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Portrait of Mihrimah Sultan/Mihrimah szultána portréja

Mihrimah was the most influential true-born sultana ever: she had the highest salary; she was a worthy child and descendant of her mother; she was a true charitable person who also had enormous political influence; her father’s partner and counselor for a lifetime; the only sibling ever to be an (unofficial) valide sultan to her brother; the "greatest princess" and matriarch of a dynasty ... She was a legendary persona, a unique princess.

Origin and early years

There is an amazing legend about the birth of Mihrimah Sultan. According to this, she was born on 21 March 1522, and for this reason the two mosques - built for her years later, designed by Mimar Sinan - were created so that on the princess's birthday, when the sun goes down behind the minaret of the Mihrimah Mosque in Edirnekapı, the moon just goes up between the two minarets of the other Mihrimah Mosque. An important part of the legend is that Mimar Sinan once had the opportunity to see the sultana and immediately fell in love for her. For this reason, his works of outstanding beauty and precision, the Mihrimah Mosques, are also seen as the embodiment of platonic love.

The legend is beautiful, but unfortunately not real. Mihrimah's brother, Mehmed, was born around October 1521, so Mihrimah could not be born in March 1522. Unfortunately, we do not have any evidence to know exactly when she was born. The discrepancies between the Islamic calendar and our calendar used today make it even more difficult to pinpoint. Most likely, in any case, she was born after August 1522, but definitely before 1523.

Although the date of her birth was unknown, the fact of her birth itself was distinctly extraordinary. According to tradition, if a concubine had given birth to a son, she could not return to the sultan's bed, so basically Hürrem, after giving birth to a son in the autumn of 1521, could no longer have been Sultan Suleiman's sexual partner. However, Hürrem not only returned to Suleiman’s bed, but became the sultan’s exclusive sexual partner and, after Mihrimah, she gave birth to four more children for the sultan. Hürrem had Mihrimah as her only daughter, while Suleiman already had a daughter, Raziye, who, however, died in an epidemic before Mihrimah was even born.

Mihrimah, as the only living little princess, was certainly not only the apple of her father's eye, but the light of the whole harem. She spent most of her time with her mother and governess, but they certainly also had regular contact with her family-centric grandmother, Hafsa. It was probably by this time that she began to learn the basics of embroidery from her mother. Hürrem was particularly talented in embroidery, her works being so outstanding that she sometimes sent them as gifts to the leaders of other dynasties. And Mihrimah was reportedly a great student to her mother, who mastered the technique well. In addition to her mother, her father also played an important role in her childhood. Suleiman often visited his family at the Old Palace, and from 1534 they moved together at the Topkapi Palace. From then on, Mihrimah could spend even more time near her father, whom she had regularly mesmerized with her mere existence.

Marriage and husband candidates

The marriage of imperial princesses has always been an important political tool. However, Suleiman did not make much use of this opportunity. His sisters were even married off by their father, Selim I, and after their widowhood he did not force them to marry again. He had a big amount of respect and love for the female members of his family, so he was expected to treat his daughter the same way. Suleiman, however, not only did not marry off his sisters again and again because of his kind nature, but fortunately he did not need allies what marriages could have given him. The empire was rising, the nation had never been so strong, and everyone loved him as a sultan, so simply he did not need allies by marriages.

Ttherefore, there was no particularly urgent need to marry off Mihrimah and it was not necessary to choose the future husband from among the senior and influental pashas. Thus, Suleiman could easily search for a statesman he liked, even from a lower position. Suleiman wanted a reliable, faithful husband for Mihrimah, while Hürrem would prefer a young and handsome husband. Hürrem recommended the Egyptian beylerbey to Suleiman, who was notoriously handsome and young. However, the sultan did not like the man, as he had a reputation as a womanizer, and it was rumoured that he had syphilis. Of course, many such rumors spread unfoundedly, but Suleiman did not investigate the Egyptian beylerbey, he simply rejected the idea. He had other plans. He singled out a particularly humble and trustworthy guy, who he had long known for, to Mihrimah’s side. His choosen one, Rüstem, was his personal servant for almost 10 years from 1526, after which he served as a governor for the sultan in various provinces of the empire. They were very close to each other, and Rüstem also taught the brothers of Mihrimah for a while, so the princes were well known by him. In addition, it is also likely that Mihrimah also had the opportunity to meet the pasha before, as he may have been in the same place as the sultana because of his proximity to the sultan. Eventually, of course, Hürrem was also accepted Suleiman’s husband candidate and the only question was whether Mihrimah would accept him.

Rüstem was roughly seventeen or twenty years older than Mihrimah, one of the ambassadors reported that he was not a particularly handsome guy, but was short and red-faced. So he was clearly not a teenage girl's dream, even if most sultanas had to marry much older pashas than Rüstem. Yet Mihrimah agreed to the marriage. The question arises, could she have said no at all? As a matter of fact, probably yes. She was Suleiman's favorite child, apple of his eyes, if she would had a personal and deep resentments towards Rüstem, she could have said no. But she didn't. Mihrimah was a very smart woman who stood by her mother's side since her childhood and who probably tryed to help her. She was obviously aware of the law of fratricide, that they had to do everything they could to remove Mustafa — his eldest half-brother — from their way, and with this, saving the lives of her blood-brothers. And Rüstem was a great opportunity to do so, as he had known and loved the sons of Hürrem since childhood, thus there was no question that he would side with Hürrem and Mihrimah in this bloody war. So for the sake of her brother's future, Mihrimah said yes to marriage.

Marriage and relationship with her husband

The wedding took place in 1539. Rüstem could have been around 35 at the time, while Mihrimah was 17 years old. The circumcision ceremony of Bayezid and Cihangir was held at the same time as the wedding of Mihrimah. The double ceremony eventually lasted for 15 days, during which the entire population of Istanbul shared the joy of the Sultan’s family during the festivals and feasts. Due to his position, Rüstem lived in Istanbul, so Mihrimah did not have to move far away from her parents either. That’s why Rüstem was a great choice, as neither Suleiman nor Hürrem wanted to lose their daughter. And Mihrimah, with her strong will, would certainly have manage to stay in the capital as well.

There is no question that it was not a love marriage, however, the relationship was by no means as bad as it was portrayed in the popular series. Mihrimah could at least marry a man he knew, who was a committed supporter of her brothers and was extremely loyal to her father, the Sultan. Their marriage was crowned in 1541 by the birth of their first child. Ayşe Hümaşah was the first child of Rüstem, the first grandson of Hürrem. By now, Suleiman was grandfather of at least one, as Prince Mustafa had a six-year-old daughter, but later Ayşe Hümaşah became his favorite grandchild. Mihrimah and Rüstem later — it is not known exactly when — had another child, a son, Osman. This suggests that they may have had a relatively balanced relationship, as the sultanas could have refused to have sexual intercourse with their husbands. Their fair relationship is also indicated by the fact that they had many charitable projects managed together.

The marriage of the two ended in 1561, with the death of Rüstem Pasha. However, their mutual respect is shown in the will of Rüstem. He left everything to his wife and daughter: the management of his charities was largely given to his daughter, but Mihrimah was given much similar tasks also. In addition, it was Mihrimah who completed the Rüstem Pasha Mosque, which was only half-finished at the time of Rüstem's death.

Her intrigues

According to legend, Mihrimah, with the support of her mother Hürrem, wanted to make Rüstem the next Grand Vizier, which plan was finally successfully completed. However, it would be wrong to think that only the actions of the two women led to the appointment of Rüstem. Rüstem had been the sultan's confidential man for twenty years so far, Suleiman found him worthy to be the husband of his only daughter, it was clear that the sultan himself wanted to give this position to Rüstem once. However, Mihrimah and Hürrem were not satisfied with this, but wanted Rüstem to enjoy the prerogatives that Ibrahim had previously enjoyed. The sultan, on the other hand, sharply refrained from letting anyone as close to him as he had done with Ibrahim.

One of the important cornerstones of Mihrimah and Rustem’s marriage was the multitude of common intrigues. Mihrimah was very active politically, with her husband she often was able to uccessfully convince the sultan. This was the case when, in 1542, Suleiman wanted to take the infant Hungarian king and his mother, Queen Isabella, to Istanbul as political prisoners. However, being a smart woman, Izabella knew she could get help from the sultan's daughter and wife. So she complained to Mihrimah and Hürrem about how young she was widowed, how she was left alone with her son and now even the sultan want to deprived her and her son of their throne. In addition, of course, she also sent very valuable gifts to Mihrimah and her husband. She must have mentioned her descent in her letter as well. Izabella was the daughter of the King of Poland, from whose country Hürrem Sultan came from. And this was an important link between Hürrem, Mihrimah and Izabella. Either way, Izabella persuaded Hürrem and Mihrimah, who together with Rüstem, easily persuaded the Sultan to support Izabella and her son instead of bringing them to Istanbul as prisoners. Thus it happened that János Zsigmond Szapolyai became the next king of Hungary.

However, the main task of the couple was to support the brothers of Mihrimah, especially Prince Mehmed. By 1543 it was quite clear that they wanted Mehmed to ascend the throne and the trio had done all they could for this aim. However, the early death of the prince made their situation more difficult. For a time they did not care which prince of theirs should be the next sultan, they worked only and exclusively to get rid of Prince Mustafa. It took another ten years before they were finally successful and Mustafa was executed by the Sultan. Exactly how much Mihrimah was involved in this process and what she did is unknown, as there is no evidence at all to prove the guilt of Hürrem or Mihrimah. But nonetheless, it would be naive to think that Mihrimah, who was the copy of her mother both in body and soul, would not have been involved in the struggle of her beloved mother and husband.

It seems that after Mustafa's death, the trio voted for Prince Bayezid, while the Sultan himself favored Selim. Perhaps that is why Bayezid was chosen: to balance the situation of the two princes. However, Bayezid’s nature resembled a timed bomb, so they were afraid that if he was not supported, he would raise the Sultan’s anger with a reckless act. Thus, the fact that Bayezid was supported does not clearly mean that they also wanted him to be the one sitting on the throne.

Loss of her mother

1558 brought a drastic change in Mihrimah's life. Hürrem Sultan died. Mihrimah and her mother were especially close to each other, of the known mother-daughter relationships, the two of them had the closest. Mihrimah visited Hürrem every day at Topkapi Palace, spending more time there than in her own palace. She also regularly accompanied her mother on her travels and visited her siblings together. Thus, the loss of Hürrem was certainly a great pain for Mihrimah. However, Hürrem, at the time of her death, handed over her responsibilities to her daughter, who thus had no time to mourn, she had to take immediate action to continue her mother's path. And this meant nothing more than the support of the Sultan and the protection of Prince Bayezid.

However, Mihrimah could not influence Bayezid like their mother, so she could not meke the prince to wait patiently and not annoy the sultan. Bayezid soon revolted against the sultan, and for this, according to several sources, Bayezid asked Mihrimah for money. And Mihrimah gave it to him. When the sultan realized this, he immediately questioned his daughter, who proudly replied that her mother asked her to do anything for Bayezid on her deathbed, so she was not guilty of anything. We don’t know how Suleiman reacted, but their relationship seems to have deteriorated for a while.

However, Mihrimah's support was not enough either, Bayezid failed in the decisive battle of the rebellion he fought, lost the battle and was forced to flee the battlefield. By this time, both Mihrimah and Rustem were helpless. And Rustem soon lost his life, so there was no one left to save Bayezid and his sons from execution. Bayezid was executed in 1562, and a few months later the sultan organized a huge wedding to marry off the daughters of the heir, Prince Selim, one of the daughters of the late Prince Mustafa, and the daughter of Bayezid who was at the appropriate age for marriage. Mihrimah faced her father again because of the wedding. Most sources say that it was only during the wedding preparations that Mihrimah learned that Bayezid had been executed, as by then the news had not reached Istanbul and Suleiman had ordered complete secrecy. Mihrimah, shattered and enraged by grief, found it deeply outrageous that a ceremony was being held in the empire shortly after his brother was executed. Therefore, she tried in every way possible to make the ceremony impossible, for example by forbidding anyone in the harem to have fun and show happiness. Since Mihrimah lived in the Old Palace since the death of Rustem and she probably led the harem also, her orders were accepted and there was no amusement in the harem. According to reports from the ambassadors, Suleiman was shattered and disappointed. However, upon hearing the news, Selim allegedly said, angrily, that he never loved his sister, nor her husband, nor their mother, for choosing Bayezid instead. However, the reliability of this news is in doubt, for the ambassador who wrote it deeply despised Selim.

Her relationship with her father seems to have settled over time, however, since in 1565, for example, Mihrimah persuaded her father to initiate a campaign against Malta, and she herself offered her own treasury, teasing to exhibit 400 galleys to the army. Thus, although there is no doubt that the execution of Bayezid left its mark on their relationship forever. It was probably at the end of his life that Suleiman could have his only daughter with him again.

The new era

Mihrimah lost her father in 1566 and a new world began for her with the reign of her younger brother, Selim. The relationship between the two was not the best, as Mihrimah was always on Bayezid’s side, but by this time only the two of them were alive from the family, so they chose togetherness instead of hatred. First, Mihrimah extended a helping hand to Selim when he was blackmailed and humiliated by the Janissaries before his accession to the throne. The Janissaries wanted to get their ascension fee immediately when Selim had not even ascended the throne. At that time, Selim did not have access to the imperial treasury, and it would have been too long to bring money from his own province, so Mihrimah paid the soldier's allowance for Selim to occupy the throne at all without riots. Selim did not remain ungrateful, for he made his sister the head of the Old Palace harem, and thus a de facto valide sultan.

During Selim's reign, she basically stayed in the background and spent her time on charity, construction projects instead of politics. Mihrimah has supported many construction projects, but the most famous are undoubtedly the two Mihrimah mosques, which are the most beautiful works of the imperial architect Mimar Sinan. She also supported Nurbanu's efforts to free two captured Turkish women from the French. Together, with Nurbanu’s daughters and her own daughter, they finally persuaded the Queen of France to send the women back home. Based on this, we can think that she had a good relationship with Nurbanu. There is no direct evidence of a relationship between the two women, probably it was a respectful one. However, Mihrimah’s daughter supported Nurbanu’s opponent, Safiye Haseki Sultan, which also raises the possibility that Mihrimah herself favored Safiye over Nurbanu.

The twilight of her life

Selim died in 1574 and his son Murad succeeded him to the throne. The relationship between Murad and Mihrimah is not known, but presumably a spike could have remained in Murad for Mihrimah supporting Bayezid. That is why there are those who suspect that Mihrimah lost all power during Murad's reign. In fact, this is unlikely, as Murad gave Mihrimah a salary as high as no other imperial princess has ever received in a similar situation. Mihrimah may have decided to retire by herself. With the death of Selim, she was left alone in the family, having so far lost four brothers, both parents, nephews, husband and her own son. Broken with so much pain, she probably no longer felt the urge to care with politics. Her daughter Ayşe Hümaşah, who was very active politically, continued her path.

Mihrimah died on 25 January 1578, in the Old Palace. Sultan Murad decided to bury Mihrimah next to her father, breaking the tradition that the sultans rested alone in their turbe. However, with her death, her bloodline did not disappear, as her daughter, her descendants, could be traced back to the 20th century, but presumably other family members still live today. They are the Mihrumazadelers.

Used sources: L. Peirce - Empress of the east; L. Peirce - The imperial harem; Y. Öztuna - Kanuni Sultan Süleyman; N. Sakaoğlu - Bu Mülkün Kadın Sultanları

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Mihrimah volt a valaha élt legbefolyásosabb birodalmi szultána: övé volt a legmagasabb fizetés; méltó gyermeke és utódja volt édesanyjának; igazi jótékony személy volt, hatalmas politikai befolyással; apja társa és tanácsadója egy életen át; az egyetlen valaha volt testvér, aki nem hivatalos valide szultána lehetett öccse mellett; a "legnagyobb hercegnő" és egy dinasztia matriarchája... Egy legendás személyiség volt, soha hozzá fogható nem élt.

Származása és korai évei

Mihrimah szultána születését egy igen érdekes legenda övezi. Eszerint 1522 március 21-én született, és ezen okból kifolyólag az évekkel később neki építtetett két mecsetet Mimar Sinan, birodalmi főépítész úgy tervezte meg, hogy a hercegnő születésnapján, amikor a nap az Edirnekapıban található Mihrimah-mecset minaretje mögött lemegy, a hold az üsküdari Mihrimah-mecset két tornya között éppen akkor keljen fel. A legenda fontos része az is, hogy Mimar Sinannak egyszer alkalma nyílt meglesni a szultánát és azonnal beleszeretett. Éppen ezért, a kiemelkedő szépségű és precizitású munkáit, a Mihrimah-mecseteket a plátói szerelem megtestesüléseként is tekintik.

A legenda gyönyörű, azonban sajnos nem valós. Mihrimah bátyja, Mehmed 1521 októbere körül született, így Mihrimah matematikailag nem születhetett 1522 márciusában. Sajnos nem áll rendelkezésünkre semmi olyan bizonyíték, amely alátámasztaná, hogy pontosan mikor született a szultána. Az iszlám naptár és a ma használt naptárunk közötti eltérések tovább nehezítik a pontos meghatározást. A legvalószínűbb mindenesetre, hogy 1522 augusztusa, szeptembere körül születhetett leghamarabb, de mindenképpen 1523 előtt.

Születési ideje bár nem ismert, születésének ténye maga kifejezetten rendkívüli volt. A tradíciók szerint ha egy ágyas fiút szült, nem térhetett vissza a szultán ágyába, így elméletileg Hürrem, miután 1521 őszén fiút szült, nem lehetett volna tovább Szulejmán szultán szexuális partnere. Hürrem azonban nem csak visszatért Szulejmán ágyába, de a szultán kizárólagos szexuális partnere lett és Mihrimah után további négy gyermeket szült a szultánnak. Hürremnek Mihrimah volt az egyetlen leánygyermeke, míg Szulejmánnak volt már egy kislánya, Raziye, aki azonban Mihrimah születése előtt életét vesztette egy járvány során.

Mihrimah, mint az egyetlen élő kishercegnő minden bizonnyal nem csak édesapja, de az egész hárem szeme fénye volt. Ideje nagyrészét édesanyjával és dajkájával töltötte, ám emellett minden bizonnyal a családcentrikus nagyanyjával is rendszeres kapcsolatban álltak. Valószínűleg már ekkor elkezdte eltanulni édesanyjától a hímzés alapjait. Hürrem ugyanis különösen tehtséges volt a hímzésben, munkái olyan kiemelkedő szépségűek voltak, hogy előfordult, hogy más dinasztia fejeinek küldte őket ajándékba. Mihrimah pedig a beszámolók szerint remek diákja volt anyjának, aki remekül elsajátította a technikát. Édesanyja mellett, apja is fontos szerepet töltött be már gyermekkorában. Szulejmán gyakran látogatta családját a Régi Palotában, majd 1534-től összeköltöztek a Topkapi Palotában. Innentől kezdve Mihrimah még több időt tölthetett édesapja közelében, akit már puszta létezésével is rendszeresen levett a lábáról.

Kiházasítása és a férjjelöltek

A birodalmi hercegnők házassága mindig fontos politikai eszköz volt. Szulejmán azonban nem különösebben élt ezzel a lehetőséggel. Lánytestvéreit is még apjuk, I. Szelim házasította ki, megözvegyülésük után ő pedig nem forszírozta újra házasodásukat. Meglehetősen nagy tisztelettel és szeretettel viseltetett családja nőtagjai iránt, így várható volt, hogy egyetlen kislányával szemben is a rá jellemző alapossággal fog eljárni. Szulejmán azonban nem csak kedves természete miatt nem használta ki nőrokonait, hanem szerencséjére nem volt szüksége szövetségesekre, melyeket a házasságok jeenthettek volna neki, hiszen a birodalom szárnyalt, sose volt még ilyen erős a nemzet és őt magát is mindenki szerette.

Ilyen háttérrel tehát nem volt kifejezetten sürgős Mihrimah kiházasítása és nem volt szükséges magas beosztású pasák közül választani a férjjelöltet. Így Szulejmán nyugodtan kereshetett neki tetsző államférfit, akár alacsonyabb pozícióból is. Szulejmán megbízható, hűséges férjet akart Mihrimah számára, ezzel szemben Hürrem inkább fiatal és jóképű férjet. Hürrem az egyiptomi beglerbéget ajánlotta Szulejmánnak, aki köztudottan jóképű és ifjú volt. A szultánnak azonban nem volt kedvére a férfi, hiszen csapodár természet hírében állt, ráadásul azt terjesztették róla, hogy szifilisze van. Természetesen sok ilyen pletyka terjengett alaptalanul is, Szulejmán azonban nem vizsgáltatta ki az egyiptomi beglerbéget, egyszerűen csak elvetette az ötletet. Neki ugyanis más tervei voltak. Egy általa régóta ismert, különösen szerény és megbízható pasát szemelt ki Mihrimah oldalára. Kiszemeltje, Rüsztem pasa 1526-tól majdnem 10 évig a személyes szolgálója volt, utána pedig feltörekvő pasaként szolgálta a szultánt a birodalom különböző tartományaiban. Igen közel álltak egymáshoz, valamint Rüsztem Mihrimah testvéreit is oktatta egy ideig, így a hercegek is jól ismerték. Emellett az is valószínű, hogy Mihrimahnak is volt alkalma találkozni a pasával, hiszen az kifejezetten sok helyen ott lehetett a szultánhoz való közelsége miatt, ahol lehetősége volt látni a szultánát. Végül természetesen Hürrem is kénytelen volt elfogadni Szulejmán férjjelöltjét és már csak az volt a kérdés, hogy Mihrimah elfogadja e.

