel.”

“On your command,” Leo laughed and surrendered his possessions. Leslie scurried away with Leopold’s things like a dog hiding a bone. Jeremy stirred the noodles and lifted one up with a spoon. Leopold sat down at the bar, opposite to Jeremy at the stove. He gestured to the music player.

“Did you pick this music?” Leo asked.

Jeremy shook his head and shut off the burner.

“It is very nice, though,” he said.

He rifled through the cabinets above the sink and found Leslie’s colander. He set the colander in the sink and poured the pot of noodles into it. Bountiful amounts of steam rose from the sink as he shook the colander back and forth. He choked on the vapour and leaned away. Leslie came power-walking from the hallway, once again, and investigated her sink.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“The noodles were done, so I poured them out.”

“Oh. Okay, thank you. Why don’t you go spend time with everyone else while I finish up?” she said with a forced smile.

Jeremy glanced into the living room. Madison was posing with Leslie’s curtains like she was wearing dresses for a fashion show. Leopold made a paper airplane and threw it at her face. She caught it in her mouth. They both burst out laughing. He looked back at Leslie.

“I think I would be more useful in here.”

She chuckled and her worry lines began to dissipate.

“I think you might be right. Want to set the table?”

“Great,” he said quickly with a faint smile. Her playful remark relaxed him; she didn’t seem to be upset over their dispute from that morning. It was long gone in Leslie’s mind after she spoke to her mother and spent the afternoon stressing over her guests.

Jeremy searched through the nearby cabinets until he found some white, ceramic plates with a subtle design of flowers near the rim. He paused and thought back to all of the times he had to set the table at home. What did his mother always make him do? One plate to each seat. Forks to the left of the plate, knives and spoons to the right. Napkins under the forks. Meanwhile, Leslie mixed the noodles and tomato sauce. She offered the bowl and pasta fork to Jeremy. He naturally arranged the bowl in the middle of the table. Though they didn’t speak much as they worked, their actions flowed together seamlessly and peacefully. A well prepared dish, set table, and symphonic music left Jeremy with a tranquil expression. He secretly moved his fingers on the table following the melody of the harpsichord in the piece.

“Do you like the music?” Leslie asked with a grin, glancing down at his fingers. She set down two more plates. One with meatballs, and one with something that resembled meatballs but was likely not meatballs. Jeremy shyly pulled his hands back.

“Oh, yeah, yes. It’s, uh, very nice to listen to. Leopold and I were talking earlier. About how we liked it, I mean.”

“Oh! Is that right, Leo?” she asked happily.

Jeremy and Leslie glimpsed across the living space to see Leopold looking at Madison through the wrong end of a pair of binoculars that he must have found. He was too distracted to hear her.

“You were talking to him earlier?”

“Yes.”

“While he was doing all that?” she gestured to his eccentric sister and boss. “No, before, he was talking to me at the bar,” he clarified.

“Sure, he was,” she chuckled and left for the kitchen again.

“But he— he actually—”

“No, I bet, Jeremy.”

“Oh, forget it,” he said with a heavy breath.

“Yeah, let’s call them over,” she gleamed.

“Actually first—” he stuttered, “uhh, you know…”

Leslie frowned and moved further into the kitchen with Jeremy, away from the dinning area.

“What is it? Are you alright?” she asked.

“Uh, yeah, oh yeah, everything is fine. But I, uh, wanted to say…”

Leslie’s expression shifted from confused to concerned.

“Just, you know… this morning… I didn’t mean to—” he stammered.

“I know, Jeremy.”

“—when you were talking to me about Madison, I was a bit… severe. I didn’t really want to talk about it, and uh, just… I’m sorry.”

She tilted her head in understanding and relaxed her shoulders.

“It’s okay. I was trying to help, but maybe it was unexpected,” she considered.

“Well… thanks,” he said, “For trying to help. It’s nice. I think I was… caught off guard. But next time, if I don’t want to talk, I’ll… find a way to tell you.”

