One Nice Bug Per Day
Cosmic Funnies
AnasAbdin
todays bird
if i look back, i am lost
tumblr dot com
h
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
titsay
Sweet Seals For You, Always
JBB: An Artblog!
shark vs the universe
sheepfilms
TVSTRANGERTHINGS
Monterey Bay Aquarium
hello vonnie
Janaina Medeiros
No title available
Misplaced Lens Cap
we're not kids anymore.
seen from Malaysia
seen from Türkiye
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from Italy
seen from Türkiye
seen from Malaysia
seen from Guatemala
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from Lithuania
seen from China
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@hxnnaheller
The best way to get kids to read a book is to say: ‘This book is not appropriate for your age, and it has all sorts of horrible things in it like sex and death and some really big and complicated ideas, and you’re better off not touching it until you’re all grown up. I’m going to put it on this shelf and leave the room for a while. Don’t open it.
Philip Pullman (via abookblog)
{open}
"Welp….We’re screwed. Got any big ideas, smarty?”
"Don't call me that," Hanna said, a snappish tone in her voice as she checked her arrows. "And getting out of here sounds agreeable right now."
—”Ｒ ｅ ａ ｌ ｌ ｙ?”
If she didn’t have his attention before, she did then. Stories of near-death didn’t always interest him, but it seems now he has more than enough for the both of them. Under his mask, the disc jockey’s eyes are glimmering with anticipation. It was positively killing him not knowing the full story.
—”How did ｔ ｈ ａ ｔ happen?”
Scrolling through reddit and nosleep didn’t equal to actually hearing a story in which someone almost died. It didn’t give him the same satisfaction of the idea of someone being so fearful of their life that they did everything they could to ｓ ｕ ｒ ｖ ｉ ｖ ｅ. He is interested in how valuable the human life is. How it could be ripped away like it was nothing and there would be one less person. One less person could ruin other persons lives. And it was a chemical reaction from that point on, like dominoes almost.
He seems equally captivated by her next words. He’s seen snow before, hell, he ｌ ｉ ｖ ｅ ｓ in Ｃ ｈ ｉ ｃ ａ ｇ ｏ. But that never stopped him from being wondrous of other locations that have the cold element. If the people who lived there thought the same as he when they saw snow.
—”Most people around here are awake before the sunrise, and others don’t sleep until it.”
He’s frowning now, ever so slightly.
—”I think they forget how to appreciate it. Too caught up in other things.”
Following her direction, Ratboy hums to himself. He also says nothing that if she wanted better trees then she should head to Pawnee. He doesn’t want her to step foot there. She seems nice enough. Too nice, if he’s honest.
—”Conifers?”
Whelp, he’s going to be looking that up on his phone later.
She blinked, wondering what to tell him. The truth didn't seem likely to raise some alarm bells, although from what she knew of people over here, it was really hard to tell.
"Well..." she hesitated, thinking a bit more, before deciding to take the plunge. "It was an argument. With my father."
There was a small, one of those "pay attention or you miss it" pause before the last word, a slight betrayal of her familial relationship.
Hanna looked around a bit more, taking in the sights. She remembered, with a start, her postcard, and patted around her pockets before realizing that it was still on the table. She quickly lifted it off the sticky surface and stowed it in a pocket.
"There was a small disagreement about what I was doing, and then suddenly..." she paused, "Cold."
"He dragged me out before it was too late. It was still quite cold afterwards." And compounded the hurt was Erik's look on his face: one that showed quite a lot of worry towards her. She didn't really need that.
"Do you think they have too many things to do?" she asked.
For a moment, they descend into uncomfortable silence。 It feels unnaturally heavy and Defalt momentarily struggles to break it, as he’s never particularly wanted to be a part of them。 He liked to ｃａｕｓｅ them to other people, not be caught in one。 But then, the air is lifted。 Cleared, if he were to go that far。 The conversation returned to comfortability again。 He could calmly engage without any more outbursts, he’s sure。
—”Doesn’t that add to the ｗｏｎｄｅｒ, though? Of a new location, I mean。 The beauty of it all。”
He hasn’t been out of Chicago in some years, and pieces of him long to explore。 To step beyond the city limits and take flight into the unknown beyond it。 And to one day, pass across the oceans, to perhaps return to Poland, or Egypt。 To turn to places of the world he has never been, to explore and stun himself with the many views of the places。 It it would so strange, he thinks。
—”Oh, I don’t doubt it。 But they’re interesting to hear about and imagine, not to actually experience。”
Yet he appears interested once again, leaning forward if only a little, lips curling into a grin before he can think twice about it。 There’s so much he wants to know, that sure, he could look up if he so wanted。 But then, where would he be? If he read it off of a page, it would grow boring。 Yet if he were to hear the stories, maybe, he could ｉｍａｇｉｎｅ。 Envision even, what it might be like to be in such a situation。 Curious and wondering all in one, Defalt is almost giddy from the thought。
—”What is it like in these ‘Winter wonderlands’? Cold and all, the good ａｎｄ the bad。”
"It doesn't always," she said with a shrug. "I almost drowned once while crossing a frozen lake." A wry smile accompanied those words, but it had no humor in it.
