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ew-selfish-art · 9 months

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Dp x Dc AU: It’s not the usual suspects trying to summon the undead this time, and it’s proving to be a massive headache for John Constantine. They seem...Competent.

When John sniffed out a new plot to summon a ghost, he kind of laughed it off. Ghosts were not more than shades of the people/creatures they used to be, without all the right resources and enough buy in from the greater spirits of the Infinite Realms, most entities that came thought might scare some kids at a slumber party but that was at most. Plus, kids were scary resilient these days thanks to the internet, so really, John’s not worried.

Then he hears about the gathering of artifacts and he has to care a little more. He learns that one Jasmine Fenton is involved and he’s... Surprised. She’s got a public record of dismissing her parent’s inventions and causing stirs at supernatural conventions (not to mention a great reputation as a research focused psychologist). Jasmine’s credit cards report a great deal of cash (refunded to her account by an unknown off-shore account) being taken out and her location is right next to the last place anyone could find a shard of the Crown.

Yeah, that Crown. The Infinite, ancient blessed and deity cursed one. John had meant to get around to investigating if the shard of obsidian (fire forged) was legit, so he begins to set his sights on Jasmine for a ‘chat’.

Then Sam Manson, a scary ass Heiress, pulls up in a limousine and all but kidnaps him and dumps him outside city limits. She tells him that he’s been cursed for the next 48 hours to stay out of their city- If he comes close, any plant will identify him in a heartbeat and come to life to kill him. (Fun fact: there are a goddamn lot of plants surrounding this stupid town, even the dandelions are forging knives to kill him.)

THEN worse, Red Robin gets on his ass about cybersecurity of all things. Turns out another player, identified by the moniker TooFineTooFurious has been tracking John’s phone and has been rummaging around official JLD documents- How was John supposed to know that keeping his passwords on the notes app could be hackable? Red Robin declares him incompetent and John can only sigh, crush his phone and move on.

That all leads him to the summoning portal in front of him in this weird ghost themed high school gymnasium. It’s far too competent. It gives him goosebumps even before he can read out that they’re summoning the King of the Infinite Realms himself. John clicks the panic alarm on his JL communicator before engaging with the Trio before him.

They’re not wearing any capes, no candles are lit, but this is the scariest cult he’s ever seen. Jasmine Fenton, ghost denier, Sam Manson, Heiress and Plant Witch (?), Some other dude with a beret and fucking DRONES (he considers this might be the man who hacked him). John pleads with them, they don’t know what they’re trying to do. Pariah Dark will kill them all, eat their entire planet for breakfast!! Everyone rolls their eyerolls at him, and he’s taken aback by their nonchalance.

Plant guards grab him and a drone has a laser sight on his forehead. He fights but is subdued- They’re almost done chanting when Superman, Green Lantern, Red Robin and Cyborg all appear. Despite their disruption- the chanting ends with the green illumination of the circle. Despair fills the air.

And then- Poof- a groaning young man appears.

“Dudes you have no idea how unhelpful the Infi-map is sometimes. I was lost for like weeks and CW was being such a bitch ab- What. Wait, who are all- Holy shit did you guys summon the Justice League?” The Ghost King in full Regalia stared back at them in questioning concern. The three summoners start bitching at the monarch and John... isn’t sure if this is going to be an interdimensional incident yet.

#dpxdc #dcxdp #dc x dp #dp x dc #dc crossover #dp crossover #danny phantom #red robin #cult summoning but it's just your homies #jazz fenton #john constantine #justice league dark

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stxend · 1 year

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ough ouch

#MASSIVE headache and feel like shit #there's a divine curse on me that there will always be something wrong at the holidays #my moms bird had a stroke. had another massive anxiety attack #(i did not the bird <-)#BRIGHT SIDE THOUGH my uncle that mysteriously left to greece at the beginning of the pandemic came back #and gave me more money in the parking lot of a jimmy john's. im not related to him at all but like thanks king!#ANYWAYS about to rewatch spider-verse for a good cry have a nice evening #vent

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kismets-barista · 4 months

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Hold onto your Stetson, @ohposhers; have I got some personal HickDory lore for you 😎💜🌟🫧

Excuse the insanity for those who don't feel compelled towards these two

SO!

Hickory and JD met a few good years before the events of the World Tour when Dory was traveling to find Lonesome Flats, got heatstroke and passed out in the desert. Wakes up to Hickory shadowed in the flickering light of a campfire beneath a canopy of the brightest stars he'd seen since the Neverglades, but it wouldn't be until QUITE a few months later until they really started developing crushes against each other. (Cowboy under the stars, you'd think he'd fall right then and there, right? 🌟)

Why was Hickory already in Lonesome Flats, you might ask? Where was Dickory?

In a glue trap, I say in response. Hickory came from Yodelsberg (is there a canonical name for this?) for international study and to learn about new music. He fell in love with country because yodeling and country music are actually quite gorgeous together. She Taught Me to Yodel, anyone?

Delta Dawn obviously didn't take to Dory showing up and around the town, but after some convincing by Hickory and lots of proving himself (plus a vulture attack that resulted in John Dory saving the very young niece of Delta Dawn- Clampers-) he 'earned' a place there and began to work around town.

It was weird for him.

He'd never quite settled down, until then.

(Now, the specific timeline, yearly I mean is a little muddled because I'm still crafting this, but I'll put them out about three years, now.)

John Dory was still living in Lonesome Flats, and he'd started a relationship with Hickory. They loved each other, as my cohort in crime @protagonist-art (CHECK OUT THEIR ART I LOVE THEM SM MUAH) has Hickory tell John when we get write them, "More than the moon loves the ocean." As surely as the tide pulls in and out, so the lovers return to each other.

So Via, what does Hickory think about BroZone?

Oh, my sweet star.

He doesn't know.

After returning to the devastated Troll Tree, John Dory lost a piece of his heart in the damaged pod they used to live in. It was the first time he went grey, and the memories of his brothers started shifting from what was, to what would never be again. He couldn't find it within himself to talk about them, and has his secrets.

But so does Hickory.

Girl wdym stop being so mysterious.

Heh. I know. It's just a glimpse into my dark mind /ref. Anyways, Hickory never told John Dory he was a Yodeler troll. (Another piece of lore that Quizzy and I worked on together and I think it's brilliant.)

Huh? Aren't they in a long-term relationship? Won't this cause issues later on if they don't share these things with each other?

Oh, they love every aspect of each other too much for their bond to truly be broken.

And yet.

One morning, years after just living and loving, John Dory wakes up with a massive headache and nausea.

"Maybe it's that horse that kicked me yesterday, could've gotten me harder than we both thought."

