#15 attacks total this year!!!!!!! almost double than last year

[usafphantom2]

Pentagon closes $7.8 billion deal with Lockheed for 126 F-35 jets

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 04/30/2023 - 20:30 in Military

Lockheed Martin received a $7.8 billion contract on Friday for 126 of its F-35s, completing a $30 billion contract to provide the fighters to the U.S. military and allies, the Pentagon announced.

It was the final installment of the megacontract for a total of 398 F-35 jets. The latest batch of the world's most expensive weapons system includes 77 planes for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marines, as well as smaller numbers for the allies Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Denmark.

The funding was postponed until Congress approved the final version of the government spending bill for this fiscal year in December. Friday's award is the latest F-35 contract in what is designed to be a $412 billion acquisition program for about 3,000 planes to the U.S. and other countries.

The concession - the 17th production contract - culminates months of intense negotiations for three production batches under which the Department of Defense reduced the number of jets ordered. Before the start of negotiations, the Department of Defense had said it could buy up to 485 of the jets.

Boosting Lockheed

On the positive side for Lockheed, the international profile of the F-35 has never been higher. Global interest has increased due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and increased tensions with China. South Korea has indicated that it wants more jets, and two U.S. Air Force F-35 units have carried out deterrent patrols in Europe.

The F-35 accounted for 26% of Lockheed's $15.1 billion sales in the first quarter. On March 30, 899 jets were delivered to customers in the U.S. and abroad, Lockheed said.

The signing of the contract is a boost for Lockheed, whose aerospace division has been struggling with supplier problems and rising costs after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Twelve military services around the world have declared the F-35 operational, and the Pentagon and Lockheed, based in Bethesda, Maryland, have reduced a list of unresolved problems.

The number of “open disability reports” is now 831, the F-35 program office said, down from 845 in September 2021. At the beginning of last year, the total was 864, including eight defects of "Category 1" considered the most serious to fly, safety of flight operations or both.

On the negative side, the excess costs in a project to upgrade the cabin computer hardware increased an additional 236 million. The projected cost of the project is now almost double the original contract of $712 million.

The delivery of the first F-35 with updated hardware, crucial for the advanced capabilities of the fighter, can be postponed for another year, until April 2024 - placing it 16 months later than originally planned.

Source: Bloomberg

Tags: Military AviationF-35 Lightning IILockheed Martin

Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work throughout the world of aviation.

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[aussiesportscorner]

Bazball, A flash in the pan or something bigger?

Read this article on my WordPress: here

News came out of Pakistan that England had scored a whopping 506 runs on the first day of the Test in 75 overs. This beat the record for most runs on Day 1 of a Test, which has stood since 1910, and likely would’ve seen the all-time record of a combined 588 runs on day 2 of the 2nd 1936 Test between England and India had bad light not stopped the final 15 overs from happening.

Just as a comparison on what could be considered an easy-to-bat-on pitch in Perth, Western Australia, the Australians made 598 runs in almost 153 overs, over double the number of overs over 2 days against what would be a less dangerous bowling attack than Pakistans in the West Indies, an amalgamation of Caribbean countries.

Let’s go even further with this, a One Day game between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan finished after 99 and two-thirds of an over scoring 627 runs total. One Day games have fielding restrictions which open up the batting and allow for more aggressive scores. 627 divided by 99.67 is approximately 6.29 runs an over. The Australians in their test match had a scoring rate of approximately 3.92 runs an over, much more in line with what you’d expect over a 5-day test match. The English? They were scoring 6.75 runs an over on the first day of the test.

The English Cricket team has been known for this type of aggression batting in test matches since Brendon “Baz” McCullum became Head coach of the test team in May 2022. This was after the 2021-22 Ashes series in Australia, in which England lost the 5-match series 4-0. Such is the way of the test side right now, that the England side that won the Twenty20 World cup in November last month, a cautious but still striking the ball at over a run a ball score of 52 English Test captain Ben Stokes in the final, led to fellow player Jos Buttler joking  “If he batted like that in a Test match he’d drop himself”. For the record, England’s runs per over in that game? 7.26.

The question is, should Australia be worried that England is just dominating Pakistan right now? Not yet at the very least, Pakistan are yet to bat, so we are yet to see how much the pitch is contributing to England’s batting, however, England does have a home series vs Australia in the middle of next year, and recent Australian tours of England have not proven fruitful for us, the best we have managed in recent years is the 2019 2-2 drawn series, meaning we retained the Ashes and left England for the first time since 2001 with the trophy.

But with England being able to sustain this way of batting in test matches since McCullum’s takeover of the helm and notably aggressive batter Ben Stokes becoming Test Captain, I would not be holding my breath for a successful 2023 Ashes Campaign for the Australians.

If you liked this article, please consider supporting me on Ko-fi at Ko-fi.com/shamuswhite

#cricket #test match #england vs pakistan #bazball

[hools]

FINAL BATCH OF ARTFIGHT ATTACKS!!! characters belong to @dandelionrabbits, @shrimplovercat, @henrose, @rukafais respectively!!!!!!!

#my art #others' ocs #my ocs #butterscotch #junie #catti #crispy #jae-sung #artfight #artfight 2021 #THATS ALL FOLKS #15 attacks total this year!!!!!!! almost double than last year #i spent a lot more time on these this year and im proud of how many i put out and how they all turned out!!! #I ALSO APPRECIATE ALL THE ATTACKS IVE GOTTEN THIS YEAR T_T 50 SO MANY #ppl were popping off this year. love love love

[collecting-stories]

Shit Talk - JJ Maybank

Request: Hi !! can i please get a boyfriend JJ Maybank x kook!reader, she decides its time for JJ to meet her kook friends knowing that they’ll like him but they ended up liking him a little too much because all they did was flirt & compliment him and they also kept embarrassing reader infront of JJ to make them seem better than her? Basically fake friends trying to steal your gorgeous boyfriend out of jealousy and reader starts to cry because of this and JJ gets angry!! 😭❤️❤️

Outer Banks Masterlist

-

JJ slammed the door on your suv as he got out, eyes already on the large plantation style home you were parked in the horseshoe driveway of. Despite the sunglasses he was wearing he shielded his eyes as he stared at the opposing building. “Can we talk about why you’re forcing me to come to this party if you hate all the people here?”  

“Cause they’re my friends from school. Sarah will be there too, I don’t hate Sarah.” You reasoned, grabbing the card for your friend’s birthday and making sure you had everything else on you. Keys tossed to JJ over the hood of the car as you slammed your own door shut. He slipped the lanyard around his neck.  

“No, but you constantly bitch about everyone else.”

“It’s cause they’re the worst.” You shrugged. And they were truly the worst people you knew. Like all the mean girls from every teen drama rolled into one ultimate evil entity, these girls were literal demons but you were obligated, through school hierarchy and the desire to not ruin your social standing, to attend social gatherings like birthday parties. And you’d been blowing them off lately to spend all your time with JJ.  

“But we’re going?”

“Yes.”

“I’m so confused.” JJ confessed, “you know if you don’t like someone, don’t hang out with them.”

“Says the most likable person I know.” You grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the front door.  

“Hey, just cause everyone likes me but that doesn’t mean I hang out with people I don’t like. Except you…but I really needed a new phone so-“  

You stopped to turn and smack his arm, a fake gasp leaving your lips as if you were truly offended by his teasing. “JJ! Shut up. You’re such a jerk.”

“And yet you like me.”

“Maybe.” You shrugged, “I’m good at faking it.”

“I’ve seen you with people you don’t like…you’re incapable of fake nice.” He replied.  

“Prepare to be amazed.” You leaned up, closing your eyes and pressing your lips to his for a kiss only to be interrupted by the door opening and the distinct squeal of your most hated friend. You pulled away and turned around so fast you practically gave yourself whiplash.  

“Oh my god you made it!” Scarlett bounced out of the house, wide smile on her face as crossed the threshold and wrapped you in a tight hug. Despite dry hair and skin that looked like she’d just applied a layer of body shimmer her bikini was slightly damp against your cover-up.  

“Hey! So sorry we’re late I was halfway out the door when I saw myself in the bathing suit I was gonna wear and had to change…it was not cute.”  You lied, returning the hug. You’d pit stopped first to buy a last-minute card and take money from the atm and then to get coffee. As you had reasoned with JJ, there was no way you were surviving this pool party without caffeine in your system.  

“Lies, you look good in everything.” Scarlett insisted though she’d definitely sung a different tune in the past. Her eyes landed on JJ as she stepped back and she smiled, “whose this?”

“Oh, duh, this is my boyfriend JJ, I figured when better to introduce everyone than at Ashley’s party.” You offered, stepping aside so you weren’t blocking him.  

“For sure,” She did a once over of him like he was merchandise and JJ only smiled, biting his tongue to stop himself from saying anything you would be pissed at him for. He would save his comments for the sanctity of the car. “Well I’m Scarlett, there’s a lot of people here so if you forget just let me know and I’ll tell you.”  

“Awesome.” He replied. Scarlett grabbed his free hand, pulling him away from you and beginning to drag him inside the house as you followed behind. He looked back at you, mouthing an ‘I’m gonna kill you.’

‘Airpods’ You mouthed back, ‘and you love me.”

He shook his head, a grim expression on his face but you knew he was only joking.  

-

Despite the entire crowd being contained to the outside pool deck and yard you lost Scarlett and JJ relatively easily. Or, Scarlett lost you so she could spend quality time cozying up to your boyfriend. While you felt bad leaving him to the wolves while you found the drink table and chatted with Sarah, you weren’t too worried about him otherwise. You had heard all about JJ’s past womanizing from a wealth of jealous pogues but you didn’t have any doubt that he was faithful.  

He was a great boyfriend, better than any guy you’d dated before. Too good to be subjected to a round table of Scarlett, Ashley, and their friends. So you grabbed yourself a drink and headed over to save him.  

“Oh my god and one time-” Scarlett’s voice died off as she saw you getting closer to them and she smiled at you in faux excitement, “oh hey!”

“Hey,” you nodded at her before turning to look at JJ, “hey there you are.”  

“We were just getting to know JJ. You know, vet him and all.” Scarlett replied, leaning over her armrest to grab JJ’s arm. He shrugged her off and shifted in his seat.

“Exciting.”

“You wanna sit?” He asked, tilting his head back to look at you, pleading eyes begging you to sit down.  

“Oh I don’t think there’s a chair.” Ashley piped up, looking around the table. Four other girls occupied the chairs around them.  

“No problem, I’ll make do.” You tapped on the arm of JJ’s chair, smiling at Ashley when he moved the chair so that you could comfortably sit on his lap. He put and arm around your waist to keep you secured and laid a kiss on the side of your neck.  

“Oh, good.” Scarlett forced a smile, jaw tense. “Anyway, I was just telling JJ, do you remember that time in 8th grade when we went on that double date to the ice rink on the mainland.”  

You paled almost immediately. She was really going to play that game. “Uh…no.”  

“Oh my god!” Scarlett turned more toward JJ, wide smile on her face, “First of all, she was so chubby in 8th grade like thank god for hitting the gym and doing those CrossFit classes cause you looked like a potato. Plus she ate like everything! Do you remember that? You had like a hotdog and fries and ice cream and then we were skating and she said she didn’t feel good and she blew chunks all over the guy! Who was it, I can’t remember his name?”  

“I have no idea.” You replied.  

“Oh my god I totally remember that!” Ashley laughed. “Someone videoed it and put it up on the school’s insta...it was hilarious.”  

“Doesn’t really sound it.” JJ said, grip tightening.  

“You’re way cuter than he was anyway,” Ashley mentioned, “I think he was like a family friend or something. And you’ve stuck it out too, how long have you guys been dating?”  

“Three months.”  

“It’s good it’s the summer. You can get out before you have to experience hibernation weight.” Scarlett added and the other girls around the table laughed at the joke. You smiled nervously, trying to look unbothered by what they were saying. You should have known that the moment you sat down the attack would start, Scarlett had her eye on JJ the minute she walked out of the house.  

“What?” JJ was not laughing.  

“Oh my god, I don’t know what she does but she always gains like…what is it? Like 15 pounds?”

“Yeah.” You nodded.  

“Like 15 pounds in the winter.”  

“Yeah get her while she’s still cute cause you are way too hot to spend time stuck with someone who bloats up every winter.” Ashley replied.  

“I can’t believe I haven’t seen you around, Ashley’s right you’re super hot.”  

Suddenly Ashley smiled, reaching across the table to tap the space in front of you and get your attention. “Oh, oh my god do you remember okay, so this one time-“  

“Actually, I gotta go. I got work.” JJ said, cutting her off. He bounced his knee to signal for you to get up, “babe,”

“Yeah, of course, I’ll see you guys later.” You stood, trying to remember if JJ had told you that he had a shift today. You couldn’t think but then your mind was swimming with their insults. You were only vaguely aware of JJ grabbing your hand.  

“Seriously? You’re ditching in the middle of the party?” Scarlett asked, offended that he was leaving and even more so that he was leaving with you.  

“Yeah well,” JJ shrugged, looking over at her, “if I stay any longer I’ll probably punch one of you in the mouth so, not really in the mood to sit around and listen to you bullshit about my girlfriend.”  

“We were just joking!” Ashley insisted, “Weren’t we joking?”  

“I wasn’t laughing.” JJ replied. He tugged on your hand when you didn’t move, “come on.”  

The two of you excited the backyard and made it all the way to your car, JJ slipping in the driver’s side as you sat in the passenger seat, still trying not to have an absolute meltdown in front of him. And in front of the security cameras they would probably check later just to see if they made you cry.  

“Thanks…” You muttered, leaning against the window.  

“You weren’t kidding, they are the worst.” JJ replied as he backed down the driveway. In the santity of the car he could say what was actually on his mind and it was extensive.  

“I know.” You did know, you’d been dealing with it since you were in kindergarten and Scarlett told you that you had fat thighs. “Scarlett’s known me forever so she has years of embarrassing stories.”  

JJ nodded. He took one hand off the wheel and reached over to hold your hand. “You know I think you’re beautiful right?”  

“Yes.”  

“Yes you know and believe me or yes I don’t want to talk about it anymore so I’m agreeing with you?” He asked, glancing over at you.

You bit your lip to stop from smiling, “if you know which one it is, why are you asking?”

“Cause I want it to be the first one?” He said. “Those girls are seriously the worst.”  

“Well I hang out with them less now that Kie goes to school with me but I still have to see them sometimes. I can’t avoid it.”

“Yeah I know.”  

“Thanks for coming, and for saying you’d punch them in the mouth.” You said, laughing a little as you recalled the horrified look on Ashley’s face when he said that.  

“Them and anyone else who talks shit on you.” He replied.  

