#johan the disgraced

[ashersanity]

My 3 main PC’s and their ways of molesting you in your sleep, brought to you by this sick fuck.

cw! somnophilia, free use, non-con

Johan, the disgraced

Doesn’t exactly count as somnophilia if he’s waking you up first, gently shaking your sleeping frame awake with a sick grin forming on his face as you finally awaken. Eyes fluttering open, gazing up to meet his own eyes in the dark, hidden beneath the shadows of the room, probably at the asylum since that’s where he resides in. Don’t even have time to process what’s happening before his hands reach for his own waistband, pulling it down to reveal his throbbing hard-on, aching to sink into that warm, wet mouth of yours. Forcibly prying your lips apart, pink tongue peeking out between your teeth as he forces it open, shoving his cock into your mouth and just starts face fucking you. Relishes in the strangled gasps that elicits out of you, fat, wet tears rolling down your flushed cheeks, enough to make him shoot his load deep in your throat, taste of his salty cum left lingering on your tongue.

Asher, the disturbed

Likes to take his time with it, last thing he wants is for you to realize what’s happening, having to confront his own twisted thoughts that slowly form in his mind the longer this goes on. It starts off.. mostly tame, scarred fingers brushing over your unsuspecting form as you dream of whatever, pressing quick kisses all over your body, wherever he can, even the slightest sliver of exposed skin has him rock hard. Stupid bitch that you are, sleeping with your door left open. Maybe it’s because you wanted this, right? Wanted him to come creeping into your room at night, soft footsteps making their way toward your bed as he slips beneath the covers, snuggling up to you. Yeah, that’s what he tries to think, in a pathetic attempt to convince himself that this is okay, completely fine to do. Of course, spurred on by your ignorance, his actions progressively escalate into more than that. Slotting his dick between your plush thighs, gripping at the soft of your hips as he gets himself off. He’s this close to fucking you, fucking you for real, jolting whenever the tip of his cock brushes against your puckered hole.

Esme, the devoted

Better than her dumb, big brothers because she’ll make sure that you’ll cum too, she’s nice like that! Obviously the thought doesn’t cross her mind at first, thin arms wrapped around your waist while she sleeps next to you, happily dreaming away. Though.. There are some times, some times when the heat growing between her legs becomes unbearable, wetness forming in her panties, fabric of her underwear clinging to her moistened cunt. Could you really blame her? You just look so nice like that, relaxed expression and shut eyes, eyelashes gently fluttering in your sleep as you lay unconscious next to her, ignorant of what you’re getting yourself into by letting her rest next to you. A hopeless romantic, interlocking your fingers in a tight hold before she dips her head lower then it should, wandering hands pushing your legs apart before taking your genital into her hungry mouth. Made sure to practice plenty of times, hot tongue running across your leaking slit, sucking away as if she’s been deprived of your taste for so long. Mmm.. You really do taste oh so very lovely, pink eyes staring up at you, utterly transfixed and filled with adoration.

Johan is the real MVP here, actually waking you up before proceeding to force his entire length down your throat, watching the way your skin bobs in time with your gasps. What a nice guy, really.

Esme gets a pass since she’s cute. Asher should be shot down and locked behind bars. Fuck you.

#me on my way to ramble about my 3 favorite PC’s no one cares about #it’s fine #fuck it we ball #I’ll just talk to myself on my own #like some crazy sick guy that you see on the streets #avoiding him on purpose #dol #degrees of lewdity #dol pc #johan the disgraced #asher the disturbed #esme the devoted #dol ocs #oc x reader #yandere x reader #yandere x you #somnophilia #yandere x gender neutral reader #yandere x darling #yandere oc #yandere original character #asher getting.. ideas!

[stirringwinds]

Isn't something like that canon for nyo japan? although admittedly it doesn't make as much sense

yeah, it doesn't make as much sense for nyo!japan, haha. Kiku not having long hair in canon before the meiji-era feels like a missed opportunity precisely because for Japan (and China), the politicisation of short hair with modernisation, westernisation and "civilisation" in the 19th century (or: from the point of view of their opponents, a rather disgraceful break from important traditional values)—was centred on men's hairstyles, rather than women's. after all, it was still the norm for western women to have long hair in the 1850s. short women's hair as a statement emerges as a global trend more in the 1920s—and Japanese women adopted those styles too (as these photos show).

for men, short hair wasn't really regarded as appropriate in japan or china before the modern era. there were some exceptions, like shaving your head bald to enter a religious order. but otherwise from what i know, forcibly having your hair cut could be a punishment, precisely because the norm is long and pulled back into a bun/topknot, or the Manchu-style braid/queue in Qing China (which was its own controversy because the Qing rulers were ethnically Manchu, and the queue was seen as a foreign imposition on Han Chinese culture). Nonetheless, overall trend = long hair for men.

helltalia-wise, i headcanon that both Kiku and Yao had dramatic haircuts, though Kiku did it first (by 1867, when the Meiji emperor ascended the throne)— in line with how his long-term, pretty intimate relationship with Jan/Johan (Ned) and his exposure to Dutch studies pre-disposed him to being more willing to adopt western styles faster than Yao. after all, Kiku's no stranger to borrowing from others. i like the visual break from tradition and change in worldview this represents, especially since Kiku was not only heavily influenced by Yao for more than 1000 years before (the kimono itself was adopted from the traditional chinese hanfu), but because long hair for men also connoted "civilisation" through the chinese imperial worldview. for example, when china was conquering and colonising what is now southern china, the baiyue tribes who lived there were perceived as 'barbarians', and chinese writers back then noted their short hair as a point of distinction.

so, Kiku cutting his hair short is both about reinventing himself, but also inherently embedded with a symbolic turning away from Yao in some ways (as @hetagrammy and @acemapleeh also observed with some solid tag comments about Confucianism, the mentor-protege dynamic these two had vs. the pull of westernisation). it's like, Yao and Kiku have been at war with each other before the Westerners showed up (it involves Yong Soo, Yao kicking Kiku's ass and being very 'remember your place, upstart'), but to me, what still felt constant even during such periods of antagonism is that it's implicitly taken for granted that China was THE powerful empire, and that Yao's cultural traditions connoted power and prestige—in a manner similar to the sort of image Europeans had of Rome and Greece. so i really like the visual of Kiku's Dramatic Haircut, especially since one reason Japan eventually caved to the Americans' demands during the Perry Expedition was that they'd already heard from the Dutch what happened to China during the Opium Wars.

#hetalia #hetalia headcanons #hws japan #hws china #hws netherlands #hws korea #long post

[runningtomakeithome]

MESSI, BRIGHT BEGINNINGS AND UGLY, AWFUL ENDINGS

[Originally published at Barcelona Football Blog in August 2020]

“If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.”

Remember how it all began, all those years ago?

Maybe you remember the whispers about the kid in the youth teams, another one of those dime a dozen New Maradonas.

Maybe you remember that first chipped goal, the small, slight kid being carried on Ronaldinho’s back like a team mascot. Or that Gamper match, where he left Cannavaro and Vieira on their backs and Capello gaping.

Or the sight of a comet in yellow gliding over the potato field at Stamford Bridge, dominating a Champions League knockout game at 18. Or a Clasico hattrick at 19, the kid who wouldn’t let Barca lose. Or an epic dribble halfway across the pitch ending in a goal, Getafe players falling like ragdolls.

Even if it was much much later, certainly you remember how you felt, seeing him for the first time. Like a lightning strike. Or maybe a light coming on in a dark room.

Most certainly you know the story, trite now, and its remarkable details. The kid who didn’t grow, who had to immigrate off his own back at the age of 12, the contract signed on a napkin. It was a modern fairy tale. (It wasn’t, really, but it’s close enough for pretending.)

The years since have been a fairy tale, too, a blessing none of us could have expected or imagined. When we come to write about all that Lionel Messi has done for this club, it will be an impossible task. He has been who he is for so long. Not just for 3 or 4 good years but more than a decade.

Easy enough to count goals and trophies, perhaps. How do you measure all the joy and relief and what-the-hell moments and happy tears and sense of infinite possibility?

Fairy tales shouldn’t end like this. It’s wrong. It’s inconceivable. But we’re here. So it’s worth asking how and why.

As a rule, Barca is a club used to dysfunction and crisis. Any periods of calm are the exception rather than the rule. Even so, the past 7 years or so have been remarkable, a permanent state of institutional crisis papered over by trophies and an endless flood of Messi goals.

The election of Sandro Rosell and his board in 2010 brought about a so-called austerity project, using Barca’s supposedly dire finances to justify controversial moves such as the first shirt sponsorship deal in the club’s history and banning the use of colour copies. Remember that word, austerity, because everything that is to come is a mockery of it.

Rosell and his board started off on the wrong foot with many by their open repudiation of Johan Cruyff and their vindictive pursuit of outgoing president Joan Laporta, who had cultivated close ties to Pep Guardiola and Messi, not to mention their public and ongoing rift with Guardiola which arguably led to his exit and has continued to this day.

The fractures in Messi’s relationship with the board became ugly and public during the 2013-2014 season, when Javier Faus, in an act of remarkably poor judgment, grumbled to the media about the need to frequently renew Messi’s contract. Messi was injured frequently during that season and ugly rumours about him began to circulate in the media outlets favoured by the board. For the first time, he seemed to have doubts, but a conversation with the dearly missed Tito Vilanova very shortly before his untimely passing removed them.

In 2014 Rosell was forced to resign in disgrace over an investigation into the signing of Neymar, handing the presidency to Bartomeu.

Shortly after that, FIFA imposed a transfer ban on Barca for breaches of their regulations regarding the transfer of under-18 players, a spectacular self-inflicted injury on the part of the club.

The 2014-2015 season was so disastrous for Bartomeu and his board that only the most spectacular success on the pitch could have rescued matters. Luckily for them, they got it.

Then there was the loss of Neymar.

The board responded to the humiliation of losing their Messi continuity plan exactly like a previous Barca board had when they lost Luis Figo – by going out and spending like drunks. The results were bleak in 2000 and bleaker the second time. The sporting directors hired to replace the fired Andoni Zubizarreta were not much more effective than if the transfer ban were still in place.

For his part, Messi responded to Neymar’s departure by taking the team on his shoulders and carrying them to another title. Increasingly in the Valverde era, post-Neymar and increasingly shorn of the Guardiola-era stalwarts, Barca threatened to become the cliché critics had used to attack earlier Barca teams – Messi and 10 others.

It was a cruel dream to pin on a man who is still human at the end of the day and past the peak of his powers by any conventional measure of a playing career. He was a tree that grew goals and victories and it seemed all the club knew how to do was shake him for more.

Most Barca fans have spent the last few seasons worried about the future, because we’re capable of hearing an oncoming train when the bells are blaring. Not so the club, apparently, as the past season proved.

First, the board spent an epically embarrassing summer pantomiming a pursuit of Neymar, an act so weak that the players saw straight through it.

Then there came the increasingly public fault lines, not so easily disguised when results on the pitch were mediocre:

Abidal blamed the players for Valverde’s firing, when Valverde had been backed by many in the squad. Messi fired back angrily, publicly, for the first time in years.

The board were accused of hiring an advertising agency to make social media posts praising Bartomeu, and apparently denigrating Pep Guardiola and even Messi himself.

During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in Spain, board-friendly media outlets alleged that the players were unwilling to take pay-cuts. In response, Messi and his team mates released a statement clarifying that they had agreed to a 70% pay-cut, some of which would go to pay the salaries of club staff, and denouncing the board leaks as what they were.

The end result of years of bumbling mismanagement, so-called austerity measures and unseemly scrambling to retain their positions was made starkly clear in the desperately bare-bones 13-man squad Barca was able to scramble together for the Napoli game. Messi and 10 others indeed.

Oh, and the books are a disaster, too.

Sid Lowe used the word “hatred” to describe the current relationship between Messi and the board on the Second Captains podcast. It is certainly an achievement of epic proportions by Bartomeu and co, bringing Messi to this point.

They broke him. They made him decide to leave home again, 20 years after the first time. This will be their ultimate legacy, beyond all the scandals and lawsuits and poor signings and even the trophies.

Pep Guardiola was once asked what he would say to the young Barca fan who was having their first experience of disappointment and pain, following Barcelona’s Champions League exit to Chelsea. He said: “welcome to the club – there will be many more times, too.”

Most of sports fandom is pain and disappointment. We all know that, or we lie to ourselves in order to believe otherwise. When it’s good, it’s usually fleeting.

It was magical fairy tale thinking to believe that this Barca with its poor squad and its institutional malaise could succeed. Messi made it easier to believe the fairy tale. Maybe he even believed it himself.

After all, thanks to him, we’ve defied the odds for so long.

[aspoonofsugar]

Monster question...How did Richard realize all the killing cases (Voice of God) he was investigating before the incident were made by Johan? That passage is kinda foggy in the anime...Also why killing a youn serial murderer was such a big deal for him? It was for self defense... Thanks

#MonsterMeta Would you like to explain the "rooftop game" Johan taught to the children?

Hellon anons!

These asks can be answered together.

How did Richard realize all the killing cases (Voice of God) he was investigating before the incident were made by Johan?

Richard understands that all his old unsolved cases are connected:

As a policeman he was looking at them as if they were all different cases, but after he goes back to them as part of his therapy he realizes they are all linked to Schuwald.

Moreover, he discovers this:

Johan's name keeps popping up in all these apparently unrelated cases and Richard has heard Schuwald mention that name:

So, Richard realizes that Schuwald is the one connecting together all those different murders and that the consequence of all those deaths is that he ends up isolated. Moreover, a person called Johan keeps coming up as well and Richard has just heard Schuwald say that name.

.Also why killing a youn serial murderer was such a big deal for him? It was for self defense...

The point is this:

Richard does not kill Jost out of self defense. He executes him because he glimpses at a darkness he is not able to process. He is so scared of pure evilness that he chooses to cancel it and shoots the boy. This is further explored later on:

Richard has been telling others and himself that he was drunk when he killed Jost and that is why he shot. Still, this is false. He kills Jost out of fear, not for his life, but of the chaos Jost represents.

It is the same sense of loss other characters have when they meet Johan. After all, Jost is just another Johan:

He is a victim of Kinderheim 511. He is a “monster” like Johan, like Nina, like Grimmer and many others. The point of Monster is to explore human darkness and to show you can’t really kill this darkness. If you murder another person, you are just murdering a part of yourself. This is what happens to Richard. He kills Jost and as a consequence he ends up broken himself. 

In short, Richard is just another example of how Urasawa is great with his characters. He is a minor one that stays around for very little, but his story is complex, beautiful and sad.

A policeman with an alcohol problem that kills a person while drunk is already a powerful and interesting backstory... but the final twist of Richard not really being drunk is what makes it amazing and heartbreaking.

Richard kills Jost because unable to face the world’s darkness and he dies because unable to face his own. He hides his crime behind alcoholism and Johan hides Richard’s murder behind an empty bottle as well.

Finally, Richard is clearly a foil to all the other major characters (he is like Grimmer in this).

Like Tenma, Richard’s life is marked by an old case. Tenma saves Johan’s life, while Richard kills Jost. Both try to ignore the shadow and darkness connected to these two experiences, but they fail and this darkness catches up to them.

Like Nina, Richard’s reaction in front of the darkness is tro try to kill it. However, you can’t kill darkness. You can’t kill a shadow, you can only integrate back with it. Moreover, Richard’s introduction is similar to Nina’s in how they are both seeing therapists to remember a part of their past.

Like Eva, Richard has a problem with alcohol that has damaged his relationships.

Like Lunge, Richard is a policeman who ends up in disgrace and who keeps obsessing over unsolved cases. He has also family problems and is trying to gain his daughter’s trust back.

#MonsterMeta Would you like to explain the "rooftop game" Johan taught to the children?

The game is symbolic of Johan’s nihilism. He is spreading his vision of the world to the children around him to create many versions of himself:

Life has no value, people are empty, so they can risk dying with no fear at all. The game on the rooftop is just Johan’s whole approach to life. He has nowhere to go, no identity or bonds... he just keeps on walking and sees the people around him die and wonders when he’ll die as well.

However, Johan is wrong and his mentee loses against Tenma’s one:

Darkness won’t disappear, but you can still enjoy good things like the people you love, a fun game or good food.

