#Gotta use the European time my lord

[elbiotipo]

Was watching some playthroughs of Manor Lords and it's so adictive to just WATCH playthroughs it's cutting on my productivity, I can't imagine how it will be to play it yet. Anyways.

Thinking about "cozy" farming sims and the like. Manor Lords isn't aimed at that kind of stuff at least not explictly, you ARE a feudal lord (you can even walk in first person as one) and those people ARE your serfs. I guess there will be some people who interpret it as that, and let's be honest, the game is so pretty and intuitive, it's just so relaxing to see the forests change seasons, the houses being built, the flowers swaying on the wind. Working like a serf all day, not so much. No doubt peasants in the Middle Ages and all over the world had their moments of rest and respite and joy, but it was (and still is) a hardworking, exploited existence like we are not usually used to.

I think Manor Lords really GETS what a subsistence farming economy was like, at least at the very beginning. and this is really important in my opinion because it was the lifestyle of no less than 90% of the world's population until very recently. And it wasn't like in Stardew Valley where one farmer had a variety of crops all growing in the same tiny farm. In Manor Lords you usually build a small hamlet or village, every home with its own little backyard plot with vegetables, chickens, but it is actual fields what truly feeds and clothes people. The distribution and managing of these fields, and how big they are, is something that changes from society to society, but it's not like there is a single household that is able to feed itself and is able to do everything that a human needs to eat, to get clothed, to be warm in winter and more. They need to have big open fields (or pastures) to do that, where the community puts most of its time and effort maintaining.

So when you think about subsistence farming, you shouldn't think about it as peasants (wherever in the world where they are, as they still exist, why do you think we Latin Americans talk so much about the campesino struggle) owning one small plot of land and feeding their household with it. You should think of them as communities where the main and sometimes only activity is farming, and they do not farm to sell it to a market (though campesino communities can and do produce excess they can sell) but to sustain themselves and their family. They do not especialize in a single crop or industry, nor they have the time or ability to. They plant whatever helps them feed and clothe their family, that is, subsist.

In Manor Lords, you can also "cheat" a bit and get goods by trade, or survive by gathering berries (EXCESSIVELY OP) or hunting. The first was impossible in very remote areas, and the second was impossible in high-density areas. Which means that you can't sustain a community by just gathering berries or having home gardens. Vegetables and fruit CAN and do supplement the diet of people and they make life infinitely more enjoyable (some places like tropical and subtropical America are very blessed in that respect and their crops are very diverse), and indeed most people have those, but it isn't enough to feed you every day. You have to farm to it. And it's a way of life tied to the land and the seasons. You gotta have enough food and firewood before winter (Manor Lords is tied to the European temperate seasons of course, but every region in the world has its own), you gotta prepare the fields, mill the grain and bake the bread, it's all work, work, work, neverending work. There is a reason why some have said agriculture is kind of a "trap" to humanity, it allows you to feed yourself and your family at the cost of being tied to your land forever, and this didn't change until very recently. And again, while of course it's also a life that has its moments of rest (harvest festivals! and all those church days in Europe, but again, every region has its own traditions), it's still work, work, and work more.

I think this is an interesting contrast with other "cozy farming sims" of which are there are a ton, with a single character being able to produce the whole spectrum of human food and a bit more. Manor Lords to me is very interesting because by having its resource and city building in such a small scale as individual families, it captures in a rather realistic (if not completely so) way how subsistence agriculture is, which is the way virtually most of our ancestors (no matter where you are from) lived. To me that's way more interesting than the combat system.

(yes, I've said I didn't play it yet, but I've watched and analyzed so much of it I might as well have 120 hours logged on it)

#I don't play it yet because I'm not sure if it can run in my integrated graphic card (even if they say it's quite modest) #and also I don't have time to truly get addicted to it #cosas mias #manor lords #farming sims #farming #subsistence farming

[xxruinaxxmcu]

Jack Thompson X Reader

What Lies Before Us, Chapter 18

Previous Chapters

A/N: Apologies for the long pause. I actually had this chapter in reserve but never got around to publishing it. What made me publish it today was A) time and B) the lovely, lovely words by @clinicallydepressedreader under one of the previous chapters. Thanks, my dear! It’s people like you that make this more than worth it. I am so honoured to have had that impact on your perception on Jack - truly, it means the world! The characters are actually the most difficult part for me to get right (in terms of the canon timelines and their stories) because the historical background, well... my full-time job is researching the 1930s/1940s in Germany. That certainly helped!

“Clear.”

The room hadn’t been made by room service, who had adhered to the sign outside the door asking for privacy.

“Those are the plans Elias had handed over to them”, Y/N pointed to the desk, recognising the blueprints from Peggy’s descriptions.

“Wasn’t one for much private stuff”, Jack commented. They found no pictures, only the absolute necessities. Crouching down next to the bed, Jack saw something buried below the mattress.

“Wannabe spy”, he commented sarcastically, pulling out a notebook.

Projekt Kriegerblut

HYDRA, Abteilung Forschung für Neurologie und Psychoanalytik

BETA-Proband M.C.

Start Behandlung: September 1940

Y/N had noticed him reading something. “You found something?”

“Hard to say, what does ‘Kriegerblut’ mean?”

“Warrior’s blood”, Y/N frowned, “Why?” He handed her the notebook.

“I think that could link to your friend there.”

Y/N’s eyes scanned the pages. “If that refers to Carter, then lord help us, given that he’s only the beta candidate. Means that somewhere out there, they have a more finalised candidate. One that does, whatever the intent is, better than our man”, she stated, flipping through the pages. Most were notes by doctors about the change in brain scans after repeated torture and electroshock ‘therapy’.

“What does it say?”, Jack asked impatiently.

“Shhh”, she hushed, “I gotta first read it!”

Loading all the evidence into their car, Y/N continued her lecture whilst Jack started driving to Sousa’s location.

“Unbelievable”, Y/N eventually whispered, “that is actually unbelievable.”

“What is it?”, Jack’s eyes met hers for a split-second, so he saw her deep concern.

“If whatever they are describing here is factual”, she began, “then they are attempting to manipulate individuals, basically rewiring their brains to become assassins devoid of will.”

“Absolute mind control?”, he asked in disbelief, “that’s impossible. That’s gotta be impossible.” Taking over someone temporarily by creating a momentary delusion as had been the case in Fennhoff’s technique was one thing, rewiring someone’s brain fundamentally an entirely different.

Y/N raised an eyebrow: “I hope so, too, but then again, I guess people in the French Revolution would’ve said the same thing about the atomic bomb falling out of freaking planes.”

“So, what, he doesn’t know who he is? So we’re talking to an empty shell now, lacking the chip on the shoulder with the puppet master dead?”, Jack inquired, still not entirely convinced that whatever they had found could actually be reality.

“Do I look like I have experience with Nazi mind control?”, Y/N asked back with a huff, “All I can say is what they reported here. The candidate was captured in summer of 1940, and is described as a ‘European individual in his mid-20s of healthy status’. Age and time of capture would coincide with Michael’s presumed death, and well, there’s the matching initials. Apparently, he was candidate 19, and the only one not to die in the process. He was tortured for months, Jack.”

“Sorry if my sympathy is not overflowing just yet. The guy tried to kill you not even five hours ago, Y/N!”

“Yes, with an emphasis on tried”, Y/N agreed, “but we’re all alive, the kid’s fine, and I only have a bandage and a nasty gash to remind me. Had a scar there anyways, so never mind.” She exhaled. “What’s my concern now is that we need someone… someone we can trust who has experience with this sorta thing. I know absolutely no one that fits the bill. You?”

“Neither.”

“Then let’s hope the old trick of hitting him hard enough on the head works”, Y/N commented dryly, “I’m not betting on getting help from the one mind-control expert we’ve come across in the last two years in the form of Fennhoff.”

Once more, silence returned to their car. Y/N knew he was upset, it was written all across his face.

“Are you angry that I didn’t shoot him, are you pissed I didn’t let him shoot the kid, or are you angry that we’re headed to see a possible mad man right now?”, she asked, tilting her head, “or is it all of the above?”

“I’m not angry.”

“Yes”, Y/N snorted, “you are in a glorious mood.”

“No, I’m not”, he agreed, “but I’m not angry. I’m just waiting for this campaign to be over. It feels like since Stark’s disappearance last year, we’ve been chasing boogiemen across the globe and every time we think we’re done, it just continues.”

“I know”, Y/N said quietly, “I’m tired, too.” She swallowed: “But we can’t just ditch now, can we? I mean, you saw Peggy’s face in there. We can’t just leave her and Sousa with someone – or something – of which we have no idea what he’s capable of.”

“Yeah”, he rubbed the bridge of his nose, “I know.” Clenching his jaw, he accepted his fate, and his mind returned to duty. “How’d you think we interrogate him? If that file is correct, I doubt he’ll react much to the stick.”

Y/N nodded. “Probably he won’t, yeah”, pressing her lips together, “again, I have no knowledge of how to de-programme someone like that. I suppose reconnecting with his past, with his identity would be an avenue. To turn him from Candidate 19 back to Michael Carter.”

“But only Peggy knew him back then”, he interjected, “she can’t interrogate him! That’s bound to fail.”

“Why, because it’s her brother?”, Y/N raised an eyebrow.

Jack looked at her as if asking that question was a crime all by itself. “Yes”, he hissed, “because he’s her brother!”

“You know”, Y/N said with a grin, “Now I know why she always butted heads with you. You and him? You could be related. And from what she told me about him, I think even some of the character traits line up.”

He looked offended: “That’s harsh.”

“You met a monster”, she objected, “I doubt he was like that when they were playing knights in the garden.”

Now, he laughed. “Doesn’t surprise me one bit. Couldn’t imagine Marge being a princess.”

…………

“Rose?”, Y/N asked when they approached the cellar in which Sousa had handcuffed Carter to an interrogation table, “how’s everyone?”

Rose gave her a telling look: “Everyone is just in shock.”

“Is Sousa with him?”, Jack asked and Rose nodded, pointing to the room where they could sit in to the interrogation from behind the one-way mirror.

“Peggy in there?”, Y/N asked, and Rose nodded again.

“Gimme a second”, Y/N said to Jack and left to enter the room. “Peggy?”

The woman sat on the desk, legs crossed. She didn’t look sad, or like she had cried. She looked completely blank as her eyes flickered over to Y/N.

“How’s your arm?”

“Fine.”

Y/N sat next to her, looking into the interrogation room.

“What have I missed?”, she asked silently.

“Nothing”, Peggy said bitterly, “he’s said absolutely nothing.”

“I would have guessed so”, Y/N said, deciding to be upfront, “Jack discovered a notebook in Keller’s room. We weren’t sure if it was referring to him, but the evidence all points in that direction. If we are correct, then HYDRA reprogrammed his brain. A sort of mind control. They detailed how they got him to that point, but unfortunately, nothing of how to reverse it.”

“Mind control?”, Peggy asked, forcing herself to look away from Michael, now facing Y/N. Y/N could practically see her trying to pull herself together.

“Yeah, but different than what Fennhoff did with people like Chief Dooley. It’s much more… fundamental”, Y/N tried to explain, “I read it just now on our way here. It was pain-based. Peggy, the details don’t matter that much, but they’ve tortured him for months. It took months for them to drill him into a tool. He became Kandidat 19 – Keller addressed him in that way, too. It would seem that by the time they were done with him, he’d fall into bouts of servitude.” She paused. “But he isn’t perfect. He was referred to as the BETA candidate. In some of the notes, they described how he’d fall out of his trance mid-mission or not act out the actions they wanted him to do in as miniscule detail as they would have liked. I think they decided to make several changes for their next generation of candidates, something with trigger words. I don’t know what they would’ve changed, but they didn’t do that with Michael.”