-

taglist: @maplelattes22 @poguesrforlife  @freckled-and-daydreaming  @chasefreakinstokes@millie-753 @fangirlwithme @alex12948 @katherine097 @tangledinsparkles@tragicmisfits @carbonated-beverage @mariofgreengables @damonsalvawhore27@dopedoodes @dolanfivsosxox @belledutchess @poguelifeeee @faded-blue @parkerpetertingle @thebookwormlife @summer-clouds-and-long-days@jellyfishbeansontoast @minigranger @hoewkeye @love-someone-special @tiredfeels @strangerthanfanfiction713 @the-only-nana@tomzfrog @mozz-are-lla @vindictive-hearts @poguestyleskye @ssprayberrythings @jenahbell @beautyandthebleh @lavenderxraindrops @gothackedalready  @teenwaywardasgardian @sarahcxmeron @haha-fuck-you-thot @stillbelieve398-5 @rewindlr @queenniccimicci @thedarkqueenofavalon @alytavzla @bqmblebee @linniep @nerdypartytrashpsychic @xxchxrryxx @spencer-reid-is-a-cutie @mirjanak @danielladreaming @obx-saltlife @youngestxhearts @spnobsessedmemes @wowitswondergurl @celestialmaybank @mybnkjj @averagxfangirl@mysterious-adventurer @justawilddreamerchild @rhyetaylor62 @calm-rejects @99sxuxii@oh-annaa @katiaw2 @aiifandomsunite @marteenuhh08 @x-lulu @ceruleanjj @wicked-laugh @obxwriterfan @justkeepdreamingswift @allie-mcginn@pcterparxer @literarycharleton @khiaraaa-in-spacee @crushe-s @teamnick @daydreamlilys @collectiveuniverses @activist-af @mdgrdians @buckys-sunflower @vindictive-hearts @copper-boom @jolomez @timotaychalabae

#jj maybank x you #jj maybank x reader #jj maybank #jj maybank fanfic #JJ Maybank fic #JJ maybank fluff #jj maybank fanfiction #jj maybank imagine #jj fic #jj fanfic #JJ Imagine #jj x reader #jj fanfiction #obx jj x reader #obx jj maybank #obx imagine #obx fanfic #obx fanfiction #obx fic #outer banks fic #outer banks imagine #outer banks fanfiction #outer banks fanfic #collecting stories imagine

[painted-crow]

Secondary Toast Revolving Door, Part 1

I guess I should start with a little about me, since that’s easier than making you pick through previous asks for information and some of you guys are new here. This one’s going to be heavily personal, so you can skip it if you want.

I’m a double Bird. My Bird primary system is heavily Badger influenced, and I also use Lion to support it by telling me when I should investigate something more closely. If we can dip into primary territory for a moment, I guess you can say I understand the world through systems that model things around me. But not all of those systems are things I’ve consciously examined, or fully investigated.

My understanding of how historical people dressed is pretty limited, for example, because I haven’t studied it in depth to get all the information—but I consciously understand what I do know about it. You could say this system piece is tiny but clear; I could expand it if I chose to find out more.

My understanding of how someone I’m not close to thinks might have more data to work with, but I haven’t consciously processed it; that’s the kind of thing where my Lion primary model will tell me to look closer if that person starts acting weird. This system piece might be described as huge but fuzzy; I could clarify it if I sat down and thought about it. I probably have more of these than I realize, but Lion basically takes care of monitoring those. I don’t have to investigate everything.

But some of my systems are both large and fairly clear, because I’ve taken the time both to gather data on them and to examine it. My understanding of myself is… well, I won’t say it’s terribly clear, because I’m in my early twenties and I’m still constantly getting new information, plus someone keeps changing the environment and mucking with my data (that would be me). But I have to examine it, because my brain is like a notoriously buggy piece of software and I’m the poor schmuck saddled with tech support duties.

Basically, the reason I’m good at playing therapist with other people is that I’m constantly doing exactly that thing with myself. (This probably makes me a very annoying patient for actual therapists.)

About that buggy brain, then.

I have major depression. That was professionally diagnosed when I was a teenager and it’s probably genetic. I take medication for it, when I remember to. It especially flares up in the winter or when I’m under stress. I probably have some kind of anxiety disorder too.

I’m almost certainly autistic, which I’ve never brought up with a professional—the first person to figure it out was the system I’m now best friends with, because they’re autistic and they knew I was within two weeks of talking to me. It took me two years to catch up with them and figure it out myself.

In my defense, I thought executive dysfunction, sensory overwhelm, dissociation, and hyperempathy were like… secret menu items for depression, because those only really bug me during depressive episodes. My current theory is that they’re related to autistic burnout instead.

I mask a lot, subconsciously—it’s actually really hard to turn that off normally—and I just can’t do that as much when depressed. If I do, my tolerance for everything else goes way down and I’ll go into overwhelm and start having shutdowns and dissociating. I recover pretty quickly (hours, not days), but if you’ve never spent 15 minutes standing in a Walmart aisle trying to decide whether you want a jar of peanut butter, but you can’t make decisions because you can’t access your emotions and you don’t really feel like you’re “here” but you kind of just want to go home… well, be glad I guess.

Of course, I have other autistic traits that show up when I’m not under stress, but they’re seldom associated with autism because most people don’t know what autis are like when we’re actually happy. Like, hyperlexia? That’s not even an “official” word, the auti community just uses it because “official” literature hasn’t caught up. I taught myself to read at age three (according to my mom; she says I was reading news headlines and stuff, not just books I’d memorized) and wrote a 35k word novella when I was ten, with no external prompting. My audio processing used to be terrible, but I routinely tested at college age reading levels as a kid.

I also might have ADHD? If so, it’s also mostly just noticeable if I’m under stress, and then it’s hard to tell if that’s the issue or if it’s just autism/depression again.

You might be getting a clearer picture of how my secondary and its model end up burnt so often!

(Resisting a very strong urge to cut stuff from this post.)

In short, I was a Gifted Kid. I spent a lot of my teen years biting off more than I could chew, honestly. I felt that I should be able to do more, and I wanted to be taken seriously, but I had basically no idea how to take care of myself because my needs are different from everyone else’s. I’m still figuring those out.

I’m kind of like an orchid plant: incredibly picky about conditions, wants a different “soil” and watering schedule, gets stressed if stuff changes too quickly, but when everything is just right and it does bloom, it goes all out.

I’m not kidding when I say that I have odd needs. One of them is the need for creative work, which seems to be hardwired into me. When I say that art or writing keeps me sane, I often hear back “oh yeah! I’ve heard that can be very therapeutic,” which is an innocuous reply, but it’s always bugged me, and I think I’ve figured out why.

First, because that’s not the reason I make things… I just… have to. Second, I can’t “make up” not doing creative work with some other kind of therapy. Third and most importantly, I’d much rather think of “artist” as my ground state, and depression as a condition that happens when my needs aren’t being met, rather than thinking of depression as the default that I’m just using art to escape from. That seems to me a healthier way of thinking, and probably a more accurate one, but I’m probably the only one who can see that distinction.

If life gets in the way and I can’t make space for creative work, it will actively make my depression worse. I know this because, multiple times, I’ve been unable to pinpoint why I’m feeling shitty, and then I go back to my easel or my writing or (ukulele, cooking, even just taking care of houseplants) and realize I haven’t done anything creative in like a month and thaaaat’s the problem.

I crack open a bottle of gesso to prep some canvases and it smells like… well, I don’t think you can get high off gesso? But it’s not like when you’re out of it on painkillers or cold medicine or whatever. It’s incredibly grounding, like the world snaps back into focus but it’s also oddly euphoric. Or I write ten thousand words in a couple days and it just… I don’t know what that does. I’ve never run across a word for it.

The writer of Smile at Strangers (a really good memoir centered around women, anxiety, and karate) describes a similar feeling in relation to her martial arts practice.

It’s also a bit like when all the snow melts after winter and you step outside and there’s the smell of wet soil under sunlight and I’m not sure if this fully translates for people who don’t have seasonal depression. Sorry.

Dammit, I want to paint… I haven’t had space to set up for like eight months. I’ve been nose-deep in writing projects since last summer for a reason, but right now my friggin Ravenclaw secondary is off angsting about something because of Life Stress Bullshit, and I don’t have the focus to work on any of my writing projects. Apart from this one. But it’s not really what I want in terms of creative work.

*velociraptor screech*

Oh, yeah. I guess I could mention this is why my nickname is Paint. Not sure if that was obvious before. The header image (which is more visible in the app for some reason) is one of my paintings. It’s a tiny one and it’s not one of my favorites, but I had the photo on my phone and the colors work well enough for what I needed.

(restrains self from negging my own painting ability)

This is starting to get into spoiler territory for what burned Ravenclaw secondary looks like, huh? It’s peaced out for a couple weeks at this point. I’m trying to write about what made it take off, but my ability to think of words and form a coherent sentence kinda flew out the window when I approached it directly.

Let’s just say that around the start of the month, someone I was talking to online (if you’re reading this, it’s definitely not you) kindaaaa hit a nasty depression trigger of mine. Not their fault—it’s very specific to me, and I struggle to explain why I can’t really talk about it. Basically, I spent years studying programming and web design, and due to several different but related issues during that experience, it’s now a trigger for me. I very much want it not to be, but trying to train that out of myself has induced more than one panic attack and I’m stuck between giving up on it or figuring out a way to go back to it that doesn’t totally shut my brain down.

That paragraph took forever to write, by the way.

I think I have to end this here. I… am going to go take out the trash, and water my plants, and make my bed, and file some paperwork, and maybe I’ll even mix up some bread dough or do some laundry. Spoiler alert for what it looks like when my Hufflepuff model takes over, I guess.

Oh. And I should maybe probably eat something. I almost forgot about that... again.

#sortinghatchats #time to overshare on the internet i guess #secondary toast revolving door #mental health #burned ravenclaw secondary #hufflepuff secondary model #ravenclaw primary #paint speaks

[beck-a-leck]

Fanfic Writer 20 Questions

Tagged by @thychesters Thanks Kate!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

56 on my main page, plus 5 others that are secret (aka Anonymous and don't show up in the count)

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

772,412

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

~10, I have a lot of sub-fandoms as part of a larger fandom. Including but not limited to: Star Wars, Story of Seasons/Harvest Moon, Rune Factory, MCU, and many moons ago Voltron, Transformers, and Harry Potter.

4. What are your top 5 fics by Kudos?

[Redacted Anonymous fic] at 1218

Aggressive Negotiations at 312

Wells of Silence at 287

[Redacted Anonymous fic] at 280

Weekend Guests at 209

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do! Or at the very least, I try to respond to as many comments as I can. I love being able to strike up conversation with my readers, and wallow in angst with them for a while. At the very least, I like letting them know I appreciate their feedback.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Hmmm... that's probably the fic where I gave Anakin Skywalker an almost happy ending; twins, husband, you know the drill. And then I violently took pretty much all of that away. Killed Obi-Wan, killed the twins, left her with a heaping pile of survivor's guilt. That's probably my angiestiest fic.

But also, I write rather a lot of angst, so...

There's also the one where I gave a child 23 older sisters, and then had them slowly and painfully die off, leaving her alone as the sole survivor. (Star Wars)

And there's the one where I detailed how an 8 year old accidentally killed his brother, thus screwing up everything so badly, the whole timeline had to be erased. (Loki)

And, well, Wells of Silence IS a canon compliant AU. And we all know how Revenge of the Sith ends.

Writing angst is fun okay!

7. Do you write crossovers?

Not really, no. Usually only when I'm messing around and being goofy, or if I'm combining a lot of sub-fandoms from a larger fandom group. But I don't really count those as true crossovers.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nothing specific comes to mind. I'm pretty sure years ago (and I mean like well over a decade at this point) I got trolled/hate on a fic by someone who was out to attack me specifically. I remember deleting the fic, and beginning to distance myself from the fandom. but obviously it didn't stop me from writing so... jokes on them. 😂

Otherwise, more recently I can only think of instances where people have used my fic comments as an excuse to vent about canon things they hate thinking they'll find a sympathetic ear, or got 5+ chapters into a long fic before saying 'it feels unrealistic that this character would do these things' to which I'm pretty sure I just shrug and don't respond.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I don't really write fanfic smut, no. It's not really my thing, and I'm happy cutting things off at an M/PG-13 rating for sexy times.

That being said, I have written non-fanfic smut before. No I'll never share it. It is well and truly laughably terrible.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

To my knowledge, no I haven't.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Many, many, many years ago @jessi-08 and I co-wrote and absolute crack fic for Jak and Daxter. It was deliriously fun times. But in a more ""serious"" capacity, no I have not.

13. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Nobody? I guess?? I'm not much of a shipper, really. I enjoy reading and writing ship-content, but I've never really felt devoted to any single ship in any fandom. I'm a multi-shipper? Omni-shipper? Basically, if the fandom can bring its A-game to a ship, I'll probably quite enjoy it.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I mean, there are a couple dozen unfinished WIPs in my writing folder that I keep around with the intention of maybe finishing them, but deep down I never will. But also, none of those are posted.

Thinking of where I am and how my fandom interests have shifted, I'm probably never gonna finish Weekend Guests. And I stubbornly refuse to admit that Dust and Ashes is dead, but also, I haven't touched it in years, and kinda forgot what I wanted to include in the story. 😬

15. What are your writing strengths?

Oh gosh... (what is this question? I can't say nice things about myself)

I guess I would say my scene setting. I love spelling out descriptions and providing the sensory experience when I can in the scenery. Otherwise, probably my ability to sink my angst claws into people and hurt their feelings with words about fictional characters while I torture them worse than canon does (usually)

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Sticking to a goddamn regular posting schedule. I try not to get too wrapped up in writing regularly, so as to not punish myself for doing (or not doing) something that's supposed to be fun and relaxing for me. but damn I look at those WIPs that haven't been updated in months and I can't help but feel guilty.

Also, tied in with the above, starting too many projects before finishing up something else.

Also action scenes. and romance.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

It can work, I think, if it's done well. But usually, it's not done well, and it just feels clunky or tossed in for "spice." But like... pet names/nicknames in a native tongue, I am so weak for those! And it can also be a fun way to drop hints/foreshadowing, but as a bonus for the people who speak the language.

Idk, I'm not fluent enough in any language to feel like I have any definitive voice in the matter. I typically don't add other language dialogue because I don't trust google translate.

And if I'm writing for Star Wars, and it's an alien language anyways, I'm not digging that deep into the lore to construct a fictional language. That shit gets Universally Translated babey!

18. What was the first fandom you ever wrote for?

Jak and Daxter my beloved! I'll never let you go! Every five years or so, I'll spit out a new fic for you 💜

19. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Oh no! I can't pick favorites! Don't do this to me!

Wells of Silence still sits up in my top 5, for a number of reasons.

Another of my tops is actually one of my Anonymously posted fics, so I will not mention name or fandom, but it is very beloved.

And they've been on the forefront of my mind, so I've got a soft spot for Earth and Rebirth and Our Dear Empress

20. Who do you tag?

Hmmm, let's see. @durotoswrites, @jake-marshall, @lookforaspoopynewangle (I know kate tagged you, but consider yourself double tagged), @jessi-08, and... I have all of a sudden gone completely blank on which of my mutuals writes fic 😂😬 (i only slept for 3 hours last night. leave me alone. my brain is swiss cheese.)

As always, if you want to play along, you are more than welcome to say I tagged you!

#tag games #becky writes things #writing #fanfiction #yes. I see the irony in the fact that my most popular fic and one of my faves is a Secret Fic #No I will not share it

[mycandylovefanatics]

Word count: 2.5K

Genre:Angst maybe

Warnings: May contain !!!SPOILERS!!! for Nath’s route if you don’t already know what exactly Nathaniel is dealing with? So if you haven’t gotten to episodes like 15 or 16 it might give it away but I think at this point everyone knows.

Reading guide: Y/N= Your name, H/C = hair color, E/C= eye color, S/C= Skin color, etc.

Notes:This oneshot is based off of episode 1 for Nathaniel’s route! I really wanted to touch on his inner feelings and what he might be thinking underneath the whole tough guy front he tries to put up. I felt like there was a lot more to it than we actually saw. 

