#all of these were written ages ago so i CANNOT be held accountable for bad writing
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THE TAIL OF THE GHOST : Tales to Read AFTER the Lights Are OUT! : (1 part)
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THE TAIL OF THE GHOST
by
De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)
2317 words
© 2016 by Glen Ten-Eyck
Writing begun 10/30/16
All rights reserved. This document may not be copied or distributed on or to any medium or placed in any mass storage system except by the express written consent of the author.
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He awoke to the almost feathery sensation of tail hairs flirting softly across his face. Again. The soft, sweet voice of the young mare offered, “Up, Old Warrior! It is time for us to battle another night away!”
Opening one eye, the Old Warrior beheld two things. One, the young mare was right. The sun was setting. Time for him to get up and fry a few hay twists for breakfast.
The other was a bit more awkward to see. The young mare herself. Other than the fact that her mane and tail were darker than the fur that covered the rest of her, there was simply not much to be seen. Her outlines were slightly hazy and he could see the wall mount with his old battle honors and medals right through her.
Years ago, needing to reduce the size of a peacetime army, Master Sargent Warrin had been mustered out for his age and infirmity. Some Infirmity. True, he was missing the tip joint of his right wing. That had failed to slow him down any. Only dumb headquarters brass saw it as an infirmity.
When mustered out, Master Sargent Warrin had got from his forward post in the forest to Fort Everfree Edge faster than the overweight but “fit” pegasus Lieutenant that had delivered his Orders. The scene that followed had got “insolence” added to his mustering out Orders.
All that he had done, after all, was point out to Base Commander Morrgripe that the UNFIT pony that they were mustering out could out run, out fly and carry a heavier battle pack in the air or on foot than ANY officer in the Fort. That might have been bad enough, but the 950 golden bits that he had won while proving it, including a bet from the BC, had earned him the insolent tag.
Then the Prance border heated up a few years later. For the fourth time! They tried to get him to sign a forced reenlistment.
He had taken great pleasure in rubbing the Infirmity Muster Out in their faces! At that time he was employed flying express post for Princess Luna’s Royal Road Commission. AND had racked up SIX commendations for his swift deliveries!
He was smiling as he looked up at his second wall mount. The commendations for swift post and two of Luna’s Crescents for gallantry in dealing with deadly civil emergencies were in it.
The sweet little mare poked her head through the wall near the stove where he was seasoning his frying hay twists with assorted dried flower tops.
With not a care in the world, she walked on into the kitchen, hooves about 10 cm above the floor. “Smells lovely, Old Warrior. I wish that I could eat some along with you. That is something that I miss a lot.
“Until you came, ponies that stayed here at this old chateau were afraid of me. I just saw you smiling. Was it remembering your Insolence or was it the Fast Post Service that you were remembering?”
He looked up and offered her a small plate of his seasoned hay twist. “It was a little of all three things, Sweetie. The third being you, of course. Mostly you.
“Here, this plate is yours for now. If you cannot eat what I cooked for you, at least you can smell it and share breakfast with me that way.”
Her eyes twinkling, the little mare, Sweetie, sat. On the air. And sniffed appreciatively. He poured her a small cup of the strong Rom black tea that he favored. She smelled that too, a blissfully happy expression on her face.
He watched in fascination as she reached out a hoof and the day’s mail appeared in the same ghostly form as herself. When she took back her hoof, all of his day’s mail was solidly there on the table. She seemed to be pleased at his expression.
He sorted his mail and made a sour expression when he opened one with the Army Retirement Board seal on it. He brightened considerably at the contents of a different envelope It bore the seal of Chancery Court of Princess Luna’s Royal Road Commission.
“I have to go down to Everfree Town, Sweetie. I wish that you could come with me. I enjoy your company.”
She smiled like a conjurer doing a clever slight of hoof trick. “I can. I have followed you to your garden that is in the glen. Because it was daylight, you could not see me but I was there. I am hard to see in bright lamplight too. That does not stop me from seeing you, only you from seeing me.”
“I thought that you were haunting this chateau.”
“I was. Then you came. You were not afraid of me. You even started waking at sunset and spending the night awake, just so that you could see me and talk to me.
“It took some time for me to learn how to talk to you so that you could hear me. Nobody else can hear me at all. I love being able to talk to you. The stories that you tell me of your adventures are endlessly fascinating. I especially like the one about your meeting Princess Luna on the Prance frontier.”
The ex Master Sargent Warrin grinned! “You learned how to move real things and that led you to writing too! I must say that I admire your determination. I would have loved to have you in a platoon of mine!
“Now, let’s go to Equesrian National Bank and try to settle this business!”
Sweetie smiled happily, “I love going out with you! What is Equestrian National Bank?”
Bemused, the old warrior paused in the doorway and looked over at Sweetie, who was simply strolling through the wall of the chateau. There was no porch under her but she did not seem to notice that.
He mused, “Forgot how long ago you died, Sweetie. A bank is a business that takes money from many ponies and then loans it out to businesses, farms and home buyers. They make money off of the loans and then share some of what they make with the ponies they got the money from.
“Usually, everypony sort of wins. While they hold my money, they keep track of how much I have and add on my share of what they earn with it.”
Sweetie had no wings but she easily kept pace with him, seeming to trot along like a pegasus on a well made cloud. Except, of course, there was no cloud!
With a luminous smile she explained, “I have managed to change from haunting the chateau to haunting YOU! That means that I HAVE to stay close! That makes it easy to keep up. The magic of haunting and all of that.”
He flew with happy strokes of powerful wings. She trotted ahead and flirted her ghostly tail in his face sometimes! It made him get a goofy smile on his face every time that she did it. He spiraled down to the Equestrian National Bank and walked in.
He requested a meeting with Mister Horshiz, the branch Vice President of Operations. Instead of having to wait, Mister Horshiz, a really sour gray maned red pony, demanded, “There you are, Warrin! Why are you six days late on the rent for the Royalmont Chateau? You owe us 1500 golden bits plus six days of penalties!”
Warrin looked askance at him. “Not possible. I was PURCHASING the chateau from Princess Luna, who owned it. There is a title deed transfer that my agent told me has been delayed. My making the purchase was the Princess’ idea.”
“I have the DEED right here!”
Horshiz held out a blue scrolled edge document. Warrin’s battle trained reflexes snatched it faster that Horshiz could pull it back. His eyebrows rose at what he saw.
In a saccharine voice he asked, “Where is the original? This is a Chancery Copy and it has been altered. The Royal Seal is a copy, not an original, as required by Crowns Law.”
“That is a trivial detail! Pay the past due rent and penalties or be evicted at once!” Horshiz demanded.
Sweetie’s voice caught Warrin’s attention. “Keep him talking love of mine. I see some very interesting things in this file on his desk!”
Warrin grinned like a shark seeing a helpless swimmer. “When Princess Luna’s personal property deed was so severely delayed in transfer, I wrote to her.”
He held up his envelope with the seal of the Royal Road Chancery Court on it. He read, “Dear Master Sargent (Ret.) Warrin: It is with great pleasure that I enclose your latest Royal Road Fast Post Commendation for assistance in the recent Dappleton Grist Mill dam failure.
“In spite of your Retirement from our Postal Service, your heroic over flight in thunderstorm weather and precise damage assessments made all of the difference for some hundreds of our subjects.
“In response to your request for an audit of the title problem concerning the Royalmont Chateau, I have disturbing news. The Title Deed was sent to the Everfree Town branch of Equestrian National Bank to have the deed transfer to you notarized and the transfer registered.
“Celestia and I jointly agreed, after the Dappleton disaster, to gift the Chateau to you for your many services to our Realm. Along with the deed, all needful fees and a full refund of all the monies that you have paid were sent to the Bank.
“The deed, fees and refund were directly stolen. A Royal Audit has shown other irregularities concerning your accounts at the Everfree EQNB. Among these, your retirement payments from both Our Army and the Royal Road Post System have subverted. The direct golden transfers on the Royal Treasury are being made to Everfree EQNB. They are issuing DRAFTS, which they fail to pay until thirty days have passed, giving them unlawful access to the use of your honorable retirement funds.
“The whole scheme has been directly traced to General Morrgripe of Fort Everfree, who appears to have a grudge against you concerning how your took your Muster Out. Something about losing a bet.
“I may add that due to My personal friendship, stemming from your heroic shielding of my person with your body during a surprise attack by Prance forces, it was my request that you be kept in our Royal Armored Pegassi. However, in the end, such decisions do properly belong to the Base Commander. Then Colonel Morrgripe ordered you Mustered Out.
“I will never forget that you lost your right wing tip when protecting me during the Third Prance Incursion.
“Both General Morrgripe and Branch Vice President Horshiz have been summoned to Our Royal Court to answer charges Under Our Royal Wing, concerning the theft of My personal property and gift. They must also face the subversion of our Royal Retirement System.
“Please find enclosed a fully transferred Title Deed formally Sealed by both my sister Celestia and I. This Deed supersedes any previous documents and is already Registered in all of the appropriate Courts of Law.
“I remain your loyal friend, Princess Luna.”
While Warrin was reading, he noticed with amusement that he could, just barely, see Sweetie. She was laying her hoof on documents from the file on Horshiz’s desk. Like when she picked up his mail at home, the documents faded slowly away while Sweetie grinned.
For his ears alone, she said, “We called them Sharing Associations when I was alive. Losing needed documents is still a favorite ploy, I see. He is losing some that he will wish that he still had!”
Warrin grinned even more widely. He held up his copy of the Chateau’s deed. “You are effectively dead, except that you will be working on the Royal Roads! This one is ALREADY registered by the direct order of BOTH Princesses.
“I was coming to let you know that both the payment by draft and the Deed issues had been taken care of. I was going to let you off the hook on all of this and shaft General Morrgripe, whom I do detest.
“Unfortunately, you just had to try to extort a rent from me for a property that I own outright as a Royal gift.”
Sweetie strolled through Horshiz’s desk and laid her hoof just above Warrin’s lap. A number of documents faded into existence in his lap.
She hugged him, which felt like being surrounded by the softest of feathers.
Whispering in Warrin’s ear, she said, “Come, my love, let us go to our home and leave this pony to his fate.”
Agreeing, Warrin stood, folding the documents into his shoulder pouch. He turned to the stunned Horshiz, “I would love to see you try to claim either rent or eviction. The first thing that the court will do is look to see who owns the property. The Registry will show that it is ME. That will make you prima facie guilty of fraud. You know it, too.
“A pleasant evening to you.”
He stopped by the Police Station and delivered the documents that Sweetie had purloined. He explained, “These are part of the evidence in a case Under the Royal Wing.”
He produced his letter from Princess Luna. The desk pony checked his Wants, Warrants, and Summonses file to confirm the Royal Summons and took the documents, saying, “I will be see to getting these forwarded to the Royal Road Chancery Court.” Shaking his head in disbelief he added, “Stealing from Princess Luna? Not a wise thing to do!”
Warrin’s flight home to the Chateau was in no way hindered by Sweetie getting in front of him and flirting her tail in his face from time to time.
~THE END~
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[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (122/?)
Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball, which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation. This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.
Continuity Note: About 1000 years before the events of Dragon Ball Z.
[29 May, 233 Before Age. Yetitan.]
Wampaaan'riix was tired. He had spent much of the day on the windswept pastures of his ancestral farm, clearing brush and counting livestock. For a man of his extraordinary strength, this was physically simple, but the tedium of it had a way of wearing him out. He had gone straight to bed upon returning home, barely making time to say good night to his wives and children.
When the communications terminal alerted him to a priority subspace call, he expected the worst. When he saw it was from Luffa's star-yacht, only for Dr. Topsas to appear on the viewer instead, he was even more concerned. He knew Luffa's Federation alliance was at war, with Saiyans battling on both sides.
"She is recovering in a stasis tank," Topsas explained. "I expect she will be completely healed in two months' time."
Wampaaan'riix stroked the long white hair that hung from his chin. There was long white hair covering the rest of his body as well, but the chin was the part he always reached for when he contemplated grim tidings. "In warfare, two months is an eternity, doctor" he said. "I'm surprised you were able to talk her into it."
"I suspect her injuries were more persuasive than anything I might have said," Topsas replied. "Individually, these enemy Saiyans are no match for her, but she has had to fight groups of them, on planet after planet, with little respite. I think she understood that if she didn't take this opportunity to heal, there might not be another chance later on."
"Is there something I can do to help?" Wampaaan'riix asked. "I've all but retired from fighting, but I owe her my life, after all."
"No, nothing like that," Topsas said. "I simply needed some... advice."
"Advice." he repeated.
"I spoke with one of my sons a few days ago. He wasn't very happy about my presence in Federation space during wartime," Topsas said. "He practically begged for me to come home. He arranged a transport ship to arrive at Woshad in four days."
"Then I think you should take it," Wampaaan'riix said. He first met Luffa and Topsas in a Deathmatch tournament on Plutark VII. He had been so certain of his fighting skills, and she had defeated him with ease, then she toyed with him to test her abilities. Then she accidentally read his mind, and after seeing his regret for walking out on his family, she decided to spare him. "I'm positive that she would understand if you left the war to go back to your loved ones."
"I don't know that I can do that," Topsas said.
"Doctor, you just told me that Luffa will be in a stasis chamber for the next several weeks," Wampaaan'riix said. "I've seen how those things work during my time in the Yetitan military. They're very low-maintenance. Now that you've set it up, you could probably show Zatte how to handle the day-to-day operations. And there's no shortage of doctors in the Federation who could take over for you."
"I'm not so sure..." Topsas said. "The statis chamber is one thing, of course. Plenty of others could handle it."
"Well, what else is there?" Wampaaan'riix asked. It was difficult for him to keep his patience. Bad enough that he had been woken from his sleep, that he was sitting at his desk instead of the warm rugs of his den. But Topsas was never very forthcoming about his feelings. Always masking everything with dry humor and sarcasm. He had never known the arachnoid to ask for help like this, and now he was beginning to understand why. It wasn't stubborn pride so much as the doctor just couldn't quite spit out what the problem was.
And when Topsas finally answered, he only said: "Mycotherapy."
Which told Wampaaan'riix absolutely nothing. "What?" he asked.
"There is a particular species of fungus," Topsas explained. "In the wild, it has the ability to alter its DNA to mimic plant or animal tissue. This allows it to graft itself onto a host while avoiding any immune response. Three years ago, a team of researchers found a way to modify the fungus for medical applications. Genetic engineering, you know. A few fungal cells are applied to the site of the injury, and cultivated to replicate. If managed properly, they'll form a structure to fill in the wounded tissue. Then the fungal mass can be made to transform itself into part of the patient's own body."
"That sounds unbelievable."
"It's a rather new form of medicine," Topsas said. "I only learned of it myself very recently, while I was researching possible treatments for Luffa. I... began casting about for more... radical ideas."
"Radical," Wampaaan'riix said. "As in 'dangerous'?
"The graft has to be carefully monitored. Left unchecked, it could grow out of control, and consume the patient. And it hasn't been tested on many species. Until... recently, there's been no testing on any mammalian species at all."
"If you don't know what it could do to Saiyan biology, then why risk it?"
"Because I do know how it will interact with Saiyan biology. I... performed my own tests, using tissue samples from Luffa herself. I only did it to set my mind at ease-- to prove that it would never work, so that I could stop second-guessing myself. But, the results turned out to be more promising than I expected. There's a very strong chance that I could heal her wounds in a fraction of the time it would take for conventional stasis chamber therapy to work."
"Why haven't you told her about this?"
"I only obtained the results a few days ago, right before she went into the chamber. Before that, it was only an experiment. Besides, there would still be an immense risk. I would need to apply multiple grafts to her body and monitor them all simultaneously. No one has ever attempted this before, on any species. No one would."
"Then why consider it at all?"
"Because when I look at the work that would be involved, I cannot help but think I might be able to carry it off. It's not a certainty, but I've carried out delicate operations that humanoid physicians wouldn't dare attempt. The researchers who devised mycotherapy techniques were all vertebrate doctors. Greater minds than I, but even so, I believe I have abilities they did not. And while I lack experience in this specific therapy, I dare say I know Saiyan physiology better than anyone. If it can be done at all, then I believe it must be I."
Wampaaan'riix stroked his chin again. "And if you try this, you definitely won't make the transport your son sent you. But that's not what's bothering you. Otherwise you would just take the transport and let Luffa heal for two months under someone else's care. That would be the best thing for everyone, right? So why are you even considering this fungus of yours?"
He didn't answer right away, and Wampaaan'riix wasn't terribly surprised. He hadn't called from so far away for idle chit-chat.
"I became a doctor because I wanted to help people," Topsas finally said. "In my religion, it is said that my people were blessed with eight eyes so we may always see when others are in need, and eight limbs so that we may always have one ready to lend aid. I was fascinated with vertebrate anatomy, and I thought becoming a doctor would enable me to see more, to help more. Do you remember when we met?"
"On Plutark. You were patching up the competitors in the Deathmatch tournaments. I never did understand how you ended up there."
The tournament organizers paid handsomely for my assistance," Topsas said. "And my practice needed the funding. Besides, I felt that if I could at least tend to your injuries, then I could know that the competitors received as much genuine care as possible before most of them met their end. Another doctor might not bother, since he would expect most of you to die by the end of the day anyway. But I could hold myself accountable at least."
"But Luffa changed all of that."
"She spared you, and in the process, she defied the tournament organizers, and ended up shutting down their entire operation, thereby saving the lives of the other fighters who still had matches that evening. To say nothing of the fighters who might have participated in future matches that will no longer occur. Before, I had written you and Luffa off as little more than brutes. Yet you returned to your homeworld, to your family. You've raised your son into a fine man, from what I can tell. I trust the rest of your offspring have been just as fortunate."
Wampaaan'riix was honored by the compliment, but he was also wearied by the late hour. "What are you getting at, doctor?" he asked with a loud yawn.
"For a time, I saw my work in those dreadful tournaments as an unpleasant chore. I was less a doctor and more of a priest, administering last rites for the condemned. Oh, one fortunate soul would live to see the next day, but I always knew that survivor would die in some other battle, thinking his victory made him invincible. But Luffa was special, and in discovering that, I realized that I had been remiss in my duties, both medical and spiritual. That was why I came to her aid on the Tikosi Hiveworld. It was the right thing to do, of course, but I wonder if any other doctor would have felt such an obligation. You owed her your life, Wampaaan'riix, but I owed her my soul.
"And now, it seems that she blames me for her overzealous crusade to defend the Federation. I comforted her in her hour of need, you see. I held her hand and calmed her down after the battle with the Tikosi, after she killed her own father. She reminded me so much of my daughter. Nwitt died of a terminal illness. In the final stages, it affected her brain, made her a danger to herself and others. In the end, she was so terrified, and all I could do was euthanize her. I couldn't hold my own daughter's hand in her final moments. She had to be restrained, you see. When Luffa first transformed, it seem as though she might explode at any moment. I thought that if this were to be the end, then comforting her in her final moments would be a fitting way to die. Instead, she lived, and she apparently has taken my gesture as an example of courage.
"I never considered the things my patients might do after they leave my care," he said. "Their lives are their own business, of course. I was content to help them with what I had. But there is a ripple effect to it, isn't there? The person I mend one day may help someone else another day. And another. Perhaps someone down the chain actually manages to save someone's life. It's a frightening thing to consider. And Luffa is no mere pebble tossed into a pond. With her power, she's more like a meteor crashing into the ocean. I cannot bring myself to think of hers as a single life. There are so many other lives that she has influenced and may still influence in the future. A week or two months might mean the difference between life and death for countless people. And I can choose. A week or two months. I can play it safe, or I can dare to perform a challenging procedure that might kill or cripple my patient."
"Cripple?"
"One of the potential side effects of mycotherapy," he explained. "Even if the fungal growth is kept under control, the drugs used to maintain that control can affect the patient's senses. Her sight or sense of smell might be permanently damaged."
Wampaaan'riix leaned back in his chair. "High stakes," he said. "Knowing Luffa, she would probably just as soon fight blind, and she might even win, powerful as she is. But her enemies would just injure her again, and worse than before."
"I trust you see my dilemma," Topsas said. "I asked Ms. Dotz for advice. The woman is a fortuneteller, but she has a psychic blindspot where Luffa's fate is concerned, and she seems to have no idea how many people will live or die as a result of my actions. It serves me right for trying to peek ahead a few pages in my own life. She told me that I would certainly do the right thing, but it isn't that simple. I... I don't know what the right thing is."
"And that's why you contacted me," Wampaaan'riix surmised.
"There was no one else to ask. I wanted an objective opinion from someone who knows her," Topsas said.
Wampaaan'riix sighed and considered the matter carefully. "Doctor," he finally asked, "what do you think Luffa would say to all of this?"
"I haven't discussed it with her yet," Topsas replied. "Knowing her, she would probably insist on taking this gamble. Which is precisely why I am so reluctant to suggest it. For me it's an ethical problem, but for her! As far as she's concerned, even a disabled Super Saiyan would be better than an injured one. All she cares about now is time. The young always worry about running out of something they have in abundance."
"No, that's not what I'm asking," Wampaaan'riix said. "Suppose Luffa were in your position. How do you think she would approach this dilemma?"
"I don't understand... you mean, if she were a doctor treating a patient?" he asked.
"Yes. What would she do?"
His fuzzy pedipalps twitched as he wrestled with this scenario. Wampaaan'riix never quite learned to read Topsas's alien body language, so he watched uncertainly as the doctor thought it over. He was mildly concerned that he might drift off to sleep while he waited for Topsas to respond.
"I suspect," Topsas finally said, "that she would find a way to push herself to her limits. The difficulty of the procedure would only be a challenge for her. She would rise to meet it, unless she were absolutely certain that it was beyond her ability."
"Very good," Wampaan'riix said. "Spoken like a true warrior. I think that is the way you should decide. If you truly believed this plan of yours is unsound, then you would have abandoned it a long time ago. Instead, you've slowly talked yourself into it, until now, you stand at the threshold, but you aren't sure you're ready to commit. You're asking the rest of us for permission to try, but this is your battlefield, doctor, and yours alone."
"I will... consider what you have said," Topsas said after a long pause. "Though, to be honest, this was not quite the advice I was hoping for."
"We have a saying on Yetitan," Wampaaan'riix said. "'Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer, but wish we didn't.' I don't know Dotz, but she sounds like a wise woman. So I agree that you will do the right thing, whatever you ultimately decide. Good luck to you, doctor."
They exchanged a few pleasantries before terminating the connection, leaving Wampaan'riix sitting alone in the darkened room. He thought about returning to his den, but somehow he doubted he would get much sleep, knowing what he knew of Luffa's condition.
*******
[30 May, 233 Before Age. Pillimede Asteroid Belt.]
Topsas did not decide right away. He resolved instead to wait another twenty-four hours and see how Luffa was responding to conventional treatment. The results he obtained from the sensor scans was less than encouraging.
"This isn't working," he said as he read the results. Luffa could not hear him. She floated in a suspension of medicated statis fluid, kept in an induced state of unconsciousness. Nor was there anyone else in the sickbay of the Emerald Eye to hear him. He continued speaking anyway.
"Your injuries are responding to the treatment, but not nearly at the rate I had hoped for. My own fault for being overly optimistic. I expected you to produce another miracle. Somehow your Saiyan biology would repair itself even more quickly, and you would break out of this tank in a mere ten days.
"But no. The inflammation in your feet has barely changed. Your cracked ribs have only just begun to knit. What is wrong with you, Little mammal? Are you so determined to keep fighting that you defy medical attention, even when you're unconscious?"
He had originally projected her full recovery would take at least two months. Based on the data he now had, that estimate would have to be revised upward. Three months, maybe even four. The bio-regenerative gel was working. He had used it on her in the past, after all. But it wasn't fast enough. Something about her condition was slowing down the whole process.
"My apologies. It is a poor physician who blames his patient. And yet, I cannot fathom what is going on in those cells of yours. Is your body focusing itself on increasing your power? The 'zenkai' as your people call it. Am I seeing a physical manifestation of that right now? Ninth Eye, are you so starved for combat that your body would fight itself? Half of you is trying to use this treatment to repair itself, and the other half is working on making you stronger."
He had prided himself on his expertise in Saiyan biology, but that honor was mostly by default. He was the only doctor who had spent this much time on a Saiyan patient, but there was still much that he didn't understand about how their bodies worked. The light of the full moon could make Luffa grow into a gargantuan ape-creature... unless her tail happened to be injured or amputated. It sounded like pure fantasy, but it was well-documented fact. They were so unlike other vertebrates, and Luffa was unique, even among her own kind. She never spoke of it, at least not to him, but he often imagined that being the Super Saiyan made her very lonely.
"I pray that I am wrong," he said. "Perhaps your body simply doesn't have the necessary compatibility with the medication. It can't be that your power is resisting the healing effects. It would be dreadful to be so devoid of peace. I think you crave peace as much as the rest of us do. Perhaps you only want it as a respite between battles, a good night's sleep, a quiet evening with your wife. I wish I could give these to you. As it is, I cannot even give you a swift recovery."
He stooped down in front of the chamber and looked at her through the transparent surface.
"I am not as oblivious as you might think," he said. "I know how important it is that you return to the front lines. Even now, I feel like your expression is daring me to do better. I don't know that I can. Is it worth the risk? Is it worth your life?"
He had gone over the mycotherapy procedure several times after speaking with Wampaaan'riix. He thought he could do it. What troubled him was that it had never been done quite the way he had in mind. As he regarded Luffa's face, he thought of his son, Turner, begging him to take the transport he had arranged to get him out of the warzone. He thought of his daughter, Nwitt, desperate for help, when the only thing he could offer was a painless death.
Then he put his hand on the control panel of the chamber, and activated the program to revive the occupant.
"I'll need to interrupt your sleep," he said. "I have something to discuss with you, and you may want to talk it over with your spouse."
*******
[31 May, 233 Before Age. Pillimede Asteroid Belt.]
They said yes. Of course they did. Topsas never doubted it. Luffa was a warrior anxious to return to her war, and Zatte was... well, she was something of a fanatic where Luffa was concerned. She insisted on performing some Dorlun ritual to honor Topsas before he began his work. It involved some sort of liturgy, and burning bits of her own hair in candle flames. Zatte could be very strange at times. But Luffa was the one that made him the most nervous. When he had explained the risks and difficulties of his proposed mycotherapy treatment, she simply grinned at him with that savage smile of hers, and shook his hand.
"I can tell how fired up you are about this, Doc," she had said before being sedated. "This should be fun."
It was as if she couldn't tell excitement from apprehension. But something about the conviction in her voice made him wonder if maybe she knew his feelings better than he did. Perhaps he was the one who had been mistaking enthusiasm for fear. Luffa had a peculiar talent of making him question himself.
And so far, it was working. Dr. Topsas wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. An early failure at this stage would at least put the matter to rest. He could say he tried, and move on. But it was working, at least for now, which mean that he had to keep going, and brave the potential failures that might still lie ahead.
He had never used seven hands at once. Not for surgery, not for anything, until today. Now, he rested his cephalothoarx on a barstool he had borrowed from a lounge on the ship, and used only one of his limbs to steady himself on that perch. The other seven limbs loomed over the stasis chamber, operating controls, dispensing drugs, and occasionally probing surgical incisions. His eight eyes observed all of this: his own movements, computer monitors, vital sign readouts, and more.
His two greatest points of concern were a hole in Luffa's left foot, and a damaged section of her right kidney. The foot had the largest injury, which required the largest fungal graft. If any of the grafts were to grow out of control, that was the most likely to do so. The kidney, on the other hand, was the most vital organ he had grafted. The graft was small, but if anything went wrong there, it could lead to more serious complications.