It was not a pleasant experience, and what made it a slightly worse memory was that the event also partly her fault: she, being headstrong and a bit angry with Erik tried to prove to him that she could do things her own way.
The very memory of it made her shiver a bit. Erik had turned out right in the end. She wasn't ready. Never would truly be.
"It seems endless, the snow makes it look like that," she added. "And the sunsets, they are beautiful. I suppose it comes from being so close to nature."
She paused for a moment, as if reminisicing. "And the trees, they have this sharp smell, which you can't get here," Hanna pointed at one lining the sidewalk, the leaves a cheerful colour. "Not with that kind of trees. It has to be...conifers, I think they're called."
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The moment Dani stepped over the threshold was the moment chaos erupted. Behind them, the doors of the black van opened; a few men in suits sitting at one end of the coffee shop stood from their tables and began crossing to them. Dani glanced at Hanna, then at the agents—they weren’t at all familiar to her, signaling that they probably weren’t from her agency, where she knew almost everyone. They must’ve been sent by a partner, or by the original one who’d sent for her agency’s assistance. That was good, though. It meant Dani could make a call without endangering her reputation with her own people. Agents always came above partners and if that meant making a partner upset, so be it. There was a gun in a concealed holster on her hip. If she moved fast enough, she could get the girl out of immediate danger, contact her organization, and be able to fend off any who came after them. It was a split second decision to protect the girl—but Dani didn’t like handing children off to people she didn’t know, regardless of mission. "Run," she ordered, grabbing for her gun and yanking it up to the ready position.
A moment of confusion followed. There was a scream, but it wasn't hers, and there were people in suits, what were they thinking, walking towards them, and they didn't look too good.
Then everything sank in, and a flash of rage erupted in her as she whirled around and saw the witch bring up a gun pointing it-
Not at her, but at the approaching people.
And Hanna blinked, not truly understanding, but her feet however were automatically gearing themselves up and were starting to carry her away from this place.
She didn't know what was happening, but one fact made itself certain: she had been found again. As Hanna sprinted past the black van, someone leaned out and tried to reach for her arm, but she jerked it away and kept on going.
—”Sounds like a winter wonderland that I’d read in fairy tales when I was young。”
It was almost wistful, his tone of voice。 Like there was a deeper meaning to it, but with no explanation, that particular subject is silently spoken to not engage in it。 Appeased, Defalt closed out of the profiler and put his phone away, returning to his still-open laptop with the unfinished tracks。 He had a lot of work to do until tonight, but he’s never been one to become lax in his DJing, so he sacrifices the conversation for a few minutes。 Just long enough for him to focus on a particular song that had been giving him a bit of trouble lately。
—”Hmm。”
It’s more of an ‘Ｉ ｈａｖｅｎ＇ｔ ｆｏｒｇｏｔ ｏｕｒ ｃｏｎｖｅｒｓａｔｉｏｎ ｂｕｔ ｇｉｖｅ ｍｅ ａ ｓｅｃｏｎｄ．' sound that he's made。 And he tilting his head, and essentially the mask, to further include this statement。
Alas, he’s at a point where he can call that song slightly-presentable and finish it later in the privacy of his home。 Where he can play it aloud and tweak the mistakes。 Defalt saves the file, and successfully closes his laptop。 That lasts for only a few seconds before he’s opening it again, but his hands aren’t on the keys。 It’s more for comfort, this time。
—”It depends on what it’s being used for。 Sometimes it’s quiet, but very violent。 As much as we as humans can trust electricity, we also have to know to be distrustful。”
A change in octave, maybe? What was level and entertained has become low and serious。
—”A lot of things can happen because of electricity。 And some of the people around here? They like to play with it, like it’s theirs。 Turn it off and on like a switch of a room, except this time it’s the entire ｆｕｃｋｉｎｇ city。”
A halt of breath, as if he’s having second thoughts。
—”People escape from places they aren’t supposed to。”
Just like that, the moment is gone, and Defalt has returned to his previous demeanour。
—”I’m sure the more you’re in places with so much electricity— like here in Chicago— you’ll get used to the noise。”
"Do you like fairy tales?" she wanted to ask. The words were on the tip of her tongue - she wanted to know a bit more about those things, since they were a sort of link to her past life and the one she lived in now, where she never woke with a gun held to her head.