Nathaniel makes his way down the street. He breathes out a long, stress-filled sigh. It had been a long week for him. Multiple meetings with his “boss”, who had him going all over town to finish deals, collect payments and recruit new “customers.” He was tired, and you could see it on his face. He had been told he wouldn’t be needed for the next few days, but that was always bound to change, so he didn’t count on it. He had just finished his last deal of the night, which unsurprisingly happened to be in a really shady part of town. Some months ago, he would have pissed his pants right then and there but after doing this so many times, he walked through these neighborhoods with confidence. The local thugs and buyers knew him and knew him well enough that the last thing they wanted was to get into a fight with him. He wasn’t invincible, but spending the past few years taking boxing classes and going to the gym definitely benefited him in this specific situation. He sighed again, a sleepy wave taking over his body. All he wanted was to get to his house, in the shower and right into bed with Blanche curled up by his side. Soon, he’s walking past the cafe windows. He’s caught up with the beautiful idea of sleep, when his thoughts are interrupted by a voice. 

“LET ME GO!!”

He stops and turns in the direction of the voice, and peers down the alleyway. He can’t see clearly due to the lack of lighting, but it’s no issue to make out the figures of a woman, and two men who are nearly double her size. He sucks his teeth, wondering to himself what girl in their right mind would decide to go down an alley alone at this time of night. He begins walking towards the figures, getting more agitated once he sees the two men refusing to leave the girl be. As he gets closer he recognizes the men, as the two goons he sells and does deals with occasionally, and rolls his eyes. Of course they’d be the ones he’d find in a situation like this. 

“She told you to let go,” he states, firmly.

The two men turn around to face him, puzzled but challenging looks on their faces. The taller man takes a few steps forward and questions, “And who the hell are you?”

Nathaniel gets a bit closer, about to respond, before he inspects the woman to find…you. 

He could almost swear that his heart stopped beating for a moment. You clearly haven’t noticed him yet, but as soon as he sees your fear filled (E/C) eyes, he knows. How could he forget them? The eyes that once looked at him with so much love, the ones he looked to when he was scared, when he felt weak? The eyes that kept him safe? He could no longer count the amount of times he had dreamed about you after you’d left. Less often now, but still every now and then. He’d go to sleep, and suddenly he was staring into your beautiful, bright orbs. 

Only a few seconds go by while he’s trapped in his thoughts but it feels like eternity to him. His face contorts into something of sheer rage as he reveals himself to the two men. 

“LET HER GO IMMEDIATELY!” He is surprised by the volume of his own voice, not realizing how enraged he had actually become. The two thugs back down as soon as they see his face in the moonlight, instantly feeling intimidated. They all knew what would happen if they crossed Nathaniel. Again, he wasn’t invincible, and he sure as hell wasn’t the boss, but neither one of them wanted to get on his bad side, for fear of ending up like the last guy who did. The shorter man puts his hands up in defense. “S-sorry man, we didn’t realize it was you!” 

“Yeah, man. Chill, we’re leaving,” the taller one says as they walk backwards towards the end of the alley before fully turning and sprinting away. Nathaniel has a look of disgust on his face as he watches the two of them leave, but the look is instantly replaced by a look of worry as he stares at you, your arms hugged tightly against your body and looking down at your feet. Your breathing is shallow and you don’t seem to be fully aware of what's happening. He walks up to you, and speaks in a gentle but firm voice. “Are you okay, did they hurt you?” 

No response.

“(Y/N), can you hear me? You must be in shock…” 

You respond, telling him you’re fine before your face perks up in confusion. “Wait… You know my name?” You finally look up at him, trying to make out his features in the darkness.

“(Y/N)... It’s me!” He says, stepping closer to you. Your eyes widen at the realization. 

“Nath?? Nathaniel?!” You exclaim. His eyes soften for a brief moment at the sound of his nickname. Sure, everyone called him that. But you had a sweeter tone with it, and would say it with love. But he pushes those memories to the back of his mind.

“Yep, it’s really me.”

You seem to zone out after he says this, which causes him to worry, but he doesn’t let that show on his face. “Are you okay? You look kind of in shock…”

“N-no, I’m fine. You came at just the right time, I guess…” you say. His stomach clenches at the defeated tone in your voice.

“Yeah looked that way. I’m sorry those assholes were bothering you,” he feels anger rising up again at the thought of the two men bothering you, and he has to stop himself from thinking about the many ways he wants to rip their throats out. He knew the guys he dealt with were shady, and he shouldn’t have been surprised to see them harassing someone, but the fact that they were harassing you, made something click inside him. 

‘“Well if it weren’t for you it probably would have turned out worse. So, thank you.” You look up at him, studying his face as if for the first time, your eyes travel up and down his body, noticing the drastic change in style from when you’d last seen him. You knew he always had a more edgy taste. He’d show that once he had gained freedom from his parents. But he looked just like your typical ‘bad boy’, and you were surprised. 

“You’ve changed quite a bit. I had a hard time recognizing you at first,” you say, still analyzing his face. He notices your eyes dart to the scar on his lip, he’s silently amused at what must be going through your head at that moment. He knew you tended to go with the more crazy, illogical ideas. 

“Yeah, but you’ve changed too!”

“Maybe but, not as much I think,” you reply.

He’s amused by your sudden fixation on his transformation over the years, but something tells him you aren’t all the way there. “Seriously, you just got attacked and you’re trying to play a game of ‘who’s changed more’?” He asks, raising a brow. 

He can see that what just happened is bothering you still, and diverts to another subject.

“You know, it’s cool you’re back in town. I’m surprised, I wasn’t expecting to see you again.”

He says this coolly, but there’s a hesitant tone in his voice. He sees you, he can clearly make out your entire form, but it doesn’t seem real even still. In the back of his mind he keeps thinking that somehow this is a dream, he’s going to wake up and be back in his apartment like it always goes. But the chill breeze on his cheeks let’s him know that this moment is, in fact, real. Your voice brings him back down to earth.

“Yeah, I’m really happy to see that most of the old gang is still around after all these years,” you say.

“Ahh, the gang… There’s definitely one, and unsurprisingly you’d be the one who managed to run into the only scumbags around.” He says ‘scumbags’ with a little more force than he means to, but you don’t pick up on it thankfully.

“Well, I’m glad you were there… seriously…” He can see your mind starting to drift off again.

‘Hey, why don’t we focus on something else?”,he suggests. But you don’t seem to hear him. “(Y/N), should I call the paramedics?” He tries not to let the worry show in his tone. 

“N-no, I think I’m just feeling a bit dizzy, that’s all.”

“Do you want me to walk you home?” 

“No, no… I’ll be fine, but thanks. I should be able to manage the rest of the way alone.”

He grins at this, a small laugh escaping from his lips. He had always loved that about you, even when you were scared you still tried to put up a strong front. He knew that you were still freaked out, but he didn’t try to persuade you to change your answer. He’d let you have your confidence. 

“What a warrior!”, he says while laughing still. “But seriously, if there is ever a next time, run for your life, or scream for help. It’d be a shame for you to get your nose busted before your first week of class even starts.” 

“Oh, come on! I was totally gonna beat their asses!” He laughs in response to this. “ Maybe you’d like a demonstration, Nathaniel?”

His heart flutters at the sound of his name on your lips again, but he quickly regains his composure. “Ooooh, she said my whole first name. I’d better run before the trouble starts,” he says, but then continues. “But seriously, next time run. Don’t try to go looking for a fight.”

You nod your head, and the two of you continue on with your conversation. He asks how you’ve been doing, how long you’d been back. He’s relieved to hear that it’s only been a few days, but still a part of him is disappointed that you didn’t try to get back in touch with him. He understood, but still, wishful thinking he guessed. He learns that you’d enrolled in an art program at the university and a small smile appears on his face. You’d always had a liking for art, even though you weren’t particularly artistic yourself. He remembered you talking about the possibility of that being your focus in school, but shortly after that conversation the two of you decided to part ways. 

Your small talk comes to an end, and he walks off briskly in the direction he came in. He can tell you’re standing there for a moment before he finally hears your footsteps begin to trail off towards the end of the alley way. He desperately wants to keep walking, but something holds him back. He looks over his shoulder to see you disappear around the corner of a building. He tries to force himself to keep going, taking a few steps further down the street, but curses himself when he’s turning around to follow you. He knew he wasn’t going to let you actually walk home alone, but he definitely tried. 

He follows you from a distance, far enough that you don’t hear him, but close enough to be at your side if needed. His eyes watch you closely, and his heart aches at the sudden urge to hold you close. For so long, for so many years you had been his safe haven. You were always there to help him, and at times you were probably the only one to be there for him. Every moment. He had no idea what he would have done throughout high school if you hadn’t been there by his side. He often finds himself wondering, if he would be in the predicament he was in now if you had been around to help him. More times than he could count, he found himself wishing you had stayed, wishing he had found some way to save your relationship. Over time, those wounds grew smaller, but tonight it was as if they had been freshly reopened. He couldn’t recall the nights he had spent having a panic attack, or those first few months when he was constantly paranoid and on edge. It was like his world collapsed as soon as you’d left it, and while he knew it was unhealthy to feel that way, to put that responsibility on you, his feelings didn’t change about it. He had a slight resentment for his friends distancing themselves from him, but he didn’t blame them. He probably would have too if he were anyone else. But you were here and you didn’t know. You didn’t know about the situation he had gotten himself in, you didn’t know about the questionable people he was constantly around and you didn’t know that he was a literal criminal whether he liked to refer to it that way or not. You didn’t know and you didn’t judge him, and as small as that was, it meant the world to him.

You soon made your way through the gates, and he watched as you walked across the campus grounds. He followed you up until you got to the dormitory building and released a breath that he didn’t know he was holding. He stayed there for a bit, just staring at those doors. He hated that all he wanted to do was run in after you, take you into his arms and never let go. He hated that after all these years you still had this effect on him, he hated how small you made him feel. 

He turns on his heels finally and makes his way back to his apartment slower than he initially was. The image of your face runs through his mind over and over again. The light smell of your perfume still wafting through his nose, which he noticed was the same perfume you used before you left. Your hair was still the same length, your eyes still had that same sparkle and his name on your lips still sounded just as sweet. While everything and everyone was changing around him, you were still the same and he loved that. And for such a fleeting moment, he could swear that everything was okay. Because you were here. 

And you made everything okay.

#mcl #mycandylove #mcl oneshot #mycandylove oneshot #mcl headcanons #mcl nathaniel #mclul #mclul nathaniel #nathaniel headcanons #nathaniel #nathaniel oneshot #mclul headcanons #mcl headcanon #mclul headcanon #amour sucre #Corazon de Melon #corazondemelon

[pyrewrites]

Thirteen Days

Entry number 2 into the @bechloe-week Weekley Bechloe mini-challenge. This for the prompt ‘quarantine’.

Ao3

Thirteen Days

It was only day 6 of lockdown but LA already had a death toll. The rising count statewide was actually what finally got the state government to act. It was scary as hell but Chloe was in lockdown with her favorite person in the entire world. Her roommate, up and coming musician, and the girl she had been in love with for nearly a decade, Beca Mitchell.

Chloe suspected that she would have been in a much worse state of mind if not for Beca. Chloe was suffering from information overload on a near-daily basis before lunch. Beca had on more than one occasion hidden both of their phones and laptops behind the locked door to what had originally been designated as Chloe's bedroom but quickly became a guestroom/Beca's home studio space, and removed the batteries from all the remotes except for the blu-ray player that had Netflix to keep Chloe from looking up any more doom and gloom. And Chloe was grateful. Yesterday had been especially bad. Chloe had come across a pair of reports of deaths that blew a hole the size of the 405 in the claims that 'only the elderly and immunocompromised had to worry'. The first was a college athlete without a single health problem. He was the same age Chloe had been the day she met Beca. The second was a 13-year-old girl. She had spent hours curled up in Beca's arms alternating between crying and having panic attacks as the reality of the situation set in. Beca had run a marathon of Disney movies in their shared bedroom the whole rest of the day until Chloe had drifted off to sleep.

The next morning Chloe was making a sizable breakfast of all of Beca's favorites to bring her in bed to thank her for everything she did the day before. She glanced at the clock figuring she had enough time to finish before Beca woke up. She had just finished plating the food and was turning to the fridge to get the orange juice when her entire world stopped at the sound of a violent coughing fit coming from the bedroom. Her mind immediately flashed back to the last time they had gone to the store to stock up when the rumors of the lockdown started getting serious. The store had been packed. Despite all the talk of social distancing, Chloe would have been shocked if there was a total of six feet of open space in the entire store. That had been a week before the lockdown order had been given. Thirteen days ago.

Chloe sprinted to the bedroom. She slammed the door open to find Beca doubled over, still coughing. The covers on the bed had been kicked away from her body. Her face was flushed, which could have been attributed to the coughing fit. But the sheen of sweat over every inch of exposed skin Chloe could see was not the fault of coughing.

“Oh god no,” Chloe whispered. She rushed forward nearly jumping onto the bed. “Beca!”

Her coughing continued. She tried to speak only to cough again before she could form any coherent words. Chloe placed a hand on Beca's forehead only to yank it away from her burning skin. Chloe ran into the bathroom and wet a washcloth with cold water. After a few moments of searching, she found a bottle of cough syrup and a digital thermometer. She dashed back to the bed. She opened the bottle and handed it to Beca then started running the cold washcloth over the back of Beca's neck as she tilted her head back swallowing probably more than the recommended dosage.

“Thank you.” Beca croaked as Chloe wiped over her forehead and face, then down her chest and arms.

  “I'm calling the doctor,” Chloe said. Not saying '  to find out where to get tested'   out loud. But Beca saw the panic growing in her eyes. She turned on the thermometer and waited for it to chime ready. “Open.”

Beca dutifully opened her mouth and closed it again around the annoying plastic and metal probe. As soon as it was in place she watched as Chloe tried her best not to run from the room to get her phone. After several moments she could hear Chloe's voice but couldn't make out what she was saying until she shouted.

“I know the symptoms! They are all over the news and the internet! The last time we were out in public for any reason was thirteen days ago!”

Chloe's voice dropped again but it was obvious she was coming back to the bedroom just as the thermometer beeped.

“Yes, she is running a fever,” Chloe said as she walked up to the bed and plucked it from Beca's mouth. “Shit. It's 100.8, we need to come in today. As soon as possible.”

Beca watched as the tension in Chloe's face started to relax.

“Yes. Both of us. We went to the store to stock up two weeks ago and have been in close contact with each other in our apartment since.” Chloe paused. “Ok. Thank you very much.”

Chloe took the thermometer and the cough syrup back into the bathroom. She swung the door closed behind her so she could lean against the counter and try not to burst into tears. She only managed to stay quiet when she did start crying.

“Chlo?” Came Beca's scratchy voice from the bedroom after several minutes of Chloe not returning from the bathroom.

“Yeah. Just a second.” Chloe called trying to keep her voice even. She wiped at her face and almost considered doing her makeup, but decided that would make it even more obvious since they had both stopped bothering days ago. She slowly pulled open the door and started towards the hallway. “Just stay in bed. I'm going to bring you the breakfast I was fixing.”

Beca started to shuffle pillows around so she could sit up. She had gotten herself set up by the time Chloe returned with her food. She made another trip to get her own breakfast and climbed into bed with Beca.

“What was this for?” Beca rasped.

“I was thanking you for yesterday and all those Disney movies without complaining even once.” Chloe smiled.

“You didn't have too. But I'm glad you did.” Beca said before coughing a few times.

“Our appointment is at one. They have a mini drive-up testing center set up to keep from exposing other people that have other reasons to go to the doctor right now.”

Beca just nodded, not wanting to talk much more than she had to with her throat hurting.

Chloe turned on the tv and started searching Netflix. She turned on something light and kinda mindless to watch while they ate.

