#Or really up north along the east coast

[tsunauticus]

”there are countless little desert towns that have outcasts and weirdos just like the Hawkins gang”

THANK YOU

I like to think how fun the story of Stranger Things could’ve been if it took place out further west, or in another part of the U.S.

I think that the environment really puts an emphasis on the people and the story, but the sort of domineering need for conformity isn’t something just felt in small town Indiana.

I know a lot of people complained (and rightfully so) that S4 was too spread out and the Cali plot took us too far out of Hawkins and the spirit of the show. But for me, it was a reminder that weirdos exist all over the place. There are countless little desert towns that have outcasts and weirdos just like the Hawkins gang. Suzie's family in Utah is absolute bonkers. Eden is a goth in a strict Mormon household. Even Argyle in California had no friends until he met Jonathan. Being a misfit in a town that doesn't understand you is not unique to the small town Midwest.

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

The disrespect toward indigenous peoples is what popped put at me today in one of your posts. I wonder how long the English have been looking down on the Welsh. We're the Saxons like that or is it the Normans who really thought they were better than everyone else. Cause it seems like it goes back a long way.

Oh, both, just in different ways. The Normals were imperialist, the Saxons were more theft and landgrab.

Something that makes me want to start hurling knives is the INCREDIBLY COMMON English myth that the Anglo-Saxons were a sweet innocent indigenous British people who were conquered and bullied by those mean nasty Normans (and Vikings), and because the Normans came over via France, that means everything was actually THEIR fault, and the true English i.e. the Anglo-Saxons, were victims too :(

When I say it's incredibly common, by the way, I really mean it. Enormous numbers of modern day English people believe this. I've seen BBC programs about the Viking invasions that claimed without a trace of irony that the Vikings would take slaves from "the native Anglo-Saxons". I've literally had English people comment this shit on posts of mine about Celtophobia and Welsh history. Like I'm there describing how the last Prince of Wales was locked in a wooden cage in Bristol Castle at the age of eight and lived out the remainder of his life there until his fifties so the Welsh would know their place, and some snivelling English cunt will straight up write a message going "Teehee really it was the Normans not the English though and they conquered the poor Anglo-Saxons too, poor England uwu"

Anyway in the dying days of the Roman empire in Britain one of the leading reasons for Rome abandoning Britannia was the constant waves of Anglo-Saxon invaders. There were so many the east coast of Britain became known as the Saxon Shore. There were so many the Romans built a line of forts that were and are literally called Saxon Shore Forts. There were so many that an official, historically documented, paid governmental position in Roman Britain was the Count of the Saxon Shore, i.e. the guy responsible for keeping the bastards out.

Rome had banned native military, of course, so when they then withdrew and took the armies with them, the people left had no defences against the incoming waves of Angles, Saxons and Jutes. England fell pretty quickly, Angles in the north, Saxons in the south, Jutes primarily in the east, I believe. What stopped their westward expansion was the Brythonic Celtic nations living in modern day Wales. And this is the origin of the Welsh dragon - those separate kingdoms needed a banner that united them, and represented Not Saxon. An anti-Saxon force. They chose a red dragon.

This is also the origin of King Arthur. An anti-Saxon king of the Brythons, who would repel these Germanic invaders. (It was several centuries later that England realised they should probably steal the term 'British', because otherwise they were marking themselves as 'not native'.)

Anyway the saving grace of the Anglo-Saxons in the end was actually that they were whiny little bitches who gave up trying to fight in Wales with its difficult mountains and fought each other instead. The whole sorry tale of the Heptarchy is the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms fighting like cats in a bag, while Saxon king Offa built a dyke along the Welsh border and went "WELL YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED OVER HERE" and every Welsh king went "...we literally didn't want to conquer you anyway, you spectacularly sad and stupid man"

Oh, and of course, there's the name 'Wales'. Given to us specifically by the Anglo-Saxons. And translated by centuries of English scholars, mostly very smugly, as 'foreigners'. A fun bit of early propaganda, look - foreigners in our own country that they tried and failed to steal.