Peggy remained silent for a while. The door opened and Jack entered, nodding at Peggy.

“Do you think I can get through to him, Y/N?”, Peggy asked. Y/N felt helpless – She had nothing to base this upon. She was forced to answer a question she couldn’t have known the answer to.

“I believe we will not leave any stone unturned”, Y/N spoke eventually. “Dooley got out of his trance somehow. There must be a way to break this, too, even if it takes more than Jack banging against a door.”

“You think it’s some sort of drill, right?”, Jack asked Y/N, to which she only nodded. “Then it’s most likely connected to self-discipline, right? I dunno, maybe some sort of learnt behaviour that was reinforced by HYDRA, disobedience means torture, so self-discipline is a self-protection.”

Y/N remained quiet because she wanted to know where he was headed with this.

“Well, if it is, then we need to break down his ability to self-discipline.” He said it so matter-of-fact that Y/N had to glance to Peggy, only to see that the brunette also didn’t seem to know what Jack was getting at.

“And how do you suspect we do that, Doctor?”, Y/N asked, crossing her arms.

Jack looked at her with a deadpan look: “It’s my suggestion. It’s gonna involve alcohol. Isn’t that your rationale for hardly touching that stuff?”

“You wanna get him drunk?”, Y/N said, not knowing if he was kidding.

“You got a better idea? It’s probably less harmful than some of the harder drugs out there”, he shrugged.

Y/N turned to Peggy: “Thoughts?”

“He finds gin repulsive”, she said sarcastically, “you better get whiskey.”

“See?”, Y/N said with a grin looking at Thompson, “I knew you two share similarities!” He shot her a venomous glare.

“You don’t happen to have a bottle in the trunk, do you?”, she asked sarcastically, causing him to open his mouth in offence.

“D’you think I’m an alcoholic over here?”

“Nah, I told you before, it’s gotten much better”, she shrugged with a smile, “but I was just checking. I’ll get us the goods.”

…………

When they informed Daniel about the plan, he looked at Thompson and L/N as if they were from outer space.

“That’s your plan?”, he asked, just to be sure he didn’t miss a part, “You’ll get him drunk?”

“Yes”, Thompson confirmed.

“My bad”, Sousa’s tone was mocking, “Here I thought we were the Strategic Scientific Reserve, not the college fraternity admitting another member into our ranks of crazy.”

“If you happened to have gathered some intel about German mind control techniques in the trenches of Bastogne, by all means, dogface”, Thompson huffed, “Speak up.”

Sousa rolled his eyes at the insult. “You know, if there’s one thing the likes of you have in common – it’s that they will go above and beyond to remind the rest of the servicemen that they’re Marines.”

Jack slapped him on the shoulder: “Naturally. We did the legwork for it. Don’t worry, we made even more fun of the swab-jockeys than your kind.”

Y/N scoffed, shaking her head. “I guess that referred to the poor sailors that had to work beside you.”

“How’d you guess?”, Jack asked, knowing that she’d probably not have had contact with many members from the Navy during her time in the European theatre.

“Believe it or not, but the distain you had on your face when you spoke to Luke who has been in the Navy was a clear indicator that you don’t hold them in the highest of regards”, she replied, “might have just been Luke, though, and just a lucky guess this time around.”

He winked: “To us, the US Navy was the Marine’s taxi service.”

“Oh my God, way to boast about your choice of branch”, she rolled her eyes amusedly, “C’mon, warrior of God, we’re off to meet Rose and the kid. They left for another safehouse an hour ago.”

“What, we’re not leaving Carter with Sousa and Carter!”, he objected, “besides, last time I checked, I’m the most senior interrogator.”

“Yeah”, she raised an eyebrow at him, “and I’ve seen my share of drunk people for this month. What’s your point?” That remark gave her the reaction she had intended for it to generate – slight embarrassment – as she added: “Besides, he’s cuffed to a table, and we tied down his feet. We’ll put the bunker on lockdown and you’ll need a password to unlock it, so he can’t get out.” She grabbed him by the arm: “Now get going or I swear I will always and forever refer to as a soldier.”

………

“We’re not leaving just to check on the other two, are we?”, Jack asked in the car.

Y/N took notice that he had correctly deducted that from her previous behaviour.

“I think that we shouldn’t be listening in on whatever Peggy has to say to possibly get through to him”, she confirmed quietly, “Peggy’s usually very quiet when it’s about her private life, particularly the one she had before the war.”

“She told you about Michael”, he pointed out, “you’re sure it’s about us listening in, and not just about me listening in?” He shot her a side-glance before returning to the road.

Y/N studied his face. He didn’t seem hurt by the implication, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t.

“No”, she disagreed, “I knew very little about her life, despite having lived with her. I knew that she had a brother and she showed me a few pictures, and she told me that she didn’t have a particularly cordial relationship to her mother. Found her too boyish. I guess the problematic family relations were a point for us to bond over.” She sighed: “I’m sure she would’ve told you if… well. It’s always harder to say these things to people who come from a family that’s intact. It makes you mourn your losses all over again.” Once she had uttered the words, she realised how utterly sad they had sounded, which was reflected on Jack’s concerned face.

“I don’t feel that way when I’m with your family”, she added quickly, “I have known them for what seems like my entire life.”

He cleared his throat, taking his hand off the clutch for a moment to grab her left hand and grazing the ring on her finger: “They’ll be your family, too.”

……….

Entering the other safehouse, which was an unused office building formerly used by the SSR, Elias and Rose were chatting in one of the rooms, evidently about how American and German pies were nothing alike.

Y/N shot Jack a glance. He raised an eyebrow and remarked: “Didn’t take the kid to be a baker.”

“Neither.”

Hearing their voices, Rose and Elias watched them enter.

“Agent L/N, how is your arm?”

“Don’t worry”, she waved her hand, “Unlike the SSR men, I used my arm to take it, not my sternum.”

“And you accuse me of bragging”, Jack complained with a grin that he couldn’t quite wipe off his face.

“Oh please”, Y/N rolled her eyes, “I’m actually surprised you didn’t get one of those dodgy tattoos during service. Well, I suppose you make up for it verbally.”

She could see the thoughts spinning in Elias’ face, when she realised that to him, they were Chief Thompson of the NY SSR, and Agent L/N from the NY SSR. Peggy and Daniel had probably seen no need to mention the fact that there was a private dimension to their relationship, hence, her remarks must have come across as incredibly rude for a simple subordinate.

“Don’t worry”, she said in German with a grin, “he’s my fiancé. I’m the one person in this agency that’s allowed to be honest with him.”

“What?”, Jack asked when Elias started laughing.

“Nothing”, Y/N said in a sing-song-voice, “Asked him if he enjoyed his experience in the field today.”

Jack didn’t believe a word of what she was saying and eyed her suspiciously. “Sure.”

“Chief Sousa called a moment ago, something about a report”, Rose spoke up, “He said you two will know what to do.”

“Yeah, that’s a nice term for filing duty”, Y/N remarked dryly, “About the mission.”

She looked around, searching for a desk. “How about this, I’ll do the filing, you”, she turned to Jack, “find us something to eat. I’m starving.”

“You volunteer to do the filing?”, he asked, acting shocked.

“I can be nice from time to time”, she grinned, “Deal?”

“You bet!”

…………

“So you two are headed back to New York soon?”, Elias asked over dinner, which were burgers, because, as Jack had explained, that was the most convenient to get into the car.

Y/N looked over to Jack. “Yes, at least for a while.”

“We’re leaving the SSR”, Jack shared, causing Rose to almost drop her food.

“WHAT?”, she exclaimed, “Who’s going to take care of the east, then?!”

Y/N chuckled at her panic. “Don’t worry, Rose. The SSR will be in the best of hands. Perhaps the most capable hands it could ever want. Isn’t that right, Thompson?”

He rolled his eyes at the teasing tone in her voice. “Yeah, yeah.”

“Carter’s going to be in charge”, Y/N said to explain, “she, Colonel Philips and Howard Stark will restructure the SSR.”

Rose pursed her lips, before smiling brightly: “That sounds exciting!”

“Yes, for your sake, I hope Stark’s not too involved”, Jack scoffed, “otherwise, the new offices might explode. Or implode. It’s concerning both happened before.”

“Oh, come on”, Y/N shook her head, “He was involved in almost all the biggest scientific developments of the last decades. And those functioned as intended. At least most of them.”

“I am also very confident that his rocket programme will turn out to be a success”, Elias said with a small smile, “who knows, Stark tech might just be the first man-made thing to land on the moon.”

“The moon?”, Jack asked, not convinced. “Yeah, sure. Why not.”

“Yes, he intends to send a manned rocket to the moon”, Elias nodded, “that’s why he hired me, amongst others.”

“Great”, Thompson scoffed, “make it a one-way ticket and I’ll support it.”

Y/N laughed: “I said to Peggy that you’d say that.”

“If you’re leaving the SSR, what’s next for Chief Thompson and Agent L/N?”, Rose asked curiously.

“The CIA is looking for people with experience to build up their rows”, Jack said, “they were quick to offer us a position.”

“With the new division of responsibility amongst the intelligence services, the SSR won’t be able to act with the level of freedom it was able to in the war and up until September”, Y/N added, “and things in Europe and Asia only seem to become more volatile again. Might be of use to work for the agency that’ll be able to work on the ground.”

She saw Elias’ concerned face. “Do you still have family there?”

“In Germany?”, he shrugged, “I have no idea. Parts of them lived in East Prussia. I haven’t heard from them since late 1944 – so I assume, no. I don’t anymore.”

Y/N’s face fell at the mention of that, again conflicted by the fact that enemies were human, too. She had taught herself to see them primarily as targets, as inherently different to her, to her friends, and therefore, killing them became easier. Was sympathy with a people that had committed atrocities too horrible to even comprehend even possible? Was it morally wrong? It felt nearly impossible to her to reconcile these seemingly juxtaposed positions.

“Y/N, did you come across HYDRA when working in Germany?”, Rose asked to change the topic.

The woman shook her head: “No, fortunately not. I was preoccupied with more – well – normal Nazis, though that is an oxymoron in my opinion.”

“I remind you that you didn’t get to experience the joy of searching for snakes in your foxhole”, Jack interjected, and Y/N knew he did only to redirect the conversation away from her service, for which she was grateful. She had no interest in sharing war stories with the brother of the guy she killed.

“You did not serve in Europe?”, Elias asked, seemingly confused.

“Nah”, Jack pulled a face, “someone had to fight the good fight in the Pacific, too.”

Once they had finished their meal, Jack began to organise for Rose and Elias to get onto the next plane back to L.A., which resulted in them heading to the airport just a short while later. Y/N accompanied the two of them outside to the taxi, followed by Thompson. She hugged Rose goodbye before turning to the scientist.

“Thank you, Elias”, she said, shaking his hand. “You’re a good kid.”

“Madame, I love my brother. Perhaps, I loved him more than any other person in the world. But if one thing was taught to us since our earliest youth, it is that war is brutal. It was the brutality we were taught to idolise. I suppose that means accepting the reality that others will wage war upon us, too.”

She watched him enter the car, wondering where his path would lead him to. She sincerely hoped that, wherever it would, the destination would be more peaceful than his youth had been.

“That’s why you wanted to be the one to escort him”, Jack stated quietly, standing next to her. “To amend.”