After they finished breakfast Chloe went digging in their closet. At the time the lockdown order had gone into effect they hadn't had any orders about wearing masks in public yet, so Chloe hadn't gone looking since they had stocked up enough food for at least another week and a half. She found what she was looking for tucked into a side pocket of her suitcase. She and Beca had joined the Beale family ski trip last year over Christmas. Chloe had gotten them a pair of 'neck warmer ski masks' that looked like a turtleneck that had been removed from its shirt. It could be pulled all the way up over your nose to keep your face warm and Chloe figured that much fabric would be much better than cutting up a t-shirt like the internet was suggesting. But given they weren't even going to have to get out of the car to get tested they might not even need them at all.

Chloe made them some sandwiches and packed them both a lunch because she had no idea how long they might be waiting despite having an appointment. She gathered a clean change of clothes for Beca, who hadn't gotten dressed yet since waking up. All of this in-between sessions of panicked pacing in the living room.

Once Beca was dressed Chloe changed into clothes that were more acceptable to wear in public before hustling Beca out to the car. She ran back inside to grab their packed lunch and took a long slow look around the home that they had built together, fighting back tears again.

Chloe barely heard the music playing in the car as she drove. The trip took less than a quarter as long as she was planning. There were virtually no cars on the road.

  “Is it just me or does it feel like we are in the opening scenes of some post-apocalyptic movie and we are like the last people left on earth?” Beca was the one to say it, which itself said how deserted the roads were.

They pulled up outside the doctor's office at 12:15, a full half-hour earlier that Chloe had expected. She saw a small tent in one corner of the parking lot and every other parking spot around that corner blocked off. She drove over and was waved down by a person in essentially a hazmat suit holding a clipboard. Chloe opened the window less than an inch, just enough to communicate.

“Do you have an appointment?” The person said.

“Yes, we do. Mitchell and Beale for 1 o'clock. Sorry we are early, I honestly didn't give any thought to how little traffic there would be.” Chloe said.

“Don't worry about. Everybody has done the same thing. We will get you taken care of as quickly as possible. Just wait in the car and we will hold up a sign with your name when it's your turn. Go ahead and park over there.” The person pointed to the end of the row in front of them. “Should be about 10-15 minutes.”

“Thank you,” Chloe said as she put the car back in gear. “How are you doing Becs?”

Beca shrugged and reclined her seat a bit before curling up.

Chloe watched as Beca nearly dozed off then turned her attention to the team working their way through the few cars waiting. They moved with a practiced efficiency that both impressed and frightened Chloe. She zoned out watching their movements until the person with the clipboard waved to get her attention. They held up a small whiteboard with Mitchell-Beale written on it. Chloe's heart skipped a beat.

Chloe pulled up to the spot she was directed to and rolled down both windows. The workers checked their temperatures with laser thermometers, that Chloe thought were pretty cool. They had both of them stick out their tongues so they could check their throats. Then they performed the test, which was very unpleasant. Before they let them leave they did a second swabbing of their throats.

“We will call you when the results come in. Good luck.” One of the workers said as they stepped back from the car to let them leave.

Chloe could barely bring herself to smile at them as she rolled up their windows. She didn't say a word the entire drive home.

When they got home they both changed back into more comfortable clothes and Beca crawled back into bed and took a nap. Chloe wanted to climb into bed and just hold Beca, but instead, she quietly closed the door before retreating to the living room, turning on the tv for some sound, and began crying again.

Chloe jerked awake at the sound of metal clanging in the kitchen. She looked around in confusion. The sun was setting outside. A blanket slipped off of her as she sat up awkwardly trying to move with a sore back.

She shuffled out to the kitchen to find Beca setting a pot of water on a burner.

“What are you doing?” Chloe said, her voice still thick with sleep.

“I woke up from my nap and you weren't there. I found you asleep on the couch so I covered you with a blanket and watched some tv for a while. Then I was in the mood for ramen. So here we are.” Beca said. Her voice still rough but it was better than it had been that morning.

“Go sit down,” Chloe ordered. “You are sick. I'll fix your food.”

Beca looked like she was going to object right up until Chloe shot her a look that said Beca wasn't going to win this argument. She stepped away from the stove and headed for the living room.

“And thank you for the blanket,” Chloe whispered as she placed a light kiss on Beca's cheek.

The next two days went much the same. Beca slept a lot. Chloe cried a lot and tried not to think about the sore throat she was starting to develop. Beca continued to be stubborn and tried to take care of herself as often as possible. And Chloe almost as often either ordered or, on three different occasions, physically carried Beca to the couch or bed to get her to stop.

The afternoon of the third day, after an especially bad coughing fit, Chloe broke. She started crying in front of Beca for the first time since she woke up sick days ago.

“Hey hey hey. It's ok Chlo.” Beca said as she gathered Chloe into her arms and started stroking her hair.

“No. It's not ok Beca.” Chloe's voice cracked. “I can't do this without you.”

“Can't do what?”

“This! Everything. My whole life. I can't lose you.” Chloe said between sobs.

“You aren't going to lose me Chlo.”

“You don't know that! And I don't want to live the rest of my life without you.”

“What the hell Chloe?”

“Beca I am trying to tell you that I'm in love with you and I don't want you to die!”

Beca stared opening and closing her mouth for what seemed like an hour.

A phone ringing startled both of them. Beca reached over and picked up her phone from her nightstand.

  “Hello? … Speaking. … I see. … Both of us? … Ok. … Yes, the one on file. … Yes. Thank you.” Beca hung up. After she set down her phone she took a slow deep breath. “Chloe. I love you too. I'm  in   love with you too.”

  “On no. Nononononono.” Chloe started crying again. She grabbed her own phone and started furiously started typing. “Fuck!”

“What?” Beca asked as Chloe started typing again.

“Apparently the courts aren't considered 'essential services' right now. Maybe they haven't locked down Vegas yet.” Chloe said distractedly.

“What are you talking about Chlo?”

“If one or both of us is going to die in the next few weeks I want to die knowing I got to be married to the love of my life.” Chloe looked up at the sound of Beca gasping. And found tears running down her smiling face.

Beca slowly reached out and took Chloe's phone from her.

“How 'bout you take me on at least a few dates first? But first, you need to make a run to the pharmacy at the Ralph's down the street.”

“Wha...but the internet says there's no treatment yet.”

“They ran a preliminary test here, but they have to send it to the CDC to make sure.”

“And...?”

“They came back negative for both of us. The test that came back positive was for strep throat.”

“So you're going to be ok?” A smile started spreading across Chloe's lips.

“Yeah. After a few more days of this fucking sore throat. And you're probably gonna get it too so they sent prescriptions for both of us to the pharmacy.” Beca grinned. “Maybe you can pick up some pizza while you are out and we can have that first date. Unless you still want to jump right to getting married.”

“After all this time it still surprises me that I am in love with such a pain in my ass.” Chloe laughed.

“'All this time'? Just how long have you been in love with me?”

“Think I'm going to let you wonder about that for awhile. I have to make a trip to the store.” Chloe said as she hopped off the bed giggling.

“Now who's the pain in the ass?” Beca called after her as she skipped down the hall. The sound of Chloe's laughter echoed back into the bedroom and it was the most beautiful thing Beca had ever heard...so far.

#bechloe #WeeklyBechloe #Beca Mitchell #Chloe Beale #Pitch Perfect #writing #Pyre Writes #Pyre writes fics #kinda shocked chloe hasn't murdered me in my sleep for this

[cincinnatusvirtue]

The Battle of Kalka River.  The Mongols invade Russia. (May 31st, 1223)

Nomads from the steppes of Eurasia have since the time of antiquity presented a challenge to many of the civilizations that encountered them.  From the ancient Iranian Scythians giving the ancient Greeks and Romans problems on the frontiers of their sphere of influence.  To the later Huns, Avars, Magyars and Turks among others coming in successive waves from the East to West.  All left their imprint on almost everyone who encountered them.  This was by and large due to a style of warfare many had not yet mastered, mounted archery.  A form of light cavalry that doubled as early mounted infantry.  The steppes were an ideal place for equestrian warfare and it is believed to be one of the first places horse domestication took place.  Horses were used in cavalry elsewhere over the ages but on the steppes, those nomads who mastered horse riding and combined it with archery proved very difficult to counter in battle until the age of gunpowder later begin to obscure this type of warfare.  More than any other migration of nomads from the steppe, the Mongols were most successful in their conquests and lasting influence on the world writ large.  They would establish an empire that would be the world’s largest contiguous empire, albeit as a continual and united empire it was short lived, but even later in its varied sub divisions it would be influential.

The Mongols arose from what is modern day Mongolia, sandwiched between Northern China and Eastern Russia (Siberia).  The Mongols were in fact made of a number ethnolinguistically related troops that inhabited a variety of environments and terrain from forested valleys to deserts and most famously the sprawling and rolling hilly terrain of the steppe.  In this environment, Mongols bred and raised their most important asset, the horse.  The Mongol horse was not the heaviest nor the fastest horse in the world, especially in comparison to others but it was one of the most robust endurable horses in existence and this would be a difference maker for the Mongols.  This robust stamina was the result of breeding and existing on the diverse terrain of Mongolia’s forests, mountains, deserts and grasslands.  The grasslands provided them their sustenance and the Mongol horse was able to travel great distances and adapt to many climates and types of geography due to the tests on its endurance at home.  In turn, the Mongol horse provided the Mongol warrior unprecedented distances traveled in any season and type of weather.

The Mongols in addition to their horses specialized in horse mounted infantry, they held regular archery contests to practice marksmanship and even learned to shoot arrows on horseback while facing in reverse. More impressively, they timed loosening the arrow while all the horse’s hooves were off the ground at once as this improved accuracy and had a steadying effect on the trajectory of the projectile.  Mongols would adapt other styles of warfare too, including some heavy cavalry with heavier armor and lances and swords, they also developed infantry consisting of archers and artillery for sieges but their most effective form of warfare proved to be horse mounted archers.  The Mongol bow was known as a composite bow, not especially large but made of flexible bone and sinew mixtures making them more flexible and robust when compared to the wooden large longbows of Europe and elsewhere.

The Mongols were somewhat divided for centuries living as many different tribes but in the late 12th century would unite under the rise of a warlord whose father was murdered when he was a boy and then raised in times of captivity and freedom in harsh conditions.  His name was Temujin Borjigin or better known to history as Genghis Khan.  He managed to unite the Mongol tribes through warfare and diplomacy and in addition to being a capable warrior he proved to be an even more adept politician and leader of men.  He would unite the Mongol tribes into a more singular polity that would become the Mongol Empire, reigning as the Great Khan or Emperor.  His main focus was the unity and stability of his people.  He set many of the core tenets that defined the Mongol Empire.  Genghis believed in a relatively meritocratic society, one where individuals with excellent skill sets could rise to important positions within the empire regardless of dint of birth.  His major caveat was they must be loyal.  Loyalty and hospitality went hand in hand with merit.  Violations of this code of ethics was to the Mongols the ultimate insult.  Genghis not only implemented his meritocracy among the Mongols but among the various peoples they would encounter and come to conquer.  Various military specialists along with artisans and talent in a variety of fields would be utilized.  He also established a level of religious and domestic tolerance.  

The Mongol Empire wasn’t typically one of direct mass occupation and colonization like in the ancient Roman sense.  The Mongols tended to make vassals of the peoples they conquered and ruled with varying degrees of direct or indirect rule.  The internal policy and cultural practices of subjugated peoples were respected with some degree of occupation and Mongol presence so long as the tenets of loyalty and respect to the Great Khan were adhered to.  More overtly this meant vassal leaders had to pay their monetary tribute or tax, attend meetings when summoned and provide auxiliary troops when demanded by the Khan, so long as this was obeyed, typically the Mongols left everyone to their day to day devices.  When matters were deemed to be of interest to the Khan he and his subordinates would typically demand the vassal adhered to their summons, if disobedient they would be punished.  The Mongols sought to rule through fear and intimidation and to pacify enemies through mind games and a fearsome reputation that would keep their vassals and opponents in line.  To resist was to be subjected to near total anhilation on the battlefield and within sacked settlements.  The Mongols are believed to have killed peoples in the tens of millions during their various conquests and military expeditions.  10-15 million in the Iranian plateau alone are believed to have been killed.  Nevertheless, tolerance was again practiced so long as the Mongol code of honor and loyalty were respected.  Buddhism, Islam & Christianity among others were all found to be practiced by those under the Mongol yoke with religion varying widely by region.  In time the Mongol Empire spanned from the Korean Peninsula in the East to the reaches of Poland and Hungary in the West and from the steppes Central Eurasia in the North to the jungles of northern Vietnam in the South.  The Mongols themselves started out practicing a form of paganist shamanism that incorporated animal and ancestral worship as well as worship to a great sky god, it was known as Tengrism.  This religion would be relatively common among the various steppe peoples over the ages.

Genghis Khan had famously by the early decades of the 13th century and in quick fashion conquered much of China and Central Asia with his 4 sons serving as subordinates along with other capable generals known as Noyans.  Genghis had also done much to establish capable military force that played to the Mongols best strengths which mirrored the robust qualities of their horses.  For starters the Mongols needed a system of command which allowed for greater mobility and tactical flexibility.  It needed to adapt to many environments and cover great distances and rely on a lot of initiative. A structure delineating the number of men in a particular unit of the army in sizes of tens (arban), hundreds (zuun), thousands (mingghan) and then tens of thousands (tumen).  This allowed the armies to have a clear command structure that was numerically consistent generally and could have operational flexibility and divide into groups for varied purposes, small groups for infiltration, reconnaissance and skirmishing.  While larger bodies of troops would strategically divide as needed to cover more ground and operate separately but yet supportive of the greater mission.  Mongol troops provided their own horses, roughly 3-4 on campaign and took turns using the horses over great distances, this rotation allowed each horse to cover ground while not exerting as much force with a human on it, allowing the other to replenish for use in battle and to replace those lost.   The soliders lived off horse’s milk and even blood to help with their food.  Plentiful grasslands on the steppe, kept their horses stocked with endless food supplies.  The Mongols emphasized mobility on a strategic and tactical level.  Their horses due to their robust nature could cover 100 miles in a day in suitable terrain whereas most armies of the day could only cover a fraction of that coverage.  Mongols also emphasized intelligence, often years in advance of a campaign, learning through trade on the intercontinental trade routes of the Silk Road all they could about the culture and military prowess of peoples in faraway lands.  The Mongols gathered this data and used it to calibrate how effective opponents would be against their own tactics. 