She missed the life back then. It was so simple, until all her preconceived notions fell apart at an overheard conversation.
Hanna took a breath, about to ask the question that hovered when suddenly everything the other began speaking in a darker tone.
She blinked. Everything seemed darker for a moment, like a dash of sinister had been added to the painting of the world. What he said, it sounded like a warning of other people, and a threat at the same time.
The whole city? What did he mean?
And then everything settled back into normal.
"I'm getting used to it. Slowly." she answered, cautiously this time. "Although I don't think it will go away fully."
"Winter wonderlands aren't all that fun, too, you know." she added as an afterthought. "Somehow the stories never talk about how cold it is."
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Nodding, Dani smiled at the clarification. “I see. In America, gymnasium is usually a place for like… cheerleaders, gymnasts, dancers, that sort of thing.” Dani herself had spent some time as a gymnast when she was a child. She’d left the sport behind after her father died, though she could still pull off a few of the moves. It sometimes came in handy during missions, depending on what was happening. It was a good skill to know. Glancing up, Dani gave an internal sigh of relief. “Oh. Oh, good, we’re almost there! It’s just around the corner. Boy, that went quick.” Quickly her smile faded when she’d noticed the black van parked on the other end of the street. She mentally cursed her agency and their lack of tact—a black van? Really? Might as well plaster a sign on the side of the vehicle. ♥♥═━━┈┈┈┈━━═♥♥
"What about music?" Hanna asked, tilting her head. "Is there a place for that?"
She took note of the place. It seemed quite generic, one of the ones that tried to tap into the Finnish habit of coffee and sold pastries to go along. She had hung outside for a couple of times, a bit hesitant to go in and buy something.
She wasn't going to chicken out this time, though. Too many people would comment on it.
There was a black van on the side of the street, but she ignored it. For all Hanna knew, people parked in black vans all the time, while going for a cup of coffee.
As the door of the coffeeshop swung and clattered to let the both of them through, giving rise to a shout of "Hyvää päivää!" from the owner, Hanna stiffened slightly from the change in temperature. She loosened up quickly, though. The smell of food was comforting, to say the least.
—”Berlin?”
Well, he’s curious on that, and he pulls out his phone as though he’s going to look up where that is。 He is, he thinks he knows where it is。 But he’s also going to see if he can profile her, a name or where she’s from。 But there is nothing, other than a first name。 Not even an age, or where she’s from。 That’s the second person he’s profiled that hasn’t come up with what he’d have liked them to。
It’s more than nothing, but he’s not exactly satisfied。
—”That’s in。。。”
Actually looks it up now that he’s done what he wanted。 And。。。 Germany. Okay, so he was correct。 Good。 He likes being right。
—”Germany, right? What’s it like there?”
Defalt lean back as the pen clatter upon the table, not exactly surprised, but he wasn’t expecting her to drop it。 Which, let’s be honest, he should have。 Everybody drops things, even he does。 (Though when he thinks of when he last dropped something, he remembered how he had to buy new cords for his console。 That ｓｕｃｋｅｄ。)
—”Not a lot of people think about it more than the usual ‘Oh this lit up this room, how nice。’。 Kind of sad, actually。 Electricity is ｇｌｏｒｉｏｕｓ and ｄａｎｇｅｒｏｕｓ and one of my favourite things。”
The disc jockey smartly doesn’t comment on one of the reasons ｗｈｙ he likes electricity so much is because it’s a good way to kill someone。
"Yes. Germany." Hanna said, picking up the pen again, and holding it absentmindedly. She didn't question too much about what the other was searching for, assuming that he was trying to place the location of Berlin through the internet.
"It's really cold. Colder than here, really." she thought for a moment, adding, "And it's quite small." American cities, she has noticed, tended to the large side, and dwarfed the ones in Europe in terms of everything. People, food, even the smell. They were all multiplied tenfold.
