#Iowa City Restaurants
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I find it extremely hilarious that I basically never feel the need to fight with idiots on hockey twitter, except when people insult a Wild signing/draft pick telling them to “have fun Des Moines” and I always have to hold myself back from the urge to tell them that Des Moines is a very nice city actually and a lovely place to live.
#at least half the reason I moved back to Des Moines from the cities was the fact that 494 was killing my soul#someone was hoping for luccini’s sake that we have good Italian restaurants and I had to put my phone down#to keep myself from getting in a twitter fight defending the honor of my hometown’s restaurants#Iowa may not be a perfect place but I will defend Des Moines to death#it’s a beautiful city that’s easy to get around in and the cost of living is very reasonable
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Top Pizza Trends for 2024
As we enter the second month of the new year, we are choosing to go by the top trends whether it is about what we wear, what we listen, what we watch, and of course, what we eat. So, we will tell you what’s up next in the world of your favorite food – pizza.
We happened to ransack the internet, assembled some top internet searches, consumer trends, and our expertise in the industry to dish up insights for inform you the current pizza trends for the year.
Here’s what you need to know.
Next level crunchy, comforting, and creamy texture along with fresh veggies
The eye-pleasing textures of the pizzas are something pizza lovers are going to fall for in 2024. The new texture will be described as “enhanced crunch” and it is also the perfect complement for the upcoming food trends.
Global experiences
Consumers are no longer limiting their options to the taste of one region, they crave for new flavors to be placed in their pizzas. Consumers are looking forward to an international flavor experience from the favorite pizza brands.
Emerging localized pizza
2023 was the year for Detroit-style pizza but this year, we will see the rise of Roman and Brooklyn-style pizzas. Pizza Romana is a rectangular pizza with a thin and airy crust. On the other hand, Brooklyn borough has a unique pizza style of its own. They are large when compared to other styles.
Learn these trends and reach out to the best pizza restaurants in Iowa to satiate your slice cravings.
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I’ve been reading some craft books and online posts about the world building because my story is an urban fantasy set in present day US, in a fictional town, and theres not a secondary world where the fantasy happens, it’s all in the real world, except the magic is a secret that only certain people know about, but all of the resources I find about world building only talk about fantastical worlds that exist by themselves and not the kind of more subtle world building that I’d have to do. Do you have any tips?
Guide: Creating a Fictional Town in the Real World
Step 1 - Choose Your Location - There are two ways to go about choosing a location for your fictional town. One is to go the "Springfield U.S.A." route, ala The Simpsons, and be vague about the specific location (borough, parish, district, county, region, state, or province) and instead give a broader geographic region... "the East Coast," "the Pacific Northwest," "Central Canada," Northern Scotland," etc. The other option is to go ahead and put your fictional town in a specific location. Just figure out where (for example, somewhere outside of Des Moines, Iowa) and go to Google Maps, click on satellite view, then start zooming in on big empty areas. Choose a place big enough to fit a town. Yes, in reality it's probably farm fields, pasture, or someone's property, but that doesn't matter. You don't have to actually show it on a map. It's just a plausible spot to build your town. Now you can measure how far it is to other places, you know what highways to take to get to it. You can even do street view to get the lay of the land, see what the landscape looks like and try to envision the buildings there. You can also use what's there to create parks, popular recreational areas, and anything else your town needs.
Step 2 - Choose Your Inspiration - Even when you're creating a fictional town, it's still a good idea to use a real town (or two, or three) from that general area as inspiration for your town. For a fictional town in Des Moines, I would zoom in on the map to find a nearby town of similar size... like Elkhart, then I can take a look around to see what it's like. Just looking at the map, I can see they have a couple of churches, a couple baseball fields, a very small main street/downtown area with a couple shops and restaurants, a post office, a few different neighborhoods, and a cemetery. This would be a great model for a small fictional town outside of Des Moines. And, as I said, you could look at a couple other sand combine them. Once you have your inspiration town/s, you can walk around on Google Maps street view, go to the town's web site, watch a tour on YouTube (if one exists), or look up pictures in Google Image search.
Step 3 - Start Planning - This is the really fun part! First, you might want to draw a basic map of your fictional town using your inspiration town/s as a guide. This doesn't have to be a pretty map... just a basic line drawing to help you envision where everything is. Think about some of the basic things this town might have, like the ones I listed in step two, and any other things you might want your town to have, like maybe a library, a hospital, a city hall, school, and maybe a movie theater. It might even be helpful and fun to put together a collage of pictures to represent your town so you've got something in mind as you write about it. You can even choose representatives for specific locations in your story, like your MC's house, school, and their favorite hangout.
Step 4 - Naming Your Town - Start by looking at the kinds of town names that surround your town. Look for common naming conventions... suffixes like -ton, -ville, -dale, -burg, -wood, -field, etc. Words in a particular language, like a lot of French-inspired town names, or towns with geographical terms (lake, hill, valley, river, canyon, gap, etc.) My guide to Naming Locations has additional tips.
Step 5 - Populate Your Town and Give it a History - Last but not least, make up a little history for your town, again, using surrounding towns as inspiration. Who founded it? When was it founded? What's the town's main industry? What are the people like in this town? What jobs do they have? What do they do for fun?
Here are some other posts that might help:
Five Things to Help You Describe Fictional Locations
Setting Your Story in an Unfamiliar Place
WQA’s Guide to Internet Research
Happy writing!
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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!
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♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking
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Jason Sudeikis at a restaurant in Iowa City - December 2nd, 2023.
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Upcoming Roadtrips:
Dec 11 12 Phoenix AZ
Dec 13 14 Tucson AZ
Dec 15 Las Cruces NM
Dec 16 17 Albuquerque NM
Dec 18 19 Flagstaff AZ
Dec 20 21 Sedona AZ
Dec 22 Phoenix AZ
January: Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville… then Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina later in the month.
February: Gulf Coast (Texas to Florida)
March: Texas
April: Madison, Chicago, Indy (or maybe Iowa City, St Louis, Louisville… tbd) TN, KY and northern Mississippi
May: Boston and the Maine coast
Send me travel tips! More than half of these places are new to me so tell me the best neighborhoods, restaurants, music venues, hikes, parks, etc! 😘 💋
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As a non American can you explain why are there 3 concerts in Ohio? Is it a really big and populated state? Or else Louis could've done 1 bigger venue.
Djebdishdisvjdvsh
Sorry. I had to scream a little in the car because listen 😂😂😂 when the dates were announced I wanted a single show in Ohio. We get passed over all. The. Time. So often. So I first saw cuyahoga hills and was like…. Why there??? Nothing is there??? 😂 but OHIO! And then I saw Cincinnati and I was like… Cincinnati too???? Okay! Hitting the northeast corner and southwest corner of the state! Cool! And then Columbus too??? Like I legit texted @londonfoginacup asking like HOW MUCH DOES LOUIS LOVE US THAT HE IS GIVING US THREE OHIO SHOWS? Like we have to go to all three to show him Ohio loves him and this wasn’t a mistake right??? 😂
Which we obviously did. But we were just as surprised as you, I PROMISE YOU.
That said, there’s a lot of reasons why he could have chosen three shows here.
One: Ohio has three major metropolitan areas in the one state, which is pretty rare outside the super large and populous states. He’s hitting the three major markets and since he seems to be trying to hit even the smaller areas that don’t get much attention with this tour, it makes sense for that alone really.
Two: Location. Ohio is a state in an area of the country called the Midwest, but we are located in a pretty central area. This could explain it as well, because he’s not going to Kentucky (the state south of us) and I don’t think he’s going to Pittsburgh? (The closest large city east of us, he played there last year on Valentine’s Day hehe) which means they’ll be looking for shows to attend closeby, and Ohio can offer that. So while he’s also hitting Indianapolis (closest large city west of us) and already hit Detroit (another large city in the state north of us), he’s also not playing West Virginia (another state that borders us) and… yeah. Lots of people in that space who will be needing a place closeby to see him.
Which brings us to three: Population. We aren’t the MOST populous state or anything, there’s a reason people get us confused with Iowa and Idaho lol but, that said, we are the tenth (or seventh??) most populous according to the google search I just did lol different sites disagree, but when you consider there are fifty states, that’s still a good showing lol considering we have so many other populous areas surrounding us that the concerts would also draw from, that could have also been a contributing factor.
And lastly four: SCENERY. Listen. Ohio gets shit on a lot for being a “boring” state or a “flyover” state (aka no one comes here as a destination) and it pisses me off lol every single person I’ve ever brought to Ohio has been surprised when they got here because there was so much more here than they thought and parts of the state are GORGEOUS. I mean did you see the flyover view that John Delf did on Instagram of the cuyahoga falls venue??? That’s actually in a national park and it is just stunning there with gorgeous hiking and waterfalls and shit in the near vicinity. It’s amazing. And the venue he played tonight in Cincinnati was literally right on the Ohio river that creates the southern border for our state, and it had a view of one of my favorite bridges I’ve ever seen! PLUS!!! Tonight there was a full moon, and it was right above the bridge and Louis got to look at us AND THE BRIDGE AND MOON THE ENTIRE TIME. How gorgeous is that??? Like look at this shitty photo I took. Incredibly beautiful.