“I would like that,” she said softly, “I don’t want to pry into things that aren’t my business. But I’m open to help if you ever decide that you want someone to talk to.”

Jeremy nodded slowly and awkwardly.

“Yeah. Okay. Thanks.”

“Thank you, too, Jeremy. It means a lot that you wanted to patch this up with me. You’re a good person. It makes sense that you’d end up getting your degree under Leopold.”

“Uh, wow. That’s very nice of you, Leslie. I think that, uh, you’re a good person, too.”

“Okay,” Leslie replied with a chuckle, “you want to get things moving, eat, talk some shop and have fun?”

Jeremy relaxed his body. He was so relieved. He was glad that he and Leslie were okay. He thought to himself in that moment. It was odd for him to feel this way. The purpose of his degree was to do research and make discoveries, not go to dinner parties and make up with friends. So why was it that he hadn’t thought about the research since they told him about the dinner party? Leslie was still waiting for him to respond. She looked confused.

He set the train of thought aside.

“Yes, let’s eat.”

Madison flicked the wicks of a few large candles all crowded on Leslie’s desk. The desk rested next to the hallway that led to her room and bathroom. Leopold leaned over to her as he tucked the binoculars away where he found them.

“Hey, why don’t you bring those candles to the dinning area, huh?” he asked, “I think Leslie and Jeremy would like it.”

“Oh, yeah sure,” she said, “But, I can’t light them.”

Leopold picked his Zippo lighter out of his back pocket and flicked it open.

“Got your back, kid,” he said with a wink.

“Okay, everybody, please have a seat!” Leslie happily announced. Jeremy, taken by surprise, was the first to sit. Madison strutted over with arms full of candles and placed them all about the apartment and dinning area. Leopold followed behind and lit them with his metal lighter. Leslie sternly eyed the lighter, but snapped out of it before anyone noticed. She stood before her three friends at the table.

“As you can see, we have spaghetti, meatballs and meatless meatballs. You may choose whichever you like!”

“What exactly are the… meatless meatballs?” Jeremy curiously asked.

“Good question!” she said and began fix everyone’s plates with spaghetti, “They’re made of eggplant baked in breadcrumbs.”

“Huh. Sounds interesting. I’ll try those.”

While Leopold and Madison stuck with the classic meatballs, Leslie joined Jeremy to even the scales. To Leslie’s delight, they enjoyed the food and music. She was further contented by their help with the food and decor. Even the slightest amount of help made her smile. Eating dinner with them all went about as she expected. Leopold talked about physics facts to captivate Madison. Madison talked about pop culture that only Jeremy knew about but refused to acknowledge. Leopold listened intently, and Leslie herself tried to but got lost and gave up. Jeremy was pretty quiet, but did speak up when Leslie tried to bring up topics of conversation that everybody could contribute to. Mostly to balance out Madison. Leslie felt that her efforts had paid off so far, and relished in her guests’ happiness.

[March 26th, 2018, 19:50]

“Okay kids,” Leopold said with a grin and placed a napkin next to his empty plate, “are we ready to get things moving?”

“Yes, yes!” Leslie said and began collecting people’s plates, “You guys start; I will clean up and do the dishes and I’ll join you in a few minutes.”

“Oh come on, Les, it’s party! Dishes can wait. I wanna get to talking science with you guys!”

“No, no, it’s okay! I don’t mind.”

“I think you put our notes and computers in a room down the hall,” Jeremy said, “Should we go get them, then?”

“Oh!” Leslie jumped, “No, no, that’s okay too. I will get them all for you, finish the dishes and then I will join you.”

“But—” Leo said.

“No worries, it will only be a minute!”