Thank you for the asks!

#naoki urasawa'a monster #naoki urasawa's monster meta #monster meta #Johan Liebert #richard braun #dieter #asksfullofsugar #anonymous

[verytiredblob]

My reviews on Manhwas

Alright so, recently I've began to fall into the great Manhwa hell, as if I didn't have enough fandoms.

But I neither have friends to chat about this with, nor a Discord chat where I can fanby about it, so I just decided to throw it in here.

These are both Manhwas I recommend and my opinions on them. If there are any spoilers, They will be striked through and in blue for anyone that wishes to avoid them (if anyone even reads this lol).

1. The Villainess Reverses the Hourglass (악녀는 모래시계를 되돌린다)

Premise: Aria was a terrible person and was sentenced to dead by being beheaded. In her final moments, she discovers her step sister, Mielle, actually manipulated her during her entire life just so she could get Aria killed. She then is beheaded, and wakes up in the past, in her child body. So now, she must work to both survive and get her revenge on her sister.

Lovely story, and my first Manhwa. The art is simply stunning, and all the characters are very flashed out and developed. Aria (MC) is the pettiest person alive and I'm here for that.

Also, I noticed a trend where, even though the manhwa has "Villainess" in the title, the MC is usually a total angel. Well, not here. Aria is egotistical and a total Diva, she has her goals and one of them is her revenge and by all that is sacred she'll get it.

Mielle is a great villain, she has grown a lot in her own pettiness and tactics since she was a child, and I really like that. Also, watching her suffer for being a terrible person is delightful.

The Male Lead (Asher) is also really cool, I like how he's both witty and friendly, and how much he truly admires Aria and her achievements.

The side characters are also pretty good, and they get a lot of focus because of their interactions with the main cast.

Again, The art is S T U N N I N G. Look at this:

Literally all panels are drawn like this or better, I'm in love.

All in all, an awesome read, 10/10, I love this a lot.

2. The Monster Duchess And Contract Princess (괴물 공작가의 계약 공녀)

Premise: Leslie's life was terrible, and always centered on her big sister, Eli. After a failed attempt of her family to grant Eli her sister's skills and knowledge, Leslie searches for the feared "Monster Duchess" in an attempt to survive.

Another one with incredible art AND incredible characters. Leslie is an absolute angel, and seeing her grow as a person is awesome.

The gender envy I feel with the Duchess is unbearable, she's utterly perfect. And the entire family is so dotting and loving and sweet, my little grinch heart can't take it.

She's perfection, really.

The plot keeps getting more and more mysterious, and I'm here for it!

I love each of the main characters a lot, and even the villains are well done and fuel your hatred.

Also, Eli Sperado and her Dad can choke on those black flames for all eternity.

Another 10/10, although I must warn anyone that wishes to read this that the translations sometimes are very spotty and messy, so it can be a bit annoying.

3. I'll be the Matriarch in this Life (이번 생은 가주가 되겠습니)

Premise: Firentia was a girl that died in Korea in her past life, and was reborn into an influential family as the illegitimate daughter of the third son. Her life was pretty terrible, with in the end, her family ending up in poverty and disgrace because of her uncles and cousins, while she was exiled from the family. After another accident, she wakes up in her past, now with a goal: Become the Lombardi matriarch and stop the other family heirs from bringing it to ruin.

Awesome art and Awesome plot number 3! This is so good, genuinely. Firentia is such an awesome plotter, and her goals and actions are very well developed.

The Male Lead is my baby and I shall protect him, and the side characters? Utterly stunning.

The twins are the cutest fucking shit, seriously. Like, look at these two?? I'm dead. Although, all the children are very, veeery cute.

I like how Firentia subtly manipulates things around her to get what she wants. It's similar to Aria, but she's much more mature and knowledgeable, and has a much less petty goal.

Guess what? 10/10. Yeah, I know, I'm terrible at grading, sue me.

4. The Twins Siblings' New Life (쌍둥이 남매의 뉴라이프)

Premise: Arien and Arjen were a pair of twins that died in Korea, and were reborn again as twins and as the Emperor's illegitimate children. Now, with only each other to trust, they must do their best to survive.

My current obsession. I really like this one. The art is not on the same level of pure Awesome like the ones before, but it's pretty good nonetheless.

The plot is pretty nice, but I must warn you: DO NOT expect them to act like adults. Honestly, just forget they're meant to be reborn in this world. They're just normal children and that's it. They act like children, and they think like children. Honestly, I think the author just wanted to make this story about them as children and their producer went and said to make them reincarnates because that Isekai shit is popular nowadays (And to justify they having memories of their newborn days). Seriously, just ignore it, the experience reading will be much better.

Other than that, the story develops nicely. The characters are all very good and the plot is very mysterious. I am holding myself back to not spoil anything, aaaaa.

There is also only one another thing that disappoints me: Arien is very clearly the MC. The story is told by her eyes and we only know what Arjen thinks or feels when he says it 9 or by subtext). I really wish it was more balanced, because they're both different people and have different perspectives, and also I really like Arjen.

I have absolutely no idea where this plot is gonna go, and honestly? I like it. It's very rare when I don't know how things are gonna develop because of other stories, so it feels very fresh.

The brothers are freaking awesome. I was so scared they were going to hate the twins and be petty, because of other manhwas that are like that, but they're so loving and sweet?? All hail these idiots. Also, Daddy is the biggest dumbass of all, this poor clueless man.

An 8/10, because of the complaints above. Still a good read, and I really like it, even with it's defects.

4. I'm A Stepmother, But My Daughter Is Just Too Cute! (계모인데 딸이 너무 귀여워)

Premise: A seamstress dies of overwork in Korea, and wakes up in the body of Abigail, the vain Queen, and the evil stepmother to the princess Blanche. Yes, It's like she stepped into the world of Snow White, and she must now do her best to live and.. Dote on Blanche with toys and dresses as much as possible?

Again with the awesome art and nice plot. Why are there so many manga with awesome art?? I'm so envious.

May all hail this crispy, delicious art.

Abigail is a whole mood, and I enjoy how she is inserted into the life of someone who had already lived and had a reputation. Her actions baffle a lot of the characters, as do her motivations, and I'm here for it.

The King has also an amazing backstory that's very tragic and yikes. I enjoy it, really. Not something you see in men's backstories that much.

Also, I'm kinda saddened by the fact the MC and the king are bound to become an actual couple. They would be such good platonic friends stuck in a political marriage. I was robbed, y'all.

Abigail greatest ambition is to get to design a dress for Blanche and have her wear it, and you know what? Good for her! Sometimes, it's good to have an MC that is not plotting against world at large.

Also, her mirror? Verite is simply perfect, I love this guy. I non-jokingly ship him with Abigail more than her with the King.

Blanche is a sweetheart, she deserves to be in my "adopted children" wall.

For now it's more of a Slice of Life than anything? But I also don't know what happens in the novels, so I'm just going to wait.

For the current lack of a grater plot, this gets a 7/10. Still pretty good and entertaining, especially for when you just don't feel like trying to understand deep plots with lots of elements.

5. Beware of the Brothers! (그 오빠들을 조심해!)

Premise: Another one of those "I lived my life and then wake up in the past." Hari was adopted by this family after the death of their only daughter, and although her parents love her, her 3 older siblings very much don't. She lives a miserable life in their hands, and when it's the night before she is to get married and finally escape her brothers, she wakes up in the past, and has to deal with them all over again.

Another nice art one, and the background characters are very nice, as is the MC.

But for me, it has a big problem. And that problem is the main ship. It's Hari with her eldest brother, Eugene. Even though they are not related and yadda yadda yadda, they were raised as such, and thus it bothers me. Also, Eugene is as plain as white bread and just as generic when seen as the Male Lead.

I ship Hari with Johan, even though I know it's not gonna happen, Ugh, the pain..

For me, the main point in this is Hari's relationship with her other siblings and the other background characters. I'm here for that wholesome sibling interaction. Her relationship with Erich, specially, is awesome. I love these two so much

It also kinda lacks a plot? Other than the relationship development and their story as a family, but again, I have no idea how they will develop this.

Also, pet peeve? Why do they keep using Oppa instead of translating it properly as brother? I get honorifics and stuff, but it's so annoying.

I give it a 6/10. Good characters and good relationships outside of the bloody incest thing, and it's a good enough way to pass the time.

There are two more that I've read, buut it's like 4am and I'm sleepy as all hell, so I'll just add it in a reblog or attached post later, and I plan on doing this for other future manhwas as well.

Do you have any recommendations or comments or just wanna talk about any of these manhwas? Hit me up!

#The villainess reverses the hourglass #the monster duchess and contract princess #i'll be the matriarch in this life #I'm a stepmother but my daughter is just too cute! #Beware of the brothers! #manhwa #webtoon #manhwa recommendation #isekai

[aviesims]

Amber had tons of evidence that linked Archer to the criminals and Eve had a recording of him talking to Luka in his cell. The hard thing was the chief but now that Makenzie talked it was over. Eve had been leading the secret investigation she had on her chief for a while now and with their latest documented evidence she got back an arrest warrant quickly!

She barged in to his room with Johan and Jupiter by his side. The Chief tried to scold her at first and told her that her career was over and that she was completely mad. Eve slowly walked towards him while Jupiter read out what they had and explained his situation to him casually. Johan was immediately on Archer and cuffed him as roughly as he could.

Johan spat at Archer as his former friend wept and pathetically tried to explain himself. "You're a disgrace." he told Archer. "We would've helped if you... But you made your choice and now you're gonna rot in a prison like you deserve. I'll make sure of it."

#not so berry #not so berry challenge #not so berry legacy #sims 4 gameplay #sims 4 legacy #ts4 legacy #sims 4 story #ts4 gameplay #sims 4 #nsb orange #Eve #Johan #Archer

[imagine-loki]

Hiding in Plain Sight

TITLE: Hiding in Plain Sight

CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 12 Final Chapter.

AUTHOR: wolfpawn

ORIGINAL IMAGINE:Imagine coming from a line of nobility or royalty and being in an arranged marriage with Loki in an attempt to strengthen your kingdom / alliance with Asgard. You’re not entirely on board with the idea but figured that the best you could do was to get to know your fiancé. You form an agreement with Frigga for you to pose as Loki’s personal servant for a few months so you can get to know who Loki really is – beyond the veil of his responsibility to the Asgardian throne, behind all the masks he wears when facing the public, to really know who Loki is behind closed doors as you slowly fall for each other.How long will you keep up the ruse with the God of Lies?

RATING: General Audience

NOTE: final chapter

Loki scoured his desks and shelves for those letters. When the knock came to his door, he gave a nod to Tatianna to open it. The maid, who had been working diligently with him in search of said letters, rushed over to check it was who she had been sent for. “The Postmaster, Lord Johan, Your Highness.” She introduced as the Postmaster came in. 

“Lord Johan.” The Postmaster bowed. “Prince Loki, I came as soon as I could.” “Thank you.”

“How can I assist you, Your Highness.” “My brother has informed me that three letters were brought to my rooms over a period of months from the Ljósáfar palace.” 

The Postmaster’s eyes widened. “You did receive such, Your Highness. I organised them for your rooms myself as I do all the mail for your family. They even had the name of the sender on them, the Princess Raven of Alfheim. Such fine writing she has too. Artistic and neat.”

Loki nodded and took little heed of the statement, It was well-known that the Postmaster was a graphophile, he supposed a few millennia of looking at different handwriting would turn almost anyone into one. 

“I have never received them.” The Postmaster’s mouth opened to speak. “I am not, for one moment, suggesting you to be telling me falsities, Lord Johan, I know of the due care you put into your work but also I know you have entirely no reason to lie.”

“On two of the three occasions, they came alongside other post. On the final one, it did not and I ensured they all made their way to your rooms. Because of their importance, I placed them in the centre of your desk rather than the usual place.” Loki’s eyes widened and he looked at his desk, which was kept clean for when it was needed for work matters but there was nothing on it at present. “It begs the question then, where did they go, and why would anyone do such a thing as to move them?” He looked at Tatianna as he spoke. The maid shook her head slightly. Loki did not suspect his maid. He questioned her for a moment upon returning to his rooms, asking her if she recalled such letters but she stated that she did not. He had no reason to suspect her, she did not have anything to gain from dishonesty and she had even been readying the rooms in case Raven was to be joining Loki in them. She had tidied shelves in case she too was a reader and had books to join Loki’s. She had gone through each and every item of clothing of his that she could find, discarding the damaged, repairing others making room for the new princess. If anything, Loki suspected she was half excited to have a woman to assist tending to. She loved fashion and hair meaning having a princess to assist with events would undoubtedly be something pleasant for her. “Tatianna, have you tried behind those scrolls?”

“No, Your Highness, I will try now.” She darted off to do that. “Do not forget, Your Highness, Her Majesty insists you turn up for dinner. Missing lunch was unacceptable, missing dinner is...well…” “Let me guess,  if I do not turn up, I will have Gungnir force me to turn up?”

“Something to that effect.” 

Loki rolled his eyes at his parents’ attempts at threats. “Very well, you keep searching.” She nodded and did so. “Where in the realms are they?” Loki muttered to himself. * The prelude to the dinner did not fair as badly as Loki had worried that it would. For most of it, he spoke with the Ljósáfar princes, all of whom seemed amiable in their own ways, but what he did notice was his mother looking worriedly at him, though he barely acknowledged her unless she spoke to him directly as he did not want to embarrass his family and that there was no sign of Raven. 

When dinner time arrived, he began to feel insulted that she had been able to avoid it while he was being forced to endure it. The fact that it was a public dinner made it all the worse. The whole realm would hear the announcement of the forthcoming wedding and she was not even present. What also caught his attention was the Vanir that Thor was clearly speaking within an intimate manner before the meal but who was sat down separately for the meal. He recognised her. She was of good personality but little on looks but she was from a powerful house and Asgard’s tie to Vanaheim had to remain strong so he suspected that she would be announced as Thor’s betrothed as soon as Loki’s marriage ribbon was tied. Raven was of far better looks and he knew from her knowledge of literature that she at least was not without a mind but he still felt angered by it all. 

Thinking in his own mind, he heard nothing of the talk around him. It was only when he noticed a severely tense atmosphere around him that Loki got pulled from his thoughts as a shadow came into view beside him. At first, he thought the tense atmosphere was from Raven, who finally decided to grave them with her presence but after a moment, seeing her meek demeanour, he noticed she was the subject of the tense atmosphere, not the instigator. Sitting beside him, she did not even try to look at him or engage him in any manner. 

“It’s good to see at least that your brothers and parents disapprove of your actions,” Loki growled lowly to her as the noise around them increased, allowing them some privacy to speak. 

“My parents do not care in the slightest about that. They were more worried about me embarrassing them by learning to sew and such than anything. They were simply glad that I was no longer there being of age and unmarried.” She stated in a monotone that still seemed to seep sadness. 

Loki frowned slightly. “So what has them all looking at you as though you are a disgrace?” His curiosity got the better of him. 

“I should not be in public at present. It’s disgraceful. They disagree with your parents insisting that this dinner go ahead, they felt it should have been postponed.”

“I am very much inclined to agree with that sentiment. Though, I doubt our reasonings are the same, are they?” 

“I very much doubt it.” She toyed with her hands. 

Loki watched the action carefully, realising she had been doing so with nervousness and anxiety clearly for at least the day if not longer from the marks on them. “You will pull the skin off if you keep doing that.” She stopped and put her hands to her side. “I’m curious, what happened to the woman that stormed my room today and called me a...was it a pretentious prick?” Raven’s eyes widened and she looked around at her parents, praying to every Norn that they had not heard. 

Loki studied her reaction. Thor’s and his mother’s words coming to the fore of his mind. They were both right, he didn’t like this more than he disliked a woman that would snap back. He didn’t like being called a pretentious prick but the silent and moping creature next to him was a thousand times worse. “So, you have left two things unanswered, how you shamed them enough to want them to call off this dinner announcement and where you hid the woman that barged into my rooms?” Raven said nothing for a moment, her tongue toying with her teeth as she considered her answer. “I should not have done that and I sincerely apologise for having done what I did to…”

“Norns, stop. I don’t want to hear it. Just answer my questions.” Loki hissed. 

