#G Posthumously

[duckapus]

Here's a "fun" idea: Given how she managed to become a Code-Level Entity (and with an Admin designation no less!) by taking over Byte's body, it's entirely possible that after her defeat Gohma ended up as disembodied code after her defeat rather than just dying. She is one of the most reoccurring bosses in the LoZ series after all, so an "I always come back" moment wouldn't be unheard of. However, unlike Juliano's situation before Vitality managed to find him, Gohma's code is still whole, it just lacks a physical form since she's a parasite, not a programmer or character designer, so she needs to take the model of someone or something else rather than being able to create her own.

So she ends up drifting around aimlessly, looking for a new host and Learning about the digital multiverse, when she happens to end up in The Grid's systems (this is likely before Tartarus and Olympus get brought online) and finds out about their plan to turn Tears of the Kingdom into the first of their line of SMG knockoffs, and hey, doesn't that game have Marbled Gohma in it? And can't you find and refight the four temple bosses, including Marbled Gohma, down in the Depths as many times as you want for their material drops?

Really, a large, powerful, infinitely respawning version of herself in a game that's about to get connected to the multiverse is just too good an opportunity to pass up. Even if it does mean getting a second dose of the SMG Meme Wave when that "MRU" program comes online.

[lettemon]

Len (2006-2022)

Ena

Markers on paper

2021

Mutre's comment: Len really liked Ena (webseries by Joel G.). They had a ring tone of the "no no no no" line. Right now my other kid is into Ena, so I'm showing him all the drawings Len made, because there's more than one. This may be the first one.

[jewish-microwave-laser]

And here is the most devastating fact of Frank's posthumous success, which leaves her real experience forever hidden: we know what she would have said, because other people have said it, and we don't want to hear it.

The line most often quoted from Frank's diary are her famous words, "I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart." These words are "inspiring," by which we mean that they flatter us. They make us feel forgiven for those lapses of our civilization that allow for piles of murdered girls—and if those words came from a murdered girl, well, then, we must be absolved, because they must be true. That gift of grace and absolution from a murdered Jew (exactly the gift that lies at the heart of Christianity) is what millions of people are so eager to find in Frank's hiding place, in her writings, in her "legacy." It is far more gratifying to believe that an innocent dead girl has offered us grace than to recognize the obvious: Frank wrote about people being "truly good at heart" before meeting people who weren't. Three weeks after writing those words, she met people who weren't.

Here's how much some people dislike living Jews: they murdered 6 million of them. This fact bears repeating, as it does not come up at all in Anne Frank's writings. Readers of her diary are aware that the author was murdered in a genocide, but this does not mean that her diary is a work about genocide. If it were, it is unlikely that it would have been anywhere near as universally embraced.

We know this, because there is no shortage of writings from victims and survivors who chronicled this fact in vivid detail, and none of those documents have achieved anything like Frank's diary's fame. Those that have come close have only done so by observing those same rules of hiding, the ones that insist on polite victims who don't insult their persecutors The work that came closest to achieving Frank's international fame might be Elie Wiesel's Night, a memoir that could be thought of as a continuation of Frank's diary, recounting the tortures of a fifteen-year-old imprisoned in Auschwitz. As the scholar Naomi Seidman has discussed, Wiesel first published his memoir in Yiddish, under the title And the World Was Silent. The Yiddish book told the same story told in Night, but it exploded with rage against his family's murderers and, as the title implies, the entire world whose indifference (or active hatred) made those murders possible. With the help of the French Catholic Nobel laureate François Mauriac, Wiesel later published a French version under the new title La Nuit—a work that repositioned the young survivor's rage into theological angst. After all, what reader would want to hear about how this society had failed, how he was guilty? Better to blame G[-]d. This approach earned Wiesel a Nobel Peace Prize, as well as, years later, selection for Oprah's Book Club, the American epitome of grace. It did not, however, make teenage girls read his book in Japan, the way they read Frank's. For that he would have had to hide much, much more.

from "Everyone's (Second) Favorite Dead Jew" in People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn, pp 9–10

[usafphantom2]

2nd September 1937. First flight of the Grumman XF4F fighter, which would become known as the Wildcat. Its performance was initially inferior to the rival Brewster Buffalo, and the aircraft required an extensive redesign before being put into production. Despite this unpromising beginning, the Wildcat would prove crucial in the early stages of the Pacific war. Though less manoeuvrable than the Japanese Zero, it was well armed, rugged and a capable adversary in the hands of a skilled pilot.

The Wildcat’s first combat sorties were actually flown by the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm. Named Martlet in British use until 1944, the type’s first victory was a Junkers 88 over Scapa Flow on Christmas Day 1940. Martlets went on to serve successfully on the first Royal Navy escort carrier, HMS Audacity, in 1941. They continued in this role until the end of the war, scoring their final victories in Fleet Air Arm service by shooting down four Bf 109s in March 1945.

Wildcats first flew in combat against the Japanese during the attempt to take Wake Island in early December 1941. Four Marine F4Fs mounted a heroic defence, breaking up several air attacks as well as sinking a destroyer and submarine with 100lb bombs before the island finally fell on 23rd December. Wildcats served in all the key early engagements of the Pacific war, including Coral Sea, Midway and the defence of Guadalcanal.

Wildcats quickly established a reputation for toughness, able to absorb far more punishment than their Japanese opponents, and had an impressive kill/loss ratio. Wildcats were credited with destroying over 1,000 Japanese aircraft for 178 aerial losses, 24 to anti-aircraft fire, and 49 to operational causes. One Navy and seven Marine Corps pilots would earn the Medal of Honor in Wildcats.

In early 1943, Wildcat production was taken over by General Motors under the designation FM-1 and later the improved FM-2. Though replaced by the more powerful Hellcat on American fleet carriers during that year, the Wildcat’s small size and light weight made it ideal for use on escort and light carriers. With the addition of folding wings, they were well suited to the limited hangar and deck space available.

As in Royal Naval service, they remained in use until the end of the war. For example, during the battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944, Wildcats mounted strafing runs against Japanese warships, helping to buy time for their parent escort carriers to escape.

Pictured:

1) First prototype Grumman XF4F-2 in flight. Note the cowling machine guns, forward radio antenna mast and telescopic gunsight, none of which featured on production models.

📷 thisdayinaviation.com

2) Grumman Martlet of 888 Squadron NAS warming up on board HMS Formidable prior to takeoff.

📷 IWM (A 11640)

3) Wrecked Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighters of Marine Fighting Squadron 211 (VMF-211), photographed by by the Wake airstrip sometime after the Japanese captured the island on 23rd December 1941. The plane in the foreground, 211-F-11, was flown by Captain Henry T. Elrod during the 11th December attacks that sank the Japanese destroyer Kisaragi. Damaged beyond repair at that time, 211-F-11 was subsequently used as a source of parts to keep other planes operational. Elrod received a posthumous Medal of Honor after leading a beach defence unit during the final Japanese assault.

📷 NHHC 80-G-179006

4) FM-2 Wildcat over the escort carrier USS Santee during the Leyte landings on 20th October. Santee would survive a kamikaze attack and a torpedo hit from a Japanese submarine 5 days later.