Rüsztem nagyjából tizenhét-húsz évvel volt idősebb Mihrimahnál, az egyik követ beszámolója szerint nem kifejezetten jóképű, alacsony és vörös képű férfi volt. Egyértelműen nem egy kamaszlány vágyálma volt tehát, még akkor sem ha a legtöbb szultána jóval idősebb férjet kapott maga mellé. Mihrimah mégis beleegyezett a házasságba. Felmerül a kérdés, hogy mondhatott volna egyáltalán nemet? Ami azt illeti valószínűleg igen. Ő volt Szulejmán kedvenc gyermeke, szemefénye, ha különös és mély ellenérzései lettek volna Rüsztem irányába, mondhatott volna nemet. Ám ő nem tette. Mihrimah igen okos nő volt, aki gyermekkorától kezdve édesanyja oldalán állt és valószínűleg próbálta őt segíteni. Nyilvánvalóan tisztában volt a testvérgyilkosság törvényével, azzal, hogy mindent meg kell tenniük, hogy Musztafát - legidősebb féltestvérét - eltávolítsák az útból, ezzel megmentve édestestvérei életét. Rüsztem pedig nagyszerű lehetőség volt erre, hiszen gyermekkoruktól kezdve ismerte és szerette Hürrem fiait, nem volt kérdéses, hogy Hürrem és Mihrimah oldalára fog állni ebben a vérremenő harcban. Így tehát testvérei jövője érdekében Mihrimah igent mondott a házasságra.

Házassága és viszonya férjével

Az esküvőre végül 1539-ben került sor. Rüsztem 35 körül lehetett ekkor, míg Mihrimah 17 éves volt. Hogy minél nagyobb ünnepséget kerekítsenek belőle, az esküvővel egy időben megtartották Bayezid és Cihangir herceg körülmetélési szertartását is. A dupla-ünnepség végül 15 napig tartott, melynek során Isztambul teljes lakossága osztozott a szultáni család örömében a fesztiválok és lakomák során. Rüsztem pozíciójának köszönhetően Isztambulban élt, így Mihrimahnak sem kellett szüleitől távol költözni. Rüsztem ezért is volt nagyszerű választás, hiszen sem Szulejmán, sem Hürrem nem akarta lányát elveszíteni. Mihrimah pedig erős akaratával minden bizonnyal szintén azon ügyködött volna, hogy a fővárosban maradhasson.

Nem kérdés, hogy nem szerelmi házasság köttetett, azonban a viszony korántsem volt olyan rossz, ahogy például a népszerű sorozatban ábrázolták. Mihrimah legalább olyan emberhez mehetett feleségül, akit ismert, aki elkötelezett támogatója volt testvéreinek és végletekig hűséges volt apjához, a szultánhoz. Házasságukat első gyermekük születése koronázta meg 1541-ben. Ayşe Hümaşah volt Rüsztem első gyermeke, Hürrem első unokája. Szulejmán eddigre már legalább egyszeres nagyapa volt, Musztafa hercegnek ugyanis volt már egy hat éves kislánya, azonban mégis később Ayşe Hümaşah lett kedvenc unokája. Mihrimah és Rüsztem kapcsolatából később - nem pontosan ismert mikor - született egy fiú is, Osman. Ez azt sugallja, hogy viszonylag kiegyensúlyozott kapcsolatuk lehetett, hiszen a szultánák megtagadhatták a szexuális együttlétet férjükkel. Erre utal az a tény is, hogy nagyon sok jótékony projektet közösen irányítottak.

Kettejük házassága 1561-ben, Rüsztem Pasa halálával ért véget. Kölcsönös tiszteletüket mutatja azonban Rüsztem végrendelete. Mindenét feleségére és lányára hagyta: jótékonysági szervezeteinek irányítását nagyrészt lányára, ám Mihrimahnak is jócskán jutott hasonló feladat. Emellett Mihrimah volt az, aki befejezte Rüsztem Pasa mecsetjét, amely Rüsztem halálakor még csak félkész állapotban volt.

Az intrikus szultána

A legendák szerint Mihrimah, édesanyja Hürrem támogatásával szerette volna elérni, hogy Rüsztem legyen a következő nagyvezír, mely tervüket végül sikerrel véghezvitték. Azonban téves lenne azt gondolni, hogy csak a két nő ténykedése vezetett Rüsztem kinevezéséhez. Rüsztem eddigre húsz éve volt a szultán bizalmas embere, Szulejmán méltónak találta őt egyetlen lánya kezére, egyértelmű volt, hogy a szultán maga is ezt a pozíciót egyszer Rüsztemnek akarta adni. Mihrimah és Hürrem azonban ezzel nem elégedtek meg, hanem olyan előjogokat akartak Rüsztemnek, amelyek korábban Ibrahim Pasát is megillették. A szultán viszont élesen elzárkózott attól, hogy bárkit újra olyan közel engedjen magához, mint ahogyan Ibrahimmal tette.

Mihrimah és Rüsztem házasságának egyik fontos alapköve volt a közös intrikák sokasága. Mihrimah politikailag igen aktív volt, sokszor férjével közösen sikerrel győzték meg a szultánt egy egy ügy kapcsán. Ilyen volt, amikor 1542-ben Szulejmán szerette volna Isztambulba vitetni politikai fogolyként a csecsemő magyar királyt és édesanyját, Izabella királynét. Izabella azonban okos nő lévén tudta, hogy segítséget kaphat a szultán lányától és nejétől. Elpanaszolta hát helyzetét Mihrimahnak és Hürremnek is: hogy milyen ifjan megözvegyült, egyedül maradt fiával és most még trónjától, jogától is megfosztanák. Emellett pedig természetesen igen értékes ajándékokat is küldött Mihrimah szultána és férje számára. Minden bizonnyal Izabella levelében kijátszotta származását is. Izabella ugyanis a lengyel király lánya volt, azé a lengyel királyé, akinek országából Hürrem szultána származott. Ez pedig fontos kapocs volt Hürrem, Mihrimah és Izabella között. Akárhogyan is, Izabella meggyőzte Hürremet és Mihrimaht is, akik Rüsztemmel karöltve könnyedén rávették a szultánt, hogy támogassa Izabellát és annak fiát, ahelyett, hogy fogolyként Isztambulba hozatná őket. Így lett hát, hogy Szapolyai János Zsigmond lett a Magyar Királyság következő királya.

A házaspár fő feladata azonban Mihrimah testvéreinek támogatása volt, különösen Mehmed hercegé. 1543-ig teljesen egyértelmű volt, hogy Mehmed herceget szerették volna trónra emelni és a trió ehhez mindent elkövetett. A herceg korai halála azonban megnehezítette helyzetüket. Egy ideig nem foglalkoztak azzal, hogy melyik herceg legyen az új kiszemeltjük, csak és kizárólag Musztafa herceg ellehetetlenítésén dolgoztak. Még tíz évbe telt, mire végül sikerrel jártak és Musztafát kivégeztette a szultán. Az, hogy Mihrimah pontosan mennyire és hogyan vett részt ebben a folyamatban, nem ismert, hiszen nincsenek egyáltalán olyan bizonyítékok, amelyek Hürrem vagy Mihrimah bűnösségét bizonyítanák. Ám ettől függetlenül naivitás lenne azt gondolnunk, hogy Mihrimah, aki anyja kiköpött mása volt testben és lélekben is, nem vett volna részt szeretett anyja és férje harcában.

Olybá tűnik, hogy Musztafa halála után a trió Bayezid herceg mellett tette le a voksát, míg a szultán maga Szelimet favorizálta. Talán épp ezért választották Bayezidet, hogy kiegyenlített lehessen a két herceg helyzete. Mindemellett Bayezid természete egy időzített bombához hasonlított, így félő volt, ha nem támogatják, a szultán haragját fogja kivívni egy meggondolatlan cselekedettel. Így az, hogy Bayezidet támogatták, nem jelenti egyértelműen azt, hogy a trónon is őt szerették volna látni.

Édesanyja elvesztése

1558 drasztikus változást hozott Mihrimah életében. Hürrem szultána meghalt. Mihrimah és édesanyja különösen közel álltak egymáshoz, az ismert anya-lánya kapcsolatok közül, kettejüké volt a legszorosabb. Mihrimah minden nap meglátogatta Hürremet a Topkapi Palotában, ezzel pedig több időt töltött ott, mint saját palotájában. Emellett rendszeresen elkísérte anyját annak utazásaira és együtt látogatták meg testvéreit. Így minden bizonnyal Hürrem elvesztése hatalmas fájdalmat jelentett Mihrimah számára. Azonban Hürrem, halálakor feladatait lányára ruházta át, akinek így nem volt ideje gyászolni, azonnal akcióba kellett lépnie, hogy folytathassa édesanyja útját. Ez pedig nem jelentett mást, mint a szultán támogatását és Bayezid herceg védelmét.

Mihrimah azonban nem tudta úgy befolyásolni Bayezidet, mint édesanyjuk, így nem tudta azt sem elérni, hogy a herceg türelemmel várjon és ne bosszantsa a szultánt. Bayezid hamarosan fellázadt a szultán ellen, mely lázadáshoz több forrás szerint is Mihrimahtól kért pénzt. Mihrimah pedig adott neki. A szultán mikor rájött erre, azonnal kérdőre vonta lányát, aki annyit felelt, hogy édesanyja végakaratát teljesítette, ezért ő nem bűnös semmiben. Nem tudjuk, hogy Szulejmán hogyan reagált, de úgy tűnik viszonyuk egy időre megromlott.

Azonban Mihrimah támogatása sem volt elég, Bayezid herceg az általa szított lázadás döntő ütközetében elbukott, elvesztette a csatát és kénytelen volt elmenkülni a harctérről. Ekkor már Mihrimah és Rüsztem is tehetetlenek voltak. Rüsztem pasa pedig hamarosan életét vesztette, így nem maradt senki, aki meg menthette volna Bayezidet és fiait a kivégzéstől. 1562-ben Bayezidet kivégezték, majd néhány hónapra rá a szultán hatalmas lakodalmat szervezett, hogy kiházasítsa az örökös, Szelim herceg lányait, az elhunyt Musztafa herceg egyik lányát és Bayezid megfelelő korban lévő lányát is. Mihrimah újra szembekerült apjával az esküvő miatt. A források legtöbbje úgy írja, hogy Mihrimah csak az esküvő előkészületei során tudta meg, hogy Bayezidet kivégezték, addigra ugyanis a hírek nem érték el Isztambult, Szulejmán pedig teljes titoktartást rendelt el. Mihrimah a gyásztól összetörve és feldühödve mélységesen felháborítónak tartotta, hogy nemsokkal a testvére kivégzése után ünnepséget rendeznek a birodalomban. Ezért minden lehetséges módon igyekezett ellehetetleníteni a szertartást, így például megtiltotta, hogy a háremben bárki is mulatozzon és boldogságot mutasson. Mivel Mihrimah Rüsztem halála óta a Régi Palotában élt és valószínűleg vezette is azt, parancsai célt értek és a háremben elmaradt a mulatság. A követek beszámolói alapján Szulejmán összetört, és mérhetetlenül csalódott volt. Szelim azonban a hír hallatán állítólag feldühödve kijelentette, hogy sosem szerette nővérét, sem annak férjét sőt anyjukat sem, amiért azok Bayezidet választották helyette. Ezen hír megbízhatósága azonban kétséges, ugyanis a követ aki ezt lejegyezte mélységesen megvetette Szelim herceget.

Viszonya apjával úgy tűnik idővel mégis rendeződött, hiszen 1565-ben például Mihrimah győzködte apját, hogy kezdeményezzen hadjáratot Málta ellen, ő maga pedig saját kincstárát is felajánlotta, megígrve, hogy kiállít 400 gályát a hadsereg számára. Így tehát - bár kétségtelen hogy Bayezid kivégzése örökre nyomot hagyott kapcsolatukon - valószínűleg élete végén Szulejmán újra maga mellett tudhatta egyetlen lányát.

Az új korszak

Mihrimah 1566-ban elveszítette édesapját és egy új világ kezdődött számára öccse, Szelim uralkodásával. A két testvér viszonya nem volt felhőtlen, hiszen Mihrimah mindig Bayezid pártján állt, azonban ekkorra már csak ők ketten voltak életben a családból, ezért az összetartást választották a gyűlölködés helyett. Először Mihrimah nyújtott segítő kezet Szelimnek, amikor azt a janicsárok megzsarolták és megalázták trónralépése előtt. A janicsárok ugyanis azonnal meg akarták kapni a trónralépési jussukat, amikor Szelim még nem is lépett trónra. Ekkor Szelimnek nem volt hozzáférése a birodalmi kincstárhoz, saját tartományából pedig túl hosszú idő lett volna pénzt hozatni, így Mihrimah fizette ki a katonák jussát, hogy Szelim egyáltalán elfoglalhassa a trónt zavargások nélkül. Szelim nem maradt hálátlan, ugyanis nővérét tette meg a Régi Palota fejévé, ezzel pedig de facto valide szultánává.

Szelim uralkodása alatt alapvetően a háttérben maradt és jótékonykodással, építkezési projektekkel töltötte idejét a politika helyett. Mihrimah rengeteg építkezési projektet támogatott, ám leghíresebb kétségkívül a két Mihrimah-mecset, melyek Mimar Sinan birodalmi építész legszebb munkái. Emellett támogatta Nurbanu azon törekvését, hogy a franciáktól visszaszerezzenek két fogjul ejtett török nőt. Közösen, Nurbanu lányaival és saját lányával karöltve végül meggyőzték a francia királynét, hogy küldje haza a nőket. Ez alapján úgy gondolhatjuk, hogy Nurbanuval jó viszonyban voltak. Nincs közvetlen bizonyíték a két nő viszonyára, valószínűleg tiszteletteljes viszony állt fenn köztük. Mihrimah lánya azonban Nurbanu ellenfelét, Safiye Haseki szultánát támogatta, ami felveti azt az eshetőséget is, hogy Mihrimah maga is Safiyét favorizálta Nurbanuval szemben.

Élete alkonya

Szelim 1574-ben elhunyt és fia Murad követte a trónon. Murad és Mihrimah viszonya nem ismert ám feltehetőleg Muradban is maradthatott tüske, amiért Mihrimah Bayezidet támogatta. Épp emiatt vannak akik úgy sejtik, hogy Mihrimah minden hatalmát elvesztette Murad uralkodása alatt. Valójában ez nem valószínű, hiszen Murad olyan magas fizetést adott Mihrimahnak, amilyet soha egyetlen birodalmi hercegnő sem kapott hasonló helyzetben. Mihrimah talán maga döntött úgy, hogy visszavonul. Szelim halálával egyedül maradt a családból, eddigre elveszítette négy testvérét, mindkét szülőjét, unokaöccseit, férjét és saját fiát is. Ennyi fájdalomtól megtörve valószínűleg nem érzett már késztetést, hogy politikával foglalkozzon. Útját lánya Ayşe Hümaşah folytatta, aki politikailag igen aktív volt.

Mihrimah 1578. január 25-én hunyt el a Régi Palotában. Murad szultán úgy döntött, hogy a hagyományokat (miszerint a szultánok egyedül nyugodtak türbéjükben) megtörve, Mihrimah szultánát édesapja mellé temetteti el. Halálával azonban vérvonala nem tűnt el, hiszen lánya által, leszármazottjai a 20. századig nyomonkövethetőek voltak, ám feltehetőleg napjainkban is élnek további cslaádtagok. Ők a Mihrumazadeler-ek.

Felhasznált források: L. Peirce - Empress of the east; L. Peirce - The imperial harem; Y. Öztuna - Kanuni Sultan Süleyman; N. Sakaoğlu - Bu Mülkün Kadın Sultanları

#Mihrimah Sultan #mimar sinan #sultan suleyman #KanuniSultanSüleyman #Suleiman the Magnificent #Suleiman I #Haseki Hürrem Sultan #hürrem sultan #safiye sultan #rustem pasha #rüstem paşa #ayse humasah #ayşe hümaşah #Selim II #Nurbanu Sultan #ayşe hafsa

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agentblyeanddeeks · 4 years

Text

Chapter 1

Finally happy enough with chapter 1 to share it with you all. Still deciding on a title, then I will post to ff.net. A HUGE HUGE THANK YOU to @mashmaiden for listening to my indecisiveness until I finally got to where I wanted. And for the constant motivation to keep going.

AU of the team first meeting Deeks. What happens when Kensi gets caught up in one of Deeks undercovers. Will contain flashbacks.

August 17, 2010

“Mr. Callen. Nice of you to decide to finally come into work this morning.” Hetty stood in the archway of the mission entrance as the senior agent arrived.

“We live in LA. You know the traffic is always unpredictable.” Callen responded.

Hetty folded her arms, “Mr. Hanna and Mr. Beale don’t seem to have any trouble being on time. Might I suggest an earlier departure from now on?”

“I will do my best, Hetty.”

“That you will, Mr. Callen. That you will. Now, up to Ops you go. There’s a case to be solved” Hetty shooed him towards the stairs.

————-

“Well, well, well. Third time this month, G. Let me guess, you were busy switching apartments because this one was too relaxing.”

“Too relaxing? What does that even mean?”

“It means you need to stop making excuses and just settle down in one place. It will be good for you.”

“Or I could just stay with you, Michelle, and the kids.”

“We tried that once before, remember? By the way, you still owe me a toaster.”

“Hey, that was not my fault.”

Um, guy. We have a case.” Eric interrupted the partners bickering.

“Sorry, Eric.” Callen noticed the room was still one Agent short, “Where’s Kensi?”

The automated doors opened again revealing their operations manager, “It seems your tardiness is beginning to rub off on your teammates. Rest assured I will have a talk with her later. Now let’s not waste anymore time. Eric.”

Eric swiveled his chair around towards his computer. After a few clicks on the keyboard, an image appeared on the main screen. “Meet Petty Officer 3rd Class Evan Wade. He was stationed at Point Loma until a year ago when he received an other than honorary discharge.”

“What was his offense?” questioned Sam.

“Multiple failed drug tests. His CO said he had been to rehab twice but only stayed clean for about a month before relapsing.”

“Did he have drugs in his system when he died?” Callen asked.

“Yes. The coroner found traces of heroin. She also said the body had been there at least three days before hikers discovered it.”

“I’m guessing from the amount of blood on his body, the cause of death wasn’t an overdose.” Callen concluded.

“That would correct.” Eric grabbed his tablet and zoomed in on the picture, “Wade was killed by multiple gunshots to the torso.”

Sam took a minute to study the image, “Looks like they could be from a 9mm.”

Callen shook his head, “Pretty common caliber. Doesn’t really narrow it down.”

“This might.” the tech operator chimed in. “After the petty officer was discharged, he began working at Crescent Creek. They are a beer distributor that have been on the LAPD watch list for a while now. Most of their employees have pretty impressive rap sheets. B & E’s, assault, you name it.”

Sam scanned the employee photos on the screen, “Are any of the other employees former military?”

Eric nodded, “Two. But no connection so far to Wade.”

“Ok, keep digging. See if anything sticks out.” instructed Sam.

“On it.” Eric returned to his computer desk and began a new search algorithm.

“What about a few days before he died? Anything out of the ordinary?” asked Callen.

Another file appeared on the screen, “Let’s see. The last credit card transaction was at Mariasol’s on the Santa Monica Pier the day he died. Pulling up the pier security cameras now.”

The video of the pier began to play. Eric increased the speed until it was close to the time of the transaction.

Callen pointed to the screen, “There’s Wade.”

“What’s he doing?” Eric asked, curiously.

“Probably nothing good. He keeps watching over his shoulder. He’s nervous about something.” Sam observed.

While Eric and Sam were focused on their victim, Callen was more interested in the other guy in the frame, “Eric, can you get a better angle of the guy he’s with?”

Eric pulled up a second camera from the pier as Callen stepped forward to get a better look at the blonde gentleman. “I know that guy.”

“From a previous case?” Sam asked.

Callen shook his head, “No. It’s the owner of the bar that Kensi took us to a couple months ago.” He snapped his fingers a few times til the name came to him, “Squid & Dagger.”

Eric types the name that Callen gave him, hoping it would provide them with a lead. “The owner of Squid & Dagger is listed as Max Gentry. He’s owned the bar for six months. Single. Address is listed in Culver City. No military background. No criminal records.”

“We need to find Kensi now and see what she knows about him.” Hetty suddenly spoke up.

“I’ll call her.” offered Eric.

“Ok, Sam and I will head to Max’s place and find out what his connection to Wade is.”

They two agents turned to leave but stopped when they heard a familiar warning beep coming from the main screen.

“Kensi’s cell is offline.” Eric announced as he began to worry.

“Well, turn it back on!” Sam ordered.

“I can’t. Either the battery has been taken or the phone has been severely damaged.”

The scenario playing out in front of them reminded Sam of what the team had gone through earlier in the year with Dom. “What about her car?”

Eric brought up a map of Los Angeles on the screen. After a few seconds, a blinking icon appeared. “GPS location has it at Pico and Sixth since midnight.” He paused when the realization hit him, “Guy, that’s Max’s bar.”

Hetty moved to the front of the room to face her staff. “Eric, find out everything you can on Max. Gentleman, go to Santa Monica and figure out what the hell is going on.”

