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shellyballas · 9 months

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BEG FOR IT ~ James Potter enemies to lovers smut

She watched him as he ran his hands through his dark waves. He was everywhere. She couldn’t get away from him. Everywhere she went he seemed to go. Teasing her, annoying her. Anything to get on her nerves.

James Potter had been her sworn enemy since their third year of school. Lorelei had transferred from Beauxbatons to Hogwarts when she was 13. James has always been the golden boy. Top of every class, every teaches favourite. However all that changes when Lorelei beat his score in their first DADA test at the beginning of that year.

*flashback*

Lorelei sat nervously as her professor went round handing back their parchment. Professor Cosgrove was known for never grading anybody higher than 90%. He said he didn’t believe in it.

The only person who had ever gotten above 90 was the one and only James Potter.

“Nigel Morrison not bad. Hetty Periford could have been better researched” professor Cosgrove droned on.

“James Potter, we’ll done”.

James stared down at the 88% at the top of his parchment an felt pretty chuffed.

“Sirius, Oi Padfoot” James poked his friend “how did you do?”

Sirius pointed to the 76 on his parchment and rolled his eyes. James then proceeded to show off his score while smiling at his disgruntled friend.

“Lorelei Armstrong” the professor paused to look at her “excellent dear”

Lorelei smiled when she saw her results and then thanked the professor. This caught James’s attention.

When class had ended he sauntered over to Lorelei and smiled his most charming smile. James had noticed her before, how could he not. She was funny and charismatic and extremely good looking with her long dark curls and big dark eyes and had quickly become known as the years “most desirable” which was a highly sought after title.

However as it was still only the first week James had never spoken to her directly. He introduced himself and she told her friend she’d catch up with them later.

“Professor Cosgrove is brutal for giving essays the first week back” he said smiling as he tilting his head to the side.

Lorelei smiled “yes he does seem like quite a disagreeable man”

“You mean he’s a huge ass” correct James.

She laughed and the both started to walk back to the Griffindor common room.

“So how did you do” James asked finally able to get the answer to Lorelei’s smile as she saw her score “He insists on never giving anyone over 90 so don’t worry about never getting one”

“Well he must have felt extra generous when he graded my essay because he gave me a 94.”

James was shocked. Nobody else had ever beaten him before let alone gotten 94. His expression turned sour.

“We’ll like you said he was probably just being nice”

Lorelei’s face harden. She was surprised by his sudden change in demeanour. Prick she thought. She turned to him.

“Why, is it so impossible that I got a good grade on my own merit?”

James was furious at her. Unreasonably, yes but that didn’t stop him. He knew it wasn’t her fault but James was not used to being challenged.

He tried to think of something to say. Anything.

“Your skirt is to short” he replied and then sauntered away.

Later, after he had cooled off James realised how poorly he had acted and made up his mind to apologise.

The next day James was in a great mood. He had a certain sort of spring in his step. His hair was falling in his signature effortlessly perfect sort of way. He strolled down to the main hall for breakfast and seated himself between Sirius and Remus. As they all chatted about quidditch and upcoming tests his eye was caught by a certain gorgeous brunette as she laughed entering the great hall. James thought she looked quite beautiful when she laughed.

“Whatcha staring at Prongs?” Asked Remus as he saw that James was no longer paying attention.

Sirius laughed “only James’s new best friend”

James had told Sirius about his encounter with Lorelei in their shared dormitory.

James then told Remus and he sighed.

“I’m sure many boys will be delighted that the famous James Potter as fallen into her bad books. Might give them a fighting chance” Sirius teased.

James swatted his arm and told him to shut up but the thought of it made him feel uneasy. As if on queue, Fredrick Handstead approached Lorelei where she sat. This was very displeasing to James. Fred was a Slytherin who played against James in quidditch which often resulted in fights between the two.

James watched the interaction carefully and found his fist clenching as she giggled at something he said.

“Cheer up Prongs” said Remus “I’m sure if you flick your hair at her she’ll hardly be able to resist you!”

On the other side of the Griffindor table, Lorelei smiled as Fred Handstead walked back to the Slytherin table.

“He sooo likes you!” Giggled Scarlett

“We’ll of course he does, he asked her on a date idiot!” Laughed Sylvie.

Sylvie was Lorelei’s favourite person at Hogwarts so far. She was smart and witty and had all the qualities she valued in a person.

“It’s just coffee” she replied “besides it’s my first week here, I’m not putting all my eggs in one basket.”

“Why, you got your eye on someone? Could it possibly be a certain Mr Potter who’s eyes haven’t left you all morning?”

Lorelei looked over to where James and his friends were sitting. He promptly looked away and pretended to be looking at the ceiling.

“After our encounter yesterday I’m pretty sure he’d rather eat slugs”

After James had sauntered off, Lorelei has stormed up to her dorm. There she told Sylvie and Scarlett all that had happened. They both found it hilarious and applauded her for sticking up for herself instead of dropping to her knees and sucking him off like a lot of other girls would.

“You don’t want him then send him this way” said Scarlett. It was no secret that she and many other girls would swoon if James so much as smiled at them. He was a complete womaniser.

The girls laughed and finished eating then made their way to their first class. Unfortunately for Lorelei, it was one of the many she shared with James.

As the three boys entered the classroom James muttered something about saving him a seat and headed straight for Lorelei.

“Hi” James mentally smacked himself. Could he have not thought of something more interesting to say!

Lorelei glanced to Sylvie who smirked and excused herself to join their other friends. Lorelei turned to James and smiled sweetly.

“Well look who it is! Merlin himself” she mocked “come to see if I need help finding a seat since I can’t do anything without someone being nice to me? Maybe you want to put in a good word to the professor for me, huh, make sure she’s nice to me too?”

James was taken aback for a moment but quickly recovered. He smirked at her.

“Just making sure you didn’t trip over something with your nose so high in the air”

Lorelei was furious. She didn’t understand why he was so obnoxious.

“Well I don’t have as much practice as you but I think I’ll manage”

And with that, she turned on her heal and strutted over to her friends. James watched her leave slightly stunned. And then he realised he skirt was even shorter than yesterday.

*end of flashback*

Ever since then, Lorelei and James were bitter rivals. Each trying to outdo the other. Which brought them to their 6th year.

It was a beautiful sunny day and most of the school were outside soaking up the sun. However Lorelei and Sylvie were up in their dorm room. Sylvie was helping Lorelei get ready for a date with Charles Everdeen. Lorelei was wearing a gorgeous white summer dress that complimented her curves nicely she was applying the finishing touches to her makeup when Sylvie told he to hurry up or she would be late.

With promises to tell her everything, Lorelei hugged Sylvie and left to meet Charles. This was to be their first date and they had arranged to meet at a previously agreed location.

She waited.

10 minutes late. Lorelei started to worry.

15 minutes late.

20 minutes late.

Finally 40 minutes later, a dejected looking Charles came round the corner. Lorelei was discussed. She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for his explanation.

“Lorelei I …” Charles trailed off with a troubled expression on his face. “I … I don’t think we should do this I mean the timing is off and we have to prioritise our study this year and I really don’t think this is the right time for either of us” Charles spoke fast as if he was scared that he might be shot.

Lorelei raised her eyebrows. She was furious. Not at poor Charles who looked like he had seen a ghost but at someone else entirely.

“Charles”

“Yes” he almost whispered

“Did James say something to you?”

“James umm … no uhh why would you think that … I”

“Charles” Lorelei warned. She looked at him with a look she had perfected that made the person on the receiving end shiver.

“Fine” sighed Charles “ he said that if I took you on this date then he would hang me from the astronomy tower by my underwear”

Lorelei was fuming.

“Charles, why don’t you go and have a lie down”

The poor boy looked like he was about to pass out.

Charles nodded and scurried away. Lorelei turned and stormed to where she knew she would find him.

The late September sun shone down on the marauders as they lounged under their favourite tree.

Remus was reading while Sirius and James talked about the upcoming quidditch match against Huffelpuff. Quidditch never interested Remus much. James was releasing and catching a snitch he had stolen over and over as he talked.

“Say James” said Sirius suddenly “have you interfered in a certain lovely ladies life recently?”

James looked at him confused.

“Why do you say that?”

“Because Lorelei is charging over here with a look on her face that would scare “you know who””

James turned just in time to see Lorelei storming toward him.

“You evil loathsome obnoxious but faced miscreant!”

Lorelie came to a stop in front of James and glared down at him. James sat up and fainted a look of surprise.

“Me? But faced? Is this true Sirius?”

Sirius was to busy trying not to find himself on the receiving end of Lorelei death stare to answer.

“Every single time James! EVERY TIME! What makes you think you have the right to deter, to sabotage every single one of my dates”

“I don’t know what your talking about”

“JAMES”

“He probably just realised what an insufferable lunatic you are and had second thoughts”

“Do you have me so much you are hell bent on destroying my life!” Raged Lorelei

I was the same old routine. Someone would finally have the courage to ask her out (most people were terrified of what James would do to them) and then at the last minute he would scare them or threaten them and she end up here screaming at him.

“I’m just doing them a favour sweetheart. Saving them from you”

“Aghhhhhhh”

Lorelei, seeing this conversation was going nowhere stopped off hoping to walk off her rage.

The Griffindor Christmas party was the most exclusive, out of control party of the year. The quidditch team hosted in the room of requirements and invitations were few and far between.

Lorelei and Sylvie were lucky and were now almost expected at these parties thanks to their party girl reputations, good looks and the fact that one member of the team or another we’re always trying to get in their pants.

Lorelei and Sylvie were late. But then again, they were always late to parties. Sylvie was wearing a tiny black dress while Lorelei was wearing a matching red one. With their contrasting appearance, Lorelei’s dark curls and eyes and Sylvie’s blue eyes and blond hair, they were a sight for sore eyes.

Lorelei finished painting her nails red, preformed a quick fast drying charm and they were on their way.

James was drunk, very drunk. And having a wonderful time. Captain of the quidditch team and having just beaten Slytherin in a very important match it would be fair to say James was on top of the world.

Some pretty Ravenclaw was sat on his lap talking about something he didn’t care about when he saw her.

Taking a shot from the floating drink trays she downed it in one and went for another. James was bewitched. He couldn’t look away.

Sirius saw his friend expression and rolled his eyes “just shoot your shot already”

“Huh”

“You’ve been pining after her for years” exclaimed sirius exasperated.

“Don’t know what your talking about”

Sirius rolled his eyes again and went back to making out with whatever girl he was seeing at the moment.

The more hours passed the drunker everyone got. Lorelei found herself on the dance floor as she did at most parties shaking and swaying her hips to the music

She felt someone press up against her back and saw Colin Jenkins behind her. He was hot so she let him grab her hips and dance with her.

From across the room James Potters great mood had been ruined by the sight I front of him. He was gripping his class so tightly it was a miracle it didn’t shatter in his hand.

Suddenly something inside of him snapped. He downed his drink and sauntered towards Lorelei.

Lorelei suddenly felt a hand enclose her wrist.

“Hey”

“Hey Colin can I borrow Lorelei here for a moment, I can, great thanks”

And with that he dragged her off the dance floor and over to a dark candle lit corner of the room.

“What the fuck James”

Lorelei was fuming. James admired her appearance for a moment. A wave of confidence had washed over him.

“Did you enjoy the match today”

“WHAT! You drag me away to ask me if I enjoyed the match! Oh my god Potter you are the most infuriating person I have ever met!”

Lorelei scowled up at him, furious that he had dragged her away.

James smirked “oh yeah”

“You can’t seriously or proud of that”

The pair were standing so close to each other that James could practically taste her perfume.

“You think your gods gift don’t you” Lorelei poked James’s chest with her finger as he towered over her.

“But you are nothing more thank a stuck up ass wipe”

“Is that so”

“Yes, yes it is so”

“Tell me more”

“You James Potter are a good for nothing toe rag”

Poke

“Who struts around acting like your a god …”

Poke

“…damn…”

Poke

“…saint!”

James suddenly grabbed her waist pulling her close.

“You know what I think” he said softly.

Lorelei was to stunned to speak. All she could do was state into his oh so gorgeous eyes.

“I think you look amazing in this dress”

James slid his hand up Lorelei’s back and toyed with one of the straps on her shoulder. His touch made her shiver as the hand she had on his chest began to clutch his shirt.

Her breathing quickened and she was sure he could heel how fast her heart was beating as he stared thoughtfully at her strap.

“You know what else I think?”

Lorelei could no nothing but wait for his response, entranced but the man in front of her. His hair messy, eyes so dark she felt as if they could see into her soul.

“I think it would look even better off”

Grabbing her jaw with one hand James slammed his lips onto Lorelei’s. The kiss was forceful, it was messy, it was pure lust.

James reached behind her and snapped her strap against her back. Lorelei moaned granting his tongue access to her mouth.

Lorelei ran her hands through his thick hair and James moved his lips to her jaw, peppering kisses down her neck.

Suddenly James pulled away. He admired the sight in front of him. Her swollen lips, her lust filled eyes, all for him.

He bend down and whisper in her ear.

“Let’s get out of here”

All Lorelei could do was nod as James grabbed her hand and dragged he up to his dorm room. As soon as the door closed behind her, Lorelei was pushed against it. James’s hands found home on her hips as he kissed her as if she was oxygen and he was struggling to breath.

All of a sudden, Lorelei spun free of his right grip and turned so James had his back against the door. She needed to regain control.

Slowly she dropped to her knees in front of him. She smirked up at him as she began to undo his jeans.

James’s had never seen a more perfect sight. Her eyes wide and dark peering up at him through her thick lashes, all for him.

Slowly Lorelei started to palm his length. James let out a low grown. Spurred on by his reaction, she licked a strip up his length and began to take him in her mouth.

“Fuck darling” James moaned “so fucking perfect”

Lorelei started to bob her head up and down extracting more praise from the man in front of her.

“Taking me so well sweetheart”

“Such a good little slut for me”

James then grabbed her chin and pulled her to her feat.

“As heavenly as that mouth of yours feels” murmured James “I think if I don’t get you on that bed I might loose my mind”

James’s lips found hers as he walked her backwards. James spun her around and started to kiss her neck as he’s slowly unzipped her dress.

James felt as if all his Christmas’s had come at once. As the satin dress slipped from her body revealing he black lingerie, James had never been so turned on in his entire life.

He gently lay he down on his bed. He then reached between her breasts and snapped her bra off.

“Hey!” Whined Lorelei “that was one of my favourites”

James smiled as he kissed her.

“I’ll buy you 10 more”

Lorelei then began to unbutton his shirt and when that had been discarded James crawled down and began to slide her panties off. Once she was complete bare under him, he slipped two fingers into her mouth.

“Suck” he commanded

Lorelei did as he was told. He then removed his fingers with a satisfying pop and began to trail them down her body stopping just above where she needed him most.

Lorelei whined beneath him.

“Tell me what you want”

“James” she whined

“I want to hear you say it” James taunted “want to hear you beg for it”

“Please”

“You can do better than that”

“Please touch me James please I’ll be so good I promise”

James smiled above her. He then insirted his long digits into her.

“Well since you asked so nicely”

Lorelei was a mess. A hot moaning mess. And James loved it. He loved the way her face contorted in pleasure. He loves the sweet sounds that fell from her lips. He loved the way she arched her back.

“So wet for me” he cooed

Lorelei could fell her high approaching. Just as she was about to cum, James removed his fingers much to Lorelei’s dismay. She whined at the loss of contact.

“Say it. Say your all mine and mine only, no one else’s”

“I’m all yours James, all yours”

Satisfied with her response he began to pleasure her again. Soon Lorelei was cumming. She threw her head back as the pleasure washed over her.

James then brought her fingers to her mouth, demanding she suck again. He watched her. Obsessed. He was obsessed with her mouth, her hips, her breasts, everything.

James then lined himself up with her entrance and slowly began to pushh into her.

“Fuck doll, so tight”

Once he had bottomed out he stoped moving. Lorelei protested.

“Tell me what you want doll”

“Want you to fuck me”

And with that, James started pounding into her. He was relentless, like a man possessed. Profanities left both their lips as they chased their high. The sound on skin slapping skin mixed with their moans filled the room.

Soon James’s thrusts became sloppy.

“I’m so close” moaned Lorelei

“Cum for me darling”

And she did, triggering his release. James rode out their high and then collapsed beside her wrapped one arm around her and pulling her close.

They both lay there for a moment just processing what had just happened. Then James looked over at Lorelei with a mischievous look in his eye.

“You look a bit sweaty Armstrong, you should probably have a shower”

Lorelei just laughed and swatted his arm as he scooped her up and carried her to the shower.

“This is never happened again Potter so don’t get used to it”

“Sure sure”

“I’m serious”

“Of course you are”

#enemies to lovers smut #james potter #academic rivals #enemies to lovers #hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry #marauders #smut

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grittyreadsfic · 3 years

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been seeing underappreciated fic rec lists going around, so here are some of my top fics that deserved more attention, on a list that might have gotten it’s title from a DCOM: gonna let the light shine on me

note: for this fic, i used the criteria that it had under 250 kudos, though the bulk of these fall into the under 150 category, and that they’ve been around for a few weeks at least.

further and fast and gone after disaster by penaltyboxed

pairing: n/a, gen

summary: Robby had made his agent request the trade instead of asking for it himself.

Something about the idea of verbally admitting how badly he needed to get out of St. Louis kind of killed him inside. He didn’t even care where he went, not really. He just desperately wanted to be out of electric blue and gold, wanted to skate anywhere else, wanted to feel like he actually mattered to a team. Any team. Anywhere in the league that would take a disappointing excuse of a first round pick with ‘injury prone’ tattooed across his forehead. His name was on the fucking Stanley Cup and it just felt so cheap, and evil, in a cosmic sort of way. He was trying to exorcise the chorus of Gloria from his brain for the rest of his life.

So his agent had texted him: What about Detroit? Armstrong and the front office r willing to trade u for a kid named De La Rose.

And then his agent had texted him again: I can get u 1 for 1 but thats probably as good as its gonna be

why i love it: i’ve never loved a gen fic as much i love this one. it’s an absolutely beautiful character study of robby, and is some of the best writing of emotion that i’ve ever encountered. it’s such a perfectly crafted fic, and it made me want to care about the red wings (i team i literally know nothing about)

i’ve never been a natural (all i do is try, try, try) by iwantthemtostay ( @iwantthemtostay )

pairing: connor mcdavid/dylan strome

summary: In June 2015 Dylan gets drafted fourth overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs, in August his boyfriend breaks up with him. In July 2026 said ex signs with the Leafs. In the months that follow they work things out.

why i love it: this author has actually written two of my favorite mcstrome fics ever, and i recced the other one of theirs pretty recently. this fic has some of the best platonic dynamics, which adds such a nice depth to the story and the secondary characters. the pacing of it is absolutely perfect, and it felt like such a realistic way that connor and dylan could have come back together.

we’ve moved on again by stromesquad

pairing: travis konecny/dylan strome

summary: Dylan isn’t expecting his phone to ring during the second day of the 2023 draft, but it does, and it’s Stan Bowman.

“Hello,” Dylan answers.

“Hi, Dylan. I am calling to let you know you’ve been traded to Philadelphia. Thank you for your hard work and dedication here in Chicago, and we in management and the coaching staff wish you the very best for your future. Chuck Fletcher should be reaching out to you soon.”

why i loved it: i love trade fics, for the narrative, and i love trade fics that are actually trades i wish would happen in the real world. it’s such a great look into how dylan handles it all-the move, the break up, the gradual way he falls for tk, how he makes a home for himself in philly and on the flyers-and the pairing is one i would never have thought of, but now i wish there were so many more fics for them

step out into the wild by jamesvanriemsdick ( @jamesvanriemsdick )

pairings: travis konency/nolan patrick

summary: Travis Konecny doesn’t stop talking—Nolan finds he doesn’t mind, though, not when Travis fills up the space where the city’s heartbeat should be, not when he makes Nolan feel so, so alive, like there’s electricity running under his skin instead of just blood and bone and muscle.

why i love it: i was torn between putting a fic from this series or once in twenty life times, but i’m fairly certain i recced that one recently so. technically you could read my essay length comments on any of the fics in this series and you’d get all of my very indepth thoughts on this, but the the tldr is that i’m a sucker for magical realism and a little bit in love with the city of philadelphia, and this fic-the whole series-just does it for me. i love the concept of the heartbeats, of all the different way the city makes its claim known, and nolan’s is my favorite of the three.

i didn’t have it in myself to go with grace by crookedsilence ( @crooked-silence )

pairing: nathan mackinnon/cale makar

summary: It takes one morning for Cale’s entire life to change. One morning and a wish he didn’t know he made.

why i love it: wishbaby fics are one of my absolute favorite things to read, and this one is an absolutely perfect one. the domesticity, the way it’s so obvious who the second parent is, but cale takes forever to put it together, the complex and messy and conflicting emotions that this kind of situation would create-it’s really got it all and is such a wonderful read

somewhere where the summer lasts all year ‘round by jvrcus

pairing: jamie benn/tyler seguin

summary: Edmonton was cold, so Tyler goes somewhere warm.

why i love it: ao3 user jvrcus if you see this please know that i looked at your page for a solid 15 minutes trying to decide which fic to puton this list because they’re all perfect. this author is one of my favorite writers when it comes to imagery, and this fic is such a great example of that. this fic is really just a series of moments that feel too intimate to witness, which is what i love in a fic

this feels like falling in love by bageldiscourse

pairing: jt compher/tyson jost/alexander kerfoot

summary: Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? Alexander would like to believe that, but he couldn’t imagine a fondness stronger than the one he feels every time he’s around them. He couldn’t imagine a world where his heart doesn’t skip a beat every time J.T. smiles, easy and pleased and, underneath it all, a little vulnerable. Or—when Tyson volunteers to help Alexander make brownies, and looks over at Alexander, the bridge of his nose dusted with flour and his hands sticky with chocolate.

When the three of them are driving to practice in the morning, Alexander in the backseat and Tyson and J.T. holding hands and Alexander just—wanting.

why i love it: part why i adore this fic is just the structure, how it’s set up that there’s a fact or anecdote about alexander, and then there’s a way that it relates to jt and tyson. alexander calls the two of them the closest thing to soulmates, but this structure makes it feel like all three of them are just linked somehow, and it’s a very sweet fic

nobody left but us by capsize (copenhagenborn)

pairing: tyson barrie/gabe landeskog

summary: Tyson is traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in July, and it's fine, really.

It's not like his life is falling apart or anything.

why i love it: again, i love trade fics, and this one is one of my favorites because of it’s characterization of tyson. he spends most of the fic trying to help others, focusing on the issues someone else is experiencing, in order to avoid thinking about his own problems. it leads to some really great parallels in the fic, and the author crafted such a beautiful, layered, and compelling story because of it

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thelittlesttimelord · 4 years

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The Littlest Timelord: Death of the Doctor Chapter 7

TITLE: The Littlest Timelord: The Death of the Doctor Chapter 7 PAIRING: No Pairing RATING: T CHAPTER: 7/? SUMMARY: The Doctor’s death is looming on the horizon and Elise is growing every day. What the Doctor doesn’t know is that he has 200 years to teach Elise all he knows. Amy, Rory, and River let Elise in on their secret, because River knows she will keep it. What will Elise do when he’s gone?

[A/N - We’re moving swiftly along into “Day of the Moon” and it looks like this one will be a two chapter episode. Kinda like the first one.]

River, in an evening gown, and Elise, in a matching child sized one, ran through a skyscraper under construction. River’s first instinct had been to hide in New York City. She also wanted to introduce more of earth culture to Elise.

They both had tally marks running up and down their arms. Two Silence appeared in front of them.

“I see you. I see you,” River said, making two more tally marks on her arm.

Elise did the same.

“Doctor Song? Doctor Song?” Canton’s voice sang.

Elise and River started running again.

“Go! Go! Go!” Canton yelled.

They soon came to an open wall.

“Don't move! It's over,” Canton told them.

“They're here, Canton. They're everywhere,” River said.

“I know. America's being invaded.”

“You were invaded a long time ago. America is occupied.”

“You're coming with us, Doctor Song. There's no way out this time.”

“There's always a way out.” She took Elise’s hand in her own and fell back out of the skyscraper, taking Elise with her.