📷 NHHC 80-G-287594

@JamieMctrusty via X

[steellegacy]

⚜️ Broadsword of Oliver Cromwell, England, c. 1650

Medium: Iron alloy (steel), partially engraved; chiseled; silver wire; wood

Length (overall): 96.8 cm

Blade: 82.6×4.9 cm

Hilt: 12.9×11.7 cm

Pommel: Height-5.4 cm, Diameter-3.3 cm

Weight: 1405 g

Facts:

▪️ August 9, 1655 - Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell divides England into 11 districts

▪️ Cromwell is an iconic figure in British history

▪️ He was a key figure in the trial and execution of King Charles I

▪️ He has the peculiar distinction of being the only political criminal to be executed two years after his death

Cromwell was exhumed from his grave in 1661 and put on trial by the late king's son, Charles II. Posthumously convicted of high treason, Cromwell's corpse was hanged and beheaded, and his head was impaled on a 6-meter spike atop Westminster Hall. The mummified head remained on the spike for more than 20 years

▪️ In 1960 (300 years after Cromwell's death), Dr. Horace Wilkinson donated the head to Sidney Sussex College at Cambridge, Cromwell's alma mater

"Cromwell's head is buried somewhere in the college chapel, supposedly in a biscuit tin" (says Stuart Orme, curator of the Cromwell Museum)

▪️ Cromwell's most famous quote is "Put your trust in God, my boys, and keep your powder dry," but there's no proof that he actually said it. The line comes from a 19th-century poem called "Oliver's Advice" based on a "well-authenticated anecdote" associated with Cromwell

▪️ September 3 is a fateful date: Cromwell routed the Scots at Dunbar (1650). The Battle of Worcester would prove to be the final action of the English Civil Wars (1651). Cromwell's first Parliament met on 3rd September, 1654.

▪️ Cromwell died suddenly at age 59 on 3rd September 1658. He suffered from a lethal combination of malaria and typhoid fever.

- -

⚜️ Палаш Оливера Кромвеля, Англия, ок. 1650

Материалы: сталь, гравировка; серебряная проволока; дерево

Длина (общая): 96,8 см

Лезвие: 82,6×4,9 см

Рукоять: 12,9×11,7 см

Навершие: высота-5,4 см, диаметр-3,3 см.

Вес: 1405 г

Факты:

▪️ 9 августа 1655 г. Лорд-протектор Оливер Кромвель делит Англию на 11 округов

▪️ Оливер Кромвель - человек, повлиявший на ход истории Англии

▪️ Он был ключевой фигурой в судебном процессе и казни короля Карла I

▪️ Известен тем, что является единственным политическим преступником, казненным через 2 года после своей смерти. Был эксгумирован в 1661 г. и предан суду сыном покойного короля Карлом II. Посмертно осужденный за государственную измену, труп Кромвеля был повешен и обезглавлен, а его голова была пронзена 6-метровым штырем. Мумифицированная голова оставалась на крыше Вестминстерского дворца более 20 лет

▪️ В 1960 г. (через 300 лет после смерти Кромвеля) доктор Гораций Уилкинсон пожертвовал его голову колледжу Сидни Сассекс в Кембридже, альма-матер Кромвеля.

"Голова Кромвеля похоронена где-то в часовне колледжа, предположительно в банке из-под печенья" (Стюарт Орм, куратор музея Кромвеля)

▪️ Самая известная цитата Кромвеля: "Уповайте на Бога, мальчики мои, и держите порох сухим", но нет никаких доказательств того, что он действительно это сказал. Эта строка взята из стихотворения XIX в. под названием "Совет Оливера", основанного на "достоверном анекдоте", связанном с Кромвелем

▪️ 3 сентября - роковая дата Кромвеля. В этот день он одержал победу на�� шотландцами при Данбаре (1550), разгромил отряды Карла I в Вустере (1651). Первое заседание созданного Кромвелем парламента (1654), после чего этот день был объявлен Днем благодарения.

▪️ Умер 3 сентября 1658 г. в возрасте 59 лет от малярии и брюшного тифа

#кромвель #Cromwell #Broadsword #палаш #меч #вооружение #armsandarmor

[acrossthewavesoftime]

"My compliments to all the family except for Lott[e]."

Charlotte Philiberthe von Nassau-Beverweerd (1649-1702) (detail); created between 1675 and 1694, though the hairstyle would suggest a date in the 1670s; in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.

For Valentine's day, here's a tale of a romance that did not quite turn out as expected, but left a string of interesting documents.

Let's picture the scene: you're in love. Who do you tell? Well, obviously, you might confide the butterflies in your belly to your best friend, and it just so happens that the lady who's quite turned your head is a distant cousin of his.

This is the situation one Hans Willem Bentinck (1649-1709) found himself in during January and February 1675. His crush was Charlotte Philiberthe von Nassau-Beverweerd, a distant relation (their grandfathers were half-brothers) of his closest friend, then-Stadtholder of the United Provinces and future King of England William III (1650-1702).

William III of Orange and Hans Willem Bentinck; dated to 1676. Collection of Stichting Kasteel Amerongen, via RKD Research.

William interceded on his best friend's behalf, and seems to have taken "Lotte", as he called her, aside when the latter, living with one of her sisters who had married an English noble, paid a visit to the Netherlands.

The Stadtholder, who was friends with Lotte as she was one of the few people who would engage him in some good, old-fashioned banter and, her love for a good joke aside, was an extremely intelligent conversationalist, made her promise to give a reply as to what he should tell his best friend; but that reply never came and so, William, writing to Lotte's brother-in-law, Thomas Butler, the 6th Earl of Ossory (1634-1680), with whom she lived, added a few P.S.-s to his usual (largely political) letters to Ossory:

In late January or early February, William wrote to Ossory:

(P. S.) I beg of you to tell Lott[e] that, all her cruelty aside, I love her with all my heart, and to reproach her that she has neither written, nor even replied to my letter, as she had promised when we parted. I also hope that she will soon declare herself on that which she had promised me to think on when we parted, for Bentinck is very impatient to know how he stands, which seems very reasonable to me. G.*

(* In case you're wondering why William, or Willem in Dutch, signed as "G.", in his private correspondence: it's the abbreviation of the French equivalent of his name, Guillaume.)

However, it looks like Lotte was still ghosting both Bentinck and William, because he signed another letter to Ossory, datable to February 1675, off as follows:

My compliments to all the family except for Lott[e]. G.

A third letter to Ossory lastly mentions Lotte in March 1675:

(P. S.) I beg of you to assure Madame the Countess [of Ossory] of my very humble services, and [Lotte] as well, regardless of my not having any reason to be pleased with her. G.

One imagines that William may have taken his best friend aside and told him to forget about Lotte. Sadly, we have no information on how Lotte reacted to these messages.

If there is anything to be taken from this tale of historical heartbreak, it is that this sort of thing happens. If this Valentine's Day you find yourself unhappy because you're celebrating it alone and rather would not to, remember that you're not alone. Maybe also talk to your best friend, even if they're not a powerful noble in charge of a country.

Oh, and don't be a Lotte and ghost someone with an (romantic) interest in you. Just tell them in polite, but no uncertain terms that you're not into them.

From a historian's perspective, I find it fascinating how the Lotte-letters to Ossory highlight a part of William III's personality that is largely overlooked; posthumously often regarded as a guarded, almost robotically emotionless man, the young William in his early 20s who tries to play cupid for his best friend and adopts a very domestic tone in his missives going so far as to utilise nicknames paints a rather different picture.

Lotte was evidently forgiven, because she became a member of William and Mary's court, and briefly served under Anne as well. She never married, and her motives for doing so have been lost to history.

As for Hans Willem Bentinck, he met a woman called Anne Villiers (1651-1688) two and a half years later: she was, her mother having been the governess of William's bride Princess Mary, the future Mary II, a sort of sisterly figure to the Princess, and the two met through the marriage of their friends/employers. Contrary to William and Mary, for whom love only developed gradually in the aftermath of a fairly traumatic arranged marriage (especially on the then-15-year-old Mary's part), for Anne and Hans Willem Bentinck, their romance was much more organic: they fell in love at their workplace, so to say. To crown their personal happy end, William III stepped in to provide Anne, who was of a respectable family, yet had no fortune to speak of, with a dowry.

For the letters from William to Ossory, see: Japikse, Nicolaas [ed.]: Correspondentie van Willem III en van Hans Willem Bentinck (1927-1935), Vol. II, ii, letters 4, 15 and 16.

[monarch-afterdark]

Titan History: Camazotz

Welcome once again to Monarch: After Dark, the digital gateway between you and the organisation dedicated to understanding and navigating this troubled new world we live in.

For today's communication, we look to a Titan whose awakening was foretold by ancient legend, said to be the beginning of darkness falling upon the world; the demonic lord of the night, Camazotz.