“I cannot amend it”, she said, watching the car leave. “But it would seem that he has given me all I can ask for. Acceptance.”

Jack followed her gaze. If that kid was able to accept her decisions, accept her actions – then for God’s sake, why would her father not be capable of doing the same? He would marry Y/N. And despite their relationship being distant, he at least wanted them to not hate each other.

Tag List

@pretty-girl-40

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@briskywalker

@elleclairez

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#jack thompson #jack thompson imagine #agent jack thompson #jack thompson x reader #agent jack thompson x reader #agent thompson #agent carter #marvel's agent carter #mcu #marvel cinematic universe

[fireblossumdraws]

For those interested in reading Emblem of the Siren

this is a psa, personal notes, and revisions to be seen in the new and revised chapters in the works. What has changed as far as characters, plot and the creator (me! )

As some of you have known as I have hinted multiple times, that the fanfiction has been up for years and has not received an update other than disclaimers. That's because my only use for it by this point has been as a crude outline for the rewritten version. Which I don’t want to hide either, even if I would like to because of it’s bad attempt at crass subject matter and traumatic concepts that could have been detailed more tastefully. I was an angry kid when I started writing. Thanks to receiving tons of therapy and life development, I feel that I can tackle those subjects from a more realistic standpoint rather than the sheltered worldview that I used to have.

With that being said, certain characters will not receive the significant changes, evil or not. And there will be a list designating who to expect that from and why.

Key characters that will receive no changes in the updates:

• Ostegoth (he deals, he smokes, we love ostegoth in this house and he does no wrong in his choices to pinch a coin/relic!)

• The Lord of Bones and subjects (He is an abusive monarch in cannon. I don’t think I could really rewrite it without sacrificing any personality traits and same goes for everyone else. I gotta keep the plot spicy somehow *shrugs* he keeps his satisfying end.

• Draven (the evil characterization does not suit him at all! For someone as neutral in the story, he’s a mentor and a bro, will remain that way in the update)

List of characters receiving drastic changes:

• Genevieve (Even if the basic layout will remain the same, [Which I will entail in a bio later on!] girl needs a confidence boost amongst other things. I wrote my oc without any experience in the industries that she were in on Earth and I unfairly wrote it out as something that she should be ashamed of. A similar backstory has been made with room to overcome and develop through. I am also adding certain flashbacks as well to highlight her character)

• Vulgrim (overly misogynistic, no chill, not cool. He will have more significance late story to demand changes in his character now)

• All Makers ( some changes of certain terms that could be considered misogynistic (in Thane’s case, thankfully they never made the final cut) but they are written as cinnamon rolls that need not a change other than their butchered dialect. Sorry for those, European readers.

• Death (he is emotionally ambiguous unless it concerns those he cares about. Though, he will be given the least amount of changes within the plot the way it is, but interactions are the main concern. I thought the intimate lines throughout the story were great work and somehow I was commended for them. However, the ones that are close without intimacy such as the first encounter and up to chapter 12, came across to me as far too cold and even the later scrapped chapters after that were the same. It was another situation of traumatic projection that I've long figured out how to handle. His personality is the same, a rude old one with a dark and mysterious emotional wall. One that's breakable with the proper writing and warmth. Y'know, like Fury. Only worse 🙃)

With all of that being said, the fanfiction will remain up to read. I cannot keep u from looking up the outdated version. But know this dude, How to write more ethically came along as well. I am willing to try again.

Doing that in writing this story in comic form in the meantime of the actual writing!

Have a variant for getting this far! 🥰

Thank u!

#Darksiders 2 #darksiders death #emblem of the siren comic #darksiders #boostable #dust darksiders #karn #draven darksiders

[archaeojones-archive]

Have you ever worked on the L'Anse aux Meadows site, or done any research/reading on Vinland?

I'm especially wondering your thoughts as it implies that European settlement (in Canada at least) predates the British and French colonies.

That, and Finland wanted you to call him Papa.

"Finland? ... Mr. Timo never had overseas colonies. You could try n' argue that Mr. Jan and Mr. Björn had hands in my raising with Nieuw-Nederland and Nya Sverige. But those were founded after Arthur's denizens founded Jamestown, with those two colonies being chartered in 1614 and founded in 1638, respectively. An' there's so much more I could say about 'em, but then we'd be ignorin' the fact that even Mr. Antonio's people were consistently here in what would become me way, way before Lord Father and Francis. St. Augustine, Florida, was founded in 1565, and that was after several failed Spanish attempts in Florida and the East Coast. That earliest attempt was San Miguel de Guadalupe in 1526, in what'd become South Carolina in the modern day.

"An' I can't speak for Mattie - and I shouldn't, but he's busy - but apart from the Norse settlement of L'Anse aux Meadows, I think the Spanish and Portuguese Empires were the first to claim Canadian land as theirs. Fighting over mainly Newfoundland? In 1497 and 1501-1502. To set up fishing outposts and other such things. I think, I think. Oh, where's Matt when I need 'im? And then the French came in a lil' later and had a few failed attempts at permanent settlement in 1541, 1598, and 1600, before finding success a couple years down the road.

"But I digress! Y'all both asked about pre-Columbian settlement by the Vikings. Gonna be upfront and hella personal with y'all...I've never worked on it. I'd love to, but at the same time, it ain't my main focus. So I usually gotta keep my eyes averted from the whole Viking settlement mystery. I'm more concerned with sites that fall in the several thousand years old ranges, or more. But gosh dang, if I wouldn't love to read more about Vinland. It's just little far north for me, and I'd need to worry about travelin' and all that. But yeah, my knowledge of pre-Columbian human activity in the Americas is concerned with the migrations over the Kelp Highway, the Pacific, and the hypothesized route over Beringia. You could tack on the Solutrean hypothesis too but...hmmm.

"One crucial thing to remember about L'Anse is that it's the only undisputed site of pre-Columbian European contact in all of the Americas. Otherwise, the slew of theories that surround it are all debated and should be taken with a grain of salt. There's a whole lot of murky, unclear evidence, or simply none at all. But L'Anse has produced over 800 artifacts that can be traced to Norse origins, so it's hard to deny that! And the sod-and-wood frame structures? That's damn cool! Now I really wanna know more, sitting here reading some basics. Maybe...well, I'm not sure, but maybe I could do some more research for us and make a future post with more about L'Anse aux Meadows and the Vinland mythos!"

((Don't mind the fact that I forgot to color his glasses. I was literally so excited to give a history lesson that it slipped my mind. Edit: Fixed!!))

#ask archaeology boy #archaeology f jones #hetalia #hetalia ask blog #aph america #hws america #alfred f jones

[penice]

What does it mean to love something?

To love a person, I feel, is to know them completely and accept them. For a work of art, it’s to know it completely and actually like it

So, not much of a difference, then?

Anyways, my father and his 13-years-younger brother might’ve been the ones to introduce me to Halo back in two-thousand-and-two of our lord, but have not come to love it like I do

For instance. The AI Marines? To either of my patriarchs, at best a distraction for Covenant guns. At worst, a source of extra ammo and grenades no matter who’s hand they die by. At Legendary difficulty, they melt under fire from Covenant plasma guns- seemingly confirming the word of the books, where their guns give third-degree-burns from a meter (AKA a European Yard) away. To the uncareful player, they are but momentary distractions for the alien guns to point elsewhere

But when you've played Halo 1 as many times as I have, especially on Legendary, you kinda get a knack for how to wrangle them. They might still be hopelessly outmatched against the advanced technology of a rabid alien theocratic confederacy, but, I gotta say, there’s nothing like watching a group of endearing, quipping, accented men- because this is Gamer Country, after all, so there are no chicks and you gotta kinda wanna be gay for the guys- chase an annoying and hopelessly outnumbered bird-beaked shield-holding bozo into your loving crack-its-head-open-with-a-gun embrace. With their bullets. That they used to funnel into your murderous embrace

Let me back up a bit

The last time I played Halo: CE (on the hardest difficulty, like papa taught me) I livestreamed the attempt while drunk and abusing my adderall medication. It really isnt a fun viewing experience. I started a few days ago again, this time sober, and decided to inaugurate this virgin 360- on which I don’t really care to download my older Xbox account credentials- with getting the achievement for going through the first level without picking up a health pack or any overshields. Which I did, of course

Which brings us, eventually, to the third level

I’ll be honest, I kinda wanted to skip it. You start off with a sniper rifle, which is a fantastic weapon, only my controller is older than the console I’m using so the stick is a little imprecise. It’s a dark level, an ambush under cover of night, and while that's a fun setting here more than a few parts in this level where there are just. Waves of enemies. The only other part of the game where that happens, instead of just progressing through enemy-filled territory, is the infamous seventh level The Library

But an underappreciated part, which my high ass barely noticed last time, is that you start off with a full squadron of AI teammates. And you get free refills of them when they all die. At least, one refill for every scene in the first Act

My point being, this is Master Chief’s- or John-117′s, if you will,- least loneliest part of the game

The AI Marines might be no match for more than a couple of Covenant at a time. Not on Legendary. Two at a time might be able to go through more than one Grunt, but their “primitive” ballistic weapons means three at a time are needed to take on at least one Jackal- one to shoot ineffectively at its shield and take most of its fire while the other two flank it. Which is a shame really, because just like every other AI in this game, they’re actually very intelligent for the Age

And you can forget about them taking on any Elites. Anyways, let's paint the scene

The Covenant corvette (is a ship that can hold hundreds really a corvette?) hangs just above. It was damaged in the ambush that saw the ship you were on crash-landed on this giant and mysterious and no-doubt ancient ring-world, on the inner edge a world of diverse climates and foliage and terrain and weather and arcane structures of which their purposes have been long lost to time. The night is dark, the plateau this ship is parked on impossibly high, and the terrain is Badlands-like, the driest it will be for 99% of the rest of the game. My sniper rifle- chambered in fourteen-point-stupid-by-stupid-millimeters,- is down to its 30s plus four on ammo count, and this level starts you off with 64+4 when the usual cap is 24+4. It is Act 1, Scene 3, and as I snipe a stupid dino Elite fucko who doesn’t notice me on a ledge higher than me, and then two bird buckos further down the left side of that ledge, the two Marines I had left from the beginning charge up the slope in the middle (which is what they’re scripted to do if I advance too far down the left side)

I run back and up to meet them, and they die before my eyes under six different streams of green plasma bolts. The squad I started at Scene 1 with has finally been terminated at Scene 3. Dammit!

I’m able to grenade a few stationary guns and flip them out of commission, as well as snipe an Elite and then snag the invisibility power-up in the trees as my refill- sorry, my reinforcements- come in. Echo-419- a name mourned by anybody who’s appreciated Halo enough to play it from the beginning- brings me my reinforcements. But my mind isn’t on where I am now, with scattered Grunts and Jackals in different Low and High positions. It’s on the two (two) (2!) Elite majors that will be blocking the narrow corridor to the next section. Just one can unleash torrents of rapid blue plasma fire (which hurt) with deadly precision, and with their strong shielding let's just say my entire 8 person Marine squad would be very sorry to run into one

Two was unacceptable. Two, needed to be taken care of

So I charge ahead, and kill those red-armored Sangheili. It takes up the entire duration of my invisibility power-up, because Elites are some sharp reptilian split-lip fucks. The assault pushed me deep into the corridor, just about to the next scene, and so I turn back around to see my eight whole-ass Marines right behind me. I thought I had done such a good job mopping up the stationary guns and the few Elites previously that these six Marines had just been able to kill everything in their way between their Uber into the battlefield and this scene transition

I hadn’t thought them possible, at least not in Act 1 of Level 3, of chasing the player character at the expense of killing AI enemies in the left-behind sections... which was exactly what happened

I didn’t know this at the time. At the time, on seeing them all crowd into the corridor behind me, I allowed my surprise and my pride to pour freely

“Jesus Christ, you guys all survived that? Fuck yeah! Let’s get it, Marines!” I said. No literally, out loud. As earnestly as it reads

I didn't know the truth about why they were there behind me. This made the next scene way more painful than it needed to be

#tbc

[chloeworships]

Now I know what really goes on here. Demonic rituals.