That’s from the railing that was only a short distance behind me and the sound guys for the concert so. Not shabby, right?? Now the venue in Columbus is right downtown in what we call the arena district because the arena where our hockey team plays is right across the street and the baseball stadium is next door and the new soccer stadium is in the area now too, so it’s got loads of venues and restaurants and shit right there and Kemba is one of the best indoor/outdoor venues in town now. I’ve seen several shows there over the years, and it’s great every time. It’s got good sound, a good setup, and the staff is always fantastic so while it’s maybe not the coolest venue, I do love when artists I enjoy come there. Not sure of the appeal on Louis’ end, but ¯\__(ツ)__/¯
So, taking all of these points into consideration, it does make a bit more sense… but three does still seem like he just felt like being overindulgent to us and show us extra love 😂😂 as emmu said, I guess Louis loves us best hahaha
We are just kidding, please don’t send me hate lol
I honestly also do not know why he chose to do this for us, but it makes travel plans a lot easier for us and I’m really fucjing thankful haha I’ve mostly been worried we wouldn’t be able to fill the venues sufficiently but so far so good so here’s hoping Columbus shows up too haha Heaven only knows parking and driving in Columbus is a fuck ton easier than doing so in Cincinnati 😂
#long answer long#sorry it’s so wordy#but hopefully this does help??#I obviously feel a bit too much pride in my state sorry lok#but also forgive me for choosing to pretend to believe louis put three shows in Ohio bexause of me and emmu#😂😂😂😂#fuck that idea is hysterical to even write out but damn is it a fun thing to joke about lololol#asks#anonymous
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Over the past few decades, much of the media and policy debate around labor issues have focused on low wages. Labor issues related to work schedules have received far less attention. In fact, 17% of the U.S. labor force works on unpredictable or unstable schedules with short advance notice (Golden 2015). They are disproportionately concentrated in lower paid occupations in the retail and service sectors. According to a national survey on retail jobs, 87% of retail workers report hour variations in the past month with the average variation equivalent to 48% of their usual work hours, 50% report a week or less advance notice, and 44% say that their employer decides their work hours without their input (Lambert et al. 2014). The prevalence and the rapid growth of unpredictable and unstable schedules has resulted in many social issues, including difficulties arranging childcare and threats to households’ economic security (Henly and Lambert 2014).
The economic trade-off of predictable schedules and the ongoing policy debate
Unpredictable and unstable schedules are so prevalent in service businesses, because labor accounts for a significant part of the operating cost of service businesses, especially in retail, food, and hospitality services. Having just enough (but not too many) workers on hand is essential to balancing customer service and profitability. As firms try to strike that balance, many—especially those in the service and retail sectors—practice “just-in-time” (JIT) scheduling, which entails managers scheduling their employees “on the fly” based on immediate workplace needs. By using just-in-time scheduling, service firms mitigate the uncertainty they often face in customer demand and employee no-shows. This helps them reduce the labor hours needed and thus labor cost (Terwiesch and Cachon 2012). While JIT scheduling can be effective in reducing firms’ labor costs, it also leads to highly unpredictable and fluctuating schedules for workers, which negatively impact their quality of life, especially among low-income workers. In short, firms have been using JIT scheduling to transfer business risks to their employees.
Recent local and state policies aim to reduce this practice. Since 2014, one state (Oregon) and multiple cities (e.g., Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Emeryville, California), have passed various forms of “predictive scheduling laws,” sometimes also referred to as “fair workweek laws.” In general, they require employers to post work schedules in advance and provide additional pay for any last-minute schedule changes. Some versions of such laws, (e.g., the ones in New York City, Seattle and Emeryville, California), also require employers to offer part-time workers the chance to increase their hours before adding new staff (Wolfe et al 2018).
Service firms, especially those in the retail, food, and hospitability industries, argue that such requirements remove the staffing flexibility they need to operate their businesses effectively, which may lead to bankruptcy and eventually loss of jobs. Indeed, such policies have received strong resistance from employers in the service and retail sectors and are still pending or have failed to pass in many cities and states across the U.S. States including Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, and Tennessee even prohibit jurisdictions within the states from passing predictable scheduling laws. Predictable scheduling laws also differ in the level of advance notice they require firms to inform their workers about their schedules. For example, the city of New York requires 72 hours advance notice (for its retail workers) and the state of Oregon initially required one-week advance notice but later increased to 14 days, while most other cities require 14 days advance notice.
Is JIT scheduling really that beneficial to service firms?
In light of this debate, Masoud Kamalahmadi (University of Miami), Yong-Pin Zhou (University of Washington) and I conducted a study to answer whether and to what extent the flexibility created through just-in-time scheduling benefits the firm and how policy makers can better design predictable scheduling laws (Kamalahmadi et al. 2021). On the one hand, it is clear that just-in-time scheduling helps firms reduce their labor cost as explained earlier. On the other hand, the potential impact of just-in-time scheduling on the workers’ productivity, and thus the firm’s revenue, was not well understood. It was the goal of our study to seek objective evidence that can shed light on this important issue.
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Hi Jen!
Im 20y and a lesbian that loves lesbian history and im just wondering about that Era that you lived as a lesbian: the 80's and e the 70's.
There was so many lesbian magazines, zines, activism....i spend hours of my days reading online the Lavender Menace magazine and Sinister Wisdom, its just so amazing to me that lesbians created a fundation of their our culture, language and lifestyle at the time. So my question is, how was it back then compared to today since we dont have the same kind of community, we have barely 5 lesbian bars in the whole US and our activism is fragmented almost non existent? Especially since lesbophobia or oppresion on homossexuals did not end and we still face it.
Thanks, and I love your blog.
I was lucky enough to come out in a place, Iowa City, where lesbians were well organized and active. Iowa City was the home of a Women's Press printing group that formed under the idea that "We coudn't get it printed so we learned how to print". That press was disbanded in 1985 but it's legacy lived on. My lesbian community was broad and diverse and welcoming. They had a history of working together even if they weren't old enough or active in the political side of things in the early 80's. The foundation of lesbians (women) working together was built and we stood on that solid ground.
I was never a big reader of lesbian history. I preferred to experience it in life, to hear the stories from the other lesbians in my community or at festival or wherever I could corner some woman to tell her about her life. But sometimes now I read over the older pamphlets and news letters and every time it renews my passion to pass on lesbian culuture and positivity to others. I see the importance of keeping papers and not relying on computer documents and only oral, unrecorded stories.
What used to be the University of Iowa Lesbian archives is now housed under the LGBTQIA archives but you can still seach “lesbian” and they curators/volunteers (at least one of which is a butch lesbians ;) )are happy to email you images to read. You can look for entire collections and almost all are digitized or in the process. Through that archive you aill find new places to search. They have tiktok as well.
https://lgbtqiowa.org/history-by-letter/history-by-letter-1-iowa-city-womens-press/
Most universities have some sort of lesbian archive in their special collections. They are a great place to start for local lesbian history. And they are more than happy to share. Some even offer free lectures if you want to organize the space (public library) and do some advertising.
www.LConline.org is Lesbian Connection. You can subscribe for about 35.00 or free to lesbians is you can’t afford to pay. They often sell back issues.
Now that you have some new sources. Heres how it was for me when I came out in 1993, just out of college to years and living in Iowa City which was often called the Gayest town in Iowa. A sort of gay and lesbian bubble in a state not known for diversity.
We have a gay club, in every major city. Des Moines with several, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, the Qaud Cities and Waterloo/Cedar Falls. We have an unofficial lesbian club ( a bar owned by lesbians, close enough) in Iowa City. We were all in our early to late 20′s and so going out and dancing/drinking was sort of a go to for us. We had lesbian pool, dart. softball, volleyball (my favorite) and kickball leagues. Only lesbians. There were gay men leagues as well and we sometimes played each other for fun. There were also mixed groups for those who wanted to play on multiple nights or wanted that space. We had a BLAST! After (and often during games) we shared beer and laughter, meals and snacks.
The bars that hosted us were mostly straight and we brought income and activitiy so we had no push back and were often invited to new ones. The volleyball and softball fields gave us equpment to use and sometimes a business, like a bar or restaurant would give us t shirts. If we wore those shirts around we sometimes got discounts. What a grand time we had!
As we got older going out or playing sports and practicing 2 or 3 nights a week became more difficult. Jobs, kids, home ownership and priorities shifted. Instead my friend group had monthly potlucks or meeting at a restaurant. The lesbian bar burned down and was not rebuilt so we took to camp fires at each others homes or meals at diners on Saturday morning.
