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wiypt-writes · 3 years

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Stark Spangled Banner

Ch42: Maybe Baby Part 2- Between The Toaster And The Fridge

Intro: Steve comes home to a very, special welcome…

Warnings: Bad Language words. Smut! (NSFW) No under 18s. Teeth rotting fluff…

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

A/N- More thanks to @angrybirdcr

Chapter 42 Part 1

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

The recruits around Steve were laughing, and he had to smile himself. He’d just told them the story about how he had managed to get a flag down from the top of a pole once when he was training, right before he go the serum. He’d taken the pins out of the bottom of the pole causing it to crash to the floor where as everyone else had tried to climb it, including Gilmore Hodge. God, what a prick he had been.

“So, the moral of the story is just because it’s the path of least resistance, it doesn’t mean it’s the wrong path.” Steve looked around at the assembled team, smiling to himself as he repeated the words Natasha had once said to him, words he hadn’t agreed with in that circumstance but here, well, they fit. “Consider each task on its own merit. Decide what your end goal is and then look for the simplest, safest and least strenuous way to achieve it. Conserve your energy for when there’s no other option open to you because that’s the time that you’ll truly need it.”

With that he nodded to Rhodey and moved to the side of the room, folding his arms across his broad chest as he looked at the assembled trainees. They seemed like a good bunch this lot, receptive to his advice and teaching which was an improvement on the lot he’d had a month or so back in Colorado. They’d been a nightmare and when they were awkward it made being away from his girls so much more of a chore. At least when they were like this, it made him feel like it was worthwhile. He took a few more questions, gave a bit more advice before they called it for the day and he headed back to his room to make sure he was packed, ready to head home the next afternoon. It had been three weeks this time, and whilst he’d spoken to Katie and Emmy every night it still didn’t make him feel any better at being away from them, even though he knew it was part and parcel of his job.

It also wasn’t helping their baby-making plans either.

His phone was vibrating in his pocket and he smiled when he saw who it was. Flopping down on the bed he beamed at Katie.

“Hey sweetheart.”

“Hey handsome.” she smiled, yawning slightly

“What you been up to?”

“Been busy with this Half Way Home proposal.

“How’s it going?”

“Good, Pepper’s giving it the once over before we send it into the Senate. I don’t think they’ll have an issue, I mean we’re not asking for funding but with them behind us it means the sale should go through easier.”

“Sounds like you have it all planned.” He smiled “Bet Natasha is pleased.” “Hmmm” Katie frowned. “She’s flown off again this evening.”

He groaned “Johannesburg?”

“Yeah.” she shrugged “She won’t give up. Says she owes it to Clint to try.”

“She’s on a hiding to nothing.” Steve sighed “I don’t know what she thinks she can do.” “Who knows, but if it makes her feel better who are we to argue. We’d do the same in her position.” And Steve had nothing else he could say on the matter, as he knew she was right. He had done the same, pretty much.

“Can’t want to get home tomorrow.” he changed the subject, smiling. “Three weeks apart isn’t exactly helpful on the whole trying-not-trying front is it?”

“Not really no.” Katie gave a soft laugh

Steve grinned cheekily “Every time I’ve jacked off in the shower I’ve had this horrible, guilty feeling that I could be washing a little me down the-“ “Oh my God!” Katie snorted as Steve laughed loudly, his right hand flying to his chest “You’re disgusting!”

“You love it!” he smirked, and she sighed and looked at him.

“I love you.” she said simply, and he could do nothing but grin stupidly back at the screen.

“Hi Jen!” Katie greeted as she walked up to the coffee counter, Emmy walking behind it like she owned the place, casually heading into the back to find Brooke.

“Hi!” Jen turned to her, “Usual?” “Erm, to be honest with you coffee isn’t what I’m after today.” she said “Had a disgusting hangover yesterday that I’m still recovering from so can I get a tea and one of those Danishes please?”

Jenifer chortled, “Take a seat I’ll bring it over and join you for a bit.” Katie smiled, paid for her drink and food and headed over to the comfy sofas by the window. Sinking into the well-worn leather she pulled out her phone and flicked through a few emails, pleased to see Pepper had proof read their proposal and made a few minor tweaks. She had just fired it off to her secretary to make the changes and forward on when Jennifer sat opposite her, pushing her food and drink over the table. Katie was that hungry she wolfed the pastry down in about four bits, before leaning back, wiping her fingers with a napkin.

“I think sugar and carbs maybe the way forward today” she laughed “I feel better already.”

“Why is it the older you get, the longer hangovers last?” the woman asked and Katie shrugged.

“Gone are the days I could sink shot after shot and still make it out unscathed.” she rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her tea appreciatively “Being an adult sucks.” She spent a few hours at the coffee shop, leaving Emmy there after Jennifer had assured her it was ok for her to stay, before heading into the city to find Steve a gift. This year, four, was either fruit, flowers, linen or silk. Which was a random combination when you thought about it. But she found a really nice grey linen blazer that would suit Steve, and smirking to herself, bought a silk slip that she could wear to bed. Always nice to keep him on his toes as she had said last year.

She picked Emmy up and then stopped on the way home to fuel up the Camero, As she leaned against the side of the car, watching the numbers tick over on the pump, the smell of gasoline filled her nostrils, almost choking her and she was overcome with a wave of nausea and vomited straight onto the floor.

“Fucks sake.” she groaned, as she managed to compose herself, waiting for the feeling to subside. Thankfully Emmy was too engrossed in something on her phone to notice. Eventually, her stomach stopped flipping and she finished, paid and headed back to the Compound, wondering if she was coming down with a bug. But then, as she walked down the corridor with her bags the strong stench of bleach from one of the labs made her once again feel the need to hurl.

Something clicked in her mind and she paused, suddenly feeling very hot.

“Hey.” Bruce looked at her as he appeared from the lab. “You alright? You look a bit pale.” “Yeah, fine.” she nodded, swallowing “Just remembered, I forgot to grab something. Emmy, can you take these up to the apartment and go straight to Nat? Bruce do you mind just…”

“No, course not.” He smiled, “In fact, I have something to show you Em. Remember that research I was doing into the…”

Katie didn’t stay to hear the rest, Emmy wandered off after Bruce chatting away, whilst she turned back the way she had come and hurried back to the car.

***** Steve walked back into the apartment and was greeted by a whirl of sandy fur before Katie appeared hurriedly crossing the hallway to throw herself into his arms.

“Missed you.” He smiled, as he bent to give her a kiss.

“I missed you too.” she pouted, her hands fisting into his light blue button down “Three weeks is far too long, I don’t like it.” “I know, sorry baby.” he smiled “Where’s Emmy?”

“Nat’s” Katie said as she turned and headed back to the kitchen “I know it isn’t our anniversary until tomorrow but I wanted get you all to myself right away.”

“Yeah? Got something in mind?” He grinned, wrapping his arms around her from behind, nipping at her neck before he rest his chin on her shoulder.

“Yeah, feeding you.” she chuckled as his stomach gave a loud rumble “Hungry?” “I’m always hungry.” he pouted, his arms still wrapped tightly round her “Doesn’t help that whatever you’ve been baking smells so good.”

“Saffron buns.” She smiled and Steve let out a groan off delight as his stomach rumbled again “And seeing as you’re so keen to get your hands on one, can you get them out of the oven?” she nodded towards it and twisted away from his hold “I’m almost done with the rest of the food.”

Grumbling slightly at the loss of her warmth against his chest, he straightened up and pulled the metal and glass door open before he frowned. A single bun sat on the tray in the middle of the large oven. What was that about?

“Honey, what…” He turned to look at Katie who was stood behind him, biting her lip. He frowned, before he turned back to the bun in the…

Oh. Oh!

Steve spun round that fast he nearly fell over. Katie smiled at him, her eyes shining at the look of surprise on his handsome face.

“You’re - um. You - you’re…?” Steve couldn’t quite form his words. Katie smiled, as he swallowed hard “Katie…”

“Yeah. Although I think the correct term might be ‘we.’”

“Sweetheart you…” he looked at his wife, not quite able to believe what she was saying “We’re, really having a baby?” “Yeah.” She nodded, sniffing slightly as she reached for him then with both hands, cupping his face in her fingers. “We are. You’re gonna be a daddy, Steve.”

“Shit!” He exclaimed with a laugh “I’m gonna be a daddy!” with that he pulled her into his arms and swung her up in the air, the same way he had done when she’d agreed to marry him, causing her to laugh before he gently brought her down again, her arms sliding around his neck as he set her on her feet, pressing another kiss to her lips.

“How far gone, do you know?” He asked, pulling back an inch. “Not sure. It can’t be that far but I have an appointment with the ob-gyn tomorrow morning. I wanted to make sure everything was okay after, you know…”

Steve glanced down at her stomach and moved his hand towards it, pausing.

“You don’t have to ask.” Katie smiled softly, taking his hand in hers and guiding it onto her stomach. Steve took a deep breath as his fingers splayed out gently across her belly under her palm, his face shining with pure unadulterated emotion as his eyes stayed focused on his hand.

He had never felt so happy or so alive in his life.

*****

A tiny blip. Nothing more than what looked like static brought tears to both their eyes as Dr Kellet pointed to the image.

“Well, Mrs Rogers” she smiled “from this I estimate you’re roughly eight weeks pregnant.” “Eight weeks?” Steve asked, as he did the maths in his head. Eight weeks took them back to the fourth of July, his birthday…

Katie grinned to herself as she felt Steve’s arms slide around her waist and his lips gently brushing on her neck, his stubble scratching at her skin.

“I’m trying to cook you lunch here.” she sighed as his hand worked beneath the waistband of her denim shorts. Her breath caught in her throat as his fingers skated into her underwear.

“Want me to stop?” he asked as her head fell back against his shoulder and she bit her lip.

“Didn’t say that.” she muttered as his fingers slipped further into her folds, finding her spot. His other hand slipped up her vest top and splayed on her stomach, pulling her back into him further and she let out a soft squeak as he slipped one finger into her. He continued to work her, she was putty in his hands and eventually when he knew she was close he moved and spun her round, pulling her to him, his arousal pressing into her as he kissed her, hard, his hands cupping her cheeks as he backed her into the wall. Her hands strayed down to the buckle of his belt and she quickly undid it, wasting no time as she slipped her hand into his boxers, grasping him hard. He bucked at the touch and let out a hiss.

“Easy soldier.” she grinned into his mouth as he let out a groan, his hands dropping to her shorts. In a flash she was out of them and her underwear and he lifted her easily, her legs wrapping around his waist, back pressed against the kitchen wall.

“Shut up.” he mumbled, kissing her hard and she laughed into his mouth, a laugh that turned into a gasp as he pushed into her with no warning at all.

“Gonna fuck a baby into you doll.” He growled and her head rolled back, banging slightly on the light yellow painted wall. “Say that again.” she moaned.

He punctuated each word with a hard thrust “I’m…gonna…fuck…a…baby…into…you…” he purred, one hand resting by her head on the wall, the other snaking under her top and pulling down the cups of her bra. He rolled each nipple in turn between his thumb and forefinger leaving her grinding down against him for more friction as she kissed him again, hard, her gasps coming thick and fast as he rutted up, his hips snapping back and forth in a fast and deep rhythm. Steve let out a groan, his tongue sliding against hers sending the familiar red hot pokers of desire straight to his belly. His wife still managed to turn him on as much as the first time they’d ever been intimate together, despite there being what felt like a life time of ups and downs since then. If anything he was convinced that’s what made it better. He knew her body as well as he knew his own, every curve, every dip, every scar, blemish freckle and she knew his, each and every single inch of his skin, his limbs. Her hands grasped at his back, sliding up his t-shirt, nails raking down his skin, the stinging sensation causing him to grunt again as his rhythm picked up slightly, gaining momentum as he could feel himself going. “Come on, baby.” He muttered, his forehead pressed against hers “Wanna see you let go.”

