#I love the Wolfpack they are all just made of gold

[archivewriter1ont]

Clone Wars Incorrect Quotes:

Wolffe: I am a stoic individual. I am ruthless, unamused, and coldhearted. I was put in this galaxy merely to fight and die.

Comet, Boost, and Sinker: *Exist*

Wolffe: These puppies are mine and anyone who touches them will be chopped into carrion. They are my world and I will fight anyone who looks at them wrong.

Plo Koon: I approve this message. *happy buir smiles*

[milfjinart]

I love pins too!!! What are your favorites???

omggg okay I’m glad you asked this because it made me actually sit down and pick out some favorites (it was so hard lol)

so. buckle up.

first off, there’s this absolutely gorgeous, gold metal LE50 Cody pin from ElectricInkStudios! They’re a smaller company, and I absolutely love the softness and detail of all their designs. I have their Rex and Obi-Wan pins too, but Cody is my fave. It’s so warm and sunny and goes perfectly with the sandstone-orange baseball cap I wear all the time!!

Next, this fuckin badass Ahsoka pin from Tomorrowlanddesign. I just loveee how detailed and dramatic the art style is!!!

Next, this LE66 pin of the 501st battalion from ZARPindom. I love pins with unique little details, and this one has a real cloth flag, handsewn by the grandma of one of the shop owners!! 🥺🥺

Also I love my “who the fuck is ahsoka tano” pin from Whatthewhatpins purely for its comedic value. Cracks me up every time I look at it tbh

Moving on, another of my favorites is this glow-in-the-dark holo Ahsoka pin from Hyperspacepins, as well as this beautifullll Threepio and Artoo pin from Punchitchewiepress!! Again, I love the Ahsoka pin because it’s so unique, and then honestly every PICP pin I own is just a work of art.

Then we have this awesome Plo Koon pin from TeamTanoAlive. I love how big and detailed it is and his pose is just so cool!! When it’s not summertime and boiling hot, I love wearing this pin on my farm overalls :)

Next up, more pins I love for their uniqueness:

1. Mando + Gideon’s TIE fighter by Macguffingoods! The little Din hanging off the chain is just. So good

2. Jedi holocron pin, another lovely one from Punchitchewiepress. The blue is sandblasted enamel and it is sooo pretty in the sunlight (I also have their Sith holocron pin and they go so well together!!!)

3. Death Star + Millenium Falcon pin from ZARPindom. These guys honestly always knock it out of the park with their pin designs, this one is absolutely gorgeous - from the silver plating to the translucent blue enamel to the screenprinted details on the Falcon and the TIE, I just love love love this pin!!

4. Mando flamethrower pin from bbcre8. It’s a sliding pin, so you can slide the flame back and forth as though it’s coming out of his vambrace! Again, just super unique and such a fun little detail :-) and the level of detail on the screenprinting is amazing!!

Last but certainly not least, all my clone helmet pins from FulcrumDawn. They honestly might be my favorite shop, and I could make a whole post talking about my pins of theirs! The one pictured below is of Captain Keeli, and I keep it on my backpack because the colors go so perfectly together. But I also have 11 of their other clone helmet pins and counting, along with some of their iron heart pins and a Sentinel pin! I just really love how they make pins of less popular characters. They’re coming out with a Colt pin soon and I’m definitely snagging that!! :’)

aaah okay this post is pretty long so I’ll stop but I definitely have more favorites!!! Like I said I could honestly make a whole post dedicated to my FulcrumDawn pins, or my PICP pins, or my Ahsoka pin collection, or my Mando pin collection, or or or —

Image IDs below the cut!

Photo 1

[Image ID: Enamel pin of Commander Cody from The Clone Wars. It is chest-up with his helmet on. The plating is shiny gold metal, and the enamel colors of his armor are shades of soft, muted orange and white. There is no black in the image, just dark gold for the shading. Behind Cody’s head is a large Galactic Republic wheel logo, edged in gold plating with white enamel for the blank spaces in between the spokes of the wheel. The pin itself is pinned on a sandstone-orange baseball cap. Below the pin are hand-embroidered desert plants - ephedra, rabbitbrush, and scarlet paintbrush. End image ID.]

Photo 2

[Image ID: Ahsoka bust pin held in my hand; it’s a bit longer than my fingers. The art style is kind of cartoony and dramatic. Ahsoka’s lekku are long, like they were in Rebels, and also her dark blue lekku markings are wavy like they were in Rebels. Her skin is dark orange, as though you were seeing her at dusk; her eyelashes are huge and dark, and her eyes are vivid electric blue. She is wearing a simple black cloak with silver trim, and a dark gray headband with a light gray stone set in the middle. End image ID.]

Photo 3

[Image ID: The first pin is of four 501st troopers, including Captain Rex, holding up a red cloth flag with a black Galactic Republic symbol on it; they’re in the pose of that famous Iwo Jima flag-raising photograph. they are wearing phase 2 armor and standing on brown dirt, and a discarded phase 2 clone helmet is half-buried in the dirt towards the right edge of the pin. The second pin is round and has a thin light blue border around the edge, followed by a thick band of dark blue with the words “WHO THE FUCK IS AHSOKA TANO” in light blue over top of the dark blue band. In the center of the pin is a padawan-aged Ahsoka; just her head and lekku. She’s wearing her akul-tooth headdress, and looking over her left shoulder and glaring at the viewer. End image ID.]

Photo 4

[Image ID: The first pin is another bust of Ahsoka... lol can you tell I love her?? With this pin, it’s just her lower back and up; she’s looking back over her right shoulder at the viewer, in the pose from that one scene in season 7 when she contacts Anakin. The pin is all light and dark blue, striped with pale white-blue like how the holograms in Star Wars look. You can’t tell from the picture, but the pin glows pale green in the dark. The second pin is a waist-up design of the droids Threepio on the left and Artoo on the right. It’s all gold plating, and Threepio is very shiny gold. He is resting his right hand on top of Artoo’s head. In the background is a jagged slice of space - black enamel with red, white, and blue dots of varying sizes to represent stars. End image ID.]

Photo 5

[Image ID: Large pin of Jedi Master Plo Koon. It’s about 4 inches tall. The design is him from the waist up, clad in his dark brown Jedi robe with the hood up, and wearing white clone armor vambraces and gauntlets, decorated with the 104th wolfpack symbol like he wore in the Clone Wars show. His right arm is stretched out and down, and he holds his blue lightsaber in a backwards grip, the blade extended up and behind him, extending past the left side of his head. His left arm is bent, his hand up near his face, and his fingers are extended, palm towards the viewer, as though he’s using the Force on you. End image ID.]

Photo 6

[Image ID: Pin 1 is a dark chrome enamel pin of Moff Gideon’s TIE fighter from The Mandalorian show. It’s sleek, dark gray and black. There is a metal loop on the bottom of the TIE fighter body, from which hangs a short dark metal chain; on the other end of the chain is another metal loop, attached to a tiny little Din Djarin pin. He is wearing his silver beskar armor, and one arm is reaching up above his head to hold onto the chain. His cape flares out behind him to the left, and his legs and other arm dangle down. 

Pin 2 is a Jedi holocron, all gold plating and turquoise-blue sandblasted enamel that glitters in sunlight. It is a two-point perspective of the holocron, meaning you can see both the left and right sides and the top of it.

Pin 3 is the first Death Star, with chrome plating and light gray enamel and screenprinting to show all the details of the surface. It is a pin-on-pin design, and the Death Star is the lower pin; the pin attached over top of it is the Millenium Falcon, flying away from the Death Star, trailing blue light (shown with blue translucent enamel) and being pursued by a tiny dark gray and black TIE fighter. Red and white blaster bolts streak in front of and behind the Falcon, as if the TIE fighter is shooting at it.

Pin 4 is Din Djarin in his silver beskar armor, shooting his flamethrower out of his vambrace (forearm armor). He is facing to the left, and his right arm is held straight out in front of him, with the screenprinted orange-and-yellow flame shooting out from behind his arm. It’s on a sliding attachment, so you can slide it back behind him or fully extend it along his arm. His left arm is bent and his hand is held up in a defensive posture, as though to shield his face. The design shows him from mid-thigh and up, and his dark grayish cape swirls around him. End image ID.]

Photo 7

[Image ID: This is a pin of Captain Keeli from the Clone Wars. It is square on the left, right, and bottom edges; the top edge slants up from the left to the right top corners, so the pin forms a trapezoid shape. The pin shows his helmet, which is white with a light maroon-red border around his black visor, and darker maroon designs curling around the upper sides of the head and across the cheeks of the helmet. The curling designs resemble ram’s horns. The background behind the helmet is an even deeper maroon color, with a pale maroon ram’s horn curling design in the upper right corner. The pin is secured on my maroon red waterproof REI backpack; the fabric is the same shade as the ram’s horn designs on Keeli’s helmet. End image ID.]

[lululawrence]

hello!! i was wondering if u had a werewolf tag for fics? i would search it but not sure how to use tumblr that well :)) if not do u have recs? LOVE U HAVE A NICE DAY<333

hi babes! i don't have one here... damn that's a fucking great idea. hahaha i'm HORRIBLY unorganized when it comes to tags for fics on tumblr. i mostly use ao3 for the organization of fics. so! that said, i defo DO have recs for you!

you didn't specify pairing, which makes me smile because i get to rec rare pairs in addition to larry and hope you read them hehe okay, here we go!

He Carries The Key by me (8k, NR, niall/louis) - this fic is the only one of mine i'll include, okay? promise haha but it is also one i wrote for wordplay just a week or two ago and it's werewolves and a pack fic and i just had a lot of fun. very soft. much fluff. many feels. i hope you enjoy. lol

There's Fur Everywhere by @londonfoginacup / LadyLondonderry (4k, G, Harry/Louis) - this is a 5 times fic, and it's HYSTERICAL. it feels slightly spoilery for me to even be including it on this list, but also... it's still fucking hilarious. emmu is queen of the crack fic that makes you feel all the soft and wonderful things, and she doesn't disappoint with this one.

I Hear Them Calling for You by @jaerie / jaerie (6k, E, Harry/Louis) - this fic is... not for everyone. like at all. please please please read the tags and the summary and if you don't like it or it makes you uncomfortable, then close right out of it. as for ME i loved what she explored with it, all the emotions and the story and worldbuilding of it all. i thought it was fantastic and incredibly interesting. it is A/B/O, pack fic with claiming and... yeah. it's amazing.

Campus Creatures by @kingsofeverything / kingsofeverything and @louandhazaf / YesIsAWorld (25k, E, Harry/Louis) - werewolves! vampires! fae! university! frat houses! science research positions being vied for! enemies to lovers! like... not sure what more you could ASK for, but there's also a fuck ton of humor and nudity and sexual tension and... it's just a lot of fun. can't go wrong, really. haha

From What I've Tasted of Desire by @evilovesyou / 4ureyesonly28 (72k, T, Harry/Louis) - okay so i'm including this one even though like... harry and louis aren't werewolves. but it's a twilight au, so there ARE werewolves and i'm ASSUMING you know twilight and therefore know that means you know they're pretty involved and... that's true for this fic too. ahha for real, though, i love evi's writing and this fic was one of my first introductions to it and it was a fun read, so i wanted to include it in case it had enough of the werewolf flair to entice you haha

Compete Against the Stars by @daggerandrose / amomentoflove (31k, M, Harry/Louis) - omg okay so this one is like ANGSTY AF and i FUCKING LOVE IT because it's one of those fics that you HOPE you have figured out, and you probably do, but also there's SO many twists and turns to it all that you just have NO idea how it's all gonna work out and omg are they gonna just ruin it all for themselves by being stupid and ahhhhh the tension of just FIGURING OUT HOW THEY GET IT ALL TO WORK OUT!!! and of course it does. hahaha but HOW??? this is a RIDE and in my mind feels like a longer fic than 31k in the best of ways, they did an amazing job of packing a LOT of world building and storytelling into those 31k.

the straight for your heart (wolfpack au) series by foreverkneeld and foundfamilyvevo (96k, T/G, Multiple or No pairings including Niall/Louis, Zayn/Liam, OT5, and Shawn/Niall) - This series is the ultimate hurt/comfort and healing pack fic series omg. it was recommended to me when i was in a super hard time and my anxiety was so bad i couldn't focus on anything. These short fics that all focused so much on healing and found family were exactly what i needed. so so soft, so lovely. I still haven't read them all because i'm saving them for when i need them. they're glorious.

when the air ran out and we both started running wild by darlingjustdont (48k, M, Nick/Louis) - OMG OKAY LISTEN THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVS. a tomlinshaw werewolf pack fic?! ahhhhhhhhh i was SO happy when i discovered this one. louis is alpha of the pack and things are... shaky, shall we say. there's a lot going on that he's worried about and then he meets nick and it's kind of enemies to lovers? okay, more than kind of. but omg the FEELS. SO. MANY. FEELS. but also danger and a;lsdgkhas;ldfkja just please read this and rave with me because i don't have many i can talk about this one with and i LOVE IT.

You Smell Like by mystic_believexx (185k, M, Harry/Louis) - i had no idea this fic was so long hahahaha wow ANYWAY louis is human, but he's always been close with harry and therefore basically a part of his pack. but then one day harry leaves and louis kind of accidentally becomes the pack alpha. even though he's human. but there's SO much more to it. there's just sooooo much with the friendship and the pack bond as well as the danger and trying to figure out what the hell is going on... it's just a LOT and one of those epic fics that i still think about even though i read it...a year and a half ago i guess. but it's amazing and i highly recommend it if the word count doesn't scare you away haha

Canyon Moon by @eeveelou / delsicle (41k, E, Harry/Louis) - this is a lion king au, made a/b/o werewolves! i really enjoyed this one a lot, actually, because i could absolutely see the parallels, but also the way it was adapted made it so it wasn't always obvious how it would all play out. it was a really interesting and cool world building as well.

The Truth I Can't Explain (Smoke and Mirrors) by @fallinglikethis / FallingLikeThis (9k, M, Harry/Louis) - ohhhhh this one is SO cool cause it's by tabby so she made it incredibly fun and fascinating to try to figure out. there's magic and mages and werewolves and feuds and they're basically on the eve of battle and holy cow it's just SO cool.

One Touch Is Never Enough by @kingsofeverything / kingsofeverything (4k, E, Harry/Louis) - once again lauren delivers and there's just so much i keep giggling about with this because it is SO fun. there's a lot that louis is dealing with in this fic hahaha and the way she writes it all is so funny. the poor man just wants a fucking massage! lololol it's lighthearted, humorous, and basically filled with fluff, crack, and smut. hahaha

Knot Safe For Work by @jaerie / jaerie (6k, E, Harry/Louis) - a;sldkgha;lfdkjas listen i forgot about this fic until i found it in my bookmarks for werewolves because jenna writes so many fucking amazing fics that when i think of werewolves, i think of at least two others first, but i could NOT do this rec without this fic because now that i remember it exists i am going to have to go and read it again! hahaha harry's a werewolf, louis is a wizard, there's knotting dildos and table sex and... just read it. lolol

Saving's What I Need by @jaerie / jaerie (17k, M, Harry/Louis) - writer louis is out for a drive one day and he hits a dog. THIS POOR DOG! he takes it to the vet and tries his best to take care of it... but things are not as they seem. because yeah, harry is defo not a dog. lollllll this fic was hilarious and sweet and omg there's just so much to love about it. there were so many more emotions in it than i expected. loooove!

