#I will have to revise his arm one day - for the 6th time

[soldier-lodbrok]

"But Sephiroth, you don't have anything to prove."

#.myart #Glenn Lodbrok #Sephiroth #Final Fantasy VII #The First Soldier #Ever Crisis #UUUGH I WILL NEVER DRAW A HUG AGAIN #I will have to revise his arm one day - for the 6th time #adding the armor plates didnt help #it only made it even worse #so Glenn you go with just the jacket #back to me only drawing faces and simple poses #this cost me 6 hours

[marauders-aesthetic]

Here is a short one shot I wrote. I hope you guys like it ! It’s a Sirius and reader one shot when they are still in Hogwarts !

Sirius and Y/N : the stars listen

My name is Y/N, and I’m a Gryffindor 6th year. So before I start this story which is the story of me and my friend Sirius... yes Sirius as in Sirius Black, brother of Regulus Black, the famous Marauder and best friend of James Potter... that Sirius Black...

So I should begin by telling you a bit about myself. I am a Muggle born which means that when I first got my letter from Hogwarts I was ecstatic... this was the best news I had ever heard. I met Sirius on the train with James, Sirius, Remus and Peter and we became friends. I was always closer to Sirius, he was the first one to tell me about his family problems.... I remember it like it was yesterday... It was the summer holidays of our 3rd year.. I had gone home and was in the back garden reading a book Remus had recommended when I heard a noise coming from a bush... I got up and Sirius came out of it all bloody and panting for breath. I let go of everything and took him in my arms. He rested in my room and I felt a pinch. My heart was beating fast.... he was delirious from the pain. I helped him the best I could... I remember the tears and the pain he felt... I remember every word of our exchange... and what I remember the most was that ... that day ... that hot summer day .... I realised that .... I was in love with my best friend.... I felt the pain ... his pain .... I was irrevocably in love with the infamous Sirius Black.

That summer, he would come to my house and we would spend hours talking. That summer was the best summer of my life.

So now you have a bit of a back story I can start the story.

It started when Slughorn asked us to make Amortentia as he always like to do with his 6th years. I was partnered up with Lily Evans, my girl best friend and roommate. We made the potion with a little help from her old friend Severus. She wasn’t talking to him really ... and I understood why .... he had called her a Mudblood ... that word .... I had been called it a few times but Sirius would always come and defend me. I always loved that about him ... he was a pure blood but he always defended the ones who weren’t like him.

The class went on and our potion was done. Professor Slughorn came up to us to congratulate us.

⁃ well done !! Well done !! Could I ask you to tell me what you smell miss Y/L/N ?

⁃ I ... I ... mmm I smell ...lemon... pine... smoke ... something old .... a record shop .... and .... sorry ...

I stopped right there .. I was smelling Sirius’s cologne. Lily looked at me oddly....

⁃ Y/N ..

⁃ class dismissed !

I walked out as fast as I could. I loved Lily but she could sometimes be a nosy Parker.

It was the last lesson of the day so I walked to the library and took out a book.

I stayed there until dinner time. It was always quiet this time of year, because mid term exams were over. As I walked into the Great Hall I saw a my table, the Gryffindor table being the loudest as usual.

⁃ Y/N !!!!, shouted James, get over here now !!!

⁃ WHAT ????, I shouted back and laughed.

I sat down at my usual stop next to Remus and opposite Sirius who was laughing with James

⁃ what did I miss ?, I asked with a smile

⁃ Sirius’s got a new girl that’s what !!, shouted James

My smile faded away immediately but I put it back on. I couldn’t let it get to me.

⁃ oh wow ... congrats Pads !

⁃ Thanks N/N !

⁃ How come you never told me ?, I asked

⁃ Sorry N/N you were so busy with your revisions that i forgot !, he said with that grin that always made the butterflies in my stomach explode.

⁃ Well who is she come on ? Tell us !, I said trying to be the best best friend I could ever be.

So he started to tell us about her eyes, her hair... i blocked out most of what he was saying .... it was hard ... very hard ... i had never seen him talk about a girl like

this before ... i felt a pain in my chest,the same

pain ... i felt every time James would recount his best mates love adventures or how Sirius got a date with this girl or that Ravenclaw Prefect ... i got up.

⁃ Y/N ? are you ok ?, asked Remus

⁃ yeah ! sorry ! i forgot to do a homework for Binns ! i'll meet you in the common room !

I walked out really fast.. I had ran up to the astronomy tower.. the astronomy tower ... it was my sanctuary... I would go up every time I felt down or .... I sat down and let my legs dangle of the top. I looked up at the stars.. Sirius had taught me all of them... the names of the constellations... my favorite was ... of course ... Sirius ! The dog constellation !

I felt tears rolling down my cheeks... Merlin ! Don’t I look pathetic ... crying over a boy ... a boy I love ...

⁃ you know ... you should really look out and keep an ear out for strangers listening in on you !

I jumped and looked around to see non other than Remus Lupin

⁃ what do you want Remus ?, I said drying a tear away.

⁃ Well ... you know you can always talk to me ! I know the stars listen but ... maybe a friendly face might help ..

⁃ how much of it did you hear ?

⁃ Well let’s say I’m shocked no one else at school hasn’t heard your confession or your undying love for our favorite dog

⁃ You better not say anything Remus ‘

⁃ Ok ok ... chill ... but you know ... maybe you should tell him

⁃ Who ?

⁃ Y/N !

⁃ Good night Remus !

I walked down the stairs and got back to the common room. I couldn’t see Sirius... well it was probably for the best.

I walked up the stairs and got into my dorm... the girls were fast asleep as I got under the covers... I was welcomed with open by Morpheus.

As I woke up the next day, I went down to have breakfast with Marlene, who kept talking about Dorcas and her plan for their perfect date. I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t jealous of them. They had both found each other and were perfect for one another.

So I listened to Marls and gave her advice :

⁃ you know .... Instead of buying her something why not make her a nice thing !

⁃ That’s a really good idea N/N ! Thanks !

⁃ You’re welcome !

We sat down and started to have breakfast. Dorcas joined us with Lily.

⁃ where were you last night ?, asked Lily

⁃ Oh mmmm I....

⁃ probably went looking for a dark, tall, handsome man..., said Marlene with her eyebrows going up and down.

⁃ I don’t know what you are talking about !, I said drinking my pumpkin juice trying to hide my blush.

⁃ Come on ! It’s obvious you like him !, answered Dorcas

⁃ Leave it !, I said

⁃ Guys guys guys ! If N/N doesn’t want to talk about it ! Then let’s not pressure them ...

⁃ thanks Lily !

⁃ Although.... yesterday during potions... you did describe the scent....

⁃ who described what ?, asked Sirius sitting down next to me

⁃ Nothing ! Aren’t you supposed to be at practice ?, I asked

⁃ James caught a cold and is in bed !, he said taking a sip of my juice

⁃ Oh ... is he alright ?, asked Lily

I smirked at my best friend and he nodded:

⁃ why don’t you go and see him ?, I said with a smirk

Lily went as red as her hair, Sirius and I snickered

⁃ well ... while Lily tries and understand her complex feelings ... want to come to Hogsmeade ?, asked Padfoot

⁃ Yeah sure.... I’ll get my purse, I exclaimed

⁃ Great ! Meet you at the front !

I ran up to my dorm. I got my prettiest coat and put my purse. I arrived at the front of Hogwarts out of breath to see Lily, Marlene, Dorcas, Peter, Remus.... and Sirius with his girlfriend... Eloise.... she was a Ravenclaw 5th year... she had blond hair and green eyes... she was pretty... not like me... I had to stop my staring.... really Y/N.... stop thinking about him... he’s got a girlfriend... Merlin !

⁃ ready to go ?, asked my best friend

⁃ Mmm yeah... sure ! Hey Eloise !

⁃ Hey Y/N !

The afternoon was spent watching my best friend snogging in one of the booths in the Three Broomsticks... I wanted to vomit... I had to hold the urge.... Remus was there with me the whole time... we were about to leave when Sirius came up to us.

⁃ hey ! Eloise wants to stay a bit longer ! I’ll catch up with you guys in the common room ok ?

⁃ Yeah sure ! Whatever !, I said

⁃ Y/N ! What’s wrong ?, he asked concern in his eyes

⁃ Nothing ! Don’t want to keep your girlfriend waiting !, I spit back

I walked away. When The castle was in full view, ran leaving my friends behind me. I wanted to be left alone... the boy I have loved for so long...

this was pathetic I knew it... I looked at the picture frame ... it was of me and Sirius... we were laughing at one of James’s bad jokes.

I had to put it down...I can’t watch it anymore... I can’t help it.... he’s the reason for the tear drops on my guitar... Godric now I’m quoting Taylor Swift songs...

I hadn’t realised it was time for dinner... I looked at the clock and I had missed dinner... I went downstairs hearing laughters. I watched my friends around the fire... Lily was next to James taking care of him... of course he was loving it... that crazy stag !

I saw Remus listening to Peter talking about Merlin knows what... Sirius was watching the flammes in the fireplace. I walked past them and out of the portrait. I walked to the place I loved.. you guessed it... the astronomy tower... the stars were out, the sky was clear and the moon was in a nice croissant.

⁃ why won’t you love me ? ... I’ve always been there for you ... Why !!!!! Why won’t you listen to me stars !!!!

⁃ Who are you talking to ??, asked Padfoot

I turned around quickly seeing my best friend with his hair down.. a gust of wind made his hair twirl around his gorgeous face... I couldn’t help but blush... I turned around to look at the castle grounds... I felt him come close to me.

⁃ what are you doing here all on your own... ?

⁃ I needed the air ! Why aren’t you with Eloise ?

⁃ It’s past curfew you know ?

⁃ Oh really ? I was lost in thought !!

⁃ Yeah ... talking to the stars ?

I was even more red than Lily’s hair ...

⁃ what are you talking about ?

⁃ Come on N/N ! I know you ! And I want you to know ...

⁃ what ??

I turned my head to look at him to feel his lips on mine... he had his hand on my jaw... I felt my eyes close to savour the moment. His lips tasted like fire whiskey and cigarettes... we broke appart and I looked into his grey eyes. He had a smirk on his face.

⁃ but.... I don’t understand ... what about Eloise...?

He smiled that toothy smile I loved so much...

⁃ you are really something you know ?, he whispered, I have always loved you ! N/N ! Eloise was helping me get your attention ! And I guessed it worked ... haha

I had my hands over my mouth, I felt tears starting to prickle down my eyes. I was happy...

⁃ hey hey hey ! Don’t cry beautiful !! What is it ?

⁃ I am happy ... these are happy tears ! I love you !!

I froze... I had said the “L” word before anything could happen... I messed up... I was about to leave when I felt his hand on my forearm... I looked up to see Sirius smiling and looking at me in a way I had never seen before.

⁃ I love you too dove ! I love you too !

I felt his lips back on mine and I smiled. Maybe the stars are listening. If you are thank you, thank you for making this possible.

The stars listen.

#sirius black x reader #james peter remus sirius #sirius black #sirius orion black #remus x sirius #sirius and regulus #sirius and james #sirius x reader #marauders #the marauders

[helnjk]

Sixth Year - D.M.

Draco Malfoy x fem!reader

Platonic!Blaise Zabini x fem!reader

Requested: yes

Hey if requests are open could you do a prompt#21&50 for Draco.. Could it be a bit of angst and end with fluff? Thanks!

“all you do is make empty promises” “i’m tired of your lies”

Word Count: 2.5k

Warnings: angst, swearing

Summary: 6th year with Draco isn’t turning out how you expected it to be.

A/N: ok 1, i wanted to try writing angst (pls give comments/reviews!! i wanna know how i did) & 2, other than the request, i kind of based this off of one of my fav tiktok acct’s shifting stories aksjdhsadh you can find her here ! i love her tiktoks and she’s what got me into shifting LMAO but anyway ! let me know if you wanna be added to my taglist ! enjoy xx

THIS IS A REPOST BC I THINK TUMBLR DID ME DIRTY WITH THE TAGS

Prompts are in bold

—

Eighth. This was the eighth night you had stayed up until god knows what hour waiting for Draco to show up.

The moon was high in the sky by the time you realized he wasn’t coming yet again. The biting wind rushed past you as you tried to gather as much warmth as possible from the jacket you brought up to the Astronomy tower. Your breath came out in short puffs, white wisps trailing from your mouth out into the chilly night.

With one last glance at the midnight stained grounds, the only light emanating from the moon above, you wrapped your jacket tighter around your body and turned to make it down the stairs. It was a long trek to the Slytherin dorms, which gave your mind more time to spiral. This meant fighting back the prick of tears at the back of your eyes by the time you had reached the dungeons.

The next morning, you found yourself at the Slytherin table barely able to keep your eyes open. You hadn’t gotten much sleep, your mind refusing to stop running the different scenarios with which you imagined Draco must have gotten into causing him to forget your rescheduled plans.

“Y/N?” Blaise’s voice startled you into opening your eyes, having nodded off, leant against your palm.

“Huh?” You murmured, trying to blink the sleep from your eyes, “Sorry did you say something?”

“You alright? You look like you could just drop dead any second,” His eyes scanned yours worriedly, shifting closer to you so that you could have something to lean on.

“Gee thanks Blaise,” A sarcastic drawl came out of your lips, “Just tired. I was up late last night at the Astronomy tower waiting for Draco.”

His brows furrowed at your statement, “Draco? He got to the dorms pretty early last night. Didn’t say he had anything planned with you last night.” Eyes widened at the realization of what he said and he quickly tried to back track, “I mean-That’s not-”

Despite the distinct crack you felt in your chest, you mustered up the faintest of smiles (which probably looked more like a lopsided grimace), “It’s alright, Blaise. Thanks for letting me know.”

The rest of the day passed by you in a blur.

Everyone seemed to notice the melancholy mood that you were in, everyone except for the only person you wished would pay attention.

Being in your sixth year at Hogwarts, you were excited to spend a good chunk of it with your boyfriend. After all, there were no OWLs or NEWTs to worry about (yet), so you assumed that this year would bring more time for you to spend together.

You were wrong. Clearly.

The moment you had stepped off the Hogwarts Express in September, Draco started to spend less and less time with you. It was November now and the less time you found yourself spending with him, the more you noticed that he began to keep things from you. His eyes would shift whenever you would ask him what his plans for the day were or when you questioned who he would be with all day. He never gave you straight answers either.

“Why? What do you have planned for us today?”

“Just off brainstorming for our next date.”

“Obsessed with me, are you? You’re too cute darling.”

No matter how charming he had tried to be with his answers, you could tell something was off with him. None of the so-called plans he came up with ever came to full fruition. Often, you would find yourself waiting for him to arrive, either at the common room to take you to wherever he planned your date to be, or up in the Astronomy tower since that was where you went when you wanted to spend time, just the two of you.

Some nasty rumors had also been circulating Slytherin house. It started when someone overheard Harry Potter speaking to his friends about running into Draco right before a quidditch match, but the catch was that he was in the company of two other girls. Of course, you tried not to let these kinds of things get to you, they were just silly little rumors after all.

Still, these kinds of thoughts plagued you at night when you would go to bed not wrapped in the arms of the person you loved most.  

When you brought up these feelings with him, it had only started an argument.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Y/N.” Draco said rather harshly after you asked him about the rumors, “Are you implying that I’m cheating on you?”

“No!” You replied immediately, “I just want to know where these rumors are coming from. You’re my boyfriend, I should know what to say when people ask me about it.”

“Then tell them they should be minding their own damn business.”

You didn’t bring it up after that, afraid that if you did, it would cause an even bigger rift between you two.

By the time you had made it back to the common room, it was mostly empty. There were a couple of seventh years trying to get in some extra revising time in the corner, but they mostly left you alone. Not wanting to go up to your dorm yet, you settled on the couch next to the blazing fire instead. By some stroke of luck, Draco came stumbling inside the room as you sunk into the cushions.

“Draco!” You called out, his name slipping from your lips before you even knew you were saying anything.

His eyes registered that you were in the practically empty common room a second slower than usual, “Y/N. Hi love.”

“I missed you last night,” You admitted as he reached you.

A furrow in his brows told you that he didn’t know what you were talking about, “Come again, love?”

For the nth time, his words struck a chord deep in you. You didn’t think it was physically possible, but they added yet another crack to your already broken heart. You cleared your throat in an attempt to push down the lump that had formed, “Uh, I was waiting for you in the Astronomy tower? Because we had plans?”

As if a bucket of cold water dropped on him, his demeanour changed completely in the blink of an eye.

“Oh darling I’m so sorry,” He muttered softly, taking your face in his hands and pressing kisses all around, “I was completely knackered yesterday, I didn’t even think about anything after dinner except sleep. I’m so sorry. What can I do to make it up to you?”