“Stevie.” Her voice was a whisper, as her eyes fluttered closed for a second and he felt her thighs tighten around him, her mouth falling slack for a moment as her head tilted back. He moved the hand that was against the wall to her neck, holding her head in place and when her eyes opened again, those beautiful green orbs locked onto his she gave a low, sultry moan and he felt her walls tighten around him.

“Fuck, you feel so good.” He mumbled as the strands in his stomach began to tighten “I love you, so much.” and with a final few snaps of his hips he came with a loud moan, his head falling to her shoulder, lips latching onto her neck as he thrust through his orgasm, before he stilled, both of them catching their breath.

Their baby had been conceived between the toaster and the fridge.

“So from that you’re estimated due date is the ninth April…” Dr Kellet smiled, tapping at something on her computer and then turning to gently wipe off the gel she had placed on Katie’s stomach. “So, do you have any questions?”

Of course Steve did. He spent a full thirty minutes drilling the woman about all the types of things Katie could and couldn’t do. Dr Kellet smiled, before she answered all of them, and some he hadn’t asked, in particular one about how sex was fine up until the birth if Katie was comfortable, warning him in fact that many pregnant women felt a spike in their libido in their second trimester. This caused Steve to flush and Katie to silently snigger.

“And lastly, I do hate to warn you about this as well but the term morning sickness, its bullshit. Should be called All Day Sickness”

“Tell me about it” Katie rolled her eyes. “Smells are the worst trigger.”

“Yeah, that’s very common.” the Dr Smiled “The good news is it should die down, if not go completely by about twenty weeks, but just keep yourself hydrated and rest up to avoid fatigue.”

“Thanks.” Katie smiled at her, “I’ll bear it in mind.”

As they walked back to the car, Steve’s arm curled round Katie’s shoulder and he pulled her closer, dropping a kiss onto her head. She smiled to herself, leaning into his touch as he gripped the scan photo they had been given with his other hand.

“I still can’t quite believe it.” He shook his head, reaching into his pocket for the car keys. “I know.” Katie’s voice was little more than a whisper. Steve turned to face her, his hands linking at the bottom of her spine “I can’t wait to tell everyone.” “We’re not telling everyone until twelve weeks is up.” she said, shaking her head “Bar Tony, Natasha, and Emmy.”

“Now?” He grinned, and Katie laughed as she snaked her arms round his neck.

“So impatient, Captain Badass.” She grinned as she leaned up to kiss him. “But yeah, let’s pay Tony a visit!”

Steve spent the entire forty-five minute journey grinning like an idiot, chatting about plans for nurseries and all sorts of stuff, he was incandescently excited. Katie simply let him go on, his happiness was infectious although she did at one point have to get him to pull over so she could vomit out of the passenger door.

Steve was out of the car like a shot and round to the other side, crouching down, his hand gently stroking Katie’s flushed cheek.

“You okay?” He asked, his face concerned as she reached for the bottle of water that was in the cup holder.

“Get used to this.” She groaned, laying her head back against the head rest.

As they walked up the driveway to the porch, Pepper spotted them immediately from where she was sat on a chair on the grass, Morgan happily led on her tummy on the tartan blanket. She greeted them as they approached and Morgan let out a loud shriek at the sound of their voices.

“Moo, you’ve gotten so big!” Steve smiled as he swept her up and she beamed back at him.

“Well you haven’t seen her in a few weeks.” Pepper chuckled, as Steve gently pulled faces at the infant, causing her to give him a huge smile. “They grow fast.” “You’re not kidding.” Steve mused and Katie smiled, unable to stop her heart blooming at the thought that he would be doing that soon enough with their own baby.

“Hey guys.” Tony smiled, walking out of the house and dropping onto a seat next to Pepper. “Not that it’s not nice to see you but we weren’t expecting you.” “Yeah, well, we err, have some news that we kinda wanted to tell you in person.” Katie glanced up at Steve as he gently placed Morgan back on the blanket and Katie sat on the wicker couch opposite her brother and Pepper, Steve perching on the arm next to her.

Pepper twigged immediately, smiling at Katie who grinned back.

“What’s the matter?” Tony frowned, “Are you sick? Is something wrong with the business?”

“Oh come on Tony, isn’t it obvious?” Pepper looked at him

“Errr no.” he frowned. “What-” he looked at his sister “-what’s supposed to be obvious?”

Katie glanced at Steve who gave her a grin before he turned and looked at his brother-in-law.

“You’re gonna be an uncle, Tony!” he smiled, dropping an arm round Katie’s shoulders.

Tony stared for a minute and then slapped his knees triumphantly, a huge grin breaking across his face. “You’re kidding me! Really? Really?” He leaned forward, intently scrutinizing Katie’s midsection until she tossed a throw pillow at his head. He dodged it, looked at her for a moment before he jumped up and swept her into an enormous hug. She stood up to greet him, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Kiddo, that’s, wow, it’s awesome!” He spluttered.

“Thanks Tony.” She sniffed, stepping back as her brother reached up and cupped her face in his hands, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead.

“Guys, congratulations.” Pepper gave Steve a hug and then turned to Katie when Tony had finally released her, giving the younger woman a squeeze.

“Wow, Baby America - you gonna dress him in star spangled diapers?” Tony paused, faltering, as he was shaking Steve’s hand. “Or her, or maybe one of each?”

“One of each?” Steve frowned.

“It isn’t twins.” Katie rolled her eyes

“You gonna find out what it is?” Pepper asked.

“I dunno we haven’t discussed it.”

“Wait, they can find out?” Steve frowned “They can find out what it is before it’s born?” Tony looked at Steve “Remind me how long you’ve been defrosted?”

“Tony.” Pepper warned him before she turned to Steve “Yes, Steve they can.” “But you guys didn’t?” He frowned. “We didn’t want to know.” Tony shrugged, dropping a kiss onto the side of Pepper’s head before he clapped his hands together. “This causes for a celebration, only not you young lady.” He pointed at Katie and she rolled her eyes “Yes, beers.” he continued chunnering away to himself, heading back to the house.

“You two okay to watch Morgan?” Pepper asked gesturing to where Morgan lay on her back, legs wriggling furiously “Just keep an eye on her, anything she can get hold of she’s sticking in her mouth…”

The two of them nodded and sank back into the chairs and Steve dropped a kiss to Katie’s head, his arm curling round her shoulders as she snuggled into him, kicking off her shoes so she could swing her feet up onto the cushion besides her.

“Happy?” He asked.

“Ridiculously” she responded, giving him a soft kiss.

***** Later that night they broke their happy news to Emmy, only she didn’t react the way they had expected.

“So,” she looked down at her hands as her fingers twisted around one another, the way they always did when she was worried, “does this mean I need to pack my bags?” “What?” Katie frowned, “Why would us having a baby mean you need to pack your bags?” “Coz, well, you’ll have your own kid now.” she shrugged “Not like you’ll want me around.” Steve and Katie shared a look and Steve shook his head, dropping to his knees in front of the girl as Katie sat on the arm of the chair she was in.

“Of course we want you around.” Steve looked at the girl “Emmy, you’re part of our family now, and all this means is that our family is getting a bit bigger.”

Emmy looked up at Steve, her eyes shining with tears, before she looked at Katie, and melted into her arms as the woman gave her a hug.

“You have a home with us for as long as you want.” Katie pulled back, smiling “And besides,” she winked, “you’ll be our chief babysitter.”

Later that night, when she was getting changed for bed, Steve couldn’t help but just watch Katie as she moved around the bedroom in her sleep shorts and bra. The fact she was growing his baby just made her all the more beautiful to him, and when he couldn’t stand not touching her anymore, he threw his legs off the bed and moved to stand behind her, looking over her shoulder into the mirror as she finished cleaning her teeth. One hand came to rest on her hip, while his other hand slipped down, palm spread protectively over her bare abdomen as he pressed tender kisses to her cheek and throat.

"I love you,” he whispered softly against her ear.

She leaned back against him, looking at the two - no, three of them in the mirror, her husband’s head bowed against hers, their child beneath his hand.

For once he fell asleep before Katie, and as she lay there, gently stroking the back of his neck she couldn’t help the immense happiness that overwhelmed her. Things were about to change, again, for them. But this time, it was a change they both welcomed.

**** Chapter 43

**Original Posting**

#stark spangled banner #steve rogers #Katie Stark #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers fic #mcu #mcu fanfic #chris evans #chris evans characters

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natromanxoff · 4 years

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Queen live at Hyde Park in London, UK - September 18, 1976 (Part-1)

An interesting bit about the Hyde Park gig (thanks to Jane Palm-Gold): "The white boiler suit Fred wore coming onstage was especially chosen by him so that he could be seen from miles away (because white stands out at a distance) and even better (and this is great but you have to know this place really - a London landmark for many years) it was acquired at Lawrence Corner at Euston (!), a tatty second hand clothes /hire place where a lot of clothes /outfits were hired from for band promo shoots - for instance they had a lot of military stuff there."

(x)

After the success of A Night At The Opera (and not to mention how the weekly Sounds readers' poll elected the band #1 in the best album, best single, and best band categories), Queen wanted to pay the British fans back for back their loyalty and support over the last few years. Whilst in Japan earlier in the year, they came up with the idea to stage a massive free concert. With the help of record industry entrepreneur Richard Branson (creator of Virgin Records/megastores) they started making plans for the Hyde Park show, which turned into a mini tour along with the Edinburgh and Cardiff shows. It is estimated that between 150-200 thousand people turned up at Hyde Park, which is still a record for the venue to this day. This show cemented their position in the top bracket of rock bands. The stage used was the same stage that was constructed for the Rolling Stones concert at the Knebworth Fair a few weeks earlier.