Mongol tactics were indeed built around horse archery and indeed played to their particular strengths, speed, deception, surprise and psychological warfare at which they were adept.  One psychological element was to attack opponents in winter as a preferred time of year.  Usually, armies were used to a limited fighting season due to the difficulties of travel during very rainy or snowy weather.  The Mongols dealt this if it meant they could use the element of surprise to their advantage and fight and army piece meal, destroying smaller components not concentrated due to an unexpected arrival and forced to proceed more slowly in bad conditions.  Mongols also preferred to avoid melee combat or close contact, hence the emphasis on archery which allowed them to fire multiple arrows from a distance.  Though the Mongols would finish off an enemy in close contact with their more heavy cavalry, their lancers kept in reserve until the right moment.  Their best known tactic was one that combined deception with the horses physical prowess for stamina and the psychological upset of throwing the enemy off-guard.  It was known as a feigned retreat.  The Mongols typically were more lightly armored than many of their opponents, their armor was more flexible in material overall.  However their horses might not be faster or more powerful in terms of speed but in terrain of their choosing the Mongol horses’ stamina would turn the table of their enemy.  By pretending to retreat a certain distance an encouraged enemy usually would pursue, sometimes a few miles and sometimes for days on end.  Leading the enemy to ground of the Mongols choosing, then suddenly using well planned signals from banners and coordinated music, the Mongols would do an about face on the now exhausted opponent who would usually be unsupported and isolated from the rest of their army, allowing the Mongols to attack them.  By the time the rest of the exhausted opposing army caught up, their vanguard would be destroyed and the more active Mongols got a second wind that would create fear and confusion in the enemy sending them into a rout.  The Mongols would this repeatedly on campaign after campaign with almost always the same result...victory.  Finally, the Mongols preferred flanking maneuvers and the ability to surround the enemy rather than straight ahead attacks which put them at a disadvantage against more heavily armored enemies.  Flanking and surrounding the enemy demoralized them, threw them off balance and physically wore them down to the point where they could be exhausted and picked off at the leisure of the Mongols.  The Mongols were very systemic but adaptable in their wearing down of the enemy as reflected in these tactics.  Much like a predator hunts prey.

In 1219 ,the Mongols conquered the Khwarezmian Empire, a Turco-Persian polity in Central Asia.  The campaign lasted three years before Genghis returned to Mongolia in success.  One of his trusted generals named Jebe planned to venture further west in an exploratory campaign to prep for further Mongol invasions later, Genghis approved of this and Jebe and another Noyan by the name of Subutai marched westward toward the Caucasus Mountains and the Kingdom of Georgia which they ravaged using an army consisting of roughly 20,000 troops.  They fell back to Azerbaijan and planned to head to Baghdad before heading north once more in the spring of 1221.

Hiring local guides, Jebe and Subutai’s army crossed the wintry mountains which caused many deaths to exposure from the cold but nevertheless they made it through and onto familiar terrain, the steppes of modern southern Russia and Ukraine.  The Mongols encountered a confederation of various Caucasian peoples supported by the Turkic Cumans.  The battle that ensued was indecisive, the Mongols then met with the Cumans and convinced the Turks that they would share the spoils of war with their fellow steppe nomads in exchange of the Cumans to abandon their allies which they did, leaving with a loaded baggage train of treasure.  The Mongols from their killed off the last of the Caucasian peoples resistance and then pursued the Cumans only to attack them from behind.  The remnants of which they chose to pursue.  In the meantime, the Venetians from Italy which had trading posts on the Black Sea sent an emissary to make peace with the Mongols.  They agreed to destroy any non-Venetian European trading posts in exchange for intelligence of European peoples and armies in particular which the Venetians were happy to supply.  Indeed the Mongols attacked Venice’s rival fellow Italian Republic, that of Genoa, destroying Genoese trading posts in the area.  Meanwhile, the Cuman had retreated to the Rus in Kiev where they sought refuge and alliance against the Mongols.  Warnings which the Rus ignored for over a year, finding the Cumans who frequently warred with the Rus not especially trustworthy.  The Rus for their part were a confederation of East Slavic tribes that had over the course of the centuries and with former Viking leadership in years long gone fused into a bunch of princely states headed by Kiev above all others, collectively they were known as the Rus or Kievan Rus.  These were the precursors to the modern Russian, Ukrainian and Belarussian peoples.

By 1223 word now reached the Prince of Kiev Mstislav III, that the Mongols were advancing towards Kiev with the goal of dealing with the Cumans.  Mongol ambassadors arrived to negotiate handing over the Cumans in exchange for goods from the Mongols.  The Rus killed the ambassadors and sent their corpses back to the Mongols, violating the code of ethics in which hospitality was always to be accepted and reciprocated or else punishment would be needed.  The Rus were now determined to drive off the Mongols who saw their feud with the Cumans as troublesome to their borders, despite the Mongols saying the matter shouldn’t concern the Rus.  Kiev reached out to the other princely-cities of the Rus to form an alliance against the Mongols, they would be supported by the Cumans.

The Mongols had hoped for reinforcements from Jochi, son of Genghis Khan but these would not be forthcoming due his own illness.  Instead the Mongols decided to retreat eastward which forced the Rus and the Cumans to decide what to do.  They decided to pursue the Mongols.  Jebe and Subutai decided to leave a rearguard to serve as a sacrifice, this small force of 1,000 men were defeated by the Rus.  A minor victory which only encouraged the Rus further to pursue the Mongols.  What the Rus did not realize in their hastened pursuit was that were being lured into the Mongols feigned retreat over the course of several slow going days, believed to be nine total.  It wasn’t until they reached the Kalka River, a small tributary of the Dniester that the tides would turn.

The Battle of the Kalka River would take place on May 31st, 1223 but its details are not very specified in terms of tactics and maneuvers.  The basic idea was that the Mongols has forded to east bank of the river while the Rus and Cumans pursued from the west bank all the while firing arrows fired facing backwards, slowing the Rus advance.  The Mongols would await for the Rus to give a good portion of their vanguard across the river before their about face which saw them launch an attack of surprising speed ferocity which transitioned from the horse archer attack to heavier cavalry attack.  The Cumans were said to have fled right away and with the Rus vanguard quickly eradicated.  Meanwhile, the Rus were still in the process of crossing the river, the various Rus princes and their armies possibly numbering 80,000 total didn’t travel altogether, instead they arrived on the battlefield in gradual succession.  To the newcomers surprise, their fellow Rus & Cumans were in a panicked retreat westward.  They formed an open gap to allow the retreating Cumans to ride through.  The Mongols exploited this by riding through themselves and them enveloping the already retreating Rus and the new reinforcements who had no time to prepare.  Only Mstislav the Bold of all the Rus princes managed to fight his way out of the Mongol trap.  Meanwhile a number of Rus formed a encircled enclosure on a nearby hill to provide a beacon of help to those fleeing.  The Mongols quickly surrounded this enclosure and bombarded it smoke bombs to cause confusion and showered it with arrows driving up casualties.  The Rus in the camp surrendered only for the Mongols to massacre them.  The Mongols took Mstislav III of Kiev and are said to have wrapped him in a carpet and placed him and other Rus nobles under a wooden victory platform upon which the Mongols sat atop them and feasted and toasted their victory while their collective weight crushed the air out of the Rus nobility’s lungs, killing them.

The Rus feared a Mongol attack on Kiev proper as a follow up but it never materialized.  Nevertheless, the Rus and Europe at large had its first and hardly last taste of the Mongol Empire.  Instead of attacking Kiev, the Mongols proceeded east and made vassals of some other Cumans and the related Volga Bulgars, another Turkic group of tribes.  Before they met up with the rest of the Mongol army elsewhere.  Genghis Khan was reportedly quite happy with the exploits of Jebe and Subutai and lauded praise on them for achieving the longest cavalry raid in history of 5,500 miles total drawn out over 3 years.  Jebe would pass away shortly after this campaign and Genghis himself would die in 1227 with the succession of the empire divided among his sons rather than just one son, though nominally his son Ogedei was the next Great Khan, after which the empire would increasingly fracture.  Meanwhile Subutai, sometimes regarded as one of the greatest generals of all time, learned a lot about the Europeans for the first time and instead of conquering them, gained valued information for a later date and later battles, with the long term goal of conquering the Rus and Europe beyond...

#13th century #mongolia #mongols #mongol empire #genghis khan #subutai #kievan rus #russia #ukraine #slavs #turks #horse archers #military history #on this day #tactics #kalka river

[thenovelartist]

An Impromptu Proposal, 7-8

<<Previous Next>>

7. Bad Luck Charm

He was a bad luck magnet.

Looking over the Ladyblog, Adrien saw the news of Ladybug and Chat Noir’s engagement was spreading like wildfire to the point that people were insisting upon throwing them a wedding.

He thought it was a joke, but the more he looked into it, the more he realized people seemed to be very serious about it.

While he was flattered and would happily be on the planning committee if Butterlie and Mayura didn’t exist, he did have two—actually, it really was only dealing with Lila at this point because Mayura was MIA most of the time, which raised a whole new set of questions—villains he had to fight on a pretty regular basis. And this was only going to bring them out in full force. He would take any opportunity to catch them that he was offered, but in this case, that meant they would strike a highly populated area, AKA the wedding guests.

Meaning this whole thing had to be shut down, like, yesterday.

Adrien pulled up his app to text Ladybug, hoping she was available. You there, bugaboo?

It took her a moment to respond. Lunch break’s got 15 minutes. What’s up, kitty?

You see the wedding chaos on the Ladyblog?

Yup, she answered. It’s not pretty. That will only end poorly.

I know. That ring’s a bad luck charm. Any ideas on how to shut this chaos down?

My ring is not a bad luck charm!

The picture that followed showed a selfie with the top half of her head cropped out, but clearly showed her red lips tilted up in a smile and black, fitted shirt—or it could be a dress—with her ring on a chain that rested right at her breasts.

I have to hide it down my dress front or people will ask, but I want to wear it. It’s from you.

Adrien’s heart pounded in his chest, his stomach full of butterflies. Honestly, there was nothing more he wanted at the moment than to take that woman in his arms and kiss her senseless. She wore her ring in public. That gave him hope that maybe their engagement wouldn’t be too long. That maybe she was considering sharing her identity with him sooner rather than later. Though he’d happily wait for her, he wanted to make her his wife already.

That warms my heart, bug. He typed out, not knowing what else to say.

XOXO I love you, kitty.

I love you more.

Not possible.

Totally possible.

Back to the wedding chaos, she typed, because you aren’t going to win this one, do you have any plans, or is this all on me.

I’ve had that ring for three years. I win. And of course, it’s not all on you. Your partner is more than happy to share the burden.

There was a long pause for her response. Three years?

Adrien grinned. Yes. Do you want to know the date, because I remember it vividly.

Another pause. I don’t know why I’m surprised. This is you. You’re extra.

Because it’s YOU and YOU deserve it ;D

How’d I fall for you?

Well, you came flying through the sky one day and fell on me. You tell me.

You’re such a dork.

YOUR dork.

I regret accepting your proposal.

Adrien sniggered, knowing how much she meant that. Says the woman wearing the engagement ring I gave her on her neck.

Another silence. Uh oh. I might have to jet early.

Go. I don’t want to hold you up.

Sorry, kitty.

He then got two photos in rapid succession. One of her fingers pressed to her lips, and the other of her blowing something off her hand.

He smiled. She was blowing him a kiss.

Love you! I’ll be thinking of what to do about the wedding thing when I have a spare moment.

Quickly as he could, he took two pictures making a show of catching that kiss and holding it against his heart. Love you too. And don’t worry too much about it now. We can figure something out later.

I’d just like to nip this in the bud. She shot back. GTG TTYL.

ttyl

Adrien set down his phone, stupid smile plastered on his face. No, it wasn’t exactly a productive conversation, but it certainly lifted his spirits today to see his Ladybug. Particularly when she was sending him photos.

He reached for his phone again, opening the app just to look at the two pictures. He saved them, setting the one of her blowing a kiss towards him as his home screen wallpaper. He’d love to set it as the lock screen one, but considering no one knew about her yet, he just couldn’t take the chance of someone seeing

A knock came from his door, startling him, yet he called out “come in.”

He was surprised to see Marinette there. He had to do a double take, seeing her red lips and black dress that looked a little too much like his lady.

“We have a problem.”

Adrien completely deflated. “Wonderful. Just the words I wanted to hear today.”

“You think I wanted to tell you?” she asked, giving him a curious once over that was almost quick enough to miss.

“Probably not because it sounds like it’s going to be more work for you,” he said, ignoring it.

She scoffed. “You got that right. Follow me?”

He sighed, then stood. “Why not. I didn’t have enough bad luck today. Let’s go.”

  8. Homework

“Called us in to help with homework, huh?”

Ladybug turned around to see Rena Rouge approach with Carapace not far behind.

“Yeah,” Ladybug said. “A certain reporter caused us some serious trouble.”

Rena sniggered and tossed her hands in the air. “Guilty as charged. But in my defense, I didn’t think that it would cause as big of a stir as it did. Specifically, in Paris’s sudden ‘let’s throw a wedding for them’ desire. And you know my rules—”

“If we don’t want it on the Ladyblog, do it out of the suit,” Ladybug said, recalling that specific conversation with Alya.

“Exactly. So, sorry if Chat’s gonna propose in camera distance on the freaking Eiffel Tower.”

Ladybug sighed, rubbing her eyes. “No, it’s… You’re right. We were stupid. Frankly, neither of us were thinking at the moment.”

“So, the proposal was a spur of the moment thing?” Rena asked, looking rather excited at the prospect.

Ladybug leveled Rena with a glare. “Off-the-record?”

Standing like a soldier, Rena held up her hand. “Off-the-record, will not hit the blog.”

At least Marinette could trust Alya with that. “It started as us joking around and then all of a sudden, Chat’s saying things like ‘yeah, well, I actually have a ring’ and I was in shock and didn’t believe him, and then he was all ‘yeah, I’ll go get it’ and next thing you know… well, you were there.”

Rena squealed, doing a little happy dance. “Ugh! My ship is sailing. I couldn’t be any happier unless I was getting married.”

Ladybug snorted as she glanced over at Carapace’s face. He shot her a wink, not knowing that she was the woman he came crawling to not two days ago begging for help ring shopping.

“So, you and Chat are actually getting married?” Rena asked. “Like, soon? Or…”

Ladybug shrugged. “We don’t know. We really just… don’t want it to be a hazard or an event that Lila or Mayura can take advantage of. The important thing is that we shut it all down. We’ll marry in private.”

In that moment, Chat and Queen Bee arrived.

“About time,” Carapace teased. “Thought I was gonna be the only guy here.”

“Sorry for leaving you to the girls,” Chat teased back, giving Carapace a fist bump. If Ladybug were being honest, as much as she loved having Chat to herself, she could tell how important it was for Chat to have a bro-friend. She bet he and Nino would get along swimmingly in real life. Heck, Chat would probably get along with Adrien, too. From the sounds of it, Chat needed as many solid friends and as much support as he could get in his life.

“So what’s the big deal?” Queen Bee sassed. “You and Chat can have the wedding, we patrol it, and by the time that any serious problem arises, you’re both happily married. So you may not be able to go on a honeymoon or anything, but I could help plan a getaway in or around Paris for you. Close enough, right?”

Ladybug never knew how to read Queen Bee. She had such an attitude and didn’t seem to know what a filter was, yet it was clear she cared. Sometimes, Marinette wondered if she could possibly become friends with whoever Queen Bee was in real life like she was with Alya or Nino. “Yeah, but what about the people who gather for the wedding? Wouldn’t it be best to just stop this so there isn’t some large conglomerate of people for Butterlie to attack?”

“Who said anything about there being anyone attending that wedding other than someone to broadcast it?” Queen Bee snipped, shocking everyone in attendance. “Do you really think it’s a good idea to let anyone near you when you and Chat were getting married? It’s called ‘a safety hazard’. You and Chat are famous. If there were people actually in attendance, you’d have to pull the whole police force to keep the crowd down and the crazy fans away. Puh-lease. That would just be a mess. No. It’s best if you just figure out where to hold a wedding, have the Ladyblogger broadcast it because at least she knows how to be respectful of the fact you’re getting married and won’t be yammering or trying to swarm you the moment the wedding’s over. Simple enough.”

There was a shocked silence on the rooftop. If Ladybug were being honest, she wasn’t exactly sure how to process this. She was expecting them to come up with reasons to not have any wedding, yet…

“That’s genius!” Rena cried. “And we could hide the location and everything until the last moment and not have to worry about anyone. I never would have even thought of that.”