“Because I am bleeding.” She said nothing more and waited for his reaction, awaiting disgust. 

Loki did not comprehend as to what she was referring to for a moment. He was going to insist that she head to the hospital wing for herself when it dawned on him what she was referring to. In his own mind, he thought to make a comment about it explaining her attitude towards him but he knew that was a cheap excuse. She had stated several times she was told off by her parents for being sarcastic and outspoken. Even when they were waiting for dinner to begin, her brothers had made comments on her behaviour being seeing as unlike other Ljósáfar women. “I am failing to see how that affects things. I am aware it is not an overly pleasant situation for a female but there are surely some things that can assist?” Raven gave a small smile at his innocence to the situation. “In Alfheim, high-born women are not seen while bleeding, or pregnant, or not until she is a certain date past childbirth, it’s seen as shameful and dirty.” “But they are basic parts of being female.” Loki didn’t even think over his reply, it came straight out of his mouth before he could process it. He looked at her, seeing the agreement in her eyes making him realise her earlier words on trying to see if she could be forced to continue such a life and how much they actually meant. Suddenly, he realised there was some sense to her actions. Insane as they were. He knew his and Thor’s lives were restricted by their positions in society, but what Raven was describing was nothing short of a form of imprisonment to him. “Obviously, it is different here. Mother did not retire from court until she was almost due my brother and myself.” He didn’t know why he used that example, she made it clear she did not like the idea of even having children but he wanted to settle her some bit. 

Raven merely nodded. 

As Loki was going to ask her about the letters, Odin rose to his feet silencing the room. He spoke on and on of the honour of hosting the Light Elves, the sharing of ancient magical knowledge and other such things, how they have been allies through several wars, nothing, of course, on the ones they were adversaries and other such words. No one spoke through the Allfather and when he ceased that speech, there was a cheer and raising of cups and tankards. When he spoke of the marriage, Loki gave a slight nod, as would be expected, while Raven looked around in a manner that she hoped offended no one yet knew it would offend her family terribly. When another cheer was made and another drink was taken, the talking began in earnest. 

Raven seemed to think to do nothing but swirl the contents of the cup. 

“Have you had mead before?” Loki found himself talking to her both out of boredom and curiosity. 

Raven shook her head. “It’s nice, though.” She kept her voice down. 

Loki pursed his lips. “Could the woman from today who sassed me please come out? Is there a button that activates her or is it only until a certain time of day, then at night, this meek creature emerges?” Raven’s eyes flickered toward her father, which Loki caught. “Ah, that explains things.” He leant closer causing her to shift slightly in her seat. “As of tonight, you realise you are supposed to adhere to Aesir norms, not Ljósáfar ones. Now, I need to discuss a matter with you.” 

“Regarding?” “Some letters.” Raven frowned at him. “It was brought to my attention today that you sent letters to me before this...charade.” Raven looked at him suspiciously. “I did. Three.” 

“Yes, Thor mentioned and the Postmaster confirmed.”

“And going by your reaction, you doubted this?” “I never received them.” Raven could not help pursing her lips in disbelief. 

“I did not.” “You leave all of your post on that platter, you never miss anything. I saw that myself.” Loki studied her carefully, seeing the disbelief in her eyes. “You think I discarded them without reading?” “You read everything, this I know.” “I never received them.” He stared straight back at her, his rich green eyes willing her to see he was being truthful. “The Postmaster placed them on my desk but I never got them.”

“All three escaped your notice?”

“It appears they did.” “One I would believe, three, I am sceptical.” 

“So was I when I heard such for the exact same reason,” Loki admitted. “Did you move them when you came?” “I...They would not have still been there by the time I came.” 

“But you did not see them in the room, since you organised things in it?” “No, you’re not listening, they would not have still been in existence. I used paper made with Cat’s Claw oil, meaning…” “It dissolves within a month,” Loki completed. “Why, though?”

Raven nodded. “Yes, I did not want private correspondence with headed paper to be at risk of forgery, so I use that oil. Don’t you?” “I will now.” Loki could not fault her logic. If anything, he was embarrassed he had not thought of it. “What did you write?”

“Nothing too taxing. What were the best books to understand Aesir court and history best? I had heard you were an avid reader, so who you enjoyed? What other hobbies you had, nothing too intimate. The first and second were similar as I thought you had not received the first for whatever reason. The last was a tad more abrupt. Then I stopped trying.” She toyed with her hands again. 

“You’re damaging your skin.” Loki admonished. “I am sorry your letters went unanswered. I don’t know what happened to them, I will find out but I did not ignore them.” “I believe you.” 

Loki could see she meant it. “If I had seen them…”

“We could be dealing with a different situation right now. Not that it excuses my actions.” 

Loki nodded slightly. 

“I am sorry for what happened. I truly wish I had not done such. But thank you for your concern also.” 

“Concern?”

“When I told you I would be leaving your service and I seemed upset, even though you were upset, you were adamant that if I was being mistreated, I could tell you. Even when you felt terrible for yourself, you showed concern for me, even when you did not like me. I think it showed me so much about you.” She gave a small smile. “Even if you think little of me as I truly am.” 

Loki was going to challenge that but he saw the slight smirk and playful glint in her eye. “Norns, you switch between two different demeanours faster than the Bifrost travels realms. It will be exhausting to keep up with.” “I think you forget that I know what you are like. We will be suffering together.” 

Loki chuckled to himself, thinking that this situation may not be entirely terrible if they tried. Seeing the hopeful look on Raven’s face, he suspected with some work, perhaps they could. 

Raven found herself looking at a certain someone staring at her disapprovingly in the crowded room. She took a moment to realise just who it was before giving the other woman a raised brow. For her part, the other woman seemed genuinely startled as to the Light Elf she had previously spoken down to. With Loki’s interest in the princess and the princess knowing full well who she was and what she had said, she knew there was no manner to get into her good graces under false pretences but also that the Light Elf knew full well about everything and could ensure she kept a close eye on such, so she looked at her food again. 

#Loki #others #submission #submitted fic #chapter 12 #wolfpawn #hiding in plain sight

[dwellordream]

“One of the seductions of horn logic was its power to make short work of complex and contested narratives. When Thersites reduces the Trojan War to "All the argument is a whore and a cuckold" (Troilus and Cressida 2.3.72), he slyly mocks the spectators who flocked to play after play about precisely that argument. On the street and at the theater doors, ballads aired news of local and homely adulteries, while the stage offered plays about sexual betrayal in elevations low (Johan the Husband) to middling (Arden of Feversham) to lofty (King Lear), many of them preceded by a clown's homing gibes at the audience and capped with bawdy jigs about cuckoldry. 

If sated playgoers decided to pick up an Arthurian romance or a volume of English history, they would find more monitory examples of infidelity, male and female. In the Arthurian legends and in chronicles by Speed and Holinshed, "the king's adultery is an immediately familiar emblem for the defilement of the purity of the state and the abdication of responsible government." In accounts of Edward II's homing and murder, Henry VIII's fatal accusations against his queens, or the explosive rumor of Lord Darnley's horning and murder by Mary Stuart, chroniclers and popular authors warned princes to beware the love of women. 

As Phyllis Rackin observes, "the patrilineal genealogy" that organized both history and society "required the repression of women, and of heteroerotic passion as well, because the invisible, putative connection between fathers and sons that formed the basis of patriarchal authority was-as Shakespeare's cuckold jokes endlessly insist-always dubious, always vulnerable to subversion by an adulterous wife." Not even religion was free of the horn. During Queen Mary's reign, Catholics bewhored English nuns who had converted to Protestantism under Edward and married. In taking the veil, they had espoused themselves to Christ; wouldn't he be "stirred up to wrathe and indignation" like any other cuckold?

Pageant drama, too, had its share of horn jokes. In the "N-Town" Joseph's Doubt, spectators have a good laugh at the expense of Joseph, who moans that he'll be ridiculed back in Bethlehem as an "old cokwold" whose "howe is bent." When Mary explains that the Holy Spirit impregnated her, he angrily cuts her short: "It was sum boy began [th]is game." It takes a miracle for him to believe her: a cherry tree bows down to give Mary its fruit, finally satisfying him that he is not horned but holy. Like Joseph, many critics who have considered early modern cuckoldry suspect it was "sum boy began this game" and that the prime mover behind the age's obsession was intense male concern about "the other man." 

Relying on analyses of property transfer in marriage derived from the work of Marcel Mauss and Claude Levi-Strauss (theories that Gayle Rubin drew on in "The Traffic in Women"), critics as diverse as Coppelia Kahn, Katherine Eisaman Maus, and Eve Kosofsky Sedgiwick forward the proposition that cuckoldry narratives focus chielfy on the flow of homoerotic and political power "between men," in Sedgwick's famous phrase. Douglas Bruster asserts that only the male lover, never the wife, is "the one who cuckolds" and that women are "helpless counters" in a transfer between males.

While the cuckoldry paradigm is certainly about male-male economies of desire, it seems futile to deny that it is also about female pleasure and will. In some tales the "helpless counter" is not the wife at all but the lover, who is hidden, coached, and directed by the wife. Many tales name the wife as "the one who cuckolds," while the husband is the object. One lame jest puns on this relationship: Q. Why doth the man weare the hornes whereas the woman doth make them? A. Because the man is the head. More often than not, the merry books feature women who act on their desires for revenge, love, or sexual satisfaction using the weapons of allies, wit, daring, and timing. 

A surprising number of tales direct no criticism at the wife or lover but instead upbraid the husband and his faults: impotence, jealousy, brutality. Finally, some comic narratives give prominent play to a husband's lechery as the cause of his wife's infidelity or her threat to give him horns. The author of Jane Anger, her Protection for Women (1589) certainly thought her readers would enjoy hearing why skirt chasers so often became cuckolds: "some of them will follow the smocke as Tom Bull will runne after a town Cow. But, lest they should running slip and breake their pates, the Gods, provident of their welfare, set a paire of tooters on their foreheads, to keepe it from the ground."

To explain all such narratives by recourse to the theory that women are counters passed from male to male is to accept a monolithic, one-sex model of drama and social power. This is unwarranted in light of the abundant popular materials that dwell on women's abilities to manipulate and subvert, if only in fantasy, a sexual marketplace that urged them to be pliant commodities. Too many stories show the commodity striking back, besting husbands described as deserving cuckolds or proving them hypocrites. More important, the favored genres of the horn-ballad, jig, novella, and jest-often portray women as storytellers and performers, which is not so surprising given that real women engaged in precisely these forms of popular mimesis.

Why would women enjoy these tales? First, many tales assert that women possess a satiric weapon in a world that continually denies them agency and wit. They offer harsh judgment fitting to the harsh conditions of most women's lives, inviting readers to mock abusive, alcoholic, or philandering husbands, all of which were in ample supply. Second, within the jesting literature, poverty and beatings at home are cited as motives behind many extramarital encounters. The narrator in Cornu-Copiae (1612) reasons that, by taking lovers, women may be looking for something more than sexual pleasure: 

Sometimes the golden prey doth make the theife, And women yeeld for further maintenance: Sometimes short commons makes them seeke reliefe: And stubborn usage and sterne countenance, Perforce constraine a woman now and than To seeke for comfort of a kinder man; And sometimes want of heartes, when hands are married, Is one great cause, that many have miscarried. It is remarkable how often such passages occur in texts that are otherwise crudely antifeminist. (Cornu-Copiae goes on to show a man trapped into marriage, with her family's collusion, by a woman impregnated by another man.) 

Other jests and ballads target hard-handed husbands who drink to excess. Narratives about tavern-haunting, foul-mouthed husbands sometimes show a bias toward the female reader. These may function as ripostes to the more misogynist specimens of the gossips' literature, in which drunken shrews plot how to beat and cuckold their husbands. Pasquils Palinodia's "Muse of Sack" warns men that a husband's brutality can drive a wife to adultery: 

And blame her not for shee is not of steele, Nor made of iron, brasse, or such hard mettle, Neither so senseless that she cannot feele But she is us'd as tinker doe his kettle .... Then straight he calls her half a dozen whores, And to the Taverne gets him out of doores .... Then druncke, at midnight, home the knave doth creepe, And beats his wife, and spues, and falls asleep. Shall a vast unthrift with a false pretence Wrong his poore wife, and be exempt from blame? And shall a woman, who hath a just offence And forc'd by dogged usage to her shame, If she another friend doth entertaine, To give her some content, and ease her paine, Shall she be censur'd with disgraceful speeches, And he stand deere because he wares the breeches?

The answer goes without saying-she'll be censured, and he'll" stand cleere"-but at least the text identifies and questions the double standard, an example of the counterhegemonic articulation that is sometimes audible in popular texts. Such a passage does not offer up the ventriloquized voice of a female subject. Rather, it is a beckoning slot in discourse, an invitation to debate that may be taken up by multiple voices, including women's. Frances Dolan argues that popular representations of cuckoldry "constitute the wife as a subject only to the extent that they qualify [the] husband's claim to subject status by silencing and immobilizing him and casting doubt on his authority and potency."”

- Pamela Allen Brown, “Between Women, or All Is Fair at Horn Fair.” in Better a Shrew than a Sheep: Women, Drama, and the Culture of Jest in Early Modern England

#sexuality #history #renaissance #tudor #elizabethan #jacobean #cw: domestic violence #pamela allen brown #better a shrew than a sheep

[nehswritesstuffs]

Stars in A Sky of Blood and Blue - Part LVIII

Here’s another mostly-starlet-centric chapter that happened because reasons and it’s probably just safe to say that these two are the closest when it comes to what it would have been like if Johan and Clara grew up as childhood friends.

Chapter Index - ff.net - AO3

A Study in Turning Scarlet; Sterling receives a letter from Oriana and the culmination of ten years of waiting comes to a sort of fruition. [OC kids from a nobility/arranged marriage Whouffaldi AU]

Rough ages are as follows: Johan at 76, Daniel at 59, Clara at 57, Martha at 53, Lena at 26, Grant at 23, Sterling at 20, Oriana/Maglina at 18, and Seren at an old 12

Over a week had passed since the wedding of the Marchioness and her Earl Consort. Once the guests were all seen to and the march and earldom were back into sorts, the couple took leave for Jarlshall to spend some time alone before the winter truly began to set in. This left Kasterborous and Gallifrey to their previous lord and lady, who acclimated themselves once again to their positions as though they had never left. They conducted business in their daughter’s stead in a manner that proved that should there ever be an issue with their issue, the lands were more than safe.

“It sounds like Painswick is living up to his name again,” Lord Johan grumbled. It was breakfast as he and his wife were sitting with their youngest three as they began that particularly blustery day. He put down the letter in his hand and scowled through some tea. “The man is like a reverse-wine: he just gets worse with age.”

“I don’t know what you could possibly mean by that,” Lady Clara quipped dully. She turned a page in the paper and ignored the ire her husband was building. “Oh, it looks like one of the women who I was presented with is finally getting her first grandchild …”

“Do the announcements say anything about counts disgracing themselves and others in front of His Highness’s court?”

“Probably tomorrow’s page three, below the line.” Lady Clara blinked as the letter Lord Johan was reading found its way atop her paper. She bit into an apple piece and gave her husband an unamused glance. “Why are you and Daniel even writing one another?”

“You know that I long told him he was always able to find a sympathetic ear in me should the idiots in the capitol get on his nerves,” he defended. He turned towards their children, still ruffled. “You were there—wasn’t that what I said?”

“It was, Papa,” Maglina replied cheerily. She was the only one seated with any sort of vigor to them, as she was much quicker to wake than anyone else in her family. “You reminded him and Lady Martha both before they left.”

“Thank you starlet; at least someone’s paying attention,” Lord Johan nodded. He took the letter back and glanced at his sons, who were both quiet as they ate. “What about the two of you? You were there, weren’t you?”

“Sending written complaints about other high-born individuals gets increasingly dangerous the farther it goes, Papa,” Seren mentioned. His father grew quiet and began sourly stabbing the eggs on his plate, knowing he couldn’t lecture the lad for being correct.