Queen's first huge show at home brought certain areas of London to a grinding halt, and space on public transportation was at a premium. The concert took place on the anniversary of Jimi Hendrix's death. A banner hung from a tree that read "Hendrix Lives," and at one point in the show Brian May noticed it with much appreciation. The band are seen in the photos above arriving at the venue, where they were joined backstage by Pink Floyd's Roger Waters. Supercharge, Steve Hillage, Rufus, and Kiki Dee (along with a cardboard cut-out of Elton John, who couldn't make it to join her for Don't Go Breaking My Heart) played before Queen (Be-Bop Deluxe and John Miles were supposed to be on the bill as well, but were axed for some reason). A pro-shot video of Steve Hillage's performance exists as well as Queen's. There was a fight in the audience during Hillage's set, during which he played extended trippy versions of It's All Too Much by The Beatles and Hurdy Gurdy Man by Donovan. Also notable is Supercharge's singer Albie Donnelly parodying Freddie Mercury in a white leotard and a half mic stand. The first half of the A Day At The Races overture is aired publicly for the first time (the upcoming album had been partially recorded by this point). The usual Bohemian Rhapsody opening sequence then commences for the last time. The band make their entrance, and everybody near the stage stands up (the audience had been seated on the grass for the opening acts). This angers many fans who are further back (roughly 90% of the audience now cannot see the stage), so they start lobbing cans, bottles, or whatever else that can be thrown. After a few songs, Freddie asks everyone simply to calm down: "I have been requested by the constabulary for you not to throw little things around, tin cans or whatever. So make this a peaceful event, ok? Sit on your arses and listen." Brian, after his solo spot in Brighton Rock (he stutters a bit, revealing that he's still nervous): “From one piece of nonsense to another, I’ve said it before. This is something we wanted to do with the London Philharmonic but they didn’t show up, so we will do the ethnic version of a song called '39." He is seen in a dazzling new outfit tonight, which he'd wear every night through Japan 1979. It would become the outfit he'd change into during the opera section of Bohemian Rhapsody. "Clap along and stuff," he urges the audience, as he plays the intro of what he'd later describe as the first song about Einstein's general theory of relativity. After '39, Freddie audaciously performs the as-of-yet unreleased You Take My Breath Away alone on the piano, even hitting many of the falsetto notes that he'd excise in 1977 versions. He then gets cheeky and introduces The Prophet's Song as "a little shorter number from our album A Night At The Opera." Perhaps he still had You Take My Breath Away in his head, as he begins the a cappella section with what would become the first line of the A Day At The Races ballad instead of the usual "oh, people can you hear me?" bit. He also references Death On Two Legs, as he had done a few times earlier in the year. After Stone Cold Crazy, the band play Keep Yourself Alive and Liar, having dropped Doing All Right and Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon from the set. The combination of these three heavy numbers would prove to be very effective, and they would stick with it for their following North American tour. Liar is a great version, with many great Mercuryisms throughout. Before the last song, Brian coyly says, "This is In The Lap Of The Gods, or something like that." The band play a similar set to the ones they did in Edinburgh and Cardiff, except they drop Doing All Right, Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon and Tie Your Mother Down. They intended to perform their usual encore of Big Spender and Jailhouse Rock, but the show had run a half hour past its scheduled ending time (a curfew strictly enforced by the authorities). The police threatened to arrest the band if they went back on stage, and Freddie was later quoted saying how he would prefer not to be stuck in a jail cell in his leotard. And so, Bob Harris was left with the unenviable task of announcing to the crowd that the show was over. He later recalled how difficult and nerve-wracking it was to tell an audience of this size who had waited for about ten hours that there would be no encore. Now I'm Here was the first encore every night around this time, making this the one time between 1974 and 1986 where the song is not performed. The liner notes of Live Killers suggest that Now I'm Here was dropped from the set for a while, but that is patently untrue. People in one section of the audience chanted "Why are we waiting," all in good fun, knowing full well the show was over. The police soon turned off the main power feed to the park, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to make their way out in sheer darkness. Their reasoning was that it was the only way to "control" such a large number of people who had been rowdy throughout the day. In a 1977 interview with Capital Radio, Brian recalls the day: "It had a great sunny day for it, and everyone had a good time. There were still altercations on the day, and there was a big thing with the powers that be because they wouldn't let us go on and do the encore, about which we were very upset, having worked up for months and prepared for all that. They got very frightened because there were 150,000 people in Hyde Park in the dark, and they thought they were going to get out of hand. But in fact, there was no possible danger happening at all. Everyone was peaceful and having a good time."

This show is what epitomized their popularity in Britain, and when they felt they "had really made it," as Brian would later recall. On another occasion he said, "I think that Hyde Park was one of the most significant gigs in our career. There was a great affection because we'd kind of made it in a lot of countries by that time, but England was still, you know, we weren't really sure if we were really acceptable here. So it was a wonderful feeling to come back and see that crowd and get that response." Despite the fact that the audience had been there all day watching the various opening acts and waiting, the band delayed the show as long as possible just so it could get dark enough for their lighting and various other effects to make their full impact (as demanded by Freddie). Throughout the show, the band's nervousness and excitement for the occasion are evident. Most of the audience couldn't see a thing during Queen's set, since the stage was barely elevated. "The smell of the dry ice and the sound are the only sensory memories I have of this show," recalls Jane Palm-Gold. Here is an article from the day of the show,

and a review from a week later (both were submitted by Boris Arkhangelsky).

Tonight would be the final performances of Flick Of The Wrist, Son And Daughter, and the (almost) full The Prophet's Song. A snippet of The March Of The Black Queen would be performed only once more in 1978, but a different part of the song.

Here is a Virgin Records flyer.

The second pic is the famous overhead shot that appeared in the October 9, 1976 Melody Maker. Pic 5 was submitted by Janneman, and pics 6 and 7 were submitted by Lukáš Bosík.

Fan Stories

“Well, I was 13 years old and had got into Queen through Night At The Opera and THAT video. I'd never been to a gig before and it took a lot of convincing of a sceptical mother to let me go to Hyde Park on my own. After answering the inevitable "no, I won't talk to strange men mum" questions I was allowed to go. The morning came and I was up at 6am, got my packed lunch together (can you imagine going off to a gig now with your sandwiches and orange juice!) and headed off to Hyde Park. I remember getting there so early that I was right by the crash barriers at the front and determined to try and hold my spot all day. As the day progeressed however I ended upmoving backwards slowly as people pushed in. I can remember savouring the whole build up, the support bands, everything. As dusk started to fall, the stage went dark and the dry ice started up. I broke my mums don't talk to strangers bit and a very nice bloke put me up on his shoulders so I could see them come on. I just remember the crash of light and sound as they came on as if it was yesterday (and not 27 years ago!). The rest of the gig was amazing and that was it, I was hooked on Queen and rock music. I saw Queen on every tour they ever did in England (and a few in Europe) after that but nothing compares to that first gig for me.”

- Andy

Part-2

Part-3

#queen #queen band #roger taylor #freddie mercury #brian may #john deacon #queen concerts

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actuallykiwi · 4 years

Text

OC-tober 7th: Pre and Post Game Life

OC: Annie Sinclair, Alec Sinclair / Featuring: Codsworth, Nick, Hancock, mentioned names

Enjoy :)

***********************

Spring would always be Annie’s favorite season, but man she loved fall, too. Especially since the weather was just perfect for a Saturday.

October 23, 2077 was her first day off from the day care in weeks, and she was looking forward to it. She lie in bed and remembered telling the kids in her class yesterday about how excited she was to go see a movie with her best friend, walk around the park, and then have her favorite meal with Alec for dinner.

So when she rose from her pillow that morning, little did she know her plans would change drastically.

“Morning, Codsworth!” She said cheerfully as she approached him in the kitchen.

“Ah, good morning, mum! Your coffee; 173.5 degrees Fahrenheit, brewed to perfection!” The Mr. Handy robot spun around the counter, carefully holding the steaming mug out to her. She chuckled, “Why, thank you! Glad I actually have time to enjoy it today.” She carefully set it on the counter and prepared her blasphemous amounts of cream and sugar. Typically Codsworth would do that, but it was the one thing Annie insisted on doing herself. Mainly because he commented on the sheer amount of sugar and caffeine she poured into it each day.

“I’m assuming sleepyhead is still asleep?” She wondered out loud to Codsworth. “Yes, mum! Sir Alec is peacefully sleeping his day away, though I did hear him mumble something about space monkeys at around 4 am.”

Annie laughed. “He is a space monkey. But he did get off from his shift pretty late last night. I’m gonna check on him.” She grabbed her coffee and headed down the hall to his closed door. After gently knocking, she cracked it open just enough to poke her head in.

His soft snoring drifted into the hallway. Army fatigues littered the floor next to his bed from when he was too exhausted to change last night. “Bless your heart, Al. They’re working you to death. What exactly are they expecting to-?”

The doorbell echoed from the living room, causing Annie to jump and Alec’s snoring to pause for a brief moment, then resume quietly.

Annie placed her coffee back on the counter. “I believe it’s that salesman again, Miss Annie. He can’t take ‘no’ for an answer, can he?” Codsworth explained from the window. “He’s just doing his job, Cods. Let’s see what’s up.” She tightened her bathrobe and adjusted her bun before opening the door.

“Good morning! Vault-Tec calling!” A Vault-Tec Sales Rep approached her with an all-too-wide smile on his face. “Good morning!” She politely smiled back.

“Isn’t it? Just look at that sky up there!” He paused to gesture also-too-widely, and cleared his throat when she nodded awkwardly. “*ahem* You can't begin to know how happy I am to finally speak with you. I've been trying for days. It's a matter of utmost urgency, I assure you.”

“Oh, well, then I’m sure glad you came!” She laughed nervously.

“Yes ma’am, I am too. Now, I know you're a busy woman, so I won't take up much of your time. Time being a, um, precious commodity... I'm here today to tell you that because of your family's service to our country, you have been pre-selected for entrance into the local Vault. Vault 111.” This man bounced back and forth from being overly excited to clearly being afraid of something. Annie was beginning to be a little worried. “Oh, okay, uh, great! Where do we sign up?”

“You’re actually already cleared for entry! Just need to verify some information, is all, you know, in case of uh.. total atomic annihilation.” He whispered the last part.

Now Annie was worried. “Right, okay...” She took the clipboard and filled out the information, while tentatively watching him glance around nervously. “You don’t think that will actually happen, do you..?”

He took the clipboard from her. “U-uh, well it’s always better to be prepared, right?” He glanced down at the papers. “Wonderful! I’ll just run these over to the vault, and congratulations on being prepared for the future-!”

The door was closed suddenly as half-awake Alec leaned against it. “That guy again? Annie, don’t tell me you bought anything from him?”

“No, of course not! He was just telling us that we’re cleared for entry into that vault on the hill, in case of ‘total atomic annihilation!’“ She mimicked the sales rep, and Alec chuckled. “Yep, thanks to yours truly.” He grinned and wandered off to get his coffee from Codsworth.

“Well, I’m gonna go freshen up real quick.” Annie stretched and went to the bathroom for just that.

A few moments passed, and she was just finishing tying her bandana up in her hair when she overheard Alec from the living room. “Wait, Cods, turn that up.”

“What’s going on?” She asked as she entered the living room, finding Alec huddled by the TV.

“Followed by... yes, followed by flashes. Blinding flashes. Sounds of explosions... We're... we're trying to get confirmation... But we seem to have lost contact with our affiliate stations... W-We do have coming in... That's um... confirmed reports. I repeat, confirmed reports of nuclear detonations in New York and Pennsylvania. My God.”

The TV went black. Silence roared as Annie and Alec exchanged fearful looks.

Then all hell broke loose when the air raid sirens cried their woeful cry.

---------------------------------

How much time had passed? 1 day? 1 week? 1 year? She didn’t know. But when Annie opened her frosted eyes, it felt like it had been ages. A horrible gag escaped her throat when her pod suddenly opened, causing her to fall to her hands and knees and retch on the floor.

She took deep, heaving breaths and shivered. “That... was not a decontamination pod.” She muttered. The difficult part was standing up, as if she had forgot how to. But she was able to weakly get on her feet and stumble to her brother’s pod directly across from hers. Only, she wasn’t expecting to find it already open, and empty.

“W-what? Alec!?” She cried out, and turned to look around. “Alec!!??”

Then, ever so faintly she swore she imagined it, she heard it way off in the distance. “Anneka!!”

They made a promise to each other when they were little. A promise to only say each other’s full names when something was really wrong. And she knew, not only from her full name, but from the plain fear in his voice that something was very, very wrong.

“ALEXANDER!!” She screamed, and began staggering as fast as she could towards the exit. She only paused when the door wouldn’t open to cough some more, then promptly gained her footing and ran to find another way out.

The only thing that made her pause again was the site of the roaches the size of small dogs. And the several vault-tec-adorned skeletons littering the vault. “How long has it been...?” When she found the 10mm pistol, she was glad Alec taught her to shoot when she was in high school. It made the rest of her escape easier for her.