(Pictured above: Artistic pinup of Camazotz, courtesy of Outpost 33's chief expedition manager, Mohammad "Zid" Yazid)

Monarch Database File: Camazotz

Monarch Designation: Titanus Camazotz

Height: 164 feet

Wingspan: 402 feet

Nature: Bio-Sonic

Behavioural Classification: Destroyer

-----

"A darkness will swallow the world, and the King of the Deep will rise and rise, and the sun will die on his tongue..."

The above quote, an English translation of an ancient Iwi prophecy, does well to invoke the fear that Camazotz plants deep in the hearts of those who hear it. A giant bat, with torn wings decorated with lethal spikes, demonic horns and fangs, and an armour-plated body, Camazotz is sure to be almost exactly how one would envision him upon hearing about him.

A nocturnal tyrant, only emerging under cover of darkness to claim the land for his own, Camazotz does not act on his own. A Titan ruler in his own right, Camazotz commands an army of draconic bat-like minions that will swarm his enemies and tear them apart at his behest, or battle smaller opponents while Camazotz brawls with his main quarry.

(Artistic depiction of Camazotz and his minions battling G-Team pilots over San Diego, circa. 2019)

Camazotz has his roots deep in mythology, menacing humanity for thousands of years. On Skull Island, Camazotz is a beast of the night that lurks within the Hollow Earth, waiting for darkness to fall upon the island so that he can rise to conquer it. Some evidence uncovered by Monarch suggests that a temple dedicated to Camazotz rests somewhere in the Hollow Earth, complete with its own clan of bat-worshippers and a temple guardian who defends the territory in Camazotz's absence.

During the Monster Zero crisis, Camazotz awakened over San Diego, where he battled with G-Team fighter pilots alongside his army of minions. Following the battle, Camazotz retreated to Hollow Earth, waiting beneath Skull Island for his time to rise.

In 2021, Monster Zero seemed to posthumously grant Camazotz his desire. A storm generated by Monster Zero in the Pacific merged with the perpetual storm system surrounding Skull Island, plunging the island into darkness and chaos. Camazotz readily seized his opportunity and emerged from the vortex beneath the island.

(Pictured above: G-Team pilot Audrey Burns creating a sonic boom in front of Camazotz's face to disorient him, circa. 2021)

Camazotz did battle with Kong, the Titan guardian of Skull Island, aided by his hellish army. The two Titans fought viciously, though Camazotz's aerial superiority granted him the advantage over the landlocked Kong.

A daring plan by G-Team pilot Audrey Burns, who had been mentally scarred by Camazotz in 2019, was put into place to disorient him long enough for Kong to turn the tide of battle. Facing her fears head-on and refusing to back down, Burns triggered a sonic boom in the demon-bat's face, disorienting him long enough for Kong to take victory, banishing Camazotz back from whence he came by punching him back down into the Hollow Earth.

While Skull Island was quickly rendered uninhabitable in the aftermath of the battle, Monarch believe quite firmly that Camazotz is still alive, biding his time until he can strike again. To date, Monarch have yet to authorise the expedition into Hollow Earth to locate Camazotz's temple.

-----

And there you go! Camazotz is almost certainly a terrifying prospect, and the idea of him lurking deep in the Hollow Earth sends chills down Monarch's spine. While the Hollow Earth can take solace in having Kong as its protector, the outcome of their rematch will remain to be seen...

Until next time,

Monarch: After Dark

[aihoshiino]

hey please do tell us about those ai hoshino crossover ships please i too want to see my girl happy and well and loved and doted on please

i need you to know that I've been holding onto this (& another related ask) as the motivation to power through the Oshi no Anons that were sitting in my inbox and I am so incredibly delighted to finally get to answer it lol. Before I turn off my cringe inhibitors tho I thought it would be fun to talk about my Ai romance headcanons and what I like in an Ai ship because lbr when am I ever really gonna get an opportunity to ramble about that again with the way this manga is going……….

Anyway! Ai, as I write her, primarily gravitates towards being attracted to men mostly just as a result of being socialized in a cisheteronormative society but I certainly don't read her as straight! That said, I also hesitate to label her and I don't think she would be able to put a label on herself either, for a whole lot of reasons! But from my perspective as a writer, this is primarily because what Ai looks for in other people, above and beyond anything else, is acceptance. She says herself in 45510;

"I want [people] to know about the dirty parts, my rough edges, and all the rest, and I want them to say that it’s okay. That they accept me."

Ai is a character so utterly starved of love that I think gender is kind of secondary to the purehearted desire to have someone just... accept her and be kind to her. I think if a person came along and gave her that wholehearted acceptance even after seeing her at her dirtiest most unpolished self, gender would be in no way a barrier to that relationship. In fact, my original read of the HKAI relationship was that Ai threw herself into romance with him specifically because Hikaru had the potential to be that person for her but it sadly just didn't work out… or at least, Ai felt like it didn't work out.

Anyway, that acceptance is pretty foundational to any kind of Ai ship I like to write, but I've found that it's important for that acceptance to be... I guess the word would be informed and it can't come from a person who is just uncomplicatedly, unconditionally accepting of everyone. Ai does not see herself as a 'good' person, so if faced with someone who is (or someone she perceives as such) I think she would struggle a lot with feeling 'safe' in opening up to them and letting them see her true self. Ai's salvation can't ever come from somebody telling her she isn't bad, dirty, impure and all the other awful things she thinks about herself because she will never feel any sense of security that she won't be rejected if that ever changes. Love, for Ai, is a person seeing her most wretched and unacceptable self, her self hate and avoidance and everything about her she thinks is filthy and wrong, and actively choosing to accept her as she is, warts and all.

Related to that, I also really enjoy writing ships for Ai from an angle of like… reclamation of her body & her sexuality. I've talked about this too many times to count in my metas but there's this very strong underlying current in Ai's arc of self-directed shame and self-hate in relation to her sexuality that fuels perception of herself as 'dirty' and 'impure' - all because she is a person who wants and enjoys sex. I really enjoy getting to have Ai work through that specific hangup with a partner who loves her - not from the angle of 'of course you're not dirty' but 'even if you are, I want you anyway'.

I guess what it ultimately comes down to is that any important relationship I would want to write for Ai (romantic or otherwise) would need to center humanization for Ai. So much of her arc in the series, even posthumously, is about her screaming for anybody to recognize her as a human being and the ongoing tragedy of OnK is just how many people not just fail but actively refuse to do so even when it's right in front of their eyes.

Anyway, that's all the Deep, Thematic Stuff (tm) out of the way so for a shotgun round let's go for pure vibes and dynamics I like!!

Iirc I've said this before but a couple's moment to moment chemistry is really important to me when it comes to getting invested in a ship and the stronger of a rapport they have, the more I will go crazy for it. If they can't banter back and forth and relentlessly tease each other, I don't wanna hear about it!!!

This goes triple for Ai because I think her slightly cheeky sense of humor coming out when she's comfortable with someone is soooo cute... having a partner she can banter with while they pick on each other is peak to me.

I think I did lay down a more concrete Thing of dynamics I like for her somewhere, so let's see if I can dig that out...

Ai works well as the lighter, cheerier contrast in a good cheery loves grumpy/silly loves serious dynamic but with the fun oh you're a little bit fucked up actually undercurrent. I particularly like comfy, domestic dynamics (since Ai describes herself as having longed for a family her whole life) but I'm also really into slightly darker takes on this, with Ai's desire for love and companionship leading her into relationships with characters who have obsessive/possessive/yan streaks. I also love playing her against characters who also have facades/fake personas up or who otherwise do a whole lot of lying.

That last point is the one I think really Cooks My Brain over and above any other LOL. Characters who have really strong parallels with/similarities to Ai are like catnip for me. The central rapport and dynamic can vary up a lot but if the hook comes down to "characters who hate themselves encounter a person just like them and through falling in love, the two of them are able to accept & forgive each other and themselves" I will be insane about it until the end of time.