Out of the Wild by @jaerie / jaerie (22k, E, Harry/Louis) - this fic has such fun world building, which is actually a huge strength of jenna's fics and you'll hear me rave about it with all 50 of her fics that will end up on this rec list (not really 50, but ya know lol). louis is a fairly wild and undomesticated wolf and harry's from the city and they end up as roommates during the x factor process. oh my word this fic is so fun because of all the challenges they're going through PLUS the wolf side of things and just... the way they work together and navigate it all as well as falling for each other is pure gold.

Out With The Old, In With The New by, you guessed it, @jaerie / jaerie (7k, E, Harry/Louis) - listen, just. this one is smutty as hell and it's gonna take you some places that some people will be uncomfortable with, which is totally valid and fair. please be sure to read the tags and make your decision on whether or not to read accordingly, but also know that its written in a super interesting way that is also pretty amazing if you do decide to give it a shot. lol

Instincts by @marastarfar / StarFar ( 100k so far - it's a WIP!, T, Harry/Louis) - omg listen. i LOVE mara's fics so much and when this first posted it was a one shot little thing that was FASCINATING. i loved it! and then i was happily surprised when i learned more was added to it. and then it was turned into a wip and omg i am so far behind now but i trust mara with my life because i love everything i've read by them and what i've read of this so far is INCREDIBLE so just. yeah. lollll

There's a Power in What You Do by @londonfoginacup / LadyLondonderry (7k, T, Harry/Louis) - i just read my comment i left on this one and it was just mainly me begging for time stamps because there wasn't any way for her to improve upon the perfection of this fic (nesting! softness! even a silly comment in her endnotes to perfectly cap it all!), but i still wanted to remain in the story just a bit longer and learn more about them. hahaha anyway, those time stamps aren't happening, but this fic is still complete perfection.

amaryllis by @hattalove / hattalove (147k, E, Harry/Louis) - for a long time this was thought of as THE werewolf fic. if anyone was talking about a werewolf fic, it was probably this one. is that still the case? probably. i'm not sure. ANYWAY. there's a REASON it was THE werewolf fic and that's because this is amazing. it sucks you in and you feel like you're truly a part of the action. it's filled with the vibe of found family and wanting to figure out what happened while also adjusting to your new life and just... so many feelings. so much angst. SO fantastically epic.

[meepmoopfanfics]

you don’t get a win unless you’re playing the game: Daveed Diggs x Reader. Chapter 2.

Reminder: this is gonna be a long fic! please be patient :)

You are finally ending an excruciating first week of dance rehearsals.

You’re gearing up finishing Act I finally, your brain feeling completely fried from all of the material given, especially the vocal parts. You were so used to singing the melody line of all the songs and being given the alto part was a challenge in itself, let alone applying singing while doing the choreography. The dancing was second nature but you didn’t realize how much stamina you’d actually need to getting the notes out without sounding breathy, pitchy or exhausted. You did NOT want to embarrass yourself in front of the OBC when it came time to integrate.

You had only worked with the ensemble closely so far and were getting close with Stephanie, the universal dance captain of the show. She had mentioned to you that the principals and ensemble members would be having a little hang out session at her brother’s penthouse apartment downtown after rehearsals ended tonight.

“Brilliant work today everyone. I know it’s been tough. But take the weekend to really review the material and let everything sink in.” Stephanie’s eyes were lit up. The way she was so attentive to detail and every backstory of every movement was so inspiring and eye opening.

You wiped the sweat off of your face as you partner, aka M3, aka George Eaker, aka Cedric, gave you a wink and a thumbs up. You were way too lucky to be matched with Cedric. If you jumped across the stage, somehow you’d trust him to catch you with seconds to spare before landing.

The ensemble cheered together and began to pan out to the house to grab their things and head up to their dressing rooms to get ready for the party.

“Is everyone coming tonight?” Stephanie yelled excitedly.

You heard a cannon of yeses and hell yeahs around the group.

“The wolfpack’s coming too!” That was her nickname for the OBC crew. “It’s gonna be a raaaaaager!” She started gyrating her hips. Everyone erupted with laughter.

“A safe one at that, of course. Be on your best behavior around Lin… just kidding he’s an absolute child.

Alright now go, get out. Go get hot.”

You followed the ensemble up the stairs backstage to end up at your dressing room which you shared with W4, Michelle.

“Girl... what’re ya wearing tonight? I can’t decide.” Michelle asked while anxiously rummaging through her back full of scribbled on legal pads, muscle rollers, and random items of clothing.

You had packed your favorite black jeans that made your legs look flawless, your signature suede boots, and a Kith hoodie. You wanted to look put together but also casual and cool. Most importantly, you wanted to impress all of your idols. This was your only chance to give them the best first impression of you.

You thought about grabbing your Oakland sweatshirt that your parents got you as a gag gift for Christmas, in honor of your celebrity crush’s hometown. You immediately regretted even thinking of wearing it, as Daveed would definitely find it way too weird. You were from Massachusetts... not California. The Bay Area would be embarrassed for you.

“I just brought these little guys. All black, of course. Feel like it does the job. Also, the sweatshirt will let me eat alllllll of the pizza guilt free.”

Michelle stared longingly at your suede boots. “These are fuckin fancy!”

“They’re only Steve Madden!!” You were proud of your ability to find luxury looking goods for a cheap price. You don’t think that will ever change, even when you saw your first broadway check hit your checking account.

You were happy you could share a safe and fun dressing room space with Michelle and knew the two of you would become close friends.

You both ran into the shower room across the hallway, and quickly washed off. You decided you were going to straighten your long light brown hair. You loved your hair, but it got so curly and tangled when you sweat. Thankfully they were going to put you in a wig for the show instead of using your natural locks. Being a head sweat-er was the worst. Your makeup was minimal, as you looked best with a nice dewy makeup glow, with highlighted cheekbones. You wore a nude matte lipstick, which matched the natural color of your lips, and lightly liquid lined a cat eye over your big (insert eye color) eyes.

You saw your reflection. You didn’t know if it was the confidence of finally reaching your goal or if you just were having a good hair/makeup day... but you were stunning.

“Damn mama!” Michelle gasped as she saw your finished look. “Whose mans are you about to steal at this gig? Better not be Cedric, he’s mine.”

You laughed. You couldn’t help to think about who you already had your heart set on.

“Definitely not Cedric.”

Michelle opened her iPhone 11 plus and immediately opted for a mirror selfie. She quickly opened Instagram and posted it to her story.

You opened the app yourself to go check if it looked good.

Posted 32 secs ago

#MamaHam and #TheBullet hit the town 🎉

“Ready?” Michelle asked, putting the final touches of her gold Fenty highlight on her cheeks. “We should grab a quick bite before hitting the place. I plan on drinking my weight in Truly seltzers tonight.”

“Let’s get it.” You smiled. “I’ll call the uber.”

——

You called the uber, hopped in, and began driving downtown. You felt your anxiety creeping up on you.

“Trulys? Really? I’m gonna need to be doing shots of Jager in order to be able to speak a single word to any of these principals.”

“What are you... nervous? You already got the role. You’re equals with these guys.”

She wasn’t wrong.

“Guess I’ll just have to act as chill as possible. That’s the plan anyways... also Michelle, wanna know something ridiculous?”

“What?”

“I’ve had a middle school full fledged crush on Daveed since I can remember.”

She blurted out with laughter.

“Well girl he is on the market now. Shoot ya shot.”

You already knew this. Daveed was recently single and focusing on rebuilding himself up. His breakup with his last girlfriend wasn’t bad. It was mature and mutual. You knew he was taking time to himself, so you didn’t want to be overbearingly flirtatious when you first met him.

You also couldn’t stop thinking about your ex, whom you left last year around this time. His goals just weren’t lining up with your future. He hated musicals, he hated almost everything you liked... but you couldn’t stand the fact you shattered his heart.

“I’ll see what happens... after 5 shots.” You responded, winking at Michelle.

__

You arrived at the cutest little Italian place downtown in TriBeCa. You knew carbs and wine were the perfect pregame for this shindig.

After loads of pasta and splitting a bottle of wine, you began to feel the confidence needed to shake the nerves from you. You hit the bathroom to give yourself a double check before walking to your final destination.

—

As you walked up to the massive high rise residence, you couldn’t believe this was your lifestyle now. As you approached, you noticed an extremely familiar face exit the revolving door.

Holy shit, that’s Rafa.

Rafael Casal. Daveed Diggs’ best friend.

You stopped in your tracks stunned.

He turned his head immediately in your and Michelle’s direction.

“Y/N?! What’s going on?!”

“Shut up shut up shut up...” you whispered through your teeth. “Just keep walking.”

As he passed you both, he smiled, and turned into the Duane Reade on the corner. Probably picking up something he forgot.

You realized you would be on edge all night not being able to keep your cool. Rafa wasn’t even in the damn OBC and here you were, freaking out entirely on the freaking sidewalk.

Through the doors you went, passing the crystal clear marble floors, giant chandeliers, and up to the doorman.

“Can I help you beautiful ladies?”

Michelle blushed. The doorman was actually attractive.

“We’re here for Klemons? Penthouse 2?”

“Oh yeah! Hamilton!!! Love that show. Have fun!”

You hit the elevator as you looked down at your phone.

9:18pm

Perfect timing. Almost 20 mins late. Fashionably late, of course.

“Oh shit shit shit.”

You realized you haven’t changed your wallpaper from Daveed grabbing his crotch.

Michelle laughed as you fumbled to change your wallpaper to a pic of you and your family from when you were younger. Perfect. A conversation starter. Your overthinking was killing you softly.

Your teeth were legit chattering. You felt anxiety waves rush through your nervous system. The pit in your stomach grew. Your heart was beating a mile a minute. This was it. Your chance at something greater than you ever thought was possible to achieve.

The elevator doors opened to the open concept apartment. Voices were clashing over the blaring hip hop music in the dimly lit room. A full bar in the corner, Joe’s pizza scattered over the island in the kitchen. Beer pong set up on the dining room table.

There they were. Every single one of em. Scattered across the flat. Starstruck wasn’t even the beginning of what you felt.

Your eyes scanned quickly around.

There he was. Curly headed locks and all. Leaning up against the floor to ceiling windows that circled the place, holding a cocktail in his strong, large right hand accessorized with a few rings. Simply staring at the sights of the city. He looked like a million bucks and he was in a simple casual outfit. Light washed jeans, black boots, with his left hand in his black hoodie pocket.

Wait. You guys were wearing the same hoodie.

The same fucking hoodie.

Of course this would happen.

tag list:

@alexander-hamilhoe

[jeanvaljean24601]

9 Straight-to-Streaming Blockbusters to Watch While You Wait for Tenet's Release

Once upon a time, movie fans had a lot to look forward to in the way of summer 2020 theatrical releases. The twenty-fifth James Bond flick No Time to Die was set to kick things off in April, and in May, Scarlett Johnasson's overdue MCU standalone film Black Widow and the next Fast and Furious flick F9 were scheduled to drop. Then, Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman 1984 was scheduled to hit theaters in June, and the long-awaited Top Gun: Maverick was expected the same month. And of course Christopher Nolan's Tenet, seemingly the last hope for some semblance of a blockbuster this year, continues to get pushed back indefinitely. That's just a small sample of the major movies which were delayed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The silver lining of social distancing was that there was already a bounty of streaming and video-on-demand options on the way — and  many which pivoted to streaming debuts amid the shutdowns — to provide us all more than enough great movie options to keep audiences entertained in our own  at-home theaters.

Stay home and stay safe with these cineplex-quality films that are streaming on popular streaming services right now.

Spike Lee's latest joint, Da 5 Bloods, hit Netflix smack dab in the middle of nationwide protests over the murder of George Floyd, and, as with most of his filmography, the movie offers a timely, scathing rebuke of the history of America's treatment of Black people — this time, through the lens of the "bloods," Black soldiers who fought on the front lines in Vietnam. The story's action is carried forward by the decades-later reunion of one platoon, as they journey back to recover their lost leader's remains and the pile of gold they found and stowed away on the battlefield. But the takeaway from the pic — apart from the fact that Delroy Lindo delivers a tour-de-force performance — is that it sheds light on another oft-unrecognized sacrifice and segment of our nation's history.x96 tv box

If not a Netflix Original by design, Sam Hargrave's Extraction, a  Chris Hemsworth-led action pic, would've easily made the marquee of the local cineplex in a normal year. Not since  The Haunting of Hill House have we seen such an impressive extended single-take shot, and Hemsworth's turn as a disillusioned mercenary who reluctantly accepts an assignment to rescue the kidnapped son of an imprisoned drug lord from a vicious rival is extremely watchable if you're looking to dig into a tub of popcorn and have a good time. Chances are, you'll be left wanting much more after the credits roll, and the good news is that Extraction 2 is already in the works.

Don't let the tight runtime fool you; Greyhound is still very much a war epic at just 1 hour and 31 minutes. The film — which Tom Hanks adapted from C.S. Forester's The Good Shepherd and which was directed by Aaron Schneider — features Hanks as the fictional commanding officer of a U.S. Navy vessel who must lead a convoy of Allied ships through the perilous Black Pit, a stretch of sea inaccessible to air support during the Battle of the Atlantic. For that three-day period, Hanks' Commander Ernest Krause is relentlessly tested and taunted by a "wolfpack" of U-boats, and it's on him to shepherd the ships across the Atlantic. There's little fluff to be found in this film, but the action is, to borrow an oft-used phrase in the film, "steady as you go."

For anyone who wasn't lucky enough to see the celebrated Broadway musical Hamilton live, especially when show creator  Lin-Manuel Miranda still led the original cast, director Thomas Kail captured a stunning 2016 performance of the show, with plans for the film to release wide in 2021. Once the coronavirus pandemic put all of Hollywood on hold, though, the pic — a musical biography of Alexander Hamilton told with a soundtrack of hip-hop, R&B, and soul — was redirected to a pre-Fourth of July release on Disney+ and gave audiences at home plenty of reasons to sing this Independence Day.

An anticipated romance movie smuggled inside of an action comedy, The Lovebirds was supposed to premiere at SXSW in March 2020 before everything shut down. That allowed Netflix to gobble it up, so nearly all the world could still see Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae play a couple on the rocks who learn to love each other again after accidentally becoming involved in a murder the same day they were going to break up. It's full of the kind of raucous humor that sees Nanjiani kicked in the face by a horse, all the while bringing Rae's and Nanjiani's characters closer together for a happy ending.

Gina Prince-Bythewood's action thriller The Old Guard is more than just your ordinary shoot-'em-up-bang-bang-style popcorn flick. The pic stars  Charlize Theron as Andy, the ancient leader of a race of semi-immortals who secretly work to save the world, one fight at a time, and take on a reluctant new member in KiKi Layne's Nile. Although The Old Guard does offer plenty of high-octane sequences, the characters also deliver some thoughtful commentary about the heroes' burden of watching the world continue to self-destruct no matter how many bad guys they vanquish, along with some sublime LGBTQ representation.