When she eventually found the Pip-Boy and made it to the elevator, it was coming down, when it should have been up this whole time. She called his name again, but when there was yet again no answer, she tentatively stepped onto the platform and let it raise her joltingly to the surface.

A thousand thoughts were swimming through her mind, so when she adjusted to the sudden sunlight, she wasted no time in jumping off before the platform even fully stopped and frantically began calling his name. “Alexander!!! Alec!! Al-...Al...”

And she took it all in. The world she once knew, decayed to almost nothing. All the green, gone. All the life, dissipated. She fell to her knees in shock. “A...Alec...” And the tears fell. The tears fell and the vocal cords were strained from agony.

Moments passed before she finally lifted herself from the ground, dusting off her vault suit, still damp with frost.

And a new fire burned in her. An inferno of determination to find her brother, and adapt to this new, terrifying world.

“Don’t worry, Alec. I promise you..” She adjusted her glasses and looked at the sky. “I will find you if it’s the last thing I do.”

------------------------

“And I did... didn’t I...?” She said quietly to herself.

Annie had been walking around Sanctuary, reminiscing about her promise, and where it’s taken her. In the backyard of her dilapidated house, a small, white handmade cross sit still on a mound, covered in wildflowers. And an aging military picture of Alexander Sinclair was pinned safely in the middle.

“I just wish I could’ve found you sooner. But, no sense dwelling on that, right? I’m happy for those last few moments I had with you.” She crouched in front of him and rubbed the picture endearingly. Tears trickled down as she smiled sorrowfully at him. “I miss you, Alec. Every day. But we’re making a peaceful Commonwealth here. You’d be happy.”

“Annie? Time for the speech, doll.” Nick called from the house.

“Oh, coming!” She wiped her face quickly. “Sorry, looks like I’m needed! I’ll be back soon. Love you.” She kissed her fingers and tapped them on the picture, then scurried back to the street where the crowd was waiting.

A soap box sat patiently waiting for her underneath the strung lights along the street, and the banner from the tree that read “United Commonwealth 1st Anniversary!” Everyone was chatting amongst each other until Annie took her place on the box.

“Everyone! Today we celebrate the 1 year anniversary of peace in the Commonwealth!”

A roar of applause.

She laughed. “I know our version of ‘peace’ may seem odd, but as tenuous as it is, we must celebrate every moment we have of it, which is why 1 year is cause for such a huge celebration!” Applause. “1 year ago today, I made an agreement with every faction, city, and settlement to compromise in all our endeavors. I met with each of the leaders, including the new mayor of Diamond City, Hancock of Goodneighbor, Preston of the Minutemen, Maxson of the Brotherhood, and yes, even the leader of the Institute, with whom we had the most... animosity. But they have agreed to stop the kidnapping, the experiments, and to leave the Commonwealth alone unless it’s to help us. By their terms, we also leave them alone, and help voluntarily with whatever they need should they need it. The Brotherhood has agreed to help, not control, with building up the Commonwealth defense. And the Minutemen are still setting up settlements, now with the help of the Brotherhood. I know there’s still some hatred amongst us, especially for the Institute. But we need to put that hatred aside if we’re ever going to thrive again. Continue to stand with me, with each other, and let’s continue making the Commonwealth a better place.” Hancock handed her a Nuka Cola. “TO THE UNITED COMMONWEALTH!”

“TO THE UNITED COMMONWEALTH!” There was another roar of applause, and everyone happily cheered, danced, cried, and just celebrated.

Hancock helped her down from the box and watched the crowd with her. “Good speech, sunshine. But part of me is kinda worried.”

“About?” She asked as she took a swig of cola.

“About this ‘tenuous peace’ you’ve worked so hard to achieve. I know you’ve got an optimistic way of lookin’ at things, but it probably ain’t gonna last. A year is lucky.”

“I know. That’s why we need to celebrate while we can, before someone disagrees with someone else, and then it’s back to square one.”

“Right. Then it’s the war all over again.”

She chuckled sadly. “Well, if it ever comes to that, it’s like Alec always said...” She took a long drink from her cola and sighed.

“’War never changes.’“

#fallout #fallout 4 #writing #oc #OC-tober

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gdwessel · 5 years

Text

Road to New Beginning Tour: KUSHIDA Farewell 1/29 v. Tanahashi, NEVER 6-Man Match 1/30; 3rd New Beginning USA Show Added; NJPW & AEW Not Working Together (For Now), Jericho Joins AEW, Omega Doesn’t (Yet); Romero, Owens Stay; Naito in Costa Rica 3/30

Strong Style Story Podcast Episode 48 on Pro Wrestling Only

Strap in, this is a long one, and the second time I’m typing this out because my stupid laptop rebooted without my say-so during dinner grrrrrr.

The full lineups for the Road to the New Beginning tour have been released. The biggest bit of news here is the scheduling of KUSHIDA’s final match in NJPW. It will take place on 1/29/2019, at Tokyo Korakuen Hall, and his farewell opponent is none other than IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi. If you’re going to go out, may as well be against the champ. Pity it took this long to get a singles match against a heavyweight, but what can you do.

The next night in Sendai, there is a NEVER Openweight Comedy 6-Man Tag Team title match, as Togi Makabe, Toru Yano & Ryusuke Taguchi make another attempt at taking the belts from Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Taiji Ishimori. This show is not listed on NJPWWorld’s schedule, which is a shame as there are also two special singles matches, in which BUSHI & Shingo Takagi face off against El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru, respectively. It’s only Shingo’s 2nd singles match since signing to NJPW too. Maybe these matches will show up on tape delay.

There’s a lot more news to go so I am going to put the tour lineups at the bottom of the post.

On the English broadcast of WK13, they mentioned that a third show was going to be added to the New Beginning USA shows in late January/early February. That has now happened, with a show on 2/2/2019 at the War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville, TN. Tickets will go on sale for that on 1/15/2019, and you can see the ticket pricing scheme here. NJPW also announced they are adding additional seats to the show at the Globe Theatre on 1/30/2019 in LA, and those will also go on sale 1/15/2019.

From the onset, NJPW said that wrestlers who would come over are the ones who would not be working The New Beginning in Sapporo. We already know those lineups, and that takes out Tanahashi, Okada, Jay White, Bullet Club, Suzuki-gun and Los Ingobernables. It may seem like much, but going from those lineups, the USA shows will probably feature the IWGP US title match between Juice Robinson v. Trent Beretta, as well as possibly the previously postponed singles rematch with Hirooki Goto v. Jeff Cobb, and perhaps even the Yuji Nagata v. Tomohiro Ishii match teased at New Year Dash!! on Saturday. Stay tuned.

Earlier today, All Elite Wrestling held a press conference / rally in Jacksonville, FL, for their forthcoming debut PPV under the AEW banner, Double or Nothing, in Las Vegas, NV, on 5/25/2019. Since many of the questions about AEW involve NJPW, I’m going to answer what we know about the relationship between the two:

Not much.

In fact, yesterday there were reports that NJPW was very happy with the current relationship with Ring of Honor. For their part, Matt Jackson at this rally stated they were going to be working with Oriental Wrestling Entertainment, the Chinese promotion that took 2018 by storm, currently run by Dragon Gate co-founder CIMA, and featuring several other DG wrestlers who jumped over. Brandi Rhodes also made vague comments that they have reached out to joshi talents/promotions to work within their womens’ division. So at least in the immediate future, there is no current working relationship between All Elite Wrestling and New Japan.

As for the talents, AEW announced a bevy of them. Including, at the very end, the recently dethroned IWGP Intercontinental champion Chris Jericho. Considering AEW doesn’t start running officially until 5/25/2019, there is no reason I can think of why the rumored IWGP Heavyweight title challenge Jericho wants v. Hiroshi Tanahashi at G1 Supercard in Madison Square Garden can’t still happen. So wait and see on that.

One name noticeably absent from the announcements? Kenny Omega. So despite reports from Tokyo Sports that had more than a bit of kayfabing in it, we still really know nothing about what Kenny Omega’s next move is. It could be NJPW, it could be AEW, it could be WWE, it could be retiring and being a Twitch streamer. We’ll let you know when we do.

As I really have no interest in AEW, unless there is NJPW involvement, I won’t be reporting on them with any regularity. If you want to know more about the rally, check the interwebs as there are plenty of reports on what took place.

Just to flip the script a bit, we’ve been talking a lot about wrestlers who are leaving, maybe leaving, or retiring lately. Two wrestlers who have confirmed they are sticking around are Rocky Romero and Chase Owens. Both men tweeted out yesterday that they have signed new contracts with NJPW, so they will be part of the company for a while yet. Good for them!

An announcement that may have gotten lost in all this: NJPW announced that Tetsuya Naito will be making a rare appearance in Costa Rica on 3/30/2019, at the 5th anniversary show for Costa Rica Wrestling Embassy. CMLL’s Shigeo Okumura will be there as well, although it’s not known if they will be teaming. Naito used to team with Okumura during several of his Mexican excursions, however he also famously turned on Okumura’s “Yellow Wave” to join Los Ingobernables on an episode of CMLL Informa. And the rest is history...

Finally, last post I mentioned that I wasn’t familiar with what character was whom in My Dad Is A Heel Wrestler, in reference to the special match during the 1/21/2019 Fantasticamania show (and it was also after midnight by then). I’ve seen been informed that the match, underneath the masks and costumes, will be Kazuchika Okada & Togi Makabe v. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Ryusuke Taguchi. Should be a hoot.

Tour lineups:

Road to The New Beginning - 1/26/2019, Saitama Wing Hat Kasukabe

Yota Tsuji v. Yuya Uemura

Toa Henare v. Ren Narita

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Manabu Nakanishi v. Ayato Yoshida [K-DOJO] & Shota Umino

Tomoaki Honma & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa [Bullet Club]

Togi Makabe & Toru Yano [CHAOS] v. Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens [Bullet Club]

Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] v. Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado [SZKG]

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS], Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA v. Jay White, Bad Luck Fale, Taiji Ishimori & Gedo [Bullet Club]

- 1/28/2019, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Manabu Nakanishi & Ren Narita v. Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Toa Henare v. Ayato Yoshida [K-DOJO] & Shota Umino

Togi Makabe, Toru Yano [CHAOS], Tomoaki Honma & Ryusuke Taguchi v. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Chase Owens & Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club]

Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club]

Hiroshi Tanahashi & KUSHIDA v. Jay White & Gedo [Bullet Club]

Elimination Match: Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] v. Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado [SZKG]

- 1/29/2019, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Ren Narita v. Yuya Uemura

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Manabu Nakanishi v. Ayato Yoshida [K-DOJO] & Shota Umino

Toa Henare & Ryusuke Taguchi v. Yujiro Takahashi & Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club]

Togi Makabe, Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Tomoaki Honma v. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Chase Owens [Bullet Club]

Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. Jay White & Bad Luck Fale [Bullet Club]

Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] v. Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado [SZKG]

KUSHIDA Farewell Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi v. KUSHIDA

- 1/30/2019, Miyagi Sendai Sunplaza Hall

Toa Henare & Yota Tsuji v. Ayato Yoshida [K-DOJO] & Shota Umino

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Ren Narita v. Manabu Nakanishi & Tiger Mask IV

Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] v. Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. El Desperado [SZKG]

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS], Tomoaki Honma & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. Jay White, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens

Tetsuya Naito, EVIL & SANADA [Los Ingobernables] v. Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi [SZKG]