"Lemme check for a knot, Darlin'."

No knots, but there was an egg.

🌟 (Here I'll say that I'm massively in love with the headcanon that trolls conceive through true love- it isn't quite necessary for them to physically do anything unless they want to. Just them, wholeheartedly trusting and putting everything into their relationship and pouring their heart out to their partner.)

They were absolutely ECSTATIC, and rightfully terrified in their own ways. Neither of them were looking for children but not against it, and after resting for a few days they began to plan. A nursery in the house, baby books with millions of names scattered on the coffee table, toys and cute little baby clothes for when the little one hatched.

Wanna know two of the names John Dory had in mind? Rhonda and Dolly.

They were ecstatic until the night John Dory woke up absolutely ill and with a pit in his stomach.

They lost the egg, and it was the second time John Dory went grey in his life.

A week after this had happened, John Dory left a bundled lock of his hair at Hickory's nightstand and did what he knows how to do all too well. He ran.

Hickory never went too far out of Lonesome Flats in the hopes that John Dory would come back. He couldn't imagine what would happen if his love came back and didn't find him there.

The events of World Tour come about, Hickory meets Branch, and travels for the first time since John Dory left.

John Dory continued to travel, until the events of Band Together.

But don't worry, dear readers, for as surely as the tides come in, so will the lovers meet again. 🌟

Aaaand BOOM! That's it! 💜 I've got lore behind the names Rhonda and Dolly as well, and am SO down to answer any questions about them that anyone has. For you, Posh, thank you for asking and helping me to share a story I've been working on, and for everyone else that read this, thank you kindly! I hope that everyone who made it this far has quite a lovely day, or if you didn't, have a lovely day anyways!

Remember to take your meds, drink water, eat something, and stretch!

💜🌟🫧

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idontknowreallywhy · 1 month

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Resurface 11 - Revise

Previous bits here

Um, sorry John…

🧡💙🧡💙🧡💙🧡💙🧡💙🧡💙🧡💙🧡💙

John growled and swiped his organic chemistry notes off his desk. The file sailed over the bed, slammed into the wall and, inevitably, the pages popped out of the binder and fluttered all over the room.

It was useless anyway, he couldn’t focus. None of it was making sense. Chemistry made no sense. His lack of ability to THINK made no sense. Probably because his entire life, right now, made no sense. His scattered notes had more chance of putting themselves back together than his family did. But he couldn’t let himself start thinking about that.

Not now. Not yet.

John had managed to get nearly back on track over the last couple of months, after that first four weeks of agony. He’d have respected the determination, the sheer bloody-mindedness that only John ever came close to taking his title for.

John just had to get through the next 3 weeks then he could… fall apart or whatever.

He clawed at his scalp in an attempt to release the constant tension that was making his eyes hurt and to distract himself from the suspicion he already had fallen apart or whatever.

Everything was… too much. He had so much to do. And 418 hours 47 minutes in which to do it all. So much still to get in his head. Which was way too full of all of the other thoughts he couldn’t compartmentalise properly because apparently he was weak minded and about to throw everything away. And on top of all that, with Dad doing whatever he was doing with the GDF big wigs, John was expected to cook for everyone and look after the kids and generally pick up the slack Virgil had just abandoned for a five day binge of complaining of a headache and creeping around the house muttering nonsense to himself.

John was actually a little worried about that. More than a little. But he forced himself to shut it away. It would be fine… Virgil would be fine. He had to be fine. Just like John did. Was. Fine was the Tracy way. Scott was always…

No. Stop.

Later.

He dug his fingernails into his thighs, bending one of them slightly back on the thick seam of the chinos he’d been wearing for 19.7 days. Nobody had noticed. All the other pants he owned were annoying. So. Whatever.

Scott would have noticed and quietly ordered him a second pair…

His fingertip throbbed angrily.

Argh, this had to stop. None of these thoughts were a good use of time. All of it was irrelevant, except the work.

A tiny voice asked how he could possibly betray his brother’s memory by adding him to that list… he quashed it with a mental fist of steel. He’d want him to do well. He’d always been proud, cheered him on… been sat in the front row between Dad and Virgil and clapping excessively loudly as John reluctantly shuffled red-faced on to the stage at high school prize-giving...

Breathe, John.

He picked up a well thumbed tome on astrophysics… it may be a waste of time - this was easy and didn’t need revision, but he needed to stop these unproductive trains of thought. This was easier to get absorbed in.

Approximately 8.25 minutes later his focus was broken yet again by a scratching noise above him. Aaaaah. Not bats again! Please no, they gave him the creeps but it was illegal to shift the things once they took up residence. He’d have to swap rooms with Virgil. He couldn’t sleep up here if there were…

Hell, they were massive sounding bats…

John flung open the window to peer up into the eaves… Dad had blocked the hole last year so how had they got in there to…

Some sixth sense made him suspicious of the volume of the scrabbling noise overhead and he ducked his head back inside, very narrowly avoiding having his face smashed in by a falling roof tile. Closely followed by… a shoe. A big shoe.

What? It hit the ground with a thud and John squinted down at it. A boot? One of Virgil’s he was sure of it but why on earth…?

A thud overhead, a clatter, a muffled curse in a very familiar baritone and two more tiles slid past his horrified face in quick succession.

Everything in his head went grey and screechy. He rushed from through the house yelling for Dad. Screeching for Dad. It was him screeching. He had no control over his vocal cords anymore, they had short circuited with his amygdala and were bypassing all coherent thought.

There was only panic.

🧡💙🧡💙🧡💙🧡💙🧡💙🧡💙🧡💙🧡💙

Thank you to @astranite for helping me voice this one better - I’ve not got inside John’s head much before, at least without EOS for him to bounce off…

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #john tracy #scott tracy #virgil tracy #idontknowreallywhy fanfic #resurface fic

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lazaruswitch · 4 months

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Guy Gardner: sometimes nuisance, often great friend, forever ginger, former social worker and teacher, current Green Lantern and... father.

"What the fuck," says Kyle. He was pretty exhausted from his latest assignment, and hadn't even hit the showers or went to bed yet, so he probably misheard. Or was hallucinating.

"What, Jane?" says Hal, like that's a normal fucking thing to say when John suddenly starts talking about running into Guy's daughter.

"What."

"Jane, or RJ, whichever she says. You haven't met her yet?" he continues as he digs through a bag. "You're missing out Kyle, she's a killer cook. Smart girl too, got a massive scholarship when she got into NYU. Might've been top of her class? Aha!"

Here, Hal pulls out a bag of brownies and crows in victory. Kyle's headache only intensifies.