Women’s Festivals became an important part of my life and that of my lesbian friends. I started going in 1994 when introduced by my first girlfriend and friend group. In the later years, when we were not as active locally due to life being busy, we would spend time planning and prepping for that 7 to 10 day camping in a state 7 hours away. We would gather with a purpose and eat and drink and talk about memories and what fun we will have on vacation. Those 7 days camping at a women’s festival gave us the down time to hang out and renew our friendships. Time to talk and laugh and dance and catch up without the world in the way. Without that women’s festival being the steady, predictable place for us to meet I am not sure our friend group would still be strong like it is.
Now we meet to talk about the “old days” over food or campfires. We zoomed over covid realizing how much we missed each other and how life had gotten in the way. Since then we try harder to make time. We are getting back to festivals and bring new, young lesbians on board to experience what was life changing to us. To ME. We work together (my boss and her wife and my first ex are all friends from my coming out days). We MAKE time to eat out or camp or just sit in lawn chairs in back yards.
This is my lesbian experience. And I wish all lesbians could land in the lap of such a strong group of women like I did. NOT that there was not drama LOL. Of course there were exes and breakups and disagreements but when someone needed time she knew she could take it and we would keep inviting. No one was shamed for “never coming” because we all knew not joining in now did not mean she would not want to come back in the future.
When the world gets too much and i look in my DM’s or on line and see younger or newly out older lesbians suffering from distress caused by isolation or the current political envirnonment or lack of lesbian role models I go to my friends and talk and listen and get hugs. They ultimately give me hope and I take that out into the world.
We are finding each other and the key is to translate on line community to in person community. Three lesbians getting coffee and forming a friendship is better than 20 lesbians meeting on line although both are better than no lesbians connecting. The adivice I always give and stand firm on is get to a womens or lesbian festvial. You will not regret it. It will change your life and give you life long friendships.
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December 4th: Buffaloes
“From ocean to ocean”—so say the Americans; and these four words compose the general designation of the “great trunk line” which crosses the entire width of the United States. The Pacific Railroad is, however, really divided into two distinct lines: the Central Pacific, between San Francisco and Ogden, and the Union Pacific, between Ogden and Omaha. Five main lines connect Omaha with New York.
New York and San Francisco are thus united by an uninterrupted metal ribbon, which measures no less than three thousand seven hundred and eighty-six miles. Between Omaha and the Pacific the railway crosses a territory which is still infested by Indians and wild beasts, and a large tract which the Mormons, after they were driven from Illinois in 1845, began to colonise.
The journey from New York to San Francisco consumed, formerly, under the most favourable conditions, at least six months. It is now accomplished in seven days.
It was in 1862 that, in spite of the Southern Members of Congress, who wished a more southerly route, it was decided to lay the road between the forty-first and forty-second parallels. President Lincoln himself fixed the end of the line at Omaha, in Nebraska. The work was at once commenced, and pursued with true American energy; nor did the rapidity with which it went on injuriously affect its good execution. The road grew, on the prairies, a mile and a half a day. A locomotive, running on the rails laid down the evening before, brought the rails to be laid on the morrow, and advanced upon them as fast as they were put in position.
The Pacific Railroad is joined by several branches in Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, and Oregon. On leaving Omaha, it passes along the left bank of the Platte River as far as the junction of its northern branch, follows its southern branch, crosses the Laramie territory and the Wahsatch Mountains, turns the Great Salt Lake, and reaches Salt Lake City, the Mormon capital, plunges into the Tuilla Valley, across the American Desert, Cedar and Humboldt Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, and descends, viâ Sacramento, to the Pacific—its grade, even on the Rocky Mountains, never exceeding one hundred and twelve feet to the mile.
Such was the road to be traversed in seven days, which would enable Phileas Fogg—at least, so he hoped—to take the Atlantic steamer at New York on the 11th for Liverpool.
The car which he occupied was a sort of long omnibus on eight wheels, and with no compartments in the interior. It was supplied with two rows of seats, perpendicular to the direction of the train on either side of an aisle which conducted to the front and rear platforms. These platforms were found throughout the train, and the passengers were able to pass from one end of the train to the other. It was supplied with saloon cars, balcony cars, restaurants, and smoking-cars; theatre cars alone were wanting, and they will have these some day.
Book and news dealers, sellers of edibles, drinkables, and cigars, who seemed to have plenty of customers, were continually circulating in the aisles.
The train left Oakland station at six o’clock. It was already night, cold and cheerless, the heavens being overcast with clouds which seemed to threaten snow. The train did not proceed rapidly; counting the stoppages, it did not run more than twenty miles an hour, which was a sufficient speed, however, to enable it to reach Omaha within its designated time.
There was but little conversation in the car, and soon many of the passengers were overcome with sleep. Passepartout found himself beside the detective; but he did not talk to him. After recent events, their relations with each other had grown somewhat cold; there could no longer be mutual sympathy or intimacy between them. Fix’s manner had not changed; but Passepartout was very reserved, and ready to strangle his former friend on the slightest provocation.
Snow began to fall an hour after they started, a fine snow, however, which happily could not obstruct the train; nothing could be seen from the windows but a vast, white sheet, against which the smoke of the locomotive had a greyish aspect.
At eight o’clock a steward entered the car and announced that the time for going to bed had arrived; and in a few minutes the car was transformed into a dormitory. The backs of the seats were thrown back, bedsteads carefully packed were rolled out by an ingenious system, berths were suddenly improvised, and each traveller had soon at his disposition a comfortable bed, protected from curious eyes by thick curtains. The sheets were clean and the pillows soft. It only remained to go to bed and sleep which everybody did—while the train sped on across the State of California.
The country between San Francisco and Sacramento is not very hilly. The Central Pacific, taking Sacramento for its starting-point, extends eastward to meet the road from Omaha. The line from San Francisco to Sacramento runs in a north-easterly direction, along the American River, which empties into San Pablo Bay. The one hundred and twenty miles between these cities were accomplished in six hours, and towards midnight, while fast asleep, the travellers passed through Sacramento; so that they saw nothing of that important place, the seat of the State government, with its fine quays, its broad streets, its noble hotels, squares, and churches.
The train, on leaving Sacramento, and passing the junction, Roclin, Auburn, and Colfax, entered the range of the Sierra Nevada. ’Cisco was reached at seven in the morning; and an hour later the dormitory was transformed into an ordinary car, and the travellers could observe the picturesque beauties of the mountain region through which they were steaming. The railway track wound in and out among the passes, now approaching the mountain-sides, now suspended over precipices, avoiding abrupt angles by bold curves, plunging into narrow defiles, which seemed to have no outlet. The locomotive, its great funnel emitting a weird light, with its sharp bell, and its cow-catcher extended like a spur, mingled its shrieks and bellowings with the noise of torrents and cascades, and twined its smoke among the branches of the gigantic pines.
There were few or no bridges or tunnels on the route. The railway turned around the sides of the mountains, and did not attempt to violate nature by taking the shortest cut from one point to another.
The train entered the State of Nevada through the Carson Valley about nine o’clock, going always northeasterly; and at midday reached Reno, where there was a delay of twenty minutes for breakfast.
From this point the road, running along Humboldt River, passed northward for several miles by its banks; then it turned eastward, and kept by the river until it reached the Humboldt Range, nearly at the extreme eastern limit of Nevada.
Having breakfasted, Mr. Fogg and his companions resumed their places in the car, and observed the varied landscape which unfolded itself as they passed along the vast prairies, the mountains lining the horizon, and the creeks, with their frothy, foaming streams. Sometimes a great herd of buffaloes, massing together in the distance, seemed like a moveable dam. These innumerable multitudes of ruminating beasts often form an insurmountable obstacle to the passage of the trains; thousands of them have been seen passing over the track for hours together, in compact ranks. The locomotive is then forced to stop and wait till the road is once more clear.
This happened, indeed, to the train in which Mr. Fogg was travelling. About twelve o’clock a troop of ten or twelve thousand head of buffalo encumbered the track. The locomotive, slackening its speed, tried to clear the way with its cow-catcher; but the mass of animals was too great. The buffaloes marched along with a tranquil gait, uttering now and then deafening bellowings. There was no use of interrupting them, for, having taken a particular direction, nothing can moderate and change their course; it is a torrent of living flesh which no dam could contain.
The travellers gazed on this curious spectacle from the platforms; but Phileas Fogg, who had the most reason of all to be in a hurry, remained in his seat, and waited philosophically until it should please the buffaloes to get out of the way.
Passepartout was furious at the delay they occasioned, and longed to discharge his arsenal of revolvers upon them.
“What a country!” cried he. “Mere cattle stop the trains, and go by in a procession, just as if they were not impeding travel! Parbleu! I should like to know if Mr. Fogg foresaw this mishap in his programme! And here’s an engineer who doesn’t dare to run the locomotive into this herd of beasts!”
The engineer did not try to overcome the obstacle, and he was wise. He would have crushed the first buffaloes, no doubt, with the cow-catcher; but the locomotive, however powerful, would soon have been checked, the train would inevitably have been thrown off the track, and would then have been helpless.