Instead of the calm you usually felt being around Draco, you felt like you were at your breaking point. You couldn’t do this to yourself anymore. It was surprising to realize, that even with the added comfort of being at the receiving end of his kisses, there was still a large part of you that was tired. You couldn’t fall back into his arms after more than a dozen attempts at trying to keep the relationship afloat.

Gently, you pried his hands away from his face and took a deep breath. You could already feel the sting of unshed tears in your eyes as they locked with his, “I don’t think you can do anything to fix this.”

“What-Love, what are you talking about?”

“All you do is make empty promises, Dray.” You whispered, “And I’m tired of setting myself up for disappointment.”  

The love of your life was speechless, so you took the opportunity to stand up quickly. “I don’t understand what you’re doing or why you’re being so secretive about it, but find me when you’ve figured out if it’s worth it or not.”

Without waiting for his response, you hurriedly made your way to your dorm room and sparing no glances back in his direction.

-

A few days after your heartbreaking conversation with Draco, you still weren’t one hundred percent. It didn’t feel like you were ever going to be one hundred percent again. Your only solace was your friendship with Blaise.

For all intents and purposes, he was your best friend. Even before you had started dating Draco, the two of you were thick as thieves.

Oftentimes over the next few days, you found yourselves huddled in a corner of the common room. He would remind you to eat and to do your schoolwork as you went about your days mindlessly.

“C’mon,” He said one night, holding his hand out to you as you were cuddled up against a cushion. You merely raised your eyebrow at him, “Get up, I’ve got somewhere to take you.”

With a sigh, you pushed yourself off the couch and took his hand. It was well past curfew, but it never really bothered the pair of you. Being Slytherins made you resourceful with how you navigated the castle, the easy dynamic between the two of you enabled you to sneak through the shadows unnoticed by anyone who might have been nearby.

“Why are we going to the Astronomy tower?” You whispered as you climbed the seemingly endless staircase.

“Just thought you could use some fresh air.” He answered nonchalantly, “Feels like you’ve kept yourself cooped up in the castle this whole week.”

“That’s awful sweet of you, Zabini,” You teased, the shadow of a smile on your lips.

He shrugged as you got to the top of the tower, “Just don’t like seeing you so sad.”

Few words were exchanged between you two as you leant against the railing of the turret, taking in the view of the grounds in the dim light. The moon was full and high in the sky, and the breeze wasn’t as biting as it was the last time you were here.

Something about being up there in the clear night with Blaise was doing wonders for your aching heart. It might’ve been the fresh, crisp air, it might have been the calming presence of your best friend. You were grateful either way.

As the wind picked up, you huddled closer to Blaise’s warm body. What was it about boys being basically walking furnaces all the damn time?

“Draco’s a prat,” He murmured as he wrapped his arms around you, “I just wanted you to hear that.”

“He’s not though,” You defended weakly, “Something’s up with him, definitely, but I don’t think he’s being a dick on purpose.”

“Yeah but he’s still made you feel like shit.”

You shrugged, “And I let him.”

After a few minutes of silence, you heard the distinct sound of a door swinging open behind you. You craned your neck to see who would be up here at such a late hour when your heart stopped in your chest.

“What’s going on here?” Draco sneered, taking in the sight of you cuddled up at Blaise’s side, “Replaced me already, Y/N? Reckon he’s the reason why we’ve broken up?”

You felt Blaise tense up beside you but paid no mind when your focus was solely on the rage brewing in your chest.

“How dare you,” You seethed, “You have no right to accuse me, we weren’t even doing anything!”

He had the audacity to scoff at your retort, “Sneaking off at nearly midnight, to share a romantic night under the stars? Seems like more than just ‘nothing.’”

Before you could respond, you felt Blaise’s warm hands on your shoulders, “I’m gonna let you handle this one, love.” Blaise whispered in your ear, “He doesn’t deserve anything from you, but I feel like I’ll only make it worse if I stay.”

You nodded slightly.

“Hurt her even more than you have, Malfoy, and you’ll see just what kinds of curses I know how to cast.”

With Blaise making a quick exit and taking away your source of warmth, you crossed your arms in front of your chest and clutched the jacket you had on closer to you.

“You never had a problem with my friendship with Blaise before,” You muttered.

“Because he wasn’t all over you then!” He argued.

“We’ve always been like that and you know it.” You rolled your eyes, “Why are you even up here Draco?”

“So you own the Astronomy tower now?” He huffed, stepping next to you to lean on the railings, “I needed somewhere to think and clear my head.”

Almost as if there was no gaping chasm between the two of you, your bodies slowly inched towards each other until you were shoulder to shoulder. Almost as if the boy standing next to you hadn’t broken your heart with his secrets and his deflection tactics, his presence seemed to calm your elevated heart rate. Almost.

“Are you finally going to tell me what’s been going on with you recently?” The words that escape your mouth are no more than a whisper. You hold your breath in anticipation.

“Nothing’s been going on,” Is all he says in reply.

“Stop lying through your teeth, Draco!” You burst out, your frustrations finally getting the better of you, “I’m tired of your lies. Do you not trust me? Is that it? Because I can help you, you just have to let me in!”

“Of course I trust you! I love you for Merlin’s sake, Y/N!”

You sucked in a breath, all of your resentment seeming to escape your body, “I love you too, Draco,” You whisper, taking his warm hand in your cold ones, “But all of this sneaking around, this hiding, I don’t think I can handle not knowing what you’re up to especially when it’s affecting you this way.”

Draco took a deep shuddering breath, you could practically see the gears turning in his head. “I don’t want to lose you.”

That wasn’t what you expected him to say, “You won’t, you just need to be honest with me.”

He turned to face you, thumbs rubbing gentle circles on your hands, “I can’t tell you exactly what I’m doing,” You opened your mouth to argue but he cut you off with a look, “All I can say is that I love you and I want to protect you. What I’m doing has nothing to do with how much you mean to me, but it’s something I have to do. I just need you to be here, be with me.”

“I don’t understand,” Came your reply.

“I’m saying that I have an important job to do, and I want to be with you, but that means you’ll have to be okay with not knowing everything.”

“You’ll tell me if you need any help though, right?” You all but whispered.

“I’ll tell you if you absolutely need to know,” He nodded slightly.

“Okay,” You were still trying to wrap your head around everything that he said. It wasn’t exactly what you wanted, but it was a good compromise, “And you can’t keep blowing me off. If you want me to be here for you, then you have to do the same for me.”

“I can work with that.” A slow smile graced his pale features and you felt your heart stutter at the sight, you hadn’t seen him look so calm and at ease in a long time.

“Good.” You pressed your cheek against his chest and reveled at the comfort it brought you. He wrapped his arms around you and you could feel yourself melting into his touch.

#Draco Malfoy #Draco Malfoy imagine #Draco Malfoy imagines #Draco Malfoy fics #Draco Malfoy fic #Draco Malfoy x reader #Draco Malfoy reader insert #Draco Malfoy x y/n #Draco Malfoy angst #Blaise Zabini

[ginnyweasleywannabe]

How James found out- James' Pov

Companion piece to my other story "How James found out" but from James' POV. Gives more of glimpse to Marlene and James' friendship with a little background Blackinnon tender moment.

((I still don't know how to format a tumblr post so if you want to read the first piece, just go to my page and search tag #my writing))

As always you can also read on AO3 @inthemiddle

Notes: IDK honestly I just wanted to write more of the thoughts behind the other story. I thought about writing the talk between Marlene and James' after this event but I think I'll make that a separate piece. As always minimal editing because I just wanted to write and then be done and get it out-there.

Start:

Honestly, James was tired. He had been really pushing himself both mentally and physically lately. Revising was starting soon so he was working his school work more than usual. Revising and the end of the year also meant the end of quidditch season. They only had a few more games which mean they really needed to make them count to have the best chance at the cup. He had been looking forward to dinner all day, all the workouts meant bigger appetite. He was currently diving in deep into his shepherds pie, only half listening to the talk around him.

“Peter was great, he took a step in front of me and held up his wand. He didn’t even have to say anything, they just left!”

“Well, it wasn’t quite like that Mary….” Peter said sheepishly, “I think they knew that if they messed with us then it would become a whole thing with you lot, that’s all.”

“Peter, I think it was nice of you to stand in front of Mary. They truly believe as a muggle-born she’d be worth the easy fight.” Lily wanted to help boost Peters confidence.

“It shouldn’t matter! Mary is great at defense, she could’ve taken the whole lot without even breaking a sweat!” Marlene’s word were encouraging but James could tell she was really annoyed. Marlene tended to have a short fuse. James couldn’t blame her. He felt like things were getting worse and worse. He was of the firm belief that it was time for the staff to take more action. Dumbledore was a believer in keeping the peace and that there was always more to the story. James felt like that was bullshit.

“Uggghhh”

He looked up to see Marlene staring down some Slytherins down the table. He knew what she was thinking. He could read Marlene like quidditch through the ages. He got it but tomorrow was really important to him. He just wanted to make it through the game then deal with this.

“Just let them pass, Marley, it’s not worth getting suspended from tomorrow’s game” James urged her with a pleading glance.

Rosier sniggered to Snape “I saw the little chubby one staring at the redhead mudblood earlier, she must had something special to get them all worked up”

Okay screw keeping the peace, James was out of his seat. And so was Marley… and so was Sirius. But he was just not going for the Slytherins, he standing in front of her, back to Snape and Rosier. He had his arms wrapped around Marley’s waist, trying his best to stop the lunging girl. James felt small quick relief, Sirius had Marlene. If things turned physical, which it would with Marlene, she had a good ex but much preferred a punch, they would definitely have to forfeit tomorrow’s game. He glanced away from the focus of the two for just a second, taking in the whole scene as Rosier said “She’s got all of you wrapped around her finger, maybe I ought to give her a try.”

Marlene went to lunge again but James knew Sirius could hold her steady. He went to turn back and give the pair of Slytherins his mind but suddenly he was more focused on Marlene and Sirius. They had exchanged a few words but now it was time for Snape to cut in “Yeah Black control your girl” welp. James knew that wasn’t good. Back in 5th year Marlene had dated Luke Wilson for a few months and hated being called “his girl” She was not a piece of property. James knew the chances for the game tomorrow were gone, or so he thought but then Sirius just leaned into Marlene and whispered something in her ear. She slowly relaxed and let her feet back down onto the floor. Marlene never relaxed that easily, especially with the way things had been going for her today. Then with one arm still wrapped around her waist, Sirius used his free hand to push a piece of hair behind her ear. James suddenly felt like he was invading in a private moment. A private moment between his best friend and his sister.

What. The. fuck.

Before James could even blink, Marlene straightened her robes and excused herself. James whipped his head to Sirius. Sirius looked at James like everything was perfectly normal, like he didn’t just stroke Marlene’s hair and comfort her. He gave a quick shrug and then agreed with Lily to go check on Marlene. The whole group went to get up and James was still stunned for movement before storming ahead of the rest of the 6th years. He found Marlene pacing out in the corridor. James charged ahead, he wanted answers.

“What the hell was that?” He couldn’t help but raise his voice.

“Oh, sorry Jamie, I know I should have let it go but its just been a long day” Marlene sighed letting her shoulders hang.

James wasn’t mad at her outburst, how could she think that. This just got him more worked up, why was she not answering. “Jamie” that was she had always called him. She was the only person he allowed to call him that, it was their thing.

“I don’t care about that… what the fuck was that” James knew he wasn’t making a ton of sense but he couldn’t bring himself to say the words, so waving his hands around like a mad man would have to suffice. Marlene just stared at him with a face of confusion.

“James…”

Oh yeah that bastard was still here. During this whole thing James had been processing things at lightning speed and thinking everything through but at the sound of Sirius’ voice James didn’t think, he just whipped around and punched Sirius. Sirius stumbled a little but remained on his feet. James was seething. Marlene was his everything, he would give his life for her. She was the first person outside of his parents he ever loved, it wasn’t romantic but that’s what made it so special because he felt so much love for her it went beyond lust.

“James, its not-“ it’s not what he thinks?! Was he actually about to say that? What else could it be. Sirius had been sneaking around with his Marley behind his back, after he promised he would stay away from her. Sirius had taken advantage of her, her willingness to love everyone and want to fix broken things. James hit him again, this time knocking him to the floor

“MY SISTER?? I asked you for one thing and it was not to sleep with my sister!!” James was yelling as loud as he could. Sirius felt the blood from his nose. He lunged back at James. James was caught off guard expecting to just let him have it. They both tumbled to floor, it didn’t last long before the group was pulling them apart.

James was breathing hard. He was glaring daggers at Sirius while Marlene quickly wiped his cheek. Why was she doing that, why was she comforting her. She suddenly whipped around to James.

“What. the fuck. was. that.”

James recoiled into himself for just a moment. He took a lighter tone remember that this was his favorite person, he hoped his tone was filled with love so that she would listen to him. “Marley...”

“What. did you. Mean. He. Promised.” Oh yeah… had he said promised. He had never meant for Marley to find out about the promise. But once he explained, she would understand, he wasn’t the person she should be upset with. He was doing this for her.

“It’s Sirius, you know how he his. After fifth year anyone with eyes could see the way he was looking at you. I just wanted to keep you safe, I mean, I mean HE” but Marlene cut him off.

“You had no right to do that, James. You don’t get to hold your good deeds over him for a favor in return. Especially one that controls MY life.” Marlene was still glaring up at him. Her voice never taking the soft tone they usually used with each other.

James released his breath and hung his head. He was tired and he hated fighting with Marlene, he just wanted to go somewhere with her and they would talk, move past this and laugh.

“James…” Sirius had started barley above a whisper.

“Don’t.” James removed any emotion from his voice but anger. He couldn’t be here anymore, he turned and left the group.

#blackinnon #sirius x marlene #my writing #marlius

[blacknailpolishonguitarstrings]

The look of love

NSFR!!!

Two hours were left till the game.

Ryder looked at himself one last time in the mirror, cocking his head in a judging manner. A straight, perfectly serious poker face, short ginger hair casting a slight shadow over blue eyes sparkling with intelligence, and ivory skin so pale it almost appeared translucent in the harsh morning sunlight. His tall, slender frame was hugged by his red and yellow knitted jumper with an embroidered lion right above the heart. The animal shook its mane, golden stitches moving across the fabric as it opened its jaw in a wide, mighty roar. Chuckling lightly, the young wizard tugged at his clothes one last time and tucked a stray, slightly longer, strand of hair behind his ear before exiting the bathroom with a satisfied smile.

The circular dorm room housing the 6th year Gryffindor boys was mostly dark, save for a golden ray of sunlight fighting its way through the thick garnet-coloured velvet curtains. James and Sirius were already down at breakfast, judging by the empty, unmade beds, and Peter appeared to be still in a deep sleep, a small snore cutting through his loud breathing from time to time. Remus, on the other hand, was laying on his bed, eyes unusually wide open. He seemed to be submerged in deep thought, but Ryder did not miss his longing glance at Sirius’ bed before going down the stairs.

***

One hour was left till the game.

The day was beautiful, with a clear, cloudless, azure blue sky and a bright golden sun which cast its powerful white light on the early spring earth, warming it, feeding the emerging plants its powerful magic. It was a perfect day for Quidditch. And Merlin knew, they needed as much of an advantage as they could get, even though the excellent conditions would also favour the other team. They were playing Ravenclaw, who had assembled a magnificent team this year, and it was the most important match of the season, deciding if Gryffindor would move on to finals this year or not. They simply could not afford to lose. Ryder had a lot of confidence in the Gryffindor team, of course, having trained relentlessly for weeks with them under the masterful tutelage of James Fleamont Potter, the most renowned Chaser Hogwarts had seen in years. And yet he could not shake the excess of nervous energy riddling his body, electrifying his limbs, reaching every nerve and cell, setting him alight. It felt as if his whole body was on fire, ready to soar the skies at breakneck speeds, catch that bloody Snitch and win. Oh Circe, there was nothing he wanted more, needed more than a glorious win.

Finally, he reached the Quidditch pitch, with its six hoops standing tall and proud in the sky, its towers adorned with the House colours, and the large Ravenclaw and Gryffindor banners weaving in the light breeze, in preparation for the upcoming match. A few early supporters clad in red and gold or blue and bronze were already there, spread out across the stalls on the wooden benches.

***

Only fifteen minutes were left till the beginning of the match.