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship: Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] (c) v. Togi Makabe, Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Ryusuke Taguchi

- 2/6/2019, Nagano Athletic Park Gymnasium

Shota Umino v. Yuya Uemura

Yota Tsuji v. Ayato Yoshida [K-DOJO]

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Ren Narita v. Manabu Nakanishi & Tiger Mask IV

Tomoaki Honma & Ryusuke Taguchi v. Chase Owens & Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club]

Togi Makabe, Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Toa Henare v. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club]

Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] v. Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado [SZKG]

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. Jay White, Bad Luck Fale & Gedo [Bullet Club]

- 2/7/2019, Aichi Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall

Ren Narita v. Yota Tsuji

Yuya Uemura v. Ayato Yoshida [K-DOJO]

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Shota Umino v. Manabu Nakanishi & Tiger Mask IV

Tomoaki Honma & Ryusuke Taguchi v. Yujiro Takahashi & Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club]

Togi Makabe, Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Toa Henare v. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Chase Owens [Bullet Club]

Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] v. Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado [SZKG]

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. Jay White, Bad Luck Fale & Gedo [Bullet Club]

- 2/8/2019, Mie Yokkaichi City Green Park Gymnasium #2

Ren Narita v. Yuya Uemura

Shota Umino v. Yota Tsuji

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Ayato Yoshida [K-DOJO] v. Manabu Nakanishi & Tiger Mask IV

Toa Henare & Ryusuke Taguchi v. Yujiro Takahashi & Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club]

Togi Makabe, Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Tomoaki Honma v. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Chase Owens [Bullet Club]

Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] v. Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado [SZKG]

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. Jay White, Bad Luck Fale & Gedo [Bullet Club]

- 2/9/2019, Osaka EDION Arena Subarena

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Yota Tsuji v. Ayato Yoshida [K-DOJO] & Shota Umino

YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. Ren Narita

Tomoaki Honma & Toa Henare v. Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens [Bullet Club]

EVIL, SANADA & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. Minoru Suzuki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado [SZKG]

Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] v. Taichi & TAKA Michinoku [SZKG]

Elimination Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS], Togi Makabe, Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Ryusuke Taguchi v. Jay White, Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club]

Strong Style Story Podcast Episode 48 on Pro Wrestling Only

#NJPW #new japan pro wrestling #Road to New Beginning #njnbg #Kushida #yujiro kushida #Hiroshi Tanahashi #never openweight 6-man tag team championships #The New Beginning USA #all elite wrestling #aew #Kenny Omega #Chris Jericho #rocky romero #chase owens #tetsuya naito #Shingo Takagi

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theculturedmarxist · 5 years

Link

By Peter Symonds

2 July 2019

More than half a million people took to Hong Kong’s streets yesterday to demonstrate against the anti-democratic methods of the city’s administration and to mark the anniversary of Britain’s handover of its former colony to China on July 1, 1997.

Yesterday’s march was the third mass protest against proposed legislation to allow extraditions from Hong Kong to the Chinese mainland. On June 16, an estimated 2 million people—over a quarter of the city’s population—joined a protest and march despite Hong Kong’s top official, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, announcing that discussion of the bill would be suspended indefinitely.

Yesterday’s huge protest testifies to the widespread hostility to the Lam administration and fears that the legislation could be used to extradite political dissidents to China and to intimidate critics and opponents in Hong Kong itself. The protesters demanded the complete withdrawal of the legislation, Lam’s resignation and the cancellation of charges against demonstrators in previous protests.

Hundreds of younger protesters forced their way into Hong Kong’s Legislative Council (LegCo) chamber on Monday evening, daubing graffiti on the walls and defacing pictures. Shortly after midnight, police used teargas to disperse demonstrators gathered outside, then stormed the building and ejected the remainder of the occupiers. Reportedly most protesters had left the LegCo chamber. The number of arrests and injuries is not known at this stage.

The youthful protesters had ignored pleas not to occupy the LegCo by conservative opposition politicians—the so-called pan-democrats who represent layers of Hong Kong’s corporate and professional elites concerned that the extradition legislation threatens their interests. The pan-democrats have in the past shown their willingness to compromise and do deals with the pro-Beijing administration and legislators who dominate the Legislative Council.

The umbrella grouping, the Civil Human Rights Front, which has called the mass protests, blamed Lam for failing to meet any of the demands. “She has not shown any sincerity to respond or to communicate so far,” it said, adding that her refusal had “pushed youngsters towards desperation.”

The protestors who broke into the LegCo building appear to be rather disparate in their motivations and lacking in a clear political perspective. One man wearing a gas mask who identified himself only as Henry, told the Financial Times that while some protesters might oppose the break-in, it was “a necessary evil.” He continued: “One million of us marched peacefully, two million of us marched peacefully and yet the government didn’t listen to us.”

At one point a British colonial-era flag was displayed inside the LegCo chamber. Elsewhere, banners with “Free Hong Kong” were raised. However, neither the extolling of British colonial rule, or the promotion of Hong Kong parochialism offers the political means for fighting for democratic rights. Rather the struggle for democracy in Hong Kong is completely bound up with the fight for the democratic and social rights of the working class throughout China.

The fact that the mass protests have persisted despite the suspension of the extradition legislation points to the deeper issues motivating the marches and rallies. Hong Kong is one of the most socially unequal cities in the world, with immense social problems as a result of the lack of housing, welfare and other essential services.

Writing in the South China Morning Post last Friday, commentator Albert Cheng cautiously advised Beijing and its Hong Kong administration that in order to end the protests it had to address the underlying social issues. “The government’s incompetence in tackling the city’s long-standing problems, such as the wealth gap and lack of upward mobility, has generated despair among the younger generation, prompting them to take to the streets,” he wrote.

The continuing protests are creating a political crisis, not just for the Lam administration but for Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime in Beijing. The CCP leadership is afraid that the political unrest in Hong Kong will spill into the Chinese mainland despite its efforts to block out any news of the protests.

The upheaval compounds the mounting problems and dilemmas confronting the CCP bureaucracy, which faces Washington’s aggressive trade and economic war and continuing US military provocations in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. The Chinese economy is continuing to slow, with growth rates well below the 8 percent benchmark that was long touted as necessary to avoid rising unemployment and social unrest.

Reflecting the deep-seated anxieties in Chinese ruling circles, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang warned the National People’s Congress in March: “There is still public dissatisfaction in many areas, such as education, healthcare, elderly care, housing, food and drug safety, and income distribution. Last year saw a number of public safety incidents and major workplace incidents.”

The CCP regime fears a political movement of the working class. It went to great lengths to black out any mention of the 30th anniversary of the June 4-5 Tiananmen Square massacre, which was aimed at crushing the mass opposition of Chinese workers to the consequences of the regime’s pro-market policies. Any mass movement of workers today would erupt on a far wider scale than in 1989.

The potential for the Hong Kong protests to trigger instability throughout China, and elsewhere, may account for the rather muted response in Western capitals. The European Union appealed for restraint and dialogue to defuse the protests, while Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, notorious for his militarist views, simply called on China “to adhere to its international obligations.”

Small protests in Hong Kong last week appealed to the US and European powers to raise the issue of the extradition law at the G20 summit but were ignored. Those fighting for basic democratic rights in Hong Kong cannot rely on the imperialist powers, which exploit the issue of “human rights” only as a means for advancing their own strategic and economic interests.

What is required is a turn to the working class throughout China for a unified political struggle against the Stalinist CCP regime and for basic democratic and social rights on the basis of a genuine socialist perspective. That in turn must be rooted in an understanding of all of the crimes and betrayals of the CCP and Stalinism internationally during the 20th century.

#wsws #hong kong #china #hong kong protests

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andrewuttaro · 5 years

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New Look Sabres: GM 71 - CAR - They Scored

This is not the same, but I am going to make the comparison anyway: has this season between the Sabres and Canes been similar to this season between the Rangers and Isles? Hear me out: the Sabres and the Rangers both are not making the playoffs while the Canes and Isles are currently in good positions to make it in spite of not exactly being playoff regulars the last few years. In both cases the teams have a history with one another that is fairly contentious… at least from one side’s perspective. What wouldn’t each former team do to make their latter team struggle? The similarities end there: The Isles are all but assured to make the playoffs and the ground is still a little shaky under the Canes. The Sabres can’t directly dispossess Carolina of their post-season hopes but beating Carolina in regulation prevents them from getting any point and allows Montreal and Columbus more space to box them out. I probably don’t need to explain how the standings effect the playoffs to you so that exercise is done. That was however a window directly into how I look at this game. Spoiling Carolina and getting a goal for once in 120 minutes were the other motivations going into this game. We can groan about how this could’ve been a fun playoff race had things gone differently but let’s just all agree to stop torturing ourselves ok? This game also gave us a look in on where things maybe going after summer comes and goes. Alex Nylander was more than a little ok in this game and Brandon Montour has shown well since his arrival in spite of how bad the Sabres have shown. Writing these have felt like homework the last few weeks but I think we’ve now turned a corner. That corner isn’t to competitiveness obviously, but it is toward seeing the way forward. There was some hopelessness during the scoreless stretch and seeing Nylander and reading into potential summer moves and deployment next season has brought peace… well to me at least. Carolina took the season series tonight but the Sabres took some hope. Ugh… I guess I’m not entirely around that corner yet.

The Sabres scored in this game. That feels like the most obvious plus. That plus was wrapped up in some in-your-face energy when it was Jeff Skinner getting the early tally. He got the puck along the boards behind the Carolina net and spun around, sneaking it behind Curtis McElhinney short side. It was 1-0 and they didn’t look all that bad. It was clear there is a difference in this team when Jack Eichel is on the ice and when he isn’t. Not only did Jack make and take some chances, he clearly caused his teammates to play with a little more confidence than we had seen since he was suspended, certainly in that horror show against Pittsburgh. There were some missed calls in the first involving Andrei Svechnikov apparently. I’m not going to bother with that business, I hardly had the patience for that when the Sabres were watchable. Lucas Wallmark tapped in a puck that trickled through Linus Ullmark. That’s a tongue twister. This game wasn’t Ullmark’s best work and he would give a couple of other weak ones like that. The first would end just 1-1, however. Svechnikov and Justin Williams would put the Hurricanes up 3-1 in the second period and the third would just kind of… happen the way these games seem to happen lately. Zemgus Girgensons scored with a minute flat left in regulation but that only made it 4-2 and the boys were hanging their heads by that point. That’s seven straight losses but I’m trying to turn the corner with these guys without smashing that tank button. Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko look good enough to feel compelled to increase the odds at this point but I want to talk about some assets we already have for now.

Brandon Montour assisted on the Girgensons goal and I think I’m reiterating the refrain of Sabres twitter in saying the early returns on that trade are very good. His puck moving ability alone makes me feel differently about this team when he’s on the ice. That and his passing ability makes you think he and Rasmus Dahlin are really the only guys you absolutely need to keep of this defensive core. My father-in-law and I got talking about the Sabres and how to fix whatever we end up saying caused this mess. Once we got past coaching we got to the defensive core and I realized my old attachments are not quite there anymore. I’ll always have a place in my heart for Rasmus Ristolainen but when you watch Brandon Montour play you see every reason Risto should be an acceptable outbound piece in a trade. I don’t claim any kind of understanding of advanced stats but if you have any concept of PDO you can probably watch Ristolainen and see why he is such a black sheep in that community. Am I refuting the premise of the advanced stats versus eye test debate if I say my eye test is showing me why his advanced stats suck? I’m not going out of my way to get rid of Zach Bogosian or Jake McCabe but I’m certainly not complaining about them leaving either. Anyone I haven’t mentioned is replacement level. Hell, the Amerks are so deep there are a couple guys on D I wouldn’t mind seeing on the team out of training camp. Assuming Jeff Skinner gets signed, oh boy let’s not go into that right now, this team has to come out of the summer with a sure-fire top six. There will be enough guys graduating from the AHL to make an interesting bottom six and JB will certainly tinker there. Needless to say, my father-in-law and I had a good conversation.