All of which is a circuitous way of saying - yeah, it goes way back.

[puzzled-pegasus]

wof headcanons but theyre oddly food and substance related for some reason

Although I understand why Tui didn't include very much info abt alchohol or drugs in a kids book there is an extreme lack of culinary related world building so here are some ideas I had while on this train of thought :)

SeaWings tend to be foodies and are generally given cooking classes in school. Which if you think about it, is rather important, because like 60 percent of the creatures in the ocean are poisonous and the rest have parasites and nasty germs so they need to know whats up when it comes to food safety.

SeaWings use a lot of citrus in their food and drinks and they also use it for fragrances and stuff they just really like it

SeaWing nobles commonly eat fugu and there have been assassinations where a chef was bribed to not properly take out the poison so the dragon eating it would die

SeaWings drink to taste. SkyWings drink to forget what century it is.

SkyWings typically eat their meat raw but on special occasions they will barbecue it and put some spices n stuff on it. They don't eat much else besides meat but they do like spicy things like peppers and they also like strong onion or garlic flavors. The little masochists. Anyway,

SkyWings don't really like sweet things and many of them can't even taste them so they're like wtf is a dessert

man do they love them some olives tho. Olives everywhere. In their drink. Out of the jar. On their meat. Oil on their scales. Oil in their hygiene products. They started trading them from the Sand and SeaWings millennia ago but theyve selectively bred ones that grow in the mountains

This one's more drugs than food but SkyWings will sometimes take some kind of stimulant before battle like a beserker so they're all fired up heheh

MudWings are excellent meal preparers and sibs like to all cook together so they'll make a big pot of stew or something

They like bread and desserts, they have easy access to sugar cane being along the east coast and they also use a lot of honey. They're re into canning stuff too, they have a lot of raspberries and blackberries and strawberries in their temperate forest areas and they grow them to make jam and wine and they use honey to make mead

basically they are Cottagecore(TM) and I love them

They also eat lots of freshwater fish and crawfish and whatnot

And they also eat a lot of tatoes

Vanilla grows in the swamps, they use that in their cakes

MudWings deserve some appreciation goddamnit their kingdom is biologically diverse and beautiful

SandWings have tequila because. Yknow. Cactus.

They eat a lot of bugs and lizards, they don't really need to eat every day so it's not a huge deal

they do like coconuts tho and they use coconut oil in a lot of their hygiene products as well as in their cooking

They deep fry a lot of shit. Idk where i got this but trust me. They love things with lots of fat in it bc they need all they can get

Really sticky sweet desserts and candy; enjoyers of those one lollipops with the mealworms or whatever tf in them

also canning stuff like bone broth is very important

pickled cactus as well

rhey probably have a festival when cactus fruit goes in season

what even is IceWing cuisine.

Well way up north where there's nothing but ice it's pretty bad and the dragons have to eat just plain ass meat and seafood, but down into the tundras there's some pretty good stuff like cinnamon, pines for tea, honey berries, and other foraging as well as more diversity of meats

They would probably eat sushi

All the other tribes like to make fun of them and rightfully so bc their food is so plain

they make good honey berry wine tho

Maube that's why theyre so damn grumpy

RainWings are expert foragers ofc but they don't really feel the need to prepare their food in any way

They are, however, in constant dire need of sodium because they get absolutely none from their fruit

So anything salty is wow

Maybe rhey have a place near the mud kingdom border where they can grow some asparagus for salt

they are also the only tribe besides Night that can eat chocolate but forgor 💀 how to make it so the NightWings and them have to re figure it out together

Salted dark chocolate bing bang boom instant delicacy

NightWings used to be able to cook really well, especially desserts and pastry, but they forgor while they were trying to not die on the volcano

[fantomette22]

What are some Maria headcanons that you have?

( @izunias-meme-hole)

Lady Maria headcanons post (part 1) :

Alright! Well I already share those a while ago : https://www.tumblr.com/fantomette22/743244500505378816/lady-maria-vs-keeper-of-the-old-lords?source=share  +couple of other around my blog

So I will try to share other things not just related to « Maria could do pyromancy from her living if she really wanted to but was actually terrified by it! Because she didn’t want to use her own blood to inflict pain and death. » also I won’t explain in detail how I hc she got her Rakuyo : by directly going to the East herself! (Yamamura’s country).