The changing room was bustling with the young Gryffindor players, all geared up and ready in their scarlet robes, chatting rapidly and revising strategies they had gone over thousands of times already. Yet, one team member remained missing. One of the Beaters. Not Marlene, no, she was present and fully prepared, her blonde ponytail bouncing on her back as she jumped up and down on one spot, warming up. No, the Beater missing was Sirius. Curious, Ryder left the room through the back door, left slightly ajar by someone else. And there, he saw them. Remus and Sirius, limbs intertwined around each other in a tight embrace, which appeared brotherly at first, but he noticed: it was so much more than that. Everything from Remus’ soothing hand gliding over Sirius’ lower back, to his small, nervous, smile, and bright, wide-open eyes filled with a very strong, slightly unsettling emotion, full of fire and passion but also tenderness screamed something akin to…love. Sirius was entirely relaxed in his friend’s arms, burying his face in the crook of his neck, letting the tall boy run his fingers softly through his shoulder-length, jet-black hair, a rather unusual occurrence.

“Took them long enough,” thought Ryder before backing away, deciding to let them have their moment of privacy.

Despite how discreet they both thought they were not having told anyone or each other about their feelings, one could see right through both, Remus and Sirius, from a kilometres away. It was all the little things, like their constant searching looks, trying to find one another in the room, the blushing at the smallest of compliments, how their smiles grew just a little more when they were in each other’s presence, and the longing glances, which somehow always failed to meet, that betrayed them every time.

“Ryder?” Said someone behind him.

“Hey, Padfoot, all good?” Asked the red-haired boy, turning towards Sirius.

“Yeah, yeah,” he replied, mumbling distractedly. “Just slightly nervous because of the game you know, the Quidditch Cup and the House Cup are at stake, we can’t fuck it up.”

“No shit Sherlock.”

The other wizard looked at him confusedly.

“Muggle reference,” he waved it off. “But indeed, we cannot mess up, and we won’t. Come on, we’re due any minute now, try not to fall off your broom out there while ogling Remus in your Quidditch jumper.”

“Sod off,” muttered Sirius under his breath, colour rising to his cheeks.

***

Twenty minutes into the game.

Ryder soared high in the sky, a light zephyr whooshing through his hair as he held on tight to the slim, wooden handle of his broom engraved with golden letters, a magnificent present from his parents for his fifteenth birthday. Players clad in ultramarine and scarlet zoomed below him, the dark red Quaffle passing from a Chaser’s hands to another Chaser’s hands every few seconds. Menacing black Bludgers chased by the two pairs of Beaters zigzagged between them, trying to knock them off their brooms. Even further below, a moving mass of red and blue cheered, their screams slightly muted in Ryder’s ears. His eyes scanned the grounds and skies, for only a tiny flash of gold and silver, which remained invisible. Not far from him, the Ravenclaw Seeker, Chang, if he remembered correctly, tailed him closely, not taking her eyes off the Quidditch Pitch either. He had never spoken to her before, but he had seen her play a few times. She was good, an enemy not to be underestimated, fast and swift, dangerous.

The blue crowd erupted into roars again, Remus’ loud and very pissed off voice cutting through them:

“Thirty to forty for Ravenclaw, GRYFFINDOR MOVE YOUR BLOOMING ARSE!”

Ryder could not suppress an amused smile at that, which only grew at the sight of Sirius nearly flying into a goal post, eyes fixed on the Commentator’s Box.

“BLACK STOP GAWKING AND FUCKING PLAY! Also, a not so gentle reminder for the dear Miss Evans that Potter is still very much on the market and only waiting for you, love.”

“Bloody hell, Lupin,” chuckled Ryder, shaking his head, sharp gaze never leaving the sky, still looking for the Snitch.

“Lockhart here just requested that I transmit a message to the Ravenclaw team saying he bet a galleon on your win. I say you bastards are going to lose very soon, just like Gildie here. Now, POTTER GET IT TOGETHER AND START BLOODY PLAYING AND RYDER YOU BETTER CATCH THAT SODDING SNITCH!”

“Mr. Lupin!” Sounded McGonagall’s scandalized voice somewhere near the microphone.

Egged on, the ginger boy began circling the goalposts, swerving left and right, still scanning everything for the tiny, fluttering golden ball which was nowhere in sight.

The match dragged on and on, the Snitch still not having appeared even once. A glance at the scoreboard sufficed to tell him that Ravenclaw was ahead of Gryffindor by fifty points. Apparently, their Keeper was either having a wonderful day or he was simply marvellous at his job. Ryder needed to catch the bloody ball now before the situation got any worse. Suddenly, he saw it, that longed-for flash of gold, fluttering peacefully, almost mockingly, at the bottom of Ravenclaw’s goalposts. And unfortunately, Chang was much closer to it than he was. If he flew there right now, she would immediately see it and rob him of any chance of catching it. Therefore, he feinted. He flew upwards, circling the Gryffindor goal posts as shouts rang out amongst the crowd. Immediately, the other Seeker sprang into action, speeding across the entire Pitch to reach him. With a jubilant grin, Ryder weaved a couple more times between the players, pretending to search for the Snitch, waiting for Chang to catch up. As soon as she reached him, he flew in the direction she had just come from, going as fast as he could, half-bent over his broom, gliding smoothly in the air. Sensing the subterfuge, she swore, but flew right after him, coming closer with every passing second. The Snitch was still hovering calmly near the bottom of the middle goal post, and by now, she had already seen it. Chang was too close though, and Ryder knew it, she was about to pass him, advantaged by her newer broom. As if she could sense his thoughts, she swerved right in front of him. It was too late now, Ravenclaw would win, but he refused to give up. All of a sudden, a Bludger came out of nowhere, knocking the Seeker dressed in blue clean off her broom. Glancing briefly to the side, Ryder saw Sirius flash him a proud smile. With renewed energy, he flew faster, slicing cleanly through the air, chest pressed against the handle of his broom and arm extended in front of him.

And then he felt it, the tiny golden ball clasped tightly in his fist, silvery wings flapping desperately against his palm, trying to free itself. An elated smile spread across his lips, as he dismounted his broom, brandishing his arm high in the sky. It was over, they won. Gryffindor had won. He and Sirius had won the match for the team.

Exhilaration flooded his veins, electrifying his body, adrenaline still rushing through his blood as the joy of the victory crashed over him like a tsunami, washing everything else away. At that moment, only he existed, surrounded by the thundering of the crowd’s vociferations. His team surrounded him, clapping him on the back, hugging him.

It was thrilling.

And then, without warning, Remus appeared next to him, picking Sirius up and kissing him fiercely. More cheers broke out around them, as the kiss lasted for long, happy seconds. As they fell apart, Sirius smiled triumphantly, not one of his words escaping Ryder’s sharp ear, who smirked knowingly for himself:

“I always knew you liked me, Moony.”

story written as part of a giveaway on Instagram

#wolfstar #remus lupin #sirius black #original character #fanfic

[george-mackay-macfine]

Dear Diary, Prt. 12

November 28th, 2011

He messaged me, Tom messaged me. 

Nothing dramatic, nothing too big, but he took the time out to message me, even though it was a simple 

Hey Y/N, It’s Tom from the pub. How was the rest of your night? 

A guy messaged me, 

November 30th, 2011

Dear Diary, 

Tom and I’s conversations are going well, We’re asking each other the normal questions, you know just the basics. 

How old are you?

Are you at school? / What are you studying? 

Where were you born? 

The basics, 

He’s nice, he’s friendly and he hasn’t told me he’s going to knock on my door at one o’clock in the morning just because he’s horny. 

So that’s a positive, 

December 3rd, 2011

Dear Diary, 

The revision has officially begun. I have six more days of studying before my exams officially begin, 

Tom and I are still talking, we’ve made plans to go out for a drink after my final exam on the 15th, 

Do you know what that means Diary? 

I have a date. 

December 6th, 2011

Dear Diary,

Charlie pulled me out of the flat today, and away from my textbooks. He tried to convince Dean to come with us, but he was meeting Charlotte for a study session, so in the end, it was just the two of us. 

“I didn’t know you liked vinyl,” I called to Charlie as I stopped to look at a pile that sat in a milk crate by the front door of the shop Charlie had driven us too. I shuffled through the various albums, stopping when I found “Rumours’ by Fleet Wood, standing with a final glance at the crates before pushing the heavy glass door open. 

“Dad got me into them,” Charlie smiled pushing the heavy glass door open, I walked inside taken away by the number of vinyl they had. The shop floor had so many vinyl that there were some still in crates underneath the stands that the owners hadn’t even had a chance to look through. The walls were lined with shelves, each had vinyl separated into them, most appeared to be in categories of artists but I could see some that were done by years. 

“Wow.” I looked around to see Charlie move away to a crate and squatting down. I kept looking around, unable to believe this place was here. 

“Pick out whatever you want,” Charlie called. “My treat,” 

“Charlie, I can’t let you do that,” 

“Course you can. Think of it as a Christmas present,” He was smiling now, a couple of albums tucked under his arm tightly. “Beside’s I’ll get as much out of it as you will,” His lips turned up into a heart-fluttering smile that had me melting on the spot. I looked around again, taking in everything for a second time. I shook my head in disbelief 

“How did you find this place?” Charlie rocked on his heels a little, nervous energy radiating off him. 

“I found it one morning when I’d been out all night drinking, after Elle you know. Literally stumbled into it.” He scratched the back of his neck. “Since then I come back every couple of weeks, do a bit of crate digging.” He looked around, up to the vinyl that had been stuck on the roof I followed him and looked up. “It’s one of the best places I’ve found, including the ones around home,” I looked back at him and smiled, grabbing onto his hand. 

“You know Charlie Hudson. You never cease to amaze me.” He reached up and scratched the back of his neck. 

“Y/N?” 

“I mean it,” I gave his hand a quick squeeze. “First time I met you, you were so nice to me, and you’ve never been mean to me, even though I’m the biggest idiot.” 

“Y/N,” 

“I am, I promise you. I’m a total idiot, even though I’m studying medicine, I’m dumb.” I rattled. “Emotions aren’t my friend, but Charlie… You are one of my best friends, and you’ve helped me so much this year, even if you don’t know it.” 

“You’re something special Y/N Y/L/N.” He gave me a toothy grin. 

“Come on, let’s find some records.” I pulled him down a random aisle and started to look through some of the artists. “They have new stuff here too?” I mumbled as I picked up ‘21’ by Adele. “I love this album.” I smiled putting it under my arm. “Have you heard of her?”

“She sings that ‘Someone like you’ song right?” I nodded my head. “Yeah, I’ve heard of her then.” Charlie grabbed onto me and pulled me down the aisle more. “This is where you find the rare stuff.” He knelt by the crates on the floor and motioned for me to do so. “The owners haven’t gotten around to this stuff yet, so they’re untouched. People drop their crates in for a couple hundred or so… I’ve gotten some good stuff from in here.” He started to look through the crates. I copied him and pulled a crate towards me. Looking through it I didn’t find anything too fantastic. I looked up from my crate too see Charlie still looking through his, I couldn’t help but study him, from the way his tight black shirt fit him, to the curls in his hair. 

“How’d you get into vinyl?” I questioned him as I continued to look. I heard him stop shuffling and look up at me. A smile pulled at his lips. 

“My dad used to play some every night and then I guess I just fell in love with the sound.” He picked up an album. “Sex Pistols, God Save The Queen” He flipped the album over to read the back. “Have you listened to them?” 

“Yeah, I have once or twice.” He added the album to his pile and continued to sift through. “If you find ‘Please, Please me’ by the Beatles I will fight you for it.” I laughed pulling a different crate towards me. 

“Why that album?” I looked up shocked that he’d asked me that. I took a breath and smiled.

“It was my grandfathers' favourite album. I remember him playing it for me just before he passed away… My grandma sold the collection he had to pay for the funeral…” I picked up a copy of Bruce Springsteen's ‘Born in the USA’ and studied it. “I’ve always wished of recreating his collection… Please, Please me… is one of the hardest ones to find. I’ve found the White Album,” 

“I promise if I come across it, it’s all yours.” He smiled looking down at his crate again. With a final smile at Charlie I dig through my crate pulling out different records here and there, I found some good ones. Nirvana’s ‘bleach’, Bob Dylan’s ‘Freewheelin’, Paul McCartney ‘Put it there’ The RollingStones ‘Sticky fingers’, Beach Boys ‘Pet sounds’, Stevie Wonder ‘Songs in the key of life.’ I began to hum as I dug through the crates, “You’ve got a pile there.” I looked up from my daze to see Charlie watching me, a smile on his lips. 

“I never want to leave.” He chuckled and looked back at the album he was holding moving to lean up against the crates. “It’s so peaceful in here.” 

“I’m really glad I met you, Y/N,” Charlie laughed said suddenly spoke. I looked over at him. He was leaning up against the crates, eyes closed legs pulled up in front of him. “Even though you thought I was a girl before we met,” I gasped shaking my head. 

“Dean told you?” 

“Course he did,” 

“I’m going to kill him,” 

“You excited for your date?” 

“Yeah, I am.” I nodded my head, “He’s a nice guy,” 

December 10th, 2011

Dear Diary,

Day one of the exams, wish me luck. 

I’ve been listening to the vinyl Charlie and I got the other day to get me through my studying, I hope it works. 

Love Y/N, 

December 12th, 2011

Dear Diary,

Four exams down, two to go. 

Tom messaged me earlier today, making sure I was still okay for our date, 

Of course, I was. 

December 15th, 2011

Dear Diary,

My last exam is finished, done, complete. I made it through the first major part of my university career is done. 

When I’d gotten home Charlie, George, Henry, Jordan and Dean were waiting with dinner and wine. 

I love my boys, 

December 17th, 2011

Dear Diary,

It was my date with Tom tonight, let me recount it for you. 

First I spent almost two hours digging through my closet, trying on clothes for my date with Tom tonight. Eventually deciding I couldn’t do this alone and called Henry in. He sat on my bed and choose what looked good, what didn’t look good. 

“Black tights,” Henry pushed me down on the bed and began to rip my room apart, “With this skirt,” He grabbed out my old school skirt,

“Henry, this is my school skirt.” 

“Perfect,” He smirked. “Get his blood pumping,” He winked before he turned to my closet grabbing my oversized maroon jumper. “And this,” 

“Henry I’ll freeze,” I gasped. 

“Ah,” He frowned before his eyes perked up. He rushed over to my door ripping it open, “George, Charlie, Dean.” He called out, “Whose got a denim jacket Y/N can borrow for her date,” 

“You mean with bartender boy?” Charlie called back bitterly, 

“I do,” George called back, “I’ll get it.” 

“Sorted.” He smirked proudly turning back to me. “You’re going to knock his socks off kid,” 

When Tom picked me up, he told me without a missing a beat that he thought that I looked ‘beautiful’, which caused my cheeks to heat up. 

“Be good kids,” Jordan called as he walked into the flat with a six-pack of beers. 

“Don’t do anything we wouldn’t,” Dean chimed, 

“You hurt her,” Charlie stopped at the door, “I’ll kill you,” 

“Charlie,” I hissed. I turned to Tom. “I’m so sorry, he’s joking,”

“No, I’m bloody not.” 

“I’ll watch him.” I turned as George pulled Charlie back into the flat, “Have fun Y/N,” He smiled softly. “Behave,” 

“See you later,” I shut the door behind me, facing Tom. “Sorry about them,” 

“They’re funny,” Tom shrugged, he turned to me as we walked, his hands in his jacket pockets, “Do you like Italian?” 

“Love it,” 

It only took us fifteen minutes to get to the restaurant, we spoke between ourselves, talking about our families, and how my exams went. Talking to Tom was easy, but the nerves in my stomach didn’t stop, and I began to wonder how my friends can make going on dates look so easy. My worrying doesn’t go unnoticed. As soon as Tom notices my fingers tapping anxiously on my thigh, he immediately reaches for my shoulder. 

“You okay?” 

“I don’t go on dates often,” I blurted, “At all really.” I cleared my throat. “Sorry if I’m a boring date,” 

“I don’t think you could ever be boring, Y/N.” 

When we walk in, the place is already packed with a lot of uni aged students which is understandable for most exams have finished. Tom and I wait behind another couple and I take a minute to look around. The walls were painted a soft yellow filling the whole inside with a soft warm glow, a wall of fake stones lined the far wall with paintings of olives hanging above each of the booths that ran along with the stones. All the tables apart from two booths were filled, a mix of college students and families occupying them filling the whole restaurant with a loud buzz. 

“How are you tonight?” The hostess smiles at Tom and me as the couple in front of us moves on. Tom grabs my hand and pulls me towards her. 

“Hi, very well thank you,” He cleared his throat. “We have a reservation, for seven,”

“And what name is that under?” 

“Tom,” He smiled. The girl blushed and looked down at her book, her lips puckering.

“Sir, I apologize for the inconvenience but your table may still not be ready yet. You would have to wait another five or so minutes, would it be alright?” 