The Rochester Americans were playing down in Carolina as well tonight. They lost a 3-1 decision to the Charlotte Checkers after losing by a more painful margin yesterday. The Checkers were the only team ahead of the Amerks in the league standings before this weekend but the back to back losses gave daylight to the Syracuse Crunch pushing hard to take the North Division title from Rochester. That’s my priority for the Amerks, and really my whole hockey life for these next few weeks before post-season hockey: win the North Division! Daddy needs a banner! Like, comment and share this blog in the meantime. I’ll be back at it here again Monday as the Sabres return home for a game against Ryan O’Reilly and the Blues tomorrow night. It will be a fun little St. Patrick’s Day and I’ll enjoy my last Sabres home game in person on a holiday. I’m going to mentally force myself to be excited for the game tomorrow as if its that Flyers game the day before Thanksgiving: the bars will be full, the crowd will be full of jovial holiday cheer, and the SABRES WILL WIN! Just think both games were in the midst of streaks! Okay, before you keel over from laughing at that little nugget we’ll call it a night. Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for reading.

P.S. We basically have to accept the Hurricanes are making the playoffs right now, right? Get ready for the Sabres to have the longest active playoff drought in their 50th Anniversary season!

#buffalo sabres #hockey #blog #nhl

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sassphicdragoness · 7 years

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@l1nkp1t tagged me :D Thank you, dearie!

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (or however many you have altogether). See if there are any patterns. Then, tag your favorite authors.

So at least half of these will be stuff that I’ve written, and some will be collabs that I’ve done with my partner in crime, @lady-drake and have not been published as of yet.

1.) Untitled Prompt - F!Corrin x F!Robin

“I’m still not sure if I can do this… what if he says no?”

“Then he’s an idiot, or it’s just not meant to be. There are other fish in the sea, Corrin.”

‘Like me…’

“I know… I’ll try not to get my hopes up to much. But fingers crossed, right?”

2.) In Sickness - Silas x F!Corrin

“Ah-choo!”

“Bless you.”

Corrin blew her nose for the umpteenth time that day, and then sniffled hard as she pulled the handkerchief away. She offered her thanks and collapsed onto the chair across from her husband, her arms folding on the small table. She rested her chin on her hands while Silas reached over to caress her face. “You’re not getting sick, are you?”

3.) Untitled Prompt - Chrom x F!Robin

If anyone had told Robin that she would be propositioned by one of the most popular guys in their school, she would’ve thought they were absolutely off their rocker. As it stood, here she was staring up at the six foot tall pretty boy while he asked for her assistance on schoolwork of all things.

“You’re in all of my classes, and I know you’re the school’s biggest nerd in terms of every subject ever.”

“…How observant of you.”

4.) Villian AU - Link x Pit

To say that the world had been thrown into utter chaos was a gross understatement. The world had been completed trashed and Skyworld wasn’t the only victim.

Hades was long defeated, peace having returned to Skyworld, but in the span of four years, something had gone horribly wrong - and there was no clear answer to the multitude of questions floating around.

All hell had broken loose, yet rumors flew throughout all the realms – Palutena was nowhere to be found, Viridi had been exiled to a distant realm without warning (or she’d at least fled). Hades was still gone as well, but the last person anyone expected had since taken his place.

Pit, former captain of Palutena’s Guard, was now the God of the Underworld (and Skyworld, in extension). Even more terrifying? He had the immense power to back up such a title, taking immediate control of the Underworld, rebuilding that realm’s army. With Viridi and Palutena out of the picture, both the Forces of Light and Forces of Nature had fallen under Pit’s control as well. Like the god before him, Pit spread rumors to the humans below of a certain seed existing that granted all wishes – and sure enough, the humans began to fight fiercely for dominance of a seed that never actually existed in the first place. All the souls lost in battle went to a good cause though: it sustained his troops as well as his own life force.

5.) Rivalry - Link x Pit

Smash Bros. wasn’t just about proving who was the strongest or most powerful fighter. It was mainly a tournament built for uniting warriors from different corners of the world, and naturally, rivalries formed when personalities clashed, egos were bruised, and similar fighting styles were discovered among distinct fighters.

In Link and Pit’s case - how about all of the above.

6.) Master/Pet with Tender Sex - Vaati x Link

‘Master… Master…?’

Carmine eyes slowly opened, meeting with caring blue eyes. A hand combed gently through wisteria locks while the blond stayed kneeled on the floor at the mage’s bedside. It wasn’t like Link to be up this late, and Vaati shifted so he was sitting up, back braced against the elegant headboard.

“Is everything alright, dear?”

7.) Keepsake - Link x Pit

“I don’t want to leave just yet.”

“Me neither. I wish we had more time together, but…”

“…yeah. Time to head back to our respective homelands.”

8.) Guardian Angel - Link x Pit

Being a hero meant facing danger at every possible turn.Sharp wit, quick feet, skilled swordsmanship, and heightened awareness - they all meant the difference between life and death. Link made sure to be careful, but luckily, he had his guardian angel looking out for him.

9.) Caffeine - M!Robin x Dark Pit

Robin may have been a night owl, but he was also a morning person. He was an expert at going to sleep at four in the morning and waking up two hours later to prepare for class. Today was no different – winter break was over, and now he was walking to his first day of classes as a college junior. With his messenger bag strapped across his chest and a small cup of coffee in his hand, the snow-haired male was all smiled as he headed to his first class of the day: English literature.

10.) Nonsexual Acts of Intimacy - M!Robin x F!Corrin ; F!Robin x F!Corrin

Most couples celebrated their anniversary with a fancy dinner date at a romantic restaurant. Robin and Corrin preferred things more simple and sentimental – hence the massive banana split with all the fix-ins sitting on the table for them to share. With fond smiles, they clinked their plastic forks together – “Cheers!” – and dug in.

It was surreal how much time had passed. It felt like it as only yesterday that they were at this very ice cream parlor sharing a sweet treat, and then confessing their immense feelings for one another. Hard to believe that was two years ago – their sophomore year. Now, here they were, enjoying their last ice cream date a week before they were to walk across the stage for their bachelor’s degrees… Time sure did fly fast.

(The following have not be published yet! Numbers 12 - 20 are collabs with Drake!)

11.) Untitled Prompt - M!Robin x F!Robin

“We can put a path through this forest…. that will lead us to this village – we can stock up on rations and supplies… and then travel around this ravine until we reach the bridge…” Amber eyes scrolled carefully across the map, eyeing the red X’s she’d penned with her quill before nodding in approval. “That should do it…”

“Sounds like you have our next route planned out.”

12.) Untitled College AU - M!Robin x F!Corrin

"Third time's the charm, they say..."

Corrin stood outside the building where the first of four classes would start. It was 8:30 bright and early in the morning, and naturally, Corrin was still tired and wished to go back to the comforts of her warm bed. Alas, she had to begin the first semester at her new college after leaving two previous ones. She hoped that Valla University could give her more incentive to stay than her last two colleges could give....

13.) Other Side of the Coin - Chrom x M!Robin x F!Robin

It was over. The battle against the Grimleal had ended with their defeat, and the Fell Dragon was sealed for another thousand years. Ylisse could breathe easy knowing they would be ensured an era of peace thanks to their king and his fellow Shepherds.

But for what would be his greatest victory, and thus celebrated, Robin instead felt a dark shadow looming over him.

14.) Vitriolic - M!Grima x F!Gryma

So this is what it felt like to be banished from your own realm that you worked so hard to conquer, only to have some uppity ass, goody goody dragon god decide that you're too much of a threat and she gives you a choice: die by execution or banishment to a completely different timeline. Obviously, Gryma took the route that ensured she still kept her head on her shoulders, and willingly decided to jump timelines. Wherever she'd ended up clearly didn't result in a victory on the human's side.

Everything was in ruins, the stench of blood hung in the air, the banners of the Royal Ylissean Family hung in dirty tatters from the damaged palace. It was positively a most beautiful sight seeing such death and destruction... But whomever was responsible for bringing down Naga's accursed spiritual descendants was nowhere to be found. Good. That meant this was hers to claim now...

15.) Sensual Seduction - M!Robin x Dark Pit

While Robin was out handling a few things, Dark Pit was left to himself for the next couple of hours in their shared dorm. Said errands apparently didn't require the tactician to wear his usual clothing, which the angel took full advantage of. Once Robin was out of the room, Dark Pit had snatched the signature robe he always wore and threw it on himself. Tossing himself onto the bed, the angel wrapped himself in the coat, bringing the oversized sleeves to his nose and inhaling deeply. Such a pleasant scent of bergamot and ozone from the magic he used, it was a turn-on for the angel, and was the sole reason he stole the coat from time to time. He simply loved Robin's scent and loved how warm said coat was around his lithe body.

16.) Untitled Vampire AU - M!Robin x Dark Pit

Robin really tried not to make a habit out of breaking into others houses in the middle of the night, but circumstances rarely left him any other choice.It was a full moon, his sensitive eyes seeing the faint rays illuminating the streets and roads in a pale blue glow, in areas where streetlights were either burnt out or never put up. It made moving around at night that much easier for him, something he had grown comfortable with in the years where he had to do these "emergency runs". Daytime was approaching in a mere few hours, and he really didn't want to spend a whole day waiting in a shady alley for some unlucky passerby that might never come in order to just go home.

17.) ‘I Unknowingly Slept with my New Boss’ Modern AU - Chrom x M!Robin

Robin wasn't the type of man who believed in luck. Anything that happened in life, good or bad, happened for its own reason and wasn't directly linked to something else that had happened to him before. He worked for what he had, putting one hundred percent into everything he could to live a fairly comfortable life.

However, if there was one thing Robin would wish he could have better luck in, it would have to be romance. He was no stranger to dating, and had one or two fairly steady relationships, but nothing that lasted longer than half a year. Robin wasn't opposed to the life of a bachelor by any means, but once he had known what it was like to be emotionally invested in another human being, he found himself longing for it from time to time after the relationship had since been broken off. One night he found himself beginning to sink into the familiar feeling of loneliness. Rather than let himself be consumed by melancholic memories, he decided to do something productive instead; and as if by chance, that was the same night before his first day at a new job.

18.) Of Lace and Stockings - F!Robin x F!Corrin

"Did you need anything from the store while I'm out, love?" Corrin zipped up her hoodie and tugged her purse over her shoulder, her gaze set upon her girlfriend as she walked over to her desk. Standing behind her chair, she wrapped her arms around Robin from behind and rested her chin on the other girl's shoulder with a soft smile.

"Hmm, I don't think so." Robin paused from her focus on homework and leaned back into Corrin's embrace, a fond look on her face as she tilted her head and matched her grin. "Just remember to grab more milk, we're completely out."

"Already wrote it down on the list." Corrin answered with smug confidence. She covered Robin's lips with her own in a sweet kiss and a firm squeeze around her shoulders. "Should only take me an hour to get everything." With that, she left one more kiss on her cheek before separating from her and heading out the door.