🍂But why did she name it like that? The Rakuyo? Well Rakuyo means « fallen leaves » right? Well, when she finally got her blade she needed to baptise it, to use it properly for the first time. And guess on what she uses it? A fallen leaf! (naturally falling in autumn). Cut it straight in two halves. And that’s how she knew how she was going to name it.

Enjoy the ride t's going to be long ;)

⚔️She got an Evelyn gun during her teenage years and before the Rakuyo she often train & fight with both a chikage and a reiterpallasch (she really like dual wielding 😎 or maybe with another sword like the shadow could have been a thing she fight with 🤔 but yeah I guess she was trained with all type of weapons) I wonder if she could have been a bit ambidextrous too.

⚜️Ok now concerning her family (tree) I have at least 5 different headcanons for it 💀but let’s just go with my main one aka the fic verse one (where she’s just Annalise’s cousin XD). Because if you get me started on the alternatives it’s just never gonna be over XD (those are really in very different timelines. It’s not really the same characters & events are different)

🩸I imagined she had quite a mixed relationship with her family. It’s like when you love them bc it’s your family, you like the good memories and nice moments you have, this little chill & special outings etc but there’s also some stuff you’ll never be able to forget or forgive them. You feel you need distance and be autonomous to not get hurt by them anymore, to not get frustrated and misunderstood. Just have news and share things outside.

She never really fit in with her peers. Kinda an odd one who just masks really well to fit into the mood when asked of her. I prefer to say « a (white) wolf » in a pack of hounds in context but yeah black sheep in a white flock if it’s easier to understand x) She had a lot of pressure on her shoulder as well (being the last pyromancer and not far in the line of succession)

But she really likes her close cousins which she grew up with (Annalise, Vled), a couple of other friends (Charles, Svetta, a couple of future young knights etc) as well as younger relatives and kids (Leo etc)! But she doesn’t get that much along with the others. Like she goes along better with the servants probably. 

⚜️She mainly grew up between Cainhurst and where her parents had lands and their manor (in the north, near a coast). Her parents are often not there because they are sent by the crown to places so it's complicated . When her mother is in a good mood that’s mostly fine, her dad is a bit more chill (he taught her how to play a lot of card games and poker too! She probably played 2-3 times with money at stake. She prefers amical things. She will absolutely beat your ass at it too. She’s the definition of having a poker face XD)

👑She was a lil bit raised like a future lady in waiting but more as future knight (page (of the king), squire, knight training etc really rough training too 💀 very dark shit hm like beat the shit out of people while wearing a full weight armor, swim in a ice lake and idk shot hm dead things… I swear there’s more fun things but hm yeah…)

That one really isn’t fun as well but i imagined that during her teenage years she already had to deal with mental health issues (due to well some pb with her family etc). Thankfully, she did get better after spending a summer a bit far away at a friend's home (to simplify). Still she got scared for some years afterwards that some of those dark thoughts would eventually return. Thankfully it didn't for most of her life. She got some happy times…Bad times too but not that bad until well probably more than 15-20y later where you know… she would sadly not make it out this time.

🌌She was accepted as Byrgenwerth and went to mainly study sciences, astronomy, but did learn a bit of theology as well as medicine (basic medicine stuff,  nurse & help midwife etc). She did 5y and got a master degree. She also participated in underground expeditions arranged by Byrgenwerth.

⭐️She probably know how to speak way more than 2 languages : whatever they speak in Yharnam, latin/pthumerian language, whatever the equivalent of Japanese is and probably a bit of other European languages too. Oh a north/slavic languages as well, because she had ancestors from there too).

🐴When she was very little they got some borzoi I guess but most of her life at Cainhurst she got 2 siblings crows (I have Phobos & Deimos names in my draft) as well as her own horse, named Filan. (mean little wolf in gaelic/irish apparently? Speaking of which Maria's nickname when she was little was "little wolf" maybe in another language too). She probably had a couple of plants too.