“The rest of the morning mail finally arrived,” the butler announced as he walked into the room, unknowingly breaking the tension. He began to pass out the envelopes—mostly to Lord Johan, Lady Clara, and Maglina—as he ignored the situation he walked into, which he had learned throughout the years was the wiser and wisest move both. “Other than the overnight couriers, it seems as though the mail service is short-handed today.”

“Do we know why?” Lady Clara wondered.

“I do not, but it is just today, it seems; I shall let Her Ladyship know should it not be back to normal by her return.” The butler placed one final envelope next to Sterling’s plate and bowed to the family. “Her Ladyship’s personal mail shall be placed in her quarters, as per instructions, and her business correspondences are already headed towards her office.”

“Excellent; thank you,” Lord Johan nodded. He went back to breakfast, as did most the rest of his family, all except Sterling, who was staring at the envelope next to him.

It was Oriana’s handwriting.

Taking a quick glance around the table, Sterling saw that none of the others were paying attention to him as he put his fork down and picked up the letter. He carefully opened it, unsure of what it was, going over the letter with quiet scrutiny. It was the first correspondence they’d had since he had admitted she was the moon in his sky and the prospective turns the letter could take terrified him.

‘Sterling,’ it read.

‘I have given thought to what we talked about after Lena’s wedding, and I want to try and see how things go. A trial period of sorts. I’m curious. Sad as it sounds, I can think of worse things we could do. Come to my parents’ cottage after breakfast—bring your studies. We don’t have to do much.

‘You are one of my best friends. Remember that.

‘Yours,

‘Ori’

The young man tried not to blush as he read Oriana’s words over, and over, and over a third time. His heart fluttered in excitement—she accepted. The words were ones that could be read in a completely different light should the letter be intercepted, yet he still knew what she meant, and it was nearly beyond his own vocabulary both in the common tongue and Old Gallifreyan. He put the letter back in its envelope and slid it into his jacket pocket for safekeeping.

“What was that?” Lord Johan noted. He took another forkful of eggs and shoved it in his mouth. “Your face looks odd.”

“Johan, behave,” Lady Clara scolded. She looked at their son, who was unable to remove his gaze from his breakfast. “Sterling, answer your father. What was in your letter?”

“Nothing of note,” he lied. “It was Ori.”

“Is she doing well in the cottage by herself? She should come for dinner tonight…”

“Actually, Mama, she was inviting me over to the cottage for later this morning.”

“Oh, that’s a lovely idea!” Maglina gasped. “She’s getting around better now that her ankle’s healed, and we all can take a walk along the grounds now that it’s nice and quiet…!”

“No,” Sterling said, cutting off his sister. He poked at his bacon, scowling. “She only invited me—we plan on studying.”

“…and why can’t I come?” Maglina huffed.

“You have no coursework anymore.”

“Then am I invited?” Seren wondered, perking up.

“No,” Lady Clara cut in. “We promised that you would work on your management skills while he was gone. Even if she had asked for you by name, there is too much work for you to do. Just because Sir Daniel and Lena are gone does not mean you get to loaf about.”

The young teen groaned loudly and sunk in his chair, irritated that he could not take the day for something different. His protests diverted attention from his elder brother, who quietly finished his breakfast. He welcomed the distraction, as it allowed him to reflect on what had just been asked of him.

He was going on a date.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

After a trip to the kitchens, gathering up some coursework, and giving himself a silent-though-encouraging talk in his mirror, Sterling went and began to make his way out towards the tutor’s cottage. For all the times he had been there prior, he was incredibly nervous regarding the prospect of not only being in the house with Oriana after suggesting they court, but being alone with her, as her father was in the capitol on business and her mother already returned to her position on the front. It felt sneaky and dangerous how they were going about this, worrisome and risky, and there was only one word he knew that could really describe what everything rolled into as he walked across the lawns, his hair whipping around in absence of a hat:

It was exhilarating.

Once he got to the cottage, Sterling knocked on the door as his hand trembled. His stomach twisted and lurched while he waited, his emotions doing all sorts of new things, which all were made even worse as Oriana opened the door.

“Ah, you’re a bit early,” she smiled. He stepped into the cottage and let her close the door, keeping the autumn chill out. The two then paused for a moment, blushing, before she popped up on her toes and crooked her finger. He leaned down and she kissed his cheek. “That’s what a couple does when they meet, correct?”

“Uh… yeah…” He went scarlet as he pecked her cheek and quickly pulled away, heart racing. “I brought some biscuits from the kitchen. They’re chocolate with butterscotch bits…” He fumbled with his bag until Oriana placed her hands around his, stopping him.

“Let me,” she said. She took the kerchief from the bag and brought them over to the table, where she set them while she pulled a plate from the cupboard. “You certainly are nervous.”

“I—erm—yeah… I know…” He took off his boots and fixed his hair before following her into the kitchen. Sitting down at a chair, he noticed that everything appeared the same as it had always been, except now… now things felt different and it made his surroundings feel surreal.

“You look like you’re staring a Cyberbatallion down alone.”

“No—that is a completely different kind of scared,” Sterling admitted.

“I thought you’ve been dreaming about this for ten years,” she teased.

“Dreaming about something and it happening are two different things,” he admitted. He watched as Oriana put together tea while he took the books and papers from his bag, laying them out on the table. “I was ready to not even get this far, remember?”

“I remember, and that’s why you did get this far,” she reminded him. She glanced his way, making brief eye contact before turning back to the kettle once again. Her heart began to pound unlike anything had made it before… it was terrifyingly addicting. “Do you want to know why I asked you now?”

“…because your ankle is now better?”

“…because I gave it some thought… I gave the concept of us a thought… and have been making sure that the thought has been a long one.” She brought the teapot over to the table before fetching some mugs from the cupboard. “A lot more things are beginning to make sense now, or at least better sense than before, and I’m curious as to where this might go… if it can go anywhere.”

“It means a lot to me,” he replied quietly.

“…and you mean a lot to me.” She poured tea before sitting down at the end of the table, making sure there was a corner between them. “I always knew you weren’t a brother like Maggie was my sister, so we can see how this goes without worrying too much about it being weird.”

“Let me know if anything is uncomfortable.”

“I think you’re the one who might need to announce that,” she chuckled.

“Maybe.” He took a sip of tea and opened one of his textbooks to a map of the night sky for that time of year—he was going to need to make his own charts before the season was up and he had to become familiar with the varying styles. “Maggie’s upset that she couldn’t come, you know.”

“I’ll take care of Maggie,” she shrugged. “I just want to know what the kitchen staff did to these biscuits. They’re wonderful.”

“My bet is a collective career spanning hundreds of years.” He took another bite of biscuit and froze mid-chew as he felt Oriana’s foot go under the hem of his trouser leg and touch his stockinged leg. His face turned pink with blush, his embarrassment forcing him to swallow hard. One look at her face and he could tell she was amused. “Do you realize how that feels?”

“It looks like it’s risking breaking you,” she noted.

“That doesn’t mean I want you to stop,” Sterling admitted. He tried to not look as he fumblingly reached out to take her hand. She completed the action for him and his face was completely scarlet—he was nearly at his limit.

“Stars, I knew you would be better without an audience for this,” Oriana laughed. “I think I like seeing you this way.”

“Y-Yeah…?”

“Yeah—you are actually kind of cute when you’re flustered and romantic.” She watched as he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles gently.

“You are a beauty beyond compare,” he said in the ceremonial tongue. “Fair as legends and tempered in grace; I could search an eternity and not find one who is even half your equal. My night sky glitters brightly for you are in it.”

At a loss for words, Oriana stared at Sterling, allowing herself an attempt at gauging the intensity of what was before her. It had been clear the previous week that he was enamored, and had been for far too long, yet to speak as such in the ceremonial tongue was an extra, subtle layer that she had not yet expected. She felt her heart skip a beat as she shifted their grip on one another, allowing her to kiss his hand in return.

“I do not know what I did that deserves being regarded so highly,” she replied. Her Old Gallifreyan was unpracticed, thick, clumsy, and halting—she had little use for the spoken words in her normal life, despite remembering the sounds and writings of the language clearly.

“Maybe,” he said, returning to the common tongue and taking his hand back, “we should do what we said we would, or else Maggie might barge in at the worst time.”

“Oh yeah…” She reached for a book and opened it to where she had been taking notes the previous night, remembering that it was around there she had the idea to invite him over for studying. She tried to not let herself drift too far from her work as they drank tea, munched biscuits, and stole small touches underneath the table and glances from the corners of their eyes. They spent the better part of the following few hours as such, with Sterling only cleaning up his things when it was nearly time for lunch.

“I promised Mama and Papa I’d be back,” he explained, packing up his things. “If I wasn’t, then Maggie and Seren both would probably be sent to fetch me.”

“That’s probably the last thing we need after our first real date,” she replied. He was almost done when she cleared her throat, getting his attention. “Um, before you go, can I ask a favor from you?”

“Anything,” he swore.

“Don’t agree yet—it’s kind of big.”

“That doesn't matter. What do you need?”

“I… erm…” Now it was her turn to blush and look away. “You know that book I was reading? The one from last week?”

He remembered. “The one you said was… graphic…?”

“Yes—there’s a bit in there and I was curious about it… how it’d be if it was the two of us…”

“Is it…?”

“No, it’s not one of those bits, though I wonder that too, but this one, I’d like to try it, please, if it’s not much trouble. You know, while my parents are gone and Maggie’s not watching.”

Sterling was trembling in fright and he could see she was shaking almost as badly. “A-a-are you s-sure?”

She nodded silently and held out her hand, offering it without any pressure or pretense. He took it and she led him towards the wall, which she put her back towards before edging him closer.

“Please kiss me,” she requested.

“Umm… why here…?”

“Kiss me against the wall, as in…” She bit the insides of her lips, embarrassed at what she was even asking. He instead moved in as close as he could, leaned down, and pressed his lips to the very back of her jaw.

“I borrowed Maggie’s copy of the book,” he murmured in her ear. “We aren’t doing that whole bit, are we? What came after…?”

“No, we’re not—just this.”

“Thank the stars.”

The two of them then stood like that, huddled together against the plaster wall in awkward silence, the only sounds they heard being their own heartbeats. As Sterling began to pull back, Oriana reached up and held his face, guiding him back to her for a more genuine kiss, their lips meeting chastely. They broke timidly, neither entirely certain what the other wanted.

“Nothing else from the book okay?” he requested. “Not for a long while yet.”

“Any of the naughty things and I think you’d be so mortified you’d die.”

“This is naughty.”

“I thought you read it—things get plenty naughtier from here.”

“I didn’t say I borrowed it with her permission; couldn’t get too far before I had to put it back.”

“…good. Please don’t borrow that book from her again. I’ll loan it to you if you’re really curious.”

“Duly noted.” He heard the far-off castle bells toll and he exhaled heavily, leaning forward so that the top of his head gently connected with the wall. “I really got to go; see you at dinner?”

“Plan on it.”

Finally gathering up the nerves to move away, Sterling went back to the kitchen table and grabbed his bag of coursework. After one last kiss to the back of Oriana’s hand, he put on his boots and left the cottage, braving the brisk autumn winds once again to head back to the castle. He nearly thought he had returned unnoticed when his mother caught him sneaking into the family’s wing.

“Cutting it a bit close?” Lady Clara asked, her voice betraying her amusement. Sterling froze and turned towards her, knowing it was unwise to keep going and ignore her.

“I lost track of time; sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry about—your father’s still terrorizing serdars, your sister thinks she has the ability to stop him, and your brother… he’s hiding somewhere… we still have a while until lunch, by any definition.”

“Oh… okay…” His thoughts went back to Oriana in the cottage, standing so close and encouraging him to kiss her; he still could have spent more time there. He was so enveloped in the idea that his mother had to snap her fingers in front of his face in order to get his attention back.

“Someone’s been distracted today,” she said. “Do you have an important exam coming up?”

“No—no I don’t, Mama,” he replied, shaking his head. “I simply have a lot on my mind.”

“What sort of things?”

“Normal stuff… or what I think is probably normal… I’m not sure.” He scratched the back of his neck and head, unsure of how much he wanted to reveal just yet. “Just thinking about classes and what I want to do afterwards. It’s a long ways yet, but it doesn’t hurt to plan ahead, as well as extra plans in case the first one falls through.”

“This is true,” she agreed. “Oh, did you at least get your head out of the skies long enough to ask Oriana for dinner? She didn’t get that open stubbornness around relying on us too often out of nowhere, you know.”

“She’s coming,” he reported back. “She didn’t even argue this time.”

“Good—I’ll send for you when lunch is closer to being ready,” Lady Clara said. Sterling nodded and retreated to his bedchamber, where it was all he could do to drag himself to his bed and fall unceremoniously atop the quilt.

He was smitten and besotted, and there was no doubt about it now. There was no veneer that would be pulled back, no accidental discovery that he was about to stumble upon, and it made his heart race in joy. Provided Oriana found there was no lingering awkwardness, they could even court openly before the Violet Sky if she saw fit. He realized he was holding his breath and exhaled—it was bliss.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the family wing, Lady Clara was walking into the family study, being careful to note if her eldest son was following her. When it was clear that he was not, she sat at the desk and began to pen a quick letter

“Martha,” she wrote.

“Our hunch seems as though it was correct—Sterling and Oriana just spent the morning together alone and now he is wandering around with that dreamy look on his face. You’ve seen the one. Though there is little doubt they did anything—we did a good job teaching them what behavior is demanded of their ranks—I expect them to ask our permission to court before the month is out.

“Johan does not yet know as I write this and Daniel’s letter is being written next. I shall have them both ready to settle all bets when you return.

“Enjoy the Daleki scenery while you can,

“Clara”

Fold, envelope, seal, another letter penned and prepared to make a journey in the opposite direction, and Lady Clara left the study, heading down to lunch. She passed the letters to a footman who promised to get them in the outgoing mail so as to not tie up any special couriers before entering the dining room. There, as she expected, was her husband and daughter trading half-barbs, her younger son engrossed in a book, and her elder son staring out the window as though it was not utmost clear he was lovestruck.

Lady Clara knew she would not trade these days for anything.

-_-_-_-_-_-_- 

A/N: Just a reminder for anyone who might’ve missed it, as it has been a while since I posted in this story, I have an AU to this AU involving a younger version of Johan (as well as more s9 stuff and characters) called A Crown of Camellias Red as Night, Red as Fire, Red as Blood. It’s nice and long and a little bit different and can be found in three parts (tumblr links are here, here, and here, which include links to FFN/AO3).

#Stars in A Sky of Blood and Blue #In Want of An Heir #Whouffaldi #Clara Oswald #Twelfth Doctor #Sterling Smith #Oriana Pink #Maglina Smith #Seren Smith #Doctor Who #fan fiction #Sterling is so his father's son #he learned how to be a romantic lump from the best after all #and Ori is most def her parents' daughter #and Maglina is her father's daughter because she is super-dense when it comes to this entire situation

[insane-control-room]

The Sketch

Chapter Five, Segment Three

Full Chapter on Ao3 here

Previous - Next

Oh really?

“Yes, really,” Johan snarled, gripping his side where the pain seemed to be the worst, yet the pain was everywhere entirely. “I will get back up, and you can’t stop me. Y-you are not going to win. Not now, not ever.”

Johan was thrown up into the air, and he did not come back down, instead he scrambled in the air to get to the trellis, and he slammed against the wall. The thorns and vines pricked his skin, digging into his hands and body where his flesh hit, biting and clawing into him. He gasped, but gripped back, and pulled himself up, slowly, steadily, ignoring the scratches and tears. 

Keep… going….

With a sharp, stabbing pain to his wrist, he lost control of his right hand, and he found himself being jolted back, and slipped several feet down. The ground below and the two tombstones wavered and wobbled in his terror stricken vision. He panted as his left arm ached, but his right hand remained stubbornly paralyzed by his side. Joey tried to catch his breath, and failed to. The air simply eluded him, seeping from his lungs far too quickly, entering far too slow. His grip slipped, and his side was given new thorny scratches. He whimpered, but began making his way up again, ripping his back, his heels jabbing each backwards upward step against the wall.

He collapsed onto the roof, gripping his frozen right hand, tremblingly lifting it to his eyes to inspect it. Ink soaked through his clothes, his breathing panting, panting, gasping, panting. His body felt wet, violated, sickly and torn. What was wrong with him?