Idc how many times these folks want to attack me with their evil spirits, God is coming for these folks who under the guise of Christianity commit the most atrocious and heinous crimes.

⚠️The KKK should be charged under the RICO act.

I just heard the song “Bad Boys”.

Not only are the “good” cops coming for these criminals but some of these KKK members are cops and do participate in intimidation and racketeering.

Waking me up at 3:00 with ya Hocus Pocus foolery trying to play God.

I pray for people like you all. What a miserable and sad bunch of officials. Y’all playing with a Child of God, albeit a Prophet of the LORD’s, yet claim to know the Bible and know God. Well honey pie you will know God like never before when this prophetic word comes to pass.

The LORD has declared war against you and he never takes an L

This is the scripture I was given last night after they tried to attack me with their demons at 3:00 am:

Recall the LORD showed us he was releasing Apollyon The Destroyer AND the Angel with a Trumpet 🎺

👀

Recall, when I was just a child God showed me the Abyss waaaayyyyyyyyyy before I ever knew I would be doing his work.

Last night I was shown another trumpet 🎺 but this trumpet was sparkling and glistening like diamonds and it was HUGE. YES… JUDGEMENT IS COMING.

Unbeknownst to some of you, you too have been spiritually attacked by members of the KKK… Those of you who have platforms and public figures. YES… and I know this will be confirmation for you. High profile people of colour need to be aware of this because some of you are being blocked because of these people and their MASS RITUALS. God is revealing this to us. This is just not about Black people. This is Asian, South Asian, Latino and Arabic… anyone that is NOT European or White.

I shared with you all what they tried to do to Ye and they have been trying to do that to others and many of these individuals practicing these evil rituals are part of secret societies BUT THEY NOT A SECRET TODAY. They showed up on God’s Radar and that is something you don’t want unless it’s about good news.

THEIR IDOLATRY AND DEMON WORSHIP WONT SAVE THEM FROM GOD’S WRATH. Haha!

You can’t serve 2 Masters, both God and mammon (Matthew 6:24-26).

Better start praying to your dark entities and watch how they are no match for Yahweh.

For those of you prosecuting these individuals be mindful of these rituals. But you are HIGHLY PROTECTED BY GOD & ARCHANGEL MICHAEL I’m being shown but stay prayed up at all times.

January 6th wasn’t enough so what are y’all conjuring up now?

PS. This message isn’t just for the Neo-Nazi’s in America 🇺🇸 but worldwide 🌎 This group is a threat to democracy EVERYWHERE.

Whatever is being planned will be discovered.

PPS: God said something about wanting to restore America 🇺🇸 but first, these evil folks gotta go… they have to perish. They are a bloodstain on that nation and they have been trying to shut me up so I (through the Holy Father) wouldn’t expose their darkest secrets. Some of these ppl practice incest as well.

SN: there are scriptures missing from the Bible.

OMGOSH MONDAY WAS MLK DAY AND BLACK HISTORY MONTH IS UPCOMING 👀

My bad babes. I forgot to post about it 😭

#The KKK #Cult #the Devil’s minions #A NETWORK #THEY BIG MAD BUT OH WELL 🤷🏾‍♀️😂😂😂😂

[lil-melody-moon]

i noticed some gaming stuff in ur posts, as well as all the game songs in your response to my ask :D i apologize as i am not much of a gamer myself (roblox is pretty much the only game i play ever) but do you have any favorite games?

-pickle

I kind of went overboard with the music from games - I went past the limit on post, can you believe that? XD - but you asked about instrumentals and games have the best one in my opinion <3

Oh yes I do! I will give you my top 5 - it might change in the future, but ya know, let's stick to today:

Earthbound - first jrpg I have ever encountered. Tiny me had luck to come across a Polish youtuber who made a let's play from it and translated everything to Polish - the guy even made special cards for enemies, just so everyone could know what he's fighting with. But overall, it's a game with a very simple plot. A bunch of kids who are on an adventure to save the world. What makes the game so good is the mechanics, music and graphics, which still holds up to this day. SNES era, my beautiful pixels <3 Also, it was always a game that made my childhood dream come true. Just to have some friends and go on an adventure with them

Final Fantasy VII - first of the Final Fantasy series I've played and first game that made me come back to jrpgs for real. I'm a big fan of the original. The story, the characters, the freaking music in this one, everything is just so good. Bosses are challenging, especially if you play a jrpg with action time battle for the first time, but everything is constructed in a way that you are thrown in the fight and you can figure it out by yourself. No major tutorials, just figure it out by yourself. I've played the European version, heard it's easier than the US and Japanese version, but I might be insane enough to try the US version and see if it's really that much difficult or my friend just sucks at. Also, I love me some polygons <3 It's also the game that made me realize that the "you know you're fucked when latin choir joins the boss's music" is very true

Silent Hill 2 - while not a big fan of horror games, this one deserves a spot there. Not only music is great, but this is the only game that can scare the shit out of me. And no, not because of monsters - although there is one I just freaking HATE - but because of the atmosphere. The game can literally trick you into false sense of security, just to throw you out of the safe bubble, into a hole with no exit. Not only you're confused as to why James - the main protagonist - came back to the town, but also you wonder almost blindly through the town, can only relay on yourself and no one else. Locations change to worse - I'll not only mention the hospital, but also the labyrinth where you have no map and you are forced to navigate through it while the map is drawn - and the game literally scares you with sound and atmosphere only. You can literally jump at the mere sound if you're playing in the dark

Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc - that one deserves a spot there, because it was my first platformer game which I fell in love so much that when I got my hands on the copy of it in junior high I literally finished it 15-20 times in a row. I love the stupid plot, I love the Polish dub in this game, the graphics are still holding up and they are very good and the music is just as it should be: good, otherworldly, setting the atmosphere just right. There's also the first villain in video games that I liked and I still love this idiot!

Kirby's Return to Dream Land - oh God, do I love this game! It's below Rayman just because of nostalgia, but just like Earthbound, it's a must play each year, WHICH reminds me that I didn't play it this year and I gotta, I just gotta. Either way, the graphics are cute and colorful, the music is so great I can't get enough of it, even after so many years of hearing it, the plot is simple, but GOOD LORD THE VILLAIN! I might say that that one dark lum from Rayman 3 got me, but this one? Freaking Magolor? I might be insane about Keith Moon, but I am as much insane about this small orb - I still want a plushie of him

#srs23

[runecel]

Heiji Hattori: The SHSL Undrawable

Oh gosh, I haven’t even started on that O-O

I don’t know who you are but we can suffer together!

We can do this!

#dcmk #heiji hattori #Gotta use the European time my lord #detco #detective Conan #secret santa #anon

[cherryyharryy]

angst to fluff where y/n finds out she was originally just supposed to be a rebound type thing after he broke up with someone like idk something like he broke up with someone on the european leg of tour and she was supposed just be with him until he went on another leg but then he started to love her and brings her on the rest of tour with him and she finds out abt the rebound thing after the last show of tour where everyones drunk and celebrating and one person lets it slip

I tweaked it just a bit...hope that's ok:)

WC: 3.5K

****

“You look beautiful.”

I skim my nose across Harry’s cheek, his chin resting on my shoulder, and hum against stubble that wasn’t there this morning. “You’ve said that five times tonight.”

“And?” He slips around to face me.

His suit is a deep maroon, probably black if you’re far away, probably purple if you’ve had too much champagne. His chest expands when I slide my hand down.

“Love this dress.” He takes my hand off and pulls me closer, pressing a kiss to my head.

“You two forget where you’re at?” Another foreign voice surrounds us, well, foreign to me.

“Fucker,” Harry says to the man. They pat each other’s backs as the guy walks away. “Tyler Johnson.”

“Oh.”

“He worked with me on the last album.”

“Okay.”

It’s like the fifteenth person that I’ve been introduced to tonight, all of whom pass by with quick hellos, inside jokes with Harry, and little interest in me. The fast paced world of the rich and famous doesn’t slow down, even for charity.

“Harry, so glad you could make it.” Another voice, another man. This one lingers, long enough to receive my name, and offer a cliche compliment about my patience to put up with this beautiful bastard on my arm.

I thank him with the smile I’ve learned to speak through. These celebrities never stop smiling. Never stop posing. Never stop.

Then he’s gone too, and Harry’s whispering yet another name in my ear, of which I’ll forget seconds later because these people ultimately mean nothing to me. They all seem to pass through each other’s lives whenever convenience allows, playing house and acting like grown ups who get the privilege of not truly growing up.

I feel like the Gucci dress Harry had tailored to my body doesn’t fit. My posture sucks. I’m too scared to eat any of the finger foods being carried on silver platters through the hall. I haven’t learned how to smile through food I don’t like or not make a mess or take small enough bites. I swear, not one glass of champagne has any lipstick on it. They’re like magic.

I look at Harry. He’s stepped away to converse with a face that I do know. He and Jeff speak animatedly, Harry’s arms gesturing to whatever story he’s telling. I step over to one of the dressed tables and place what little weight I can onto the chair, needing to cling to something. When I look back up I smile, the two of them now laughing, and probably a little too loud for this charity auction.

“Y/n...right?”

I whip around, a man I’ve seen in pictures on Harry’s phone holds out his hand.

I straighten my back and accept his greeting. “Yes.”

“Finally we meet!” He catches my confusion and chuckles. “I produced Harry’s last album.”

Something clicks in my head, and he’s suddenly more familiar. “Oh! I knew that.”

Tom Hull...Kid Harpoon I process just as he introduces his name.

“I—”

An arm slipping around my waist stunts my question, Harry tipping back a red drink with his free hand while the other squeezes my hip. “Just tell this one to leave you alone,” he jabs.

Tom rolls his eyes, patting the breast of his green suit to look for something, only to show off his middle finger.

“Can’t believe the two of you haven’t met,” Harry says.

“I know, I guess we just missed each other.” Tom nods to me. “Heard you went to quite a few shows.”

“As many as I could.”

An uneasy sting travels down my spine. I did go to many shows, practically following Harry around his entire tour...all on his dime. Lord knows the man can afford it, but I still felt weird about him dishing out thousands of dollars to add me to each plane ride.

“Well I’m happy to see you two kids together,” Tom jokes, patting Harry on his back. “I’ve told him he needs to date women who will fuck him up. That’s where the songs are.”

He saunters off like he did not just say that. No. Absolutely not.

My face burns and it hurts to turn my head, but I still manage to narrow my eyes at Harry.

“Do you want another drink?”

I wait. I give him more than enough seconds to explain what the hell that was. But he’s clueless—ignorant.

“No. I do not.”

***

I do not bother taking my heels off in the car. My plan is to storm into our hotel room the second we park. Possibly locking Harry out...haven’t decided on that part yet.

The vague chit chat he makes with the driver stirs my nerves. It shouldn’t make me angry, and it’s not so much the act as it is his demeanor. He’s too cheery right now and it’s pissing me off.

“Okay,” he grabs my attention from Los Angeles flying past my window, the partition rolling up to leave us completely alone in the back seat. “What’s wrong?”