There were fifteen other sites to consider as well. Tendon damage in the right tricep. Puncture wound in the right foot. Left ring finger fracture. Three cracked ribs. Anterior cruciate ligament tear on right knee. Six lacerations in the abdomen, all damaging the large intestine. Large contusion on left thigh. Tendon damage on right shoulder. But he was certain that if the left foot and kidney could be made to recover, the others could be made to recover as well.
The first seventy-two hours were the most intensive. Normally, a team of doctors would carefully monitor the patient's progress and make adjustments as needed. He would need to do this alone, continuously. And he would probably have to be more nimble, since there would probably be unforeseen complications. He could slow down and take a little more time, but this carried a risk. If Luffa's organs rejected the fungal grafts, or vice-versa, he would need to take quick action, or risk undoing his progress. Better to exhaust himself across three days than to pace himself across four or five.
An alert from one of the monitors warned him of an acceleration in growth on one of Luffa's ribs. He applied a dilute solution of R-gel to slow it down. Beside Luffa was a tray of solutions he had prepared at various concentrations before beginning the procedure. Normally, a doctor administering mycotherapy would simply use one of the stronger concentrations. At worst, the entire graft might die, and he would have to apply a new one. Topsas didn't want to wait that long, and so he added his own variation to the procedure. He had to slow any runaway fungal growth, but he would try to use dilute R-gel first, so as not to risk destroying his progress on that front.
It was all experimental and unprecedented. The technique was sound, and he was sure of his abilities, but it had never been done quite like this, with so many simultaneous grafts. He didn't care for blazing new trails. Being the first was a scary proposition. But the situation had forced his hand. How could he turn away from this? He had too many hands, and too many eyes not to try.
Luffa's metabolic readouts were fluctuating, and so he had to divide his attention to modifying her nutrient intake. This, in turn, shifted the delicate balance of the grafts. He was losing one of them, the one on her arm.
No. He refused to surrender. It would be all too easy to sacrifice a few of the mycotheraputic sites and start over on a second session. Easier, safer, and more time-consuming. How many people could Luffa help during that lost time? Was he willing to doom them just to make things easier for himself?
He looked down at Luffa's face. Even unconscious, there was something aggressive in her expression, like she was aware of the struggle he was going through.
He had never completely understood his late daughter. Even before her illness, Nwitt's manic passions seemed alien to him, and to everyone he knew. He had seen some of Nwitt in Luffa, and pitied her for it. But over time, he came to see the Saiyan heart as something more than an engine of war. Luffa had shown him a fiery passion that could do more than kill. She could laugh, cry, love, and draw strength from those intense emotions. And as Topsas came to admire Luffa, he began to appreciate Nwitt all the more. For the first time in decades, Topsas saw his daughter as something other than a tragedy to be mourned. Her short life, and the wild emotions that fueled it, were something to be celebrated and cherished. Even the fear that came at the end, well that had its own meaning, in its own way.
He prayed for some of that energy now. If his skill and steady hands should falter, there was still his pride as a healer to drive him. There was still the thrill of the challenge, the fear of failure. His daughter was dead, but if he could save this little mammal in her honor, then maybe it would give some purpose to her loss.
"I won't lose," he said aloud. Whether he was speaking to himself or to his patient, or to Nwitt's spirit, he did not know. As he worked, he soon forgot all thoughts of the risks of this task. He ignored the fatigue that began to weather his stamina. He simply ignored all other courses, save the one he was on.
Zatte--bless her soul--believed Luffa to be an instrument of God's will. While Topsas respected this viewpoint, he disagreed. He had seen Luffa on the day she had first transformed. He had seen how violent and terrified she was. He had held her hand to calm her down. He still remembered the feel of Tikosi blood on her fingers, the whimpers she made as she fought to regain control of her own body. Perhaps this was the way divine instruments were chosen, but Topsas had trouble believing it. There was nothing glorious or honorable about it. She was compelled to follow an unknown path that was fraught with danger. And Luffa had faced that fate with courage on that day.
He swore to do no less on this day.
*******
[1 June, 233 Before Age. Pillimede Asteroid Belt.]
And the next day.
*******
[2 June, 233 Before Age. Pillimede Asteroid Belt.]
And the next...
*******
[3 June, 233 Before Age. Pillimede Asteroid Belt.]
He didn't sleep in the way that vertebrates did. When he was tired, Topsas simply ceased moving, and remained still for a time, though he remained fully aware of his surroundings. He was long overdue for this type of rest, but he couldn't stop for long. Having completed his work on Luffa, he was anxious to drain the chamber and revive her, so that he could conduct a more thorough examination, and make sure there were no lasting side-effects. The entire process took forty-five minutes. While mechanical pumps removed the medicated fluid, a tube attached to a face mask removed the fluid from her lungs, gradually reacquainting her respiratory system with air. The mask also delivered a sedative, and when he was ready, he reduced the dosage, opened the lid of the chamber and waited.
She regained consciousness almost immediately, barely giving him time to prepare the med scanner. "Where...? Oh. Right, the stasis chamber," she said, as she came to her senses. "How did it go?"
"Better... better than expected," Topsas said, surprised by the hoarseness of his voice. "I... yes, better than expected. I'll leave it at that."
"Where's Zatte?"
"Oh, I... er, neglected to call her. I imagine she would be on the bridge. I've lost track of the time."
"How long was I out?"
"Three days." Tired as he was, he could not easily forget this, as he hadn't rested in all of that time.
"Three? You said it would take a week."
"Ah, yes, I did. It seems that your body was much more agreeable to the mycotherapy than I anticipated. I still want you to rest, but I don't know that we'll need the chamber for that. How are you feeling?"
Luffa paused for a moment, as though searching herself for an answer. "Sore," she said. Holding her hands in front of her face. "Not as bad as before, but... my vision's all... blurry."
Relief washed over him. Blurry vision, he could deal with. He had worried that she wouldn't be able to see at all, or something worse. He passed the med-scanner over her face anyway, to verify what she had said, but now he could feel more confident about it.
"A side effect of the fungal grafts," Topsas explained. "Your eyesight will return to normal eventually, though I shall have to monitor it carefully before we repeat the process."
"Repeat it?" Luffa asked.
"I think... yes, I think I've learned enough from this first attempt to feel confident about trying again," Topsas said. "The benefits seem to outweigh the risks at this point."
Luffa tried to sit up, and Topsas reached out to hold her back and guide her upright.
"Hold on," she said. "You're telling me that you managed to heal me up from all of that, in three days' time? And you can do it again? Whenever you want?"
"Not 'whenever'," he said with a sigh. "As I just said, I need to monitor your vision first. If we proceed too quickly, use the fungal graft too often, we run the risk of permanently damaging your senses."
"Yeah, but still..." She held up her left hand and looked at it. "It's not too blurry. Not sure why I see this blue tint on my skin..."
"That is the stasis fluid, little mammal," he said. One of his hands was already reaching up with a towel to wipe it off.
"Doc, are you okay?"
"Why would I not be?"
"You just sound tired somehow. It's hard to tell with you."
"I... may have overexerted a little," he admitted.
"You should rest," Luffa said. She planted her hands on the side of the chamber and began to pull herself out. "I can the service droid to bring us some dinner--"
He grabbed her by the shoulder to stop her from going any further.
"You are going to stay put until I am satisfied that your condition is stable," he said, noticing a faltering in his voice. "I just put you back together, and I want at least a little time to savor the victory before you rush off to undo all of my hard work."
"Sure, Doc, whatever you say," Luffa assured him. He turned to fetch something from one of the benchtops, and then he noticed her smiling at him.
"Does something amuse you?" he asked.
"You turned a corner, didn't you?" Luffa asked. "I'm a little out of it, but I can tell that much."
"I have no idea what you are talking about."
"You weren't too thrilled about trying something like this, but now that it's over, you're practically champing at the bit to do it again."
"Oh yes, because I always look forward to seeing you return to this ship, bloodied and battered. Truly the highlight of my day."
"You remind me of when I was a kid, after I did my first Gallick Gun," Luffa said.
He said nothing, and pretended to be preoccupied with his scans.
"It might be a while before you get to do it again," she said. "Now that I'm healed up, it'll take a lot more to wear me down again. Those Jindan-using bastards won't have it so easy next time. Don't get too eager. You might get bored waiting for me to get hurt."
"I shall believe that when I see it," Topsas said.
She kept on gloating, as Saiyans so often do, about how she would destroy her enemies and reign supreme on the battlefield. Topsas simply carried on with his work, and when he was satisfied that there was nothing left for him to do for the time being, he called Zatte, then went to Luffa's bedside, and held her hand.
NEXT: To the future...
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First lines from the books I read in 2018
Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd: Thus is 1711, the ninth year of the reign of Queen Anne, an Act of Parliament was passed to erect seven new Parish Churches in the Cities of London and Westminster, which commission was delivered to Her Majesty’s Office of Works in Scotland Yard.
Métamorphose en bord de ciel by Mathias Malzieu: Les oiseaux, ça s'enterre en plein ciel.
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen: The family of Dashwood had been long settled in Sussex.
Le plus petit baiser jamais recensé by Mathias Malzieu: Le plus petit baiser jamais recensé.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, “and what is the use of a book,” thought Alice, “without pictures or conversations?”
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll: One thing was certain, that the white kitten had had nothing to do with it -it was the black kitten’s fault entirely.
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson: Ba-room, ba-room, ba-room, baripity, baripity, baripity, baripity-Good.
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin: Dear James: I had begun this letter five times and torn it up five times.
The Secret in Their Eyes by Eduardo Sacheri: Benjamín Miguel Chaparro stops short and decides he’s not going.
At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft: I am forced into speech because men of science have refused to follow my advice without knowing why.
The Minds of Billy Milligan by Daniel Keyes: This books is the factual account of the life, up to now, of William Stanley Milligan, the first person in U.S. history to be found not guilty of major crimes, by reason of unsanity, because he possessed multiple personalities.
The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket: If you are interested in stories in happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book.
Puckoon by Spike Milligan: Several and a half metric miles North East of Sligo, split by a cascading stream, her body on earth, her feet in water, dwells the microcephalic community of Puckoon.
Piercing by Ryu Murakami: A small living creature asleep in its crib.
The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket: The stretch of the road that leads out of this city, past Hazy Harbor and into the town of Tedia, is perhaps the most unpleasant in the world.
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini: So, then.
The Shape of Water by Guillermo Del Toro and Daniel Kraus: Richard Strickland reads the brief from General Hoyt.
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell: He’d stopped trying to bring her back.
Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell: The Rue du Coq d’Or, Paris, seven in the morning.
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart: Welcome to the beautiful Sinclair family.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusack: First the colors. Then the humans. That’s usually how I see things. Or at least, how I try.
The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket: If you didn’t know much about the Baudelaire orphans, and you saw them sitting on their suitcases at Damocles Dock, you might think they were bound for an exciting adventure.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson: No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream.
Battles in the Desert by José Emilio Pacheco: I remember, I don’t remember.
The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket: Sometime during your lifetime -in fact, very soon- you may find yourself reading a book, and you may notice that a book’s first sentence can often tell you what sort of story your book contains.
The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby: The word is everywhere, a plague spread by the President of the United States, television anchors, radio talk show hosts, preachers in megachurches, self-help gurus, and anyone else attempting to demostrate his or her identification with ordinary, presumably wholesome American values.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare: Theseus, duke of Athens, is planning the festivities for his upcoming wedding to the newly captured Amazon, Hippolyta.
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert: We were in study hall when the headmaster walked in, followed by a new boy not wearing a school uniform, and by a janitor carrying a large desk.
The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket: If you were going to give a gold medal to the last delightful person on Earth, you would have to give that medal to a person named Carmelita Spats, and if you didn’t give it to her, Carmelita Spats was the sort of person who would snatch it from your hands anyway.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding: The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the lagoon.
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare: Christopher Sly, a drunken beggar, is driven out of an alehouse by its hostess.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro: My name is Katy H.
Hear the Wind Sing by Haruki Murakami: “There’s no such thing as a perfect piece of writing.”
The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket: The book you are holding in your two hands right now -assuming that you are, in fact, holding this book, and that you have only two hands- is one of two books in the world that will show you the difference between the words “nervous” and the word “anxious.”
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare: Two households, both alike in dignity, (In fair Verona, where we lay our scene), From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
Adventure Time: The Enchiridion & Marcy’s Super Secret Scrapbook!!!: My Devoted Evil Daighter, Marceline, I admit we’ve had a somewhat volatile father-daughter relantionship ever since the regrettable Fry Incident.
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin: Ser Waymar Royce glanced at the sky with desinterest.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings.
Pinball, 1973 by Haruki Murakami: I used to love listening to stories about faraway places.
The Vile Village by Lemony Snicket: No matter who you are, no matter where you live, and no matter how many people are chasing you, what you don’t read is often as important as what you do read.
Dracula by Bram Stoker: 3 May. Bistritz. –Left Munich at 8:35 P.M., on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:43, but train was an hour late.
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare: I know this hartred mocks all Christian virtue, but They I loathe: their very sight abhors me.
On the Road by Jack Kerouac: I first met Dean not long after my wife and I split up.
A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami: It was a short one-paragraph item in the morning edition.
The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket: There are two reasons why a writer would end a sentence with the word “stop” written in entirely in capital letters STOP.
The Most Beautiful: My Life with Prince by Mayte Garcia: The chain-link fence around Praisley Park is woven with purple ribbons and roses, love notes, tributes, and prayers for peace.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare: Who’s there?
A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin: The comet’s tail spread across the dawn, a red slash that bled above the crags of Dragonstone like a wound in the pink and purple sky.
Out of Africa by Isak Dinensen: I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of Ngong Hills.
Carrie by Stephen King: News item from the Westover (Me.) weekly enterprise, August 19, 1966: RAIN OF STONES REPORTED.
The Carnivorous Carnival by Lemony Snicket: When my workday is over, and I have closed my notebook, hidden my pen and sawed holes in my rented canoe so it cannot be found, I often like to spend the evening in conversation with my few surviving friends.
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick: The P-38 WWII Nazi handgun looks comical lying on the breakfast table next to a boal of outmeal.
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve on an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to say that it was the only tale he had met in which such a visitation had fallen on a child.
Carmilla by Sheridan J. Le Fanu: Upon a paper attached to the Narrative which follows, Doctor Hesselius has written a rather elaborated note, which he accompanies with a reference to his Essay on the strange subject which the MS. illuminates.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson: No one has ever suffered as I have.
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka: One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin.
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski: I still get nightmares.
Othello by William Shakespeare: In the streets of Venice, Iago tells Roderigo of his hatred for Othello, who has given Cassio the lieutenancy that Iago wanted and has made Iago a mere ensign.
Dance, Dance, Dance by Haruki Murakami: I often dream about the Dolphin Hotel.
The Slippery Slope by Lemony Snicket: A man of my acquaintance once wrote a poem called “The Road Less Traveled,” describing a journey he took through the woods along a path most travelers never used.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou: “What you looking at me for? I didn’t come to stay…”
A Most Haunted House by G. L. Davies: The house first came to my attention a few years ago.
Ghost Sex, The Violation by G. L. Davies: I met with Lisa at her home in Pembroke Dock.
Any Man by Amber Tamblyn: Am I in a body?
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay: “This must be so difficult for you, Meredith.”
A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin: The day was grey and bitter cold, and the dogs would not take the scent.
Macbeth by William Shakespeare: When shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain?
You by Caroline Kepnes: You walk into the bookstore and you keep your hand on the door to make sure it doesn’t slam.
The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket: After a great deal of examining oceans, investigating rainstorms and staring very hard at several drinking fountains, the scientists of the worlds developed a theory regarding how water is distributed around our planet, which they have named “the water cycle.”
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys: They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did.
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: About thirthy years ago, Miss Maria Ward, of Huntingdon, with only seven thousand pounds, had the luck to captivate Sir Thomas Bertram, of Mansfield Park, in the country of Northampton, and to be thereby raised to the rank of a baronet’s lady, with all the comforts and consequences of a handsome house and a large income.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë: My name is Gilbert Markham, and my story begings in October 1827, when I was twenty-four years old.
The Tempest by William Shakespeare: Boatswain!
Lucky by Alice Sebold: In the tunnel where I was raped, a tunnel that was once an underground entry to an amphitheather, a place where actors burst forth from underneath the seats of a crowd, a girl had been murdered and dismembered.
The Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket: Certain people had said that the world is like a calm pond, and that anytime a person does even the smallest thing, it is as if a stone has dropped into the pond, spreading circles of ripples further and further out, until the entire world has been changed by one tiny action.
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Congratulations, MONA! You’ve been accepted for the role of VIOLA. Admin Kaitlin: There’s no hiding the fact that Valentina has always been somewhat of a fan favorite here at DiVerona, and Mona you certainly delivered our girl to us. The voice you gave to Val in this application was so wonderful, and I loved how much you honed in on the emotional playing field of Val’s internal thoughts. I can’t wait to see where you take our favorite undercover Montague! Please read over the checklist and send in your blog within 24 hours.
WELCOME TO THE MOB.
Alias | Mona
Age | 20
Preferred Pronouns | She/Her
Activity Level | I’m in Nursing school along with work, but honestly I never sleep and haven’t been in a role-play in a long time, but I loved it when I was in them around two years ago… Basically, I’m really excited to take part in a rug again and write for a character I love, so I expect to be around a lot.
Timezone | PST
Current/Past RP Accounts | Sadly, I have lost track of all my role-play accounts!
In Character
Character | Viola, also known as Valentina Gallo
What drew you to this character? | Looking into Valentina’s history, it’s clear that she had to build a tough shell as she grew up into the world that she did. Having been through what she has, Valentina could have gone two ways… have others fear her, or have them pity her - the latter of which sounds far worse than any other version of hell you could put her through. She’s a strong woman who did what she had to do in certain situations, and will continue to do that for as long as she needs to.
Honestly, I’m a sucker for anything that is even remotely sad - and whether she wants to admit it or not, Valentina’s situation was devastatingly so. To be abandoned as a young child by the people who are supposed to love you for the rest of their lives, that’s not something someone recovers from just because they said they have. I see Valentina wanting to join the Montagues as a replacement for the things she’s lost, even though that’s something that she’s not going to accept for a veryyyy long time. I really want to build on how strong she is despite everything, though, and I really want to be able to develop her relationship not only with her brother but with the people she surrounds herself with. I truly believe she has not let anyone form any sort of bond with her since the night her parents left, and while she’s in no way mopey, in my head she’s just this bitter woman who sees everything in the worst way imaginable because she learned her lesson a long, long time ago.
Just a little extra thing, I really feel like Valentina never had much control over her life in any way, and also never really knew safety in the same way. She wasn’t allowed to have a childhood, nor a normal upbringing. So as an adult, I think every word she says and every step she takes is going to be fully planned, and I feel as if everything she does has to be fully in her control or she just loses it completely. I believe Valentina has a hair-line trigger, where she goes from being completely calm to just exploding all over the place, and while she’s been better at taking control of this anger and using it only when needed, there are still moments where she explodes and will have to disappear for a while to either calm down, or let her anger out in whatever way she can.
Basically, I just can’t wait to be able to unleash just how relentless she can be.
What is a future plot idea you have in mind for the character?
C H I L D H O O D D O T T E D W I T H B O D I E S
Forever. It was a luxury Valentina allowed herself to apply to one person and one person alone - Santino. He had lived up to his names meaning, truly a saint as she stood behind him, bathing in sin. Not a single possession could come close to where she held him, not a single man could live in her brothers shadows. There had never been a lie between the two, never been a secret they could not share. Where Valentina is no stranger to walls, she had never built one between herself and her brother.. Yet, she feels herself yearning to be a part of the Montague’s, and while nothing has ever rivaled the loyalty she had for her brother, she had never had anything else so large in her life. She tells herself it’s fine, that a few cracks in the foundation never tore down a house, that a few lies between family would always be forgiven… but with each step, she can’t help the thought that lingers in her mind. What if she’s found the one thing that cannot be forgiven?
Santino leaving her is not something she can fathom.
L E T T H E M G O , L E T T H E M B E G H O S T S
At one point, she’s sure, she must have led a normal life. Yet, that life is so far away now there is no point in dwelling on it. She has no mother, no father, and if you ask her she never did. Faced with them today, she would not be able to pick their faces out from a crowd, as she refuses to acknowledge them in any way. Just because someone made her does not give them the credit for who she has become now. No longer can anything be done to Valentina that she does not allow. When asked what happened to her parents, her response will always be “What parents?”. There were always whispers, of course, as the streets love a morbid tale, and the whispers grew more and more gruesome as Valentina grew more and more cold. Were they killed? Who were they running from? Were the Gallos murdered by those they loved most? Of course, this is all much more entertaining than the truth - that the Gallo parents were plain cowards, who had bitten off more than they could chew. It had always been easy to believe, that they had left willingly, but what if the people she had always hated hadn’t had a choice?
Maybe she did not know her past as well as she thought she did.
M A K E T H E M S T A Y , M A K E T H E M S T O N E
Everybody needs somebody, or at least that’s what Santino says to her every now and then, relentless. Friendship, love, anything besides a lie. Yet, this is not something Valentina sees to be in her future. Valentina is far from naive, she had her eyes open to the world around her from a very young age, and does not romanticize the role she plays in it. Valentina romanticized nothing but the war she wanted so earnestly to take part in. Yet, it is possible that the secrets she is keeping, others are keeping as well. Who is to know what lies others weave, possibly far more intricate than those that she spun from such a young age. She believes herself invincible, untouchable.. but as did Icarus, as he flew straight into the sun. One day Valentina will let her guard down, and likely get burnt for it.
Having shut herself away for so long, wouldn’t it be ironic, for Valentina to allow in the one person who would be her destruction?
Are you comfortable with killing off your character? | This is so tough, but depending on the circumstances, yes!
In Depth
In-Character Interview: The following questions must be answered in-character, and in para form (quotations, actions written out if applicable, etc). There is no minimum or maximum limit for your response - simply answer as you would if you were playing the character.
What is your favorite place in Verona?
It was far too personal a question, but to be fair, most questions were. An immediate image comes to mind, and there is no doubt of where Valentina would want to spend her last breath, her happiest moment, her lowest low. Before she was a part of the world, the Castelvecchio Bridge was the closest she was ever allowed to get, a sneak peak into a forbidden world. “What does it matter?” she asked, a sly smile painted onto her lips as she leaned back in her chair, seemingly calm but alert to any prying questions - one couldn’t give too much away. It was her favorite place, after all, and it should be hers alone, not for anyone else to spoil. It was where she had gotten her first glimpse of the forbidden, her first taste of the fight that would have her coming back for more. “I suppose the Twelfth Night Museum will do, if I have to pick a place, but the street life is always far more entertaining than what can be found inside four walls”. Valentina did not indulge in much, this would be hers and hers alone.
What does your typical day look like?
“What is typical?” she asked, a slight chuckle escaping her lips. One persons typical could be another persons extraordinary, and Valentina’s ‘typical’ would not count as that in most people’s worlds. “I start it with Santino, I suppose, as I have for as long as I can remember…” she trailed off, trying to think of a moment in which one of her daily tasks had become habitual instead of just fleeting. She hadn’t given any thought to a question such as this one, and it was a surprise that this is what would have caught her off guard. She could not help but think of the various faces she put on throughout the day, the various roles she found herself stepping into when the situation allowed, a fire burning in the background nonetheless. “I eat where I can, I sleep where I can… I go where the city takes me. I do not limit myself to routine.” she admitted, and for once it was not all a life, they had caught her in a good mood, a rare mood. “I do not limit myself to one thing, I go where I am needed, I go where I please.”
What has been your biggest mistake thus far?
Oh, there were so many. The scars that could have been avoided. The jobs that went bad. The beginnings, when she couldn’t steal candy from a baby, let alone enough to get by. It was getting late, the show she was putting on couldn’t go along for too long, better to answer quickly and get it over with, she was getting tired of the relentless prodding. “Missing anyone, who would voluntarily chose to leave.” she shrugged, carefully examining her nails as she let out that vital piece of information, it was no secret that Valentina did not have time for pointless attachment, not anymore. “Time wasted which could have been much more useful doing other things”, the statement was left with a cruel taste in her mouth, and she knew that the smile she tried to put on was far more sadistic than kind, yet maybe that was intentional.
What has been the most difficult task asked of you?
There was not much Valentina would not do, she was no stranger to getting her hands dirty for her own personal gain. If others knew, how easily Valentina would turn on anyone (correction, almost anyone), they wouldn’t trust her with a single thing, never their life. “Nothing too difficult, if I’m being quite honest. You do what has to be done, don’t you?” she asked, probably one of the most truthful statements that Valentina had ever uttered to anyone besides Santino, but the question woke up the dark thoughts she kept pushing to the back of her mind. If she were being honest with herself, she would admit that keeping this secret from him was truly the hardest thing she had been asked… but what use is lingering on what is already done.
What are your thoughts on the war between the Capulets and the Montagues?
“People disagree, it’s bound to happen… just have to be on the winning side" she sighed, thinking back on the days where she longed to be a part of what she was currently swimming in. “Men have been raging war all throughout history, it did not begin nor end with this one.”
Extras:
Once her and Santino could afford to have a ‘permanent residence’, Valentina found herself obsessing with keeping it clean. Everything had to be in it’s place, not a single thing could go awry inside their four walls. Santino thinks she just needs to be in control, Valentina demands that she just refuses to live in a pigsty.
When they were teenagers, it was always as if her and Santino would take turns being the mature one, and admittedly it was Santino’s turn more often then it would be hers… it’s hard to imagine Valentina being any more rebellious than she already is, but the version of her now is quite tame compared to how she used to be.
Whenever her nights get too quiet, Valentina enjoys going out and creating a new life for herself. It’s easy to tell a drunk tourist your name is “Bella” and that you just love their accent, it’s easy to pretend to be someone else. She’s been doing it more and more, creating different people to become for an hour, for a night, for a fleeting moment. She finds she’s most herself when she’s surrounded by people who don’t know who she really is.
OKAY BASICALLY, idk I love her and I feel like she’s far more damaged than she wants to admit and she’s wayyyy too codependent and I really want to develop her relationship with her brother because honestly it’s great.
thank you for reading all this :)
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Henry weds Vivian
It started so early in the morning... ... I was up till 2am? Getting my script right and other what-nots.
And then I was up at 6.30am on Sunday morning, showered and apparently spent an hour on my make-up and was late to the bride’s house. Had only made it just in time to prepare... ... (phew!)
The first thing I did when I got there was to prepare the platter that was meant for the gatecrash challenge.
酸。甜。苦。辣。Sour -- Sweet -- Bitter -- Spicy
Sour; sour sweets with lemon juice with pulp. (only because the bride said that the groom is able to tolerate sourness)
Sweet; honey
Bitter; crushed bittergourd (I am perfectly evil)
Spicy; beehoon fried in the Korean spicy noodle sauce with chilli padi
Vivian’s family was warm and welcoming when I walked in, as they usually are.
The bride on her big day. I cannot stress enough about how stressful and tiring Sunday was...
The time soon came for the groom to arrive with his entourage. His amazingly shy entourage. In their defence, it was their first gate crash and it’s quite differently done in Singapore compared to our Neighbours.
A little backstory; Nang (Vivian) & myself and much later Henry.
So Nang and I met in poly roughly 8 years ago. Let me show you what this means in human terms.
This is her 8-year-old nephew. He is our age representative!
We have been friends for the last 8 years and she is my first Burmese friend. And I am incredibly happy to have been part of her joy.