——————-

As the Challenger turned onto Sixth Street, Sam and Callen were met with red and blue flashing lights. An officer walked around the building, dragging yellow caution tape behind him

“This is not good.” Callen said as the car came to a stop. Their arrival didn’t go unnoticed by the man in a suit by the bar entrance. He made his way up to the yellow tape, meeting the agents halfway.

“Can I help you gentleman?”

“NCIS. I’m Special Agent Hanna. This is Special Agent Callen. What happened here?”

“Detective Danny Hall. Neighboring business called it in this morning. The door was kicked in and the inside shows definite signs of a struggle. One victim.”

Callen pulled out his phone and clicked on the DMV photo of Max Gentry, “This him?”

“No.” The detective shook his head then reached down for the caution tape, raising it up, “Follow me.”

The three men walk into the bar and take in the chaos in front of them. The front door laid to their right, no longer on the hinges. Multiple tables were upturned and the chairs were scattered and broken throughout the business.

“Woah, you weren’t kidding about the struggle. It’s a wreck in here,” Callen said. While he assessed the furniture damage, Sam made his way to the body laying near the bar, covered by a sheet.

“Looks like blunt force trauma to the head. Probably from being slammed into the bar.”

Detective Hall took a small notebook from his pocket, “According to the tattoo on his arm, he is a member of the Sanguine street gang.”

“Guns for hire.” Callen assumed.

“Can I ask why this interests NCIS?” the detective asked.

“The dead body of a marine was found this morning. Gunshot wounds to the chest. He might have had a connection with the owner. Plus we have an agent that we have lost contact with that frequented this bar.” he told the detective.

“My guys didn’t find any shell casings. They most likely kept it hand to hand. A gun fight in this area would have caused attention right away. They wouldn’t have been able to make a clean getaway.”

Sam rejoined the others, “I wouldn’t exactly call leaving a man behind a clean getaway.”

“We also found blood on a pool stick and some leading out the back door to the alley.” Hall informed them. Another officer appeared in the doorway and signaled him over.

“Excuse me for a moment, Gentleman. Forensics is done here. Feel free to look around. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Thank you.” Sam shook his hand.

“So is Max still a suspect or is he our next victim?” Callen began to theorize.

“He could be both. Max kills Wade, then bad guy send the gang after Max. Or Max could be innocent and our suspect is tying up loose ends.”

“For Kensi’s sake, I hope it’s the second one.”

“Me too.” Sam thought for a moment, “If they wanted to kill Max, they wouldn’t have ambushed him here. Like Hall said, attracts too much attention.”

“They obviously wanted him alive for a reason. But for what?”

Sam looked around the room, trying to envision what might have gone down. “Ok, so the gang members come through the entrance. Chaos ensues. Max shoves the dead guy into the bar.”

Callen removed the black gloves from his pocket and put them on his hand. He then grabbed the broken pool stick the detective had mentioned. “Someone defended themselves with the pool stick. Whoever it was, was bleeding,” noting the bloody fingerprints.

“G, over here.” Sam crouched down near the back exit. “There is blood smear leading to the door. It’s probably Max’s. They hit him from behind, knocking him out and they take him out the alley door.”

Following Sam’s hunch, the men go out the backdoor. “Easy get away. Especially in the middle of the night.”

“It still doesn’t explain where Kensi is. Or what she was even doing here. The bar is closed on Monday nights.” Callen said, bringing the focus back to their missing colleague.

“We need to look in her car.”

The car was parked in a community lot outside of the crime scene. Thankfully the other detectives hadn’t known it was related to the crime at the bar. Callen pulled out the spare key and unlocked her car. Sam opened the driver side door and began searching for clues. Callen did the same from the passenger side.

“Nothing seems out of the ordinary.” Callen said, looking in the glove compartment. He leaned forward to feel between the seat and console and pulled out something mushy and brown, slightly disgusted, “Looks like I found Kensi’s stash of Reese Cups.”

Sam shook his head, “When we find her, she is getting an intervention about her refined sugar addiction.”

Callen removed his chocolate filled glove and searched through the center console with his other hand.

“Her badge and wallet are both still here.”

Sam straightened up after checking under the driver seat. “Her gun is not.”

“Agent Callen! Agent Hanna!” Detective Hall yelled as he approached. “Does this vehicle have to do with the investigation?”

“It’s our missing agent’s cars. She left her badge but took her gun.” Sam explained

“And you think she’s got something to do with this?”

“I hope not but I’ve got a bad feeling about it.” Callen noticed the surveillance photos in the detectives hand. “Can I see those?”

“Oh yeah. That’s why I came over here. One of the officers found these in the office. Anyone look familiar?”

Callen took the photos and started flipping through them.“That’s Petty Officer Wade and our bar owner Max Gentry. Someone was definitely watching them.”

Sam moved beside Callen to have a better look at the photos. “They're not the only ones they were watching.”

The next photo in the pile was that of Kensi and Max. It was taken at night and they appeared to be on a rooftop. As they flipped through more photos, they became more concerned. Whoever took these photos had continued to follow Kensi without Max. Some were even taken near her house.

“We’ve got to find her now. She might be compromised.” Callen said.

“Which means so are we.”

Sam took the photos and laid them out of the car hood. He took out his phone and took pictures of them to send to Ops.

“Call us if you find anything else.” Callen asked of Hall as he handed him his card.

“Same to you.”

Sam handed back the photos and they headed to the Challenger. “Eric, pull the security camera from the Squid & Dagger and surrounding areas. We need to see where Kensi went. We’re headed to her house to see if there are any clues.”

“I’ll pull the feeds but Hetty wants you guys at the boat shed.”

“We don’t have time, Eric. We need to find Kensi before it’s too late.” Callen spoke into the earwig.

Hetty’s voice interrupted, “Gentleman. Please redirect yourselves to the boat shed immediately. There is someone here that might be able to help.”

———-

Callen and Sam arrived at the boat shed to find an older, grey haired man standing next to Hetty.

“Agent Hanna, Agent Callen. Meet LAPD Lieutenant Roger Bates.”

“To what do we owe the pleasure, Lieutenant Bates?” Sam greeted him.

“I got a call from Detective Hall saying NCIS had taken an interest in his crime scene this morning. I put a call into my old friend Henrietta and thought I would brief you all myself.”

“Oh, Roger. I’d say old foes was more like it.”

“Eh, bygones.” Bates shook her off. “Six months ago we began an undercover operation to get close to the people inside Crescent Creek. The business had been around since the early 90s. Very reputable and what you would expect from a beer distributor. Until two years ago, when they started distributing things of illegal proportions.”

“Drugs.” Callen guessed

“Bingo. Specifically heroin, ecstasy, cocaine.”

“Petty officer Wade had heroin in his system when he died,” added Callen.

“When he was murdered.” Sam corrected.

“That’s unfortunate to hear. I had thought we really broke through to him this time. Our man inside quickly bonded with Evan. They both came from broken homes, abusive dads, and a no good childhood. It wasn’t too hard to convince him to become our informant.”

“Do you know who killed him?” Callen asked

Bates grabbed the remote from the table, hitting the center blue button. A picture of a Hispanic man appeared on the screen.

“Ramon Murillo. He took over the company in 2007 when his father Arturo passed away. The problem is Ramon has his finger in just about every gang in West LA. They do his dirty work so we can never get anything to pin on him.”

“So why did he kill Wade?” Sam questioned.

“Evan wanted out. He said he was finally ready to turn his life around. But he was worried that Ramon wouldn’t let him go that easy. And he was right. Three days ago he met with our undercover in Santa Monica and …..”

Callen interrupted the Lieutenant “Wait. Max Gentry is one of yours?”

Bates hit the remote again. A picture of Max filled the screen. Only this time it was a photo of him with his hair kept and wearing a suit and tie. Much different from the DMV photo they were given.

“One of the best. His real name is Martin Deeks. We backstopped him as the owner of the Squid & Dagger. He was oddly proud of the name he created for the bar. Anyways, Deeks met with him on the pier that morning to give him the address to one of our safe houses. The investigation was coming to a head so Evan was to stay there until we arrested Ramon and then he would be put in WITSEC. Deeks said when they met Evan seemed really jumpy and paranoid, like someone was watching him.”

“That’s because someone was.” Sam added.

“Right. Evan never made it to the safe house and until this morning, we had no idea where he was. Yesterday, Deeks found an envelope slid under the door at the bar. Written on the front was Detective Deeks. Inside were the surveillance photos Detective Hall and his team came across this morning.”

“But Hall saw Deeks in those photos but didn’t say he knew him.” Callen questioned.

“That’s because he wouldn’t know him from Adam. Deeks was a loner. He never played well with the other cops. Always preferred to work alone. That’s why deep undercover was perfect for him. He didn’t have anyone else to worry about.”

“Until Kensi.” Hetty added.

Until Kensi.” Bates repeated “Deeks was freaked out enough that his cover was blown and his informant was missing but when he saw those photos of Kensi, he was furious. He called me to ask if I could help him track her down. She wasn’t answering her phone so he left her voicemails saying she was in danger and needed to leave town. He told me her name was McKensi Cole. But the name lead nowhere. I didn’t hear from him after that. I had hoped he had found her and went into hiding but unfortunately that wasn’t the case when Detective Hall called me this morning.”

After working with Kensi for over a year, Sam was getting familiar with how she operated “That explains how she ended up at the bar last night. If Kensi heard those voicemails from someone she cared about, she wouldn’t have run the other way.”

Hetty nodded, “She would have stood and fought. That’s who she is.”

“And now Kensi and Deeks are both missing.” Callen concludes.

The images on the screen suddenly disappeared and were replaced by a video feed of Eric from Ops.

“I might have a lead on that. Now the security cameras at the bars had been disabled but I was able to pull a traffic cam from the north east corner that shows the alley behind the building.”

The feed from Ops shrunk to the top corner of the screen as the traffic cam feed filled the rest. Just as they feared the team saw an unconscious Deeks being dragged out the back exit and into a van. Movement at the bottom right of the screen caught their eye. Kensi was watching from around the side of the building, both hands on her gun at her side. They watched in horror as the shadow behind Kensi grew closer and then grabbed her, placing a white cloth over her mouth. After a moment of struggle, Kensi’s body went limp and she too was thrown into the back of the van. Landing right next to Deeks.

#untitled densi fic #chapter 1 complete #ncisla #densi #Marty Deeks #kensi blye

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starkmaiden · 4 years

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did you know that hawks and wolves mate for life?

Ladyhawke is one of my favorite movies. It’s got everything I need. Sword fights, star crossed lovers, Baby Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Brodrick occasionally trying a British accent, and a ridiculously amazingly bad-good soundtrack. Best of all for me personally, it has Rutgar Hauer, who is one of my favorite actors ever and I love him so much and I miss him every day.

Now Ladyhawke is the story of baby faced Matthew Broderick as the young thief who helps star-crossed cursed lover, Navarre and Isabeau, break their curse whether he wants to or not. There’s also the evil bishop who cursed them, an evil captain of the guard foil, and a drunk monk. Also Alfred Molina, who despite having seen this movie more times than I’ll admit I keep forgetting is in this movie. It is one of the more quintessential 80’s fantasy movies I’ve ever seen, and if you haven’t seen it, I hope I managed to convince you with my terrible summary that doesn’t explain the movie at all.

You’re probably wondering why I’m talking about it, and how this means anything regarding Jonsa at all. Now if you’re in the Jonsa Book Club then you’ve probably skipped down to the main part because you know where I’m going with this. Ladyhawke is one of my favorite movies, but it’s also one of the favorites of George RR Martin. In his words it is “Not only one of the greatest fantasy films ever made (ignore that bloody soundtrack please), but one of the great romances as well.”

And yeah, it’s got Jonsa to it. Or well Jonsa has Ladyhawke in it.

There’s the aforementioned star-crossed lovers, Navarre and Isabeau. Navarre cursed to be a human during the day, and a wolf at night; and Isabeau, cursed to be only a human at night and a hawk during the day. Heck, I named this entire thing after one of my favorite Navarre lines. Because originally this was called “Jonsa but every time it’s Ladyhawke George giggles like a schoolgirl”. Let’s break it down. Go easy on me I’ve never done this before.

Wolf Imagery in Navarre and Jon

Now I’m focusing on the male leads for this section. Navarre is Rutger Hauer’s character, so even if I was using the show in any way for this Kit Harington could never match up. Because like I mentioned above, Rutger Hauer is one of my favorite actors. I actually started the notes for this meta-thing in August, only to stop it because watching Ladyhawke in the wake of his death made me sad for awhile. But I’m tangenting.

In Ladyhawke, Navarre is a disgraced former captain of the guard now on the run and looking for his revenge against the evil Bishop. In ASOIAF, Jon is a quickly advancing member of the Night’s Watch. Both characters are both inversions of the Black Knight trope, and that trope played straight through. They look like the standard black knight from the outside; good fighter, infrequent smiles, on the edge of society, and of course dressed in all black all the time. But ultimately they’re both subversions of this trope. Navarre is the hero of the story, and the most noble character in it. Jon, despite his own increasing moral ambiguity, as of the last time we see him is one of the more noble characters of the series. They also both keep bird companions. Navarre travelling with Ladyhawke, and Jon’s possession of the Lord Commander’s raven in later books. Which doesn’t fit wholy into the black knight trope but is an aesthetic similarity.

There’s also their swords to look at. Navarre has his family’s ancestral sword and it holds a lot of value to him. It’s been in his family for generations, and holds a lot of value to him. It also looks dope as hell. What does that sound like but Longclaw. The Mormont’s family sword, that Jon now holds and something that he takes a lot of pride in. And also it is dope as hell. They’re even a little visually similar, stuck somewhere between one handed and two handed, with large ornamental pommel.

A more mild example being how others see them. Navarre’s former men, even when they fight him, still hold a certain level of respect for him. Similar to Jon, and the people he interacts with. They’re also both defenders of the more innocent against their friends or former friends. As shown with their defense of Mouse and Sam.

The most obvious connection was saved for last. Seeing as both Jon and Navarre are literal wolves. Jon by warging into his wolf, Ghost, mostly in those dreams that go on while he closes his eyes. Navarre by transforming into a wolf, from dusk to dawn. They also both tend to lose themselves when they’re in their wolves, forgetting they’re humans while in them and such.

Bird Imagery in Isabeau and Sansa

The Ladyhawke and the Little Bird. They match. Done.

Okay, serious. Minor point, Sansa is reported to have flown away from the danger in King’s Landing and Isabeau literally flies away from danger in the movie. Foreshadowing? Probably not. But I digress.

Another fun fact, Isabeau and Sansa have similar family stories. They lost their fathers (and presumably Isabeau’s mother even though she is not mentioned) and through events end up in the custody of a family member. Isabeau’s cousin, and Sansa’s aunt Lysa. Actually, on my first watch I had to go back and rewatch the scene because I did mishear it and thought Imperius said that Isabeau fell in love with her cousin Anyway. It’s through this that they come into contact with both the hero of the story and the villain.

Let’s continue with the obvious, Sansa and Isabeau. Isabeau is played the very lovely Michelle Pfieffer, while Sansa is portrayed by the beautiful Sophie Turner in the adaptation. Both are known in story for their beauty. It is the first thing people say about them. They also both have these like piercing blue eyes like the sea after a storm. It’s this beauty that brings them to the attention to their main villain, Littlefinger and the Bishop. Which will be covered in the next part...spoilers.

Sansa and Isabeau are also associated with wolves. Sansa has Lady for as short a time as she did. And if you believe theories may or may not find another with a close connection to Jon *cough, cough*. Isabeau is followed and protected by Navarre’s wolf form.

The two also have a similar sad air about them. Isabeau gets the amazing exchange, MOUSE: “Are you flesh or are you a spirit?” ISABEAU: “I am sorrow.” Now Sansa, Sansa has plenty of sad quotes, but the one I decided on for this is: “It was as if she has become a ghost, dead before her time.” They have tragic ways of expressing their sadness.

The biggest would be the most obvious thing. Isabeau is the titular Ladyhawke. The hawks specifically used were red-tailed hawks. Easy to train which is why they’re used in a lot of movies, but they’re also common for falcony a hobby Sansa has shown interest in the books proper. More than Sansa’s connection as a little bird, which I’m going to gloss over right now with only the fact their abusers want to keep them as helpless caged birds. Sansa is also associated in later books with the falcon of House Arryn. Which like the hawk, is a prey of prey known for being fierce but graceful.

Final note, Sansa and Isabeau also bought trust someone with their most secret secrets. Imperious and Dontos both being drunks who tell (albeit accidentally in Imperious’ case) their superiors about the ladies’ plans. This ends up being bad for them, and it is what causes trouble for them. Isabeau, ending up cursed, and Sansa, ended up a fugitive living under Littlefinger.

Littlefinger and the Bishop

The Bishop of Aquila is the primary villain of Ladyhawke. The one who cursed Navarre and Isabeau when the latter doesn’t return his obsession. Littlefinger is Littlefinger, probably the closest thing to a human overarching villain until Dany fully takes that position. He had an obsession with Catelyn Stark, that transferred to Sansa when Catelyn became confirmed untouchable by way of being dead. You can see where I’m going here. They’re the ones who provide the hero girl with all to a lot of her bird imagery. Since they really made her that way.

They’re also a visual difference between that our villains have from our heroes. As I rambled above, Navarre and Jon are the guys dressed all in black trope, very pale, tragic. The Bishop on the other hand is a pure example of the “light is not good” trope. He’s only ever seen wearing those white bishop robe things. Which also puts him at contrast with Littlefinger, who unlike in the adaption where he only wears those dark medieval trench coat things that cover all the skin, chooses to wear literally every color he can get his hands on which is nearly every one.

Like Littlefinger, the Bishop in Ladyhawke is an evil man in a corrupt position. Using his underlings like the captain of the guard to do his dirty work for him while he remains clean on the outside, similar to Littlefinger’s relationships with Lothor Brune and them Kettleblacks.

They’re also both the instigators of the entire plots of their stories. The Bishop is the one who curses the couple, the one who arrests Mouse, sells his soul to hell, all that culminate in his death. Littlefinger throws the entire continent into chaos in hopes that the shuffle of power will put him on top and get him the object of desire. Ladyhawke’s plot wouldn’t exist without the bishop, and the entire story of ASOIAF would be different without Littlefinger.

Random Conclusions I’m About To Jump On

Phillipe the Mouse is the POV character of Ladyhawke I mentioned a few times over the course of this thing. There is also Ser Shadrich, the Mad Mouse, currently being all ambiguous in Sansa’s TWOW Alayne chapter. What do they have in common? Well it depends on if you believe what I believe which is 1) Sansa is the Girl in Grey (obviously), and 2) that Ser Shadrich’s appearance in Sansa’s storyline is going to spell trouble for her in the books to come. The tentative connection being that the Mouse’s involvement in the story is what brings our lovers (Navarre and Isabeau) and our could be lovers (Jon and Sansa) back together again.

Actual Conclusion

Endings are hard, so I’m not writing one. I should do this again with another one of my favorite movies, but they don’t really have George connections.

In the reverse, Navarre and Sansa both have the wolf connection to match with. And Isabeau is the Ladyhawke to Jon’s Crow.

Also, if Jon and Sansa’s reunion includes any variation of the phrase, “You’ve cut your hair” I will spontaneously combust.

#the endless winter of my asoiaf reread #jonsa #jon x sansa #book jonsa #jonsa book club #jonsa meta #ladyhawke #grrm

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schoethe · 4 years

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Some sources state Schiller have ignored Christiane at Goethes house. Like he despise her and Goethe because of her. Maybe do you know where is the information from? I don't remeber the sources, but I've read this quite a lot.

pheew, there is no easy answer to that question and i don’t have all the sources at hand rn and no time to do proper research so what i write now might be biased by my personal memory and interpretation but here’s what i remember (edit: ups, novel ahead):

so the thing with Christiane was that

a) she was from a ‘simpler’ background than people would have liked a women who was the woman at Goethe’s side to be

b) during most of the time of their relationship Goethe didn’t marry her - and I say that he didn’t marry her bc I am quite sure that she would have liked to get married to him (earlier) and also would have benefited greatly from being married to him. While Goethe may have had his reasons to not get married it left Christiane in a very difficult position. She was left with no offical standing in society, she couldn’t accompany her partner to events, couldn’t receive (official) guests, couldn’t parttake in activities etc. because officially she didn’t exsist. That doesn’t mean however that people didn’t know about her. They knew very well and they didn’t approve of the relationship in any way. People were scandalized how Goethe could live like that, unmarried with a woman of low education, not from a high society family or, how they put it, how he could share the bed with his housekeeper - an idea repeated even today even though it absolute bs of course. Christiane was not his housekeeper. (Even though she did run the household obviously as any wife would have.) They had a very intense, romantic and sensual relationship and had moved in together very shortly after haven fallen in love head over heels almost at first sight and even though Goethe himself was facing difficulties because of it with his friend and sponsor, the Duke (Herzog) of Weimar, Carl August. If I remember correctly they at first weren’t allowed to live in their later home at the Frauenplan in the center of town but had to live in the house that is today known as Goethe’s Garden House a little outside of town.

And so to Schiller. Schiller’s wife Charlotte (I’m going to call her Lotte from now on for less confusion) was very close friends with Charlotte von Stein, a very important figure in Weimar’s high society and Goethe’s quasi ex-girlfriend who particulary despised Christiane as Goethe had left her and turned to Christiane after his trip to Italy.

