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intheforest-hides-a-light · 4 years

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The Poison and the Antidote | Chapter 12: The Snake

These posts are on backlog. For the most recent updates and to read the story so far, go to AO3

summary: Joseph gives Faith a sentimental gift. John puts her in a difficult situation that could cost her her life. Megan makes an entrance.

stats, for those who are new...

POV Rachel Jessop “Faith Seed” Pairing Faith Seed/Joseph Seed

rating: M (sexual content, emotional manipulation, language, drug refs...full warnings on AO3)

chapter length: 7.6k im sorry

work length: 64k

a/n: this was the hardest chapter I’ve ever written and the hardest in this fic so far. Just wanna say I <3 all you readers and thanks for all the support! ALSO spoiler warning for this fic if you haven’t gotten past Chapter 5 (as in this chapter might make more sense if you’ve read the previous chapters)

(Image Source - all credit goes to the artist. I will remove upon request)

I wonder if George made it home alright. I shouldn’t have ever thought that I wanted him to die. Now it is all I can think about. It’s like my mind won’t move from the subject, and my heart has been cemented in guilt for ever having thought it at all. I want to turn off my brain.

Tonight is the night that John’s plan is set in motion. Putting on a show for some gullible judge in hopes that he will find a way to make an exception to the law. It’s not the right thing to do. I regret it even though it hasn’t happened yet. I’m starting to believe that I am a bad person. For leaving my dad, for refusing my friend, for deciding to stay with a man I barely knew all because it just felt like the right thing to do at the time. Why? And now I have to go to this dinner and pretend to be someone I’m not. To pretend that everything’s just fine here. I have to pretend that I am safe and sound

I see a rabbit outside my window, standing on its hind legs with its ears perked up, revealing the soft fuzz on its belly. If it weren’t a wild creature I would love to pick it up and set it on my lap. I’d happily stroke his soft ears and round back. The companionship of an animal is a beautiful thing. There are no strings attached. No complicated conversations. No misunderstandings. A friendship that defies the traps of verbal communication. The rabbit’s little nose moves up and down rapidly as his head darts from side to side, searching for danger. Suddenly he sees something approaching and springs away, white cotton tail bouncing off into the trees.

That same moment there is a knock on my door. I welcome the sound that signifies an end to my loneliness.

“Who is it?” I ask.

“It’s me.” I recognize Joseph’s voice immediately. “Are you ready?”

“No.” I reply. “I’m not even dressed.”

“They’re expecting us at seven.” He reminds. “You’d better hurry.”

“I don’t have anything to wear.” I hate the sound of my own complaint.

A pause. I’m sure he’s sighing. “I heard your trip with John was not successful.” He says.

I don’t want to talk about it. Not successful. That’s one way to put it. It’s another thing to say that things went wrong and John hit me for it.

I don’t want to talk to him through the door. “Would you come in?”

He does. And he looks just like he did when I first saw him. Dressed neatly in a suit. Hair pulled back with more care than usual. Signature yellow glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. He holds a medium sized white box in his hands. We look at each other. And for the first time, I feel so far away. Like I’m standing on the other side of a wide, cavernous abyss that I will never really cross.

“Why do you look so sad?” He asks.

I long for him in a way I’ve never longed for anyone. I miss him even though he’s right in front of me. I can’t help but love him. I just can’t. But I don’t have the courage to say it. Not again. Not unless sleep or some other drug makes them leak from me. “You’re so handsome.” I say. It’s not the answer to his question. It’s just my tired mind and nervous heart spewing their first coherent thought through my lips.

A laugh. “Is that something to be sad about?” he asks, almost a tease.

I shake myself back to reality. “No. Sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry about.”

It’s been a while since he’s said that.

He takes a seat beside me on the bed, but the distance between us doesn’t feel any smaller.

He rests a hand on my leg. The cool touch of his fingertips through the thin silk of my nightgown makes me shiver. “Tell me.” He states. “What’s wrong?”

How could I tell him? I don’t know where or how to start. Maybe it could be as simple as ‘your brother hit me across the face and I’d really rather not see him tonight (or ever again)’. But I can’t find the guts to say it.

A breeze drifts through the open window. The leaves on the trees rustle, whispering to each other like they did when I followed him into the river. I drift off into the memory of that blue night. It wasn’t long ago. But life has gotten so much more complicated since then. I remember the way my eyes burned beneath the cold water, how he carried me to bed, the way my thoughts swirled and my breathing slowed as I inhaled the scent of those mystifying white flowers that seemed to transport us to another world… I’d give anything to go back to that night. Back to when there was no end in sight. Back when the bliss of our bodies was all that existed, like dawn of morning would never shine.

Sometime in our moment of silence he makes up his mind to speak. “I’ve always hated parties.” He tells me. “I think they’re so… so superfluous. And I don’t like that it has to be this way” The slow interlocking of our hands feels like home. “It goes against everything I believe in. But I also don’t…” he searches for the right way to put it, trying not to say too much yet afraid of saying too little, “I don’t want to lose you.”

My heart warms. I lean against his shoulder. I’m afraid of everything ending. “I don’t want to lose you either.” I admit.

He sighs. “It’ll be alright. We’re doing this so you can stay here.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t be here.” I say finally, honestly.

Read the rest HERE Read the previous chapter HERE Start from the beginning HERE

#writing #My writing #far cry 5 fanfiction #faith seed fanfic #faith seed #joseph seed #john seed #its long i'm sorry #project at eden's gate #faith seed x joseph seed

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roseate7 · 5 years

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Any words of consolation about what’s probably going to happen tonight? It hurts so much and it hasn’t even happened yet. You seem to have good perspective and I could use some.

I’ll answer this one because it’s very sweet and must’ve come in right before I switched anon off.

I can very easily and confidently say to you that this indeed shall pass, because unlike many a swift rout in which a team and fanbase must cast about in bewilderment for what went wrong, the enemy has shown himself and it is within. For all that the superstars were gassed with overwork by the time the playoffs arrived, and for all that the eventual lineup were too bewildered to pull out a cohesive performance by the end, the man responsible for all of this - and I mean all - is Jim Rutherford.

A lot of folks understandably held out on my level of bolshiness toward him this year, but from day one of this playoffs series the truth of the entire season’s mess and muddle and hasty plastering-over had shown itself in rapidly coming undone beneath playoffs pressure. And he’d done the same botched jobs before in Carolina.

I know most folks don’t agree with me on this point especially but the Hags trade set the tone of Rutherford losing the team’s confidence in him entirely. The bulk of the work was done then. His “point was made” but the point was both a misfire and an eventual backfire. But whatever difficulties the Pens had at the start of the season, we only ever got to see them just beginning to repair the longer the team got to bond and gel… only for trigger-happy-trader Jim to come and throw it all into disarray again.

There’s no way of ever knowing which of the trades were truly any better because there was no time the crucial identity to be formed with any of them. He lucked the fuck out with the Florida trade, but what good are two solid players in isolation on a disjointed team they barely know and may not even stay with past the summer? Where is the hunger and fight for them? To lift a Cup with men they’ve known a matter of months? They’re not Black Aces, they’re key players who felt rushed in and did their best which is honestly a waste of talent in the end. Certainly no way to form that team identity. All it did was help keep the Pens on life support.

That’s the theme of Rutherford losing this season: what good are solid players in isolation? Do they make a defense? Do they create goals? Do they give his superstars space to work while leaving the speed up to the younger and lighter, or even just faster…. oh yeah those are all gone. So, no. No they don’t. They add up to a first round sweep and have done ever since the late fall.

It might seem like strange comfort to know that the season was ultimately jeapordized by a man who we can only see the back of if pressure mounts outside and in, but ironically when you look at all of the good that he has wasted in either neglect or over-work, it is reassurance.

Because it’s very good to know that the Pens have a core on the other side of thirty who are hitting and breaking franchise and league records and are still able to overcome major mid-season injury and reignite the team’s playoffs hopes. They’re not the Hawks or the Kings. Their core leave ample cap space in their salaries and more importantly, the problems aren’t scattered all over the locker room and the coaching and the management. It’s down to one man getting into a job using more talented colleagues and then reverting to type once left to his own devices. Hell, even Sully being out-coached wouldn’t have led to a first round exit if the team had formed the kind of identity and drive that it should have. 87/71 can lead a motley crew of a roster to the second round just fine, so long as they can get to know them before March.

And 87/71 being what they are - an isolated and rare organism - and having veteran status, none of the past two seasons will be allowed to remain when they return to Pittsburgh in the fall. They’ve proven how fearless they are in doing what is right for their team and that they’ll run up against any level of front office to fight for glory again. Hell, just look at Geno’s post-games after tonight! He is already planning on the upturn of all they’ve settled into that doesn’t work. I truly do not think Rutherford has the clout, especially after these past two years on his own, to stand up to what those two want. They’ve got the ear of the owners far more than he has. I doubt he’ll be gotten rid of, but his workload could easily become much ‘lighter’ and the purse strings taken out of his hands.

From my hockey perspective, this exit honestly feels like a logical turn in direction for a team who have needed to be wrestled out of the jaws of victory rather than the other way round for most of one dynasty. The years between 2009 and 2016 were such twists and turns, and they’ve all faded into normal and natural lows and suffering that happen to absolutely every club - especially to ones who have had success so frequently. The past two seasons aren’t at all unusual for a much older club whose legs have largely never bounced back from a gruelling back-to-back and an unbroken succession of playoff appearances.

All of Rutherford’s botched work needs to be either undone or removed. I’m sorry folks, I know it’s extremely unlikely and most don’t agree with me but getting Hags back would restore heart and identity to a team that couldn’t bear to have lost it in the first place. But even if not him, then a team assembled and left to actually find itself next season. I’m also not convinced that dropping Horny makes sense, it feels way too much like the overly-reactionary trades of the entire season and yet more loss of identity. Bringing in youth and speed is doable without disintegrating the core even more. We all love Olli but he’s sadly become disposable (I don’t really know why) and I say it’s far wiser to shift a younger player who is already showing signs of slowing than a teammate who brings much needed heart to the locker room.

Anyway, all of this can be done. There is now time, room and with intelligence there can be money. Geno will rest and clear his head and be Russian and Miamian for a while, Sid will go off with trainers like last summer, and they’ll both return of one mind: to never, ever allow their ship to be steered so wildly off course ever again.

So when it comes to the pain, the bitterness, the feeling of desolation and confusion of tonight I really can promise you this will be a kinder loss in the long run. It didn’t drag on, it was against a team who had the jump and the desperation on the Pens, and there were no cruel twists of the knife to age-old wounds. The Isles were better and wanted the win more and they won. It’s clean, if still gutting.

I can say all of this because I was baptised by fire and blood into hockey. I saw Bloody Wednesday and I had seen the previous season’s lead-up to it, all of which is told best by Kris Draper himself. I saw hatred and cold-bloodedness and rage that transcended ‘just hockey’ between the Avs and Wings of those days. I can safely say that no one will ever experience transcendent agony and ecstasy of the like ever again because the sport is now more about... well, the sport, rather than the spectacle.

And as I soon realised, all that gnashing of teeth from the players represented the most pathetic side of a game that was already on it’s way to losing it’s audience precisely for a lack of substance. It all stopped being satisfying when the enforcers were no longer made invisible in their traumatized retirement and the gladiatorial was proven to be ultimately almost as fatal and cruel as the old coliseums. We all got sick of games halting for the latest wild man to do his bit and to have teams hoarding up talent in ways that even refs could tilt the balance in their favor so well. The rivalries are boring younger fans now that testosterone flare-ups no longer run the show, and instead look like weak distractions - or downright dangerous in ways that are no longer considered acceptable - from letting your hockey speak for itself.

And well, as Draper and Nick Lidstrom proved to me many years later when they both went belly-aching that a 21 year-old Sidney Crosby wasn’t prompt enough to shake Lidstrom’s hand after the 2009 final. I will always respect those guys as players, but hoo boy the irony of their childish sore loser attitude in calling Sid immature and unprofessional still looks terrible for two men who won four Cups in their time. Same with the fans and journalists who saw fit to bemoan this perceived slight from Sid due to nothing but sour grapes over the fair loss of yet another trophy to add to their groaning coffers. Especially targeting a kid charged with rescuing his sport and his franchise, who had returned to the Joe after a bitter disappointment the previous season, and at last gained the achievement that had been expected of him since he was between fourteen and sixteen.

For shame on two men I had witness do battle and perform so valiantly, even after some of the glory of their days had begun to tarnish, to gang up on a boy because their days of domination were fading. I still love those first seasons I watched, but I am glad the days are gone of two men knocking forty launching a PR campaign to damage the image of a kid only just realising the dream they had many times repeated themselves before he was even in the draft combine.

Why did I take that trip down memory lane, you could well ask if you’re still even reading this, anon???

Because while players like the 90s Red Wings represent the last of the old dynasties, the post-2004/5 lockout effects on hockey haven’t been felt in full effect really until the Penguins back-to-backs. You know, the team who won using speed and cohesion? The team who set the standard which all other teams were not-so-secretly rushing to copy? That was a core of existing champs who dictated their own identity and who had two leaders with their eyes wisely on the future-present style of hockey.

The Kings and Hawks days of glory had one foot very much in the past. They are both in different stages of trying to work out the puzzle of a league whose playing style has been flipped even more on it’s head in just the past three drafts. Forget McDavid: how does Mitch Marner weigh what he weighs and do what he does and bounce back up every time old-style defense tries to knock him down? How do you get more of those little nuggets of your own to find gaps and evade muscle and create chances? That’s the question the Pens already know they have to get back to answering as they had before.

But Jim Rutherford has fumbled his two years unsupervised, this is resoundingly true, and his old ‘grit and size’ tendencies are coming up against a Pens core who have far more knowledge of what it takes to return their team to being champions because they have seen the sea changes taking place in their franchise from day one.