(suppose to be almost a full black horse but i’m not 100% settle because i could go full horsemen of the apocalypse aesthetic with other knights if i change the colors… but in my first draft that’s a black horse yes)

🔥When she was very little they discovered she could eventually have pyromancer blood power.It might have been a huge pride for them and honor for her but… clearly Maria didn’t want to become like the shadows of the antics pthumerian royals. A silent and hidden knight who kills without asking questions… clearly she wasn’t really found of this idea 😅 Thankfully for her she don’t know or to use such power and didn’t put much effort to try to learn it (in life she will probably accidentally use it 2-3 time…)

She highly respects a lot of traditions and culture from Cainhurst but there’s stuff like exposing the remains of animal prey that she found a bit barbaric. She doesn't mind others using blood blades and she will do it alone/ for training or even in choreography but she doesn’t wish to hurt or kill with it.*

💔So she was supposed to become a royal guard but things didn’t go like they should have…the poor young knights got into a fight with something by accident… a mortal trap they couldn’t win… only Maria made it out alive. Very hurt and slightly traumatized… She then had a huge fight with her family & relatives about what happened. She couldn’t even send news to her friends bc they forbid it to calm any rumors about what happened…Hm then Maria’s family decide to send her more north where her parents have lands etc so things calm down and she could ya know do her knight work or smt. Anyway she run away at Byrgenwerth💀

Sorry for the meme jebfekb I am not giving lot of details for now but it's highly link with my Knight & Beast of Cainhurst story.

(Why this meme too? Well due to rumours her friends legit thought she died 💀 she went to Byrgen only 1-2 months later. During the holidays. So she sent to like Ludwig & the other who weren't there letters to tell them she was ok. That's were came this meme XD)

❤️‍🩹Anyway she was partially disowned of some stuff for a bit and didn’t came back at Cainhurst for while. But after some times, her and her family wanted to both apologize and reunite, but without an occasion it would be complicated. Well, until a CERTAIN SOMEONE stole the forbidden blood to Cainhurst and tell them Maria helped 💀 (she had no idea, and he only did that bc he owns her one). So she didn’t approve but she kinda reconciled and they gave her the occasion to do a mission for them later on, in JAPAN (the Eastern land) and well you know the rest.

⚓️She had the occasion to go to « Japan » and have her dream of becoming like half in charge of a ship after getting her master degree! (she just did navigation stuff with the stars but maybe she was captain lol that’s what she wanted to do when she was little actually. But reading Evelyn diaries and not just the novels she realised how hard it was to always have such life h24)

Congratulations Lady Maria! 

After really hard years.. and trauma… and a exhausting presentation 

You win : 

a master degree in astronomy (sciences & other things)

a nice meal with your parents & family that congratulate you

a big part of your inheritance back!

a super wine bottle to share with your friends

 a trip to japan

finally your promised personalised double sword

a personalised hunting attire when you came back

to able to work with gehrman’s hunters & the healing church when you came back

So proud of you ❤️👏

✨Other lil hcs : 

Laurence made her very interested in religion. I am not joking, I sincerely believe he converted her somehow. / Made her very interest into great one religion etc

Gehrman saved her life more than once, she did the same. They went into lot of hunt training/camping trip as the beggining of being hunters.

She became great friends with Ludwig, Rom, Caryll, friends Damian too etc back at Byrgenwerth. With Micolash it was a bit more nuanced for a while. Before becoming close friends they were roasting each other often XD but respected each other too.

Her brooch either came from her mother or the late queen (aunt) so a family heirloom I guess. Ressemble a lumenflower. 

She helped the early healing church with treating people, make food, teach kids etc

She was highly respected by all the old hunters. Even if she had some tensions with dear Izzy at like the beginning they knew each other XD She earn their respect and everyone ended up very liking her being her kindness, abilities etc

When she was sent alone or with a couple of hunters to help in a secluded villages, people were of course really skeptical at first but she quickly proved them her worth.