The best course was to wait patiently, and regain the lost time by greater speed when the obstacle was removed. The procession of buffaloes lasted three full hours, and it was night before the track was clear. The last ranks of the herd were now passing over the rails, while the first had already disappeared below the southern horizon.
It was eight o’clock when the train passed through the defiles of the Humboldt Range, and half-past nine when it penetrated Utah, the region of the Great Salt Lake, the singular colony of the Mormons.
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Flower and Shadow (spy au)
Chapter 5
Summary: Elain could pretend it wasn't intentional, pretend it was a coincidence she ended up there. Truth was, she'd been waiting for this for a long time.
Warning: cursing, violence.
Word Count: 3882
Chapter 4
The Pretender
Elain adjusted her sunglasses, discreetly zooming on the couple getting out of the stylish black limousine. With the help of a hidden camera, the assassin had captured every movement they made in last fourteen hours. If Elain had learned anything about Beron Vaserra during this tour, was that he was old, rich and predictable, currently using a business trip to disguise a visit to his mistress. She scoffed at the simplicity of his mind.
He never went to his mistress house, preferring to meet her in five-star hotels and restaurants. Can an old geezer get more cartoonish than that? Elain munched on a fry, scrunching her nose at the cold food, taking a sip of her cherry coke to wash it all down. She was occupying a window table at Wendy’s, the spot allowing her the perfect view from Beron’s second stay in the city. She smiled at the way his mistress swayed her hips beside him, her nose up to the sky, her arm draped around his as any good trophy baby would, the couple disappearing behind the revolving door of Gran Royale Hotel. Elain recognized a good hustler from afar, and Cresseida Summers was a high class one.
The gorgeous 6 ft 2 black woman, with waist length silver hair, deep brown eyes and a pair of hefty silicone tits –courtesy of her latest lover – was a man’s wet dream dressed in luxury brands. Cresseida fancied herself a singer, ditching the gloom Iowa for the shinny Cali, choosing LA as her breakthrough point to stardom, disappointment quickly knocking on her 4x4 bedroom apartment once she realized how many other singers and actress traced the same plan. The wheels of Los Angeles were spun by connections, connections she lacked.
Despite of having only a middle school degree, Cresseida had no interesting in settling for a bartending or waitress gig to support her dreams, choosing to search for sponsors stead. Mrs Summers and Mr. Vanserra’s paths crossed, a one-night turning into a month test, the test turning into a regular position in his bed. Cresseida, the clever girl she was, soon learned to use his “enthusiasm for the visual arts” at her favor, carving a name for herself amongst the elite of LA.
Reading Shadow’s report on Cresseida Summer made her grown on Elain. She was almost feeling sorry about framing her for Beron’s death. Today, the power couple schedule included brunch with one of Beron’s acquaintances, a mid-tier blockbuster director, who promised Cresseida a small 3 minutes cameo in his next movie. Now, they returned to the hotel so Beron could take his afternoon nap. According to his secretary agenda – which Elain now had full access after hacking her accounts – Vanserra would be spending two more days here before flying to Vegas, where his eldest was inaugurating a Casino. Elain bit another fry considering her options. She could either kill Beron here, blame it on his mistress, or kill Beron in Vegas, blame in some unknown hooker.
The decision rested in Shadow’s hands. Once he sabotaged the deal with Danaan, she had a green light to off the target. Elain could already feel the anticipation coating her skin, the need to finish the job consuming her thoughts day and night. She had envisioned a couple of possible deaths fit for him. As if her thoughts had summoned him, her phone buzzed over the table, the words ‘My Dear Husband ❤’ popping on the screen. She picked it up.
“When did you changed your name?” she asked instead of saying hello.
“Can’t have you waltzing around with me saved as ‘Auburn’.” Shadow’s smooth voice greeted her, his tone low to avoid attracting attention. “A man needs affection, love.”
“You are cheesy.”
“You are late. Marisa was worried when you didn’t make in time for your lunch reservation.” His tone grew formal, louder. Marisa should be standing at ear shot now.
Elain slurped her empty drink, ice swirling loudly. “Oh, how silly of me. I lost track of time.”
Christ, she had forgot about Marisa. The woman was now on BFF mode, seeking for her company around the clock, creating excuses to save Elain from the company of her wife-beating husband. She needed healthier hobbies
“I imagined. I told her you must be shopping for the gala at the end of the month.” Elain chocked on air. The end of the month? Fuck no!
“I thought you attended the last one today. I planned a trip for us in two days.” In other words. Either she killed him now, or she killed him in Vegas.
“Maybe spend less time glued to your fucking phone the next time,” he hissed loudly, no doubt making a show for Marisa to hear. “Don’t bother shopping any longer, Alexa is sending you a rack to choose from, she wants you to wear one of her dresses.” Alexa was his inexistent mistress, a wannabe stylist. Elain groaned at his words, his code clear. ‘Vanserra needs to live a few more days’. Fuck her life.
“Why must I wait? Waiting is boring. I can easily shop for one right now.” Why can’t I kill him? I sick and tired of playing Vassa. “In fact, I can see a lovely shop crossing the street.” I have Vanserra in the palm of my hands. Let me kill him an end this job.
“You spend 25k this morning. I think you’ve shopped enough.” Elain let out a disappointed breath.
If Shadow was stressing the number twenty-five after mentioning a gala in the end of the month, that meant an important exchange between the parts would happen on the 25th, hence him asking her to wait a little longer before taking killing shot. Fuck her life twice.
“Alexa is a shitty dressmaker.”
“Don’t be crass.”
When Beron invited Jurian to LA, Elain quickly came up with an influencer encounter happening in the city, which she must attend at any cost, convincing Marisa to go along with her. Beron wasn’t happy about having his wife and mistress in the same city, but there was nothing he could do about it. If he wanted to get Jurian to invest in his factories, he needed to hold his tongue as the man indulged his capricious wife. In her three months playing Vassa Auburn, Elain had whined more than in all her other roles combined, making more ‘girlfriend’ than a normal healthy adult should (which in her opinion, was none). The act of befriending Marisa was draining, yet necessaire, this way she could parading everywhere with her, using the rich wife as the perfect alibi when she offed the old fart. No one could place her as a suspect when she was allegedly with Marisa during the time of his death. Whenever that may be.
They had been in LA for four days now. While Shadow worked on figuring out the details of Vanserra’s affiliation to Einar Danaan, Elain was entrusted with recognition duty, manipulating Marisa to create perfect and consistent alibies, tailing her husband’s mistress, uncovered their routine, plotting to kill him. Elain was getting bored of this mission. She wanted to kill Beron and be done with it, but half of her mission consisted in stopping the Vanserra-Danaan merging before his death. Her employer was adamant about it. She cursed Shadow for the delay on his part.
“If you want me to wear her dull dresses, you better buy me a new diamond set to match with it.” You better reward me, if you expect me to keep playing house for you.
“I’ll think about it.” He ended the call without waiting for her response.
The small devil sitting on her shoulder guided her to open her phone notes. Elain scrolled in it, her eyes quickly locating the addressed saved there, just like she did in the past four days, her shoulder tensing at the sight of his initials. She shouldn’t be looking at this again.
“Damn it.” Slipping the phone in her pocket, Elain grabbed her jacket and left the restaurant.
She was extremely annoyed with the progression of the day. Ever since they landed, the address kept flashing in her mind, her self-control diluting by the hour. Elain knew she should not go see him, yet their plan being delayed gave her the perfect opportunity to. Shit. Seriously, what was wrong with Shadow? He usually wasn’t this slow in the job, they should have been done with this shit by now.
Elain was begging to suspect he was getting his kicks in this husband/wife deal. Pervert. Not that Elain minded being the center of his lower half attention. That man could be sold as a painting and she would believe it. He was perfectly sculpted, his eyes the prettiest shade of hazel, his mind a vault of wicked wisdom, his shameless flirting the perfect combination of funny and hot, just the way she liked it, his focus on the job never stopping him from focusing on her too. It was getting harder to resist him, her reasons sounding shallow.
Maybe she should stop fighting Shadow’s advances, return to the hotel and let him take her, set fire to all the forbidden feelings brewing between them. The problem was Elain doubted he would be content with a one-night, the man was set on having her, and Elain wasn’t so confident about being his. Trusting Shadow as a partner was one thing, trusting him as her partner… That’s was uncharted territory for her.
Elain chase the coupley thoughts away. Thinking of Shadow was even more dangerous than thinking of that bastard. She needed a distraction. It had been a while since she last had any real challenge, playing a bratty heiress was not half as fun as one may think. Elain kicked a pebble, different images flashing on her mind, memories of an almost death experience, memories of a home raided by drug dealers, of little girls screaming in terror. A car honked in the distance, anger dominating her senses, the need for revenge burning in her veins.