And after a few minutes of waiting, Leopold, Jeremy and Madison were rejoined by Leslie at the spotless, roundtable. Despite having free time, Jeremy and Leopold decided that it would be best to wait to start with Leslie present. The three scientists opened up their computers to retrieve their research materials. Leopold opened a blank word document to take notes on his subordinates’ presentation. Jeremy and Leslie displayed their experiment in GraviTime. It was a blank coordinate plane. Leopold frowned, for he did not understand. In unison, they repeated the same process as they did that morning. Jeremy spread the heat energy horizontally in the space while Leslie used the TURBINE tool to rapidly the heat so that it did not dissipate. The energy compacted together into a continuously spinning line from left to right. It was like a very thin, sideways tornado. A string.

[03–26–2018; 19:57_Research_Video_Log_003_START]

Leopold leaned forward past the camcorder that Madison had secretly dug out and started filming with. He squinted at the Leslie’s laptop screen. He asked Jeremy to spread the heat over a larger distance to make the string longer. For cosmic strings to warp space and time, they needed to be infinite. They pressed the STOP button to stop time so that heat could be put into the system and not dissipate until they pressed PLAY. The line of heat extended from one end to the other in the infinite coordinate plane. Because the program was physics based, there were many ‘INFINITE’ buttons. The mathematicians and physicists behind GraviTime were keenly aware of the importance of infinity in modern science.

To view the effects of the cosmic string, they set up a negative control. One object, a simple box, was placed infinitely far away from the string. The other box was placed just next to the string. There were digital timers respective to each box to determine if they experience space-time the same way. Or rather, at the same rate. They pressed PLAY.

The timer for the infinitely far away box, the negative control, ran like any other timer. The seconds counted normally. One, two, three… Leopold’s eyebrows raised with a wrinkled forehead when he watched the timer for the box next to the cosmic string. The numbers were completely inconsistent. One, three, ten, eight-hundred, five, twelve, negative two-thousand. The milliseconds ran up and down in sporadic, nonsensical ways, counting up and down with no rhythm. Leopold grew a smile like a cheshire cat from one ear to the other. He leaned back in his chair, clasped his hands behind his head and put his feet up on the table. Leslie’s face was plagued with anxiety, seeing Leopold put his feet on her sterile table.

“Dude, gross!” Madison laughed, “Get your huge old man feet out of my documentary!”

“Obviously, the timing is inconsistent and difficult to quantify a harnessable pattern for truly travelling in time, but—” Jeremy said.

“Oh, hush boy!” Leopold bellowed, “We have our evidence! That’s a groundbreaking feat on it’s own!”

“Groundbreaking feet?” Madison said and filmed Leo’s feet.

“These numbers tell us that it’s theoretically possible to warp time! All we have to do, now, is build a machine to use them the right way,” he explained.

“So, you think we made some good progress?” Leslie timidly asked.

“How long did it take you guys to generate these observations?” he asked.

“We started working together at around… six-thirty this morning?” Jeremy said, “Assuming you mean from then until now, it’s been… a little over twelve hours? Give or take.”

“You two really bring great things into this world,” Leo replied.

“Well, it was a little bit of a fluke,” Leslie said, “An accident, really. It just sort of happened after a while of playing around. We were so tired!”

“We’ve been over this, Leslie. That’s what research is all about!” Leo said, “That’s all it takes. It’s just a matter of if your head is in the right place.”

“So, now you guys can build the time machine, right?” Madison asked from behind the camera that she pointed to Jeremy and Leslie. Leslie smiled faintly at her and Jeremy took a weary breath.

“Well, not exactly, sweetie. All this says is that it’s technically possible. The real problems come from whether or not we have the means to make it happen.”

“Okay, so let’s just spin some heat around and let’s go kill Hitler, alright?” she laughed.

“This is what you do when she doesn’t get it,” Jeremy whispered to Leslie, “Okay Madison. You tell us. Since you understand how the energy works, how are we going to put it into action.”

“‘Kay, so get this,” Madison started, “So, we gotta produce lots of heat, right? So we use some kinda crazy exothermic chemical reaction! The kind that releases heat. You remember, I showed them to you!”