Hanna wasn't sure if she actually liked it or not. On one hand there were more things to see and do, but on the other the sensations pressed onto her, making her feel trapped, and there would be a need for her to try and get away from wherever she currently was.
She did not mention this to her newfound acquaintance.
"I think I can agree with that," she replies, "Although it makes too much noise, sometimes."
Living in an isolated Finnish cabin for most of ypur life doesn't prepare one for quite a lot of modern living.
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Dani noticed, though she chose not to say anything. At this point she sort of feared that doing so would blow her cover, give away her intentions, or give her further cause to doubt the sanctity of this assignment. Surely as a well-respected agent, her opinion of the assignment meant more than that of the anonymous people who’d contacted them about it.
She glanced at her watch, wondering how much time had passed and how close they were now to the cafe where they were meeting Dani’s team. "Gymnasium? What, like, a dancer?" ♥♥═━━┈┈┈┈━━═♥♥
Hanna gave a small giggle at that. Of course, there were quite a lot of people who made that mistake. Sophie for one had assumed that Hanna could do "splits or something cool like that" until she cleared up the misunderstanding.
"No," she said, "It's a school. Not for dancing. There's science. Literature and sport."
The gymnasium (German pronunciation: [ɡʏmˈnaːzi̯ʊm]; German plural: Gymnasien), in the German education system, is a type of secondary school with a strong emphasis on academic learning, comparable with the British grammar school system or with prep schools in the United States.
Hanna noticed that the other woman seemed rushed, and frowned a bit at the thought. But maybe it was that she wanted to get out of the cold.
((Yah I actually have food poisoning, not feeling really up to most of my RPs I apologise))
Ten minutes didn’t sound too bad to her, she who could run across snow covered ground in chase of a moose without getting too winded. And the potentiality of getting a hot drink sounded good.
There was something slightly odd about this interaction, though, Hanna thought, but she...
Hanna followed, hands in her pockets of her pants in an effort to keep them warm before they got totally frostbitten.
"No," she said, after realising that she had been asked a question by her new companion. Her breath made a misty imprint in the cold air.
She realised her mistake, quickly adding: " I mean, not right now. I study at the Klaus Kohle Gymnasium back at Leipzig."
Hopefully the woman did not realise how quickly Hanna amended her mistake.
He was getting quite enthusiastic about the wonders of LED, or the light emitting diode in full, and Hanna stopped scribbling for a moment to look at him, a curious grin on her face.
"All of them?" she asked. "That is quite …" she paused, searching for the right word, what was one...
Was he laughing at her? Hanna wasn't totally sure, but she ducked her head down in slight embarrassment, returning a portion of her attention to checking the postcard. Everything had been filled out, and she might just need to visit the post office to find a few stamps, then she could send it on.
As she did so, she listened. In response to the man's supposedly rhetorical question, she thought a bit on the best way to answer that, maintaining silence as a shield.
"Not really. " Hanna said. "There were a few times I had to go to Berlin to meet someone, but other than that, no."
"Papa and I live in a remote place, " she added, slipping the card into her pocket and taking the pen. She twiddled it around her fingers.
There was no finesse to her technique, and as expected, she dropped it." I hadn't had much experience with electricity before. "
Defalt is at least kind enough not to eavesdrop on her writing。 Not that he’d be able to read it well anyways, he hasn’t yet mastered the art of reading upside-down letters。 Which is understandable, as his main focus would be reading backwards。 Might come in handy one day。
He does, however, notice that she’s drawn something。
It’s almost crude in a way, but there’s no mistaking what she’s done。 It made him smirk, actually。 That she’s interested in his mask enough to include it。
Ｇｏｏｄ,
He thinks,
Ｍｙ ｍａｓｋ ｉｓ ｔｈｅ ｂｅｓｔ ｔｈｉｎｇ ｉｎ ｔｈｉｓ ｃｉｔｙ。
His hands are rested on the tabletop now, slender spidery fingers intertwined casually as she asks him。 Man, she really ｉｓ sheltered, isn’t she? It’s kind of sad, really。
—”Light emitting diode。"
His voice dripped with glee。 He was absolutely ecstatic。
—”It’s what lights up my mask。 And the lights around us。”
He was getting quite enthusiastic about the wonders of LED, or the light emitting diode in full, and Hanna stopped scribbling for a moment to look at him, a curious grin on her face.
"All of them?" she asked. "That is quite ..." she paused, searching for the right word, what was one of the words that Sophie used? "Cool?"