19.) Silence is Not Always Golden - Link x Pit

'Going to a new school in a new town... how cliche is this day going to be?' Pit laughs to himself. Though he might have been joking, he wasn't too far off the mark - He, his brother and their mom had just recently moved from their old home to a new place in the countryside a few towns over. It was different than the urban setting he was used to, but he liked it - mainly for the reason that there was a better chance for him to actually spread his wings for a change.

20.) Fated Childhood - Silas x F!Corrin

"I think we should be safe to travel through the Wind Village.... Hopefully we won't run into any Norhian forces along the way." Corrin's hand still gripped her blade tightly, crimson eyes scanning the barren horizon of the desert-like village ahead. She turned her head toward her freshly recruited childhood friend with a concerned expression, and asked, "Do you know if King Garon may have sent anyone in this direction?"

"It's possible. We'll want to keep our guard up until we know we're in the clear." Silas responded after a quick moment of hard thought. One hand tightened its hold on the reigns for his horse and the other on the long pole of the lance he had brought for the mission they were on. He also watched for any signs of Garon's forces, keeping his mount at a steady trot that Corrin could follow. "That being said, I don't like this... doesn't everything seem too still and quiet to you?"

"It does..."

THAT WAS REALLY FUCKING LONG YAY.

As for patterns, I tend to do introductions and opening lines with dialog or as a vague setting before I go into details. I love to give my readers something of a thought-provoking or interesting introduction to really grab their attention and pique their interest, because a title alone shouldn’t be the thing that makes a reader interested - the intro can’t be generic or cookie cutter. So I always try to avoid that. :D

I’M TOO LAZY TO TAG, STEAL AT WILL LOL

#tag #long post #reshi's writings

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jackstamper · 5 years

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Avengers Endgame-Spoilers after the Cut!

So, I saw Avengers Endgame yesterday, and found it amazing. But, while seeing it so early means Freedom from Spoilers...it also means having no one to talk about it.

So I’m doing the next best thing. Writing about my thoughts here on Tumblr and hoping, someone finds it and argues with me.

So, last warning, behind this here cut are two Top 5 rankings with PLENTY of Spoilers. If you have seen the movies, please read and tell me your thoughts! If you haven’t and want to be spoiled: Be my guest, and I gladly answer any question you may have about it. But if you want to stay unspoiled before going into the movie: Just don’t click on read more.

...all okay? Good. LEt’s start with some criticism

Top 5 underdevelopped plotlines in Endgame

5. The Aftermath of the Resnap

So yes, first big Spoiler: The dusted people ALL come back. To be fully precise: Five years elapse from Thanos Snap to the main action of Endgame. The world lived on, which, for the heroes, is most prominent in Tony Stark fathering a child. This makes a Reset-Button very tricky to use...Stark made it clear from the beginning, that his daughter is a priority, she should not vanish. So? They make the next logical wish on the Gauntlet.

Bring everyone back. Into the now. Everyone that snaps comes back into existence, but in this very minute.

The movie then STARTS to look into it, as Hawkeyes formally dusted wife calls him, and Cap notices a few more birds than normal in the trees. But before we can look into this some more...Thanos attacks and almost kills them all again. I mean...I expected at least Hawkeye to die from being bombed by an intergalactic spaceship, but seems his Ronin-Armor is tougher than I thought.

Anyway, this tragically cuts this plotpoint back a lot. Think about it: Everyone is back in the now. Families, that moved on, suddenly have their members appear among them. If they are lucky: Dozens of buildings are abandoned, and now suddenly people appear in them, confused, as to what happened. And remember that Post-Credits scene with Fury? People dusted while driving cars or Helicopters...do they materialize on the streets? In the air? What about aliens in space, who flew in Spaceships? Is it dependent, on where their dust lies? How will they react? Chances are, this results in a major panic. So many questions are unanswered, but...well, the movie didn’t seem to have quite the time for that.

4. Captain Marvel...who?

Here’s a thing about the whole movie: It gets a hundred times better, if you say the other 20+ movies before it. Heck, they basically visit several of the old movies. But Captain Marvel, in particular, is important...or, rather: The Post-Credits Scene. Because without it, you’d be completely confused, who this glowing woman at the start was.

Captain Marvel was...an oddity in this movie. From what we can tell, she’s clearly the strongest fighter of the group (Yes, even more so than Thor and Hulk), yet she basically disappears early in the movie, and only reappears halfway through the climax. Maybe they wanted her strength to not intervene with the plot? Her in-universe explanation of needing to help all the other planets after the Snap certainly wouldn’t have prevented her from going to the past with them and...saving all those other people from the snap.

But what might be the biggest dropped ball about her is her introduction. In that: She has none. Her intro was that Post-Credits scene from her movie. The Avengers are trying to keep the Pager alive, and she’s suddenly among them, asking for Fury. First thing we see here is her dragging Iron Man and Nebula back to earth and then hang around, as if she always was a part of the group. I’m not even sure they say her name once...and I think it would have been real easy to at least have Tony ask about her or something.

3. Rescue

Many people, even before the movie came out, started talking about Rescue and her being in the movie, and...that might cause some confusion for others. Rescue was not mentioned in the movie, and she comes out of nowhere...some foreshadowing notwithstanding.

To clear the confusion up: Rescue is Pepper Potts in her own set of armor. Early in the movie, Tony makes an armor (well, we only see the helmet) for her for their anniversary, but he says, she never wears something he made. And...that’s it. That’s all we get, until the final battle scene, where Pepper suddenly appears, wearing the armor. Not much is said about this, because basically everyone else appears as well, which...further undercuts the impact this has.

She has a few scenes in the movie, a corrdinated battle with Tony, rescuing Peter Parker and the Gauntlet, supporting Captain Marvel, and of course, telling Tony he can rest after the Final Snap. But as to why she donned the armor so quickly, how Dr. Strange knew he could throw her in, how SHE knew, she can fight here...no clue, no idea. Certainly could have benefitted a bit of an explanation...how about right after the Resnap, when Tony, after starting to think, everything worked, calls Pepper and tries to say, what’s up...only for everything to explode. This would give Pepper the immediate motivation to suit up herself...and heck, who cares about magic to bring her there, she just flew, and happened to arrive at the same time. But...yeah, the movie was already mroe than 3 hours, so...

2. Loki...kinda lives?

So, Loki gets his own Netflix-Series, which kinda means, he has to survive, right? Eh...well, Vision and Black Widow both get further content as well, and...they are kinda dead, or still dead at the end of the movie. Loki as well, but...wait, is he? No, he didn’t trick his death again...during time travel shenanigans, Tony accidentally gets knocked aside by Past Hulk, and looses the Tessarect, which lands to Past-Lokis feet. Loki, confused, but quick on his feet, grabs it and escapes. In the movie, the main setback was loosing the Space Stone and needing another timeline to get it. But...that kinda glances over a lot, doesn’t it?

First of all, the obvious: Loki is freed in a timeline, and has the Space Stone to go where he wants. Which...could be the perfect segway to his show, but said show is meant to be him reacting to different time periods...does he get the Time Stone as well? No? So...does Loki exist in the main timeline now? Or only this other time line?

For a moment I also thought, him disappearing with the stone means, now one of the Infinity Stones is actually gone from the Timeline, and the Ancient One has every reason to be upset with Bruce for lying, but...I guess he stayed in the same timeline, so, at least that is clear. But what exactly happened to Loki, and what it means to our timeline has not been answered at all.

1. Professor Hulk

This...is the big one for me. And it might not be, if there wouldn’t have been so much setup, and if it wasn’t such a big plotpoint in Infinity War.

So...the Hulk and Bruce Banner...kinda merged. In what is known as Professor Hulk. When we first see Bruce Banner, he is in Hulk-Form, but...retains his full intellect. And he explains, he basically made peace with the Hulk and merged Brains and Brawn.

And...it stays like that until the end.

There is one interesting insight, when the Ancient One seperates his consciousnes from his body, because suddenly, it’s the human body of Bruce Banner floating around, arguing with her...not the merged form. This might be a clue, that the persona of the Hulk is actually really gone...though personally, I hoped, that this was setting up a big reveal: At some point, I hoped, Bruce would give up arguing, and just say: “Get her”. And the Hulk suddenly tackles her. She kicked Bruce Banners Persona out, but the Hulks was still in the body, waiting for his partner to give the signal.

Sadly, this didn’t happen. Instead, the conclusion of the big “Why doesn’t the Hulk want to fight”-plot of the last movie is...completely off-screen. And all the conflict of the Hulk is gone. He even works as an actual professor...wait what? I...guess he’s not a wanted man anymore, but...that /is/ a big step. Would have been nice to see more development there, or a less wholesome state.

These things bothered me in the movie, because there were interesting points present...but they apprarently didn’t have the time to develop them properly. Which isn’t surprising, when the rest of the movie already takes 3 hours. Do they ruin the movie for me? Heck no, I love that movie! And it did take a surprising number of things and gave it the proper development and conclusion it deserved. I love this movie, and I will probably make more lists or talk more like this, and hope some people interact with me about this!

Bonus Point, that bothered me: Limited Pym Particle-Plotpoint. According to Ant-Man, they only have enough Pym Particles for each of them to take two Time Trips, after all the testing is done. One trip to the past, and one trip back. First obvious point: Get the Timestone, and you have all the Time Travel options in the world. Have Tony and Bruce take a look at the particles, get Pyms Formulas and try to synthesize more, just in case. But no, the main Problem I have with that, is: Pym Particles were not the stuff that made them time travel, it only made them shrink enough TO time travel. So...everyone can only shrink and regrow twice...really? Someone better tell Scott Lang this, since he shrinks during the Caper, and changed his size multiple times.

#MCU Endgame Avengers AvengersEndgame

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hsews · 6 years

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Grenfell Tower and 12 surrounding blocks have been illuminated in green to commemorate one year since the devastating fire began, killing 72 people.

In the early hours of 14 June 2017, a small kitchen fire in the west London high-rise turned into the deadliest domestic blaze since the Second World War.

The latest figures show that 68 families will spend the anniversary in emergency accommodation, mainly hotels.

Kensington and Chelsea Council says 52 households are in temporary accommodation and 83 families are in permanent homes – and it has declined to reveal how many people are living in or outside the borough.

1:38

Video: ‘Come quick’: First 999 Grenfell call released

The 13 buildings were illuminated at 12.54am on Thursday – exactly 12 months on from the first 999 call reporting the blaze.

They will remain illuminated until 5am, and will be lit up again from 8pm until midnight for the next four evenings.

A private vigil is being held at St Clement’s Church, where the names of the 72 victims are being read out at 1.30am.

Later this morning, a service of remembrance will be held at St Helen’s Church – and 73 doves will be released outside the place of worship.

Clarrie Mendy, who lost two relatives in the fire and organised the event, said: “Why 73 instead of 72? One for the unknown. If there were more than 72, we will put one for the unknown.”

0:24

Video: May’s apology to Grenfell survivors

At midday, a moment of silence will be observed by survivors and the bereaved, who will gather close to the tower’s base as well as across the country.

In the afternoon, the community is expected to congregate at the nearby “Wall of Truth” ahead of a silent march which will set off at about 7pm.

Families will then come together for a community Iftar to break bread with those fasting over Ramadan.

1:26

Video: Grenfell victim’s mum: ‘I will meet her again’

Yvette Williams, from the Justice 4 Grenfell campaign group, said: “I think we kind of almost move from ‘did it really happen at all?’ to ‘it feels like it happened yesterday’, to looking at the struggles the bereaved families and survivors have had over the year (and realising) that it is actually a year.

