#Bloody Rhode

[motor-city-selfryed]

screenies !!

[fraxi0m]

[4th3naa]

SURPRISE ORDER - Rhea Ripley x Fem!Reader

_______________________________

"I'm so ready." Rhea's smile widened as she looked straight into the camera of the person who was filming her with their phone. Some chuckles could be heard in the background from fellow crew members. The WWE Production had planned something special for some of their fans. They wanted to surprise some people who ordered off of the webshop by letting the selected merch of a Superstar be delivered by the actual Superstar themselves. A few of the other wrestlers had already done this, including: Damian Priest, Jey Uso, Becky Lynch, Cody Rhodes and a few others. All of them were extremely positive about the experience they had with the fan they met. Rhea was excited to finally do it aswell, being the last Superstar to have the opportunity to surprise one of her fans. She loved her fans, especially since they were all extremely supportive of her, sticking by her side at all times, even through the betrayal with Dominik Mysterio. Her fans always reminded her exactly how loved she was within the entire WWE community and she couldn't be more grateful for the incredibly supportive and adoring fanbase that she had.

The WWE Production had chosen you for the surprise, they noticed the big order that you had placed on the webshop and it would only be fair if you were the one to get the honor of meeting Mami. Rhea was sitting down by the table as the crew was carefully packing the order for you. Damian Priest was sitting next to Rhea, asking her how she felt about doing this. "Honestly, I'm so excited. I can't wait to see the reaction on their face when they see me standing in the doorway with their order. I'm also nervous though." Rhea started to laugh and so did Damian. "Don't worry Rhea, you're going to absolutely love the experience. Trust me." Rhea then nodded her head at Priest with a smile on her lips. The crew got done packing the order and they put it down on the table. They asked if Rhea was ready to get going on her way to deliver the order. The cameras picked up the way she nodded and got up from her seat, listening to the crew member explain the details of what she should do. Rhea picked up the box and started heading her way to the parking lot along the camera crew. She opened the door to the car, getting into the passenger seat and putting on her seatbelt. She placed the package down on her lap and then she turned to the backseat where a few members of the camera crew were sitting as she looked into the camera. "So, we're currently on our way to go surprise a WWE fan. We noticed they got a pretty big order and I can't wait to see how this goes and what their reaction will be when I show up to deliver it to them."

A few hours had passed and you received a notification on your phone that your package would be arriving soon. The notification had left you feeling excited, you've been waiting for this merch to arrive since the first day you ordered it, unexpecting that it was about to get delivered by one of the biggest WWE Superstars herself, Rhea Bloody Ripley. As the minutes continued to pass, you heard the doorbell ring, signaling the arrival of your package. You got up in an instant, hurrying over to the door and opening it to pick it up. Once you opened the door, you were greeted by the sight of none other than The Eradicator herself, Rhea Ripley. "Hey, I'm here to deliver a package."

Rhea's lips curled into a wide smile and she started to laugh a bit as she saw your shocked expression, finding it adorable how you looked at her. You tried multiple times to say something, but each try was a failed attempt with no sound escaping your lips. "Are you alright, love?" You nodded your head, facial expression painted with a mixture of shock and barely contained excitement. Your face was flushed at the sight before you. Your favorite WWE wrestler standing right infront of you, looking as gorgeous as she always did. "Still breathing correctly?" Rhea asked with a low chuckle, tilting her head to the side. You managed to pull yourself together and step aside, inviting her and the camera crew inside. You led her to the living room where she handed over the package to you.

She spent her time by your side and you opened everything up. "Are you happy with it?" Rhea asked, looking down at you as she waited for a reply. "I couldn't be any happier." Rhea gave you a proud smile and she reached out, putting her hand on your shoulder, her touch making you feel all warm inside. She pulled you into a comforting embrace, one of her strong arms wrapped around your shoulders as the other cradled your head against her chest. "You're an amazing person. I really loved hanging out with you and I hope we can see eachother again soon." She said and you agreed instantly, feeling like your life was finally complete. You got to meet Rhea Ripley AND give her a hug?

Rhea returned to the backstage later that day, and immediately, the other wrestlers went up to her to ask her how it was. "It was amazing. They were so nice and you could see that they genuinely loved WWE and were happy to have me there. They were such an incredible person. I'm so glad I accepted to doing this because that just made me so happy."