Why should him get to be free when she couldn’t? Why should him get to be live comfortably when she was left to die? They were both in LA, for Christ’s sake. Was she really about to let him get away again? Fuck this shit. Distraction wasn’t enough. She didn’t want to forget him, she wanted him to pay. She wanted retribution. The corner of her lips turned up, determination flowing in her steps.
It was time for a little solo mission.
.
.
.
“Son of a bitch!” Graysen swore out loud, slamming his palm on the car horn.
The heist had been a mess. Graysen was pissed. Today’s job had been the first decent offer he had in months, taking him five weeks to prepare, the sketch so meticulous he only needed one partner to execute it. He thought the job was in the bag, that fucking Mason could handle opening a vault without igniting the seven trumpets of hell. Big mistake.
“Get off the road your cunt, learn to drive!” He pushed the honk for long seconds, cursing at the woman in front of him for letting the car die a second time.
That’s what he got for trusting Devlon to find him a partner, that motherfucker was so old he could barely keep up with high paying gigs, let alone find good professionals to do it. Graysen gripped the steering wheel, bloody handprints marking the leather. The only true pro the geezer had ever introduced to him was now laying seven feet under. Sometimes Graysen caught himself missing the petit assassin, too bad he hadn’t let her live longer.
He ditched the suburban black sedan on Westside Junkyard, walking half an hour to reach his spare getaway car. The drive to his place was long and stressful, traffic and billboards giving him a nasty headache. Why was he still living here? He had come to LA with the premise of easy gigs, but Dominic was the one filling his pockets with looser tourists in Vegas, while Graysen was rotting here waiting for a good job. There was no good gig in LA, no high stakes to claim, the city was boring as fuck, most of his bills being payed by conning eager wannabe artists.
Graysen maneuvered in the underground garage, cursing his neighbor. The motherfucker had parked way too close to the line again. Man, fuck this city. Graysen was out. His life quality had been decreasing month by month, he couldn’t even afford the penthouse anymore, having downgraded to the fifth floor – a floor he shared with three more tenants. What a joke. His life was better when he lived in Atlanta, and that city was territory of fucking Springstein.
Graysen checked himself in the mirror, the soft elevator music making a vein pulse in his forehead. He had put on a cap, zipped his jacket all the way up to cover the cops’ blood, washing his hands in a gas station. He needed to burn these clothes. He fumbled with the door handle, cursing himself for not having installed an electronical key, not that it mattered now, he would be out of this dump by morning. Vegas here I come. He left his cap and shoes by the entry hall, the blood-stained jacket coming off next. Graysen had escaped the cops, but not before killing two of them. Fuck. He would have to lay low for another month, forge a new identity, guess that was a goodbye to Loyd Smith. Rest in hell, fucker.
He flicked the kitchen lights on, catching the sight of a red hair by the table, a shiny Glock pointed at him.
“Hello, Graysen.” Her red lips parted in an inviting smile, her sultry voice shocking the life out of him, the thick Italian accent making the hair in the back of his neck stand up.
“Melanie.”
He shook his head in disbelief. It couldn’t be. Graysen couldn’t believe his eyes. Melanie fricking Adams was sitting at his table. How the fuck was she here? Sitting in his apartment? How the fuck was she alive? Graysen was pretty sure he killed Melanie three years ago.
“You are dead.”
“Bet you wished I was, don’t you?” she questioned unlocking the gun, her smile dying. “You are the one who killed me, after all.”
“I didn’t kill you, baby.” He pleaded innocence.
“You left me in the desert to die!”
Graysen covered his head when she shot the space beside his ear, the bullet rasping the skin of his hand. “Shit.”
He wouldn’t bother trying to reach for the gun in the back of his pants, she had always been a quicker shooter than him. Melanie was one crazy bitch, he was yet to meet an assassin as good as her, and Graysen had been the one she was crazy about. She used to do everything for him, move with the snap of his finger, trying to get his affection through gore and money. In the past, the two formed a perfect duo burglar duo, until the day he got tired of sharing his cuts and decided to kill her.
“Y-you broke my f-fucking heart-t,” she sniffed. In the quiver of her lips, he saw his chance. She was still in love with him.
“Put that gun down, baby.”
“No! I’ll kill you.”
“You don’t want to kill me, Mel.”
“Yes, I do!” he took a step towards her. “If you come closer, I’ll fucking kill you.”
“No, you won’t. You love me.” He could see the tears running down her face. “Like I love you.”
She cleaned her nose on the back of her hand. “You love me?”
“Of course! I have always loved you, baby. You think I wanted to do that to you?” Graysen covered her hand with his, “I had to leave to protect you.”
“To protect me?” If he wasn’t scared shitless, Graysen would have found her confused face adorable.
“Yes. There were some bad guys after me, baby. I couldn’t put in dagger like that.”
“Where are they now?”
“They are gone. I killed of them. No one threats my baby.” He tried to pull the gun away from her, “Give it to me. Let go now, that’s it.” He released a breath, watching Melanie sob, her hands sagging beside her body. He hugged her. “I know you, baby. You love me. You will always love me.” Her arms wrapped around tightly. “I searched for you everywhere, you have always been good at hiding.”
“I learned from you,” she sniffed.
“Of course, I taught you everything you know, and look at you now! You are a badass.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? I could have killed them for you. I could protect you.”
“Shhh, it’s okay now. You are here, we are together.”
Behind her back, Graysen dissembled the gun, checking the magazine for the bullets. It was empty. The gun was empty. Motherfucker. He moved to push her away, but she was quicker, a sharp pain radiating from his back where she stabbed him three times, hitting his kidney. Graysen grunted, getting a hold of her hair, Melanie spinning the knife to stab his wrist. “Fucking bitch!” He screamed watching the blade penetrate his body, exiting on the other side, the evil bitch using his disadvantage to knee him in the groin.
Agony spread from the middle of his legs to the rest of his body, his vision going pitch black for a few second. He fell to his knees, a hand closing over his hair, forcing his head back. Graysen released a torrent of curses at her.
“I wonder if you really think I’m that stupid… Or if you consider yourself that smart.”
“Fuuuck, you’re so fucked. I’m going to fucking kill you Melanie.”
“My name isn’t Melanie, asshole.”
His brow furrowed, not understanding, her foot coming to his face. She kicked his chin; hard. His poor balance would have sent him down if it wasn’t for her hand on his hair, the grip ripping strands from his skull. He grinded his teeth, nuzzling his stabbed wrist. “You’re such an easy prey. I wonder why I delayed killing you for so long.” The wound was bleeding too much, the blade must had gone through the artery. He needed stitches, quickly.
“Please,”
“Oh, we are begging already? Tsk tsk. Bummer.”
“Don’t kill me, baby. You love me.”
Elain slammed his head down on her knee, snarling, “I’m. Not. Your. Fucking. BABY!” Each word punctuated by a knew hit.
Graysen wheezed through his broken nose. He tested his jaw, spitting blood on the floor.
“I have money,” he tried again. “I can pay for your part of that heist. I can double it!”
“You think I came for measly ten grand?” her mocking laugh spread in the ambient. “God, you’re so dumb.”
“What do you want from me?”
Elain bent towards him, allowing Graysen to see his flexion in her murderous brown eyes, his face still bathed in surprise. Her whispered voice carried the weight of revenge with it. “Your soul.”
Graysen begged some more.
It was no use; his fate was sealed.
Elain twirled the dagger in her free hand, the blade now dark red, soaked in his blood.
“I’m gonna tell you a little secret before ending your pathetic life,” she moved the blade to his throat, pressing in, Graysen hissed, more blood flowing down his neck. “Because I want you to know who ripped your soul. I want you to go to hell, knowing it was Elain Archeron who sent you there.” His eyes widened as she said her full name, realization hitting him. “Say hi to you daddy for me.”
In a single certain blow, Elain hammered Truth-Teller to his chest, twisting the blade between his ribs, impaling the bastard who tried to kill her, the bastard who helped his father destroy her family.
Once upon a time, Elain Archeron intended to make Graysen Nolan suffer twice as much as she had suffered. After meeting in an illegal car race, Elain turned into one of his girls. She did everything for him, include "starting to steal", and "killing her first victim". Elain knew Graysen didn't love her, but he loved the power he had over her, loved how he was able to make her do anything he wanted with a few whispered promises that he would never fulfil. Her plan was simple, make him fall in love with her and kill him. Elain would treat him as a god, become his world, play with his mind until he saw nothing but her. The problem was she didn't count on how much the bastard loved money, more than any person he had ever met, more than himself.
In the past, Elain constantly stated how much she loved him, how life had no sense without him. She would select their jobs, let Graysen handle the easiest parts, keep the biggest share of money, besides sustaining his ridiculous expanding habits from her own pocket. It wasn’t long before he was convinced Elain was a useful sucker who adore him beyond measure. Egocentric piece of shit. Everything was going accord to plan, until the day he found out she was sick.