Elise’s whole body flooded with relief as she heard the sound of the TARDIS engines. She and River fell into the TARDIS, through the corridors, and into the swimming pool. Not again… Elise climbed out of the pool and looked around.

At least this time it wasn’t in the library.

Elise walked back to her room and changed before following River to the control room.

River had already dried Elise’s hair and was now drying her own with a towel.

The Doctor danced around the console. “So, we know they're everywhere. Not just a landing party, an occupying force, and they 'have been here a very, very long time. But nobody knows that, because no one can remember them.” He spotted Elise and scooped her up in his arms. “Oh, I’ve missed you! Have you grown?”

Elise playfully rolled her eyes, but giggled as the Doctor peppered kisses all over her face. She pushed him away. The beard he’d grown was scratchy.

“Don’t like the beard, huh?” he asked.

Elise shook her head.

The Doctor set her down and she ran over to Amy and Rory to hug them.

“So what are they up to?” Canton asked.

“No idea. But the good news is, we've got a secret weapon,” the Doctor told him.

The TARDIS landed and they ran outside to see a big rocket.

“Apollo 11's your secret weapon?” River asked the Doctor.

“No, no. It's not Apollo 11. That would be silly. It's Neil Armstrong's foot.”

They went back inside the TARDIS and waited while the Doctor cleaned himself up. When he came back into the control room, he was holding a small gun. He first walked over to Canton and injected something into the palm of his hand.

“Ow!” Canton said.

“So, three months. What have we found out?” the Doctor asked walking over to Rory. While Rory was talking, the Doctor injected him.

“Well, they are everywhere. Every state in America. Ow!”

“Not just America, the entire world,” River said.

The Doctor injected Amy.

“So you've seen them, but you don't remember them,” Canton said.

“You've seen them, too. That night at the warehouse, remember? While you were pretending to hunt us down, we saw hundreds of those things. We still don't know what they look like,” River told him.

“It's like they edit themselves out of your memory as soon as you look away. The exact second you're not looking at them, you can't remember anything,” Rory said.

“Sometimes you feel a bit sick, though, but not always,” Amy added.

“So that's why you marked your skin,” Canton said.

“Only way we'd know if we'd had an encounter.”

“How long have they been here?”

“That's what we've spent the last three months trying to find out.”

“Not easy, if you can't remember anything you discover,” Rory said.

“How long do you think?” Canton asked.

“As long as there's been something in the corner of your eye, or creaking in your house, or breathing under your bed, or voices through a wall. They've been running your lives for a very long time now, so keep this straight in your head. We are not fighting an alien invasion, we're leading a revolution. And today, the battle begins,” the Doctor said.

“How?” Canton asked.

“Like this.” He reached down and injected River.

“Ow!”

The Doctor laughed. “Nanorecorder. Fuses with the cartilage in your hand.” He injected himself. “Ow. And it tunes itself directly to the speech centers in your brain. It'll pick up your voice, no matter what. Telepathic connection. So, the moment you see one of the creatures, you activate it…” He pressed down on the center of his palm with his ring finger. “…and describe aloud exactly what you're seeing.”

A recording of the Doctor’s voice played. “And describe aloud exactly what you're seeing.” “Because the moment you break contact, you're going to forget it happened. The light will flash if you've left yourself a message. You keep checking your hand if you've had an encounter. That's the first you'll know about it,” the Doctor finished.

“Why didn't you tell me this before we started?” Canton asked.

“I did, but even information about these creatures erases itself over time. I couldn't refresh it because I couldn't talk to you.”

Canton looked away for a second and then looked back at the Doctor, adjusting his bow tie. He noticed everyone staring at him. “What? What are you staring at?” he asked.

“Look at your hand,” River told him.

His nanorecorder was flashing. “Why is it doing that?”

“What does it mean if the light's flashing? What did I just tell you?” the Doctor asked.

“I haven't…”

“Play it.”

“My God, how did it get in here?” Canton’s voice on the recorder asked.

“Keep eye contact with the creature and, when I say, turn back, and when you do, straighten my bow tie,” the Doctor told him.

“What? What are you staring at?”

“Look at your hand,” River said.

They all turned and saw one of the Silence standing there.

“It's a hologram, extrapolated from the photo on Amy's phone. Take a good, long look,” the Doctor told them. He turned off the hologram. “You just saw an image of one of the creatures we're fighting. Describe it to me.”

“I can't,” Canton said.

“No. Neither can I. You straightened my bow tie because I planted the idea in your head while you were looking at the creature.”

“So they could do that to people. You could be doing stuff and not really knowing why you're doing it,” Amy said as the Doctor pulled the monitor around.

“Like posthypnotic suggestion,” Rory added.

“Ruling the world with posthypnotic suggestion?”

“Now then, a little girl in a spacesuit. They got the suit from NASA, but where did they get the girl?” the Doctor asked.

“It could be anywhere,” Canton said.

“Except they'd probably stay close to that warehouse, because why bother doing anything else? And they'd take her from somewhere that would cause the least amount of attention. But you'll have to find her. Elise and I are off to NASA.”

“Find her? Where do we look?”

The Doctor looked at the monitor. “Children's homes. But before we do anything else, Ellie…” He picked up the gun again.

River pulled Elise behind her. “Oh no. You are not injecting her,” River argued.

“And why not?” the Doctor asked.

“Because she’s a child.”

“That doesn’t matter River, she needs one.”

“Says who? She’ll be with one of us at all times.”

“River…”

“Doctor, you come one step closer to her with that…”

The Doctor finally sighed and put down the gun. “Fine!”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Elise stood outside the Apollo 11 rocket as the Doctor messed around the inside of it. As she was standing there, two scientists came in. Elise tugged on the Doctor’s pant leg.

Amy called and he answered. “Amy. How do you know? Repeated memory wipes fry your head eventually. Find out what you can, but don't hang around. Got to go. Got company.” He closed the panel he had been working on and sat up. “Don't worry, I've put everything back the way I found it.” He held up a spare part. “Except this. There's always a bit left over, isn't there?” The Doctor climbed out and he and Elise were escorted into a lecture hall and handcuffed.

Elise’s wrists were too small for handcuffs, so they had settled for zip-ties, which the Doctor didn’t appreciate.

“Now, one more time, sir. How the hell did you get into the command module?” a man interrogated them.

“I told you. I'm on a top secret mission for the President and Elise is my assistant. She’s a child prodigy,” the Doctor said.

“Well, maybe if you just get President Nixon to assure us of that, sir, that would be swell.”

“I sent him a message.”

President Nixon walked in with Rory and River. “Hello. I believe its Mr. Gardner. Is that correct? Head of Security?” Nixon asked.

“Er, yes sir. Yes, Mr. President.”

Nixon turned to the other man and shook his hand. “Mr. Grant, is it?”

“Yes, Mr. President.”

“The hopes and dreams of millions of Americans stand here today at Cape Kennedy, and you're the men who guard those dreams. On behalf of the American people, I thank you.”

“You're welcome, Mr. President,” Gardner said.

“I understand you have a baby on the way, Mr. Grant.”

“Yes, Mr. President.”

“What are you hoping for, a boy or a girl?”

“Just a healthy American, sir.”

Nixon laughed. “A healthy American will do just nicely. Now, fellows, listen. This man, here, code name the Doctor and his protégé, are doing some work for me personally. Could you cut them a little slack?”

“Er, Mr. President, they did break into Apollo 11,” Gardner said.

Nixon looked at the Doctor who mouthed, “Sorry.”

Elise rolled her eyes, causing River to smile.

Nixon laughed awkwardly. “Well, I'm sure they had a very good reason for that. But I need you to release them now so they can get on with some very important work for the American people. Could you do that for me?”

“Well…” Grant said.

“Son, I am your Commander in Chief.”

“Then I guess that would be fine, Mr. President.”

“Glad to hear it.”

The Doctor had his handcuffs removed and jumped up from his chair.

Elise followed him, her wrists still bound. She walked over to River, who placed a hand on her upper back to lead her to the TARDIS to cut the zip-tie off.

They entered the TARDIS and River walked over to her jacket and pulled out a pocket knife. She knelt in front of Elise and cut the zip-tie. “Arresting a child…” she muttered.

The TARDIS landed and the Doctor followed Nixon out.

River’s device started ringing and she answered it. “Canton? Whoa. Slow down. What’s happened?”

#eleventh doctor #eleventh doctor imagines #eleventh doctor fanfiction #doctor who #Doctor Who fanfiction #doctor who imagine #amy pond #amy pond imagine #Rory Williams #rory williams imagine #river song #river song imagine #day of the moon #the littlest timelord #the littlest timelord: the death of the doctor

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clansayeed · 4 years

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Bound by Destiny II, part 1 ― Chapter 8: The Big Easy

PAIRING: Kamilah Sayeed x MC (Nadya Al Jamil) RATING: Mature

⥼ MASTERLIST ⥽

⥼ Bound by Destiny II, part 1 ⥽

While struggling with nightmares of lives she’s never lived, a shadow from the past looming over her city, and the proposed idea that her life may just be a little bit too weird to handle alone, Nadya makes sure to tell herself that everything is perfect just the way it is. If only. When the self-proclaimed King of Vampires (and Maker of her sometimes-girlfriend and always-boss, can’t forget that little tidbit) Gaius Augustine returns intent on claiming Manhattan as the throne that was promised, she and her friends find themselves forced into the task of saving the world. But with millennia-old vampires and an Order of hunters on their heels as well as allies hiding catastrophic secrets at their backs… it won’t be an easy task. Too bad destiny didn’t exactly ask for her input.

Bound by Destiny II and the rest of the Oblivion Bound series is an ongoing dramatic retelling project of the Bloodbound series and spin-off, Nightbound. Find out more [HERE].

*Let me know if you would like to be added to the Destiny II tag list!

⥼ Chapter Summary ⥽

The Amulet's trail ends in the supernaturally rich city of New Orleans. Still reeling from hers and Kamilah's first real fight, Nadya, Lily, and Adrian travel to the French Quarter to see old friends and meet some new faces.

[READ IT ON AO3]

She meant to fake-awaken from the nap of all naps when Lily returned from her minibar excursion. Unfortunately though Nadya’s just a little too lost in her thoughts; which delays her reaction by enough of a fraction of a second for to be fooling absolutely nobody.

“You shouldn’t do that.”

Nadya combs her fingers through her hair. She may not have actually been asleep but tell that to the nest that somehow spontaneously manifested where she was resting against the wall of the plane.

She plasters on her best ‘ditzy secretary’ face. “Do what?” she asks; pitches her voice just a tad but that’s overselling it.

All credibility pretty much flies out of the window and down the however-many-thousand-feet to the ground below. And without a parachute, poor thing.

“Well first of all don’t gimme that look. I helped you invent it, remember?” Only Lily could chide her enough to actually make Nadya feel bad while simultaneously inhaling a complimentary bag of Korean BBQ chips. “Dos, you shouldn’t bottle it all up inside. And don’t you dare say you don’t know what I’m talking about. I will shove potato chips down your bra.”

Nadya blows a strand of hair up, but it falls back down right in front of her eye. Great, even her hair is out to get her.

“Please don’t. I only packed one.” And Adrian and her will never be close enough friends for her to feel comfortable asking him to swing by Target for a quick bra buy.

“Same girl, same.” But even as Lily kicks up her boots and makes herself comfortable the intent is clear. She’s going to get Nadya to open up somehow, some way, and most likely some time before they start to descend on New Orleans.

After all she’s practically locked in between her seat and the fancy table by vampire thighs of steel.

Crunch. Crunch. Crun—

“I’ll talk about it when I’m ready, Lil’, okay?”

Cruuunnn—

“I promise! Pinky promise, blood oath, anything!” Just please don’t keep chewing like that. She’s very near begging on her knees.

After quickly wiping the flavor powder off, Lily holds up her pinky finger expectantly. Nadya takes it with her own. She means it too, villainous torture methods aside. Some people went their whole lives and then some without someone to care about them as much as Lily cares for Nadya — she knows this and really, her gratitude is unwavering.

But she’s still a little too raw on the inside (and out; her tear ducts may have gone into permanent early retirement by now) to just bring it all up. And so casually, too.

The cabin lights catch on the chains of her charm bracelet. Little sparkles that draw Nadya in; pull her down deep in velvet the same black as the midnight sky, away from the stale plane air and back to New York.

Back to Kamilah.

And Lily — well, she’s Lily. Of course she notices. Just like she quickly acts and lowers their still-linked hands before Nadya suffers the unpleasantness of choking on her heart again.

“I’d say lets head back there —” she jerks her head from the direction she came from, “— and get you a little tipsy for your troubles, but for some reason showing up to a place like New Orleans already drunk feels like blasphemy.”

“And I wouldn’t feel comfortable with the plan if you weren’t completely sober, Nadya.”

The girls look over across the aisle to where Adrian leans back and away from his laptop, a slightly admonishing look in his eye. Nadya blindly seeks out the open bag of chips while offering what she hopes is a smile that says “Yes, of course, I totally agree,” even though a margarita at the very least sounds comforting.

“Actually, since it’s out there, how are you feeling?”

Lily tenses beside her. It takes him a moment to realize what he’s done but Adrian tries to take it back so fast Nadya’s somehow the one who ends up with emotional whiplash. “I mean — about this; the…” he sighs, “I’m sorry. That was insensitive of me.”

Nadya elbows Lily before she can get a word in. “It’s fine,” she tells Adrian with a smile — and if it’s a little strained well… they can’t blame her.

People fight in relationships sometimes. It’s not ideal, but it happens. Does Nadya wish she could throw open the emergency hatch on Adrian’s private jet (freaking out which happened loudly, quickly, and before they had ever lifted for takeoff) and fly her way back to Kamilah to try and work things out by sheer force of will? You betcha.

Is she going to let that stop her from doing what needs to be done to get this Amulet? No. God willing; she and Kamilah will have plenty of time to cool down, talk, and see where they were supposed to go from the place they had left at. But that’s only the case so long as Nadya, Lily, and Adrian get to the Amulet of Nero before Gaius does.

Though… none of them can still fathom the literally microscopic chances that had decided to work in their favor. No really, Lily ran the numbers. By all accounts they should have been prepared for a voyage around the world, sometimes in multiple places (and according to the simulation, at multiple times).

What were the odds that not only was this mythical once-lost-to-history Nadya-was-literally-kidnapped-to-find-it-but-it-only-took-their-collective-squad-like-two-weeks-and-a-couple-all-nighters Amulet of Nero in the States, but that it was currently in the hands of—well—a friend?

Apparently the odds were pretty freakin’ good.

“I’ve failed the universe.”

“Lily, stop.”

“It’s been three days! And all I could come up with was a list of the players from Kavinsky’s private rich-jackass tournament. A list, Nadi’.”

“It’s far more than we had previously Lily,” Adrian had said with a reassuring squeeze to her shoulder, “and for that matter — its more than Gaius could get on his own. So if anything you’ve outdone him; and trust me when I say that doesn’t happen every millennium.”

While it wasn’t the best pep talk in the world it had been enough to get Lily back on track. Her finger scrolling on her mouse faster than humanly possible until she got to the names they needed. Eight billion people in the world and they had narrowed it down to ten. Way to go, Lil’.

Adrian started to write down the names in his hasty scrawl — which had just been a waste of time since Nadya refuses to try and read his terrible colonial handwriting and already has a list of her own transcribed. “It’s still more than would be ideal. But I think the four of us should be… able… hm.”

Hm because of the obvious. Because there were only three people in his office. Because Kamilah is following a lead on the whereabouts of Gaius and while one is arguably more important than the other… it’s good to know his movements. Nadya can’t argue with her logic in that.

She knows their enemy better than anyone. And it means she doesn’t have to be in the same room as Nadya.

“Wait — this name, here.” Adrian had pointed at the screen; Lily had slapped his hand away. “I know this one. That can’t be the same man, though, the odds…”

“Who-what now?” Nadya hadn’t recognized the name at all.

LaPointe, C.

“Someone from your past?”

The very recent past; like very recent. Like, Nadya-adjacent recent. And with time maybe-probably quickly running out they couldn’t afford to wait to fill everyone in on all the juicy details. Or, apparently, wait for Kamilah to return from her trip.

Sometimes Nadya catches herself looking around for the familiar comfort of maroon.

Overhead there’s a soft bing from the pilot’s speakers.

“We’re coming up on Louis Armstrong, Mr. Raines and guests. If you could remain seated until we land, your arrangements have been taken care of as requested.”

Nadya’s heart pounds a little bit faster. When Lily reaches out to squeeze her hand she doesn’t reject it one bit.

After all, she’s doing the first leg of this on her own.

“You can do this. You can totally do this.”

Behind her a family of four jostles her chair so hard Nadya almost spills iced coffee slushy all over herself.

“You’ve survived Ferals, and Vega, and Gaius. You kicked butt at ‘Tech-Xpo.’ You’ve eaten French cheese and danced in a corset and you didn’t even ruin a Lacroix. You’re a force of nature, and you can totally do this.”

And remember, he’s just a vampire. If he tries anything just run outside.

“Would Miss ‘Force of Nature’ like a box to go?”

She’s been in the cool shade of the cafe awning for far too long to even pretend like the red in her cheeks is the heat; but that doesn’t mean Nadya doesn’t look up to the sight of her bemused waitress with a styrofoam box and the bill in her hand.

Nadya must look as embarrassed as she feels because she doesn’t even get to answer before the woman gets in a small laugh. “Whatever yer psychin’ ya’self up for, honey, keep at it. More people could stand to give themselves a pep talk.”

“Th-Thanks.”

‘Bonnie’ (as per her name tag) grins with all the boisterousness she’s had since Nadya first took up her table. When she winks it’s full of energy; enough to jingle her large earrings. Nadya kind of wants to adopt her as a weird aunt? But that might just be the all-nighter talking.

Without hesitation Nadya pulls her purse close and takes out one of the (ridiculously unnecessary) large bills Adrian had given her before she got into her cab. Bonnie’s eyes widen, protest at the ready, but Nadya won’t hear it. “I won’t need the box, but thank you.” She all but has to force the hundred under the woman’s thumb.

If she has another one of the mini mountains of powdered sugar on top of her beignets she’s actually gonna burst. The coffee is totally coming with her, though.

Nadya weaves her way first out of the cafe’s closed-off seating, but it somehow only gets worse from there? New York is full of people; she knows this. But she’s gotten used to working nights, to the emptiness of Raines Corp. after dark — so having to literally fight her way through the sea of tourists is a jarring experience to say the least.

You can do this. You can do this.

Yeah, because her last motivational mantra worked out so well?

This isn’t a vacation (and if it were she’d be too stressed to enjoy it anyway) so she soaks up as much as she can. The ride from the airport to the French Quarter, every street sign and avenue and cool-looking building covered in ivy. A few of the early-riser tour groups she’s passed by have mentioned ‘the history of the city’ and Nadya is kind enough to let herself imagine — after all this is done — coming back here with Kamilah and learning it from someone who was probably there.

It’s the most optimistic feeling she’s had in… too long, actually.

She puts it to good use in her ‘I’m Totally Not Nervous’ act all the way from Jackson Square to the small museum off the side of the St. Louis Cathedral. Smiling to the entrance attendants is a little bit easier. So is plucking up the courage to ask a security guard where she might find the offices to visit a friend.

That no one would think a short girl with glasses almost as wide as her face is up to no good doesn’t hurt, too.

If Nadya’s got her orientation right this is definitely the right office. The window — if there even was one — inside would be facing the stonework of the next door church. Perfect for avoiding direct sunlight.

She takes care in not stepping on top of a small, neatly-wrapped bouquet of orchids in front of the office door when she knocks. Picks it up for good measure because they really are a lovely shade of purple and maybe they remind her of better times.

Of rare blue lotuses and… happiness.

Nadya waits… and waits… and waits… and knocks again? She doesn’t know what else to do. Admittedly they all might have been a little too focused on making sure Adrian and Lily had a place to rest during daylight hours.

For the record Nadya still isn’t comfortable with abandoning her friends to sleep in the cargo hold of a plane — private or not.

This was a dumb idea. Of course he’s not going to be in his office in the middle of the morning. He is a vampire.

But just before Nadya can put down the flowers and pull out her phone, there’s a thud on the other side of the door.

“Kathy, is that you?”

Uh… “No? I’m…”

“Yes yes, payroll said they’d be sending someone up,” another noise follows — this one more like the distinct collision between feet and office desks of which she is all too familiar, “just a moment!”

Nadya realizes she doesn’t have anything prepared to say when the door opens.

When he had arrived late to the Council Chamber for Adrian’s trial, Cadence Smith had looked the very picture of flustered and in a panic. Nadya was pretty familiar with that, too. But apparently that was only a fraction of his anxieties because…

Well to put it in one simple word — yikes.

Cadence pushes his glasses back up his nose to scrutinize her properly. His tie hangs in a messy and loosened knot around a collar half-unbuttoned and his sweater is untucked and bunched at the waist. If she looks down it’ll be too obvious, but it doesn’t even look like he’s wearing shoes.

He pushes the blond mess from out of his eye-line with his entire palm and leaves a smeared trail of black behind — which makes sense given the large and aged newspaper folded in his grasp.

“You’re not from payroll.”

But Nadya smiles up at him, dishevelment aside. “No, I’m —”

Then he notices the bouquet in her hands. Immediately—almost frighteningly—his entire being goes cold; harsh.

“I thought I told you people to stop delivering those.”

“Huh? Oh, no—no I —”

“I don’t care if he’s bought the lot in advance. I. do not. want them. Christ — there’s no way a flower shop is this dedicated to customer satisfaction!”

“Wait, Mister Smith, if you lemme —”

“Burn them. Next time I’ll have security escort you out. Good day!”

The door slams closed in her face before Nadya can get another word in. She’s left there, dumbfounded, mildly offended, and the good mood from her sugar high now soured.

“Mis— Cadence, please!” She knocks again, and again, and quickly screws politeness in favor of pounding on the thick wooden door. “I know you can hear me! I’m not from a freakin’ flower shop!”

But it’s an office; not like he has anywhere to run. He’s just straight-up ignoring her.

She so does not have time for this.

“Adrian sent me!” Nadya shouts at the top of her lungs. If Cadence doesn’t hear her someone must — maybe she can get through to them instead.

But as it turns out she won’t need to.

Even through the blood pounding in her ears she can hear the door unlock. When he faces her this time, Nadya’s ready.

“Adrian Raines sent me. These —” she shoves the flowers through the door into his chest; then points at her feet, “— were already here. I don’t know what’s got you so rude but I didn’t fly all this way from New York to be —”

“You’re the secretary; the one from the trial who convinced them to let me testify.”

Nadya huffs. “Well—yeah, and I’m also the one who’s really tired of being interrupted.”

The more he recognizes her, the more Cadence softens until some semblance of the man she remembers is all that’s left. He has the decency to look embarrassed at his outburst.

In Nadya’s opinion he shouldn’t talk like that to anyone; let alone some poor person stuck delivering flowers. Makes sense why they were just abandoned in front of the door.

“Oh, and I have a name. It’s —”

“Nadya; I remember now.”

Her nostrils flare and Nadya actually feels the telling-off as it starts to rise from her belly to her lungs. But Cadence realizes his mistake as soon as he makes it; he ducks his head quickly. “I’m — forgive me. That was… I just remember who you are, is all.”

Only after she eyes him up to determine his sincerity does Nadya finally nod; once, and curtly. “Fine.”

The vampire turns the orchids over in his hands; plucks a petal crumpled in their not-quite tussle from the stem and lets it fall like a path to his doorstep.

“A… situation, shall we call it, with a lapse in my judgment has led to, well, these.” He smiles; strained and not quite seen in the eyes. “A fellow who can’t take a hint.”

“I get it. My heart goes out to you.”

“Thank you.”

“But we need to talk; like, now. It’s important.” Nadya nods at what little she can see of his office behind his towering figure. “May I come in?”

He hesitates a beat. “I’m a bit… deep in a research project at the moment. Will this take long?” Then, as an afterthought; “You said Adrian sent you — is he here, as well?”

“Yes, he’s waiting out the sun. But we’re already behind as it is and I don’t want to waste a whole day. It took us long enough to get this far… we don’t have the time.”

“You’re being a bit vague, Nadya, even for me. What are you ‘behind’ on, exactly?”