I bite my tongue, literally. “Nothing.”

“You seemed...irritated.”

“Did I?”

“Y/n.”

I turn to face him, inhaling sharply to calm my coming words. “Why are you with me?”

His face pales, and not a muscle moves. He just stares at me until he finally blinks and starts jerking his jaw around. “What are you talkin’ about?”

I roll my eyes. “The fact that you don’t know, bothers me even more.” I sigh, fighting back tears because I am determined not to cry in front of him. “Tom said that you should date people that fuck you up.”

“O—oh. That’s all?”

I squint, curling my lip. “What do you mean, that’s all? Is that not enough for you? Because that was a lot for me to hear tonight.”

“Baby, he was just messing around.”

I don’t budge.

“Really, it’s nothin’ to think about.” He tucks my hair behind my ear, trailing his hand down to cup my jaw. “Promise. It’s just like when people told you that you could do better than me, or insult me to compliment you.” He shrugs. “It’s just party talk.”

I process his words, supposing he’s not wrong. He did receive quite a few insults in lieu of my praise tonight. Maybe I was just on edge because of the setting; being surrounded by the rich and famous while I struggle to pay my rent each month isn’t exactly grounds for positive thinking.

“Okay, I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to apologize for.” He leans over to kiss me, stroking my face as his lips skim over mine. “Did I tell you how stunning you look tonight?”

***

It’s funny how your brain works. How emotions swoop in and corral your thoughts, like a salesman who pretends to care about you so they can get what they want. My mind was desperate for relief, from hearing Tom’s nervy comment, and I naively allowed Harry to take what he needed in that moment.

Something’s not quite right. I don’t know what it is, but I can feel it.

I’ve been mulling over Harry’s words in my head all weekend, playing them on repeat, hoping they’ll start to make sense, but if anything their value keeps dropping. What worries me the most, is that I don’t know whether he’s trying to protect me or himself. I don’t know if one is any better than the other.

It’s golden hour when we pull up to the beach. I can hear the music before I even open the car door; a volleyball shoots up over the rows of bushes hiding the party, disappearing and popping back up a moment later.

I don’t really want to be here, but I also don’t want to be the girlfriend who won’t support their boyfriend.

“Ready?” Harry asks, and I nod.

The closer we walk, the clearer the music becomes. Harry’s voice takes over the private beach, and I wonder if they’re playing his entire album or just Golden on repeat.

A good bit of the people drinking and chatting I recognize form the event the other night, but there are still plenty of new faces. I take some fruity drink that was offered to me and down half of it before my feet hit sand.

And so the routine continues. I’m introduced to someone, they compliment me, laugh with Harry, congratulate him on pretty much everything he’s ever done, and then repeat with a new face. I do manage to find Sarah at one point after I’ve detached myself from Harry, and the two of us head for the water.

“Are you feeling okay?” Sarah asks once our toes are wet.

I hold my breath and count to five, finishing whatever the hell I’m drinking before I can answer her. “I’m great.”

“Harry said you weren’t doing too well after the auction?”

“Yes, Harry does a lot of talking with people when I’m not around.”

“Alright, spill it,” Sarah says.

I trace the rim of my glass, flicking my eyes over my shoulder to make sure we’re far away from the party. “It’s stupid, really, I’m just a little...I don’t know...Tom said something the other night that rubbed me the wrong way. And Harry doesn’t seem to care.”

“What did he say?”

“Just something about how Harry needs to have relationships with people who will fuck him up.”

“Ooh,” she nods, seemingly well versed in the statement. “Yeah that’s an Iggy Pop quote. Tom mentioned it in Rolling Stone when he was interviewed.” She sips her drink, eyes growing small over the rim. “It was just a cheap line of advice he gave Harry after he was torn up after his last breakup.”

“Wait, so he actually did say that before? Like before the other night?”

Sarah drifts her eyes up in thought, nodding. “Um hm. After him and Camille broke things off.” She shrugs, and gestures to the party exploding on the beach behind us. “Fine Line.”

I have no idea what I’m feeling. No clue what is coursing through my veins, but it’s not blood anymore. The corners of my jaw tingle until my face starts going numb, my breathing shallow and chest tight.

“You okay?”

“I uh, I gotta go.”

Sarah calls after me but I let my name die in the breeze as I march back to the crowd. It’s nearly dark now, and finding Harry among all his people will take forever. I try to look for him, but I’m so distraught I can’t concentrate long enough to make out faces. I give up and head back to his car, only to find it’s locked. The asphalt is warm on my legs as I lower down to the ground, careless to the dirt I’m getting on my clothes and the scratches on my skin.

I’m not in this position for long. Not long enough, at least. Harry rounds the corner of the bushes, speeding up when he sees me.

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

He moves to sit down beside me, but I jump up before he can.

“You’re a fucking liar.”

“Whoa! What!? What’s gotten into you lately?”

“I told you! What Tom said the other night!” I’m yelling, too loud for public, I know. But a small part of me wants someone to hear. I want to disrupt the bubble Harry lives in.

“And I told you that it was just nonsense.”

“And that’s why you’re a liar! Sarah just told me, that he said that to you after you and Camille broke up.”

“Okay...and?”

I inhale as deep as I can. It makes me dizzy, adds to my headache. “And, what the fuck am I supposed to do with that? With the knowledge that the only reason you’re even with me, is because I’m gonna fuck you up so bad you’ll get songs out of it?

“Y/n,” he pinches the bridge of his nose, “you’re taking this waaay too literally. Trust me.”

“You’re not in a position right now where I even want to trust you.”

“This has gotten completely out of control. I cannot believe you’re this upset over something so stupid.”

“Right there, Harry!” I point at him. “You keep dismissing how I feel! You don’t even care that this upsets me! That I feel like I need to reevaluate our entire relationship!”

“What is there to evaluate!? I haven’t even done anything! You’re blowing up about something that someone else said!”

“But you listened to him!”

“What,” he shrugs, “what do you want?”

“I don’t know what I want, Harry. I don’t know if I can do this.”

“Do what?” He pauses, swallowing. “Us?”

I roll my eyes. “Yes, us. I can’t be with you if—if you’re just waiting around for me to ruin you emotionally.”

“You’re seriously gonna let someone else’s words do this to us? You’d break up with me because of something another person said?”

“Harry, if I break up with you it’s gonna be because of what you’ve done. I don’t care that he said it, I care that you agree to it. And quite frankly, it’s pretty insulting to Camille. You spent a part of your life with that girl, and you just capitalize off of it. I’m not gonna let you do that to me.”

“I’m not capitalizing off of anyone! What the hell am I supposed to write my songs about? I’m just supposed to not date then?”

“It’s the fact that you sought out a relationship in order to fuel your writing.”

“No, y/n, that’s not what I did.” He narrows his eyes at me, and even in the dark I can see his anger. “I sought you out because I was devastated after me and her broke up. You were only supposed to be a rebound.”

I feel like the wind’s been knocked out of me. The music overhead blurs into noise scraping my eardrum, my vision grows weak and foggy. He wanted to hurt me, and he did.

“I expect a thank you when you release your next album.” I spin on my heel and head towards the main road, yanking my phone from my pocket to call an uber. For the second time tonight, my name trails behind me in the wind. I can hear Harry’s steps pick up, and as fast as I walk, he still catches me.

“Y/n, please, let’s go back to the hotel. You can hate me and not talk to me, but please don’t leave.”

I ignore him, trying to set up my ride. “Where the hell are we?”

He glances at my phone, and I can tell he considers keeping the answer to himself, so he can keep me to himself. He drops his voice, much weaker than before. “Carbon Beach. Canyon road.”

Ten minutes.

“Y/n—”

“I am not interested in discussing this with you.”

“I’m so sorry. I—I was mad and was just trying to win the argument. Whichever way I could.”

“Congratulations on your win.”

“Y/n, please, honey. I don’t want to lose you.” He drags his hands down his face, keeping his palms dug into his eyes. When he lets them drop, there are tears spilling down his cheeks. “I can’t lie and say you weren’t, but yes you were a rebound for me, but that went away. Literally weeks after we started dating. I care about you so much. I wouldn’t drag you to every show and event I have if I didn’t. I’m so proud to call you mine. The last thing you are to me is—is just grounds for my writing.”

I stare out across the road. A jeep speeds by and the gush of wind it brings sends chills down my arms.

“Harry, I just...it’s a lot. You’re a lot. Your life is a lot.” I sigh and slowly turn to face him. “It feels like the significance of us being in each other’s lives are so different.”

He kicks a rock across the road, dust flying up around us. “Fuck. Y/n I’m begging—”

“They’re here.” I nod to the headlights approaching us.

“Baby, please.”

“I think I need to be alone right now.” I get in the backseat. “Enjoy your party.”

***

I text him when I’m back at the hotel, having nowhere else to go. I didn’t think my plan of leaving through, because he’ll come back here before the night’s over. But I’m hoping he’ll stay away for a bit, long enough for me to process everything at least.

Deep down I know there’s not as much to the comment as I thought. And Harry’s not that type of guy. But the lack of concern over my feelings...the fact that I was just used as a warm body while he got over Camille...that’s what hurts the most.

There’s a fine line between being sorry because you’ve been called out, and truly being sorry. How sorry can he be when he got what he wanted? Even if I’m not what he envisioned past a few quick fucks, he still comes out on top happy.

I feel like the lifestyle these people live is embedded with secret codes, all of which I’m not wired to pick up on. The money, the mistakes, the adoration... Everything is a lot, and playing catch up is nearly impossible.

I don’t get the alone time I’d wished for. There are curses and clicks of the doorknob right before Harry comes in. He stands at the entrance, staring at me on the lounge chair like he’s unsure if I’m real.

“Wasn’t sure you’d come back here.”

“Where else can I go?” I nod to his phone in his hand. “I texted you.”

“I was driving.”

I sigh, flinching when he turns the lights on. “I know you wanna talk, but I don’t even know what to say.”

“You don’t have to,” he says, dropping his keys on a table to come sit beside me. “I’ll talk though.” He inhales, holding his breath for a second before forcing the air out. “I know that me saying I’m sorry means shit to you right now. And to be honest, it probably is coming from me...in a way. You’re right about everything. And whatever you’re feeling, once you figure that out, you’re valid about that too.”

“How would you feel if you were only meant to be temporary in my life? You never mentioned why you were interested in me in the beginning. And no, I never would have gone out with you had I known. I would never want to be someone’s rebound. There’s just something sneaky about that.”

His head drops into his hands, and his shoulders shake right before I hear him cry. “I know, I—I get so caught up in myself sometimes. I’m such a fucking prick.” When he looks up, his eyes are burnt red, glassy and defeated. “I don’t deserve you, and I really don’t deserve anyone.”

“Harry,” I chastise, not expecting the downward spiral he’s ventured onto.

“I swear I care about you. I want you to be happy, and I want to make you happy. I don’t want to be the one to treat you this way. Ever.”

I inhale as deep as I can, holding my breath until it hurts. “I know.” I take his hand in mine. “And I know your heart, and I know you care about me. I—” I sigh, “I’m not comfortable with...just forgetting all of this though. I can forgive you, but I think we need to take a couple steps back. I’ve gotten so swept up in your life and your world, I’m losing my own.”

He nods slowly, accepting my words with a pained face.

“I care about you too.”

He looks up for the first time, catching the last few tears with the back of his hand. “I know you do.”

I offer a small smile and lean in to kiss his cheek. His eyes fall closed, and blindly he turns to press his lips to mine. Our kiss is salty and urgent.