I’ve said earlier that people didn’t approve of Christiane and of Goethe’s living with her. That was very mildly put. They hated her. Made fun about her, gossiped, called her names as nice as “a round nothing” or “das Mensch”, which translates roughtly to ‘the’ or ‘that human’ but in German the phrase uses the neuter article instead of the masculine one which usually goes with “Mensch” which makes the term very strong and dehumanizing.

She was socially outlawed, women refrained from visiting Goethe’s house in fear of meeting her and becoming a subject of gossip themselves.And well as I said, Charlotte von Stein as someone who was very important and as someone who particulary didn’t like Christiane was one of the leading figures in that scheme. (One time Christiane made the mistake of sending her a cake for her… birthday? and not enclosing a note but instead have the maid who brought the cake verbally say greetings and also say out loud who the cake was from and as other people were present Charlotte was outraged and mortified as she apparently had been humiliated in front of all her guests)

And Lotte as her friend and also as a women of high morality adopted and/or shared that attitude towards Christiane in many aspects. I wouldn’t hesitate one second to agree that she ‘hated’ or despised Christiane.

But I wouldn’t say the same about Schiller. He probably didn’t speak up or defended her in front of his wife but I also can’t quite imagine that he took part in the mean gossiping about her and there’s also no form of proof indicating that (that I know of). If anything I think he avoided that topic and probably tried to blend out that part of Goethe’s life.

But in the end we also do not know very much about Schiller and Christiane except very few things. Here’s what we know:

- if he saw her at all he saw her very seldomly at Goethe’s house. I don’t know whose choice that was, that is whether it was Goethe’s, Christiane’s or an agreed decision between them both but as I said ealier it would have also been just improper for her to officialy receive guests, this was the 1790s, this was high society, there was a protocol for certain things and the famous poet’s girlfriend greeting his guests just wasn’t a thing and there was probably no exception made with Schiller. however… the main source we have of Schiller not meeting her (when he stayed there for the first time for a couple of days) is a letter to his wife where he states that he has never seen Christiane and I think there’s a possibility that that’s not even true and Schiller only wrote it in order to not worry Lotte but idk

- Goethe mentions Schiller’s wife in like almost every single letter (sending greetings etc.) and Schiller doesn’t do the same with Christiane but then again he probably didn’t even know her very well and, well, greeting your friends wife (besides the fact that Goethe and Lotte had known each other since long before either of them met Schiller) was more a thing you did than greeting his girlfriend

- he does however send her greetings one (1) time in 1802 to congratulate her on the birth of a daughter (who died a couple of days later as did all of Christiane and Goethe’s children after their eldest son, August - it is today supposed that they had mismatching blood groups which is why none of their later children was able to survive more than a few weeks or even days):

Empfehlen sie mich der Kleinen recht freundschaftlich und versichern sie meines besten Anteils ~friendly greetings to the Kleine and assure her of my best regards

I’m not going to overinterpret the word freundschaftlich/friendly (which in this context I’d read as literally friend-ly, as in from a friend, in a friendshipy way etc.) here but he’s callig her ‘Kleine’ (which means the small one but it’s used as a nickname so it doesn’t really translate), and to me that means that Goethe must have referred to her by that name when talking to Schiller about her, which means that he, well talked to Schiller about her and in such an intimate manner that he referred to her by a nickname, so make of that what you may

- there was one time (this is mentioned in a letter from Christiane to Goethe but unfortunately I can’t find those online anymore so here’s a very cloudy memory:) when both Schiller and Christiane were at the annual theatre festival or sth in Lauchstädt and Christiane wrote to Goethe who had stayed in Weimar that she had been… sitting at a table together with Schiller? and they had… a lot of fun? and/or they went on some kind of boat trip and sat (amongst others) in the same boat?? (if anyone has those letters please let me know!!) anyway from how she wrote it, itsounded like Schiller spoke to her, was at ease being in her company etc.

So all things considered I think Schiller’s behaviour to her was if not particularly great also not particularly bad. He surely wasn’t very straightforward about including her or having close contact with her, but then Goethe probably didn’t even introduce her to him properly. To me it seems that he was somehow caught in beetween - between Lotte and her friends and the entire Weimar society and between his friend Goethe and his beloved Christel whom he for some reason just didn’t marry. What he really thought of her, how well he actually knew her? I think we just don’t know. But I think that compared with what Christiane was facing with the rest of Weimar’s society Schiller seems to have been okay with her to some extent and seems to have been almost friendly to or even with her (in comparison!).

So that was a very long answer to a very short but important and also complex question. I hope that at least some things are clearer now?

But anyway, if you care to learn more and something better-informed than this jibberish was about Christiane I strongly, strongly recommend to read Sigrid Damm’s biography on her (and Goethe): Christiane & Goethe!!!

#christiane vulpius #friedrich schiller #Johann Wolfgang von Goethe #post #long post

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famedexclusivearchive · 5 years

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[ARTICLE] GOLD STAR MEDIA TO HOST GOLD STAR NATION CONCERTS

Gold Star Media will be hosting two company concerts at the end of August at Seoul Olympic Stadium. The company’s entire roster of artists will be in attendance to perform their hits and special stages have been teased as well. Tickets sold out shortly after going on sale a few months ago, and buzz for the event has only increased as hype as been built through social media. The schedule for this event is as follows:

August 30: Gold Star Nation at Seoul Olympic Stadium @ 6PM - 10PM

August 31: Gold Star Nation at Seoul Olympic Stadium @ 6PM - 10PM

September 1: “Wrap” Party at private residence @ 6PM - (roughly) 12AM.

ADMIN NOTES:

Like both of the company concert events we’ve had previously, this event is one that’s part concert event and part standard event. All artists under the other companies will be invited to all nights of the Gold Star Nations concerts for publicity and will be strongly encouraged by management to attend at least one night and show up backstage to get supportive shots of them for the concert DVD to show a strong presence as the oligarchical powers of the industry (and to slip some BC and Dimensions promo into another company’s show). Attendance is obviously required for Gold Star Media idols, but attendance to at least one night is also considered a schedule for BC and Dimensions idols in return for Gold Star idols’ presence at their own company concerts and they aren’t likely to be able to get out of going at least one night without extreme circumstances to avoid causing tension between companies for falling short on their end of the unspoken deal.

The pool party on September 1st is semi-official schedule acknowledged, but not organized, by the companies due to the host’s trustworthy reputation and acquaintanceship with all three CEOs. It is not and will not become public knowledge. It is considered a gift to the Gold Star idols for their hard work, but BC and Dimensions idols have been invited by the host as well in the spirit of a true A-List industry gathering and are expected to attend to keep good relations between their companies and the host (and her husband, who is a stockholder in several major industry staples). Managers will be willing to drive idols to the concert wrap party in order to avoid any driving incidents, but will not attend the party itself unless they’re given a reason to such as reports of behavior by an idol they need to monitor.

The Concerts:

Idols from all companies will be given backstage-access passes by their managers and may be backstage up until 45 minutes before the concert begins, save for idols performing as special guests for collab stages, who may be backstage (some may be permitted to sit in the audience for some time before and/or after their stage) during the show, but must be on their best behavior. Idols from BC and Dimensions may return backstage after the concert, but will be given private seats on the upper level at the back of the stadium during any concerts they attend to sit in during the show.

Gold Star idols must be at the venue by 11AM on both days for pre-show preparation and soundcheck. Idols from other companies may begin arriving at 3PM. They will be given a private entrance to the event so they are not mobbed by fans. There will be a photo op for the press each day of the concerts an hour and a half before starting time that all Gold Star artists are required to be present for.

The setlist for both concerts can be found here.

The "Wrap Party”:

While not a wrap party in the traditional sense of celebrating the wrap of a film or television shooting, the pool party on the day following the concerts has been organized as an equivalent to celebrate the successful conclusion of the Gold Star Nation concerts and the nearing end of summer. The party on September 1 will be hosted at a large private mansion residence outside of Seoul owned by former idol and popular variety star Park Namjoo and her husband. She’s known for her wide social circle, which includes all three CEOs and many executives from each company, and her love of hosting social events. Idols from the three companies may have met her in the past as well through industry events and variety appearances (though major connections with her should be avoided, please!).

The party is largely a free form and casual house party without a formal dress code or itinerary. There will be a vast supply of catered food and drinks (including a hired bartender) plus a meat grilling area, music, plenty of rooms for socializing, partying, and playing games like pool, foosball, or beer pong, and other party activities, in addition to full access to the mansion’s large outdoor pool. The party begins not long before sunset, so the outdoor pool and jacuzzi area will be illuminated once night falls for those who wish to remain outside. Though there is no formal dress code, the event is specifically a pool party so attendees are expected to wear swimwear under casual summer wear or other casual summer wear without a swimsuit should they not plan to partake in the pool aspect of the party.

The general atmosphere will be much more free and relaxing than idols normally get, but keep in mind the party has been allowed by the companies, so it won’t be able to get too wild without being shut down. The location is secluded enough and has a strict enough guest list to keep away the eyes of the media.

Overall:

In game, this event takes place Friday, August 30, through Sunday, September 1, but threads and other posts for this event may be started from Monday, August 26 at 12AM EDT (the time this post goes up), to Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 11:59PM EDT. Threads may be continued past the end date, but must be started before then. Non-event related interactions set outside of this time period may be conducted during this time as well.

NOTE: All posts related to the event should be tagged #fmdgsr2019. Remember to use #fmdcall if you want to post a plot or starter call for the event, which I encourage everyone to do!

POINTS AVAILABLE:

As with all events, there are special points up for grabs.

INTERACTIONS: Having an event thread with a starter and at least three replies (starter ▻ partner reply ▻ op reply ▻ partner reply) by the end of the event is worth 2 points. This is valid for up to ten threads this time and the threads can take place during any part of the event.

INTERACTIONS: Having an event thread going with someone your muse has never had a thread with before is worth 1 additional point for each thread.

INTERACTIONS: Posting an open starter for the event is worth 2 points. This counts for up to one open thread starter (not a text/sms post) per character.

INTERVIEW: Answering this short interview in-character is worth 2 points. Select clips from certain interviews will be included throughout the Gold Star Nation 10th Anniversary Concert DVD.

You can also earn the normal amount of points through writing self-paras, making aesthetics, etc. related to the event!

If anything in this post is unclear or you have any questions, please feel free to contact the admin. Please like this post to let me know you read it.

#fmdevent #fmdgsr2019 #queued post

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e1ana · 4 years

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THA updates/character sheets

omg two posts in a day what is this shit

i just feel like i should give a heads up about THA and whats going on and shit. i wont be posting anything for it on A03 for a hooooot minute. like i said in the last post, i’ve been really dry when it comes to THA content. sorry if that bums you out or whatever, but i really need to take it easy with that book for a bit.

h o w e v e r

my brain just will not let me friggin rest. so, i decided to just do something that’s not really creative but also lets me feel some kind of relief. im gonna make character templates in the style of the BNHA fandom website (with a few exceptions/different thing). I wont make one for every single person, but ill make them for most of class 1-A and some villains.

there may also be a few introduced characters, so ig you'll get to meet them first!

the first one is my fave sparky queen, Emiko Kaminari!

(fair warning. its suuuuper long.)

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:

Name: Emiko Kaminari (Meaning: Emiko - blessing/kindness. Kaminari - thunder) Birthday: August 3rd Age: 15 Gender: Female (She/Her) Height: 4’11” or 149 cm Hair color: Blonde Eye Color: Yellow Zodiac Sign: Leo Quirk: Technokinesis

STATUS:

Status: Alive Occupation: Student Affiliation: UA High School

OVERVIEW

Emiko Kaminari is a Class 1-A student at UA High School.

Appearance:

Emiko has bright yellow hair cut in a short bob (a bit like if you smoothed out Denki’s hair). She has distinct bangs that have two long side pieces and several short pieces across her forehead, Her eyes are yellow and flatter on top and rounder at the bottom with distinctly long and straight lashes. She has a tiny birthmark (just larger than a freckle) under her left eye. She inherited her mother’s ear shape, but she can’t use them like her mom can (they can’t extend/plug into anything). She is incredibly short despite her relatively tall dad, and hopes to grow one day. She has a relatively small chest and thin waist, giving her a lanky but athletic body. Her legs are just slightly too long for her body, adding to her sinewy appearance.

She isn’t a fan of uniform at all, so she only wears it to classes. She alternates between wearing the pants and skirts. When she wears the pants, she wears them high waisted and tucked in. She also takes off her overcoat often (in both outfits), just carrying around and putting it on when she gets yelled at.

Her prototype hero costume pays homage to her dad and mom, but is mostly her own. She wears a black windbreaker jacket with deceptively deep pockets. This also doubles as a shock resistant sheet. Under this, she wears a black sports bra and tight-ish pants with like a MILLION pockets. She’s a slut for functional fashion! She wears black platform sneakers (think FILAs, but not brand name hfjwfkfbwb). They lace up a bit like hiking boots, but the hooks are removable devices.

Personality:

Emiko is super spunky! She’s cheerful and goofy, but not sugary sweet. She has some edge to her, but she’s a very talkative and open person. She’s absolutely obsessed with edgy memes/vines/ ANYTHING internet. She likes to make jokes often, which can sometimes get her into a bit of trouble. She’s very witty and has a sharp tongue, but that’s often just used for humor. She likes to make friends with as many people as possible, but she has no problem getting downright mean with people who mess with her. Her BIGGEST hate is being looked down on. If you underestimate her… look out. Generally, she’s a very friendly person though.

People often see Emiko for exactly what she is because she’s such an open book. Even quiet and broody people like to hang around and socialize with her. If anything, people see her as far more bubbly, since she doesn't like to bust out the mean Emiko.

ABILITIES:

Overall abilities:

She doesn’t have a designated fighting style, but she loves to dart and jump around. She’s able to move pretty fast and often jumps around her opponents to confuse them. She also has damn near perfect aim, so this can be used for striking different pressure points.

Since her quirk can’t really be deployed well without technology, she uses several support items to help her. With her Buttons, she can send massive shock waves of electricity wherever they land (including people). She can also communicate with people even if she’s the only one with a communications device. She uses the electricity from her devices to immobilize her targets or generally just fuck them up. She can also manipulate electricity as long as its expelled from a device.

Emiko has SO many support items:

‘Buttons’ - basically tiny robots with no function. It’s basically just a button with an electric current. She can use them as a distraction or something of course. But Emiko can use her quirk to stick them to people or herself and deploy insane amounts of electricity. Combine that with her precise aim and you’ve got a stun gun that can target specific areas of the body AND control the output of electricity.

TeleCom - This device works kind of like an AirPod but it doesn’t need bluetooth. Its attached just under her ear. It allows her to use her quirk to send messages to her allied (or foes!)

FingerGuns - Just like her dad, Emiko is one funny motherfucker. With these gloves, she can expel the electricity from the devices in whichever direction she points her fingers.

Goggles - These high tech goggles and quickly give and receive information about her allies and opponents. She can use them if she doesn’t know anything about her team/enemy and gather info. Like GoogleGlass but WAY better.

Quirk:

Emiko’s quirk Technokinesis pretty much gives her the ability to do nearly anything with an electronic device. She can use it to hack whatever device it is, move things around, explode them, or simply use the interface hands free. She can control many devices at once (probably like up to 30 as of right now). As far as explosion goes, it's mostly just electric sparks with a little heat, but obviously there’s damage from any debris (especially if its come in contact with the sparks). Her quirk has a pretty severe drawback though. Emiko suffers drowsiness and decreased cognitive functions with extended regular use of her quirk (like Denki but like 10x less stupid). She also suffers from random severe seizures, but that doesn’t happen too often.

Super Moves:

ButtonBlast: Emiko throws a hand full of buttons in a random direction and sticks them to whatever they land on. She then sends them into a massive electrical explosion, ranging from 100 volts to 100,000 volts (will get stronger with training/time!). This is pretty much enough to fry the brain of any unlucky person to get tackled by one of these. It also blows out any device in range, leaving only the ones she controls in use.

BrainFry: Emiko throws a single button with pinpoint accuracy, landing it at her target’s weak points or exposed areas, even while they move. She delivers a quick but hearty shock, rendering her opponent immobile and unable to function.

TeleCom Confusion: Emiko uses her power of music and stupid puns and her quirk together. She confuses her opponents with rambling on and on about someone. She can also blast music directly into their ears and confuse them.

TechnoScream: Emiko + Madosha use their powers together. While Emiko has on noise canceling headphones, Screaming Shadow yells directly into her TeleCom. Emiko then sends this pitch directly into the heads of her opponents and lets it take effect.

STATS

Power: 4/5 Speed: 4/5 Technique: 3/5 Intelligence: 3/5 Cooperativeness: 4/5 Edgy Meme Knowledge: 6/6

Equipment:

Buttons: These bad boys are tiny, but they pack a punch! She has two sizes - one about the size of a dime and some smaller than that. They’re basically constantly short circuiting devices. Emiko can deploy these at any time, releasing high voltage bursts of electricity or explode them. They’re made of a high grade copper and aluminum alloy. They’re thick but hollow with a simple incomplete circuit on the inside.

TeleCom: ...literally just google how AirPods work, and take away the bad parts. Its essentially an AirPod, but it's a flat disk with a strong adhesive on one side.

FingerGuns: The same general workings as the Buttons, but they don't detach. They’re nestled in the fingers of her gloves and activated when she makes a finger gun symbol.

Battles/Events:

Lunchroom Attack

STUDENTS vs villains

Canon ‘Fun’ Facts:

She frequently bugs her friends phones and plants memes in their important documents.

She has pretty damn bad ADHD.

She once dropped her meds in front of Aizawa and asked if he wanted to ‘pop a dirty blue pillie.’ She had two days of detention for that one.

Definitely has a crush on someone in her class.

Her best friend is a class 1-B student named Hansuke Amaiko. She’s known him since they were basically babies

#my oc #my oc character #emiko kaminari #bnha #tha #e1ana #this took me so long #like oh my god #welp i did it #e1ana's oc

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fernwehbookworm · 5 years

Text

Woke the F*ck Up- Chapter 4

August 9th, 2017

Lena woke to a cold bed. She was used to that but she remembered the warmth of being wrapped up with Kara. Lena blearily sits up to look for her, disappointed not to see her. Lena looks at the clock. It's only eight. Did Kara already go home? Lena was going to try and call until her bladder made itself known. She quickly washes her face and brushes her teeth as well.

When she exits the bathroom she is gifted with the sight of a shirtless Kara doing push-ups in the middle of the room. Lena must have made a noise because Kara looks up and smiles, sweat dripping down her forehead.

“Forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty.” Lena watches Kara mumble before standing.

“Hi, sorry I was trying to get back before you woke up. Also, I stole some shorts, a pair of running shoes and a sports bra. By the way, we wear the same size shoe, not the same size bra.” Kara touches her chest where the pads were clearly not filled out all the way.

“Oh don't apologize. This is a wonderful thing to wake up to.” Lena steps closer to Kara reaching out to touch her stomach.

“Yeah?” Kara asks as Lena bites her lip in a dangerous way.

“Yeah.” Lena pulls Kara forward by the shorts and kisses her.

“I like you all sweaty but I like it more when I help get you there.” Kara rolls her eyes.

“This sweat is not something you want to participate in. But I do have to shower now, I could do it at home or…” Lena grins and pulls Kara back into the bathroom.

It was odd for Kara to see Lena put on her public appearance. Lena Luthor was all leather pants and revealing shirts. She had on knee-high leather boots to match the all-black ensemble. Big, gold, hoop earrings matched the gold necklace that dangled to rest between Lena's breasts. She somehow made her features more sharp with makeup and her lips were as red as blood. Kara was still adjusting to the green eyes that felt like they could pierce into her soul.

“So who is this interview with?” Kara asks, putting in yesterday's shirt, lacking anything else to wear home. Lena laughs.

“Cat Grant actually. Do you think I should tell her I've been in her office before?” Kara pauses, shirt only halfway on.

“Don't you dare.”

“All though I'm not sure how I can sit on those couches after what I imagined you doing to me on them.” Lena hears a sharp intake of breath and she looks up from where she was rummaging in her purse to make sure she had everything.

“You imagined I did to you?”

“Oh yes. After our date. Don't worry darling, the real thing is so much better.” Kara flushes red.

“I umm.. you thought about… I mean you actually…” Lena walks up to Kara and cups her burning cheek.

“Masturbated? Kara, we are both adults here. Yes. I do quite often, especially when I travel as much as I do. But if it bothers you I won't. I won't even mention it again.”

“No, it's not that just umm… I guess I never thought that I would be the reason for someone to.”

“Oh, trust me, darling, you are more than a reason to. Now, I wish I could show you why but I have to go interview with Cat and try not remember how I pictured you taking me on that couch. Your fingers…”

“You should stop before I make you miss your interview,” Kara whispers. Lena leans up and kisses her cheek.

“I'll call afterward. Where will you be?”

“Probably the gym. I have a couple of training sessions. I'm grabbing lunch with Alex first.”

“Are you going to tell her?”

“About us having sex? No way.” Lena rolls her eyes.

“No, although it took a lot of time to cover up that hickey you left on my neck. Are you going to tell her who I am?”

“I don't know yet. I kind of like this little bubble we have. Telling her might pop that.”

“It's up to you. I'll just need to know if I need to wear the colored contacts.” There was a knocking at the door.

“Okay, now I really have to go. Be safe and wait awhile for me to leave. Who knows if the paparazzi will be downstairs. That will for sure pop the bubble.” Lena kisses her cheek again, smiles, and leaves.