Yeah — she’s being vague and she knows it. Feels like somehow the fact that they’ve not really had to talk about the massive panic their situation is worthy of because they all know the stakes has been a blessing. Nadya knows she has to explain things to get Cadence’s help.

It’s just that saying it — actually telling other people — makes everything that’s happening very very real. And being real makes it dangerous.

It has already been dangerous, says a voice in Nadya’s head that sounds enough like Kamilah to make her lower lip wobble a bit.

“Nadya?”

Not-Kamilah in her head is right. Nadya sucks it up and looks Cadence dead in the eye.

“I need the Amulet of Nero and I know you were the last person to have it — when you beat a man named Kavinsky at poker in Vegas two years ago.”

Cadence defies the laws of nature and somehow manages to look paler than he already was. Which means she’s in the right place.

“How do you… actually, it doesn’t matter. The Amulet is useless to humans.”

“Maybe. But I’m guessing it’s not useless to a psychopathic power-mad vampire king who’s spent almost three thousand years trying to take over the world.”

An eerie calm comes over them as he takes in the weight of what she says.

Cadence steps aside wordlessly. When she crosses the threshold he stops and checks either end of the hall in a way that totally screams suspicious.

When he’s satisfied they aren’t being watched, he closes the door behind them.

He asks her to start ‘from the beginning.’ But does she really know where that is? Does it begin when Gaius finally revealed himself after a year of working in hiding in secret, or does it begin from a time only a few know and fewer remember?

“I’ve found the beginning is often the place you think of first,” Cadence answers her; he sets down a tray and tells her to be careful to not burn her hand on the offered mug of tea, “that, or the place where you enter the story as a character in your own right.”

It’s all very oddly domestic in here; Nadya wouldn’t be surprised to find out he doesn’t bother with an apartment and just lives here instead. Even if the mess is giving her the headache to beat all headaches.

The ceramic warms her from the tips of her fingers outward. It’s hot as heck outside but if there’s one thing she’s learned from Gerard its that the soothing powers of tea are beyond things as silly as the weather.

“It’s funny you say something like that.”

“Why would that be?”

“I don’t really know where I come in. Not… not me, as I am, anyway.” She probably—no, definitely—sounds like she’s a few marbles short of the bag. But it’s nice to be able to admit something so personal to a stranger. Someone who won’t judge her — or if he does it’s not that big of a deal.

“I’m not sure I know who I am lately. It’s… hard to explain.”

Cadence brushes the barest touch of his fingertips over her knee. He looks hesitant, like he’s not quite sure he has her permission, but she doesn’t say no to it. It’s like the man who was so cruel to her in the doorway was a skin shed in the safety of his home.

“You don’t have to explain a thing. I know the struggle better than anyone should have a right to.”

Nadya remembers then; Cadence’s testimony on Adrian’s behalf — exactly why Adrian had been in New Orleans in the first place. They had been so close to the Amulet and didn’t even know it.

She’s a little embarrassed by it, to be honest. “Right, I… I’m sorry,” shaking her head, “that was insensitive of me.” At least she knows her own name.

But the vampire shrugs it off and sips his tea. “The struggle of identity is innate in every species throughout time. If I’ve learned one thing; it’s that.”

It makes Nadya laugh softly. “You must have gotten along with Adrian when he visited.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You’re both kind to the world.” Kind to others; strangers. But not to yourselves.

Cadence opens his mouth as if to respond; but whatever he plans to say he thinks better of it and changes their course.

“Let’s get back to the Amulet and this… vampire king.”

Which is probably for the best.

She tries to start where things make the most sense — recently, with the Amulet and Gaius’ plan. But that leads to explaining how he was locked up in the first place, which leads to the founding of the New York Council and the Clans, and somehow jumps to the events of the Awakening Ball, and Nadya doesn’t blame him in the slightest when Cadence holds up a finger and grabs a notepad from his nearby desk to start jotting everything down.

It’s a full transparency kind of deal because if Adrian trusts him then Nadya does, too. But some things sound crazy no matter how casually she spins them. So Nadya keeps certain things to herself; the whole Bloodkeeper disaster, her fight with Kamilah, the fact that when she looks at him she can see a woolen uniform dusty with dirt and with embers still clinging to the thick material and a little cut on his forehead that definitely healed a hundred years ago or more.

And to the man’s credit he takes everything in stride. Nods and scribbles down her tale faster than Nadya could ever hope to do herself. He even asks questions here and there; things you’d expect more in a classroom than, well, here.

Though Nadya really doesn’t grasp the enormity of it all until she blinks and realizes her eyes have grown accustomed to a lack of light. She can’t even see the small alley street below his window anymore. Jeez, it’s sunset already?

“And that’s why we need the Amulet of Nero; if Gaius gets to it first and there really is a vial of blood from the First Vampire inside…”

Cadence nods. “It’s an ‘end of the world’ sort of deal. Well… for humans, anyway.”

Did he really need to put it like that? Way to remind Nadya that all her friends are vampires and would probably make it out of everything at least mildly intact.

“So where is it?”

“Where is what?”

Really? “The Amulet of Nero.”

“Oh, well… about that.” No, Nadya thinks in a panic — because nothing good ever started with ‘about that.’

“You have it —” —hello instant nauseating panic, my old friend— “— Cadence please tell me you have it.”

“Had; past tense.”

There’s not quite a word to describe the noise that grumbles out from deep in her soul but it’s certainly not a whoop of joy.

More like an eeeughh of… urrrrghh.

Which is why she’s a little relieved her phone screen lights up blinding and interrupts them before she can start pulling her own hair out.

While Nadya grabs it to read the latest message, Cadence stands and pops his neck in two places. “I have a few calls to make myself, actually. Another tea?”

“No thank you.”

He leaves her with the office door open just a crack.

In truth Nadya wants nothing more than to stretch out on the couch and take a power nap.

No rest for the wicked.

She thumbs her screen unlocked to read a text from Adrian.

[TEXT]: It’s sunset and we haven’t heard from you in a while. Is everything okay? -A

Well — she managed to train him out of the ‘sincerely’ at least.

[TEXT]: I’m surprised I dont have like 5000 txts [TEXT]: shes still asleep isnt she

[TEXT]: No. Her phone died. You didn’t answer my question. -A

[TEXT]: I’m fine [TEXT]: here w/ cadence

[TEXT]: Great news. He’ll give us the Amulet? -A

She doesn’t want to lie to him. But there’s really no good way to soften the blow.

[TEXT]: :|

[TEXT]: What does that mean? -A [TEXT]: I showed it to Lily. She isn’t happy. We’re grabbing a car now. I’ll convince him to give it to us if I have to. Did you explain what’s at stake? -A

Nadya scoffs — kind of very rightfully offended. “No,” she says aloud, but she’s alone so her phone suffers her snark in silence, “I told him I wanted it for my Halloween costume. Yes I explained what’s at stake, Adrian Raines. Ugh.”

So of course that’s the perfect moment for Cadence to return with confusion knit in his brow.

“Is everything okay?”

“Not really.” Nadya peels off her glasses and rubs her eyes. “Just — Adrian’s on his way. Tell me where the Amulet is and we’ll get out of your hair.”

She can’t tell if the pensive look on the vampire’s face is him trying to decide whether or not to help or something else entirely. All she can do is pray, really. Or hope Adrian can convince him. And if neither of those work maybe Lily can threaten him or something.

They should have brought Jax along. Katana and all.

“Actually, send him somewhere else, would you?” Cadence rips off a corner piece of paper and scribbles an address down before handing it over. “That’s where I planned on heading anyway. And this way I won’t have to go into the explanation twice.”

He’s been nice so far; friendly and helpful. And Adrian trusts him — if she hasn’t brought that up enough times.

So why does unease start to tangle and knot itself in her gut?

“Or maybe we could all go there together.”

“Why not save the trip?” He brushes hair out of his eyes with a genuine surprise. “You said time was of the essence.”

“It is.”

“Then I don’t understand.”

“I just think it would be better to wait.”

“But —”

Thunk. Thu-Thunk.

A knocking at the door cuts both Nadya and Cadence off at the same time — but Nadya’s pretty sure people knocked nearer the top of doors.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk!

With a long-suffering sigh, the vampire wheels himself around in his chair and makes for the door. “What have I told you about kicking my door? The museum said they won’t be paying for the third replacement.”

THU—

“Christ, Kathy!”

Cadence yanks the door open with more than a little force. The hinges creak and there’s the slight cracking sound of splintering wood — even with his back turned Nadya can see the disgruntled slump of his shoulders. “Great, now look what you’ve made me do.”

“Stop being so easy to mess with,” says Katherine as she enters; beaming immediately at Nadya around the towering blockade of a man. “He’s so fun to mess with, isn’t he?”

All the tension in her extinguishes like a blown-out candle. Leaves Nadya smiling because she didn’t even know how reassuring the sight of a familiar face would be until, well, she’s right there.

Katherine shoulders her way around Cadence and holds out her arms. “Bring it in!” And Nadya most definitely brings it in. Even if her hurry to hug the Nighthunter sends a small stack of papers scattering to their feet.

“Oops…”

Cadence groans. “It’s fine, it’s fine…” And he shoos Nadya away to pick it up himself.

Very little about Katherine seems to have changed over the last year. Though technically Nadya could say the same for herself. The hunter now sports a fancy scar along the edge of her jaw and she must have just recently given her hair a fresh shade of violet but she’s still Kathy and it’s an honest relief.

Wait a second. Nadya pulls back to hold her at arms’ length.

“I tried calling you before we took off from New York. Why didn’t you answer?” Truthfully, they thought she must have been out of town.

Katherine scoffs, mock-offended. “I have a life too, you know. I’m not always looking at my phone.”

“Indeed,” grumbles Cadence at their feet, “but last night you weren’t ‘having a life’ so much as trying to break your own arm.”

What’s worse is that Kathy doesn’t try to deny it. She just laughs at Nadya’s suddenly pale expression. “Don’t worry kiddo,” she teases, “I was just taste-testing for a bartender friend. Had a little bit too much, you know how it goes. I thought I could arm wrestle a stone troll.”

Blink. Blink-blink. “I’m sorry a who-what?”

“A stone… well you’ll see. C’mon Cade, pick it up later. We’ve gotta get going,” with a fist curled in his sweater she hauls the man up against his wishes, “don’t even worry about it. Not like the place isn’t still a historic hoarder’s nest.”

Nadya definitely agrees — but she’s too polite to do so out loud.

Hold on, though. “You know where we’re going?”

Cadence’s left eyebrow arches slowly. “You’re suddenly on board now?”

“Well —”

Katherine interrupts her with a finger and a quick smack to the vampire’s upper arm. He doesn’t even flinch. “Context, Cade, remember? Taller, stronger man tries to take you somewhere only he knows of in an unfamiliar city. What do you do, Nadya?”

“You kick him in the groin.”

“Exactly.”

He looks between the women in brief silence; but they aren’t exactly wrong. “Fair point. I’m sorry for making you feel unsafe, Nadya.”

“It’s okay.”

Katherine claps her hands together quickly. “Come on. I don’t really think you want to leave Raines undefended against Garrus for long.”

“Who is —” you know what, probably better that Nadya waits to learn, “— Lily’s with him, it’s okay.”

“Your friend the newbie vamp, Lily?” asks Katherine. When Nadya nods, though, she’s the exact opposite of reassured. The hunter barely gives her time to grab her purse before she’s tugging Nadya out of the office by her sleeve.

“Oh god — we have to go.”

“What’s the matter? Are they in danger?”

“No,” Cadence laughs behind them; the fact that he’s far more at ease than Katherine though doesn’t make Nadya feel any better, “they’re fine. But Garrus has been perfecting a shooter to give my kind an actual buzz.”

Drunk Lily. Nadya remembers her well… well enough to shiver bodily. Because drunk Lily was one thing.

Drunk vampire Lily, though?

“Maybe we could hurry up a bit.”

If I’d known there were going to be drinks involved I might’ve not been so against it, Nadya thinks, and immediately foresees a great concern regarding the eventual state of her liver by the time she’s (hopefully) settled into a more peaceful life post-Gaius’ World Takeover 2020.

By the time the three of them make it to the Graveyard Shift (which was, in her humble opinion, the height of tacky non-humor — and according to Kathy if she wanted to keep her tongue in her mouth she had better keep that thought to herself) Adrian and Lily are already there.

Lily hugs her first, then goes for Katherine with equal gusto. Cadence and Adrian, however, exchange nothing but a crisp businesslike handshake.

“I was glad to hear your name had been cleared,” the blond vampire says with a hint of shame. Then — watch out world — Adrian crosses the professional boundary and clasps a hand on his shoulder.

“Kamilah told me about how Vega tried to keep you from testifying. I can’t even begin to tell you how grateful I am that you risked daylight travel for someone you barely knew.”

“You helped me all you could. It was the least I could do.”

At the bartop in the very back a young woman dressed head-to-toe in black leather and lace whips out a (black) fan and flutters it rapidly. She eyes the pair bright and mirthful. “Good ghoulish gods, the sexual tension there is enough to feed a dozen succubi!”

They pull away from each other after a long and uncomfortable pause.

Then Lily’s tugging Nadya forward with maniacal delight. “Ohmygod, Nadi’, come meet Ivy. She’s literally the coolest person on the planet.”

Behind them Adrian splutters; “Wait, Lily —”

And she should really be worried when Katherine joins in; “Ease her into it — ah shit.”

Because ease her into what, exactly?

Lily stops them in front of Ivy’s stool. “Technically not a person, remember?” chides the stranger; and then things start to make a bit more sense.

What Nadya had thought were tattoos or maybe was a decorative grey bodysuit underneath Ivy’s clothes just… isn’t. It’s skin. It’s greying, veiny skin and the muscles beneath that Nadya can see with a little too much ease for her personal comfort. Yes, Ivy is wearing black lipstick, but there’s not a whole lot of lip for the stick. And while the way her eyes seem to actually burn with a strange and pinkish flame is very cool and very up Lily’s alley, Nadya can’t really look at them for long without feeling like the long shadows cast in every corner of the bar are watching her.

“Dude,” stage-whispers Lily while tugging at her sleeve, “Ivy’s a revenant. Victorian zombie goth chick, Nadya!”

Ivy holds up a veiny finger. “Actually that’s a bespelled revenant, sweetie.” And the only solace Nadya seems to be able to take right now is that when the woman smiles she still has a full set of teeth — though some look a little… pointy.

“We’re a little different because we still have our souls… they just don’t belong to us and aren’t in our bodies and will forever burn in some eldritch pit or another.”

Words that awful should never be said so cheerfully.

“But enough about me,” like she isn’t practically preening under Lily’s adoration regardless, “ever meet a fae? This is Garrus; he owns the Shift.”

The revenant jerks her hot pink head behind the bar where the bartender has been devoted to messing with something out of sight — until now.

No, Nadya would have answered if she wasn’t having way too much new information thrown at her like a bag of big supernatural bricks, I haven’t met a fae. She hasn’t, she’s sure.

Since she’s just as sure she would have remembered meeting anyone equally pale — somehow glittering, with the same unnatural symmetry in the face that was both pleasing to the eye and unnerving in impossibility. With eyes as clear as the sky and actual pointy ears that definitely weren’t bought from Lily’s preferred cosplay crafters.

Yup; no way she could forget that.

This is Nadya we’re talking about, however, so she swallows down all of her (many — many) feelings about the current situation and turns on her heel to where Adrian has come to stand just shy of behind.

“I’m gonna need a glass of wine.”

Adrian shakes his head with a small laugh. Back the other way Garrus calls out a cheerful — and slightly Irish(?) so that’s a thing — “Coming right up, darling.”

“Just… one glass though, Garrus.” Adrian feels the need to emphasize, even if its with a glint in his eye. “Trust me. She’ll try to go for the bottle.”

“I handle this crap the way I handle it, Raines.”

“Then don’t complain about the hangover this time.”

A beat. “Yeah fine, one glass only.”

For a bar in New Orleans at night the place is a little barren, but nobody else seems to mind so Nadya doesn’t think about it twice. It gives them more opportunity to spread out at the very least rather than having to lean halfway over the bar to talk to one another.

Ivy joins Katherine and Cadence in the crescent-moon booth closest to the actual bar. Freeing up stools for Adrian and Nadya — though Lily quickly pulls away to jog up a tightly-coiled metal staircase by the back door to, apparently, check on her charging phone and call up Maricruz.

“When did you add the second floor?” Adrian asks Garrus; who now is moving so fast Nadya’s pretty sure he’s getting a little blurry around the edges.

He doesn’t even pause to think. “We finished it a couple of years before the turn of the century. After you and your lady friend had such a hard time finding accommodations I took a real stock in the idea of places more… suitable to our folk.”

Adrian gives an “aah” of understanding, but if he thinks he can just get away with that without being smacked in the arm he’s very mistaken.

“Ow?” He tries to look affronted down at Nadya — it doesn’t really work.

“You’ve been here before?”

“Briefly, yes, in the later 19th century. Why are you so surprised?”

She gives a little shrug. “It just doesn’t seem like your kind of scene.” Yes, the Graveyard Shift is rustic, charming; antique. But it’s also dusty, rickety, and Nadya really doesn’t trust the way those stairs screamed through Lily’s every step.

“Well — yes and no. I enjoy this place immensely; you should have seen it back in its heyday.” He pauses; probably hopes Nadya will say something so he doesn’t have to keep going. But she knows a ‘but’ when she hears one.

“But… we weren’t here for a good time. We were here on Gaius’ behalf to settle some… unsavory territorial disputes between two vampire families.”

“Who’s ‘we?’”

His lips purse. “Kamilah and I.”

Garrus whistles shrilly behind them; breaks the chance for Nadya to go all melancholy before she even starts with a glass tumbler in front of Adrian and a wine on her end. “Thank you,” since she’ll definitely need it, now.

Cadence clears his throat into his fist. “Now that we’re all caught up perhaps I should finish what we started in my office?” He looks Nadya level in the eyes. “I told you I no longer had the Amulet of Nero?”

Adrian looks between her and Cadence with a rising surprise. She hadn’t gotten to that part, exactly, in her texts… thanks.

“What do you mean you don’t have the Amulet?”

“I thought that pretty self-explanatory.”

“Then why are we wasting time here?”

“I don’t have it because it didn’t provide what I needed.” And just like that he and Katherine are back on friendly terms. He swings an arm over the booth behind her and she accepts it with a sigh. “I had heard of the Amulet’s long history with vampires and thought that perhaps it had some sort of charm or hex that could prove useful to me.

“Objects have memories like people have memories. Only people — they live, remember, and die. Their memories are lost forever. But objects are a little like vampires. They just keep remembering.”

Adrian feels her still beside him. He reaches out to her; throw an arm around her shoulder, hug her; whatever gets spun on his roulette wheel of Uh-Oh, the Human is Freaking Out Again. This time, though, Nadya pushes his hand back. Touch is kind of the last thing she wants right now.

Why? He asks with his eyes.

Nadya looks away only because her own eyes want to give him an answer.

Because that means I’m an object, too.

“All that collective history should have been compiled in the Amulet,” Cadence continues, “but none of the witches I hired could help me unlock it. I even prostrated to the Garden Elders, you know.”

Judging by the way their new friends all react Nadya thinks that wasn’t a good call on his part.

“Before they lost the single brain cell they shared?” Ivy asks with a derisive snort. Garrus gets a chuckle out of it at least.

“Indeed. But they couldn’t even…”

Why did he trail off into silence? Doesn’t he know nothing good ever comes of trailing off into silence when it comes to matters of the supernatural?

Cadence’s eyes go wide. If he had a beating heart — he definitely wouldn’t have it now. “Mary Mother of Christ. I think that’s around the time when the Elders pulled the witches from the Quarter.”

He looks between Ivy between Katherine between Garrus; all of whom have gone just as silent and still. Something haunting them behind the eyes just out of sight.

“Do you think the Amulet did something to them?” Adrian asks — and Nadya’s glad to know she’s not the only one royally confused.

The blond vampire nods. “Of—Of a sort. You see, last year’s Mardi Gras was a bit… murder-y.”

“That was only a couple of weeks before the Awakening Ball — and my trial.”

“Lucky we made it out then.” He squeezes Katherine’s shoulder. The look on her face punctuates his optimism with a restrained barely.

“The Garden Coven — the witches of the city — their Elders went a bit…” Cadence tsks for a delicate turn of phrase.

And the hunter at his side doesn’t bother. “They went cuckoo bananas. They used a born necromancer, summoned a bloodwraith using the bones of an equally cuckoo bananas Nighthunter known as the Bloody Hand, and thought they could control him in the form of a vengeful spirit to kill the city leaders and install themselves in power.”

And she thought being chased by Vega was terrifying? Well, it was. But on some level Nadya’s kind of glad she didn’t have to touch any of this with a ten foot pole.

“I know I’m gonna regret asking this…” in fact she regrets it before she even finishes, “but why would they do something so… awful?”

“Fear is a powerful motivator.”

Ivy drums her nails on the table. “One of the Elders, Millet, was really handy with a deck of tarot. But the thing about prophesy — if you don’t have the gift, you just don’t have it. So the forces you call upon sort of… call upon you right back.”

Cadence’s whole world is being rocked; Nadya can totally sympathize. “The Amulet would have been the perfect conduit for Millet’s foresight. I can’t believe I didn’t realize it then.”

“Would it have saved anyone’s lives?” Garrus challenges him to consider it. Cadence does, but no answer at all is all the answer they need. “Shame.”

“So they used the Amulet of Nero and got a vision that drove them mad with… fear. I’m missing something.”

The gears are turning in Adrian’s head so fast steam might start squealing from his ears. “Whatever had been seen would have been tied to the Amulet’s magic.”

He and Nadya lock eyes. The same thought at the same time.

Whatever they foresaw would have had to do with vampires — with the Amulet — with Gaius.

Cadence snaps his fingers, eyes alight and a half-smile of understanding starting to grow on his lips. “The darkness coming has something to do with vampires!” Though when the weight of his words settles in, they’re decidedly less a revelation and more of an omen.

“Oh dear…”

“Before we get—ahem—any more ahead of ourselves,” Adrian cracks his neck and mulls over how best to go forward, “Cadence… what were you trying to open the Amulet for? You said it wasn’t useful, what do you mean?”

The man shrugs. “It was an object with great importance throughout much of recorded vampiric history. If you’ve forgotten that’s… kind of my thing. I hoped whatever lie within — whatever had the kind of power to draw us to it — might be able to jog a memory or two.”

“But it didn’t.”

“I’ll never know. I never got it open.”

“So you got rid of it?” Adrian’s voice raises more than a pitch or two. “If the Amulet couldn’t help you personally it wasn’t worth keeping safe?”

“What? No. But it took quite a bit of money to acquire, none of which was mine.”

As he starts to understand where Cadence is going with his story, Adrian leans forward with his elbows on his knees.

“You took a loan from Carlo. Which means it was left to Isadora when he passed.”

Who are Carlo and Isadora?

“Speaking of…” Katherine looks between Adrian and Cadence expectantly. It doesn’t bode well that Cadence shifts as if trying to inch away at the same time that Adrian takes a long drink.

The Nighthunter groans in frustration. “You guys are idiots!”

Cadence splutters — waves an arm at Nadya from afar. “Well I wasn’t exactly expecting them, was I?”

“I don’t care! That’s the first thing you should’ve done when you found out he was in town. But let me guess — you made tea.” Which is, unfortunately a fact the vampire doesn’t deny. “God, you are such a damn stereotype sometimes.

“And what about you?” She rounds on Adrian next. “You’re smart… ish. More responsible, I guess. Tell me you’re not as dumb as he is. Tell me you called her at the very least.”

From her edge of the booth Ivy looks like she’s taking way too much enjoyment in this. When Adrian’s head hangs she squeals in delight and claps with the promise of more yelling.

“I had more pressing matters to think about.”

“So that’s a no.”

“Correct.”

“That’s a no,” Katherine repeats; growing louder with every word, “to telling the most powerful vampire in the city about your little trip — and with not one, but two vampires staying in her territory for longer than a fucking layover?”

Some clarification on the rising panic bubble blowing up inside her would be awesome, but Nadya has a feeling she’s just not gonna get one.

“Forgive me for caring a little more about the danger of the most powerful vampire in the world more than Isadora de la Rosa.” Adrian almost snarls — Nadya swears she hears the glass in his grip creak ever so slightly.