Patient zero….

The words were sing song and calling, like one would call to a naughty child hiding in a cabinet to avoid the freightening switch. 

Ah, there you are! Come along, dear little Joey Drew.

Johan’s knees buckled, and he fell forward, the empty feeling in his arm having spread to his legs, and he rose again without his volition. His already panicked breathing sped up even more, his body was not under his control, his body was being puppeted, his body was being hijacked from what little he had left. 

You’re mine.

He screamed, trying to hold himself back, causing his body to stumble. His left hand slammed into his side, hitting himself as hard as he could, forcing his weak frame to fold, and then he jabbed his thumb into the back of his knee, and fell to his chest.

“Let me go,” he wheezed, trembling, curling up. “I… I’m my own person. Let me go.”

“You belong to me,” the ink machine sighed, Joey able to hear the sadistic tones in his not - made - creation, and he could tell it was merely toying with him. A breath of wind tousled Joey’s hair, and he knew it was the machine. “So useful, so smart… such a pity you kept yourself useless and blind to see what was right in front of you the whole time….”

Pipes snaked around his arms, yanking him forward. He did not resist anymore, the fight drained out of him ever so slowly. His feet dragged on the wooden ground, and he was pulled back within the building. The whispering grew louder. 

“I do wish I could chat, dear,” ink swelled by his feet, the rushing pipe’s whispers inevitably draining away at his mind. “But I have far more… fun things in mind.”

“You’re sick,” Johan rasped, the air in his lungs stale and dead. Laugher and giggles and chuckles and guffaws ricocheted around him, driving into his mind, tearing at his thoughts. The scar on his side flared with pain, ink seeping through to stain his once white shirt once more. L i a r. The ink machine chuckled, and a pipe snaked around Johan’s throat, lifting his head and squeezing his windpipe, cutting off the panicked breathing. “Joey Drew, you’re the one who is sick, not me. I am perfect, I am perfection.”

Johan groaned in pain, at least as much as he could with his breathing so tightly restricted, and the tightness growing. Tears dripped from his eyes, mouth open and gaping like a fish out of water, squirming and wriggling fretfully on the hook ensnaring it. The pipe around his throat rose him into the air, and the pressure worsened, his hands tugging at their bonds to try to alleviate the crushing pain. He felt as though his head might just tear off, and he could feel blood dripping from the scar on his neck, the newer skin rending with the will of the Machine.

He sobbed, the sound cut short by the lack of airflow. Then the coughing started, his lungs heaving with the need for air, the need to clear his system, the agony growing unbearable. 

So fascinating.

His body was twisted this way and that, his organic muscles and calcium bones prodded at and examined from the ink within his body, the nerves and tendons touched and nipped. 

So human, and yet, such a monster.

Ink black darkness whirled in his sight, smashing and swirling together what little he could see. He still struggled and fought, but he had nothing to fight with, nothing to hit or shove or strive with, nothing in his grasp at all. 

Unless…

Johan’s tired eyes fell to the pipes gripping his arms. They were neither at his elbow nor at his wrist, somewhere right in between. With a twist and grunt, he managed to get his left hand over his head, the pipe rubbing against the one on his neck, pushing it up, but giving him more room to breathe nonetheless, he gasping in the air gratefully, cool honey tea in the middle of a dry hot desert, a brief but wonderful respite. With more strength and slightly less effort, he managed to get his right arm moved over his head as well, getting both of the pipes around the one on his neck, each end holding onto the thickest with a tight strength. 

Joey tucked in his chin, forcing the pipe onto his mouth, and braced himself for the hard part. With a swift yank, he pulled both arms above his head, screaming slightly as the tight pipe around his head tore off, ripping some of his hair, giving himself a nosebleed, and knocking his glasses askew.

And yet, he was almost free! 

So close!

Oh dear, it seems you got your collar off!

Johan growled at the pipes trying to get to him, biting and snapping and writhing and fighting.

No way in hell would he give up.

Not to that thing.

His body flickered, oozed, and he slipped out of the grasp of the pipes trying to restrain him.

Gasping and grasping at his throat with his now free hands, the relief that crashed over him was larger than all the waters of the deep, warmer and more healing than the full force and heat of the bright sun.

Come back here, you pesky little bastard!

“I may be a son of a bitch, but I am no bastard,” Johan growled, straightening his back and fixing his tie. “And I will not kneel to the likes of you, you mangy,”

No.

“Disgraceful,”

Close your filthy mouth.

“Unfinished,”

I will tear you apart piece by miserable piece.

“Clunky,”

Be quiet!

“Sniveling,”

How DARE you?!

“IMPERFECT SELF CENTERED HUNK OF SCRAP METAL!”

Suddenly, the pain in Johan’s side flared up, stronger than before.

You’re a liar.

Joey’s hand clutched his scar, gasping and sending him curling into a tight ball, the pain bobbing through his thin and weary frame, making him feel rather like a kitten thrown into the sea with its tiny claws deep in a small stick of driftwood, the only thing around for miles and miles and eras and eras.

You might think you know me, Creator, the final word was spat out, cursing and haughty, smug, and Johan could practically see the machine, his machine, waltzing toward him. A hand made of a pipe grabbed him under his chin, forcing him to look up at the immense and sublime machine. Yet at the same time, I know you….

All your flaws, the burning pain of the scar on his hip spread to all his other scars, his hands sliced into with so many cutting blades, glass in his head, butcher knife in his shoulder, bullet in his arm, a blaze of four hundred fourteen fires on his back, there is nothing on his back, and he could do naught but scream a wordless prayer and cry out with hot frustrated and agonized tears as he writhed. And how many, so very many flaws there are….

I can see all your insecurities, those whispers were so insidious, yet so inviting. Johan, in all his pain, almost wanted to give himself up to those words. The torture abated with those soothing croons. I can free you of all of them….

Just give in.

#batim #bendy and the ink machine #joey drew #the ink machine #johan ramirez #pathogenink #the sketch #the big picture #control art #control writes #memories #scars #torture #manipulation #word games #mind games #gore #descriptive #mutilation #ink #loss of control #pathological lying

[ashersanity]

(anon that asked about johan) thanks for calling me based because ill carry the johan train if i have to, like if he has no fans then that means im dead. i would give johan poppies and be super niceys to him and stay in the asylum just to keep seeing him. we will be asylum friends…….

ok no more playing innocent LMAO. if he was a li and i had his love stat high enough i would sneak into his room just to fuck ngl. the other patients would be pissed about the noise for sure. he can drug me with the scent aphrodisiacs or whatever they are too idgaf id enjoy it. though would it have addictive qualities like the nectar of the plant people/strange flowers??? i need answers i will eat all of johans lore

Recruiting more Johan fuckers as if they were his bitches.. I already got two mutuals utterly obsessed with him by now and it’s only growing.

A patient makes their way over to you, craning their neck to usher into your ear, pointing at one boy in particular amongst the crowd of other patients babbling away. “That one’s Johan.” White haired, soft angelic features with half-lidded eyes, his gaze is fixed on the window, droplets of rain pitter pattering rhythmically against the glassy surface before trailing over, two different colored eyes locking with yours. Blue and green. “You should stay away from him. He’s real bad news.” Almost as if he’s heard, his pink lips curl into a smile, gentle and welcoming(?) Something about him makes your stomach tighten, uneasy. | + Stress | + Trauma

Shitty rambles under cut. Move along.

content warning! somnophilia?, exhibitionism?,

Nice strategy, he does prefer nicer people over meaner ones like whatever the fuck he had going on with Whitney which I wholeheartedly agree on your decision. Get that motherfucking bitch, make him pay twice, no, ten times as fucking hard than before. As funny as it is to be a certified Whitney fucker, I will support my dear son, Johan, to get his ass like he deserves to. Offer him all the poppies you want, based anon. He’d gracefully accept with that same gentle smile on his face, tucking the velvet plant away in his pockets if they even allow those at the asylum.

Forgot to mention though. Unlike most patients that reside in such a place, Johan’s room has been specifically moved over to one that isolates him from everyone else, especially tight on security there so it’d be nearly impossible to break into his room at night. He’s.. a special case as determined by Harper themselves, knuckle nudging their glasses up their nose bridge whenever they are to visit the white haired boy, ready for another one of their sick experiments. The doctor has already developed an obsession for him due to his.. interesting behaviour, thoughts, and of course, peculiar transformation.

On the other hand though, expect Johan at high enough lust and love, to be the one slipping into your room instead, aching cock jutted against the front of his pants as he settles himself on top of you. I’d say that he’s no better than Asher in terms of horniness though he seems to have a lot more of self-restraint which makes him all the more terrifying if you ask me, hyper aware of each and every action he makes. Yeah, wouldn’t bother waking you up either from that point on, flushed tip of his cock snagging against your hole as he slides himself inside you with a reverberating groan, clamping down onto your shoulder to muffle his sounds. If you were to awaken by chance however, he’d simply shush you up with his own lips, hungrily pressing against yours, tongue pushing through, sickeningly sweet words whispered into the shell of your ear. Master manipulator.

At low enough sanity and a combination of high lust, he might even participate in obscene acts such as fucking you straight up in front of the other patients, holding one of your legs up over his shoulder as he fucks into you. Cause quite the scene and commotion and that’s just what he wants, turning this messed up place upside down, driven by chaos. Fucked up little shit would even just break into Harper’s office, assuming to be where they keep their mic to announce certain things to the others. Yeah? Mic open, intercom running as he just has you pressed up against the wooden surface, grip tightening on your hips and leaving fresh bruises behind, wanting you to shamelessly moan out his name. Probably huffs a laugh under his breath once the guards come in mid-way, stopping the whole thing at once but he did have his fill. Think he simply likes to piss Harper off at every turn, really, including the feel of your tight hole wrapped around his throbbing length while he does it.

As for his tentacles.. Yeah.. they’re lethal, oozing slimy aphrodisiacs straight of the tips but he still hasn’t gotten used to his transformation, unsure how to fully utilize them. Once he does, he’s sure to take advantage. To expand upon more if the interest is still there.

P.S : Johan’s cock is bigger than Whitney since I said so.

#I got so much lore on this man #it’s genuinely crazy #‘write me an essay’ #sure thing chief #lemme pull out my johan drafts sitting in the dusky old attic #his backstory #his questionably moral actions #dol #dol pc #johan the disgraced #brief mentions of #whitney the bully #harper the doctor #based anons #asher gets asks

[maddie-grove]

The Top Twenty Books I Read in 2019

My main takeaways from the past year’s reading:

Sometimes you think something is happening because of magic, but then it turns out to have a non-magical explanation so weird that you find yourself saying, “You know what? I wish faeries or God were responsible for this. I’d honestly feel less disturbed.”

Stop bathing and changing your clothes and shaving for three years, three months, and three days. You’ll find out who your real friends are. I promise you that.

I want more books about bisexual ladies!!! Give them to me!!!

Anyway...

20. The Prodigal Duke by Theresa Romain (2017)

Childhood sweethearts Poppy Hayworth and Leo Billingsley were separated when his older brother, a duke, sent him away to make his fortune. Years later, the duke is dead, a financially successful Leo has come back to England to take his place, and Poppy has become a rope dancer at Vauxhall Gardens after a life-shattering event. New sparks are flying between them, but is love possible when so much else has changed? Leo and Poppy are believable and charming as old friends, Romain makes great use of obscure historical details from the oft-depicted Regency period, and I loved Leo’s difficult but caring elderly uncle.

19. Simple Jess by Pamela Morsi (1996)

Althea Winsloe, a young widow in 1900s Arkansas, has no interest in remarrying, but almost everyone in her small Ozarks community is pressuring her to remarry, and she still needs someone to help farm her land. Enter Jesse Best, a strong young man with cognitive disabilities who’s happy to take on the work. As he makes improvements to her farm and bonds with her three-year-old son, Althea gets to know him better and starts to see him in a new light. This earthy romance could’ve been a disaster, but instead it illustrates how people with disabilities are often...uh...simplified and de-sexualized in a way that denies them autonomy. Morsi has a similarly nuanced take on Althea and Jesse’s community, which is claustrophobic and supportive all at once.

18. Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli (2018)

Outspoken and insecure, bisexual high school senior Leah Burke is having a tough year. Her friend group is in turmoil, her single mom is seriously dating someone, and she’s caught between a sweet boy she’s not sure about and a pretty, perfect straight girl who couldn’t possibly be into her...right??? The sequel to the very cute Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, Leah on the Offbeat pulls a The Godfather: Part II with its messy protagonist, sweetly surprising romance, and masterful comic set piece involving the Atlanta American Girl Doll restaurant.

17. Copper Sun by Sharon M. Draper (2006)

Kidnapped from her home in eighteenth-century Ghana, fifteen-year-old Amari is sold into slavery and winds up on a South Carolina plantation, where she faces terrible cruelty but finds friends in an enslaved cook, her little son, and eventually a sulky white indentured servant around her age. When their master escalates his already-atrocious behavior, the three young people flee south to the Spanish Fort Mose in search of freedom. Draper’s complicated characters, vivid descriptions, and deft handling of heavy subjects makes for top-notch historical YA fiction.

16. A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole (2019)

After her controlling politician father was jailed for poisoning a bunch of people in their small, prosperous African country, Nya Jerami gained unprecedented freedom but also became the subject of vicious gossip. Johan von Braustein, the hard-partying stepson of a European monarch, wants to help her, partly because he sympathizes and partly because he has a crush, but she thinks he’s too frivolous and horny (if wildly attractive). After an embarrassing misunderstanding compels them to enter a fake engagement, though, she begins to wonder if there’s more to him. I’m not a huge fan of contemporary romance, but this novel has the perfect combination of heartfelt emotion, delicious melodrama, and adorable fluff. 

15. One Perfect Rose by Mary Jo Putney (1997)

Stephen, the Duke of Ashburton, has always done the proper and responsible thing, but that all changes when he learns that he’s terminally ill. Wandering the countryside in the guise of an ordinary gentleman, he ends up joining an acting troupe and falling in love with Rosalind, the sensible adopted daughter of the two lead actors. Like another Regency romance on this list, this novel celebrates love in many forms: there’s the love story between Stephen and Rosalind, yes, but there’s also Rosalind’s loving relationship with her adopted family, the new bonds she forms with her long-lost blood relatives, the way her two families embrace the increasingly frightened Stephen, and the healing rifts between Stephen and his well-meaning but distant siblings. Stephen’s reconciliation with his mortality is also moving.

14. My One and Only Duke by Grace Burrowes (2018)

Facing a death sentence in Newgate, footman-turned-prosperous banker Quinton Wentworth decides to do one last good thing: marry Jane McGowan, a poor pregnant widow, so she and the baby will be financially set. Then he receives a pardon and a dukedom at the literal last minute, meaning that he and Jane have a more permanent arrangement than either intended. I fell in love with the kind-but-difficult protagonists almost at once, and with Burrowes’s gorgeous prose even faster. 

13. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (2013)

It’s 1986, and comics-loving, post-punk-listening, half-Korean Park and bright, weird, constantly bullied Eleanor are just trying to get through high school in their rough Omaha neighborhood. He’s only grudgingly willing to let her share his bus seat at first, but this barely civil acquaintance slowly thaws into friendship and blossoms into love. Far from being the whimsical eighties-nostalgia-fest I expected, this is a bittersweet love story about two isolated young people who find love, belonging, and a chance for self-expression with each other in an often-hostile environment (a small miracle pre-Internet).

12. Shrill by Lindy West (2016)

In this memoir, Lindy West talks about the difficulties of being a fat woman, the thankless task of being vocally less-than-enthused about rape jokes, the joys of moving past self-doubt, and the very real possibility that Little John from Disney’s Robin Hood was played by “bear actor” Baloo, among other subjects. I was having a hard time during my last semester of law school this past spring, and this book’s giddy humor and inspiring messages really helped me in my hour of need.

11. Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes's Hollywood by Karina Longworth (2018)

In 1925, very young businessman Howard Hughes breezed into Hollywood with nothing but tons of family wealth, a soon-to-be-divorced wife, and a simple dream: make movies about fast planes and big bosoms. He got increasingly weird and reactionary over the next thirty years, then retired from public life. More a history of 1920s-1950s Hollywood than a biography, this book has the same sharp writing and in-depth film analysis that makes me love Longworth’s podcast You Must Remember This.