That was A LOT!!! of rambling and this post is getting very long huh…. I didn't even start on the actual part you asked lskfksks. I'll put the rest behind a cut partially because this post is log but mostly because I am a little embarrassed so you guys have to be niceys to me or I'll collapse into dust and particles.

now we're behind the cut I'M NOT TRAPPED IN HERE WITH YOU, YOU'RE TRAPPED IN HERE WITH ME!!!!!!

Most of my Ai ships are stuff I've written with friends where we've just kind of thrown characters we already were writing together and a ship happened… tho one of them is an example where I was like "I want to put these characters specifically in a salad spinner and see what happens" and then as it turns out, I was the one who got salad spun…

I think the two big ones that really cooked my brain are Ai with Rinne Amagi from the Ensemble Stars series and then Oberon from Fate/Grand Order. Both of them kind of hit that Brain Cooking Premise for me of being characters who are fundamentally the same type of person as Ai and how those similarities make them clash and conflict and cohere is suuuuuuuch a juicy premise for me to sink my teeth into.

For Ai & Rinne specifically I also will say they just had the baseline important Extremely Good Chemistry And Rapport as me and my friend were writing them… so not only was the juicy emotional stuff really good, they were just relentlessly teasing each other at all times and it was very cute. They also have a HUUUUUUGE difference in height & overall body size - Rinne is pretty tall and muscular and we all know how tiny and dainty Ai is that contrast is like, the ultimate form of moe to me……………… I actually am not really familiar with EnStars outside of just, osmosis of writing against my friends Rinne, so they were such a nice surprise and they are currently cooking my brain <3

Ai & Oberon are a bit different where that was like - because I'm also a huge FGO fan, I was super familiar with Oberon as a character and came out of his story chapter like. oh i NEED to write ai against this mfer. I don't wanna go toooooooooo into the specifics to not just dash LB6 spoilers everywhere but these two are a case where 'they are the same person' is VERY bad for Ai <3 This is definitely one of those ships I talked about where I think her desperation to be accepted can lead her into codependent and unhealthy dynamics and it's sooooooooo fucking good. Their issues and the things they want feed into each other so perfectly, it's one of those surprise crosscanon dynamics where like, I joked to a friend the other day that if this was an actual canon dynamic, I would probably find it a bit heavy handed LMFAO. But the beauty of it being a cross canon dynamic is that every time you find another parallel to mine, it's just fun and rewarding. I was also really shocked as we went through 15 Year Lie in OnK, because it kept paralleling and repeating some really eerily similar beats me & a friend had written between Ai and Oberon but between Ai and Hikaru... truly I felt like I was being pelted by the dodgeball of prophecy...

(Also, sidebar to fellow Grand Order Fuck Freaks: can you believe i was getting my brain juiced by the concept of ai and oberon and specifically ai as titania for like a whole year and then completely fucking forgot until i started rereading lb6 this week that not only is titania referred to with all the same star imagery as ai is in lb6 but she is talked about with the exact same language everyone talks about ai in oshi no ko. can somebody please help me)

Some other ships for Ai I've played and really enjoyed off the top of my head… Shou Tenkuubashi from Tokyo Aliens was like, the first character I bounced her off in a shippy capacity and I am still sooooooo deeply unwell about them. They're actually kind of unique from all my Ai ships because all the others are usually an adult Ai, but with Shou I write teen Ai. They hit on those 'fundamental similarities' I talked about where they're both abused, dehumanized kids who hate their bodies but are able to accept themselves by being accepted by someone else first……………… it's so juicy.

My friend Isa and I have also lightly cooked up a P5 AU for the purposes of playing Ai & Goro Akechi LOL. We haven't done a ton with it in practice just yet but we have a tooooooooooon of ideas and the dynamic we've chatted about them having is really fun. They actually also have a really similar energy to HKAI that predates 15YL lol, more in the specifics of "girl who is bad at articulating her emotions keeps accidentally destroying this fucked up boy w abandonment issues".

THERE'S LIKE A MILLION MORE…… I RP her so much that I end up with so many interesting platonic and romantic dynamics on my plate and I feel soooooooooo well fed as a result but I'll stop myself here otherwise I'll go on all day lol. SORRY THIS WAS SUCH A RAMBLE AND THAT IT TOOK SO LONG… I hope it itched your curiosity at least if nothing else

[lboogie1906]

Color Sergeant Andrew Jackson Smith (September 3, 1843 - March 4, 1932) was the last African American Civil War soldier to receive a Medal of Honor. He was born enslaved to Susan, an enslaved African American woman, and her white owner, Elijah Smith, in Lyon County, Kentucky. When his father enlisted in the Confederate army, intending to bring him as a servant, he and another enslaved ran away. After walking 25 miles through the rain, they arrived at a Union Army encampment in Smithland, Kentucky. They were admitted to the camp, to remain under the military’s protection, and became a servant to Major John Warner of the 41st Illinois Volunteer Regiment.

He witnessed the battle of Shiloh and sustained a minor injury from a spent bullet. While on a furlough in Illinois, he learned of President Lincoln’s decision to allow African American men to fight for the Union after the Emancipation Proclamation. He left the relative safety of Illinois, a free state, and enlisted with the 55th Massachusetts Colored Volunteers who would soon be sent south.

On November 30, 1864, as part of the Savannah Campaign led by General William T. Sherman, the 55th and other Union regiments engaged Confederate forces at Honey Hill in South Carolina. When an exploding shell killed his unit’s color bearer, he picked up the battle flags and carried them for the rest of the battle. He exposed himself to enemy fire by carrying the flags. He was promoted to color sergeant.

He moved to Eddyville, Kentucky, where he purchased land. Dr. Burt G. Wilder, the 55th Massachusetts surgeon, undertook efforts in the following years to get Smith recognition for his bravery at Honey Hill. He was nominated for the Medal of Honor, but the nomination was denied due to a lack of official reports about his actions. Likely due to suffering an injury early in the battle, the regimental commander had not mentioned his heroism in the battle report. On March 4, 1932,

In 2001, President Bill Clinton presented a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor to his descendants in an official ceremony at the White House. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[kickmag]

Throwback: Digital Underground-The Humpty Dance

"The Humpty Dance" is the second single from Digital Underground's first album, Sex Packets. Shock G produced the thick whirling beat using three samples of songs by Sly and The Family Stone and Parliament plus a kick drum, snares, bass, guitar, and hi-hats. George Clinton's Sirnosedevoidofunk alter ego inspired Shock G's Humpty Hump character. Sir Nose had a big nose and was in distress about being forced to dance. Humpty's backstory was that Edward Ellington Humphrey III was the lead singer of the group Smooth Eddie and the Humpers who became a rapper after somehow burning his nose in an accident with a deep fryer, hence the fake nose. Humpty Hump is a ladies' man, and the whole song is about his encounters with various women, most famously one he met in a Burger King restroom. Shock G not only wrote, produced and performed the song, but he also drew the artwork for all of their releases. Digital Underground was another bridge between funk and hip-hop that was made easier thanks to George Clinton's early understanding and acceptance of sampling and hip-hop. Tupac Shakur made one of his earliest public appearances in the background of the hilarious video. 

"The Humpty Dance" updated those grooves for Gen X, who had a seamless understanding of Digital Underground because they had grown up listening to Clinton on the radio. P-Funk's profound influence on West Coast hip-hop was being shown in contrast to New York rap, which relied more on soul samples. The single charted well, making No. 1 on the Rap Singles chart, Top Ten on the R&B chart, and Top 40 on the pop chart, but despite its heavy popularity and influence it was not nominated for any awards. Today, "The Humpty Dance" is celebrated as one of the most creative and eminent songs in hip-hop and of the era. Artists have sampled "The Humpty Dance" over 100 times in other songs and Shock G's left-field approach to hip-hop is a precursor to California rap weirdo Tyler, The Creator.  Shock G's The Piano Man album of solo piano improvisations was posthumously released on TNT Recordings after his 2021 passing. 