Judging by the look Kathy gives him she doesn’t regret one syllable; not a single one.

“Its not my forgiveness you’ll need.” She grabs Cadence’s arm and turns it at an awkward angle to look at his watch. “Lucky for you Flechette just opened.”

“‘Flechette?’” Nadya asks — and can’t help but feel like an owl at this point.

Katherine snorts. “Flechette is the front for the city vamps; and they’re headed by Isadora de la Rosa.”

But this is a good thing. They know where the Amulet is. Sure, it sounds like there might be a little arguing along the way but… surely this Isadora woman will be totally understanding, right?

“You don’t have to come, Nadya.”

She looks at Adrian and really can’t believe what she’s hearing. “Of course I do.” Her eyes narrow. You know what I went through for this. “Why would you think I wouldn’t want to?”

“Because Flechette is a fetish club.” Oh.

Well… yes, yes she’s still going. She’s been to worse places than a fetish club; the Shrike, the Shadow Den, kind of… how bad could it really be?

“Well, at least Lily will enjoy it.”

#bloodbound #choices bloodbound #adrian raines #playchoices fanfiction #bloodbound fanfiction #bloodbound mc #mc: nadya al jamil #lily spencer #oc: cadence smith #katherine nightbound #garrus #ivy #krom #cal lowell

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jacknoughtsarchive · 4 years

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Please talk more about ava + kaidan and the kids!!!!!! do u have any cute headcanons for ava and kaidan with kaidan's migraines? where do they live post-war? do their kids know about who they are or do they get to school and find out their parents are Famous? do they get any pets? tell me more I need to know!!!! I love them!!!!!

ohhhhhh shit I hope you know I owe you my life now LIKE OK

LOOK Ava is not a naturally caring person in the beginning, meaning whenever Kaidan has a migraine her first instinct is just to peace out and leave him alone but as she warms up to him and the idea of being a truly domestic couple she notices it straight up pains her to see her mans suffer and so she goes all out whenever he has migraines, she insists on him taking the medicine even if he refuses with the excuse "i can handle it without medicine" (Ava tried the hide the pill in peanut butter trick and Kaidan only caught on after the third time) and she mostly just sn*ggles him and makes sure he gets some rest. being snuggled by big bad commander ava shepard was almost like being slowly suffocated in the beginning but kaidan didn't mind he was kinda into it

they actually first live at kaidans parents place after the war because ava would get intense panic attacks on the normandy and even if she had her doubts about leaving and meeting kaidans parents of all people, being completely isolated from everything and everyone besides kaidan and his doggo turned out to be surprisingly healing for her. they do live in the citadel apartment for a while (since the citadel DLC takes place after the war in my canon) but once they decided to start a family they utilised the property kaidan owned at sunshine coast to build their retirement home and kaidan was glad to be back in canada

the kids know BASIC stuff about who they are - they know mommy and daddy and all their aunties and uncles were part of something big but they do believe it was just nighttime story embellishment. ava makes a big effort to keep her kids as far away from the alliance as possible - not even signing any of them up for grissom academy and ava even begins going by her birthname (armstrong) again for a while and even uses it for her kids because she was genuinely scared of her reputation ruining the kids somehow (plus she was also terrified someone would also try and harm her kids - yes she is paranoid but given her past it does make sense) when the kids inevitably find out they truly do not believe the woman who makes them cupcakes every sunday and collects porcelain meerkats is The Butcher of Torfan who also saved the entire galaxy but the moment it really sinks in they actually are really proud and happy. the only consultation ava has is that the people outside the alliance and the council do not know the details of everything she did and she does not plan on telling her kids anytime soon

AND YES THEY GET PETS, they get a whole bunch of puppies because Ava rescues a bunch of puppies and suddenly begins attracting wild animals like a disney princess. they own several dogs, cats, ferrets, horses and alpacas after the war and taking care of her fucking farm really is the only kind of hard labour Ava does after the war

also some random Kaidan and Ava stuff nobody asked for:

- their dads know each other and were strangely close during their time in the alliance. none of them want the answer to the question how close they were exactly

- the only reason Kaidan found out who was the real Shepard and who was the clone was the hickey kaidan gave ava a few hours prior

- the first time ava realised she had a crush on him was when they came back from a mission and ashley asked for details and he went "it was like a bad horror movie out there. it had no atmosphere" and ava ended up laughing about this shit joke for ten minutes

- they get matching tattoos after the war and ava oftentimes describes kaidan as her emotional support human because they're gross

#oc: Ava Shepard #otp: radiant #this was in my drafts I'm such a dum dum for not posting this #yes this is dumb but yall just get mediocre content on this blog so

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autisticmob · 6 years

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tagged by uhh nobody but allie @pundeserving kinda left it open and im swoocing in because its fun. you cant fuckng stop me.

Rules: Choose any three fandoms (in any order), answer the questions and tag 10 people you want to get to know better

I choose…

1. homed Stuck

2. mob psycho

3. fma

The first character you loved!

1. ARADIA like ok first panel she was in i saw her and i was like “telekinesis? kinda spooky?? oh shit my TYPE” and that was it. it helps that she turned out to be objectively the best homestuck character as well.

2. MOB HES SUCH A GOOD BOY!! like, he’s the first character you’re exposed to and he’s so good, I don’t think you can avoid loving him first.

3. i mean. it’s gotta be alphonse. like... what a sweet boy? all the bad shit happened to him and he deserved NONE of it, my poor fucking SON.

The character you never expected to love so much!

1. ok in all honesty, sollux. sollux is tied with aradia for my all time favorite homestuck character, but the only reason i ever paid any attention to him was because i happened to have some weird 3D sunglasses, and that meant he was the first character I was able to cosplay easily. but obviously if you pay enough attention to him you realize hes a fantastic boy. like hes a fatalistic douche and a massive weenie but he cares about his friends so much?? like to the point of repeated, kinda horrifying self-sacrifice? and he was 13!!! its so fucked up but he just is love his friends THAT MUCH and now I’m sobbing.

2. shou. it’s 100% because i watched the anime first, and he’s barely in it at all, so it’s hard to get a read on him from that. but obviously after reading the manga im like oh hes just a young chaos gay. a sweet baby boy who doesnt know shit except how to exploit psychic powers for fun and profit (and also revolution against his shitty dad.)

3. ed tbh? hes such a shit boy. like tbh i found him kind of annoying and unlikable at first? but he’s the protag, so you KNOW he’s gotta get that good good character development throughout the series, and he does! hes a lot more complex than he seems at first and even if he’s largely STUPID about his interpersonal relationships, that’s just because he’s, y’know, a literal child, and doesn’t mean he doesn’t care a whole fucking lot about his family/friends.

The character you relate to most!

1. dave. there is an ever-expanding running tally of outside sources which have pointed him out as my government-assigned homestuck kin and at this point it would be foolish to argue. rose is a CLOSE second.

2. mob. i have a whole post about why he’s so relatable to me but tl;dr he’s got mad issues with expressing emotions outwardly, but that doesnt mean he doesnt love his friends more than fucking ANYTHING and thats a mood

3. winry. special interest hell, no time for bullshit.

The character you’d slap!

1. andrew hussie the man himself... (among a number of other characters. it would take a lot to list all of them but just know orangeman is at the top of that list)

2. touchy hoe is the obvious answer, I think.

3. envy. the nonbinary representation i deserve and you’re coming in here with that hair?? that fucking crop top monstrosity?? get the fuck out.

Three favourite characters (in order of preference)!

1. aradia, sollux, dave

2. mob, shou, serizawa

3. alphonse, riza hawkeye, olivier armstrong. im gay, what do u want from me.

A character you liked at first but don’t anymore!

1. i had a phase toward the beginning of my time in the fandom where i really really liked eridan. i don’t like... DISLIKE him now or anything, but i just... don’t really care about him all that much anymore?

2. this is hard because my love for most mp100 characters has only grown over time. i guess mezato? again i dont DISLIKE her, i kinda thought she’d have more to her character than just manipulating mob for her own interests, but then she just... didn’t, really? which was disappointing, i thought there was more potential there.

3. most of the homunculi? tbh? they all seemed really interesting and honestly opening with greed’s arc the way they did I thought they’d all get more development than they did. like... envy got some, sort of, and pride/wrath kinda did too, but like. not enough to be satisfying. and then lust gluttony and sloth were just kinda... there? idk i understand WHY they didn’t all get individual arcs because like thatd be a mess but the fact that they didnt is why my interest in them kind of dwindled off over time. (aside from greed who was Very good the whole time.)

A character you did not like at first but do now!

1. She Who Must Not Be Discoursed. like at first i was like aight shes bitchy and terrible whatever im not interested but then as time went on i was like oh shes bitchy and terrible AND interesting. idk. still have mixed feelings about vriska and i absolutely will Not get into discourse about her but yeah shes Neat if nothing else.

2. teru... honey im sorry but before i watched mp100 everyone was like “wow i love teru!” and when i first saw him i was like “... okay why tho...” but I KNOW NOW. teru did a lot of things wrong, in his life, i know this and i love him.

3. roy mustang. literally didn’t give a shit about him for like... a lot of the time? toward the end i started warming up to him tho.

Three OTPs!

1. aradia<3sollux, sollux<>terezi, dave<3karkat. like... these are just some kids who genuinely care a lot about each other, and i like to cry about that sometimes.

2. teru/mob/takenaka is a good one. teru and takenaka both like mob because he likes them regardless of the fact that they are passive aggressive dicks. they continue to be passive aggressive dicks to Each Other for a while until they like, idk, actually talk to each other like real people and realize that they have shit in common and are actually capable of being decent. After this point they Will kill or die for each other (and mob still.) serirei is of course a classic tale of two disaster gays. and then ritshou is VERY good. like. its SO fucked up how quickly they go from like one-sided crush, one-sided Mortal Enemy Status to just. Real Chill Bros in canon it makes no sense and my only explanation is that they were both so goddamn desperate for a meaningful connection with somebody their own age that they just. Settled for each other?? at which point they got VERY lucky because they both turned out to be genuinely good and sweet boys underneath all the trauma and questionable life choices.

3. ok ed and winry are okay and all, i get the appeal and stuff but like. WHY DO PEOPLE FORGET ABOUT ALL OF WINRY’S EXCELLENT GIRLFRIENDS? paninya?? an incredible option, 10/10 cyborg gf. sciezka? cryptid live-in gal pal. LET WINRY HAVE A TON OF GIRLFRIENDS, ITS WHAT SHE DESERVES!!

gonna tag...... uh. @whentvsfly @imhereformysciencefriends @margoslxix and i think most of the other people i wouldve tagged have already BEEN tagged so uhhh mutuals all of u DO it

#words #long post #mp100 #hs #fma

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louisbjed381 · 3 years

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7 Things About crowdfunding just giving Your Boss Wants to Know

Rob Rhinehart, a co-founding father of nutritional consume begin-up Soylent, declared inside of a site article last week that he was supporting Kanye West for president.

“I am so sick of politics,” Mr. Rhinehart wrote. “Politics are abruptly everywhere. I can't stay away from them.”

David Barrett, the Main executive of Expensify, a company computer software start off-up, went in An additional course. Within an email to his corporation’s ten million buyers previous 7 days, he implored them to embrace politics by selecting the Democratic presidential nominee, Joseph R. Biden Jr.

“Everything fewer than a vote for Biden is a vote in opposition to democracy,” Mr. Barrett proclaimed.

With days to go prior to the election on Tuesday, Mr. Rhinehart and Mr. Barrett characterize the dual poles of a start-up society war which has overtly erupted in Silicon Valley. Commence-ups including the cryptocurrency enterprise Coinbase plus the audio application Clubhouse have become embroiled inside a discussion around just how much politics needs to be A part of the office. And undertaking capitalists and various tech executives have weighed in on social networking with their own individual views.

“I have never observed another occasion like this in my profession,” explained Bradley Tusk, a venture capitalist and political guide. “There’s no authentic separation any longer, in The present political local weather, concerning politics and anything else. It has permeated Totally every little thing.”

Silicon Valley tech staff have lengthy been considered liberal but not politically overactive. Right after President Trump’s victory in 2016, even so, staff at massive tech firms such as Google and Amazon commenced agitating additional on challenges just like the ethics of synthetic intelligence, immigration and climate adjust.

Now many commence-up personnel, who are already marketed on a mission of adjusting the entire world, assume their employers to help their social and political results in, business owners and traders stated. This summer time’s protests in opposition to law enforcement violence prompted quite a few tech organizations to re-examine their own concerns with race. And the strain for making political moves prior to the election has only intensified.

The shift has grown partly outside of a realization that no tech platform is completely neutral, stated Katie Jacobs Stanton, who invests in begin-ups by her undertaking funds business, Moxxie Ventures. Founders who build providers with an incredible number of buyers “seriously have an obligation to have a point of view and ensure their products are getting used permanently,” Ms. Stanton mentioned.

“It’s disingenuous and it’s also the luxury on the privileged to convey, ‘We don’t Have a very viewpoint,’” she included.

But Many others claimed they feared getting a lightning rod or inflaming tensions at a hypersensitive instant over the coronavirus pandemic. Some anxious that their corporations could be sued by staff who could say they had been discriminated versus due to their political beliefs. Other folks claimed any go may very well be attacked by people that discovered the actions inauthentic or not enough.

Those people tensions exploded in general public very last thirty day period when Brian Armstrong, the Main government of Coinbase, penned a two,000-phrase weblog article to “explain” his corporation’s culture. Mr. Armstrong wrote that he preferred Coinbase to frequently avoid engaging with broader social challenges and office discussions about politics. He stated it absolutely was a method to attenuate distraction and target the start-up’s mission of making “an open up economical system for the earth.”

Two months previously, dozens of Coinbase staff members experienced staged a walkout just after executives were being sluggish to precise solidarity with Black Lives Subject protesters and minority workers, many workers said. In his submit, Mr. Armstrong stated workers who disagreed along with his “no politics” stance could go away.

His situation quickly established waves throughout Silicon Valley. Some praised the transfer, with just one Coinbase investor comparing Mr. Armstrong to Michael “Jordan in his key.” Other people stated opting outside of politics was alone a political assertion.

Dick Costolo, a former Main government of Twitter, tweeted that “me-first capitalists who Believe you could different Culture from company” might be shot in “the revolution.” He deleted the article immediately after, he claimed, it established off violent threats and harassment.

Within an interview, Mr. Costolo mentioned it was impossible for corporations to separate their mission from their effect on the whole world. “If you are trying to independent the social contract within the financial agreement, don’t be amazed when there’s an uprising, mainly because they’re linked,” he claimed.

Some Coinbase personnel disagreed with Mr. Armstrong. “I’m just so mystified by the clear lack of awareness from the web site post,” Ryan King, a Coinbase engineer, wrote on the business’s internal Slack messaging procedure. The concept was reviewed via the Ny Times. “A declaration that we’re not heading to the touch ‘broader societal issues’ fails to admit that we’re a A part of Culture.”

About sixty Coinbase employees, or five per cent of the work force, have resigned, the corporation stated. A spokeswoman declined even more remark.

Fred Wilson, an Trader at Union Square Ventures in addition to a Coinbase board member, claimed within an interview that there were no easy answers for start out-up leaders. “Many, many C.E.O.s have instructed me privately which they would want to have carried out what Brian did but don’t need to go ahead and take warmth that he has taken,” he claimed.

On Monday, Mr. Wilson wrote a web site post about removing begin-up chief executives who have “failed to deal with numerous critical challenges.” The article prompted speculation that he was referring to Mr. Armstrong, but Mr. Wilson reported it had been a metaphor for President Trump.

The political debates among the Silicon Valley begin-ups have ramped up Considering that the Coinbase episode. Very last week, Soylent’s Mr. Rhinehart printed his article supporting Mr. West’s presidential bid. Mr. Rhinehart, who is about the board although not associated with the corporate’s day-to-day functions, also attacked the political process plus the media, writing that “politics has often been based upon jokes.”

Demir Vangelov, Soylent’s Main govt, mentioned Mr. Rhinehart’s article didn't characterize the organization. Soylent’s emphasis is on bringing “the most beneficial comprehensive nourishment to Everybody,” he stated, and it does not acquire political stances.

At Expensify, located in Portland, Ore., Mr. Barrett took a special situation. Soon after paying much more than ten years in Silicon Valley, in which he identified a “uniform watch” that politics was not very good for business, he moved to Portland 4 many years back. Now, he reported, “selecting not to take part is also a alternative — it’s a choice to defend the status quo.”

So when Expensify employees drafted an email to tell customers to vote for Mr. Biden, immediately after concluding in an inside discussion that re-electing Mr. Trump could be a risk to democracy, Mr. Barrett favored sending it out. Although roughly a third of Expensify’s top administration opposed sending the e-mail since it could alienate prospects, The bulk ruled, Mr. Barrett stated.

Last Thursday, Expensify blasted its information to its ten million people. “Not quite a few expenditure reports get filed for the duration of a civil war,” Mr. Barrett wrote.

The e-mail instantly drew criticism and praise on social websites. Job programs, World-wide-web website traffic and client indicator-ups have considering that spiked, Mr. Barrett reported. But he also obtained Dying threats, prompting him to hire non-public stability. No consumers have quit, potentially for the reason that Expensify’s process usually takes months to change out of, he stated.

Tayo Oviosu, Main executive of Paga, a payments commence-up in Lagos, Nigeria, mentioned Expensify’s email had crossed a line. Mr. Oviosu isn’t opposed to providers’ Talking up on social justice concerns, “but that is quite distinct than leveraging The truth that you utilised my individual information to tell me I need to vote in a certain way,” he stated. “That is definitely Incorrect.”

Mr. Oviosu, who was utilizing a demo Variation of Expensify and was contemplating adopting the compensated version, mentioned he now prepared to have a look at solutions. “I feel they shed me entirely on this,” he mentioned.

The start-up culture wars will also be apparent on Clubhouse, in which folks be a part of rooms and chat with each other. The application is a popular spot for buyers which include Marc Andreessen together with other techies to hand around in the pandemic. (Mr. Andreessen’s venture business, Andreessen Horowitz, has invested in Clubhouse, Coinbase and Soylent.)

On Oct. 6, Mr. Andreessen started off a Clubhouse place identified as “Keeping Place for Karens,” which describes obtaining empathy for “Karens,” a slang phrase for any pushy privileged girl. One more team, “Keeping Room for Marc Andreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessen,” quickly popped up. There, people today reviewed their disappointment with the Karen dialogue together with other occasions when, they stated, Clubhouse was hostile to people today of shade.

Mr. Andreessen and others later on started a Clubhouse home known as “Silence,” the place nobody spoke. Andreessen Horowitz declined to comment.

In a “city hall” Within the application on Sunday, Clubhouse’s founders, Paul Davison and Rohan Seth, have been requested about Coinbase’s and Expensify’s political statements and where by Clubhouse stood. They reported the company was venture capitalist definition still determining how Clubhouse would publicly back social results in and felt the platform really should enable for various points of watch, a spokeswoman stated. She declined to comment further.

Yet even All those wishing to stay away from politics are finding it challenging in order to avoid. On Saturday, Mr. Armstrong shared Mr. Rhinehart’s weblog write-up endorsing Mr. West on Twitter. “Epic,” tweeted Mr. Armstrong.

Many end users pointed out the hypocrisy in Mr. Armstrong’s sharing some thing political just after telling personnel to abstain. Certainly one of his workers, Jesse Pollak, wrote that Mr. Armstrong experienced shared anything with “numerous inaccuracies, conspiracy theories, and misplaced assumptions.”

Shortly following, Mr. Pollak and Mr. Armstrong deleted their tweets.

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godssea7-blog · 5 years

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Daniel means “God is judge,” or “God is my judge.” We need to think about the titles of the books in the Bible: In many cases, the title is God’s specific purpose statement for the book. That is certainly the case in the book of Daniel.

The Laodiceans don’t want to think about God as a judge. They know in the back of their minds that they’re not being measured by God as they should be.

God gave the Laodiceans awe-inspiring knowledge. They were excited and inspired. But then they gave it up so easily when they were tested by Herbert W. Armstrong’s death—unlike Daniel and his friends. The Laodiceans looked to men to judge them—not God. Even the name Daniel unlocks why the Laodiceans failed.

To the very elect, the name Daniel is filled with meaning: “God is my judge.” They know they and all of God’s people are being judged by God, and they are thankful for it. If we understand the name Daniel, it shows us who the very elect are today!

Each one of God’s people is being judged now (1 Peter 4:17). Understanding the name Danielkeeps God always in the picture. Daniel never ceased looking to God as his judge—even in the most extreme trials. And the same is true of his three friends.

Daniel endured some shattering trials and tests. He knew he was being judged by God. His friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, also understood this deeply. Because of that, these men had the courage to stand up to the most powerful kings on Earth! Even in the midst of some of the worst trials anyone has ever faced, they had the attitude, No matter what you say, we’re not going to bow down to you and your gods, because the omnipotent, Almighty God is our judge.

When you face a fiery furnace or lion’s den, it’s much harder to say God is my judge. It’s easier to say, as the Laodiceans do, Where is God? Why isn’t He delivering me? When major disasters strike this Earth, that is how people tend to respond: Why didn’t God stop this from happening? They blame God, not themselves and their sins!

They talk of “love, love, love” and reject God as their judge. So they fail to understand when God punishes in love. They don’t understand either God’s judgment or His love.

It takes a lot of faith to put your life in God’s hands, particularly when you are facing and even thrown into a fiery furnace or a den of lions. Yet that is the whole theme, or motif, of Daniel: God is my judge. In every chapter, God promises vindication: He assures us that He will deliver His people if they are faithful. This book is also filled with most impressive examples of how God vindicates His people in trial. God fulfilled His promise every time—never once did He fail. He always came to the rescue. It’s true that God does sometimes allow His people to be killed, but in the first six chapters of Daniel are some of the most spectacular trials in the Bible—and some of the most spectacular deliveries from trials!

We need to learn a deep lesson from this history!

Daniel and his friends received rewards on this Earth because they believed God and resolutely said, God is my judge. They proved by miracles, before mighty Gentile kings, the identity of the true, living God!

If you look to God as your judge, you too will absolutely be rewarded—in this life and, most of all, in the life to come. That is an absolute.

A Tremendous Test

Daniel and his friends dedicated themselves to God in a special way. Chapter 1 shows that when the king tried to feed them his delicacies, they refused. For 10 days, they restricted themselves to a special vegetables-and-water diet. At the end of that period, they were healthier than all the men eating the king’s food.

These extraordinary young men let the king and all the palace know that they were different: There was a law, and they obeyed it! They obeyed their God no matter what!

Because they obeyed God, Daniel and his friends were highly promoted within the Babylonian palace—but they also made some strong enemies there, who started to plot against Daniel and his friends. Those in the palace were the most prestigious people on Earth at the time, the way the world would view it.

A tremendous test came when Nebuchadnezzar made a golden image for everyone to worship. These enemies went straight to the king and informed him that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who were faithful to God, were not worshiping the image (Daniel 3:12).

Nebuchadnezzar was in an intense rage and called the youths before him. He directly challenged them, saying, I’ll give you one last chance! If you worship the image, fine—but if you don’t, I’ll throw you into a burning, fiery furnace. And then he taunted, “and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?” (verses 13-15). Quite a challenge!

Those young men were very bold: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up” (verses 16-18). In other words, God is my judge. If you want to cast me into the fiery furnace, that’s okay, they said. We’re putting our lives in God’s hands.

This answer enraged the king even more! He was so furious, his face became distorted (verse 19). He was astounded that they would dare defy him and refuse to bow down! He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter, to intimidate them all the more. That was a lot of pressure on these men! Imagine being in their position—they were human, just like us!

God says this book is for the end time! He had this recorded in His Word for us today. It is end-time prophecy for the people of God! We need to learn this invaluable lesson about dealing with trials. There is no way to tell what the future holds for each of us.

Nebuchadnezzar commanded his mightiest soldiers to bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them in the fire. The furnace was so hot it killed the soldiers as they carried out the king’s command (verses 20-22).

Then something extraordinary happened!

The Fiery Furnace

The king’s anger began to turn to astonishment as he peered into the flames. “Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” he asked his counselors. “True, O king,” they answered (Daniel 3:24). He responded, “Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God” (verse 25).