10. The Beguiled by Thomas Cullinan (1966)

In Civil-War-era Virginia, iron-willed Martha Farnsworth and her nervous younger sister try to run their nearly empty girls’ boarding school within earshot of a battlefield. When one girl finds Union soldier John McBurney injured in the woods, she brings him back to the house, where he exploits every conflict and secret among the eight girls and women (five students, two sisters, and one enslaved cook). Charming and manipulative, he nevertheless finds himself in over his head. Cullinan makes great use of the eight POVs and the deliciously claustrophobic setting; it’s fascinating to watch the power dynamics and allegiances shift from scene to scene.

9. A Gentleman Never Keeps Score by Cat Sebastian (2018)

Reserved tavern keeper Sam Fox wants to help out his brother’s sweetheart by finding and destroying a nude portrait she once sat for; disgraced gentleman Hartley Sedgwick isn’t sure what he wants after having his life ruined twice over, but he happened to inherit his house from the man who commissioned the painting...plus he’s not exactly reluctant to assist kind, handsome Sam in his quest. I wrote about this heart-melting romance two times last year; suffice it to say that it’s not only one of the best Regencies I’ve ever read, but also possibly the best romance I’ve ever read about the creation of a found family.

8. Frog Music by Emma Donoghue (2014)

Blanche Beunon, a French-born burlesque dancer in 1876 San Francisco, has a lot going on: her mooching boyfriend has turned on her, her sick baby is missing, and her cross-dressing, frog-hunting friend Jenny Bonnet was just shot dead right next to her. In the middle of a heat wave, a smallpox epidemic, and a little bit of mob violence, she must locate her son and solve Jenny’s murder. This is a glorious work of historical fiction; you can see, hear, smell, and feel the chaotic world of 1870s San Francisco, plus Blanche’s character arc is amazing.

7. The Patrick Melrose novels (Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, Mother’s Milk, and At Last) by Edward St. Aubyn (1992, 1992, 1994, 2005, and 2012, respectively)

Born to an embittered English aristocrat and an idealistic American heiress, Patrick Melrose lives through his father’s sadistic abuse and his mother’s willful blindness (Never Mind),  does a truly staggering amount of drugs in early adulthood (Bad News), and makes a good-faith effort at leading a normal life (Some Hope). Years later, the life he’s built with his wife and two sons is threatened by his alcoholism and reemerging resentment of his mother (Mother’s Milk), but there may be a chance to salvage something (At Last). Despite the suffering and cruelty on display, these novels were the farthest thing from a dismaying experience, thanks to the sharp characterization, grim humor, and great sense of setting. Also, I love little Robert Melrose, an anxious eldest child after my own heart. 

6. The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope (1974)

In 1550s England, no-nonsense Kate Sutton is exiled to the Perilous Gard, a remote castle occupied by suspicious characters, including the lord’s guilt-ridden younger brother Christopher. Troubled by the holes she sees in the story of the tragedy that haunts him, she does some problem-solving and ends up in a world of weird shit. Cleverly plotted, deliciously spooky, and featuring an all-time-great heroine, this book was an absolute treat. The beautiful Richard Cuffari illustrations in my edition didn’t hurt, either.

5. An Unconditional Freedom by Alyssa Cole (2019)

Daniel Cumberland, a free black man from New England traumatized from being sold into slavery, and Janeta Sanchez, a mixed-race Cuban-Floridian lady from a white Confederate family, have been sent on a mission to the Deep South by the Loyal League, a pro-Union spy organization. Initially hostile to everyone (but particularly to somewhat naive Janeta), Daniel warms to his colleague, but will her secrets, his shattered faith in justice, and the various dangers they face prevent them from falling in love? Nah. Alyssa Cole’s historical romances deliver both on the history and the romance, and this is one of her strongest entries.

4. The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite (2019)

Heartbroken by the death of her father and the marriage of her ex-girlfriend, Lucy Muchelney decides she needs a change of scenery and takes a live-in position translating a French astronomy text for Catherine St. Day, the recently widowed Countess of Moth. Catherine, used to putting her interests on hold for an uncaring spouse, is intrigued by this awkward, independent lady. I’ve read f/f romances before, but this sparkling Regency was the first to really blow me away with its fun banter, neat historical details, and perfect sexual tension.

3. The Wager by Donna Jo Napoli (2010)

After losing his entire fortune to a tidal wave, Sicilian nineteen-year-old Don Giovanni de la Fortuna sinks into poverty and near-starvation. Then Devil makes him an offer: all the money he wants for as long as he lives if he doesn’t bathe, cut his hair, shave, or change his clothes for three years, three months, and three days. This fairy-tale retelling is an extraordinarily moving fable about someone who learns to acknowledge his own suffering, recognize it in others, and extend compassion to all. 

2. Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell (2013)

In this collection, Russell weaves strange tales of silkworm-women hybrids in Japan, seagulls who collect objects from the past and future, and, yes, vampires in the lemon grove. She also posits the very important question: “What if most (but not all) U.S. presidents were reincarnated as horses in the same stable and had a lot of drama going on?” My favorite stories were “Proving Up” (about a nineteenth-century Nebraska boy who encounters death and horror on the prairie), “The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis” (about a disadvantaged high school student who discovers an effigy of the even more hapless boy he tormented), and “The Barn at the End of the Term” (the horse-president story). 

1. The Wonder by Emma Donoghue (2016)

Lib Wright, an Englishwoman who has floundered since her days working for Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War, is hired to observe Anna O’Donnell, an eleven-year-old Irish girl famous for not eating for four straight months. With a jaundiced attitude towards the Irish and Catholicism, Lib is confident that she’ll quickly expose Anna as a fraud, but she finds herself liking the girl and getting increasingly drawn into the disturbing mystery of her fast. Like The Perilous Gard, this novel masterfully plays with the possibility of the supernatural, then introduces a technically mundane explanation that’s somehow much more eerie. Donoghue balances the horror and waste that surrounds Anna, though, with the clear, bright prose and the moving relationship that develops between her and Lib, who grows beyond her narrow-mindedness and emotional numbness. I stayed up half the night to finish this novel, which cemented Emma Donoghue’s status as my new favorite author.

#books #reading #top twenty

[randomnameless]

FE4 run - the unofficial 3rd Gen

Procrastination at its finest here - what would happen in this run of FE4 after several years?

warning, as always, this is not serious

Queen Larcei and King Seliph of Granvalle are actually pissed at the reconstruction and their own Kingdom - why should they start trading with Agustria first and help them more than help Isaach?

The “nobles” can’t tell them that they’re “barbarians” since Larcei is obviously Isaachian so they use the “it’s too far to send help there, we must secure the Yied Desert first if we want to cross and provide them with goods etc...” card.

But then Larcei tells them that Verdane is closer, and yet Granvalle isn’t helping her brother with his rebel-taming duties. Hell, if she could, she would go there to help him get rid of the bandits. But she can’t because she is Granvalle’s Queen.

Seliph understands that providing help to Verdane will bring less benefits to Granvalle than helping Agustria - who still has a functioning economy, and, besides, as the son of Sigurd, he feels indebted to the people of Agustria (he might have read a letter his cousin’s wife gave him).

So while he is a bit furious but powerless about helping in Isaach’s reconstruction, he continues with the general trend of his forefathers and doesn’t give a fig about Verdane.

Things are difficult in mainland Granvalle for Tine, because everyone and their cats hate Freege, and demand outrageous fees for Reparations about what the Freeges did during the War - when i say everyone and their cats it’s mainly the New Kingdom of Thracia and the Miletos guilds.

Tine and Nanna will never be friendly towards each other until their deaths.

She doesn’t care about Miletos though. Hopefully Seliph puts in place a new policy about “sharing the costs” so every Duchy has to participate. Ultimately, Seliph suspends the payment when he and his cousin have a heart-to-heart talk around the famous bottle of wine because Leif knows now that bleeding dry a country or a duchy isn’t the way to build a lasting peace between nations.

Tine also has problems in her personal life, because he husband is in Jungby and if they manage to get an Ulir Crusader, soon enough they will need a Tordo one but hey, there’s no one left with Tordo blood and there’s a duty not to let bloodlines extinguish (that’s the last thing Seliph heard from F!Lewyn).

Speaking of Jungby, as expected, Faval is the golden puppet Duke whereas Lester - who managed to convince his mom to come home - rules the house. They try to repair some of Faval’s early decisions like opening the castle to accomodate all orphans in the Duchy and giving a quarter of their treasury to the Conote orphanage he used to live in. Faval loves his wife, of course, but she has a duty to recreate a new Tordo line, just like he had to take his Holy Weapon and fight in the last Holy War. So he isn’t sad.

A bit pissed, but not sad.

Johalva was acclaimed as both as a hero and as a kinslayer by the randoms of Dozel. Lana was really pissed about this, but Johalva didn’t deny the various accusations but still add that he had to do those things to protect the civilians, the innocents etc and Julius was really mad, didn’t you see the big monster disappearing in the sky during the end of the war?

He finally managed to be acclaimed as a good Duke after head-butting with some of his fellow Dukes who called him a “disgrace” and managed to make Seliph reconsider his idea of taxing Dozel more than the other Duchies (Chalphy, Jungby and Edda) in the war reparations efforts.

He and Lana also made graves for Johan and Brian, but none were made for Danan.

Lana’s a bit worried about Neir blood disappearing, but given one or two generations cousins could marry and a Crusader could be born again.

Oifey trains Seliph’s son in the ways of chivalry like he did with Seliph when he was younger, he hopes that Seliph’s son will inherit the Chalphy duchy, because he doesn’t feel like he belongs here, in the halls and the throne that were supposed to be Lord Sigurd’s and Lord Byron’s.

Arthur’s dream never comes to fruition, and despite his best efforts, he cannot manage to make the world see Velthomer as anything else but a nest of vipers and other less than savoury people. Fee is the only reason why he didn’t pack his things and run away to Silesse after ten years of rule.

Cherry on top, despite being Azelle’s son, Arthur is also known for having been the one to have killed everyone in his maternal family, so the randoms think they get the short end of the stick - he even killed Lord Ishtore who participated in the child rescues with his sister!

Hopefully with a certain priest’s help, he still managed to rebuild the Duchy so they’re not in the Verdane tier of development anymore. After Arthur’s death, the randoms in Velthomer will say that he wasn’t so bad as a Duke.

Speaking of the savages, Ulster makes his base in Evans because it’s closer to Granvalle and to the royal forces he petitions to help against the barbarians.

When Julia finally joins her husband after being fed up with flower pot duties, she moves the new capital to Genoa. “Verdane” is too remote from everywhere, and in Genoa, they’re both close to Granvalle and to Miletos. Why Miletos? The closer they are to them, the harder it is for them to ignore Verdane, so they will have to listen and maybe obey when they petition for help or to stop putting stupid tariffs on their exports.

Why should they listen? Because Julia is Seliph’s sister and he cares a lot about her well-being.

Ultimately Ulster becomes King of Verdane, but Julia remains a Princess of Granvalle. Their son is the Prince of Persia Verdane and also a Prince of Granvalle. Hopefullu, the kid has major naga blood (even if ulster was overjoyed when the kid managed to “learn” Astra because those rumours about Julia and Seliph are still bothering him, just like they bother his sister) and even if he likes Verdane a lot, some people start to tell him that he has every right to sit in Belhalla and live with the civilised people.

He tells them to fig off.

In Agustria however, there are several rebellions brewing, even after Ares became King. Some former Princes/Kings call him an imposter, other call him too subservient towards Granvalle.

Strangely, though, Lene managed to usher a new era of show and other performing arts - to the point that the New Kingdom became reknown for its great arts. The children puppet shows about the Great King Ares vanquishing the Demon of Granvalle are always full. Through those shows, Agustrians manage to live in a collective fantasy of how they participated in ending the war and fought against Loptyr.

Shagall was the Shield that tried to protect Agustria from the Loptyrians during the first Gen and Eldingan was the Sword who defeated them, but through a deception the Loptyrians had Eldingan killed, so he passed the role of the Sword to his son Ares - everyone was happy, even the old Shagall partisans who, at first, didn’t want Ares or Eldie’s line to usurp the previous line of the Kings of Agustria and reminded Ares of Eldie and House Nodion’s vows.

Sadly enough, Lene wanted to make the lives of the performers and other orphans better with the economic profits earnt by those shoes, but it disappeared in the pockets of the people who were organising said shows. 

Delmud was busy ruling the rest of the country, and exchanging letters with his sister and King Seliph, as the cordial man he has always been.

In Thracia’s New Kingdom we had Leif and Nanna happily creating a new dynasty - and Altenna’s forever alone.

Arion disappeared, and everyone thought that the line of Dain perished with him. However, one of Leif’s former cleric friends told him that there is a child living in (again) an orphanage in Tahra who is Lord Arion’s kid, but for his own sake, it’s better to live as an ignorant peasant than as a prince who lost his kingdom, wouldn’t he agree?

Due to Altenna’s dedication, and Hannibal’s popularity, the Thracians weren’t that crushed when the unification happened, and even if the northeners still have a better lifestyle then their southerners brothers, at the end of Leif’s reign, both people start to have to same lifestyles as in, there are brigands and piss poor people on both sides of the peninsula, but also, rich merchants and assholes in the South too.

Leif is aware that when he asked money to Seliph he acted a bit selfishly, but his Kingdom passes first. They still managed to remain great friends, and Leif’s son married Seliph’s daughter.

In Silesse, Ced manages to get a major blooded baby on someone but realises that he was never cut out to be a King, given how the country governed itself without him during all those years. 

However, he didn’t bail out like his Father, and started to make several researches about dragons, and the mytical land of Archanea - prompted by Loptyr’s sight at the end of the war, and also, because of F!Lewyn.

He volunteered on the first expedition (passing through the northern seas of Silesse) but realised that his place was in Silesse, to study more and, maybe, start to develop trading routes to the new land. It’s only during the last years of his life that he managed to see a returning ship - after several years, sailors finally managed to land somewhere ; they brought him special endemic fruits found in that new land : Zofian Oranges.

The Isaachian people were happy when Shanan returned, because they heard disturbing rumours about their King misbehaving in Thracia and thought that if those rumours started, that meant that he was dead and some man tried to usurp his good name.

They were relieved when they saw him again.

Since the Isaachians had been freed early, they manage to reinstall some sort of government in Isaach (the capital) and everyone from the other kingdoms pledged their allegiance to Shanan - granted, they couldn’t find the former nobles of Sophara, so it was just some elders who participated in the ceremony.

Shanan was a bit disappointed that Granvalle didn’t send as much help as they expected, but thought that maybe Seliph was busy managing internal affairs.

Sadly for him, Patty gave birth to 3 children who all had the brand of Odo on their backs.

He decided that the eldest would remain in Isaac, one would go to Sophara and the last to Ganeishire. 

But the one who was in Sophara wanted to inherit Isaach’s throne, given how he was a boy while the eldest was a woman, and trouble ensued.

More trouble ensued when Seliph’s son didn’t want to return to Chalphy and remain in Belhalla, and when Julia’s granddaughter has had enough of Verdane and managed to steal the Book of Naga, wanting to return to Belhalla.

France Agustria declared itself the Holy land and elected a pope, who took residence in Orgahill and who managed to hear the voices whispers of the gods. Soon enough, being the eldest brother of the Pope, Ares’ son, when he became King, declared the Thracians heretics, for they were developing and practicing dark magic.

Miletos tried to rob everyone using the various tensions as catalysts, but, in the end, they were unable to do a thing when Ares’ second daughter managed to survive a shipwreck when Leif’s only son didn’t. Thracia accused Miletos of having staged an accident to get rid of their heir - Leif’s daughter managed to find (or forge, depends on the POV) a letter detailing how Agustria paid the corrupt Miletosians to sabotage her brother’s lifeboat.