"Oh, life is so good to me sometimes. Kyle, I'd offer, but I value these more than my life, so you're going to have to do all the hard work yourself."

Whatever that means. Hal starts eating the brownies like he's reenacting a vaguely pornographic food commercial. Kyle grimaces and turns away to look at John.

"Since when did Guy have a daughter? I've never heard anything about her," he asks.

"I'm not too sure myself, but I imagine it's been a couple years now. She was about 16 when he took her in, if I'm remembering right," John answers mildly.

Kyle blanches at that because, well, again, what the fuck. It sounded like she was already out of college, or at least finished a degree. That was probably at least 5 years of her being around somewhere.

John must see something on his face, because he says, "We didn't find out ourselves for a while, and only by accident."

"Yeah," Hal adds, slightly muffled. "He'd gone radio silent after a mission, and we were worried 'cause he got pretty roughed up. So we show up at his place and whaddya know! Some teenage girl, and a redhead at that, answers the door with the nastiest look on her face. Thought she'd deck us, honestly. And then Guy rushes out - totally fine for the record - and nearly flips his shit at us."

John gives Hal an unimpressed look.

"Get cleaned up and rest, Kyle," he says. "You'll see Guy in a few days, you can ask him then. It's high time you met her anyway, considering her ring."

"Her what?"

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faytelumos · 1 year

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Into the Black With a Matchstick, pt2

@those-damn-snippets @thepotatoofnopes @robin-parravel @invader-mint-tea

cw: drug use (barely described)

---

It wasn't waking up from cryo that had Doctor Adina Ramirez clutching a sick bag for dear life. The massive headache that came from being a freeze-dried raisin person and the feverish, wholistic hunger were nausea-inducing, of course, but her stomach was stronger than that. It wasn't even the ship's interface blandly informing her that there was an intelligent, non-human body attempting to establish a communications line. Even walking up to the console and seeing that the four biologists (including both astrobiologists) who had failed to wake up before her hadn't quite been enough to bring her to her knees with a sudden cold-sweat.

It was the mission clock.

26,008,372 years, 217 days, 8 hours, 36 minutes

She had checked four times to make sure that was million, and not thousand. Maybe if it was thousand, she wouldn't have needed the bag.

Doctor Johnathan Harrison sat at the table with his hands buried in his hair, leaning forward on his elbows, the rehydration pouch sitting in front of him. He hadn't punctured it yet. Adina had unfortunately almost finished hers.

The agreement had been that if and when space travel technology advanced, a crew would catch up to The Solstice and update everything. Maybe even wake the crew and check up on everyone. But almost fifty times the length of recorded human history had passed between the launch and this wake-up call.

Humanity was dead. Even if the sun was still alive (she thought it should be), there was simply no way that humans still existed on that planet. Just as terrifying, perhaps humanity had completely collapsed back to the stone age and rebuilt from scratch, hitting a second space age and setting off into the sky without any kind of record of The Solstice to recover.

She wretched again.

"You're gonna make me sick," John whispered shakily.

Adina coughed and spat, then pinched the bag and pulled it away from her face with trembling hands. She tied it off and carefully placed it in the receptacle.

"Okay," Adina breathed, though her voice was scratchy and uneven. "Aliens. We have to talk to the aliens." John laughed, suddenly and unsteadily.

"Welcome back to the land of the living!" he joked, "Your entire planet is probably dead and there's a real alien ship knocking on the door — have a Slurpee!" Adina laughed, too, even though it made her head scream and her guts ache harder than ever.

John got to work setting up the channel. The frequency the aliens were using was unorthodox, but easy to replicate. But Adina felt like the entire ship was spinning like a top, her badly dehydrated and starving body wobbling all around her. God knew how much more time the aliens were going to give them to talk — for all she knew, the initial message was, "You're trespassing, respond immediately or we'll turn you into space dust."

And then the computer had asked for a confirmation, then proceeded to wake up five pods in careful succession, then handed out a lunch pack, and then finally informed Adina that there had been a message.

"I can't do this, I'm gonna pass out," Adina breathed. Holy shit, she felt like human garbage. The word "dizzy" came nowhere near this sensation. John watched Adina with bloodshot eyes and shaking fingers.

"I, I know of something that'll help."

It took ages, but they finally ended up in the medbay, and John pulled a small bottle out of a hiding spot so out-of-the-way there was no way in hell he hadn't been the one to stash it there.

"Doctor Harrison?" Adina said cautiously as John found a syringe. "Did you smuggle drugs onto an international, interstellar spaceship?" John looked at her like he was confused, eyes wide and lips parted as he held his items. He blinked once, and for a moment he looked every bit like a kid caught breaking the rules red-handed.

"It's a performance enhancer."

---

The aliens looked like exactly what would happen if a lion and a hyena had a baby and it came out a dinosaur.

There was no sense of size with the video feed, but she could tell by their eyes that they were huge. Her guess was a meter and a half at the head, which was well bigger than both Earthly carnivores. The scales on their bodies were thick and healthy, with Paxie's being a glimmering maroon and the other's some kind of iridescent purple-green. Both monsters had jaws that were definitely designed to crush sturdy bones, but Paxie was bigger and had longer teeth. The other one's shoulder spikes were thicker, and its head was more aerodynamic.

These drugs were something else. Adina almost couldn't feel her body right now, which was exactly what she needed. Her brain was running on overdrive and she could feel it, but she was keeping pace like a thoroughbred. These aliens were large carnivores with adaptations for high levels of sunlight, dry air, blunt force trauma, fast-moving targets, and strong prey. Something like this and smart enough to have an instant universal translator could do whatever the hell it wanted with The Solstice and still have time for lunch afterwards.

God, Adina was starving.

"Captain Ramirez, Lieutenant Harrison, please excuse us," Paxie choked before turning off the translator. The other one said something in their unfiltered language.

"What do we do?" John whispered.

"They're trying to be friendly," Adina uttered. "Hopefully they mean it."

"Are we betting the last members of humanity on that thing's friendliness?" John said.

Adina watched Paxie. Their appearance set off alarm bells all across Adina's brain. But she couldn't tell how much was basic instinct and how much was logical caution. And if she was being honest with herself, she'd probably never in her life been this mentally compromised. High on some weird stimulant and staring an honest-to-God intelligent alien in the face while the death of her entire species was pounding on the walls, she knew if there was another choice in leadership, she'd have to tap out immediately.

But she was the first biologist lucky enough to wake up, and she'd finished her thesis a year before John.

"We don't have a choice," she breathed shakily, trying to school her expression. She was the leader of the human species right now.

She was not ready for this.