“Exactly,” Queen Bee said with a proud smile. “None of you know what it’s like to be famous like I do, so of course I’d come up with a solution.”

Ahh, there’s the Queen Bee we’ve come to know and love.

While Rena and Queen Bee started duking it out with Carapace reluctantly getting in the middle to separate the girls, Chat sided up to Ladybug. “So, it sounds like our plan to talk people out of throwing us a wedding is a bust,” he whispered.

“Queen Bee won’t let that go, will she?” Ladybug said.

“From the sounds of it, Rena won’t want to, either.”

Ladybug hummed. “So… we’re getting married, it sounds like.”

He chuckled, resting his chin on her shoulder while his hands fell on her hips. “You make that sound like it’s a bad thing, bug. You were the one to accept that ring, after all.”

“That’s true,” she said, shifting a half step back closer to him. Besides, it wasn’t like they had to get married in real life yet. This was all a show. Make the public happy, raise morale. Have a little fun in doing it.

Chat kissed her cheek. “I think maybe we should break that up,” he said, motioning toward the fight Carapace was literally in the middle of now.

“For Carapace’s sake,” Ladybug agreed. “Yeah, we probably should.”

#miraculous ladybug #fanfiction #LadyNoir July 2019 #LadyNoir #fluff #these two clueless dorks #theyr'e gonna kill us all #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #ladybug #chat noir #rena rouge #carapace #Queen Bee

[quakerjoe]

But we’ve seen another marked strategic shift. Over the past few weeks, Trump started very pointedly attacking governors who have been aggressive in utilizing measures such as “shelter-in-place” orders to try to contain the spread of the coronavirus. While it had occasionally popped up in his briefings, it reached its apex on April 17 with a series of utterly bizarre tweets that called for three Democratic-controlled states to be “liberated,” a move that one think tank specializing in domestic terrorism fears could act as a dog whistle for right-wing attacks.

On paper, this shouldn’t have been as big a shock as it was. Trump has made a political career out of covering up for his own failures by trying to wage war on others and deflect the damage onto them. When candidates that he lustily endorses eventually lose, it’s because they simply weren’t MAGA enough, after all. So, by declaring verbal war on governors (even, in some cases, Republicans who are working to bend the curve), Trump hopes to lift himself up off of the canvas by dragging the governors down.

Is it working? The early evidence is in, and the answer is: nope, not so much.

First, let’s stipulate something right off the bat: Trump’s COVID-19 response has always drawn a shockingly mild, if not negative, reaction from American voters. This is especially true when you compare him to other global leaders. Even our neighbor to the north, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who just limped out of an underwhelming reelection bid for his party last year, finds himself with a job approval rating as it relates to COVID-19 in the low 60s. Trump’s national numbers, meanwhile, have been decidedly mediocre: of the over 150 polls on the COVID crisis that have been conducted nationally, Trump has been under 50 percent approval in nearly three-quarters of them.

In FiveThirtyEight’s tracking of national polls, the most recent polling average for Trump on COVID-19 has been trending underwater, with approval at a tick below 46% and disapproval just over 50%. These are bad numbers, so bad that the only global leader doing consistently worse in terms of public opinion than Trump is Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, whose actions amid this crisis have regressed from merely odd to extraordinarily disturbing.

Meanwhile, we here at Daily Kos Elections have been tracking how voters believe their states have responded to COVID-19, a response which, not surprisingly, has often been more proactive and, frankly, more coherent in most cases than the Trump administration. We can then compare how voters grade their state governments vs. the Trump administration

The trend was apparent from the get-go, and had changed very little over the first full month of the “safer at home” measures employed by most states. By a substantial margin, voters approved of the performance of their governors during the COVID-19 crisis over the Trump response, and often by an outsized margin.

Taking every poll in our database (which dates back to late March), governors find themselves with a net approval on COVID-19 of 69%, as opposed to just 24% who stand in opposition. As we see on the right, virtually every governor polled since March, in states as blue as California and as red as Wyoming, saw their COVID-19 approvals running well ahead of their 2016-2019 gubernatorial election margins. This was true even in swing states. Consider Roy Cooper of North Carolina, who narrowly won election in 2016 and whose COVID-19 approval rating has ranged from the 60s to the low 80s.

Meanwhile, in that same time frame, in those same states, President Trump’s approval has been slightly underwater on COVID-19, with approval at 46%, and disapproval at 49%. Again, remember that this is a cross-section of states, a group that included deep-red states like Wyoming, Alabama, and Oklahoma.

What’s worse for Trump: unlike most of the Governors (Cooper of North Carolina being a notable exception), he has to stand for reelection later this year. If you look at the diagram to the right (expertly done by our own Daniel Donner), you’ll see a LOT of data points that lie below the diagonal line. The simple translation? Trump’s approval, both on COVID-19 and in general, lies below his 2016 margin of victory in a number of pivotal states.

For a guy who won election in 2016 by drawing the political equivalent of an inside straight, these kinds of seismic shifts, even if they are smallish in terms of raw numbers, could be pivotal come Election Day 2020. We saw a rather shocking example of that in data released earlier this week in Ohio, a state Trump won rather easily in 2016, but a state where a.) his COVID-19 approval and fav/unfav numbers were slightly underwater in a Baldwin Wallace poll, and b.) after showing him up narrowly in the previous month’s polling, the same poll found him fractionally behind Joe Biden in a state that would be comparably low on the Biden target list.

Given the disparity graphically depicted above as well as Trump’s chronic insecurities, it is perhaps not surprising that he suddenly turned to a somewhat incoherent but very direct attack on the governors.

There have been a total of 17 polls in states that were in the field either during or after Trump’s “liberate!” tantrum. They have been in an cross-section of states (some states have been polled more than once), with seven polls emanating from Clinton 2016 states and 10 polls emanating from Trump 2016 states:

Florida (two polls)

Michigan (two polls)

Minnesota

North Carolina

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New York

New Mexico

Ohio

Pennsylvania (two polls)

Rhode Island

Texas

Washington

Wisconsin

So, has there been movement from the earlier polling? The short answer is: yes, but it might actually be marginally worse for the president than the governors he has taken to attacking with such gusto.

TIME PERIODTRUMP AVERAGE COVID-19 APPROVAL/DISAPPROVALGOVERNORS’ AVERAGE COVID-19 APPROVAL/DISAPPROVAL

3/20-4/1648/47 (net: +1)69/23 (net: +46)

4/16-PRESENT43/53 (net: -10)68/24 (net: +42)

It’s still early, and the sample size is relatively small (with just 17 polls). But you can see some legitimate movement here.

The slight erosion of gubernatorial approval numbers on COVID-19 is not surprising on two counts. For one thing, it is not unreasonable to assume that as these various “safer at home” lockdown orders move into their second month, there will be some attrition in support among those who have grown weary of quarantine. For another, now that Trump has set his sights on the governors and his acolytes are generating astroturf protests in state after state, it stands to reason that some MAGA all-stars took the cue and now view their Democratic governor not as a responsible leader, but the autocrat in charge of a state desperately needing liberation.

But what is more notable is the trajectory of the COVID-19 approval numbers for President Trump. His numbers, while never good, have reverted close to his consistently mediocre job approval numbers, and are clearly lower than they were earlier in the crisis.

There are any number of reasons why this shift might be taking place.

It could be, as many have speculated, that Trump simply does worse when he is the center of attention (which might be the real reason why Trump very publicly mulled bagging his daily COVID-19 wankathons). I mean, it’s not often that someone in a position of national leadership has a moment of pure catastrophe in the way that Trump did last week with his … unique … suggestions about COVID-19 treatments. Trump can brag all he likes about how many people WATCH this daily dose of presidential wisdom (“better than The Bachelor!”). But it is quite obvious this constant attention is not earning him higher marks from the viewing public, whose estimation of his COVID-19 performance is sinking markedly.

A second explanation is that he has turned off moderates willing to give him a chance at the start of this crisis with his increasingly uneven and often incoherent public performances, as well as his combative approach to many state governors. After all poll after poll has shown that over a month into the crisis, voters are still very aware of the need for social distancing, and far more concerned about lifting measures too early as opposed to lifting them too late. Therefore, his “liberate!” rant last week might have lost him significant yardage with a persuadable audience.

If you break down some of the polling data by ideological group, the results are striking. In a poll released Monday by Siena in hard-hit New York, we see that Trump’s COVID-19 approvals have diminished substantially over the past month, from a 41/56 approval spread in March to just 34/65 now. But the main driver of that has not been partisan Democrats tired of Trump’s sniping. Indeed, their numbers couldn’t drop much more than they had, with Trump’s disapproval inching up from 79% to 83%. Where the dramatic shifts occurred were among independents (where disapproval of Trump’s COVID-19 response jumped from 52% to 66%) and, perhaps most notably, among Republicans (where disapproval of Trump’s COVID-19 response almost doubled from 15% to 27%).

Another plausible explanation is that it’s entirely possible that relying on a small network of partisans and extremists in his own White House, coupled with binge-watching Fox News, combined to give Trump an errant view of the landscape. After all, his rants against the governors were no doubt predicated on a belief that he could make the voters mad at them, rather than being mad at him. But look at the data.

Trump specifically attacked the governors of three states in his “liberate” tweets: Michigan, Minnesota, and Virginia. While we don’t have fresh data in Virginia, we can see that, in polls taken since the tweetfest, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is polling at 70% job approval, while Trump languishes at 40% in a state he nearly won in 2016. Meanwhile, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has arguably been the biggest and most consistent target of abuse from the president, had a statewide job approval of 63%, while Trump trailed far behind at 47%, in a poll conducted on behalf of … wait for it … Fox News.

Taken as a whole, the data indicates that we are, as we have been since the start of this crisis, largely relying on our governors for solutions to help the citizenry, and largely rolling our eyes at the enfant terrible who occupies the White House. Which, given the kind of assistance that the federal government could be providing with competent leadership, is a huge net loss for the country. But it also could prove to be a huge net loss for Trump politically as the 2020 election year heads into the summer.

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[slasherscream]

poly Billy and Stu and their s/o as parents? like the type of father's they'd be and all

A/N: glad you all know that i'm only here to put these dumb-ass boys in all sorts of domestic scenarios and nothing else. 

     billy loomis x reader x stu macher   ft. starting a family with these idiots

                                                     ——————– 

Let's get one thing straight here. Billy has been dodging the idea of starting a family since you started having it. He could smell the urge to have a kid on you and was like (big gag). There are so many reasons for him being like this he can hardly name them all. This doesn't stop him from trying        you know, cause he's a huge asshole. 

Him? Somebody's Dad? Okay babe, sure. He lists a lot of reasons that have nothing to do with the root of the problem which is actually his own insecurities. Yes it's true he's never really liked kids much. Yes it's true he's probably not the best role model even after all these years of growing up. You get the picture already Billy, fucking hell. 

Stu is neutral on the subject for a long time until his own "biological clock" starts ticking. Then you both find yourself sharing longing looks at families you cross on the street. You'll be having lunch out somewhere and coo at a baby that's all the way across the restaurant. Stu happily joining in. Once Stu is on your side Billy starts getting really defensive  .... (aka more insecure). 

Honestly you're not the one to talk him out of his own head for this one. That's all Stu. Because as ridiculous and goofy as Stu can be he understands intimately and deeply how Billy works         no matter how much of an enigma Billy fucking thinks he is. Billy storms out because he doesn't want to deal with his feelings (first time he's done it in years) and Stu goes to chase him down and tells you not to worry, he's got this.

You're very upset but when they come back the first thing Billy does is kiss you gently, Stu standing in the doorway and simply watching. There's several visible hickies on Stu's neck so you know he and Billy already made up while they were gone. Now it's your turn to receive Billy's apologetic affection. You and Stu share a knowing exasperated look over Billy's shoulder. You both love him though. 

Billy was just insecure about being a shitty parent or your relationship falling apart and somehow effecting a kid. Honestly it all goes back to his own undealt with familial problems and once Stu gave him an honest talk about how you're all not #His Parents?? He's good. He's using his braincell again and he's fine. 

Now onto the actuality of having the kid! You're in for quite the ride co-parenting with these two bastard idiots.

Stu is the dad you can get away with doing just about anything with. He’s the parent that if you go to them they’ll just say yes. Sometimes he’ll use his one borrowed braincell and hit the kid with “did you ask dad?” or “did you ask s/o?”. The kid pouts because like .... obviously fucking not since I came to ask the parent who'd just give in. Weak-willed! Weak-willed! Weak-willed!

This is Billy every time he has to talk to his kid about any bad behavior.

You'll have to be the PTA parent right off the bat because the boys are just ...not gonna. Unless there's a real problem they're gonna default assume everything is fine and not look deeper or get too involved because like... This has nothing to do with my fucking kid in particular? You want me to go to a parent meeting....about....repairs in the library? Fuck you.

The one exception to this is during the "first starting school age" and it's Billy who is the exception. Stu loves the kid but he's very chill and not a helicopter parent. He's honestly the one who has to calm you two down a lot because he knows everything will be fine.

Billy? Kid first starts school and he's this parent (don't watch past 15:00). He thought he'd be fine but he's anxious as shit. The last one to leave the drop-off even if his kid is fine. But oh god .... oh god if they're freaking out? Oh boy he's gonna start freaking out. Hiding it like a pro but you know your man and can see the panic in his eyes. One well placed "daddy I wanna go home!" and he'll break and haul them right from the classroom. You and Stu have to intervene.

Billy wants to hang out in the cafe that just so happens to be a five minute walk from the school all day. You put your foot down and tell him they're gonna be fine. You have to cuddle him on the couch all day to keep him still. When it's time to go pick the kid up he's out the door ... so fucking fast. He almost leaves y'all highkey. Billy and the kid run to each other full speed and he picks them up and doesn't put them down...like....all day. No you two cannot get a turn. 

Sometimes Billy gets very emotional about the life they’re giving their kid. Not out of insecurity or anything like he thought would happen when he first thought of starting a family with you and Stu. He actually realizes that you’re all doing a fantastic job of being parents and that your house is full of love to the max. It makes him soft(TM).

Wanted to keep this totally gender neutral but it’s gotta be said ….. this goes double for if the s/o is a woman. Seeing them with their child stirs something in Billy deeply vulnerable. He’s literally buried his head in the crook of your neck before and thanked you quietly for being such an incredible mother. He was so sincere about it you started crying and honestly? ….Maybe he allegedly got misty eyed. Okay back to gender neutrality now! 

Y’all wouldn’t have more than two kids honestly. I can’t imagine Billy and Stu wanting more than that. And they’d want to have them really close together/close in age so they grow up close/as friends. They're the single kids who kinda wished they'd had a sibling growing up. Billy because he thinks that would have been less lonely and Stu because he thinks it would have been fun. You (if you have siblings) know.... better. But if you wanted multiple kids yourself you keep your mouth shut and just wait for them to watch and learn. 

Stu is the favorite parent honest-fucking-tea. He just is! He’s playful. He’s fun. He’s loving. He lets his kid climb all over him and play wrestle. They're constantly playing airplane or on this man's shoulders. He can match them energy wise any day of the week. He doesn’t stop being the favorite when they get older either. When the kid is like grown/20′s        basically whatever their "I am no longer being raised to be a person" stage of life? They’d probably dead ass hang out with him as a "friend".