It’s amazing; really how we’ve kept in touch through the adulthood, the jobs and the further studies. And now hopefully through marriage. Because you know, a lot more time will be spent on building their family.
Henry...
I officially met Henry during Christmas of 2016. After he had proposed and we were properly introduced to each other.
Couldn’t be happier for them. ~
Back to Sunday Morning.
The groom arrives with his entourage.
Let me walk you through the gatecrash.
The groom comes up with his buddies (groomsman) and they would have to fetch the bride from her place and if they’re leaning towards superstition they would have to reach the bride’s place at the auspicious hour.
When they arrive, the bridesmaids who are there would make them jump through hoops, sometimes literally. So we had the groom eat a series of food. (Refer to the first photo)
So they have their meaning. And I’ll try my best to explain.
Sour; sour sweets with lemon juice with pulp. .[explanation; none that I can think of... ...]
Sweet; honey [explanation; to always be sweet to one another]
Bitter; crushed bittergourd (I am perfectly evil) [explanation; to go through the bitter times together]
Spicy; beehoon fried in the Korean spicy noodle sauce with chilli padi [explanation; ummm, in my opinion; hot and heavy _ _ _, you know [maintain PG-advicement]
And other foods like glutinous rice balls for family togetherness, a union of 2 souls.
All right, gatecrash (this is going to be a looooooong post)
Henry and his groomsmen came and they handed over the first red-packet...
“not good enough... ...” (takes the first cup in that sequence)
We essentially rejected every red packet that came our way. So this proceeded until the last cup was gone and even though he had passed my obstacle there was more to come. Also, his groomsmen stood at least a feet away from him. (hahahahhaha)
But through it all that we threw at him, he endured and the moment came when he cast his eyes upon his bride; was so sweet.
And it was time for the bride and groom to go over to the groom’s side of the family. But before that, a short photo-taking.
With the bride’s parents’.
The newlyweds with the bride’s family. 3 Generations together.
This is what I like about small scaled celebrations; friends and family together as one. Personally, it’s heartwarming to me. But to each their own.
And now it’s time to go... ... And at the other side... ...
Tea ceremony! The acknowledgement of family members; mum, dad, brothers, sisters, aunties, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews.
Eating of glutinous rice balls filled with peanuts or red bean paste to signify the union of 2 souls.
They soon returned and it was time for family acknowledgement of the bride’s family.
Mum and dad
Elder brother
Second brother and sister-in-law.
Dear little things were not happy with serving tea.
LUNCH!
Nathan~~~!!! He’s so cute!
This was probably the only time they had to themselves until after the dinner.
It’s truly truly amazing how they’ve so genuinely welcomed Henry into their family and I saw how Henry’s family welcomed Nang. This is not ideal, I’m sorry, this is how it’s meant to be. And now how people pry about how the in-laws can’t get along and how “my daughter married the wrong man” or “my son married the wrong women.” That’s not how a family is... ...
I love how embracing each family was; everyone came together as one.
And I cannot emphasize enough how they’ve made me feel like I was one of them too. About 2 months before the wedding there was food tasting held by the hotel and they invited me to join them. And I felt so welcomed. Beyond words can say.
MOVING ON!
After lunch the bride and her family went to the hotel and I went home to collect my gown and other whatnots and left immediately.
[had never taken grab so many times in a single day in my life! and oh the conversations were so interesting! Well, on the account that I was wearing a pretty dress and carrying a gown - who wouldn’t have questions?]
So I got to the hotel and immediately settled into hair and makeup! WOW!
I did mine myself. Pretty proud of the end product. I am still super in love with my lipstick from kat von d...
Yes, that’s the gown...
Presenting the bride!!
The groom.
It was really really rushed despite the fact that I was there early. And because Irina could only be there after work so it was even more rushed for her.
Let's see... bride and groom finished their hair and makeup. Got ready and we were supposed to have a de-briefing about 30 minutes prior to the solemnisation. And we were nowhere near ready 10 minutes prior.
The only good thing I got out of being there early was having some private time with both the bride and the groom for me to present my little gift. A drawing of 2 rings bound together and a hand-written card with words of love, would hardly call them words of wisdom.
This picture is too sweet... ... I’m glad I got some time alone with them before dinner.
Mum and dad putting on the veil.
Solemnisation!
It was a beautiful ceremony!
More photo-taking as the guests adjourned to the cocktail reception on level 5.
I don’t even know where to begin on the pre-dinner cocktail reception. Let’s see if I can still get this right; the cocktail reception is at the roof garden on level 5 and dinner will be held in the straits room on level 4.
RIGHT.
7pm came and we moved the reception table to the 4th floor.
It’s time!
“GOOD EVENING YOU LOVELY PEOPLE!”
Being an emcee (host) was an amazing experience! It was exhilarating and altogether exciting!
So ladies and gentlemen let’s rise to welcome, for the first time Mr and Mrs Ye Linn Thu!
The entire night was caught between “putting out fires” and getting the guest entertained.
“Ladies and gentlemen please rise again and let’s welcome the newlyweds back!”
They gave their speeches and I got mine ready for them.
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. Never seen a love so pure and so true.
No words can describe the emotions in my chest. The dictionary is finally put to the test.
So I suppose this is what I want to say. I wish you both a lifetime of happiness and bliss. I wish it through the good, the bad and the ugly days. And that this day will let you one day fondly reminisce.
The night flew by like the wind.
More photos were taken with family and friends.
Henry’s family.
Nang’s family
Friends
AFTER PARTY!!~~ WHOO WHOO~
Pupils dilated. Cheeks flushed. Body burning up. Inhibitions lowered.
And the night ends here.
It was unbelievably incredible to have been a part of this BIG day.
To Henry and Vivian!
To Nang and Henry, if you’re reading this “I couldn’t be happier about the union of the both of you. Your wedding still seems so surreal to me but then again it makes so much sense that it has happened. Thank you for having me for your joyous occasion! Love you both.”
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A Day in Life
//Once Upon an Immersion//
It was all doe-eyed faces that turned towards us as we enter inside the room. It was just an hour after noon when the scorching-hot sun took over the covered court of Barangay Fatima II that left us dripping in sweat with nothing to do. Keeping in mind that something must be written on our Daily Task Activity Sheet, Joie, Christine, Kat, Jenny and I took our courage out of our sleeves and volunteered to help at the Day Care Center. Little did I know, that the cheers, screams, laughter and cries, and all our woes inside, would made me realize how far we really are from getting a better education system and environment for the future of our land.
Starting with an introduction, the teacher asked us to stand before the children to tell our names and what they should call us. Speaking at the front never felt so relieving knowing that the audience you are dealing with are little kids with smiles bigger than their faces seeing new people. After that short segment, Mrs.Japson gave us our very first task of helping the children coloring an activity on their book, an easy task anyone could go through. Giving the sunshine back to the children, I went all smiles to the students at the last row, as if they were waiting and the seat was solely dedicated to me.
There I sat beside a little boy named Zildjian, a wide-eyed boy, smaller than most of the children. My heart was pumped by both the noise of the children, which sounded little noisier due to our appearance, or so I thought, and by the thought of creating good times with these children, and also by the small voice coming from this boy on my side telling me he has a fire truck, a police car, and an excavator at home, which the latter took me some time to figure out what it was. Other children were coloring by themselves or not at all, running around or playing with their classmates. Being preoccupied in my own little world, the children on my table were whom all my attention were laid, as they ask me questions about myself, or about their activity. Keeping up my communication with the children, I asked them in a voice I don’t seem to own, too soft for my liking, what colors should they use or are using. Zildjian, through my endless efforts of persuasion, did not do what he had to do, that made me notice how he had not done most of the activities his classmates were through with throughout the entirety of their school year. No matter how many times I tell him to do his activity, he gets through time just by talking of the same thing over and over again, or playing. After an hour, another activity was set by the teacher, an activity of answering some letters and coloring, again.
A little while after, amazement and shock took cirlcles in my mind when the helper in the center told the children that it is already time for their meal. There was no such thing during my time, and seeing this arrangement brings light to my mind knowing that children could be taught of table manners, and of enjoyment for vegetables, or just finishing their food. It was fulfilling how changes, like this one, had occurred over the past years on kindergartens because during my time, money played a large role during our break time and we had our sari, where we used to buy biscuits, and junk food if in any case we cannot afford those zesto juice or moo milk chocolate. The children ate together, though some had to be helped to eat. After their meal, a story time was held and I happen to have a little courage to give it out to the children. I told a story of “Mariang Sinukuan,” which some of the children listen attentively, and some barely paying attention until their time to go home came.
When time passed by like a wind, I started to notice things inside the classroom that bothered that little voice at the back of my head. Little things that could grow to bigger trees and branches of quandaries, they could have troubles with once they grew up. Even with the nicest of our ways and the prettiest of our smiles, some children talked to us like we were same at age, and did not bother to use “po” and “opo” while talking. In return, reminding these children the usage of these words as sign of courtesy and respect was the way I took during those times. Encouraging them to use these respectful words in our culture, may be of help to them even in those littlest times of discourse.
Another was the distinction or segregation of children into those who are excelling at studies and those who are not. Those who were considered good by the teacher were seated together on another table, and we, volunteers, were not suggested to help them. Even at earliest age, categories, hidden labels or groups, are made like every American high school-themed movie that were probably unnoticed by most. These creates a separation in a subtle manner, resembling how row 1, row 2 and row 3 labels existed during elementary days.
Further is how enclosed the children were to the creation of their activities on their book. Their energy as high as a charged battery, were converted into running around and hurting each other, instead of using them in ways where they will learn new things while using their energy. AT every start of their class, were the only times their energy would be intentionally used during their exercise and flag ceremony singing. Sometimes even, it was the helper who writes the works of the students just so that they would finish. It was also worrisome how I first hand saw bullying of children with their own classmates. A sting in the heart that creates sharp pain, even made me almost tear up. Matthew, who was like Zildjian, seemed stranger than his classmates, probably because he was the only child who speaks more in English rather than Filipino, even he knows how to. He would spent his time under the table, and did not even talked to us when he was asked questions. He would be smacked in the head, by his classmates when they are walking past him, which made me frustrated most of the times. At some point, I even made the boy who had hurt Matthew cry, by telling him that what he has done was something bad. I tried carefully not to tell him that he was bad, but what he did was what is bad. Hearing his answer on why he was doing that, really showed the complexity of life and how another person’s action could affect another person’s perspective and behavior. Holding him in my arms and putting him on my lap while eagerly attentive to his story, he told me that he was only doing that as his brother does that to him. Instead of teaching manners, human etiquette, sportsmanship and good conducts at such young age, students only learn the basics of addition, multiplication, parts of the body etc., which are also necessary but nonetheless, equal on all accounts. Throughout my time at the day care center, never did they have a physical education activity that requires them to use their physical build, or activities that would build up their characters involving some mental or physical fun.
The way gender roles are imposed to these little children also grinds my gears. Though not necessarily represents the whole community of kindergarten classes, this reflects the reality of planting gender roles on the minds of our children. One swift move and running around the room of a girl, or she playing with her boy classmates was called-out telling she should be proper and behave and be not “like a boy.” One time, she brought a gun-like toy that made sounds when pulled the trigger and was told that the toy was only for boys. And as a source of discouragement to that position and a non-conformist to norms regarding gender roles, I whispered in her ear that she can be whoever she wants and her ways are not for boys only because boys should be behaved too, and play only during free time.
Another sentiment, is that the way the people at the center talks and approaches the children. Perhaps these are the common ways for children this many, I found shouting at children, comparing them, using tones that might sound as discouraging, unnecessary. It really is hard to handle small people with mostly two persons over 30 children, and probably this would be the best way to control and handle a class of kindergartens. But I sculpted on my mind that children are very sensitive to such and things could be handled in ways that would not devalue the children’s thought of themselves. With patience as the essential key of teaching children become better persons, the teacher did not fail to weigh things in and out, give out compliments that would boost her students’ confidence and encourage them to continue what they are doing.
Ages less than 3 years is the most crucial years of a life of a person. This is thought to be the foundation of these people through their lives, which can greatly affect their personalities as they grow up. Needless to say, it is neither the fault of the teachers nor helpers that these things happen. Yes, the world is a classroom full of kindergartens, it’s chaotic, mostly unorganized but are also filled with beautiful lives, dreams and stories to be written, we do not need more of the cruelties of those specially our children. It is in the fault of the system that creates the environment of the children they have today. Gone, or never have ever even existed, is the system where the quality of the education is treasured, rather than the number of graduates produced. Where “manners maketh man,” and our patience and hard work brings out all the shine everyone has.
This opportunity for experience greatly showed me how people are different and in disarray, yet so beautifully created, even when fragmented. Not so long ago, I used to dislike being appointed at the barangay for it was such a drowning and heel-dragging work, but being reminded of what I learned, or what I hoped others had learned, makes every drop of sweat worth it.
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Of Legacies and Overdue Books (Hamliza)
Pairing: Hamliza
Warnings: No swearing but somebody told me this was really sad.
Word Count: 1672
AN: So this was inspired by a post on here, and I started it awhile ago. I finally got an idea for it, so here it is.
Tags: @the-and-peggy @hamlltvn @beautifulfound @fandomsinabookshelf @plamspringsdancingontables @hamwriters
When John had died years earlier of a gunshot wound to the side in a skirmish with British soldiers after the war was over, Alexander was devastated. The pain in his chest making him believe that no other could ever compete with it. He was wrong.
Nineteen years ago, the creation of the new nation and his family pulled his attention away from John’s death. Now, he had nobody to pull his attention away. His affair with Maria Reynolds had alienated him from his family and ruined any hint of a legacy he may have created for himself.
If Washington could see him now, the general would never be able to equate the broken and depressed man with his aide de camp during the revolution. The same writing that had brought him off the island had been his downfall.
If he hadn’t written his account of the affair, Philip would never have been tempted to duel George Eacker and if he wasn’t so blinded by his need to be remembered he never would’ve sent him to his death.
But he had and now he was paying the price for it. His dear darling Betsey wouldn’t look at him, so drowned in her grief. The children if possible were taking it even worse, their older brother and best friend was gone, and they didn’t know what to do or how to act. Angie who was usually so great at wrangling the little ones, was so devastated she was bedridden, and when asked about her older brother, she would talk as if he was still alive.
When he had received word that Philip had been shot almost a week ago he had collapsed, not wanting to believe the news that his brightest hope for the future was dying of infection in his sister-in-law’s front bedroom.
“Philip!” He had murmured, racing into the house like a man on a mission but as he neared the room his son was lying in, he slowed down to a crawl, terrified to see what his advice for the duel had done to his eldest.
It was worse than he had pictured, his skin was ashen, there was a growing bloodstain on his side, and his left arm curled unnaturally by his side, useless.
“Is he alive?” Careful of his broken left arm, he picked up the wrist of his right and tried to find a pulse, almost expecting to find that he had come too late, that he was already dead. But after a minute of searching, he found one, it was weak and thready, but it was there, and he almost fell to his knees in gratitude.
“I would recommend sending for Mrs. Hamilton if you haven’t already. Mr. Hamilton, she needs to come quickly if she wants to see her son alive one last time.”
“I sent for her as soon as I heard,” he turned his head to look at Doctor Hossack standing in the doorway attempting to give them space, but he turned back to Philip when he let out a soft groan and moved in what looked like an effort to get away from the pain.
“I know Philip,” he whispered, moving his head closer to whisper in his son’s ear, “I know.”
A racket from the front of the house drew his eyes to the doorway in anticipation of who he knew would storm through the door in a moment.
“Where is my son?”
“Mrs. Hamilton, please.”
She appeared in the doorway, looming so much taller than her short frame “Alexander did you know?” Her eyes daggers that turned soft when she looked past him to Philip.
“Darling!” She was by Philip’s side in an instant, one of her hand taking the one not held by Alexander himself, the other brushing the hair off his forehead.
The touch must have awakened Philip from whatever fever dream he had been living. His eyes fluttered open, twitching from side to side, trying to focus on the two people surrounding him. “Mama?”
“I’m here darling; I’m here.”
“Papa? I did exactly as you said, but Eacker shot me anyway,” A wracking cough had Philip curling forward in pain, Alexander covering his mouth with one of his handkerchiefs. As he removed it, he blanched at the sight of blood marring the crisp, clean surface.
“Alexander?” Eliza watched as he raced from the room his face paler than she’d ever seen it.
Running into Doctor Hossack in the hallway, he slowed to a stop. “How long does he actually have?”
“I’d be surprised if he lived through the next hour.” The thump of Alexander’s body as he collapsed against the wall could be heard throughout the house. “Oh dear.”
When he awoke, he was lying on the floor in the hallway a cushion from one of the chairs in the parlor tucked underneath a spot on his head that was particularly painful. It all came back to him in a flash of memory, him encouraging Philip to duel Eacker, Philip being shot, Philip dying in a room right down the hall.
“He’s getting worse.” From his view on the ground he could see three pairs of shoes standing around him, one of them decidedly feminine. It had to be Angelica; his lovely wife wouldn’t be away from Philip unless something horrible had happened.
He rose as quickly as he could, but rising from a lying position to a standing one was a bad one, and the dizziness in his head forced him to grab onto Angelica’s arm before he fell over. “Come on I’ll take you back into the room.”
She led him back to the room, her tear-streaked face an uncomfortable reminder of just what was happening. His son was dying, might already be dead.
Through the opening of the door, he could see Eliza draped over Philip’s torso, sobbing. Doctor Hossack checking his pulse with one hand and checking for his breathing with the other.
“Philip!”
“I’m very sorry Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton.”
“Papa?” A small voice roused him from his sleep, and for an instant his mind let him believe that it was another small voice calling his name. The owner of whom would never be around to call him Papa again.
“Papa?” The voice said again pulling on his hand that was outside the blankets of his bed. It sounded like the voice was crying and Alexander worked quickly to remove himself from the constricting sheets.
“What’s wrong little one?” Alexander asked pulling little Elizabeth onto his lap and then picked up the bear she had dropped on the ground in her hurry to get to him.
“I miss Philly,” she whimpered burying her face in his night shirt. He did too, and the fact that it was essentially his fault had not escaped his mind in the three days since the duel.
“I do too,” he hugged her close, glad that at least one of his children didn’t blame him for Philip’s death.
“Papa?” She asked once she had stopped crying, “Will Mama ever be okay?”
Alexander stood eavesdropping on his wife and sister-in-law. It was the day of the funeral, and the first time Eliza had been up and about since the unthinkable had happened.
“Does he know about the baby?” That was Angelica’s voice, and he could only imagine the two of them in the parlor, Angelica and Eliza standing close together, their voices low to avoid any young children or sneaky husbands to overhear them.
“Angie, I don’t know if I can trust him anymore. I thought I could but then his affair and how he somehow thought that sending our baby into a duel was a good idea. I don’t think I can.” Sniffles and little hiccupping breaths made him realize she was crying and horrified he turned to walk away. Not able to listen to the fact that he had ruined the only person he had ever loved.
A sudden knock at the door had him jumping up from where he sat, head in hands. “What do you want?” He all but screamed at the person standing behind it, watching as the young lad about Philip’s age flinched back and looked like he’d rather be anywhere than standing in front of a grief-stricken Hamilton.
“A letter from a Mr. Caritat, sir. About a Mr. Philip Hamilton.” The young man reached into his shoulder bag, retrieving an envelope emblazoned with the seal of the library of New York. “Thank you for your time Mr. Hamilton.” The door slamming in his face was his only answer.
It wasn’t until after the funeral that he had time to get to the letter, carefully keeping it from his wife so she wouldn’t be worried.
Mr. Hamilton,
It has come to my attention that your eldest son, Philip Hamilton, was involved in a duel with a Mr. George Eacker and sadly has passed away. I must inform you that Philip had incurred a fine for the Iliad, which he had not returned within the sufficient period. I’m sorry to tell you that this fine must now fall on your shoulders as our small library cannot let these small fees fall through the cracks as if we do it may come to ruination.
Your Obedient Servant,
H. Caritat
He almost began laughing; it was so like Philip to leave things to the last minute. Turning in an old library book, especially one that he knew Philip had pored over leaving notes all over his room. Of course, he would pay it. What kind of father would he be if he didn’t? What kind of father was he at all? Always working with no time for his family, betraying them at every turn.This was all his fault, and there was no way to fix it.
Philip had ended up blowing them all away, but not in the way they were hoping. If his legacy was more important than his family, maybe it would have been better had he never existed at all.
AN: Come tell me what you think about this. Scream at me about how sad it is if you want. I love feedback and I’m always so happy to get asks from you guys. Ooh interesting factoids, Hamilton did actually faint when he heard about Philip being shot I just moved the timing around. Philip was actually brought to Angelica and her husband’s house after he was shot and he did actually owe a fine to the library of New York for an overdue book.
Masterlist
#hamliza fanfic#my writing#hamilton fanfic#slight laurens x hamilton#philip hamilton fanfic#philip hamiltons duel fanfic#hamilton fanfiction#hamwriters#alexander x eliza fanfic#alexander x eliza fanfiction#alexander hamilton x eliza fanfic#alexander hamilton x eliza fanfiction#alexander hamilton x elizabeth schuyler fanfic#alexander hamilton x elizabeth schuyler fanfiction#philip hamilton fanfiction#hamliza fanfiction#hamliza
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All This...and Heaven Too: Chapter Three - The Welcome Party (part 2)
To @asplendidninja (who introduced me fully to the glories of Team Guy) and to @ten-all-over @sausage-fist@nejicanspin @fruitysmellz @morganknightos@samlovesmaitogai @teacher-monica @shock777
Because - as time goes on - this story is going to become massive, I promise to post the Permalinks to each chapter. I know how it feels when you find a chapter to a story you’re enjoying, but you can never locate the rest of it. I hope this makes it easier for any of you that come into this after the prologue.
Introduction and Brief History - https://rockleefangirl987.tumblr.com/post/159618388822/all-thisand-heaven-too-introduction-and-a
Prologue - The Answer
https://rockleefangirl987.tumblr.com/post/159619445665/all-thisand-heaven-too-prologue-the-answer
Chapter One - Training Day - Arrivals
https://rockleefangirl987.tumblr.com/post/159843490557/all-thisand-heaven-too-chapter-one-training
Chapter Two - Renewed Alliances
https://rockleefangirl987.tumblr.com/post/160078980106/all-thisand-heaven-too-chapter-two-renewed
Chapter Three - The Welcome Party (Part One)
https://rockleefangirl987.tumblr.com/post/160861155718/all-thisand-heaven-too-chapter-three-the
From the Introduction:
There are many ways to tell a story.
This is one.
While some of the most common things become accepted canon, we don’t always agree, oftentimes forcing even The Creator of the signature work to admit ‘I was wrong,’ frustrating us to no end because now it is ‘set in stone’. Which is why we create alternate universes, to satisfy our hunger for...well, whatever the case, be it to right some wrong, give our hero or heroine satisfaction, or to complete a journey we felt was never satisfactorily finished.
This is another version...a tweaking...a difference here and there, some so minor, they may not be immediately noticeable.
Consider this a level of the multiverse, finite and infinite, each universe part of a vast assemblage and existing simultaneously, the numerous realities unaware of the other. Therefore at first glance, should you, in the reading of this account, discover something you believe a contradiction, recall this introduction and remember - this is only one version of the story and the lives entwined with it.
Disclaimer: The following story has been written with no intention of claiming ownership or solicitation, nor does the author claim the movie character(s) as his/her own. The character(s) have been borrowed solely out of a love of the particular series and movies and is not intended for any other purpose but amusement and entertainment.
‘...In everything that’s light and gay,
I’ll always think of you that way.
I’ll find you in the morning sun,
And when the night is new.
I’ll be looking at the moon -
But I’ll be seeing you.’
The onlookers swayed in time, danced, sang along, even shed tears to the slow piece, and when the ebony-complexioned soprano crooned the final line, the song ended to rousing applause. It served as a welcome change from the fast rhythms of the last several selections, in addition to evoking memories of the last major Briton war, but it was time to switch the pace again. After sipping some water, the singer told them, “Thank you so much ladies and gentlemen, thank you. You’ve been awfully kind this evening.
“I realize it’s still early, but as we have so many wonderful guests from the Leaf Village among us, we thought this would be an excellent time to announce one of our Briton traditions, one many of you may recall from twenty or more years ago.” Some cheered, already prepared for what she would say. “Now that was well before my time, but it’s always a treat to announce our classic...Lady's Choice!”
The sound of adrenalized female chatter grew louder, but Sakura, Tenten, Ino, and Hinata looked around, hoping for some clarification as the announcer continued.
“Lady's Choice everyone. We’ll begin the dance in a little so you'll have time to...prepare.” She winked as she came down off the stage, her eyes scanning the room for her own ‘choice’.
“Okay, nobody told us about this,” Sakura complained, watching as several female officers hurried pass, their footfall light, each with determined expressions as they pointed towards a few of the Village males. “What’s this Lady’s Choice?”
Ino already looked angry. “Yeah, if I get left out, I’m not going to be happy. I know I don’t know what it is, but I still won’t be happy.”
“Excuse me. You're wondering about the Lady’s Choice?”
The four found Tessa Marshall in front of them, her porcelain features glowing with anticipation as she sought out her intended target.
Sakura nodded. “Lady Tessa, well, yes, thank you, but no, we don’t know what it is. No one explained it to us.”
“Oh, it’s wonderful! You’ll love it, trust me. You get to choose your dance partner from among any of the available males, and I do mean any of the males and they cannot deny you. You walk up to them and say something like ‘I want to dance with you - Lady's Choice’ and there you go. It’s sort of silly in an old-fashioned way, but we’ve been doing it forever and a...” The sentence trailed off.
Choji and Shikamaru walked close-by, the pair moving as if they had a mission to accomplish. She and Choji became separated after a short time together due to Tessa having to fulfill her duties as a hostess, so she was thrilled to see him again. They did promise to meet up later, therefore the opportunity could not have timed out better.
“...forever and a...I’m sorry. Will you excuse me please?” She hurried off behind the two friends, attempting to maintain her composure.
Ino grinned. “She has a thing for Choji.”
Sakura shook her head. “Don't you mean she has a thing for...”
“I mean she has a thing for Choji. She rode past him during the parade and she couldn’t take her eyes off him. Both Shikamaru and I noticed. Must like big guys I guess. Who would have thought that, huh? He’s flabbergasted. Frankly, I’m flabbergasted.” So much for her well-intended advice about him losing weight to get a girlfriend. If Lady Tessa was interested in him, no amount of harassment on Ino’s part would help.
“Tenten?”
Hinata’s voice was so tiny, Tenten barely heard her over the din. “What is it Hinata?”
“She said...Lady Tessa said I can choose...anyone?”
Tenten smiled, knowing where this conversation was leading. “Yep...anyone,” and she winked while backing up. She did not wish to be rude, but she knew this game could get dangerously competitive should she not get a head start on Ino and Sakura and anyone else insane enough to get in her way. “Good luck, Hinata,” and she rushed away.
“Oh,” came a shy whimper, and Hinata stood tiptoe and saw him. It’s now or never, Hinata. He won’t be able to say no and she sprinted towards him.
As word spread among the Village and Briton females, the excitement increased. Matters were not hysterical, but some accepted the challenge with the type of intense passion Might Guy could appreciate. Before long, the males of almost every age understood the predicament of a deer or duck during the hunting season. They were under the scope, the aim had been made, and the best thing to do was to either accept their fate - or find a place to hide. Most, however, were delighted to find themselves getting so much attention.
Tessa was already teaching Choji a few steps as she knew what the traditional dance would be. Sakura threw away all caution, and snagged Michael Marshall just as Ino was making her move.