After the cops raided his house, he turned to Elain, asking to spend a few days with her, and Elain who was supposed to be a love-sick-puppy couldn’t say no. In a slip of her part, he discovered one of her secrets, the power slipping from her hands to his. At the time, her medicine dosage stopped being enough, a crisis assaulting her in the middle of the night, leaving her no choice but to ask him for her med. That's how the sleaze mother fucker discovered her heart condition, messed with her pills and played her before she could play him.
In the cusp of a mid-tie job, Elain – who had been taking sugar pill, courtesy of fucking Graysen – had a crisis, her lovely boyfriend ditching her in the middle nowhere, somewhere in Arizona. Elain was lucky a group of tourists found her. Graysen’s reason to toss her on the road? He didn’t want to share the twenty-grand payment. Cheap bastard. That day Elain learned her lesson, no playing with her food. This time she would not put a glamorous plan in action, nor dream about torturing the shit out of him, or make a big speech explaining why she was killing his ass.
No. She would simply say her name and let him do the math, her blow clean and fatal, giving him a quick death, a forgettable death. When Graysen drew his last breath, Elain moved away from his body, tossing his apartment, making it look like a petty burglar fight broke in it, a payback leading to his death. When she finished the final touches, Elain exited the apartment without looking back, she was done chasing ghosts. Today she snapped the last branch to her past, and she intended to live in the present from now on.
In the end, Elain destroyed Graysen the same the Nolans destroyed her family.
Quietly.
With no one to bear witness to the destruction.
With no one to even care it happened.
#elriel fanfic#elriel#elain fanfic#azriel fanfic#elain archeron#azriel#elain x azriel#elriel fanfiction#my writing#flower and shadow#chapter 5#my cute anons can stop holding their breaths now#xD#sorry for the delay guys#this genuinely birthed on the spot#i need to plot an end to FaS#multichapting is hard!#yall writers out there#who finish your fics!!!!!#you are the bomb!#respect bitches#enjoy guys :D#i don't know if you guys remember that dragon au mb#i was playing with it on ao3 notes#drafts actually#big mistake#now is gone lads#that's life i guess#off to the next daydream
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unknown zones below the surface | PilotInTheStars
rating: g | word count: 1.4k | ao3 | @today-in-fic
One challenge of traveling for work was figuring out where you were going to eat, in between interviewing locals and chasing strange liver-eating men through cities. Driving through the backcountry usually led to lunches and dinners at gas stations, where they bought their fill of convenience store snacks, or, if they got lucky, stopping at a little diner that paid little attention to them. There had been a place in Iowa that they had stopped at for breakfast, and in the magical way that only Mom-and-Pop diners could accomplish, Scully thought that it had been one of the best meals she had ever eaten.
Some places in the middle of nowhere had an aura of mystery around them and there was always a joke balancing on the tip of Mulder’s tongue, about to claim evidence for an X-File. A few were run down and had been reclaimed by the surroundings enough that they seemed to have already been part of nature. Outsiders were wary, but locals flocked there as a gathering place.
Most days traveling, however, featured one of them disappearing into a gas station, confusing whatever poor attendant checked them out with their suits for work, and returning with snacks to rest on the dashboard. Small bags of chips, Reese's cups, and of course, sunflower seeds had been Mulder’s choice as she filled up the gas tank in their Wisconsin rental car.
Their snacks had only lasted a short while, however, and by the time they had found themselves in Delta Glen, Wisconsin, had done their preliminary start in their investigation, spoke to the sheriff, and attended a brief meeting with the Church of the Red Museum, they were both starving. Sheriff Mazeroski directed them to his own personal favorite in the center of town, and well, they were too hungry even to try and disagree or search for their own place.
She could almost pretend they weren’t here in town on strictly FBI business as they stepped into Clay’s BBQ and asked for a table for two. A teenager who couldn’t have even graduated high school yet led them to their table in the center, right in the thick of things. The decor and the staff reminded Scully of the restaurant her family had frequented during her teen years. They celebrated everything there- birthdays, anniversaries, graduations. Bill had announced he was entering the Navy there to the family. Missy had nervously told Dana in a hushed voice about her new girlfriend over milkshakes there.
Scully sensed that this little place in the town center also carried all of its secrets.
The rest of the restaurant’s guests that night couldn’t help but stare at them and their rather formal attire. Their waiter, another teen, gave them a look as well. It was clear that they were from out of town, intruders.
“Thinking about a religious conversion?” Mulder asked.
Scully looked up at him from her menu. “Hmm?”
“To the Church of the Red Museum.”
“After that meeting? Probably not.”
“Staying a voracious meat-eater?”
“Well,” Scully said, pausing as a waiter brought glasses of water over to their table. “I wouldn’t consider myself a rather voracious meat eater, but I don’t necessarily see a reason to completely cut it out. Only on Fridays if I’m dining with my mother.” She smiled at him.
It wasn’t long before Scully became acutely aware that they had been missing out on whatever small towns had to offer in their little restaurants as she ate what was possibly the best ribs she had ever had in her life. Even Mulder, usually talkative, was fully engaged in his meal. The lights of the restaurant carved out his features in a unique way and she probably shouldn’t have stared, but she did.
“You know, Mulder…” she started, cleaning her fingers with her napkin, “ribs like these I’d say the Church of the Red Museum has its work cut out for it.” He reached a napkin up to her face and she was confused for a moment before it reached her cheek. She didn’t even know she had made a mess but she supposed she couldn’t help it at an establishment like this.
“So… you started to tell me about Walk-Ins, but I’m not sure I grasped the finer points.”
And so he told her, in that way he did, as if his brain had somehow easily carried the knowledge of every cryptid, conspiracy, and strange occurrence in the world. Or at least in the United States.
It wasn’t before long that a cacophony of teen voices and a car’s horn intercepted the vicinity. Mulder processed the situation a split second before she did, his long legs carried him out the door and Scully hurriedly finished paying, leaving money on the table for a tip. Draping her coat back over her shoulders, she stepped out onto the street.
Her mind analyzed the situation and quickly filled in the missing pieces. A group of teens (it could’ve been a movie, the way they were dressed) versus Mulder, and some child, clearly a member of the Church of the Red Museum, waiting for an excuse to scurry off away from the scene.
She briefly heard the ringleader say “little wife,” and it took her another second to realize they were referring to her. Had the other patrons of the restaurant thought the same thing? Heat rose to her cheeks- she was about to be red like her lipstick.
“I finished paying,” Scully said as he pulled his coat tighter around himself.
“Of course, it’s the sheriff’s kid. Of course it is. Don’t know what else I expected,” Mulder said.
There was some deep level of tension- she could tell in the way that he was walking to the car, the stress built up in his shoulders.
It was always a debate. Who was David and who was Goliath? Scully had only gotten a glimpse at who the teenagers had been teasing- but the red turban had told her enough. That at least told her something.
“I have little sympathy for a bunch of teens picking on someone who they know won’t defend themself,” Mulder later said, as they drove out to their motel, the one the sheriff had recommended.
“Me neither,” Scully said. “Sometimes it’s hard to believe that a supposed pacifist religion is the start of any of the major problems around here.”
At a stoplight, he turned to look at her.
“I mean…” she continued. “What does the Church of the Red Museum accomplish by purposefully agitating others in the first place? They just make the rest of the surrounding town angry. They do anything illegal and I doubt the local authorities are going to do anything to benefit a religion they don’t understand and already don’t like.”
He was silent for a bit, but she knew his mind was turning behind his eyes. She wondered if he had once been the boy with the red turban, if he had seen himself in that teenager. He was quiet about some things, even if he had bared his soul open about his darkest tragedy in a motel room in Oregon after two days. He was the psychologist, but sometimes she could fill in the blanks. Were comments thrown at him, too, when his sister disappeared? Or did people treat him with sympathy and not some unfortunate circumstance? Did he wander the neighborhoods at night looking for Samantha.
Some things weren’t for her to know.
“They gain nothing,” he replied. “Nothing but more disdain.”
He pulled into the parking lot and it was clear from one glance that the motel was dingy, but not the worst they had ever seen. Scully opened the car door and stepped out.
“Scully?”
She looked over at him. He tossed the packet of Reese’s from the car to her.
“Dessert,” he said, grinning at her. His legs carried him to the trunk, where he picked up his overnight bag and slung it over his shoulder. Scully followed. When her bag was over her shoulder, she slid the last peanut butter cup out of the wrapper and disposed of the garbage in the trashcan by the motel steps.
“Hopefully they’ll have two rooms,” Mulder said. “Though I’m not sure most Wisconsin-ers are clamoring to stay here.”
“Most probably aren’t,” Scully said. He opened the door to the check-in desk open for her and she stepped inside. Something told her the night was going to be short.
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Does it get better than being 16?