“We want the nation to keep Grenfell in their consciousness. The anniversary is about love and support – the fight can start again on Friday and Saturday.”

Grenfell Tower is now completely covered by white sheeting. Banners featuring the words “Grenfell forever in our hearts” are emblazoned across the four highest floors.

The community began their 24-hour vigil on Wednesday evening. As relatives sat together in the street, a Tube driver stopped his train on a bridge overlooking them and held up a green banner in support, to the cheers of the crowd.

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Video: Tube driver stops for Grenfell tribute

Some of those affected by the fire have spoken to Sky News to mark the first anniversary.

“He liked his flat very much, it was very pretty and newly furnished,” said Daniella Burigotto, the mother of architect Marco Gottardi, who died that night with girlfriend Gloria Trevisan, also an architect.

“We were all completely unaware of how it had been renovated. It is really horrible finding these things out afterwards. If Marco had known beforehand he’d never have agreed to an apartment of that type.”

Ms Trevisan’s mother Emanuela Disaro said her daughter “loved a lot”.

“She loved life, she loved the company of others, she loved her family, she loved everyone. She loved a lot.

“When I have finished my journey on this earth, I will meet her again. I want to believe there is a place where we all will be reunited. The question is when.”

Image: Marco Gottardi and Gloria Trevisan were both architects

Zoe Levack, who lives in the community, started the Kids on the Green project to provide activities and psychological help for young people affected by trauma.

She said there is still anger in the community over the response to the fire – adding that most are not “doing particularly well” as the anniversary is marked.

“We’ve been trying to get on with our lives but this atrocity has taken over all of our lives,” she said. “There’s a huge amount of post-traumatic stress in the community. I think a lot of people are going to be falling apart.”

Image: Michelle Widdrington and Zoe Levack said the community was still coming to terms with the atrocity

Michelle Widdrington, a mother who also works with the project, said: “The things we saw that night, we were not meant to see.

“You saw people screaming for help and you know they didn’t make it out and that’s a really hard thing to deal with for everyone.”

It comes as Theresa May offered a personal apology for not meeting survivors of the tragedy on her first visit to Grenfell Tower.

She said it was something she would “always regret”.

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adambstingus · 6 years

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10+ Hilarious Wives That All Men Secretly Wish They Were Married To

Marrying someone with a good sense of humor is a one-way ticket to years of laughter, and these wives prove it. They’re creative, they’re hilarious, and they’re honestly trolls sometimes, but that can only make their husbands love them more. In fact, sharing a good sense of humor is viewed by many marriage specialists as the key to a happy union.

Relationships can get way too serious sometimes, especially when stress from work, kids, and expenses gets involved. Laughing together creates a feeling of warmth, relaxation, and bonding, and has even been said to stimulate physical attraction.

Give a round of applause for these wives who know the power of a good joke, and vote for the ones you would use on your significant other.

#1 My Wife Found A Way To Hide Her Candy

#2 My Husband Bet Me I Couldn’t Shave His Foot Without Him Waking Up. This Is What He Woke Up To This Morning

#3 My Wife Brought Home A Life Size Skeleton Replica, This Is What I Walked In On

#4 I Left For A Day. My Wife Knew Exactly What I Wanted To Do When I Got Home

#5 My Wife Called Me To The Bathroom To See The Work She Did On My Shampoo Bottle

#6 Called My Wife A Sandwich Maker

#7 My Wife Wanted To Let The Pizza Place Know That They’re Overdoing It With The Advertising

#8 We Were Looking Through Old Pictures Of Me When My Wife Started Laughing And Got The Dog’s Flea Pills From The Cupboard

#9 Wife Pranked Her Husband With A Coyote, Photoshopped Into Their Home

#10 My Sister’s April Fools’ Prank On Her Husband

#11 Was Wondering Why My Wife Was Giggling When She Asked Me To Change The Air Filters

#12 Once My Wife Said This, I Can’t Un-See It

#13 My Pregnant Wife Sent This To Me At 2:12 Am This Morning. I’m Going To Guess That My Snoring Was Quite Bad Last Night

#14 My Wife Took This Picture And Has Been Sending It Out And Laughing About It For 3 Hours

#15 I Hope My Husband Feels Special When He Wakes Up. All Eyes Will Be On Him

#16 My Hubby’s Reaction When He Tasted That I Added Whiskey To His Coffee

#17 My Wife Got A New Halloween Decoration. I Nearly Shit When I Walked In The Bathroom

#18 Asked My Wife To Get More Magnets For The Fridge With No Restrictions On What Kind

#19 My Wife (A Geologist) Purchased This For Me For My Birthday

#20 My Wife Made Me A Passive Aggressive Flow Chart To Use Every Time I Get Hungry

#21 My Friend Made This For Her Husband

#22 Just Got This Lovely Anniversary Note From My Lovely Girlfriend

#23 So My Wife Is Going Away For A Few Months. This Is How She Left Our Bed This Morning

#24 As Soon As She Saw It My Wife Took Them Out Of Her Bag And Left Them There

#25 My Wife Has Been Trying Anything To Remind Me To Bring My Lunch To Work

#26 My Wife, An Attorney, Wore Her Halloween Costume To Work Today

#27 My Wife Bought Me Monogram Pajamas For Christmas

#28 This Is What Happens When My Husband, Who Is Married To A Makeup Artist, Has The Nerve To Fall Asleep Early When I’m In Town

#29 My Wife Saw A Cockroach At Work, But Didn’t Have The Means To ‘Dispose’ Of It

#30 My Wife Said “Found Your Mom’s Butt Plug”

#31 My Wife’s Yard Sale Signs For Tomorrow

#32 My Husband’s Going To Love His Valentines Day Surprise

#33 My Wife Called To Say She Picked Up 50 Shades Of Grey. This Was Not What I Was Expecting When I Got Home

#34 I Asked The Kind Lady At The Pet Shop For A Shed Tarantula Skin, To Put Amongst The Bananas To Scare My Husband

#35 My Wife Packed Me Hard Boiled Eggs For Lunch

#36 Came Downstairs And My Wife Gave Me These. Uh, Thanks Honey?

#37 My Wife Asked Me If I Wanted Half Her Twix. She Thinks This Is A Game

#38 I Too Get Bored When My Husband Is Away

#39 My Wife Bought A New Hairbrush With A Suction Cup At The End. I Found This On The Bathroom Mirror. I Love My Wife!

#40 Christmas Shopping With The Family. My Wife Asked If The Baby Carrier Was Maybe Cutting Off My Son’s Circulation

#41 My Wife Woke Me Up To Tell Me I Needed To Fix The “Leak In The Bathtub”

#42 My Husband Told Me My Pregnant Belly Looked Like A Giant Boob. So I Put Makeup On It. He Was Right

#43 My Wife Says This Is The Only Benefit Of Being Pregnant

#44 My Husband Didn’t Want A Birthday Cake

#45 Not What My Husband Had In Mind When I Told Him I Made A Sexy Dress

#46 Look What My Wife Did To The Pug

#47 My Firefighter Husband Has To Spend Alternating Nights At The Station So I Got Him This Pillowcase To Keep Him Company

#48 My Wife Gave Me My Birthday Cake

#49 My Wife Thinks I’m Stupid Too

#50 Drove With My Husband To A Job Interview. Found This In The Parking Lot. I Think He’s Been Waiting Longer Than Me

#51 My Wife Made A New Phone Case

#52 I Was Complaining About My Recent Cold So My Wife Made Me A Cake To Help Me “Feel Better”

#53 Husband “Forbade” Me To Touch Alduin. This Was My Response. Alduin Totally Loves Me More

#54 My Wife Learned To Make Custom Stickers. This Is How I Found The Roomba Today

#55 Things I Send My Husband While At Work Because I Know He Will Appreciate It

#56 My Husband Says I’m “Being Immature” But I Found This While Gardening And Couldn’t Resist

#57 My Wife Is Not A Morning Person But She Had A Big Project At Work Today And Wanted To Go In Early

#58 My Wife Said This License Plate Made Her Think Of Me

#59 My Wife And I Make Banners For Each Other On Birthdays. This Was What I Woke Up To This Morning. I Love This Woman

#60 I Told My Husband That When He Gets Tired His Eyes Turn Into Eye Vaginas, He Didn’t Believe Me So I Took A Pic And Rotated It

#61 My Wife Told Her Co-Workers She’s Pregnant

#62 Told My Wife ” I Really Don’t Want Anything Special For My Birthday” Kinda Glad She Didn’t Listen.

#63 This Was The Card I Got My Husband For Our Anniversary. What Can I Say? I’m Sentimental

#64 My Wife Had A Little To Drink At Paint Night

#65 My Wife Has Made Mine And Our Children’s Lunches For Over 7 Years Now, Yesterday I Moaned About The Sandwiches Being Too Bland. Today I Got This

#66 Wife Made Me A Pillow

#67 I Love Pranking My Husband. So I Set Up The Storm Trooper In The Bathroom And He Nearly Crapped Himself When He Walked In There

#68 My Wife Found Out My Office Is Closing Down

#69 He Was Trying To Argue With Me In The Car So I Whipped In This Spot And Said I Have Something To Tell You (i’m Not Actually But It Shut Him Up Quick)

#70 It Appears My Wife Personalized Our Keurig

#71 Valentines Gift From My Wife

#72 T-Shirt I Made For My Husband, Trevor

#73 My Wife Was Feeling Down In The Hospital. Then She Found This

#74 My Husband And I Took Our 5 Year Old To The Amusement Park For The First Time Today. I’m 9 Months Pregnant, This Was My Favorite Ride

#75 “just Hydra Things.” I Read It Wrong, He Completed And Perfected It. #definitelynotmarvelfans

#76 My Husband Was Dreading Turning 40 And I Wanted To Make Him Not Feel So Old. So I Had A Surprise Party For Him And This Is His Cake!

#77 My Husband Was “too Tired” To Change The Babies Pooped Diaper While I Pumped…i Sent Him This Photo, He Didn’t See It Until The Morning. Diaper Was There For About 1hour.

#78 She Sent Me This when I asked her “How Long The Short Pants Were?

#79 Placed My Husband’s Heavy Shoe On A Cockroach For Him To Find.

#80 Husband Asked Me To Send Him A Sexy Pic

#81 Walked In The Bedroom The Other Day And My Wife Says “Look What I Made For You!”

#82 Husband Asked Me To Send Him A Sexy Pic Pt 2

#83 My Husband Smilingly Asked “why Are There Vegetables In The “beer Crisper”? So I Did This.

#84 My Friend Updated The Hook On Her Husband’s Closet Door. He Didn’t Notice For Two Weeks.

#85 My Hubby Loves To Leave Me Unconventional Messages..this Is What I Find When I Get Home

#86 1st Father Day, Upgraded!

#87 My Wife Buys Me Things So That She Can Come In And Tell Me “Hey! I Bought You A Present!” And Then Laugh At Me When She Sees My Look Of Curious Joy Become Crestfallen

#88 Really Loved The New Jrpg… This Is What Wife Was Wearing When I Came Home!

#89 ……ok Just One More Picture…..

#90 My Wife Likes To Leave Me Vute Notes

#91 This Is What My Husband Got For Not Emptying Out The Diaper Genie

#92 The Wife’s Turn To Make My Sarnies

#93 The Kiss

#94 Got

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/10-hilarious-wives-that-all-men-secretly-wish-they-were-married-to/ from All of Beer https://allofbeercom.tumblr.com/post/172806690177

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allofbeercom · 6 years