“Yes, you googled ‘some of the most exothermic reactions possible’ for me. I remember.”

“Right yeah! We use that to generate a ton of heat and then we spin it around in the air!”

“And how are we going to do that?” Jeremy pressed.

“I dunno man, you’re the damn scientists, you figure it out! With a turbine, like the program thingy said!”

“The thermite reaction would be a promising place to start,” Leopold confirmed. “Yeah, except turbines convert kinetic energy into work. Putting the heat energy into the system would just heat up the blades,” Jeremy countered.

“Oh…” Madison paused, “Huh, that’s a good point. What about a fan, maybe?”

“A powered fan would blow the heat in all directions and break the string structure. It would undo the space-time properties it has. It would basically be an inefficient heater.”

“Damn, sorry Jeremy, didn’t mean to contribute a bunch of shit ideas,” Madison sarcastically spat at him.

“All I mean to say is that it’s not as simple as ‘step two: build the time machine.’”

“Cool, point proven. So now what?”

“This,” Leopold interjected. Everybody looked at him.

“What?” Madison said.

“We do this. All of us. We talk it out, debate, until we agree on something that seems plausible. Then we work together to make it happen” he explained, “I think the thermite reaction is a good place to start for energy. It’s simple, easy, and cheap.”

“Is it?” Jeremy asked.

“Oh yeah! Aluminum powder, iron oxide powder and the ignition mix? We can buy plenty of that, and we only need a little to make some real heat. The other parts of the machine might be more complicated, but the chemicals we need are easy to obtain.”

“Okay,” Jeremy reluctantly agreed, “Since it fits with our budget, I vote we start with it, too.”

“I think it sounds like a great idea!” Leslie said.

“Alright!” Leopold exclaimed with a cheery smile, “One step down, a lot more to go. But great suggestion there, kiddo. If you do well in chemistry, you’ll always have a place in my lab if you want to do graduate school, too.”

Madison beamed with excitement, wonder and confusion.

“But you’re all about physics though, right? How could I be in your lab with a chemistry degree?”

“Ah, well,” Leo chuckled, “all of that is a long time off anyway, and you don’t need to worry about it right now. But so long as you have passion and work hard, you can apply what you know to plenty of things that aren’t completely part of your degree. We are talking about using chemical reactions for time travel, aren’t we?”

“Huh, I guess you’re right. I had no idea. I mean, I would have a ton of fun working for you!”

“Well, just know you have somewhere to go in four years, if you need it,” Leo looked at Jeremy, “Brilliant ideas must run in the family, huh?”

Madison blushed and smiled.

“I think we should talk about the length of the strings,” Jeremy changed the subject, “They won’t be infinite, of course.”

“The shorter they are, the less they warp space-time, though. Their infinite lengths are important to their properties,” Leslie explained.

Meanwhile, Leopold brought up a shopping page for the materials needed for the thermite reaction. Four-hundred and fifty grams of aluminum powder was about ten dollars. Five-hundred grams of iron oxide was seventeen dollars. A twenty-three meter long strip of magnesium was worth three dollars. He gestured to the reactants on the screen with a grin. Madison’s gaze at the computer grew distant in her confusion.

“Is that it?” she asked.

“Is what it?” Leopold replied.

“Like, that’s all we need? Time travel literally costs thirty dollars?”

“Well, there’s shipping and taxes,” Leo joked.

“Okay, so thirty-four dollars?”

“And, well, lot’s of thinking, trials, errors and building the reactor to hold the reaction and the machine to apply the energy needed. But, to put it simply… yes,” he chuckled, “Say, you know what? You can set off the reaction for us!”

Jeremy and Leslie stopped talking with each other. The table was quiet after Leopold’s statement.

“I… what?” Madison said.

“It’s just basic chemistry! You can do that in our lab and you can put that down on your résumé.”