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I really hope that you enjoyed this fic! Leave requests down below, and I will look over them for sure. Thank you for reading, have a wonderful day/night.💋

[tuttle-did-it]

Watching Providence for the first time since it aired. I mostly remember Mike Farrell playing a vet because he was the reason I watched (Mike Farrell + cute animals= yay). He usually was just sitting holding a dog, from what I can remember, which is fine with me.

I do also remember the slightly irritating family squabbles, and the frustrating religiosity. I even, weirdly, remember Patrick Fabian playing her ex.

But the ghost?

I don't remember the ghost.

Am I the only one who didn't remember the ghost?

did you remember the ghost? Cos I just remember Mike Farrell holding puppies.

[mariocki]

L'ultimo cacciatore (The Last Hunter, 1980)

"You actually enjoy it."

"Listen, sweetheart, I've been out here too long. I don't know what's good or bad anymore, don't know who my friends or my enemies are. But I don't enjoy it. I don't want to argue about it anymore. Don't want to think about it anymore or understand it anymore. Sometimes, I think I don't want to live anymore."

[black-hole-daycare-attendant]

What Male Character Are You? Part 5

[joannasteez]

im working and took a break to see punk and cody getting jumped LMAOOOOOO

this would be an L if i wasnt a lil sadistic when it comes to men getting put into the ground

[thatwrestlingnerd]

I appreciate tonight has been just full of insanely over dramatic entrances 😂

[rhysnolastname]

Fell asleep in the corner of my bed …

[transformiing]

tag dump

[anotheroceanid]

I love the version of Rhodes as Aphrodite’s daughter because I love the idea of Silena and Percy sharing a sister.

Also, Rhodes was married to Helios, with whom Aphrodite had a bit of a feud, and that still being a sore topic between them, so she doesn’t interact much with Olympus or her maternal side of the family.

She with her father’s kids be like…

Percy: I thought you were Amphritite’s daughter

Rhodes, laughing gracefully: It’s called PR, my love. Can I put corals in your hair? Triton let me put corals in his 🥰

Then her with her mother’s kids…

*Eros and Rhodes glaring at each other for ten minutes*

Percy: They don't speak to each other?

Triton: They were prohibited by the council. Unless they agree not to start any more blood feuds between their favourite mortals to retaliate whatever is said.

Percy: What?

Triton: It was fun with the Medici and the Borgias, the War of the Roses not so much but hey, those were bloody times, but by the time we got to the Hatfield and the McCoy it had become a bit taxing to everyone…

Percy: uhh…

Triton: And in the era of internet fandoms, we definitely don't need that energy, do we?

[chicago-pd-is-weird]

Jay Halstead x Reader Oneshot

Synopsis: Jay and reader are together, and reader works at Med in ED with Will. Reader has a lot of anxiety because Jay is a cop, thinking every cop that is brought in may be Jay.

TW: anxiety/panic attacks is a main theme in this, also some mention of blood and doctor-y stuff because reader works at Med in ED

Requested by: @sorry-i-spaced

Thank you so much! This was fun to write!

Any other oneshot requests, please DM me! :)

“We got a Stevenson!” A paramedic called out as they rolled into the ED. You and several other doctors sprung into action, running toward where the paramedics were coming in. ‘Stevenson’ was the code name for a cop, to let Med know who it was, no matter if they were in uniform, plainclothes, or undercover.

“(Y/N)! Rhodes! Trauma three!” Maggie’s voice called from the desk. Working in the ED was no walk in the park, especially in the middle of Chicago. You made your way quickly to where Maggie pointed you, picking up the pace as they wheeled in a man who was surrounded by cops. You pushed through the crowd and into the room, seeing the man on the gurney with three bullet holes in him. You helped get him moved over, then assessed the damage, Dr. Rhodes right behind you to help.

“Three bullet wounds, center mass. I’m assuming this is the perpetrator, not our Stevenson?” You spoke out loud. Some of the officers outside the room confirmed your thoughts.

Your heart was already pumping from the adrenaline as you worked on the man, but you couldn’t help it as it beat faster, hoping the officer shot wasn’t Jay Halstead. It made you especially nervous when the officers outside the room talked amongst one another, saying the man shot was a detective. Bile started to rise in your throat, but you were pulled back by the monitors beeping rapidly. You took immediate action as you snapped out of your anxiety for just a few moments.