The less you know about Palm Springs going into it, the better, but it's probably no secret at this point that this delightful comedy features Andy Samberg and  Cristin Milioti as a pair of wedding goers who find themselves trapped in a time loop. Their performances are at once goofy and grounded, and there are plenty of surprises packed into every precious minute of this wild, incredibly fun rom-com with touches of sci-fi. x96 max plus

Mark Wahlberg and Peter Berg have teamed up for a lot of action dramas over the years (see also: Lone Survivor, Patriots Day, Deepwater Horizon, and Mile 22), but  Spenser Confidential marks their first film which even flirts with comedy — and it's all the better for it. The premise of the movie is simple enough; Wahlberg stars as an ex-cop who did his time for beating up his crooked boss and returns to find that his department is enmeshed a very sordid scandal that only he, his mentor Henry (Alan Arkin), his gentle giant roommate Hawk (Winston Duke), and his on-and-off-again girlfriend Cissy (Iliza Schlesinger) can untangle. But what might otherwise be a rote cop drama is immediately elevated by the movie's commitment to being a very Boston drama with a lot of sharp humor sprinkled in at just the right moments.

OK, maybe this one wouldn't have been a major blockbuster, but it's already destined to be an indie sci-fi classic talked about by elite cinephiles for years to come. The winner of Sundance's 2019 Best Narrative Feature Audience Award is set in 1950s New Mexico and follows a young woman and a man who investigate mysterious audio that appears to be coming from space, but skips special effects for mounting mood and incredible filmmaking. Andrew Patterson's directorial debut is a stunner, showing off his unique eye with what are sure to be his trademark one-take shots involving hundreds of extras, multiple locations, and a camera that never wants to turn off. There's a mesmerizing scene involving the young woman operating a switchboard that's already become one of my favorite scenes in film history, and I can't wait to see what Patterson comes at us with next.

[kriffingunlucky]

modern! 104th x bullied! reader

You walk back to your locker, head lowered and eyes glued to the ground. Your hands clasping the books that you hold to your chest very tightly as you hear people talk about you. You tried to brush it off though, ignoring them. Why pay attention when there’s nothing that you could do about it anyway? It’s not like you were going to stand up to them and tell them to cut it out, that’s not even remotely in the picture.

You glanced to the side while walking by a group of boys, they laughed and talked, playfully shoving each other around. You recognized them as some of the football players, the tough guys who called themselves the Wolfpack, the ones you wouldn’t dare mess with. They were never mean to you, actually, they just kindly left you alone. Not interacting more then when the one with the ponytail, which said you could call him Comet, was fighting with the vending machine because it ‘cheated him his snacks’ and ‘he needs his snacks’. You’d withheld laughter as you’d put in your own dollar, choosing the snack that he did but got stuck, and gave it to him. He thanked you a good five times before leaving with a large grin on his face.

Focusing on the current day, you shake the memory with a small smile. Enjoying the interaction between them, you start to tear your eyes away from them before it was weird that you were staring, but before you could your eyes catch the tallest ones brown orbs. He doesn’t glare but he doesn’t smile, you couldn’t look away though, it felt as if he could see straight into you. Like he could see the fear, anxiety, depression and worry just by looking into your eyes. But he just keeps the eye contact for a moment and then turns back to what he was doing.

Well that was awkward. You think to yourself then freeze at the sight in front of your locker. It was them, the people who continuously made fun of you and pushed you around. The meanest one was directly leaning on the door to your locker as well, not allowing you to avoid interactions with them. You swallowed hard and took a couple steps closer, quietly asking. “Um, could you please move? I need to get to my-”

“Did you say something?” He laughs asking his friend, interrupting you with crossed arms.

“Nah, it must’ve been a pest.” His friend shoots back, making the group of six explode in laughter. Drawing the attention of nearby students.

“Yeah, just a pest. An ugly little bug. One in need of squishing.” One smirks.

“We don’t have time to call the exterminator so I guess I’ll substitute for ‘em.“ The largest cracks his knuckles and walks closer, shoving you backwards.

“I didn’t even do anything to you.” Your voice was shaking slightly as you tried to stand up for yourself, stumbling backwards because of his shove you struggled to catch your balance again.

The girl in the group laughs, placing a hand on her hip. Her nose upturned. “Oh please, you existing is enough to piss me off. You repulsive thing. You carry yourself like you actually look good, but you don’t, you’re so fat and ugly.” She spits and continues, “You always get good grades, but you don’t have any friends do you? Do know why that is? Huh? It’s because you’re annoying, (Y/n).”

“So why don’t I take care of this annoying brat, babe?” The one that towers in front of you coos to the female darkly.

“Oh, that’d be lovely. It’d help a lot of people out.” She replied in the same tone.

Your eyes widen, tears in them as you hold your hands up in defense. “No, no please don’t.”

He didn’t listen though and went to punch your stomach, your eyes snap closed as you tense up. Waiting for the impact you got pretty often but it never came. You slowly open them when you feel someone in front of you, the fist of your attacker in the boys hand. “Try picking on someone your own size.” He growled lowly, shoving the bully backwards easily.

You glanced around and saw that the entire Wolfpack was surrounding you in a protective way. The leader standing in front of you. But the one thing that you noted on all of their faces was that they looked angry, furious. Their jaws clenched and hands balled into fists, eyes narrowed and nostrils flaring.

You stepped back slowly, watching the events unfold in front of you. First it was the group of bullies to try and hit them, but the amount of time actually spent equally fighting made you wonder why you were afraid of them instead of the Wolfpack. In the end, it was mostly them just beating the living crap out of the students who had been so mean to you. Once they were satisfied, and many snarky comments were said on top of threats, they let the beaten group scurry away. Comet looked back at you, who stood in shock.

“Are you okay?” He asked in concern, his brown eyes soft as he inspected you for injuries. His face turns into confusion, like he was thinking hard about something then he snaps his fingers. “Hey! You’re that girl who helped me out at the vending machine not too long ago!”

“Uh, I, uh, yes I am. To- to both, both questions.” You stutter, now nervous because all of his friends had walked up to the both of you. Looking at you expectantly.

“Those jerks, I think we taught them a lesson, eh?” The redhead scowls in the direction they ran off to, then looks at you with such a bright smile. “My name’s Boost, and yours is?”

“(Y/n).” You reply, taking a deep breath. Your body still trembling slightly.

“You can call me Sinker.” The white haired one smiles softly.

“And me Wolffe.” The tallest looks down at you, his eyes softening when they meet your teary (e/c) ones.

You slowly nod and look down, trying to find the correct response. You didn’t truly know what to say. They just defended you from the bullies that have been bothering you for a long time. How do you thank them? Could you ever repay it? And why, why did they do this? You’re not worth the fight and trouble they’ll get into for it.

The tears start to run down your face and that makes Comet frown, because he noticed. But before he could say anything your shaking voice is heard. “Why did you do that? You’ll get in trouble! Because of me! I didn’t want you to get in trouble, you helped me and now.. now..”

“Love, listen.” Sinker lifts your chin very gently and makes you meet his beautiful gold eyes. “Don’t apologize, really, it’s nothing. We aren’t getting detention and it’s not your fault. You didn’t ask for that.”

“It’s mostly because Wolffe’s dad, Principle Koon, knows we don’t fight unless it’s needed. So he’ll believe us when we tell him what happened.” Comet adds.

“Or because he spoils his son, either or.” Boost mumbles with a small smirk, looking off to the side. Acting like he didn’t say anything but he still gets a sharp glare from Wolffe.

Sinker rolls his eyes and then focuses back onto yours, his face turning serious but his eyes are full of love. “But even if we were going to get detention, it would be worth it. Nobody deserves that kind of treatment. Especially not such a sweet girl like you. None of us would be angry at you, and if we still look pissed, it’s probably because we’re furious at those bullies. We hate bullying.”

Comet looks at you now, brown eyes full of emotion and yet, you could see how honest he is being. “I myself used to be bullied, until Wolffe stopped it, just like he did for you. I know how you’re feeling right now, but listen, you’re worth what we did. And if I had to fight everyday to make you feel right again, I would. All of us would. These guys gave me the support and love I needed, accepted me and my weirdness-”

“And love it.” Boost cuts in quietly behind him.

“And I know that they will accept you as well. I will start out by doing this, saying this, if anyone is ever mean to you again let us know. And we can send Wolffe to beat the tar out of them and I’ll buy us popcorn to eat while watching. Because if you think his fighting was impressive on school grounds, you should see him fighting in a parking lot.” Comet says with a small smile then lays a soft kiss on your forehead.

“Thank.. thank you.“ You breathe out, tears rolling down your cheeks.

“Of course.” Boost and Sinker say in unison, making you laugh slightly.

“It’s my pleasure.” Comet beams, “We mean it. You want to walk and sit with us at lunch?”

You blink away your tears and dry your eyes with the end of your sleeve, nodding furiously. They smile and turn, starting to walk with you. They chatted about the most random things as they walked, not really noticing the looks you were getting from people nearby, well you thought they didn’t.

You felt a nudge against your hand and you looked down, seeing someone’s hand touching yours in an asking way, then looked up at the culprit. Wolffe. You let him take your small hand in his large, warm one. You smile at him, your eyes happy and heart warm. He catches this and turns back to where he was going.

But he smiled at you anyway, slightly, and you caught it from the side. He makes a mental note that he loves how you smile and that he should make effort to see you smile more often. So you both, including the rest of the Wolfpack, walked to lunch.

You’d gained a group of good, close friends that kept their word about protecting you. They uplifted you and took you out to hang out with them. Encouraged and complemented you because you deserved it. They told people off, sometimes beat them up, if they degraded you. You got lots of hugs and smiles, sometimes forehead kisses, because you’re now a part of their pack.

Wolffe’s father, Plo Koon, has basically adopted you as a daughter as well. You’d go to their house and hang out with the boys when not at school, studying with them often.

They loved you, and you loved them.

And that’s all that matters to you anymore.

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

honestly don’t ask why I wrote this, because I don’t even know, it took me a little bit today but I got it done. I love my Wolfpack boys very much and thought this would fit nicely! I love notes and reblogs, so thank you to all who have been supporting me! :)) What do y’all want me to write next?? I can do any clone- any setting- I love fluff followed by sadness- I can write what you please just ask!

[clarkewilliams-blog]

     hey lads!!! i’m reese ( 21, est, they/them ) and this here is clarke. i’ve played too many versions of him but i’ve revamped him a bit here to make him a slightly better player so he can have the contract that would let him fit somewhat into this rp lmao. all you need to know about me is that i fucking love hockey and my og team fucking sucks so all i’ve done for the past five years is love on prospects and watch them develop and ( sometimes ) make it to the nhl. so i apologize in advance for going absolute ham on the details of clarke’s path to the nhl no one cares abt. clarke’s a mix of some of my fav nhl prospects and players which i’ll list at the end if anyone cares. also i don’t really know anything about the rangers besides lundqvist being the king and how to properly pronounce skjei so bear with me here.

     i’m always super excited to play clarke, so let’s get to it!!!

          gregg sulkin. male. he/him.  ／  clarke williams just pulled up blasting high hopes by panic! at the disco — that song is so them! you know, for a twenty-four year old nyr defenseman, i’ve heard they’re really -private, but that they make up for it by being so +easygoing. if i had to choose three things to describe them, i’d probably say cold lakewater against sweaty skin, the cool shadows around a spotlight, and an easy smile captured by an unnoticed camera. here’s to hoping they don’t cause too much trouble! ( reese, 21, est, they/them)

THE STORY

--- clarke williams was born on the coldest day of december in a snowstorm, it was only fitting then he would love the cold like nothing else. he fell in love with skating long before he did the sport of hockey : he loved how it made him feel, how exhilarating and freeing it was. when he was eight, he picked up his first hockey stick ( a little LATE by some standards ) and fell in love again.

--- he ascended beyond his peers quickly, driving the game from the blue line even at a young age. his high school made a bid for the coveted state championship TWICE : once his freshman year and again his sophomore year. they never did make it all the way and that’s something he wishes he could have experienced. despite not winning it all, he was noticed by scouts and invited to the tryout camp for the us national team development program. he made the program and finished his last two years of high school with the ntdp in ann arbor, michigan with the u17 and u18 teams, respectively.

--- after his graduation from the program, he was selected in the second round of the 2013 NHL draft, 49th overall to the san jose sharks ( IRONICALLY, that draft pick was originally from the rangers ). he was scouted by the university of north dakota, quinnapiac, and university of minnesota; ultimately, he committed to north dakota, the first school to offer him a scholarship. his freshman year he was selected to team usa at the 18u world juniors where they won gold (2014 u18 wjc), and again his junior year to the 20u world juniors where they won bronze (2016 wjc).

--- the end of his junior year he chose to sign his entry level contract with the sharks instead of finishing his final year at north dakota : they made the frozen four all three years of his tenure, finally winning it all in 2016. it seemed like a fitting time to move on. waiting out the full four years of college and going to free agency had never been on clarke’s mind, the sharks were the ones who’d seen something in him, drafted him, and believed in him — he was always going to sign with them. he finished the 15-16 season on a professional try out with the sharks’ ahl team, the san jose barracuda.

—- the next season (16-17) he played for the barracuda and was called up at the end of the season when injuries plagued the team. he played well during the playoffs but was held to no points and the next season despite his best efforts, he was sent down to the barracuda halfway through training camp. that season (17-18) he was called up in january, once again the sharks made playoffs and he played in them, building upon his progress from the season prior. he entered the off-season feeling like he was in a good place and ready to work through the season, determined to make the big club in october.

—- however, that off-season brought chaos. he’d already flown into san jose for training camp when his agent called with news of a trade. clarke was sent to ottawa as one of the many pieces in the erik karlsson trade. but it didn’t end there, he was still packing when news of a second trade hit : he’d been flipped to the new york rangers in exchange for a third round pick.

—- he arrived at rangers training camp with something to prove, determined to show not one but two teams they’d made a mistake in trading him. he still didn’t make the team straight out of camp, but he played a mere three games with the hartford wolfpack before an injury hit the rangers and he got the call to join the big club. determined to not let this opportunity slip through his hands, he played his heart out on the ice, having an impressive breakout season and establishing his place as a talented two-way defenseman. he did not get sent back down that year (18-19).

—- this past off-season, the team took a gamble and signed him to a lengthy contract instead of a bridge deal, 6 years 4.5 AAV. he starts the first year of this contract this upcoming season.

MISC

—- clarke spends his summers in minnesota at his family’s lake house. he 100% has that dumb minnesota energy and posts videos of him wakeboarding all the time. when he’s not training and preparing for the season or playing in da beauty league ( a summer minnesota hockey league ), he’s probably on a boat. he’s most likely just returned to new york very recently.

—- very calm off the ice ; very easy-going and likes to keep things light. it’s his way with dealing with stress and pressure : just pretend it isn’t there and it won’t affect you.— he’s a hella private person but kinda not in an obvious way?? like he doesn’t share much about himself, esp what he’s feeling or even when massive things happen in his life; even his mom doesn’t know a lot of things that happen/happened to him. however, at the same time he’s extremely personable and friendly, which makes it not super obvious to his friends that they don’t really know a ton about him until they really think about it.