“Totally fine,” Tom presses his lips into a smile as she nods her head. “We’ll wait,” Tom placed a hand on the small of my back and led me to the corner where we stood huddled. “Do you want to go somewhere else?” He whispered in my ear, 

“No, I don’t mind waiting,” I smiled looking up at him. 

“I promise, the wait will be worth it,” He laughed, 

“I’ll hold you to it.” Tom’s hand found mine, his fingers twining between mine. 

Deep breath Y/N! You can do this. 

I lent my head on his should leaning my back against the wall as we waited. 

“Comfy?” 

“Mhhm,” I closed my eyes, unable to stop the grin on my face. I was comfortable with Tom, I wasn’t on edge, I wasn’t constantly in the near state of a heart attack, or about to have a conniption like I was when I was with George, or even near Charlie. 

I was comfortable, and it was nice. 

“Tom,” The waitress called us, we pushed away from the wall and followed her through the restaurant. “We’ve seated you outside, don’t worry about the cold we have heaters at either end, and the view is lovely for a date.” She rambled as she pushed the door open. Outside we were in a garden, surrounded by fairy lights and under the stars, it was quieter out here, only two other couples sat at the tables. “Is it okay?” Tom looked at me and I nodded. 

“Perfect, thank you.” 

“Sit wherever you like.” She smiled going back inside. 

“Near the heater?” I whispered pointing towards the furthest table from us, but the one closest to the table, enough to fight off the chill of the Scottish winter. 

“Sure you’ll be warm enough?” I nodded my head looking at the fairy lights. 

“This place is beautiful,” I smiled as Tom pulled my chair out for me. I sat down and crossed my legs. “Thank you,” He sat across from me offering me a menu. Tom and I sat in silence as we looked over the menu,

This may just be the perfect night, 

But all perfect stories have their ups and downs, 

As I’m scanning through the menu I felt something hit my shoulder with a light thud, brushing it off I didn’t think any more of it until the downpour begins, Five seconds was all it took for Tom and me to be soaked through grabbing our jackets as we rush to the small bit of cover near the door. Tom holds me against the wall his body against mine trying to shield me from the heavy rain. 

“Oh my god,” I cry unable to stop the barrels of laughter that fall from my mouth. “Are you okay?” I cried over the rain. “Get under the shelter more,” I try to pull him, his hair is soaked and beginning to drip down his face. I push the dark hair away from his eyes as he laughs. 

“No, I’m being a gentleman,” 

“Stop being silly,” I tried to tug him again, “Get under here,” 

“Let me do this Y/N,” He laughed. 

“We’re all wet,” I called loudly, “What are we going to do?” Tom looked down at me, his lips twisting into a small smile, cheeks tinged red… I’m sure it was from the cold. 

“We can go back to my flat and have some takeaway?” My mouth fell open slightly as my brain searched for an answer. “Just to eat, and maybe watch a movie.” 

“Okay,” I nodded my head. 

The heavy downpour obscured the view from the windows in Tom’s flat as the wind and raindrops beat on the glass. 

“Seems we made it in time,” Tom laughed as he carried our McDonalds bag to the settee in the living room. “What do you want to watch?” 

“I don’t mind,” I smiled looking around. Tom’s apartment was a lot more put together than mine and the boys. But I suppose being two years older gave one that advantage. 

“I like rain, always sleep better when it’s raining outside,” I whispered thoughtlessly eyes moving back to the window. 

“Then let’s listen to the rain,” He smiled sitting down, hand patting the spot beside him. I sat beside him, pulling my legs up under me. “I’m sorry the date didn’t go as planned,” 

“Can I be honest with you?” I asked picking up a fry, 

“Please,” 

“I actually would rather this,” I motioned around us, the dim apartment, the rain, the man across from me, “Over some uptight dinner where we are both worried about being in public and can’t be ourselves,” 

“Really?” He whispered, 

“Yeah,” I nodded leaning forward, 

“I’m really glad you walked into the pub Y/N,” He pushed some hair behind my ear, his hand resting against my cheek, fingertips dragging against the skin. “Really glad,” He whispered leaning in. 

Oh man, we’ve reached that awkward pause in the conversation. You know the one where he looks at my lips and I look at his… IS IT GOING TO HAPPEN?

“Me too,” I smiled leaning in ever so slightly. 

Wait—is my breath okay? It has to be okay, right?

“And coming back over to talk to me, that was badass,” 

He's going in for the kiss! Are we just going to peck, or are we making out??

“And you were so smooth with the free drinks,” 

“Had to impress the pretty girl,” He whispered before his lips brushed mine, so softly I wasn’t sure it was real. When neither of us pulled away we went back in, harder this time, needier. My hands went to his shoulders as his tongue licked my bottom lip. 

Kissing Tom was different to kissing George… A soft different, something flowed differently between us… It was nice, comfortable. 

#george mackay #georgemackay #george mackay fanfic #george mackay imagine #george mackay smut

[meganlpie]

Disgusted

Anonymous asked: Oooh I'd love some Draco, if you can. The reader is Hermione's twin and Draco is disgusted to find himself falling for her in their 6th year(AU where he doesn't have to kill Dumbledore, but still knows Voldemort is planning to) when he endsup needing a tutor. He ends up covering up his feelings until he can't anymore and it's almost too late.

Here you are, lovely! I do not own Draco. He belongs to J.K.Rowling.

Warnings: Angst, fluff, slight AU, use of the word “Mudblood” (It’s Draco we’re talking about.)

Pairings: Draco Malfoy x fem!Granger reader

Following the Dark Lord while still enrolled in Hogwarts was taking its toll on Draco. It cost him his grades. Not that it really mattered to him. His mind was too full of the thought of the Dark Lord killing Dumbledore. However, he had fallen so far behind in the majority of his classes that he was assigned a tutor.

         When he was first informed, Draco couldn't have cared less. Having a tutor and improving his grades weren't going to stop the Dark Lord from fulfilling his desires. And it wouldn't get his father out of Azkaban. It would only serve to keep his mother happy, but his education was the last thing on his mind. But then he met his tutor. Y/N Granger, Hermione's twin sister.

         You were waiting for Draco in the library the evening of his first tutoring session. He was late, of course, but that didn't bother you. Like your sister, you were happiest surrounded by books and decided to do a little light reading while you waited for Draco.

         Draco stopped short when he opened the library doors and saw you there. Surely you weren't his tutor? Upon glancing around, Draco realized there was no one else in the library. It had to be you. With a sigh that was almost too loud, he made his way over to the table you were reading at. "Malfoy," you greeted, barely looking up from your book. Draco sighed again. It was going to be a long night, he could already tell.

*time skip*

         Draco found himself staring at you again. He'd been doing that more and more in recent weeks. He'd come to memorize how your hair fell slightly in your face as you leaned over a book or over his shoulder to read over his parchment. He learned that you had a little crease between your eyebrows when you were concentrating or trying to figure out the best way to revise his work. He found out that your nose crinkled a bit when you found something funny. And he loved it, especially when he was the one making you laugh.

         For Draco Malfoy, the thought of loving you was all-consuming and he was disgusted by it. You were a Mudblood. Muggle parents and not at all worthy to be at Hogwarts. Right? That was what Draco had been taught all his life anyway. But as the weeks went on and Draco got to know you, he realized that maybe his parents were wrong. He certainly wasn't going to tell you that though.

         "Malfoy, are you even listening to me?" Draco snapped back to attention. He nearly jumped at how close your face was to his. He could see now that your eyes were a beautiful (e/c) color. For a moment, Draco was lost in them. He soon realized what he was doing however and pushed away from you. "You don't have to be so close," he muttered. You arched a brow. "I wasn't. You got closer to me. Did you hear anything I said?"

         Draco scoffed. "Why would I want to be close to a filthy M-Mudblood like you?" he snapped, cursing himself for stumbling over the derogatory term he'd been using his whole life. You rolled your eyes, but Draco could see you fighting back tears. He'd never called you that to your face before. "Nevermind. I think we're done here. Good luck, Malfoy. Hopefully you pass your exams." With that, you got up and left the library.

         An emotion he couldn't place filled Draco as he watched you walk away. Longing, maybe? He didn't know, but he did understand that he didn't have time for it. His mind was still in conflict with what to do about the Dark Lord and Dumbledore. Should he warn the Headmaster? Or should he step out of the way and let it happen? And what about you? If Draco let the Dark Lord kill Dumbledore, there would be no one to keep you safe at Hogwarts anymore. Shaking his head, Draco grabbed his belongings and left the library after you. He didn't have time for this.

         The next few weeks had Draco's mind all over the place. The only thing that gave him any peace was thinking of you. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't keep his mind off you. And where his mind went, his heart followed. His eyes would find you when you were in the same corridors of the school. He always managed to find a seat next to or near you in Potions. He stood across from you in Herbology and he looked for you in the Quidditch stands. There was no denying it now. Draco Malfoy had feelings for a Muggle born.

         The problem was that, since that day in the library when Draco called you that horrible name, you'd refused to talk to him. And since, that day, he'd noticed that other Slytherins were constantly teasing and bullying you, especially Pansy. She'd been jealous from the moment Draco had said you were his tutor. Fortunately for him, Pansy's bullying would be the push he needed to talk to you again.

         He was walking to class when he saw a group of girls, lead by Pansy, surrounding you. With a sigh, he walked over and gently nudged them out of the way. "Leave her alone, Parkinson. Get to class." Pansy huffed, but did as he said. She would do anything to stay in Draco's good graces. After she was gone, Draco turned to you.

         You stood there with your arms crossed over your chest. "I had it sorted." Draco rolled his eyes before taking your hand. "Malfoy, we need to get to class." Draco didn't reply. Instead, he pulled you after him to a secluded area. As soon as he was sure you were alone, he looked at you again. "What do you want?"

         "To ap-ap…to say I'm sorry. I shouldn't have called you what I did. Not when you were helping me." You stared at him in disbelief for a moment. Then, your face screwed up in anger. "What is wrong with you?! First you treat me like I'm not worth your time, then you save me from Parkinson, and now you're apologizing? What is with you?"

         Draco dropped his bag and removed his robe. He needed to be as comfortable as possible for this. "I know I seem odd, Granger." You let out a hollow laugh. "That's an understatement." Draco glared a little. "I have my reasons." Before he continued one, Draco thought about everything that was expected of him. He thought about his parents, especially his father now in prison. He thought about the Dark Lord and what he planned to do. All those thoughts hit him like a train and Draco couldn't fight the tears in his eyes.

         "M-Draco? What is it?" Without a word, Draco rolled up his sleeve, revealing the Dark Mark. You stared at it without speaking for a few minutes. In that time, Draco swore he could feel the world caving in on him. He felt a weight on his chest that he couldn't lift. "Did you want this?" you asked quietly, "Or was it forced on you by someone? Someone you didn't want to disappoint?" Draco let his eyes meet your as they widened in surprise.

         "What?" he questioned, prompting you to ask again. Draco couldn't believe you didn't automatically run from him. You weren't like your sister and her friends at all. Draco sank to his knees and wrapped his arms around your legs. He sat there like that, crying, until you moved to sit next to him. You pulled him to you and soothed him as best you could. In that moment Draco knew that you weren't inferior to him because of your blood status. In fact, you were probably better than he was.

         After Draco finished letting out all his pent up emotions, he pulled away from you. "I have to let him in the castle. He's going to kill Dumbledore," he mumbled. "What will happen if you don't?" you asked. "He'll kill me…and my mother." You grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "I'll help you. We can get you and your mother away from here. Just until Voldemort is defeated. You don't have to do this, Draco."

         "Why are you doing this?" Draco asked after a beat. You gave him a small smile. "Because I don't think you're a bad guy. I think you're afraid for you and your mother. I think you got caught up in something you couldn't really handle because of your father. And I know you don't want to be responsible for the death of anyone."

         Draco looked into your eyes and stared for a moment. He didn't see one ounce of hate or the disgust he'd once held for you. He only saw compassion and understanding. He saw a young woman who he could easily fall in love with. With that knowledge, Draco did the only thing he could think of. He kissed you.

         You let out a little squeak of surprise, making Draco pull away. You stared at him with wide eyes. "Y-You kissed me!" Draco let out a chuckle. "I did." You asked him why. "Because I couldn't help myself. Sorry. I should have asked." You bit your lip. Draco could see the battle going on behind your eyes. Maybe you had been as confused about your feelings for him as he had been for you.

         "Would you do it again?" you whispered. Draco felt himself smile. It was the first real smile he'd given in months. "I think so," he said before his lips touched yours again. When he pulled away this time, you were smiling too. You leaned your head on his shoulder and sighed happily. Draco knew that this peace would only last a little while, so he reveled in it. And who knew? Maybe you would be able to help him and his mother. Maybe he wouldn't have to give into the Dark Lord's demands. And maybe, just maybe, Draco Malfoy could truly be happy.

(a/n: I had to change it just a little, but I hope you like it!)

Forever tags: @brewsthespirit-blog​ @fizzyxcustard​ @esoltis280​ @aikibriarrose​ @lady-of-lies​ 

Harry Potter tags: None (tags are still open)

#jk rowling #draco malfoy #draco malfoy x reader #draco x reader

[weasleyimaginewheezes]

Soooo.... you might still be doing headcanons rn but idk, but if you are can i get headcanons for Fred's gf making him blush and all flustered?? Thanks

Yes of course anon! Hope you all enjoy! 

Fred is not used to being flustered so the first time she makes him blush, he’s pretty shocked because it rarely happens that was until he met his current gf.

The first time is when she gives him a little “you look cute today” after potions class and when their relationship was very new

She walks away with her friends, missing the way Fred’s cheeks turn slightly redder and the way he seemed to stutter over his next few words  but George doesn’t miss it and spends the rest of the day teasing him about him it. Fred still denies it happened. 

Another time it happened was when they had been dating for around a year. Both still smitten with each other. 

She had become a mentor to another boy in their year for charms at Flitwick’s request. They both entered the great hall laughing at something and Fred felt something overtake him, something he’d only felt a few times before and never liked - Jealousy. 

George could see Fred get annoyed and once he followed his twins gaze and found the source he rolled his eyes. He told Fred to stop being an idiot but Fred didn’t listen, too caught up in his feelings. 

He spoke about it with his girlfriend later as they had a rule of communication and she mirrored George’s words that his jealousy was ridiculous. 

She spoke about how she loved him, only him and why. She had always been good with the ability to word things in such a way that made him melt and this time was no different. She held his hand and kissed his cheek. It wasn’t until she pulled away with a wide smirk that he realised how hot his cheeks felt.

“Aww Freddie. I’ve never seen you blush before.” Her smile widened cutely and Fred couldn’t help but ignore the slight embarrassment he felt (which caused him to blush even more) and kiss her beautifully smiling lips. 

But he never became truly flustered until their 6th year. Fred had of course asked her to the yule ball and knew she was excited. It was as he was waiting for her in the entrance hall, most people had met their dates and were ready to enter. It wasn’t until George nudged his arm that he turned around and lost all comprehension of speech. He didn’t care that his jaw was agape or that his cheeks were a colour closely resembling his hair, he was only focused on her and how beautiful his girlfriend was. 

As she walked up to him, she smirked at his expression and waved a hand in front of his face. 

He stammered in his flustered state and then seemed to come to enough to tell her how gorgeous she looked. 

It wasn’t until a couple of years later that George told her the story of how much Fred had blushed (without really noticing or admitting it) around her when he’d had a crush especially when talking about her. She giggled and smiled with a blush of her own. 

Fred however didn’t find his twin’s story as endearing and pushed George playfully (and dramatically) off of his chair. George just laughed and said “Worth it.” She agreed especially when Fred couldn’t help but look at her with a smile as she laughed and he blushed again. 

Fred covered his cheeks with his hands making her laugh harder. “Why do you do this to me?” They both laughed until she kissed him and said it was cute. George made a gagging sound, putting a stop to whatever moment was happening between the both of them. 

Fred had once told her that no one had made him feel as speechless and as flustered as she did - “I just get this feeling when I’m around you and I never want it to stop.” She smiled down at him with tears in her eyes as he bent down on one knee and she promised that it never would with one simple answer of “Yes”.

A/n: I’m on Easter break now! I’m hoping to write some more but I still have revision and a report to do so I guess there’s no rest for the wicked (life of a university student). 

#fred weasley #fred weasley imagine #headcanon #headcanons #asks #anon #requested

[irepookie]

Wake up Call, Infinity Ch.3

Summary: QUEEN AU WHERE ROGER (ROWAN)IS A19 YEAR OLD SINGLE DAD TRYING TO FIND A PLACE IN THE WORLD OF MUSIC

WARNINGS: iNTENSE FLUFF AND SOME SWEARING

Chapter 3: Row has to start stepping out of the bubble him and his daughter have been living in while in the safety of the hospital, and break the news to his best friends. 