You finally stabilized the man enough to take him to surgery, letting the nurses and techs take him with Dr. Rhodes. You backed away, looking around the room at the mess that had been made. For a moment, you stood in silence, looking around at the blood and various instruments that were around the room, as well as the blood on your gloves and scrubs.

Blood. You saw it every day, and yet, you couldn’t help but get a nauseous at the sight. You thought maybe that detective, who was fighting for his life, was bleeding out. That maybe it was the man you loved. Maybe he was in the other room, clinging to life, and here you were, trying to save the man who shot him. The notion made you sick to your stomach. You ripped off your bloody gloves and left them in the room, quickly moving to the nearest bathroom to empty your stomach of your breakfast. You panted in between heaves, gripping the toilet for dear life as you trembled at the thought of Jay dying and you saving the man who killed him.

You and Jay had met through Will, one of your coworkers and closest friends at Chicago Med. Will and Jay were brothers, and both had taken a liking to you at first, but you ultimately decided that romance with a doctor at the same hospital as you would be too complicated. You never expected the anxiety that came with beings cop’s girlfriend, though. You’d been prone to anxiety in the past, but it ramped up when you started getting serious with Jay. You had episodes like this a lot, no matter what cop came in. It had never been Jay in the past, but it only took one bullet in the wrong spot for him to die.

When the nausea passed, you slowly pushed yourself to your feet, though still unsteady as your head spin. You flushed, washed your hands and face, then made your way to the locker rooms to change out of your scrubs and into a fresh pair. When you re-emerged, you were met with Will, who gently pulled you aside before anyone else could see you. “Hey, (Y/N), you okay?” Will already knew the answer to that. He was the only one who knew the full story about these episodes you had at work. Although Jay knew some of it, especially about your anxiety, he didn’t know the full picture, and you’d sworn Will into secrecy over it.

“Will, it wasn’t him, was it?”

“No, (Y/N), Jay is fine. I talked to him just a little bit ago. He is investigating this with Intelligence. He might still be here. He was looking for you.”

You let out a shaky breath, but nodded. You were relieved, but needed to see for yourself. You walked with Will back to where he’d last seen Jay, your stomach settling down as you saw him standing with Detective Lindsay, talking to Maggie. You walked over, leaning on the counter with a hum beside him, hand reaching out to rest atop his on the counter.

Jay smiled when he saw you, leaning over and kissing your cheek. “Hey, was looking for you earlier. That perp going to make it?”

Instantly, your anxiety faded away, as if it was never there in the first place. Jay had that effect on you, especially when he was upright and acting like himself. “It’s touch and go, I think,” you said with a soft sigh. “We did what we could. Rhodes took him to surgery prolly about a half hour ago. If he does make it, it’ll be a hard and long road.”

Jay hummed and looked up at Will, who had taken a place behind the counter with Maggie. “And what about the detective?”

“He’ll make it,” Will replied. “Barring complications, he should be back on the job within a few weeks.”

“That’s good,” Jay replied, shifting his gaze back to you, unable to help the smile that pulled on his lips. “Hey, don’t look so down. We’ve got this.”

Your eyes met his, not realizing you’d looked upset. You smiled at him, nodding. “I know,” you replied. “It just must be hard that it’s one of your own, yaknow?”

“The risks we take,” he said with a small shrug. His statement was so nonchalant, which you didn’t like. You had to force yourself to focus on anything else to keep your rising anxiety at bay. Jay and Erin left soon after, and you shuddered, but moved back to work, checking on some other patients.

— —

“Stevenson incoming!” Maggie’s voice called out. You froze, looking up from the computer you had been typing at, swallowing hard. Your mouth ran dry, as stats were called by the paramedics. “Male, mid-thirties, stabbed multiple times.” You stood quickly, but Maggie didn’t assign you to it. You probably wouldn’t have been much help anyways, seeing as you were on the verge of an attack.

A firm hand was placed on your shoulder, pulling you back to reality as you gasped, looking behind you to see Will. “Come on,” he said softly, nodding to you. “It’s okay, come on.”

You let out a shaky breath, walking with Will out to the small break room. He got you coffee, which you took whether you liked it or not. It was something to pull you back into reality. “I-I’m sorry, I just…”

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me,” Will said, shaking his head. “I get the same feeling every time, but Jay just texted me that we are meeting for lunch, so it can’t be him.”