Yes
big essay
When I was 16, I just felt super depressed and insanely anxious like the world was days away from ending all the time. A big reason for this was because I was getting bullied at school, my job sucked, I didn't have many friends, and (though I was privileged) my home life was pretty tumultuous. Yet every single adult in my life was bitterly and angrily telling me on a daily basis that I better enjoy what I had because this was the best life ever got, and everything after being 16 was misery and pain. It was enough to make me semi-suicidal. When I got to college, things were a lot better, but it was some of the same stuff still.
I didn't exactly have the "typical" super fun and freeing college experience, partially due to Covid among other things, but I'm 23 and I think life is way better than it ever has been.
I work part-time in a restaurant, part-time remotely, and freelance so it's not like I live an unrealistic TikTok influencer life with a glamorous job. But it's sooo much better than any stage of life I've lived previously.
Because of the nature of my work, I can wear pretty much whatever I want-- it's really nice to wear halter tops and crop tops in 95 degree weather without getting dress coded or berated by my mom. Same with hair and makeup. My room also looks exactly how I want, which I didn't have as a teen and 4 years of dorms weren't as personalized as I'd like. I actually have my own bathroom for the first time ever and do not have to unclog the toilet every single time my brother uses it. I didn't have the freedom to cook myself meals until I was 22 because of where I went to school and because my mom being a bit wacked upstairs. It is so freeing to be able to cook and eat fresh fruit and vegetables and actually season my food. Also, no one steals my food and I don't have to hide food.
I can also wake up when I want most days-- sometimes I have a meeting or something though. I've never been forced to wake up at 6:30 since I was 18-- usually I get up around 9 now, but in college I slept til 11 most days. You can also go to bed whenever you want.
You can also leave situations for the first time ever-- in high school if you were getting picked on or had a teacher or coach you didn't like you were totally helpless. Yeah, there are consequences to quitting a job, but you have the option. If you don't like a doctor or therapist, you can get a second opinion instead of your mom doctor-shopping for a therapist just as homophobic and controlling as she is. Also, it's not like there's a lunch table or you have to keep seeing people-- obviously you need to be civil with coworkers but outside of that, you can dump a guy/girl or stop hanging out with someone if you don't like the vibes and you will never or hardly ever see them again.
I live in a major US city with a friend and it's so freeing living here. I used to live in Iowa and people would make endless remarks on the way I dressed or tell my mom and she'd go ballistic. Now I can dress way crazier and no one will even look in my direction. One time I remember I took something cool out of a dumpster and some nosy woman from school drove by and called my mom and she went insane. No one cares if you take things out of dumpsters here. Or leave the house after dark. Or whatever. Also having a roommate you like is like a sleepover that never ends.
When I was 16 I legitimately thought I was never going to get out of Iowa because moving to a big city seemed so monumental and everyone would freak out and talk about how dangerous and scary they are. Now I wish I had just ignored what everyone else thought and moved out here at 18.
I can also have a pet for the first time ever. I have a bit more money than I had in college and high school to spend on fun things-- nothing crazy, just a bit. And I don't have overbearing parents constantly going through my journals and berating me or micromanaging what I watch and listen to and read and how I spend my free time. You can do things like go hang out with friends or have sex or go to concerts or try drugs and alcohol or travel whenever you want or try new foods-- there's just consequences and risks for your actions and you learn to plan around those and weigh the pros and cons.
Also, while not everyone is able or willing to work remotely and work in a restaurant, and some jobs can be draining, I overall really enjoy my jobs and having a purpose. Yeah sometimes I'm over it or I get frustrated or want to go home or not do things, but I was mostly unemployed for a month and it was really depressing-- I like being busy. I liked my college classes a lot too. Even things like vacuuming and taking out the trash are so much better when you're taking care of what's yours.
To be honest though, I do know a lot of people who are struggling or crashed and burned during college. Some of it is undeniably due to life circumstances and privilege, and there are exceptions, but generally, using just people I know as examples, I think if you know how to be responsible, being an adult is way better than being a kid or teen. I've never understood wanting to be a kid again because I hated being a kid and was miserable and stressed the entire time.
I would say until a certain point I think you don't have very many life experiences and consequently view the world differently than you do as an adult-- and when that changes can hit differently for different people depending on life experiences. It's a drastic change and it's hard to put into words, and it happening can be rough, but I think it mellows you out. And I'm sure you continue to change as an adult, but there's The Big One, lol. Not that that made any sense at all.
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Photo courtesy of Carlee Dove (pictured back right)
Dove studies art, explores cuisine in magnifica study trip to Italy
“I have always had a passion for traveling and wanted to go to Europe,” Carlee Dove, student-athlete of Upper Iowa University, said. Through the Academic Programs International, or API, Carlee Dove enjoyed a study abroad trip to Florence, Italy during the summer of 2022. For eight weeks, Dove visited multiple, incredible cities in Italy and took part in fun activities towards her art degree.
For eight weeks in Italy, Dove took tours to various, respected cities such as Rome, Venice, Capri, Milan, Pompeii, and more. Additionally, Dove participated in cooking classes and wine tastings, explored many art museums and traveled via train to the beach.
Along with traveling to beautiful cities in Italy and partaking in fun activities, Dove was joined by other students from other states who were also part of the API program. They were grouped into an apartment based on their personalities, and quickly bonded with one another. “I am so thankful to have the roommates I did,” Dove said.
Dove plays volleyball at Upper Iowa University and is double majoring in art and graphic design with a double minor in communication studies and marketing. When it came to picking the program that was best for her, Dove looked into various programs and highlighted all the events and trips each program planned for the students. “I chose Italy due to its renaissance art movement,” Dove said.
Eventually, Dove picked API due to the length of trip and opportunities it opened for her: eight weeks for cooking classes, free museum tickets and multiple weekend trips. Being eight weeks, the API program allowed Dove to take two credit classes towards her art major. Then, Dove made sure she monitored how much she was spending on groceries every week to help her budget for the trip.
Along with a passion for traveling, especially to Europe, Dove wanted to further her education and learn more about her major through studying abroad. Due to her being a student-athlete during the school year, the best time Dove had to study abroad was during the summer, so she took on the adventure. When she did, studying abroad in Italy helped expand her knowledge about various art styles and which art style suited her best.
In Italy, transportation for Dove was a lot easier than she thought it would be. She traveled via taxi, bus or train if she needed to go to another town or city. Her favorite way to travel was by using the train as it moved her across the country fast, and her favorite place she traveled to was Elba, an island that did not have many English speakers and where she went snorkeling at, rode a boat, and walked to get to a beach.
Dove met multiple people who did not speak English, but it was not as difficult for her. She was able to use the Google translate app or ask one of her program friends who spoke Italian to translate. Though Dove said she wishes she would have taken time to learn more of the Italian language to communicate with those she met in Italy more.
When it came to communicating to her family and friends from back home in the United States, Dove bought an Italian SIM card which allowed her to receive service in places she went using the Italian phone number it came with. Additionally, there was also WiFi in their apartment.
With these, Dove was able to make Facetime calls with her family and friends in the United States. There was one adjustment she had trouble with: there was not always air conditioning in their apartment, restaurants, shops and classrooms due to how expensive electricity is in Italy. This became hard for Dove and her roommates as the temperature in Italy got very hot during the summer.
“There is not one thing I would change about my trip,” Dove said. “I loved every single part of it and wished I was still there.”
Though there were communication barriers and problems with the air conditioning, studying abroad in Italy became a trip to remember for Dove. She was able to expand her knowledge with art, learn more about herself as an individual, build communication skills with another culture, strengthen her skills as a leader and made memories that will stay with her forever.
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part of the reason i care so much about sharing regional businesses (primarily restaurants, bakeries, etc) owned/operated by POC is iowa (and the midwest US in general) looks so homogenized white christian meat and potatoes (aside from a few large cities if even that) that it erases both the achievements of anyone outside the status quo but also their struggles
like if you don’t perceive a population existing at all the conditions that population lives in get overlooked right? so it’s rly important to shine a light on those conditions and also i just really like to eat and think cuisine is a powerful bridge btwn cultures
idk i’ve been awake for a v long time lmao
#someone asked me YEARS ago#if there were mexican ppl in iowa#as like... a joke? smth that i hope was a joke??#and then followed it up with oh! migrant workers right#and i'm like i mean sure#but also restauranteurs bank tellers business owners university faculty hairdressers#and a billion other things you big city weirdo#(they were from philly)#and it's like fuck joke or not this is a huge issue!!!#it's stuck with me ever since
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Top 5 @Wikipedia pages from a year ago: Saturday, 1st April 2023
Welcome, welcome, ongi etorri, välkommen 🤗
What were the top pages visited on @Wikipedia (1st April 2023) 🏆🌟🔥?
1️⃣: Indian Premier League
"The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as the TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's Twenty20 (T20) cricket league held annually in India. Founded by the BCCI in 2007, the league features ten city-based franchise teams. The IPL usually takes place during the summer, between March and May..."