John- Rick

Fred-Len

Bri- Terry

Rog- Rowan

When Row had hung up on Len mid sentence, the boys had been confused. Then again, he was at his mom's house and they had heard her infamous shout of <<ROWAN EUGENE QUEEN>> that always preceded an argument, so they let it go. But then he didn't turn up to rehearsal, or called back for the rest of the afternoon. Or the following afternoon. Or for rest of the week. And that was unlike him. He always called back. (Well, most of his former one night stands would disagree with this). Let's just say he always called his band mates back. Sometimes drunk, at 4 AM, Thus leaving  a wakeful Terry with 2 hours to spare nothing to do but to start revising for whatever exam he had ahead.

So, when they didn't know of him, they went directly to the village's police station, to see if he was locked up, and if not, to report him missing.

"What if we ask Gina?" Rick suggested

"I'd rather check the morgue first, thanks" Len said.

"Well, what else can we do? Huh?"

"Audition new drummers"

"Seriously boys. Let's go."

They knocked on Row's childhood home. Gina opened, with messy hair, a dressing gown and slippers

"Oh, hello boys. He ain't here" she took a drag of the 4th cigarette she had smoked that day despite it only being 8:30 AM.

"Where is he?"

"He isn't at home?"

"We've checked and there's no track of him. We haven't seen him in 7 days"

She sighed "in the hospital, I think. If he hasn't left already"

"Hospital?" All three said simultaneously

"What happened?!" Len added

"You don't know?"

"Know what?"

She smiled, mockingly "Wow, father of the year isn't so sure after all"

"What?"

She laughed bitterly. If he hadn't told his best friends yet, it maybe meant he was reconsidering the whole thing. Maybe common sense had hit him after the first stinky nappy.

"You know what? Come in."

"Oh we were actually in a rush..."

"You wanna find him or not? Come in, I don't bite

"Alright" all three musicians entered somewhat awkwardly in the house where so many sleep overs had taken place, back in the day.

She led them to the kitchen, where the phone was, and dialed.

Callie was the closest to the phone "Row? Yes, I'll get him"

She made her way to the room where the Prune had been moved in the previous evening, due to her favourable evolution and the need of free incubators.

She grinned at the scene: the 6 day old infant was dozing against her dad's bare chest, supported by his hands -which seemed huge in comparison to her small figure-. His eyes were closed, but Callie could tell he was awake as his left hand was stroking her head. It was adorable, and they seemed at such peace -poor Row had spent his first whole night on night watch and was exhausted-.

"Row" she called softly

He opened his big blue eyes in acknowledgement.

"You have a call"

"A call? From who?" He whispered back, before looking down at the baby to make sure she was asleep

"Didn't say. But she was kind of irritated"

"Oh, that's mom then" he smiled sarcastically, but didn't move a bit.

"You aren't gonna get on the phone?"

"I don't know. She doesn't deserve our attention does she?" He cooed

"How bad can it be?"

"You don't wanna see my bad side. And I don't ever want her to see it either"

Callie smiled "Go. I'll stay with her"

He groaned in annoyance. He was so comfortable, and he didn't want to get up.

"C'mere darling" he mumbled, detaching his daughter from his lap and carefully lying her on the cot

He exited the room and walked to the phone "What?"

"Row! Where are you?" The three voices of his best friends greeted him from the other side

"Oh, hi guys I... How did you get this number?"

"We're calling you from your mum's. She says you're in hospital" Terry's soft voice said worriedly

"You've gone fucking AWOL! Where are you man? We're worried as hell" Len scolded

"Oh yeah, hehe been..."he scratched the back of his head "been pretty busy" He glanced in the direction of his daughter's room, where he saw Callie readjusting the yellow teddy bear he had bought her the second day.

"Busy? With what?" Rick inquired

"It's... It's a long story."

"Well we've got time"

"Shouldn't you be in uni?" Row said in hopes they'd have to run into class

"It's Sunday, Row!"

"Oh is it?" He had lost track of time, honestly

"C'mon! Spit it"

He sighed "Alright, huh..." He tried to think of where to start. He couldn't really think much tho; his brain was pudge at that moment. "I met a girl in..." He counted nine months back from February "June?" No wait Piper was premature so it could be July or... Then it hit him. "No, remember that afternoon when we set up that Live Aid session in your parents backyard, Len?"

The boys nodded. July 13th. How could they forget? It had been dubbed the best Summer Party of 1985 in town. The four of them had tried to get tickets, but they couldn't even afford a ticket to London in the first place. And so, They watched the whole show with four TV screens around the yard instead, and the whole village had joined them, arguing on which performance had been the best.

Of course, all four members of Symbols agreed that it had been Queen.

"But they signed up late" someone said 

 "Yea, they came late to the party" another agreed. 

"So what? They rocked the party! You just say that because you like U2 better"

 "Like you prefer Queen!" 

 "But we've got a point! Regardless of how much we like them, they were, objectively, the best performance" /

"Objectively? Bullshit!" Anne Williams snapped "They played the same shit they always play! And Bono was a true gentleman, helping that girl who was getting crashed by the crowd."

 "Yea, I'm sure Freddie wouldn't have given a shit, so full of himself and his teeth up his~" /

Dennis Phelps couldn't finish his sentence as a  someone tossed him a Converse, which hit his head. A young woman, with Bowie-like orange dyed haircut approached, with  a bare left foot and the matching shoe on the other 

 "You know nothing about putting up a good show then. Also, you mess with Freddie Mercury again and next time the shoe will be stuck up your ass" she told Dennis, retrieving the item "I mean, it's clear who I'm rooting for but Queen really did what had to be done. Geldof told them all to play the hits, because that's precisely why they're hits: they work. Other artists, like your boyfriend Bono and his band played new material, as if this was their concert. And it's not. Even though they signed up on time and whatever. They took a risk, crowd didn't know the song, they lost interest. But Queen had common sense: they played the hits, the anthems, and people connected with them. And it's not about Freddie or him hypnotizing Wembley. It's having some common sense. And not even you two knew the lyrics of U2s new song. So shut the hell up"

Row had liked her instantly. That's a girl who knows the stuff.

They exchanged a smile, a wink and a complicit nod

"We must join our forces to help out our friends under pressure, don't we?" She said

"Oh yes, Bowie girl." Terry remembered

"Yep."

"So what's with her?" Rick said

"Well, that.. she..." He cut himself off when a cry echoed in Pip's room "Gotta go, guys. I'll call you back"

"No! Row!" Len said, but the line went dead

"Shit"

"What happened?" Gina, who had watched the scene from the door frame, -and was about to finish her 6th cigar in a row,- asked

"He rambled about that Live Aid day, and a girl he met there"

"Did he say her name?"

"No. He had to go suddenly. It's all weird"

"Yea, well... Life is weird, boys"

"I don't understand. What's going on? Can't you tell us, Mrs. Queen?"

"Oh no. No. It's not my story to tell. Nor my business. I tried my best, but that stubborn bastard didn't listen. I'm sorry" she said

"But is he okay?" Len asked, concerned

Gina grinned, at how despite it all, the four boys would stick up with each other to the end of the world "Yes. He's fine."

"Row, are you okay?" Callie said, as the drummer wordlessly took the bundle from her

"Yes, yes. Why wouldn't I be?" He said, sitting with the fussy baby

"You're a bit pale"

"Oh I... Nothing. Just... I'm nervous honestly. Because we're about get discharged and I'm gonna be alone with her and I'll have to dad around all by myself and... And everyone will know..."

"Know what?"

"About her"

"And is that a problem?" Callie crossed her arms

"No, I mean... No, of course not. But everyone will ask questions and judge me and... I'm worried I will end up believing them more and fuck it all up"

"Believing what?"

"They'll start telling me it's a mistake, that I'm gonna screw everything up and that I won't be able to be a good dad and I'm afraid it will become true"

"So you're saying that how people think of you is gonna affect the way you... How you called it? Dad around?"

He nodded "Well, answer me these, will you? Have you, in this moment or at any point during these seven days, thought you are making a mistake?"

He looked at the tiny bundle and shook his head.

"Are you willing to always do your best for the shake of Piper?"

He nodded, noticing he was unconsciously rocking her back and forth.

"Then what's the problem?"

"Look I haven't exactly been a role model in... Well anything. One thing my mom's proud of is that I'm not into drugs. Everyone who has a daughter in the block hates me. So how am I supposed to raise one?"

"Exactly how you've been doing the last six days"

"Yes but I have you guys. And the medics, and the equipment. But there I'll be all alone"

"You will never be alone. You have the friends you've told me about. And your mum...Maybe the little darling is gassy"

"Oh stop about my mum" he carefully changed the Prune to an upright position and began to rub circles on her back without even hesitation. Wow he was actually getting a hold on the burping stuff.

"Yes. Your mum will eventually come to terms with the lil'raisin. I'm sure." She said, whist handing him a muslin to place on the baby's range of accuracy

"Oh you don't know her"

"I know she's a mum. Your mum and mother's rarely ever turn their backs on their children for good"

Row looked at the baby, then raised an eyebrow at Callie

"I said it's rare. There are obviously exceptions" she said "And believe me you're better off. Also, she did call. That's gotta Mean  something"

"I didn't speak with her. Just the band. They were at her place, yeah but... I don't know. I'm not gonna beg on my fucking knees..." He was interrupted by a burp I his ear. Damn, that was a big one. He'd need 2 beers to produce such a loud one.

"Easy, tiger." He laughed "Goddamn it, where did that come from, huh? You're unbelievable" he praised, while getting the muslin out his shoulder and handing it to Callie

"And a neat one too. 10/10." She chuckled

"Atta girl. That's my lil'raisin. Yeah, good girl" he cooed, bringing her to face him, before she started fussing and he nested her again on his chest "Aw, don't cry honey. Please. You're alright. C'mon" he begged. She settled down quickly, and he sighed in relief.

"The point is, that here is like... I feel safe, you know? It's like another world. Another life. And now I have to fit her in my every day, and be in charge and stuff, and... I'm not sure I'm ready"

"Parents are never ready to take them home. Not even those who had 9 months of preparation, and parenting classes, and a nicely decorated and supplied nursery. No one feels ready. But nerves are good. Nerves mean that you care. Worrying and doubting about your ability to be the dad your child needs is precisely what's gonna make you raise your game. Just one last question: are you 100% that you love that lil one with all your heart?"

He looked at his daughter, who had gone back to sleep with the rambling of his voice, as his hand still caressed head and grinned "Hell yeah" Otherwise, how could he explain the way his chest seemed to be holding two hearts whenever she was in his arms? Or how, when he had to leave for the night it felt as though both those hearts were ripped away from him? Or how else could he have turned this goddamn sappy? Yep. That was the proof.

"Then that's all the two of you will ever need. She won't care if you two are rich or live in a cardboard box, or if she wasn't in your initial plans, or that she doesn't have a mom. As long as you love her and make her feel like it."

He nodded, and rested his lips on her soft scalp.

"Right, I Gotta get to another patient. Call'em back."

He stood up, this time taking his Prune along, and went to the corridor where the phone was. Making sure her head was safely cradled along with the rest of her small body on his left arm, he tucked the phone between the right shoulder and neck and dialed their shared place's number

Rick picked up "Yes?"

"I'm a dad" he said simply, and waited for his reaction. 

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I’ll post the picture separately in order to preserve my goddamn sanity cause Tumblr is being a pain in the arse!!!!!

How do you guys do it? Am I the only one who needs 5 bloody tries to post this things?

#roger taylor #dad!roger taylor #queen band #queen fluff #bohemian rhapsody

[justsomeantifas]

What the Fuck is Going On News: June 6th 2018

1. Paul Ryan goes against Trump; says there's no evidence he was spied on and warns him not to pardon himself.

Speaker Paul Ryan dealt another blow to President Donald Trump's "Spygate" theory Wednesday, saying he's seen "no evidence" to support claims that the FBI spied on Trump's 2016 campaign for political purposes.

...

Ryan also echoed recent comments by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in suggesting Trump "shouldn't" consider pardoning himself, despite the president's recent tweet suggesting he has the "absolute right" to do so.“No one is above the law,” Ryan said. (source)

2. Major primary elections occurred yesterday in several states. Highlights:

Election Results: Key House Primaries in California, New Jersey, Iowa, Montana and New Mexico

Deb Haaland’s primary win means she will likely be the first Native American woman in Congress

118,522 voters left off Los Angeles County polling place rosters

Voters recall judge who sentenced Brock Turner to 6 months in jail for sexual assault

3. Trump commutes the life sentence of Alice Marie Johnson.

Flexing his clemency powers once again, President Donald Trump on Wednesday commuted the life sentence of a woman whose cause was championed by reality TV star Kim Kardashian West. “BEST NEWS EVER!!!!” was the exuberant Twitter response from Kardashian West, who visited the White House last week to press the case.

Alice Marie Johnson, 63, had spent more than two decades behind bars, serving life without parole for drug offenses. She was released hours later and ran into her family members’ arms. (source)

4. Facebook shared data with Chinese company that has been under U.S. suspicion since 2012.

Facebook's longstanding agreements that led it to share users' data with device-makers included Chinese phone-maker Huawei – a company of which the U.S. government has long been suspicious, and which intelligence officials view as a security threat.

The social media company also made data-sharing deals with other Chinese companies, including Lenovo, Oppo and TCL , The New York Times reports. They're among the roughly 60 companies for which Facebook says it built private software — giving them special access to users' data so that their devices could mimic Facebook's online tools. (source)

5. Mexico imposes tariffs $3 billion worth of exports including steel, pork, apples, potatoes, bourbon, cheese, and more. 

Five days after President Trump imposed a new set of heavy tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum imports, Mexico hit back, announcing its own set of sweeping tariffs on US pork, steel, cheese, bourbon, apples, and other goods.

According to Mexican officials, they specifically chose to target goods from Republican strongholds, to hit Trump’s party where it hurts ahead of the midterm elections.

Overall, the new penalties will affect about $3 billion worth of US goods. The tax rates vary depending on the product, but most of them are high: There’s a 20 percent tariff on US pork shoulder and legs, and some bourbons and cheeses will be hit with 20 to 25 percent taxes. (source)

6. Jeff Sessions defends separating children from families at U.S. border

On Tuesday, the UN called on the US to "immediately halt" the separations. When asked whether it was "absolutely necessary" to separate children from their parents, Mr Sessions replied in the affirmative. Speaking to conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Tuesday, he argued that many US children are taken away from their families if their parents are serving prison sentences. 

Mr Sessions said migrant children were "being well taken care of"."It's certainly not our goal to separate children, but I do think it's clear, it's legitimate to warn people who come to the country unlawfully bringing children with them that they can't expect that they'll always be kept together," America's top law officer said. (source)

Related: Taking Migrant Children From Parents Is Illegal, U.N. Tells U.S.

7. The Pentagon admitted it will never know how many civilians it has killed fighting ISIS.

The United States is four years into its war against ISIS — and it has no idea how many civilians it’s killed to date. We know this because the Defense Department admitted it. “As far as how do we know how many civilians were killed — I’m just being honest — no one will ever know. Anyone who claims they will know is lying,” Col. Thomas Veale, a top spokesperson for the US-led coalition against ISIS, told reporters on Tuesday.

...

Veale was responding to a journalist’s question about a recent Amnesty International report that claims the US killed thousands of civilians when it tried to wrest Raqqa — which ISIS considered its capital in Syria — from the group in 2017. On June 2, the Pentagon said the US military killed roughly 500 civilians in 2017 while injuring 169 more. (source)

Related: Full transcript of press briefing by Colonel Veale

Related: Amnesty International’s full report on civilian deaths in Syria

8. Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, attempted to tamper with witnesses.

President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who has been indicted by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, attempted to tamper with potential witnesses, Mueller said in a court filing on Monday.

Mueller, who is investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, asked the judge overseeing the case in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to revoke or revise an order releasing Manafort ahead of his trial. (source)

Related: Former US attorney says Manafort will likely go to prison Friday

9. ICE arrests 114 immigrants in Ohio raid and sends them to detention centers.

A swarm of immigration agents arrested more than 100 workers at an Ohio gardening and landscaping company Tuesday morning, one of the largest of several recent workplace raids carried out as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration enforcement.

About 200 federal officers blitzed two locations of Corso’s Flower and Garden Center — one in Sandusky, on the shoreline of Lake Erie, and another in nearby Castalia, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told the Associated Press.