“I shouldn’t feel so much relief from this,” you said, putting your hands to your face, wiping away some tears that had started to escape. “Someone is hurt, yaknow? But I… I’m so terrified of something happening.”

“Have you talked to anyone about this? Maybe Dr. Charles can help.”

“No, no,” you said, sighing heavily, sniffling and wiping your face. “I talked to therapists all throughout middle and high school. None of them even understood me. As far as I know, I’m just messed up mentally.”

“(Y/N),” Will sighed. “We’re all messed up mentally. We’re doctors.” He shook his head again, reaching over to put a hand on your arm. “Look, maybe you just need to find the right person. Besides, we know more about mental health and the brain now than we did then. There may be new tactics to help you cope, even if we can’t cure it.”

You were thankful for Will, nodding at his suggestions. “Maybe,” you muttered, leaning back in your chair and rubbing your face with your hands again, then coming back to down the coffee. “Thanks.”

“Any time,” he replied, nodding. “You’re not alone, alright?”

“Thanks,” you repeated. Just then, Will’s pager rang and he had to go, but he planted a soft kiss on the top of your head as he pulled you into a gentle embrace. As quick as he was beside you, he was gone, and you sank back down to the chair, looking at your empty coffee mug with despair. Maybe you’d never get better.

— —

The past few weeks had been filled with more and more scares. There was a serial killer on the loose who was targeting cops. Your body was racked with constant anxiety every time a Stevenson was brought into the ED. The only time you weren’t was when you were assisting with a surgery, so you stayed with Dr. Rhodes most of the time to ensure you were in surgery. It was better that way for the patients and for you.

The surgery you’d just assisted in finishing was a tough one. It was a kid who had fallen on a pair of scissors the wrong way. However, Dr. Rhodes was like magic, and your own hands remained calm and steady as you fell into a zen-like trance. You weren’t thinking of anything else but the surgery at hand. The anatomy and biology of the body lying below you. It was the only time and place you’d felt at peace, despite the circumstances surrounding the incident.

As you scrubbed out, washing your hands and arms, someone came into the room. “(Y/N)…” Will’s voice rang, a hand coming to your shoulder.

“Hey,” you said softly as you turned off the water and dried your hands. “What’s up?” Your mind was still calm, but when you looked up to Will, you could tell something was off.

“Don’t freak out on me, alright?”

“Will…?” You searched his face for the answer as he squeezed your shoulders with his hands.

“Just, promise.”

“Uh… I… okay…?”

“Okay,” he said with a sigh, knowing that was good enough. “Look, Jay was brought in, but-“

“What?!” You didn’t let him finish before trying to push past him to find Jay.

Will kept you in place. “No, no, (Y/N), stop, it’s okay.”

“This is NOT okay, Will! How are you so calm?!” The bile had begun to rise in your throat as you feared the worst. Tears jumped to your eyes and you had to see him. You had to know Jay was alright, even if he wasn’t.

“Hey, hey, look at me. It’s Will. Look at me!” You looked back up to Will, his hands squeezing your shoulders again to pull you back, shaking you a little. “Look, see, I’m right here. Let me finish before you break down, at least.”

You scoffed, a small scoff to hide the soft laugh of that last remark. Although you were on the verge of an attack, that pulled you back from the edge a bit, making you shake your head. “Just tell me then!”

“Jay just had a gash on his arm from a piece of metal he ran across. He just ran into a piece of metal. His sergeant sent him, just to make sure it was good. He is not shot. He is not hurt badly. He is coherent and walking around. He needed a few stitches, but that’s all.”

You searched Will’s face for any sign of him playing down the injury, but you knew Will wouldn’t lie to you. You let out a breath, wiping your face. “No, I still have to see him though because… if I don’t, I’ll never recover from this feeling.”

“I know,” Will replied. “Come on, he’s in five. But you know if you go in there like this, you’re going to have to come clean?”

“I need to see him,” you affirmed as Will walked you downstairs to where Jay was.

When you got there, you walked in and pushed the curtain back over the door to ensure you had privacy. You nearly broke down as you saw Jay, his shirt off, a bandage on his upper arm. Whether from anxiety or relief, you had no idea. The emotions pulling you in different directions was crippling, and you just stood there, trembling as tears streaked down your cheeks.