“What did you say to everyone when you left?”

He frowns in thought, like the memory is too far away. “Nothing. Jumped in my car and prayed this is where you’d be.”

I take his hand and pull us both to our feet. “We should go to bed. It’s been a long night. Too long.”

We’re quiet and slow as we shed our clothes and brush our teeth, slipping into bed around two a.m.. Harry doesn’t waste a second in pulling me into his warm chest, wrapping his arms around me in a tight hug that has me burying my face into his neck.

We lay there, silent, but when I know I don’t have much longer before sleep overcomes me, I kiss his shoulder, whispering how much I love him before I close my eyes.

#ehhhhh #idk #i think i'm ok with writing angst #but struggle with turning it into fluff #i tried tho #requests #requested #harry styles #harry styles writing #cherryyharryy #cherryyharryy writing #harry styles blurb #harry styles one shot #harry styles angst to fluff #harry styles angst #harry styles fluff #harry styles ou

[blackestnight]

📓 Okay, friend. Spill the tea! (Assuming there is delicious tea left to spill)

friend, i have a mind-numbing day job, which means lots of time to brew tea.

so i know ffxiv likes to use words as though they don't actually mean things, but a count is a landholding lord, that's where the word county comes from, and afaik viscounts usually own land as well, although peerage and titles get kinda wibbly-wobbly as you cross european borders so maybe it depends on who you ask. anyway. one, where the hell is fortemps county, or haillenarte county, or any of the other high house lands, because i would maybe be willing to believe that the various coerthan garrisons we visit are tied to their traditional lands except, two, why the hell do we never hear any of the lords of any noble house mention owning land outside of the holy see. (aside from knowing that goragne mills exists, in the goragne holding, and if you dig deep enough in the lore you find that it was built by a knight who used to serve house durendaire.) like i know there's an ice age on but please.

assuming the noble lords of ishgard are landholding, and that most of them retreated to the city after the calamity because their shit got buried in snow, i'm sure the holy see would periodically have them send out surveyors to see how their various lands are recovering, because like, it's my understanding that ishgard used to be pretty agriculturally inclined and i'm sure they'd like to get back to Doing That as soon as possible. which leads to

house borel steward: hey, we need to send someone out to check on the house out in the eastern highlands aymeric: oh yeah i gotta hire someone to do that hanami, certified Farm Girl(TM) and trained botanist, who does actually have experience with surveying recovering plant life in coerthas: no the fuck you do not

because why hire half a dozen people to do one hanami's job. (aside from supporting the economy. she's not going to accept this excuse.)

#ask #ask meme #adeleine and her alters #ty for the ask!!! #this one is on a back burner #but when it gets written it will involve an amount of feelings #oc: hanami hagane

[semper-legens]

182. The Novice, by Trudi Canavan

Owned?: Yes Page count: 577 My summary: Sonea is a magician now - or training to be one, at least. Her studies, however, are hampered by many new problems. One of her fellow novices seems to have it out for her. But that’s going to be the least of her problems. She saw the High Lord doing black magic, and that’s going to have consequences. And not just for her... My rating: 4/5 My commentary:

Part two of this series! I continue to enjoy it deeply. And it continues to surprise me, mostly because my terrible memory only has a vague impression of what happens in these books and the order these events occur in. I’m always partial to magicians and ceremony, as well as the mechanics of magic in a certain universe, and this book most definitely scratches that particular itch.

Sonea continues to be a great protagonist. I don’t know what specifically it is about her - I think it’s partially because she’s a reasonably regular person? Other than having a huge amount of natural power, I mean. But even with that advantage, we see her working her ass off to match her strength with skill and knowledge. She’s a hard worker, she’s cunning, she’s so stubbornly decent and honourable, and that makes her so bloody likeable. I also appreciate the realism this book goes for with her relationships with the other novices. She never really fits in and makes friends, because all of the others are prejudiced against her due to her background - she’s lowborn, they’re all highborn. Even the single friend she does make doesn’t stick around for too long. Eventually, one particular novice, Regin, ends up making her life hell. I gotta say, Regin’s not the most developed of characters - his motivations don’t have a lot of nuance beyond him being posh and a prick, especially given his dogged pursuit of Sonea to the advanced class. Still, it’s in service to Sonea’s character development and growing into her powers, and I’m certainly not gonna say no to that.

The other reason I love this series is my dear Dannyl. He’s Rothen’s friend, and appointed Ambassador. He’s also gay, and that’s a part of his story. When he was a novice, rumours were spread about his relationship with another male novice - in Kyralia, where the novel is set, such relationships are frowned upon. And so, Dannyl has spend his life denying being a ‘lad’, the in-universe term for it in the country he visits. But his assistant Tayend is a known lad, though he hides it at first, and Dannyl ends up growing closer to him and realising that, oh shit, he’s been gay the whole time, and magically Healing himself subconsciously whenever those feelings would arise, taking them away. It’s an interesting take on being closeted and in denial - and Dannyl and Tayend are cute together, I gotta say. Though it is notable that, unlike the straight couples we see, they don’t even get an on-page kiss. We’re told they got together, but we don’t see them in intimate moments, where we do see this for straight couples.

I’m less keen on some of the worldbuilding revealed through Dannyl’s trip. It’s just some of that Standard Fantasy Setting stuff - Kyralia is European-coded, with the characters from there being described as white. Other nations, like Lonmar or Sachaka, are coded as being Middle-Eastern or African, with the people described as brown and black. And those are the less tolerant or outwardly hostile places. It’s sadly common in fantasy, but I’d feel remiss if I didn’t point out how they are contrasted with Kyralia as Bad Places with Bad Ideas or Bad People, building on harmful stereotypes.

And then there’s Akkarin. See, Dannyl is following the High Lord Akkarin’s footsteps, retracing a trip he took many years ago, in which he learned black magic. And when Akkarin’s friend and Guild Administrator Lorlen accidentally lets slip that he, Rothen, and Sonea all know about him doing black magic, Akkarin takes Sonea’s guardianship away from Rothen, using her as a hostage to buy their silence. We don’t see much of Akkarin here - he hints that he has good reasons and intentions for doing what he does, and it turns out that he isn’t behind the murders happening in the city that look like black magic. Still, a lot of questions about him are left unanswered. I like that, there’s a real tension building around him and his motivations, and the dawning sense of horror from the corner Sonea, Rothen, and Lorlen are all backed into is very effective. You can almost feel the trap closing around them, and seeing Sonea being gradually taken away from Rothen, the only character who’s been unequivocally good to her, is heartbreaking.

Well, that’s all I got here - next time, the conclusion!

#The Novice #Trudi Canavan #bookblr #book blog #book blogging #4

[bbrandy2002]

Fools Rush In

Part 4

Series: The Royal Romance

Pairing: Liam x OC (Riley)

Previous chapters can be found here.

Series Premise: With two weeks until Liam is to marry Madeleine, the guys throw him a bachelor party in Vegas. As a drunken night, he finds himself with way more than he bargained for.

MC did not exist in Liam’s social season. OC Riley Brooks lives in Las Vegas.

A/N: No wacky drabble for this one. Went a wee bit over and couldn’t cut. Oh well...there’s always next time. This is an 18+ series.

A/N: The lyrics to the song Maxwell sings comes from a Tik Tok video that was shared with me and the idea to include it in this is not my own hahahaha I will post the link to the video in comments to give the maker proper credit and just in case anyone wants to actually watch it. I thought it was funny..

Thanks @burnsoslow for beta reading and all of my lovely pre-readers.

Warning: Mention of STD’s

Permanent Tags: @emceesynonymroll @romanticatheart-posts @burnsoslow @dcbbw @ao719 @jessiembruno @hopefulmoonobject @texaskitten30 @drakesensworld @janezillow @merridithsmiscellany-blog @mskaneko @loveellamae @queenjilian @sirbeepsalot @pedudley @caroldxnvxrs @jovialyouthmusic @forthebrokenheartedthings @desireepow-1986 @bebepac @kingliam2019 @lovablegranny @cordoniaqueensworld @amandablink @blueaster-blog1 @liamxs-world @choiceskatie @iaminlovewithtrr @hopelessromanticmonie @charlotteg234 @twinkleallnight @annekebbphotography @txemrn

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Be Kind: Hit the heart button, leave a comment or reblog. It makes a writer so so happy.

____________

All Riley wanted to do was go home, take a hot shower, snuggle up in a blanket on the couch with a Lifetime movie, and carry on with the rest of her life. 

She'd had this crazy but exciting night out with a fantastic guy. They had a little too much to drink and woke up the next morning to find they were married to each other.  

And she wasn't just married to anyone. No, it had to be the King of a small European country she'd never heard of before. 

That's not something that just happened to everyone. 

Depending on how one viewed her circumstances she was either the luckiest or unluckiest woman in all of Vegas. 

If she were a betting person, she'd place money on the latter.

Riley stood at the penthouse door, engaged in a stare down with the blonde-haired obstacle blocking the exit. 

In front of her was a woman wearing a black and white fur coat, a strand of pearls that hung loosely around her neck, and an impudent scowl. 

If evil were a lady, Riley surmised she was looking at her.

Madeleine's green eyes bore agitation and scorn as she studied the petite figure she recognized from the dozens of photos that bombarded her text messages. 

"You must be the bimbo who thinks she will steal my crown and title."

"Excuse me?" Riley's eyes narrowed, not knowing who she was speaking to, but could already tell she didn’t care to know.

Leo stepped up protectively behind Riley and growled at the countess. "Go away, Madeleine! How many times do we have to tell you the dalmatians aren't for sale?"

"You wish I were here for dalmatians," Madeleine sneered. "Now, out of my way, heathens." 

She pushed her way past the two and stalked inside while Mara shuffled behind. She removed her cashmere gloves and took notice of her fiance with his back pressed against the bar top, one legs crossed over the other, and sipping casually on his scotch.

Liam tipped the glass to his lips as if he didn't have a care in the world and swallowed. "Can I offer you a glass of wine, dear? Or a cronut? Perhaps a ride to the middle of the desert to be left for dead?"

"That's quite alright," Madeleine quipped as she ripped the glass out of Liam's hand and slammed it down on the bar. "But maybe you'd like to first explain why I have been inundated with one message after the next telling me you were married to this ..." She motioned her hand toward Riley with derision. "This ... bitch?"

Liam paused as if he were thinking about it, then shook his head. "No. Not really." She's not a bitch ... she's amazing. He wondered why he couldn't say that out loud.

Stunned, Riley looked up at Leo in disbelief. "Did she really just call me a bitch? She doesn't even know me."

Leo nodded with a compassionate smile on his face, then pulled her further inside and shut the door. 

He wasn't about to let her go now.

Liam grabbed his drink, pushed himself off the bar, and strolled to the center of the room. He could feel Madeleine's icy glare following his every movement. The King hoped his flippant attitude was enough to penetrate deep into her frozen exterior and piss her off even more. "I thought you were in New York, Mads. 8 million people in that city for you to torment, and you still make time to hop on your broomstick and find me. I have to say … I'm touched."

Madeleine shot him a dirty look. "Do you have any idea what I've been through because of what you did last night?"

He shrugged. "Nope, and I don't care."

"Well, you're going to care when I tell you everything that happened." She disregarded the audible groan and eye roll from him as she began her diatribe of offenses. "I had just settled in for the night when I get a message from that simpleton, Penelope, telling me what you did. I tried to call you, but apparently, you and the rest of your entourage of losers blocked my number. So I had this incompetent boob of a guard you hired for me book the first flight out here.