— “tough as a junkyard dog” ; “an absolute beast” ; will play injured ( i don’t condone this and no one should but i can’t stop him… ). there’s this large blotchy thing on his neck that kinda looks like a hickey or rash but it’s actually a three a half inch scar he got when he was 16 when a skate slashed his neck. he’s very lucky it didn’t hit his main artery. it runs from about his adam’s apple and extends toward the side of his neck.

—- he lives in an apartment with two of his teammates during the season, it makes the rent a little more reasonable.

—- ain’t no lie, baby. bi bi bi. ( but on the DL obv ).

—- hockey may have been in clarke’s blood; however, his mother knew the merit of clarke being a well-rounded athlete : he ran cross-country and track, played baseball, and lacrosse. he especially excelled at baseball, but he absolutely hated the practices, so his stint with it did not last particular long. but he had a tough competitive streak, doing well in xc and track, and even lacrosse to a degree ( it certainly helped spades with his hand-eye coordination ). he started focuses more on hockey once hitting high school.

—- SEHNSUCHT : it’s a german word that roughly translates to a yearning for the future, and can maybe be considered a rough antonym for nostalgia. it’s rooted in a belief of constant improvement and that perfection is impossible to achieve ( but that it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive for it anyway ). it fits will very well ; he’s not one to dwell on the past and is constantly working to improve himself and his game.

—- he really likes being high up, not because of any sense of ego but actually being high up and looking down at things helps him keep things in perspective ( everything is just a small part of each other ).

—- he hates when people worry about him which is real ironic since he worries about everyone else too much ; be it his team, his friends, or family. it comes with being extremely loyal. on the ice he hates to see teammates pushed around and pretty much will always do something about it.

—- he was raised by a single mother and he appreciates her very much #doubleshifting. it’s given him a humble outlook on life and for a while, he worked as a line cook in a diner to help pay for his hockey equipment. he never wanted to make the nhl for the money or fame, he just wanted to make a living playing the sport he loved. the most he’s made the tabloids was when he briefly dated a model/singer ( possible wc??? ) — they broke up after three months: she couldn’t cope with his schedule and said he was distracted from her.

—- he studied aeronautics in college because besides going into the nhl, the one thing he wanted to be was a pilot.

—- there’s this video of brock boeser where he says “y’know” 45 times in a three minute interview and that’s clarke trying to do media. ( like i said, dumb minnesota energy ).

—- PLAYING STYLE : clarke is an excellent two-way defenseman. his most prominent skill is his ability to skate. he’s very quick and evasive and very good on his edges. he’s good at defensive zone exits and capable of jumping up in the rush, and his speed allows him to get back quickly if he needs to. his slapshot finds its way through traffic and he’s looking to get more minutes on the second powerplay on the point. he can throw big hits when necessary and doesn’t hesitate to sacrifice his body to block shots. he’s good muscle on the ice when scrums break out.

—- 6’3” 201 lbs.

—- PLAY COMPARABLES: brendan guhle ( skating ability and speed ), seth jones ( two-way game ), jake mccabe ( physicality ).

—- PERSONALITY COMPARABLES : brock boeser, will borgen, casey mittelstadt ( just... dumb minnesota energy )

if you actually read all that... i’m very impressed and we definitely need to plot. i’m not one for listing wc’s mostly because i’m bad at them. i’ll be back later after my family thing to read intros, plot, and get interacting with you all!! 

oh also fun fact, i also wrote most of this without brady skjei in mind until i went on campfriendly to find contract comparables and i lowkey kinda accidentally made brady skjei huh.

[let-me-love-you-loki]

Hounds of Justice--Ch. 53

Chapter 53

           A roar like a wounded beast. Vibrating among the rafters. Reverberating until it filled all my senses. It was so loud it drowned out my music.

           I stopped at the top of the ramp, the belt draped over my shoulder. My gaze swept the crowd, taking in the signs blazoned with my name, my symbol, the t-shirts with the new Hounds of Justice logo, with my logo lettered over with Be Unpredictable, Lunatic Llane bright on black fabric. It was everywhere.

           I was everywhere.

           We were everywhere.

           Nodding. Holding back the grin that threatened to spread over my face. The hometown crowd was hot.

           I strutted down the ramp, high-fiving kids along the barricade. A burst of speed, sliding under the bottom rope, belt still clutched tight. Tuck, roll, a cat scale run up the turnbuckle. I stood on the middle rope, gripped the belt strap in one hand and held it over my head with a roar just like Roman did.

           The pop made my blood rush through my veins.

           Climb down. Grab a microphone. Stand firm in the middle of the ring, Raw Women’s Title slung over my shoulder proudly. Hounds of Justice merch dressed up with slate leggings, a matching leather jacket, and sneakers. My hair was loose.

           “What’s up, Tarheels!” I shouted into the mic. The crowd screamed, some boos mixed in. I chuckled. “Yeah, yeah. Duke… Wolfpack… I know you’re here too.”

           Another screaming pop. I let myself grin.

           “Phew,” I huffed, “it’s good to be home! Nothing like a southern winter. It’s cold as hell in Iowa, y’all.”

           A split moment of silence. Then the heart-pumping sound of Seth’s music. Black and white static blurred along the Titontron. Flames erupted, Burn it down screamed from the speakers.

           I quirked a brow as Seth appeared at the top of the ramp, mic in hand. He wasn’t supposed to be here. I immediately wondered if something had gone wrong backstage.

           “Hey, hey, Black… don’t be trashing Iowa,” he said with a wide smile. “You live there now, too.”

           Heat rushed through my face as the crowd let out whistles and catcalls. I couldn’t take my eyes off the strutting form of Seth Rollins as he came down the ramp, a smirk on his face and a wicked twinkle in his eyes.

           He climbed the steps, ducked through the ropes. It was odd that he didn’t have the Intercontinental Title or Tag Team Title around his waist. And he was in street clothes.

           “Don’t look at me like that,” he said as he leaned against the turnbuckle. There was something far too nonchalant about him. It tickled something at the base of my brain. “Look, I know you’re out here to tell Ronda to bring it at TLC, and I’m gonna let you get to that in a second. But before you do, I’ve got something to show you. Guys, roll it.”

           The lights in the arena dimmed. The Titantron lit up with the Hounds of Justice logo. Soft music played over the image as it transitioned to a still shot of me at the charity fundraiser, my hair in an elaborate design, the black and red gown striking in its elegance. Transition. Another image took its place—the one of Seth’s face when he first saw me in the dress. Dean and Roman grinned at his side, hands resting firmly on his shoulders. Tears blurred my vision as I took in his face. My heart thumped hard in my chest.

           Pictures came and went. Our first official Instagram post. Action shots of us in and out of the ring. The night I won the title. Finally, the last image faded away and the lights came up.

           My peripheral vision tracked movement, and I glanced to the side. Roman stood on one side of the ring, Dean on the other. Neither of them had their gold. Both were in street clothes, just like Seth. They had wicked grins on their faces, as if they knew some secret that I didn’t.

           The crowd started screaming, squealing. I looked up, turned around. Finally saw what had worked them into such a frenzy.

           Seth was down on one knee in the center of the ring, a box in his hand. His deep brown eyes were turned up toward me, a blush bright on his cheeks. He licked his lips, took a breath.

           “I know you’re going to kill me for this,” he said into the mic with a nervous laugh. “But hey, it was in this very ring that I first set my eyes on you. So… uh…”

           He paused, took another breath. Glanced at Roman and then at Dean, who gave him a curt nod of approval. “This is way more nerve wrecking that I thought it would be. But there are ten thousand people here so…”

           I couldn’t take my eyes off the box in his hand. My stomach turned over, dropped through the mat. Tremors ran along my limbs. For a moment, I thought I’d faint.

           “Llane Black… will you marry me?”

           The words bled into the air, wound their way into my ears and into my brain. Every other sound died away. It was just the two of us, alone in a giant arena in this moment. Somewhere deep in my brain, I realized we’d have a record of this moment forever.

           Seth sat the mic on the mat and opened the box. Inside was the most unique ring I’d ever seen. It was a wide band of black gold that was studded around the sides with three side-by-side rows of white diamonds. At the top was a square cut ruby that was as big as my thumb nail. It was beautiful.

           It was perfect.

           The sound of the world came rushing back into me. Around the arena, people were on their feet. My home state stood behind me, ten thousand people chanting yes yes yes over and over again.

           I grinned down at Seth, and nodded. “Yes,” I said, loud enough for the mic in my hand to pick it up.

           I held out my left hand and watched as Seth slipped it onto my trembling finger. When he climbed to his feet, I couldn’t hold back anymore. The title slammed to the mat, completely forgotten, as I launched myself in him. He snatched me out of the air, wrapped his arms tightly around my back. I hugged him close, arms around his neck, legs hooked around his hips.

           “I love you,” he whispered into my ear. “Please don’t hate me for this.”

           I couldn’t help but laugh. “I might be angry later, but right now I don’t care. I love you so much, Colby Lopez.”

           His arms tightened at the sound of his given name. It didn’t matter to me whether he was Colby, Seth, or Tyler… but it mattered to him—it mattered that he knew that I loved him to the depths of the person that he was.

           The shouting got louder. I sensed the presence of Dean and Roman in the ring with us. When I finally wriggled out of Seth’s arms, I was able to see the stage. Every single member of the Raw roster was there. Stephanie, Triple H, even Vince were standing there with broad smiles. Bayley and Sasha whistled. Finn clapped a little louder than all the others.

           After a moment, they filed back into the backstage area. I looked around at the three men in the ring with me. Dean reached down, picked up my title, draped it over my shoulder. Roman handed me a mic. I stood next to Seth, turned toward the stationary camera.

           “Hey, uh, Mom? Dad? You better call Georgie and Bran. I just got engaged.” The crowd laughed. Seth pressed a kiss to the side of my head.

           I let myself drink in the feeling for a moment. Then I sat the moment aside, promising myself that I would take it back out and review it again later.

           “Since I was so… wonderfully interrupted…” I said, falling back into character as best I could. Seth grinned wickedly. “Let me get back to what I came out here to say.”

           I glanced at the title. Back at the three men who stood at my back. Grit and strength turned my sinews to iron and steel. I stared straight up the ramp. “Ronda Rousey, at TLC you get your rematch. Not quite the match I wanted, but you’re too much of a coward to take me on with tables, ladders, and chairs at my disposal. So, when we step in this ring at TLC with my title hanging from the rafters, you better bring everything you’ve got. Because I will leave as the Raw Women’s Champion, and you’ll leave on a stretcher.”

The Ring:

Tag List

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[lorelylantana]

Eagles Rising: Chapter 2  The Compass Comes

Avanye sounded like a battlefield.

War cries filled the air as I stepped onto the beginning of a cobblestone road lit with lanterns filled with green flames and bushes filled with glowing white flowers. The sun was setting, but the training grounds were still full with sparring adults in leather armor. For a moment I was captivated. I wanted to be the one spinning and slashing, blade in my hand. I felt a weight in my hand and looked down to a gleaming black sword.

My heart stopped for a moment, frightened of my own thirst for battle, but then I remembered Carrick’s words and calmly willed the blade to dissolve back into the air. I hurried away from the training field and hurried deeper into the town.

After spending the night at one of the host houses Carrick told me about I was given an allowance and a shopping list of things I needed. Apparently Ivaling didn’t get many newcomers so close to winter so the couple that hosted me were busy with work, leaving me to wander the streets by myself. I looked at the list again, trying to figure out where I could buy a travelling cloak when I heard a voice from above.

“Are you lost?”

This time I held back from throwing a knife but I still had trouble finding the voice’s owner. A raven ruffled its feathers before speaking again.

“I asked if you were lost. I could help you if you like.”

The family that hosted me had told me about the stronger connections between humans and animals in Ivaline, magic acting as a bond through which they could communicate but hearing about it didn’t really prepare me for the actual experience.

“Yes actually, I’m looking for traveling clothes and I think I took a wrong turn.”

I spent the rest of the day walking around town with a raven on my shoulder as she gave me directions. Every now and again I would ask her questions.

“So do all ravens speak to humans or do some keep away from our civilization. I was told we had a good relationships with a lot of different creatures but I haven’t really seen many,” I asked while picking out a bag to hold all of my supplies.

“It’s not that we all wander around and interact with humans in our normal life. It’s not that we can speak to all humans, just ones we’re compatible with or trust. In fact many animals go through life never having spoke to one. Some animals, like myself, seek out a human like you whose magic is appealing,” she explained.

“So what happens if you find that human? Besides giving them directions?” I questioned as I paid for a leather travel bag and blue fur trimmed cloak.

“Well we tend to stick to that human for as long as possible. Your magic sustains and enhances us. Wolves grow larger, cats run faster, and our youth is preserved as long as our humans live.”

“So does that mean you’ll follow me around?” I asked.

“If you’ll allow me.”

I considered for a moment. The raven seemed to know a lot about this world and it would be nice to have a friend on the road.

“I’d love to have you around. My name’s Allie Sage. What’s yours?”

“Kyrie.”

“Well Kyrie, where should we go next?”

-

“We should head Northwest from here,” Kyrie suggested from her place on my shoulder. I checked my bracer.

“Why? The compass is pointing us East.”

“It’s pointing you towards Ferran City. It’s half a day’s walk from here and we only have two hours of daylight. There’s an old fallen tree that you should be able to make a decent shelter out of a few minutes northwest,” she explained and flew for me to follow.

I had just finished pitching a makeshift tent where she directed me when it started raining. Kyrie and I waited for the storm to pass by telling each other stories about our lives. Kyrie was born in a Heart valley called Mother’s Refuge.

“It was named for the fact that the surrounding mountains shelter the valley from bad weather and that’s where the vast many of this world’s species migrate there to give birth. I still visit occasionally when I’m feeling nostalgic,” Kyrie explained as the rain formed a curtain in front of us. I listened to the sound of droplets hitting the puddles that had formed below them. I felt the corners of my mouth turn slightly upward.

“Whenever it rained back home, one of my favorite things to do was curl up in an armchair next to the window with a cup of tea and read. I could sit there for hours listening to the water run down the glass as I read. Sometimes I prepared an entire pot of tea just for myself,” I told her as she preened her feathers from her place resting on my knee. I sat with my back curled against the rough bark with one leg outstretched and the other bent where Kyrie had made herself comfortable. I absentmindedly formed a dagger and watched it float in midair. As we were traveling I found I could telekinetically move any of my creations with little more than intent. Now I watched the details of the dagger shift and move as I thought more about how I wanted it to look. I ended up with a silver dagger with a blue tint to it with the hilt engraved with roses and thorns. I made the metal dissipate as soon as I got bored with it and saw Kyrie watching me from her place on my knee.

“Kyrie can you tell me a bit more about the magic here? Does everyone in Spade have a power like mine?” I asked. She took a moment to consider before answering.

“It’s not really that simple. I personally haven’t seen someone who can create weapons with little to no effort like you can, but magic here doesn’t follow a standard. The most common perception is that magic is an extension of you and your will. The only case of magic that I could say is similar to you is Queen Rhiannon. Spade’s current Queen loves fashion and she can make clothes the same way you make swords. Magic is so intuitive it manifests itself in the way that best suits the user. Some people teleport, some shape shift and some breathe fire.”

As she finished I couldn’t help but feel an inkling of doubt tug at the back of my mind.