Jay looked over you as you stood, frozen in time, hot tears racing down and dripping off your chin. He got up quickly, his soft voice finally hitting your ears. “Hey, hey, (Y/N), what’s the matter?”

As he caught you between his arms, you started to sob, nearly collapsing into his chest. “Fuck, Jay!”

Jay was surprised, but caught you with ease, holding you close to his bare chest. “What did I do this time?” He teased, trying to make you feel better.

You were barely in the mood as you took a fist to his chest, hitting him softly. “Don’t even joke, it’s not fair!”

Jay turned more serious, pulling back to look at you as you sobbed. “Hey… hey, just tell me what’s going on.” You couldn’t muster any more words, wiping your face with your hands. Jay pulled you over, sitting on the bed and pulling you to sit beside him. “(Y/N)?”

“I have… I have this… this intense fear,” you finally spoke, soft words only coming out with your breaths. “This intense… burning fear… all the time… that…” You swallowed hard, leaning into his shoulder on his uninjured arm.

“That what?” Jay prompted after a moment of silence.

“That you’re going to come in here and die!” You sobbed out, moving to cling to him again, arms around his torso. “Jay, every time a cop comes in here, I can’t take it! Anxiety and panic takes me over! I-I can’t! I love you so much, and I can’t lose you!”

“Hey, hey baby, you won’t lose me. You won’t.” Jay held you tightly against his chest once again, kissing your head. “Hey, come here, look at me.” He pulled back, letting you sit up and then gently taking your chin in his fingers. He tenderly pulled your chin up, then leaned down to meet you, planting a soft kiss to your lips. When he pulled back, he let out a breath. “Nothing will ever take me away from you… Nothing. Ever.”

With that, your emotions finally leveled out. You swallowed hard and reached up to cup his face, looking over his freckles. You smiled a little as your eyes met his. “Promise?”

“I promise,” he replied, matching your smile and leaning down to kiss you again.

[yuesya]

“A shipment to Arkos, you said?”

“Yup! Logistics wants this delivered before the end of the week.” The young lady types rapidly into the keypad fixed to the wall, and the doors slide open –revealing the warehouse to be stacked high with giant boxes of various medical supplies. Bagpipe cranes her head back, surveying the contents of the storage room. 

“… All of these?” 

“Mhm. It would’ve been included as part of the regular shipment last month, but the guys over in the Medical Department changed something about the new formula that they’re developing, so these got delayed,” the girl explains. “Sorry for the trouble, Ms. Bagpipe.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Arkos… it’s a familiar name, although Bagpipe has yet to go and pay a visit there in person. It seems that she’ll finally be getting the opportunity now.

Arkos is not quite a city, exactly. It’s more of a collective –a gathering of various disparate individuals; a hub of mercenaries and traders alike, in addition to a small regular population that calls Arkos home. The small settlement is located in one of the more treacherous parts of the rugged terrain between Leithanien and Ursus, making it an excellent resting stop for any travelers.

But on the flipside: Arkos is located on dangerous terrain, and one must wonder how anyone had even thought to establish a settlement there in the first place. In a way, it’s genius, but it’s also insanity. Because Arkos is not a mobile city; if a Catastrophe ever came their way, then…

Well. Bagpipe assumes that there must be some manner of precautionary measures set in place. She’s never known Doctor Kal’tsit to invest in a sinking ship, after all, and the agreements signed between Rhodes Island and Arkos would not have been possible in the first place if the Director had not truly seen something in it.

According to the rumors, the first homes in Arkos had been built by their elusive founder and leader herself. Weary travelers had been allowed a place to rest, and none were turned away on basis of race or occupation, gradually leading to a motley collection of individuals who gathered together in the area as time passed.

… And at the same time, there were also rumors that those who dared to cause trouble in Arkos with any ill intentions were all met with violent, bloody ends, without exception. Also courtesy of their great and powerful leader.

Bagpipe is curious as to what the leader of Arkos is really like. Kal’tsit is the only one in Rhodes Island who’s ever met them in person before, and she’s very tight-lipped on the subject, which only adds to the mystery of it all.