[jknerd]

DISNEY STUDIO AU: Glory B

Full Name: Glory B Goof

Other Names: Glory B, Mrs. Goof, The Pretty Woman

Schools: Acme Middle School (graduated), S. Symphony High School (graduated)

Occuaption(s): Lead vocalist of Wings’ Winks (retired), actress (retired), musician (retired), housewife

Residence: Spoonerville, Ohio

Family: Bliss Wings (older sister), Jolly Wings (younger sister), George G. Goof (husband), George G. Goof Jr (son), Maxine Goof (daughter), Debbie (niece; from Bliss), Gloria Goof (granddaughter), 

Relationships: Peg Pete (best friend), Mina “Minnie” Mouse (friend), Daisy Amelia Duck (friend), Horace Horsecollar (friend), Michael “Mickey” Mouse (best friend), Donald Fauntleroy Duck (best friend), The Beagle Boys (acquaintances; occasionally friends), Peter Pete (acquaintance)

Likes: Singing, dancing, spending time with her family, watching her daughter singing or dancing

Dislikes: Her husband’s clumsiness endangering himself, her husband’s facade smile, dishonesty

Abilities/Talents: Her husky middle to low yet soft singing voice, dancing skills, charm & beauty, domestic arts

Glory B. Goof (née Wings) is Goofy’s late wife, deceased mother of Jr and Maxine. During her years from mid teens to early 20s, she was a lead vocalist of girl group “Wings’ Winks” consisting with her and her two sisters; Bliss (the rapper) and Jolly (sub-vocalist). Unlike her globally famous husband, she and her sisters were locally, or in States-only, popular. However, her voice was most recognizable among fans; having a husky, middle-to-low, yet smooth singing voice with fluency of high key when necessary. And this singing voice was inherited to her daughter Maxine.

Through childhood to teen years, Glory was in strong friendship with Peg who was a popular cheerleader during that time. When Goofy attended Walt Disney University of Performing Arts, he met Gloria who was active as lead vocalist of “Wings’ Wink” and the two gradually fell in love. When he completed the 3 years of studies, he heard a news of her pregnancy from her two sisters as Bliss was not above attempting to maul him with nailed baseball bat. Her agency decided to keep her pregnancy secret from the rest of world as she was helped by her sisters, Peg, Minnie, Daisy, Clarabelle and Goofy. After giving birth to Jr, she resumed to her signing career but at the same time able to spend time with her new family. Years went by, she gave birth to a daughter named Maxine. However, the tragedy strikes in her daughter’s 5th Birthday when Glory was on her way home with a birthday present Maxine wanted. Then, she was critically injured from car accident. Although she was hospitalized right away, she died next day causing Maxine to never wish for anything in her birthdays. To put a salt on Goof’s family and her friends, the wave of paparazzis barged in the funeral site for the scoop of her death, disrespecting her death. Luckily, Pete and his wife Peg were able to drive them away in anger. The second disrespect the press made was creating a tabloid about Goofy and Clarabelle’s relationship alleged to be romantic despite not knowing Goofy was married to Glory B, which caused Maxine to develop disgust towards the world of entertainment, believing it to be toxic. The relationship between Jr and Maxine got strained when teenaged Jr blurted out his blame on Maxine for their mother’s death, even though he didn’t meant it. They never spoke each other until Maxine become a high schooler as he and Goofy wishes to reconnect and bond with her by vacation. During emotional confrontation as Maxine angrily asked why they would bother when she was the one responsible for the death of mother, Goofy said he never blamed his daughter as Jr apologized for the words he told her, finally reconciling Even now, Glory B is remembered as talented singer to her fans, loving wife and mother to Goofy and their children.

Glory B was mentioned again in Maxine’s college years as her songs has been posthumously released, gaining popularity among the young fans. Maxine’s view on entertainment has been less hostile as she have seen how several celebrities admire her mother as musician (even the Beagle Boys who were too flustered to admit). When Maxine’s family got a copyrights over Glory’s songs, Maxine decided to sing a cover of them, which caused a wide popularity, pushing her to the steps to world of entertainment her parents walked to. When Sylvia Marpole dates Goofy, she grew curious of how Jr and Maxine’s mother was like and was surprised to learn of her identity. Yet, she occasionally visits Glory’s grave to pay her respect and talk about how Goofy and his children are doing. Later, when married Jr got a daughter, he named her after his mother; Gloria.

[harryjamespotterweek]

HJP Week 2023 - Masterlist Part 2

Harry had a ball with all your wonderful creations! Thanks to everyone who participated. 🥳🥳🥳

This is the masterlist post in which all entries submitted across all platforms will be listed. There are art, fics, podfics and book bindings! If you prefer to view by prompts, check out the roundup post here.

The AO3 collection will stay open till the end of the year for any late submissions. If you want the blog to reblog your work on Tumblr, please tag @harryjamespotterweek and #hjpweek2023. 

This has been a wonderful week! Thanks for joining me in showing some love to our favorite birthday boy! ❤️❤️❤️

Masterlist Part 1

Fic:

Harry Potter/George Weasley

📖 Brunchy Confessions - jmagnabosco / @jmagnabo92 | G | 1k

Harry worries about telling the Weasleys that he and George are an item at their weekly brunch.

---

Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley

📖 One Bed - emeraldlove / @givereadersahug | G | 300

The Potter family shares a bed.

---

Harry Potter/Hermione Granger

📖 The Birthday Harry Always Wanted - Tardis_Magic93 | G | 700

Hermione and Ron planned Harry a surprise birthday trip.

📖 Coffee Break - jmagnabosco / @jmagnabo92 | G | 1k

After the war, the most important thing to Harry is his friendships, especially when he's thinking about taking a friendship to a relationship.

📖 you set my heart on fire - bellairestrella / @bellairestrella  | G | 1.5k

Hermione Granger had learned that some things in life happened without any warning. Even with careful planning, surprises could still happen. Schedules could change in the blink of an eye, and she had no power over it. She wasn’t one to believe in fate (far from it) but after the past few hours, her opinion had shifted. Or what happens when a girl gets stuck in an elevator, calls emergency services, and a sweet and handsome firefighter helps free her.

---

Harry Potter/Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley

📖 half-a-date - Poljupci / @poljupci | E | 284

Harry has been worried that the three of them starting something like this - romantic, permanent - would end at best in a horribly awkward agreement never to speak of it again, and at worst a horribly antagonistic splitting of ways. He couldn't be more wrong.

📖 SoulMates - Coconutice22 / @coconutice22 | T | 3k

Ron and Hermione are soulmates - or so everyone thinks. When Harry loses the part of him that is Voldemort, it suddenly all makes sense. They had always done everything together, after all.

📖 undying - Poljupci / @poljupci | G | 2.6k

It's common knowledge that everyone has a soulmark - a simple string of words quoting the last thing your soulmate will say to you before their death. But Harry has never really thought about the marks on his arms. The simple, short "You’ll be okay. I love you." has been easy to overlook, especially since they were so hard to believe at times. Not to mention that the thought of having two soulmates – a feat so rare it’s barely believable any time it happens to anybody – didn’t even cross his mind. He’s never even got the point of it all – if someone spends their entire life with someone without even knowing whether they were ‘destined to be’, why would one moment change their entire relationship posthumously? Except of course when the posthumous status of the relationship isn’t permanent. Except of course, when your soulmate doesn’t really die. It's safe to say that when Ron and Hermione corner him after the Battle of Hogwarts is finished, nothing could have prepared him for the shock of finally having to deal with these circumstances.

---

Harry Potter/Katie Bell

📖 A Walk with Destiny - jmagnabosco / @jmagnabo92 | G | 1k

The day before Harry's twenty-first birthday, his teammates in the quidditch locker room tease him about not knowing about soulmates and he walks home worried about who his soulmate could be.

---

Harry Potter/Lucius Malfoy

📖 The Cane - emeraldlove / @givereadersahug | E | 431

The snake’s tongue flicked; the cane was cold against his hot skin.

---

Harry Potter/Neville Longbottom

📖 Holiday Balls - jmagnabosco / @jmagnabo92 | T | 1.4k

Harry's nervous about his first date with Neville at the holiday ball after the war.