Ol’ Jim’s can come and go. But Crosby and Malkin are neither petulant veterans who would moon about over their losses and angrily deflect onto the youngsters who beat them, nor are they superstars existing in a bubble and bemoaning the slow decline of their team after each short or non-existent post-season. Neither of them will mind handing over some depth work to speedier youngsters. Neither of them will mind adjusting their roles to accommodate the next generation of Pens, because it’s what they’ve been doing for a good few years now. No clashing of egos or sense of grudge over age and perceived superiority to stop these two from doing whatever it takes to keep the club on the right path.

The Pens will always have a shot at being champions so long as Sid and Geno are on the thrones in Pittsburgh. And the more they come into their age and embrace their sway over a franchise that knows it owes it’s existence to them both (even if fucking nobody else seems to remember that Geno’s throne sits in every way equal to Sid’s) the more chance there is for more Cups.

At the very least, and it’s still a wonderful least, seasons like this one will stand as nothing but a stark but isolated reminder of how close to disaster their ship has ever sailed.

I have absolutely no doubt that they know what to do in the wake of it, and I have no doubt that they would gladly fly in the face of front office if it meant a more harmonious locker room.

They’re two heroes who won’t complain about the young bucks coming in and the league changing around them, and trust me when I say Pens fans should take endless comfort in that, even in the toughest years. And the natural order of things in hockey absolutely dictates that you’ve gotta at least have some of those.

#inbox #lmao sorry for the fucking epic #wow do I talk a lot when it's late #Anonymous

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happenable-blog · 5 years

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WWE Raw - March 18, 2019: Highlights and Review

Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman open the show This week WWE Raw got opened with a promoas usual. What wasn't usual though, was that Brock Lesnar made an appearance on Raw after god knows how long. He got booed by the Chicago crowd as he made his way down the ring. Heyman starts the promo with his usual schtick introducing Brock Lesnar to us. He challenged the statements made by Rollins the previous week. He said Brock Lesnar defeated all the man that Rollins said he had a hard time with. In the end, he was the victor against Styles, Bryan and Balor. He hyped the main event of the show saying that what was Rollins thinking challenging a career killer like Drew McIntyre for a match days before his match with Brock Lesnar. This brings out McIntyre who is happy that he is finally getting the respect that he deserves. McIntyre suggests to Heyman that he must find another opponent for Brock because after McIntyre is done brutalizing Rollins, he won't make it to WrestleMania. Seth Rollins comes from behind and hit McIntyre with chair shots on the back. He looks at Brock and heads towards the ring with the chair in his hands. Lesnar just jumps out and leaves. This was a fine segment. It is always nice to see both the competitors hyping up their match instead of the same promo by only one of them. Also did a decent job to hype the audience for the main event of the show. Rating: 3.5/5 Finn Balor is out next. He will be in a tag team match with a mystery partner against Lashley and Rush. Blair grabs a mic and said that he wasn't a lucky Irish last week when he lost his Intercontinental championship match to Bobby Lashley. He said he wouldn't be a former champion for too long though. Lashley and Rush interrupt. Lashley poses with the title. Balor said he will get his hands on the title very soon. And his partner will get his hands on both them. Brain Strowman us revealed as Balor's tag team partner Finn Balor and Braun Strowman vs Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush Lashley and Rush dominate Balor. Balor gets very little offence in the match. The heels tried to avoid Baloe tagging in Strowman into the match. Strowman finally gets in the ring with Rush. He throws Rush across the ring before stomping him on the chest. Rush almost made a comeback when Lashley hit a spear on Strowman. But Braun kicks out after a frog splash attempt from Lio. Rush tried to run away but he is caught by Balor. Balor got shoulder tackled by Lashley, who got run over by Braun. Braun throws Rush into the ring for a chokeslam and then a running powerslam for the win. Winner: Finn Balor and Braun Strowman I am not that much invested in the IC title storyline. The match was fine. They are still booking Lashley to be strong. Balor barely got any offence in the match which is not great. Rating: 2/5 Backstage, Ronda Rousey is walking into the arena with her husband, Travis Browne. They walk into the referee John Cone who told Ronda that she is late. He also told her that in addition to the fine on Ronda, they have also increased security. Rousey just ignores and walks away. A Moment of Bliss w/ Elias Bliss hyped herself up as a great talk show host. She said she has inspired Lily Singh to be a talk show host before she introduces Elias. Elias comes out playing his guitar. He announces that he will be the headlining musical act at WrestleMania. He made some field goal reference which I didn't get. But the Chicago crowd did who booed him. He is talking about how if someone interrupts him at Mania he will... But before he can say anything else he is interrupted by the No way Jose's conga line led by Otus and Tucker. One of the members hit Elias and it was revealed that No way Jose was an intruder in his own conga line. Okay... No way Jose gets into the ring for a match with Elias. Elias vs No Way Jose Some back and forth action in the match. The crowd was dead for this one. The conga line tried to rally the crowd chanting his name but no one else made a sound in the arena. The finish came when Elias hit Jose with an elbow drop led by the drift away. Winner: Elias I guess this is a feud now. No one is interested in it but it is a feud. The match in itself was nothing special. Rating: 1/5 Kurt Angle announces his WrestleMania opponent Kurt Angle reminded us that he will have his farewell match at WrestleMania. He also said that his farewell tour will continue tonight. A "Thank You Kurt" chants by the crowd to which Kurt thanked the crowd back. He went on to thank the McMahon family to allow him to choose his WrestleMania opponent. And he announced that he will face the man who made his life living hell when he was WWE Raw General Manager. And that man is... BARON CORBIN. The crowd booed hearing his name. He said he will make Corbin tap out at Mania. Oh it's true... It's damn true. I will give this announcement and the following match separate rating. With all the dream matches that you could have had, with the roster depth that you had to choose an opponent for Kurt for his last match. They seriously went for Baron Corbin?! This is furious. The crowd booed not because he is a great heel but because we don't want to see this match. When Kurt said those line, that felt so scripted and badly acted too. Rating: 0.5/5 Kurt Angle vs Chad Gable Gable shaped Angle's hand and said that Angle is his hero. They did some technical wrestling in the ring. Kurt delivered a belly to belly suplex to Gable. Angle tried to go for the Angle Lock but Gable gets out and rolls him up for two. Kurt tried to hit three German suplexes but Gable got out of the second one and locks in Angle lock which got booed by the crowd. Angle gets out and tried to go for Angle Slam, Gable countered with a DDT. Gable went on the top rope for a moonsault. Angle moved out if the way and applies Angle Lock. Gable tries to fight but taps out. Winner via submission: Kurt Angle I will take this match over Angle vs Corbin at any damn time. This was not a great match. Just an average match with some spots. But still, Gable is a great wrestler and deserves much better. Rating: 2.5/5 Corbin comes out in a sea of boos by the crowd after the match. He said he will humiliate him in his last match. The crowd chanted for Cena. And I also wanted Cena to come out, but he is nowhere to be seen. In-ring interview with WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Boss & Hug connection Before the segment, Baron Corbin is talking to The Revival backstage. He is interrupted by Apollo Crews who challenged him for a match later tonight. He said that no one likes him to which he replied that The revival likes him. Revival just walked off saying "Hell no!" Carly Caruso is in the ring to interview Boss & Hug. She mentions that IIconics think that Banks and Bayley are ducking them by not appearing on SmackDown. Bailey announces that they will fight anyone. That's why they will appear on SmackDown tomorrow night and It'll be iconic, mocking the IIconic's pose. Natalya and Beth Phoenix interrupts them and gets in the ring. Beth said that Nia and Tamina ignited the fire inside her and now she is ready to step out of retirement to fight for the one thing that she has never held - The women's tag titles. Bailey and Banks cut a bit heelish promo on their opponents. They said that Competition is now evolved and Beth should take more time to prepare. This got heated and led to a mild brawl between the teams. Sasha Banks w/ Bayley vs Natalya w/ Beth Phoenix This was a short match. Both the women hit some of their signature moves. Banks is out recovering after a discus clothesline from Natalya. Nia Jac comes out on the stage. Nia mocks Beth and said she had accomplished more in her 3 years than Beth ever did in her career.. This was all a distraction as Tamina comes out from the crowd and throws Beth to the post before super-kicking Baykey and Banks to end the match. Winner by Disqualification: Sasha Banks Tamina ran away from Natalya back to Nia. They both laughed on top of the stage. Fine segment Beth Phoenix stepping out of retirement didn't feel like a big thing as we all saw it coming. The match was nothing. This was just to build a multi-team match at Mania, I believe. Rating: 2/5 Mojo Rawley is talking with himself in the mirror. I can't recall what he said. But I don't think it matters either. Ricochet vs Jinder Mahal w/ Singh Brothers Mahal dominated some of the match with chin locks and with the help of Singh Brothers. Ricochet made a comeback later he hit a running shooting star press. Mahal was pulled out by the Singhs. Ricochet got everyone with a dive on the outside. He throws Mahal in the ring and hit 630 for the win. Winner: Ricochet I hope this is not a feud. If it is it will be a lacking one. You can't even say it was a squash match as Mahal did get some offence in it. It was just there to showcase Ricochet's moves. Rating: 2/5 It was announced that Sue Aitchison will receive the warrior award at the Hall of Fame Ceremony. WWE Raw Women's Championship Match: Ronda Rousey (c) vs Dana Brooke Brooke had a backstage interview with Charly, who said that Ronda beat the likes of Becky and Charlotte and she is... Dana get what she meant and said that she might not be better but she needs to be better than Ronda for three seconds. The match starts. Dana blocked on a kick from Ronda but she caught Brooke with a jumping knee. She hit some more knees before applying an armbar for the win. Winner via Submission and still Raw Women's Champion: Ronda Rousey Rousey didn't let go of the armbar even after the bell rang. Dana was shouting in pain. She finally let go as a ref ran down the ring. She pushed him away and more security ran down. Ronda went to kiss her husband in the front row and slapped a security guy down. Travis pulled her in the crowd and calmed her down to walk away with her. This was more of a segment after the match than the match itself. I didn't mind the badass Ronda it is always good. I hope she just does it without reminding us that wrestling us scripted off TV. Loved how she just squashed Dana too. Rating: 3/5 Baron Corbin vs Apollo Crews Apollo dodged a slide out clothesline from Corbin. Corbin did his deadly move - the chin lock. He also hit his secondary moves like Deep Six but Crews kicked out. The crowd was chanting for Cena. Corbin went for end of days but Crews countered into a roll up for the win. Winner: Apollo Crews Not bothered by this match if they are working as they are doing a great job as I was bored by this match and hated them for this. Angle joined Crews on top of the ramp. Rating: 1/5 Interview with Batista via Satellite Michael Cole is conducting the interview with Batista who is live from Tampa, Florida. Barista said that he just doesn't like Triple H and he never did. Cole asks if it goes back to their Evolution days. He said it goes way beyond than that. He said Triple H just uses people to make him look good. Whether it was DX or Evolution. Cole asked why he quit in 2010. Barista replies he didn't quit. He was not getting opportunities that he deserved by his Boss Triple H. That's why he quit. He made a huge name for himself outside of WWE after that and become famous. He just hopes that Vince McMahon fires Triple H and end his professional career. At WrestleMania, he will end his in-ring career. He announced the interview to be over and demanded that camera crew got out. This was a great promo by Batista. He has just one goal and that is to end Triple H's career at Mania Rating: 3.5/5 Brain Strowman announced that he will be in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal in a backstage interview. Drew McIntyre comes out to cut a promo before his match against Rollins. He said that he wants to talk to Joe the man, not Roman Reign. Joe, the father and the husband. He challenged him for a match at WrestleMania and said he may have been able to beat leukaemia but he won't be able to beat him. Rollins and McIntyre brawls midway in through the ramp as the match is going to start next. Drew McIntyre vs Seth Rollins There was action all around. Rollins avoided getting thrown to the steel steps and hits a moonsault, but Drew moved out if the way. McIntyre was going for a powerbomb in tge ring but Rollins countered with a hurricanrana. Rollins tried to go for a suicide dive on Drew but Drew caught him and throw him into the barricade. Later Rollins did two consecutive suicide dives on McIntyre and even hit him with his Superplex into a falcon arrow for a near fall. Rollins stomps his feet on the ring calling for the curb stomp. Before he could hit it Lesnar music hits and he comes out with Heyman to distract Rollins. As Rollins turns around to take care of Drew he ran straight into a Claymore. Winner: Drew McIntyre This was by far the best match on the show storyline wise as well as wrestling wise. I didn't like the booking though. You could have had Lesnar just laying out Rollins to end it a DQ or some way. I know you want to build Drew up for Reigns but you gotta build Rollins up as well. Rating: 3.5/5 This week's WWE Raw was very boring and frustrating tbh. It felt like a lot of fillers and boring matches. The bits I liked were the opening segment, Batista's promo and the main event. The rest was very poor. WWE Raw Rating: 2/5 Do let us know what you thought if WWE Raw this week. If you want to contact us you can do so here. Catch all the past WWE Raw Reviews here. Read the full article

#WWERaw #Raw #RawReviewe

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trashunlimited · 6 years

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finally i am posting a complete ref for my oc julie, who was mentioned here:http://trashunlimited.tumblr.com/post/174314389519/do-five-facts-about-your-favorite-oc

this is a pic of her i made, i used a base for it made by the-panda-lover on deviantart, and got their permission to post this here(i can’t draw well sorry).