"Nah I can’t come to the party I got plans with my dad this weekend…. fuck you he’s way more fun than you guys-”

Billy is the strictest parent but he’s very loving and devoted. He’s the parent your kid runs to whenever they feel they need protection. It warms Billy’s heart to be that to them. Their first line of defense against the whole world. It’s been like this since they were little. If they had a nightmare they’d run into the bedroom and bypass the two of you completely and head straight for Billy. He's also a little smug about it. Especially to Stu and especially if they have a daughter. I'm the alpha Dad?? Tremble before me.

They don’t have a preference for adopting or having bio kids. You’re probably the deal-breaker on that, your choice goes. 

Adoption? They both thought they wanted a boy. Super adamant about it. Gonna play football... grill shit together. ...grill a football together. You? Neutral. But all along you knew damn well you were gonna wind up having a fucking daughter. Lo and behold!

They see a little girl playing by herself in the corner. She can’t be much older than six. She set herself up a whole little mini city and then they watched as she took a dinosaur toy .... and destroyed it thoroughly. She made quiet screaming people noises and everything. Or just ..... this. They instantly looked at each other like 👀👀👀      are you seeing what I'm seeing? 

Billy, clutching his chest: oh shit what’s going on You: your heart is growing three sizes you fucking grinch- Billy: don’t fucking curse she could hear you and she’s ours now-

Once they've got the perfect weirdo little girl under their belt then they'll think about having a boy. But they'd want to make sure she's totally settled into life with the three of you before they bring another kid into the mix. And ... lmao if she expresses disinterest in having another kid around. She is ... #Princess and gets whatever she wants. Whatever! She! WANTS! 

You have to convince her you three will never love her less even with another kid around and besides .... she's gonna be getting a stinky brother this time so she'll still get to be daddy's (plural) little girl. She agrees and now the boys are back on board. Fucking absolute pussies. 

Funniest fucking thing if you guys go as a family once again to try and get a boy and instead your daughter bonds with a ..... get ready for it! Different little girl! Billy and Stu are fucking SCREAMING. Look at her this one is perfect too. God dammit ... god dammit we have another daughter now. 

Two daughters? Two? They'd rule the fucking house. Billy can see manipulation coming from a mile away and yet he let's it happen because they're both so cute running the show. Plus it's like when lions fake being hurt when their cubs attack them to encourage them to be better hunters. He wants his daughters sharp! He wants his daughters clever! He wants them to be able to do whatever the fuck they wanna do! 

Stu is less good at seeing the manipulation and it's so fucking funny .... he doesn't even wanna see it! He's legally blind! His babies want something? He will throw any amount of money at them and whatever they want. Is the Dad that they'd beg him to start like... a new hobby or sport and he'd get them everything they need to do it (top of the line expensive shit) and then! If they wanna quit a week later? Not even mad! What do we wanna do this week, sweethearts? 

You have to stop them from being spoiled, little monsters because your husbands sure fucking won't. 

You have walked in on them doing tea parties and you did take pictures. Stu was posing for them while Billy just looked straight at the camera with murder in his eyes and you knew in your heart you were gonna be getting payback for this later in the bedroom (worth it). 

Billy is the type of Dad that if he tells someone he's gonna be busy watching his kids and they go "oh? babysitting duty, huh?" he launches into a ten minute rant about "how am i fucking babysitting? it's my fucking kids? these are my kids? you can't baby-sit your own fucking kids. that's called parenting. you know what, Nicholas? that's why your kids are so fucked up-"

Billy starts beef with other parents if I didn't make that clear. 

Stu is the parent that gets too into whatever his kids are doing. School plays? Soccer games? Science fair? Jesus christ... he has quite literally almost gotten you all banned from every activity your kid has been in. He's gotten penalties before. Decided to skip the middle man once and coach your girl's teams to make it easier. Chaos ensued that summer. 

Honestly? Best Dad(s) Award. 10/10. Should totally do it again. 

                                                     ——————–

#billy loomis x reader x stu macher #stu macher x reader #billy loomis x reader #stu macher imagine #billy loomis imagine #slasher x reader #billy would take the longest to want kids and stu is billy's follower adjkl #however there'd get to be a point where stu starts seeing families out in public and kids playing around with their dads and shit that he #just cannot parse anymore...billy i wanna be a fucking Dad now we're like 40 years old i need you to get over your mommy and family issues- #stu and the reader would have to gang up on him to get the kid they want but once billy hAS the kid?? #billy: if anything ever happened to my child i would kill everyone in this room and then myself #like adjkl i'm serious in that i feel he'd even be wary during...the pregnancy or adoption progress #like he's going along with it because he doesn't think it's fair to deprive both his partners of something they really want but #he ...is wary and just decided that 'hey i can at least give some kid a good home' and figuring you and stu will give the kid .....actual #love...and shit .....like god i wish i could put into words what he's thinking but #it goes out the window once he actually gets the kid so it doesnt matter adjk; #if you adopt you're gonna walk outta that place with the WEIRDEST kid ...she's either lilo or anne of the green fucking gables #they will not SETTLE for normal domestic home life they want ODD-BALLS we're the fucking ADDAMS family in this bitch

[batmandarknightrisise-blog]

The Dark Knight Rises: Film Review

The real world threats of terrorism, political anarchy and economic instability make deep incursions into the cinematic comic book domain in The Dark Knight Rises. Big-time Hollywood filmmaking at its most massively accomplished, this last installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy makes everything in the rival Marvel universe look thoroughly silly and childish. Entirely enveloping and at times unnerving in a relevant way one would never have imagined, as a cohesive whole this ranks as the best of Nolan's trio, even if it lacks -- how could it not? -- an element as unique as Heath Ledger's immortal turn in The Dark Knight. It's a blockbuster by any standard.

PHOTOS: Batman Through The Years: Christian Bale, George Clooney and Others Who've Played the Dark Knight

The director daringly pushes the credibility of a Gotham City besieged by nuclear-armed revolutionaries to such an extent that it momentarily seems absurd that a guy in a costume who refuses to kill people could conceivably show up to save the day. This is especially true since Nolan, probably more than any other filmmaker who's ever gotten seriously involved with a superhero character, has gone so far to unmask and debilitate such a figure. But he gets away with it and, unlike some interludes in the previous films, everything here is lucid, to the point and on the mark, richly filling out (especially when seen in the Imax format) every moment of the 164-minute running time.

the dark knight rises full movie in hindi filmyzilla

In a curtain raiser James Bond would kill for, a CIA aircraft transporting terrorists is sensationally hijacked in midair by Bane (Tom Hardy), an intimidating hulk whose nose and mouth are encumbered by a tubular, grill-like metal mask which gives his voice an artificial quality not unlike that of Darth Vader. What Bane is up to is not entirely clear, but it can't be good.

Batman’s Onscreen Villains: 10 Greats From The Joker to Bane

Although it's only been four years since the last Batman film, eight years of dramatic time have elapsed since the climactic events depicted in The Dark Knight. Batman and Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) have been in suspiciously simultaneous total seclusion, much to the consternation of loyal valet Alfred (Michael Caine), who, upbraiding his boss for inaction, accuses him of “just waiting for things to get bad again.” They do, in a hurry. But in the interim, Gotham has scarcely missed him, as he's publicly blamed for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent and hasn't needed him anyway since organized crime has virtually disappeared.

Bruce begins being dragged back into the limelight by slinky Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), a spirited cat burglar who lifts his fingerprints and a necklace from his safe while pulling a job at his mansion. It was always a question how this ambiguous feline character (never called Catwoman herein) would be worked into the fabric of this Batman series, but co-screenwriters Jonathan and Christopher Nolan, working from a story by the director and David S. Goyer, have cannily threaded her through the tale as an alluring gadfly and tease who engages in an ongoing game of one-upmanship with Batman and whose selfishness prevents her from making anything beyond opportunistic alliances.

STORY: 'Man of Steel' Footage So Good It Makes Fans Cry

Commandeering the city's sewers with his fellow mercenaries, Bane begins his onslaught, first with an attempted kidnapping of Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), then with a brazen attack on the Stock Exchange, which, at the film's 45-minute mark, has the double effect of luring Batman out of hiding and bankrupting Bruce Wayne. The latter catastrophe forces the fallen tycoon to ask wealthy, amorously inclined board member Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) to assume control of his company to squeeze out Daggett (Ben Mendelsohn), who's in cahoots with Bane.

Nolan has thus boldly rooted his film in what are arguably the two big worries of the age, terrorism and economic collapse, the result of which can only be chaos. So when virtually the entire Gotham police force is lured underground to try to flush out Bane, the latter has the lawmen just where he wants them, trapped like animals in a pen waiting for slaughter. And the fact that Gotham City has, for the first time, realistically used New York City for most of its urban locations merely adds to the topical resonance of Bane's brilliantly engineered plot, in which he eventually takes the entire population of Manhattan hostage. Nolan has always been a very serious, even remorseless filmmaker, and never more so than he is here.

PHOTOS: 'Dark Knight Returns': Images From the Animated Film

Inducing Selina to take him to Bane, Batman gets more than he bargained for; physically, he's no match for the mountainously muscled warrior, who sends the legendary crime fighter off to a literal hellhole of a prison, with the parting promise of reducing Gotham to ashes. Seemingly located in the Middle East, the dungeon resembles a huge well and has been escaped from only once, by none other than Bane, who is said to have been born there and got out as a child.

Here, as elsewhere, there are complex ties leading back to the comic books that link characters and motivations together; with Bruce and Bane, it is with the League of Shadows, which occasions the brief return of Liam Neeson's Ra's Al Ghul, last seen in Batman Begins (in 2005). A solid new character, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's resourceful street cop John Blake, is a grateful product of one of the Wayne Foundation's orphanages. Many of the characters wear masks, either literal or figurative; provocatively, Batman's mask hides his entire face except for his mouth, the very part of Bane which is covered. This is just one of the motifs the Nolans have used to ingeniously plot out the resolution to their three-part saga, which involves at least one major, superbly hidden surprise.

PHOTOS: 10 Top Summer Superheroes Movies Of All Time: Battle of Box Office Brawn

While Bruce Wayne languishes in the pit rebuilding his strength for an escape attempt, Bane spectacularly and mercilessly reverses the entire social order of Gotham City: 1,000 dangerous criminals are released from prison, the rich are tossed out of their uptown homes, the remaining police hide out like rats underground, and a “people's court” (presided over by Cillian Murphy's Scarecrow) dispenses death sentences willy-nilly. With virtually all bridges and tunnels destroyed, no one can leave the island, which is threatened by a fusion device, initially developed by Bruce and his longtime tech genius Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) as a clean energy source but now transformed at Bane's behest into a nuke, which he promises to use.

Some of the action scenes, such as multiple chases involving the armed motorcycle Bat-Pod (mostly ridden by Selina) and the cool new one-man jet chopper-like aircraft called The Bat that zooms through the city's caverns like something out of the early Star Wars, have something of a familiar feel. But the opening skyjacking, the Stock Exchange melee and especially the multiple explosions that bring the city to its knees -- underground, on bridges and, most strikingly, in a football stadium -- are fresh and brilliantly rendered, as are all the other effects. The film reportedly cost $250 million, but it would be easy to believe that the figure was quite a bit more, so elaborate is everything about the production.

PHOTOS: Top 15 Grossing Threequels of All Time

But the fact that all the money has been put to the use of making the severe dramatic events feel so realistic -- there's not a hint of cheesiness or the cartoonlike -- ratchets up the suspense and pervasive feeling of unease. One knows going in that this film will mark the end of Batman, at least for now and as rendered by Bale and Nolan, but for the first time there is the sense that it could also really be the end for Batman, that he might be sacrificed, or sacrifice himself, for the greater good.

Needing to portray both his characters as vulnerable, even perishable, Bale is at his series best in this film. At times in the past his voice seemed too artificially deepened and transformed; there's a bit of that here, but far less, and, as Bruce becomes impoverished and Batman incapacitated, the actor's nuances increase. Caine has a couple of surprisingly emotional scenes to play and handles them with lovely restraint, while other returnees Oldman and Freeman deliver as expected.

PHOTOS: 28 of Summer's Most Anticipated Movies: 'Avengers,' 'Dark Knight,' 'Prometheus'

Bane is a fearsome figure, fascinating in his physicality and blithely confident approach to amoral anarchy. With the mask strapped to his head at all times and his voice altered, Hardy is obliged to express himself mostly through body language, which he does powerfully, and at a couple of key moments his eyes speak volumes. All the same, the facial and verbal restrictions provide emotive limitations, and his final moments onscreen feel almost thrown away; one feels a bit cheated of a proper sendoff.

Hathaway invests her catlike woman with verve and impudence, while Cotillard is a warm and welcome addition to this often forbidding world. Even though Nolan and Bale have made it clear that The Dark Knight Rises marks their farewell to Bruce Wayne and Batman, the final shot clearly indicates the direction a follow-up offshoot series by Warner Bros. likely will take.

PHOTOS: The Christian Bale Directors Posse: 6 Auteurs Won Over By the Actor

As before, the production values are opulent and sensational; nothing short of the highest praise can be lavished on the work of production designers Nathan Crowley and Kevin Kavanaugh, cinematogtapher Wally Pfister, costume designer Lindy Hemming, visual effects supervisor Paul Franklin, special effects supervisor Chris Corbould, editor Lee Smith, composer Hans Zimmer and sound designer Richard King, just for starters.

The only conspicuous faux pas is a big continuity gaffe that has the raid on the Stock Exchange take place during the day but the subsequent getaway chase unfold at night.

Nearly half the film, including all the big action scenes, was shot with large-format Imax cameras and, with both versions having been previewed, the 70mm Imax presentation that will be shown in 102 locations worldwide is markedly more vivid visually and powerful as a dramatic experience; the normal 35mm prints, while beautiful, are somewhat less sharp.

PHOTOS: Brief History of Catwoman

Despite all the advanced technology deployed to make The Dark Knight Rises everything it is, Nolan remains proudly and defiantly old school (as only the most successful directors can get away with being these days) when it comes to his filmmaking aesthetic, an approach indicated in a note at the end of the long final credits: “This motion picture was shot and finished on film.”

[medea10]

My Review of Angels of Death

#anime review #rachel gardner #isaac foster #daniel dickens #angels of death #satsuriku no tenshi

[nicomacheannothing]

My birthday textwall...

Well, my birthday was yesterday. Unfortunately, it was also sort of one of those days. It wasn’t all bad, but having an off day on your birthday does suck a bit.  😓 

I overslept. That’s kind of what kicked off the unfortunate-ness. I didn't oversleep by too much, I was still out the door on time, but it was enough to make me rush around. When Austin texted me to let me know he was on his way to pick me up, I wasn’t even dressed yet. I had to take the dog with me too, so it was a mad dash to get everything together. Not the end of the world, just irritating. As I ran out the door though, I walked past the kitchen and noticed what looked like an unexpected cake sitting on the table... I didn’t have time to check it out, but this will become relevant later.  So I have the dog and I’m rushing out to Austin’s car and I find out that he overslept too. Like REALLY overslept: he was out of bed and out the door in 15 minutes. He was going to be editing with a client yesterday and had to be on time. He was frazzled as heck. When we got to work, he immediately got started on what he had to do. I was still a little frazzled too, but I figured that a rough morning was just a momentary blip and that things were bound to get better. I was wrong... Context: Alanis Morissette is going on that 25th Anniversary tour next year; everyone is talking about it haha. Austin’s mom, Leslye, is a huge Alanis Morissette fan and I mentioned to Austin that getting her tickets to the show in Detroit would make a good Christmas gift. Austin thought it would be cool to go as well, along with Mady and Julius, if they were interested. Ok. We decided to just talk to Leslye about it rather than making the tickets a gift. 6 people going to a concert requires planning. Presale tickets became available yesterday, so Austin and I talked to Leslye the night before to figure out how much she wanted to spend, etc. We wanted to know exactly what we were doing because we planned to snap up the tickets as soon as they went on sale at 11am. 