These men were thrown in! Obviously they had faith—but God still allowed them to be plunged into the fiery furnace!

We not only need faith before we’re thrown in the furnace—we need faith while we’re inthe furnace! We must know that God is with us in our trials just as surely as He was with those men in the furnace. God did not remove the trial, even though they were faithful—He led them through it.

Then Nebuchadnezzar came toward the furnace and called out, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither” (verse 26). The three men obeyed, and came back out. The whole court could see that they had been completely unharmed by the fire.

Notice what Nebuchadnezzar said: “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort” (verses 28-29).

Nebuchadnezzar really uttered a prophecy of what will soon happen when the saints of God rule with a rod of iron! If people don’t bow down to the true God, they’ll be cut in pieces—and much worse! Nebuchadnezzar recognized that this was the way it had to be: He could see that no other god was as strong as this God—the same God who leads the Philadelphia Church of God today.

This is an end-time book! We must learn the lesson in the last hour.

The whole world will have to learn what this Church knows: that only the true God, and nobody else, is our judge. As long as we’re in God’s hands, we have nothing to fear—no matter what the trial may be.

It takes faith of the most spectacular and superb kind to realize that.

Notice something inspiring: The fourth figure didn’t come out of that fire. There’s another Being in those trials and tests with us—no matter how hot they get. He will lead us through every trial if we never forget that God is our judge.

God Promotes

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego knew God was their judge, and they weren’t about to bow down to another god. They looked to God and stood up to perhaps the most powerful king ever on Earth. Look at the outcome of their faithfulness: “Then the king promotedShadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon” (Daniel 3:30). As these men trusted God, they kept getting promoted!

How about us? If we don’t receive blessings, something is not right in our lives. Perhaps we aren’t passing our tests and trials.

These men were promoted to the heights within the king’s palace. That is a type of our reward in God’s temple! That is the way God prepares His kings and priests. God’s royalty will rule over Nebuchadnezzar and all the royalty of this world. We will rule over the kings of today, directly under the King of kings.

If we know that God is our judge, He will walk beside us. That is the kind of attitude that will get you promoted. Submitting like that will propel this Work to its successful completion. God is training us to rule the world and to teach people to look to Him in every way—never to a man or to any other god! The more we endure trials and let God judge us, the more we’ll be promoted. We must trust God and not look to men. That is easier said than done.

We must be willing to let God judge us, rather than sitting back like the Laodiceans and asking, Where is the God of judgment? They have rejected God as their judge, but He is still judging them. They will not be taken to a place of protection. Instead, they will be plunged into the Great Tribulation—the worst time of suffering ever, which becomes their fiery furnace.

Even then, only 50 percent of them will repent and accept God as their judge.

What awesome rewards God gives to those who accept Him as their judge today.

The Most High Rules in the Kingdom of Men

God sent Nebuchadnezzar another troubling vision in order to teach him a lesson. Here is part of that vision: “Let his heart be changed from man’s, and let a beast’s heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him. This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men” (Daniel 4:16-17).

We shouldn’t be too impressed by leaders of this world. God rules them and sets up whomever He will in order to fulfill His master plan. Sometimes even the basest of menrule, because God put them there or allowed them to be there in order to fulfill His purpose. He allows all kinds of things to happen, but everything occurs in the context of His master plan.

The Daniel 2 image didn’t just evolve! How did these great world-ruling kingdoms from the time of Nebuchadnezzar down to the time we now live in take shape like that image? The only way that is possible is if God shaped and molded it—to prove that He rules in the kingdom of men!

That image teaches the greatest lesson mankind could possibly learn.

God has given man 6,000 years to rule his own way but still makes certain that all events are shaped by His master plan. He forces events to shape the Daniel 2 image and work out His plan—He rules in the kingdom of men today.

God is teaching men even as they rebel. They are learning that man cannot rule himself—only God can bring men peace, prosperity, happiness and joy.

God gave us that Daniel 2 image to humble people and help them fulfill their potential. This truth should humble the most arrogant men of this world—as it did Nebuchadnezzar. However, they will have to suffer as Nebuchadnezzar did, before they learn. The Tribulation and the Day of the Lord are coming soon to get the world’s attention. Every person on Earth will be judged by God, or die in the lake of fire—in the final judgment.

Daniel and his friends were revealing this truth to the world—and before long, we will be teaching it to the world. All mankind will see how everything came to pass just as Daniel said it would! The most highly esteemed kings of this world don’t amount to anything in the face of the great God. Every word of His prophecies will come to pass! In the end, Christ is going to smash the toes, and the whole image will become chaff. This world will never see it again, because the Most High rules in the kingdom of men!

Daniel told the king what his dream meant: “That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will” (Daniel 4:25).

Nebuchadnezzar had to suffer until he knew that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men. So will the mighty of this world. People will have to be pounded by disasters until they know the Most High— God the Father—rules. The world doesn’t know that today.

God the Father wants a family. He loves the people of this world deeply. He wants to give them life—but they won’t accept it! God knows that, for most of them, it’s going to take a lot of correction before they’ll recognize His plan for them and accept an invitation into His Family.

This book and the whole Bible is about God’s family plan—ruled by “the most High,” the Father who is Head of His Family.

God’s lukewarm people don’t honor their Father (Malachi 1:6). Already they have lost God’s family plan, which is the gospel!

They don’t see God’s family plan in the book of Daniel or throughout the whole Bible. What blindness! They have lost everything. What a massive tragedy!

Nebuchadnezzar’s Correction

Nebuchadnezzar’s vision unfolded to the detail. He was given one year to repent. At the end of 12 months, he walked into his palace in the kingdom of Babylon, and he said this: “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power,and for the honour of my majesty?” (Daniel 4:30). Even after a year of mercy, this king didn’t get the message! He still didn’t know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men.

“While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee” (verse 31). Nebuchadnezzar was perhaps the greatest earthly king this world has seen—yet God stripped everything from him and magnified his suffering to teach him the most fundamental lesson. This is a lesson that God is about to teach all the kings and leaders of this world—the Most High rules in the kingdom of men.

Mr. Armstrong used to cringe when people gave him credit for building God’s Work. He would think of Nebuchadnezzar. Mr. Armstrong knew that the Most High rules.

I think it’s interesting that the wcg ministers who spoke so much about Daniel’s prophecy didn’t really talk about this lesson Nebuchadnezzar had to learn. I’m sure they thought they were humble men and that there was no need to address the issue, but every one of them rebelled against God.

Human nature is not humble; it is self-willed, and we all have it! Don’t kid yourself! We don’t realize how self-willed we are, so God has to show us! God knows how to humble the proud. Sometimes He has to get out His paddle and correct us. He tries and tests us, because He is shaping and molding—He wants us to rule the world. We must respond to that correction in the right way. We want to be like Daniel and say God is my judge.

We had better be humble people. Those who walk in pride, God is able to abase. In fact, we should regularly ask God to humble us in His mercy.

If God rules in the kingdom of men, He surely rules in His Church! You might think He doesn’t when you see 95 percent of His people turn away from Him—but God isn’t finished with them. What Nebuchadnezzar went through was small compared to what they are going to have to endure!

Just the fact that such a high percentage of God’s people have turned away from Him should frighten us and help us realize that we need more humility! We all need to get over our “Nebuchadnezzar complex.”

Most of the wcg leaders ended up being harder than Nebuchadnezzar—and they had God’s Holy Spirit! It appears that many of them are headed for the lake of fire. Can you and I see our Nebuchadnezzar pride?

God’s ministers are instructed to use authority in love, but God is also very concerned with how well they submit to God’s loving authority. The person who walks in pride God will abase—period! We all must submit. I must submit. If someone else is right and I’m wrong, I have to submit—that is the only way God’s government will ever work.

After this correction, Nebuchadnezzar finally became humble and submitted to God’s rule (verses 34-37). He concluded, “Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase” (verse 37). That is what Nebuchadnezzar learned. That is what this whole world is going to learn.

That is what we must learn now.

Nebuchadnezzar wrote part of the book of Daniel, including these verses. Sir Henry Rawlings was a famous historian. He found a document by Nebuchadnezzar where he recorded this exactly as Daniel did.

People in this world should know a lot more about Daniel and the Bible, but they refuse to. So God must punish them until they repent.

Nebuchadnezzar finally understood that God rules in the kingdom of men. This pictures the ultimate surrender of all of the Gentile rulers in these fast-approaching “times of the Gentiles.”

Daniel’s Trial

We saw that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego faced a real trial by fire. Now let’s look at what Daniel had to endure.

Daniel had been promoted to the third most powerful position in the kingdom. He was right under Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson (though Scripture calls him his “son”). That is quite a promotion for a Jew!

In the middle of that reign, Belshazzar was killed, and Darius of the Medes took over the kingdom (Daniel 5:30-31). That was the end of the head of gold in the Daniel 2 image, and the beginning of the breast and arms of silver—the Medo-Persian Empire. The two arms symbolize that it was a two-part empire—Medo-Persian.

Darius put 120 princes over his kingdom, with three presidents right at the top. Daniel was the top man among all of these (Daniel 6:1-2). “Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm” (verse 3). Again we see a man of God receiving tremendous promotions.

But notice: “Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God” (verses 4-5). These men were watching Daniel closely and they couldn’t find any fault with him!—they only saw that he set a terrific example of keeping God’s law.

The leading men plotted against Daniel and got the king to unwittingly sign a decree that would condemn Daniel to death in a lions’ den for praying to God (verses 7-9). Once that was signed, it could not be reversed. So when they then came to the king accusing Daniel of praying three times a day, in violation of the decree, Darius was bound to follow through (verses 13-15). “Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee” (verse 16). Darius supported Daniel. He had heard of all the other miracles and had a certain measure of faith in Daniel’s God.

Just like his three friends, Daniel was plunged right into the trial. In the midst of the den, the angels of God shut the lions’ mouths (verse 22). A lion could rip you apart with its jaws, but these lions couldn’t even open their mouths! Another miraculous deliverance by God.

This marvel impressed Darius, the Gentile king. He made a decree that everyone throughout his kingdom should “tremble and fear before the God of Daniel” (verse 26).

“So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian” (verse 28). This great man of God prophesied about the successive world-ruling empires. Then, because he looked to God, he prospered under those empires! He was promoted by Nebuchadnezzar of the Chaldean Empire, and then under Darius and Cyrus of the Medo-Persian Empire.

Daniel worked in the king’s palace under two of the empires depicted by the Daniel 2 image. He was taken into slavery, but he trusted God and was promoted. I doubt that Daniel felt extremely prosperous the moment he was cast into the lions’ den—that would have been stressful to anybody. But Daniel said, If a lion eats me, it eats me. You have to be impressed! He said that God was his judge. Not Nebuchadnezzar! Not Darius! And not Cyrus! He didn’t fear Nebuchadnezzar or Darius or Cyrus. He feared God! He never, ever looked to those men; he never caved in. That kind of faith, regardless of the trials that may come, will end up prospering and promoting you! You can see why, with that level of faith, Daniel will undoubtedly be ruling over the Gentiles in God’s Kingdom! Daniel and his friends have been prepared and are ready to rule over the Earth.

Is there a better book in the Bible regarding trials than Daniel? These men were consistently tried and promoted, tried and prospered—it was an endless cycle. We too are being tried and tested, and we prosper and are promoted. God is judging us, grading us, evaluating us. God wants us to learn to let Him judge us and to totally put our lives in His hands, as Daniel did.

The Jewish names of Daniel and his three friends carry special significance. The letters in their names can be assigned specific numeric values: Daniel, 95; Hananiah, 120; Mishael, 381; and Azariah, 292. Those numbers all add up to 888. Seven is perfection. But 888 is above perfection—which is what God is!

Men are prone to look at the men and events in Daniel’s prophecy. But this book is not just about these men and events. It’s about the God who is above perfection.

The Laodiceans rejected God as their judge. Then they failed to endure their trials. I believe this is the best book in the Bible on how to handle your trials—even better than Job. These men experienced some horrific trials and God delivered them every time. God judged them as resounding successes.

All of us are being graded much like college students. We must pass our tests without cheating. And we can if we look to the Most High God who is beyond perfection.

If you are facing a fiery furnace, or you are going to put your life in God’s hands some other way, you need to know that this God, who is above perfection, is your judge. He is the one who will promote you and prosper you—He is the one who will reward you in the Kingdom of God. He is preparing you to be a king-priest in the World Tomorrow. You can trust this God in your worst trials!

Cyrus

God’s Work has always emanated from His temple, or house. Anciently, the Israelites did their sacrificial work from the physical temple. In the New Testament era, God’s temple is spiritual. The Church is the temple—spiritual Israel, or God’s house.

So today, God’s Work flows from His spiritual temple—comprised of God’s people. That temple is there to do God’s Work.

So why would God want a physical house of God today? Because it is a type of God’s spiritual house. This physical building helps reinforce in our minds that we are called today for one purpose: to do God’s Work—which declares His message. Otherwise, we would be called after Christ returns like all the rest of humanity.

Today, we are the small firstfruit harvest to help God with the great fall harvest of all humanity.

This is the understanding that the Laodiceans—95 percent of God’s people—never did get. Or if they really got that message, they lost it.

So you can see that we need all the help God can give us to remember why we are called today.

We must bring God and His Work onto center stage. God always established His temple—physical or spiritual—to do the continual. God’s Work must be continued.

If we have a physical and spiritual temple combined, it’s like a double emphasis on finishing God’s Work.

In 2004, the Philadelphia Church of God purchased two candelabras that had been housed in the Ambassador Auditorium, the crown-jewel structure of the Worldwide Church of God headquarters in Pasadena, California—which Mr. Armstrong called “a house for God.” These beautiful works were commissioned by the shah of Iran in 1971 to celebrate the 2,500-year anniversary of the reign of Cyrus at the beginning of the Persian Empire.

The significance of Cyrus’s reign to God’s people is spoken of in the book of Ezra: “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house [a temple] at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:1-3).

God rules in the kingdom of men! He put it into this Gentile king’s mind to build a temple for God. That is astounding.

Cyrus also had Jerusalem rebuilt. The main commission here was to rebuild the temple. Why was God’s primary concern building His house, or the temple?

The success of Judah and Israel always revolved around getting the people’s minds on God and His Work, emanating from the temple. This is how God led these ancient Israelites.

It’s also how He leads His Church today. We must keep our minds on God and His Work today.

“The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts” (Haggai 2:9). The Church is God’s spiritual temple, or house, today. This “latter house [spiritual] shall be greater” than Solomon’s physical temple.

Notice there is a spiritual and physical house mentioned in this verse. The expression “in this place” refers to the physical house.

God also had Herbert W. Armstrong build a physical house to help keep His people’s minds on Him and His Work. That house has now been polluted, and God is having us build another physical house.

It’s very important to God that we keep our focus on Him. Since we are physical, God also gives us a physical house of God to help us keep our minds on Him.

If the physical house is polluted, so are God’s people. There is a direct connection.

God is going to rebuild the world through us, but only if we keep our eyes on Him and remain totally committed to His Work.

As Ezra wrote, Jeremiah had prophesied of this happening (e.g. Jeremiah 25:12; 29:10). Daniel also specifically prophesied, in Daniel 9:25, of the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple. So this event was very much in the prophecies, and God caused it to come to pass just as He had said it would.

God said of Cyrus: “He is my shepherd” to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple (Isaiah 44:28). God also called Cyrus “his anointed,” a century or so before he was born (Isaiah 45:1).

The Jewish historian Josephus said that Cyrus was induced by the prophecies of Isaiah.

Herodotus, called the father of history, also had a great deal to say about Bible-related miracles in Cyrus’s life.

Daniel prospered, and kings Darius and Cyrus knew he was a man of God. They knew of God’s power, demonstrated through Daniel (Daniel 6:25-28).

So Cyrus, a carnal-minded king, played a significant role in biblical and secular history. Cyrus is mentioned in four books of the Bible: Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra and Chronicles. So the history of Cyrus also ties in to Bible prophecy.

I believe it is interesting that, just a few years after that 1971 celebration, Iran’s shah was overthrown by the Ayatollah Khomeini. I’m sure Satan was enraged at the Iranians celebrating Cyrus, who had a history with God and building the temple of God, and within a short time, he kicked the shah off his throne!

God allowed this to happen. He rules in the kingdom of men. Today, the regime started by the Iranian Revolution is trying to take over the whole Arab world! The old Persian king is rising up again, and this time it is going to fulfill a different end-time role that Daniel prophesied about: the king of the south (Daniel 11:40-41). It’s about to achieve nuclear status, and other nations are too weak to stop it!

Iran will keep pushing the West until it gets a fight. Jordan is alarmed by what Iran is doing. Here is an excerpt from Courcy’s Intelligence Review, Dec. 16, 2004: “Last week Jordan’s King Abdullah warned U.S. President George W. Bush that Iran was interfering in the Iraqi election with a view to establishing a ‘Shia crescent’ in the region, extending from Iraq to Lebanon. … What is startling … is the degree of fear of Iran that has revealed itself in Jordan following the publication of the king’s remarks. [This helps us see more clearly who the king of the south is.] …

“But Jordan’s fear of a Shia-dominated Iraq is compounded by the close association between Iraq’s Shias and Iran, which Jordan sees as the historic enemy of the Arabs. Iran, Jordan argues, takes every opportunity it can to exploit Sunni-Shia divisions to undermine pan-Arabism and to promote Iranian interests in the Gulf states, Iraq and Lebanon. Jordanian strategists also argue that Iran wants nuclear weapons not in order to help liberate Palestine but to increase its influence over the Arab world.

“A commentary published … in the Jordanian newspaper al-Rai, supporting King Abdullah’s remarks, provides an accurate reflection of the level of Jordanian fear of, and animosity toward, Iran. Amongst other things, this is what the commentary said: …

“‘Jordan and all the Arab brothers realize the danger that Iran posed and continues to pose toward their Arabism and their homelands.’

“‘Since Iranians have a long history of stirring seditions inside the Arab homeland, cautioning in a loud and clear voice against the Iranian role in Iraq is the individual duty of each Arab, each Sunni Muslim and each Shia Muslim who refuses to wager his Arabism and sell it to anyone who harbors deeply rooted hatred.’

“‘It is noteworthy that Iran’s possession of nuclear weapons means an Iranian nuclear capability to strike us, for the Iranians have no enemy but the Arabs. The notion that Iran is preparing its forces to liberate Palestine is a ridiculous illusion. The utmost that the Iranian regime has offered the Palestinian question is the building that was occupied by the Israeli Embassy and is now occupied by the Palestinian Embassy!’

“The commentary concluded: ‘The problem with Iran is that it does not deal with us as Muslims whose one religion ought to unify them and close their ranks. Iran’s problem will remain that we are Arabs and they are Persians. … All cards are now revealed and the Iranian regime has lost its balance and proceeded toward overt and covert alliances that seek to divide up Iraq, destroy it, slaughter Iraqis, and encourage sedition and internecine fighting ….’

“King Abdullah has not been as outspoken as this, and Foreign Ministry officials have since tried to play down the significance of his anti-Iranian remarks. But there can be no hiding Jordanian (and wider Arab) fears of Iran now that Iraq is no longer the bulwark against Iranian influence that it was under Saddam Hussein. …

“On the face of it, resurgence of interest in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process might also look like a negative for Iran, particularly as it appears to be supported strongly by Egypt. Relations between Iran and Egypt had been improving for a while, but they have now suffered a double setback as a result of Egypt’s apparent rapprochement with Israel and the eruption of a spy scandal. (An Egyptian citizen is under investigation for having spied for Iran—or rather for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (irgc), which in turn is accused of recruiting and training extremists in Hezbollah camps in Lebanon and of plotting terrorist attacks in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Sources in Cairo say that relations between Iran and Egypt are now ‘back to square one.’) [Prophecy in Daniel 11:42-43 indicates that Egypt will swing back toward Iran, which would make it more an enemy of the king of the north.]

“Interestingly, however, sources in the region say that Iranian officials are actually not overly concerned about the new push toward a Palestinian-Israeli peace settlement. At least some Iranian officials take the view that renewed U.S. and European interest in the peace process will absorb a huge amount of Western diplomatic energy and divert attention away from Iran.

“In the meantime, Iran will continue to extend its influence in Iraq, which in turn should further increase its influence in Syria and Lebanon. King Abdullah’s fears are by no means misplaced …” (emphasis mine).

So we can see that the old Persian Empire is rising again. But this time it will be a bitter enemy of biblical Israel (especially America, Britain and the Middle East Jews).

Like the king of the north, or the EU, Iran—the king of the south—is telling its people to “remember your roots.” However, Iran doesn’t want the focus on Cyrus, the Persian king whom God used to bless Jerusalem, the temple and the people of Israel.

Today, hatred of biblical Israel is used to motivate Iran. It wants the Persian Empire to be resurrected, but not the Cyrus version.

There is often a strength if you “remember your roots.” What a dramatic difference it would make if spiritual Israel—the Laodiceans—and the nations of Israel would remember their roots—their history with God! Only they have roots worth remembering!

However, the Persians will not rule the world as they did anciently. The king of the north, or the European Union, will soon conquer them.

Our candelabras were used to honor Cyrus and the Persian Empire. They point us all the way back to the time that God’s house was built in Jerusalem with Cyrus’s blessing. We received those candelabras from God’s house in Pasadena, and they are housed in God’s house—our new auditorium—in Edmond. They have a strong connection to God’s house. Those candelabras tie directly to some of the most dazzling history and prophecy in the Bible.

God gives us candelabras and His physical house to remind us who we are and to help us remember our history with God. Through these candelabras and the physical house, God is trying to impress on our minds that we are going to rule the world! Christ and His saints will do a far better job than Cyrus did.

As the Prophet Haggai said, far more glorious than any physical house on this Earth is God’s spiritual house—the very elect of God. We are God’s royalty! We will rule over Nebuchadnezzar and the kings of this world. God’s people must focus on the throne we’ll be sitting on and on God’s palace. We are already kings and priests who outrank every king on Earth!

Do you want to compare Daniel with Nebuchadnezzar? Nebuchadnezzar ended up eating grass in the field, and Daniel ended up in the palace!

God Watches Upon the Evil

Daniel 9:13 says, “As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.” Notice that: Evil comes upon us when we break God’s law as revealed in the Pentateuch.

“Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice” (verse 14). Some people say they want to know God’s will. Well there it is: God tells us that He is watching upon the evil and bringing it upon Israel because of our sins.

This important passage helps to unlock the first five books of the Bible. Daniel’s words are prophetic—they are intended for us in this end time, and they point us right back to Moses. Mr. Armstrong always said Moses’s books were prophetic.

The scholars of this world have a mountain of excuses for not obeying Leviticus or Deuteronomy. At best, these books are looked upon as history, but here Daniel says that we need to obey these books in this end time! If we don’t, then “all this evil is come upon us”! Daniel also wrote that Moses’s books are prophetic—for this end time. The troubles will not stop until people repent!

Now notice something very prophetic that Moses wrote: “But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee” (Deuteronomy 28:15). People must hearken to “the voice” of God. Where is that voice? Who is speaking for God today? That voice is being trumpeted by the Philadelphia Church of God today.

“Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lordshall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee. The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young: And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee” (verses 47‑51). God warns biblical Israel in this end time that sinners are going to be reduced to cannibalism and other unimaginable atrocities (verse 53).

Who sends these enemies to destroy us? God does it because of our vile sins!

“And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee” (verse 52). The Holy Roman Empire is going to besiege modern Israel in all our gates and then destroy us.

You can already see this prophecy moving toward its fulfillment; the European Union is moving into South America, making trade agreements that are taking business away from the United States. Venezuela, which has exported oil to the U.S. for years, now wants to award those contracts to China instead. Why would Latin America, which is right on the doorstep of the only superpower left in the world, go all the way across vast oceans to find alternate business partners? We are entering the “times of the Gentiles.” Russia, China, Japan and the EU are forming alliances against the U.S. and biblical Israel. The U.S. is being besieged! Deuteronomy 28 is being fulfilled right now! Soon America will find it impossible to import oil and other necessities—just as Moses and Daniel said. Britain and the Jews in the Middle East are suffering a similar fate.