"No matter what happens, we're at these people's mercy," she whispered. "The best we can do is appease them until we get our bearings." John sighed raggedly, and Adina could see from the corner of her eye that his hands were shaking badly again. Hers probably were, too. She couldn't look at them. She just kept watching Paxie, because she was in charge now, and everything she had ever known depended on her getting everyone through this alive.

---

Paxie tried to keep their breathing even as the shuttle hissed and trundled towards the alien ship. Both sides had agreed that there was no need for the ancient ship to adjust its course; the Xoixe vessel could adjust and keep pace with it without any trouble. Paxie thought it a clever enough resolution, since the composition of the ancient ship's fuel was so foreign it wasn't yet clear if anyone could make more.

Paxie wasn't scared. Of course not. These creatures, unnerving as they were, posed no threat. They were small and their machinery, upon closer inspection, was in a bad way. And it was no wonder, with how long they'd been adrift and asleep. But Paxie would be lying outright if they said they weren't intimidated by the task of assimilating these things. Of course it would turn out that when they finally got a chance to make first contact, they got the most unusual creatures in the universe. It was just their luck.

The boarding party was comprised of three individuals. Paxie had flexed their authority to afford themself a seat with only a hint of shame. The second person was another Xoixe, Ensign Kime, a xenomedic. The third individual was the most important of the group.

Sergeant Klte was a Qomo, one of the smaller species in the Xoixe's catalog of allies. Given the delicate and relatively defenseless physiology of the new aliens, Paxie had determined that Klte would be the best received as the face of the alliance. Klte, like all of its kind, stood on four thin legs, each ended with three hooked claws. It rose up on an elegant, slim torso, four thin arms with four claws each sprouting from reedy shoulders. Its head was sleek and mostly featureless, its face consisting only of a thin, lipless line for a mouth and a pair of large, black eyes. The pale skin that looked much softer than it felt completed the look of a spindly, almost harmless individual.

Paxie was quite proud of themself. Klte was downright cute, and the aliens would surely warm up to its lanky and pale appearance. Especially since the two species shared compatible atmospheric needs.

The boarding ship rotated slightly and decelerated, then made a low-pitched rattle. The clamps were secured. A moment later, there was a brief, deep hiss, and the airlock doors unlocked and slid open.

Captain Ramirez and Lieutenant Harrison both stood in the hall, and they had to look up to meet Paxie's eyes. Paxie dipped their nose respectfully before speaking, and the translator repeated their words in a small speaker on the outside of their environment suit.

"May we come aboard?"

Ramirez and Harrison looked at Paxie and Kime with wide eyes. But when Harrison noticed Klte, they… flinched.

And then Ramirez gasped quietly.

Paxie glanced back at Klte, concern worrying at their stomach. Perhaps these weren't fear responses. As a prey species, these newcomers could have mannerisms a Xoixe simply didn't understand.

"Please, follow us," Ramirez said, and both of the small creatures turned and walked into the ship. Paxie was going to lead, but the tunnels in this vessel were… tight. Being a carrier, Paxie was about as big as Xoixes got, and they weren't confident in their ability to move around in such a claustrophobic space, especially with their full environment suit on. They turned to Klte.

"Go ahead; I might have trouble."

"Aye, sir," Klte hissed in its rasping voice. It clicked forward, and Paxie also allowed Kime to pass before finally stepping in and bringing up the rear.

Paxie couldn't see well over Kime's shoulders, but they heard the moment when Klte popped the seal on its helmet. Ramirez gasped again, something struck the metal floor, and Kime halted abruptly.

"What happened?" Paxie barked, perking their ears against the inside of the helmet.

"Nothing, we're all fine," Ramirez replied. Kime tried to look backwards, but there was no room in the tight hall. Paxie shifted, trying to get any kind of view, but their helmet just smacked against the cable routing in the top of the hall. They gritted their teeth.

"Admiral," Kime uttered, and she had turned off her translator. Paxie did the same.

"Yes?"

"I don't have a good understanding of their chemical biology yet, but these creatures are exhibiting signs of extreme stress."

Paxie watched Kime's back as they all clamored through the corridors. "You're my eyes, Ensign."

"Their muscles are tense, eye movement is rapid as far as I can tell, hypersensitivity to sound and visual input, and I may be detecting altered blood-flow."

Paxie held back a self-deprecating sigh. They had truly thought Klte's appearance would be soothing, but there must have been something about it that set off the new aliens. Paxie couldn't help but wonder what possible characteristic a Qomo had that was unsettling.

"We'll see if distance with Sergeant Klte will make a difference," Paxie said. "Hopefully our new friends will be comfortable enough joining us to tell us what's happening here."

#writing #writeblr #humans are space orcs #sci fi #Fayte writes #barely edited #like really truely I gave this a cursory glance at best #I'm a little impatient to post this since it's been so long #anyway

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macravishedbymactavish · 1 year

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Seeing Ghosts (!Platonic Simon "Ghost" Riley, John "Soap" Mactavish x GN! Reader)

TW for major character death, typical COD violence, descriptions of injuries, I broke my own heart writing this.

| Blog HQ | Modern Warfare 2 Masterlist |

You groaned the burning in your shoulder getting worse as you leaned back against the wall. You were waiting for one of your team members to pick you up, get you to the rendezvous point for evac.

The mission went sideways, between the world changing betrayl, your allies being detained, and 2 out of the 3 of you being shot it was all around a nightmare that you couldn't wake up from. Shifting yourself slightly, the shooting pain made you hiss. Blinking the involuntarily tears out of your eyes, you noticed a worn down poster on the opposite wall.

When nothing goes right, go left!

You rolled your eyes, "charming"

"You're alive" your gaze shifted to the thick British accent from beside you. "Banged up, but alive". He continued as you smiled softly. Watching as Ghost kneeled beside you, pressing lightly around your shoulder.

"Just.." You started, biting back a wave of nausea "Just wrap it up, we'll let the medics deal with it" you sighed.

"Are you sure?" He questioned, still moving to wrap the gauze around the joint as you requested. "It's gonna hurt like hell if we have to fight back". Maybe it was the adrenaline, maybe it was the blood loss, but you lightly laughed to yourself.

"You and Soap didn't take care of everyone already? Whatever happened to your 2 man dream team" You teased, knowing the two worked rather well together. Even if Ghost refused to admit it.

"Need the entire trio for that" He deadpanned, tucking the gauze in on itself, offering you a hand off the floor.

"Are you two done? Shadows are still on the witchhunt. Have your girly sleepover later" you heard Soap through comms. "I'm downstairs, about 2 minutes from leaving your arse's behind".

You brushed the offered hand away, opting to hoist yourself off the floor using your good hand against the wall. Another wave of nausea and pain hit you when you were finally up straight. Leaning against the wall, you took a deep breath through your nose.