“Kyrie?”

“Yes?”

“Do you think people will be scared of me? It’s one thing to make clothes, but what about weapons. Should they be afraid of me?”

Kyrie was silent for a long time before answering.

“Yes and no,” She answered and I felt that doubt tug even harder.

“What do you mean?”

“No I don’t think people should be afraid of you per se. You gift is incredibly powerful but I don’t think you’re the type to misuse it. Only-”

“What?” I interrupted, afraid of what she would say next.

“They say that people are pulled into Ivaline for a reason,” she explained, “That everyone who comes from a different world is brought here because something about them is meant to change this world for the better. Maybe they’re meant to be a king, or maybe they're just destined to start a popular bakery. It doesn’t matter how big or how small, everyone brings prosperity one way or another. The soul of Ivaline sees something lacking and looks for it in other worlds.”

“So when I look at you, with an endless amount of weapons, I can’t help but wonder why you were brought here. You have the potential to do great things, but the fact that something thinks your skills might be needed here may be a sign of great darkness approaching.”

-

We found ourselves in the thriving city of Ferran at noon the next day. I walked the smooth marble street in between soaring towers of glittering stone engraved with running silver wolves gazing through topaz eyes and leaping over rushing lapis lazuli rivers studded with sapphires. High above my head the towers tapered into sharp peaks connected to one another on deceptively strong glass breezeways. Kyrie told me what she knew of the city as I looked around for a place to eat.

“Ferran was the first fortified city built during the War for Ivaline. It’s founder was General Ferrana, right hand to Commander Asbestos and the first human to discover the connection that could be forged between them and the wildlife. She gained the loyalty of an entire wolfpack and earned the title ‘Lupa of the North’. It was a marvel for its time and is contributed to be the birthplace of many of the architectural practices found throughout the country. During the war the city’s primary function was to stockpile supplies and distribute them where they were needed at the warfront. Ferrana’s wolves knew the terrain so her forces could take advantage of it in record time, giving the Spade forces an edge in battle. Today the city is a trading hub that deals with most of the imported goods from the other three countries, Heart, Club, and Diamond. Heart is our closest ally and their main export is fruit and spices. Club exports textiles and Diamond is quite famed for its wine.”

“What does Spade export?” I asked while waiting in line at an empanada stand.

“Gemstones and foodstuffs. Although it’s also worth noting that a common trade for a Spade citizen is security. There are quite a few guilds established that send bodyguards across borders to whomever’s paying.”

“So they’re mercenaries?” I clarified while I paid for my food with a few gold coins stamped with a dragon’s head.

“In a manner of speaking. Although they’re forbidden from hiring out to another country’s military. For the most part people hire Spades when they want to guard a particularly valuable shipment of goods or an event that expects to have a large turnout.”

I sat down on a bench and watched as horses and their riders made their way through the streets.

“I wonder if I could do something like that. Do you think I would make a good guard?” I mused to Kyrie while absentmindedly forming a sword. Then I felt my stomach drop like a stone and I shattered the blade. My future here seemed so much brighter. I was excited for it. But that meant leaving behind my family back home. How could I be daydreaming while my parents must be worried sick? My sword dissolved into glittering dust that disappeared as soon as it hit the ground.

What kind of daughter was I? Was I anything more than a runaway?

I stood up and started walking faster, wanting to cover as much ground as possible. The sooner I got to the Spade capital, the sooner I could find a way home.

“Allie? What’s wrong?” Kyrie asked, brushing her feathers along my cheek.

“I don’t know if I can stay in Spade Kyrie. Will I ever see my parents again? What if there’s no way home?” I rambled while choking back tears.

“I’m sure you’ll find your way home somehow. You probably shouldn’t panic too much over something beyond your control. You’re on your way to fix the problem but if you worry so much you may lose your way,” Kyrie advised as we made our way downtown.

“I guess.” I grumbled, not completely reassured but I saw sense in Kyrie’s advice. I looked to my bracer and followed it to an inn where I was allowed to stay for the night and issued a small stipend for supplies. I was also pointed in the direction of a public bath. Glad for a chance to clean up after a day of travel I headed over after nightfall. I left my bag in one of the lockers while Kyrie explained their security.

“The bracelet they gave you is enchanted so your the only one who can take something out of the corresponding locker so your bag should be safe,” she said from her place on the top of the lockers.

My bag proved not to be as secure as I would have liked. Nothing was taken but when I slung my pack overI found it to be noticeably heavier than when I came in with it. I set it down and looked inside only to find a wriggling gray fuzzball.

“Kyrie, there’s  a wolf in my bag,” I deadpanned.

“So it seems,” she confirmed, preening her feathers.

“How does something like this even happen?” I wondered, completely taken aback.

“Well,” Kyrie mused, “The enchantment is only meant to keep intruders from taking something out. It’s entirely possible to put something in.”

“Okay but why?” I asked, taking the small pup out and stroking her behind the ears.

“She looks like runt. Her mother probably snuck out of Mother’s Refuge to bring her here.  Runts have a hard time surviving in a pack so sometimes their parents try to sneak them into human households hoping that a human will take a liking to them and let them feed off their magic,” Kyrie explained, her voice soft, like she spoke from experience.

“Does that work?”

“Sometimes yes. Sometimes no,” she replied, and the tragic tone in her voice told me all I needed to know about what happened when it didn’t work. Just abandoning the pup wasn’t an option. I put my pack back on and walked out with a little wolf in my arms.

“We should name her,” suggested Kyrie after I settled into my room for the night. I was feeding the pup bits of my meat ration I had cut up with my knife by the fire.

“Any ideas?” I asked her, open to suggestions. I thought for a moment. What does one name a wolf? I thought of something my mother said long ago when we visited a national park and saw a wolf pack far off in the forest.

“Wolves are beautiful but dangerous creatures. They may look inviting from a distance, but if you get too close they will bite. Be careful Allie. Be wary of what dangers may lurk beneath appearances. It could be your undoing.”

I was younger then, and thought my mother was being melodramatic, but now that I had aged a bit, I saw there was truth to it. Sometimes there was poison beneath goodwill.

“Belladonna,” I said, remembering from history class that it was a poisonous plant women used in the Renaissance. It was more commonly known as deadly nightshade. I liked the idea of naming a wolf for a lethal beauty.

“Belladonna it is then.” Kyrie said, and I drifted off to sleep.

--

Next

First

[winelover1989]

The Third & final Jonerys chapter transition in A Storm of Swords was absolutely mind blowing. There were some awesome parallels in the first when Dany is en route to Astapor & Jon is on his way to Mance’s camp, both about to have their morals challenged & devising a manipulative plan. The second when Jon becomes involved with Ygritte & Dany gets her army of Unsullied surprisingly had some great parallels too. But this transition was two of the coolest chapters I’ve read back to back so far, with so many hidden Jonerys treasure! 

1. Jon had his first romantic day dream about his idea of Ygritte who wasn’t a Wildling “If I could show her Winterfell . . . give her a flower from the glass gardens, feast her in the Great Hall, and show her the stone kings on their thrones. We could bathe in the hot pools, and love beneath the heart tree while the old gods watched over us.” And it’s just so cute, like hang in there Jon, you’ll meet Dany soon. Dany too meets Daario for the first time & develops a little crush on him. But on a sad note about fantasy love lives, Dany shares that Viserys always blamed her for Robert’s rebellion, that she was born too late, for if she was born early & wed Rhaegar, his love triangle with Elia & Lyanna wouldn’t have started a war. 

2. Jon worries if Ygritte will betray him if he told her his secret & he worries that if he left, would the Wildlings punish her for his treachery. Dany too worries if Darrio will betray her since it’s prophesied that she’ll know two more treasons for gold & love. 

3. Ygritte insults Jon for being a kneeler & throws her condescending phrase ‘You know nothing, Jon Snow’ more than a few times. The men Dany meets before her seige on Yunkai, the leaders of masters of Yunkai & the sellswords, Stromcrows & Second Sons, guarding the city insult her being a woman with lewd & rapey comments. 

4. Jon & the wildlings are south of the Wall & it’s the first time Jon stands up to Ygritte challenging the Wildling ways of raiding & raping and tells her they won’t win this war. He acknowledges the truth of their relationship, “Ygritte set the trap and Mance Rayder pushed me into it.” And he finally puts his foot down, “He was going to have to find some way to betray these men, and when he did they would die. He did not want their friendship, any more than he wanted Ygritte’s love.”

Dany too stands up to Jorah once and for all when he tells her that she can’t trust Daario, “Do you think I’m still some virgin girl, that I cannot hear the words behind the words? You have been a better friend to me than any I have known, a better brother than Viserys ever was. You are the first of my Queensguard, the commander of my army, my most valued counselor, my good right hand. I honor and respect and cherish you—but I do not desire you, Jorah Mormont, and I am weary of your trying to push every other man in the world away from me, so I must needs rely on you and you alone. It will not serve, and it will not make me love you any better.” 

5. Jon feels lonely without Ghost, “Jon wondered where Ghost was now. Had he gone to Castle Black, or was he was running with some wolfpack in the woods? He had no sense of the direwolf, not even in his dreams. It made him feel as if part of himself had been cut off. Even with Ygritte sleeping beside him, he felt alone.”

While playing with her dragons, Dany has a similar thought: (She felt very lonely all of a sudden. Mirri Maz Duur had promised that she would never bear a living child. House Targaryen will end with me. That made her sad. “You must be my children,” she told the dragons, “my three fierce children. Arstan says dragons live longer than men, so you will go on after I am dead.”)

6. They both play the same game with Ghost & Drogon:  “Drogon looped his neck around to nip at her hand. His teeth were very sharp, but he never broke her skin when they played like this. Dany laughed, and rolled him back and forth until he roared, his tail lashing like a whip.”

In the previous book, Jon does the same, “Jon squatted to let the direwolf close his jaws around his wrist, tugging his hand back and forth. It was a game they played.”

7. Jon tells Ygritte a story of a Targaryen queen who has many parallels with Dany & her dynamic with her husband is compared to Jonerys. 

Old Nan had told him the story, but Maester Luwin had confirmed most of it. “Alysanne, the wife of King Jaehaerys the Conciliator. He’s called the Old King because he reigned so long, but he was young when he first came to the Iron Throne. In those days, it was his wont to travel all over the realm. When he came to Winterfell, he brought his queen, six dragons, and half his court. The king had matters to discuss with his Warden of the North, and Alysanne grew bored, so she mounted her dragon Silverwing and flew north to see the Wall. This village was one of the places where she stopped. Afterward the smallfolk painted the top of their holdfast to look like the golden crown she’d worn when she spent the night among them.”

Bran mentions in an earlier chapter that she gifted these very lands, where Jon & Ygritte were at this moment looking at the tower in question, to the Night’s Watch for their sustenance, because she thought they were all very brave.  

Whitebeard shares stories of Rhargar’s life with Dany & there’s a part which makes him sound a lot like Jon, 

“Perhaps so, Your Grace.” Whitebeard paused a moment. “But I am not certain it was in Rhaegar to be happy.”

“You make him sound so sour,” Dany protested.

“Not sour, no, but . . . there was a melancholy to Prince Rhaegar, a sense . . .” The old man hesitated again.

“Say it,” she urged. “A sense . . . ?”

“. . . of doom. He was born in grief, my queen, and that shadow hung over him all his days.”

8. Jon’s struggle at not wanting to kill the old man when the Wildlings force him to prove himself, kind of resonated for Dany’s desire to win Yunkai with strategy & not bloodshed. 

9. What I loved the most was how basass the ending for both these chapters were, Jon’s escape from the Wildlings was so cool in a dark rainy night only briefly illuminated by thunder. Bran’s direwolf helping Jon make the escape. It was just really cool! I was fangirling so hard and I loved that once he ran, Ygritte doesn’t ambush him like in the show. Dany’s Mhysa moment outside the gates of Yunkai is also so much better in the books.      

10. And lastly, I loved how this was the ending for the Jon chapter before it transitioned to Dany reaching Yunkai, “Thunder rumbled softly in the distance, but above him the clouds were breaking up. Jon searched the sky until he found the Ice Dragon, (it’s a constellation in this world but damn George, the foreshadowing) then turned the mare north for the Wall and Castle Black. The throb of pain in his thigh muscle made him wince as he put his heels into the old man’s horse. I am going home, he told himself. But if that was true, why did he feel so hollow?” In a way Jon’s lack of a home resonates with Dany’s greatest yearning too and it was interesting that earlier this chapter, he thinks about what the Wildlings might be saying about him in the Old Tongue, “Get back where you belong, Jon guessed. But where is that?” (Gif : scarygritte)

Then Dany’s chapter begins with her sizing up Yunkai’s defences. (Gif:rebloggy)

Interesting little nuggets: 

I also liked that as Jon was judging how undisciplined the freefolk were in terms of warfare and Dany had the same thought about some of the former slaves of Astapor who had stolen a few weapons & joined her camp. She agreed that they were slowing the camp but she tells Jorah that they are free people & she’s not going to tell to leave if they wish to come along. 

Another tiny parallel, Dany comes up with her own version of ‘You know nothing, Jon Snow’, “I am only a young girl and do not understand the ways of war.” She uses this phrase sarcastically with everyone she negotiates with and says it one last time before she lays out her pretty clever battle plans. 

This observation seemed a bit tinfoil to be but it was funny that the leader of the sellsword company, Stormcrows runs away when Dany’s forces attack their camps while they are drunk on the wine she sends them and Jon is exposed as a crow to the wildlings and he runs away during a storm. This one gave me a laugh but it doesn’t seem very legit.

Overall, I LOVED these two chapters like I’ve loved nothing in ASOS, so much action and goodness packed into two chapters. I live for Jon & Dany chapter transitions like these where I get quality Jonerys content like this back to back! 

[fallenqueen2]

There Is No Limit To How Far I’ll Go (For You) 4

Obi-Wan knew she had always danced the fine line between the dark side of the Force and the light side her whole life. However, even the strongest can fall, so one day Obi-Wan falls for the Vode.

Ao3 Link

~~/~~

Obi-Wan knew she had always danced the fine line between the dark side of the Force and the light side her whole life. However, even the strongest can fall, so one day Obi-Wan falls for the Vode.

Tags: Female Obi-Wan, Sith Obi-Wan Kenobi, Fallen Obi-Wan Kenobi, Dooku & Obi-Wan Kenobi family relationship, Cody/Obi-Wan, Kamino belongs to the Vode now, Obi-Wan Kenobi is Vod’Alor,

Anakin replayed the holo that had been broadcasted throughout the Galaxy, showcasing Palpatine’s treason and Obi-Wan’s golden Sith eyes for everyone to see.

“You’ve watched that footage hundreds of times Ani, nothing is going to go differently,” Padme said soothingly from the doorway where she was lingering, on her way back to the Senate for another vote.

A lot of those have been happening since that holo and data package had been sent out a month ago. Change was happening and if Anakin could focus on anything other than his turbulent emotions than he would have noticed that the Force was brightening with each day that passed.

“I just don’t understand,” Anakin whispered as he watched his old Master twirling under Palpatine’s red lightsaber, working alongside Count Dooku of all people like they had been doing it for years.

“Try turning on the audio on your next watch Ani,” Padme offered before dropping a kiss to her husband’s head before hustling out of the apartments.