Ezekiel 5 shows that one third of the people within modern Israel will die before we’re even attacked! In America alone, that is 100 million people! Why do one third die? Because when we are besieged, our nations will begin to develop all kinds of problems from within. Then, when the attacks come, another 100 million will die! Only a tenth of the people will be left when it’s finally over.

We must believe and act like this is going to happen, because it’s right there in God’s Word.

The Overview of Prophecy

The Daniel 2 image gives an overview of history and prophecy like nothing else in the Bible. It is the main tool God uses to unlock the book of Revelation! We all need to etch this image into our minds. It is extremely important, and I believe we haven’t put enough emphasis on it in the past.

I read an article some time ago about how well the students in Singapore perform in mathematics. American teachers imported their textbooks to see what was working so well for them, and they learned a system for teaching math that visualizes the math problem. When the American students began to get a picture in their mind of the problem, not only did their academic performance increase, but they actually started to enjoy math!

The point is, God has given us the Daniel 2 image to help us understand Bible prophecy like nothing else in the Bible! It gives us a picture of Bible prophecy. This world is hopelessly confused, certainly about Bible prophecy. But if we etch that image into our memories, we can hold on to the big picture. Then Bible prophecy becomes powerfully vivid.

It is truly astounding what God reveals through this image! It shows us history and prophecy from the time of Nebuchadnezzar all the way to the end. You can follow the image down through the centuries—to the legs, then the feet, then the toes—then Jesus Christ returns! If you follow that image from the head to the toes in faith, then you knowChrist is about to return! Prophecy shows that we are about to see the 10 toes—and if we keep this whole picture in mind, we know that this world, and this phase of God’s plan, is just about over!

Not only does that image give us the historical and prophetic overview, but it brings God into the picture—when He smashes the toes and the whole image falls apart! We must understand the Daniel 2 image better than ever so we can understand all of the Bible’s prophecies more effectively.

The whole world is hopelessly confused about Bible history and prophecy. Understanding the Daniel 2 image could clear up most of that confusion.

Without this overview, it is easy to get obsessed with a certain area of prophecy and not see the big picture. What does prophecy really mean if you don’t have this image in mind? You must always have context! You must be able to see where a specific prophecy fits into the overview, or you’ll get lost in prophecy.

Daniel 2 unlocks Daniel 7. And several of these prophecies within Daniel unlock the book of Revelation. Both Daniel and John are heavily focused on the fourth system—the Roman Empire.

Daniel was on the scene when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah. God sent someone during the time of the head of gold to reveal the whole image. If you understand the head, it’s much easier to understand the whole system—it is Babylonian all the way through. God tells us today to come out of Babylon and the confusion of this world.

God Reveals Secrets

When Daniel revealed the image to Nebuchadnezzar, he said this: “But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. …” (Daniel 2:28).

Daniel repeated statements like these over and over. He wanted to make sure everyone knew who revealed the secrets! Don’t give me any credit, he said. Don’t think I’m somebody special—God reveals secrets, and nobody else! Not Herbert Armstrong, not Gerald Flurry—only God!

We must always bring God into the picture. Daniel and his friends brought God into the spotlight. That is why God could use them so powerfully.

God gave men ample opportunity to go their own way. History unfolds man’s way, but within the context of the Daniel 2 image and God’s master plan. If you don’t see the Creator of the image, then you can get titillated by prophecy and lose sight of the God who rules in the kingdom of men!

We must get beyond seeing mere human beings. Of course God uses human beings. Here He revealed the vision to Daniel—one man; He didn’t give it to Daniel’s friends directly. But the image came from God! He revealed it, and shaped and molded it, and if we don’t see that, we don’t really see.

Revelation comes only from God! And how much God has given us!

Daniel was used by God to deliver God’s message to Nebuchadnezzar. God didn’t give His message directly to the king. God chose Daniel as His prophet and revealed only to him.

Daniel did not understand his own book (Daniel 12:4, 9). Today God has given a deep understanding of Daniel through Herbert W. Armstrong and myself. God reveals His truth for the Church only to apostles and prophets (Ephesians 3:5). Then those who support God’s true leaders help deliver the revelation to this world. All of God’s very elect are kings and priests in embryo, getting ready to rule this world. The kings of this world are about to be replaced.

The Laodiceans knew about the Daniel 2 image, but they didn’t really know the God who revealed it to them. They did not give God credit for all His prophecy as Daniel did. The Laodiceans began to scorn God’s prophecy and say, “prophesy not.”

They bowed down to the Nebuchadnezzars of this world. God’s truth was “cast down” and His Work destroyed.

Look at Daniel’s attitude: “As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart” (Daniel 2:29-30). Daniel left himself totally out of the picture. He didn’t even take credit for the prayer! God filled his life! That’s why he could trust God and know that everything would work beautifully.

If the Laodiceans went through something like what Daniel and his three friends endured, would they survive it? Of course not! The question is, would we? Can we let God judge us and know that every detail is looked after? God will never, never, never try us beyond what we are able to take—and that’s a promise (1 Corinthians 10:13). How could God even make such a promise if He didn’t thoroughly know your capacity—if He didn’t know every thought in your mind?

The Image

Daniel said, “Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible” (Daniel 2:31). Yes, these great world-ruling empires are terrible! Elsewhere Daniel describes the same power as being “dreadful and terrible” (Daniel 7:7). They act like hungry beasts of prey to weaken nations. They enslave, kill and shock the world with their grotesque deeds! A Worldwide Church of God publication, The Holy Roman Empire, said the beast power was like a wild animal. That is an attempt to water down the truth! A rabbit is a “wild animal”! This is a dreadful and terrible beast!

“This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass” (Daniel 2:32). The breast and arms of the image were made of silver; the arms represented the Medo-Persian Empire—two empires that are one. As these empires progress, the metals get stronger but degenerate in quality. History proves this true: The earlier Gentile empires had more culture and dignity than the succeeding ones. This shows the reverse of evolution.

“His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay” (verse 33). The Roman Empire has always had two legs: Constantine divided it at the beginning because it was easier to administer, and it has been that way ever since. It will be this way to the end.

“Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces” (verse 34). The clay represents some of the lost tribes of Israel, and God wants to shape and mold them (e.g. Jeremiah 18:6).Yet Israel refuses. Here, in this beast power, Israel is mixed right in with the Gentiles. They are able to come together in an emergency, but the unity won’t last. It is a divided empire.

Now see how it all ends: “Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:35). We are living during the time of the toes—and the Stone that shatters them is about to fill the whole Earth! Jesus Christ is going to smash the great image—break it into pieces. Then the image becomes as chaff left from the wheat and is blown away. Everything not a part of God’s Family has this deplorable end. It’s all about establishing the God Family on this Earth. This is what we live for.

Fill the Church With God

The beautiful thing is that Daniel always brought God into the picture. We need to do the same, because we are nothing without God!

The Laodicean ministers always talked about the beast. They had tremendous knowledge about it. I was amazed at how much they knew about Daniel and Revelation and how little they knew about God! The problem is, even when you have studied this image from head to toe, if you don’t see what came before it, and what comes after it, you’re missing the point! The whole purpose of the image is to try to bring people into the Family of God! If we don’t understand and pursue that goal, everything we do is in vain.

The ministers of the Philadelphia Church of God need to do all they can to fill this Church with God! All of God’s people must work to fill this Church with God.

Every time a minister says, This is what the people need, so that’s what I’ll speak on, God blesses it. He is pleased when a minister tries to feed the people what they need. He is pleased by the man who, rather than seeking to impress people with his speaking ability, simply wants to fill the Church with God! That should always be our goal: to bring God in. It’s wonderful to be a minister, but it’s a heavy responsibility.

At the Feast of Tabernacles we talk about ruling with God in the Kingdom of God. That should be the theme of the whole Feast. We need to be thinking of that constantly in our lives: Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done!

We all need to fill this Church with the faith to face the future. I don’t know exactly what will happen; in a few exceptions, God’s faithful people could get killed. However, we know that on the whole, if we are filled with faith, God will prosper and promote us. He promises the very elect a place of safety from the nuclear holocaust. That is quite a promotion, considering what people are going to face elsewhere in the world. For everyone else, there won’t be a hiding place: God says that even if someone went to the bottom of the sea, He would send a serpent down there to bite that person! We can’t escape God.

The wcg ministers understood so many details of the prophecies, but they didn’t talk about the God who shapes and molds the prophecies—the God who is going to destroy the whole Daniel 2 image! What will happen to the madmen who rule this Earth? God is going to break them in pieces!

“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure” (verses 44-45). It is certain—it is sure!

A Sure Word of Prophecy

Luke 1:4 is a beautiful scripture that we don’t use much, but perhaps should use a lot more: “That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.” What I am talking about is certain—because it’s in God’s Word! It’s going to happen—it’s absolute! God wants us to know it’s certain.

“We have also a more sure [or certain] word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy [Spirit]” (2 Peter 1:19‑21). God’s prophecies are certain and sure!

The word sure in Daniel 2:45 is from the Aramaic word meaning trustworthy or faithful. It corresponds to the Hebrew word that means to be enduring, to make firm; it refers to a pillar or something totally reliable.

This Daniel 2 image shows the time sequence of prophecy from Nebuchadnezzar to Christ’s Second Coming. And that time sequence is so absolute, and the picture is so wonderfully clear, that anybody can see it!

“Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king” (Daniel 2:49). They really were promoted!

All of the firstfruits are about to be promoted into eternal Bride-level leadership.

The days of the kings of this world are almost over. The God of heaven is about to set up His Kingdom! It’s getting so close! Get this vivid picture of prophecy into your mind. It is more real than anything out there in the world! It’s certain—it’s sure—every word will be fulfilled! The 10 toes are almost here! The Daniel 2 image shows us where we are in prophecy. A new and wonderful civilization is about to burst upon the world scene. The time for God to return and begin to rid the world of suffering is here.

There are five world-ruling kingdoms. The fifth one is going to be ruled by God. And His is the one the Laodiceans and this world do not understand. They don’t know the God of heaven who is ready to break men’s rule to pieces and rule forever.

You can’t deeply understand the four world-ruling kingdoms, unless you understand the fifth world-ruling kingdom, but that kingdom is virtually invisible to most people.

The Daniel 2 image gives us a clear picture of prophecy, but it is our understanding of its creator and successor which shows that we know God. It is this omnipotent God who sent Daniel and John that we must understand and know.

After the 10 toes, then comes “everlasting righteousness” (Daniel 9:24). If we have understood all of the image which preceded the 10 toes, then we know that Christ’s Second Coming is almost here! That is universe-shaking news! And the best news we could hear. This is where our hearts and excitement must be. Either we get wrapped up in this or we fail. There is no hope any place else.

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bleedingcoffee42 · 7 years

Text

Absent- Part 27

I forgot how much I like playing with Kimblee. I am sorry this got so long. I am sorry this whole story is so long.

prev parts

xxxxxxx

“What toll?” Riza countered. “I'm not an alchemist and I certainly didn't perform human transmutation to get here so exactly why do I owe you anything?”

“The only reason you have any answers here is because you are more of an alchemist than you realize. Do you honestly think that seeing yourself as the Flame Alchemist was really that much of a fabrication?” Kimblee asked. “The truth is that you are more terrified of what you would have done had you been in Mustang's position during Ishval than what you did sniping from the rooftops. Admit it, you have some serious Daddy issues. You pride yourself on your abilities and had you had flame alchemy at your fingertips instead of a trigger you would have been so much worse than him. That drive to be the best cadet, the best marksman; it all stemmed from that deep rooted desire to get the accolades and attention your starved for growing up. It felt good to be recognized didn't it? What is Truth other than your own hubris, your damned pride. Without pride, who would dare play God and try to make a human? Or control fire? Or deliver the kill shot to a complete stranger, deeming yourself the superior in race, morals and life in general. So deep down you fear becoming me, because you felt that thrill when you hit your mark and it scared you more than anything.”

Riza finally sank into the chair he pulled out for her and stared at him as he flashed his palms, the array tattooed on them and she felt a pulse of some energy go across her back... her own array tattooed into her skin. Then he wove his fingers together, rested his elbows on the table and set his chin on his hands in display of satisfaction and waited on her. To be that good in any field you had to be drive had to have some degree of pride in what you did. Perhaps she always did question how she could be good at something that was only practically used for killing. “So you're Truth because you will tell me exactly what I don't want to hear.”

“That's what you expect of me.” He shrugged. “Am I not the embodiment of pride? So proud of my superiority over mankind and immunity toward the most crippling weakness humans have, sympathy?”

“I believe it's called sociopathy.”

He chuckled. “This isn't about me. You're the one pouring over books about psychology and dreams and damned near anything under the sun to conquer what haunts you. It would all go away if you just accepted that it was the choice you made and that deep down you are proud of yourself for thriving in a contest of survival of the fittest. Do I look like I lose any sleep over it? You're more terrified over what you did that you never thought you could do, than the actual lives you took. Truth”

“That's not...”

“Do you remember their faces or just the ones that you were forced to look at? I remember each and every one of them. So the question is, do you really value the lives you took or just hate yourself for your inability to stand up and do the right thing?”

“I did my duty.” Riza snapped. God they were nothing alike and his sick satisfaction at remembering faces was hardly appreciating the lives he took other than for his own pleasure! Why did it have to be him here, judging her? Anyone else.....

“A lovely word, duty. All encompassing in it's ability to deflect blame and decision making onto a superior, patriotism or some other entity.” Kimblee put his hands on the table and smirked. “Consider if you will that the reason you are here with me, beyond those doors of Truth and Knowledge behind you, is because you have been lying to yourself and that is what your subconscious is screaming at you to see each time it replays your war flashbacks. Not what someone made you do, nobody made you do anything. You could have missed, but you didn't. You couldn't, because you were an excellent marksman and they made an exception to the rule for you and let a cadet go to war. You were the only woman in the sniper unit. You felt special and you did your job so well to keep that feeling of pride no matter the cost. Just like Flame, we all knew he was the youngest ever commissioned and that he had something far deadlier than we could ever compete with and he was even a good military man...top of his class. He was the perfect soldier.”

Riza leaned forward, she was tired of Kimblee having a podium to preach at her for all her failings. She was tired of hearing him talk down to her, as if he had that right. “Something you can't comprehend, being a sociopath, is that being human is about having the full array of emotions and a conscience. Having sinful ideas is completely different than acting upon them. It's about having a concept of morality that guides your thoughts at all. Selflessness versus selfishness. There are sins and virtues. There are also situations were there is no win and each path is terribly wrong but lack of action even worse. Decisions, life..being human is not done without pain or error but it's how you deal with it afterwards that defines you. I make no excuses for my actions during the war, but Roy and I emerged from that with a greater purpose and dedicated our lives to making a chance to benefit the entire country. What did you do? Saw the end of your fun and decide to test how far you could go before they took you down? Turned on your own? You quit because life after the war didn't look appealing.”

“If you only aim to be better than me, that's a pretty low standard.” Kimblee smiled.

“What is the point of all this? Confession? Acceptance?” Riza shoved the stack of books at him. “Tell me how to get out of here.”

Kimblee opened a book. “Shell shock. This one is an old edition, I gave them something else to write about after Ishval. You should have seen that first wave of soldiers come through town after the first time the Alchemist Corps went through. What a sight! Body parts and blood splattered everywhere. Buildings collapsed on people. Charred and melted bodies. Even some of the veterans, the ones who had been there for six years finally saw something that shut them down that day. Flame was sloppy. He hadn't honed his craft yet. Left most of his victims alive, just melted and oozing....too damaged to scream out in agony but you knew they were suffering. I...humanely destroyed his little mistakes.”

Riza ground her teeth. She was about to say something but he laughed and continued.

“Imagine if it had been you, a hunter. Someone who understands how to properly put down their kill.” Kimblee flipped a few pages and rolled his eyes at some 'ye olde medical drawings' that looked like something out of a torture manual. People 'helping' could be more cruel than anything he ever did. Idiots. Humane thing to do was kill, anything else was just fulfilling a selfish desire to cling to a life spent or prove their ability to elude death with medicine. Fools. “You could have been so much better as the Flame Alchemist from the beginning. Focused, deadly, beautiful. Fully realized potential from the start.”

She could feel herself react to that, the idea that she could have been in Roy's place. She didn't want the title or his job, but if she could have saved him....

“Remember 'Naive Happy Roy' is dead and laying in a morgue in East City right now. Brain liquefied and dripping out his orifices. So happy and carefree he walked right into the fucking serial killer's hand and never put up a fight.” Kimblee clucked his tongue. “Think instead of you, Major Riza Hawkeye the Flame Alchemist. You're walking down the streets of some miserable little desert town, screams and explosions everywhere and you with your fingers on the trigger....of your Daddy's little family secret ready to help those poor people meet their God.”

He said it in the most mocking tone and she never wanted to shoot him more than this moment.

“Deny it. Go ahead. Tell me, Truth, that you wouldn't have done your duty and put down your prey as humanely as possible. A gunshot to the head would have been better, but you have only your gloves and this wealth of knowledge passed down to you by a father you loathed. Here is your chance Flame, stand here and show that worthless father of yours how capable you always were and how you are even better than him. Able to not only use his life's work but also use it better than his apprentice could because you have the training of a skilled hunter. You don't need people to accept you, you grew up in isolation with a cold emotionless parent. You were the perfect candidate. You know how to most effectively dispatch an enemy and you do it without hesitation because you have honed your skills to pull the trigger immediately when the shot presents itself. Feel that swell of pride as you walk past men like Alex Armstrong quivering on the ground and too weak to carry on with his duty. Society's elite, he had everything you didn't have and yet here he is unable to do the most basic duty with his prized alchemy! You can feel those stares now, not as a pariah but as a God. They look at you with awe, respect and fear. You're one of the best and this war will end because of your contributions. The entire country knows your name and you are the hero. How does it feel?”

“I would have given anything to save Roy.” She replied honestly. “I would have walked his path for him if it meant he could be spared, but....being that weapon and seeing exactly why there could never be another Flame Alchemist because of what I did in the name of duty. I would have had to have been destroyed. I would have never seen past the end of the war, I...could not live with this heavy of a burden more or less used it to fuel a passion to change things. I hate what it did to him, what I did to him, but this entire alternative reality has lead me to see that it really is equivalent exchange. There is nothing that powerful that does not come without a cost. This guilt, reliving my mistakes every time I close my eyes, it reminds me of why it's so important to accomplish our goals. So perhaps I would have been worse, but in this scenario the lives lost would have been for nothing because the Flame Alchemist would not have been compelled to change this country.”

“Interesting take.” Kimblee said. “I suppose I am biased. I always thought it was a shame Flame Alchemy rested in the hands of one so weak, so sympathetic....so conflicted.”

“That's why I chose him, because he understands the weight of his curse.” She said. “Even in our darkest hour he was weighted down by the guilt not the power.”

“So we have explored your alternatives of being the Flame Alchemist in both aspects: One as a hermit and the other as a participant. Each one ends with death, though you have attributed a higher value on a man you deem capable of changing the country despite the quantity of nameless Ishvalians that are on the other side of the scale.” Kimblee held out his hands, palms up, symbolically showing the weights and them being on an even plane. “Interesting.”

“I think I forgot how much I hated talking with you until now.” Riza said. Fireside chats with Kimblee were always unsolicited and condescending, but typically short lived due to someone trying to strangle or hit him. If this was about dredging up old war memories bravo subconscious, however it was helping her get seriously pissed off at this whole scenario and start fighting back instead of being whipped around in the storm. “Perhaps I do fear becoming like you which is not a compliment in any way, it's simply just applying a more personal face to the devil.”

“How rude.” He said and frowned.

“We were naive, we didn't quite grasp the weight of the job we were signing up for. We wanted to be soldiers to protect and be part of something good. We thought there was a real enemy to be defeated. How...how does anyone comprehend something so horrible as war without seeing it? How did we know our government was orchestrating a genocide? How would anyone know about the corruption without being immersed in it? You were right, killing was part of the job I signed up for when I put on this uniform. To defend our country, to defend our way of life. I had my eyes opened in Ishval, but my oath and belief in my duty have not changed. I will help put a man in power who will not declare way on an entire race. He will end the military's hold one every fiber of this country's livelihood. I will kill again to protect my country and those I love. I wear this uniform still and believe in it. Has my perception changed, yes, but for the better even if it is a darker vision of it all. What you don't understand is that some of us made the selfless decision to serve our country and that does not change even if it means changing the country so that future generations do not endure what we did.”

“That, my dear, is called treason not loyalty.” Kimblee replied.

“Like you're one to lecture on the definition of either.” Riza countered coldly.

#fic #absent

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whodunnitaceattorney · 7 years

Text

Murder Five

Adrian Andrews reached to her nightstand for her glasses. Each day at the Temple felt worse than the last, both emotionally and physically.

The stiffness in her joints cried out as she forced herself out of bed. She grimaced as she attempted to stretch out the discomfort.

How did I get here? Adrian thought. It was a question she asked often, but was especially considering in this moment. After all the turmoil and heartbreak of her life in show business, she was relieved to be living a simple life at the museum. What did she do wrong to get selected for this?

Adrian was startled out of her thoughts by a loud clatter. The chair underneath her doorknob had toppled over when she opened the door.

But what a minute - why was she able to open the door without moving the chair?

She bent over and examined at the chair’s thin wooden legs. The bottom of each leg - it was severed, like it had broken off. Sure enough, several small wooden pegs lay nearby.

Fearing the worst, Adrian replaced the chair underneath the doorknob, but this time, it wasn’t tall enough to reach. Her one line of defense was now useless.

It took all of her strength to resist the urge to panic, but she did so, and joined the group of guests already in the Main Hall. Will, Jean, Max, and Viola were standing in a small circle, speaking softly. They all appeared similarly upset.

“Adrian… Is it the same for you? With the chair?” Will asked, as the guests turned around to greet her.

“Yes, it appears the killer has had enough of our precaution,” she replied. “Does anyone have any ideas?”

“We should wait for the others to get up. If we all work together, we can probably find something to fix the chairs,” Max asserted.

The others agreed, and several minutes later, they were joined by Phoenix, Ema and Wocky, who reported that their chairs were also broken. A decision was reached that the next hour would be spent scouring the Temple for something useful, and the search began soon after.

Adrian looked in every drawer she could find. Tape, glue, wood - anything that could help the guests lock their bedroom doors, she was ready to grab. But alas, she found almost nothing. Was the killer removing items from the Temple to stall everyone’s efforts to resist? And where were they storing all the items they needed to make this all happen?

The hour passed by quickly, and once again the guests found themselves gathered in the Main Hall, empty-handed.

“Well, I think we’ve wasted enough time on this issue,” Phoenix declared. “We’ve still got an entire day before we have to sleep again. Does anyone have any idea on how we can protect Jean and Max until then?”

“Perhaps... We should remain together, like before...” Viola squeaked.

"Well, I think it's clear that ain’t gonna do nothin’," Wocky asserted. "We saw what happened the last time we tried to keep each other safe. It went to shit! We should just stay separately from each other. Nobody's gonna kill nobody if we're all in our rooms."

Adrian ran through the possibilities that could occur if that plan was enacted. “Are we certain that won’t put us in more danger?” She asked. “What if someone just comes into one of our rooms and tries to kill us? Or what if they take someone by surprise in the bathroom?”

Ema chomped down on a Snackoo and added her opinion. Grogginess showed in the bags under her eyes, but she spoke in her typical monotone manner. “If someone enters your room without your permission, just scream. For the bathroom, go in groups of three. You can’t murder if it’s a group of three.”

Adrian felt her aforementioned concerns melt away, but she couldn’t help but worry when she noticed the uneasy looks on Jean and Max’s faces. She couldn’t imagine what they must have been feeling in that moment.

Phoenix voiced the final decision on the matter. “For now, I don’t think we have any better ideas. Let’s all return to our rooms and relax alone for the time being, and we’ll meet back here for lunch at eleven. Is that fine?”

Reluctant heads bobbed among the seven remaining guests. This was the most trapped they had felt throughout their entire stay.

The soothing scribble on pencil and paper was calming to Adrian’s nerves. She was writing out lists - lists of her favorite historical pieces of art, lists of things she needed to take care of when she returned home, lists of memos that needed a reply. If she could just stay organized, she could keep her head on straight. She could survive, like always...