“Wow, I… didn’t really think about that,” she said, nervously.

“Leo, do you think that’s a good idea? She doesn’t have much experience yet. Maybe it would be better to wait a year or so before we ask her to do that,” Leslie argued.

“Well, she’s got to earn experience somewhere, doesn’t she?” he replied flippantly.

“Yes, but there is a big difference between working independently in a lab with equipment that is unfamiliar, and working in a lab supervised by a TA that tells you how to do everything,” Jeremy added.

“Hey, he doesn’t tell me how to do everything. I can follow directions in the procedure!”

Leopold reached his arm over and protectively covered Madison’s shoulder with his hand. He could feel the precautionary passion from Leslie and Jeremy.

“I will personally supervise Madison the whole time,” he assured, “If she wants to do it, that is.”

She peered at Leopold with insecurity.

“You have no obligation,” he said to Madison, “If you think it sounds like a good opportunity and you want to take it, then you absolutely can. Jeremy and Leslie do raise good points, so I will accommodate them. I’ll be there the whole time and show you everything you need to know, okay?”

“Okay,” Madison said with gratitude.

“Okay then,” Leo resolved and turned to his subordinates, “how do you want to approach the length of the strings?”

The two of them glanced to each other, their expressions bewildered. Leopold chuckled because when they were put in the spotlight, they needed to pause and think. It didn’t matter how intelligent anyone was— when put on the spot, even the greatest scientist could feel at least a little uncomfortable.

The three of them thought out loud to one another. Mainly, they discussed the methods in the scientific paper of one other research group who attempted to tackle time travel using cosmic strings. Longer strings were more dense and warped space-time more intensely. Leslie had annotated that the table showing the distortion coefficient — the number representing how warped space-time was — appeared to increase when the difference between distance and displacement was higher.

“Okay, someone’s gotta back up for me,” Madison said, “What do you mean distance and warping, and all that stuff.”

Jeremy opened his mouth to begin explaining, but Leopold put his hand out to stop him. He took the opportunity to explain it to Madison, as he felt she would receive it the best from him.

“This isn’t too bad,” he began, “You’re just stuck on definitions because you haven’t taken physics yet. So, ‘distance’ is how long the string is. ‘Displacement’, however, is the measurement of the length of the string from one end to the other.”

“They sound like the same thing.”

“They do, but they’re not. Think about it like this: how long the string is will always be the same, won’t it? If we make the string a meter long, no matter how we curl or bend it, if you trace your finger along the string in all its twists and turns, it will always be a meter long.”

“Yeah,” she responded indifferently.

“But when we bunch it up so it curves and turns, we can measure from one end to the other, straight across, and the length will be less than the total length of the entire string. That’s displacement.”

“Okay… so, like, it’s like when you look at your GPS, and it tells you which roads to take to get somewhere. Like, it will make you jump through all these hoops and roads that wind all around just to get to your location. But like, if I just said ‘screw the GPS’ and decided to drive in a literal straight line from my house to the store, I’d travel less distance because it’s the most direct path? I mean, obviously, I’d be driving through people’s yards and houses probably, but it would technically be the fastest way there?”

Leo smirked and slumped in his chair because he felt the formality of the research meeting diminish with Madison’s presence.

“That’s exactly it! Driving through people’s houses is displacement, and following the law is distance.”

Leslie cleared her throat and jumped back into the discussion.

“So what they noticed is that if you keep the distance of the string the same but lower the displacement by compressing the string and making it curve up and down, the more intensely space-time was warped,” she explained. Madison tilted her head and frowned.

“Uhhh… I… think that makes sense…”

Meanwhile, Jeremy was scribbling things down on a loose piece of paper that he had dug up. His pencil raced back and forth over the paper. He finished and curtly placed the pencil on the table with a significant tap sound. With two fingers, he slid the piece of paper over to her and spoke matter-of-factly.

“Like this.”