(this stuff here is copied from my deviantart account):

Here is Julie, my favourite OC and precious baby. She's my version of Rick Sanchez(from Rick and Morty)'s wife. I made her 4 years ago when I first started watching Rick and Morty, and I just can't let go of her, I've put so much hard work and effort into making her. I know Diane exists but she may not even be the real Mrs.Sanchez, even if she was, I wouldn't care, Julie is my baby and I can't abandon her, what kind of mother would I be? To explain, her hair is red because it's meant to explain where Summer's red hair comes from, and since both parents need to carry the red hair gene, Jerry has a direct relative with red hair too. To explain where Beth's blonde hair comes from, I picture Rick as a natural blond(his clones from "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez" are all blue haired because THEY'RE CLONES, and he dyed it blue probably). Beth's nose is also meant to be a mix of Rick's and Julie's noses(rounded like Julie's, slants down like Rick's), also explains where Morty's nose shape comes from. Julie's personality is meant to be the opposite of Rick's, I love opposites attract, beauty and the beast and villains x heroes ships(Rick's not a villain, but he is villainous in nature in a way-STILL COUNTS) and incorporated that into the Rick/Julie pairing. Julie is meant to be similar to Morty in some aspects, while being what I think Rick would need in a partner. Her outfit is also meant to be 70s looking, since that's the decade she and Rick meet, it was inspired by this picture I found when looking up 70s fashion: c8.alamy.com/comp/EXPEM7/1970s… I only found out very recently Mrs.Sanchez was actually unremarkable and mundane, so....oops...the most remarkable thing about her is her being a nurse, but she still seems to be nothing compared to Rick so..I think I'm good? Whatever, IDC bitch.

Full Name:Juliana Lillian Sanchez(nee Kenyon)

Nicknames:Julie, Jubilee, Jules, Red

Birthday:May 16th 1951

Death Date:March 9th 1998

Age:27 years old(main story/midquel), 46 years old(at death), 67 years old(if alive today)

Intelligence Type:Interpersonal(understands people)

Religion:-none-

Occupation:Nurse

Family:Rick Sanchez(husband), Beth Smith(daughter), Jerry Smith(son-in-law), Summer Smith(granddaughter), Morty Smith(grandson)

Romantic Partner:Rick Sanchez

General Description

Juliana “Julie” Kenyon, is the sweetest person you'll ever meet. She has a big caring heart, and loves helping those who need it. Julie has an unconditional love for others, and sees the good in all, believing nobody is a completely bad person.

She’s also a very shy, smart bright woman with a love for reading, cooking, space, science and is feminine and girly.

Personality

Julie has a kind and gentle heart. She loves helping others and is nice to everyone. She is warm, friendly and is optimistic and positive. Even when things look bleak, she tries to be uplifting and to look on the bright side of things. She is soft, gentle and very sweet to other people. Julie also believes that there is good in everyone, and doesn't believe even the worst don't have any good in them. So she does her best to find this in others. Julie cares for other people deeply and always wants to help them.

Julie is very shy, and tends to be timid and nervous at times. She can also be a bit awkward as well and gets easily embarrassed at times. She isn't good with crowds and doesn't like doing things like public speaking. That's not to say she doesn't like spending time with others, because she does. Julie just gets nervous when it comes to new people or a group of people.

Julie is also an intelligent character in her own right. She loves reading books, particularly romance novels, and is very good with things like math, science and English. These skills allowed her to excel in nursing school. She is also fairly logical and resourceful too, and good at memorizing and remembering things. However, due to the fact Julie becomes foolish when it comes to love, her intelligence is often underestimated and even questioned. She is very curious about the world around her, and loves learning new things.

Julie is a hopeless romantic, having wanted love since she was a little girl. She loves romance novels and movies as well. Love makes her act foolish, and sometimes she may make bad decisions, but she never means to.

Underneath this, Julie has poor self-confidence issues. She doesn't think highly of herself at times, and blames her previous romantic failures on herself. While everyone seems to find her beautiful, Julie only thinks she is average looking. She is passive and tends to go along with things, even if she doesn't want to. Her desire not to upset people prevents her from standing up for herself and being assertive and brave.

Due to Rick's influence, as time passed, Julie slowly grew more brave and confident. She became more assertive and sure of herself. Slowly but surely, she became less timid and shy because of him. But sometimes her old insecurities would still rise to the surface.

After Rick leaves, everything goes down the gutter. Julie became more withdrawn, quiet and asocial as a result. She also developed depression.

History

Julie was born on May 16th 1951, to her parents Agnes and Gordon Kenyon. Her full birth name is actually Juliana Lillian Kenyon, but she always has preferred to go by Julie, finding Juliana sounds too formal.

From a young age, Julie’s personality was very evident. She was always a happy and innocent girl that liked reading books and always had a smile on her face. But even then, she was a very shy child and found it hard to make friends. Her closest friend growing up was Vivian Curtis, who she had known since she was a baby due to their mothers being best friends. Her love of romance was also very clear, she liked love stories and her favorite Disney movies were the princess ones that existed at the time like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and later Sleeping Beauty. Her parents had a very clear and strong love for each other, something Julie witnessed. She also once asked her parents how they met and fell in love, which they told her about.

Julie was also bullied a bit as a child for her shy personality, and this is something possibly contributing to her later self-confidence issues as an adult. Boys would also mockingly call her ugly.

As Julie grew up, her kind and gentle personality always remained. When she entered high school in 1965, she attempted dating for the first time. It didn’t go over the smoothest however, leaving her very upset. But her friends assured her she would find “the one” eventually. In regards to the bullying, it stopped. But this is only because everyone suddenly saw her as pretty and the guys wanted to go out with her. Julie met Mark a few years later in 1968, and he moved in with her and her family, and the two developed a brother-sister relationship.

When Julie became an adult in 1971, she began dating again, and later from 1971-1975 would attend nursing school. In 1975, her parents bought her her own house in celebration of her graduation, and she soon moved in. On the way to visit her in her new house for the first time, her parents died in a car crash on the way there. For a while, this was something Julie blamed herself for it and felt a lot of internal guilt about it. After their deaths, Julie continued to remain in the house.

In 1978, Julie felt hopeless and was starting to think she would never find “the one” and was starting to blame herself for it. But in about June, when Julie was coming home from a friend’s house. Rick was running away from the Fyralogin Empire when he stumbled into Julie after coming out of his portal gun. He had been shot in the leg, so Julie offered to help him, which he accepted and stayed at her house for a few days until the wound healed. After his leg was better, they still kept in contact and were now friends.

One day, Cyn, a general from the Fyralogian Empire, arrived on Earth to take back the fuel source Rick had stolen. A fight ensued, and after it, Rick had angrily told Julie to leave, and instantly regretted it. He apologized the next day, and took her a gemstone planet where he got her a crystal rose. Rick also helped Julie’s confidence boost by assuring her there was nothing wrong with sticking to the gender roles. This burst of confidence helped Julie to stand up to Cyn after he shot Rick, the next time Cyn came to Earth.

After that incident, Rick and Julie left Earth to hide away somewhere, arriving on Glorf and being taken in by two alien siblings named Oran and Tyla. They remained on the planet for a few weeks, bonding and growing closer. Julie found herself becoming more confident, but after Oran insulted and slapped her, Julie’s confidence fell down a bit. Rick managed to comfort her, making Julie feel better. During this time, they also went to a nightclub together, where they sang and danced together, increasing Julie’s confidence again.

Julie asked to return to Earth after feeling homesick, so Rick allowed her to go. They both missed each other dearly while they were separated. Julie ended up masturbating while thinking about Rick, while he killed Tyla and Oran for Julie's sake. When she returned, they snuggled and watched the stars together, before Rick kissed her.

They stayed on Glorf a little bit longer, where Rick revealed his past, and the two grew closer. Julie ended up kidnapped by Cyn, so Rick saved her in sacrifice of his own freedom and life. Julie confessed her feelings and begged Rick not to do it, insisting she wasn't worth it. Rick went ahead anyways, and Julie was taken back to Earth. He escaped anyways, and returned to Earth, where he reunited with Julie, and they made love together, officially ending up as a couple.

Julie and Rick continued to spend time together, having their first date and bonding even further, until Cyn returned, intent on killing Rick. The two fought, and it ended with Rick thinking Cyn had killed Julie, so he killed him in return. After learning she was still alive, Rick was more than grateful and cried tears of joy. When Julie awoke from consciousness, she and Rick talked together, where Julie learned what happened.

He ended up moving in with her, where she began doing her best to improve his mental and physical health, as well as better him as a person.

As a mother, Julie was very loving and caring towards her daughter despite her growing sociopathic tendencies. In fact, Julie wasn’t the least bit scared of Beth, even Rick was scared of her to some extent, and many of the neighborhood kids. At the most, she was just a bit weary. She always looked after her daughter and they were very close. She knew Beth admired her and wanted to be like her, and Julie helped and supported her daughter all the way through.

After Rick left in 1994, Julie grew depressed and lonely, only staying around for her daughter’s sake. When Beth became pregnant in 1997, Julie was disappointed, but still supported and cared for her during her pregnancy. She lived to see the birth of her granddaughter Summer, and even helped Beth take care of her. Early the next year, Julie died, when she was only 46 years old, of heart problems. Tropes

Damsel in Distress-Julie is kidnapped, and rescued by Rick

Pacifist-Julie hates violence

World’s Most Beautiful Woman-She is constantly described as being beautiful by most characters

Fool for Love-Julie is usually smart, but love can make her act foolish

In Love With Love-Julie is a hopeless romantic

Cute Bookworm-She’s cute, and she likes reading

Shrinking Violet-Julie is very shy and quiet

The Quiet One-Speaks for itself

Purity Personified-You can’t get more pure than Julie

All-Loving Hero-She loves everyone

I Am Not Pretty-Julie’s self-confidence issues make her doubt her beauty

Obliviously Beautiful-Everyone thinks Julie is beautiful...except for Julie herself

Nice Girl- Speaks for itself

Adorkable-She's an adorable dork

Heart Trauma-Cause of death is heart problems

Cuddle Bug-She loves hugging people, at least those she is close to

Age Progression

Child

As a child, Julie was very shy, timid, quiet and sensitive. She was still a sweet, kind girl, even back then and liked helping others if she could. Julie was a happy, innocent child that liked reading books and looking at the stars with her parents. Regardless, she was also bullied in her childhood, cementing her poor self-image and self-confidence issues later on in life.

Her love of romance and her hopeless romantic personality, stems from her childhood. She adored the love her parents shared, and liked to hear the story of how they fell in love all the time. Her mother would also read her stories featuring romance.

Julie grew up in a time were girls were expected to be housewives and mothers when they grew up, and Julie accepted this. She had her own dolls that she would pretend to be the mother of, and would do things like feeding them, rocking them or tucking them into bed. She dreamed of what her future husband would be like, imagining a dashing handsome man who would sweep her off her feet and kiss her.

Preteen

This is when Julie went through her “boys crazy” phase. She was even more interested in boys than in the past, but found herself too shy to talk to any.

She also loved listening to popular singers at the time like “The Beach Boys”, Elvis Presley and “The Rolling Stones”.

Teenager

Even with all the changes that come with the teenage years, Julie remained as sweet and kind as ever. The most that changed in her personality was her desire for her more independence, her parents were a bit hesitant but eventually accepted. Also being a teenage girl in the 1960s, she was a big of “The Beatles”, but also liked other groups too like “The Rolling Stones”, Bob Dylan and “The Jimi Hendrix Experience”.

This is the point when Julie saw that maybe she didn’t need to be a housewife and mother, as women were gaining more rights and freedoms. Julie decided she wanted to be a mother, but also gained an interest in becoming a nurse, and wondered if she could keep that career up and not have to stay as a housewife. In school, she was still expected to take courses about cooking, domestic work and home finances, she had no issue with this and she saw it as useful.

Young Adult

Upon reaching her young adult years, Julie headed off to university and got her degree in nursing. She also dated here and there. When she returned home, she found out her parents had bought her a new house, which Julie moved into. But on her parents visit, they got into a severe car accident on the way there, killing them both. This spiraled Julie, who was only 24 years old, to have her problems of self-confidence and self-image worsen.

Eventually, at 27, Julie met Rick, and found herself becoming immensely happier. He brought out the best in her, genuinely made her happy and she fell in love. They ended up marrying and she gave birth to their first and only child, Beth.

In terms of personality, this is when Julie's problems bubbled to the surface and just became worse, only alleviated when she got with Rick. Despite her initial woes, she did become happy with her life.

Middle-Aged

The first few years were happy, but after Rick left mysteriously, Julie was never the same. She became depressed, lonely and withdrawn, spending a long time sulking alone in her and Rick’s room.

Despite this, Julie still remained a good, caring and involved mother. She helped Beth and supported her as best as she could (despite Beth hating her and blaming her for Rick leaving) until her death at 46.

Elderly

Julie doesn't always make it here, but in the realities where she does, she’s very happy and content with her life. She’s still happily married and embraces her role as a grandma, she helps give Morty and Summer advice, remains an involved mom with her daughter Beth, who she has reconciled with, and a loving wife to Rick. She’s also the only one that doesn’t keep putting down Jerry. Relationships

Rick Sanchez

Rick and Julie share a very close and intimate relationship. They bond they share is strong and unbreakable.

These two bring out the best in each other, and Rick believes that Julie is the only person who truly understands him. So he tends to be possessive of Julie, and worries someone will try to take her from him. He isn’t controlling, and doesn’t care about Julie having male friends, but he makes it clear Julie is his and his only. They know each other better than anyone. Rick has made Julie more confident in herself, and Julie has made Rick softer/gentler/kinder and more calm and easygoing.

Julie and Rick also help each other with their problems, and in a natural way as well. They don't force each other to change, they let things happen slowly. Julie makes sure Rick takes care of himself properly and makes him brush his teeth, or makes sure he sleeps long enough or is eating enough as well. Rick in turn helps Julie grow more confident in herself and become more assertive and stronger.

The two met in mid-1978(this is copied from the history part, sorry) when Julie was coming home from a friend’s house. Rick was running away from the Fyralogin Empire when he stumbled into Julie after coming out of his portal gun. He had been shot in the leg, so Julie offered to help him, which he accepted and stayed at her house for a few days until the wound healed. After his leg was better, they still kept in contact and were now friends.