Undaunted, Ino was about to ask Harry Marshall...but it appeared Tenten already had the upper hand. Ino growled. Wasn’t it enough that Tenten had ‘stolen’ that outfit from her? Was it not enough that Tenten had danced several dances with Lord Michael, and now she was ‘stealing’ the brother as well? Then Ino caught sight of a tall, dashing, brown-skinned brunette wearing one of those odd hats with gears and a near floor-length brown uniform coat which fit his body like a second skin. The brass on his waistcoat and belt sparkled like stars, and she realized as third choices went, he would not be all bad.
Not for the first time did she wonder what they put in the Briton waters to create such men!
Off in one area, Kakashi was surrounded on all sides, and desperately seeking an escape route. One voluptuous Ensign declared she and her fellow noncommissioned officers would play rock-paper-scissors for the opportunity to dance with him as they heard “it’s your all-time favorite game.”
Rock-paper...Come on...really? REALLY?! Who the hell would come up with something like...Wait...where's Guy?
And off in another area, his back against a vertical support of the tent frame, Rock Lee watched, realistic as to his prospects.
Several lovely Britons smiled and nodded at him in acknowledgment, but none stopped. Had he still held those deeper feelings and fantasies from years ago, he would have imagined Sakura rushing his way to make an offer. Were she not having such a splendid time with the Marshall men, Tenten might have come over, scolded him for being ‘silly’ and then asked. Were these not favorable circumstances and the chance to corner the yellow-haired genin of her dreams, sweet Hinata might have asked. She had always been very kind to Lee, as he always had been to her.
Before the ‘Lady’s Choice’ was announced, he gathered enough courage to ask a couple of the ladies to dance, his motto being “nothing ventured, nothing gained”. Each one found a polite excuse as to why they could not, then he watched them stroll off with some male most considered ‘more attractive’. On his final attempt, as he walked away following the rejection, he heard the corporal laugh and say to her friends, “Was he kidding? Oh my God, those eyebrows! Do you think they’re real?!” Lee took it all in stride, as he had most of his life. Later, he decided it was best to observe rather than participate.
The excruciating minutes gave him time to face facts. When the likes of Kakashi Hatake, or Neji Hyuga, or Shikamaru Nara were in a room with you, the ladies tended to select masked and mysterious; aloof and suave with mysterious eyes, or ‘I’m bored out of my mind and you find that attractive - what a drag.’ Because that was how things tended to work out, no matter how much one believed in themselves.
It is not that I have not had a nice time tonight. It has been quite an experience seeing how the Britons behave, and Guy-Sensei was correct. They are great lovers of life. It is just...I may be somewhat out of my element here, and at this moment even more so. It has been well over an hour, and there may be dozens of Briton ladies here and I know I have not met them all, but...I think my best course of action is to walk outside, regroup and wait until this Lady’s Choice dance has ended. I will not be missed at any rate, although Guy-Sensei will be disappointed in...
“Excuse me.”
Lee turned at the sound of the clear, soft voice, blinking as he faced the smiling figure before him. “Lady Kathryn,” he gulped. “Good evening. Good evening again.” He wondered why she looked different from earlier, then saw that her coat had been removed, better revealing the attractive ensemble underneath.
“Good evening again, Master Lee.” She took several more steps, and due to the heels of her boots, she was eye-to-eye with his five-foot-six height. “I’m sorry. Are you already leaving us?” Her eyes shifted to where a portion of the tent flap was in his hands.
“Leaving?” The canvas was dropped. “No, I...I was thinking about stepping outside for some air, but I...” He paused before he said something which made him appear awkward and decided to repeat more firmly, “I was thinking about stepping outside for some air, My Lady.”
Kathryn looked disappointed. “Oh. Sorry. It was only that I wanted to ask you to join me in the next dance.”
“I...I beg your pardon?”
He prayed he was not gaping, but he must have misunderstood. This was a joke. It had to be. There was no other explanation. For a second, a short list of candidates who put her up to this farce went through his thoughts, from the impolite corporal to some former Academy classmate, concealed and waiting until Lee fell for it and became the brunt of the joke. That idea faded on seeing the Captain’s expression. He detected a natural warm-heartedness overcoming whatever dismay she displayed at his initial answer. Besides, she did not seem the type to go along with such a poor practical joke.
“The next dance?” she stressed, indicating those milling around. “I want you to join me. It is Lady’s Choice if you did not hear the announcement. I don’t believe I’ve seen you on the dance floor yet this evening, which is such a shame as you're missing half the fun of being here.”
After all the failed attempts at getting a young woman to share a dance, here was an offer the majority of males at the Party would sacrifice the proverbial arm and leg to experience. Lee, however, felt overwhelmed. He accepted the reality of it, but the idea that this gentlewoman with a list of titles longer than his arm was asking him...While it felt out of character, his confidence, his courage, and his nerves were failing under the pressure of such attention. This time his mind went through a host of excuses as he contemplated how observant she was to know what he had and had not been doing.
“I am sorry, My Lady,” he replied following a brief silence.
“Is something wrong, Master Lee? Are you unwell? I can fetch one of our medics if...” Despite the calm of her questions, the Captain appeared anxious.
“No, I...I am not...Yes, yes, I...I am sorry. You see...I do not dance, Your Ladyship.” At least that sounded plausible, although on seeing her half-smile, he wondered if he convinced her.
“Ah, well.” She glanced aside, then looked at him once more, shaking her head. “No. I shall not take ‘I do not dance’ as a justification. This is a party! I’ll lead. You shall follow my steps. It’s as simple as that. And since this is our traditional dance, and the lady chooses her partner and there can be no refusal, well, you do not have a choice!” She boldly thrust out a hand for him to accept. Although she exhibited a serious countenance, there was an unmistakable gleam in her eyes. “Lady's Choice, Master Lee!”
She spoke with such authority Lee found it impossible to find another excuse or lie - he had never been a good liar at any rate. Besides, he did not want to be the source of some ‘international incident’ should he continue to refuse. He placed one hand on hers, then saw her smile widen as a tug forced him from the spot which had served as his temporary safe place. He realized he was smiling, too, at the way she handled the situation: ladylike but with a touch of no-nonsense as well. He respected that.
But one thing he did not like were the many eyes concentrating on the Queen’s ‘beloved kinswoman’...and him! To be center stage as a participant in exams and exhibitions was one thing. To be the center of attention at an event with the majority of the Leaf Village in attendance was another.
He tried to ignore the whispers from the more judgmental Villagers - few in number, but vocal nonetheless. (‘Isn't that Dork Lee?’ ‘Of course, it’s him. Who did you think it was?’ ‘He hasn't improved one bit, has he?’ ‘The older he gets the uglier.’ ‘Why is she dancing with him?’ ‘I thought she and Neji Hyuga looked beautiful together.’ ‘Still as stupid looking as ever, isn't he?’ ‘Doesn't she know those eyebrows are lethal weapons?’).
He ignored the faces of his fellow genin and chunin. Although some looked surprised on seeing the pairing, others had no feelings one way or the other as they found themselves escorted or figuratively dragged onto the oak parquet floor.
Naruto grinned as he walked by, Hinata Hyuga at his side. “Hey Bushy Brow, so you got grabbed up too, huh? They’re not taking ‘no’ for an answer this time, are they?”
Lee smiled, but the action was not on Naruto’s behalf. Good for you, Hinata. Good for you. I am happy to see you accepted this challenge. Perhaps this was the opening you required to show Naruto how you feel if he would stop being so stupid.
All around him, male chunin, male Jonin, male genin, male Britons and just regular males were snatched up, making Lee feel less self-conscious about being on display. Several groups formed on the floor in order to keep the lines of dancers from becoming unmaneuverable. By the time this dance began, he hoped to blend into the crowd and become one out of dozens.
“I know you don’t normally dance like this in the Leaf Village, but my parents said this became quite popular with everyone when they visited.”
Although speaking to him, Kathryn had stopped, forcing an embarrassed Lee to backtrack several steps since he continued moving before realizing his error. “Did it, My Lady?” That was all that came to mind while he searched the Briton’s face for indications of regret at selecting him. He saw none.
“I am thinking you have never danced a reel before, but oh that is right. You do not dance. That is what you told me.”
Lee recognized Kathryn’s near perfect imitation of his voice, including his inflections and how he never used contractions. Had it been anyone else, he would have thought they were mocking him, but she continued to smile in the hopes of putting him at ease. It succeeded in making him more bashful than usual. “No, My Lady,” he stammered. “I mean I can, but I do not...what I meant is yes, that is what I told you, and no, I...I cannot dance.” Her eyes are violet and gray. I noticed them when we were introduced. I do not think I have ever seen eyes that color before...and why am I thinking of that now?
“I thought as a Ninja,” her voice returning to normal, “you would learn to be light on your feet. Excuse me...one...moment.” Kathryn placed her hands on his arms. “If you don't mind, can you...stand right...there. Perfect. Thank you.” She positioned herself a few feet in front of him.
His eyes shifted to his toes. And she has you there. What has Guy-Sensei told you about always thinking hundreds of moves ahead of your opponent in order to set things to your advantage. Not that she is an opponent, but I should have better prepared my answers. I had no idea she would find similarities between dancing and learning the moves of a Ninja. “I might dance...a little, My Lady.”
Ah! Well, that will make it easier then, won’t it?” She took both of his hands. “Just relax, Master Lee. We’re dancing. It’s supposed to be fun, and I promise, I’ll lead. You just keep up with me until you get the hang of it, okay?”
‘Supposed to be’ is the operative term, he thought, glancing around to see who was in their grouping. The males had been lined up on one side, the females on the other, and as he scanned the floor, he almost laughed at how eclectic all the groups were. But once more, every sound was drowned out as he heard the voices yet again. Mocking, hurtful, the ones who dragged down what little confidence he had, and it was all coming from the edges of the dance floor. He wondered if he alone heard them, or would everyone in the tent soon join the discussion.
“And then you’ll...Master Lee?”
He snapped out of it. Kathryn was giving instructions and he recalled but a little. “My Lady?”
“Are you alright?” Once more concern tugged at her features. “You’re sure you feel okay?”
“I am...I am sorry, My Lady. Begging your pardon, but I do not think you have chosen a worthy partner for this dance of yours.” But he noticed her eyes reflected not pity, but a kindness and an understanding. In that moment he knew she heard what those Villagers said.
Kathryn motioned with a finger indicating he should lean towards her. “An ancestress of mine had a saying which you should take to heart, Master Lee,” she whispered. “It was this: ‘Let them grumble. This is how it’s going to be.’” She grinned. “Ignore them. They can either enjoy watching us have a good time or they can go to Perdition. Pardon my language, but I can’t abide fools.” She nodded at the stage. “I think we’re about to begin so it’s too late for you to back out. Besides, you’ll be fine.”
Famous last words.
���Just remember,” she hurriedly added, “you’ll take four steps towards me and bow, and I will take four steps towards you and curtsey. We do that simultaneously. Don’t forget. Then you take four paces back to where you started, just as I will, and I’ll take your hands and the real fun begins.”
Famous last words - again.
An announcer said something about the Teyshas reel, which was greeted with loud, vocal anticipation.
Lee noticed the Captain was already tapping a foot as the musicians played the opening. He heard a few Britons emit a reverberating yell resembling a battlefield cry. Kathryn curtseyed all the way to the floor, wiggling her eyebrows to remind him he had an action to perform as well. He bowed, just as he did upon their first introduction; stepped back, then felt her small hands clutch his larger ones, the little links of chains, rings, and bracelets that were part of her odd gloves and cuffs pressing into his tape.
The rest was a momentary blur as it all came together. He heard Kathryn giving directions, her strong voice standing out among all the others. They danced sideways down a column of people in their group. They switched partners and Tenten clasped his hands, vanished, and Kathryn returned, tugging a bit to indicate the couples were to twirl in a circle. Afterward, they moved sideways again, first one direction and then another, and he felt her move his right hand upwards as she linked hers about it.
“Spin!” she called out, and Lee followed her guidance as they spun around each other, then reversed hands to spin the opposite way, before returning to their original positions to begin the entire sequence from the start. But this time, he took the initiative, and his usual optimism kicked in so Kathryn knew from his action that he felt comfortable enough to lead her.
He lost track of time. All he knew after those first moves was that this reel was one of the easiest things he had ever accomplished, and he laughed to himself on thinking how difficult he tried to make it in the beginning. He did not step on Kathryn’s feet or trip over his own despite the change in tempo and the addition of new steps. He smiled when she let loose with one of those Briton battle cries; laughed as she apologized for getting ‘carried away,’ and next apologized for making the initial apology. Most important, from her actions, there was no remorse over partnering with him.
They were in perfect synchronization, the moves intensifying and becoming faster. He watched her swirl around him as they danced among the numerous other couples. Strands of red-gold hair loosened from her elaborate chignon and fell past her shoulders. Each time she pressed against him, no matter how brief, he smelled her perfume, the chemistry of her body warming and strengthening the notes of roses and citrus and other scents unfamiliar to him. He did not understand how she mastered any dance in those tall, narrow heels. He promised not to stare when he got the occasional glimpse of her slender legs, revealed when the skirt to her knee-length dress rose just a little. And he ignored the subtle tingling through his body whenever their eyes connected, and he smiled in response to her smiles and her laughter.
Lee had never danced like this in his life and was so involved, he did not know the reel was drawing to an end until the Captain pulled away and took four paces back. His sandaled feet almost skidded as he prepared to go another round, but he stopped himself and was once more bowing to her while she curtseyed before him. His fast reflexes saved the day! When the music concluded, the applause and cheers were more intense, while more than a few, Kathryn included, let go with another battlefield cry.
His next action came without a second thought. Kathryn was still in the deep curtsey, but as she prepared to stand to her full height, he extended his right hand and said: “Allow me, My Lady.” She paused in her action, surprised at first, then delighted. Both knew her capable of standing up without assistance, however, this unexpected little act of gallantry felt perfect in the place and at the time!
Lee watched her smile, heard a courteous “Thank you, Master Lee,” and several slender fingers lay against his taped wrist. He took her hand with a gentle grasp to give her leverage, and in an instant, Kathryn was at her full height again.
“Master Lee...answer me this.” Still catching her breath, she pulled a lacy white handkerchief from a dress pocket and began to fan herself.
“Yes, Your Ladyship?”
“I thought you said you couldn’t dance!” she teased.
He chuckled, revealing his perfect white teeth. “I suppose I was incorrect in that.”
“You...suppose?”
“No, no, I was mistaken. It is obvious. I can dance.” The divulgence caused his companion to slap her hands together in celebration.
“Oh, there's no denying you can, Master Lee!”
“Well,” and he offered a small bow, “thank you very much, My Lady.”
She seemed puzzled. “For?”
“The Lady’s Choice. Thank you for asking me.” And I was ready to wander outside...
The corners of Kathryn's smile appeared to touch the edges of her flashing eyes. “Oh, you are most welcome. I appreciate you dancing with me. I know I made you feel you had no choice in...”
“Yes, but it worked out, did it not?”
She became pensive. “You had fun then?”
Fun. Fun was the satisfaction of a well-done job; of all his accomplishments to that point and pushing to achieve more. But earlier in the day, when he wondered about these Britons and what their Party might entail, whenever the word ‘fun’ came to mind or was mentioned by Guy-Sensei or Tenten, to Lee it meant new experiences. Swirling around a dance floor with a woman like Kathryn Marshall never entered the equation.
“I had fun, Your Ladyship, I really did,” Lee told her, tickled to see that his answer elated her.
“And so did I! The Teyshas Reel is one of my favorite dances.”
He began to think it could become one of his as well.
Kathryn cleared her throat. “Master Lee?” she continued, her voice gentler than Lee could recall having heard it.
“My Lady?”
“I wonder, that is, if you have nothing planned at this second, would you like...”
But her face transformed. Her warm smile, the twinkling eyes, her informal nature - it vanished the second they heard one of the nobles call out “Lady Kathryn!” Her demeanor growing rigid, she focused on a small group of Briton officials - and Neji for some reason was among them. She looked back at Lee, gave a partial curtsey and said, “Thank you again for the dance, Master Lee. I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening.”
Before he could say anything, she hurried away, each step graceful and formal, her attention focused on Neji as he nodded his head in greeting. Lee could not hear the conversation, but after a few moments, there was laughter, Kathryn bending her head so as to listen to whatever it was Neji said. Both smiled and strolled away from the group.
“Lee!”
“Hello, Tenten.” He smiled as she ran up and patted him on the back.
She was flushed, still breathing hard, and fanning a hand in front of her face. “I saw you out there with Lady Kathryn. You were...Don’t deny it. You were having a great time!”
“I was thinking the same of you,” he replied.
“Oh, you mean me dancing with Lord Harry?”
“And Lord Michael too.”
“Well, they’re, you know they’re...”
“Gorgeous?” He winked, smiling more as she blushed. “You are fortunate it was Guy-Sensei and I reading your lips.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not sure where that came from. I mean, you know me. How often do I go around spouting off crap like that about...Well, I...It’s just…”
“Tenten, it is I. You do not need to apologize for what you are feeling. You are having a wonderful time. The two of them have shown very good taste in spending time with you. They are the ones who should consider themselves fortunate.”
“Oh, Lee.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, giggling and wetting her thumb to clean the tiny spot of lipstick she had left. “Anyway, how are you doing? Are you having a good time?”
“It has been...nice.”
“Well, I’m glad Lady Kathryn called you out. I had these pictures in my brain of you standing in a corner watching everybody instead of getting out there on the floor. You weren’t doing that, were you? Standing in a corner?”
He shook his head, wondering if Tenten believed his answer.
“She seems nice, doesn’t she?” Tenten asked.
“Her Ladyship? She is, yes,” Lee agreed, glancing at his hands. He noticed a tiny sterling silver loop from one of Kathryn’s jeweled gloves or filigreed cuffs caught on the tape on his right hand. They switched hands so often during the reel, it might have happened at any time, however, he regretted not seeing it before they parted. He could have retrieved it for her so it might be repaired. “She is funny too.” He tucked the portion out of the way. “Did you know she does imitations?”
“No! She does...Who did she imitate? Wait! Did she do you?”
“If you had been here and closed your eyes...”
“Oh, I’m so sorry I missed that! Too bad Guy-Sensei wasn’t around, oh, or Neji! I’d love to hear her do Neji. Or Sensei! If she could peg Sensei I don’t know what I’d think! Hey, are you hungry? I am. I guess all that dancing makes you hungry. I can scout everything out for you.”
“I would appreciate that. Thank you, Tenten. So have you finished dancing with the Marshall brothers?” he asked as they moved towards the dining area. People were again dancing, but others were finding seats, heading outdoors, relaxing or examining the rows of buffet tables.
“Oh...I don’t know. It's early. Can you believe how early it is?” Tenten did not realize every move she took was as though she was still dancing. “Oh, Guy-Sensei said he was proud of both of us grabbing hold of the springtime of our youth.” She nudged him. “He saw you dancing with Lady Kathryn. He told me to tell you,” and she flashed all of her teeth and gave a hearty thumbs up, “and something about ‘See - what did I tell you?’ I guess you know what that means, huh?”
Lee smiled. “I do, yes...I have not seen Sensei in a while. I was wondering where he had disappeared to.”
“I think he’s been up to no good, so he’s hiding out. He kind came out of nowhere to talk to me, then he up and vanished again. Sakura said Kakashi-Sensei was looking for him too. Something about rock-paper-scissors and some female officers before the Lady's Choice. I’m not sure what happened, but knowing Guy-Sensei...” She giggled, then paused. “Oh, there’s Neji and Lady Kathryn. I wonder where they’re going?” she pondered, she and Lee watching the couple head outside. “I’ve been hearing...things.”
One of Lee’s eyebrows rose as he scowled. “What kind of things?”
“Oh, you know. Things.”
Lee shook his head. “Tenten, what do you mean by ‘things’?”
Tenten often had a tendency to make matters sound worse than they were. No one forgot the time she told Naruto Lee’s condition was ‘grim - very grim’ when her teammate had been temporarily removed from active duty so his chakra network could better heal. By the time she finished her prognostications, Naruto thought Bushy Brow was dying! Therefore over time, Lee learned to prod Tenten for additional details before he reached any final conclusions.
Her response was a groan, irritated that Lee required more specifics. “Oh Lee, you know. Somebody said this, somebody said that, then someone told someone else, and you figure you’re getting the tiniest bit of the actual story by the time it reaches you. But I heard this from Sakura, who got it from Shino, who got it from Shikamaru, who heard it from Choji, who’s been arm-in-arm with Lady Tessa most of the night, and she ought to know something being Lady Kathryn’s sister. And then Kiba said Hinata told him that with Hanabi being the Hyuga heiress, she heard some rumors too.”
His head was spinning. “So what is being said?”
“That the Briton Queen asked Lady Kathryn to meet Neji. That’s why you’ve seen all the Briton higher-ups mingling with the Hyugas. I think Lord Harry might have been asked to do the same with Hinata, so that’s why he’s been chatting her up, but, well, you know where her heart lies.”
Lee nodded. “Yes.” He paused, considering the information. “So this Queen wants Lady Kathryn to...” and his voice dropped “I am sorry. She wants Lady Kathryn to marry Neji?” What else was he to gather from a Queen asking her subject (albeit a relation) to ‘meet someone’?
“That’s what the rumor mill’s saying, but don’t you dare quote me on that. I don’t even think Neji’s aware of what’s going on, not yet anyway, or maybe he’s beginning to put it together, but they’ve been pushing the two of them at each other all night. That’s a gimme.”
Lee was beginning to dislike these ‘they’ people. “Lady Kathryn does not seem the type to let anyone force her to do things against her will.”
“I agree. Neji might not be thrilled either. He’s very much his own man, even if he has a loyalty to his clan, but it’s like they’re plotting behind his back and Lady Kathryn’s back and the two of them don’t have a lot of say in the matter. But anyway, like I said, it’s all conjecture and speculation and it makes for good gossip. If there’s such a thing as good gossip. But I don’t think we should mention it to Neji unless he brings it up first.”
“Agreed.”
Tenten examined the elaborate layout of food, asking discrete questions of the servers in order to determine what contained even the smallest amount of alcohol (“Oh - that’s so pretty! Is that prepared in some type of...Oh! Red wine?”), and discovered a number of items safe for Lee to eat. She suggested they try a tempting, foamy white punch being ladled from a large silver bowl, but had the presence of mind to ask what the ingredients were before the waiter gave them a taste - and she cringed upon hearing what accompanied the fresh orange juice. There was sparkling wine from a region in Gaul; white rum from one of the Empire’s islands, and a few other alcohols Tenten lost track of as she thanked the waiter and pulled Lee aside. Eventually, the two settled on water infused with fresh lemons and mint, but only after she double-checked there was nothing more than that!
They found a table in a quiet area of the facility, an ideal spot to observe all the goings-on without appearing to be doing so.
“I guess,” Tenten contemplated out loud as she took a bite of poultry called a Cornish Hen, “it could do a lot as far as alliances and all between Briton and us.”
“What do you...Oh, you mean a marriage. I suppose. I do not know a great deal about marriage playing into diplomacy and politics. Guy-Sensei keeps telling us how crucial it is for us to have a better understanding of foreign affairs, but I do not have a complete grasp of it yet.”
“Same here. We’re fighters, right?” She pointed at her plate. “You have to try this chicken, Lee. It's great. But you know, I guess on some level, we’re ambassadors and diplomats whenever we take a mission. Lady Kathryn is military; so are her brothers and sister, but look at her. She negotiates and the gods know what else every time she opens her mouth. She’s even supposed to work with our people to iron out the final rules and regulations for the Games.”
Lee nodded. Might Guy had already informed the chunin that one of his upcoming duties would be for him and Neji to stand by and witness those deliberations with their Sensei. It might be tedious, but it was an important part of his training. Being a ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village was not all on the battlefield. There were times when you sat at a table, peered across it at your opponent and played ‘nice’.
Tenten rolled her eyes. “I don’t get it.”
“What do you not get?”
“The last time I looked, we were in the twenty-first century, right? I don’t think she or Neji should have to feel like they’re being auctioned off. I don’t care if royalty or important families have done this arranged stuff forever or not. It just seems kind of old-fashioned in the extreme.”
Lee did not immediately respond but instead used a fork to pick at the thin slices of roasted suckling pig on his plate. It had been ages since he had used that utensil, so it should have been the renewal of a cultural experience to enjoy as Guy-Sensei would have told him. Instead, a somber air embodied him. He wondered what Kathryn and Neji might be doing. “I agree. It is primitive for this day and age,” and he inhaled, “but of course if they enjoy one another's company...”
“Well, that would make a huge difference. But enjoying someone’s company, that’s one thing. Feeling love, hey, that’s something else. They haven’t known each other long enough to be in love, but what do I know, huh?” Her laughter sounded ineffective to Lee’s hearing. “Maybe it is. You know...love at first sight, blah-blah-blah.”
“Right.” The thought of his one and only ‘love at first sight’ came to mind. A difficult lesson learned. It was never like the storybooks.
“I know one thing.”
“What is that, Tenten?” The pit of his stomach tightened.
“The two of them make a great looking couple. Everybody’s saying that.”
Why wouldn’t people say it when the physical evidence was obvious. Kathryn Marshall would make a lovely addition to the Hyuga dynasty, permeating a bloodline in which cousins married cousins. Since one day, Neji might become a candidate for Hokage, having a consort with her pedigree and influence could be crucial to the Village remaining a strong force, offering benefits perhaps he and Tenten were not recognizing.
“Aren’t you hungry anymore?” Tenten noticed her teammate had stopped eating. “The hot food’s going to get cold and your cold food’s getting warm.”
He was ‘starving,’ but could not erase the memory of Kathryn’s kindness, along with that startling transformation from an ebullient young woman into someone regal and reserved, all within seconds. “I suppose it is all of these...rumors. I do not like gossiping about Neji, and although we do not know Lady Kathryn that well, I do not like gossiping about her either. Perhaps...we should put it aside until we know more?”
“Sure Lee. You’re right. You’re absolutely right.” She turned aside, faking a cough as a transition. “Here...try this. It’s good” She cut the drumstick from the half piece of hen she was enjoying. Once he had eaten some she said, “See? What did I tell you, huh? And promise you’ll go back with me to the tent with the desserts when we’re done. Not right this minute. There’s still a load of stuff in here I want to check-out.”
“It did look good. All the chocolate.”
“Good? Good?! It looked amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. But if I don’t watch it I’ll gorge myself and won’t be able to move when we’re training tomorrow.”
“Well, whatever you decide on I will split them with you, do not worry. I enjoy chocolate, but you know it is not one of my weaknesses.”
“I know, I know. Unless...” Mischief brewed in her eyes.
“Unless...what?”
“I heard somebody say they have chocolates in there with spices and chilis and peppers.”
Lee’s face glowed. “Spices and chilis?”
“And peppers. Can you imagine that?”
“No, no, I cannot.” Was that even a possibility: one of those little chocolate creations infused or stuffed with perhaps the hottest peppers imaginable? “Alright, Tenten. If I can help you in your enjoyment of the Briton chocolates, it will not be a problem.”
“And that is why you’re my very best friend.” Tenten’s grin was so exaggerated, Lee couldn’t help but laugh, for without her realizing it, she improved his mood.
He took another bite of the food she shared with him. “You were right. This is very good. I might have to try more of this when I go back.”
“I told you, didn’t I? And you mean go back for seconds?” When he nodded, Tenten looked relieved. “Thank the gods. I thought I was the only one who was going to get greedy. Their food is - wow! Oh and thanks. About the desserts I mean. I was hoping you’d...” She paused, her attention diverted.
“What is wrong?”
“It’s Neji.”