Kara waits fifteen minutes before leaving in yesterday’s clothes. She is very late for lunch but it was definitely worth it. The shower had turned into a makeout session on the couch which led to breakfast on the balcony and then making out on said balcony. Kara couldn't get enough of Lena.

Kara practically runs to her apartment, changes as quickly as she can and grabs her clothes for the gym. Then she's right back out the door to run the two blocks to the cafe where she was meeting Alex. Kara skids to a stop by the table Alex sits at outside.

“You’re late.” She looks up and bursts into laughter.

“What? What is it?”

Kara looks at her confused. Alex pulls out her phone and turns the front-facing camera on before handing it to Kara. There are two clear imprints of Lena's lips on Kara's cheek. The red only partially obscured by Kara's furious blush. She grabs a napkin from the table and wipes at it, trying hard to get it off.

“So do I want to know if the reason that your late is tied to the lipstick? Or that last night was the first night in a week that Power Girl was nowhere to be found?” Kara blushes even more.

“Umm… probably not.”

“So did Elena tell you what she does?”

“Elena? Oh right. Elena. Yes, she did.”

“And?

“How are you ladies doing today? My name is Rose, I'll be taking care of you. Can I start you out with something to drink?” They are interrupted by the waitress. Both order drinks and an appetizer.

“And?” Alex tried again.

“And what?” Kara pointedly keeps staring at the menu even though she knows what she wants.

“Kara, I promised Elena I wouldn't do any digging until she told you but if you don't tell me I swear I will. I will find every dirty secret all the way back to her birth. I promise you.”

The waitress returns and takes their orders and menus. Kara has nothing to hide behind, she stares into her lemonade glass.

“Elena is Lena Luthor.” She mumbles too low to hear.

“What was that?”

“Elena is Lena Luthor.” Kara tries a little louder. Alex spits out her drink causing glances from nearby tables.

“She's who?” Alex hisses out, obviously, she had heard Kara.

“Lena Luthor.”

“How the hell… when did… I was… oh, my God. Lena Luthor.”

“Yup.”

“I'm FBI. I should have seen that. Wait that means it was you she was seen leaving the recording studio yesterday? It was plastered all over the newsstand.” Kara blushes again at the reminder of her close call..

“Yeah. She didn't expect that to happen so she did the best she could to hide who I was. Alex, I think this is real. I mean she said she usually doesn't care who the press sees her with but she would never do that to me. And last night…”

“Okay ew, no need to tell me.”

“No Alex, well kind of. I tried to leave last night after we ate and watched a movie and she asked me to stay and she looked so scared that I wouldn't.”

“Please. Just be careful Kara. You've already been hurt by one rising star and Lena Luthor has a whole other set of problems.”

“She isn't Mike.”

“Kara you haven't even know her a week. Before that, you hadn't even heard her music. I like her as an artist but Kara, between her family and career, there is just so much...”

“So much what? Loneliness? Isolation? Lack of basic Human connection? I know that much. Everything else is a rumor. Alex, I think I'm already falling for her.”

“Kara that's ridiculous. You met her six days ago.”

“I know!” Kara puts her face in her hands. Their entire whispered conversation was finally interrupted by the waitress returning with food. Kara welcomes the distraction. They eat in silence, neither quite sure what to say.

“So Maggie asked me out.” Kara chokes on the food she just shoved in her mouth.

“What? I thought she had a girlfriend?”

“So did I. Apparently her girlfriend accused her of having feelings for me and she couldn't deny it. Maggie apparently tried to wait to make sure her feelings were real but after her near-death experience she gave me this whole speech of life being too short and kissing the girls you want to kiss.”

“When did this happen?”

“Last night, she showed up with pizza and beer.”

“Alex, that's great. Maggie is so cool, and I think she's perfect for you.” Kara says.

“She is pretty amazing huh?” Alex actually giggles and Kara laughs at her sister’s obvious crush.

“So when is the date then?”

“Friday night.”

After that, they fall into a much easier conversation until Kara has to leave for the gym.

Lena strides into Cat’s office with Jess close behind. The woman stands over her own desk while she writes on what looks like page layouts. Cat looks up.

“Miss Luthor. I'm glad you were willing to take time during your vacation to see me.”

“Please Miss Grant, I hardly have vacations.” Lena settles into one of the white couches and crosses her legs.

“Thank you nonetheless, Miss Luthor.” Cat sits across of Lena, a notebook nestled in her lap.

“I'm surprised you didn't send someone to hound me after my performances.”

“No, Miss Luthor. I prefer to interview people of interest myself.”

“Yes, I've heard that.” Lena lets a sly smile creep onto her face.

“Oh, and who might that be?”

“Just a new friend.”

“Would this be the friend you were seen with yesterday?” Lena sees Cats pen poised over the paper.

“No comment.” Lena grins and winks at the woman.

“Would that person have anything to do with why you are still in National City?”

“There is a reason I have stayed in National City but not one I will reveal.”

“Lena Luthor likes to remain as mysterious as ever.”

“I prefer to keep my personal life personal.”

“How about we cover why you were at the recording studio.”

“Ah, work. That I am willing to talk about. I have a new producer with Green Diamond and I was making samples of new songs for my next album. And no, there is no release date or even title yet. It's just some lyrics I've been bouncing around. I am meeting the new producer for the first time when I land in France”

“And who is your producer?”

“Samantha Arias.”

“Hey, Kara?” Winn’s voice over the earpiece he had given her. She throws another punch with the satisfying crunch of a breaking nose.

“Little busy Winn.” She huffs out, roundhousing the next guy. Three drug dealers who Kara and Winn had found out delt to high schoolers, the very ones Kara had been teaching yesterday.

“Your phone is ringing. It just says LL. Who’s LL?”

“Shit Winn. Guess I forgot to tell you. Can you patch the call through?” he scoffs.

“Can I patch a call through? Can you throw a punch?”

“Winn.”

“Yeah, yeah.” A beep sounds in Kara’s ear.

“Hey, Lee. Miss me already?” Kara ducks a punch and then hits the guy square in the sternum with the heel of her hand, he falls back with a cry.

“Am I interrupting something?”

“No, not at all. I'm just… sparing with a student. You're in my Bluetooth.” Kara ducks and knees the last guy in the stomach, when he doubles over she puts her hands on the back of his head and brings her knee up while forcing it down, knocking him unconscious.

“I can call back if now isn't good.”

“No it's okay just give me a second, I'm going to put you on hold.” Kara touches a button on her ear before pulling zip ties out of her belt and restraining the men.

“Winn?”

“The one and only. Don't worry Elena can't hear us on this line.”

“Okay. Are police on the way?”

“T-minus three minutes. Finish up and let's get out of here.”

“I hear you. I'm not a fan of doing this in daylight. Okay, I'm done. Headed back. I'm switching to the other line for second. What direction are the police coming from?”

“You are clear. They are inbound from the East.” Kara touches the button again.

“Okay, Lee I'm free for a bit. What's up?”

“Lee? I kind of like that. Never really had a nickname before.”

“Well good because I can't actually use your real name in public can I?”

“Not unless you want to answer a lot of questions. So are you free tonight?”

“Tonight is game night. So the question is, are you free tonight?”

“What the hell is a game night?”

“A perfect way for you to win over my sister and for me to get you to my place.” Kara hears Lena groan.

“Okay text me the time and address. I'll be there.”

“Great. By the way, I told Alex, and now I'm going to have to tell Winn because he saw you call me and it came up as LL and he has questions.”

“So you popped the bubble with your sister?”

“Yeah, she plays dirty. She promised to dig up every little detail about your life and air it for the whole world to see.”

“My hero, saving me from the scary FBI. But I hope she's not the only one who plays dirty.” Kara skids to a stop outside the van.

“I know you’re trying to be sexy but you really haven't seen how we play games. Everyone plays dirty.” Lena sighs.

“I was hoping that would take this conversation in a different direction.”

“I know but I can't really have this conversation in front of Winn. I have to go. I'll see you tonight and we can talk about how dirty I like to play.” Lena lets out a breathy chuckle.

“Goodbye, Kara. I'll see you tonight.”

“Bye Lee.” The line goes dead as Kara slides the door open.

Winn hardly waits for the door to shut before pulling out of the alley and into traffic. Over the police radio Winn acquired, they hear that the drug dealers have been picked up along with their stash. Kara changes in the back before hopping up in the passenger seat.

“So…” Winn fishes for information.

“So what?”

“What did you forget to tell me? I mean I know that was Elena but there is obviously something I'm missing.”

“Right so. Well. Elena told me what she does for a living and umm… it's kind of a big deal. Well, who she is is a big deal. And umm…”

“Kara, spit it out,” Winn says as he puts his blinker on to head towards Kara's apartment.

“ElenaisLenaLuthor.” Kara rushes out, but Winn has spent enough time with her to catch it.

“Lena Luthor! As in the singer your sister is obsessed with!”

“Yeah.”

“Geeze Kara. That is a big deal.”

“And she's coming to game night tonight.”

“Who knows?”

“Just you and Alex.”

“What about James?”

“I haven't told him. I'm not sure if I will. He already didn't like her because of the whole asking me out on a date thing.” Kara shoots off a text to Lena about where to go, also that she should wear her contacts. Then she texts Alex to tell her Lena is coming.

“Yeah, that may be awkward. Okay, so Elena it is.”

Winn parks the van in the alley behind Kara's apartment building and they head up to order food. It's only about an hour before Alex arrives. Right behind Alex is Maggie.

“Maggie! Alex didn't say you were coming.” Kara says.

“Hey, little Danvers. Sorry, it was kind of last minute. I hope you don't mind me crashing.”

“Of course not. The more the merrier.” Kara grins and shuts the door behind her sister's potential girlfriend.

Maggie goes to join Winn on the couch while Kara helps Alex grab beers for the three of them and water for herself.

“So Maggie's here.” Kara states.

“Yeah. She called me up and said her shift ended early when Power Girl tied up three drug dealers.” Alex raises an eyebrow at her sister.

“Wouldn't that make her shift longer?” Kara asks.

“The captain doesn't like how Maggie has been associated with the vigilante after being rescued so he sent her home before they were brought in.”

“Well, that's a good thing then. You guys get to spend some time together without all the pressure of a date now.”

“Yeah, I guess so. Speaking of which, who's coming. Lena or Elena.”

“Elena, thankfully. James doesn't know. And now with Maggie here it will be a lot less complicated.”

“So Winn knows?”

“Alex he's one of my closest friends, besides you, of course he knows.”

“Hey, where are those beers I was promised?” Maggie calls from the couch.

“Coming,” says Alex, picking up two and Kara getting the third for Winn.

Another Knock at the door reveals James who quickly grabs a beer and joins the others right before the six pizzas arrive. Kara pays and brings the boxes to her friends who dig in with a gusto. Kara nibbles, growing more nervous with each minute that Lena is late.

“What's wrong Kara? Normally you've finished a whole pizza by your self by now.” James asks.

“Nothing, just, Elena is late,” Kara replies

“Oh, I didn’t know she was coming,” James says.

“Yeah, she should be. She promised she would.” There’s a tentative knock on the door.

“I got it!” Kara shoots up from her place on the floor and forces herself not to run to it.

Kara opens it and comes face to face with Lena. The brown eyes are disappointing after Kara had just started to grow used to the green but Kara knows it's necessary. Lena’s hair falls in loose waves from being tied up tight most the day. Black glasses are balanced on her nose and she wears an orange sweatshirt that looks about two sizes too big.

“Hi, sorry I’m late. I left my contacts at the recording studio and had to wait for Jess to bring me a new pair.”

Kara looks over her shoulder and sees her friends laughing and talking. She uses the opportunity to lean in and kiss Lena. It's brief but Lena feels the warmth of it flood into her body.

“It's okay, we just started eating.”

“Oh good, so there is actually food left then. I haven't eaten since breakfast, but should we really do that with your apartment full of people?” Lena lifts an eyebrow and Kara brushes furiously.

“P...Pizza. We are eating pizza.”

“Well, that's slightly disappointing. Can I come in then?”

Kara swings the door the rest of the way open to let Lena in. The voices die off from the living room.

“Hey guys, you remember Elena. Elena this is Maggie, Alex’s… friend.” Its the safest word Kara can think of.

“Maggie? As in the detective from the newspaper?” Lena asks.

“The one and only. Nice to meet you, Elena.”

With introductions out of the way, they all settle into various sitting positions and dig in. Lena sits on the floor with Kara, their knees touching. With Lena next to her, Kara unabashedly eats an entire large pizza by herself and then some.

After the food is gone, they pair off for a round of charades. Lena with Kara, Alex with Maggie, and Winn with James. James and Winn actually crush all of them, the bromance was real between those two. Alex and Maggie head to the kitchen for more drinks.

“So Alex, since when is your sister dating Lena Luthor?” Alex spits out the beer she just took a swig of.

“How did you know?” Alex hisses in a whisper.

“Come on Alex. I'm sure the contacts throw some people off but there is no hiding that jawline. Plus I've been listening to her music since she first started. I even had a crush on her for a while.”

“Yeah, but the clothes and the hair are just so different. She looks like a different person.”

“Yeah maybe, to anyone not professionally trained to be able to identify people.” Alex hangs her head and Maggie laughs.

“You didn't know did you?”

“No, Kara had to tell me. She looked familiar but who would think that Lena Luthor would date my dork of a sister.”

“So how long.”

“They met last Friday.”

“Well they move fast, they already have that ‘I've seen you naked’ grin when they look at each other.”

“Eww, Maggie. That's my sister. I don't want to think of that.”

“Guys! Come on. It's time for Catch Phrase!” Kara calls to the two in the kitchen and they move to join the group again.

After much laughter and multiple rounds, Kara, Alex, and Winn beat the others two to one. Grumbles about the unfairness of the teams are heard but it had just been by luck of where everyone had been sitting. The game dissolves into conversation and soon James excuses himself saying he needs to prepare for a cover shoot tomorrow. Lena gulps. The cover shoot is her.

“Oh, what is it?” Winn asks.

“Apparently Miss Grant did an interview with Lena Luthor today. She'll be this month's cover. I'll see you guys later.” James heads out the door and all eyes turn to Lena.

“How was the interview, Lena?” Maggie pipes up.

“Alex! You told her?” Kara exclaims.

“Hey, she figured it out. Detective skills and all.” Alex holds her hands up defensively.

“Wait so the only one who doesn't know is James? The man taking my picture tomorrow?” Lena asks.

“I guess so.”

“Well, in that case, I'm taking these contacts out. They really hurt my eyes after a bit. Bathroom?” Lena stands and walks in the direction Kara indicates.

“Guess I should go tell James tomorrow before the shoot,” Kara says to no one in particular.

“Yeah. He may be upset if you don't tell him.” Winn says. A few minutes of silence stretch as they wait for Lena to return. She enters the room with all eyes on her. Lena sits a bit awkwardly next to Kara again. Her eyes are green again but the glasses are still perched on her nose.

“So… how long is the appropriate amount of time before I ask you for an autograph?” Asks Maggie and Alex elbows her. Lena laughs.

“Anytime. Just bring me something to sign. You could wait until my cover comes out.”

“Perfect. Alex and I have been fans for a long time.”

“Yeah, I heard Alex even got front row seats.” Says Lena, Alex blushes. Silence again.

“How weird is this?” Asks Winn.

“Don't answer that. Lena, it's nice to really meet you. I'm going to head home. See you guys later.” Winn grabs his coat and leaves.

“So Lena, I've never really found how you were 'discovered.’ All the sudden you just had an album and singles on the radio.” Maggie says to fill the void.

“Yeah, it's never been publicized really. My college… girlfriend dared me to enter this talent show that my college was having on campus. I entered with an original song and won. A Green Diamond talent scout was in the audience. Next thing I knew I was signing a contract. As soon as I graduated I was in Metropolis recording and never looked back.”

“Where did you go to school?” asks Alex.

“MIT. I graduated right after I turned eighteen with a master's in Nuclear Science and Engineering.”

“Eighteen! And damn, so you're like really smart.” Exclaims Maggie.

“I guess. Maybe not so much anymore. As soon as I was out of my mother's clutches I stopped studying. Music was always my passion. My mother had me learn to play all sorts of ‘appropriate’ instruments as soon as I showed the talent for it. I didn't learn the guitar and the drums until I moved to Metropolis.” Lena is very aware that this is the first time Kara is hearing a lot of this.

“Well, I'm glad you were able to do something you love. I think Maggie and I are going to get going.” Alex says very aware of her sister’s silence since Lena’s return.

“Thank you Alex. It was nice to meet you too, Maggie. Seriously if you guys want something signed I will. Who could turn down a cop and FBI agent?” Lena laughs and the two women leave with a laugh and another chorus of 'goodbyes’.

Kara stands and pulls Lena up with her so they can move over to the couch. Lena follows her fingers linked in Kara's.

“I'm sorry. I really didn't think that all that would happen. And now I'm going to have to tell James.”

“It's okay Kara. It's definitely not as bad as when other people find out who I am. Although James may not be too happy to find out his competition is a famous rock star.” Lena leans into Kara, basking in the warmth of touching Kara, who had, for the most part, restrained herself for the evening. She had been serious about not liking public displays of affection.

“Trust me, there is no competition,” Kara says seriously, leaning down and kissing Lena.

It starts innocently enough. But soon Lena is straddling Kara's lap and can feel Kara's hands running under her sweatshirt. Lena loves the feeling of Kara's hair sliding through her fingers and then Kara's tongue running against her lips. Her tongue is in her mouth, exploring, tangling with her own. God, she could kiss Kara forever. Then Kara pulls away.

“Wait. I want us to talk tonight. I want to really get to know you. I mean everything you just told my sister I had almost no clue about.” Lena groans and slides off Kara lap.

“I'm not good at sharing. Or talking. Or anything relationship-y.”

“Well, that's a good place to start. Do you want a relationship?” Kara holds both Lena’s hands, probably so she can’t run away.

“Isn’t it a little early for this conversation?”

“If I’m not mistaken, we do have a time constraint.” Kara plays with Lena’s fingers.

“True. Kara, I won’t give up my music. That means I will be traveling a lot. My life is complicated and public. Kara, you have to know that this won’t be easy. I haven't had a real relationship since I was twenty and even then it was mostly me just trying to please my mother. I like you and it really scares me.”

“I like you too. I know it will be hard. I haven't had much experience either but there is always video calling and texting. I only work part-time so maybe I can meet you places for like long weekends. I’ve always wanted to go to Europe and now I have a filthy rich… girlfriend?” Kara tries. Lena sits back, considering the word.

“Okay. Girlfriend.”

“Now I have a filthy rich girlfriend who can pay for plane tickets for me.”

“So now I’m a Sugar Mama?”Lena laughs, it's like a switch flips in Kara.

“My filthy little Sugar Mama.” Kara leans in and begins to kiss Lena’s lips and then trails to her neck.

“Mmmm… Kara, I thought you wanted to talk.” Lena rolls her head back to give Kara more access.

“Oh, I can still talk. We can talk about how best our mouths can be used from this point on in the evening.” Kara mumbles into her neck, then Kara’s teeth scrap gently against her skin. Lena moans and arches up into Kara.

Lena tangles her fingers back into Kara's hair and brings her mouth back up to her own. Lena leans back and pulls Kara on top of her, Kara gladly complies. Kara settles between Lena's legs as she pay more and more attention to Lena's neck where it meets her shoulder. Lena moans as she feels Kara's teeth join with the bruising lips. That's going to leave a mark. She thinks, before realizing the implications.

“Kara. I have a photoshoot tomorrow.” Kara sucks harder. She is definitely doing this on purpose.

“Kara, I have a photoshoot tomorrow with Cat Grant and James. ” Kara groans and pulls away.

“No fair.” She whines but Lena loves it.

“Let's talk then. That's what you meant for us to do anyway.” Kara makes a noise but continues to lay on top of Lena.

“Okay, what's your favorite color.”

“Blue,” Lena says without thinking. She never had one before but now she is sure it's blue.

“Mine too,” Kara rests her chin on a hand across Lena's chest to look at her.

“Does Dollhouse have a kernel of truth in it?”

“How do we go from favorite color to something as deep as my music?”

“I like to know everything.” Kara shrugs. Lena sighs.

“Yeah. I told you my childhood wasn't good. I don't remember anything before the Luthor's really. And after that, I spent a lot of time just trying to please a woman who despised my very existence. I had a father who was either yelling or absent. And a brother who loved me but was too caught up in his own shit to do more than to make sure they never touched me.”

Kara is silent. Then she gently reaches up and kisses Lena.

“I'm sorry you had to go through that.”

“What's passed is passed.”

“So why are you not sure if you love your job anymore?” Lena makes an odd expression.

“I… I'm not sure. I loved it at first. The concerts. The after-parties. It helped me forget and also feel a little less lonely. Then after my first tour, I gave in to Lex's pleas to come home. When I did I was greeted with little more than cold looks. Of course, a huge party was thrown and I met Jack. We dated for a while. I even lived with him while I took a break from music. I think a part of me liked the approval I gained from Lillian. Jack was appropriate. Then he started talking about marriage and me staying home to raise our children and him coming home to cooked meals. That's when I ran. Back to Metropolis and music.

“Sit still, Look Pretty ?”