He ended up moving in with her, where she began doing her best to improve his mental and physical health, as well as better him as a person.

After getting married in 1979, they still remained close, and had their daughter Beth in 1980. When Julie began working that same year, they couldn’t see each other as much as they wished, so they were always happy to be together. Julie helped Rick look after Beth as the years passed, and was unaware of the existence of “Froopyland”. Through all these years, they still remained deeply in love with each other.

When Rick left in 1994, Julie still loved him and missed him deeply. She waited for him until her death. On her deathbed, she proclaimed her love for him. Even now after her death, Rick still secretly is in love with her and misses her all the time. He continues to remain sexually active and had that brief relationship with Unity, twice, to try and get over her....hasn't worked so well.

Tropes

Opposites Attract-Julie is kind, loving and pure. Rick is an asshole who hates others and has seen too much. Despite their differences, they’re meant for each other.

All Girls Want Bad Boys-Rick is not a nice guy, far from it, and is a criminal. Julie loves him anyways

Love Redeems-Julie’s kindness has managed to soften Rick’s cold and hard heart.

Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl-Rick is pretty brooding, Julie is gentle. She gives him space and allows his growth to be natural and slow

Inconvenient Attraction-Rick is annoyed by his own feelings.

Operation:Jealousy-Rick can’t help but be jealous, even when they weren’t together

You Are Worth Hell-Rick will go through all odds just for Julie’s sake

Flowers of Romance-Rick gives Julie a crystal rose, which is a symbol for their love.

Beth Smith

Julie was always a loving, caring mother figure to her daughter, and only child, Beth.

Ever since she was a teenager, Julie knew she wanted to be a mother. But she decided to wait until she was married, which she did in 1979. A year after in 1980, she became pregnant and gave birth to her and Rick’s daughter Beth at age 29.

Because of the laws at the time, Julie was only able to take 6 weeks off from work, but she made those 6 weeks count. Julie looked after Beth the best she could, and even taught Rick how to properly look after their baby. As Beth grew older, Julie always remained a kind and loving mother. She helped her daughter with her dreams, and was always supportive and understanding. However, Beth didn’t appreciate her, she saw Julie as mundane, boring and unremarkable compared to Rick. This broke Julie’s heart, and despite her attempts to bond with Beth, it never worked.

After Rick left, Beth blamed it on Julie, saying her mother’s “boringness’ caused Rick to leave her. She fought with her mom, hated her and blamed her for all her problems. When Julie died, Beth was sad and did mourn her, but still held resentment towards her. Because Jerry was also similar to Julie, this furthered her dislike for Jerry. She never truly appreciated her.

Jerry Smith

Julie was upset that Jerry had gotten Beth pregnant, but never harbored any resentment towards him. She wanted Beth to be happy, and hoped she and Jerry would have a good life together. Jerry had been a bit weary of Julie at first because he was scared of her possible reaction, but was relieved to see she was kind and gentle.

He was happy to have her as his mother-in-law, and thought she would be a good role model for Summer. After her death, Jerry was saddened, and tried to comfort Beth as much as he could.

Summer Smith

Summer doesn't remember her grandmother, as Julie died when she was still a baby. But in the short time they knew each other, Julie adored her granddaughter and would help Beth take care of her at times.

Vivian Curtis

Vivian and Julie have known each since they were babies, with their mothers even be best friends for years. They have always been close with each other, and have always been supportive of the other as well.

Vivian has always tended to be a bit critical of Julie, usually regarding her choices and boyfriends. She was particularly unhappy with Rick and Julie’s relationship, thinking of Rick as nothing more than a dangerous criminal. But eventually, she got over it as always.

Mark Norris

Julie was introduced to Mark when they were teenagers. She and him instantly became friends from then on. After Mark was rescued, he began living with Julie and her parents. It was from there that they developed a brother-sister relationship that remains strong.

Mark is the most supportive towards Julie of all her friends. He gets angry when someone demeans her, and always jumps her defence. She goes to him for advice, and he always tries to help as best he can

Tropes

Like Brother and Sister-Mark and Julie are very close. They love each other, but not in the romantic sense. They love each other as the siblings they never had instead.

Platonic Life Partners-They are best friends. It's better that way.

Extras

MBTI:ISFP

Alliance:Neutral Good

Astrological Sign:Taurus(May 16th)

Temperament: Phlegmatic

Enneagram Type:The Helper

Character Archetypes:Caretaker, Introvert, Samaritan

Introvert/Extrovert/Ambivert: Introverted

Optimistic or Pessimistic: Optimistic

Daredevil or Cautious:Cautious

Logical or Emotional:Emotional

Working or Relaxing:Relaxing

Night owl or Early bird:Early bird

Disorderly and messy or methodical and neat:Methodical and neat

Symbol:Heart

Native Language:English

Spoken Languages: Other than English, Julie knows a bit of Spanish from Rick and various alien languages

Julie has very neat handwriting, and can easily write in cursive if need be. When out in public, Julie walks around a bit nervously but otherwise, her movement is normal and upright. Occasionally, she does cover her face a bit. She also tends to clap when excited, and twirls her hair with her fingers when being shy, or thinking about someone she's in love with.

Interests/Hobbies

Julie loves reading, it's her favourite pastime and she's been reading since she was able to. Her room has a shelf filled with books, and she has a few more books in her living room. Her favourite genre is romance, but she also likes adventure, sci-fi and fantasy stories. She likes classic romance novels such as Pride and Prejudice and A Room With A View, but also more modern love stories(for the 70s..) and likes reading books that have hot muscular guys on the cover. She also doesn’t mind erotica either..

Julie strangely also has a fondness for video games. Since she first played Pong back when it was released into arcades, she thought it was the coolest thing ever and has been hooked since. She owns an Atari 2600 console and has a Pong console too.

She also likes space, and loves looking up at the stars. Living more in the city outskirts, Julie gets a better view of the stars. Her love for it stemmed back into her childhood, when she would sit on a blanket at night and watch the stars with her parents. She loves learning new things from Rick, and learning in general, and their adventures together. She is fascinated by the things they come across, like a crystal/gemstone planet or a planet with two moons. She has a big curiosity for the multiverse after all.

Being a nurse, Julie also has an interest in biology and medical stuff. She has no aversion to things like blood or needles/syringes either, and is excellent at properly looking after people, including herself. She keeps a first-aid kit in her home.

Julie is also a girly girl and so she likes dressing in pretty, feminine outfits. She also loves shopping, especially for clothes. Despite being very feminine and girly, she still doesn't mind getting dirty, and loves adventures and exploring.

She also loves to cook and bake food. She learned from her mother how to at a young age, and has loved it ever since.

Trivia

Julie was originally named Tatiana, it was changed to be an English name(jokes on me, Julie actually I found out is French, but its been used in the English-speaking world since the early 20th century so who cares).

Julie only started out as a design for Rick’s wife, then she developed a personality and well...here we are.

She is the only OC of mine to be paired up with a canon character.

Julie was originally not supposed to die, but instead to live and run away, becoming some kind of badass bounty hunter type. This was changed because keeping her alive was more realistic.

Julie’s original birth year was 1949, then it got moved to 1950 before I finally decided on 1951.

Name Meanings and Origins

Julie/Juliana

Both Julie and Juliana are English names meaning “descendant of Jupiter”. Jupiter was the leader of the Roman gods, and the god of sky and lightning. Julie is the French form of Julia, but has been used in the English-speaking world since the 20th century. Juliana is the feminine form of Julius(Iulianus).

Julie and Juliana both have origins in Ancient Rome, when it was “Iulia” (the letter j didn't exist yet). It has been used in England since the 18th century alongside its other form Gillian.

Juliana was the name of a saint and martyr from 14th century Nicomedia, Blessed Juliana of Norwich. She was also a mystic and author. Juliana was also the name of a 20th century queen from the Netherlands.

Lillian

English name meaning “lilly”.

This name has two possible origins. Either as a diminutive of Elizabeth, or an elaborated form of Lilly. It has been in use in England since the 1500s.

Kenyon

Irish surname meaning “little wolf”.

#julie #my ocs

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obsidianarchives · 6 years

Text

Minnie and Poppy

Persephone Apolina Pomfrey hated Quidditch. Aside from finding all sports, wizarding and Muggle, frightfully dull, Quidditch led to too many injuries. It made her squirm every time a player crashed into another player's broom, she bit her lip whenever the Ravenclaw Seeker did a nosedive, and Bludgers must have been made by the rueful Salazar Slytherin himself.

Today's game was no different, except with the added pressure of it being the last Quidditch game for her best friend on the Gryffindor team: Minerva McGonagall.

If they weren't in different houses, Minnie (Poppy being the only person who dare call her that) and Poppy would be inseparable; but Minerva's drive, her fiercely competitive nature, and her bold sternness meant she was a Gryffindor through and through, even if Professor Flitwick always argued with Professor Dumbledore over whose house she should truly be in.

Poppy met Minnie on the Hogwarts Express their first year — Minerva, a half-blood witch who grew up in the Muggle world with a pure-blood mother, had spent her first train ride trying to figure out how to stop bleeding after an older Slytherin pushed her for talking back to him. Minnie couldn’t even remember what she’d said — or what he’d said to set her off — but Poppy showed up with a Muggle band-aid and a bar of chocolate.

“Are you a Muggle-born?” Minnie had asked.

“Nah. My parents are both pure-blood, but Muggle stuff is genius,” Poppy replied, shrugging like it was nothing, but looking carefully at Minerva as she slapped on the band-aid.

“Lucky you had one of these.”

“Lucky for you.”

The two spent the entire train ride fussing over their books and imagining Ravenclaw tower, but were severely disappointed to be Sorted into different houses.

“I almost got sorted into Ravenclaw, the Hat told me so, but as my mum says, I have a smart mouth,” Minnie said to Poppy as a simple way of explanation as the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor houses passed each other on the steps of the Entrance Way on their way to their respective towers.

They remained a rare case of inter-house best friends, sharing everything but their class schedule and, of course, Quidditch.

It drove Poppy absolutely mad that her best friend was so enamored with the violent sport. It was the source of nearly all of their fights, mostly because Poppy was who Minnie called when the Gryffindor Quidditch team had rough after-hours practice sessions. Their only non-Quidditch fight was in second year when Minnie got jealous that Poppy was hanging out with some older Ravenclaws. That was also technically about Quidditch (“Well, what else am I supposed to be doing when you're on the pitch practicing every second of the day and night? I’m not your private nurse at your beck and call, Min,” Poppy said angrily), but Minnie just didn't understand that the older Ravenclaws gave Poppy something she couldn't get from anywhere else. “They teach me haircare spells,” Poppy said. Minnie glanced up at Poppy's curly kinky hair — which all the well-known spells and potions did nothing for — ran her hand over her own straight ponytail and said, “oh, right.” It was never an issue again.

Minnie was the only reason Poppy even went to the stupid games. In fifth year, Minnie slammed her arm into a goal post trying to save the Quaffle (success) and Poppy wasn't there. It upset her for a week. “I’m fine,” Minnie said dismissively as they studied together on the lawn, still nursing a sore arm. The Hogwarts doctor was kind of terrible.

“That's not the point! One day you might not be fine! The odds are—”

“Oh hush, don’t tell me the odds.”

So from then on, Poppy went to every Quidditch game and watched with her hands covering her face, peeking through her fingers. Usually, she brought Muggle textbooks that Minnie's mum sent from their Muggle Scottish village that explained biology and medicine.

After the games, Poppy met Minnie on her way back up the castle. “You could have fractured your patella if you had crashed into the goal post.”

“You worry too much.”

“You don't worry enough! You take too many risks on the field, Min. You're gonna get hurt someday.”

“And if I do, I'll have you to tell me which very fragile bone I broke. Come on, my mum sent Muggle biscuits. The ones with cinnamon and sugar you like so much.”

Poppy pursed her lips. Those cookies were delicious.

Poppy sat in her usual seat in the stands with a textbook propped up on her lap. She was studying hard for her NEWTs and a silly Quidditch game wouldn't stand in the way, House Cup or not. She’d almost bailed to hole up in the library, but she never missed a game Minnie played; it was the finals against Slytherin and Minnie would never let her hear the end of it if Poppy missed her trounce Slytherin in her last school game. There were scouts from Appleby Arrows in the crowd; Minnie could make it to the pros if she played her cards right.

Poppy, on the other hand, had eyes to work at St. Mungo's. Years of watching Minnie and the other Quidditch players break bones led Poppy to develop an interest in magical healing. Plus, her fascination with Muggle medicine made her want to study the marriage of the two healing forms. Healing was a useful, but clearly undervalued skill that had saved Poppy herself when she failed her first Apparition test.

Somewhere past the pages of her text, the Gryffindors screamed bloody murder as the Slytherin Beater hit a Bludger toward the opposing Seeker, who'd made a dive for the Snitch. Poppy turned a page. As a Ravenclaw, she had no house to root for here. Ravenclaw was third place in the house championship (the poor Puffs were fourth this year and hadn't even come close to the Quidditch final) and by the points count in the game so far, Slytherin and Gryffindor had solidified the top two spots. It didn't matter, she’d be at St Mungo’s training this summer and would only have to worry about the occasional professional Quidditch player. She'd mostly be helping people who didn't foolishly put themselves in danger. She laughed to herself as she turned another page — who was she kidding? Wizards were born to be foolish no matter what they did.

The crowd screamed again, but this time it was the whole crowd, many of whom had stood to peer down at the grassy pitch below the airfield — a player was down…

Poppy searched the skies for the swooping straight ponytail of Minnie and her heart dropped to her stomach when she didn't see the Chaser fiercely zooming her way to the ref to demand… a redo or some such thing.