Anakin did as she said and listened intently, his mouth slowly parting as he listened to her words and the open emotion burning in them.

She did this for her men, for all the clones and… She did this for him, to stop Palpatine from twisting him to the dark side. Anakin minimized the recording and did a quick search about what she meant when she said he gaslighted him.

Anakin had to race to the fresher when he recognized every symptom of it in himself since the moment he met Palpatine as a 9-year-old. Anakin pressed his cheek to the cool tile of the fresher floor after he emptied his stomach and fought back tears.

Anakin desperately reached for his bond with Obi-Wan, a bond he had been pushing away in the misguided thought that she was holding him back, that she was jealous of his power.

Anakin expected pure darkness or a powerful shield from her end; instead, he was welcomed into her side of the bond that was a peaceful, swirling mixture of darkness and light.

“Master,” Anakin whispered as he closed his eyes and fell into mediation willingly for the first time since he could remember.

Anakin sank into his bond with Obi-Wan and opened his eyes to find he was standing in what he could only assume was the hanger of the Resolute, but dark slimly tendrils were covering every surface. Anakin had never noticed those before and it made him feel dirty and uneasy.

“Obi-Wan!” Anakin called out when he noticed her standing across the hanger with her back to him with her hands curled behind her back in her usual stance.

“Amazing isn’t it? How words can cause so much doubt and damage to one’s mind?” Obi-Wan murmured as Anakin jumped over the dark tendrils needing to get closer to her.

“Is this what Palpatine was doing to me for all those years? How did I not notice?” Anakin snarled at the dark lines that covered the hanger.

“The dark side is hard to see, much less understand,” Obi-Wan said simply as if she had not given in to the dark side herself, she was still not facing Anakin.

“I want them gone, please help me Ob-Wan,” Anakin pleaded, he felt sick to his core as the dark tendrils throbbed and pulsed around the two.

“I wish I could dear one, but this is something you have to handle yourself. Seek out a Jedi mind healer, show them this and they will help you remove these vines one piece at a time. If you try to rip them all out at once there is no telling what will happen to your mind.” Obi-Wan explained and Anakin blanched as the thought had crossed his mind, but he didn’t want to destroy himself. He would visit a mind healer and get some help; he wanted to feel like himself again.

“Master, will you come home?” Anakin asked cautiously, really asking if Obi-Wan was going to come back to him. Obi-Wan turned her head to the side and gave a small, sad smile.

“I’m afraid I will no longer be welcome at the temple Anakin,” Obi-Wan said and Anakin lurched forward, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug as he buried his face in her auburn hair.

“I’ll come find you then, where there is a Kenobi there is a Skywalker, remember?” Anakin said thickly.

“You cannot dear one, your wife needs you right now,” Obi-Wan murmured and Anakin stilled in shock. “Oh Ani, of course, I knew.”

“Everything will be fine dear one, trust in the Force and do not lash out in anger any longer.” Obi-Wan gently stepped out of his hug before turning to face Anakin full on. Her blue eyes flickered with Sith yellow every so often and it took Anakin’s breath away.

“I’ll find you Obi-Wan,” Anakin swore instead and a sad smile crossed her lips as she lifted her hand to Anakin’s cheek.

“I know Anakin,” Obi-Wan said almost sounding sad as the hanger dissolved and Anakin was back on the floor of the fresher. He pushed himself to his feet, determined to see a mind healer. He had a promise to keep after all.

~~/~~

“Did you hear that Skywalker has willingly gone to a mind healer?” Depa announced at the council meeting, Obi-Wan’s chair hauntingly empty and everyone seemed to avoid looking at it.

“Palpatine’s deceit and Obi-Wan’s… Fall must-have affected him greatly.” Mace tapped his fingers against the arm of his chair, his words pained as the image of Obi-Wan fighting alongside Dooku with smouldering gold eyes flashed in his mind.

“How have your attempts at contacting the troopers gone, Master Koon?” Kit asked the Kel Dor who seemed to sag in his seat.

“Unanswered,” Plo replied sounding so depressed that the other’s hearts went out to him, he loved the wolfpack as his son’s and their abrupt departure and lack of communication after had been hard on Plo.

“We’ve been avoiding the elephant in the room as we have been scrambling to help with the fallout of Palpatine being the Sith Lord behind this war. Now that Bail Orenega has been made Chancellor and a treaty has been signed with the Separatists, we have time to address this.” Adi stated voice tinged with regret as every eye drifted over to the empty council chair.

“We saw the proof, Obi-Wan Kenobi has fallen.” Kit stated soberly.

“Heard her side of the story, we have not,” Yoda spoke up.

“She and our troopers have gone into hiding, they will not risk coming out into the open.” Plo murmured as he stared at her chair.

“We should consult the Force, many darker shatter points have disappeared since the death of Palpatine. Things may not be what they appear concerning Obi-Wan.” Mace explained.

“Reach for her in the Force we shall,” Yoda tapped his glimmer stick in a final decision.

One by one the council fell into a meditative state with the main goal of reaching for one of their own, one who had fallen from the Light. They stretched out in the Force, seeking her signature in the vast Galaxy. They were drawn to it like moths to a flame, yet it wasn’t as dark as they had been prepared for.

The council felt the equal balance of light and dark dancing around her, but beneath it all, they felt pure happiness that they just now realized she had been severely lacking for her whole life. The odd combination of the Force tossed each council member back and out of his or her meditative state, leaving them stunned in their chairs in the council chambers.

“She is happy,” Mace rasped out as he wiped a bead of blood from under his nose.

“The Force is balanced around her in a way I’ve never seen before.” Kit added in, tipping his head back to regain his breath.

“It was amazing,” Depa murmured in restrained awe.

“Leave her alone, we will. Come to us in time, she shall. Change is coming, I feel.” Yoda announced and the council murmured their agreement. Plo sat back in his seat, keeping quiet as he held onto the words that were pushed into his mind before they were all forced back.

“You are welcome to rejoin your pack.”

It had been Obi-Wan’s voice in his mind and it gave him a surge of hope that he would soon be reunited with his son’s.

~~/~~

Obi-Wan opened her eyes, shifting from her meditative position in the garden, greenhouse the Vode had recently converted from a training room. Obi-Wan smiled as the laughter of the cadets, the children echoed out around the garden as they played together unburdened by anything.

“Cyare,” Cody murmured from his place leaning against a tree trunk next to her, a baby softly snoozing on his chest.

“Master Plo will be arriving shortly I believe,” Obi-Wan announced and Cody smiled as he stroked the baby’s back as Obi-Wan curled up to his side.

“Wolffe and the rest of the pack will be thrilled,” Cody kissed her cheek as he gently shifted the babe into her arms so he could hold both of them properly.

“Anakin is getting help from a mind healer, his mind was a mess of darkness planted by that filth. He swore to come find me,” Obi-Wan smiled fondly and Cody snorted at the words.

“That sounds like General Skywalker, the 501st will be pleased.” Cody huffed. Kix and Jesse skidded into view, excitement on their faces.

“Rex is back!” Kix announced and Obi-Wan scrambled to her feet, easing the baby into Cody’s arms. Cody took the sleeping babe amused as Obi-Wan all but flew out of the garden with Kix and Jesse.

“Your Alor is so silly sometimes,” Cody whispered to the baby in his arms before following at a more sedated pace, handing the baby off to a few troopers who had eagerly accepted places as what Obi-Wan called Crèche Masters.

As they eased the tubies out of their birthing tubes once they had made sure the Kaminoan tech they kept alive had done his job and broke the fast age coding from the Vode’s gene’s they realized they needed a place and Vode to raise them. Obi-Wan had told them in detail about the Jedi crèche and from that their own crèche was born.

Cody entered the hanger just in time to see Ahsoka, much more grown-up since the last time he had seen her, throw herself into Obi-Wan’s arms. The two clinging to each other as they sank to the floor, no saying anything aloud but Cody had no doubt they were communing with the Force.

“Welcome home Rex’ika, I’m glad you convinced the Commander to come.” Cody tapped his forehead to Rex’s as they exchanged a hugged, he was relieved that they had both returned unharmed.

“She gave me a run for my money at first, she hasn’t forgotten anything we taught her,” Rex replied, pride colouring his voice as his eyes found Ahsoka who was being fussed over by Obi-Wan and looking a bit teary-eyed at the treatment.

[eirianerisdar]

Fic title "a face in the crowd"

First off, anon, I’m terribly sorry for how late this is. I can’t even pinpoint when I got this - this has been sitting in my inbox since before I came up with Silent Measures. Which means months. But I’m trying to clear my inbox so here’s something I came up with on the spot.

A Face in the Crowd

Summary: During the Clone Wars, the Jedi were lauded as heroes, but so out of reach of the masses that they seemed at times to be toy soldiers selling war bonds more than actual walking beings. But there were four Republic Days that fell within the Clone Wars, and in each one of them, if you look carefully enough, there are things to be seen that are special. A child watches, is inspired, and remembers, twenty years after.

Characters: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Aayla Secura, Plo Koon, (and many clones, though only in passing)

(note: this is after Ahsoka leaves, so she isn’t here)

Edit 24/7/18: There is now a companion fic to this, For the Brother I Did Not Deserve.

Little Meron Junshi is not sure whether he likes this Republic Day parade.

It technically hasn’t started yet, but the heat is stifling here in the masses milling behind the railings along the Senate boulevard. His father has put him on his shoulders, and the air is a little clearer up here, but Meron would much rather they be back home on Alderaan, where the air is sweeter and the skies much, much bluer.

And less loud. There are many interesting species around him that he has not seen before, but Meron finds the noise rather distracting. And the boulevard before them is still empty, except for the red-and-white armoured clone troopers that stand guard at equal intervals along the railings themselves.

But he will behave, because he his a big boy of eight and his father is here to do important business with Senator Organa, and Meron is only here because he pleaded and pleaded until his parents said yes.

And then suddenly, there is thud of a plasma cannon from high above, so deep and low that Meron feels it shudder through his frame and down to his father’s wide shoulders; and the guarding troopers snap to attention with a muted thud of armoured boots against duracrete.

This first thud echoes across the suddenly silent masses; and in the distance, under the Senate Building itself, comes an answering drumbeat.

Then another. And another.

And then a steady tramp-tramp-tramp comes filtering down the boulevard, and before Meron can do anything but sit up straighter on his father’s shoulders, the first company of clone troopers come into view.

The Coruscant Guard is first, led by a proud-shouldered trooper with a helmet visored in grey and painted in red, the etched plaques on his armour marking him as a commander.

Meron gapes as row after row of red-white troopers follow, posture ramrod-straight, each holding a blaster at parade ready. The cadence of their steps are so well-matched that if Meron were to close his eyes, he could imagine a singe titan was thundering down the boulevard, and not nearly a hundred and fifty men of one company.

The crowd around them is shrieking with excitement.

A company of soldiers, each with stylised wolf-head painted  on their grey-lined white armour, and striding confidently at their head, a Kel Dor Jedi with russet robes flowing jauntily in the wind.

Plo! The crowd is screaming. Plo Koon!

The Wolfpack! Meron stares, wide-eyed, so engrossed in the clean lines of General Plo’s wolves that he nearly misses the ground-shaking thud that follows.

Five paces after the last grey-painted trooper comes twin files of eight AT-TEs, six-limbed bodies creaking with every solid stamp of durasteel legs. And marching between, standing on, and holding to the side of these giant assault walkers are many yellow-striped troopers. Most strikingly, somehow balanced perfectly on a walker placed centrally between the two main lines, is a blue-skinned Twi’lek woman with a smile on her face and a lightsaber at her hip.

SECURA! The masses yell, in a hundred thousand different sentient voices. SECURA!

She stands tall, but her smile widens.

Company after company come, whole battalions and legions painted every colour of the galaxy, each with a Jedi marching before them, or sometimes two, with the younger marching alongside a clone captain.

Meron watches, dumbstruck, as hero after hero steps off the war-reels and into reality, like toy soldiers ripped from the holonet and placed within reach.

But then a roar of pure sound sweeps through the masses like an oncoming wave, and Meron is nearly unseated from his father’s shoulders.

The troopers coming into view now are painted with bold gold stripes.

And at their head, stepping with a calmly fluid gait-

-is a Jedi with red-gold hair and cream robes, and eyes the colour of a silent sea above a beard trimmed to immaculate neatness.

Meron forgets to breathe.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Negotiator.

The multitude raves. There is no collective chant, now, not like before; overlapping screams of KENOBI and NEGOTIATOR and OBI-WAN rise in an increasing cacophony of unleashed madness.

Throughout all this, Meron only watches the Negotiator.

General Kenobi steps in time with his men, but something in the smooth effortlessness of his pace and the gravity of the tabards over his shoulders speaks of a noble sadness, mixed with extraordinary determination.

Sadness, in the middle of the greatest parade of the year?

Meron lowers he hand he was using to wave, and frowns. He is struck with the sudden impression that General Kenobi would look much the same leading his men into battle.

But then there is a blare of trumpets, and Meron nearly gives himself whiplash as he jerks his head to look.

These new troopers are painted blue.

The crowd is shouting in synchrony, now.

SKYWALKER! SKYWALKER! SKYWALKER!

The Hero With No Fear himself is stood next to Chancellor Palpatine, on a slow-moving barge surrounded on all sides by a sea of blue-and-white armour. His smile is rakish, his waving casual, and the scar that curves around the edge of one eye effortlessly cool.

Meron stares at Anakin Skywalker, and wonders if he imagines that those ice-blue eyes flicker towards him, if just for a moment.

Meron does not waste it. He straightens up so abruptly that his father grunts in surprise, but he does not pause to think about it - instead, he nearly slaps himself in the forehead as he salutes.

He is halfway through the motion already before he realises General Skywalker is looking at him.

Krayt spit! Meron tells himself, knowing his father would give him a good scolding if he heard the words out loud - I probably look stupid!

But what is done is done. The edge of his right hand is pressed to his forehead.

The General watches him for a moment - it cannot be more than half a second, but it seems the longest moment in Meron’s short life - and then suddenly, General Skywalker raises two fingers to his forehead and flicks them to the side in a jaunty salute.

In return to his.

Meron’s brain smashes into a wall of disbelief and disintegrates into awed smithereens.

It is only after the barge has passed by, and the next company is marching past that Meron remembers that he should drop his hand. He lets it fall by his side, numb.

He barely registers the rest of the parade.

He is grinning so widely his cheeks ache.

“Father,” Meron says, later, when a squadron of LAAT/is have flown overhead and the crowd is beginning to disperse, “I’d like to join the Alderaani guard.”

“Oh? And why is that?” his father says distractedly, holding one of Meron’s ankles to stop him from sliding off.

“I want to be a General,” Meron says.

There is a long pause. Meron’s father slows his pace, and stops.

“War isn’t as fun as you think, Meron.” His father’s voice sounds different.

“Oh.”

“Talk to me when you’re eighteen. We’ll see then.”

“Okay!” Meron chirps happily, as his father carries him across the sea of Coruscanti crowds, and away from the Senate boulevard, its white duracrete surface stamped grey with the feet of two hundred thousand men.