“Yup. Most of my songs are true. I just don't confirm them with the media. Music was always a way to express myself. Then my old producer just started seeing the dollar signs, even though I made more than enough for the label he kept pushing me. I told them that I refused to sign another contract after this one expires at the end of the tour unless they got me a new one. So the label picked me over him.”

“Wow, quite the negotiator.”

“Well, I am a Luthor. I was groomed to work for Luthor Corp. But I'm not good at being told what to do. Not that Luthor Corp is doing too well right now.”

“Right. Your dad went all anti-government crazy.”

“I was long gone before that. Halfway across the world.”

“And your brother?”

“Trying to pull Luthor Corp out of the ashes. He renamed it LexCorp last I knew.”

“So you really never looked back?”

“Not after I left Jack. I think I might have even been taken out if the Will after that.”.

“So you went back to music. When did you fall out of love with that?” Lena’s hand begins tracing circles on Kara's back.

“I'm not sure I have. I don't know. My life became a blur of cities and faces. Friends didn't last more than a few months. Jess was my only constant. But music is all I know now so I keep doing it.”

“Would you want to do anything else?”

“No. I may not remember anything from before the Luthor's. I do have small impressions of my mother singing, and playing piano. My real mother. It's this haunting sort of tune that I've never been able to quite remember. But it's why music is so important to me.”

Kara hums and rests her cheek back on Lena's chest. They sit there in silence. Slowly Lena's hand stops moving and Kara's breathing deepens. Sleep finds them on the couch of Kara's colorful apartment.

#supergirl #supercorp #kara danvers #lena luthor #vigilante #singer #au #fanfiction #WTFU

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vitaminb17benefits-blog · 5 years

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Vitamin B-17 Injectables

Throughout the years there have been various blended messages about apricot portions, which contain the dubious nutrient B17 (otherwise called Amygdalin), and their viability in both treating malignancy and keeping it under control. Amygdalin is a particle with four segments - two of glucose (sugar), one of benzaldehyde and one of cyanide. As we know that vitamin B17 is banned in many states but if you are looking for vitamin B-17 injectables in India then we will guide you the website for that.

It appears that the cyanide segment of Amygdalin is the one that either has everybody hitching up their skirts and running for the slopes, or on the other hand, searching for an approach to guarantee it as their very own and utilizing it as a potential malignant growth fix. No doubt when the open eat apricot bits, with the inescapable cyanide segment, it might be hazardous, however when researchers adjust the cyanide segment, and consider it a treatment, it might be very protected. Befuddling would it say it isn't?

On the seventh September 2000, 'The Independent' revealed to us that researchers at Imperial College London had discovered that the 'enchantment slug of cyanide could murder malignant growth cells'. Clearly, Dr. Deonarain from Imperial College expressed that just because they had the option to demonstrate that they could execute disease cells utilizing a 'prodrug actuation approach' (his words, not mine). The paper portrayed the 'enchantment slug' as a cyanide mixed drink got from the cassava plant. This is on the grounds that, alongside apricot portions, the cassava plant likewise contains B17 (Amygdalin)?

Be that as it may, before we unfasten our skirts and come back from the slopes we have to think about the 'Deadly threats of elective malignant growth fixes on the web' as announced in 'The Sunday Times' (third August 2004). It appears that 'a great many malignant growth patients are taking a chance with their wellbeing by following the counsel of elective treatment sites advancing fake fixes'. Edzard Ernst, who is obviously the nation's just teacher of correlative medication (unmistakably a forlorn activity), required the legislature to guide individuals from medicines advanced on the compelling interweb! Incredibly, scientists found that many cures were being advanced as restoring or counteracting malignant growth - including shark ligament, espresso bowel purges, mistletoe and 'apricot concentrates' - alarming stuff!

The Sunday Times report plainly showed the sheer silliness of bringing your wellbeing into your own hands. Furthermore, as though their desperate cautioning wasn't sufficient, in 2006 (eleventh April), the great old BBC let us know 'Guard dog cautions over apricot seeds'. Are there no making tracks in the opposite direction from apricots! The BBC detailed that the Food Standards Agency is worried that cyanide can be toxic in high dosages and that we ought to devour close to two severe apricot parts for each day. In a similar report, Cancer Research UK (additionally clearly stressed by apricots) cautions us that the cases of apricot pips relieving disease are essentially false. They express that 'if just eating apricot seeds could fix malignant growth, nobody would be more enchanted than us'. Maybe they have to get together with Dr. Deonarain from Imperial College?

So as to have the option to make an educated judgment about what's really going on we should investigate the science behind the features.

The Customary hypothesis of malignant growth

As the majority of us know, the regular perspective on malignant growth is that the bump/tumor/development 'is the disease' and that this should be treated with medical procedure, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or maybe hormonal or immunotherapy. The thought is that by contracting the development, or removing it of the body, the malignancy will be no more. This is except if the malignant growth has metastasized (spread to different zones), for this situation another the course of treatment might be recommended, or the patient might be informed that the disease has spread excessively far and nothing more should be possible.

The elective hypothesis of malignant growth

The elective view is that the irregularity/tumor/development 'isn't the malignancy' yet is the 'indication' - a sign that something is turning out badly with the common equalization of the body. It is felt that once the fundamental issue is redressed the development will essentially be reabsorbed into the body. Despite the fact that, it has concurred that if the development isn't reabsorbed and is unattractive, or so enormous as to meddle with the ordinary working of a specific zone of the body, at that point it ought to be evacuated by medical procedure.

The development isn't viewed as 'unadulterated disease' - maybe as meager as 20% is really carcinogenic, with the staying 80% being non-malignant. It is recommended that the destructive zone of the development is more impervious to radiotherapy than the noncancerous region and along these lines less inclined to be obliterated. As it were, the development might be decreased, however, the malignancy may at present remain and can possibly spread.

In the event that we harm ourselves a mending procedure begins and the influenced cells are supplanted with new cells. In any case, it is believed that disease is a recuperating procedure that has not turned off. At the end of the day, if the body is insufficient in something that is basic for homeostasis it may not work viably and the recuperating procedure may simply keep going. The outcome is that the body will begin to recuperate, and afterward mend over and over until development at long last shows up.

There are evidently two lines of resistance against this over-mending process and the improvement of malignant growth. The first includes 'Proteolytic compounds' (catalysts intended to process protein), which are created by the pancreas. The two Proteolytic catalysts, trypsin, and chymotrypsin break down the defensive protein covering around malignancy cells and this adequately permits the body's white platelets into assault and pulverize the disease cells.

The second line of protection against malignant growth is substances known as a nitriloside. (It is imagined that there are in excess of 800 nourishments in the nitriloside family). These nitriloside nourishments contain nutrient B17 (Amygdalin) which is comprised of four segments - two of glucose (sugar), one of benzaldehyde and one of cyanide. The malignant growth cell divider has a chemical called beta-glycosidase (otherwise called the 'opening catalyst'). Whenever B17 (Amygdalin) and the opening protein comes into contact the malignant growth cell is decimated. It's fascinating to take note of that beta-glycosidase is found in malignant growth cells, and in no other cell in the body (accordingly, no other cell can be decimated). As creator G. Edward Griffin brings up in his 2005 introduction - 'this is an astonishing system of nature that couldn't have been coincidental'. (See references and connections underneath).

Subsequently, in this elective perspective on disease, there is no 'fix' since malignancy is in actuality all pieces of the regular physiological procedures of the body. It is just when the recuperating cells are permitted to create unchecked, and our characteristic lines of safeguard are down, that it turns into an issue. A few people even feel that we likely create malignant growth again and again during our lives, however on most events our barrier frameworks essentially manage it - we never realize we have had the disease.

This hypothesis is by all accounts upheld up by G. Edward Griffin's captivating clarification of the steers on America's mid-west homesteads. In a meeting for FHV (A Norwegian purchaser wellbeing opportunity association) Griffin clarifies the accompanying: In the mid-west piece of the US ranchers found that, in the winter months, their dairy cattle would create malignant growths in their mouths. Be that as it may, as the snow softened away and the spring tagged along, the steers would begin to eat the expansive leafed grasses (rich in B17) and the diseases would essentially vanish.

In the event that this the hypothesis of malignancy is truly valid, for what reason doesn't my primary care physician think about it?

This is a questionable subject on the grounds that there appear to be various clashing or contending interests included. You may get a kick out of the chance to watch the second piece of G.Edward Griffin's clarification of the legislative issues of disease for a full comprehension of why this data shows up not to have sifted down to specialists and GP's. You can discover this in the references and connections segment under The Science and Politics of Cancer 2005, Parts 4 - 7, The legislative issues of malignant growth treatment: The Pharmaceutical Cartel.

In the event that we have two lines of safeguard to avoid malignant growth for what reason would both of these come up short?

It appears that our advanced weight control plans, brimming with creature fats and dairy items, go through gigantic measures of pancreatic proteins so as to separate this kind of nourishment - in this manner draining stocks when they are expected to battle malignancy. There are likewise different reasons, for example, having a condition like 'diabetes', where the pancreas is frequently debilitated and subsequently less ready to create these essential compounds. There may likewise be an inherited factor where, once more, the pancreas is powerless and thusly unfit to work completely or accurately from birth.

The breakdown of our the second line of resistance may just be because of the absence of sustenances from the nitriloside family. A significant number of these nourishments regularly have an unpleasant taste and hence might be maintained a strategic distance from by a great many people - therefore they become less accessible in ordinary stores after some time. In spite of the fact that there is additionally the issue of nourishments, for example, bread that used to contain 'Millet flour' (rich in B17/Amygdalin), yet now basically contain the less expensive 'wheat flour'.

Would cancer be able to be relieved?

The ordinary view would be that researchers are unquestionably searching for a 'fix' for malignant growth. In any case, the elective perspective on malignancy appears to demonstrate that it is possibly a metabolic sickness brought about by characteristic inadequacies and consequently we have to bring nitriloside nourishments once again into the eating routine for the remainder of our lives and maybe consider altering our weight control plans. This is the reason individuals who are worried about the disease might concentrate on apricot bits - a sustenance exceptionally high in B17/Amygdalin.

Numerous individuals who hold the elective perspective on malignant growth would contrast it with a metabolic sickness, for example, scurvy. Scurvy was just settled by taking nutrients C, as the vast majority knows. Be that as it may, nutrients C couldn't be said to be the 'fix' for scurvy in light of the fact that so as to keep the infection under control you plainly need to expend sustenances wealthy in nutrients C for an incredible remainder. A 'fix' infers that you simply need to address the issue once and after that, it is settled. If you want to buy Vitamin b17 injection in India then you can visit vitamin B-17 website.

#VITAMINB17 #Cyto Pharma Vitaminb17 Capsules in India #Vitamin B-17 Capsules (Tablets) for Cancer

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nogayonmain-blog · 6 years

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How I met my current longest known friend

Picture this, it's 2nd grade, you're in an army green jacket in late August in Arizona. You have just moved in with your grandfather in a new town, and are scared. It is your first day at a new school.

You enter the cafeteria and walk up to a pair of boys wearing cargo shorts and graphic tees from Wal-Mart. They seem approachable. One reminds you of your cousin.

You notice they have Pokemon cards, and pull out your one (1) squirtle card that you got from your older brother, who is in 6th grade and therefore cool.

After showing them your card and striking up a conversation, you notice one of them holding an apple. An idea forms in your head, a fast way to make or break this still fragile bond you have with these two. You know its risky, you act on it anyway.

"I dare you to eat a whole apple" you say to the dark haired boy, obviously Latino, obviously in need of a haircut. The look you give him says all.

You do not mean eat until he reaches the core of the apple, and he is aware.

You and the lighter skinned boy watch in awe and fear as he eats it until it is just the core, takes the time to show you he ate the sticker as well, and then eats what is left from the bottom up.

When this absolute madman gets to the stem, you watch him contemplate, his demeanor faltering momentarily before he gets a look in his eyes, puts the stem of the apple in his mouth, chews it up, and washes it down with strawberry milk.

Now imagine 7-8 years have passed, you are both in high school. He has been doing the same thing daily while making direct eye contact and says he will not stop until you pay him 100 dollars, plus the 50 cents you stole from him in 5th grade, and the 7 dollars he spent to get you to shut up for every hour of the school day in 6th grade (you did not shut up). He emails you daily saying he will knock 50 cents off for every Kool-Aid Jammer™ you give him. You have yet to pay him and he is aware you have no intentions of doing so. You two are probably only friends because of that one day. People ship you two.

#someone popular reblog this #its important

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ravens-crimecollection · 5 years

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The Croydon Cat Killer

A/N: Now this lovely piece of work here is probably my fifth attempt. Tumble deleted my first draft and its neater version. Then Microsoft crashed on me and took another report which I had re-written twice. Needless to say this report is actually killing me.

Trigger Warnings: Now as you could probably tell from the title this report focuses on the death of animals. What this guy has done to his targets is pretty gruesome in all aspects. I’ve tried to include in the tags all trigger warnings involving animal harm and death, however, if you want any other warnings included please contact me as soon as possible. I understand that whilst there may be some aspects of true crime that you are ok with, there are others that may trigger you.

So now, lets be on with the strange and unusual case of the animal killer known as:

The Croydon Cat Killer.

It was Easter 2017 when I first heard about the Croydon cat killer.

I was back home from university for the holidays along with all my siblings so the house had been chaotic to say the least. I ended up retreating to my phone when the Twins began fighting again, unwilling to deal with their bickering so soon.

I know, terrible elder sibling - but they argue all the time.

Anyway, it was whilst I was on Facebook that I first mention of the Croydon Cat Killer.

Again, I know what you’re thinking.

“Raven, a Facebook post? Those things are usually full of shit.”

And yes I do realise this, however this friend was trustworthy, factual, someone not likely to share fake posts seeking to incite panic.

Also it was a link to a report written by a reputable newspaper.

No not the Daily Mail

Anyway, it was from this report that birthed my interest in the case, in is sheer absurdity and the audacity of the Cat Killer.

And its really what began this blog, on the stranger lesser known crimes around the world, for this is undoubtedly an unknown case by many, but those who do know of it all share the same fear.

That one day this Cat Killer will turn his attention to Humans.

The Initial Suspicion:

The rise in Cat mutilations and deaths was first noticed by Co-Founders Tony Jenkins and Boudicca Rising of the South Norwood Animal Rescue Liberty Charity, or SNARL for short.

(Remember them, they’ll come up a lot.)

More and more calls were coming in from the South London areas concerning strange cat deaths which often shared the same characteristics.

FINAL WARNING FOR DETAILS OF ANIMAL DEATH

These cats, discovered in increasing numbers in the South London areas, were mostly found in public areas.

Public streets, high traffic grassy areas, and a few times in people’s own gardens, and even on the front steps of their owners’ homes. A most notable case was when a cats paw was left on her owners front step.

These cats were found without their heads and tails, and later other body parts, but alarmingly there was often an absence of blood at the scenes, and any blood found was minimal and congealed. They were often laid out, displayed.

Later forensic tests done by forensic specialists and veterinarians would show bruising consisted with death by bludgeoning. It is believed by many that the decapitation and mutilation occurred afterwards, though some disagree.

Most shockingly however, was the fact that several of these cats were found with raw chicken in their stomachs, obviously eaten a little while before their deaths. The owners were insistent that none of them fed their cats anything of the sort before hand.

A clear sign of luring? Of malicious intent?

At the time of the initial reports however only the mutilation was known about, and the rising numbers of reports and the way the bodies appeared immediately raised suspicion in Boudicca and Tony. They began collecting reports, and even brought the bodies personally to their vets and third party vets to understand what could have occurred.

They also began to heavily petition the police for investigation.

With the families and SNARL working together to raise awareness about the Cat Killer, even reporting the incidents on Facebook, the case soon garnered attention across the country.

Pets are undoubtedly important members of families. Any sane human being that owns a pet loves them unconditionally.

Not one of you who own a pet can deny use of the baby voice when talking to whatever animal you own. I once watched a friend coo over their pet snake whilst rubbing its head.

Pet owners are a weird lot, but our pets are our family, and unfortunately vulnerable members of our family at that.

Animals have their advantages against humans. But smaller ones like cats, especially those trusting of humans, are always at risk of cruelty and harm.

Serial killers, and I will count this man as a serial killer of a kind for ease despite the fact his victims are only animals, have always been cowardly by nature. They have always gone for the easier targets, ones that won’t cause too much trouble, too frightened or scared to attack a man or woman that could beat them. They relied on tricks, the good nature of others, and the fact their targets were often smaller and less confrontational than them. Blitzing them, or surprising them so they were incapable of fighting back.

It is probably why the Croydon Cat Killer selected cats as their main targets. Much smaller than most dogs, less able to fight back, an easier target.

It is his targets that also brought out such an outrage as well, and led to the quick creation of Operation Takahe.

Operation Takahe:

The investigation into the Croydon Cat Killer began almost astonishingly quickly considering the victims were cats, but the sheer number of animals beginning to be attributed to this Cat Killer, in the hundreds already, the mutilation that occurred and the attention the case was receiving meant the Police were quick to establish an investigation.

This investigation was codenamed Operation Takahe. Boudicca and Tony’s initial suspicions about the reports began in January 2015, and by the summer of the same year Police investigation was already underway.

The Investigation would last three years, until the August of 2018, and in that time multiple facts became known about the Cat Killer.

1. The fact the cats were bludgeoned to death and several were fed raw chicken shortly before death became known through forensic testing and study.

2. It was shown, and is mostly believed, that the decapitation of the head and tail occurred after death.

3. The initial victim, the apparent first cat killed by the cat killer, was discovered. It is still believed, though with some uncertainty, that a cat killed in Croydon in early 2014 was one of the killers first victims, maybe even the first. This and the fact he worked mostly in the South of London gave him the name the Croydon Cat killer.

4. The cats missing body parts mostly remained missing, but horrifyingly a few were returned in other areas at a later date. Causing the owners further distress to say the least.

Later facts would show just how expansive the killers range was.

5. Reports of similar mutilations began to come in from as far south as the Isle of Wight and possibly as far North as Brighton. Many attacks seem to occur in areas near a motorway known as the M25, a road which circles London and connects the city to other major roads leading out all over the country. This lead him to be known by a new name – The M25 (Cat) Killer.

6. Foxes and rabbits were also starting to be discovered, in the same conditions as the cats killed previously. This lead SNARL and others to refer to the killer as the UK Animal Killer.

7. The kills were also shown to happen in under-surveilled rural areas, and urban areas with little traffic.

Whilst this all occurred the case garnered more and more attention, the Cat killer became a mystery figure. Profiles of the killer were made, and descriptions of his appearance.

He was described as a white male in his 40’s, with short brown hair, dark clothing, and acne scaring on his face based on sparse witness reports as he was never caught on camera. They also declared he could be wearing a headlamp.

His personality profile was as such:

1. He often travelled, possibly for work.

2. It was eventually believed he lived in Addiscombe, considering the amount of attacks occurring there.

3. Profilers and psychologists also theorised his hated for cats in particular could have stemmed from a hated or fear of women, and the mutilation of the animals after, and the distinct need to leave these animals in the open and for their owners to find, was for sexual gratification.

Celebrities and politicians alike were drawn to the case, tweeting descriptions and drawing attention to the case in hopes of an arrest.

All the information together seemed to present the idea of a prolific sadist, a human one.

A suspect was arrested but released.

A man who was on the sexual offenders list for raping an older woman had his home searched.

Which is why it is so shocking that in September 2018, the Police shut down Project Takahe with news that the killer had been found.

The common Fox.

The End?

Police revealed that they had seen a few images of foxes carrying the missing cat parts away from scenes. They also found fox DNA on the corpses as well.

Stephen Harris, a retired professor of environmental sciences at the University of Bristol who had studied fox behaviour for fifty years, asserted that there was no killer.

He asserted the lack of blood or its congealing, as well as the lack of heads and tails, and other body parts was absolutely due to car collisions. Other say it was a moral panic.

He does not go on to explain how the cars could have put a cat paw print on their owners front porch.

He also explains that foxes commonly chew of the head and tails of their prey as well. Nd yes he was called in on a case prior involving the death of cats in the late 1990’s in London, and confirmed they were Foxes.

SNARL and many other could only react in disbelief. I myself included.

Cats laid out, obviously dissected, and they call it the work of cars and foxes.

Cats in accidents leave massive amounts of blood in the road, of which I have been unfortunate witness to, and the foxes scavenger nature (especially London) which could easily explain why foxes were seen with cat parts.

This theory leaves many things unexplained:

1. The display of the animals in open areas, the repeat of pattern, the openness these cats were found in.

2. The sudden increase of cat death as a whole, enough to make those who recorded such things suspicious.

3. The animal parts returning at a later date, especially the paw that appeared on their owner’s door step.

There is also the fact that shortly before the closing down of the investigation a man was arrested for arson AND cat mutilation and gave up his fellows as well, claiming there was still someone who was out there committing crimes.

It is the opinion of many that this is a vast oversight by police, nearly negligent in fact.

I myself have, as you do, spoken with several of my friends on this topic. Some who work in civil service and are of the heavy opinion that this closing of the investigation was due to budgeting by the higher ups who probably withdrew funds due to the cases length and the victimology.

Many believe that this may be another group, a single man with possible copy-cats, or simply one man.

Very few appear to believe it is a fox.

The believe not looking to catch this killer now is a grave mistake, and not just for animals.

Because there is one main worry that still persists amongst people who worked on or who have looked into this case.

That this man, whomever he is, will one day turn his attentions to people.

Animal killing and mutilation are a precursor to killers after all, most notably serial killers.