A knock at the door jolted her from her focus. Frazzled, she asked who was calling for her.

“It’s Max,” the voice said. “I’ve lost my bust.”

Adrian raised her eyebrows and went to the door. Max Galactica stood in front of her, distress steeling the corners of his mouth.

“What is it you’ve lost?” Adrian asked.

“It’s my bust - the one I brought with me, of my face. I seem to have misplaced it, and I wondered if you had any idea...”

Adrian thought back to her last memory of the gaudy object. Shouldn’t it have been... On the desk in the Main Hall where he originally placed it?

“I’m sorry, I can’t say I know a thing about it,” Adrian replied.

Max shook his head. “If I had known our killer was also a thief, I would’ve been more careful. Thanks anyway.” He walked away from the doorway.

Adrian shut the door, hearing soon after the sound of Max knocking on the adjacent one.

What a bizarre thing to happen, Adrian thought, before slipping back into her administrative bliss.

Lunch was uneventful. Adrian joined the others in the Dining Room, where a light meal was served by Phoenix. She studied the faces around the room. Most were expressionless.

Max appeared to still be distraught about the missing bust. Jean only picked at his food in cold silence. He was the first to return to his room after Phoenix informed the guests that he would alert them when dinner was ready.

Adrian returned soon after, leaving her plate and the pitcher of ice water behind. Now even she was feeling the pressure of monotony weighing down on her. To be stuck in the small room, with no ideas as to help further the survival of her friends... It was stifling. She ended up taking a nap, as it was the only thing she could think of to do.

Hours went by as she attempted to rest, though her brain failed to settle on a single level of activity. When she actually did drift off, she found herself easily woken by the slightest of sounds...

Including the sound of a far-off scream.

It took several seconds for it to register on her radar. It was a man’s voice.

“Max,” she said aloud tossing aside the covers on her bed. She ran to the door, hearing the sounds of other doors slamming shut in the background. She wasn’t the only one who heard it.

“Which way to go?” It took several seconds to decide as the adrenaline pumped through to cloud Adrian’s thoughts. The scream - it sounded like it came from the direction of the kitchen.

Half a minute later, she had arrived. A group of people were waiting, and at the center was Max Galactica himself, laying back on the floor.

“Max! Are you okay?” Will said, entering seconds behind her. Wocky, Ema, Viola and Phoenix were already present.

“I’m... Fine...” He mumbled, clutching his head. He was sitting against one of the lower cabinet doors. Adjacent to him was a ladder that stretched up to the ceiling. It had never been present in the room before, but Adrian immediately recognized what it was.

“Apparently Hazakura Temple has an Attic,” she voiced aloud.

“What happened, yo? Did you go up there?” Wocky asked.

Max’s lips were trembling. He could barely answer. “A hand...”

“He seems really shaken up,” Phoenix observed. “We need to bring him back to his room.”

Before they could begin to lift Max up, Viola, who had been quiet the entire time, spoke up. “Someone still isn’t here... That person... Should be here by now...”

A dark cloud fell over Adrian as she understood what Viola meant.

Where was Jean?

Everyone except Phoenix and Max dashed back out into the corridor. They rounded the bend, but were then rendered static by the horrible sight before them.

The door to his room was wide open. He lay outside it, face down, his teeth clenched in a menacing scowl. JEAN ARMSTRONG wasn’t moving.

Minutes later, the group was reunited in the Main Hall. Phoenix was sullen, but once again directed the others as to what was next.

“Jean is dead. One of us killed him. You all need to choose to either investigate the Crime Scene, that being the area in and around his room, the Morgue, where you can examine his body, or a Special Location.”

“Why no Last Known Wherabouts?” asked Ema.

“Because the door to Jean’s room is still open, the killer would like to consider that area to be one entire location. The Special Location is the Attic, where the killer promises some relevant clues will be found.”

Adrian hung her head. All their discipline, their organized behavior. And they still couldn’t save him.

Phoenix noticed the increasingly gloomy faces. “I know this is a terrible loss. But it’s also another opportunity to figure out who could have done this. To Jean - and to us.”

He left the room to allow the group time to discuss. They all retained their stony expressions as they prepared for the brutal investigation to come.

All except Viola, whose face was marked by an uncharacteristic tear.

“I never... Got to apologize... To that man...”

Jean Armstrong @jeanclauricearmstrong, you have been murdered. Thank you so much for being an infinitely wonderful part of our group. Your kindness will not be forgotten.

For everyone else, locations could be opened tomorrow at 8:30 AM Pacific - does that work okay?

#whodunnitaceattorney #murder #sorry yall that this took so long #ive been trying to tweak the case to make it less easy #also these make me sad every time

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segaphantom · 7 years

Text

Taggu

Tagged by @lingthing !

RULES: Always post the rules. Answer the questions asked, then write 11 new ones. Tag 11 people to answer your questions, as well as the person who tagged you.

thanksthanks~! Really long under the cut lol

1. How were you first introduced to Fullmetal Alchemist?

Pictures of blonde red-cloak boy and giant armor warrior + the nina/alexander chimera jokes while surfing through the internet :V (I was in my ultra-Sonic-fanatic phase back then and was searching for fanart)

So when that scene came up the animes/manga, I was already de-sensitized to it through jokes long ago sadfzgfdhgjf

I finally got the basis to what it was about when my favorite Sonic fanartists started to make posts and analysis of it. I firmly remember the discourse of whether the ending of Conqueror of Shamballa was terrible or not, and me not understanding anything lol

Still wasn’t an entire FMA fan at that time

2. Tell us all about your child your favorite character and why you love them to pieces!

BOY OH BOY, where have you been? *Points to Icon* That guy, over there (Does Greedling as an entity count)

Okay for real, so my first actual fave was actually Greed himself. I was looking at the FMA wiki and reading up on all the characters, and he caught my attention. So I was thinking, “Wow, this guy is part of the bad guys? But he’s not? And he’s actually nice!? What an interesting character! But he looked kinda like a villain beating up Ed...”

Then he jump-started my motivation to continue watching the 03 anime and I cried over him and how he didn’t deserve to die ;v;.

Several days later, I remember there being some ~Asian Aesthetics~ In the brotherhood version after looking at a tumblr post (You know, that one where it compares Xing to IRL China).

Went to the wiki again, and read up on all the Xing characters.

>sees Ling’s description (Greed? What??? Greed is my fav, why does he look different??)

>Stop and stares at personality

“That guy is also gonna be my fav I just know it.” And truth to behold, he is! There’s something about Comic Relief characters that are also secretly badasses that just gets to me ngh

AnD THEN WHEN GREEDLING HAPPENED OH MAN I WASN’T PREPARED FOR IT

THEY LITERALLY..JUST... COMBINED BOTH OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS INTO ONE JEKYLL AND HYDE THING OH MY GOD??

AND I LOVED IT SO MUCH UNTIL THEY GOT SEPERATED.....//cries

3. What are some funny FMA moments that get you every time?

>”OHOHOH WE’RE GOING TO CENTRAL?! HOW EXICITING!”

>Crocodile face Ed and sharp claws Roy

>Every single moment Ling gets kicked out of the room

>Whenever Ed makes an exaggerated face

>Major Armstrong

4. What is your favorite fight scene from the series?

fight sceneS* You mean B)?

>Roy Vs. Lust (If you could even consider that a fight scene)

>Greed Vs. Wrath (Again, don’t really know if it could count as an actual fight scene, poor guy didn’t even get a chance to attack)

>Ling Vs. Wrath (It just shows the full extent of his badassery!)

>Ed Vs. Greedling (Pretty interesting to see Ling fight badly compared to before because of Greed being shitty on the offense lmao)

>Briggs Army Vs. Sloth (THEY JUST... USED AN ENTIRE TANK...)

>Lanfan + Ling Vs. Gluttony (nyoom, asian warrior skills)

>Greedling + Fu Vs. Wrath (Damn, the emotions)

I feel like I pretty much listed 99% of the scenes that exists haha

5. If you could make an FMA OVA, what would it be about?

*SLAMS TABLE* FMA FROM THE POV OF LING,

THE TALES OF WHAT-THE-HELL-HAPPENED WITH GREED+CHIMERAS AND ED DURING THE TIMESKIP,

OR THOSE XING JOURNEY WITH AL AFTER THE SERIES EVENTS

6. Do you have any of your own FMA headcanons? Tell us about them!

>Ling can feel 100% everything that Greed feels and vice-versa in the backseat ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) (So having his arm sliced off... he felt that)

When Greed gets tired, He gets tired

When Greed gets hungry, He gets hungry Etc. They feel everything with the same intensity.

>Greed picked up minor Xingese during his body-share, but it’s really shitty broken sentences. He tries speaking it to girls in order to impress them. Ling cringes every time and disapproves of it. So when ling comes back to visit amestris for Emperor duties, he’s known as that guy with the broken language by some of the public :)

“WOAH KUH YEE SHOU XING-WIN HWAH. NI HI YOW TING WOAH SHOU DONGSHI MA?”

“Greed no”

“NI SHIAN CHU CHII MA?”

“Greed sTOP”

(Bonus points if you managed to decipher the gibberish)

7. Who is your favorite homunculus and why?

Greed, Greed, and Greedle!! THIS POOR GUY JUST BEEN THROUGH A LOT OKAY.

Oh? He’s different from the rest of us? LETS SPITE HIM

Oh look, we found him! LETS KILL ALL OF HIS FRIENDS! Also, lets supress his memories maybe he’ll accidentally kill of the last of his friends lmao

Plus he’s like....the most docile out of all of the homunculi, everyone else goes “PEH. Hoomans. look at these ants. Its pretty fun squishing them”

meanwhile Greed is the only one out of all of them that goes “Meh. I think they’re pretty okay. oH SHIT THIS ONE IS GONNA GET THEMSELVES KILLED!”

He’s gr8

8. Do you have a favorite FMAau? If not, what’s an au you’d like to see or have come up with?

Greed survives with ling AU hands down

I just want him to have extended happiness ;A;

9. If you could live anywhere in the FMA-verse, where would you live?

Post-series Xing! I bet the food would taste so goood *q*

Also, a lot less assassins later lol

10. Which FMA character do you identify with the most?

Ed! cause 1. Im short. 2. I get really pissy easily and yell a lot when i am

(Other than that, there isn’t any super-relatable characters in FMA for me. I could never be cool as any of them-)

11. Why do you love Fullmetal Alchemist? What does it mean to you? Tell me everything! Go nuts!

>Nobody is 100% evil! They all have their motive and own sets of morals/POV! Well, maybe except for Kimblee. Gross cockroach

>making *mystical Alchemy* into something that’s weaponized and a common theme in the series, + managing to apply it to a 1920s timeline instead of something medieval

>the characters oh man i love the characters

>Majority of female characters are badasses instead of being so meek!

>Historical contexts mm

>The cultural contrast between the east and the west regarding alchemy and other things

>Wow, no fan service? I’ve never seen that from Anime besides myazaki films!

>THE ENTIRE BRIGGS ARMY

>The subtle aging of the characters

Just having an anime with all of these is a blessing aaaaaaaa

I can’t believe I didn’t watch it when the nina jokes were floating everywhere

#fma

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homelesshaunts-blog · 6 years

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Run--If You Can by Charlotte Armstrong

Let's swap! You for my car and me for your land. In each lies secrets buried deep within...

Welcome to Homeless Haunts. My name is Lavel Wideman your Bloghost of Horror.

A man commits a crime, his car holds incriminating evidence, and he's not wanting to be found out but wants a way out of his rut. He does something nobody think to do. He finds an ad in the newspaper on swapping, and will anybody know why the transactions?...I guess it's all in how you ask...?

She was there, of course. She was always there. This was his home, but he never came home without finding her waiting--no matter how late.

There she was. Sitting in the stiff chair under the lamp, wearing a dark blue dress. She was his sister, his whole family, and this was his home, so he had to come here; but he stared at her hands, her splay-fingered, big knuckled old hands, holding the Book.

"It's midnight," she said.

"I'm a big boy," he answered nastily. "I'm forty-two years old. You know that, Helen?"

He dashed across the sitting room and through the alcove to the kitchen. He found the liquor, poured a drink. The garage was locked--he had remembered to lock it.

He came back with the glass in his hand. "I need this," he whined, because he needed her. She was his sister, she was all he had. "I had a terrible scare just now. I'm pretty much shaken up. I got home all right, though. Nobody saw me."

"Somebody saw you, Walter," she said in that mad and maddening way she had, that way of being so absolutely sure.

"...Way out in the country. Not a soul around. Listen, I don't know where she came from. All of a sudden there was this little car. How could I stop? It wasn't my fault. I just couldn't stop. I did stop, after wards." He gulped at the drink." I don't know who she was. How could I know? I got out of there. Little bitty car, turned right over. They make them too small, tomorrow...Listen, she was dead. There was nothing I could do for her any more--nothing."

"Alone?" his sister asked.

"Of course, alone," he said angrily. "And I got home all right, didn't I? The car's in the garage. I looked it over, as good as I could. There isn't a mark on it."

"There is a mark," his sister said.

"Quit with that stuff, will you?" he shouted. "It was an accident, I tell you! How can you stop if you're doing, seventy? You don't know anything about thing like that. I'm telling you, nobody saw, nobody is going to know, and you won't say anything."

"There'll be no need," she said, with the certainty that was like contempt. She had no color in her long narrow face. She never had. Even her lips had no color. Her pale hands lifted the Book. "Nothing shall be hidden," she whispered.

She drove him nuts sometimes. "I couldn't do anything for her, could I? It wasn't really my fault, was it? I'd been driving a long time and my eyes were tired. I couldn't help that, could I? It's too bad. I mean, I'm sorry. I'm upset, believe me I am. Tomorrow I'll change all the tires on the car. I'm not..."

Her eyes were set deep, and the eye sockets caught shadows.

"Don't talk about it, " he cried, although she was not speaking. "Listen, I'm all in. I had a shock. I got to get some sleep. I had an awful shock and I'm tired. So don't talk about it."

She said nothing. But he went staggering away, off to his bedroom. He'd sleep. He'd take a pill-two of them, to make sure. She wouldn't approve. Helen didn't approve of anything. He ought to get away from her, but he couldn't get away. Curled up in his bed, he could hear her moving around the apartment, making everything neat for the night...and somehow he felt safe.

"You're late," she said, when he came home from work the next night and stood, tense and wary, just inside the door.

"Anybody come around? Anybody poking around the garage?"

"No."

"...It's in the evening paper," he told her. "Her name was Mary Lovelace. Lovelace. Some name, eh? She was dead, all right. Some farmer found her, about four in the morning." He moistened his lips. "Hit-and-run, they say in the paper."

"Yes," said his sister, nodding agreement. "Dinner is waiting."

"There was nothing I could do, was there? I didn't see her. I couldn't stop. Didn't mean to do it. Listen, it happens every day--every day. Forget it. Get dinner or will you?"

"As soon as you wash up, Walter," his sister said.

But at the table he kept talking and talking. I looked at the car this morning, by daylight, and I couldn't see a thing. Nothing's dented. Didn't scrape the paint, not that I can make out. No glass broken. But I'm not going to drive it, Helen. See, they've got these police laboratories. It's spooky what they can come up with. One speck of dust, maybe, and you're a gone goose. What am I going to do with the car?"

"It doesn't matter what you do with the car," she said.

"Oh, come on," Walter shoved his chair back. "You're nuts, you know that, Helen? You ought to know that. I know it. So I'm taking care of this. And you're not going to open your mouth about it--not one word."

He grinned and looked sly, because he was sure. She was all he had, his whole family, and she would not betray him.

"I have prayed for you," she said.

"You'd do better to try and help me figure out how to get rid of it. Of the car, I mean. The car" (Sometimes she looked so stupid!) "Say I buy four new tires. But who knows if they're checking up on sales like that? Say I have a new paint job done. Same thing--they may be checking. What I've got to do, I've got to be a little bit smarter than that, that's all."

She said nothing. She just looked at him in that stupid way.

"Also," he continued, finding some ease in voicing his anxieties, "I know better than to drive it out to the desert, or some place, and just leave it. They'd pick it up and trace it so fast...Well, so I can't run it off some cliff into the ocean, either. They'd find it--you can bet on it. They'd want to know how and why. So how am I going to get rid of that car?"

His sister whispered, "How are you going to get rid of your sin?"

"What sin?" he bellowed. "Sure, I broke the law. I know that. "Sure, I broke the law. I know that. Sure, there's a law that says you've got to report a thing like that. Well, I didn't want to respect it. I didn't want to be in a mess over just an accident--an unavoidable accident. I tell you! Nobody saw. Nobody knows. Nobody will know, if I can only get rid of the car. So that's my problem."

"Why don't you sell it?" she said in a moment.

"What will I do? Trade it in? And the cops find it on a second hand lot? And there are records kept--damn it, you don't understand."

"I understand better than you," she sighed.

"Oh, shut up, will you? Will you please? I'm going to get rid of the car and the whole mess with it. There must be a way. I'll figure out a way. I can't eat," he said. "I don't want any more dinner." He glowered at her. "Don't you get any nutty idea you'll go to the police."

"It won't be necessary," she said.

He flung himself up from the table. "It'll stay in the garage till Saturday. I'll do something about in on Saturday."

"You cannot--"

He interrupted viciously. "You want to bet? You want to put your money where your mouth is, just once in your life? You're getting worse all the time. You know that, Helen? I'm going to buy us a television set too."

He mumbled away into the sitting room. They didn't even have a television set. She read one Book--one Book all the time. He had to go watch television in some bar.

...Walter turned the Saturday sports page, he saw the ad. Carrying the paper, he trotted to where his sister was watering her row of potted plants in the kitchen window.

"I got it," he told her. "Listen to this swap ad. Talk about perfect! This is it, Helen.

"'Exchange: Fine view lot for late model auto. Must be in good condition for long trip. Quick deal. Phone--'"

"So?" he cried." Isn't this it? Isn't it?" She straightened her long flat back, and her thin neck lengthened. " The perfect way to get rid of the car," he cried impatiently. "I'll swap it for whatever he's got. A lot, it says here."

"A piece of land?"

"All right! I ned a lot like a hole in the head. What's the difference? Here's a man, he's going on a long trip and he's going quick. So let him drive that car out of the state and that's the way to rid of it."

"Do you think so?" his sister said tonelessly.

"The deal gets recorded, sure. But so what? License number, engine number, make and model, and all that. So what about it? They won't tell anything. The car itself will be gone, far away. So how will the polie ever get the car into their laboratories? This is going to be the way, I tell you, an it'll work."

"There is another way," she said.

"What way?"

"Confess."

"Oh for...! Listen, I could go to jail! Which I am not" Walter flung himself off to the telephone.

..."Sounds good. Fellow wants me to run over to his place right away and we can go take a look at this lot. Well, from his point of view it makes sense, you know? So I got to take the chance and drive the car. He's only two, three miles away. Then this lot is way up in the hills and who's going to be up there? Nobody's been around here yet, and it's four days. Listen, the best if it is, he wants to take off on a trip tonight! So this is really it--the way out."

His sister said nothing and he shouted to her silence. "What can happen? Nothing is going to happen. You're going to keep your mouth shut and you are the only one who knows."

"I am not the only one who knows," she said.

"God knows, eh?" snarled Walter. "You give me the creeps sometimes. You know what you are, Helen? You're superstitious, that's what you are...

"Go with God," she said sadly.

"With or without, I'm going," he shouted, sweating.

But Walter went in terror and he knew it. He backed his car our of the garage for the first time since the accident and walked all around it, convincing himself that there was absolutely no visible sign of any damage. Nothing to betray him.

Then he drove off, carefully. The sight of a prowl car drenched him in sweat, but the policeman didn't even see him...

"I take care of a car," Walter babbled. "I believe in that. I'm not one of these people who runs a car into the ground. A car's a valuable piece of property. She runs pretty sweet, wouldn't you say?"

Anderson, testing the car's functioning, drove up into the hills along winding streets and then, above the streets, on winding roads. Then he stopped.

"This it?" Walter blinked. Oh, yes, he had better show some interest in the lot.

They got out and Walter blinked again. There was a fine view. The great basin of Los Angeles lay, wide and beautiful in spite of itself, below them. The lot was more level than most. Anderson pointed out the boundary stakes. It wasn't a bad size either.

"That's it," said the young man with his air of impatient briskness. "I'll take the car if you'll take the lot. Is it a deal?"

Walter licked his lips. "You'll take the car," he said slowly, " and be gone. Right? But this real estate--the title check, the closing? I mean, what guarantee do I have?"

"I've got the deed in my pocket and my lawyer, with a power of attorney, can handle the details. Suppose I have him meet us right away."

"You don't ...er...want to stick around, yourself till Monday?"'

"No," said Anderson, and his voice was positve.

Walter glanced around the site once more. "Looks okay," he admitted. "I mean, how can it miss? Unless there's a gimmick. Eh, Mr. Anderson?"

The young man turned his back and started toward the car. "If you don't want it, say so."

"Title clear? No liens?" Walter walked after him.

"That's what I said. You know they'll search it. Well? If not, say so and I'll find another car."

"Well, I'll tell you--" Suddenly Walter recalled his prime motive. "Okay, it's a deal. Say the car is yours, the lot is mine, even swap, as of right now. Okay?'

"Okay."

She was there, of course. She was always there.

"This is my sister, Helen, Mr. Anderson. We've got some business," he added quickly, before she could speak. His tone told her that the business was none of hers...He showed Anderson to the phone.

While Anderson was using it, Walter followed his sister into the kitchen.

"This is it," he said, "So keep still. Swear to me, you'll keep your mouth shut."

Her pale lips parted. Her pale eyes in their deep caverns looked at him with pity. Then they closed, and her lips closed.

The two men sat down at the table in the alcove and began to produce what papers they had. Helen brought in the coffee silently. She left them and sat down in the stuff chair in the room, and took the Book into her hands.

When there was nothing more to do until the lawyer arrived, there seemed nothing more to say. Anderson glanced at the woman in the chair, glanced at his watch Walter began to find the silence too hard to bear. "This lawyer is coming, isn't he?"

"In a few minutes."

"How do I know--?" Walter began. Then he controlled himself. "Kind of in a hurry, arent you, Mr. Anderson?" he inquired.

"I'd like to be on my way."

"Well, all we got to do is wait for this...er...friend of yours."

Walter looked up slyly from under lowered brows. He was nobody's pigeon. How did he know that the man they were waiting for was, in fact, a lawyer?

Anderson looked at his watch again. He glanced through the arch at the silent woman, stiff in the stiff chair.

Walter said, "How come you don't own a car? A young fellow like you. I was kind of wondering."

"I own a car. It's in bad shape."

"No trade-in valure?"

"Not worth bothering about."

Walter twitched. After a moment he said, "How long did you say you owned that lot, Mr. Anderson?"

"I didn't say," snapped the young man. He seemed about to jump out of his skin. "A little more than a year," he answered, rather coldly...

Walter was too nervous to remain silent. "To me," he said, "the times are modern, right? I do my best. I work for a living. I'm a businessman." He went on uncontrollably. "Looks to me, if you'd hang on to that propery six months or another year you ought to turn a nice profit. Right now--you know this, don't you?--it's worth more than a second-hand car."

The doorbell rang.

"Get the door, will you, Helen?" Walter called. She rose. He heard a man's voice say politely, " I am looking for a Mr. Robert Anderson."

Helen said nothing.

"Oh, for...!" Walter stood up. "Right this way," he called out.

He felt a deep relief, but the aftertaste of his curiosity was still strong. So he looked down and said to the young man softley, "Listen, does he know where the body is buried? Maybe?

Anderson's eyes flashed. He called out the lawyers name. An older man came toward them, well-dressed, crisp and business like in speech and manner. It took only a few minutes more--a few signatures. The all three rose and Walter held out the car keys.

Anderson snatched the keys and began to cross the sitting room, moving quickly. Walter shuffled fast to keep alongside. He was convinced, now, that this man was running away. But from what?

They almost collided as Anderson stopped and murmured to Helen, still sitting in her chair, "Happy to have met you."

Her pale lips did not open. Oh, she was a nut, really thought her brother.

"Come on," he said crossly," you can say good-bye to the gentleman, Helen."

"God be with you, gentleman," she said.

This was odd enough to hold Anderson for a moment, as the lawyer, briefcase in hand, joined them.