Agents surrounded the perimeter of the Castalia location, blocking off nearby streets as helicopters flew overhead, AP and local television stations reported. They arrested 114 workers suspected of being in the country illegally and loaded many onto buses bound for ICE detention facilities. Dozens of the workers’ children were left stranded at day-care centers and with babysitters. (source)

10. During call with Justin Trudeau over trade tariffs, Trump incorrectly blames Canada for burning down the White House.

President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a testy phone call on May 25 over new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration targeting steel and aluminum imports coming from Canada, including one moment during the conversation in which Trump made an erroneous historical reference, sources familiar with the discussion told CNN.

According to the sources, Trudeau pressed Trump on how he could justify the tariffs as a "national security" issue. In response, Trump quipped to Trudeau, "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?" referring to the War of 1812.The problem with Trump's comments to Trudeau is that British troops burned down the White House during the War of 1812. (source)

Other news to note:

Rudy Giuliani says that Robert Mueller is “trying very, very hard to frame him to get him in trouble when he hasn't done anything wrong.”

After skipping last year's WH event, Trump will be hosting an Iftar dinner in commemoration of Ramadan; so far no Muslim-American community leaders have been invited.

The European Union takes steps to protect the Iran nuclear deal after Trump’s exit.  

Support WTFIGO News: Patreon

#what the fuck is going on news #politics #donald trump #trump administration #immigration #dismantle ICE #u.s. news #Mod H #long post

[ba3bzayrick]

Personal Showcase (Blog, Research, Journal)

1st Week Personal Showcase (Blog, Research, Journal)

Now that we started the second half of our showcase. I started revising all the things that I’m going to produce on my design template. My first week is all about completing the stage set of my film. I managed to create all the 3D assets and I also established the lighting of my animation. The things that didn’t go well is the fact that I did not realise the sizes of the object and I should have based it on my character’s height. It is also the feedback that I’ve received from Anand telling me that I should use proper actual sizes and using centimetre will help assist and guide me. Next week I’m going to focus on creating my characters in Zbrush and hopefully start with the retopology in Maya. 

2nd Week Personal Showcase (Blog, Research, Journal)

Now that I’ve got my character’s 2D design from BA3a, I can now use it as a guide to building it in 3D. With the help of Mark’s 3D tutorial before Christmas break, I now have an idea of how I start. The material z sphere serves as the base and the skeleton of my characters. What didn’t went well is the fact that I combine the hair with the original mesh and Mark told me that it’ll be better if the hair is separated as the hair can potentially be animated, plus it looks more normal compared to the original form. I also got feedback with the legs of the characters, Anand told me that I should straighten the leg 90 degrees and the feet should be facing forward because according to him, the advanced skeleton is very critical about certain small things as it can crush the rig very easily. Now that I’ve finished 3D modelling and received all the feedbacks, it is now time to rig it next week. 

3rd Week Personal Showcase (Blog, Research, Journal)

During this week Anand’s lesson, I asked if what is the best way to rig my characters in Maya and he highly recommended advanced skeleton as it will truly sharpen and lessen the fault and impairment of the rigged outcome. Anand told me that I should delete one of my characters as it will prolong my time in rendering plus Allan, the character that going to be deleted, doesn’t have any role in the film. Anand sent me a 5 part YouTube rigging tutorial videos using advanced skeleton. It is the right video tutorial for me because it is aimed at a student like me that are not specialised in the rigging department. I’ve learned many things about the videos as it walks me through everything from installing the tool to completing my characters with full-body animation controls, it was pretty straightforward and very understandable. The thing that didn’t go well is the facial animation part. It seems that the advanced skeleton tool does not want how I build or retopologised as it did not work after I’ve tried the facial rig stage. My tutors told me that advanced skeleton is very critical, captious, and fault finding. I thought I was going to leave it without the facial animation but Anand and Ben told me a saving alternative which is using the blend shape method. After I’ve done doing all the face gestures and actions the second problem occurred. The problem the blend shape animation is moving when the rig is steady or not moving but once I create a keyframe the blend shape controls disappeared. I asked Ben for help as Ben used blend shape for our group project. I have to talk to him online ignorer to help me with my problem. We encountered that the wet paint of the blend shape faces should be accurate with the original one. All of the faces should be centred on the body. What we did was copy the skin weight, bind skin, and redo the blend-shape method. I did it to every single blend faces including the blinking of the eyes. Now that I change all the options my characters are finally can do some animation. The finished rig characters don’t only have normal controls, I can also activate some of the IK handles controllers to move my character depends on what situation or scenario. For next week, I intend to produce and start some animation tests. 

4th Week Personal Showcase (Blog, Research, Journal)

Regarding me completing the rig models, it is now time to do the parts of my animation scene. The feedback I got for my first scene is I should use a wide-angle camera view to demonstrate where he is and the environment he’s into. I started the scene with bright lighting as I wanted to dim the light as the scenes are getting spooky. What didn’t go well is I still added the other charger and again Anand told me to remove it as it serves no purpose. I reference myself doing a reaction on getting a notification through my phone and edited it on after effects to render it as a jpeg sequence to play it as a video on Maya. It took me the entire week to animate the first scene and for next week I’m now ready to start the second part. 

5th Week Personal Showcase (Blog, Research, Journal)

With the first scene finished and out of the way, I can finally start constructing and animating the second scene. The second animation is a walking scene and from the past 2 years, I’ve animated a decent amount of walking animation sequences from different animation mediums. Even though I was used to producing walking cycles, I have got feedback that getting a video reference is still a safer method to get the animation timing and action right. Anand told me that I should delete all the things that are not going to be in the scene to decrease the render time. He suggested that I should create 3 original Maya files containing each place of the scenes because it will cut back some of the lags of my computer and it will be easier to render. Now that the second part of my film has been animated, for next week I will layout on how I’m going to animate the third scene. 

6th Week Personal Showcase (Blog, Research, Journal)

Completion of the third scene was my mission this week. I started this week realising that one of my characters which is the ghost has not been rig. I have put NURBS circle because the only action I wanted from the ghost character is to have certain small rotation actions and I might animate her rotating as she appears from the last scene. I also did some NURBS circles to the door as I’m going to animate the door as well. I’ve got a problem with the camera angle action as it creates unusual unnecessary actions whilst panning to the left. I’ve got feedback that the camera angle action should be animated with auto keyframe toggle as it will keyframe the time frame the same amount I will pan the camera using my mouse. They also told me that the knocking action is a bit too slow so I adjust the timing and made it a bit normal and quicker. The last changes from the feedback were the turnaround running animation. I animated all the NURBS circle from the body to make him not stale and I also animated the elbow and the arm correctly as he runs away from the scene. Next week is all about implementing my plans for the next scene. 

7th Week Personal Showcase (Blog, Research, Journal)

The first thing I did this week for this project was to record myself acting exhausted coming from being a ghost. The first thing on my feedback that I wanted to implement was to observe the breathing movement as this is the fundamental action of this scene. Same as I did from our group project, I’ve animated all the NURBS circle controller as my character body and armrest to his knees. My tutor also told me that the IK handle controller should play a major role in animating the sequence and it truly helps me tremendously because I didn’t encounter any frame positioning towards the arms as it stays when I create keyframes from the other animation controller. The last feedback I got this week is they told me that I should include the character have frames where he is trying to go back to check on his sister. I agree with the feedback as I thought that it was too quick and the audience should know the flow and where is the scene is going. 

8th Week Personal Showcase (Blog, Research, Journal)

The next animation scene I’m doing is the door kicking animation. What went well this week is the fact that I’ve finished this in two days and had feedback from it. With that working pace, I had time to put more work and effort into my group project. I ask my tutors which is better to do: doing a door kicking at home as a reference or finding a scene on a film or YouTube video of door kicking for the reference. They said that doing research online is the best and the safest way as I wanted the action on this scene to be more aggressive and on point and I don’t feel like I can accomplish that at home as it will create a tremendous amount of noise. After I’ve done the animation, I’ve got feedback that I should include some after effect action of the door coming from an impact. I also adjusted the timing of the foot landing from the door kick and now the animation action looks more polished. For next week, I intend to do the last scene and hopefully start rendering. 

9th Week Personal Showcase (Blog, Research, Journal)

What went well this week is the fact that I’ve finished the last scene early. The main problem is the blend shape face animation of the second character. It seems like it does not cooperating when I put a keyframe but when it’s steady the face controls seem to be working. I tried to copy skin weight and skin binding and I thought that it’ll fix the situation just like when I optimised the blend shape of my main character but unfortunately Gina’s Maya file seems to have errors when I do bind skin and copy skin weight. The feedback that I’ve got was just to cover his mouth and don’t let the audience see the yawning part. The unusual part is when I did it to the hair and the eyes, they seem to be fine to animate. There is nothing I can do to fix the face rig of my second character as I do not specialised in rigging so I just took the feedback to fix the scene. Next week, I will focus on finalising the lighting option and start rendering and editing my film to an outcome. 

10th Week Personal Showcase (Blog, Research, Journal)

Before I finalising the scenes ready for rendering, I’ve checked all the lightings in every scene and did a current frame render, see if I need to adjust the options. Fortunately, all the scenes don’t have major issues with lighting, I just did a few changes such as modifying the colour, intensity, and exposure. Now that I’ve done the lighting, the next thing I did was to set all the project on the main folder. The rending process took me the entire day. Now that I’ve got all the render scenes, I first put them on after effects as I prefer it to use to combine all the images. After that, I’ve rendered the animation and put it to audition to put all the sound effects and ending sound. The good thing is I still have the NUA sound file that our tutor shared last year. For the ending sound, I went to bensound.com to pick the right soundtrack for the certain genre I’ve chosen. The last step of the process was to finalising it on premiere pro. Adding the correct font of the title and also adding all the credits. I’ve shared the outcome with my peers and let them criticise the film and they told me that there are a couple of misspelt words but besides that, it is now completed. This week, I have also done the experimentation reels on my personal and the collaborated project. The last thing that I need to do before submission was to do the evaluation. 

[gywair]

Hey! I got the honor of being on Historical Hotties. It’s a podcast about researching hot historical figures and ranking them. I was on the episode about crime fighters. Below are my notes and references about Mabel Walker Willebrandt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mabel_Walker_Willebrandt

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/media_detail/2082505810-willebrandt/

https://themobmuseum.org/notable_names/mabel-willebrandt/

https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/willebrandt-mabel-walker-1889-1963

https://www.loc.gov/item/mm82059618/

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jul-02-me-47028-story.html

http://www.anb.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-0600712

https://books.google.com/books?id=CfGHM9KU7aEC&pg=PA736&lpg=PA736&dq=dorothy+rae+willebrandt&source=bl&ots=Ot1Hr5r5jy&sig=ACfU3U1zTmlS6XVkw1QFXoWtYaMSk5dOWA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwia_-fX5KLhAhUELa0KHdrfC3gQ6AEwDXoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=dorothy%20rae%20willebrandt&f=false

https://themobmuseum.org/blog/mabel-willebrandt-prolific-prosecutor-of-prohibition-laws/

http://articles.latimes.com/2000/jul/02/local/me-47028

https://sallyjling.org/2011/07/16/mabel-walker-willebrant-fascinating-women-of-prohibition/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mabel-Walker-Willebrandt

  https://books.google.com/books?id=55ctM_Uy6KgC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

    Mabel Walker Willebrandt

Born May 23rd, 1889

Died April 6th, 1963 at age 73

  She was born in Woodsdale, Kansas as Mabel Elizabeth Walker.

Her family were farmers

She spent her early years traveling between prairie towns from Oklahoma to Missouri

Her father David was a local newspaper editor

She used to help him set the type for print

She was expelled from Park College in Parksville (a Presbyterian college), Missouri for being outspoken

She questioned the validity of a “virgin birth”

Reportedly she won the debate

In 1906 she began teaching in Buckley, Michigan

During this time she

Was almost lost in a blizzard

Trapped by a forest fire

Was threatened by a student with a knife

In 1910 she married Arthur Willebrandt, the principal

Together they moved to Phoenix, Arizona while Arthur recovered from tuberculosis

Mabel graduated from Arizona State University in 1911

Around this time she became severely hearing impaired and wore a hearing aid in each ear

She supposedly fixed her hair to hide them.

In 1912, they moved to Los Angeles where Mabel taught school during the day and took law classes at night

In 1916, she graduated from the University of Southern California with a masters in law

While completing her degree, Mabel began pro bono work in local police courts for mostly prostitution cases

She argued 2,000 cases as the city’s first female public defender

Her efforts led to courts permitting testimony from both women and men in these cases

This meant the male clients had to appear in court (in front of the press) as well as the female defenders

She successfully campaigned for the enactment of a revised community property statue at the state level (which involves property rights in marriages)

She was instrumental in getting the police to stop nickelodeon owners from preying on young girls during the “Rosebud Baby Case”

Apparently, the men were taking advantage of young girls during the movies

After graduation, she opened her own practice in downtown Los Angeles with Fred Horowitz (he built the famous hotel Chateau Marmont)

During World War I, she served as head of the Legal Advisory Board for draft cases

John Shepherd, perhaps the only man she really loved, who was killed in World War I.

In 1920, she moved her folks out west to be closer to her

In 1921, at 32, she was recommended by Frank Doherty (her old law professor), Senator Hiram Johnson, and all the judges in Southern California for the position of Assistant Attorney General under President Harding

Making her the highest-ranking women in the US federal government at the time and the first woman to head the Tax Division.

However, part of the issue is that no one wanted the job

It had no political advantage

It was a position that had to enforce unpopular laws

Her duties included overseeing federal taxation, federal prisons, and matters relating to the Volstead Act (the Prohibition Act)

She established the first female federal prison, Alderson federal prison in West Virginia

At the time, female prisons were too full to hold all inmates

If there was not enough space they would be housed with male inmates or otherwise alternatively punished

Sexual exploitation of women in the prison system was very high at the time

The prison was modeled as a boarding school offering classes for work-oriented fields

It had no armed guards or fences

Weirdly, still segregated

Things weren’t all great, however

In her 1929 book, The Inside of Prohibition, she described her problems

The law was too weak to do the job

The man in charge was not up to the task

She was only given volunteers to help make arrests

Things were so bad, one of her early arrests was a group that actually fielded a baseball team called the BOOTLEGGERS

She helped convinced the state department to give her boats and crews to apprehend alcohol coming into the country by boat

Reportedly, she met with the Treasury’s Prohibition unit, the US Coast Guard, and the Customs Service once and weeks later Congress okayed $11 million dollars for speed boats and equipment

She might have been the only person working to enforce prohibition

She said, “At one time it was quite apparent that no real effort was being made to put an end to such open defiance of our laws. Liquor runners operated off Florida practically in the open, in broad daylight, with little or no interference. There for years the prosecuting office and the prohibition agents engaged equally in the game of evasion of responsibility.”

In 1923, she successfully brought down the ‘Big Four of Savannah’

Reportedly the largest bootlegging ring in the US

She brought in George Remus, nicknamed ‘King of the Bootleggers’ and supposedly the inspiration for Jay Gatsby

Mabel came under a lot of trouble at one point for arresting Helen Morgan, a popular singer who had been reportedly duped into running a speakeasy

She regularly made the society magazines as a bit of a villain

She also argued to reform prisons for young offenders

She is credited with starting the prison work programs for male prisons

She started the first record keeping system for federal inmate populations

In 1924, Mabel and her husband Arthur got divorced

They were separated in 1916

Her mother-in-law moved in with Mabel and Arthur but Mabel financially supported the whole family

Reportedly because after putting Arthur through law school, he was unwilling to pay his share of expenses

In 1925, she adopted a two-year-old daughter named Dorothy Rae

Whom she raised with her friends

Feminism, Sexuality, and Politics by Estella B. Freedman

The book mentions that this was a more common practice at the time for career women that wanted a family.

Her parents took over when she was in Washington

Back in Prohibition, however, Mabel prosecuted 48,734 cases between 1924 and 1925, of which resulted in 39,072 convictions

278 cases went to the Supreme Court

She argued 40 of those cases

In 1927, she devised the plan to catch gangsters with tax evasion and in 1931 successfully prosecuted Al Capone

She recommended J. Edgar Hoover to head the FBI

In 1928, she campaigned for Republican candidate Herbert Hoover

To do this, she would address Methodist ministers and slam Hoover’s Democrat opponent, Al Smith as a ‘wet’ candidate

She began timing speakeasy raids to coincide with the Democratic convention

She was recognized as a major force behind getting Hoover elected

She took political help anywhere she could get it including the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and the Ku Klux Klan saying, “I have no objection to people dressing up in sheets if they enjoy that sort of thing.”