Focus.

Get out of here alive, then feel horrible later.

Ghost was in the back, watching you like a hawk. While Soap led the way, leading you through the dark alleyways. Trying to find a way out of the city without being caught by the lingering Shadows. You hadn't run into any yet, which surprised and worried you.

Graves had his whole team out looking. Why call off the search? The number of dead Shadow Company soldiers in the streets, alongside the civilians who met the same fate, didn't add up. Where are they?

You felt your heart rate pick up, and your fingers began to lose feeling.

Fuckfuckfuck.

Not now.

Do not pass out now.

You pushed yourself further, make it to the field outside the old school. Make it to rendezvous.

Make it home.

A flashlight shining, followed by familiar voices calling your name. You pushed yourself to walk a bit faster, legs still losing feeling as your vision was punctuated by black dots.

The last thing you heard before falling into the cool darkness was Ghost and Soap yelling for you to keep going, while Price screamed your name.

You woke up with a massive headache, which was made worse by the fluorescent lights shining down on you.

"Hold on, I've got you" you heard Price whisper from somewhere beside you before the lights were dimmed. "Could never figure out why hospitals chose such obnoxious lighting. Would've went for something warmer toned myself".

You slowly opened your eyes, still squinting as you peered around the room. Nobody else was here yet, you figured Ghost and Soap were being assessed and treated for their own injuries.

"We thought we lost you too. 3 days before we found you in the field" you scrunched your eyebrows together.

3 days?

"Had to have been fate, we weren't even supposed to be searching that part of town yet" Fate? That you three went to the rendezvous point?

"What do you remember?" A gentle voice asked from the doorway, Laswell. Coffees in hand, eyes filled with pain while her face remained calm. Easily reading the confusion across your face.

"What do you mean? We got betrayed by Graves and Shepard at the base in Las Almas. We all got separated after Johnny got shot, then I caught a bullet to the shoulder while fighting a Shadow in a shop. Then Simon and Johnny came back for me and we made it to the rendezvous point. You guys reached them by comms to tell them where evac would be" you shook your head, how is this a question? It's a massive problem, leaving 3 of their soldiers in medical.

You missed the knowing look shared between the other adults in the room. A silent conversation of who's going to tell them?

"Um-" Price started, sighing.

"Where are they?" You cut him off, eyes full of hope. Which he was about to crush, unbeknownst to you. "Where's Ghost and Soap?" You pushed, heart rate increasing with the sad look you received from your superiors. Feeling the bed dip as Laswell sat at the foot. Hand resting on your leg.

"No, no. They were in better shape than I was in that field. This joke isn't funny. Where are they?" Your heart slamming inside your ribs, eyes stinging from unshed tears as the room remained silent. You pushed yourself into a sitting position, ignoring the tension and pulling of the wound in your shoulder.

"They didn't survive Las Almas the night Graves and Shepard turned" Price started slowly, gauging your reaction before continuing. "We recovered their bodies the first day after the Shadows took over the town. You were MIA....for 3 days" you could barely hear anything outside of the heartbeat in your ears. This was a cruel joke. It had to be.

Nobody goes MIA for 3 days without realizing...right? You were all gone for the one night together.

"We started searching for you that day, and continued until the night we found you. We were on our way back to base when you showed up in the field." You felt the tears falling down your face as the gentle hand on your leg squeezed softly.

"You're lying. They were right behind me! They told me to go to the field!" You sobbed, hands shaking. "They were there. They were fine. Simon and Johnny were fine!" You snapped, sobs catching in your chest. You watched as the tears Price had been fighting finally fell.

They were fine, they were there with you...

"I'm sorry--" you heard him start, as you shook your head. Feeling his hand lay on your shoulder as you processed the information.

You felt a hollow sensation build in your chest and body.

Ghost and Soap are gone.

Simon and Johnny are gone.

Your best friends are gone.

Taglist: @bloodonmyhands-1221

#call of duty modern warfare 2 #simon ghost riley x reader #simon ghost riley #john soap mctavish x reader #john soap mactavish #captain john price #kate laswell #angst

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grumpylittlebi · 9 months

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Ok ok ok just finished season 2 and I have tHings to sAy

Spoilers below

Ok. I loved season 2. I did. I binged it all from 8pm-12:30am and I have a massive headache. Here are my thoughts in a list that has no order because I’m tired af and I currently have tears steaming down my face.

- Jim (Gabriel) was awesome. His character was adorable and made me happy.

- See the above comment but for Muriel too

- I now have a crush on John Hamm I think

- Crowley being protective of his angel 🥺

- The Nina and Maggie romance was cute but I wasn’t very invested

- I missed old Beelzebub but I also like the new one very much

- idk i didn’t really feel the character of Shax. She annoyed me mostly

- I never expected to come out of this shipping ineffable bureaucracy, yet here we are

- I weirdly missed Hastur??? Lol

- Aziraphale turning the Bentley yellow and driving 30 mph was cute and also relatable af because I too drive like a grandma

- Everyday by Buddy Holly is a great song and I think it worked very well in the story

- That ending. No no no no no. You cannot do this to me. They kissed, yes, but it wasn’t cute or passionate like how I had imagined it. It was desperate. Crowley was desperate to admit to his angel he loved him and i thought they were finally going to run away together. How could Aziraphale choose a position in heaven over this demon he has loved for over 6,000 years???? Like!!! I know Aziraphale just wants to do good and make things better but I’m just angry and heartbroken and I just don’t understand fuck you metatron and fuck you nightingale *sobs*

- How am I supposed to cosplay Crowley now at nycc this year feeling this way

- Ima just pretend that last part didn’t happen and Azi and Crowley smooched and got married on Alpha Centauri

- If there isn’t a season 3 I may commit the big die

The end

#good omens 2 #good omens spoilers #good omens 2 spoilers #Neil gaiman im comin for you #my heart hurts

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mariacallous · 7 months

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When a team of three top Biden administration national security officials gave a private briefing to the House of Representatives on Oct. 11, they proposed working with Congress on emergency funding to tackle multiple foreign-policy crises at once: the Israel-Hamas war, the war in Ukraine, support for Taiwan, and the U.S. southern border.

In the past, such a proposal wouldn’t elicit much controversy. Even in the hyper-partisan House, support for Israel is virtually unanimous, while nearly all Democrats and most Republicans broadly agree on funding to back Ukraine and counter Russia and China. But when the administration officials brought up the idea of a joint supplemental funding package in the briefing, a group of Republicans responded by jeering them with a chorus of boos.