Hopefully Seliph died a few years before the start of the Third War, so he never knew how much the next generation managed to screw what he and friends fought for.

the end

#FE4 #FE4 run #FE5 #i had to make some nods i couldn't help myself #long story big story there is no loptyr anymore but Jugdral is still a shit place #i know i might have over used the orphanage card but #after a war like that there a lot of orphanages around? idk #i tried to avoid mentionning daughters because we're still in jugdral #The thracian-agustrian war starts before Julia's granddaughter's nonsense #but look #shit without Loptyr's intervention! #isnt it wonderful #miletos as a catalyst #yes #finally they have some importance! #jugdral nonsense #look zofian oranges!

[osterreiich]

❛ YOU did this! YOU ruined our relationship! You killed us! You killed us, Roderich!! Don’t you see that!? Don’t you see what you did!? ❜ uhhhh post WW1/1918 (((:

﹡ . °  scandal !  /  @rexblut /  accepting .

ACCOUNTABILITY  STINGS .    he  wants  to  snap ,  to  fight  back ,  to  lay  it  all  on  him  but  exhaustion  wears  at  his  bones .  WAS  IT  WORTH  IT ?     no .    but  roderich  had  always  been  a  shameful ,  prideful  creature ,    &    now  he  is  no  more .  all  empires  crash    &    burn ;  such  is  the  law .    &    yet  they    ALL  THINK  THAT  THEY  ARE  THE  EXCEPTION .    his  end  had  come  too  early . 

❛       don ’ t  take  that  damned  tone  with  me   !        ❜     he  says ,  but  the  fire  has  been  stifled .  he  deserves  this ,    &    more .  why  is    he    angry  at  johan ,  when  he  should  be  angry  at    HIMSELF ?    he  has  brought  them  to  ruin ;  two  great  men  now  stuck  on  their  knees .  ❛       as  if  you  would  not  do  the  exact  same  thing .  your  pride  is  just  as  bad  as  mine   !    you  ruined    YOURSELF .       ❜      it  is  disgraceful ,    &    a  low  blow ,  but  roderich  can  do  nothing  else .  he  had  lost  the  moment  he  made  the  decision  to  march ,  after  all . 

#roderich: no u #this was >:)))))) #rexblut

[moczothe1st]

Let’s Play Fire Emblem IV: Genealogy of the Holy War; Part 20: He’s Blume, Dabba Dee Dabba DIE

Part 19

Welcome back for another week of Fire Emblem IV: Genealogy of the Holy Oh Shit It’s Chapter Eight.  

I… have some war flashbacks going about this one.  I… yeah. Okay. Let’s… let’s just start the story.  Story. Please.

The peninsula’s north, once ruled by several small kingdoms, is graced with rich pastures, while the South, the Kingdom of Thracia, is a harsh wasteland dominated by vast mountains.  In ages past, seeking to claim the life-giving northern land as their own, Thracia’s infamous dracoknights have led countless brash attempts to conquer the north, only to be repelled at every turn by the might of House Leonster. Thracia looked to have won at last following their slaughter of Leonster’s army in the Yied Desert, only to be defeated in turn by Blume of Freege, who claimed the land as his own. And so, the so-called Kingdom of North Thracia was born as yet another servant state of the Empire.

Over a decade has passed since then. Not even Thracia’s King Travant, an ambitious man with a thirst for power and glory, dares to challenge the will of the Empire. And so, a strange peace looms over the region. Or so it did, until the arrival of Seliph and his liberation army

Blume’s defeat at his own capital has abruptly tipped the balance of the Thracian stalemate. Both the Alster and Leonster territories now lie under the liberation army’s control, forcing Blume to retreat to Connaught and muster the strength to take Alster back.  

(Oh fuck it’s Ishtar)

Braces itself for the threat of Thracian invaders.

Meanwhile, across the border in Thracia itself, both King Travant and his border watchman, General Maykov of Meath Castle, remain eerily silent. The people are united in their fondest wish: For the Thracian Peninsula to return to the rule of House Leonster.

And so dawns yet another battle…

Blume: Banba! How could the three of you let yourselves be cowed into fleeing? What a disgrace!

Banba: A thousand apologies, milord. However, you’ve nothing to worry about anymore.  Even as we speak, General Muhammad prepares his brigade to lay siege to Alster, and General Ovo’s cavalry are en route to Leonster. We, too, shall rejoin the fray shortly.

Blume: Hrm… don’t fail me this time.  And what of King Travant? Why are the promised Thracian reinforcements nowhere to be seen?  

(Because he’s arguably the one person in this peninsula who’s more of a douche than you, Blume ol’ buddy.)

Banba: We’ve yet to receive any response to any of our messengers so far.

Blume: Gah… what in the blazes is that snake thinking?

Banba: King Travant is an ambitious man. To blindly trust him would be foolish.  

(Shame you’re just a recolor of the standard female villain model, Banba. You just marked yourself as the smartest person in this country.)

Blume: … No matter. Even without his forces, we’ve enough power to stop the rebels cold. Banba, Fotla, Eriu!  Move out at once! This time, leave not a single rebel alive!

Banba: Yes, milord. We will not fail.  

Mr. Needypants: How long… how long will it be until Manster is free from the Empire?

Ced: Don’t lose hope now! Even as we speak, Lord Seliph and his liberators are out there fighting for the district. They’ll be here before long. Go! Tell your friends and family that your freedom is so very nearly in reach! Please, my friends, believe me. Manster’s freedom is fast approaching!

Beautiful Man 57: The Empire has already lost both Alster and Leonster to the Isaach rebels. He wishes to hire us to help reclaim them.

Travant, Ew: The Isaach rebels are led by that Seliph brat… Sigurd’s spawn, correct? Heh… poor, poor Blume. He’s getting so old, even little children are a thorn in his side! Pay Blume no heed, Arion. The Empire and the rebels are best left to break themselves on each other for now. We’ll mop up the leftovers once they’re nice and weak.

Arion: I should have known, Father… all along you’ve been waiting out Blume’s little storm, haven’t you?

Travant: But of course! It’d make no sense to bend over backward for the man who snatched the hard-won north out from under our noses, would it? Leonster’s downfall should have meant a peninsula unified under our rule… I’ll neither forgive nor forget Blume’s craven conquest.

(‘Craven’ by whose standards, Mr. ‘Take a Baby Hostage’?)

Arion: Even now, we still lack the power to truly face Grannvale on an even battlefield… I can only imagine your frustration, Father.

Travant: Thracia’s fate depends on a unified peninsula. The verdant northern soils are the perfect cure for the famine and poverty wracking our south. We’ve been shunned and vilified for centuries,  dismissed as ravenous hyenas… Yet what choice did we ever have? If not for our answer to this world’s craving for sellswords, Thracia would never have had the funds to barely survive as we do. We’ve toiled in poverty long enough, Arion. It’s high time Thracia carved itself a future! A future, I might add, which depends on the outcome of the game laid before us…

(I think, unfortunately, this is kind of a writing fumble. We’re apparently really supposed to buy Travant as a patriot willing to do terrible things for the good of his country, and yet everything he does just oozes liquid smug and cheerful evil. Just, I mean… once you’ve seen a man take a baby hostage so he can murder her dad more easily? It’s really hard to view him as well-intentioned on any level.)  

Lewyn: Do it. With Blume still on the loose in Connaught, there’s no sense in skimping on the defenses. Oh, and we’ve received a plea for help from the people of Manster Castle. The sooner our forces reach them, the better.

Seliph: Very well. We shall make the first move!

…………………….. And it shall be to go to the Arena!

Seliph: Seven wins, gained four levels: +6 HP, +2 Skill, +3 Strength, +2 Speed, +1 Defense, +1 Resistance

Julia: Seven wins, gained two levels: +2 HP, +1 Skill, +1 Speed, +2 Luck, +1 Resistance

Shanan: Seven wins, gained two levels: +3 HP, +2 Skill. Told you they were his only two good growths.

Oifey: Seven wins, gained one level: +2 HP, +1 Strength

Ulster: Seven wins, gained two levels: +1 HP, +1 Strength, +2 Speed, +1 Luck

Larcei: Seven wins, gained three levels: +3 HP, +2 Skill, +2 Strength, +3 Luck

Lester: Six wins, gained two levels: +2 HP, +1 Speed, +1 Strength, +2 Luck

Dermott: Six wins, gained two levels: +2 HP, +2 Skill, +2 Strength, +1 Luck+2 Defense

Fee:  Seven wins, gained three levels: +3 HP, +2 Skill, +2 Strength, +1 Speed, +1 Magic, +1 Luck

Arthur: Seven wins, gained three levels: +3 HP, +3 Skill, +2 Speed, +2 Magic, +1 Luck

Tinni: Seven wins, gained three levels: +3 HP, +2 Skill, +2 Speed, +1 Magic, +1 Luck

Patty: Six wins, gained three levels: +3 HP, +2 Skill, +2 Strength, +2 Speed, +3 Luck, +2 Defense, +1 Resistance

Johan: Four wins, gained one level: +1 HP, +1 Strength, +1 Speed, +1 Defense, +1 Resistance

Ares: Seven wins, gained three levels: +3 HP, +3 Strength, +1 Skill, +3 Speed, +2 Luck, +2 Defense, +1 Resistance

Leif: Seven wins, gained three levels: +3 HP, +2 Strength, +2 Skill, +1 Magic, +1 Speed, +3 Defense

Nanna: Seven wins, gained levels: +3 HP, +2 Skill, +3 Strength, +2 Speed, +2 Luck, +2 Defense.  She has apparently decided she won’t be a healer this run, but holy shit she’s going to break some heads.    

Finn: Seven wins, gained two levels: +1 HP, +1 Skill, +1 Strength, +1 Speed, +1 Defense

Oh, that’s the stuff. Now, let’s look at the actual chapter.

We start off with two castles, both on the far west side of the map; Leonster in the north and Alster in the south, the two castles Leif was bouncing around near in the last chapter. There’s only one path to take in this one: go straight at Blume in Connaught, then south to Manster, then right on further south to deal with Thracia inevitably being dicks.  However, do not assume. This is gonna be a slog. First order of business is to get some units up to Leonster; right now they only have Finn, Leif, and Nanna, who almost definitely cannot hold against what’s coming their way.  On the way, we have two conversations to share.

Julia: I’m… scared. I sense an evil presence… something dark… and it’s closing in…

Seliph: What do you mean?

Julia: Seliph… be on your guard… Ishtar is a fierce foe… you cannot fight her… you must not…

Seliph: Julia?! What’s happening to you?!

Julia: Ahh… I… w-what in the world just…?

Seliph: Julia… you’re…

(And Seliph gets +1 Luck from that, because…… shut up, that’s why. In fairness, Julia isn’t wrong.)

Arthur: Hrm… yeah, I guess.  

Fee: Hmmmmmmmm.  Who knew you had it in you? I never would’ve guessed that you’re even able to worry about anyone but yourself? I might have to rethink everything just a bit!

Arthur: Well, er, you’re a special case…

Fee: Eh?

Arthur: Er, never mind! Anyway, just don’t do anything too rash, alright? See you…

And Fee gets +3 HP, because… the worry… makes her more… able to take damage…?  Look, I don’t know.  It’s weird. And since there’s no enemies able to reach us, end turn here.

(Game, for fuck’s sake, that’s not even a palette swap of Chagall. It’s just him.  I know you need to save memory, but that’s just lazy.)

Muhammed (Seriously?): If anyone dares to question my command, come forth and allow me to relieve your neck of your head! No volunteers? Good. ATTACK!

(… Ah, I see. You had to re-use Chagall’s sprites so there was enough memory available for the most amazing looking man in the entire game. Okay, I forgive you.)

And with that, it’s our turn again. Ovo and the three mage sisters (… Are they sisters? I actually don’t know. They look identical, but so does) are moving toward Leonster and Leif, while Muhammed (Seriously, though?!) is moving toward Alster and Seliph. I have the cavalry brigade head up to reinforce Leif, along with Ulster since he can run very fast with his Leg Ring, while the rest of the ground-pounders stay with Seliph to help him stomp the armor unit.  And of course there’s bandits moving toward the villages, because fuck you, so we will need to hurry somewhat. I move right into the edge of the enemy range, and prepare for the assault, because I’ve worked out that this is the best way to do it. Boring but practical, man.  

Also, Finn can talk to Leif, somehow missed that last turn.  

(I hope you enjoy the politics of the Thracian Peninsula, because the next map is here too and it never stops sucking.)  

Finn: We aren’t in for an easy battle, but no matter what happens, we must persevere.  

Leif: I know, Finn.  

(“Did you seriously just tell me ‘fighting is hard but we should try to win’? Did you think this was a revelation?”)

Leif:  I’ve always dreamed that this day, the day of Leonster’s freedom, would come… I’ll do all I can to bring peace to the peninsula and save the people from King Blume’s tyranny. To fulfill Father’s final wishes at last… and if I need to lay down my life to make our dream a reality, then so be it.

Finn: Please, my lord! It ill-befits a future king to do something so rash! You mustn’t say such things!

(Okay, maybe Leif did need to be told that he should try to win.)

Leif: Er, you’re right… sorry, Finn. I know how hard you worked to protect me from the Empire’s pursuit in my youth. I recall how often you’d let yourself starve, just so I wouldn’t have to go without food… all my life you’ve made sacrifice after sacrifice for my sake, and only now do I understand this. I’ll always be grateful for all you’ve done, Finn.

Finn: My lord, the Thracian region has been plagued by strife for generations, but your father dared to dream of uniting it under a lasting peace. He may be gone, but you still yet live, and so too does the hope of fulfilling his dream. Only you stand a chance of uniting Thracia.

And with that Leif gains… holy crap, +3 Strength?! Okay, damn, Finn, tell Leif that he needs to win more often.  Never stop telling him he needs to win.  

End turn! Come at me, Blume.

Special Cousin Friend getting smashed in the face day! Now, let’s let them repay the enemy.

Okay, Seliph’s team pretty much owned, thanks for that very good dance, Lene, but Leif’s team is still undermanned and if they try to go toe-to-toe with the enemy, they’re screwed. So, to give them a chance to hold out until reinforcements arrive, I have Finn take out the vanguard:

And then they run south to park on the forests there.  I do not think any of them are in serious danger of dying, and this puts them close enough to the rest of the army that next turn Ares will show up to kill the entire enemy army by himself with his sheer awesomeness.  End turn!

(Where do these people keep getting reinforcements?!)

Faval: Look, Blume, I’m a busy man. Tell me what you want, or I’m leaving.  

Blume: Tch… Listen carefully. I’ve an employment opportunity for you.

Faval: … An employment opportunity?

Blume: Yes, Faval. I require your services in putting down the rebel army.  

Faval: Pass. I might be a mercenary, but I’m certainly not about to do your dirty work.  

(…. Then why did you come? You’re a mercenary, what did you think he wanted to see you for? A tea party?)

Blume: Oh, really? Then what will become of all those orphans in your care? Rumor has it your dear sister has taken to stealing the money you need to take care of them. Are you content with such a life?

Faval: I guess you’re right. I dunno if I can take Patty risking her life like this much longer. And we do sorely need the gold…

(I was going to make a crack about the SUBTLE HINTS as to the identity of Faval’s sister, but he kind of took the fun out of it.)

Blume: Bring me Seliph’s head, Faval, and you’ll have all the gold your orphans will ever need and more. Your dear sister would approve.

Faval: Deal. I know this’ll come back to bite me, but if it means saving the kids… you have my bow. Just this once.

Soooo. Patty’s brother. Means he’s Bridget’s son.  You know what bow he means, and we definitely need to get his sister up there to make sure he doesn’t shoot us with it.  But first, war:

Why do you people hate Nanna so much?!  Well, at least she badly wounded all of them, so we can just mop up an-

*sigh* Why do they have five healers with them? Seriously? Am I being trolled?

…. Fuck.

*phew* He can’t double. Okay, we got this  then. First step, remove that motherfucker.  

Thank you, Best Finn. Now, Lana busts out the Physic Staff to heal Nanna, and we send a few jerks to join their commander

Ulster’s amazing level would normally be the highlight there, but I honestly kind of prefer Leif busting out that weird multiform Dragonball Z shit for his critical hit animation. Way to rock, buddy.  Southern front, can you top them?

Awesome! Seliph is ready to promote, so I should maybe have him run back right now and sell the Paragon Ring for someone else to purchase? I mean, he actually hasn’t gotten very far yet. Either way, Muhammad’s group is now taken down and the other one has the whole horse division to fight, so we have things mostly under control. All that remains is to get people to those villages, and get Patty up to make sure her brother doesn’t murder us. End turn!