Lee turned, a tiny part of his mind hoping Neji and Kathryn reached an amicable and mutual parting of the ways while talking alone, but no, Neji was holding aside the tent flap as she entered. It was often difficult to tell how his teammate felt when one looked at his face, but the Briton captain was smiling and appeared comfortable in his company as they strolled off in the opposite direction.
Scolding himself for the negativity, Rock Lee almost heaved a frustrated sigh, but stopped, wondering why he would even react in such a manner. One thing, however, was clear. It appeared the rumors might not be rumors after all.
The song I’ll Be Seeing You was published in 1938 - music by Sammy Fain and lyrics by Irving Kahal.
#all this and heaven too#all this...and heaven too#team gai#Team Guy#team guy FOREVER#Rock Lee#tenten#neji#neji hyuga#might guy#Might Gai#rock lee and guy#rock lee and might guy#kakashi#Kakashi Hatake#naruto#sakura#hinata#ino#choji#shikamaru#rock paper scissors
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Becoming Royals
the school
“Rachel told you she was bringing the noblewomen today,” Hyo-Shin murmured as Young-Do paced outside the newly refurbished school. It had a roof and working heating system. The courtyard no long had snow piling up and already donations were coming in. “What is it about them that scares you so much.”
“Women don’t scare me,” Young-Do muttered. “I just don’t want to take attention away from her. She’s focused and happy. If I go in there, it will be a disruption.”
“She needs our help. There aren’t enough men lifting and toting the rice barrels. You can stay out here but I don’t want Eun-Sang to strain something.” Young-Do caught his arm before he walked inside.
“Your father is watching you. Both Yoo-Ra and Ji-Sun are in there. You have to help them first or you might put Eun-Sang in a bad position. You need to be more circumspect.”
Hyo-Shin clenched his jaw and pushed Young-Do’s hand off of him. “I am not a coward, your majesty.” He went inside and Young-Do watched him take orders from Rachel and start to help. He couldn’t even be upset with his friend. Young-Do knew he was a coward.
But he was a little shocked when he got shoved into the new school. He hissed and looked up to find Go Nam-Il ready to take him by the ear. “The princess has been looking for you. You are late, your majesty.”
Nam-Il brought him over to the head table where Rachel worked and he did get to enjoy watching her for a few seconds before she looked up and smiled. “There you are. Did court go long?”
“Something like that. What do you need me to do?”
“We just got our first donation of rice. It needs to be moved into the storehouse and tallied. I wasn’t here when it arrived or I would’ve had them put it there. I think we’re almost ready to start taking orphans in. I have a small staff but I would like your opinion on the men. I would like to avoid abuses wherever possible.”
“I would be happy to move the rice around for you.” He tilted her chin up so he could kiss her. There was a quiet titter whenever he touched her and her cheeks went pink. She waved him off and he went to go help Hyo-Shin. They quickly moved things around to Rachel’s liking and he tried to listen in on some of the conversations happening among the women.
“She’s not that pretty,” Bo-Ah murmured under her breath as she sniffed at Eun-Sang. “Once you are running his house, he will forget all about her.”
Young-Do closed his eyes. This was exactly what he didn’t want to happen. Rachel would be angry if any harm came to Eun-Sang, which meant, as her future husband, he needed to look out for his princess’ interests.
Yoo-Ra didn’t look happy with her friend’s assessment. “It’s not like I can throw her out. She belongs to Princess Rachel. Already my father wants me to become her closest friend. I don’t know how to do that. Lee Bo-Na is burrowing into that place too quickly.”
“This is good,” Bo-Ah insisted. “That we’re here today. This is all Princess Rachel talks about. If we help her succeed with this school for orphans, she might spend more time with us. You can ignore the maid, Yoo-Ra. Your father won’t let him embarrass you.”
“And if he picks Ji-Sun?” Yoo-Ra looked miserable. “Then my only option is Lee Hyun-Jin. He is not a nobleman in any sense of the word.”
“Why would he pick Ji-Sun? You’ve heard the rumors about her.” Bo-Ah pulled Yoo-Ra into helping her fold the donated futons and blankets. They hadn’t noticed him eavesdropping yet and Young-Do was grateful that Hyo-Shin wasn’t doting on Eun-Sang. “Lee Hyo-Shin still goes to the pavilion with Prince Myung-Soo. Even if he picks Ji-Sun, she’s going to be too cold to him to satisfy his virility. He’ll need another wife. And if you get pregnant first with his male heir, it will be like it was for his mother.”
“I suppose,” Yoo-Ra said sadly. Young-Do only knew most of the women of the court in passing. He’d heard the other noblemen talk about her beauty and virtue as a potential wife. She was always the first to help Jae-Kyung with her projects. Mother said good things about her before the King chose Rachel for him. He’d always assumed that perhaps she would marry his brother.
“That is an odd look on your face, my prince.” Rachel startled him out of his eavesdropping and the other two girls blushed when they realized how close he was. Young-Do stood and bent down to kiss her. Rachel told him repeatedly that he needed to be affectionate with her in public. She always reciprocated with her hand against his chest or against the back of his neck. People watching made him a little uncomfortable but he would do anything for her. Rachel smiled tightly at Yoo-Ra and Bo-Ah. “Do we have enough?”
“Yes, princess,” Bo-Ah said with a bow. “Should I tell the cooking staff to prepare a dinner for the first group of children?”
“Yes. Lady Yoo-Ra, will you tell Lee Hyo-Shin he can go to the magistrate and have the children brought here tonight and relieve his burden?”
“I would be happy to, princess.” Both women bowed and then left to do their assigned tasks.
“What’s wrong?” Rachel cupped his cheek and pulled his attention back to her.
“I don’t want our courts to be separated. I think I want there to be something informal that allows men insight into the mind of women.” Her eyebrows went up. “I just listened to a young woman afraid of not being first in Hyo-Shin’s affections and what it might mean for the rest of her life. Sometimes the ministers will make comments about how unfathomable the mind of a woman is but...I don’t see it that way. What you said about taking the Khitan princess as a unwanted concubine being a horror for her just fell into place for me. I’ve been thinking of other horrors.”
Rachel let out a low breath. “I’ve been watching Yoo-Ra closely. She’s been very helpful these last few days and if she weren’t in competition with Eun-Sang, I could probably let myself become her friend. Is it disconcerting, the fears of an unloved woman?”
“Yes. I’m glad that my wife will know how much she is loved and not have to worry about any of this.”
“Three more weeks,” she pointed out gently. “Until I can take that title.”
“Eighteen days,” he corrected and pulled her close so he could kiss her forehead. “I am counting.”
Rachel looked ready to tease him when there was a small commotion at the entry to the school. She tensed for a second before she relaxed and smiled. The magistrate and his wife had about eight children with them and it looked like Rachel was expecting all of them. She broke away from Young-Do to greet them and bring them inside.
Eun-Sang took the older children with her to show her where they would sleep and give a little orientation. Hyo-Shin came up to him and clapped his shoulder. “The princess has thought of everything. She has a process for accepting orphans, donations, and even has a little uniform for them so the people in the city know who they belong to.”
“I’m worried there isn’t enough protection. Accounting for poverty among adults...” He put it in the back of his mind so he could work on it later. He looked down at Hyo-Shin and frowned. “It sounds like your father is in negotiations with the Go family.”
Hyo-Shin sighed and glanced over at Eun-Sang. They both blinked when it was clear she was holding a fussing baby. “He’s also in negotiations with the Song family. If he isn’t careful he will turn them both against us. Where did she get a baby?”
It worried Young-Do, especially when several of the noblewomen walked up to her to try and help her calm the infant. Rachel had an age limit for a reason. She was not equipped to handle babies. He started to approach Eun-Sang and was surprised when Nam-Il intercepted her and took the baby into his arms. He flipped the child over and held them front first along his forearm. The child stopped fussing and soon he was surrounded by gushing women.
“The little girl was dropped on my doorstep,” the magistrate confided to him when Young-Do asked. “I didn’t know what to do and wrote Princess Rachel. She told me to bring her and she would figure something out. She’s been weaned too early. Our wet nurse wasn’t able to get her to latch. She says she might be almost six months old. We were able to get her to eat porridge.” He sighed and looked uncomfortable. “This is not an uncommon problem. It is a wartime. Girl children are not welcome during war.”
“Thank you for telling me. We are going into our sixth year. This war will create more orphans that Rachel wants to take care of so we don’t increase the poverty and crime rates.”
“The princess is very wise. I will do everything I can to support her, your majesty.”
“Thank you.” He looked over at Nam-Il and raised his eyebrows when his bodyguard met his eyes. He still held the little girl and once she stopped fussing, he held her against his shoulder. He went over to him and Nam-Il bowed.
“I am going to take her with me, my prince. Il-Seok and I have wanted a child despite the impossibility. I’ve already spoken to the princess and told her I planned to adopt an orphan child into my household. We were going to take one of the boys but this baby girl needs a real home.”
“I can find you a good nanny. I’m sure my mother knows someone.”
“That will be most appreciated. I helped my mother care for my younger siblings but that was a long time ago. Il-Seok works with young boys on his building crews but a baby girl is different. Our magistrate’s wife has written down for me what she’s been doing, that will suffice for now.”
“You cannot give her back.” Young-Do didn’t know why he said it. Nam-Il was not the kind of man to refuse a responsibility he willingly took on. He worried that he offended him when his mentor put his hand on his shoulder and gave one of his rare smiles.
“I wouldn’t dare to disappoint the princess that way, my prince. I wouldn’t dare to do anything that would lose your regard. I love her already.” He pressed a kiss to the top of the little girl’s head and then bowed before he left. Rachel came up and took his hand.
“I think that is beautiful. I wish it would be that easy to give these children real homes. I just think there are so many people who want children but can’t have them and...” She sighed and leaned against him. He immediately put his arm around her. “I know how important bloodlines are but what do they matter when there are orphans and empty homes?”
“This is amazing. I’m so glad we could get it running before the wedding. There should be enough time to smooth the process out before you get pregnant.”
Rachel raised her eyebrows and leaned into him. “I’m unsure what you expect,” she murmured. “Women make love to their husbands all the time and are able to walk and work just fine the next day.”
“Who says I won’t want to stay with you all day and make love at our leisure?” He whispered it in her ear and enjoyed the way she blushed and ducked her head. “I am expecting you to exhaust me, my princess.”
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Unsung
Fandom: Deltora Quest
Summary: As peace settles upon Deltora, Marilen is tasked with recording the life of Anna of Del. Pre-canon, mid-canon, post-canon.
Characters: Marilen, Anna, Jasmine, Lief, Sharn, Doom, Barda.
Pairings: Jarred/Anna, Lief/Jasmine
Notes: I was working on a Jasmine-and-Doom prompt, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Anna. So, here is a non-linear story with several stories bundled up inside it. AO3. FFN.
--
The hour was late, and her hand was sore, but Marilen did not stop her work. Words seemed to pour from her mind and onto the page. The steady breathing from Josef’s crib grounded her as she wrote. She had known that becoming the palace librarian would be a great task, and that recording in the Annals would be part of her life’s work. And she knew that some stories were of more importance than others, even if they did not outwardly appear to be so.
She took a moment to look upon the beautiful face of her sleeping son. She preferred to work with Josef in the room. After such a long time of war and death, it was hard to focus without knowing her son was safe. Losing him was unimaginable. But that was why the Annals were important to her; so she could record the stories that she might never truly understand. She turned the pages to the beginning of the particular account, and looked at the section title written in her own flourishing script:
Anna of Del
Four people who Marilen loved had approached her to request that she commemorate this woman into the Annals. She had spoken with them many times; listened to their stories, and she had taken pages of notes. Although she had never met the woman, and she never would, Marilen felt a connection to Anna that was as fine and lovely as Toran thread.
With a sigh, she set her pen down and shook out her hand. Researching a figure who was not widely known was a strange task. Her head was awash with little facts and stories and the emotions of the people who loved Anna enough to wish to see her immortalized seemed to always linger.
It had been Jasmine, of course, who had come to her first.
—
The celebration had gone late into the night, and into the early morning, too. But, yet, all of Deltora seemed to crowd the palace hill— laughing and drinking and dancing— to celebrate the marriage of their beloved king to one of their favourite heroes. Marilen had begun to tire, and wondered if it was time to follow Ranesh, who had brought Josef to bed. But before she could start towards the palace, Jasmine grasped her hands and pulled her back into the dancing crowd.
The new queen had abandoned her shoes somewhere, and her lovely green dress was streaked with dirt. She was an impressively poor dancer, but Marilen happily allowed herself to be led by Jasmine’s improvised steps.
They twirled—laughing— by Lief, who was dancing with a ring of children whose parents had disregarded proper bedtimes to celebrate the historic event. Marilen beamed and called his name, and Lief looked up. He was grinning with delirious happiness, and held out out his hand for Jasmine to join him.
“In a moment,” she called to him, letting go of Marilen briefly, so that she could trail her fingers across her husband’s hand.
“The whole kingdom has come for you!” Marilen shouted over the music and crowd, as they allowed themselves to get lost among the people. Many of the dancers toasted and called Jasmine’s name as they went past.
“So it would seem,” Jasmine said. Her eyes flickered over Marilen’s face. “But there are some people who should be here and cannot.”
Marilen realized that Jasmine had led them to the edge of the crowd. She let go of her friend’s hand, and gently touched her shoulder. Jasmine looked up; her smile was still bright, but there was a sadness in her eyes that had not been there before.
“I wonder if I could ask you a favour,” Jasmine continued. “I want to be sure that my mother is never forgotten. I will tell you all about her, another day, if you promise to write it down.”
Marilen looked deep into her friend’s searching gaze. “I would be honoured. I swear it.”
—
Jasmine was not pleased. She had been building a tower of sticks and leaves, but Mamma had made her stop and told her to climb up into the treehouse, even though it would not be dark for ages. Still, she allowed her mother to guide her onto her cot.
“It was going to be so tall, Mamma,” Jasmine complained. “I was going to put my doll inside and—“
“Jasmine, listen to me,” Mamma cut her off quickly. Jasmine stopped, and her eyes widened. Mamma never interrupted, and she always had a smile and a game ready to play. But she was scared, Jasmine realized, and that frightened her, too. “Listen, sweetheart, I have some things to tell you.”
“Where is Papa?” Jasmine looked around wildly; the house was quite large, but it was clear that her father was not at home.
“He will be back soon, but I must speak to you. Will you promise to be good and listen?”
Mamma’s face was so unusually serious, that Jasmine could not help but nod solemnly.
“Good,” she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Someday, Jasmine, we might have to be very quiet, and pretend that we do not live here.”
Jasmine was confused and it made her anxious. “Why would we have to pretend?”
Mamma shook her head, unwilling or unable to explain. “It is just the way of the world.”
Jasmine looked at her mother’s face, searching for some sort of trick or game, but could find nothing. “What do I have to do?”
“Nothing right now, but I must show you something,” Mamma paused for a moment to ensure that Jasmine was watching. “If I do this,” she pointed her smallest finger up, and dragged it under her eye, “it means that Papa and I want you to run away as fast as you can. Do you understand?”
Jasmine nodded, although she was not sure that she did.
“If I do this,” Mamma bobbed her chin against her chest, “I want you to hide yourself away.”
Jasmine could not help the bubble of laughter that burst forth; Mamma looked very silly.
“Jasmine, this is important,” Mamma pleaded, and made her practise both of the stupid gestures until Jasmine insisted on going to sleep, mostly out of boredom.
Later that night, she awoke to voices from her parents’ cot. Papa must have come home. Jasmine kept her eyes shut, and listened.
“I have never seen them this close,” Mamma whispered. Jasmine heard the shift of bodies on the cot.
“Nor have I, they always stay on the trail,” Papa was very bad at whispering, and she could hear him clearly. “I followed them as best I could, but I did not get far.”
“I did not tell Jasmine. I did not know how to try. But I made up signals for her to follow, if the Guards come near again. I do not think she understands.”
“We ask so much of her,” Papa’s voice shook, and Jasmine could not help but open her eyes a little, but she could see nothing through the darkness. “This is not a proper life for a child.”
“We always knew it would be hard, my love,” Mamma said in her firm and gentle way. “Jasmine is strong, and we will keep her save.”
She heard the sound of rustling blankets as her parents settled in for the night. Jasmine’s eyes closed of their own will, and she felt herself being pulled down into sleep. Still, she pictured the signals in her head. She did not know why, but it was clearly important that she remember them.
And so she would.
—
Marilen had been walking to her office one evening, when Sharn had found her in the hall.
“Marilen,” Sharn said warmly. “May I speak to you for a moment?”
“Of course,” Marilen followed Sharn to a window seat. “Is everything alright?”
“Yes,” Sharn looked down through the window, at the city below. “I wanted to congratulate you on your successes in the library. I knew you would be well-suited for it.”
“Thank you,” Marilen was touched, she held Sharn’s opinion in the highest regard.
“As you add to the Annals, I wonder if there is someone you might keep in mind.”
Marilen looked out the window, but whatever Sharn saw was clearly a memory from long ago.
“There was a woman… I met her only once,” Sharn said quietly. “But I wore her name and clothing, and slept in her bed for seventeen years. I am alive only because of her.”
—
Leaving Endon and Jarred, Anna had pulled Sharn into the bedroom. Sharn looked around in a daze; the room was smaller even than the palace closets. Anna guided her into a chair in front of a mirror, and pressed a damp washcloth into her hand.
“We must make you look the part,” Anna said. She stood behind Sharn and began to unravel the complex decorative thread in her hair. “You will have to alter my clothes, eventually, you are much taller than I am.”
Sharn washed her face roughly, as if scrubbing it raw would erase some of the horror of the night. She stared into the mirror as Anna continued to work at her hair. Looking at her bare-faced reflection was like seeing a stranger. She wondered dully if any of her friends and family had survived the slaughter. Surely not. She thought of Prandine’s thin scream as he fell to his death.
I hope it hurt, she thought viciously.
Anna had nearly finished with her hair, and it tumbled down Sharn’s shoulders. Guilt stabbed at Sharn’s heart as she thought again of their plan. “You are much kinder than we deserve.”
“Nonsense,” Anna said lightly, although she could not disguise the slight tremor in her voice. “Jarred has waited seven years for Endon to call upon him. I knew this.”
“Are you not afraid?”
“Take my hand,” Anna insisted, and knelt beside her. Confused, Sharn did as she was told. Anna’s palms and fingertips were rough and hard against Sharn’s smooth and soft skin. The other woman smiled wryly. “Blacksmith’s hands. There is no cream or salve in Deltora that would soften them. And I would not wish for that. Because of the callouses, I never need to fear that my hands will fail me, and so I do not falter in my work. I am terrified, Sharn. For my neighbours, for myself, for my husband, for my child. For you. But I must put my faith into something. So I will put it into hope. My hands guide me when I work in the Forge, and I will trust hope to guide me tonight.”
Sharn clasped her other hand on top of Anna’s. “You have proved your bravery tonight. As have I, I think.”
“Yes,” Anna embraced Sharn quickly. “We shall stay brave, for each other. And we will meet again as friends in kinder days, I know it.”
—
Marilen had been expecting a third request, but she had not expected it to be from Lief. They had taken their breakfast in the palace kitchen. Although it was usually a bustling place, especially in the morning, it had only been the two of them. Lief had been eating in a strange silence, which was rarer still.
“Are you alright?” Marilen finally asked, annoyed by the staring contest Lief seemed to be having with his eggs.
Lief looked up, alarmed, as if he had forgotten she was there. “Have… have you heard of Anna of the Forge?” He asked by way of an answer.
Marilen raised her eyebrows. “It is a name that keeps finding its way to me.”
Lief paused. “When you write about the night of the Shadowlord’s invasion… I would be very pleased if you would mention her name.”
—
Jasmine cried out, and approached a thicket of leaves covered in nasty spines. The plant was studded with large round berries: some were pale lavender in colour, and others were a wicked scarlet. She lifted the front of her shirt to form a basket, and began to gather fruit, taking care to avoid the thorns.
Lief and Barda exchanged an anxious glance. They trusted Jasmine’s instincts, but they did not trust the evil appearance of the berries.
“We will find food elsewhere,” Barda decided. “These look as if they have been waiting for our arrival, and not with good intentions.”
“It is trying to trick you, but not the way you believe,” Jasmine insisted eagerly without looking away from her task. “The purple ones are poison, but the red are perfectly fine.”
The more Lief stared at the berries, the more they appeared like droplets of blood clinging to the leaves. “How do you know?”
“These plants grow in the Forests, too,” Jasmine held a berry up to her collarbone, and Filli’s tiny paws reached to grab it from under her jacket. “My mother solved the trick. The foxes would always eat from the bushes, and they would leave the purple ones behind. She saw a sparrow eat the purple ones, and it died.” She shrugged, and slipped a berry between her lips. “She called them fox berries.”
Barda laughed and knelt at her side. “Once again, it seems a debt is owed to Anna of Del.”
The fierce grin that Jasmine gifted him in return was as bright and beautiful as a star.
It was true, Lief thought, as he joined his friends on the ground. She saved my life before I was even born.
The three of them gathered the berries, but Lief kept his eyes on Jasmine’s pleased face. He watched her closely, and when she caught him staring, he did not look away. She reached into the folds of her shirt and handed him a berry. Lief took it and bit down. The skin was tough, but the inside was pleasant and tart. He smiled his thanks.
Jasmine reached over and tapped his bottom lip with her finger. “Your teeth are already stained red.”
Lief reached over and stole a second. “It is worth it.”
—
Marilen had been expecting the knock on her office door. Feeling oddly sheepish, she hastily covered her project with a stack of books.
“Please, come in,” Marilen urged, and began to clear papers off of the extra chair. Doom opened the door with a tight-lipped smile, and took the offered seat. Marilen took her own chair and waited.
She had wondered when he would come. She knew he would, and so she had not approached him. The time was right: the people of Deltora had found a reason to celebrate once more. A new heir had been born, and she had been given a name that was well suited for a future queen.
“My wife deserves a place in the Annals,” he told her bluntly.
“I know,” Marilen agreed. “You are not the first person to tell me.”
Doom snorted. “Jasmine?”
“And Sharn, and Lief.”
Doom’s face betrayed nothing, but Marilen swore she saw a flash of surprise in his eyes. She hesitated as she assessed how to begin. She cared deeply for Doom, but was not always sure as to best speak with him.
“Will you tell me about her?” She asked hesitantly.
Doom stared ahead for a long time. “Yes. Yes I will.”
Marilen looked at the papers on her desk. She did not want him to know she had started, she did not think it would be a worthy read until it was finished.
—
Jarred lay flat on his back with nothing to do but stare at the treetops and pray that his wife returned soon.
If I die here, it could be that I have deserved it, he thought dryly.
How stupid he had been, allowing himself to be stung by the Wenn. He had survived in the Forests for more than five years, and if he died it would be because he had simply not been paying attention.
Finally, hurried footsteps came down the path. He heard his name whispered fiercely, and suddenly, Anna was there with Jasmine balanced on her hip. She set Jasmine down, and threw herself to her knees.
“Mamma, is Papa going to die?” Jasmine whimpered.
“No, we are going to heal him. But hush, sweetheart, we must be quiet,” Anna whispered, pressing a quick kiss to Jasmine’s brow. She leaned over Jarred and pressed a second kiss to his lips. “Do not make me lie to her.”
Jarred forced a smile and felt the dry skin on his lips crack. “Come here, Jasmine,” he said. “Hold my hand, so that we may be brave together.”
Jasmine rushed to his side. He could not tell if she had taken his hand, but she kept her wide eyes on his face, as if he would die if she looked away. Anna was fumbling with a jar she had pulled from her pocket on his other side.
“I do not know if this will work,” Anna’s face was pale, but her lips were pressed in a determined line. She tilted his head up, and the foul-smelling liquid to trickle down his throat. Jarred made himself to swallow, and almost wished that he had not. Pain began to spread through his body. His skin felt as if it had caught fire, and his blood seemed to boil in his veins. He gritted his teeth and moaned, forcing himself to muffle his screams. Anna covered his mouth with one hand, and gripped his shoulder with her other. Her face was twisted with anguish. The pain swelled, but Jarred realized that he could feel his daughter’s hand clasping his, and his wife’s hands on his body. It was enough to carry him through.
Later, as they lay in their cot, Anna had caressed his face with her hands.
“I feared that I had killed you,” she confessed with shame.
Jarred let out a startled laugh, for nothing could have been farther than the truth. “No, dear heart,” he kissed her cheek. “You saved me, like you always do.”
—
Marilen had listened to so many accounts of Anna’s life. Doom and Jasmine had brought her so many stories, and Lief and Sharn had shared their second hand accounts. (She loved to sing, but her talents lay elsewhere… Did Doom tell you how she once made burrowroot soup? We spent the night washing out our mouths… There was a romance novel at her bedside that had clearly been well-read… Jasmine swears she could pull a coin out of your ear…) Anna had been a clever and brave woman, whose life might easily be forgotten: she had never led the Resistance like her husband or saved the kingdom from destruction like her daughter. But she had saved the lives of at least five people, and ensured that Deltora had set forth on its path to freedom.
She looked back at her writing. Sleep could wait, this was more important.
“My people broke a vow once,” Marilen whispered to the silent room. “And you suffered for it. I am one of the many who owes you a debt. I will make sure your stories are heard.”
No one was truly dead while there were people to remember their names.
Marilen would ensure that Anna of Del lived forever.
#deltora quest#classic hannah: getting attached to painfully minor characters in children's fiction#this is essentially a love letter to anna hahaha#lief's story is set sometime in s3#jasmine x lief#jarred x anna#my writing#should i make a separate dq blog?... maybe
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Sensor Sweep: Hall of the Giant King, Henry Kuttner, William Stout, Alex Nino
RPG (Grodog): Thinking through the mega-dungeons I’m familiar with, the stand out qualities that I love to play through, and the mega-dungeons that bring that to the table are: Best Environments to Explore and Map: Castle El Raja Key, Maure Castle, Caverns of Thracia, Foolsgrave. Most-Fun Encounters: Castle Greyhawk, Foolsgrave, Rich Franks’ mega-dungeon. Most-Fun Puzzles, Enigmas, and Centerpiece Encounters: Castle Greyhawk, Maure Castle, WG5, ASE1/2-3, Undermountain.
Science Fiction (Alexandra Rowland): I was groomed and abused by Scott Lynch and Elizabeth Bear for several years. For a long time, I never wanted to talk about this in public. I didn’t want anybody to know about this. I only began rethinking yesterday and I was still considering what to do about it, but… …Apparently I don’t have that luxury anymore.
Art (Modiphius): The Art of Robert E. Howard’s Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of features a selection of some of the most incredible art associated with the classic barbarian hero ever assembled into one set of covers. With one of the most successful gaming Kickstarter campaigns of all time, Conan set out to be the definitive treatment of Conan in games: central to that was recruiting a stellar lineup of artists for covers and interior illustrations. The Art of Conan presents a variety of art drawn from the incredible core rulebook and the expansive line of sourcebooks and supplements, organized by book, allowing players and fans of amazing sword-and-sorcery art to enjoy this fantastic art on its own.
New Release (DMR Books): Cahena is a historical novel (with fantasy elements) dealing with the brave and beautiful warrior queen who reigned over the Berbers in the seventh century. The Cahena, as she was known, was believed to be a sorceress and prophetess. She led an army forty thousand strong, wielding javelins and scimitars, in a valiant struggle against the Mohammedan invaders who were fresh from their conquest of Carthage. Rich in historical detail and dramatic action, this is a story to rival the great war epics of all time.