Twenty years later, clutching a blaster and kneeling in a white-walled corridor swamped with shadow, Meron Junshi thinks of that long-ago Republic Day. Of the sun and the chants and the bright-painted soldiers with their Jedi Generals.

He had gone to his father when he was eighteen, and he had gotten his wish.

The Alderaani guard had led to a permanent place in the Rebellion, and the Rebellion…here.

Behind him is a short passageway, and beyond that, the Tantive IV, with a precious person aboard. In front of him is a darkened corridor, which lies silent and still beyond the echoing howl of the klaxons.

And then Meron becomes aware of another noise.

A sawing, unnatural breathing, like air rasped through a grille of harsh desert sand.

And the passageway is lit with a bar of crimson plasma.

“Open fire!”

Oh, Meron thinks, as his finger tightens on the trigger and plasma spews uselessly out of the barrel of his blaster. You were right, father.

War is not a parade, with sun in your eyes and bright-painted soldiers and their much-loved generals marching before them; war is red-painted white walls, and flashing bolts, and screaming, and the never-quickening and never-slowing breaths of a shadow that reaches for you, and grasps you with invisible hands, and sends a screaming blade of blood-red light slashing towards your chest.

“Take it! Take it!”

And Meron knows that perhaps there is a little truth in what his eight-year-old self thought about war: War is nothing without hope.

Hope, to a boy watching a war parade on his father’s shoulders, is to receive an acknowledgement from the General he loved so much as a hero.

Meron stares into those hard black lenses, and holds this image in his mind as he dies.

He has no time, before the end, to wonder if he imagined Darth Vader flinch.

END

Sooo…

I’m…evil?

I hope this makes up for how late this is, anon. I made up Meron on the spot; his name means soldier. Reblog as you like, and thanks for reading, everyone.

Edit 24/7/18: There is a companion fic to this one now, For the Brother I Did Not Deserve.

My fanfic masterlist

My ff.net profile and stories

[zani-is-a-stan]

Suzani reads AF: Chapter 3 - In The Mountains

All the other chapters: Prologue Chapter 1 - Bee Stings Chapter 2 - The Silver Touch

I’m reading AF and liveblogging my response. This is partly because RH’s books are so densely woven that I want to make sure I catch every detail I can on the first read. I pounded most of the other RotE books, and discovered an insane amount of details on my second and third read-throughs that I completely missed the first time. I’m also inventing reasons to slow down because i want to savor the fuck out of this book.

I will not be responding to any comments on these posts until I’ve finished the book - to save myself from spoilers.

And I just wrote a bunch of junk so that you could turn away before the spoilers in case you made it here by accident.

Spoilers ahead. Read at your own risk

Predictions based on chapter title: We’re in the mountains. -_-

Preface text: I don’t get this one. I don’t enjoy it either. Well ... I *get* it. Someone’s watching serpents hatch and capturing while an Other watches. I don’t like this at all. It’s bad news bears. AND it’s being done by a White wearing green and gold, colors we just learned were associated with Withywoods. Is it Beloved being so sinister? Is it Bee herself? Is it someone from a very long time ago? Is it metaphorical? Will Amber win over the keepers of the blue and gold dragons only to be turned on by Heeby and Rapskal? Is it a metaphor about how enslaving other will only lead to them turning on you and consuming them? The whole thing feels very ominous and I don’t want Heeby to eat Beloved. Or Beloved to enslave serpents.

Bee wakes up: You know, the first time I read a Bee-narrated chapter, I was angry and stressed about it. This wasn’t the Fitz book I was looking for! When the messenger turned our to be not Beloved, I was furious! I had skipped over RWC to go straight to the Fitz and the Fool books after Tawny man because I was so intoxicated with the OTP. The slow-downs and re-reads have forced me to appreciate the series from a perspective that incorporated more than just skimming the passages until I got to the next occurrence of the OTP being in the same room together. I’m really glad this change happened for me, for a few reasons. It allowed me a greater appreciation of what a true master of the craft Hobb is. It also allowed me to fall in love with all these other characters! Mostly Lant and Bee, but the rest of them too.

So I was really happy when this book opened with a scene of badass, 8-year-old Bee clobbering her kidnappers in the face with a club, and never ever giving up. She’s amazing. She’s inspiring. And give me another story of any genre where the true hero is a magic 8 year old girl ... and it’s as cool as this?

Dwalia and Alaria’s character progression: Dwalia’s coming across as more desperate and petty and cruel than she even did in the first chapter. I wonder where this is going to end up ... The closer we draw to her character, the worse of a person she is revealed to be. And Alaria is suddenly a threat, when before she might have been a character Bee could have turned into an ally. A petty, cruel threat. Dwalia is a person who hold the power of intimidation on those around her, and the people around haven’t yet figured out that there are more of them than her. AND we learn that Dwalia was perhaps in love with the Pale Woman, and this all was a revenge trip. This makes her even more dangerous, I think. I love the detail of her just assuming that the values of another culture (regarding Chalced and Kerf’s family) don’t matter, and she can manipulate any situation to get her way.

New names Symphe. Who is Symphe? Are they one of the four? Symphe might be french, but it popped up in an old english dictionary as part of a root word for the harmonious implications in the word ‘symphony’, and the ‘sym’ aspect as a root for the work ‘sympathy’. So ... someone often in agreement with others? Someone passive? A supporter? And then .... is it possible that Symphe picked the luriks she picked to accompany Dwalia to attempt to turn her away from Bee? Is it possible that Symphe is on ‘our’ side?

Also, this is a good time to bring up that the word ‘Kerf’ means ‘cut’.

Ilistore! The Pale Woman finally has a name! And uh-oh, some heavy implications with this one ... Ilistore sounds not unlike ‘illusion’ or ‘illusory’, which would make sense, as she used the Skill to blind people a lot. But what it really sounds like is ‘Alastair’ or ‘Alaster’ - which mean ‘defender of mankind’, ‘avenger of evil deeds’, 'he who does not forget', 'avenger', 'persecutor', 'tormenter’, 'one who suffers from divine vengeance'. So ... what if she was the actual right White Prophet after all? Obvi a sociopathic evil bitch, but ... what if she was also ... right?

Prillkop Oh man. I wanted so much for this dude to have been a bad guy luring Beloved back to Clerres instead of a good guy who’s probably dead now.

Bee’s Treasures In addition to Per’s hat and Molly’s candle, she now has Lady Thyme’s shawl. Taken of necessity, but still portentous? But Dwalia get the item that was Fitz’s. That’s probably not good, whatever it was. Bee’s First Kill Reppin’s slow death reminds me of the first time I read the scene in Assassin’s Quest where Fitz has to listen to a very young man cry in the road until he dies of the slow poison he had given him. The difference is, Fitz is somewhat tormented by the experience, even though it was the only way to save himself. Bee regrets, but with Nighteyes encouraging her, knew she did what she had to survive. Reppin, Alaria and Vindeliar God, these three are like watching middle school social dynamics play out in front of my eyes. Fucking ow. I really hope Vindeliar makes it out of this in one piece. It’s not his fault he’s been used like this and treated so badly. Important Plot Points I think (for now) that Symphe, Coultrie and Capra are all of the Four. Confirmation that Whites (at least Beloved) have multiple catalysts.

Hoo boy! So ... the Unexpected Sun’s victory is supposed to be absolute, and the recapturing of Beloved proves (to the Servants) that Fitz was not the Unexpected Sun. The reasoning for this is a key to understanding the way they think: victory is the destruction of their opponents. To lose any one aspect of a conflict is to negate any success. This is very different from Beloved’s approach of ‘one little ant at a time’. It shows their paranoia. It shows as well that they see themselves as in battle against something.

Beloved’s catalysts: an assassin (Fitz), a nine-fingered slave boy (Wintrow, who Amber completely missed out on any contact with until everything was over), a ship’s captain (could be Wintrow again ... could be Althea? even though she wasn’t technically a captain. I don’t think it’s Kennit, although it would make complete sense if it was given his historical significance. Wouldn’t it be a damn laugh if it was Grag?), a spoiled girl (Malta, duh), a noble bastard (Fitzy Fitz. Or ... Chade?)

Vindeliar had, or has a sister.

Beloved probably didn’t escape, but was deliberately released. Seems likely. He was a fucking mess, not a Shawshank.

DUDE! The White that Beloved one was is TOTALLY singing through time at Bee! Is she also trying to manipulate Kerf? Did she push him to do what he did? It’s basically because of him that they go through the pillar as they do. When he says “Darker than Death” .... what does he mean? The blood? Bee?

“So, I had that.” THIS IS MY FAVORITE LINE SO FAR!

Dreams Alaria dreams the destroyer (currently being assumed by me to be Fitz) brings foul fumes and death. An acorn (currently being assumed by me to be Bee) is taken inside what I assume is Clerres and becomes the destroyer. Bee mentions the dream from Fool’s Assasin with the puppet with an acorn head, being wielded by what I had assumed was Beloved. I’m going to go back and look at that one again - I had a hard time with it the first time around bc, much like the dream in the beginning of this chapter, it implied that Beloved was a Bad Guy. Reppin dreams that destruction comes (and for her, it does sooner than others.) Vindeliar dreams what seems to be poiting us to the same concept - Bee is brought to Clerres, is ‘opened’ or ‘crushed’ and that triggers a big destruction.

You know, when Hobb really pushes me to expect a certain outcome of a situation, i just don’t know if I believe her.

Bee holds a torch under a wasps nest at a crossroads (could be where they are now, with Dwalia being the wasp’s nest.) I like this theory because it ties in beautifully with Kerf’s assertion that killing for no reason will harm Bee if she does it, but won’t harm Dwalia if she does it, by comparing Dwalia to a wasp. As Nighteyes said in Fool’s Errand of Fitz.

A scarred girl weeps with Nettle while they hold a baby. Is the scarred girl Nettle’s unborn baby, changed from her contact with Tintaglia? Is Bee the scarred girl, and the baby her niece? Will be she back home in time for Nettle’s child to be born? A man burns porridge, (no idea on this one) the wolfpack (the Farseers?)howls in despair. The blackness of the destruction is acid, and brings down dragons, destroying their wings.

**There is a thing that only Bee can do!**

And at the end of it all, Bee cries out to her father. Because she loves and needs him --- but will it be a Skill call?

[thesoundplug]

The Q&A Interview With Palmtree Paradise.

Durban has become more and more familiar with the group 'Palm Tree Paradise' as well as the rest of the country. Though for those who don't know - who's 'Palm Tree Paradise' as well as it's members ? Palm Tree Paradise is a Durban based group, consisting of 6 memebers all born and raised in Durban. With various ages and backgrounds, the members are Captain Hook, June Blackheart, Papa Axsion, Pdogg Amazing, Row Shotgun & Sydrow. What's the meaning behind the name of the group and was it the first name that came up or there were previous ones before the one that you guys are using now ?  When we were trying to find a name for the group, we came to an agreement that the name should be one which simultaneously describes themselves as well as their beautiful home city Durban. We then narrowed it down on an A4 page with about 50 different names. And two stoodout, those two names were: #Palmtrees (due to their presence on the Durban coastline and the group's preferred choice of hairstyle) & #Paradise (well, because  Durban is Paradise). It was almost impossible to choose between the two and that's when Row came with the idea of fusing them together. The rest is history. You guys gained a lot more popularity late in 2016 with your biggest song 'UNBELIEVABLE', which happens to be a summer time anthem. How did the song come together ? In the first recording session together Row Shotgun played us a beat which he held close to his heart. He must've understood it's immense potential because he told us that we shouldn't lace any vocals until we were 150% sure that they did the beat justice. For about 3 days we played around with ideas which could work for the track (while recording 5 of the tracks on #TropicalReign) but none of them met Row’s high standards. We then decided to change our approach and focus on things which made them feel as good as the beat did. This is where the various elements in the hook came about. Once they had come to an agreement P-dogg Amazing played around with some melodies and laced the hook which we know and love today. The message we wanted to communicate was that we should embrace the beautiful and unbelievable things in life, cause these are the things we all like! The video for 'UNBELIEVABLE' shot at North Beach, Durban by Sky Star Films, has enjoyed a fair share of success airing on TV. Why did you guys pick that particular concept for the video ? The mantra that we chose from the moment we started the group was to expose the world to our beautiful corner of Mzansi through our musical concepts & videos. We came to the early realisation that nobody was really taking advantage of the beautiful natural scenery Durban is blessed with. So when it came to shooting the video, using the beach front area and our world famous marine promenade was a no brainer. The video director, Aewon Wolf as well as Skystar Films shared our vision so with those key ingredients coupled with the creativity and hard work of the shooting team and the contributions from all the clothing brands, our management, the video girls as well as our family & friends the video practically shot itself. At the end of the video, you guys show affiliation to the Wolf Pack, what's your relationship with Aewon and the Wolf Pack ? At the time we were promoting the single and Aewon Wolf went out of his way to show his belief in us and our song. He let us know that if we needed any help we shouldn't hesitate to call him up.  At the time we had no idea how we would be able to raise the budget for the quality of video that the song needed. So we called up Aewon for some advice and just like that he offered to shoot the video for us. Aewon is an incredibly gifted D.O.P. (Director Of Photography) and the Wolfpack X credit was his stamp on the video. We are not members of the WolfPack though. On the same breath of affiliations, I saw that BACEgang along with Aewon made a cameo appearance on your latest video for 'AbaRight'. Should we expect any collaborations between the two groups ? Definitely! We consider these artists our brothers. Durban music is on the rise …Watch this space! I understand that the group consists of about 6 members. So with that being said, who's responsible for what ? Captain Hook - His role is self-explanatory. He's a living breathing Hook God. He's the guy who hosts the gents at his crib for our recording sessions and after parties. Row - He's the man behind the sound. The self-proclaimed Super Producer. He's in charge of quality control and no wack verses make it past his keen ear. Sydrow - He's one of the most gifted lyricists in the group. His mere presence raises the standard of rap in the crew and he's a marvel on stage. June Blackheart - Is the youngest and most naturally inquisitive member of the group. He's got an unmatched hunger for musical knowledge which helps rid everyone else of complacency and as a result keeps our music sounding fresh. Pdogg Amazing - Is the oldest in the group and his role in studio is to dish out catchy melodies and harmonies. He's very eloquent and for that reason has been appointed as the spokesperson for PalmTree Paradise. Papa Axsion - He's the 5th dimension to our 4D sound. He's behind most of the conceptualisation in our music and prides himself in his Afrocentric sound and his ability to add a soulful texture to the PTP (Palmtree Paradise) sound. Axsion also handles most of our social media pages. You guys have been doing shows and events more in the city and around the country, how does being given a platform to showcase your craft feel as well as how does it feel to actually have your art pay off ? It feels like that first ballot in '94. It feels like Apollo 13. It feels like Penny Haines in '96. It feels like Sepp Blatter opening that famous envelope. It feels like 22 December 2012... Basically, it's a feeling of validation... liberation... euphoria... it's the most addictive drug on Earth...You can't get enough of it. Your debut project 'Tropical Reign EP' was released early this year, which has 'UNBELIEVABLE' and 'AbaRight' on it. Also some notable features such as Reason and WTF. Do you guys feel like you managed to convey yourselves in the best way possible to say, "this is Palm Tree Paradise and this is what we're about". YES, without a shadow of a doubt. Not a single negative review thus far and people are discovering new favourites and new quotables day by the day on the project. From a quality perspective Finesse Beats S.A. (The guys behind the mixing and mastering) made sure our sound was clean and could compete with the best. And we are preparing to take it much further with our next body of work (Eden) which is 50% complete. What would you guys say sets your sound apart from the rest ?  Our ability to create a radio friendly sound which stimulates the heart, mind and spirit. We create a local sound which can compete internationally. Our music brings people together. Who are your musical influences and where do you guys grab inspiration ? Realistically speaking, it’s hard to name anyone because of the diversity of the music that we all listen to. But there is some common ground and that includes artists like Ty Dolla $ign, Post Malone, Black Hippy, Acoustically and many, many more. Our biggest inspiration is our daily lives in the city of Durban. The vibes in this city are second to none and they serve as a foundation for all the musical journeys we embark on. Describe your sound in one word PARADISE !! How will 2017 be in positive contrast to 2016 for Palmtree Paradise ? 2016 was about growth and #Unbelievable. 2017 will be about establishing ourselves as consistent hitmakers, we will continue to release good music and more music videos. 2017 is the year that we break into the mainstream and shake things up a bit in the game, they mustn’t get too comfortable. PalmTree Paradise is on the way! It's so impossible to ignore what's going in South Africa with artists and their record labels. What's your take on this and as independent artists do you feel like remaining independent is the best decision in order to maintain things like creative freedom ? Being self-funded and independent can be likened to working in a mine, you have 5km of dirt, rocks and rubble to dig through before you get to the gold. At the same time record labels give you the advantage of a lift down to the gold but you can’t really touch it even though it is rightfully yours. For us being independent allows us flexibility and creative control of our music and with the ever changing state of the music industry, staying independent is the best thing one can ask for. However, it's not easy at all! It’s a lot of hardwork, empty stomachs and sleepless nights. It’s slow to deliver rewards, but with patience and perseverance, one can survive and excel. If an artist from the city or anywhere else in the country wants to cook up something with you guys, how do they get a hold of you ? We are accessible and are always keen on working with new artists, as long as the vibes match, the music is good and they can survive in Paradise. They can reach out to us on social media or email us at ptpdurban@gmail.com Questions & interview was compiled and edited by Jordan Soul. Follow the blog on Twitter: @theSound_Plug on Facebook: theSound Plug