📖 Mission Accomplished - jmagnabosco / @jmagnabo92 | E | 1.7k

---

Harry Potter/Parvati Patil

When Harry has to pretend to be a submissive to Parvati for a deep cover mission, he's surprised when pretending may lead to more...

📖 Finding Pleasure - emeraldlove / @givereadersahug | E | 200

---

Harry Potter/Percy Weasley

The kiss seared into Percy's soul — all bites and tongues and reverence.

---

Harry Potter/Ron Weasley

📖 A Safe Place - Coconutice22 / @coconutice22 | E | 1.8k

Ron and Harry have to contend with that very common, totally normal issue of discovering that there’s only one bed. While many would just ask for a second bed, Ron and Harry use their shared neuron and decide the only way forwards is to simply share the bed.

📖 That's normal for a friendship, right? - Spelcray / @waterfalls-moon | T | 980

Harry has just discovered something, and that's perfectly normal among the best of best friends, isn't it?

---

Harry Potter/Sirius Black

📖 Photographs - emeraldlove / @givereadersahug | E | 533

Sirius Black was lanky and thin when Harry saw him again after his Third year. Life on the run did that to you. Peel you of your worth. Dismantle your defences. Mortified a proud man as he went on eating rats and digging through rubbish for food. The constant threats would cut any man down to his core. At least in Azkaban, Sirius knew peace, even if it was false. Harry worried for him.

---

Harry Potter/Sirius Black/Severus Snape

📖 Café au lait de Harry - Coconutice22 / @coconutice22 | E | 5.7k

Two enemies have a talk over coffee about milk and other Harry things.

---

Harry Potter/Severus Snape

📖 First Dates - sillybeans | T | 1.7k

“Have I ever told you about my very first date?” he then asked. “No, but you look like you’re about to tell me anyway.”

📖 Pathetic - emeraldlove / @givereadersahug | E | 300

It was routine now — their quarrels in class; the sneers and leers directed at each other during meals. Their fumbles and gasps and scratches.

📖 Professional Strippers - Coconutice22 / @coconutice22 | T | 6k

At Uncle Vernon’s funeral, Aunt Petunia asks Harry for a favour.

---

Harry Potter/Tom Riddle

📖 Nothing Compares - Coconutice22 / @coconutice22 | E | 11.3k

Harry’s trying to move on with his life after finishing things with Tom. Truth be told, he’s not trying very hard.

---

Harry Potter/Voldemort

📖 Presentation - emeraldlove / @givereadersahug | E | 400

It was infuriating. To be presented as a beta.

📖 the weather's not so bad in here - sillybeans | E | 3.9k

An evil wizard holds his chosen one hostage – trapped inside a tower, like Rapunzel. Except this time, no prince comes to the rescue.

---

Crossover

Harry celebrates his birthday with his found family.

Once Upon a Time

📖 Different Magic, Same Found Family - jmagnabosco / @jmagnabo92 | G | 948

Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy

Podfic:

🎙️ Because You Called the Wrong Person, But He Was Into It Anyway by gracerene - Cailynwrites | E | 11 minutes

Draco has called the wrong number. Harry doesn't mind one bit.

🎙️ Sex and the Art of Castle Maintenance by birdsofshore - Cailynwrites | E | 95 minutes

"Come on, boys," Zabini drawled. "You’re only delaying the inevitable." Trouble always had a way of finding Harry, and eighth year was obviously going to be no exception.

🎙️ Tournesol by meandminniemcg - Cailynwrites | T | 10 minutes

Harry hates vacations, they give too much chance to think of his losses. But sometimes vacations are a time to be lucky in finding the right coffeeshop...

🎙️ Tuesday Nights by firethesound - Cailynwrites | E | 93 minutes

The absolute last place Harry expected to see Malfoy was in a rundown Muggle cinema on a Tuesday night.

🎙️ Without Pretense by apliddell - Cailynwrites | G | 22 minutes

Through the huge front window of the pub, he could see Potter making for that ridiculous turquoise muggle car he borrowed from Weasley sometimes. That was curious. If he was in such a hurry, he might have just stepped into the alley between the pub and the salon next door and Disapparated. After a moment’s thought, Draco collected his own jacket and slipped out of the pub after Potter.

---

Harry Potter/Severus Snape

🎙️ Five Steps to Surviving Cabin Fever by hippocrates460 - Cailynwrites | E | 45 minutes

Harry's worst nightmare comes true, instead of spending his days off lounging around his apartment he's been called in for a case. It all gets worse when the case drags on for longer than expected and Robards decides he'll need help.

🎙️ World Enough, and Time by Likelightinglass - Cailynwrites | T | 40 minutes

Soulmate clocks start ticking when you first lock eyes, and count down until your time with them is over. Harry’s starts ticking on September 1st, 1991. He has only six years, eight months, and one day.

[bobsliquorstore]

Top 5 Mafioso Rap Albums

The 90's was a golden era of hip hop. In the mid-90's, one thing that stood out was the the "Mafioso" sub-genre of rap that was created by Kool G Rap. In the late 80’s, NWA took the world by storm with the Gangsta rap sub-genre. By the time the mid-90s hit, east coast rap came with their own twist of gangsta rap influenced by the mafia culture. The sub-genre was overshadowed by west coast rap music. Pop culture didn't take a liking to it, maybe because the songs were too intricate. The average listener is not trying to dissect through lyrics and meanings on a casual listen. Mafioso rap gave birth to one of the greatest rappers ever, Jay-Z, so it's hard to overlook the music that came out during this era. Here's a top 5 of Mafioso albums:

5. Scarface The Diary (1994)

Geto Boy's stand-out member and Houston native, Scarface, is one of the illest rappers to ever touch a microphone. Many rappers have highlighted Scarface as a major influence and an elite lyricist. Scarface known for his sinister/dark stories about murder, death, poverty and the afterlife. This album is Scarface at his apex of rapping abilities and lyricism. One of the best storytellers in rap history, he provides introspection about the metaphysical human experiences. Death has been a constant element in his music In songs like "I've Seen A Man Die" he lures you into the dark experience of seeing a dead man laid out on the pavement and facing the repercussions of committing murder. His constant obsession of the death is a genre in its own. Scarface almost personifies a grim reaper narrating a person's life before his/her's death. He keeps dark tone with this album on songs such as "No Tears," "Hand of the Dead Body," and "Goin' Down." 

4. Nas It Was Written (1996)

Illmatic was such a classic any follow up album would of been hard for Nas to live up to. It Was Written was an underated album at the time, now considered a classic. Some Illmatic enthusiast dislike this album because it made Nas go "pop" with the classic "If I Ruled The World" featuring Lauryn Hill. The album was elite, God MC Nas verses laced with production from the Trackmasters and Dr. Dre. It Was Written was him with more confidence, wealth, and maturity than the debut. Illmatic was life in Queensbridge Projects, It Was Written was Nas with the riches and survivor’s remorse. He goes from “Nasty Nas” to “Nas Escobar”. Escobar gives us one of his more introspective songs, “I Give You Power,” where he raps from a perspective of a gun. Despite the negative criticism from music outlets, It Was Written is his best selling album of his career. Nas created one of the few mafioso rap albums that crossed over into the mainstream.

3. AZ Doe or Die (1995)

Hailing from East New York, AZ is known for his rather unique (pun intended) voice and rhyme flow. AZ was introduced to Nas via a mutal friend over the phone, which led to him getting a feature on Nas' debut Illmatic. Getting introduced to the masses on the hip hop classic, Illmatic, there was a lot of hype surrounded by AZ. He lived up to the hype when he dropped his debut album Doe or Die. AZ came out the gate with a hip hop classic. AZ's bars were crafted with impressive vocabulary and illustrious lines telling a story of a mobster on the road to riches and the pitfalls of living fast. Grandiose bars highlighting low life activities while living the high life, taking other people's goods in "Gimme Yours" while simultaneously protecting his riches from "Ho Happy Jackie".