Publishing (Amatopia): There’s been talk on social media by Big Prominent Authors who’ve been paid a lot of money to write stuff about how hard it is to stay prolific in these totally unprecedented and difficult times. These writers–whose only job is to write–can’t seem to squeeze in a page or two amidst the chaos. It’s emotionally taxing do perform their job, you see. It’s so hard because evil bad people who may or may not be orange keep them from focusing. What a bunch of weenies.
Genre (Pulprev): Today when people think of science fiction and fantasy, chances are, they think of two separate genres. Science fiction, the genre of starships and computers and technology. Fantasy, the genre of knights and dragons and castles. Two distinct genres, and never the twain shall meet. The meeting of the two, science fantasy, was the exception, the red-headed stepchild, never part of the mainstream. This wasn’t always the case.
Art (Heavy Metal): William Stout has had a long and eventful career as an illustrator and production designer—you can read all about it in the biography on his official website. His work has run in numerous publications, including Heavy Metal. And then there was Masters of the Universe. The 1987 movie seemed like a good idea, given the popularity of the toys, but the Cannon Films production, starring Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and Frank Langella as Skeletor, was a flop.
Paleontology (Phys.org): Lions were once far more widespread than they are now, with several subspecies of lions dividing the world between them. They were found in much of Europe and Asia including the Middle East, in Africa, North America and maybe South America. Previously, the cave lion Panthera leo spelaea was found across much of Eurasia and as far as Alaska and Canada. But cave lions died out 13 000 years ago, perhaps partly due to humans, although paleontologists suspect that climate change played a major role. The American lion P. leo atrox suffered the same fate.
T.V. (Kairos): Loyal readers know that a key mission of this blog is shedding light on Hollywood’s hatred of their audience. Much as A Bridge Too Far proves Pigman’s Caine-Hackman hypothesis, the1998 movie Pleasantville epitomizes Hollywood Death Cultism. YouTuber Devon Stack, who reviews movies with a keen eye for both literary criticism and propaganda, explains this superficially innocent film’s subversive depths. “As much as the baby boomers fought to overturn and rebel against and eventually destroy the American culture that existed before them, one thing that I have always found interesting is how much the same champions of counterculture that sadistically dismembered their heritage and mocked every tradition their parents have gifted them, but at the same time romanticize this same culture they worked so hard to undo.”
Science Fiction (Adventures Fantastic): “Trog” appeared in the June 1944 issue of Astounding. It has never been reprinted. The story is set in 1956. Civilization has been collapsing for four years. The general consensus is that humanity has a collective, mass consciousness that has tired of civilization. It takes over people at random and causes them to destroy things. Supply lines have been disrupted. Food is scarce. Things that break cannot be replaced. People destroy things. Those that do are called trogs, short for troglodytes.
Book Review (Marzaat): In the summer of 1565 on the parched ground of Malta, the future of Western Civilization was decided. Would the Moslems continue their expansion into the Mediterranean, preying on European ships and taking Christian slaves as far away as England? Or could they be held back? It was an epic struggle, an astounding tale of resolve and leadership, of disunity in command and disunity among allies.
Tolkien (Notion Club Papers): Tolkien and The Silmarillion by Clyde Kilby. Lion Publishing, Berkhamsted, Kent, UK. 1977 pp 89. (US edition, 1976.) This is a hardly-known, slim, minor, but fascinating contribution to the writings about Tolkien. Its centre is an account of the summer of 1966 which the author spent meeting with the seventy-four year old Tolkien a few times per week, ostensibly to provide him with informed and enthusiastic secretarial assistance to get The Silmarillion ready for publication.
Pulp Magazines (Black Gate): This third installment of the Weird Tales deep read covers the eleven stories in the October 1934 issue, including the first Jirel of Joiry story by C. L. Moore. Her flame didn’t burn as long in the Unique Magazine as the Lovecraft-Howard-Smith trinity’s did, but it did burn as brightly. Moore had sixteen stories in Weird Tales between 1933-1939, twelve in an incredible burst of creativity in the years 1934-1936.
Travel (Last Stand on Zombie Island): Outside of Moscow, reportedly on the location of one of the principal stavkas of the 1941 defense of the city from the German invasion, now stands the so-called Main Cathedral of Russian Armed Forces. Built by popular subscription (with lots of help from the military and government) the immense Eastern Orthodox church is a living, breathing memory to the Russian (not Soviet) effort against Hitler in the Great Patriotic War.
Art (DMR Books): The result was The Fantasy Worlds of Alex Nino, which came out in 1975, just a few short years after Alex began doing work for American comics. The publisher was Christopher Enterprises, a somewhat shadowy company about which I’ve been able to discover little. They emerged on the scene in 1975, put out portfolios by Nino and Michael Kaluta, then followed that with a Bernie Wrightson portfolio in 1976. Also in 1976, Christopher Enterprises published several awesome posters by Wrightson and Stephen Hickman.
Weird Tales (Tellers of Weird Tales): I first wrote about Earl Peirce, Jr., on May 17, 2017. I misidentified him then as Earl Monroe Pierce, Jr., based on his age and his residency in Washington, D.C., where Peirce/Pierce is known to have lived. A month later, an anonymous commenter let me know that I had the wrong person and provided a link to an online discussion about the right one. I removed what I had written and promised an update and correction. By then it was too late: my mistake was memorialized in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDb) and you can still find it there today. I pride myself on doing good work.
Old Science Fiction (M Porcius): Here at MPorcius Fiction Log we are beating the heat and staying off the streets by reading old issues of Thrilling Wonder Stories at the internet archive. In our last episode we read three stories by Leigh Brackett; those tales of rough men trying to master their environments and find or create a place where they belonged–and the women who loved them–were later reprinted in Brackett collections and theme anthologies. Today we read three stories by Henry Kuttner that have not been quite so widely reprinted–you might call them “deep cuts.”
RPG (R’lyeh Reviews): 1978: G3 Hall of the Giant King. 1974 is an important year for the gaming hobby. It is the year that Dungeons & Dragons was introduced, the original RPG from which all other RPGs would ultimately be derived and the original RPG from which so many computer games would draw for their inspiration. It is fitting that the current owner of the game, Wizards of the Coast, released the new version, Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, in the year of the game’s fortieth anniversary.
Sensor Sweep: Hall of the Giant King, Henry Kuttner, William Stout, Alex Nino published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/
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Car & Health Insurance?
"Car & Health Insurance?
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BEST ANSWER: Try this site where you can compare quotes: : http://averageinsurancecosts.xyz/index.html?src=tumblr
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I just recently got my g2 and I was just wondering if I can drive with out insurance and if not what are the consequences if I get caught by the police. And can I drive on the highway with out the assistance of an experienced driver. Btw I live in Ontario, Canada.""
Why is Geico Home Owner's Insurance So Much More Expensive Than other Companies?
I have had my home owner's insurance through Liberty Mutual and I pay $865.00 per year for about 110,000 in dwelling coverage plus other coverages as well. However, I just decided as I wasn't doing anything today to check on the competition and I called up Geico. Get this.. Here it is... Geico, for the EXACT SAME COVERAGE I am paying Liberty Mutual $865.00 per year gave me a quote for $4,200.00 per year. WITH ALL COVERAGES BEING EQUAL. I was shocked... The lady told me because I had one claim for roof damage which cost $4,000.00 that justified the increase in coverage. Plus Geico had a higher deductible of $1,500.00. First I don't know anyone paying $4,000.00 for a one year home owner's policy for $110,000.00 in coverage. But does anyone know why Geico is so ridiculously expensive?""
Are there any health insurance programs like healthy families?
I know healthy families are for children and teenagers but are there any other medical low cost program for kids in their early 20's. There is medical but what if they don't qualify for medi-cal, and if the parents don't make enough money and kids don't have any job because our economy is whacked. How we suppose to take kids to the doctor when they're sick? Please help, any helpful information would be greatly appreciated. God bless!""
My new job has a waiting period of three months for health insurance but we need medical treatment now!?
My wife has been having serious difficulties with her joints, fatigue, etc. Got bad enough that she ended up losing her job. Doctor told her a couple weeks ago she has rheumatoid ...show more""
Best insurance company for small startup security training agency and consulting firm?
Starting up in the DC, MD, VA area and looking for an affordable insurance company for a small business training agency. I eventually want to expand into security consulting, but for the time being, it'll be primarily security training. Policy in my area has to be minimum 600k of general liability. Any recommendations?""
How much does it cost for postal insurance?
How much will it cost me to get $5000 usps insurance for my package? Im in the usa tx.
Car insurance help about fully comprehensive ?
Ok so next month I have to renew my car insurance as it will be my 2nd year driving, I'm third party fire and theft at the minute and I'm planning on going fully comp. Now if I go fully comp and it includes windscreen cover and I use it (as I have a chip and a crack in my windscreen) will that mean I'm claiming on my insurance and will I loose my no claims bonus? If that makes sense.. The plan is to renew my insurance and if I can get my windscreen fixed on the insurance then hopefully it will be ok in the mot which is straight after""
Would my insurance rates go up if i switched banks?
I have USAA and we have our home insurance and both car insurance loans, checking and savings through them, but we want to switch just our checking and savings to a different bank, would that effect our insurance rates?""
TEENS: Car insurance question!?
Kinda random but here we go. 1 How much do you pay a month for insurance? 2 How old are you? Male or Female? 3 Do you pay for it or do your rents help? thanks!
Can I Sue My Car Insurance Company For Fraud?
I bought insurance for my truck. after 3 months of paying my agent i noticed that my financing bank had added 1300 dollars to my loan as a collateral insurance because they did not have proof of my insurance. I went back to my agent and they explained that they forgot to send the payment for 3 months to the main insurance company and that is why it appeared to my bank that I did not have insurance. My insurance agent told me they were gonna do a re-installment and that they were going to give me proof that i had insurance for those 3 months so i could take it to my bank so they could remove the 1300 from the loan. It's been about 10 months and my insurance agent has not given me any proof of my policy so the bank is still charging me for those 3 months. (about 400 per month since im 20). my agent does not want to refund the money for those 3 months, and they do not want to give me a proof of policy. I do have proof of paying them for those 3 months since I payed with a check that they cashed. I want them to give me proof of insurance for those 3 months or to pay 1300 to my loan because they are charging it due to their fault since they forgot to send my payment. Can I do a civil law suit for those 1300. I have proof of my payment for those 3 months. I also have my policy number but it says it's cancelled due to non payment so bank will not accept that as insurance. right after those 3 months I opened a new policy with them and ive had it for 8 months and ive always payed on time. I recently noticed that when they opened the new policy they inputed my date of birth as if i was 40 years old instead of 20. I do not know if they did a mistake or if they did that on purpose to give me a better price. The thing is that all these 8 months I've been paying i was actually never covered since my date of birth was way wrong. Only my name was correct but I talked directly to the insurance and not my agent and they explained to me that if i would have crashed it wouldnt have covered me since they do not have the correct date of birth. I just fixed that directly with the agent and now they have the correct date of birth so the insurance price went up since im only 20. I dont mind about that. I just think it's unfair that i paid for almost a year and that i was actually never covered because they did a mistake on my information. Plus they caused the bank to charge me.. So i just feel like if all this has been a big scam since i paid so much and did not have insurance. Can I sue them to get my money back or at least pay the bank what the bank is charging me for not having insurance.. like i said i have all the recepits of all payments ive done and i also have a copy of the policy where my information is not accurate and how i was paying without being covered. They could not have made a mistake because I do not look like if im 40 years old. besides they obtained a copy of my drivers license where it clearly says my date of birth. I live in El Paso Texas so does any one know what i can do and if it's possible to get my money back if i sue my agent?""
Why does bad credit affect my auto insurance when i have a clean mvr?
so i have a bad credit score. but i have a clean mvr and pay my insurance on time so why are my rates credit has nothing to do with the way i drive?
Is homeowners insurance a complete scam?
my former agent admitted it was worthless as insurance and explained that i was buying it because my lender required me to do so. she could not explain why she did not tell me this when i bought the insurance.
What is an affordable health insurance that I can apply for in Southern California?
An affordable one. I can't seem to find one. I was layed off my job but my cobra will be too expensive is there anything else out there. I tried kaiser but its like 220 a month for just me.
Is insurance on jeeps more expensive?
im thinking of buying a jeep 1995 or older most likly (YJ, TJ) do they tend to be more or less expensive on insurance then the average car?""
How much would car insurance and tax cost?
I was just wondering how much car insurance and tax and anything else i would have to pay other than the price of the vehicle would cost a 23 year old in England on an Automatic Chevrolet Camaro, Automatic Range Rover Sport or an Automatic Ford Mustang GT.""
How much does liability insurance cost?
I live in NC. I don't own a car and just need the insurance to get a driver's license. Getting added to someone else's policy is not an option for me.
Car Insurance without a license?
I know this is a dumb question, but I thought I would ask anyway. My 25 year old son, recently had his license suspended, due to non payment of a ticket. His car registration is coming up this month. Is there any way he can get insurance, so the registration on his car, will remain current. At least until he pays off his ticket.""
How can I afford car insurance (17 - 18 year old)?
Does anyone have any ideas on how to afford running a car, especially insurance which would be around 2500-3000 per year. I'm still in sixth form and plan to go to university so I only really have weekends to work. Is it possible to afford to run a car? How to people do it? Thanks""
Car & Health Insurance?
Mary Jo, I guess what I'm trying to say, is that not enough people make enough money to afford both. They can find jobs, but none that carry health insurance. But for them to go to work, they have to pay car insurance. That we as a society demand our vehicles have insurance instead of ourselves and our families, this is what I'm questioning for us as a country.
Is there such thing as unemployment health insurance in TX?
I don't have a job but I want health insurance. I live in Houston, TX. What is my best approach to this problem? (other than getting a job that has insurance)""
Im considering getting a bmw m3 e36 as my first car how much does it cost and where can i find one in Canada?
also how does insurance cost and is it a good idea to get it as a first car or should i get a integra gsr or civic si
Car insurance question no claims bonus?
so, i went onto the website with the annoying singing fat man, got a reasonable quote for my classic car, declared all cars in my household, one of which is a company car with 2 years NCB. Paid the deposit and remainder was to be paid monthly by direct debit. After a couple of weeks now they've written to me wanting proof of the NCB I stated, wanting details of the previous insurance and policy number. So, I email them (as they stated in the letter that this would be the quickest way to resolve and avoid having my policy cancelled) saying the NCB was on company insurance rather than another private insurance which i think they assume I have (the option on NCB on the website included NCB on company cars), no response to my email, so I send another, now I've had a red coloured letter threatening cancellation of my insurance unless I provide the information. Tried phoning and it's either constantly engaged or answer phone. Emailed for a third and final time and put a copy of the email in the post with no response. I feel I have been totally mislead by assuming I have NCB on my company car policy, so, should they decide to cancel my policy can I get my deposit and 1st month's payment back? Citizens advice has told me that the policy was misleading and was not as described so I should be due a refund but how can I expect to get this if I cannot contact them? HELP and advice please!""
What is the minimum required age to get an insurance liscense in California.?
To get a license to sell life insurance in the state of California.
Car insurance question?
If I am driving a company truck and lets say I got a ticket.. will my car insurance go up.. even though I am driving a company truck that is insured by the company..
Where to get temporary Health insurance for US Expats having a short visit to the U.S.?
Hi, we are U.S. citizens whose permanent residence is outside the U.S. We have health insurance in the country we reside, but unfortunately that does not cover us outside of the country. We are having a short visit to the U.S. for less than one month and would like to get some basic health insurance for our family. So far, most travel insurance I have found does not cover for travel in a country you are a citizen of (so ironically, we so far have had no luck getting travel insurance for the U.S., since we are U.S. citizens.) Therefore we are in a bit of a quandary. A) we only need insurance for a month and B) we don't need much more than something that covers for emergent or emergency care (i.e. something relatively inexpensive.) Please advise if you have ideas or experience on where we can get insurance.""
Why is it that girls can get cheap insurance?
i passed my test a year now payed a grand for my insurance at first then had to another one as it ran out and had gone down to 400. my bf has been driving for 4 years now and his insurance on his car is 2 grand just for fun he put into see how much it would cost to me to drive his car and came up as a grand lol he was really peed off lol his car is a 1.8 t and mine is a 1l corsa 53 plate and for fun again he went ot see how much i was for him on my car it was a grand lol. how come girls can get it soooooo cheap. so next year am getting my golf gti mk4. am sick of having my slow corsa.
Car accident with no insurance?
I was stopped at a red light behind two cars. Both cars started to go and so did I the next thing I knew I had hit the car in front of me. The car in front of me hit the car in front of him. We all pulled over my car isnt to bad but I drive a suburban, the car in front of me was a smaller car so his looked a little worse. Nobody was hurt, and all cars were drivable, so we decided to not call the police we just all exchanged information. After we had finished and they left I immediately called my insurance lady to let her know what happened. I am not super clear on this next part, we have been going back and forth with our insurance since that call and will continue to fight it. When I called the insurance lady she said I wasnt covered. She said that they had received the last payment much later than it was due (not sure how because it was mailed the same time as always) but because of that our insurance had been cancelled. A couple of weeks ago they had chased our check, she said we were reinstated as of yesterday (the day of the accident) but because it was the same day they werent liable to pay the damages. We are going to keep fighting them because I dont think its fair. Even if they decide that they wont pay we can afford to just pay for the damages to the rear end of the car in front of us, because know matter what happened I am at fault for following to close. We cant afford to pay out of our pocket also for his front end and the rear end of the first car. Shouldnt those damages be covered by the car I hit because he was obviously following to close to the car in front of him? Im a little freaked out with all this, this is the first accident I have ever been in and we have always had insurance, so we thought. The insurance company did say they mailed us a cancellation notice but if they did we have never received one.""
How to convince parents to let me have auto insurance?
I've had my license for a little over three months now. However, I have no insurance, and therefore cannot drive (in California). Their reasoning is that I am an unsafe driver which I disagree with because I quite easily passed my driving test at the DMV and always think before I do anything when I drive. However, they seem firm on their decision... It's a bit frustrating having my license for so long but still being unable to drive. I'm tired of having to always ask friends for a ride or my parents; I just want a taste of independence. Of course, I'm not trying to be too arrogant or stubborn, I've respected my parent's decision, it's just bugging me a bit now haha. I offered to do a six-month plan instead of a year plan since I'm heading off to college in Septemberish. I'm about to turn 18 in a couple weeks also. Does anyone have any advice?""
Car insurance helpp!!?
Do you have to be over the age of 21 to be able to drive someone else's car on your own insurance policy, if that car has insurance and your are given permission by the driver. It states on my policy that i can but have herd multiple times that you must be over 21. Im with Co-Op. Thanks.""
How can we get health care to be more affordable?
55,000 to 100,000+ got an appendectomy is just too much for the average person with a savings under 2,000 ...show more""
Which insurance covers hymenactomy? ?
hi i want to know which insurance covers hymenactomy? i want to know if someone had it done and was covered by insurance and if so which one? i dont have one right now and i dont want to get one that will give me problems with covering the payments. thanks .
Car insurance question...?
-I'm 15 going on 16 and I have an insurance question. Should there be a need for my name to be on my parents insurance on our car if the car itself is already insured? -Is it ok for your car to be insured without you being insured? Because its kind of
Getting insurance under my name?
I currently live in NJ. I'm planning on switching insurance companies and i would like to put it under my name. I'm currently under my dad's policy and he is the owner of the car. But, for me to get my own insurance, i need to transfer to title under my name. But, it says that you need proof of insurance before you can transfer the title. Is my dad's insurance (which is the current insurance for the car) good enough for proof?""
Will police know if your car insurance policy has been cancelled?
Paying my car insurance is my number one priority but after being unemployed for 2 months and finally starting a job, I can't pay my next bill. I called my insurance company and got a 15 day extension but I start my new job on Monday so I might not be able to pay the bill. If my proof of Insurance says it ends in August and I missed July's payment and the insurance is cancelled, can a police officer find out? Again, I am not asking because I want to skip out on my insurance. I have run out of funds and I am starting a new job on Monday. Also, if it matters, I live in Michigan.""
""Which costs more, Motorcycle insurance or Car insurance ?
I just got my Drivers License earlier this second quarter and I'm going for my motorcycle within the next month or two. My birthday is in February and I am currently 23 years of age.
Help finding a car insurance quote?
I'm doing a project for my economics class where I have to pretend to be a 22 year old living on my own and make a monthly budget for myself. I have to find a car insurance and health insurance quote, but everywhere I search asks for personal information and has to search through my records and credit to give me the right quote. I'm only 17 so they wouldn't find anything on me. I need it for a 22 year old making 27,000 a year. Please help me! 10 points to the best answer :)""
Is there a big jump in insurance between a 600cc sports bike and 650cc?
I see a lot of bikes that are 600cc, and I'm trying to keep insurance cost down. I have been stuck on Kawasaki because it seems there models have the best gas mileage an comfortable seating positions. The 250r is just out of the question, even though I'm a first time rider. I'm 35 years old and do not plan on racing, but i also don't want to be stuck with a 250cc bike when i purchase, as I plan on keeping whatever I buy. I'm looking at the Kawasaki ZZR600 and the Ninja 650, but not sure if the insurance will be that much of a difference from 600cc to 650cc.""
How much does insurance for eighteen wheeler in California?
How much does insurance for eighteen wheeler in California?
How much will my car insurance go up when i have passed my driving test?
I am a 17 year old girl. I am on diamond car insurance and for a provisional insurance for a year it costs 850. Does anyone know how much it will go up?
Why is my insurance quote 10 times higher than last year?
So, i got my motorcycle license last summer and bought a 2003 Kawasaki ZX6R for $5000. My insurance from Progressive was $1700 for the year (full coverage). I rode it for two months before it got stolen. In those two months i got one ticket for straddling lanes. Once the bike got stolen i got all my money back. Now, I'm looking to get the same bike again. I just called Progressive and they want $6056 per year for full coverage!!!! And if i were to buy a brand new 2007 model it would be $10000!! So, $6056 for a $5000 bike? And $10000 for a $9000 bike? What gives? One ticket and the theft did this? I don't get it. What are my options?""
Carr insurance with 2 years clean driving record?
I am planning to buy a used car my Driver liscence is 2 years old with a clean driving record i am wondering will i have to pay a lot of insurance or just minimal based on my record and DL. Please suggest which is a cheap insurance option
""Car wreck, how much is the insurance going to give me?""
I got into a car wreck sometime this month of May. It wasn't my fault, the guy made an early turn and hit me. My car and his car are now totaled. I was wondering how much money the insurance will give me on the newer car...? By the way, I have a 1995 Honda Accord Ex and its now totaled. I just wanna know how much they will pay me back? And I have insurace, but not full coverage.""
Is Bluecrossca a good medical insurance company?
is Bluecrossca a good medical insurance company?how much it charged in a year?is there any health insurance company better?anybody gets any suggestion?
Car insurance quote help.?
So this is personal, but I'm going to be emancipated soon or at least when I turn 18, and I'm going to be living in my car or possibly renting at a friends house for around $100. I'm not made of money, I only have a weekend part time job and another one possibly soon. I'm a full time high school student with a GPA of 2.6 and I'll turn 18 in November. I know that my GPA isn't stellar but last semester I made a 4.0 and this semester I'll have at least a 3.4. I can't get a STUPID QUOTE because I'm not 18 yet and I tried fibbing my age, but it was wise to me and shut me out anyway. I live in Marietta, GA (Cobb County), and I drive a 2000 Buick regal. If someone could run a quote for me I would be sooo greatful. Also, do you have to have an address to put down like a house to have car insurance? Thanks!""
Car & Health Insurance?
Mary Jo, I guess what I'm trying to say, is that not enough people make enough money to afford both. They can find jobs, but none that carry health insurance. But for them to go to work, they have to pay car insurance. That we as a society demand our vehicles have insurance instead of ourselves and our families, this is what I'm questioning for us as a country.
""With regards to auto insurance, what does having a deductable mean?""
For example, if I have a $500 deductable, what exactly does that mean when claiming from insurance?""
How much is the average annual amount for a sport(crotch rocket) motorcycle insurance?
How much is the average annual amount for a sport(crotch rocket) motorcycle insurance?
Should I get car insurance in my name or parents?
I'm 16. A lot of people are telling my parents to get my car insurance in their name and not tell them i'm the primary driver because it will be so much cheaper. Does that mean if I get in my first wreck they won't cover it or they'll just raise it after?
Will my insurance cover a stolen rental car that I loaned to someone?
I have a great insurance company, but I don't even know if ANY insurance company would cover this. I rented a car with my neighbor (i.e. we agreed to split it), but I'm the ...show more""
How much would i pay for car insurance? Estimate?
I know that it depends on a lot of factors but can you estimate how much i would pay for car insurance on a monthly basis - I am 18 years old - will be driving either a 1999 or 2000 model - will be attending college after the summer - clear background - this will be my first car - I live in a very wired and exotic place called MARYLAND
Should i be mad at my husband or his mother?
my husband gave his entire paycheck to his mother to pay her bills, She had a bunch of vet bills, her other sons (hes 30ish and has a job w/ insurance) medical bills, and a 1000.00 dollar tattoo, but couldnt pay her bills. our house payment was due and now i cant pay it cause he gave her all this money? also he chewed me out cause i started crying when he told me he did this. Help plese what should i do. p.s we have 3 small children that this could have helped out for food and stuff liek that.""
I just got into a car accident Please HELP insurance rate?
It's my fault. I rear ended him. My car is old and probably not worth repairing, smashed radiator, bumper, lights. The damage to my car is awful but his was very light, just his rear bumper yet an onlooker said bumpers cost a lot, maybe $800. Should I get my insurance company involved or pay this huge (for me) amount via a check to him directly? I've been a driver for two years only and I'm 30yrs old. If I reported it to my insurance company how much would my insurance go up? Let's pretend my insurance is a nice round number of $100 a month.How much would it affect my rate? Also what are deductables??? Please write an answer instead of sending me to some advertisement type link. Please help!""
How much will my car insurance cost?
I know that this is a vague question, but I was just curious as to what the average amount would be? I'm 16 years old about to be a new driver. I have a used red 2000 Jeep Cherokee if that matters. I'm female and live in Rhode Island.""
Young Drivers Car Insurance In London?
Hey there, i live in a area that gets me pretty high quotes for an 18 year old.. Well my dad's purchasing a car and i asked if he could insure me on it too and he agreed to this but i've gotta find a decent insurer first.. I mean i'm getting quotes such as 3,000 a year that's pretty high for a 01 plate corsa.. I was just asking for people with experience on maybe any ways i can reduce this price.. Maybe a really cheap insurer you know? or any help would be appreciated if you know the situation i'm in. Thanks!!""
""My car insurance, can i still pay monthly?!?! HELP!?""
my car insurance got cancelled because I missed two payments but, I always gave it to them on the same day I missed it. Anyways, I cannot afford to pay the full amount up front! its $2000! I need to pay month to month! does anyone know a car insurance company that will do this for me? I live in Canada so I need a reference for here.""
""If you have your learner's permit, do you need car insurance?""
If you have your learner's permit, do you need car insurance?""
I need affordable and reliable health insurance. 23 yrs old.?
hi I am a 23 year old foreign student currently studying in the US in a student visa..I am thinking about getting an affordable health insurance that covers emergencies and any sudden diseases that might occur in future.. also may be a yearly doctor visit etc.. i do not need dental.. i just want to make sure i am covered in case of emergency.. i am just a student and do not have a stable job so i cant afford a lot.. i have heard about medicare and medicaid but they are not for foreign nationals.. i have also heard about blue cross blue shield i was thinking about going with them but what do you guys think?? and what should be the monthly price?? thank you in advance .. no advertisements or spam please!!