No, instead, the remaining Gryffindors were sailing down to the grass to check on a wounded player that Poppy just knew was Minnie. She stashed her books under the bleachers and raced down the steps the Quidditch pitch, squeezing past other concerned students, unable to hear what the referee was announcing about the downed player, but guessing by the roars the of the crowd, it wasn't good.

Poppy swung around a corner from the stairway and onto the field. Professor Dumbledore was staring icily at the referee, who was pointing at the Slytherin Seeker, who was gleefully plucking the feathers from the twitching snitch as his teammates grinned at the frantic Gryffindors on the other side of the field. Headmaster Dippet was near the huddle, speaking softly with the school doctor Rheum who was maybe 142, nearly blind, and, rumor had it, had actually given a student with a broken nose a second nose, causing her to need to stay at St. Mungo’s for an entire term. Fear, fury, and worry rose in Poppy’s chest as she pushed past the Gryffindors to find Minerva sprawled on the ground. She was unconscious.

The scarlet-clad players looked at the short and plump Black girl pushing them to the side with annoyance, until they realized it was Poppy — she was the one they went to when they needed healing off the books, since Rheum was a damned tattle. They knew they wouldn’t get in trouble, she was always discreet, and she got to practice for her NEWTs and St. Mungo’s apprenticeship exam with very adventurous and accident-prone Gryffs who were always up for her experiments.

“What happened?” Poppy asked, staring at her best friend. Minnie’s cheeks were pale, her ponytail was coming out of its holder, and her lips were frightfully dry.

“I saw what happened,” said one of Minnie’s fellow Chasers on the team, Cecily Swann. She had her arms crossed, cheeks flushed, her hand clutched over her wand like she was going to curse the entire Slytherin team when she was done talking. “Greengrass pushed her when he ‘dodged’ that Bludger.”

The other Gryffindors nodded and murmured in agreement.

“Now, now,” Headmaster Dippet interjected, “We don’t know that for sure.”

“Oh, come on,” several Gryffindors roared.

“Minerva’s the best Chaser we’ve got,” said Swann, “She didn’t just fly off her broom! She was pushed!” Though a fifth year, she was next in line to be captain, Minnie had told Poppy a few weeks earlier. Minerva hadn’t been captain officially — because the previous captain didn’t think she could handle it with being Head Girl, head of the Transfiguration Club, and with a full course load (they clearly didn’t know her very well) — but Minnie was basically co-captain with her fellow seventh year Terrance Brick. Everyone knew Minerva did all the work, wrote all the plays, and challenged them the hardest in practice. She was why they were in the finals against Slytherin. And now they’d lost and she was down for the count.

Poppy, though listening during the back and forth, was glaring at Rheum, who was just staring at Minnie. He hadn’t even taken his wand out. Poppy wasn’t even sure he was really thinking, he was so old he was barely breathing.

“Well? What’s wrong with her?” Poppy demanded, snapping the old man out of his daze. He seemed startled to see so many eyes on him.

“We should take her to the hospital wing,” he then reached for his wand, preparing to Wingardium Leviosa Minnie’s prone form, but Poppy shook her head.

“What are you doing? You can’t move her! She fell 50 feet--”

“--pushed!” several Gryffindors shouted.

“She was pushed 50 feet. She could have broken something! She needs a stretcher!”

“I have never needed to conjure a stretcher, that’s a Muggle contraption we have no use for,” he said, clearly offended someone would mention a Muggle idea in his presence.

“Muggles have quite a few perfectly good ideas, and I think we should use them.” Poppy then conjured a crude Muggle stretcher — it didn’t have wheels or anything, but it would get the job done. Several students ooh’d in awe, but she wasn’t second in seventh year for nothing. Only Minnie had her beat.

Poppy and Swann then gently put Minnie on the stretcher, careful not to move her torso much, Poppy was worried she’d broken a rib. Once she was on the thin bedding, Poppy levitated the stretcher and she and Minnie’s floating (but more secure) body led the way back to the castle. Meanwhile, Rheum puffed and puttered and sighed as he walked behind them.

Poppy put all her effort into holding the Levitation spell steady, so as to not bump Minnie against anything, namely the doors of the castle, but she could hear the Quidditch players, and really, the rest of the castle, chattering angrily about the game behind her.

“He definitely pushed her.”

“He totally pretended to dodge that Bludger--”

“I think Perkins beat it his way on purpose--”

“And they won! In all the confusion, they caught the snitch!”

“We can’t tell McGonagall, she’ll be furious.”

Poppy broke into a smile, imagining how red Minnie’s face would be when she found out what happened. Few people could look like a spitting cat the way Minerva McGonagall could. But then Poppy frowned as she entered the hospital wing. She hadn’t spent much time in there, but it was dusty, the drapes were drawn tightly over the windows, and the beds were a mess. It made her feel a bit sick herself. Before settling Minnie down, she asked Swann to clear off the nearest bed, which still had crumpled sheets that Poppy swore had green pus residue still on them. Disgraceful.

Rheum stepped in front of her as she attempted to settle Minnie’s crooked limbs more comfortably on the bed.

“I’ll take it from here. Shoo, all of you.”

The Quidditch team and the 50 or so students who’d crammed in the wing behind them all grumbled on their way out, everyone looking back at the unconscious player forlornly.

Poppy remained resolutely where she was.

“I said out,” Rheum said, annoyed. But Poppy was startled when Professor Dumbledore said softly behind her, “I think she should stay, Doctor Rheum.”

Rheum grumbled some more.

Poppy hadn’t realized Dumbledore had followed the team, but it was no surprise. Minnie was his best and favorite student. Dumbledore was never good at hiding his favoritism.

Rheum stared at Minnie some more, like he’d never had a concussed patient before. It was driving Poppy crazy, to see such incompetence.

Finally, Rheum performed the spell to wake Minnie up and Poppy nearly slapped him. Minerva woke with a start and tried to sit up, before howling in intense pain.

“Why would you wake her up before fixing her other wounds?!” Poppy had never shouted at a teacher or elder before, and she knew she’d probably feel guilty about it later, but now was not the time for weak emotions. “She clearly has a broken rib, why wouldn’t you tend to that first?” Poppy rushed over and held Minnie’s hand and coaxed her back into lying down. “Come on now, don’t be stubborn. We’ll fix these ribs first, and then you can go running off to fight the Slytherins single-handed.”

Minnie smirked through her pained expression and Poppy almost smiled. Her best friend was going to be fine.

Rheum was, however, feeling petty, and stood back. “Well then, if you know so much, you heal her.”

He was clearly expecting Poppy to balk at the offer, but she merely rolled her up sleeves, pointed her wand, and got to work.

She first assessed Minnie’s condition, performing the scanning spell she’d mastered four weeks ago when a third year thought he had dragon pox. Then, seeing three -- three! -- broken ribs, a fractured pelvis and evidence of a concussion, Poppy wave her wand and reset the ribs, hearing them snap back into place. Resetting bones was relatively easy -- for some people, not so much for the senile Rheum -- but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. The pelvic fracture would take some time -- and even then Minnie might have trouble sitting comfortably on a broom. It all would have been much less painful if Minnie had remained unconscious. She then apologized to Minnie and left her side, heading to the vast medical closet in the back room. She stared at the ingredients -- half of the vials were nearly empty, and there was little organization. But Poppy found the ingredients to aid with Minnie’s pain, and to make her go to sleep. If Minnie wasn't tied down and or drugged, it didn’t matter if she’d broken seven ribs and both legs, the Slytherins would be in danger tonight.

She mixed up the ingredients and came back to the main room to give Minnie the droughts. She could hear Rheum muttering loudly, like he was pretending to whisper but didn’t bother -- “really, Dumbledore, letting a student into MY hospital wing like this, she could really injure this student.”

“Like Carlyle’s second nose?” McGonagall muttered equally loudly as she slurped down the potions.

Poppy could see Dumbledore stifle a laugh and Rheum sputtered in reply. There wasn’t anything he could say.

“Come, Doctor Rheum. I think another Muggle invention we could potentially discuss is a word they call ‘retirement.’” Dumbledore led Rheum from the room and gave the girls some space, winking at Poppy as he left.

There was silence as Poppy stared at Minnie and Minnie clenched her eyes tightly, as she waited for the potions to take effect and kill the pain. Poppy counted to five, then:

“This is what I’m talking about!”

“Can I get another minute, Pop? Your spell work is good,” she spat out, “but I can still feel my bones knitting back together.”

Poppy bit her lip, then looked around the room.

She headed over to the dark and dusty drapes and opened them, letting the gray but bright day give light to the hospital wing. She then waved her wand and watched as each messy bed folded and tucked and ripped sheets away, dirty sheets flying into a pile in the middle of the room.

“I’m sorry,” they both said at the same time. Poppy walked over to Minnie’s bedside and pulled up a chair.

“You go first, I still might throw up that last potion.”

“I think some of the ingredients are past their expiration, but you should be fine.” She paused. “I’m sorry to yell. You were hurt and don’t deserve to be yelled at. Today, anyway. But I was really worried. You’re not just my best friend, Min. You’re the closest thing I have to a sister.”

“I get it. My brothers are too young for me to really bond with them. I just have you, too.” The girls smiled at each other softly. “And I’m sorry too. For not taking your warnings into consideration. I mean, this wasn’t my Gryffindor recklessness -- I was pushed! -- but if I’d been listening to you more closely, I might have been more vigilant.”

“That’s right.”

More silence. Minnie leaned her head all the way back against the pillows.

“You better go mix more of this sleepy potion, Pop.”

“Why, are you still in pain?”

“No, but when I wake up, I’m going to want to burn down the Slytherin common room, and I need you to stop me.”

Poppy laughed.

“Besides,” Minnie said as Poppy walked towards the storeroom, “You look really comfortable here.”

Poppy smiled and looked at the already brighter and cleaner hospital wing. She was.

---

Connie (@constar24) is a Hufflepuff who keeps getting sorted into Ravenclaw. She is not about that lofty tower life. If she’s not sorting characters from every single source of media (TV, books, the founding fathers via Hamilton the Musical, the Bible, her co-workers, etc), she’s writing about television and all sorts of nerd stuff all over the internet.

#Harry Potter #Black Wizard History #Quidditch

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teapotfiction · 6 years

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Ok buckle up kiddos...

...because I’ve slept on yesterday’s episode and I have a lot of thoughts. (The inner literature grad in me has been twitchy twitchy twitching).

Now, there were a lot of problematic things and inconsistencies which I don’t really want to get into in this. Mostly because it would take up the entire post, also because I think most of us are all too aware of where the real character stretches occurred (unless there is more to this episode than we know yet.).

So where to start?

Betty.

I think Betty broke all of our hearts this episode. Lili’s acting was astounding (did we expect anything else?). It’s heartbreaking because it’s the all too familiar trope of the person who most needs her friends, pushing them away. I struggle with the lack of communication between her and Jughead, but the tension between them was planted in the episode before. I’m struggling a little with the timeline of Riverdale too. Some sloppy dialogue led us to believe that it’d only been a few days, but the characterisation and more specifically, the dramatic changes in character suggest a much longer timeframe.

Betty’s character has changed. Season 1 Betty was desperate to keep people together; sometimes at cost to herself. (Think the Veronica/Archie situation, she was so desperate not to lose her friends that initially she didn’t give herself the time she needed to get over her own heartbreak). She wouldn’t let Jughead push her away in S1 E10; even in S2 E4 she accepted his explanation quickly for the sake of their relationship. The Black Hood is hitting at the very essence of Betty; her desire to appease those around her. Aside from the very real threat of, y’know, a murderous psychopath who may or may not kill those she loves, it is devastating to see Betty isolated because we know that is the very thing she fears. (Think back to the amount of times she’s defied her mother, or other authority figures and stuck up for her friends. For Betty, and her unwavering loyalty, her friends have always come first. It’s led her to bite her tongue, to go along with Veronica even when she’s felt uncomfortable, and maintain the friendship with Archie even when she was hurting. It’s also what we love most about her relationship with Jughead. More on that later…) The Black Hood is playing a deeply clever and manipulative psychological game with her. He knows her well enough to know that her relationships are her priority and her drive. Because once she’s destroyed those, at his bequest, what does Betty Cooper have left? He is destroying the very core of Betty; and by implication the very core of Riverdale.

Speaking of Betty’s relationships - this moves me onto Archie. I, for one, am enjoying his character arc. I think it’s important that he’s (finally!) being shown as someone who is a good friend to Betty. It’s a pity this wasn’t really featured in Season 1, because it made their friendship look entirely one sided, and made a lot of the audience fairly unsympathetic towards him. Had we had a bit more of their friendship build up before he turned down Betty’s advances, I think we’d have had a lot more empathy for him having to have that conversation with someone that he cared so much about. (No, I’m not defending the way he did things in Series 1; he went about it in entirely the wrong way and was also having a wholly inappropriate affair with a teacher, but - big but - he is a 16 year old boy and teenagers are horribly inept at dealing with things properly. That’s just life.) I do think sometimes we forget how hard it is to be the heartbreaker rather than the heartbroken because that’s not the story that’s ever focused on in TV and Film. Anyway, I digress. Seeing Archie and Betty work well in last night’s episode was important - just introduced far too late. It helped us understand why Betty asked Archie to do her dirty work and break up with Jug. (Must. Not. Cry. Must. Not. Cry.)

I’ve seen a lot of criticism of how Archie handled the break up with Jug. But consider this - Betty’s ‘It doesn’t have to cruel’ was indicative of her mental state, her desire to protect Jug and her need to convince herself she was doing the best by him. It was the only thing she could think of to convince Archie to do it. It wasn’t a realistic request. Betty knew this. That’s why she said ‘it doesn’t HAVE to be cruel’ - not, ‘don’t be cruel’. Subtle, but important difference. Because, for Jug to believe Archie, it had to be exactly that, cruel. It had to be cruel enough that Jughead would take it on face value and wouldn’t call Betty to verify. It had to be cruel enough that he really wouldn’t come near her. It had to be cruel enough that it would close off the final, vulnerable link between the two.