Madison ran her eyes over it, attempting to make sense of it. The table was quiet and allowed her to process the information. She nodded and hummed. Leo smiled at his coworkers.

“Ohhhh, I get it.”

Leopold gave them both a secret thumbs-up for helping Madison understand. “This is like… really simple math,” she exclaimed.

“Yeah, this part really is!” Leslie agreed.

“So… the problem is… how far do we take this?” Madison asked.

“That’s one of them, for sure,” Jeremy replied, “How long do we make the strings? How much do we compress them? In what way do we compress them? How do we control the space-time warping?”

“Wow, yeah, okay, I get the idea,” she replied with a snort.

“Any other ideas?” Leopold asked her with a grin, trying to keep her included. She rubbed her chin with intrigue and hummed. The expression on her face gradually became blank from thought. Sound only emitted from the music and soundscape speakers resting on the bar. Leopold snickered when it was clear that Madison was could not conjure anything else.

“That’s okay, kiddo. You’ve already had one great suggestion. We should probably take it from here. Maybe we should quit while we’re ahead, anyway. A lot of headway was made today, and—”

“What about a circle,” Jeremy stated. All eyes went to him, but nobody spoke, “Take a cosmic string and bend it all the way around on itself. Merge the ends together.”

“Umm…” Leslie said.

“I know it’s odd, and I’m not saying it will work, but just think about it a little longer,” he urged, “Join the ends together, and we have a uniform ring of energy. You wouldn’t be able to tell where it begins or ends. It’s just a circle.”

Leslie scribbled things down into her notebook. Madison focussed the camera on Jeremy. Part of Leopold’s arm took up the frame because he leaned forward more intently.

“What’s happening?” Madison whispered to the camera. Jeremy started to smile while Leopold and Leslie listened very closely. She had never seen these expressions on any of them before. Jeremy had smiled before, of course, but not like this. The excitement in his face was foreign. Like he would soon burst out in song. And Leopold’s face was so stone-like. The goofy and devious looking smile that he usually wore was wiped off and replaced with something serious. She would think he was looking a bit grim if she had no context. Leslie looked enthralled. Her pen raced across the pages and her glasses were resting on the edge of her nose from looking down for so long. Her tongue was sticking out.

“If you start at an arbitrary place on the circle and you trace your finger all the way around it, the length will still be the same as it was when it was a string,” Jeremy said, “That would be the distance.”

“Keep going,” Leopold said.

“But when you form a circle out of the line, instead of scrunching it up to keep shrinking the displacement… because there is no beginning or end—”

“The displacement is zero,” Leslie finished the sentence as she kept scribbling. She wore a soft and enchanted smile as she spoke and wrote alongside Jeremy.

“Yes,” he confirmed, “That would be the biggest possible difference between distance and displacement.”

“Okay, now I’m confused,” Madison said.

“What about measuring from any arbitrary side to the other directly across?” Leopold objected, “Wouldn’t that just become the displacement?”

“That would be the diameter,” Jeremy clarified, “which is not the same as displacement. There are not really any equations that relate diameter or radius to displacement. When talking about displacement, we usually only use it with respect to distance, velocity, acceleration and those other variables.” Madison nodded along, pretending to understand.

“In this case, though,” Leopold countered, “the distance of the string just becomes the circumference. So actually, using the equation for circumference, C=πd, we see that the displacement becomes the diameter because that is the furthest distance apart one point on the circle is from another point.”

Jeremy began to sweat. He could feel his hands clamming up and his throat becoming sore. Being challenged always set him into an anxious mood.

“That’s true, but there’s more to it than that,” Jeremy said with a nervous and frustrated tremble.

“Please, keep going, boy. I want to understand, and I want you to be right. But I’m not convinced right now,” Leopold warned. It was a peculiar position to watch a person take. To play devil’s advocate and openly support the person he was arguing against. Leopold was a tougher cookie to crack than Madison gave him credit for. Was he just being nice to her by saying that they would try her idea? Maybe Jeremy’s idea was more complicated. Or Leopold had higher expectations for Jeremy.