The exchange, described to Foreign Policy by one lawmaker in attendance and three congressional aides briefed on the matter, offers a glimpse into how the chaos in the Republican-controlled House is morphing from a domestic political circus into a massive foreign-policy headache for the Biden administration. How that chaos plays out could have major implications for the scale and timing of U.S. security assistance to Israel as well as the continued flow of U.S. military aid to Ukraine, seen as critical in its war against Russia.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby warned last week that Washington is “running out of runway” to send security assistance to Israel and Ukraine without additional funding from Congress—all stymied by the glaring absence of a House speaker amid unprecedented infighting among House Republicans. The Republicans are inching closer to naming Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump and skeptic of U.S. support for Ukraine, to be speaker, but he still faces an uphill battle to scrape together enough votes from the Republican caucus to get the job.

“The sooner that there’s a speaker of the House, obviously, the more comfortable we’ll all be in terms of being able to support Israel and Ukraine right now,” Kirby said. “Because of existing appropriations and existing authorities, we’ve been OK. But that’s not going to last forever.”

The House has been mired in dysfunction ever since a fringe group of Republicans ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his job two weeks ago, with no succession plan in mind. Republicans are in the midst of a mini-civil war politically over how to climb out of the mess.

The first question is: Who will the next House speaker be? Under current rules, the House is extremely limited in what it can do without a confirmed speaker. At this point, the House can’t even pass a resolution voicing support for Israel after the Hamas terrorist attacks that has support from more than 400 of its 433 members, let alone pass complex security assistance funding packages. (There are currently two vacancies in the House.)

While nearly all Republicans and Democrats will back funding for new security assistance packages to Israel, Ukraine is more complicated. A coterie of the GOP House opposes further aid to Ukraine, with some arguing the United States has given the eastern European country enough, and with at least one, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, parroting Russian talking points on the origins of the conflict. If Ukraine becomes more politicized on the right, more members could follow suit and begin opposing—or, at the very least, not proactively supporting—Ukraine aid. Those dynamics matter when the Republicans have a razor-thin majority in the House.

Jordan, a longtime budget hawk who has championed Trump’s falsehoods about the results of the 2020 election, has emerged as the only front-runner who may actually net enough votes to be speaker. Jordan still has to sway dozens of Republicans to his cause, including foreign-policy hawks and centrists who are skeptical of his leadership credentials. Since the Democrats will not vote for him, Jordan needs to convince 217 of the 221 Republicans in the House to back him to be elected, leaving little margin for any dissent.

The second question is whether defense hawks can use the House speakership race to their advantage to clinch gains for national security funding, including on Ukraine.

Jordan notched some significant wins on Monday when two prominent Ukraine supporters endorsed him. Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Ken Calvert, who leads the powerful defense subcommittee on appropriations, both threw their weight behind Jordan. Those endorsements may signal that Jordan is willing to make deals on keeping U.S. military aid to Ukraine flowing, though neither Rogers nor Calvert explicitly said so in their statements.

The third question is what happens to future funding packages—known as supplementals—for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and border security. Three administration officials confirmed that the Biden administration wants to bundle funding together into one big package to pass both the House and the Senate—though the administration has yet to unveil the specifics of this plan. The package the administration is drafting could be presented to Congress as soon as the end of this week, these officials said. Democrats endorse the strategy of bundling these four national security measures into one supplemental, as do some prominent Republican lawmakers such as Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Nearly all Republicans endorse boosting funding for Israel, which has outsized significance in American politics, and for Taiwan, to counter China. Nearly all Republicans also want to pressure the Biden administration to spend more on border security. The hitch is Ukraine, where a sliver of the slim Republican majority can derail funding. Democrats, as well as some centrist Republicans, figure that linking all the funding together would make it all but impossible to block more money for Ukraine. Not all Republicans, including Ukraine supporters like Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, are sold on that plan, however.

The next big question is what those aid packages will contain. The Senate, fed up with the chaos in the House, is rushing to draft its own supplemental aid package for Israel and potentially Ukraine without waiting for the dust to settle in the House. Any final bill would ultimately have to pass both the House and Senate. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee separately has scheduled confirmation hearings this week for President Joe Biden’s picks to be ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, and ambassador to Egypt, Herro Mustafa Garg, as the crisis highlighted the growing backlog of national security nominees in limbo.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer traveled to Israel over the weekend and said he discussed what a U.S. aid package to Israel would entail. Among the Israeli wish list that Schumer outlined is replenishing stocks for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, precision-guided bombs, and 155 mm mortar shells.

So far, the White House and Senate leadership have been quiet on what Ukraine might get. However, several Western defense officials familiar with the inner workings of U.S. military aid to Ukraine say a supplemental would likely include funding to replenish U.S. weapons stockpiles as older weapons and artillery munitions are transferred to Ukraine, as well as training, upkeep, and maintenance for Ukrainians using and being trained on advanced U.S. weapons systems such as long-range artillery systems and M1 Abrams tanks.

Past supplementals for Ukraine have also funded salaries—to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars—for U.S. service members deployed in Europe to train Ukrainians and conduct more military exercises with NATO allies in a bid to deter Russia from expanding the war.

The political battles in Washington constitute an existential issue for Ukraine, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. During a visit to Washington in September, Schumer recounted to reporters how Zelensky summed up his dilemma to U.S. lawmakers: “Mr. Zelensky said, ‘If we don’t get the aid, we will lose the war,’” Schumer said.

House Democrats, meanwhile—stuck on the sidelines while they wait for Republicans to elect their own replacement speaker—have made their frustrations clear.

“We have a war in Europe, a war in the Middle East, challenges around the world, tensions in the Indo-Pacific, and the United States is unable to elect a speaker of the House,” Democratic Rep. Andy Kim told Foreign Policy in an interview. “What kind of signal does that send to our adversaries and our competitors?”

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pizza-games-and-more · 1 year

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PTTS Bonus Episode

I came up with a horrifying idea right before going to sleep. It's set in the PTTS universe, but its genuinely terrifying tone (we're talking straight-up horror) clashes so much with the rest of it that I can't make it part of the series.

So consider it an unaired episode that was completed but didn't make it to the public until the DVD release as a bonus feature. It is considered non-canon.

And yes, of course it focuses on Vigi and Maria because I can't take my mind off those two lately.

---

Title: "Bad Spirits"

Season: 3

Summary: Maria hears of rumors about a cursed area in the forest. It's said that any life that enters it never comes out. But that can't be true. People have exited that area. Sure, they were terrified, but the rumors must have been an exaggeration. So she turns it into a fun, spooky camping trip with Vigi. However, she finds out there was a little bit of truth to the rumor...

Notes: You ready for this? Good, let's keep reading.