“When I got to JFK, I was detained and strip-searched because someone falsely alerted authorities claiming I was a Colombian drug lord, only in the U.S. to sell cocaine and hypodermic needles to children --"

Leo snorted. 

Liam curled his lips into a devilish grin, knowing exactly who did it. He glanced subtly to Mara, who winked back at him.

"Are you even listening to me, Liam? As if that nightmare wasn't horrid enough, I find out Mara booked coach class … COACH! Coach is so beneath someone like me. There were babies and old people and sodas. But the worst was when we finally arrived here; they strip-searched me again. I had to get my own baggage and ride in one of those god-awful smelly shuttle vans to this hotel. And do you know why I had to do all of that? Because you're a complete moron, Liam. The people of Cordonia are laughing at you; you know that, right? I always knew you would be a total embarrassment and fuck up, but this is beyond anything I imagined."

A downcast expression was plastered on Liam's face as he stared down at the drink in his shaky hand. Those words stung -- “a total embarrassment and fuck up.” In his mind, he felt she was right. He had let down even his own expectation of himself and the reputation of the monarchy.

There was nothing to do but stand there and stew in silence.

But Riley wouldn’t.

She shrugged Leo's hand from her shoulder and spun Madeleine around by the arm to face her. "Is this what you do? You go around insulting everyone and being a first-class bitch? I will have you know, Liam is not any of those things. He's the kindest, sweetest man I've ever met. And it's no wonder he looked so miserable last night at the club. I couldn't understand why at first, but now ... now it all makes sense. Did you ever stop to think that maybe if you weren't such a fucking cunt, he wouldn't have been drinking so much and been so willing to accept the company of another woman?"

Liam felt his heart twinge. Riley had every right to be upset with him, and he felt guilty for putting her in this situation. But there she was, defending him. God, she was hot.

Madeleine guffawed. "How cute. You've got your little whore taking up for you now."

"That's enough!" Liam's eyes landed sharply on her. Before he could stop himself, the next few words sprang from his lips as naturally as his breath. "You will not speak to my wife -- your Queen -- like that again, or so help me I will charge you where you stand for treason against the Crown. Do I make myself clear?"

Riley's eyes rounded, unsure of what to say or do at that moment.

Leo loudly cheered and pumped his fist in the air. 

Liam stood his ground as he glowered back at his slack-jawed, now ex-fiancee.

Madeleine couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You can't be serious? We are getting married in two weeks. I'm going to be the Queen!" Her tone was one of anger and desperation.

He laughed wryly in her face. "Not anymore." 

He looked past a stunned Madeleine to the heedless guard smirking behind her. "Mara, please see to it that the countess returns to the airport and doesn't disturb us again."

She agreed and led a vociferously-protesting Madeleine toward the doorway.

"You'll regret this, Liam. You'll both pay for this travesty!" 

"Use the taser on her, Mara!" Leo bounced with excitement as he followed them and opened the door. He handed the guard a $100 bill as she walked by and whispered, "Make sure they strip search her again. A bonus if they need double gloves and lube."

"You got it, boss."

Leo slammed the door and clapped. "Ding-dong, the witch is gone! So. Do you need help packing, sis? We still have a couple of hours before we go back to Cordonia. That should be enough time to gather some things."

Riley stammered, looking between the two men, completely dumbfounded by what just took place.

Liam noticed. He knew what he said to Madeleine about her being his wife and Queen was most likely awkward for her. 

They didn't know each other; it was a fact, he continued to remind himself.

Liam rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of what to say. "Uh, Riley ... I just want you to know ... I only said that stuff because of Madeleine ..."

"Oh, yes. Of course. I knew that." She chuckled nervously and waved her hand. "But what about your engagement?"

"Yeah, Liam. You gotta have a queen." Leo clapped the back of one hand against the palm of the other and exclaimed, "Dem's da rules."

Liam shook his head and carried his empty glass to the open kitchen. "I know that, Leo. But I will not ask Riley to give up her life here just to help me clean up my mess. She deserves better than that."

Riley crossed her arms on the counter that looked into the kitchen, watching Liam get a bottled water from the fridge. "What happens if you don't have a Queen?"

Liam twisted the cap and gave a half-shrug. "I don't have a choice. I'll have to marry Madeleine." The words stung his lips.

"But she's so pissed at you right now."

He chuckled. "That won't stop her. She wants the crown, and that's it."

Riley could see the sadness in his eyes, the same sadness she saw last night in the club where they first met. "You'll be miserable with her, though," she muttered wistfully.

He nodded, regret written on his face. "Yeah."

Riley stood silent; she weighed the pros and cons of such a massive uprooting.  Her life had been slightly stalled and bland for the last few years. Las Vegas was her getaway to a new life from New York, where she left behind both regrets and failed relationships. And yet ... this new place wasn't everything she told herself it would be.

She looked at Liam and felt her heart break. She understood him more than he realized. 

But ... to be a Queen?

Riley inhaled deeply and prepared to speak up when Liam's phone rang.

He placed the cap on his water, sat it on the counter, and lifted his phone from the pocket of his shorts. "It's Maxwell," he called out.

Leo rushed to him. "Put it on speaker, Li!"

"Maxwell, I have you on speaker. Leo and Riley are with me. How's Drake?"

"He's in the pharmacy, and I'm standing outside getting air. It's going to take a while to amass all the medication and creams he needs."

The brothers looked at each other with wide eyes. Riley covered her mouth to prevent the chuckle that threatened to escape. "I think I'll give you guys some privacy. I'll just be in the bathroom."

Liam nodded and turned his attention back to the call. "Is it really that bad, Max? I mean, I think we know what he has."

"Dudes, I don't think you can even begin to guess half the shit Drake's got."

"You gotta tell us what the Drakester has, Max."

"I'm not really supposed to say." 

They could hear the hesitation in his voice. It was almost like he wanted to tell them, but needed a little more coaxing.

"Maxwell," Liam spoke. "If Drake doesn't want us to know, then you should probably keep it to yourself ... for now."

"I did kind of write a song about everything he was diagnosed with for a TikTok video. Drake only said not to tell anyone. He never said I couldn't sing about it."

Leo nodded his head. "Agreed. Sing that song, Beaumont."

They could hear Maxwell shuffle further away from what sounded like a crowded street. 

"Okay, the coast is clear," Maxwell said as he took a deep breath. The boys hugged their ears against Liam's cell phone. 

"Drake just left the clinic, and I'm afraid its bad news. 

So now I'm singing this song about it hoping it gets views. 

Don't know how he's still alive. 

Or how he survived. 

The doctor said he's got five ... nasty STIs. 

He's got some in his balls … got some in his ass.

And what's worse is his curly pubes are crawling with crabs. 

He's got herpes! From a booty call! 

He's got syphilis …now his dick is raw.

He's got chlamydia … And it's so sore.

And he doesn't even know where he got genital warts." 

Liam pressed two fingers into both sides of his temples while he stared blankly at his phone. "Un - believable."

Leo swiped the tears from his eyes and made no attempts to hide the giant smile curling his lips or his overwhelming giddiness. "I've never been more proud of the Drakester than I am at this moment. He actually beat me out on this one. Gotta say ... I don't mind losing to him this time."

“Liam. Leo. I gotta go; Drake’s on his way out. See ya back at the hotel.”

Leo went to the refrigerator to search for a snack, pulling out a leftover pizza. “Ya know, we should probably warn the maid she may need to get a haz-mat team before cleaning Drake’s room.”

Riley rounded the corner. “I hope everything is okay with your friend.”

Liam smiled. “That’s very kind of you say. He’ll be fine … I think.”

She fidgeted with her bracelet and glanced over at Leo placing a slice of cold pizza on top of another slice and taking a large bite. “Leo, I hate to ask while you’re eating … again. But would you mind if I spoke to your brother for a moment? Privately.”

Leo chewed quickly while shaking his head. He swallowed hard. “Sure. I needed to use the shitter, anyway. Pinquee Kittee’s casserole isn’t sitting too well in the Leo tummy.” He grabbed the pizza box and headed for the bathroom.

Liam looked curiously at Riley, not able to read her expression or have any clue what she would want to talk about. “You needed to speak with me?”

She nodded. “Yeah. About our marriage ...”

#the royal romance #king liam #choices liam x mc #king Liam x mc #liam x mc #choices fanfiction #trr #trr au fanfic #choices trr #Fools Rush In #bbrandy2002 #tw: std #a lot of stds

[perception-sets-it-fair]

still trashy for teen wolf ships

Do I use fics as comfort food? Yes indeed.

Stiles/Peter

Get Off (Me) by KouriArashi - Stiles keeps getting left behind when the pack goes out to fight baddies. He and Peter start spending time together and enjoy playing mind games with each other. (warning: Stiles is captured by an incubus so there is non-con between Stiles/incubus)

Dastardly by Design- gryvon Peter is convinced that Stiles is in love with Derek. But Peter never said he was a good guy, so he starts having sex with Stiles while being super bitter about his supposed crush. Aka: Peter is kind of an asshole but Stiles is into it. (first time, misunderstandings, rough sex)

I Know We’re at the End (I wish it was the middle again) by cathcer1984 - Peter and Stiles broke up ages ago, but Stiles is now recovering from amnesia so he doesn’t remember and asks for him.  (angst, breakup/makeup)

I Could... - Julibean19- amnesiac Stiles wakes up married to Peter far from beacon hills. Why is he estranged from Scott and his dad, and how on earth did he end up married to peter of all people? (Stiles as Peter’s anchor, amnesia, angst, knotting)

The High Is Worth The Pain by thegirlwhoknits- Stiles gets a tattoo for his emissary training. As a werewolf, Peter can scent his pain kink. Stiles wants to join Peter’ pack, but his mentor has her sights set higher for him. Gotta love tattoo artist Alpha Peter.

I Don't Like You, But I Love You - sweetbutterbliss The Hales have a bar and are allies with the McCall pack. Peter thinks Stiles smells amazing, but there are some things he isn’t ready to tell Stiles. (emissary Stiles, mates, knotting, breakup/make up, pack dynamics)

The Noon Bride - DarkAthena (seraphim_grace) Talia makes Peter marry Stiles, who is far too young to be fully married yet. Peter travels and lives it up for years acting like a bachelor and returns home. He finds that his omega husband has grown up, became super hot, and is displeased to have been ignored for so long. Includes fancy European society mixed with alpha/omega, the Hale siblings, and sassy Lydia.

Stiles/Chris Argent/ Peter Hale

The Rule of Three by DiscontentedWinter Peter and Chris need an omega to make their relationship legitimate, so Kate gives them Stiles. She claims he is  heavily medicated ‘for his own good’ They. begin to discover that this is just one of many lies they are being told. (Warning: Stiles is being medicated against his will,non-con in relation to Isaac/Deucalion. Alpha/omega/beta dynamics, violence, mental health issues.)