Her voice is unsure. The question mark betrays the fact that she's not too familiar with the word she used. "I've never seen them before. I mean, not really. Not this much."
The borrowed pen skates across the surface of the waxy cardboard, making the lines of the drawing a bit thicker, giving it some shape. It was no Caravaggio, but it sufficed in its purpose: to communicate an idea, an image.
Hanna's experience with luminous objects tended to be accompanied by associations of heat, and this was the crux of her next question: "Doesn't it get hot in there?"
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"Oh, not at all," Dani reassured her, waving her hand. "It’s maybe like… a ten minute walk from here? Not bad, not by my standards at least. But I walk everywhere back home. Traffic’s too bad for a car and I don’t like to take my bike out for day to day errands, you know?”
Dani was admittedly pleased the Hanna was playing along so far. The coffee shop was where Dani had agreed to meet the rest of the team that had been assigned for the mission; if she could deliver Hanna there without incident, things would (hopefully) come easily for her arrest and detention. And then Dani could go home and try to forget she was involved in detaining a little girl. ♥♥═━━┈┈┈┈━━═♥♥
Ten minutes didn't sound too bad to her, she who could run across snow covered ground in chase of a moose without getting too winded. And the potentiality of getting a hot drink sounded good.
There was something slightly odd about this interaction, though, Hanna thought, but she pushed the feeling away, for later consideration. For all she knew, this was how people acted in society. Although there was something false, something forced to the woman's behaviour.
But she nodded, saying a silent yes accompanied by a small smile. It was fine.
And she stood up, dusted herself off, ready to follow the woman who would be leading her into a trap.
'Stranger danger' was never truly part of Hanna's training, but she had it impressed upon her that not all people were to be trusted ever since she had decided to venture out to kill Marissa Wiegler.
She hesitated for a moment.
Maybe it was all in good faith. And she was getting...
Hanna shook her head at the suggestion of the car. How did the woman have a car, anyway even though she was a tourist?
Then she remembered about car rentals and blinked as if to cover up that slip of memory.
"Is it far? she asked. A few blocks could mean quite a large distance, or maybe just a short walk.
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In the silence that followed, Dani knew that her window of opportunity was shrinking before she’d begin to be suspicious or the girl lost interest in the park and left, moving on to other things.
Was Dani sure she wanted to go through with this mission? …No, she wasn’t. The target—Hanna—was just a girl. And Dani had learned more in the past ten minutes about this girl than she knew about the sponsor. Still, work was work. "How about I buy you a coffee?" she offered. "Or hot chocolate, if that’s what you’d prefer. Get you out of the cold for a few minutes.”
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'Stranger danger' was never truly part of Hanna's training, but she had it impressed upon her that not all people were to be trusted ever since she had decided to venture out to kill Marissa Wiegler.
She hesitated for a moment.
Maybe it was all in good faith. And she was getting colder, true.
So she nods. And gets up off the bench.
Defalt gets up from the table long enough to go to the counter and request a pen。 He can’t exactly keep it, due to it not being his, but the barista didn’t seem to mind him borrowing it so long as he kept it in the building。
Returning back to his seat, he tilted the end of the pen towards the girl。 He can be nice when he wants to, it’s just more fun when he’s not。
—”I can’t ｓａｙ. But they’re not all LED。”
It’s been quite a bit of time since he’s last just。 Sat down and talked to someone。 Even if it was small talk, it was still preferable to going months without it as he used to。 Especially since he usually only spoke to announce if he was staying at his station or if he’d be leaving in a few minutes。 Whether it be to get something from the bar, or the back room in the club, it just depends。 (Though he prided himself in the work he’s able to do。 Not many can say they’re a very ｓｋｉｌｌｅｄ ｈａｃｋｅｒ and disc jockey。)
Hanna took it, nodding her thanks and began scribbling, pausing a bit to rearrange a few words and sentences before committing it down to the piece of waxed card.
"Sophie, I'm in Chicago. There are a lot of cameras, and I met a man with a rat mask." Here she draws a rough picture, using hard, yet straight lines, "Something like this. The food is okay." On the three lines she wrote a British address.
Unknowingly, the missive might have warned off the Lyalls from a potential trip to Chicago just by mentioning the cameras - they tried to keep their heads down these days, being the kind of people that disliked full surveillance on their activities.
'L.E.D.?' she asks, her head perking up. 'What is that?' It sounded familiar, but forgetfulness occasionally struck her.