""Will the USA one day have affordable, comprehensive health insurance for all its citizens?""
Will this be a reality one day soon? Other countries have it, and they have maintained their systems for generations now. Why not the USA?""
Who are affordable auto insurance carriers in southern california?
Who are affordable auto insurance carriers in southern california?
Health insurance? For a 20 year old?
Hi I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for getting cheap health insurance. How are people paying for this, I was quoted at $140 a month! I have Never had any serious problem No broken bones and I've only had 3 prescriptions in my life! I only make $1,100 a month and with rent bills food and gas $140 extra is A LOT for me! Could you give me a good company? I really don't want to be fined in January, this is crazy! Also I was denied by Covered California because they said my household makes to much, I live on my moms property but is still pay rent/internet/electricity. How could I get around this for covered California? Please help me understand this better and if you have a link to a good cheap insurance company please let me know, Thank You""
What cheap/affordable/good health insurance company?
what cheap/affordable/good health insurance company?
Best Florida homeowners insurance? Specifically Ft. Lauderdale area?
I am in charge of finding a new home insurance company for my boss to use since State Farm will be dropping their South Florida people. Any suggestions? Who have all you South Floridians had an excellent experience with as far as rates, service, and coverage? Thanks.""
What is the best Life Insurance company?
I'd like to get my mom some life insurance as she just turned 61. I'd like to know the cheapest/legit place to get life insurance for her. Any suggestions?
About how much would my USAA auto insurance cost?
I am 16 and I will be getting my license... I passed drivers ed and get good grades I wanted to get a quote but the USAA website wanted me to give info such as social security and etc, and I do not feel comfortable giving that info. Can anyone tell me a rough estimate of what my auto insurance might cost per month? how much extra will my parents pay a month and how much my car insurance would be? just a rough estimate""
Selling a car with no insurance?
I am selling my car but have already cancelled my insurance policy. Can a potential buyer test drive my car on their insurance or does my car have to be insured separately?
Cheap car insurance?
where can i get cheap car insurance 4 a young driver on a fiat punto?? pleasssss(in the uk)
Will 3 points increase my car insurance by much?
if so how much? Is it very bad to get 3 points?
I broke my phone will my insurance cover it?
i threw my phone t-mobile sidekick lx and the screen broke will my insurance cover it?
How much would my insurance be?
I'm thinking about buying a 2000 Dodge Intrepid R/T. I'm trying to determine if I have the money, though, and I'm not sure how much my insurance would be. I'm an 18 year old female, I'm a student and I work part-time, and I have a squeaky-clean driving record. Can somebody please give me an estimate of how much my car insurance payments would be? Thanks!""
Can Racing Seats lower Car Insurance?
If you have a car that has no airbags and you put in Racing seats with a 4-point safety harness would that lower the payments?
Car & Health Insurance?
Mary Jo, I guess what I'm trying to say, is that not enough people make enough money to afford both. They can find jobs, but none that carry health insurance. But for them to go to work, they have to pay car insurance. That we as a society demand our vehicles have insurance instead of ourselves and our families, this is what I'm questioning for us as a country.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/missouri-unemployment-insurance-rate-2015-dylan-ruiz/"
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The Chase Files Daily Newscap 5/15/2018
Good Morning #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Tuesay, 15th May 2018. Remember that you can read full articles via subscribing to Nation News Online, purchasing a Daily Nation Newspaper (DN), via Barbados Today (BT) or Barbados Government Information Services (BGIS).
MIA’S PLAN WON’T FLY – Former Prime Minister Owen Arthur says it is highly unlikely that a Barbados Labour Party (BLP) Government would be able fulfil many of its campaign promises, including one its signature plans to reinstate free tertiary education, if it goes to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In fact, Arthur, who is a trained economist and former Minister of Finance for 14 years, warned today that instead of a repeal of tuition payments instituted by the current Democratic Labour Party (DLP) led administration, Barbadian students attending the University of the West Indies could be asked to pay both tuition and economic costs. “I don’t think the Fund is going to support the payment of tuition fees for university education in Barbados. In fact, I think that the situation has gotten so bad [with the economy] that if you go to the Fund now, having just exhausted every opportunity, the Fund may tell the Government that they can no longer pay the economic cost,” Arthur told reporters during a press conference at Barbados TODAY’s, Manor Lodge, St Michael office this morning. Arthur, who has been persistently recommending over the past two years ago that the island enters into a formal programme with the Washington-based IMF to stop the free fall of Barbados’ foreign reserves, argued that with the reserves now at $423 million, 5.1 weeks under the recommended 12 weeks of import cover, Barbadians should brace themselves for a no frills, rough ride under any programme agreed to with the Fund. In 2014, amid serious economic challenges, the DLP implemented its decision for students attending the UWI to pay 20 per cent of their tuition costs, in effort to save Government $35 million per year. The move has resulted in hardship for many Barbadian students who have been forced to drop out of the tertiary institution. However, last year at her party’s 79th annual conference, Mottley gave the commitment that a BLP Government would immediately repeal the DLP’s decision if elected in the upcoming poll. This pledge has since made its way into the BLP’s 70-page manifesto released last week ahead of the May 24 poll, which also includes proposals for the abolition of road tax, removal of the National Social Responsibility Levy (NSRL), an increase in non-contributory old age pensions and an across-the-board pay hike or cost of living allowance for Government workers within the next three to six months. During last Thursday’s BLP manifesto launch, Mottley also proclaimed that she was not afraid to go to the IMF if that were required to turn the ailing Barbados economy around. However this morning, Arthur, who has had a hand in drafting Grenada’s successful IMF programme, argued that if Mottley were seriously considering the IMF as an option, it was a contradiction to speak of “lofty giveaways”. The trained economist contended that the BLP’s promises were geared at winning an election but had not accounted for the reality of running a Government, which “likely has no option, but to go the Fund”. “If you go to the Fund, you cannot feel as though it is a bed of roses,” Arthur cautioned, pointing out that “when [former Prime Minister] Erskine Sandiford went to the Fund in 1991 the choice was between devaluation or cut public sector wages by eight per cent. “A new Government is not going to be able to cut wages because the Constitution now prevents that, but they would take the IMF’s money on the understanding that they would restore external and internal stability,” he said. “That would mean accepting policies that would restore your reserves by US$500 million over a five year period,” Arthur explained. However, he said “the problem is that Government gives a lot transfers so that state services can be maintained, such as free services at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and free secondary education. Those transfers are going to have to be adjusted under the IMF,” he said. The former Prime Minister therefore suggested that Government would need to implement a combination of means testing, privatization of some state assets and tax incentives to encourage persons to save for health and education. (BT)
NOT ME! – Former Prime Minister Owen Arthur is making it clear that he had absolutely nothing to do with any major tax write-offs for either the father of Barbados Labour Party (BLP) leader Mia Mottley, or for Barclays Bank. The just-retired St Peter representative issued the clear-the-air statement today while joining with Prime Minister Freundel Stuart in calling on Mottley to give full account of both dubious financial transactions, which reportedly occurred as soon as he turned his back and left the country when the BLP last held office. Addressing a Democratic Labour Party (DLP) meeting last night, Stuart dropped the bombshell news as questions continue to swirl around an alleged meeting between Mottley and Nigerian billionaire Benedict Peters. He called on the BLP leader to give account of millions of dollars in tax waivers, which reportedly occurred under the last BLP administration, including a near half million-dollar write-off to her dad. “Elliott Deighton Mottley had two judgments lodged against him for monies due and owing to the Income Tax Department upwards of $1 million. In 1998, I walked in the Registry one morning and everyone had frowns on their faces. They were saying that here it is that we have to pay our taxes but yet over $400,000 of that tax obligation was being written off by the Owen Arthur administration,” Stuart told the DLP meeting at Carlisle House car park, The City. The Prime Minister however sought to distance his BLP predecessor from the dubious transaction, explaining that while Arthur had denied the request for the write-off, it was granted as soon as he left the country. “My most diligent enquiries revealed that the matter had been raised with Arthur and he said under no condition could that write-off be given, but as soon as he turned his back and travelled overseas, it happened,” Stuart claimed, adding that “there was a certain stage in Arthur’s incumbency that he was afraid to go as far as St Vincent because he did not know what he would find when he returned”. While calling on Mottley, who acted as prime minister in Arthur’s absence from the island, to reveal who was behind the decision, the DLP leader also charged that in 2002, during the merger of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and Barclays, a circumvention by a member of the then Arthur Cabinet had cost the country $87 million in property transfer tax and stamp duty. This morning Arthur said he was both disappointed and surprised to learn of the write-off for Sir Elliott, which he said should be criminally investigated since approval for such waivers needed to be given by both Cabinet and Parliament. “I am in a position to say that Mottley’s father would have applied to me for a waiver of the tax and it was truly outrageous for Elliott Mottley, with a daughter in Cabinet, to apply to me to waive that kind of tax for him,” the former Prime Minister explained, while stressing that no approval was given by him. Though stating that he did not know on whose authority the waiver was granted, Arthur suggested that there would have had to have been “a conspiracy to defraud the Treasury because a Minister of Finance said no to the tax waiver”. The former prime minister, who served between 1994 and 2008, also said had he been aware of the write-off, the perpetrator would have been fired. He also said he was equally unaware of the circumstances under which the Barclays waiver was granted, explaining that he had recused himself from that transaction due to the fact that he was shareholder in CIBC. However, in support of another disclosure made by Stuart last night, Arthur confirmed that he was being enticed by current BLP leader Mia Mottley, as well as political strategist Hartley Henry and a prime minister from another Caribbean Community country to sign the Petrocaribe oil deal with Venezuela in exchange for campaign financing from then Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. “The purpose of the meeting was to get me to agree to go to Venezuela to meet Hugo Chavez to arrange to get campaign financing for the Barbados Labour Party on condition that I would change the position that I held as Prime Minister of Barbados on Petrocaribe,” Arthur said. All CARICOM member states with the exception of Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados signed on to the Petrocaribe framework agreement back in June 2005, which allows countries to purchase oil on a delayed payment system. Arthur, who held a press conference this morning at Barbados TODAY’s Manor Lodge, St Michael office, said there was a record of the meeting in question. “The meeting was held at a house with Hartley Henry and the Prime Minister of the Caribbean country. Mr Stuart is in a position to speak to it because I called in the Venezuelan ambassador, so there is a record. “I also briefed my deputy Dale Marshall. I refused to go because there was no circumstance under which I was going to agree to surrender Barbados’ foreign policy for a campaign contribution. So the Barbados Labour Party had to do without that funding that year,” said Arthur, who revealed that the offer was in the millions of dollars. (BT)
DON’T MIND THE BLP CRITICS SAYS MASCOLL – Barbados Labour Party (BLP) economic advisor Clyde Mascoll is proposing that Government makes it mandatory for the hotel sector to pay a tax in foreign exchange in order to help shore up the island’s struggling international reserves. The economist put forward the idea on Monday as he stoutly defended the BLP’s plan to restructure the country’s debt while removing the National Social Responsibility Levy, scrapping the road tax for a tax at the pumps, and reducing the Value Added Tax (VAT) from 17.5 per cent back to 15 per cent after two years, should that party form the next Government after the May 24 general election. In its recently released manifesto, the BLP said it would also increase non-contributory pension, a plan which critics, including former Prime Minister Owen Arthur have dismissed as “pie in the sky” and “madness” that could force the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) into bankruptcy. However, taking part in a Barbados Economic Society (BES) forum today at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on Plans for Economic Adjustment: Post General Election, Mascoll insisted that the BLP’s proposals were sound. “The notion that a policymaker would seek to bankrupt the NIS or seek to advise a Government with such recklessness is unfounded,” said Mascoll, while insisting that there was need for the tax system to be simplified, and anyone who did not understand the proposal of replacing the road tax with a tax at the pumps “must be someone who doesn’t want to listen”. Mascoll said in addition to the proposed changes in taxes, Government would also have to address the high debt and falling reserves through “a mixture of defensive attacks”. “We are proposing that there has to be some kind of reform, simplification of the tax system in a way that permits us to not only defend, but to attack,” he said, adding that the most sustainable way for growth in the economy would also require capital expenditure by Government and private sector investment. The university lecturer suggested that Government makes legislative changes in an effort to make hoteliers pay a tax in foreign currency, pointing out that there was speculation that the country was not getting enough of the earnings from the sector. “The taxation in tourism can be rejigged and altered in such a way that you ask or make the hoteliers pay a tax in foreign exchange. If there is a room tax on a hotel, the tourist pays that tax. A VAT should not discriminate,” he said. “What could be so wrong in asking the hoteliers to pay some of their tax in the form of foreign exchange. What will happen is that money then goes directly to the Central Bank through the Treasury. So you don’t have to wait until a commercial bank feels its okay to sell the Central Bank,” the former Central Bank employee said. He questioned why Government was reporting that the tourism sector was performing “extremely well”, but at the same time saying that global economic environment was “responsible for our plight”. “I have been trying to figure this out now for a decade. How it is that the external environment is responsible for Barbados’ bad position, but yet still tourism is growing. I have not yet been able to reason it out,” Mascoll said. In his presentation, leader of Solutions Barbados Grenville Phillips II warned that the country was on the brink of economic ruin, while insisting that it was a result of mismanagement on the part of successive Democratic Labour Party and BLP administrations. Highlighting the country’s high debt, and “excessive” borrowing by the last administration, Phillips suggested that if Government wanted to go to the IMF for assistance it should have done so “no later than 2009 when people still had sufficient savings to cushion the foreseen austerity”. He said three years ago Solutions Barbados had published its “non-austerity option” that would provide the island with “a surplus in our first year”, adding that it was independently assessed and deemed “workable”. Phillips said that economic plan did not require debt restructuring, but without giving details, said it would call for addressing “the structural issues in the economy”, “without laying off a single civil servant [and] without reducing any of their salaries”. It would also include the “elimination” of the VAT. However, Mascoll dismissed the plan, saying it was “voodoo economics” because it was impossible to realize a surplus without the VAT, which was one of Government’s most significant revenue earning measures. “I heard some voodoo economics earlier that you can get rid of a billion dollars in VAT and still have a surplus and there is no austerity. I need to find which planet I can go to in order to understand that economics,” said Mascoll. (BT)
MARSHALL SEES SOME VALUE IN BLP PLAN – At least one senior academic is not about to entirely dismiss the Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) highly criticized manifesto. Though warning that political parties had to be careful not to engage in any bait-and-switch schemes as they seek to entice the electorate to vote for them in the May 24 general election, Director and Senior Fellow at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute Dr Don Marshall told Barbados TODAY he felt that some aspects of the BLP’s plan were workable, while others just required a little bit of rejigging. “So I think a little tweaking here or there would suffice to make it more realistic,” Marshall said. During its manifesto launch on Thursday night in Kingsland, Christ Church, BLP economic advisor Clyde Mascoll explained that the party would abolish road tax and make it a requirement for vehicle owners to pay a small tax on gas. He also said that it was the BLP’s plan to increase non-contributory pension, remove tuition fees for Barbadians studying at the University of the West Indies (UWI), remove the National Social Responsibility Levy (NSRL), and reduce the Value Added Tax (VAT) from 17.5 per cent back to 15 per cent, should that party form the next Government. Reacting to the news today, Marshall told Barbados TODAY the planned removal of the NSRL was not a good strategy and since Government still needed to raise revenue, reprofiling the country’s debt was simply not enough. “I think if the Barbados Labour Partybecomes the Government it would do well to use the confidence provided by a new mandate, to think through the tax strategy that in the short-term would not lessen what we are currently taking in. I don’t think it needs to go towards a bait-and-switch strategy to woo voters. I think Barbadians are well advised and appreciate the need to bring in some revenue. There may be some ease in one or two areas, but certainly . . . abolishing the NSRL, that is not a good strategy,” Marshall insisted. The international political economist said while the plan to remove tuition fees for Barbadians studying at the UWI seemed attractive, it could do with some alteration. “The tuition fee could be a useful strategy. You could engage in a conversation of students paying back afterwards . . . . [It] would be to suggest restoring the full 100 per cent, but asking students to pay upon completion of their degree, the fees they are currently asked to pay, before starting their programmes,” he explained. Marshall however suggested that whichever administration forms the next Government “it will be a point for them to meet with key personnel from the United Progressive Party and Solutions Barbados to discuss plans on the way forward”. “I don’t think any of the leaders of the parties could pretend that they have all the answers, nor do I think they would want to appoint International Monetary Fund officials to do the imagining for them,” he said, while cautioning that the public sector should be repurposed before any attempt to cut expenditure. (BT)
LOWE: MORE FISCAL MEASURES NEEDED – The need for more fiscal measures will not vanish after next week’s General Election, says Barbados Economic Society (BES) president Shane Lowe. Speaking yesterday at a national economic debate hosted by the BES and the Chartered Financial Analysts Society of Barbados at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Lowe said: “Given the need to boost capital works to enhance physical infrastructure and few sources of financing, a new administration will need to cut current expenditure and/or raise tax revenues more than the existing fiscal gap to sustainably balance the budget and provide enough room to finance necessary infrastructure upgrades.” The bad news, he added, was that “more austerity could further slow growth of the Barbadian economy unless private sector investment rebounds”. “Thus, improved conditions for doing business and the courage to facilitate innovation in new and exciting economic sectors are necessary to enable economic recovery,” he said. Lowe also said that “without substantial growth in financial inflows, planned debt service payments will likely further reduce the stock of foreign exchange reserves”. Participating in the debate, United Progressive Party spokesman Bruce Hennis said his party’s strategy for the economy would focus on the export of creative services. “The net effect is to become an export-led, highly innovative, high growth economy where we are earning foreign exchange and having a high level of growth within the economy itself,” he said. Solutions Barbados leader Grenville Phillips II said his party, if elected, would address structural issues affecting the economy. “We have costed our proposals, [and we] would run a surplus without laying off a single civil servant, without reducing any salaries and while we eliminate [value added tax] . . . . There would be no austerity,” he said. (DN)
CHRIS: I WILL NOT BE BULLIED - How Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler will respond to threats to sue him unless he withdraws “defamatory statements” by today is unclear. His lawyers are dealing with the matter, the Democratic Labour Party’s (DLP) candidate said yesterday, as he declined to comment on the issue involving Nigerian billionaire Benedict Peters, who it has now been confirmed was in Barbados in 2016. On Sunday night during the DLP mass meeting at Carlisle Car Park, The City, Sinckler revealed that Queen’s Counsel Leslie Haynes had sent him a letter accusing him of defaming Peters, the founder of the Aiteo Group, at the DLP’s launch meeting at Waterford, St Michael, on May 6. The letter stated: “In particular, you alleged that my client met with ‘the leadership of the Barbados Labour Party at the Hilton Hotel’ and the said leadership was seeking to get money from my client. You further suggested that my client was ‘funneling money into the Barbados elections just like the Russians were putting money in the American elections’. You categorically stated that ‘Nigerian money is trying to influence the outcome of the election’, clearly suggesting that my client is the source of such money. “Most egregiously, you made references to Boko Haram, a notoriously renowned Islamic terrorist organisation, and so interspersed references to my client by name as to suggest that he is involved with that organisation.” He listed and denied the allegations in the letter. “In their natural, ordinary and innuendo meanings, your words mean and were understood to mean that:
(a) My client is seeking improperly to influence the outcome of the 2018 General Elections;
(b) He is providing large sums of money to the Barbados Labour Party for the purpose of influencing the outcome of the said elections;
(c) He is associated with a terrorist organisation;
(d) He is a criminal or has criminal propensities and/or is associated with Boko Haram, an Islamic terrorist organisation that kidnaps schoolgirls;
(e) He is anti-democracy and is prepared to use his money for the improper purpose of influencing the outcome of elections. “The words used by you are completely false, baseless and malicious. They constitute a serious and grave defamation of my client personally and professionally. They have caused my client great hurt, distress and international embarrassment.” Peters’ name first came to light when Sinckler said he visited Barbados and met with Mottley, which Sinckler questioned. On Sunday night the first tangible evidence of Peters’ presence on the island came to light with the letter. “He [Peters] instructs me that he met with Ms Mottley while on a family vacation in Barbados and the two discussed global affairs and investment opportunities in Barbados and the wider Caribbean. Furthermore, that since that meeting, back in September of 2016, he has not met with or had any contact with Ms Mottley or any member of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP). “Indeed, he does not today have a phone number, email address nor other direct contact information for Ms Mottley or any member of the leadership of the BLP, and has definitely not contributed, in cash or kind, to the campaign of the BLP, neither before nor since that meeting in September 2016,” the letter stated. That part prompted Sinckler to query why Peters didn’t meet with Government officials. The letter concluded: “I call upon you on or before 15 May 2018, to withdraw and retract the defamatory statements and their imputations made by you and apologise to my client in terms to be approved by me, for your defamation of him. “If you do not comply with the demands in the preceding paragraph, please be advised that my client will forthwith take such action against you as he may be advised, including commencing proceedings in the High Court of Barbados for damages, an injunction and legal costs. In the meantime, my client reserves all his rights in this matter.” Sinckler tore up the copy of the letter and said he would not be bullied into silence. “I born here, my navel string bury here, and nobody can come from Nigeria and try to bully me,” he declared. (DN)
SINCKLER PRESENTS CONSTITUENCY MANIFESTO – Chris Sinckler formally presented his manifesto to constituents in St Michael North West tonight while proclaiming he had ten years of strong parliamentary representation. Waving the booklet Ten Years Strong at the platform mounted at Free Hill, Black Rock, St Michael, Sinckler said that over the course of his two terms 18 roads had been repaired or new ones constructed. He also invoked the name of his predecessor Lawson Weekes, the longest-serving member of Parliament for the area and in whose name the branch developed a scholarship programme. Sinckler said out of that programme hundreds of children benefited and some received school supplies. He responded to comments about his giving away iPads, televisions and other devices by pointing out that his staff solicited the items from others. He said last Christmas the office gave away 750 hampers in the constituency and held a 1000-strong Christmas party. "When you have the best you don't worry about the rest. We are not going back. I ask humbly for your continued support," he concluded. His presentation was followed by candidates James Paul, Steve Blackett and Michael Carrington who praised Sinckler and encouraged the members of the constituency to re-elect him. (DN)
INCE: DLP HELPS POOR PEOPLE – Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate for St George North Jepter Ince said he was surprised that John King, Barbados Labour Party (BLP) candidate for St Philip West, decided to join the BLP when he and his family are supposedly strong DLP supporters. Ince was the first speaker at a DLP meeting at St Patrick’s, Christ Church. He added that the DLP is always selected as the party of choice to bring the country out of a crossroads. He said that history shows that the DLP, especially during the oil crisis of 1974 to 76, helped poor people put food on the table. (DN)
BLP TACKLES ISSUES IN VILLA ROAD – The Barbados Labour Party mounted one of its platforms in Villa Road, Brittons Hill, St Michael tonight. Among those speaking was incumbent for St James Central Kerrie Symmonds who produced a 2012 letter which he claimed was from Preconco’s managing director Mark Maloney to the director of the National Housing Corporation. In that letter, Symmonds said Maloney asked government to let him complete housing units with tiles and kitchen components before putting them on the market. Symmonds suggested this was evidence that the Democratic Labour Party-led government was prepared to rent incomplete units to people. Meanwhile, candidate for St Michael South Central Marsha Caddle said there needed to be a greater look at how young people are handled in the judicial system. She said a BLP government would look at controversial acts such as the recently amended Police Act and possibly have them repealed. Also speaking was party leader Mia Mottley who announced the BLP would be engaging in a National First Job Initiative in order to give young people the chance to learn on the job. (DN)
NO SOLUTION – Do not entertain the International Monetary Fund (IMF)! That advice has come from Solutions Barbados’ candidate for St Philip South Ronald Lorde, who has warned that any relationship entered with that financial institution would lead to the downfall of Barbados. “I remember hearing one of the parties currently on a quest to become the next Government saying they have not ruled out the IMF, but I want you to rule them out. “Be sure that they are not your next Government. I want you to ensure that Solutions Barbados is the next Government because our tax policies, our policy on education, our policy on agriculture and energy will ensure a better Barbados for us all,” Lorde said during a spot meeting at Country View Estates Recreational Park in St Patrick’s, Christ Church yesterday evening. His comments come in the wake of a pronouncement made last Thursday by the leader of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) Mia Mottley that she is not afraid to go to the IMF route if that were required to turn the ailing Barbados economy around. Unveiling her party’s manifesto at Kingsland, Christ Church ahead of the May 24 general elections, Mottley, who is confident of winning, said while such a decision could only be made after an assessment of the true state of the economy, she was prepared to make the tough call if she had to. “I said it before that we would do whatever is necessary, that is legal and moral, to rescue this country. Does that mean going to the IMF? It may, we don’t know. But when we get the results in the first few days [of taking office], we will be able to make the judgement,” Mottley said, while pointing out that Barbados had gone to the IMF before and that each time it had done so, the economy rebounded. “The IMF was set up for purposes such as this and that is why you heard [former Prime Minister] Owen Arthur in Parliament months ago talking about it; that is why you heard of Tom Adams going in 1981 and Erskine Sandiford going to the Fund and each time, Barbados came out of it. The IMF is not the only way, but it allows us the confidence to deal with partners and capital markets,” Mottley explained. However, Lorde cautioned that “if we wait or depend on the IMF, which obviously means an increase in debt, it means a further stranglehold around our necks. “It means we are going to struggle a little more, it means that we are going to have to do without the things which we so love. It means we are going hand in glove to somebody else who will determine our own future when I believe as a country we need to determine our own future.” Also addressing the Country View meeting, the St Michael South candidate for Solutions Barbados Paul Gibson dismissed as “an open book”, the BLP’s manifesto in which it promises to abolish tuition fees for Barbadian students attending the University of the West Indies, as well as road tax and the dreaded National Social Responsibility Levy in addition to granting a pay hike or cost of living allowance to public servants as well as a hike in old age pensions. In fact, Gibson advised eligible voters to dismiss the BLP altogether. “I want you to be very sober and very aware. Do not go behind the BLP. As a matter of fact run from them, run away from them,” Gibson said. “The reason you have to run away from the BLP is because you are being hoodwinked and fooled. They made us feel like they were the saviours and they had a solution to fix Barbados, but they do not have a solution. “I’m sorry to tell you, but they brought out a book with nothing in it. They brought a book with no fix. They brought a book and suggested they had the answers, but it is all smoke,” he added. Gibson warned that if the BLP were elected, between 10, 000 and 15, 000 public servants would lose their jobs as the party turns to the IMF for a financial bailout. “They are making a lot of promises that cannot be kept. They are asking Barbadians to follow after them, but it is all aboard over a cliff! “Look, be very, very careful. Be warned . . . Mia cares for herself as far as I am concerned. The reason why I say that is because you cannot be seriously thinking of directing Barbados and taking us to the IMF,” Gibson said. (BT)