And it was. It was cruel, in the first instance, that she sent Archie and didn’t do it herself, because (as has already been discussed at length) it played into Jughead’s worst insecurities. It was also necessary, because she knows that Jughead can see through people (Ref, when he visits his dad in prison and says something along the lines of ‘my dad’s been lying to me for years, and he’s never been very good at it’). She couldn’t do it herself because she wouldn’t have the resolve if Jughead started to doubt the sincerity of her words. She also knows that he is particularly susceptible to ideas planted in her head. Her telling him outright that she didn’t want to be with him, would never be as effective as Archie planting the seed of doubt. Because that’s what he did - the doubt that not only does she not want to be with him, she’s been thinking it for a while, he’s been too blind to see it, and that she’s couldn’t tell him herself. It leads his imagination into overdrive. Why hasn’t she told him? Has he really been that distant? Is his new lifestyle too much for her? Is she too scared to talk to him now, to tell him the truth? How did he miss that she was suffering? Did she know he was lying to her at Pop’s? Because there’s a grain of truth in the way that they have been distant - and he knows he’s lied to her at least twice - when Archie delivers the message, choosing the words that he does (‘you can’t have them and her’), it’s all too easy for him to believe that this is real.

It also hinges on Archie’s character. Archie has many flaws, but he is essentially a truthful character. He doesn’t tend to lie. He sometimes doesn’t tell people everything, but if he is telling you something, it’s almost certainly the truth.

So basically, kudos to Archie, who was put in a very difficult position (and let us not forget, he must have felt sick to his stomach when he saw Jughead freely associating with the group of guys that he literally fought in the previous episode). Especially when you consider that Archie has quite a simplistic view of the world; good guys are good, bad guys are bad. There’s not a lot of room for nuances - especially post-Fred being shot. He wasn’t just saying what he did to stick in the knife or be unnecessarily cruel; he was saying it to be believable and because when he saw Jughead with the serpents he realised that it was true. Jughead can’t have the North and the South - not when they’re at war.

(Phew, that was long).

(The above assumes that the breakup isn’t just some rouse they’ve prearranged and it’s a code etc etc… I’d love to believe this interpretation, but the ending of the episode discredits this for me.).

And finally we come to Jughead. Juggie. Jug.

Oh geez. Where to start?

It is Jughead’s decision to join the Serpents before Betty breaks up with him that I find interesting - and problematic. If it had come after the breakup, the motivation could be dismissed as a simple knee-jerk reaction to feeling like he’s already lost everything. So it is very telling that the writers decided to position his loss mid-way through his serpent trials.

It’s quite the character change; this is the boy who literally chose homelessness over accepting his father’s life and was completely shocked when the serpents that he - and Betty - had been defending for most of series one, presented him with a bloodied body in his living room. Certainly, I think there’s more than a little bit of him that is seeking his place in the world and desperate to cling onto what he has left of his father. Certainly there’s a part of Jughead that’s always wanted to fit in. Series 1 Jughead found that with Betty; Series 2 Jughead is more ‘unmoored’.

Do I even need to discuss the lack of communication between him and Betty? I mean, what happened to them? Can we smash their heads together or lock them in a cupboard until our little beans start to talk to each other? What ever happened to that couple that we held a candle to as being one of the first, extremely healthy communicative relationships?

I am struggling with the writers’ decision to have Jughead embrace the violence of the Serpents. (Also, do not get me started on the Serpents’ initiation processes, and why are they a bunch of teenagers with just a couple of adults hanging about. It’s WEIRD, and bordering on too ridiculous even for Riverdale. And as for the bloody rattlesnake...). However, we do know that Jughead has quite the streak of self-sabotage, and is more than the ‘conscientious objector’ (He punched Chuck after all). He’s also used to being the one who’s left out. The one who’s family is unreliable. The one, for whom, things tend to turn to shit. This means when it comes to himself, he’s defeatist. He places little value upon his own happiness, and he will sacrifice it for what he thinks is the greater good. Sometimes, when you’re in this headspace (and especially when you’re a 16 year old, which I keep banging on about because I have to keep reminding myself that’s what they are!), you’re blinded by the idea that the decision where you’re suffering the most, must be the one which protects others the most. He’s not going to take the path that an older, more rational person, who is more invested in self-preservation might take.

The bit which sticks out for me is that I just feel Jughead would see the whole thing as a little bit ridiculous. We get a moment of the old Juggie in the trailer going over the ‘rules’ with Toni, but, surely, someone like Jughead - who is wise beyond his years in many respect and has a vast and sophisticated sphere of reference -would see the serpents for their frat-boy mentality instantly. As much as he wants to be close to his father, he doesn’t idolise him. He sees FPs faults, and until a couple of episodes ago, he seemed determined to avoid repeating them. I really struggle with how quickly he changed allegiance.

And then there’s Toni. Another allegiance change. I best get this bit over with quick because it makes me so sad. I really wanted to like her character. I was interested to see how the SouthSide was represented by someone who - unlike Jughead - wasn’t desperate to shake himself from its shackles. And I’m disappointed. Perhaps she’ll get a bit more depth of character later. Perhaps. I’m disappointed that she’s - so far - been brought in to compete with Betty (I am so done with female characters being pitted against each other). I’m disappointed that the writers have just shifted the Betty-Veronica-Archie love triangle to a Jughead-Betty-Toni one. She’s so obviously designed to be the opposite of Betty (even down the the clothes; black vs pastels), and Jughead has been her aim since she arrived. He carries the mystique of being Serpent royalty (to her at least, he doesn’t seem to hold that for the other serpents). It feels a little forced. I’ve have really liked her to be a friend. And if she had ulterior motives, did they have to be romantic?

So much about THAT scene upset me. Okay. So we have Jughead, at his absolute lowest, completely vulnerable. He’s lost everything, and feels like all his ties to the North have been severed in the worst possible way. But let’s not cast him as a victim entirely. He must have had an inkling about Toni’s intentions - from her volunteering to show him around on day one, to her hanging about his trailer, her (subtle but still evident) insults towards Betty, the signs have been there and he’s never discouraged her.

Actually, there are quite a few comments from Jughead throughout the episode that suggest he might be a little interested - or intrigued. (‘It was something you said, actually.’ etc). Here, he is the one who lets her in; he volunteers that Betty is a non-issue. Whether or not we want to accept it, it certainly looks like he wants to kiss her. And he kisses her back. He leans in and kisses her back. Not cool Jug. Did you want my heart to splinter into about a thousand pieces on the floor? If it was just the kiss and no comments, I’d be feeling a little bit better about the situation. But the combination…. Ack.

Until we see next week’s episode and the aftermath of the kiss of doom (sorry. Sorry. I just.. I’m not okay.) it’s hard to analyse exactly what’s going on with Jughead here. Is it desperation for something tangible? Is it that he’s realised there could be something with Toni, that represents his new life? (The one he can actually have - not the one that he felt like he was just chasing all the time). Is it purely a moment of weakness, wanting to feel close to someone to fill the void left by Betty? (Please. Please. Please). Will he regret it or pursue it? I’m too blinded by what I want to happen to be able to comment on that directly.

All I know is that the saddest sight of the show for me was Jughead sitting in his trailer, icepack on his head, new tattoo sealing his fate (the permanency of that really upset me. He’s fully committed. There’s no going back.) leaning in towards Toni - because he’s literally got no one else. He’s spiralling; he’s been thrust into a horrible situation but made it about a thousand times worse for himself.

Actually, no. The saddest sight of the entire show was Betty, who doesn’t have anyone.

Thanks Riverdale Writers. I didn’t want my mascara to stay on anyway.

(I don’t actually expect anyone to read all the way through, I just needed to get things off my chest).

TL;DR

I’m heartbroken.

Someone needs to have a word with Jug.

His foster parents are going to have a tough time explaining the state of his face to social services should they pop in anytime soon.

I vote we all step in to wrap Betty in cotton wool and protect her from everything.

Of all the crimes that the Black Hood has committed, breaking up Bughead was his worst.

#riverdale season 2 #riverdale #jughead jones #betty x jughead #betty cooper #archie andrews

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qatarsquash · 4 years

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Quarter-Final Reports

Rosner, Coll and Momen win in three, Marwan beats Mohamed in Five

Note: we’re having issues with the main QSF site, so posting temporarily here ...

QUARTER-FINALS [5] Simon Rosner (Ger) 3-0 James Willstrop (Eng) 14-12, 11-6, 11-3 (46m) [2] Tarek Momen (Egy) 3-0 [6] Diego Elias (Per) 11-6, 13-11, 11-6 (37m) [4] Paul Coll (Nzl) 3-0 [14] Zahed Salem (Egy) 11-8, 11-9, 11-6 (47m) [9] Marwan ElShorbagy (Egy) 3-2 [1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (Egy) 11-6, 2-11, 11-6, 3-11, 11-8 (59m)

QUARTER-FINALS PHOTO GALLERY

Rosner ends Willstrop run

[5] Simon Rosner (Ger) 3-0 James Willstrop (Eng) 14-12, 11-6, 11-3 (46m)

The first game was crucial today as we thought it would be. James was able to produce the upset of the event when he took out Gawad in the previous round but would he have enough in the tank today? Well, he probably would have found the mental resources had he taken that opener I feel. As he said to me one day “Fram, squash is such a mental game it’s a joke”.

Simon knew it as well, and made it very difficult for the Gentleman from the start. After 5m of game we were still at 1/1, and the game lasted 25m of very very HARD work and accurate squash, both twisting and turning each other – both being the tallest players on the tour I think.

Unfortunately for James, he never had a chance to take that game, it’s Simon that had all the game balls 4 of them. And the TreeChopper gets it finally 14/12, but it all came down to stroke decisions: 10 winners each, 2 errors each, with Simon having 2 strokes, James none. To be noted that the ref was overtuned twice in that game, two strokes overturned to lets.

The second, as often, James is in the game till 5/6, mid game, but then the legs are starting to hurt and three errors, crucial at that stage, and from 3/3, it’s 8/5, 11/6 with two errors on the last two points.

Simon is completely in control in the third, 4/1, 6/2 and 11/3. James bows out, with our love and respect. Nuff said.

Simon: James beat Karim who just won the Egypt Open last week, that takes some achievement. At his age, I hope I can play as well as he does, and perform at that level!

I tried to keep the intensity up from the first rally, not to give him any time on the T, taking the ball away from him on the ball. Taking the first game was huge. It's mentally such a big difference whether you're 1-0 up or down, especially when it's that long and it goes to the tie-break. I knew if I could win that first game, keep the intensity up and play fast squash then I would be able to push through and that's exactly what happened. I was able to keep the intensity up, didn't drop down and I'm glad I was able to work it out. You want to win the title when you get this far and it has to be my aim now. You don't want to lose just before the finish of the tournament, so I'm definitely up for the next match no matter who I'm playing tomorrow and I'm looking forward to that one.

Coll through to semis in three

[4] Paul Coll (Nzl) 3-0 [14] Zahed Salem (Egy) 11-8, 11-9, 11-6 (47m)

What is incredible with Paul, is that he came on court today, truly fresh as a rose. “I worked hard back at home to backup those matches” he commented at the end. And that’s exactly what he did.

He played a very solid first game, against a no pressure Zahed, improved, fit, and with the same style of play than Superman. But today, the error count makes the difference I believe. In the whole match, Paul made a single error, at the start of the third. And that must be so frustrating for the opponent, giving it all, playing some superb squash, seeing all the might be winners coming back with dividends, and never being able to force errors out of him…

First game is crucial as I said: very close the whole way, with Paul just a couple of points ahead, then 6/6, 7/7, 8/8. And three errors to finish from the Egyptian, all credit to the Kiwi, forcing those mistakes out…. 12m first game.

The second is again some stunning squash, and if Zahed didn’t start well at all, 3/0, 4/1, 7/2, 8/4 for Superman, the Egyptian produced a quality of squash that I hope he’ll be proud of. Both mentally, physically, tactically, it was perfection, and the Kiwi saw his gap melt dangerously, 7/8.

An absolute gem of a rally at 9/7, with Zahed in control and wining point in the racquet, just clipping the tin – his only error of the game. 10/7 game ball for Paul. Again, Zahed finds shots and solutions to claw back, but it’s Paul again, 15m game.

The third is dominated by Paul, too many errors from the Egyptian in particular at the start of the match, giving too much confidence to the Kiwi… a stop as Zaza bangs his head against the left wall, a few minutes at 3/2 Paul, but it’s still Paul in control, despite huge effort from the Egyptian, 9/4. Zahed got very frustrated at the end as one of his shots was called not up, while he was adamant it was good, and not happy he was at the end, 11/6, 16m – including a 5m stoppage.

Paul in his first ever world semis: in my eyes, on that court, enhancing his front game, he is definitely a contender.

PAUL: 'm very happy to be in the semi-finals of a World Champs, it was something that was a minimum goal going into the tournament. I've got to put that behind me now, even though I'm very happy to be in the semi-finals, I don't want to stop there. I've just got to regroup after this, enjoy the moment while it lasts and watch the match later.I just wanted to dominate today and I knew I had to be more explosive to the front. Yesterday I felt like I got a bit dominated and my natural game was taken away from me, so I wanted to step up today and really take the game to Zahed. He had a tough match yesterday as well, so I knew it was going to be about who could dominate today. I feel like I did that for most of the game which got me over the line. The ElShorbagy brothers both quality players, I just hope it takes about three hours and then tomorrow I'll play whoever wins.