As the two set up camp, they're not really taking it all that seriously. They're just having a laugh, sharing stories about scarier stuff they've encountered, and just having a fun time overall.

However, things change that night when Vigi begins to feel a little... off. At first, he starts to feel a massive headache that he tries to shrug off. But then, it starts to get worse and worse, and his senses start to come loose before he collapses.

As Maria moves him to a cozy area of the tent, believing him to be sick, she ends up going to sleep herself nearby...

But Vigi isn't asleep. He's panicking in this state. He can't move or speak or even open his eyes. He can feel his own body, but nothing else. And all sounds that enter his ears sound extremely distant.

All sounds... except one. His grandfather's ghost appears to him, sounding comforting but still obviously terrified for him. He tells him that there's a lot of ghosts out here. Bad ones. And one of them has taken an interest in him and is weakening his soul so it can take over his body.

Unfortunately, John E. Cheese is unable to drag the bad spirit out of his grandson due to how different these ghosts are, so all he can do is encourage him to hold out and fight back until he can find a way to help him.

Vigi holds out for as long as he can, but eventually ends up being taken over, only able to watch where his body's walking towards.

And it's walking towards the lake.

John wakes Maria up, tells her who he is and what's happening to Vigi. Maria immediately rushes to save him.

As a possessed Vigi stands right next to the lake, he's given a good look at it. There's skeletons and remains of rotten vegetables at the bottom, and frothy yellow foam at the top. So many people have been possessed and led to their deaths in that lake, and he was next.

Before his body takes a step in, though, Maria tackles him and pins him to the ground, yelling at the evil ghost taking over his body.

She tries and tries to will Vigi's soul back to strength, but it's useless. As it seems all hope is lost, a magical bolt descends from the sky and hits Vigi, expelling the ghost taking him over.

As Vigi's eyes close and he hears Maria screaming his name, he swears he can see someone standing in a nearby tree holding a magic staff...

Much later, Vigi wakes up at home. He's back in control of his body. Maria's right next to him, looking overjoyed. The two discuss what happened. Apparently, he's been out for days while his soul recovered. Maria hadn't left his side all that time.

He reminds himself never to go there ever again, before thanking Maria for being there for him and stopping the evil ghost from killing him.

#pizza tower #concept: pizza tower the series #character: the vigilante #oc: maria nara #character: john e. cheese #sorry if it's bad #like I said I came up with it right before falling asleep lol

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kraekat29 · 4 months

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Day Nineteen- Gingerbread contest- JJ and Ruby + the pogues

The pogues didn’t really have many Christmas traditions, but seeing who could make the best gingerbread house was one of them.

Now, all the couples were paired off into teams, JJ and Ruby mainly smearing icing on each other and eating different pieces of their gingerbread house.

John B and Sage were kinda the same as them, just a little less messy about it, having more of a cute moment than a funny one.

Kiara and Sarah were forming a plan of how they wanted to do theirs and ended up arguing as they had different ideas than each other.

Cleo and Pope were the most organized and least messy, actually following the instructions and building it together.

By the time they were done, JJ and Ruby were a mess, John B and Sage were sugar high, Sarah was refusing to speak to Kiara and Pope and Cleo had a massive headache.

“ who won?” John B asked, everyone grumbling a response, nobody knew.

So, with a sigh Pope brought out the 1st place ribbons, already knowing something like this would happen and placed them on all the gingerbread houses.

Welcome to Pogue tradition.

#jj maybank #ruby routledge #john b routledge #sage medici #kiara carrera #pope heyward #cleo obx #sarah cameron #rafe cameron #jj maybank smut #obx #obx fic #outer banks #juby #jage #kraekat29’s25daysofchristmas

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gumnut-logic · 2 years

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It was late. The villa was quiet and Scott was tired.

But this wasn’t a situation where he was struggling with paperwork or tackling the other-side-of-the-planet business. Wasn’t even a rescue.

Well, not an International Rescue one, anyway.

He was currently sitting on a massive bed belonging to his eldest brother, in a dark room, with the holoprojector the only source of light.

That source of light was definitely a B-rater and all Gordon’s fault, as usual. How the fish got movie night rights so often, Scott really should ask John or Eos to investigate because there was a definite case of rigging there somewhere.

But really, right now, Scott was too tired to care.

He let his head drop back against the headboard and his eyes closed a moment.

The light flickered red through his eyelids. Fortunately, the sound had been lowered the moment Virgil fell asleep. Virgil sleep was precious at the moment and they were all happy to oblige whatever it took to get him there.

His engineer brother had been clobbered by a massive wooden beam two days ago and was still experiencing the effects of a nasty concussion. Vertigo, exhaustion and headaches were the reason the holoprojector was so dim and the room so dark.

It was also the reason why Scott was surrounded by all of his brothers and not just Virgil in Virgil’s bedroom.

Alan was sprawled across Scott’s legs, his head almost in a ball of popcorn as he drooled, mouth open, on Gordon’s jeans.

His fish brother was curled up next to Virgil, but halfway down the bed, and had faceplanted into the covers. Scott was wondering if he should give him a prod just in case he was suffocating in the quilt.

The snores from that direction pretty much comforted Scott on that front, and chances were a good prod would startle the fish enough to faceplant on the floor and honestly, though it would be highly amusing, Scott wasn’t that mean.

Well, not tonight.

Of course, whatever snoring Gordon was orchestrating, it barely compared to the brass section currently playing on Scott’s collarbone. Virgil was legendary in that department, but considering the difficulties his brother had been having with his sleep, Scott was happy to be his sounding pillow for the moment.

If he had slipped his arm around Virgil at some point earlier in the night, it was as much for Scott’s comfort as Virgil’s.

Every injury scared Scott silly, no matter the severity. He was just happy to have his brother home and recovering, if slowly.

Even John was down for this one. His astronaut brother was lying on Scott’s other side, sharing the Alan blanket. John, being John, was much more elegant in repose. He actually had acquired one of the pillows and was using it for its designed purpose.

John didn’t snore. He just whispered from time to time and asked Eos incomprehensible questions. Who knew what the AI thought of this or how often it happened. John had always been a little prone to talking in his sleep in varying languages, much to the amusement of his brothers, but he hadn’t actually tried to have full on conversations before.

Scott made a mental note to interrogate Eos on the subject.

The ‘projector flickered over to credits and both John and Gordon stirred.

Scott held his breath, poking at the controls to start another movie and even out the soundscape. Skipping credits and title sequences alike, he ended up on some old detective movie.

His brothers settled and Scott let out a quiet sigh.

Virgil snorted in his sleep and curled up closer, Scott an obvious source of warmth.