[delilahcalicocat]

♠︎•~Sweetheart~•♣︎

{Rating: Smut}

{Warnings: Unprotected Sex, Rough Sex, Choking Kink, Oral Sex, mentions of crying, Use of Handcuffs and a Gag, Swearing, Hair pulling, Master/Princess Dynamic, Mentions of Blood/Injury}

{Pairing: Cody Rhodes x Fem!Reader}

♥︎《Summary: Y/N is in for it after Cody gets attacked by the Rock on Smackdown, She knows she'll have to be carried out of the house tomorrow..》♥︎

It was 8:17pm, Cody had just finished his segment. The rock had come out and cracked his face, his nose was bloody. Y/N sat backstage in Cody's Locker room.

Awaiting her beloved boyfriend.

He whipped open the door with Force, the title falling off his shoulder

"Let's go you little slut. Master needs to release some anger." He said, Dragging you towards the exit by the wrist.

You had a hold of his title in your left hand while he dragged you by your right wrist.

He for a lack of a better word, hurried you into the car.

As you sat in the passenger seat, you looked around the front of the car. You noticed Cody's Knuckles turning a bone white color from how hard he'd been gripping the wheel. You decided to of course, let your hand wander to his thigh, squeezing it a little

"Not now Sweetheart, I want to stay focused on the road." He spoke

You decided to keep going, letting your hand travel to his boxers this time. At the red light, he decided to look at you.

You'd never acted like this before, but here you were. Literally sucking his cock at a red light in a car.

You tried to keep yourself hidden from other drivers, but you also didn't want to make Cody loose focus on the road. Since this was a risky game you were playing..

He would occasionally at every other red light, place his hand on your head. Grabbing handfuls of your (H/C) Hair.

"Fuck.. just like that princess.." He said, watching you Bob your head up and down

Right at the red light to turn, he came. You sat back up, and fixed your hair and he adjusted himself.

You sat with your head out the window for a few minutes since you needed a little breather after the stunt you just pulled..

"Sorry for how The rock acted.. Sir..." You spoke quietly

"You don't need to apologize princess, it's not your fault.. it's his fault." He said

You sighed and went back to looking out the window of the car

You didn't wish to act out anymore. You couldn't risk it with the ticking time bomb next to you, who was driving.

——————————🥑——————————–

You both arrived home finally, Cody wasted no time Dragging you into the house. He took you up the stairs and sat you on the bed.

"Princess, what toys do want me to use tonight?" He asked

"I mean, in my opinion. It's hot when you handcuff me and pin me to the bed" you spoke quietly

"Alright, I guess you want the Handcuffs and the gag tonight." He said, pulling out a light blue heart gag with a matching Fluffy handcuff set

You felt your gulp catch in your throat when he pulled the items out.

Next thing you know, your pinned down to bed as you mentioned before. Handcuffed and gagged as he fucked you into the mattress.

You put your face down so the mattress would muffle your screaming, until Cody grabbed your hair and pulled your face out of the mattress.

"Pl-Please... M-Master.. I'm g-gonna.." You weakly spoke through the gag.

"Hold it princess, I know you can. Be a good little girl." He commanded

You focused on something besides your impending orgasm, your legs began to feel fuzzy from how hard Cody had been fucking up into you.

"M-Master... Please... I'm gonna-" You tried to speak, but the gag cut you off

"A few more minutes princess, then you can cum" He said firmly

You felt the need to cry, but you couldn't. You would be in trouble with Cody.

He finally came, and you came after him..

Your legs were sore.. it was the 8th round of the night at that point. You couldn't do anything, Cody had you pinned down still.

You felt like he'd gone feral or something after that attack..

After multiple hours of sweat and tears, Cody and you snuggled after you cleaned up.

"I didn't hurt you, right princess?" He asked

You nodded and snuggled closer to his chest

You both then fell asleep

It was to your dismay, the next morning you found Cody's handprint around your throat, from when he was almost choking you, not really hurting you.

"Fuck.." You sighed, touching the print.

"Sweetheart? Oh.. shit.." He said noticing the print

"Hand me my concealer and foundation. I just gotta hope I don't sweat." You spoke

He handed you both items and you got to work covering the mark, you set it with some powder and then stood up.

You both walked out the door and to the car, now you just have to hope your special doesn't fall off your wrist since it's dirty..

"Daddy's Princess" and the inside... "Daddy's little cum slut" ..

Maybe you should've left it home..