Tarek returns to the semis

[2] Tarek Momen (Egy) 3-0 [6] Diego Elias (Per) 11-6, 13-11, 11-6 (37m)

Tarek beats Diego in three to return to the semi-finals ... A remarkable match from Tarek, who despite making a few too many errors – hold the press – displayed remarkable “sang-froid” today in front of a Diego that seemed at the end to run out of solutions.

A superb start from the Momenator in the opener, 6/2, 8/4, and despite 4 errors, he will play 9 winners and takes the game 11/6 in 9 short minutes.

Bit of the same story in the second, superb start again, 5/0, but this time, the errors give the Peruvian a life line and he levels nicely at 6/6, 7/7, taking the lead actually 9/7.

Two huge crucial rallies at that point, again, going side to side to front to back but a stroke for Tarek and a no let against Diego, we are back level at 9/9.

The Peruvian will have a game ball at 10/9, but a long volley drop shot from Tarek takes care of that, and it’s the Egyptian that will break through on his second attempt, 13/11. Despite making 5 errors, against none for the Peruvian… 9 winners for Tarek, 2 strokes, 6 winners for Diego.

A much better start for Diego in the third, close, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, but tired errors finally creep in for the young man, and it’s 7/4, 11/6, thanks to 3 errors in the last part of the game from Diego…

Tarek ecstatic to take it in three. You bet….

Tarek: It was a really good match for me, and I had the memory of my last match, and if you want to win the event, you cannot afford to play 5 setters every match. So I was aiming to win the match first and foremost, but also, winning in three is a bonus.I was trying to get the best start as possible, and I couldn’t dreamt of having a better start in the first two matches. In the second, he came back strong at me but I’m lucky I managed to stay on tom in that one.The one day off made a big difference, and today, it felt like a normal day at the office, and I’m happy to be fresh for tomorrow!I know that Diego has been into a few semi finals before but maybe the World Championship is a little bit different. He has the experience of making it to the latter rounds, but maybe the good start that I had made the difference.He came back really strong in the second game and it was very close. If he had snatched that second game, then I don’t think he would have been phased by the occasion. I managed to get a good start which helped a lot towards the end.I was really keen on trying to get as explosive and as tight as possible. I tried to cut down on the errors as much as I could because it makes a big difference. A match could go to five games and 120 minutes or it could be over in just 40 depending on the start. I tried to learn from the few things that I have done wrong in previous matches, and today was a good day at the office for sure. I am really looking forward to playing Simon again, and I am hoping for another win to make it to another final at the World Championships. It would be unbelievable for me to make two finals in a row at the Worlds, so I am really looking forward to it.

Marwan reverses the 2017 final

[9] Marwan ElShorbagy (Egy) 3-2 [1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (Egy) 11-6, 2-11, 11-6, 3-11, 11-8 (59m)

A thought for Basma, the mum…

After the match, an Egyptian came up to me and said with a smile “you were cheering for Marwan weren’t you”. And I replied, "no I was crying for both, because I knew how painful it was for both of them". Like Mohamed stated yesterday, “we hate playing against each other, because we both dream of the world title, and one of us is about to crash the other’s dream”…

I’m going to tell you what happened out there tonight. You might think you know f.a. about squash Fram. And you’ll probably be right….

Cut to 2 years ago. When Marwan reached the final of the worlds against his brother in Manchester, Mohamed just passed a terrible time on the tour, and despite having won everything at least twice, he had never won the worlds. And being the younger brother, in Egyptian terms, he considers Mohamed as his dad. And he couldn’t, even if he had wanted it, he just couldn’t break his brother’s heart/dream.

Cut to today. It’s Marwan’s turn to have gone through an horrendous time from the British Open to January. And Mohamed cannot not feel for his little brother that he has got to protect under the Egyptian uses. Add to that that now, Mohamed has a title on his mantle piece. So today, it was OK for Marwan to walk away with the win, and acceptable for Mohamed to somehow accept it….

Not saying that Mohamed let him win but come on, 2 games were played in 5m each, 11/2, 11/3…. If that’s not a mental game, what is????

End of the psychological mumbo-jumbo, back to stats…

First game, all about Marwan, 14m with Junior at the front, no pressure. High quality squash, but a few nervous errors from Mohamed, 4, only 2 for Marwan, from 3/3 it’s 11/6 for Junior, 6 winners Marwan, 3 Mohamed.

The second is 5m, 4/0, 8/1, 11/2, thank you for coming. Mohamed being Mohamed…

Third, back to a match, 12m, from 3/3, 4/4, and again a domination from Marwan, just reading his brother’s shots and being on them before he played them. 7/4, 9/5, 11/6 again… 5 winners from Mohamed, 6 from Mohamed…

The fourth is the mirror of the 2nd, 5m, 11/3, thanks for coming again.

Superb start for Junior in the last one, 4/1, 6/2, 8/3. A good push from Mohamed, trying to motivate himself, back to 6/8, but it’s match ball for Junior 11/7. A tin, 8/10. A superb lovely winner from Mohamed, 8/10. And in three shots rally, a winner out of nowhere from Junior racquet, irretrievable. Sor’ed.

Marwan:

Any win against my brother is amazing. He is truly one of the greatest players of our sport, and it was tough. He is so clever, and the most experienced players in the draw.It was tough out there. It was five games in less than an hour but I know it was really tough mentally for me. Mohamed is one of the and one of the best players ever to play the sport.He has played against so many different generations so I knew it was going to be really tough mentally, much more than physically. At the end it was all mental, and I gave it everything I had. I put my heart into that fifth game and I am just really happy to get that result.What he did in the second and fourth, well, there was nothing I could do. Absolutely nothing. And that’s something I need to learn. I have so much experience in my corner here, in Haitham and Nick and the way they speak to me between games, it motivates me and it pushes me. I have so much experience here, so I am really lucky to have both of them here. I have played my brother a couple of times already this season, in China and in San Francisco and I was getting close. Today I just made sure I did not make the same mistakes as I did in China and San Francisco. I actually did some, but less, and I am really happy with how I responded in both the third and the fifth games. I am happy with how I played overall and I am focussed for tomorrow now.Now I’ve got to forget about this match, do my recover, and hopefully, I have two more matches to play

QUARTER-FINALS PHOTO GALLERY

#quarters #featured

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silversiphon · 5 years

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Kai Setsuna

Stole the OC meme from here, and needed to have this out in the world somewhere. Also so I can come back and reference it later.

1. What is your Hunter’s full name? How/why did you choose it?

Kai Setsuna (no middle name). I honestly picked WTNC up on a whim at 1 in the morning after seeing someone I follow post screen shots of it and watching a bunch of Gundam 00, so I took my Shepard’s first name and the alias of the main character and wound up with their name.

2. How old are they?

3. How tall are they?

5′ 4″ (162.5 cm)

4. What are their pronouns?

They/Them

5. What is their sexuality?

Pansexual

6. Who are they romancing? If you’re undecided, which LI(s) do you find interesting and why?

Okay. Bit of a story here. Kai was rather taken with Finn from the get-go, which was startling for them given they have an unfortunate history with Vampires. Add in his very evident affection for Ezra, they’d written off getting involved with either of them in an effort to respect whatever was unresolved there. Only they both flirted with Kai (Finn seemed particularly receptive), smooches were had, and they wound up in a relationship with them both. Which they are delightfully pleased about.

7. Have they had any previous relationships?

Nothing lasting. The first time they fell in love on an assignment (a young woman named Emily), things fell apart fairly quickly after they were reassigned. After that, they were careful about getting romantically involved--which makes their relationship with Ezra and Finn all the more startling, given how easily they both saw to the core of them and made them feel like they could safely give all of themselves.

8. What is their relationship with their family like? Are they close, distant etc.

Kai’s parents died in a vampire attack when they were very young. They have very little memory of it, beyond a vague impression of being hurt and afraid, but their older brother, Daniel, also became a Hunter. Until the Lunaris assignment, they’d not seen each other in almost a decade.

9. What was their childhood like?

Kai essentially grew up with Daniel at the Academy. Their childhood was spent surrounded by Hunters, by Enforcers, by those that work with and around the Agency: after what they survived, and what Daniel remembered, all they really wanted was to become like the adults that had looked after them.

10. What are they like as an adult?

Kai is a peace keeper. They’re skilled, capable, good at reading a room and using that to their advantage. They are genuine, but when it comes to giving of themself, they’re guarded and slow to open up. They’re used to keeping others or being kept at a distance, so they try to be a positive influence but are surprised when others express a true interest in them as a person.

11. Who is their ride or die?

Their mentor, Ceiarra.

12. What attracts them to another person?

Kai is attracted to confidence, to compassion, to kindness. A good sense of humor doesn’t hurt, and good taste in liquor is a bonus.

13. What do they look like? Either describe them or, if you’re comfortable with it, post a picture.

14. If someone else wanted to draw them, what are some distinct physical features that you would like them to know about to draw them correctly?

They’ve got distinct claw scars (Lycan) on the left side of their face, running from their cheek down and along their shoulder/upper chest. There’s another scar that bisects their right eyebrow, and their torso is marred across the left side by a set of marks to match the ones on their face. They have a number of bite scars on their arms (as an archer, they wind up in hand-to-hand combat far too often), and a few magic-related scars littered across their legs and torso. Kai also never wears their hair down, unless it’s to sleep or other -ahem- activities.

15. Do they have any tattoos? Do you have refs you’re comfortable sharing?

No tattoos for Kai. They take enough hits that it never seemed worth spending time and money on the ink, given it would be ruined in a matter of hunts.

16. Do they have any scars? Do you have refs you’re comfortable sharing?

See #14, but the only ones I’ve fully drawn out can can be found here. More comprehensive images coming sometime soonish.

17. Do they have any prosthetics? Do you have refs you’re comfortable sharing?

No prosthetics. Yet, anyway.

18. What is their weapon of choice?

Kai prefers the longbow, but is also good with a longsword in a pinch.

19. What are their strengths? Is there something they specialize in?

They’re strongest at range--they hold top marks in marksmanship, and can hit most targets at an impressive range. They’re also no slouch in hand-to-hand and bladed combat, but it’s taken them many years of near-deaths to become properly proficient.

20. What are their weaknesses? How do they compensate for these weaknesses (if they do)?

Close-quarters, though manageable, is still not preferred for them. They’ve come to compensate with better armor and additional training, but they often rely on their own impressive pain tolerance more than they should.

21. Name one good personality trait and one bad personality trait they have.

Kai is compassionate, and feels deeply with and for others. However, they’ve got a very short fuse, which often gets them in trouble--especially if they think they’re in the right.

22. Are they approachable? Or do they prefer to keep their distance?

They’re approachable. Happy to sit down for a drink and a chat, but if you want to actually get to know them, that may take a while.

23. What makes them smile?

A good joke, hot chocolate, seeing the people they’re protecting happy and safe.

24. What makes them truly angry? Are they quick to anger?

Kai becomes truly angry when innocent people are put at risk, especially for another’s self interest. They try to keep a rein on their temper (peace keeper), but they’re bad at it in the moment.

Part 2 will come eventually, but here’s the start!

#fan hunter #wtnc #wtnc game #oc meme #hunter #kai setsuna #my ocs

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capitankoke · 7 years

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What did the copa del rey against real make you feel like given that it was atleti's first win over them after 14 years if i'm not wrong? And the liga title won at camp nou? Sorry if i'm bothering you, i just love hearing you talk about atletico and your love for them

omg you don’t bother me! Thanks a lot for asking me this kind of questions because I love them.

So the secondary effect of so many years of frustration is that you don’t believe that anything good is going to happen to the team. There was a nickname for Atleti: “el pupas” which is more or less “the disgraceful one” that thankfully is disappearing thanks to these last years, but you know, there was this general feeling when Atleti was about to achieve something good when everybody thought “well, they’re going to fuck up.”

Okay, so back when “el pupas” was a correct nickname for Atleti, we were about to play a CdR final against RM, in their own stadium no less. It had all the ingredients for Atleti to honour its nickname, so my hopes weren’t high at all. The only positive thoughts in my mind were that Atleti had already played 2 finals with Cholo (the Europa League and the Supercup) and they had won both, so maybe they were more competitive than I was expecting.

Winning CdR was out of this word, To be honest I get so nervous during important matches, that I can’t really remember how I lived the first 90 minutes, but I know that I screamed so much when Miranda headed that beautiful assist by Koke. But it was only the minute 8 in the extra-time, Atleti had 22 minutes more to Atletify the match. My heart raced so fast, I covered my eyes whenever RM was attacking, I yelled at the TV… When it finished I felt like I had done the most intense work-out of my life, but al the stress disappeared when I saw the players celebrating, it was amazing.

As for La Liga, it was a bit the same. Atleti defying all odds, challenging the 2 most powerful teams in the world with a squad of hard-workers. Winning most of the matches by 1-0. People thinking “Ya caerán…” (They will fall), nobody really believed they could do it except those who had to believe: Cholo and the players. It was again the biggest possible scenario, we could lose the trophy we had worked for a year in the very last minute, against the best player in the world. We had a lot to lose.

Arda and Costa, our best technical player and our top scorer, were injured before the minute 25, the team had only 1 substitution more for the rest of the match. Alexis scored 10 minutes later an impossible goal... Everything seemed lost. That pessimism in my head, “el pupas” phantoms, I really thought it wasn’t possible. Then Godin scored and the rest was Atleti defending like I had never seen them do it before. The players were exhausted (it was pretty obvious in the UCL final a week later), but they kept on fighting. Then Barça scored again and everything was over again. Those seconds until I saw the ref calling the goal illegal (it wasn’t) were the longest ever because there was no way Atleti could score another goal at that point. We hadn’t received too much ref help that year, it was a bit the contrary, but seems that the good luck played in our favour for once.

The match finished and I felt dizzy, exhausted as if I had defended every corner kick. And I was very happy, but the disbelief was so strong that I just could stare at the TV, seeing our players hugging and crying. The previous time Atleti had won La Liga I was 8 so I couldn’t remember it that well, it was new for me, and for sure it was unforgettable.