 All My Stars Aligned by Green Stiles needs two alphas to handle his intense heats. Peter and Chris can’t be together because they are both alphas, but courting an omega could make everything turn out okay. (Alpha/beta/omega dynamics, heat, courtship, knotting, first time)

Majestic Plural by Udunie- King Peter and Chris are soulmates and throwing  a party for their anniversary. Chris feels betrayed when Peter hooks up with a young lord. Turns out, he is their third mate. (soulmate marks, brief infidelity, medieval au)

Mage and The Quickening by Bunnywest- Spymaster Peter brings in a mage to support King Chris. They do some sex magic. Stiles stays, and reveals he can give Chris an heir. (magical Stiles, medieval au, intersex, pregnant Stiles)

#steter #stetopher #teen wolf fics #steter fics #stetopher fics #teen wolf fic rec

[daeva-agas]

Hello! I’m sorry if this is an odd question but hopefully you get what I’m trying to ask - what we’re Nobu’s Top Troll moments? (Since you described him as one, I’m wondering what things he did would be classified as)

Well, I kinda understood trolling as "being absurd on purpose to confuse/anger other people". And maybe that's not what trolling actually is, I don't know. At any rate, I have changed how I view Nobu a bit ever since I got stricter with not believing Edo era nonsense. He doesn't actually mess with people on purpose, as far as sensible records went, so I guess he's just a rather weird dude. Like, a lot of the ???? stuff that he does actually has a reasonable explanation. It's just not how social conventions work at the time.

The only thing that might have been trolling is how he names his kids REALLY disastrously. The sons' names translate to stuff like Weird, Tea Whisk, Ladle, Human, Fish... That "fish" one depending on the dialect can apparently also mean "a lie", so that's Double Weird. Good for them kids that there's the adulthood ceremony, so their name formally change, and also the general samurai culture of not using people's names (i.e you can't say "Lord Nobunaga" to his face, you gotta use titles or aliases).

Except for Tea Whisk who for some reasons still get called that even into his adulthood, that even the Europeans recorded it (if the translation was right anyway).

There's a bunch of "trolling" stories from Edo era stories, which I consider to be glorified fanfics, so I don't really believe them anymore. But among which is him poking manju with a sword, and then ordering Araki Murashige to eat the manju off the sword for ... who knows what reasons, honestly. Or, my "favourite" one where he wears a dick patterned kimono and riding his horse backwards when he came to visit his dad-in-law. Fun stuff.

#anon ask #reply #ask reply #nobunobu #ya I now think Nobu is more normal than what media likes to make him #he IS still rather weird #but not like alien weird

[lyablueuniverse]

It’s rude to stare - Ashton Irwin

Hello there ! This is a small text based on an idea by @babylonashton​. I tried my best, sorry it’s not perfect, haven’t written imagines in english for a few years so I hope it’s not too bad. Might do an alternative version later with a little more smut, if I feel like it.

You never thought you’d have the chance of following the boys on tour. Calum had been your best friends for a while now and when he told you they needed a new stylist for the entire European tour as their regular one was on maternity leave, you thought you would offer your services. Of course, Calum knew better and asked you before you could ask him. You were beyond thrilled to be able to follow them around the European continent and even more thrilled to see Calum in his element.

You adored him, he was the best of friend you could have ever asked for. Whenever he wasn’t around felt like a piece of you were missing. You loved seeing him play live and that look in his eyes when he was truly happy.

You weren’t close with the rest of the boys. Michael never really tried to spend time with you and to get to know you. To him, you were just Calum’s quirky friend. Luke was always so sweet to you. Out of the three, he was the one who liked you best and you liked him best too. The worst one was Ashton. Every time you were in the same room, he would avoid you and run away as far as possible. In the beginning, you were feeling bad about that, but as the time went by, you realized it was his lost.

That day, the boys were getting ready before the show. You helped Calum with his outfit, then looked at Luke’s and decided to change something last minute because one of the buttons was missing. Your job wasn’t really to actually tell them what to were as to make sure they were dressed in proper clothes. You were mostly having a look at every clothes to ensure there weren’t any holes, missing buttons or lost shoes. And making sure everything was in order. But still, you were having fun.

Michael was already ready, playing the guitar in another room when you heard a giant “Fuck !” coming from where he was sitting.

“What’s wrong dude?” Asked Ashton. “One of my string just broke. Gotta change them all.” “Just take another one.” Answered Calum. “Nope, that’s my lucky one.”

Luke raised an inquisitive eyebrow, wondering since when he’d have a favorite but was stopped in his track, realizing he couldn’t find his hair products, swearing away that whoever stole it from him, was going to pay.

You laughed. The boys were a mess, but one you loved. Calum shrugged and sat, ready to do a quick interview with Andy.

“Boys? Need help with the ice bath.” Shouted Ashton. “Sorry, mate, got other problems.” Said Luke. “Busy.” Answered Michael.

Ashton realized none of his band mates was going to him and proceeded to look for the next free person. He saw you standing there. He was the last one to get ready, because of his baths and he knew you were done with the boys. “Y/N? I guess you’re free. Would you mind helping me?”

You could see he was reluctant to ask you. “Well, I don’t.” you said, while following him. One of the reasons you didn’t try to get closer to Ashton was because, every time you were around him, your brain would get foggy. Something in his eyes was driving you crazy. Those intense hazel-green eyes were making you unable to talk. And him avoiding you was probably for the best. He had been your crush for months now but knowing he hated you was helpful in some ways.

He took off his shirt and his pants like he would if you were one of the boys. Somewhere in your mind something told you not to look at him but seeing in his underwear made you shaky. You couldn’t stop staring at him.

“You just have to time me. To make sure I don’t die.” He joked, casually. You take you phone out of your pocket and start the clock, trying to focus your attention of the minutes and seconds. But every single time, your eyes would slip to a glistening Ashton facing you. You looked at him tattoos, then his biceps then shoulders and torso.

If only you were able to not face him. But the room was so tiny and you could only sit in front of him. Once in a while, you would tell him the time and smile at him.

After ten minutes, it got out of the bath. Your heart was suddenly racing as his entire body was wet and glistening. He looked like a very sexy Neptune turning you into a puddle. It was hard to not look at him, so gorgeous, only wearing his now soaked underwear. Breathing was getting harder.

You walk to you, holding the towel, hoping he wouldn’t cover his body too fast. His eyes saw yours and suddenly, your body was against the wall, his right hands around your neck, holding tight enough so you wouldn’t move and not enough to actually hurt you. He had pinned you against the wall, staring into your eyes.

“Y/N.” he whispered your name, his mouth close to your ear. “You know it’s rude to stare.”

Your entire body felt his pressing against you. The way he was talking to you felt new, different than what you experienced before. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to.” You sighed, as your brain was now leaving your body. “You didn’t want to?” He asked. “Or you couldn’t stop?”

You try to swallow the spit in your mouth without success. “I didn’t want you to see me.” You answered, breathing heavily. His mouth still stuck on yours, you could hear his getting sporadic as well. “I might have to punish you for that.” Suddenly, you felt his teeth biting your earlobe. The surprise let a gasp out of you and you can see a smirk on his face as his eyes found yours.

“You know why I avoid you, Y/N ?” For a few seconds, you tried to think of words to use. “You hate me.” Was your response. “No.” His cocky smile getting bigger. He proceeded to suck on your earlobe again while wrapping his hands tighter on your neck. “I want you. I fucking want you. So bad, it hurts.”

“Kiss me. Hard.” was the only thing, you could think about. He stopped sucking on your lobe to look at your face. He seemed shocked. “Fuck me. I’m yours if you want to.” He was delighted to hear you say that. He kissed you with so much passion, you almost how to stand. You thanked the lord for his hands around your neck, holding you still.

In that tiny room, he could do anything to you, you would mind it. Your body was his.

Sadly, you heard Andy looking for him in the other room. “You think he died in that ice bath?” he joked. His steps were getting closer and you knew he was going to interrupt you. Ashton didn’t want to let you go, you could see it in his eyes. He whispered. “I’ll come by your room after the concert. You can stay unpunished.” “Yes, sir.” You sighed.

He let you go as the door opened on Andy. “The fuck you’re doing dude ! You need to get ready !” Andy noticed you and said blurred out on “Oh, I see.” With a raised eyebrow.

It was still hard to breathe for you but you followed Ashton in the dressing room to help him, knowing later tonight his body would be on yours.

*****

Let me know what you think about it.

#ashton 5 seconds of summer #ashton 5sos #ashton irwin imagine #michael clifford imagine #calum hood imagine #luke hemming imagines

[terzas]

『 gemma chan. thirty-nine. cis woman. she/her. 』 oh heavens, is that WILHELMINE TERZA BURCHARD from FAIR LANE i see roaming around mapleview? minnie may’s always calling them -FICKLE & -VOLATILE. i happen to think they’re not that bad! they’re a pretty cool LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT and every time i’ve seen them, they’ve always been +PROTEAN & +IDIOSYNCRATIC. i hope i see them around again! 『 bar. twenty-two. gmt +3. she/her. 』

howdy ! elo it’s me, wrinkle free brain barb ! i’m so pumped to be here n introduce u to my baby terza. here’s her pinterest board if you’re interested ( pls im a virgo i love pinterest i live for it lemme make boards for our muses id d*e ) ! <3 don’t hesitate to dm me on discord ( bar !#3161 ) or here. 

terza’s . lowkey a new muse so pls bare with me while i waste ur time rip

okay so .. willhelime “will” terza burchard spent her first 12 years on earth with her father, half brother ( cld be a wc later wink wonk ) and grandpa.

they lived in a grand, gothic-esque house in the outskirts of mapleview ! so u can say she’s a townie? maybe. idk. 

growing up she had no social life bc <3 her grandpa n pa were . conspiracy theorists <3 her father especially was big on supernatural n apocalyptic shit n in his fatherly way, made sure terza n her bro were safe from the aliens comin to snatch them up yikes

age 12, terza’s father was declared d*ad after he didnt come back from his annual ~hunting~ trip. of course, this meant harsher rules on terza n her bro because . grandpa didn’t want to lose them too. highkey tragic. very understandable . i mean .. kinda not when ur a teenager with raging hormones n a thrill for stupid shit lol.

still, she loved her little family. wished her brother cld have normal parental figures n be normal but did the best she could do with the given.

age 18, terza packed her shit n moved away for college where she studied landscape architecture. the virgo, taurus n libra in her chart jumped out

she hated herself for abandoning her family but also thot she was destined for . better things , i suppose.

clung hard onto her wealthy friends, used their connections to build her own network.

as the self made business woman she is, she’d been livin her best life in different european countries, seekin the everlasting beauty n perfection.

as our lord n saviour jenny slate once wrote, there is this ribbon of loneliness ( n sadness ) running thru who she’s no matter how much she flaunts her perfect, rich clique, social media followers n impeccable portfolio. its just there. the guilt. the heavy burden of her past idk : /

had to return to mapleview six months ago by grandpa’s health’s been deteriorating n she cn no longer deny her past.

um. 

personality wise i think she just ?? wants ?? something to call her own? 

doesn’t open up easily. fears of being seen, if tht makes sense.

“i fear i will be ripped open and found unsightly." YEA....

i feel like. shes the type to cheat. wink wonk exes connection yea <3

the type of friend you’d call to bury a body .. until she cuts an immunity deal n rats u out bc gotta look out for the #1

extremely caring, likes to buy ppl stuff just bc she can ?? 

prefers to see the beauty in everything, but doesnt mean she has rose coloured glasses on. in fact, shes a skeptic ( thanks to her upbringing ) n judgemental ( a tru virgo ) and actually sees the world in black & white.

“ ‘i dont care’, i say, caringly, as i care deeply” lmao... yeah....

i truly hav no connection ideas my brain said get tht fire exit door im off im so sorry forgive moi bUT im a sucker for angst : ) so theres that.

i feel like i didn’t do her justice idk i have a vision but its my first time properly writing her idk. sovvy 

#mapleviewintro #this ? all over the place..... mwah SHDJKF #if u see any typos . baby im a hallucination im nt even here move away nw #no u don't <3 #death tw #uh #neglect tw #am i dumb enough to post this at 6 pm knowing ppl r probably offline ? yes n what abt it. thanks