Scott pulled him tighter.

His other hand might have nudged up against John. His legs were pinned by Alan and Virgil was a mass of brother all down one side.

The only one he couldn’t quite reach was Gordon. But suddenly, as if the fish had read his thoughts, his arm shot out, reached over Virgil, and landed on Scott’s knee.

It squeezed once before falling limp, fingers caught in the cotton of Scott’s pyjama bottoms.

Scott couldn’t help but smile, biting his lip.

On the ‘projector, some guy was found dead and all the characters were dramatically concerned.

Scott didn’t notice, he relaxed back against the headboard again and closed his eyes.

It was late. The villa was quiet and Scott was tired.

But he was also happy.

-o-o-o-

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds fanfiction #thunderbirds #Scott Tracy #Virgil Tracy #nuttyfic reblog #I did write today but not enough #I'm working on it #with Hubby sick things are a bit messy #and I'm really tired

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sunattacksthemoon · 9 months

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10, 22 and 24 hehehe

hi🫢🫢

MUSIC ASKS🕺🕺

10. i just found and that i love

(I’ve liked the clash for a bit I just completely forgot about them until I heard this song again and I haven’t been able to listen to anything since🫠)

22. reminds me of a character

Okay I’m doing the main four cause that’s all I have the attention span for ( I’ve got a massive fucking headache)

Remus-

Sirius-

James-

Peter-

24. i want to be my theme song

Am I kidding? Possibly but who knows😌. It most likely would be:

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joanofnavarre · 2 years

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“The Houses of Plantagenet and Lancaster had not always been united. The Duchy of Lancaster - as it was later called - had emerged in the thirteenth century at the end of the Second Barons' War and death of the rebel Lord Simon de Montfort at Evesham.

The youngest son of Henry III, Edmund Crouchback, inherited de Montfort Earldom of Leicester and, later, Lancaster. By 1269, Edmund was on track to become an incredibly wealthy territorial magnate, like all who would succeed him.

Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, was a popular prince a capable and pious soldier - nicknamed Crouchback due to the motif of the cross he bore on his shield and wore on his back whilst on crusade.

He was fiercely loyal to his brother King Edward I (Longshanks'), fighting in his various wars across Scotland and France and overseeing extensive Plantagenet castle-building projects in Wales.

Over time Edmund accumulated a series of dignities, land and property. By the end of his life he was extremely powerful, with land dotted throughout the realm. After Edmund's death in Bayonne in 1296, he was interred at Westminster Abbey and his wealth distributed among his children: Thomas, Henry and John. Thomas inherited the title Earl of Lancaster. At the end of the thirteenth century, the relationship between the house of Lancaster and the Plantagenets was positive.

After Edward II ascended the throne, he immediately bestowed a royal title - Earl of Cornwall - on his favourite (and suspected lover) Piers Gaveston. This instantly sparked massive opposition from the nobility, and Thomas of Lancaster became a leading player in an uprising against the King and his favourite. In an unforgiving dispute, Gaveston was eventually caught and executed on Lancaster's lands near Kenilworth, infuriating the King and leading him to call Thomas of Lancaster a rebel and a traitor.

After Gaveston's death, domestic politics was turned on its head: Thomas of Lancaster exercised his authority and undermined the King. He refused to serve in the war against the Scots, and went so far as to agree to a personal truce with the Scottish lords, working under the pseudonym King Arthur. After years of growing animosity between the cousins, an influential noble family - the Despensers - rose to prominence at court and helped Edward Il seek retribution.

Edward II had never forgiven his cousin for Gaveston's murder and, in 1322, finally took his revenge. Thomas of Lancaster was arrested after the Battle of Boroughbridge and tried for treason - with the Despensers and the King as members of the tribunal. A week after his arrest, Thomas of Lancaster, dressed in an old surcoat, was carried on a donkey a mile from Pontefract Castle, where he was executed. The only mercy extended was that he was at least spared the prescribed fate of a convicted traitor, that of being hung, drawn and quartered.

As he was of royal blood, he was granted death by beheading. After Thomas’s conviction and execution as a traitor, Lancastrian loyalty was called it into question: that historical mistrust would haunt John of Gaunt throughout his political and personal life.

When Gaunt inherited the Lancastrian lands, nearly forty years later, it was claimed that blood trickled from Thomas of Lancaster's tomb - a grim omen of an uncertain dynastic future.

Thomas became a posthumous icon, which perhaps made the Lancastrian position all the more dangerous. Shortly after his death, cult began to emerge around his effigy, said to induce miracles-even his hat was believed to cure headaches. By the time Henry- his younger brother and heir to the Lancastrian lands - installed a memorial cross for the murdered Thomas, the dead Earl had achieved a significant following, with three attempts to have him canonised.

With Edward Il pitted against his Queen, Isabella, and her lover Roger Mortimer, the dynastic future of England was precarious. The Lancastrian administration, however, remained constant. Whilst the royal family were embroiled in a bitter feud, Henry, Earl of Lancaster, invested in Leicester as the heart of Lancastrian affairs. He renovated Leicester Castle but his greatest project was in the south-west of the town, the Newarke - a hospital and church - that employed generations of local labourers.

From 1330, Henry of Lancaster created a home to the Lancastrian dynasty in Leicestershire and brought the previously quiet town of Leicester to the forefront of English consciousness. Henry was popular in Leicester; the citizens of the town respected him and he carefully considered their needs, even endowing funds for a public latrine, for the ease of all the said community. Yet it was his large building projects in Leicester thar benefitted local people most significantly. This positive relationship with the town continued with his son Henry of Grosmont, the future Earl of Derby, Duke of Lancaster and father in law of John of Caunt.

Over the course of his flowering career, and even after being raised to his Dukedom, Henry of Grosmont never shirked his feudal responsibility in Leicester, and the relationship between people and magnate remained steadfast. By the time Gaunt inherited the town, Leicester was unbendingly loyal to Lancaster.”

CARR, Helen. In: The Bleeding Tomb: a Lancastrian Inheritance. The Red Prince John of Gaunt duke of Lancaster. 2021.

Fan casting: Sean Bean as Edmund ‘Crouchback’; Adam Driver as Thomas of Lancaster; Aneurin Barnard as Henry of Lancaster; Nicolaj Coster Waldau as Henry of Grosmont. *

*please notify if these gifs were used inappropriatedly; not mine to claim just to illustrate the characters.

#house of lancaster #henry of lancaster #thomas of lancaster #edmund crouchback #edmund plantagenet #house of plantagenet #Plantagenets #lancastrians #simon de montford #sean bean #aneurin barnard #adam driver #nicolaj coster waldau

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