“If you have a string and loop it around into a circle, it has a fixed length, distance, or, as you said, circumference. I agree with that part. We disagree about diameter and displacement. The diameter is the same across any two opposite points because it is a circle. However, if you were to change the orientation of the circle into an ellipse,” Jeremy turned to Madison, “which is an oval,” then looked back at Leopold, “then the diameter no longer exists. The diameter turns into both a major axis and a minor axis which can vary across all kinds of numerical values, and all the while, the circumference is still the exact same. Once we join one end of the string to the other, we have to keep the distance constant because no parts of the string are lost and no new parts are gained. However, we do not keep the diameter the same, because it can shift into axes that differ in lengths. You don’t calculate the circumference of a circle and the circumference of an ellipse the same way because the axes and the diameter are not the same thing. It is here where we see that the displacement is also not the same as the diameter nor a major or minor axis.”

Leopold leaned back in his chair to process all of Jeremy’s logic. He remained silent for quiet some time. Leslie had taken a break from writing during his argument and waited to hear the response. Madison broke the silence.

“I didn’t understand any of that nonsense.”

“I’d like to try to explain that too, but I think we might have to save that for another day, honey,” Leslie said with a chuckle. Leopold’s expression appeared conflicted. The expression of wanting to be convinced but being unable to accept the argument.

“That is an impressive explanation, Jeremy,” he complimented.

“But?” he provoked.

“But if we choose to accept that hypothesis for now, it still does not explain whether or not displacement is existent or not. If it is zero, then I can see how this would fit into the distortion coefficient. But if it doesn’t exist, if it’s N/A, then that makes what you’re talking about mathematically impossible.”

Leslie pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. She interjected the conversation to further support Jeremy’s hypothesis.

“I can help. Try thinking about it like this, Leo. If you run one lap on a track field, you will end up right where you started. The distance you travel is about the circumference of the track. Because you end up right where you started, and essentially did not travel anywhere, the displacement is zero. The displacement still exists,” she explained, “the displacement in the cosmic circles would still exist, too.”

She adjusted herself to face Leopold the same way that Jeremy was. They sat next to each other like a single, united front. Madison was slouched over the table, listening as intensely as she could. She still could not make sense of the sciencey mumbo-jumbo.

“Will we be travelling in circles along the cosmic circles like we would on a track field?” Leopold asked for clarification. Jeremy huffed from exhaustion.

“There’s no way to tell, Leopold,” he stated, “This is as far as I’ve gotten with it. There’s no real way of knowing what will happen because nobody has done it before. To learn more, we have to try it. That’s why it’s called an experiment.”

Leopold was silent again. Everybody was. Leslie held her position next to Jeremy and presented a fixed and resolute appearance. Leopold shifted his gaze to her and nonverbally encouraged her to speak.

“I think it’s doable,” Leslie supported, “It’s thought out, it’s logically sound, it’s testable,” she paused, “I think it’s brilliant.”

Jeremy glanced at her with dull looking eyes. She leaned back in surprise.

“That was unintentional!” she laughed. He let out a humoured breath and left it at that. Leopold nodded with a thoughtful expression, then looked to Madison. She seemed caught off guard.

“What me?” she asked.

“Yeah, you. Tell me what you think,” he spurred her on.

“I mean, pretty much what Leslie said. He had an answer for everything except the things that you guys would need to test. If you’re looking for an experiment with potential that is also cheap, then I think this one is it.”

“Well, I wouldn’t call it cheap,” Jeremy said.

Leopold grinned and chuckled to himself. He dissolved into quiet laughter as he surfed the products on a chemical distribution website. The other three exchanged blank looks with one another. Leopold reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone and dialled a number. All the while, he was still giggling to himself like he was about to pull a practical joke. He raised his finger up at his friends as the phone rang.

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