[sixminutestoriesblog]

Mercy Brown: when superstitions go awry

Tuberculosis is an insidious disease that comes in quietly and sweeps away entire families, rarely content with just one or two before its run its course. This slowly dividing bacteria travels from host to host through aerosol droplets via sneezing, coughing, speaking and other airborne paths. Considering the fact that TB attacks the lungs most often, resulting in, among other things, coughing up bloody phlegm, this means its highly transmissible and yet, luckily, very slow to be caught by the average passer-by. The longer someone spends with the sick person, and the less well ventilated an area is, the more likely the disease is to pass on to the next victim. Most people that came down with TB caught it from sick family members. These days we have a vaccine against it but TB has been around for most of humanities' recorded history, with even Egyptian mummies having been found with physical evidence of it. In Victorian (and later) times the disease was referred to as 'consumption' with little understanding of its source or its cause, an unknown horror that seemed to come from nowhere, prey on an entire family or community and than vanish again just as mysteriously.

In 1883 (or 1884 or 1888 -the dates are all over the place), a woman in Exeter, Rhode Island by the name of Mary Eliza died of 'consumption'. Six months later, her oldest daughter, Mary Olive, joined her in the graveyard. The distraught husband, George, waited, one can only imagine, with terror for the rest of their children to be swept away as well but for the next several years, all was well in the family. Then, in the cold months at the end of 1891, his daughter Mercy Lena came down with consumption.

From our place, safely in the future, we can look at the case and wonder if she was exposed to a new strain that finally found a weak spot the previous one hadn't and laid claim to her. It's entirely possible however that the same bacteria that killed her mother was now killing Mercy as well. Mercy might have contracted what's known as latent TB from her mother, a case where the bacteria lies dormant in the system, the victim a benign carrier who can't infect others until something, usually an event that suppresses the immune system, triggers it into a full blow, active bought. Whatever the case, whether it was a new infection or the haunting family ghost of her mother's older one, Mercy, and her younger brother Edwin, both came down with active TB in 1891. Edwin, a teenager at the time, was sent to Colorado in the hopes it would heal him - but Mercy died in the first month of the new year, going the way of her mother and older sister before her to the grave. She was only 19.

The story should have stopped there.

I wouldn't be writing about this if it had.

Edwin returned from Colorado and his health continued to decline. Soon, if nothing changed, he would follow the majority of his family into the grave. The neighbors had a plan though. They just needed his father's permission.

What they proposed was that an evil entity was draining the life of the Brown family, picking them off one at a time and returning for each new victim. The evil that was killing the family - was a member of the family.

Here's where we get into the superstition part of things. If you read articles online about Mercy Brown you'll find the word 'vampire' thrown around a lot. It was the word used in the newspapers of the time, that caught wind of what the neighbors planned, and its also modern culture, thanks in large part to Bram Stroker's Dracula (there is speculation that his character of Lucy might have had its roots in stories he'd read about Mercy in the newspapers of his time. Dracula, remember, was published in 1897). A dark force, rising from the grave to suck the life out of its victims. Well, yes - and no. Modern vampires, the way we collectively view them now, with fangs and a hunger for blood, creeping around through windows and walking among us on our crowded nighttime streets is a new reskinning. During Mercy's time, and much much further back than that, the 'vampire' associated with disease like TB was much more nebulous. For many cultures, what was rising out of the grave to drain the life from its own family had more resemblance to an angry or hungry ghost, than a walking, talking monster. A distinction that, realistically, has no bearing on the end result but, metaphysically, the story changes. It becomes something personal, to the victim and the neighbors around the family, someone they knew in life, someone they watched die. It's the sorrow and the potential rage and absolutely the confusion of why it happened in the first place, rising like fog from the grave to whisper across the landscape, trying to take what it once had back to the cold of its tomb with it. It's the familiar knock of a friend at the door when the friend isn't there anymore. It's the smile you knew all the nineteen years of its life on the other side of the window on a moonless night. When the neighbors wanted to dig up Eliza, Olive and Mercy, there was the quiet whisper that traced back through a thousand ancestors into the far past of humanity that murmured that love doesn't die when the body does - and that that's terrifying, not comforting.