But here’s hoping it’s a fox, I hate to think what would happen otherwise.

And please, have a lovely night.

#tw: animal death #tw: animal abuse #tw: animal cruelty #tw: animal injury #tw: rape #True Crime #Croydon Cat Killer #M25 Killer #UK Animal Killer #The Strange case of

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notsugarandspice · 6 years

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Crash and Burn (Chapter 22)

such a sad chapter, I’m sorryyyyyy

Read it on AO3.

Warnings: Angst and goodbyes; Sonia

August, 1995

Eddie knows it’s coming before it actually happens but it doesn’t make the arrival any less painful. The day he’s leaving for college. It’s supposed to be a happy occasion, right? Eddie’s packed all of his most precious belongings: his favorite CDs, a couple of shirts that still fit him since middle school, some trinkets that remind him of the Losers. But there’s something, and if he was honest with himself, someone, he can’t seem to stuff in any of the bags he owns, no matter how large.

Richie is sitting on the hood of Sonia’s car, smoking and looking out at the vast expanse of the street Eddie lives on, green and empty at the same time. The rest of the Losers are supposed to pull in sometime in the next hour. For some inexplicable reason, Sonia decided that it’s best that they start driving at night. That way the hardest part of the trip is going to be in daylight. Whatever you say, ma. I’m willing to put up with any bullshit, as long as it’s the last summer I see you. Thank fucking God for scholarships. Eddie couldn’t have possibly paid for his school any other way. Not with a mother like his. But those worries seem far away now. The more pressing matter is in front of him, scraped and skinny and beautiful. Eddie’s chest constricts painfully as he hops down the porch steps to step in front of his friend. Or boyfriend. Whatever they are. Or were.

Eddie places himself in the space between Richie’s legs where they’re propped up on the ledge of the car. Skinny bare knees are pointed towards the road, and Eddie finds himself comfortable in that little world between them. Richie takes the last inhale and tosses the half-smoked cigarette on the ground, exhaling the grey smoke towards the sky, away from Eddie’s face. Richie lowers his head to lock red, swollen eyes with the other, and Eddie doesn’t need to ask why. It’s mirrored in the dark circles under his own eyes, in the scratch marks on his back that Richie left when he sprinted towards the Tozier residence in the middle of the night, his chest so fucking heavy it felt like it didn’t belong on his body. They kissed so hard and messy, their faces wet with tears and skin raw from how close they were trying to get, without actually getting anywhere.

And now they stand in front of each other, no fire, just glowing embers, devoid of movement and desire to speak. Eddie does anyway. “Are you staying? You’re really staying?” He knows the answer. There’s just a very twisted part of him that still hopes Richie will hop in the back of the car, his suitcase already shipped to New York or something. Lunatic.

“Yeah. But you already know that.” Richie looks tired. His hair is greasy and overgrown, tied in some semblance of a bun on the nape of his neck. His skin looks grey and sickly as if he’s been trying to fight a cold without medicine.

Eddie’s head drops and his chin almost touches the collarbones - a childish act that somehow seems sensible at the moment. “I know.”

Richie squeezes his finger under Eddie’s chin, and the distinct scent of cigarettes invades the small boy’s senses. He can’t help but wrinkle his nose as their eyes connect again. “You gotta stop this.”

Richie raises his eyebrow and removes a finger. “What? Touching you?”

What the fuck? “No, dipshit. Smoking.”

Richie snorts sardonically. “You know I can’t promise that, Eddie.”

Eddie. “You should try. If you hope to be alive next time I see you.” Eddie knows how desperate that sounds, but he doesn’t care. There’s not enough time. Never enough.

“Hey, no offense, but death can fuck itself. Not even that would stop me from seeing you.”

Now Eddie is on the verge of hysteria, he can feel the pitch of the scream creeping up his throat. “Richie-“

“Ay, don’t, Eds. Please.” Richie basically pushes the last word out. The whole sentence before is pure pain, and Eddie can hear it, can feel it like something digging into the deepest crevices of his heart to take out everything he loves.

Richie pushes his glasses up and digs the heels of his hands into his eyes forcefully, leaving them there for several seconds. Eddie can’t hell if he wants to be left alone. There’s no time.

“Anyway, what are you gonna do once you get there?” Long arms fall to rest on naked thighs, and Eddie has to fight the temptation to drag Richie upstairs and do something he wanted to do all summer. There’s just something about the shift of Richie’s long thumb against the small black curls on top of his pale skin that has Eddie silently whining with longing.

“What do you mean? Unpack, of course. And try to kick ma out. Don’t know how long she plans on staying.”

Richie cocks an eyebrow, and Eddie’s stomach flips helplessly in a very practiced fashion. “What, she’s really gonna get a hotel or something, just to bug you?”

“You know her.” Eddie looks in the direction of his house, the red and yellow, and dark brown, all familiar but so fucking alien at the same time. He can’t wait to get out of here.

“I just can’t believe that she even speaks to you after that outburst. You think I should go inside and offer her some comfort? You know, in the shape of my-“

Eddie clasps a hand to Richie’s mouth but can’t help the small laugh that escapes him. “Don’t even finish that sentence. I can’t stand you sometimes.”

Richie lowers his head, and the glasses fall back on his nose, his expression all yeah, right. Eddie is getting slowly annoyed by his smugness. Richie’s voice is muffled against Eddie’s newly wet palm. “Sure, sure, Eddie-bear.”

“Ugh, Richie, no!” Eddie pushes off his friend and circles around the car, small stones flying off where his blue sneakers inadvertently kick them. Moving is the only way he can ensure he doesn’t need to face the weight of this situation, or this day, or the rest of their lives, really.

Richie circles from the other side, and they end up leaning their backs on the slanted trunk. Eddie can feel Richie’s eyes on him and the corner of his mouth twitches. Thankfully, it’s the distant corner.

“Eds, are you gonna write to me?” Eddie would expect that question to cause him pain or even disappointment. Like, who is he to think I wouldn’t write to him? Instead, he just feels empty. As if he’s been gone every year like this and saw Richie during summer. As if they haven’t known each other since kindergarten.

“You’re shittin’ me, right? Please tell me that’s not a serious fucking question.” Eddie is still staring ahead, mostly because Richie’s head is framed by the afternoon sun that would inevitably hurt his irises. Your precious eyes, Eddie-bear.

“Damn, you got a mouth on you, babycakes.”

Eddie groans loudly, entirely aware that no amount of serious conversation would ever make Richie mature. Maybe it’s not a bad thing. Maybe things are meant to stay the same, even if people change. “You know I hate these nicknames. Do you hate my name or what?”

Richie does the whole exaggerated double back movement, and his eyes bug out comically behind thick lenses that painfully remind Eddie of the time they played in the water, and the number of times he had to find them on the bottom of whatever place they explored that day. You can’t really drown, they all float there, and you’ll float t-

“Seriously? Your name is the only one I use to scream out in pure ecstasy. If you don’t count your mom’s name or the last name which also works, but I really don’t-“

“Rich, cut it.” Eddie finally realized with a feeling so heavy it almost brought him down to his knees that Richie has been acting a lot more like the middle school version of himself lately. Eddie doesn’t know if it’s his way of leaving a mark on the small boy’s memory or what, but it was definitely making him reminiscent of all the time they spent together. And not just the two of them: all the Losers used to be so much closer. Before the heavy burden of education, social acceptance and adult responsibilities swept them up and thrashed them violently in a hurricane that led straight to hell. College. Which should be a lot more exciting than it currently is.

Eddie doesn’t mean to be ungrateful. He knows how lucky he is to live in New York with minimum loans and plenty of scholarships to last him to grad school. But the feeling of familiarity can’t be replaced. It can’t be ignored no matter how much he wanted. That’s the moment Eddie decides to keep his distance from people who aren’t Losers. He doesn’t think he can ever trust anyone like that again.

“What’s on your mind, sugar?” speaks Richie with a southern drawl that makes Eddie’s skin crawl and tingle at the same time. It’s always such a whirlwind of emotion to be around Richie. It’s been like that from the start when Eddie threw a little car in the buck-toothed boy’s face and made him cry loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear. Eddie has never been more scared in his life. In his defense, Richie wouldn’t stop touching him, and Eddie hates unnecessary physical contact. And when he had enough of it, he dealt with it in short spurts of uncontrollable anger, hence the little dent between his best friend’s eyebrows. Eddie finally looks at him and lowers the glasses with his index finger, his lip trapped under the top row of teeth.

Richie gets unbelievably quiet and still, but Eddie knows it’s not for long - he’s going to start tapping his foot or wrecking his cuticles, or clashing his teeth - anything to keep his body occupied while his mind ran enthusiastically. “Do you remember getting this?”

Brown irises travel up as if they’re somehow responsible for capturing the barely visible dent that’s obviously inaccessible to Richie’s eyes. Eddie snorts at the effort and points the spot on his own face. “Does a blue toy truck ring any bells?”

“Oh, yeaaaaah. You totally had a crush on me from day one, Spaghetti.”

Eddie takes a step back and crosses the arms under his chest. “Did not!”

“Dude, that’s the whole pigtails agenda. You were always mean to me because I gave you a chub. Just admit it.”

“Richie, that’s gross. And the whole pigtails agenda is bullshit, and you know that. You should’ve been mean to me in return. I was such a shithead.”

Richie’s eyes get gooey soft, and Eddie knows where this is going before it actually happens. “You were always the cutest shithead. I never really took your threats seriously because your cheeks would blush this pretty pink color and I just couldn’t take my eyes off them.”

Eddie’s heart is thrashing against his rib cage, ready to leap out and hop all the way to Canada. Richie steps away from the car and extends his arms, bony hands landing on Eddie’s waist. Eddie immediately grabs onto the pointed elbows, and he’s almost annoyed by how practiced that movement is. “Don’t charm me.”

“What? I’m not doing anything, my love.” Richie winks and kisses the tip of Eddie’s nose. “Aaaaand there’s that blush.”

Eddie pushes his lips to the corner of his mouth, trying to force a smile to disappear along with the redness of his cheeks. “It’s kind of sad.”

Richie’s confuzzled expressions will never cease to amaze and entertain Eddie. “What?”

Eddie can’t help but roll his eyes even though he knows that the sentence had disappointing implications. It’s not his fault Richie can’t read his mind by now. “It’s kind of sad that you never really had to try so hard. You flirt as if your life depends on it but…”

“But what?” asks Richie, his voice low and heart-throbbingly soft.

...but I fell for you when you were playing a goddamn video game, and your hair was greasy, and there were chips all over your stupid lap. You were sitting in your goddamn underwear because you spilled some beer you sneaked out of your house and your glasses were cracked everywhere. You probably haven’t showered for days and I didn’t even want to think of the last time you brushed your teeth, but I couldn’t stop looking at you. At the furrow of your perfect brows that sat exactly behind the top of the thick frame. The way your eyes danced around the screen, big and excited. The way your tongue jumped out of your mouth as if it had an extra controller that could help you pass the level you’ve been stuck on. I still remember how it knocked the wind out of me to think of you that way. To want to exist in the space between your lips and touch the small curl that rested on the nape of your neck. I still remember you throwing the controller and burying your face in my lap, dramatically crying about the prejudiced fate of the universe and I never felt more confused in my life. I let myself stroke your hair and the look you gave me almost made my chest explode. I don’t know if you could tell, but I gave my heart away that day. It was all yours. Forever.

Eddie moves closer and connects the lips, soft and slow.

—

For the second time that day Eddie wants to sit down on the ground and cry. Three-year-old style. Everyone’s embrace seems to leave a mark on his back, and when they disconnect, Eddie feels like their hands take away a part of him he will never recover. Richie stands at a distance, puffing on a cigarette and Eddie is getting legitimately concerned over how much the other smokes a day. He might also be a little pissed that Richie didn’t throw a fit and threw him over that bony shoulder, refusing to let go. But maybe that’s the sign of how mature he actually is.

“-and I promise to visit soon.” Eddie should probably feel guilty for ogling his friend from above Bev’s shoulder, but he can’t part with the image of contemplative Richie just yet. Just a little more. Please, I just…I want this to stretch forever and ever and ever.

“Right. Hopefully, I’ll be here for the holidays.” A lie. And they know it’s a lie. Bev nods in understanding, looking over to Sonia’s voluptuous form on the porch, standing by the door like a guard dog, making sure that her precious Eddie-bear doesn’t get carried off by his queer friends and their dirty hands.

Ben is next, and nobody misses the gentle way he puts his hand on Bev’s shoulder as she walks away and they blush in unison, the unspoken love almost painfully adorable. Eddie feels a pang of jealousy, and he instantly feels ashamed. It’s just unfair that people who can be together don’t even take advantage of it. It’s almost like the universe has two perfect middle fingers in front of him at all times.

“Hey, shortie.” Ben hugs him right under the armpits and Eddie lifts off the ground. Not too far up because Ben isn’t actually that tall, but Eddie feels weightless under the firmness of Haystack’s shoulders. God, even Richie’s nicknames rubbed off on me.

“Don’t,” Eddie grunts out the words when his throat feels a little blocked off from the sudden ascent, “call me shortie. It’s not my fault I haven’t gained length since I met all of you.” He’s back on the ground, and he catches the wide grin on Richie’s face before his eyes find the green of Ben’s again.

“I didn’t mean to offend, you know that. Just going to miss you.” Ben has always been like that. A little humorous and very very honest. Painfully so. Eddie hugs him tighter than he thought he was capable of and it’s a different kind of comfort because Ben is a big football guy, and it’s certainly a pleasant change after trashmouth ribs that poked into the small boy’s stomach when they embraced some minutes ago. Before the rest of the gang got here.

Ben leans in to whisper something quickly, and the words will echo through Eddie’s mind in the weeks to come. “He’s going through a lot. Don’t forget about him.”

He’s going through a lot? With what? Why does everyone seem to know things I don’t? Is it their way of ensuring I don’t end up staying here? Eddie’s body goes limp, and his arms fall. He gives Ben a strained smile and a nod. He doesn’t really know what else to say.

Bill is next and he seems to carry heavy melancholy around him wherever he goes, the emerald in his eyes dull as if someone put out the light. It started with Georgie but only got worse over the years. It seems like Mr. Denbrough’s death finally did it to him. Eddie noticed that Stan has been falling into a similar headspace as well. Maybe that’s why the two of them spent so much time together.

Bill places both hands on Eddie’s shoulder, towering over him with silent authority, one that Kaspbrak quietly accepted over the years but also failed to understand the older he got. It was unspoken that Bill was the leader of the group, but it has been more clear lately that Bill lacks the stability that Mike has, for example. Eddie’s heart constricts at the realization that he hasn’t been that close to Bill in the past year and it wasn’t just Richie’s fault that the group hasn’t been spending too much time together. Age just got the best of them, same as the distance that hung like a looming shadow over their lucky seven, quietly waiting to make them all part and suffer.

“I’m guh-guh-gonna miss you, Eh-Eddie,” says Bill with confidence and that specific Denbrough sadness that was reflected in his mom anytime Eddie saw her.

“I’ll miss you too, Billy.” Eddie instantly goes for the hug, slightly embarrassed by the nickname. He hasn’t called him this way since that summer, as if the last bits of innocence has been stripped away from him. From all of them. And it just seemed redundant to try to force it back.

Bill kisses the top of his head and squeezes it tight to his chest. Eddie recognizes the undeniable scent of pine and glue that’s always been engraved in his friend’s clothing. He knows he’ll quickly forget it, but it will come back to him next time they see each other. Whenever that’s going to happen.

Bill steps back and his head turns to Stan who’s standing right next to them, wringing his hands in agitation. Eddie can see some tears in his friend’s eyes, and he leaps forward, holding Stanley tight as if he has the power to put him back together. Stan sobs into his shoulder and he has to hunch lower almost as much as Richie usually does, and Eddie feels tears running down his own cheeks, hot and sticky. They sob for several seconds, but the ugly sounds soon turn into laughter: embarrassed and playful laughter that seems a little out of place, all things considered. But they lean their foreheads against each other and Eddie tries not to think how their sweat is now combined, and how ticklish Stanley’s golden curls are on the side of the small boy’s face.

“You take care of yourself, okay, Eddie?”

Eddie ruffles Stan’s hair and the other irritatedly swats the small hand away, smiling. “You too, Stan. Really.” Stan’s face contorts in understanding, and he steps back to let sprinting Mike swoop Eddie off his feet.

He just got here from the farm, probably drove a bike all the way from his farm judging by the wetness of his shoulders, the dampness of his wife beater that’s pressing into Eddie’s thighs. He can’t help but giggle, an overwhelming amount of affection overcoming him and he feels so fucking happy to have known these people. Something in him breaks a little when they all run up and grab different parts of him, and suddenly he’s parallel to the ground, held by all his friends. Eddie feels weightless and powerful. For the first time since he applied to a school out of state, he feels like he can take over the world. And he will. Small-scale but it’s going to happen nonetheless.

“Time to go, Eddie!” screams Sonia and all the laughter dies down to quiet murmurs of irritation.

Eddie’s body slides against Richie’s, and they embrace awkwardly, half-hugging as the small boy takes control over his slightly numb limbs. Everyone step away in silent understanding, giving the two of them some space to say goodbye. Eddie isn’t even remotely ready to see thick tears sliding down Richie’s pale cheeks, dark eyes blurry behind foggy lenses.

“Richie, don’t cry, please,” says Eddie wiping teardrops off with his thumbs, cradling the tall boy’s jaw, his voice so strained that he thinks he might lose it by the time they reach New York.

“I- I don’t know how…how to do this without you.” Richie’s voice is so raw and thin, it sends needles into the middle of Eddie’s chest. He’d prefer to be stabbed to this interaction.

“Rich, you’re so strong. And I’m always here for you, whatever you need, yeah?” Eddie tilts the other’s face to face him and smiles reassuringly. He doesn't understand why he’s not crying. Almost angry at it. He wants to stomp his foot and scream FEEL, DAMN IT!

“Eds, I-“

“I know.” Eddie turns his head to the side and listens to Richie’s rapid heartbeat, trying to memorize its steady rhythm, one he hopes he’s going to fall asleep to for ages. Richie’s fingers are in his hair, petting and brushing it. Eddie wants the scent of cigarettes to stay on his clothes forever, just so he can remember Richie anytime, anywhere. They stand pressed together until Eddie disconnects, unwilling to let his mother be the reason he can’t hold Richie anymore. He looks into dark brown eyes one last time wishing he had an excuse to just drown in them on this dirty sidewalk, surrounded by six people he loves.

Eddie reluctantly steps away, his arms cold in the absence of Richie’s overheated body, his head empty and heavy. There’s no panic and no pain. He feels so detached from everything, so different already and it terrifies him that the next time they all see each other, they’ll be different people. Eddie stops by his front door, his mom already inside grabbing the last of their provisions and he spares a look at the six young people on the driveway, all unique and perfect, their skin tinted orange in the sunset light. His family. Eddie gives them a small wave, a small smile, and steps back into the house, knowing that the next time he opens it, they’ll be gone as if they’ve never been there at all.

Three hours into the drive he cries in his sleep, dreaming of black curls, smiles that stretch wide, and pretty freckles framing a sharp face.

Perma Tag: @happytozier @studpuffin @j0ys @its-stranger-than-you-think @tinyarmedtrex @d-nbroughs @aizeninlefox (I removed some people who’ve been inactive because I’m not about forcing my work on anyone. Let me know if you want to be added/removed <3)

#reddie #my writing #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #stanley uris #beverly marsh #mike hanlon #bill denbrough #sonia kaspbrak #the losers club #angsty goodbyes are hard #we been knew

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thiskryptonite · 5 years

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Tagging: August Knight & Xander Drakos

Timeframe: January 13th - 19th 2019 (1 day in the faerielands)

Location: Ashbourne // Sacred Tree Portal to the Otherworld

Word Count: 1669

Notes: August informs Xander that Aria has been taken hostage by the High Queen, and what they must do to get her back.

August

August did not feel the weight of the guards leading his path and following in his step, they were intended to insure he did only as was he was told. No small part of him was humiliated, enraged did not begin to cover it but unfortunately, the witch had little time to be selfish over the matter. Because at this point, he really had no idea what he was going to do. His anger had made him so confident and assured only a short while ago in the throne room, now as August was all but shoved through the Sacred Tree and sent back into the mortal realm, he felt the weight of what needed to be done. The day was unknowable to him at this point, it was light now - morning? When only a few hours ago it had barely been dusk. August looked at his phone quickly, the device was also still trying to get its bearings. Absently he began to make a catalog of contacts he could go to, anyone who might have some indication where he could even begin looking. But the list of people who could reliably get that information was smaller still, nonexistent given how little time the High Queen had given him. Vitalis came through from the Otherworld and August's brow furrowed, was it Xander now and again? "Did you know what her intentions were for us?" His tone was pointed, his eyes leveled, his brow set upon the fae that August had thought was his friend. The fae had told him once that if he was in trouble, to ask him for help. Well he was asking now.

Xander

Xander had of course heard about what had happened; who hadn't? Maybe it wasn't what he had expected, but he had his own tasks to attend to. It just so happened that when he exited the Otherworld, August was still mulling about. The air fae was going to simply ignore him, but the attitude was just too good to pass up. "You know, kid, if I didn't know any better, it'd seem like you were accusing me of leading you into a trap." He walked forward, form back to his human appearance as his gaze was filled with warning, "I'd watch who you accuse, August. If that had been my plan in the first place, I would've delivered you to the Queen myself." Xander stopped when he was only a couple feet away, staring back at August as he searched the young witch's features, "You seem relatively unharmed. And believe it or not, we don't have everything shared with us. I may be loyal to the Queen, but we're not always invited in on the planning. So why don't you tell me what happened, and I'll see what I have to say about it."