2. Jay Z Reasonable Doubt (1996)

Jay Z didn't become a household name until his third album, In My Lifetime Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life. Unfortunately, at the time of its release, Reasonable Doubt flew over people heads. Most listeners had to go back and listen to the project. 2Pac dissed him on his posthumously released album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, and people didn't know who Jay Z was yet. I guess 2Pac foresaw the success Jay Z was going to achieve in the music industry. His debut album is Jay Z's arugably most elite bars, sparring with the likes of the legendary Brooklynite Biggie Smalls, his mentor Jaz-O, and his then-sparring partner Sauce Money. Jigga even secured the Queen of R&B Mary J. Blige, with an alleged bag of cash.

1. Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (1995)

The Chef cooked up a 3-course meal on his solo debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, also known as "The Purple Tape" for the unique cassette color. This project impacted rap music like an atomic bomb. The album was practically a collaboration album with Rae's Wu-Tang group mate Ghostface Killah; Ghost being featured on nearly every song and skit. The Purple Tape was felt in the streets across the country. Arguably the best Wu-Tang solo album, Raekwon had a short stint as the King of New York when this project released. The lyrics and RZA's beats were all on point, maintaining the Wu-Tang style and showcasing the Chef's unique style simultaneously. Rae and Ghost take you on a trip to Shoalin, where they snort coke and hit licks. Like most Wu-Tang albums, most features only included Wu-Tang members. The exception of this rule was Nas, who spit some of his most memorable bars on “Verbal Intercourse”, with Rae and Ghost holding their own with one of the best MC’s of all time. Without this album there wouldn't be a Reasonable Doubt or It Was Written. The subject matter of OB4CL inspired Jay-Z and Nas. The subject of a mobster trying to leave the life to become a full-time rapper.

For more visit: www.bobsliquorstore.com

[thesocklesswonder]

For more info on these wild nicknames, check out this Wikipedia article.

Image ID under the cut

[Image ID: White text on a blue background that includes the images of a crown and scepter. A watermark on the top, right reads, "@thesocklesswonder" with "@coldbrewblooded" underneath it.

Below that, across the top of the graphic, text reads: "Find your Deranged Monarch Name"

Below, on the left side, the text reads: "Step 1: first or last letter of your username". Below that is a list:

A Ferdinand B Nicholas C Margaret D Catherine E Grace F William G Magnus H Elizabeth I Robert J Albert K Maria L Victoria M Philip N Henry O Cleopatra P Alexandra Q Isabella R Louis S Josephine T Edward U Eleanor V John W Frederick X George Y Anne Z Charles

On the right, text reads: "Step 2: Birth date". Below that is a list:

1 the Hunter 2 the Scourge of God 3 the Sluggard 4 the Drunkard 5 the Enabler 6 the Impaler 7 the Wicked 8 the Desired 9 the Earth-Shaker 10 the Nun's-Lover 11 the Cabbage 12 the Accursed 13 the Bloodthirsty 14 the Child 15 th Priest-Hater 16 the Bearded 17 the Barefoot 18 the Builder 19 the Damned 20 the Cruel 21 the Bastard 22 the Posthumous 23 the Fratricidal 24 the Queen of Sad Mischance 25 the Mad 26 the Painter-King 27 the Asleep 28 the Executioner 29 the Alchemist 30 the Bewitched 31 the Be-shitten

Underneath both lists, text reads: "Fun fact: All of the nicknames on the right came from real monarchs!" [/End ID]

[projazznet]

Scott LaFaro – Pieces of Jade

Pieces of Jade is a posthumously-released album by jazz bassist Scott LaFaro. It consists of five tracks dating from 1961 featuring LaFaro in a trio format with pianist Don Friedman and drummer Pete La Roca, a 23-minute recording of LaFaro rehearsing with pianist Bill Evans in 1960, a 1966 interview with Evans, and a Friedman solo piano piece dedicated to LaFaro, recorded in 1985. The album was released in 2009 by Resonance Records (Wikipedia).

In a review for AllMusic, Michael G. Nastos wrote: “that this recording exists is nothing less than a miracle, and an event in the annals of jazz… It’s a rare window into the soul of Scott LaFaro… and a complement to the book written by his sister.”

[tanjir0se]

Kiss the Devil (WIP) Part I

“G-Giyu?” Rengoku asked. His strange new eyes bored into Tomioka’s, so foreign and disturbing. But his expression was still so familiar. The curve of his lips, the tilt of his head, even somehow the look in those glowing golden eyes. Each individual part belonged to a stranger; but placed together with the whole, they were undeniably Rengoku. Giyu’s hand wavered. “What’s wrong, my friend?” Rengoku asked, his voice as gentle as ever even coming from behind those razor teeth.

All Giyu ever wanted after Kyojuro’s death was just to see him one more time, to get the chance to tell him everything he’d never been able to say. But when Kyojuro does return, mysteriously and posthumously turned into a demon, Giyu grapples with the memory of the man he knew and the creature he’s become, turning up on his doorstep with nowhere else to go.

KNY Demon!Kyojuro AU

Pairings: Giyu Tomioka x Kyojuro Rengoku Warnings: Graphic depictions of canon-typical violence Words: 1.7k, Ongoing

Rengoku gasped awake and lurched to sit up. The night was black around him and his surroundings unfamiliar. He took a few hitching breaths, as if trying to remember how to breathe at all, and winced at the pain that rattled through his lungs. There was an aching, almost a pulsing behind his eyes that seemed nearly intense enough to change his vision itself. 

With a grunt of pain, he blinked a few times and looked around.

Long, slim trees surrounded the area he found himself lying in, illuminated only by the weak light of a crescent moon. He couldn’t remember what had brought him out here into this forest, why he was laid out prostrate on the leaf-littered ground, why his throat was on fire with thirst. The bark of the tree trunks sported deep slashes, as if sliced into by some kind of massive animal. Rengoku knew better. Something horrible must’ve happened here, he just hoped everyone, especially the kids, was safe—

With a jolt, Rengoku suddenly remembered where he’d just been. The kids! The train! The upper rank! He scrambled to his feet and reached reflexively for his sword, surprised to find that it wasn’t at its usual place on his hip. He must’ve lost it in the scuffle. Worse, the moment he stood, his vision blurred into bright stars, which sent him stumbling back toward the earth. Something was deeply wrong. His stomach dropped into his feet. 

Was I injured in the crash? He managed to push himself onto his knees and look down. His uniform was dirtied at the knees, but intact. Blood sprayed across the chest and sleeves of the dark fabric, but the fabric itself looked almost new, the fibers crisp and free from fading. His throat burned again, and he swallowed. 

I need to find the kids. He thought. With great difficulty he pushed himself up and scanned the forest around him. There was a clearing up ahead, though he could barely see through his blurred, fragmented vision. Summoning all of his strength, Rengoku pushed himself up and ran for the clearing. 

He stumbled out of the trees, prepared to find the derailed train, struggling survivors, and an upper rank demon ready to take his head off. He found none of that. Instead, the clearing in the trees lead out toward a quiet, apparently residential street. 

Lanterns buzzed quietly above him as he struggled forward. The town was familiar; in fact he knew it well. Several of the Hashira had small residences in the area, favored for its proximity to the headquarters.  The familiarity wasn’t the problem. It was how he’d gotten there in the first place. 

Rengoku briefly stopped, leaning against a fence and breathing hard. The burning thirst in the back of his throat made him cough, and flecks of blood flew from his lips. He scanned himself briefly again for injury, staring down at his hands. They were stained red with blood and trembling. Rengoku swallowed and pushed himself off the wall. 

Little seemed to rattle Rengoku, but the burn in his throat and the constant pulsing thrum of his own heartbeat in his ears, louder than his own footsteps, had him desperate. Turning down a nearby path, he could think of only one place to go. A small, unassuming residence on the edge of the town where he’d spent many afternoons sharing a pot of tea or a bowl of udon. 

Hearing a knock at the door was never a good thing in the middle of the night, especially not for a demon slayer. Giyu immediately reached for his sword as he sat up on his bed roll, listening to the stranger outside his door knock insistently on its frame. A muffled voice called to him. 