George, with his son dying, agreed to let the neighbors go digging up his family. Maybe he believed them, some accounts say he didn't, but whatever the case, he let them pull up the bodies of his dead loved ones out of their cold graves in the late winter and lay them out right there for testing. Mary Eliza and Mary Olive were safe. They were too rotted to be the hungry ghost that was trying to take young Edwin with it. Mercy however - Mercy, according to the reporter that was onsite to record all of this, looked far too fresh to be a two month old corpse. Her hair and nails had grown, her body looked unblemished, reports said her body had shifted since it had been laid out and, most damning of all, when her chest was cut open by the local doctor, her organs were found to still have blood in them. It wasn't important that Mercy's body had been in the ground during some of the coldest, and therefor most preserving, months of the year. They certainly didn't know about the buildup of gas in a body that can make it move or the way the skin shrinks and pulls back from nails and hair, making them seem to grow. No. What they saw was that Mercy wasn't content to travel into death alone. She wanted her baby brother to go with her.

So they burned her heart on a stone in the graveyard, put the ashes in a drink and had Edwin chug it down. In a move that dates back to, at least, Achilles desecrating Hector's body in the Iliad, you rob a ghost of its power by mangling the body that ties it to both this world, and its recognizable identity.

It didn't work. Within two months, Edwin was dead as well. The story however, lived on. Perhaps in Stoker's Dracula and certainly in the papers of the day. Mercy was, perhaps, the last body dug up in New England and given the 'vampire' treatment. She wasn't the only one however. There are at least six other recorded, and possibly other unmarked, instances during what came to be known as the New England Vampire Panic that swept the upper US during the 1800s. Mercy, at this point, seems to be the last, coming in on the tail end of the old century and the beginning of the new. A last flicker of the old superstitions dying out in the face of rising science.

[whencyclopedia]

Battle of Cowpens

The Battle of Cowpens (17 January 1781) was a decisive battle in the southern theater of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). It saw a detachment of Continental soldiers and Patriot militia under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat a British force under Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton. The battle helped lead to the end of British domination in the American South.

Background

On 2 December 1780, Major General Nathanael Greene rode into the American military camp at Charlotte, North Carolina. A 38-year-old Quaker from Rhode Island, Greene had been entrusted by General George Washington to take charge of the remnants of the Southern Department of the Continental Army after its disastrous defeat at the Battle of Camden (16 August 1780). What Greene found at Charlotte was less an army than a rugged gathering of 1,400 disheartened men. The troops were undersupplied, underfed, and lacked clothing. Several men sat huddled around the campfires practically naked, with only rags or blankets to protect them from the elements. Many of the soldiers stirred themselves only to plunder the surrounding countryside for food, and the officers had grown jaded enough not to care. It was a ghastly display of dejection that must have reminded Greene of the state of the main army at Valley Forge three winters before.

It was not hard to see why the army was in such a depressed state. The Americans had suffered nothing but defeat since the British had first invaded the American South in late 1778. Having grown frustrated with their unsatisfactory military campaigns in the North, the British had shifted their focus to the South, which was rumored to be replete with Loyalists as well as the source of much of the United States' commercial wealth. The capture of the South, it was believed, would not only cut the United States in two but also cripple its ability to keep fighting. The British implemented their so-called 'southern strategy' in December 1778 by seizing Savannah, Georgia; the following year, a Franco-American attempt to retake the city failed, and Georgia became the first state to fall back under British control. In May 1780, the British won the Siege of Charleston, taking the largest and most important city in the entire South. Under the command of Lord Charles Cornwallis, the British then set about pacifying the rest of South Carolina. This sparked a bloody regional civil war, as the state's Patriot and Loyalist militias brutalized one another in the South Carolina backcountry. The southern Continental Army, under General Horatio Gates, had tried to retake the state but had been decisively defeated at Camden.

Now, as Greene took over command of the depleted army from Gates, he realized the monumental task that rested upon his shoulders. Should he fail, there would be nothing to prevent Cornwallis from conquering North Carolina and Virginia, completing the British 'southern strategy'. Greene was a cautious commander who pursued a 'Fabian strategy'. That is, he tried to avoid fighting any pitched battle that he was not sure he could win, instead wearing the enemy down through attrition and guerilla fighting, striking only when he spotted vulnerability. The Patriot militias already operating in South Carolina could serve this purpose well; Greene hoped that they could keep the British distracted long enough for him to whip his army into shape and maybe find new recruits. However, he would need someone he could rely on to go down into South Carolina and keep the militias supplied and organized. As it happened, Greene already had just the man in mind.

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