For her service, she expected to be appointed Attorney General but was snubbed

In 1928, she resigned her post and returned to private practice

Mabel’s first case outside of the government was for California Fruit Industries that made wine and went on to serve as a lobbyist for the industry

CFI’s first big product push with her was Vine-Glo

Which was a concentrate that if added to water and sugar and left alone for two months made wine at home

Her casework set the foundation for the basic interpretations of the 16th and 18th amendments

In 1930, Mabel successfully argued for Frederick Albert Cook’s release from prison

He had been falsely imprisoned when several of his business partners committed fraud

Because his lawyer, Joseph Weldon Bailey, had a personal problem with the judge, he lost the case

Mabel managed to get him off his 14-year sentence in 7

Cook claimed to be the first explorer to reach the North Pole

In 1950, she served as counsel to the Screen Directors Guild

She defended the studios during the “Red Scare” and Joe McCarthy

She represented Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Aviation Corp. of America

Her famous clients include

Louis B. Mayer

Jean Harlow

Clark Gable

Jeanette MacDonald

She also began defending bootleggers she had helped put away

She went on to pioneer the fields of aviation and radio law

She was the first woman to chair a committee for the American Bar Association for aeronautical law

She got her pilot’s license and promoted air travel with Amelia Earhart and Jacqueline Cochoran (created the Women’s Auxillary Army Corps and Women Airforce Service Pilot organizations and was the first woman to break the sound barrier)

She received an Honorary Doctorate from the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce

Due to intense criticism of her role in Al Smith losing the presidency, as her rhetoric was seen as anti-Catholic, she converted to Catholicism

Later in life, she worked to destroy many of her personal records (especially from when she was Attorney General)

She, in fact, was overlooked by several early women’s history studies as she purposely erased many of her personal histories

Which is why much of what we know comes from her legal work

Mabel Walker Willebrandt died of lung cancer in Riverside, California

She was survived by her adopted daughter, Dorothy Rae (Van Dyke)

Her lifelong friend, Judge John J. Sirica, was quoted as saying, “If Mabel had worn trousers, she could have been president.”

Nicknames

“First Legal Lady of the Land”

“Prohibition Portia” (which is a joke from Julius Caesar–it’s Brutus’s wife)

“Deborah of the Drys”

“Mrs. Firebrand.”

Fun facts

She owned a farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Once advised a prostitute she worked for on “going straight”

Mabel looked over her books and said to keep working six more months

Then ended up footing the rest of the bill herself to get the woman and her sons into a nice home

Quotes

“Give me the authority and let me have my pick of 300 men and I’ll make this country as dry as it is humanly possible. There’s one way it can be done – get at the source of supply. I know them and I know how they could be cut off. I have no patience with this policy of going after the hip-pocket and speakeasy cases. That’s like trying to dry up the Atlantic Ocean with a blotter.”

In reference to herself “an instrument of God”

  Physical Hawtness: 2/5

Described as Comely

Sort of an Elisabeth Moss

More of the way she carries herself than her looks (substance over style)

Mental Hawtness: 5/5

She started school at age 13

was teaching at age 17

a principal at 22

Assistant Attorney General at 32

Social Impact: 3/5

For her time, she made a huge splash

Lots of firsts

Set a tone for the whole decade of the ‘20s

Je Ne Sais Quoi: 2/5

Problematic

Reformed?

Sounds too unbelievable for a movie

Historical Hotties – Mabel Walker Willebrandt Hey! I got the honor of being on Historical Hotties. It's a podcast about researching hot historical figures and ranking them.

[auskultu]

HOUSE-TO-HOUSE SEARCH FOR SNIPERS BEGUN AS RIOT ENTERS 6TH DAY

Homer Bigart, The New York Times, 17 July 1967

NEWARK – National Guard troops and the police hunted house to house for snipers today after gunfire claimed three more lives in this riot-torn city.

Nearly half of Newark’s 23.7 square miles was an occupied zone. As sporadic sniping continued, guardsmen and policemen—weary and trigger-quick after days and nights of tension—were reported to have engaged each other in several accidental gunfights.

The actions of the guardsmen and the state police drew angry protests yesterday from moderate leaders of the Negro community. They accused the militia and the police of harassing peacemakers and of destroying Negro-owned stores.

12-Year-Old Boy Killed The latest riot victim was a 12-year-old Negro boy, Michael Pugh, who was shot in the side early this morning. He died in Newark City Hospital.

Witnesses said he was emptying a pail of garbage in front on his home on 15th Avenue. His family said the shot had come from a group of guardsmen standing a block away.

The boy’s death raised the toll in the six days of rioting to 24 dead. Early last night, Mrs. Eloise Spellman, 41, died of gunshot wounds. She had been caught in crossfire between guardsmen and snipers while in her 1Oth-floor apartment at 322 Hunterdon Avenue.

Earlier, a teen-age Negro was shot in the chest by the state police while allegedly looting a store at Bergen Street and Custer Avenye.

Since the riots began, more than 700 have been injured am more than 1,200 arrested.

The police radio kept warning: "Be sure of target. HoId fire until you are sure of target.”

A state trooper, CpI. Samuel Leon, was shot twice, in an arm and the buttocks, and ws: taken to Newark City Hospital That hospital game under sniper fire for the third straight night. Doctors and nurses dropped to the floor during 10 minutes of sniping that started at 9:30 P.M.

The police began shooting from hallway windows and guardsmen threw tear gas into an abandoned three-story house near the hospital, but failed tc rout any suspects. Two guardsmen were overcome by tear gas.

Gov. Richard J. Hughes reported late yesterday that there had been a reduction in violence. But at 9:30 P.M. sniper suddenly intensified in two separate areas—High Street, Orange Street and Central Avenue.

At 11:30 P.M. all city bus ceased operation. Except for the occasional crackle of rifle fire, the city fell silent.

Governor Hughes said at news conference yesterday that despite the efforts of the powerful force of guardsmen and state and city police the situation remained critical.

The Governor’s command post in the Roseville Avenue Armory was not far from where a sniper was reported to have taken up a firing position. A large crowd of whites that ha been loitering all day in front of the armory was disperse and the streets were cleared.

The police had warnings of rising vigilantism among white living near the ghetto. Three white teen-agers were arrested when a search of their car disclosed a rifle and a shotgun.

Businesses Advised Governor Hughes asked major business concerns to remain closed today. He said that the national railroad strike would clog the streets with thousands of commuters trying to read work by car or bus and that he did not want traffic jams in the riot area.

He asked, however, that food stores and restaurants remain open. Banks and public utilities will also open.

Newark College of Engineering will be closed both day and night. Rutgers University will be open in the day but closed at night.

Mr. Hughes directed all schools in Newark to remain closed today, and urged that only essential businesses—among them food stores and pharmacies—open. He said liquor stores and taverns would remain closed "until we can say order has been restored.”

One of Newark’s largest employers, the Public Service Electric and Gas Company, said only 500 essential workers among its 2,500 employees would be called in today.

The Prudential Insurance Company of America, which employs 9,000 people, said its Newark headquarters would be closed.

The riots and the railroad strike prompted the Selective Service System to postpone the induction of 500 men who were scheduled to report today. Col. Joseph T. Avella, the state’s director of Selective Service, said draft boards would notify those affected of a new induction date.

The Governor said he hoped for an early resumption of critical services, such as garbage collection, in the Negro districts. This, he said, would depend on the security situation. Thousands of residents of the heavily Negro Central Ward lined up for hours to receive meager rations of food as the first supplies since Wednesday night began moving into the area under armed guard. Distribution centers manned by volunteers were set up in housing projects and community centers and five supermarkets were reopened under police guard.

Emergency distribution of food might be adversely affected by the national railroad strike, he said.

The first efforts to bridge the gulf between the white and Negro communities collapsed yesterday.

Peace Effort Fails A five-man interracial committee that had recruited several hundred persons to urge the mobs to "cool it” reported complete failure. The peace missionaries, who wore lime-colored armbands, said their leaders had decided to drop the campaign because of harassment by the National Guard and state police.

Adam Garrett, a committee member, said the volunteers would confine their efforts to telling Negroes living in the besieged areas where to go for emergency food and medicine.

Far more damaging to prospects for peace was the reaction of middle-class Negroes to what they called "wanton destruction” perpetrated early today by state policemen and guardsmen.

They charged that shop windows bearing the sign "Soul Brother”—indicating that the owner was a Negro—had been systematically smashed by state troopers’ bullets or been bashed in by the rifle butts of guardsmen. Most of this destruction, they said, took place along Bergen Street, in one of the better Negro residential areas in the West Ward.

Yesterday morning, groups of well-dressed Negroes stood on the street corners of the West Ward and surveyed the damage with somber wrath. J. J. Brown, the proprietor of a record store on Avon Avenue, had put a sign on his damaged window. It said: “State Police Shot Up This Store!”

Residents said two carloads of state troopers entered the area sometime after 3 A.M. and fired into the store windows. Guardsmen joined in the destruction, they said, using rifle butts.

Governor Hughes, at a late afternoon news conference called the charges “hearsay” but added that he was “disturbed” by the reports ai would be glad to investigate the Negroes would provide “facts, figures, time and places.”

Immediately after the Governor’s news conference a delegation of 40 Negroes, armed with photographs of smashed storefronts and some slugs from .38-caliber bullets that said were found inside the stores, arrived at the Rosevil Avenue Armory to see the Governor and confront him with telegram they had sent to Pre ident Johnson.

They said they wanted the National Guard and the state police replaced by “fully integrated Federal troops.”

The telegram to the President explained that Federal troops were needed because of “wanton destruction of property and “actual murders” committed by the police and Nationl Guard men.

Dr. Reynold C. Burch, a leaf er of the group, said innocent Negroes had been killed in “indiscriminate firing” by the ant riot forces.

The telegram also cited “inflammatory statements” by Governor Hughes and Mayor Hugh J. Addonizio and the alleged mobilization of white vigilantes in areas bordering the Negro ghetto.

This vigilante move was fostered, the telegram said, by "ignorant statements made by the Mayor and Governor.” It urged action by the President "by nightfall.”

Governor Hughes said he was aware of Negro charges that the presence of the National Guard and the state police was only adding to the legacy of hate left by the nation’s worst racial explosion in two years He said he was “assessing” the role of the Guard and the police.

But he called the snipers "unregenerate criminals” and said the guardsmen and the state police would “remain until order is restored.”

Weary National Guard men who said they were members of Headquarters Company of the 114th Division, from Woodbury, N. J., ducked sniper fire in the Negro Central Ward in the hours between midnight and dawn yesterday.

“It’s a lousy thing,” a private first class said as he clutched his M-1 rifle with its fixed bayonet. "The first time we ever shot at anyone, and we're shooting at Americans.” The police revised their figures downward last night on the number of persons arrested land injured. They said 1,257 had been arrested and 702 injured.

In a predawn conference yesterday, Governor Hughes offered executive clemency to any prisoners who would give evidence leading to the conviction of a sniper.

Coatless, red-eyed with fatigue, still incensed over the shooting of a fire captain by snipers, the Governor denounced the sniping attacks as “senseless, terrible and criminal.”

He said that State Attorney General Arthur Sills would urge Essex County Prosecutor Brendan Byrne to propose maximum sentences for charges growing out of sniping incidents. He also said he would ask the State Supreme Court to expedite the court calendars to allow the earliest possible processing of these cases.

"I will urge clemency for looters if, and only if, such persons give information leading to the arrest of a person for sniping,” the Governor said.

No Conspiracy Seen Governor Hughes, appearing with Mayor Addonizio on a televised news conference at noon, said the police estimated that as many as 25 snipers were operating in the ghetto. He said he had been told that "some” of those arrested were from outside the city, and added that the police believed some dead snipers were still in or on buildings in Central Ward.

Neither the Governor nor the Mayor said he had any evidence of a conspiracy by an outside group, but the Governor said that “the rather expert sniping, the jumping from place to place—the cruel and despicable efficiency with which this sniping occurred—indicates some organization and some coordination between these criminals participating in it.”

He charged that many of the rioters were "committing violence because they hate America.”

Early yesterday afternoon, escorted by a carload of state policemen with riot guns, Governor Hughes made a quick tour of Negro districts. He said he was pleased to find a partly looted chain grocery had reopened again for business.

He said he thought that the looting and plundering phase of the disorders was over, but reports of scattered pillage later in the day proved him premature.

Mr. Hughes said he had told the Episcopal Bishop of Newark, the Right Rev. Leland Stark, one of the sponsors of the national black power conference scheduled to start here Thursday, that he couldn’t think of "a worse time or a worse place to have a black power meeting.”

He insisted again that he did not need Federal troops. What the Federal government should do, he said, is send all possible economic aid to the city.

Newark is chronically depressed, with an unemployment rate considerably more than double the national average. Economic misery is the root cause of the riot, the Governor said.

Local leaders of the Congress of Racial Equality and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee held a news conference yesterday afternoon and issued a demand for "immediate withdrawal of National Guard units and state and Newark police from the ghetto.

James Hooper, chairman of the Newark CORE, said Mayor Addonizio had neglected Negro problems. One major grievance, he said, was lack of relocation facilities for people displaced by the proposed construction of a medical college in the heart of the ghetto.

The presence of troops and police only intensified the rioting, Mr. Hooper said.

"Parents aren’t going to sit back and let their kids get shot up,” said Jesse Allen, a CORE organizer. “They’ll go into the streets, too. Then this town will turn into a cemetery. The police are out of control and the National Guard is out of control, too.”

The leaders said the black power conference should proceed as scheduled.

But the crowd of white men loitering near Governor Hughes’s command post in the Roseville Armory sounded equally aggressive.

“If they want war, they’ll get it,” growled one man.

Something very much like war has occurred here as sniper fire from roofs and blackened windows has caused police to spray bullets into tenements and housing projects at scattered points.

Half a dozen fire stations have come under sniper fire. Engine Company 12, in the West Ward, was forced to stay in its quarters for several hours by intense fire.

#1960s #1967 #1967 newark riots #60s #african americans #ghetto #inequality #law and order #national guard #new jersey #newark #police brutality #race riot #racism #sixties #white backlash #riots

[omnishamblegreg]

Hey @loveofmylonglife !!

92 truths

rules: once you have been tagged you are supposed to write 92 truths about yourself. At the end choose however many people you want to tag!

LAST …

[1] drink: water

[2] phone call: my auntie

[3] text message: my best friend

[4] song you listened to: It’s Like That by RUN DMC

[5] time you cried: maybe.. 3 weeks ago, if we’re not talking laughter-crying

HAVE YOU EVER…

[6] dated someone twice: no

[7] been cheated on: no

[8] kissed someone and regretted it: yes

[9] lost someone special: no

[10] been depressed: yes

[11] gotten drunk and thrown up: no

LIST 3 FAVOURITE COLOURS:

[12] jade green

[13] mint green

[14] lilac

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU…

[15] made new friends: yes

[16] fallen out of love: no

[17] laughed until you cried: hooo yes

[18] found out someone was talking about you: yes, good and bad

[19] met someone who changed you: yes

[20] found out who your true friends are: i dont know, maybe i knew that before now

[21] kissed someone on your Facebook list: heh yes

GENERAL…

[22] how many of your tumblr friends do you know in real life: 6 i think

[23] do you have any pets: yes, kitten of the name Mika

[24] do you want to change your name: noo

|25] what did you do for your last birthday: visited my dad in qatar, swam, played board games!

[26] what time did you wake up: like 10.30am

[27] what were you doing at midnight last night: probably watching narcos or being attacked by my cat

[28] name something you cannot wait for: for summer, camping and swimming, passing my driving test and driving cousins about like rebels

[29] when was the last time you saw your mother: like an hour ago 

[30] what is one thing you wish you could change about your life: my family dynamics- hooo boi i agree with you there. and how i’d handled certain situations. where i decided to do 6th form, being brave enough to confess love. having the brain capacity and energy to think thoroughly for myself about my spiritual beliefs. sometimes i think it’d be easier if i’d grown up not questioning stuff so much

[31] what are you listening to right now: the end credits of narcos. my love.

[32] have you ever talked to a person named tom: ah my old basketball coach

[33] something that is getting on your nerves: my inability to revise for shit

[34] elementary: What about it? if you mean the *cough* sherlock piracy, the actor played alongside cumberbum in frankenstein, then went off and did elementary. felt a bit like he nicked his acting pointers to go imitate him. but im not bitter! oh this means primary school: ledge. i was a loving teacher’s pet

[35] high school: same mostly girl’s schools, year 8 was peak :(, but year 9 was PEAK and best fricking thing ever. i moved a lot but made some great friends. then got stressed at alevels but v funny friends. school is stress i dont need to go back to that

[36] college: uni is TBA. i will enjoy my own space

[37] hair colour: brown

[38] long or short hair: short

[39] do you have a crush on someone: not really

[40] what do you like about yourself: that people trust me a lot, that i make my sisters laugh so much they look like gargoyles, that i have little things im good at. 