"Good-bye," he said pleasantly to Helen, and then to Walter, "Good-bye"....

Walter was whining at their backs--he just couldn't help it. "Look, gents, excuse, but that lot is worth five, six thousand, if it's worth a nickel. All right. I'm stuck with it now. And that's okay. But what's the gimmick? Please?

The lawyer said severely, "No gimmick."

"But there has to be a gimmick," cried Walter.

"And you have to know, don't you?" asked Anderson hoarsely.

"Don't, Bob," said the lawyer, touching his client's arm. "We're through here. Let's go."

"Now wait," said Walter frantically." This is beginning to look pretty funny."

"Funny?" said Anderson. " I bought that lot to put a dream house on it for my bride. There is no bride."

"I see. I see." Walter was deflated so suddenly that he almost fell." I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was personal. That's okay, then. " He was nodding. "Yes, that's all right."

"All right?" said Anderson on a note of rising anger. "All right?"

Walter had begun to sweat. He looked behind him. His sister, with the Book in her hands, had her head high, and on her pale lips was the weird little smile--the smile that was going to drive him nuts.

"She was driving my sports car last Tuesday night," said Anderson violently," and somebody flipped her into a ditch. So there'll be no dream house and I never want to see the site of it again. That's what's the matter with the lot."

Now Walter was not only sweating, he was shaking from head to foot..."Listen. Excuse me. I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything. So long, I mean... Go with God," Walter bleated idiotically. A high giggle came out of him.

"Shall we go, Bob?" the lawyer said softly.

But Anderson said, "What's the matter here?"

Walter's jowls were shaking. "No, no," he said. He spread his hands. The palms were wet. "Why should there be a gimmick? Nothing's the matter here--nothing at all."

Anderson's eyes bored into Walters', them swerved to Helen's.

"What is it?" he said to her, sharply.

But her lips were closed.

For Walter, something cracked. "You're crazy, Helen." he shrieked. "You know that? She's crazy," he sobbed to the two men. " Don't listen to her! Shut your mouth!" he howled to his silent sister.

...Anderson spoke, in the stern and quiet voice of doom. "I think you'd better tell me. What's wrong with the car? What's the gimmick?"

Alley of Fear

Oooh! I think you better tell him, Walter.

How things are opened and revealed, and when it's not even your turn to speak.

But the cat's out of the bag now and you must face the music--it's playing for you to begin...now play.

If you could record a moment in your life and it reitnerate itself over and over like a drum. This drum now plays for you to dance.

A man realizes a secret is not a secret if you disclose it with the one you love. It may help , but sometimes it may not. Sometimes a listening ear can be a guilty conscience.

She didn't have to say a word. It was what she was holding that made the case. The Good Book that can acquit anyone's heart-- actions are in the balance. And it's up to you to see your mistakes. Confront whatever it is that's causing a rift between the physical and the spiritual.

And of course, winding up in a place like the Alley of Fear, you can no longer cause problems. Where you'll have a home, a place to stay, and be yourself. To think about all the things you've done or should have done and try real hard to remember all the way back to the time, where you made your deal.

Somehow that deal became faulty. However, in the Alley of Fear, the Good Book will retain it's goodness and justice where Walter will no longer have his sister to face but this Good Book. And here, it'll be a good time for him to read it.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, in your own homes, and if you have one?

Homeless Haunts bringing the world of the poor to your door.

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zeroviraluniverse-blog · 6 years

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Kevin Pelton's weekly mailbag - Next Victor Oladipo?

Visit Now - http://zeroviral.com/kevin-peltons-weekly-mailbag-next-victor-oladipo/

Kevin Pelton's weekly mailbag - Next Victor Oladipo?

This week’s mailbag features your questions on the next Victor Oladipo, the Warriors’ bench and NBA draft projections.

You can tweet your questions using the hashtag #peltonmailbag or email them to [email protected].

“Is there a statistical way to project next year’s Victor Oladipo or what a third option would do if they had a first option’s usage rate? And, would there be a way to assess the market value of that increase?” — David

I suspect that there will be a lot of articles searching for the next Oladipo over the next eight months, and the simplest answer is that very likely nobody will match the transformation he has made from OK starter with the Orlando Magic and Oklahoma City Thunder to All-Star with the Indiana Pacers.

Among players who changed teams after using 20 percent of their team’s plays or more since the ABA-NBA merger, the increase in Oladipo’s usage rate is the largest on record.

Biggest increases in usage rate after changing teams

Player Season Team Old Usage New Usage Change Victor Oladipo 2017-18 IND .214 .307 .093 James Harden 2012-13 HOU .216 .292 .075 Tracy McGrady 2000-01 ORL .243 .313 .070 Byron Scott 1993-94 IND .207 .271 .064 Louis Williams 2014-15 TOR .210 .272 .062 T.J. Ford 2006-07 TOR .201 .262 .061

Minimum usage rate of 20 percent in season one; since 1977-78

James Harden and Tracy McGrady followed somewhat similar paths, but the growth in their usage rate wasn’t as sizable as Oladipo’s and both were younger at the time (Harden 23 and McGrady 21; Oladipo is 25).

Typically, the rule of thumb is that players become less efficient as they take responsibility for creating a larger share of their team’s offense. This isn’t easy to show year over year because, naturally, players who increase their usage aren’t chosen at random — even when they change teams, they usually do so because they prove capable of handling the larger load. This is true even in Oladipo’s case; while going from Oklahoma City to Indiana naturally was going to increase his usage to some extent, it was certainly possible that Myles Turner was instead going to emerge as the Pacers’ go-to guy.

So I don’t think we should expect players to become more valuable simply by moving to a larger role. More often, this plays out like Harrison Barnes, who went from the fourth option on offense for the Golden State Warriors to the first or second option for the Dallas Mavericks. Despite maintaining an admirable amount of his efficiency, Barnes hasn’t rated much better in Dallas than he did in Golden State. (His best season by my wins above replacement metric remains 2014-15, when Barnes had the lowest usage rate of his career.)

Back to Oladipo and why we shouldn’t be expecting a repeat: In terms of improvement from year to year in player win percentage, the per-minute component of WARP, Oladipo is not only the most improved player this season but one of the most improved players in modern NBA history.

Biggest increases in player win percentage

Player Season Team Old PWP New PWP Change Allan Houston 1994-95 DET .296 .521 .225 LeBron James 2004-05 CLE .536 .750 .214 Victor Oladipo 2017-18 IND .445 .647 .202 Dwyane Wade 2008-09 MIA .603 .792 .188 Darrell Armstrong 1998-99 ORL .544 .732 .188 Terry Dehere 1995-96 LAC .383 .569 .186 Gerald Wallace 2005-06 CHA .477 .663 .186

Minimum 1,000 minutes both seasons; since 1977-78

Because Oladipo had rated somewhat better in Orlando, posting a .525 player win percentage in 2015-16 before being traded to Oklahoma City, some bounceback was to be expected. Still, the nature of his development is extraordinary.

My SCHOENE player projection system tries to account for variance by looking at how much the 50 most similar players at the same age improved from their baseline (performance over the previous three seasons, adjusted for age and regression to the mean) and applying it to the player’s baseline performance. The best projection this yielded for Oladipo this season was a .609 player win percentage. He’s beating that by nearly 40 points.

“I was wondering if the Warriors’ bench production is in line with its production in recent years? It feels like starters carry a heavier burden this year.” — Michael

The website HoopsStats.com has production by reserves separated out, and Golden State’s performance this season is in fact pretty similar to past years.

Warriors bench production

Season MPG PPG RPG APG TS% 2014-15 89.5 34.0 15.6 9.0 .535 2015-16 90.5 33.8 16.1 9.1 .547 2016-17 92.5 32.5 16.0 9.1 .584 2017-18 95.5 32.9 16.8 8.8 .582

Source: HoopsStats.com

The last couple of seasons, Golden State’s reserves have been incredibly efficient, posting true shooting percentages far better than league average (.557 this season). The key driver of that efficiency this season has been David West, whose .626 true shooting is far and away a career high. West’s excellent play has helped compensate for a downturn from Andre Iguodala, whose own true shooting has dropped from .624 to .533 this season (though up to .697 since the All-Star break).

I think Iguodala’s play before the break was a big reason the Warriors’ bench hasn’t felt as effective this season. But even in terms of on-court net rating, the reserves have been as good as ever, According to NBA Advanced Stats, Golden State has outscored opponents by 8.1 points per 100 possessions with at least one reserve on the court, as compared to 7.4 last season (and just 5.1 in 2015-16).

If there was one variable you could include in your draft project model that you don’t currently have data for what would it be? #peltonmailbag

– Brian Frederick (@bfred34) March 10, 2018

Maybe this is too abstract for your answer, or too unrealistic, but a measure of a player’s capacity and willingness to improve. My projections are built on the assumption that knowing how good a player is entering the league and his age will tell us how good he’s going to be in the future. On average, that’s the case, but even if we could project with 100 percent accuracy how players were going to play as rookies, that would still leave us with huge uncertainty about their development.

In Philadelphia, the 76ers can order yakisoba noodles for breakfast and drink bone broth during film sessions. It’s all part of the team’s food program under executive chef JaeHee Cho.

How is the NBA draft shaping up heading into the NCAA tournament? Jonathan Givony breaks down the new picks in both rounds.

1 Related

Many of the league’s best players, notably two-time MVP Stephen Curry, have bloomed late because they’ve improved their skills once in the NBA far more than their peers.

Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey mentioned something similar when asked about future advances in basketball analytics during this year’s MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.

“If we could properly forecast, I would say, three things, it would be a huge advance — at least for us, maybe other teams are better,” Morey said. “One would be what will they do the minute they get a lot of money. I have not been able to predict that. Some guys handle it, some guys don’t.

“Two would be do they have the self-awareness of where they’re not as good as they need to be, meaning do they understand there’s a gap between them and Chris Paul or James Harden or any of these great players in the league? And then three, what are their habits to improve that gap? We’re trying to get really good at predicting that and we’ve got a great scouting department, but we’re hoping to create an edge so it’s not enough to be good, we have to be better than our competitors, which is where it gets really challenging.”

“Amazon’s HQ2 is going to be a game-changer for some city. How could this impact the NBA in terms of fan base or free agency for smaller markets? Lots of NBA towns are on the list of finalists: Toronto, Indianapolis, Chicago, Denver, LA, Dallas, Miami, Atlanta, DC, New York, Boston, Philly.” — Hank

If HQ2 ends up in one of the bigger cities on the list, I’m not sure it will have an impact noticeable at the NBA level. A smaller NBA market could be more interesting. I still doubt it would affect free agency much — a few players, notably Iguodala and Kevin Durant, have mentioned the value of playing near Silicon Valley, but only after the Warriors became contenders. More likely, it would increase the corporate base that is crucial for premium tickets and sponsorships. Among the finalists, Denver and Indianapolis seem most likely to benefit from that.

Another interesting outcome would be Amazon putting HQ2 in a city that does not currently have an NBA team but aspires to get one. Already, Pittsburgh is one of the largest cities in the country without an NBA team, and it’s possible an influx of the young tech workers who fit the demographics of NBA fans could make adding a fourth pro sports team viable there. Northern Virginia is currently a bigger media market than the smallest NBA cities (New Orleans and Memphis) and Virginia Beach expressed interest in building an arena to relocate the Sacramento Kings before they were able to build a new arena in Sacramento.

Now, none of this is to say that if a non-NBA market gets HQ2 it should expect a team to follow. After all, Amazon’s current headquarters are located in far and away the biggest American media market without the NBA, Seattle. While Amazon’s growth has expanded Seattle’s economic base in a way that makes the city a more attractive home for the NBA than it was when the Sonics moved in 2008, that has yet to translate into the league’s return.

#Kevin #mailbag #Oladipo #Peltons #Victor #Weekly #Sports #Sports News

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celticnoise · 6 years

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Brendan Rodgers; Miracle Worker?

The run seems like it lasted forever, doesn’t it? 69 domestic games without defeat since Brendan took over. That’s four trophies. It’s more than a full calendar year. The totality of the transformation has been stark, and quite incredible. But I would draw the line at miracle worker. He has elevated a few players beyond their limitations … but those limitations exist. The question he and we have to ask ourselves is whether some are too great.

Has this team improved since last year? Yes, in some ways they have. The result in Rosenborg was marvellous. The Astana game at Celtic Park was as convincing a European display as we could have hoped for. In Anderlecht we were clinical and disciplined.

But the team has lacked last season’s intensity. Only a handful of players look as if they’ve become better over the full course of Brendan’s time. One of them, incredibly, is James Forrest who I thought was finished before the manager arrived. He has been a plus point in what’s been a somewhat flat first half of the campaign.

Questions over certain others have been delayed as long as the unbeaten run was going on.

That’s perfectly normal, and perfectly valid. Because those players all deserve the utmost credit for having kept that run going so long. But that conversation was only postponed. There’s always been a feeling it would need to be had, sooner or later.

I was pretty content to leave it until the season had finished, but the Anderlecht result almost got me busy.

Today was simply too bad to put it off.

A defeat against Zenit in February would probably have been what sparked it, if the team had gone unbeaten up until then. A heavy defeat today has made it inevitable, even necessary. These guys have assumed their place in history, but that’s only good as far as it goes. History is yesterday’s news. As a club we have to look forward.

Brendan is not a miracle worker. With all the skill in the world he, himself, cannot make individual players into much better footballers than they are. He has found more to them than some of them probably thought they had, but the suspicion is growing that there’s not that much more left to find. It’s time to start thinking about moving people on.

One of my flaws in being able to honestly analyse our squad is that I’ve got a thing about our home grown players. Part of it is hard-headed and pragmatic; UEFA regulations still require you to have four of them in your squad, as well as eight national players overall.

That’s why I find it more difficult to envision getting rid of someone like McGregor than I would about jettisoning a player like Bitton. Part of it is sentimentality; everyone loves to see a kid from the youth ranks break through and cement a place in the squad. I can, therefore, make allowances for him that I wouldn’t make for others and that extends to Ralston, Forrest, Miller and others. There is potential in all of them, and as we need to keep a core of them here for European registration purposes, and as all are capable of doing the job in the SPL, I can’t see a convincing argument for getting rid of a single one of them, even if some are mere squad players.

Sentimentality does not bind me to other parts of the team.

Pragmatism comes to the fore and we need to do an honest-to-God analysis of certain other players and their contribution.

Let’s start with Jonny Hayes. His signing was inexplicable.

No-one who saw him at Aberdeen or Inverness believed we were watching a “next level player.” When you consider how few games he’s begun, even as Sinclair has stagnated, his signing makes even less sense. The manager would rather pick someone badly off form than play him … and that tells you everything. First chance we get, I’d have him shipped out the door. Give him back to Aberdeen, on loan, and bring home Ryan Christie. That would strengthen, not weaken, our first team squad.

I cannot see a single convincing argument for keeping him around Celtic Park.

I wonder if Sinclair is a European calibre player. Where is the performance that proves it? Where is the dazzling display against a top club which elevates him above others in our team? As a squad player he is much better than a lot of our other options … but that says more about them than it does about him. Is he “next level”?

He can be. I won’t write him off yet. But we need to see it or the question will surely be asked in earnest. He has been an exceptional signing. As far as value for money goes there have been few better. He has terrorised SPL teams, and even this season when he’s not on form he is our current top goal scorer. That tells you plenty.

Who amongst our midfield is “next level”?

Not Armstrong. I have been waiting to see something better from him for an age. In Europe he has been woefully short of the level required. I suspect Rogic is a far better bet, and hope to see him against Zenit, but he has to do it more consistently, and over 90 minutes before we can be sure.

I don’t think our squad would be significantly weaker if we sold Stuart Armstrong. I once had sky-high hopes for that guy. They are not going to be realised. You can see it already. The question as to who our SPL goal-scoring midfielder would be if he went has already been answered by Callum McGregor and by Olivier Ntcham.

The difference between Armstrong and those Celtic home-grown players is that nobody is going to offer several millions for them … the squad would cope with the loss of Callum McGregor, but he is a functional part of our team and you could only see selling him for a reasonable fee. Armstrong could command such a fee … and when you weigh the likely offer up with his chances of becoming a top class player it becomes a no brainer.

Nir Bitton is a continental footballer.

That means different things to different people. He is slower on the ball than others in the midfield; I’d love to see him play alongside Brown and Ntcham for a couple of games, if only to see how that worked. He takes that extra second to find a pass that good players use to great effect. I saw what Brendan was trying to do when he played him at the back; Barcelona and other top clubs have experimented with the central midfielder in central defence … and it could work for us. It could have worked for us today.

But as a long term prospect, can he do a job?

The first thing to recognise is that Brendan’s midfield shape doesn’t suit him. But that midfield shape has been woefully exposed at the European level. For everyone who criticises our defence, I think our midfield setup escapes scrutiny. My real problem with Bitton – and this is why the questions exist at all – is that he’s been at Celtic Park for a few years now and there’s not a single Celtic fan I know who can tell me the type of midfielder he actually is.

He has played as a ball winner. As a defensive anchor. As a playmaker. He even spent time out wide. He isn’t an attacking midfielder, as evidenced by his low return of goals, but nor is he a hard tackler in the manner of Scott Brown. He isn’t a box to box player either. So what purpose does he serve in our team? I’ve always thought it’s the middle option … he is a playmaker, he is a football managers dream when he has time on the ball to look up and spot a pass.

But even I can’t be sure. Because he’s played that role so seldom, and never in the one part of the pitch – behind a scrappy, ball winning central midfielder or in the middle of two of them – where he can sit and wait for the ball and then start moves with a simple pass. If Brendan was willing to play a type of football where Bitton could shine then I’d say “hell yes, keep him”. Otherwise we ought to let him go, and use the money on someone who suits the team better.

People forget that for a manager a squad is a toolbox. Certain jobs require certain types of players. You build a system around the footballers, you don’t put round pegs in square holes. If a guy’s natural game doesn’t lend itself to the particular plan you want the team to follow, you’re better off with someone who does because otherwise it’s a waste of a squad number. I see signs of Brendan’s long term vision in playing Bitton at the back … he knows what qualities he has as a footballer, and that they are wasted trying to adapt him to a McGregor type role or the Scott Brown one … but it takes time to adapt a midfielder player to the kind of position Brendan’s been trying to get him to fit. He’s not a square peg, but he doesn’t slot neatly into the hole either.

I’d keep him for one more campaign. If Brendan gets the right type of players in other positions, you might well see Bitton’s best games in a Celtic shirt.

Scott Brown is a player who has served Celtic with distinction and class, but his time is almost up. We need to be looking beyond him and that job should be starting already. Only one player in the current squad naturally fits his role and it’s Kouassi Eboue. Time will tell if he’s of the required standard, time and games. He needs them. We need to know. Otherwise we should be scouting far and wide for a long-term replacement.

And yes, that includes finding out what John McGinn at Hibs has. Next level? He still has a way to go to find this level, but the raw materials are good and there’s something there. He needs a bigger stage on which to perform and then time will tell.

But we could do a lot worse than to find someone experienced to come in on for year or two, even whilst Brown is still here. On days like today we could use more dig. Playing too many attacking midfielders is also a suicidal idea in Europe. Another ball winner there might protect the defence better and we’d have a chance of avoiding those PSG type hidings.

Olivier Ntcham fills me with hope. There is no doubt in my mind that he has the makings of a top class football player. He needs better footballers around him, but he has the skill-set to go far, fast. He is young. He is still learning. He is raw. But he looks to me like someone who’ll grow at a rapid rate once he settles in. He would be a first pick for me, every week at the moment. Ignore the naysayers in the press who gave him a hard time for a few weeks earlier in the season; if we listened to those eejits we’d have signed John Spencer instead of Lubo.

The midfield has good raw material to work with. I think we need one more player out wide, to give us better options there – Patrick Roberts on a long term deal would do nicely, by the way; I genuinely do believe he has “next level” potential – but if we sold Armstrong and/or Bitton and bought one more quality player, preferably a ball winner, we’d be in good shape.

The forward line … I am satisfied. Give Dembele a deal which keeps him here two more years and I think we’re alright with him and Griffiths. People at Celtic Park love Odsonne Edouard. You may well see him on a permanent deal. Failing that, one more striker is a must no matter how much the press might stir the soup and try to make trouble in the squad.

And a player on the Louis Moult level will simply not cut it at all, I’m afraid. I’d rather go with what we have than waste money on SPL standard players who’ve peaked in this league of ours. I’ll tell you one thing, Moult won’t run riot down in the Championship.

The defence is where it gets crazy; I cannot see that a single player in our backline – and I include the goalkeeper – with the obvious exception of Kieran Tierney, has what it takes to take us where we want to go. Lustig has been a massive signing for us and has done great things in a Celtic shirt, but doubts about his longevity remain, and he’s not improved.

Gamboa is a squad player who doesn’t enhance the squad. Ralston is a better long-term bet and for that reason alone he can go. I am amazed he’s not gone already. I’ve seen nothing to convince me that he’s a “next level” player; he was clearly signed as backup for Lustig and even that hasn’t come off. Let him go and find pastures new and free up a number and a wage.

What of Kristofer Ajer? A midfielder when we signed him, Brendan and Ronny both think he’s a central defender. If so, there’s really no reason why he couldn’t be playing in the first team, in the league at least, at the moment. Because he has got to be a better bet than either of the two who played today. Ajer is raw, but that’s not a negative. Because you polish a gem; you cannot polish a turd. There’s something to work with there.

Simunovic has some of the qualities of a top defender. But he is also painfully lacking in some of the more obvious requirements. He is prone to lapses, especially when put under pressure. I expected him to be more commanding in the air. He’s not. Curiously, that’s one of the areas where Boyata is a better bet, but he is danger of vanishing down the same black hole as got Efe Ambrose.

Look, Simunovic could have left Celtic two years ago and didn’t. Then we hadn’t had a chance to view him properly as a player and we were grateful for that chance. Has he done enough to convince us? His injury issues and his dislike of certain conditions is reason enough not to view him as a long term answer. But some of our worst defensive calamities of this season can be laid squarely at his door. The jury is almost in on this guy; I don’t like the way it’s progressing.

He cannot live on the memory of one glorious, awe-inspiring tackle. Right now it’s pure sentimentality that’s keeping Celtic fans from being angrier.

Dedryk Boyata has no such great moment to fall back on. And he is suffering a crisis of confidence. That is dangerous for a central defender, even more than it is for a striker. We can’t keep throwing him in whilst that’s the case. Things will not improve.

I am torn on this guy. I had written him off as a bad bet. Brendan has found more in him than I thought he had. He does some of the simple things better than anyone else in the back line. He has had a mini career renaissance in the last eight months … but he is one of those players, of who Efe Ambrose is another, who is woefully careless and switches off at least once in every match. And that can be an appalling oversight in any footballer, but in a defensive one it is the cardinal sin to end them all, because nowhere is it costlier.

The thing is, as squad players these two can get by most weeks. There will be games like today when teams which press us exploit their weaknesses to the full. They might even get by in Champions League qualifiers where teams lack the firepower to do us real damage. But against better opposition they are there for the taking and no mistake.

On top of that, I don’t know why Erik Sviatchenko has fallen so far from the manager’s plans but if these two are fancied in front of him then it’s moot anyway. He’s done for and you can expect to see him leaving in this window.

Brendan says Boyata and Simunovic are the best two central defenders of the club; we need to remember that isn’t the same as his saying they are going to do a job for him in the long term. He might seem to have a blind-spot about them … but he’s not blind.

Which leaves the goalkeeper. We have two and neither of them is “next level.” Gordon is so prone to errors, some of which are shocking beyond belief, that I would have been unsentimental in replacing him last season. It is not a matter of urgency, but he cannot be our first choice in the next full European campaign. If De Vries is not up to the task of supplanting him then we need to be ruthless and get rid of them both.

This is about what makes us better now overall. This team does not need dismantling; it does not need clearing out. But it needs rebuilding at the back, and some midfield tweaking. Some people will have to leave as part of that process, but none would be anyone we couldn’t live without. Brendan likes to have a settled squad, that’s why he’s doing it slowly.

But I believe in this guy, and so I know it will be done. It may be done with good grace, with the thanks of a grateful support and a backroom team which knows this side has made history, but they see more of it in our future and that future starts now.

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