This post ended up being a bit longer as I had planned, but I hope it wasn’t too boring :)

#Anonymous #text post #long post #someone stop me pls

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wristwatchjournal · 4 years

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A. Lange & Söhne Unveils Three New Watches Celebrating 175 Years Of Precision Watchmaking In Saxony

BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN

In a recent press conference, CEO of A. Lange & Söhne, Wilhelm Schmid stated that the brand picked and chose its anniversaries with great care. While they have had many reasons to celebrate over the past 25 and a bit years, they still need to plan ahead, so they do not celebrate too many things close together. It just so happens that A. Lange & Söhne’s 25th anniversary last year was quite close to another impressive feat: 175 years of precision watchmaking in Saxony.

To be specific, the brand is referring to the founding date of the original company A. Lange & Cie, which was founded on the 7th of December 1845. After the fall of the Berlin wall in 1990 Walter Lange, a descendent of the brand’s founder Ferdinand Adolph Lange, resurrected the name A. Lange & Söhne as a trademark using the newly founded Lange Uhren GMBH as the trademark holder.

Lange travelled around Europe from France to Switzerland and Great Britain learning from the best watchmakers he could with his sole intention being to create a thriving industry within the town of Glashütte. And a thriving industry it was, even the Soviet unification of all the Glashütte watchmakers in 1948 couldn’t hold them back, it was almost inevitable that the name A. Lange & Söhne would be seen again.

As a tribute to the founding of this German legacy, A. Lange & Söhne presents three new models at the socially-distanced Shanghai Watches & Wonders event which will take place from today until the 13th of September. All three members of the trio are limited-production watches made of A. Lange & Söhne’s proprietary alloy Honeygold, a uniquely hard blend of metals inspired by the delicious sweet product from bees that we love to put on our toast in the morning. Well, at least I do.

1815 Thin Honeygold “Homage to F. A. Lange”

The first new model is a version of the 1815 collection which has been made thinner. The 1815 Thin Honeygold watch is one of thinnest wristwatches ever produced by the brand, coming in at 6.3mm thick by 38mm in diameter. This is only 0.4mm thicker than the brand’s so-called flattest watch, the Saxonia Thin, which measures 5.9mm thick. The 1815 Thin Honeygold is characterised by its dial which is made of enamel, a skill the team at A. Lange & Söhne spent years refining which culminated in the Lange 1 Tourbillon Handwerkskunst 20th Anniversary watch. The numerals of the dial are painted in grey, to differentiate the watch and make it a little easier on the eye in comparison to the two-piece enamel dial.

Powering the Honeygold hands is the calibre L093.1. It’s a hand-wound calibre featuring a power-reserve of 72 hours and a gentle 3Hz beat rate. But those aren’t the stand-out features of the watch. They’re just the bits I put into every article. The real difference between this calibre and a ‘regular’ production calibre from the brand is the finishing. A light grain texture has been engraved onto baseplate of the movement, a throwback to the finishing found in the pocket watches of Ferdinand Adolph Lange’s era. The engraving of the movement is also unique; the text and freehand engraved pattern on the balance cock are a dark grey. This is a finish called “black rhodium”, and it’s a recurring theme throughout the collection. A galvanically-applied coating, the black rhodium finish adds a touch of contemporary design to the watch and stands out from the standard-production timepieces.

The watch is limited to 175 examples in total, each with a retail price of €33,000 including VAT. It’s not a boutique-only edition either.

1815 Rattrapante Honeygold “Homage to F. A. Lange”

Encased in a 41.2mm x 12.6mm case, the new 1815 Rattrapante Honeygold is the second piece of the new collection. For the first time, we see on this watch the combination of Honeygold with a black-coloured dial, and I must say it works well. While there is a version of the standard 1815 Chronograph with a yellow gold case and black dial (ref. 414.031), this is the first time the rattrapante chronograph has been incorporated into the watch by itself (it’s usually paired with a perpetual calendar).

A rattrapante chronograph is also called a split-seconds chronograph. In this case, the watch can record more than one event at the same time. The watch has two steel hands superimposed on the dial, the top one is plated in pink gold and serves as the primary seconds hand. Below that is a rhodium-plated seconds hand which sits follows the same path as the primary seconds hand, so it is virtually hidden—depressing the lower pusher while the chronograph is running stops the split-seconds hand in place while the primary seconds hand continues running. This allows the wearer to time certain events such as laps of a track, assuming one lap is shorter than one minute.

To make all this work, A. Lange & Söhne the manually-wound L101.2 calibre. This movement is made of 365 individual components as well as a lateral clutch and two column wheels (for the two seconds hands). As with the L093.1 calibre in the previous watch, the L101.2 features a unique grain finish and black rhodium finishing to the engravings. It also has a 58-hour power reserve and a 3Hz beat rate.

The price for one of these is €130,000, and it is limited to just 100 examples which are only available through a boutique.

Tourbograph Perpetual Honeygold “Tribute to F. A. Lange”

Right, now for the big daddy of the three, the Tourbograph Perpetual Honeygold. As you can see, this watch represents some of the finest watchmaking on the planet. I’d go so far as to say that this is one of those really rare watches made by a corporate-owned manufacturer that can give the independent watchmakers a run for their money.

This new 50-piece limited edition watch posed several headaches for the brand. The dial was one of the main issues with the watch. Rather than go the traditional way and use an outside manufacturer to make a dial based on a steel plate (that’s right, A. Lange & Söhne does not do it all under one roof), the brand used the black rhodium finish for the dial which is made of Honeygold like the case. The numerals, names and other markings on the dial are not applied. Instead, they are extruded from the base plate for the dial, which then received the black rhodium finish before the coating on top of the numerals is removed with a delicate hand. The moonphase disk also gets the black rhodium treatment, and hand-engraved stars surround the gold moons on it. A first for the brand, the dial of this watch is made in-house as the lockdown situation in Germany meant nobody was able to make their dial in time, so they learned to do it themselves and finished the dial less than a week before the deadline for the watch’s launch (the brand does make its own enamel dials, so this is the first non-enamelled dial they’ve produced). Don’t think for a second though that A. Lange & Söhne cobbles together some watches at the last minute and spends the rest of the time on a jolly around Germany’s vineyards (although that might be the case, you never know).

On display for the world to see at 6 O’clock is the tourbillon of the calibre L133.1 powering the watch. Secured at the top by a polished and curved bridge, the tourbillon works in tandem with the fusée & chain inside the watch more accurate. When the tourbillon is vertical, its rotation of the balance wheel means that the gravitational field of our planet does not interfere with the oscillation of the balance wheel. The fusée and chain contains a set of planetary gears which prevent the mainspring from unwinding too quickly and unevenly which in turn makes the watch less accurate.

Couple to the tourbillon (and subsequently powered by it) are a perpetual calendar with a moonphase that requires adjusting once ever 122.6 years and a rattrapante mechanism like we saw in the previous watch. These three complications are enough to garner the timepiece the name ‘Grand Complication’, should the brand wish to use it. Because of the tourbillon and fusée and chain, they could have also gotten away with using the ‘Richard Lange’ moniker which they normally use for their most complicated and most accurate watches. They didn’t do that, nor did they call it a ‘Grand Complication’, as that was a watch they’d already made as a standalone to show off their skills.

Instead, this is simply the Tourbograph Perpetual Honeygold ref 706.050FE, and it sells itself. It comes in a 43mm x 16.6mm honeygold case, and the movement has a power reserve of 36 hours with a 3Hz balance wheel within the tourbillon. This watch is limited to just 50 examples with a price tag of €500,000 each. Oddly, this one isn’t limited to only the boutiques.

Conclusion

It seems that the folks at A. Lange & Söhne really aren’t standing still, as Walter Lange’s iconic phrase says. The new watches celebrating the 175th anniversary of fine Saxon watchmaking and, incidentally, the 30th anniversary of the founding of Lange Uhren GMBH, are knockouts that I know are going to be igniting the flames of lust in all watch nerds who have been given the gift of sight. I can’t wait to get hands-on with one.

As a bonus, the folks at A. Lange & Söhne have hinted that there may be another watch with a grande sonnerie and petite sonnerie in, although we have yet to confirm this to be 100% true.

Visit A. Lange & Söhne here.

The post A. Lange & Söhne Unveils Three New Watches Celebrating 175 Years Of Precision Watchmaking In Saxony appeared first on Wristwatch Journal.

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#watches #luxury watches #wrist watches

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johnchiarello · 4 years

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Luther clashes with Rome

LUTHER CLASHES WITH ROME

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[TODAY’S POST BEGINS HERE]

Let’s do another post on the Protestant Reformation. I’ll probably only do a few more before I transition into another study.

Okay- last we left off Luther was just beginning to butt heads with the church [Tetzel] over the abuse of the sale of indulgences that was going on in Germany.

In a previous post I mentioned how the priest- Tetzel- was selling these ‘get out of Purgatory’ type coupons in the area where Luther operated out- Saxony.

Actually- Tetzel never entered Saxony itself- but was selling these out of a bordering city- and many of Luther’s students/parishioners were being hoodwinked into spending their money to rescue a loved one out of Purgatory.

Tetzel is known for a jingle he started in connection with the sale of the indulgence- it goes ‘as soon as a coin in the coffer rings- a soul in Purgatory springs’- ouch!

Like I said before- the church never taught this- they did teach the Treasury of Merit [previous post] but the way Tetzel used it was a real abuse of the teaching of the church at the time.

Now- Luther responds to the abuse by writing the famous 95 thesis. This is the act that is often associated with the launching of the Reformation- the act that got the ball rolling.

The 95 thesis were simply 95 questions challenging the whole practice of the sale of indulgences- there was no mention of the doctrine of Justification by Faith- which will become the trumpet sound that springs out of the Protestant Reformation.

Luther takes these questions- written in Latin- and nails them to the university church door at Wittenberg. Sometimes while reading church history this ‘nailing to the door’ is seen as a sort of vandalism – you know- ‘he nailed them to the door!’

In actuality Luther was simply using the system of the day that one scholar would use in order to bring up an official point of contention with the church- Luther wrote the Thesis in Latin- which was the scholars language- not the language of the common man.

But Luther’s students quickly translated the Thesis into the vernacular [German] and it was said that in 2 weeks the paper made it into every village of Germany.

The challenge was a spark in the lives of many Christians who also believed the church was off track and that someone needed to rebuke her- and they picked Luther as the man for the job.

Now- the Catholic church wanted Luther to go to Rome and discuss the situation there- Luther’s friends warned him not to go- so they agreed to meet- a few times- in Germany.

The first meeting was in 1518 at Heidelberg- Luther actually gave a great defense of his argument and convinced some other top Catholic scholars that he was right [as a side note- the church had already scheduled this meeting because of a controversy that rose up between the Augustinian order of monks and the Dominicans. They were debating over which philosophy was more consistent with church teaching- Nominalism or Realism- for those of you who have read the posts this past year- I taught this when doing our posts on philosophy].

One man- Martin Bucer- wrote a stirring account of Luther- Bucer would later influence another young Swiss priest with Reformation teachings- his name is John Calvin.

As a side not Calvin will become one of the 3 big heavy hitters of the 16th century Reformation [Ulrich Zwingli is the 3rd].

Luther will meet again in Augsburg- and debate the leading Catholic scholar of the day- Cardinal Cajetan.

Then he goes to the city of Leipzig- and debates the leading German scholar- Johann Eck.

And his last meeting with the church will be at the famous Diet of Worms [pronounced- Vurmtz] and it will be here that Luther makes his last stand and officially will break with the church and launch the Protestant Reformation.

It should be noted that Luther held what we call a High Church position for most of this time- he still saw the church at Rome- and the Pope- as a legitimate expression of true Christianity- his beef was what he saw as an abuse of the system- by the priest Tetzel.

As time progressed- the other beliefs of Luther- founded upon the bible- did come into contention with Rome.

The main disagreement eventually became the teaching in the bible called Justification by faith. I have written a study on the topic on the blog- I have also written a bible study on the book of Romans and Galatians.

For those of you who can- try and read Romans chapters 2-4 and Galatians 2-3- these are the key chapters that cover the teaching.

Down the road I will cover the official teaching of both the Protestants and the Catholics on the doctrine of justification- the Catholic Council of Trent- referred to as the Counter Reformation- spells out the official teaching of Rome- and there are a few papers put out by the Reformers that explain their belief.

Since the 16th century Reformation there have been efforts made by Protestants and Catholics to bridge the gap as much as possible- to try to come to some common language since the historic split.

I like some of the efforts that have been made- and recently both groups put out a statement that jointly said we all believe that we are saved by Gods grace thru Christ- that’s good.

But as we get into some of the actual discussion- you will see the points at which the 2 sides disagreed- and the main one was on the act- the actual thing that happens- when a person is declared just- the Reformers said it takes place when a person has faith- believes- the Catholic church said it takes place at baptism- water baptism.

This- as well as a few other things- will be a defining distinction between the 2.

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These are some of the first posts ever made, I hope to share some of them over time in between my regular studies. Of course they are ‘dated’- and it would be too difficult to edit each post. Some have old news comments in them, but if I also taught on the posts, I’ll post them ‘as is’. Hopefully they will be a benefit in some way- John.

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Note- Please do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on- Copy text- download video links- make complete copies of my books/studies and posts- everything is copyrighted by me- I give permission for all to copy and share as much as you like- I just ask that nothing be sold. We live in an online world- yet- there is only one internet- meaning if it ever goes down- the only access to the teachings are what others have copied or downloaded- so feel free to copy and download as much as you want- it’s all free-

Note- I have many web sites- at times some question whether I’m a ‘bot’ because I do post a lot.

I am not a ‘bot’- I’m John- so please- if you are on the verge of deleting something- my contact email is [email protected] - contact me first- thank you- John

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