[41] piercings: Ears

[42] nickname: depending with who: karimmer/rimmer, kima, karma, gary

[43] relationship status: single and ready to spread my legs. in bed to sleep because thats the most comfy sleeping position

[44] zodiac sign: im a goat

[45] pronouns: she/her

[46] favourite tv show: this is fluid. right now i am addicted to narcos. (not like that)

[47] tattoos: none

[48] right or left handed: right

FIRST…

[49] surgery: just sewing up my chin?

[50] piercing: ears

[51] best friend: maysa my cousin, since i was 3, who i knows near everything about me (every time we meet i just catch her up on the new shit). we fuckin tight

[52] sport: this is FUNNY. but i guess swimming, in a leisurely, non-competitive floating way

[53] vacation: tunisia, like what else besides visit family every summer obv

[54] pair of trainers: MINE DIDNT LIGHT UP ! they were PINK tho

RIGHT NOW…

[55] eating: nothing

[56] drinking: nothing. sad days

[57] I’m about to: watch pedro pascal in game of thrones

[58] listening to: nada

[59] waiting for: nada

[60] want: this is a lot. want to feel energy coursing through me. want to be physically able to sleep for a day. to kiss. to have photographic memory. to actually have a spec of an imprint, a positive, a help, on the world. to meet up with all my old friends. to understand myself. to write something and make someone think with it.

[61] get married: some day. i forget im 19 and family members are suddenly going ‘hey karima wanna get me to find u someone heh?’

[62] career: during and after uni, i’d like to write stories. and do art. academia would be cool, researching and writing kickass linguistics papers about memes. but i do not want to dwell on this 

WHICH IS BETTER…

[63] hugs or kisses: both, but hugs only if they’re proper gourmet ones

[64] lips or eyes: eyes

[65] shorter or taller: taller

[66] older or younger: older

[67] romantic or spontaneous: I AGREE WITH WHAT U SAID BOTH BOTH IS GOOD. spontaneity is madly romantic 

[68] nice arms or nice stomach: oooh. stomach i think

[69] sensitive or loud: yep i agree again ^^ someone who’s both is brilliant, we just both gotta be in the same hyper mood then BAM whole house telling us to shut tf up. overall tho.. someone who’s sensitive and understanding is more important. someone who cant switch to being sensitive is so closed off

[70] hook up or relationship: relationship

[71] trouble maker or hesitant: trouble maker if they’re not like. pablo escobar level trouble maker. 

HAVE YOU EVER…

[72] kissed a stranger: yeah stupid

[73] drank hard liquor: no

[74] lost glasses/contact lenses: yes

[75] turned someone down: yes poor unfortunate souls

[76] sex on first date: no

[77] broken someone’s heart: i dont Think so

[78] had your own heart broken: yes

[79] been arrested: no

[80] cried when somebody died: yes

[81] fallen for a friend: yes rip me

DO YOU BELIEVE IN…

[82] yourself: at times. i always believe it’ll kinda be alright in the end, that i’ll get to where i want to be, but i dont always believe i have what it takes Right Now. this is hard to explain.

[83] miracles: kind of. depends. i believe it was a miracle i got As and A*s in my gcses when i barely revised. and that my sister causes rain and thunderstorms when she prays for them. some miracles. i feel like a lot more used to happen

[84] love at first sight: no, thats romanticising someone as a concept and i am all too guilty of it

[85] santa claus: no and i dont think i ever did?! i discovered who he was simultaneously with ‘he’s fiction’. but thats okay with me

[86] kiss on the first date: whatever man i know nothing

[87] angels: yes

OTHER…

[88] current best friend’s name: Kathryn, steph, maysa, rabeeya 

[89] eye colour: brown

[90] favourite movie: shaun of the dead or How I Live Now

[91] favourite flower: honeysuckle, def jasmine.

[92] favourite season: summer whosoever should like to also do this, tag me and go for it!! im a curious bastard

#ah time flies filling this in #me #ask meme #a little shy of posting this but ehh #also forgive my lack of eloquency its too late for epiphany-level opinions on things #this is a lazy ask meme

[dailybiblelessons]

Friday: Preparation for the Thirty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Roman Catholic Proper 34 Revised Common Lectionary Proper 29

Complementary Hebrew Scripture from The Twelve Prophets: Zechariah 11:1-17

Open your doors, O Lebanon, so that fire may devour your cedars! Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, for the glorious trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the thick forest has been felled! Listen, the wail of the shepherds, for their glory is despoiled! Listen, the roar of the lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed!

Thus said the Lord my God: Be a shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter.

Those who buy them kill them and go unpunished; and those who sell them say, “Blessed be the Lord, for I have become rich”; and their own shepherds have no pity on them. For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord. I will cause them, every one, to fall each into the hand of a neighbor, and each into the hand of the king; and they shall devastate the earth, and I will deliver no one from their hand.

So, on behalf of the sheep merchants, I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. I took two staffs; one I named Favor, the other I named Unity, and I tended the sheep. In one month I disposed of the three shepherds, for I had become impatient with them, and they also detested me. So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die; what is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed; and let those that are left devour the flesh of one another!” I took my staff Favor and broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep merchants, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. I then said to them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed out as my wages thirty shekels of silver.¹ Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it into the treasury”—this lordly price at which I was valued by them. So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them into the treasury in the house of the Lord.² Then I broke my second staff Unity, annulling the family ties between Judah and Israel.

Then the Lord said to me: Take once more the implements of a worthless shepherd. For I am now raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for the perishing, or seek the wandering, or heal the maimed, or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.

Oh, my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! Let his arm be completely withered, his right eye utterly blinded!

Zechariah the prophet lived in the second half of the sixth century B.C.E. He is a different person than the father of John the Baptist.

¹Judas agrees to betray Jesus at Matthew 26:14-16 for thirty pieces of silver. ²Judas' suicide and the use of his payment is told at Matthew 27:3-10.

Semi-continuous Hebrew Scripture from the Latter Prophets: Jeremiah 22:1-17

Thus says the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, and say: Hear the word of the Lord, O King of Judah sitting on the throne of David—you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates. Thus says the Lord: Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place. For if you will indeed obey this word, then through the gates of this house shall enter kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their servants, and their people. But if you will not heed these words, I swear by myself, says the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.¹ For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:

You are like Gilead to me, like the summit of Lebanon; but I swear that I will make you a desert, an uninhabited city. I will prepare destroyers against you, all with their weapons; they shall cut down your choicest cedars and cast them into the fire.

And many nations will pass by this city, and all of them will say one to another, “Why has the Lord dealt in this way with that great city?” And they will answer, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshiped other gods and served them.”

Do not weep for him who is dead,  nor bemoan him; weep rather for him who goes away,  for he shall return  no more to see his native land.

For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum son of King Josiah of Judah, who succeeded his father Josiah, and who went away from this place: He shall return here no more, but in the place where they have carried him captive he shall die, and he shall never see this land again.

Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness,  and his upper rooms by injustice; who makes his neighbors work for nothing,  and does not give them their wages; who says, “I will build myself a spacious house  with large upper rooms,” and who cuts out windows for it,  paneling it with cedar,  and painting it with vermilion. Are you a king  because you compete in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink  and do justice and righteousness?  Then it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy;  then it was well. Is not this to know me?  says the Lord. But your eyes and heart  are only on your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood,  and for practicing oppression and violence.

¹Jesus refers to Jerusalem as a desolate house in Matthew 23:38

Complementary Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength,  a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear,  though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam,  though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,  the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;  God will help it when the morning dawns. The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;  he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us;  the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Come, behold the works of the Lord;  see what desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;  he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;  he burns the shields with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God!  I am exalted among the nations,  I am exalted in the earth.” The Lord of hosts is with us;  the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Semi-continuous Canticle: Luke 1:68-79

Canticle of Zechariah

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

New Testament Epistle Lesson: 1 Peter 1:3-9

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith–being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire–may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Year C Ordinary 34, Catholic Proper 34, RCL Proper 29: Friday

Selections are from Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings copyright © 1995 by the Consultation on Common Texts. Unless otherwise indicated, Bible text is from New Revised Standard Version Bible (NRSV) copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Footnotes in the Hebrew Scriptures that show where the passage is used in the Christian Scriptures are based on information from the The Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) by David H. Stern, Copyright © 1998 and 2006 by David H. Stern, used by permission of Messianic Jewish Publishers, www.messianicjewish.net. All rights reserved worldwide. When text is taken from the CJB, the passage ends with (CJB) and this copyright notice applies. Image Credit: Christ the Savior (Pantokrator), a 6th-century encaustic icon from Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai, via Wikimedia Commons. Additional information: This is the oldest known icon of Christ Pantocrator, encaustic on panel. The two different facial expressions on either side may emphasize Christ's two natures as fully God and fully human.

#C Ordinary 34 Friday #trials #suffering #genuineness of faith #prophet Zechariah #shepherd abandoning flock #Righteousness #oppression #violence

[oceangl1tter]

unpopular opinion: mac and cheese is only proper if you eat it with a small tiny spoon that can only fit one mac at a time

derivations://

I don't really know what's the point of writing all of these poems besides wanting a personal comfort and having an easy way out. Or is it an easy way in? I can't seem to stave myself off of it even though there's no return profit. My ability of spacing out lines in a purposeful way is really not something I could show to a potential employer or anyone around me. Or maybe that's just the South Node appeal calling to me. I want to find a way that could commercialize what I write. Package it in plastic wrap and present it to customers in an aesthetically pleasing way. But shouldn't the words be enough?

There are so many things I want to learn but it still feels like I'm going nowhere. The website I try to code looks like graphic design is my passion but unironic. I'm only 15% into the course and we've only slightly cracked into front-end development—(the visuals, so not back-end/ server-side coding). The process is like puzzle pieces that you mix and match together or a recipe book (and you have all the ingredients) but anything I make ends up freezing into a catatonic mess blaring with random RGB hexcodes I subbed in. I assembled an IKEA drawer with my housemates and ____ a few days ago and sometimes.. things just don't fit until they're in someone else's hands; I was talked down like a baby about finding "holes that fit into other holes" and while mentally infuriated, my fingers fumbled around like I was dealing with a Rubix cube blindfolded or something—but really, I'm just allergic to Swedish design. In a laughter I tell everyone in the room that I thought and asked myself what language Swedish people speak; at least it could boost my alibi of just being dumb and not dumbfounded by Swedes.

The things that I'm excited for deflate my sense of purpose but they really do send a rush of discovery. I turn to Reddit to scratch these itches. Watching people's motion reels are both a blessing and curse. I look at aesthetically pleasing sketchbooks that got people into the dream _______ I never knew people could have. I unfurl my optimism yarn until there's none left. Scatter small pains. I recognize that I just don't have the ardor and would rather be hidden in observations than cast my rod; but I do try! But I know when it's not enough—when it's not right. I think I should make things pretty until I realize that unpretty things are perfectly fine. I have ideas, that's all. Am I any different from my dad? Art for the sake of beauty has a single purpose of gratifying. My first draft for visitation was devoid of any real emotional labor and just caked on a cold stew of edgy, depraved imagery. It's fucking empty! How is that any different from my art/motion design things that I follow along by way of YouTube tutorials? Yeah I make a cool thing. Why do I give a fuck about this cool thing if it has a temporary purpose of gratification. Slightly pretentious. I also talk as if I'm fucking Picasso. Just kidding, Picasso would not fuck me. I also would not want to fuck Picasso. Actually, I don't know what I want. Maybe I just want to git gud. Not to denounce any of the great, amazing creations I see that take hours/days/weeks/months/years to do. I just don't know if I'll ever be satisfied. Also, I'm probably just jealous doing all this thinking in a glass room. I needa just get out. I needa be okay with starting out. I need to be okay with being bad with things I find important to me. I need to be less careless with things I don't think I'll be good at. Maybe I should apply this to everything else in my life.

When I was enrolled in Abacus class a millennium ago, we transitioned from the physical Eastern calculators to paper print-outs the size of half of an index card. The transition was to ease into calculating with simply a mental image of the abacus with the help of muscle memory. We would stand in a line, all of us next to eachother, and we'd hold up the card in front of us as equations flashed on a light blue screen. Crying because I just couldn't get it. Held that card up, my arm tired and shit, with nothing to wipe ‘cept that paper sheet. The instructor pulls me aside and I tell her that I can't do it. I don't think I've changed since then. At least I can calculate groceries now in my head though.

hear me out://

A few days after I find out, I'm having a lil tear session in the dorm showers. If the shower drain could talk, its narration would probably go like this:

day 273

-she hasn't even turned on the shower on yet and she's already crying lmao

I don't know why it hits me. One moment I feel fine and the next I feel a bit of a bitter twinge. Maybe of how much I had poured my heart out in ways I hadn't before; perhaps as an atonement. My impulsive Xylitol javelin-throwing had other reasons. Perhaps an affirmation that everyone I had ever ______ _______ . In hindsight, it didn't turn out that way but who else would listen so ardently? so selflessly? pay to be the audience? even if it was divisive? sit here past twilight in an empty building? and silently watch a tantrum unfold? I've written and shelved, written and shelved. Some things have a passtime. Other things I wouldn't want to return to.  Now, it's obviously different. The occupations of the mind are different. There are no words left unsaid but there are gestures I wish I had done better, I could still do better but I deem too late. I don't try to find replacements because there can be none. —- E And L Five Ps: Final reflection://

St.Vincent's crooning in her Strange Mercy album takes me through Winter. I "steal" a concept from her 6th track, Strange Mercy, that explores the concept of how it can be "cruel to be kind". It's the perfect tenderness I need to raise frailty back to life and to properly transition the deadness of Winter to a more sweet and dewy fragility, one more aligned with Spring. For my first revised poem, I returned back to ‘visitation’ and tried to establish the poem’s center of gravity. After re-reading it again, I realized that many of the images I wrote, though they were descriptive, masked the poem from progressing in its work beyond creating a sense of atmosphere. I knew that the poem needed a spine to hang its imagery flesh off of but I did not know where to start, so I went back to my critiques and looked for lines people read as most interesting.

The first line "in winter, the sound of your skin is screaming" was the one that stuck out the most, so I took that line on its own and brainstormed on how I could ground my poem with this line. I asked myself questions like: Why winter? Whose skin is screaming? Screaming in what way? Why the sound of skin? I initially had chosen winter because I wanted to fit it into the theme of frailty, decay, and death but nothing had really transformed from beginning to end because of it.

The original poem would still stand on its own even if I took out the season. I found that it would be more interesting to use negation and have it play a more integral role, so I changed the season to Spring. This created many doorways. From the poetry collection I read, Half-Lit Houses, I noticed that the poet describes the “outside” world before zooming in and I compared it to my poem, where I start off already “zoomed-in”/magnified and the reader is thrown in with no context.  Every line that follows is then trapped in having to connect to it, too magnified for the reader to navigate the bigger picture. With this in mind, I did not stick with the original format of this line opening the poem-which took some time to actually do because I really wanted to force it to be for its unsettling effect.

Another critique I got was what work the title was doing and how it connected to the rest of the poem. I’m not sure why I thought of visitation the first time I wrote this poem but after changing the poem’s descriptors from subtle decay (“quiet unmoving/and breathing”, “patient’s kneading”, “a carcass”) to more physically present feelings (“Lacerate”, “savory blood cracked”, “wailing at Hospital Walls”), the poem was no longer the ghost it originally was and instead birthed a more visceral feeling, a beast, alive and begging to be heard. I wanted to mask the setting up until the end which would make that final connection of visitation hours at a hospital. Had the scene been introduced earlier in the poem, I think it would be more of a dark cloud looming than the delicate freshness I was trying to go for—the kindness of the grass and the cruelty of its blades. The setting in the first few stanzas is left open and how it moves to the hospital location is not explicitly clear but it's the drifting airiness I like that are reminiscent of Spring days and walks surrounded by rustling, blooming trees.

This poem came out rather naturally after figuring out its premise but I made several alterations to the movement of the words just before the last stanza. I knew it would be revolving in an arc, circular as if blown away only to return back, and I wanted something that would encourage an analogous reading—cognizant of the way ones eyes would read it when scanning.

The poem itself pulls from different memories; some I was not there for, and others I noticed. My favorite line of the poem is: "He stands there."

circadian rhythm://

I knew, relatively, the parallelism but I didn't know exacts until my dad told me to scan his medical reports for a checkup. There's a likeness of timelines. The event I pulled from happened on 1/1/2001, 9 months after my birth.

Coincidentally (or not), it's winter.

#mystuff