TAXI DRIVERS GIVE THUMBS DOWN TO BLP ROAD TAX PLAN – One of the key planks of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) election campaign is proving unpopular with taxi operators in Broad Street, Bridgetown. The BLP’s pledge to abolish road tax and replace it with a tax on petrol is not going down well with the taxi drivers, some of whom have dismissed it as an election gimmick. “It is total nonsense because public service vehicles going to have problems. I have no problem paying road tax when the year comes and then putting in gas in my car,” one operator who referred to himself as Rockweller told Barbados TODAY. “She [BLP leader Mia Mottley] is making promises that she cannot keep. She is making madman promises. I feel she going mad. She promising things, but one minute you saying that the country in this amount of debt and then all of a sudden you can do all of these things. She gine mad, that is what I have to say,” he stressed. The sentiments among those who spoke to Barbados TODAY, most of them anonymously, were similar. The general feeling was that the BLP was seeking to attract votes by offering carrots that could not be sustained. “I feel it is just a catch to get votes. I believe that to remove the tax from vehicles will do some serious damage. So I do not feel that that one gine make sense. It is a political catch. It might not materialize,” one driver, who did not want to be identified, said. Clyde Mascoll, the BLP’s economic advisor, said at the launch of the party’s manifesto last Thursday night that the road tax would be replaced by a fairer tax on petrol, which would ensure that those who made greater use of the island’s road bear the greater burden. “We are abolishing the road tax. However, we can’t be irresponsible so what we are going to do is shift the tax towards the business community. Those people, who use the road most, should pay most. It is called equity and justice. We are going to transfer the road tax to a small tax on fuel so those that are on the road all day with heavy vehicles would pay proportionally,” Mascoll said. However, one taxi operator who identified himself as Tony, said the petrol tax would be particularly damaging to those involved in freighting and the taxi service. “I would say that road tax done is bear foolishness for the average taxi person and the persons who doing shovelling and those sort of things. It is going to be an expense to those persons. Also, persons who doing freighting it is going to be an expense to those persons,” Tony said, while suggesting that the cost of living would increase significantly. “Automatically the cost of living will go up because businesses that used to do freighting and so on will put on a charge for that. So automatically you are saying it is an expense to them. So they are going to be saying ‘it is an expense to us, so we have to get back our money’. I think they have to reconsider that,” he said, adding that the incumbent Democratic Labour Party had already imposed taxes on petroleum products. “Right now this present Government has put tax on it so I guess if that is the way they got to go, that is the way that they have to go. But if you say that you are going to finish with road tax and put it towards gas it is a no-no. It is not a good thing at all and I think they need to rethink that.” (BT)
ANGLICAN CHURCH STILL DIVIDED OVER NEW BISHOP – After two sittings separated by19 days and 16 hours of voting, the Anglican Church here is no closer to electing a bishop to lead the Barbadian flock. The House of Clergy and the House of Laity aborted yet another attempt today, having failed to reach consensus after six hours of voting. They ended today in the same position as they did on April 25 after ten hours of voting and four ballots at the Ivan Harewood Centre of the Christ Church Parish Church to choose a successor to the retired John Holder. As it did back then, the laity continued to throw its support behind youthful candidate Rev John Rogers, 45, rector of St George Parish Church, while the clergy backed his senior, Dr Jeffrey Gibson, 61, dean of The Cathedral of St Michael’s and All Angels. When it was clear that they could not break the deadlock, Diocesan Administrator Canon Wayne Isaacs, who chaired the proceedings, outlined the four options – to continue voting today, invite further nominations, refer the voting to a selection committee or adjourn until a date to be determined. The group chose the latter, however Isaacs made it clear if the two houses remained divided for much longer, the Anglican Synod would have to decide. “We have up to August to select [a bishop]. If in six months time we don’t select, we would go to the House of Bishops. The other option is to send it to a select committee and they would have a longer time . . . 12 months [to decide],” he explained. In order to be elected bishop, the winner must secure 53 votes from the laity and 55 from the clergy. While Rogers secured 54 laity votes at the end of the first ballot today, compared to 24 for Gibson, he fell way short of receiving the required two-thirds of the clergy votes, polling 33 to 49 by Gibson. The youthful Rogers lost one clergy vote in the second ballot, which went to Gibson, but kept his 54 laity votes, although Gibson added two more. The results for the third ballot were not available up to the time of publication. Asked to comment on suggestions that the Anglican Church now stands seriously divided by failing to find consensus for a second time, Isaacs said: “I suspect people might think so, but we have to allow the process to run its course. I know people would not be happy but, you know…” Among the House of Clergy were a number of retired priests, well advanced in age, including one in his 90s, and some of whom were physically disabled, including a blind cleric. Also showing up to vote was former Governor General Sir Elliott Belgrave, who needed help walking. (BT)
EBC FINALLY REGISTERS ST LUCIAN ACADEMIC – St Lucian professor Eddy Ventose and three other Commonwealth citizens who had sued the Electoral and Boundaries Commission (EBC) for refusing to include their names on the electoral list, have finally registered to vote in the May 24 general election in Barbados. Chief Electoral Officer Angela Taylor was ordered yesterday by the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to ensure that Ventose, the principal applicant in the class action suit, was registered before noon today or risk imprisonment and/or fines. “All of the litigants in the matter have been registered and have received confirmation that they are on the voters’ list,” attorney Gregory Nicholls, who is part of the legal team representing the litigants, told Barbados TODAY this afternoon. Nicholls said since the lawsuit was filed, a number of Commonwealth citizens had contacted the legal team advising that they had registered but their names did not appear on the voters’ list, adding that he was not certain about their fate. “It doesn’t appear as though that the other Commonwealth citizens who would have registered during the special registration period have been put on the list. So that I am not certain what would be the issue or how the issue would be resolved tomorrow, because once the list is published, they are not going to be able to vote. The electoral department would therefore have to explain why people who have applied during the special registration period and who otherwise qualified were not put on the list,” he added. The attorney said this case had no implications for Barbadians and other Commonwealth citizens living in other Commonwealth countries since “Barbadians all over the world who are in other Commonwealth countries vote ordinarily without any hiccup at all”. “It seem that the electoral department was being advised by people who are ignorant as to the basis for which the Commonwealth as a grouping of nations gave that right to each others’ citizens who are resident for a qualifying period of time in another country of the Commonwealth,” Nicholls pointed out. The legal counsel said it was as a result of that ignorance that the EBC had taken the law into its own hands and decided not to register citizens from other Commonwealth countries. “That is really, really regrettable because . . . I can tell you, I registered when I was in Trinidad and Tobago as a student. I know a lot of students who are currently in the UK and Canada since we started this case who indicated that the mere fact that they are studying overseas in a Commonwealth country, allowed them to register in Canada and the UK, and that has always been the case,” he stressed. In handing down its judgment yesterday, the CCJ declared in the ruling read by President Sir Dennis Byron, that it was satisfied the legal and regulatory conditions for Ventose’s registration had been met. Ventose had stated that he was qualified and entitled to be registered to vote, but his registration was consistently refused. The Court of Appeal here had, on Tuesday May 8, 2018, ruled that the professor of administrative law at the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies was qualified to be registered to vote. However, it stopped short of compelling the EBC to place him on the register of voters, instead giving the Chief Electoral Officer 24 hours to make a determination on his application. When the EBC again failed to register Ventose, he took the matter to the CCJ, which said its decision should also resolve the matter for other Commonwealth citizens resident in Barbados for the relevant qualifying period, who are also claiming a right to be registered as voters under the Barbados law. “The longstanding policy of the Electoral and Boundaries Commission in relation to Commonwealth citizens to register as electors only those persons who are Barbadian citizens, permanent residents or holders of immigrant status is unlawful and ultra vires,” Sir Byron declared in the judgment. It was in February that Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson ruled that Commonwealth citizens who meet the requirements under the Representation of the People Act had a right to vote here. He had said that any decision to exclude the four Commonwealth citizens would be in violation of the Act, which does not make it mandatory for the applicants to be permanent residents, immigrants or citizens of Barbados in order to vote. “Only the Parliament of Barbados has the power to insert those conditions,” Sir Marston said then, while explaining that the only requirements needed for a Commonwealth citizen to vote in Barbados was for that person to be a resident here for three years, and living in the constituency in which they are desirous of voting for three months.” When contacted Brian Barrow, who is an attorney and an EBC commissioner, said he had no comment to make on the CCJ ruling. (BT)
MAN DENIES BEATING WOMAN OVER DLP POSTER – He admitted to beating the mother of his two young children, but Jamal Terry Blackman denied he did so because she read a Democratic Labour Party poster. Blackman, 24, of Colleton, St Lucy, pleaded guilty in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court today to assaulting Chevianne Pitt-Seale on May 12, 2018. And while he said he was under the influence of alcohol, Blackman said the incident occurred following an argument about her ex-boyfriend. Earlier, prosecutor Sergeant Cameron Gibbons in giving the facts, said the couple went out to a bus crawl where they both consumed alcoholic beverages. When it was finished they got a ride to Eagle Hall and decided to walk home from there. As they approached Carrington Village, the complainant read aloud the slogan from a DLP poster, causing Blackman to get angry. On reaching home she fell asleep, but was awoken by a blow to the body. When she looked up she saw Blackman over her. At that point, he reportedly began to hit her across her face and choke her. Her mother heard the commotion and intervened, separating the two. An enraged Blackman then told her, “You are going to dead in here tonight”, before grabbing her throat again. During that struggle he also bit her above the right eye, the right ear, upper back and right hand. In offering an apology, Blackman said the commotion started after he questioned her about rumours surrounding her former boyfriend. He said he had no recollection of her reading a DLP poster. “I apologize for my actions. I was very upset,” he said. There was no objection to bail for the first-time offender and the magistrate granted him $3,000 bail. As part of his conditions he has to stay away from the complainant. “Stay away from the drinks because it obviously impairs your memory and your judgement,” Cuffy-Sargeant told him. He returns to court on Friday. (BT)
PHILLIPS SENTENCED TO COMMUNITY SERVICE – After being held with cannabis, Dane Raheem Phillips pleaded with the arresting officer to give him a chance. And while that officer didn’t prove to be very forgiving, Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant extended an olive branch to the first-time offender today. When he appeared in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court today, the 22-year-old, of #744, Kingsland Terrace, Christ Church, was sentenced to 120 hours of community service after admitting to having the illegal drug in his possession on Sunday. Police prosecutor Sergeant Cameron Gibbons had earlier told the court that lawmen were patrolling Bibbys Lane when they had reason to stop and search the accused. When they searched his right front pants pocket they found 28 transparent Ziplock bags which contained vegetable matter. “I does smoke. Give me a chance,” was his response when asked to give an account of the drugs. After he apologized to the court and begged for leniency, Cuffy-Sergeant chose not to fine or incarcerate him. She gave him until October 12 to complete the community service. (BT)
ONWARD MARCH – Former three-time kings Barbados Defence Force Sports Programme continued to take charge of zone two with yet another comfortable victory last night, this time 2-0 over University of the West Indies Blackbirds in the Barbados Football Association’s Premier League. The soldiers attacked with two early goals in the opening half when the league continued at the BFA’s Wildey, St Michael AstroTurf. UWI never looked settled and BDFSP took advantage breaking down their defence barriers and grabbing hold of any opportunity that presented itself. The rain certainly did play its part, but the diminutive Omani Leacock did not fail to score under wet conditions for BDFSP. That goal resulted from a combination of two right flank passes that found striker Leacock for the finishing touch in the 14th minute from the six-yard box. Coach Asquith Howell was clearly pleased with those delightful passes and it did not take long for his men to secure goal number two as UWI’s defensive third was found napping yet again and allowed an unmarked T-Shane Lorde to hammer home a shot from inside the 18-yard box. University’s defence led by the experience Tito Beckles was all over the place and just couldn’t control the set plays by the BDFSP. They did not only struggle on defence but also found the going tough on offence even with their ace marksman Mario Harte giving it his all upfront. Harte kept national defenders Shane Codrington and Ranaldo Bailey busy and even at times came up against national attacking midfielder Rashad Jules in what was an exciting battle between the two former teammates when Harte previously captained BDFSP and the senior national team. (BT)
TULL, SIMMS ARE TOP NINJAS – Homeboy Levar Tull emerged as the champion of the Barbados Ninja Throw Down in a time of three minutes and seven seconds when the competition now in its third year was held at Featherbed Lane, St George over the weekend. Competing for the very first time, it was sheer skills, agility and determination that led the 36-year-old Tull being crowned king of the ninja showdown having conquered several obstacles to claim the BDS$3, 000 cash prize. The one-day event which was rain-affected on Saturday evening ended up being a two-day affair when organizer Delano Hinds was forced to postpone the competition until Sunday morning when a modest crowd returned to witness who the eventual winner would be. Tull was able to defy several obstacles to complete the course and in so doing dethroned last year’s champion Lee Knight who was third this time around in three minutes and 47 seconds while Darren Perez’ three minutes and 13 seconds earned him the silver. Speaking with media after his performance, Tull who is not associated with any gym but utilizes his uncle’s backyard to train said he was determined to finish the course no matter what. “My aim was just to make it to the end and the fact that I did claim the fastest time is a bonus. I had practice on evenings, had a couple of walkthroughs, we still had gym sessions, so it was a lot of hard work. The course was fantastic, a lot of fun, all the obstacles are not made to beat you but challenge you. So, I found that everything was well put together,” Tull said. The obstacles included Morgan Lewis Wheels, Ragged Point Teeter Tot, Cattlewash Stepping Stones, Walaba Log Posts, Green Monkey Bars 2.0, Garrison Spider Wall, Joe River Jump, Hackletons Cliff Net Climb, River Bay Log Roll, Pico Tenerife Peg Board, Charles Fort Cannon Balls and Mount Hillaby. This year attracted quite a few overseas participants and in the adult female section, Grace Simms from South Carolina won the women’s clash clocking three minutes and 50 seconds despite not completing the course but proceeded a lot further than her rivals and ended at the Ragged Point Teeter Tot obstacle. In fact, the top three finishers in the women’s failed to finish the course as Natalie Duran stopped at the Ragged Point Teeter Tot in three minutes and 33 seconds for second place. Charity Lebanc made it as far as the River Bay Log Roll in two minutes and 38 seconds for the third position. The 31-year old Simms has been competing at Ninja events for the past four years but felt ecstatic to compete for the very first time in Barbados and win. “I thought it was a really fun course, I went too slow, so, unfortunately, I did not get to go as far as I would have liked but next time I would try to pick up the speed and do a few more obstacles. But I am excited to win, I mean it could have been anyone of us girls to win because we all did amazingly, some of the other girls were way faster than me and just happened to slip up, so I got lucky basically,” she said. When asked to give her views about the course and participating, Simms explained: “I was extremely worried about falling, so I really took my time and went super slow which slowed my time down. All this stuff you had to hang from I felt good about because I am a rock climber. My husband and I are building a gym in South Carolina right now because the closest one to us is three hours away, so we are excited to build the gym. It is going to be called Motive School of Movement and then we would be able to train a lot more.” The younger ninjas were also in action and in the males 13 to 17 age group, Tyriek Knight won in three minutes 20 seconds, followed by Nathan Clinton in three minutes ten seconds and Christopher Hayward, one minute and 32 seconds. In the 13 to 17 for females, Saffire Fields won in 39 seconds as she did not get past the first ragged point teeter tot. In the boys eight to 12, Slade Jones had the winning time of a minute and 58 seconds, Jaden Johnson three minutes 43 seconds was second and Charlie Durant finished in three minutes and 43 seconds for third. Charlee Collins’ four minutes and three seconds topped the girls’ eight to 12 age group, Jaleesa Gaynes was second in five minutes and 14 seconds and Hannah Toppin was third in five minutes and 39 seconds. (BT)
BCC’S APPLICATION DEADLINE EXTENDED – The Barbados Community College has extended the deadline for applications for the 2018-2019 academic year. Applications may now be submitted up until Friday, June 8, for a number of programmes. Those interested may visit the College’s website at www.bcc.edu.bb for further details. Forms may also be collected from the Office of Student Affairs, Barbados Community College, Eyrie, Howells Road, St Michael, between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., or downloaded from the College’s website. Queries may also be made by calling 426-2858 or emailing [email protected]. (DN)
EBC TO FUNCTION AS INFORMATION CENTRE ON POLLING DAY – The Electoral Department, Warrens Tower II, Warrens, St Michael, will function as an Information Centre, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Polling Day, to assist electors in locating their polling stations. For information on the location of his/her polling station, a voter should call 535-4800 or 535-4853. In addition, voters may call 535-4875 and enter his/her identification number on the keypad, or visit the website www.electoral.barbados.gov.bb. and engage the chatbot. (BGIS)
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Baiting Owls
Cover photo by Justin Cale
A Note to Readers: The purpose of this article is to educate, bringing together diverse resources and information about baiting owls. The Birding Project has a diverse audience of amateur to expert bird admirers, researchers, authors, students, birding guides, photographers, and professional ornithologists. Learning is a key piece to conservation. The more we know, the more we understand how nature works, and the better job we can do at preserving it. This post aims to educate and inspire. If you enjoy this, please help the message reach more people by sharing this post with others.
For thousands of years owls have drawn human attention from cultures around the world. Ancient people revered and respected owls, and in some cultures they are intertwined with superstition and mythology. For many birders, spotting certain owls is almost mythical, as they are routinely some of the most hard to find and sought-after birds in North America. Every winter, birders travel to airports, cornfields, and bogs in hopes of spotting one of many northern visitors, pushed southbound by natural miracle of migration. There is usually a steady influx of northern owls annually, yet some years consist of larger south-bound movements, referred to as "irruptions".
What is an irruption?
Even in present day owls continue to elicit mixed feelings and spark controversy, specifically around the topic of baiting. Chances are, you've seen a photo of a baited owl, or watched on TV in amazement as an owl swoops in over the snow and appears to pounce next to the camera in an epic shot. These images and video footage often leave us speechless and so in awe that we often forget to question the legitimacy of the shot. Why should that matter? Well, many photographers justify their images as a way to educate people and as a conservation tool. However, as the first link above shows, there's nothing natural about owls catching mice on top of the snow- rodents will tunnel underneath the snow, where food is located and safety is key. In the second link, multiple shots of multiple owls are used, edited together to tell a story- however important details are overlooked, like the loud "swooshing" sounds accompanying the owl's otherwise-silent wingbeats edited in for the stimulation of a generation that needs sounds in every shot. There's no doubt in my mind that baiting was employed to get the footage in this clip.
For those unfamiliar with the term, baiting is the act of using a lure or attractant to bring an owl closer to the viewer. In this practice, live mice are frequently tossed out onto the snow in order to lure the owl in closer- resulting in an easy meal for the owl, and close looks / action shots for the viewers. Sometimes people use mouse-shaped cat toys attached to a string as a lure. Another type of baiting is audio baiting, or using playback or sound recordings to draw the owl closer into view. Many winter "owl prowls" use playback to attract or lure unseen owls from deep in the woods closer to the group, to provide a glimpse for participants to see an owl. The line gets blurry around audio luring, as many birders use this technique to find and spot birds, but current opinions from acoustic researchers believe it alters bird's natural behaviors and increases energy output to investigate and defend against "audio" intruders.
In an age of instant bird reporting, and social media acting as a conduit for sharing bird photos, more and more people are heading out in search of owls, armed with cameras. A single bird at a rural location can be publicized and photos celebrated,
Multiple award-winning wildlife photographers frown on baiting owls, and many organizations and photo contests, like Audubon Magazine- prohibit baited owl photos.
Why is baiting owls bad?
In June of 2016, I spent time with owl researcher and Project SNOWstorm co-founder Scott Weidensaul, who wrote this piece on the ethics of owl baiting. Scott emphasizes two main reasons why baiting owls shouldn't happen:
Owls don't need the food, and it puts them at risk.
Many people have good intentions putting mice out for owls, thinking that they are starving, but that is seldom the case. Research shows that during irruption years, Snowy Owls move further south as a result of a productive breeding season, creating a "bumper crop" of young owls. These owls, when caught to be fitted with transmitters are often plump and healthy overall. Providing food for these owls can pass along diseases from captive rodents to birds that may already be vulnerable to disease, as well as habituate them to being fed by people. More importantly, baiting owls is frequently done near roads, increasing the already high chance of vehicle collision resulting in the death of the owl.
Baiting Owls Changes Their Behavior
In Audubon Magazine's Guide to Ethical Bird Photography, it is written "Luring birds closer for photography is often possible but should be done in a responsible way" -- quickly followed by "Never lure hawks or owls with live bait, or with decoys such as artificial or dead mice. Baiting can change the behavior of these predatory birds in ways that are harmful for them"
If you're unsure if baiting changes the behavior of owls, watch this video. It's pretty convincing.
Northern Hawk-Owls are nomadic, and regularly disperse outside of their northern breeding range. This is part of the natural history of this species, following cyclical fluctuations of voles, their primary prey. I've heard accounts of Hawk-Owls near roadways leaving their perches and flying in to investigate when they hear a car door close, as a result of being fed by visitors. These owls that become habituated to hunting near roadways are flying low in pursuit of prey (baited or otherwise) and can easily be struck by a car. I read in a Canadian blog about that happening several times.
One doesn't need to look far to find stories of owl baiting. I found this blog post from The Afternoon Birder, a Canadian bird blogger who found herself several weeks ago in the middle of a group of people baiting a Great Gray Owl in Ontario, Canada. I'd encourage you to read her experience, view her photos, and think about what you would have done in this situation. She was moved to write about and share her experience, as well as start a hashtag #ethicalowlphoto for pictures taken free from influence of bait.
Is every owl shot baited? No! Sometimes a photographer is just in the right place at the right time. Patience, persistence, and a knowledge of the bird's behavior and biology can do a lot for a good photographer.
Laura Erickson's excellent blog post on this subject of baiting owls highlights some issues around baiting owls, including how it cannot be accurately compared to backyard bird feeding. Her post pulls together some valuable resources I won't intentionally duplicate here.
In Canada, birders and photographers face the same issues we do, just with slight variances in the law. This news story highlights the negative impacts of baiting owls in Ottowa.
As a amateur photographer, I admire the work of professionals, buying their books and hoping someday to make images as unique and inspirational as their work. Sometimes good photographers make poor decisions. Nobody is perfect, yet it takes consistently practicing what you preach if you want the respect and accolades you work so hard to have your images reflect. I've lost some respect for several photographers who have pushed the boundaries of ethically photographing owls.
Where is the line?
In February 2013, up to 7 Boreal Owls were reported in the same area along a rural road in French River, Minnesota. Dozens of birders made the trek out to see what for many of them was their "lifer" Boreal Owl, a species normally found in secluded spruce forests. The owl was easily seen from the road, hunting voles 15 feet from the shoulder in front of a sizable crowd of over 30 people. The owl would wait for voles to tunnel out of the shoulder and run frantically across the road to the other side. The opportunistic Boreal Owl would drop down from the tree line, and easily capture the voles, then fly into the forest to cache the voles to eat later.
One professional photographer who had traveled thousands of miles to be in this location and photograph Boreal Owls for his book, went into the woods after the owl's successful hunt, intent to capture photos of the bird "caching" or storing the meal. As he left the roadway and went into the trees, people shouted in protest, upset that he broke from the masses to pursue the owl into the forest. His behavior likely didn't bridge any ethical line in regards to the owl which eventually returned later in the day, but it certainly negatively affected the people who had assembled along the roadway to watch the owl and all followed the group rules.
Birding for most of us is about enjoying the birds. However it is also about the people. This second part is what many folks forget when they are in the midst of the euphoria of seeing a new bird, or are intent on getting "the shot" -- professionals included. But there's this truth: People are watching you. New birders, impressionable young birders, and people who are not birders. (Land owners, news crews, and the general public) Your actions affect the group as a whole, as demonstrated by the previous story. Dozens of people left the scene angry, upset, and flustered. Did I buy that photographer's latest book on Owls? You bet I didn't.
Professional photographers and cinematographers should be held accountable by the same standards as everyone else. They may know more about the behavior of the birds because they spend thousands of hours pursuing and studying their subjects. However, this does not excuse poor decision making around other people, or cutting corners just to get "the shot" and the next paycheck. Recently a video has been circulating Facebook, highlighting an encounter between two photographers, one baiting a Great Gray Owl hunting next to a road. This filmmaker, whose footage has appeared on National Geographic and other well-known sites certainly knows better than to take shortcuts that affect not just the bird but the people who came out to watch the bird. When confronted they said, "we did check with a bunch of people ahead of time, who said if that was necessary than it was ok..." I don't know who they checked with, but some producer at National Geographic shouldn't be calling the shots in this case, that's for sure.
The Response
Is there a solution to stopping the baiting of owls?
As The Weekend Birder experienced, birders can be unexpectedly caught in the midst of a baiting scenario. This can be uncomfortable, especially in a group setting where the actions of one person affect everyone else. Everyone deserves the opportunity to see an owl in the wild, behaving like a wild bird should. It only takes one person to ruin the experience of the whole group. If we unite together, and oppose the baiting of owls, we can bring change. Every winter this discussion breaks out in multiple states, in the news, and on birding forums. It's time we learn a little, and then help change occur. The Birding Project encourages you to engage, but not enrage.
How Can I Help?
Many people want to know how they can be part of the solution. My advice is to get involved! When you see someone doing something that isn't right... PAUSE. Taking a minute before you react often is helpful in making sure that you don't contribute to the problem. Then, engage them in a respectful way. Sometimes people don't know what they're doing is wrong. Other times, they do know better. Although baiting isn't an illegal practice in many states, it is criticized by major birding, conservation, and photography organizations.
-Make your voices heard online, too. Hold people accountable for taking ethical photographs of wildlife. Be respectful. As I understand it, Minnesota has been trying to pass laws to prohibit owl baiting. As far as I know, that isn't in effect, and won't be until they hear from you.
-Contact Audubon, National Geographic, and other outlets for owl photos and footage, encouraging them to refuse images and video of baited owls. Right now there's a video circulating on Facebook of a film company who recently baited a Great Gray Owl while filming "for National Geographic". Let them know we don't want to see footage of baited owls because a cameraman couldn't wait to get the shot or "asked permission" from other people.
-Refrain from posting exact locations of wintering owls. Websites like Project SNOWstorm delay real-time reporting of the location of their owls, to reduce the likelihood of photographers finding and baiting the birds, which has happened in the past. You can use general locations on eBird to report your sightings- instead of noting exactly where the bird is, opt for a county instead.
-Use the hashtag #ethicalowlphoto to support the growing community of photographers who are taking an ethical stand to share their owl photos obtained ethically and without bait. Join the group of birders who are standing up for not only owls, but for other birders too.
Remember the first time you saw an owl? Let's help someone else experience that amazement and wonder too. Hopefully it will be the first of many spectacular encounters with nature.
Resources:
Project SNOWstorm: A great blog about Snowy Owl movements across the Northern U.S. http://www.projectsnowstorm.org/
Audubon suggests some tips to getting great owl shots in their Guide to Ethical Bird Photography.
Scott Weidensaul article: http://www.audubon.org/news/why-you-shouldnt-feed-or-bait-owls
Owl Research Institute: http://www.owlinstitute.org/
Blog: Great Gray Owls in Ottowa: Baiting and Abetting: A Great blog full of information concerning owls and baiting https://meadowhawk.wordpress.com/2013/02/19/great-gray-owls-in-ottawa-baiting-and-abetting/
Gallery of Ethical Owl Images
With a lot of patience, and some luck, you could find yourself face-to-face with an owl like these photographers, without the use of playback or lures. Thanks to all who have contributed images!
Thoughts on Writing this Blog
I thought about if I could write anything positive about baiting owls. I wrote some words that made sense grammatically, and were certainly true. Then I deleted it. Writing a topic on baiting owls has been on my mind since 2016, when I was faced with the choice to go to Minnesota in winter to "clean up" on owls for my big year. I had heard of people baiting owls, and knew that some of the birds were in that area because food was easy. Not wanting my first look at a Northern Hawk Owl to be one waiting for a free handout, I decided not to go. I faced criticism from friends and birders who knew if I wanted to break 700 I needed to go see owls in winter. I managed to see and/or hear all owl species last year, avoiding using playback for most of them. I don't regret that choice, as I have the rest of my life to search out owls, as they reveal themselves to me.
Typos, factual errors, and mistakes/omissions are not intended, so if you spot something please contact [email protected] so it can be fixed. Thank you!
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