[bitcoinegoldrush]

That Crypto Trader You’re Paying for Advice Isn’t as Smart as You Think

Markets and Prices

Professional cryptocurrency traders are a clever bunch. They must be, with all their talk of MAs, fibs, and ichis. Mere mortals could never hope to acquire their expert charting knowledge or ability to glean breakouts from glancing at a graph. Thankfully, there’s a way for beginners to trade like a pro without needing to spend five years at forex school: by paying for it. Joining a paid trading group seems like an easy way to fast track your gains, but be careful – those paid signals could be costing you more than you think.

Also read: Venezuelans Turn to Bitcoin as Government Crackdown on Mining Intensifies

Fib Level: Off The Charts

Traders, like gamblers, have a tendency to overplay their wins and hide their losses. If you’re a Twitter trader with an army of thousands hanging on your every call, admitting to being wrong isn’t good for business. When “pro” traders get it right, they have no qualms about reweeting their correct call. Get it wrong and those tweets are deleted faster than you can say flash crash.

The risks of blindly trusting traders was illustrated this week after someone published The Wolf of Poloniex’s Bitmex trading history. The Wolf, who styles himself on Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort, boasts a Twitter following of over 75,000 and is famed for his cries of EXIT ALL CRYPTO MARKETS anytime bitcoin looks bearish. He also operates a private trading group, The Wolfpack, which costs 0.1 BTC to enter. Within this inner circle, The Wolf dispenses the sort of priceless insights that aren’t available to the proletariat.

It all sounds very lucrative, not least to The Wolf of Poloniex, but what about to those who’ve shelled out $1,000 or more for his wisdom? Well, according to one accuser, the pseudonymous trader could be a sheep in wolf’s clothing.

The Trader Who Cried Wolf

If the above screenshot is correct, The Wolf of Poloniex has lost around half a million dollars, largely from unsuccessfully trying to short bitcoin.

This revelation raises questions not only as to the value of The Wolf’s predictions, but to those of Twitter traders in general. Critics swiftly poured into the thread to dissect The Wolf’s abilities, with one jibing: “His source of income is obviously not trading. It’s his wolfpack 0.1 BTC subscriptions (which he also blew by buying altcoin tops).” Others responded:

It’s easy to lay into traders for getting things wrong, but in their defense, charting is not an exact science. Even when it’s done well, it arguably bestows only the slenderest of advantages. Sniping at Twitter traders because you lost money is like blaming Ferrari because you crashed your high performance sportscar. The Wolf predictably came out swinging, retorting:

Riding to his defense, another user responded: “All jokes aside, people just love to hate. I support the wolf. This man makes educated calls based on experience. Follow him or not you make your own calls, do your own research.”

This sentiment was echoed in a recent Medium post which urged:

Invest in projects you believe are going to impact billions of people within the next 10 years. Do your due diligence. Invest in open teams that are accessible. speak to all the people building the technology, get to know them personally.

Exit All Trader Groups

The real Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort, came out swinging this week, denouncing bitcoin as a “huge danger” that’s “guaranteed” to fail. His Twitter namesake, at least, has nothing but love for the digital currency. Regardless of where The Wolf of Poloniex’s wins and losses stand, there’s a case for questioning the wisdom of paying to enter private groups for trading advice that can be found elsewhere for substantially cheaper. Veteran bitcoiner Charlie Shrem put it best when he wrote:

It’s easy to be a “crypto expert” with “private trading groups” when everything is rising….Most of these “experts” showed up less than a year ago.

For cryptocurrency investors seeking a less expensive alternative to paid trading groups, there are a few options. A number of crypto asset funds such as Safinus have sprung up which allow investors to defer to the wisdom of experts and earn a passive return that way. It’s too early to assess the efficacy of these models however, which are still relatively new.

Alternatively, do what the best crypto traders do: set aside one evening a month to perform fundamental analysis on the most enterprising projects currently in the works. Do your own research and that way the only person you’re answerable to is yourself. Finally, if you don’t have the time or focus for that, buy into some of the top market cap cryptocurrencies, forget about them and come back in a year.

Anything can be charted if you put your mind to it.

To date, that’s proven a far more lucrative strategy than agonizing over fib retracements, ichis, and moving averages. That’s not to say you should disregard cryptocurrency traders altogether. They often get things wrong, but their memes are still dank and their charting knowledge is enviable. Follow them on Twitter by all means. Just don’t follow them blindly.

Have you found private trading groups to be profitable? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

Disclaimer: This article is intended for informational purposes only and should not to be considered as trading advice. Neither Bitcoin.com nor the author is responsible for any losses or gains, as the ultimate decision to conduct a trade is made by the reader. Always remember that only those in possession of the private keys are in control of the “money.”

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The post That Crypto Trader You’re Paying for Advice Isn’t as Smart as You Think appeared first on Bitcoin E-Gold Rush.

[junker-town]

9 nightmare 2017 College Football Playoff scenarios that are not yet impossible, meaning you should worry about them really happening

Yes, there’s a lot of Virginia in here.

1. THE “GOD DON’T LIKE UGLY; HE LOVES IT” PLAN

Michigan State

Stanford

Alabama

NC State

A plausible scenario, actually. Michigan State winning out against the rest of their schedule with 13-9 games would be weird, but not the weirdest thing Michigan State has ever done. Alabama is easy to put in; NC State is less simple and way less likely (see the entire “Swinney Debacle Scenario”), but still possible. Stanford needs the Big 12 to hand out some round-robin losses, but can knock out Notre Dame itself on November 25th.

The over for all of these games would be somewhere around 45 points total. Ratings would fall among every key demographic except the elderly, who would send ESPN/ABC tender AOL and Hotmail notes from their iPads about how finally, someone put football teams that play at sensible paces back on top of college football.

2. THE COACHES ARE FIGHTING

Notre Dame

Penn State

TCU

Oklahoma State

OH MY, THE COACHES ARE FIGHT-Y. JAMES FRANKLIN HAS HIS CHEST PUFFED OUT AND IS CHARGING THE FIELD BECAUSE YOU MADE EYE CONTACT WITH HIM! JAMES FRANKLIN, LIKE A WOLF OR A GUY DRIVING AN F-150 WITH A LIFT KIT, INTERPRETS EVERY EYE CONTACT AS A DIRECT CHALLENGE! THE FIRST RULE OF DEALING WITH JAMES FRANKLIN IS NEVER MAKING EYE CONTACT WITH HIM! NOW YOU MUST FIGHT!

GARY PATTERSON IS BEATING YOU WITH HIS WOODEN LEG! HE DOESN’T EVEN HAVE A WOODEN LEG! GOD KNOWS WHERE HE GOT THAT, OR WHO FROM!

BRIAN KELLY IS BRIAN KELLY!

WHERE’S GUND—

Gundy right now to the Homecoming crowd after three straight losses to Baylor. http://pic.twitter.com/PaIYc76T2v

— Pistols Firing (@pistolsguys) October 14, 2017

HELLO, BOYS. LOOKS LIKE WE’VE GOT ENTIRELY TOO MANY TROUBLEMAKERS HERE. TOO MANY 40-YEAR-OLD ADOLESCENTS, FELONS, POWERDRINKERS, AND TRUSTEES OF MODERN CHEMISTRY!

3. THE SWINNEY DEBACLE PROTOCOL

Alabama

Ohio State

NC State

Georgia

Engineered specifically for maximum Clemson fury.

It includes the team Clemson beat to win a national title last year; a division foe who’d have to get here directly through Clemson; a team Clemson blanked last year in the Playoff; and an on-again, off-again rival on the field/perennial recruiting opponent.

There are some serious rivers to cross to get here. Georgia would have to win out, then somehow beat an undefeated Alabama in the SEC Championship Game. This assumes Alabama wins the rest of their games, which is maybe the most comfortable assumption of all.

It would help if that Georgia victory looked fluky or was very close. Alabama as a one-loss team would need help to get in the Playoff, and by help, I mean teams dropping games left and right.

The Wolfpack would have to win their matchup over Clemson, sweep the rest of their schedule, and win the ACC Championship. To give you an idea of how rare this is, they haven’t won the ACC in the sport of football since 1979, and the last time NC State finished with just one loss was 1957.*

*Note: Even in that year, the Wolfpack put up two ties. If ties still existed, Arkansas would have zillions of them, but Michigan State, NC State, and South Carolina might actively try for them.

Ohio State is the most reasonable piece here. Now that Michigan’s offense has entered some kind of extended rehab/scrimmage period, Penn State is their most challenging game remaining, and that’s a home game for the Buckeyes.

4. THE ADDERALL SPECIAL

Oklahoma State

Ohio State

Washington State

USF

If you cross-index “total offensive plays” and rankings, this is basically the foursome you get. (USC is up there, but has played fewer games.)

In order to get this Playoff, the most sluggish of conferences by pace — the SEC — needs to implode and fall out of the national title race. You’d also need Wazzu to recover and finish strong (nahhhh), Notre Dame to drop another game (not impossible), and for the ACC champion to finish with two losses (also not impossible.) A scenario that depends on consistency from Washington State is probably one that’s already dead, but it’s not completely insane.*

*It is, however, 99.99999999 percent insane.

Oklahoma State and Ohio State don’t need outside help to make this happen.

South Florida needs to finish undefeated, keep Quinton Flowers injury-free, and hope that in a field of badly dented candidates, the shiny and ding-free budget model from the American is the best possible pick for a four-spot.

I just turned USF into a well-maintained rental car bought at auction, and I am sorry for that.

5. PULL OVER, THAT PASS TOO FAT

Washington State

Memphis

Ohio State

Virginia

Every game in this setup would be seven hours long. It would be bad, but there would be so much of it.

Part of the reason this exists is to create one, just one, scenario where the Memphis Tigers steal a bite of that sweet, sweet Playoff money.

Did you know Virginia was winging the ball around like a Big 12 team this year, or that the tatted-up quarterback doing it was named after his cool uncle who showed off his knife collection while babysitting? You probably did not. By the way, don’t read more about that uncle if you don’t want to hear the very sad ending to that extremely cool uncle’s life!

Also, Ohio State’s been passing the ball really well (and 37 times a game so far), especially for a team that couldn’t throw a ball in a lake successfully last year.

6. TRIUMPH OF THE GEEKS

Notre Dame

Virginia

Stanford

Oklahoma State

In every other scenario, Notre Dame doesn’t need much help to get in, really. Win out, and then rely on the grabby little hands of the Playoff committee to snatch Notre Dame up for the sake of television ratings. They’re a good team, have a loss they can apologize for adequately, and will have a presentable schedule.

But! If we want to put Stanford in, then we’re talking about a bit more engineering. The Cardinal have two losses already and need to beat Notre Dame, a team that can’t afford a second loss.

So: we’re going to need some disasters to happen elsewhere. We’re going to need Alabama to win the SEC, but take two losses and look awful beating the East team. That would mean dropping the LSU and Auburn games, and then playing what could only be described as a 60-minute atrocity in Atlanta so unwatchable the rest of the country recoils from the idea of watching the Tide play another game.

Kentucky can speed this along by being the team that beats Georgia and wins the East (but loses to Louisville), because no one on the committee could really accept a Playoff team losing to Kentucky. That’s not fair, but say it out loud and know how right this is.

This also assumes everyone in the Big Ten ends up with two losses and that the committee kind of forgets Notre Dame isn’t a Big Ten team. Stop acting like that totally doesn’t happen already.

Keep rolling with this stupidity by assuming a miracle of a season at UVA. Yes, this would mean former SEC East champion Indiana would have a transitive win over the entire ACC. Why do you flinch and shudder when I say that?

Oklahoma State is in the Triumph of the Geeks scenario because I a.) couldn’t really find another super smart team to put in, and b.) petrochemical engineering and veterinary medicine are really hard. Expand your narrow definition of geekery and put these boots on, y’all. They’re comfy, and in Stillwater, you can wear them with shorts and formal wear.

7. WHAT

Kentucky

Virginia

Utah

UCF

Forget you saw this. Speaking it into existence is a crime.

8. ANAEROBIC FOOTBALL (LIVES WITHOUT AIR, YOU SEE)

Georgia

Wisconsin

Alabama

Notre Dame

If you believe the forward pass represented a moment when our culture took a wrong turn straight to Helltown, this is your desired setup.

It may be a surprise to see Notre Dame here, but the Irish really have gotten this far in life without having to pass. In fact, they keep the ball on the ground about as often as the gold standard for water buffalo offense, Wisconsin.

We’d all be watching at least the first 15 minutes of a 30 for 30, because all of these games would finish in under three hours, and airtime ain’t gonna fill itself.

9. RATINGS DISASTER

Stanford

San Diego State

Virginia

UCF

Ideally, for maximum disaster, this comes down to a Stanford-SDSU rematch. In the event of this disaster: consult the following footage to determine which side of the American cultural divide you land on, and root accordingly.

Oh god Stanford. http://pic.twitter.com/BdfWMbPhk1

— Jon Sanders (@jongsanders) September 17, 2017