All right! Nanna continues her quest to become a frontline fighter, and honestly when she promotes she’s basically gonna be there. Is there someone else who can use her staff? She can’t really put it to the best use, frankly, and she can use the money to buy more swords.  

Our turn, and the mage sisters are almost to our doorstep, so it’s really time to finish off Ovo’s group. Luckily most of them chose to commit suicide by Nanna on their turn, so there’s actually only two left. So it’s as simple as staying just outside their range, except for Fee with her Bolt Sword handy  to meet Banba head on; Banba is the fire one and Fee’s going to have weapon triangle over her, so it should be a good way to soften her up to start off with.

Oh, and killing the last two guys, obviously.

Heeeeey, way to rock out, Johan! You don’t often impress me, but I cannot complain about your performance here.  I don’t think anything can ruin this good mood. End turn!

(OH FUCK IT’S ISHTAR)

Ishtar: What’s happened, Father? How could a pack of simple rebels get to you, of all people? This is so very unlike you.

Blume: These are no mere rebels! They’ve already slaughtered Ishtore, and Tinni is lost to us as well because of them… the defeated Banba and her sisters… I can’t leave this task to them again. You’re all I have left to depend on!

Ishtar: Understood, but I have one condition. I need the Book of Mjolnir. If I’m wielding Mjolnir, I won’t need an army with me. I alone will be more than enough.

(SHE’S NOT JOKING)

Blume: W-what?! You want me to… Fine. Very well. You can take Mjolnir.  But don’t you dare fail me now!

Ishtar: You can trust me, Father. By your leave.  

(NOT THE TIME, LADY)

All right. Okay. Okay. I have Larcei move toward one of the villages, kill the stupid mage sisters…

And… and prepare for the… issue.  The issue that’s coming toward us, very slowly, and we’re fucked.  

So this is Ishtar, and she’s just… she’s just the worst.  I mean, Mjolnir always turns anyone holding it into an utter bastard, but just for fun, compare her stats to the other two users of the tome.  

Look at those comparisons, and tell me what you see.  Reptor has more magic, certainly, both of them have more defense.... but speed. Ishtar’s speed is fucking 39, breaking the game’s speed cap, and of course her ability list includes Adept. So unlike her predecessors, she can double-attack, and getting hit twice with Mjolnir is a death sentence. 

And I don’t know, maybe all this sounds like she’s a super exciting challenge? But that’s also not true. See, she also has Vantage, meaning once her health gets below half she’ll always attack first, regardless of turn.  And if that happens, your odds of beating her drop a ton, because there’s not a lot of units who can take one hit from Ishtar, much less two if she procs Adept (and she will, right when it’s most inconvenient, because fuck you).  So fighting Ishtar is basically a game of tag with nuclear bombs. The actual fight is only going to last about thirty seconds when I actually meet her: either I take her out in one combat round, or she’ll kill someone and force a reset, period.

And there’s only a few units in our ranks who can pull that off: Arthur/Ares if they proc Critical, Shanan/Larcei/Ulster if they proc Astra.  

Most of the above cannot survive a counterattack from Ishtar.

It’s… it’s not a good situation.  

End turn. Nothing happens on the enemy phase beyond the slow inexorable approach of death, so I start off our new turn by clearing a village out:

And send Fee, Dermott, and Finn up toward the other one. They should be able to clear it before it’s totally destroyed, at least, and I’d like Fee to get some more money; I think she’s a good choice for the Paragon Ring after Seliph sells it in a minute here, since her level’s lagging a bit.  Ares and Arthur are both moving into position to deal with Ishtar, and hopefully between the two of them nobody will die, but before her Faval is in place and he’s going to be a problem all his own because we can’t kill the little prick.

I mean, we could,  but Patty would be sad.  End turn, and-

… Really? Right next to each other? You two are asses.  Okay, let’s try this.  

All right, Patty is now right at the edge of Faval’s movement, and to the south Arthur is ready to swoop up and fight Ishtar as she comes in behind him. This… will be tricky. Patty absolutely cannot fight Ishtar, probably not even after promoting, unless you somehow got very lucky with Luna and a Brave Sword.  For now, though, there’s nothing left to do but end our turn.  

Okay. Okay. We can do this. We CAN.  First, I have the northern troops clear that second village. Not because I’m procrastinating, I just enjoy clearing villages.

Nice Girl: I’ve heard all the stories about your army, and I’ve been praying you’d come. Lord Seliph is our beacon of hope! Here, take this power ring. It’s not much, but it’s all we have to show our gratitude.

… I didn’t remember that was there, but it’s pretty much exactly what Fee needed most of all, so happy coincidence.  Down at the front, Patty moves in to slap some sense into her bro.

Patty: Ugh… don’t tell me you actually let Blume buy out your bow arm!

Faval: Patty? Wait, why are you with the rebels?

Patty: To protect people, of course! We’ve come this far working together, and I know we’re gonna stop Blume for good! I don’t get it. Did you just go and forget everything?! That if it wasn’t for the Empire, none of the kids would be orphans!  But no, here you are, kissing up to the man who ruined all our friends’ lives!  What the heck were you thinking, Faval?!

Faval: You’re absolutely right…. I’m so sorry, Patty. I guess I just wasn’t thinking at all.  

Patty: Any scumbag can apologize until they’re blue in the face! If you’re really sorry, then get over here! Come help us fight for peace!

Faval: … Alright, Patty. I’m with you. You’ve certainly come a long way lately…

Patty: Hee hee… I guess I have!

You do you, Patty. Faval, welcome aboard. 

So here’s Faval, and he’s a solid unit overall, like his mom before him. His highest growths are going to be in Skill, Luck, and HP (a whopping 175% for that last one, thanks to having two Holy Bloods and a tanky father) but none of them are particularly bad other than Resistance. And he has a Holy Weapon, so he’s never going to be useless.  His only skill is Pursuit, but that’s really all he needs; he shouldn’t be up close to the enemy anyway.  

Now then. Ishtar.

Ares and Arthur are ready, and they’re our best options with Forseti and Mystletainn to rock out on her stupid face.  But because I love you, there is a little extra convo to have with Ishtar first, so… save state.    

(Remember they’re cousins, they know each other pretty well. Protip: Do not try to have this conversation in the actual game, Tinni is about to get crushed into a fine paste.)

Ishtar: You’ve turned traitor, then? I’m disappointed in you, Tinni!

Okay, now let’s do our real turn.  Arthur, you’re on point.  

(Your reluctance would seem a little more convincing if I hadn’t watched you vaporize your baby cousin thirty seconds ago.)

*deep breath* Arthur procced Critical. In the great game of Ishtar Rocket Tag, we came out on top… and thank God for it, because his resistance isn’t superb and I’m pretty sure her counter would have killed him.  I realize that this makes me look like a big whiner, but that was a stroke of absurd luck and I’m thanking my lucky stars individually and by name.  

… Interesting dying quote there.  

Oooooh dear.

Julius: Come, Ishtar. I need you.

Ishtar: Y-yes, milord! Anything you wish!

Well, that was fuckin’ ominous! Yeah. Yeah. Our first meeting with Crown Prince Julius and he… well he doesn’t seem like a nice young man, to say the least.  Um. Let’s… let’s just… go promote Seliph! Hahaha, yay, promotions! Not scary!

Congrats, Seliph. You’ve officially reached exactly where your dad started.  Though he does, for some reason, have the ability to dismount his horse and go back to being on foot at any time he chooses. It’s not entirely clear why he can do this, but he can. So if you run into somebody with a Horseslayer or something, that will be nice. I’m… not sure there are any more enemies with horseslayers in the game, but if there were Seliph would be all set.

Now, time to end this.

I realize this doesn’t look too bad, but appearances can unfortunately be very deceiving.  All three of those mages and Blume himself are all packing siege tomes, meaning that while you’re fighting your way through the armor leading the way, you are also going to be getting your ass bombarded constantly.  So to start, the best idea is to kill off the first group of armors outside the range of the mages, I think. I move Faval into their range to test out that shiny bow of his.  End turn!

…

They don’t move on their own! Dicks! Okay, we do this the hard way. 

Not bad, not bad. Unless of course all three of the mages and Blume all target the same person and they all hit, but… hahahahaha… what are the odds of that.  Hahahahaha.

End turn.

………….. This… game… is being so nice to me on this map.  What’s going on.  First I lucked out majorly on Ishtar, and now I’m lucking out on Blume.  What are you planning, game?!  

Okay. Okay. We just need to kill these guys and end the update before my luck can abandon me. Guys. Guys, hurry.

What’s going on. End turn, hurry.  Hurry you strange army of winners, I don’t know you but I love you.

My God even Johan can’t die anymore.

HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE…

You cannot stop me, Blume. Your lightning is weak and small.

*cough*

Sorry, went mad with power. Um…. Let’s see a shot of Tinni continuing her character growth, hm?

Blume: Gah...

Turns out little Tinni has a bit of a backbone to her when she’s not going to be immediately incinerated by divine lightning.  Not a  great fight, but unlike both his dick kids, Blume has no way to double attack or critical so he also can’t kill her as long as you make sure she gets healed between fights. If I could trust him to always go after her, I’d let her chip him down.  But he still has that damn Bolting tome, so I can’t.  So. Let’s end this.

………………. Okay, that’s Ares’s first bad level since he joined, so I’ll allow it.  From here, all that’s left is to take the castle, so I have everyone move south to get ready to cross the river when it opens, and… rock it, Seliph.

Lewyn: Don’t be too excited just yet. The real problem here is still Thracia.

Seliph: What makes you think so? What would cause Thracia to break neutrality now, of all times?

(“They are what is known, in tactical terms, as a bunch of dicks.”)

Lewyn: You’ve never had to deal with King Travant before. Just ask Prince Leif; if not for Travant, he would still have his parents. Travant’s murder of them was a cruel ambush, an insult to the honor of a knight like Quan.  Who knows what game he’s playing now…

I like that Lewyn’s summary is basically a fancier version of what I said.   See you next week when King Travant is a giant dick, because that’s the entirety of what he does, always. Laters!               

Part 21

#Let's Play #Let's Play Fire Emblem IV #let's play FEIV #Let's Play Fire Emblem #Let's Play Genealogy of the Holy War #my writing #lp #long post

[ssportsnews]

'5-0 win over PSV' Ajax reproaches Super Cup loss 먹튀검증

먹튀검증먹튀사이트먹튀검증사이트먹튀 검증  먹튀 사이트 먹튀 검증 사이트

Ajax beat PSV Eindhoven 5-0 against rivals and succeeded in reproaching their 4-0 defeat in the Dutch Super Cup.

Ajax defeated PSV 5-0 in the 10th round of the Eredivisie of the 2021/22 season at the Johan Cruyff Arena home. At the same time, Ajax succeeded in widening the gap with second-place PSV (21 points) by 4 points with 25 points from 8 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss.

In this match, Ajax used a 4-2-3-1 formation. Sebastien Alle went to the forefront one-top, followed by the front-line one-top, and with Steven Berheis as the center, Doosan Tadic and Anthony stood on the left and right to form a two-line offensive line. Ryan Hravenberg and Edson Alvarez built a double volante (a positional term for two defensive midfielders), while Daily Blint and Nusair Mazrawi took charge of the left and right flanks. Lissandro Martinez and Julien Timber started as central defenders, and goalkeeper Lemco Fassber kept the goal. Ajax came out with the same starting lineup as the 3rd leg of the Champions League round of 32 group stage against Borussia Dortmund, which they won 4-0 during the week.

The away team PSV was the first to go on the offensive. PSV threatened Ajax's goal by taking all three shots on target from the start of the game until around the 7th minute.

However, around the 15th minute, Ajax took two shots in a row from a corner attack opportunity (unfortunately, these shots were blocked by the opposing defense just in front of the goal line) and the flow began to flow. In the 18th minute, Ajax gave Hravenberg's forward pass to the flank as a cutback (a soccer term referring to a pass passed diagonally backward), and Berhais scored a goal with a non-stop shot and took the lead first. succeeded in doing

Ajax, who gained momentum, took three shots just before the end of the first half and went on a wave, but in the 44th minute, Blint's cross followed by a header from Berheis was blocked by the opposing defender Oliver Boscali right in front of the goal line. The first half ended 1-0.

Ajax's scoring show started in earnest in the second half. In the 11th minute of the second half, Tadic crossed a corner kick from Hravenberg, and Ajax widened the score gap by scoring a high-run header with Alle's 190cm tall. Then, in the 21st minute of the second half, Blint intercepted the opponent's pass and passed it on for a long time, and Alle accepted the pass and gave it altruistically. Anthony scored a goal with a non-stop shot and succeeded in winning.

In the 24th minute of the second half, Ajax began strengthening their midfield by excluding Berhais and replacing central midfielder Darby Klassen. In the 31st minute of the second half, Ajax was intercepted by Boscali while trying to dribble Alle after receiving a cross from Tadic.

Ajax replaced Mohamed Kudus, Nicolas Tagliafico and David Neres in the 34th minute of the second half, excluding Hravenberg, Blind, and Antony. went out After 90 minutes of regular time and around 1 minute of extra time, Tadic, who received a through pass from Shures in a counter-attacking chance that started with an interception from the half line, beat the goalkeeper and lightly scored a goal into the empty post, ending the 5-0 victory.

Ajax and PSV are prestigious and rivals representing the Eredivisie. Ajax boasts the most wins in the Eredivisie (35), followed by PSV (24), so naturally, rivalry between the two clubs was inevitable. For this reason, their confrontation is called 'De Topper' in the Netherlands.

In the Johan Cruyff Schhal (Netherlands Supercup), which was played before the opening of the Eredivisie, PSV defeated Ajax 4-0 and lifted the trophy. It was a disgraceful defeat for Ajax. As a result, Ajax won the match 5-0 and succeeded in swearing. Ajax SNS also wrote a comment, "We told you... PAYBACK TIME".

Ace Tadic was at the center of this great victory. Tadic contributed one goal and two assists and was directly involved in the team's three goals. Ajax's fourth goal also served as a starting point for Tadic's cross. In addition, he led the attack by recording the most among the players in shooting (3 innings) as well as chance making (3 innings).

Tadic added a goal in this match and became the Serbian player to score 100 goals in the Eredivisie after former PSV legend Mateya Kezman. It was Tadic who scored a monumental goal against rivals.

He appeared like a comet in the Eredivisie while scoring 7 goals and 18 assists in the 2010/11 season with Groningen, and he also contributed 7 goals and 10 assists in the 2011/12 season. He then moved to Twente, where he scored 16 goals and 14 assists in the 2013/14 season, following 12 goals and 15 assists in his first ever Eredivisie in the 2012/13 season. After spending four seasons at Southampton, he moved to Ajax in the 2018/19 season and showed off his brilliance, scoring 28 goals and 13 assists in the Eredivisie alone. He also contributed six goals and four assists in the Champions League, driving Ajax's Champions League semi-final blast. Since then, he has been playing an ace in the Eredivisie for two consecutive seasons, scoring double-digit goals and assists (11 goals and 14 assists in the 2019/20 season, 14 goals and 17 assists in the 2020/21 season).

Even more surprising is that he now has 53 assists in 103 appearances for the Eredivisie in his fourth season with Ajax. This corresponds to the most assistance to Eredivisie belonging to a specific team along with Luis Suarez, who played for Ajax in the past, since the 2000s when OPTA, a soccer statistics company, started to collect assist records. Tadic scored 58 goals and 53 assists in 103 Eredivisie appearances for Ajax, boasting more than one attack point (goal + assist) per game.

As such, Ajax succeeded in reproaching the Super Cup by defeating rivals PSV 5-0 thanks to Tadic's remarkable performance, which set a monumental record in goals and assists. Ajax are in the top spot in the Eredivisie as well as in Group C of the Champions League, winning all three matches (11 goals and 1 conceded). If the current momentum continues until the end of the season, Ajax will be able to reproduce the gust of the 2019/20 season again. Of course, there must be a Tadic at the center of it.

#먹튀검증 #먹튀검증사이트 #먹튀사이트