August

“Don’t talk to me like I’m a child.” August stated flatly, he needed this sage out of his system.“I’ve made no accusations, I recognize that I was the one stupid enough to attend.” this wasn’t worth it, not now. He blinked a few times when he remembered he hadn’t, August didn’t move to step away from the fae, “she’s after this.” His tone eased slightly, he dipped into his pocket again to retrieve the note that the High Queen had passed him in the court. It occurred to August now that Xander was certainly old enough to have some passable knowledge of this obsidian chalice.

Xander

"You are a child. It's almost funny that you think you aren't. Ignorance isn't a good look on you, August." He took the paper from August, moving away so he could read it. He had to double check what he was looking at, the pieces falling into place. He'd heard about this after he'd needed it the most; but had the price been worth it? More questions for Nymphadora, he supposed, and definitely not August. Xander gripped the paper possibly a bit too tight, turning to look at August, "This is something she needs. But I guess that means you couldn't possibly know what it's used for, could you?" He held the note back out towards the witch, a different look of interest on his face, "And she kept your friend."

August

“I suppose you’d prefer me reverent, clearly I should be bowing at an alter to your feet.” August said easily, “I should learn my place and accept whatever harsh blow she had planned,” he shook his head, worship was always blind. “Is it your intention to tell me?” August asked plainly, “Because time is of the essence, and while your arrogance is usually entertaining it isn’t right now.” Clearly, Aria was not with him. “Aria saved my life, and hers is forfeit if I don’t return to this spot with that chalice before the end of the week. Likely mine as well. Some party.”

Xander

Xander rose an eyebrow, looking slightly amused at the push back. “Clearly. Because that’s how it’s always been with us, hasn’t it?” He waited a few moments, curious as to if August would rein in the childish anger he could feel radiating off of him. “If you ask me, maybe. But if you’re so intent on making me the enemy in this situation, I wont help you at all. So what’s it going to be?” He asked flatly, holding his ground. August needed him, and while he’d promised to help the young witch before, the air fae was almost curious if the Queen had intended for him to find August first. “Tell me what you know.”

August

He felt the air between them shift, no, it hasn't August thought, but he would not back down so easily. The fae's words of course stung, it had indeed been childish to assume anything but what Xander had made perfectly clear, but that didn't matter now. His brow lost its tension as he was deflated some, though he stepped forward and did not shy away from the fae. August would have questions for him still, but there could be none about where Xander's loyalties lie. He took the paper back. "How should I know? I am but a child." His gaze was serious, but the anger had melted from his eyes, it was rare that he asked others for help "You are not my enemy, but you told me once that if I was ever in trouble, to let you know, and you would help, if you could." - the last time had been a witch, and it had ended in the worst possible way. August's tone remained level, but his eyes were pleading. He was afraid, he couldn't fail, again. "Well I'm in trouble, Xander. I've heard of this object before, but only in obscure references that date back.... A long time. If you know something that can help, then tell me what needs to be done."

Xander

Xander didn't make any change in emotion as he listened to August, still waiting for an actual answer. He didn't have time to play games, and if the other witch wanted to do so, then he'd be stuck finding the chalice himself. Although – Xander almost considered getting the chalice himself. It would've been of great interest to him at one point in time. Selfishly, though. He looked at August, letting out a sigh as he resigned himself to holding his own word. "Okay, okay. So let me get this straight, you need this chalice, and your friend will go free. Fine; let's start with an old friend of mine. Philippe – you and him don't really get along, do you? Either way, he might know something. Otherwise, I'll have to do some digging. Maybe you should too."

August

August nodded, that would do fine. He tried to imagine how interest Philippe would be in this cup and wondered what the vampire’s feelings might be towards fae, in general. They’d been strictly forbidden from attending the Sarau. “That about sums it up,” August said easily, “Philippe has probably considered killing me every time we’ve met.” That was the truth. “But he is also fond of Aria, so he might just feel obligated to assist, though, it’s hard to tell. Might just be more motivation for him to kill me. Likely best for you to meet him alone.” August was pensive for a moment. “At any rate, your Queen put sage in my drink before proposing this arrangement, so I need to get it out of my system before I can do much of anything. But there is bound to be a trail somewhere of lesser known fae artifacts that have moved through this town.” August looked for a moment towards the town before he looked back to Xander, “We only have a week to accomplish this, otherwise Aria’s life is forfeit. I’ll see what I can dig up in the meantime.

Xander

“He likes me - I’m his only friend, I think. He’s kinda like that kid in class no one talks to, but I did.” Xander was clearly joking, but he was somewhat sure he was Philippe’s only friend. He looked at August, slightly nonplussed about Aria’s fate. It was one less thing he had to worry about; he’d let August deal with that one. “I’ll ask him tonight and we can see each other tomorrow. Be well.”

August

It was obviously a jest, but somehow, August really doubted that Philippe was capable of having more than one friend. That alone was impressive. But they were both about as old as the wheel so August supposed it probably made some sense that the two would have found each other and stuck. It did add another layer to much of what he'd built up about Philippe in his mind: he'd assumed a great deal about the vampire. Though he was violent, he wasn't as narrow minded as August had originally assumed. They were parting now, August headed towards home, holding up the peace sign. "You as well Xander."

#event:sarau #convo:xander #discord:xander #Xander 04

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thewidowstanton · 6 years

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Jessica Connell, Circa ensemble member, specialising in aerials and hula-hoops: Peepshow

Australian circus artist Jessica Connell trained at the National Institute of Circus Arts in Melbourne, having formerly been a member of the Flying Fruit Fly Circus in the twin cities of Albury-Wodonga, where she spent most of her childhood. She has performed all over Australia, and in 2009 contributed to A4 circus ensemble’s first production, Downpour. Two years later she joined leading Australian circus company Circa and undertook an eight-month season of Wunderkammer at the Chamäleon Theatre in Berlin, and a three-month tour of the Helpmann Award-winning show, Circa.

Her first new creation for the company was ‘S’ at the Brisbane Festival in September 2012, and she has since appeared in – and helped create – many of the company’s productions, including Opus and Il Ritorno. Now Jess returns to London – having performed in a season of Opus at the Barbican – to appear in the European premiere of Peepshow. It runs during the Underbelly Festival at the Southbank Centre in London from 27 June – 18 August. She chats to Liz Arratoon.

The Widow Stanton: How old were you when you started at the Flying Fruit Fly Circus? Jessica Connell: I started at around 13 or 14 in their professional training group. Before that I’d just dabbled in a few weekend classes and done a bit of dance, a bit of tennis, a bit of martial arts.

What made you choose to go there; were you sporty? I was always probably more creative than sporty. I had a big family and we were home-schooled for a little bit but my parents were quite art orientated. We did a lot of plays and a lot of art at home, which was really lovely. My sister pursued ballet and I got into that for a little bit and I did a little bit of gymnastics but I think I really missed the artistic side of ballet and things I’d been doing in my youth. So my father suggested trying out the circus because he’d had an affiliation with them when he was younger. So it was kind of the mesh of two worlds that I’d been playing with since I was quite young.

Is anyone else in your family a performer; your sister? No, my sister became the mother of four beautiful children. Much to my dismay no one has yet followed me. [Laughs] It’s always been my dream for one of my sisters to come onstage with me but my youngest sister, who’s still in high school, is pursuing music at the minute. She’s been in some young productions so maybe there’s still hope.

When did you graduate from NICA? I actually didn’t graduate. I went there for a year. Kind of before going to NICA I had introduced myself to Circa and about halfway through, Yaron [Lifschitz, Circa’s artistic director] just got in contact with me and offered me some short contracts, but it wasn’t until he offered me a full-time contract that I left at the end of that first year.

Impressive, Jess! Circus-school dropout is what I call myself. [Laughs]

Not at all. Wonderful to be so good that you’re spirited away! But which aerial disciplines did you do there? Primarily swinging trapeze, but since joining Circa I’ve done static trapeze and I’ve slowly moved into the world of single point as well. I don’t do trapeze in Peepshow; we have another stunning trapeze artist.

How useful has it been to have an aerial and a ground-based discipline? It’s been really good. It definitely made me more versatile, which was fantastic. Hoops was something I kind of came into later and it was probably the key that made me more versatile as a performer, so in a show if an aerial can’t be rigged I have another skill to draw on. And as I get a little bit older, it’s also incredibly interesting how to use, not just the physical skill, but perhaps the performance skill or the physical exploration and try to translate them from one to the other. Hoops has this beautiful flow, as does a dance trapeze. However, to try and disrupt that flow both on a trapeze and a hula hoop has always been something that was really fun and interesting. So they definitely made me more versatile but they also challenged me mentally as to how to approach those two disciplines.

And to keep both skills at the required level is quite something. Definitely.

So what had first attracted you to Circa? It’s different for everybody but coming from an artistic background – and while I absolutely love the physical side of circus – circus was such an exciting world for me, because I had started what I thought was a little bit late. The Flying Fruit Fly takes kids as young as eight and most of my friends had been there since they were that age, so starting at 14… they even made a note of: “You’re pretty old to be starting but you have the right mentality so come on in.” So coming into this world of people who can be physical within their own… means, like, I wasn’t forced to be flexible or forced to be strong or forced to be tiny; I was accepted for who I was and asked to explore that.

So that got me into circus and then in my first year I went to see Circa’s The Space Between in Melbourne – we would go on excursions to see other shows – and for me what I loved about the circus was amplified by Circa. I saw these three individuals on stage with unique and interesting, not just bodies, but mentalities and personalities and it really shone through to me, so, yeah, it just amplified what I was finding I already loved about circus and it really brought it to life. It expressed it on stage in a way I’d never seen; that honesty and beauty is what just drove my desire to work for them.

So, you approached them; what advice would you offer to someone wanting to get into the company? Definitely making yourself known and expressing an interest in why you like it. In all honestly I can’t even remember what I said to Yaron [laughs] but maybe I told him why I wanted to work for the company from definitely a young age, because I knew that one day I wanted to work for Circa or a similar company. The idea of working for a home company was pretty exciting. But I also channelled my creative energy and what I trained in so my disciplines were honed in on that world, and even then I pursued swinging trapeze less and got more into static trapeze because I knew that Circa was a smaller touring company.

Let’s jump ahead a bit, how did you cope with doing the same thing every night for eight months in Berlin? And we’re about to do it again! There’s something really exciting about doing the same show for eight months, and what I’m most excited about and how I coped the first time was… there’s a level of precision and exploration that you can get into when you do the same thing every night that I could never get touring a show or doing multiple shows like we normally do. For a whole week I could experiment onstage with breath, or timing, or just micro things like eyeline, and those sorts of things that really make an act unique and precise.

Because in circus you have so much freedom, we do a trick roughly in this musical timing together, and then we get from A to B however we want. That freedom is incredibly liberating but I don’t think you always get that. In Circa we’re quite lucky and we do get that freedom, which keeps things alive and interesting and rich.

Circa’s schedule can be relentless. How do you protect yourself from injury? Making sure I’m physically ready before we go on tour is really important. I just try to be as strong and healthy as I can be and, when we’re on tour, relentlessly doing physio programmes and those sorts of things, ensuring that the parts of your body that are weaker – because everybody has weaknesses – are always being maintained or in check. And then massage and lots of saunas and swimming if possible. And also kind of being smart, like it is a big tour, be sensible.

There are so many new Aussie circus companies coming up; is circus regarded as a new sport option for young people there now? Australia is obviously quite a young country and I’ve been watching circus change and develop there since I was little. We have influences from all around the world, like in Fruit Fly we had Chinese, French, Russian in the skills we learnt but I also think now especially I’m seeing Australia have its own voice in the circus world. We still draw from those inspirations but I feel in the last decade Australia is starting to find its own voice.

I think that’s drawing people in. It’s becoming more known, because it’s more ours. And because we’re touring Australia more and more as well, it’s just the awareness of circus as an option, and the more circuses pop up, the more they offer workshops or classes, or even just shows to spread the awareness. Even Circa, when I first joined, we toured very little in Australia. We’d have a small tour every year, but as the company’s grown I’ve spent more and more time in community outreach and Australian tours and I think other companies are using that too and it’s spreading the word.

What can you tell us about Peepshow? Peepshow is our new little baby, and has been pretty exciting and wonderful. It’s still very new and fresh trying to find the right words to describe it, but ultimately it’s about showing and about looking and about being looked at. For some people the name might make them think of something quite sexual, which it can be but it’s also about having the freedom to show and be looked at and take your own emotions or stories… as often in our work, we’re not really telling a story or even trying to tell anybody what to think, we’re merely showing them something and hoping that they will take their own story from that.

Which of your skills will you be using? Mostly I do group acrobatics and hula hoops. Interestingly, when I first joined the company, I was more of a middle and base, but now I’ve moved a little bit more into the flying world, so that’s really new and fun and fresh for me to evolve through the world of acrobatics. I’m also involved in a few kind of quirky less-physical acts, which is really fun.

I’ve seen Libby McDonnell’s wonderful sequinned costumes for Peepshow! Yes [laughs]. As well as doing the costumes, Libby is also assistant director so she’s been a powerhouse woman as always. What do you like about creating a show as an ensemble with Yaron? I often think we’re quite lucky. Sometimes Yaron does come in with a really strong idea but he allows that to form and grow depending on who is expressing his idea. That’s really wonderful for a physical performer, and then at the same time, he sometimes says: “Has anybody got any ideas?” And we have the freedom to try to bring something on to the stage. It’s incredibly rewarding. And what’s really lovely is how the shows at Circa can influence one another, like I see so much of ’S’ in other shows but a better, stronger more developed version of the ideas we came up with when we made the show.

Do you enjoy travelling and life on the road? Yeah I do, definitely. There are always moments when you get a bit nostalgic, you miss home, Australia. And my family don’t travel very much so to see them it’s usually me flying home. So there are those parts of it but I’ve been doing it for so long, it’s very much a way of life. I have my suitcase and I do enjoy it. I love exploring and taking photos; travelling and photography and circus, I guess, really go hand in hand. At the minute I still really love the lifestyle.

Is photography one of your hobbies away from circus? Yes, definitely. My friends used to call me The Hobby Queen, because I can’t sit still. I also sketch, which I did when I was younger with my family. I’m trying to learn guitar but I’m pretty terrible. I love cooking. I’m definitely Jack-of-all-trades. I don’t really specialise in anything else. Circus is probably my main drive.

Can you pick out the best bit of your career so far? There are probably a million amazing things but last year we went to a small circus community and maybe, having grown up in a circus community, it really resonated with me. We spent a week with these kids from Yak Yak Yak and Cycas Circus making a quick pop-up show for the festival they were in and yeah, it was in Cairns, so regional Australia, and circus kids making a show. I don’t know how, but this show came together. I’d probably only known the kids for a week, but I had not felt this sense of pride in a really long time. It kind of reminded me about why I love the circus and how it helped me as a young child. Probably that is my most recent wonderful experience I’ve had at work. It’s still sitting with me and still makes me really proud and happy to do what I do.

Do you have any particular ambitions for the future? I’m not sure. I’m quite happy where I am; I really do love photography at the moment but I couldn’t see myself leaving the world I’m in now to just do photography. It’s so hard. As long as I’m in this world I’m happy and excited and I’m hoping the future will unfold… I’ll find myself becoming a circus photographer and director if I have the right skills, if I keep pushing myself and growing in this world, my next path will reveal itself to me.

youtube

Jess appears in Circa’s Peepshow during the Underbelly Festival at the Southbank Centre in London from 27 June – 18 August 2018.

Picture credits: Pedro Greig; Kurt Petersen; Chris Herzfeld For Peepshow tickets, click here Twitter: @CircaPresents @UnderbellyFest @southbankcentre

Follow @TheWidowStanton on Twitter

#jessica connell #circa circus #peepshow #acrobat #hula-hooper #circus interview #underbelly festival #southbank centre #Yaron Lifschitz #libby mcdonnell #aerilaist

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yourboatholiday · 3 years

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Weather, Winds and Clouds: What are the basic notions that a yachtsman cannot miss while sailing?

What meteorological notions do you need to know before planning a boat trip? What winds blow the main boat charter destination coasts? How to best decide your destination depending on the year period?

These are questions that every self-respecting yachtsman should be able to answer. Here are what we think are the basics:

It is important to know how to “read” the clouds correctly to predict the short-term weather.

A self-respecting sailor cannot just look at the sea, he must also raise his eyes to the sky and know how to read the signals it sends us during navigation. Knowing how to distinguish the main cloud formations is essential for navigating safely, knowing in time to foresee any unexpected weather worsening.

In meteorology, clouds are classified according to their altitude and their extent. In fact, we can find 3 main clouds categories: high clouds, medium clouds, and low clouds.

High clouds are essentially made up of tiny ice crystals and comprise three different types of clouds:

the cirrus clouds, thin, whitish, transparent, and very high clouds. They are easily recognizable because they are whiter than any other cloud; the cirrocumulus, clouds arranged in thin layers, more or less extended, through which it is possible to clearly see the position of the sun or the moon; the cirrostratus, very high and thin clouds that form a thin white layer that often covers the entire sky and gives it a milky appearance.

Cirrocumulus herald the arrival of a warm front and, unlike cirrus and cirrostratus, indicate the arrival of rain.

The medium clouds are instead classified into high-layer clouds, which form a cloudy layer that totally or partially covers the sky, gray tending to blue colored. A high layers sky certainly indicates that precipitation of rain or snow is near; altocumulus forms at the same heights as the stratocumulus. They appear in white and gray banks, sometimes taking on bizarre shapes.

The low clouds are finally found below 2000 meters of altitude, generating abundant rains or snowfalls, in relation to the temperature. They are divided into strata, the lowest of all the clouds that can sometimes reach the ground. They are gray color clouds, with the base extended like a uniform carpet that can extend for many kilometers. Due to their thickness, they do not normally cause precipitation but in some cases, they can give rise to drizzles; stratocumulus, which occurs in large dark and rounded clusters, gray-purple in their lower part. They do not always give rise to precipitation, in which case they are of low intensity; nimbostratus, low stratified clouds, generally dark gray with an often not well-defined base. The sky is dark and gloomy and often you need to turn lights on.

It is essential knowing how to distinguish the wind type blowing on your sails.

Depending on the place and period chosen to sail on a boat trip, both sailing and motor, it is necessary to know which winds await us during navigation.

In fact, an experienced sailor knows how to distinguish the types of wind based on intensity, origin, and temperature, acting accordingly to steer the boat.

We list below the best known (and feared) winds, divided by the interesting tourist destinations:

In the Mediterranean basin, the Cyclades, Greek islands located in the Aegean Sea, are the classic example of a very popular location that hosts a strong and unpredictable wind. We are talking about the Meltemi, a dry wind that blows from north to south especially in the months of July and August. The strength of the Meltemi is known to be very tough, creating prohibitive conditions even for the most experienced sailors. If you do not feel ready to face it, our advice is to choose a different period, such as the months of April or May or September and October. Alternatively, opt for the Ionian islands, another Greek archipelago far from the Meltemi.

Always remaining in the Mediterranean Sea, another classic destination is Italy. Due to its elongated shape, the Italian peninsula is lashed by different air currents, more or less localized in some of its particular areas.

The Mistral wind, for example, affects the north-western side of Italy and in particular Sardinia. Winds of this type are strong and cold and can reach considerable speeds of up to over 150 kilometers per hour. Although it occurs mainly in winter, the mistral phenomena can occur at any time of the year.

Similar to the Mistral but less intense and strong are the Tramontana winds, which also blow from north to south, skirting the western Italian coasts.

The Sirocco wind is instead characterized by humid air coming from the southeast, from Africa, sometimes bringing sands from the Sahara. However, the sirocco winds are constant throughout the year and, except in rare cases, do not give rise to strong storms.

Finally, it is worth mentioning the famous Bora, a wind that laps the northeast of Italy and a large part of the Croatian coast. It is an impetuous and very cold wind that fortunately has its peak during the winter.

If we talk about strong winds in the Mediterranean, the situation changes if we move to the Caribbean Sea. Here, the trade winds are the masters, but generally, they do not represent a big problem and rather are the “engine” that pushes the boats far and wide.

On the other hand, boaters are worried about hurricanes that are unleashed regularly. Hurricane season has its peak from June to October but can also affect November and December.

Hurricanes and tropical storms are created by warm water and humid air masses that are strengthened by absorbing heat in the Caribbean and then gradually diminish in intensity upon reaching the mainland coast.

Finally, Southeast Asia is one of the destinations most affected by monsoons. Here too, as in the Caribbean Sea, these strong disturbances are not caused by a particular wind but by

masses of warm and humid air coming from the south. The main monsoons begin to manifest themselves in May and June although the peak is reached in the period between August and October. Tourist resorts that are most affected are obviously those close to the equatorial line such as Thailand (the south-western part), Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Always check the weather forecast before and during navigation.

In general, as we have seen, weather plays an extremely important role in the success of a sailing holiday.

For this reason, in addition to the notions, we have talked about, when on a boat it is important to always keep an eye on the weather situation, regularly consulting a reliable weather service.

Contact now YBH Charter Brokers:

You can contact us by sending an email at [email protected] or by phone, calling +39 33436 00997, available also on WhatsApp for both calls and texting.

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