Like I said, Austin was going to be editing with a client at that time. I asked him if he wanted me to buy the tickets so that he wouldn’t have to stop in the middle of the edit. He said “no, I think I can do it. [Client] should understand”. I swear that’s exactly what he said. Austin is really picky about his entertainment experiences anyway, so I figured he’d want to pick the seats, etc. Once that conversation was over, I just stopped thinking about the tickets... Then, at noon yesterday, Austin runs into my office from the edit, freaking out. He said that he totally forgot about the tickets and that he meant to set an alarm to remind him, but he forgot to do that too. Then, he started barking at me saying “This shouldn’t have been on me, this shouldn’t have been on me!” implying that I had somehow unfairly saddled him with the responsibility of buying the tickets. I felt terrible. I was half hurt that he was yelling at me and half guilty that I didn’t just set my own reminder anyway in case he forgot. But he told me he could do it! Idk, I just felt like I had let him down in some way... 

We didn’t end up getting presale tickets. The actual sale starts in a couple days, so we might still be able to go. We looked at pictures of the venue, and the general admission lawn might not be so bad. The client we were working with might even have a connection that can help us... but Austin was so upset I really couldn't forget about it for the rest of the day... 😢 The ticket drama cut into our lunch break and so we were only able to grab McDonald's. The client wanted to eat with us. She’s nice, but she chews with her mouth open and she’s a Trump supporter. She kept saying weird things during lunch like throwing shade at people who are pale and/or skinny? And then she kept talking about how Trump was a hero for coming in and “draining the swamp”. Of course, I just had to smile and nod cause she’s a client. That, and she kept saying weird things like that and then offering to do really nice things like inviting Austin and I to use her cottage in the summer if we wanted a vacation? It was a very emotionally confusing time. 😕 The rest of the workday went by normally. I went back to Austin’s house, put on my new Killstar dress to get ready to go out. Austin got me a small gift: a little Kylo Ren lego guy and an electronic hand warmer, which was very thoughtful. It really seemed like things were going to get better.  BUT IT’S TIME FOR MORE CONTEXT! I think I mentioned in a previous post that my brother wasn’t going to make it home my birthday week.  He won’t be able to make it home at all until the 23rd, so my parents and I decided that we would just do birthday stuff without him. Tuesday (my actual birthday) is a really rough workday for my mom and she often isn’t even home until late, so we decided that we would go out to dinner and do cake and presents on Saturday. This was also going to work out because Leslye and Jerry wanted to take me to lunch, but couldn’t because of the client edit. They decided to take me to dinner instead. I double-checked with my dad Monday night to make sure that Saturday was still the day we were planning on doing birthday stuff. He said that was fine.  Before going to dinner with Austin and his parents, we had to swing by my house to drop off the dog. When I got there, my mom was unexpectedly home.  Crap, I felt bad that she was there and I was about to go to dinner without them. I thought about inviting them last minute, but they were already eating pizza when I got home. Crap! When I walked in, my mom asked if I had seen the cake. Um, no? We always do cake and presents together for birthday celebrations in my family. We have since I was born. Since we were celebrating on Saturday, I wasn’t expecting a cake on Tuesday. But my parents got one. A full-sized, fully decorated cake that I knew I would have no time to eat. That, and it wouldn’t be good on Saturday. If we wanted to celebrate normally on Saturday, my parents would have to get another one. We always but a particular type of cake from a local bakery and it’s delicious but expensive. There was no way I was going to be able to finish this one. It was really cute too, decorated with little dogs and cats. And like... Austin was waiting in the car for me as I stood there in the kitchen, so I felt like, not only was I running out on my parents, but I couldn’t even properly show appreciation for the cake and card that they got me. I felt so devastatingly terrible and confused. I didn’t know what to do. I just started feeling worse and worse knowing that Austin was waiting for me while I tried to figure out whether or not to just take the cake with me or leave it at home or what? I left the kitchen and went into the bathroom. I almost had a panic attack, but didn’t. I decided to just suck up my feelings and I took the cake with me. It needed to be refrigerated, but it was cold outside, so it would be ok to leave it in the car while we were at dinner. I cried in the car all the way to the restaurant because I felt horrible like I screwed everything up.  Dinner was ok. The food was REALLY good. We went to HopCat, so I got to have some good beer and their super awesome fries. I wanted to try to suck up my feelings again and just let things get better. Then, I was a little cold, so I put my jacket on. Austin asked me if I was cold and if I had brought the hand warmer he got me with me. I told him that it was at home with my bags. I was rushing out and it was still wrapped anyway! Plus, my shoulders were cold, not my hands. It didn’t matter though, he got all annoyed and I just started to feel horrible all over again. I really just felt like I was screwing up everything for everyone no matter how hard I tried.  Austin and I went back to his house after dinner... but I just felt like shit. I really, really wanted to just force myself to be happy, but I couldn’t. Austin and I just laid down on the floor of his living room and I grabbed some leftover punch that his mom had made for the party. I just drank some of it out of a mason jar and we listened to The National. That was the best part of the day, tbh. I realized that that was all I really wanted to do, just drink and talk and hang out. I really wish that Mady, Julius, and Shelby had been in town so maybe we could have just gone out and chilled. 😕

Austin and I also put his Christmas tree up! That was good too, even though I wasn’t exactly in the mood. We did it differently this year and used ornaments that Austin had received as gifts every Christmas since he was born. It was cool to see them all, especially the ornaments that he made himself as a kid. We ate some cake as well, ftr. 😋

So yeah, I guess everything turned out ok, but it was a pretty unfortunate day overall. I don’t really even feel like I had a Birthday. I guess they can’t all be happy. *shrug* I’m still kind of sad, but I’m trying to focus on the positive stuff. It was nice of my parents to get me a cake and dinner was good. I do really like Austin’s presents. And he got me tickets to see Star Wars when it comes out! Plus, I still have dinner with my folks on Saturday. Maybe the actual fun parts of my birthday are just going to be uhhh stretched out a bit. 😅And I have Christmas to look forward to. That’s what I’m going to go with.  Sorry about the text wall, just had to get all this off my chest. I have more t write about for sure, but that’ll be for tomorrow. Back to work for now!

#personal #personalblog

[delennsatai]

DMC Gen Week: day 2

Paradise Regained

Summary: 15-year-old Vergil finally finds out who he really is--and that he has a twin brother out there somewhere. Features a flashback to his childhood with Dante.

Part of @dmcgenweek Day 2 Prompt: Hug/Competition

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20025409

Autumn leaves skittered past his feet like tumbleweeds and the jacket of his school uniform didn’t do much to keep out the chill of October’s relentless wind. The cold couldn’t stop him, though, not today. He’d been distracted all day, barely able to focus on classes over the anticipation buzzing in his mind. He felt wired, wide awake but far away. The nagging feeling that he’d forgotten the most important thing he’d ever known had plagued him for eight years, ever since he woke up to parents who solemnly told him he’d been in an accident and suffered near-total amnesia. “Vergil? You don’t remember us, do you? It’s all right. We’re just grateful you survived.” He knew there was more to it, though he couldn’t have articulated what made him so certain. He just…knew.

Fortunately, his parents rarely cared what he did after school as long as he got his homework done and remembered to eat something. So today was the day he’d learn the truth. An invisible string—maybe it was destiny, he thought—yanked him through the gate and down the street with an alacrity that was a far cry from his usual measured pace. Someone called his name as he passed, but he pretended not to hear them. The bullies left him alone now, after he’d finally lost his temper and nearly crushed their leader’s windpipe against a locker (no one believed the story afterward—"you mean creepy Vergil, the one who carries his laptop everywhere to avoid talking to people? you’re kidding, right?”) but that didn’t really fill him with confidence in his classmates’ goodwill. Someone always wanted what he had, wanted to show him they were better, wanted to put him in his place.

Maybe after today he’d know what his place was supposed to be.

It had taken over a year of dogged (mostly illegal) research, false leads, and sketchy late-night meetings that took him through all the bad parts of town, but he’d finally tracked down an address. He wasn’t even sure exactly what it meant. He just knew that once he dug deeply enough, there was no record of a boy named Vergil—or any child at all—being born to Mr. and Mrs. Sheffield, and the only clue he could find to his real heritage was an abandoned, condemned building on the outskirts of Limbo City.

Rounding a corner, he saw it: a long driveway leading through a tall, wrought-iron gate. Atop the gate, the word “PARADISE” beckoned. He scoffed, a brief chuckle of disbelief, but he couldn’t completely disdain it. It was too familiar, somehow.

He all but ran the last few yards before grasping the padlock holding the gate closed and yanking hard, smiling in satisfaction as it came apart in his hand. No one had ever been able to explain to him why he was so much stronger and faster than other boys his age, and after a few…incidents, he stopped demonstrating it in front of people. He hoped his parents would just forget, or assume it had gone away somehow. They never mentioned it again, anyway, and he gladly kept that particular silence.

He pushed the gate open and surveyed the estate with questing eyes. It was larger than where he lived now and surely used to be almost palatial in its grandeur. Now, it looked like a tornado had ripped through it while a fire raged across the ruined gardens and grounds. What the hell happened here?

The front door wasn’t locked. He opened it into a long corridor, letting the crisp wind in to blow dust up in little clouds at his feet. He paused when he reached the grand hall, with its sweeping double staircase and massive crystal chandelier. Well, he thought, if this really is where I used to live, my real family is absolutely loaded.

But where were they? What happened to them?

He pulled the little blue amulet that hung around his neck out from under his shirt and ran his fingers over it thoughtfully. His parents(?) claimed it had been a birthday gift from them years ago, but that never felt right. Looking at it made him feel alone. Lonely, even. But he wore it all the time, hoping it would one day remind him of whatever he’d forgotten that was so crucial.

The longer he walked through the mansion’s halls, hushed as death, the more he remembered it, like a hazy dream. He knew that through this door he’d find the kitchen, and he knew before he saw it that it would be almost drab by comparison to the rest of this place. Servants did the cooking. He almost thought he could hear their muted chatter for a moment, see their looks of faux disapproval as the two boys swiped cookies and ran off, giggling. “My cookie’s bigger!” “No it isn’t, mine is!” “Well, mine has more chocolate chips!”

Wait…two boys?

He had to see more. Some of the stairs were broken, but he made his way up to the second floor and followed his instincts to a tall, elegant room lined with bookshelves. The décor throughout the mansion was odd in a way he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Macabre, maybe. It felt right, though, and this room gave him a gut-hollowing feeling of awe that threatened to drown him in its wave of nostalgia. A portrait hung in the center of one wall. The man in the painting looked like some kind of knight, with sword and shield; but his face was obscured, obliterated in an obviously deliberate attack on its canvas. Vergil felt like the knight was staring down at him from an impossibly huge height, one he could never hope to reach. The nameplate underneath said “Sparda.”

He felt a warmth pulsing at his chest. …the amulet? He lifted it, and sure enough, it was warm to the touch—and glowing with a faint blue light. This is it. Something’s about to happen. I’ve never been more ready.

***

“Giving up, Vergil?”

“N…no!” It wasn’t fair, he thought, forcing himself to keep going even though his arm ached, and Dante was clearly winning. Dante always won. Dante was stronger and he could practice for longer without getting tired. They were twins, they were supposed to be the same! He’d have to keep practicing until he was just as strong and tough.

“Okay, but I’m not going easy on you!” Dante laughed and Vergil was forced to back away from his brother’s endless advance. They crisscrossed the room, still clashing madly with their wooden swords. Vergil didn’t want to lose again. He wanted to prove to Father he was as good with swords as Dante was. Maybe he’d give the twins real swords, then.

“Ha!” Dante brought his weapon down with both hands. Vergil tried to parry it, but his strength gave out and Dante’s sword thumped him hard in the chest. He fell, eyes widening as the impact with the floor knocked the wind out of him.

“I win again!” Dante shouted, but he paused when he saw Vergil gasping for breath instead of getting up. “Hey, are you okay?”

Vergil felt warm tears start to well up in his eyes. He desperately tried to blink them back. He couldn’t cry in front of Dante! His brother reached down to help him up, but once on his feet he wobbled, hunched over trying to get his lungs working right again.

“Whoa…” Dante stared with a stupid, owlish look on his face. Vergil might have laughed if he could breathe without wheezing. But after a moment, the dark-haired boy dropped his wooden sword and came over to put an arm around his twin’s shoulders, helping him onto the bed and sitting with him. Vergil couldn’t help it, then; a rogue tear escaped, sliding down his face like a traitor.

“Don’t worry, Vergil, you’re gonna be fine,” Dante said, wrapping his arms around his brother the way their mother always did when they were hurt or upset, patting him awkwardly on the back before letting go. As Vergil’s breathing evened out, he added, “I guess I’m so good at swords it took your breath away!”

Vergil almost choked again as he suddenly burst into giggles, hastily wiping his face. “Nuh uh,” he said, “next time I’ll win.”

“Bet you a cookie you’re wrong.”

“You don’t even have a cookie.” Vergil slid down from the bed. “Race you to the kitchen!” He took off before Dante even had a chance to say anything, leaving his brother to shout “Hey!” and scramble to catch up.

***

Vergil gasped, feeling a strange pressure at his back as the memory faded, along with a clear but fleeting impression of a place with a green sky and a red tree, an impossibly warped cityscape. He struggled to quickly drop his backpack, and as it fell, a flash of white-blue light surrounded him. It was gone in a blink, but in its place, he found he was holding a long, slim katana sheathed in a plain black scabbard.

Dante…I have a twin brother. I remember him. And this…

With an air of reverence, he held the sheath in his left hand and slowly pulled the blade out with his right. It gleamed in the fading autumn light. He thought he could hear a voice whisper its name: “Yamato.” And, “This sword is yours, Vergil. It’s a part of you now.”

He slashed experimentally, feeling more than hearing a sonorous hum as the blade seemed to cut right through the air itself, sharper than the sharpest razor. He glanced around the room at bookshelf upon bookshelf of old-fashioned volumes with crumbling leather spines. The rest of the answers were here, he was sure of it. He’d have to explore the house, try to remember more…but first, he wanted to know about Sparda. My father, he mentally corrected himself. His real father. And a brother he’d lost, and a mother he couldn’t quite recall. His eyes roamed the shelves eagerly as he began his self-education in demonology and the legend of the nephilim.

Hours later, when the sun had set and he was reduced to reading by the light of his cell phone, his stomach reminded him with a surly grumble that he hadn’t eaten dinner and his parents…no, the Sheffields…were probably wondering where he was. He’d have to come back tomorrow. He carefully stashed the sword—Yamato—and a few books in his backpack, feeling like the whole world had opened up to him all at once in a rush of fresh air and possibilities.

Later, he’d remember the coppery stench of blood and the sound of Sparda calling his sons’ names in a desperate hiss; the hellish snarling of demons sniffing for Vergil up and down the house as he cowered in a closet holding his breath. He’d return to the lost city in his soul’s dreams and slay monsters until he felt power bubbling up from within him like a geyser. He’d teach himself how to find and open rifts into Limbo, and explore the demonic realm with a curiosity bordering on obsession. He’d endure nightmares he couldn’t explain to his foster family even when he woke up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, and eventually, he’d leave that house without a word and never go back.

But for now, all he could think about was returning to Paradise, and about how one day, he’d bring his twin brother there, too.

#dmcgenweek #dmc #devil may cry #devilmaycry #vergil #dante #sparda