Giyu stood, pulled on his haori, and approached his door cautiously. Whoever was knocking took a brief pause, breathing hard—hard enough for Giyu to hear the breaths rasping in and out from through the wall—then started up again. 

“Tomioka!” The voice was strained and tight, as if in pain. Giyu raised his eyebrow. “Tomioka, please, let me in.”

Very few would be knocking on his door at this hour. Fewer still would call him by name. But it was the next word that made him truly freeze. 

“Giyu.” The voice called. 

Only one who’d call him by his first name. One he’d buried four months ago. 

Against better judgment Giyu wrenched the door open to face his late night visitor. 

“Ah, thank goodness.” Rengoku was already pushing forward into the house, and it was all Giyu could do to get out of his way and shut the door behind him, finding his limbs suddenly felt heavier, his tongue frozen in shock. He stared at Rengoku as he stumbled to his knees in the front room. 

“Apologies for bothering you at this late hour.” Rengoku managed. Blood flowed from the corner of his mouth now. “Something has happened. The mugen train—th-the kids…I was just there, but I woke up here with no memory! I fear the worst has happened to them, we should go right away and make sure they’re alright!” In his struggle for his own memory, groping for words, he failed to notice Giyu’s soft voice. 

“K-Kyojuro—”

Though Giyu’s vision was blurred, the changes in Rengoku were obvious. His skin, once tanned, was now an unnatural gold-bronze, as if he was permanently cast in the light of a raging fire. As he spoke, his eyes darted around the room nervously; his sclera were no longer white but a deep unnatural maroon, his irises a shimmering, reflective gold. His tight smile now betrayed a row of gleaming fangs. Giyu’s sword clacked against the scabbard as he unsheathed it, his hand shaking hard enough to make him worry he’d drop it. 

“An upper rank demon is there with them!” Rengoku was insisting. “We haven’t any time to lose!” He turned toward Giyu and finally stopped, his breaths coming fast and hitched, as if the very act of breathing was unnatural. 

“The kids are alright.” Giyu assured him in a low voice, not trusting himself to speak any louder. “You did it. You saved them all,” He took a deep breath in and out, hating the shake in his exhale as he prepared his fifth form. Blessed rain after the drought. 

Rengoku finally stopped speaking, his eyes flitting to the sword in Giyu’s hands. He opened his mouth but said nothing. His brow furrowed down over his hauntingly bright eyes. 

“You don’t have to worry.” Giyu assured, trembling. “It’s alright now.” It was clear that Rengoku didn’t realize what had happened to him. But was it worse to let him die in ignorance, thinking his friend had betrayed him for no reason, or to tell him the truth, and reveal that his worst nightmare had come to fruition, but let him die with honor. He raised his sword. 

“G-Giyu?” Rengoku asked. His strange new eyes bored into Tomioka’s, so foreign and disturbing. But his expression was still so familiar. The curve of his lips, the tilt of his head, even somehow the look in those glowing eyes. Each individual part belonged to a stranger; but placed together with the whole, they were undeniably Rengoku. Giyu’s hand wavered. “What’s wrong, my friend?” Rengoku asked, his voice as gentle as ever even coming from behind those razor teeth. 

Before Giyu could reply, there was another knock on his door that surprised them both. Giyu’s arm dropped to his side, and his heart dropped into his feet when he heard the voice calling from the other side. 

“Mr. Tomioka? Are you in there? It’s me, Tanjiro!” Rengoku’s face lit up and he immediately turned toward the door as Tanjiro continued. “I saw blood leading to your door and I got worried—”

“Kyojuro, stop!” Giyu tried but was too late. Hearing shouting within, Tanjiro slid the door open, ready to help his friend.

“Is everything alright—” Tanjiro took two steps inside and stopped dead, face to face with a ghost. Tomioka watched in horror as Tanjiro’s boyish determination withered away, his face paling as he watched his dead mentor grin at him with excitement. 

“Kamado! I’m glad to see you’re alright!” Rengoku said excitedly. “Tell me, how did you and the others escape the train?” 

Tanjiro’s mouth hung open. His eyes flicked to Tomioka, then back to Rengoku, then back once more. Giyu held his hand out and took a slow step forward, as if moving any quicker would shatter the moment of calm. 

“Tanjiro, listen to me.” He said in a low voice. “Turn around. Go find the closest Hashira.”

“But—” 

“Kamado, you too?” Rengoku was saying, his face falling. Tanjiro tore his eyes from Tomioka to stare again at the strange, impossible sight of Rengoku reaching out for him. “What’s gotten into…everyone…?” Rengoku trailed off. His hand lowered to his side. 

Giyu’s heart stopped. From across the room he could see Rengoku’s golden eyes were trained onto Tanjiro’s earrings, which jangled back and forth as Tanjiro desperately turned to Rengoku, then Tomioka, then Rengoku again. The pupils of his golden eyes had become deadly slits. 

“Tanjiro, go now!”

Tanjiro was transfixed. “R-Rengoku…?” He whispered fearfully, hopefully, cautiously. He realized too late that Rengoku was no longer speaking or smiling. His hands slowly raised toward him, lip curling back over his teeth. Tanjiro retreated a step, then another. Rengoku closed the distance. A growl, loud and rumbling as a tiger’s, ripped from his throat. Tanjiro screamed. 

“Tanjiro, run!”

Rengoku tore blindly forward, all rage and flame and fangs. Tanjiro backpedaled so quickly he ended up tripping backwards in Giyu’s doorway, forcing him to continue his retreat in a  backward  scramble across the ground. Rengoku’s eyes were wrong, deeply so. He could see his own terrified reflection in his former mentor’s murderous red sclera. 

Just before Rengoku’s clawed hands reached him, the monster was stopped by a scabbard clacking into his jaws and interrupting his deadly bite. Giyu held tightly to either side, pulling it—and Rengoku—back from behind him, just as Tanjiro had done for Nezuko in Yoshiwara. Tanjiro took only a moment to watch in shock, splayed out on the ground, before he quickly found his feet beneath him and sprinted back down the road where he had come.

There were several homes in the area that belonged to Hashira. He had just come from the Butterfly Mansion and knew that it wasn’t far. Just before the street that would take him there though, he skidded to a stop and turned down a side street, realizing that there was a home even closer that might be able to help him. 

Though it felt wrong to enter without knocking, Tanjiro figured he could skip that pleasantry just this once. Wordlessly he slammed into the door, busting right through it and into the living space inside. 

“Help!” He cried as he picked himself up from the showering of splinters he’d made. “Please, h-help, Uz—” he was cut off by three sharp projectiles coming from seemingly nowhere and pinning him to the wall by the back of his collar. He looked up and found his attacker standing in the bedroom doorway wearing a robe and holding three more Kunai at the ready. 

“Tanjiro?” Makio lowered the kunai and frowned at him. Suma quickly appeared beside her. 

“Tanjiro! What are you doing here?” 

He struggled against the kunai pinning him to the wall. “I need help! It’s—” What was it, exactly? He hung his mouth open stupidly while Hinatsuru stepped around Makio and Suma and knelt beside him, pulling the kunai out for him. “Tomioka sent me to find help, there’s—”

“Kamado, when I said I’m in your debt, I didn’t mean it as an open invitation to my home.” Uzui leaned against the doorway, his arms crossed and eyes bleary with sleep. “What time is it, anyway?” He rubbed his face with his hand and sighed. 

“Uzui! Please, Tomioka needs you right away, it’s—” Tanjiro grabbed him by the arm and began to pull him forward despite being half his size. 

“And did you miss the part where I retired?” Uzui asked, unphased. The abrupt stump where his left hand used to be emphasized his point. 

“Please!” Tanjiro begged. “I-it’s Rengoku.”

Silence hung heavy in the air. Uzui’s wives turned their heads to Uzui, who stood up straight and raised his eyebrows. After a long moment, he silently crossed the room to his dual swords, hanging on the wall. Pulling them down with his one hand, he turned back toward Tanjiro with an expression that sent a shiver down his spine. 

“Show me.” He said flatly.