2️⃣: 2023 Indian Premier League
"The 2023 Indian Premier League (also known as Tata IPL 2023 for sponsorship reasons and sometimes referred to as IPL 2023 or IPL 16) was the 16th season of the Indian Premier League, a franchise Twenty20 cricket league in India. It is organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.In the..."
3️⃣: Caitlin Clark
"Caitlin Clark (born January 22, 2002) is an American college basketball player for the Iowa Hawkeyes of the Big Ten Conference. She is the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer and is regarded as one of the greatest players in women's college basketball history. Clark attended Dowling Catholic..."
Image licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0? by John Mac
4️⃣: Fool's Gold Loaf
"Fool's Gold Loaf is a sandwich made by the Colorado Mine Company, a restaurant in Denver, Colorado. It consists of a single warmed, hollowed-out loaf of bread filled with the contents of one jar of creamy peanut butter, one jar of grape jelly, and one pound (450 g) of bacon. The sandwich's..."
Image licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0? by Food Stories from UK - www.helengraves.co.uk
5️⃣: April Fools' Day
"April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is an annual custom on 1 April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fools!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved with these pranks, which may be revealed as such the following day. The custom of..."
Image by Lars Andersen
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Environmental Conscious City Of Puerto Princesa
Also the jewelry in Hyderabad is famous for its designs and shapes. The city was founded by Raja Badal Singh in 1475 Advertising campaign. Here you will cherish guided tours like Roof Climb, Flying Fox, consequently on.
The city and residents are still recovering against the effects from the great inundation. There are still flood recovery meetings, volunteer opportunities and free mental health counseling for survivors of the 2008 innundations.
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Notre Dam- it is the most famous of all of the cathedrals. Appeared built in Gothic architecture style; with a small island in cardiovascular system of small city. it is considered the cradle and the religious center of London.
Dry cities are rarely foggy; Salt Lake City, however, is an exception. A phenomenon called an inversion occurs often, which causes the nearly air to, essential, flip upside alongside. As a result, cloud-like conditions drop to walk out and cause foggy considerations. This fog can persist and transform into haze during the day. Pollutants often get trapped showcase this haze even far more. Those from foggy cities, however, will find the fog to be relatively mellow.
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Tokyo, capital of Japan since 1869, is certainly populated metropolitan cities in the area. Believe it or not, Tokyo City is complex, big and also on the move. Be warned, if you find yourself in Tokyo City for your first time, you will greeted an issue city's saturated big concrete high rise building, very wide roads, raised concrete expressways crossing one a second.
It could be the wonderful village bordered by Veli lagoon and the Arabian Ocean. You can enjoy seeing the water sports, Gardens, floating bridge and Waterfront Park. Would like liked meal truck varieties in Kerala. Especially I enjoyed the Puttu with Bananas. It is a dry recipe. It's yummy eating with Blueberry. Akkulam Boat club is a nice picnic spot with boating facilities. Shangumugham is another beach provides wonderful vacation.
Other attractions include area Museum using its secret tunnel under Gia Long Construction. A boat trip on the Megong Delta is surely a must before experiencing the wonderful restaurants, bars, coffee houses and clubs particularly centered around District 1.
If that wasn't enough, just two years later Lam Dong Province Viet Nam is the fact flood of 2008 hit the village. The city and University of Iowa were greatly affected using the flooding of Iowa River. Widespread property damage and forced evacuations happened in large chapters of Iowa In-town. The river rose to a record level of 30.46 little feet. Nineteen buildings at the University were affected just as art adult ed. Thankfully valuable art, including works by Picasso, were moved to Chicago up until the flood waters hit.
Wat Sa Prasan Suk - Preference enter this temple close to outskirts of town will certainly pass the actual giant white elephant statue serving being a gate as well as a guard to watch out over the temple. Tour the structures and design your way to your boat shaped vihan a rear floating on a man-made pool.
Tin Top Lam Dong AZ Another good way to visit while in Jaipur may be the Jantar Mantar. It is really a collection regarding architectural and astronomical instruments which were built using the King or Maharaja Jai Singh 2. This collection was established between the time 1726 and 1735. The collections were inspired towards the one that Maharaja Jai Singh II who built this for himself eventually New Delhi's Mughal financing. King Jai Singh II constructed 5 different labs on various locations, such as the laboratories in Jaipur and New Delhi. In fact, the largest laboratory or observatory may be found in this site.
Tin Top Lâm Đồng AZ Greater Tokyo has 23 wards (ku), 26 smaller cities, 7 towns and 8 towns. To have an appreciation in the size, the length from the east to west is 88 km (55 mil) while may 24km (15 mil) from north to south. Method Tokyo City is organized seems as being a bit complicated in terms of finding a neighborhood even with address. Very likely to alone becoming local themselves find hard as well. The best way to go about it is to inquire about direction. In Tokyo city, there are numerous koban (local police box) where you can approach for help. Accept it or not, the policemen spent many of their time helping people finding their destination. The lesson check out to always bring up the location map of the accommodation. You can get it from your hotel.
Jaigarh Fort is located in the heart of weaponry production, built for your Raiputs. This informative also houses the Jaivana which could be the largest cannon on wheels in exciting world of. There is also a long canal measuring 5 kilometers that is clear going into the fort in order to bring mineral water. This canal comes from the hills and goes down to become stored close to fort by army him. A water tank was already placed, connecting it to the canal for water storeroom.
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Visiting Vietnam offers travellers a rich and varied cultural history, combined the brand new charm country that still largely rural, the exceptions being Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh. Its tourist industry has designed to the extent that accommodation of excellent quality is offered at popular goals.
Tao Dan Park a and youthful life force, and transform it into a fresh and peaceful space in the heart of area. Open markets include Ben Thanh Market, the most famous in HCM City. Other medication is Binh Tay Market as well as an Lam Dong Province Viet Nam Market but make sure haggle when creating a pick up.
Tin Top Lam Dong AZ 247 One may really savor the taste of vegetarian food besides variety of "Paranthas" (flat bread made on griddle) in the Paranthewali Gali which already been there for the past so many decades and which offers all variations and mixtures of this delightful dish.
In 313 AD, the Carta Emperor promulgated the amnesty to confess the legitimacy of the Zion. This famous Milan Amnesty plays an important place from the history of Christianism. Wedding and reception perdition within the Roman Empire, Milan was seized by other ethnicities. Up to the twelfth century, it gained its right of self-government. It was ruled by Visconti family for quite some time. During the time of Revival of Learning, this family invited many famous people of humanism here to make the art and technology get rapid progress.
Burma wasn't the only enemy that faced Lanna. Many wars had been fought about the Siamese of Ayutthaya. The value of these wars on Lanna was obese. Eventually in a weakened state Chiang Mai fell to the Burmese underneath the leadership of King Bayinnaung in 1558.
If that wasn't enough, just two years time later once you flood of 2008 hit the city. The city and University of Iowa were greatly affected in the flooding of Iowa Canal. Widespread property damage and forced evacuations happened in large sections of Iowa City. The river rose with a record degree of 30.46 the foot. Nineteen buildings at the University were affected like the art gallery. Thankfully valuable art, including works by Picasso, were moved to Chicago ahead of when the flood waters hit.
If that wasn't enough, just 24 months later is the fact flood of 2008 hit the metropolitan area. The city and University of Iowa were greatly affected along with flooding of Iowa Canal. Widespread property damage and forced evacuations happened in large areas of Iowa Locale. The river rose to a record level of 30.46 little feet. Nineteen buildings at the University were affected with art public. Tin Top Lam Dong AZ Thankfully valuable art, including works by Picasso, were moved to Chicago prior to flood waters hit.
In any area of day time there is often a special free atmosphere their city. End up being the perfect place to spend your freedom in. It offers many great places to have a wonderful nightlife presently there are plus a stylish wide range of lovely cafes and establishments. Once you visit the city, you have to try out some from the dishes. Precisely as it has lengthy as coast line, there are a couple great local fish food stuff. Whatever you like to do, here you will feel nice comfortable.
Although had been many other foreigners from the mall many Filipinos walking by asked where For being from and within general citizens were very friendly to my home. While at the mall I bought a few souvenir type things to take home and Judith and I simply did a lot of window grocery shopping. I was happy to see the prices of the majority of things in finances were very cheap compared towards the US. At the beginning one US dollar bought 56.00 pesos. Today it's one dollar to about 44.00 Pesos. Still a fine deal, at the present time I'm careful in my spending. Via the middle for this afternoon Experienced ready for some sleep after my long flight to Cebu. Judith went home and I retired to my hotel room.
London is suffering from a global attractiveness. Therefore, the English capital city anyone with opportunities associated with earning new friends from all over the world. Even if they are just here on holiday, keeping in contact via email, IM and Skype is not.
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Written By Author in toplamdongaz.com: Hoàng Thanh Vân - Nguyen Thanh Van
Written By Author in toplamdongaz.com: Nguyễn Hữu Thiên Cường - Nguyen Huu Thien Cuong
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