I think sometimes she wears dresses…  but hey she never wears high heels or ballerina shoes (she hates it so hey she still has her special style! aka huge boots XD) It’s often very simple ones as well. Except at Cainhurst, it’s not very extravagant.

She loves to read tons of books (cainhurst library is there for smt XD)

With her cousins they loved to explore and wander the castle! At night too.. got them into trouble more than once.

Sometimes she wears sunglasses when it’s very sunny (poor girl has white eyelashes you see! she have an excuse)

She really loved the lumenflowers too like i explained last time.

She got some scars at the base of her neck. That’s why she almost always wear a jabot with her broach. (maybe on the hands too. that’s why she often has gloves).

She made (with a bit of help) Gherman’s red scarf while in japan.

“Of the Astral Clocktower” because she basically funded its construction with her own money. So like it’s partially hers on papers. (She did mostly astronomical studies & took care of the patients kind of like a nurse during her time at the research hall

She could play a couple of instruments (especially violin and cello). 

Of course she know many ballroom & court dance and taught other to others when they were invited to some places.

She actually can “sing” very well (but more music without real lyrics like the dream ost for exemple) ! She would probably almost never do that in public too.

Some books at the workshop are hers

Oh, did I already told she was very scared of pthumerian pyromancers before she fought the keeper of the old lords?

Ok now because I didn't know what to add to the post I asked some of my friends to help me with questions they wanted to know about! Thanks @heraldofcrow & @fareehaandspaniards there you go:

Was she comfortable with life at Cainhurst? (Before the Vileblood)

I think I answered that above ^ it’s very complex and complicated. Sometimes it goes well (especially in childhood) but sometimes it’s very complicated and not so good… (especially during teenage years and during some events where she got a lot of pressure and all. It got better after all this mess and Vilebloods mess of course (even if some distance was left compared to before). 

🩸��‍⬛Bloody Crow’s relation to Maria? 

In my main hc he’s the son of Maria’s cousin (Vled, the knight). So her little cousin basically. But to simplify I often say he’s like a nephew to her. I named him Voron! (I know very imaginative it means raven XD)  Still unsure if he’s born before or after the hamlet (probably after too) but in all cases Maria was around to help with the birth and to help take care of him for the first couple of days. She loved him very much. Also In the case something were to happen to his parents, well the king & queen would take care of him but if somehow they can’t/something were to happen to them too, Maria promised she would be the one to take care of him. 

Still, she died when he was very young. Probably like 3-6 years old. So he does remember a bit. But just a little and he has very good memories of her. But he also saw his family hurting from her disappearance and all and so he grew more mixed feeling but mostly it stays positive. He really looks like her in a lot of ways.

🕷️Rom and Maria friendship 🥺? 

I see you want to know more about their friendship! I think They had a wholesome friendship overall! But it didn't begins great. I am trying to write it in my fic since a few months but it's all hard and idk how to do that exactly XD

Like they were doing a group exercise and Rom was pretty bad and it (supposed to be quite easy) and Maria who got frustrated to explain it so much lash out a bit and tell her like “are you dumb or something?” 

Everyone in the class isn't very nice to Rom (and Maria) and said worst things behind her back so she thought that was, you know OK somehow and not that mean. But she quickly realized afterwards her mistake, that Rom was the Provost daughter and that she had some disability. But despite that, she was still trying hard and she must be very strong to have the lvl to be here you know! 

Maria feels very bad about it (Micolash had dark looks to give her too lmao)  but after a while (talking with other people cough cough) she decided to come to her and apologize sincerely and even try to help her on a few things.

Rom was quite surprised at first because nobody, you know approaches her like this to apologize and that's a huge thing considering Maria is from Cainhurst and a noble.

I mean she didn't even have hard feelings against Maria because everyone else is way meaner and she kinda forgot about it. She was quite surprised but also very thankful and they began to talk more. Micolash was the most surprised and he told Rom to be careful to not get walk over, to not believe lies and stuff but he quickly realized that it was genuine. And Rom had to reminded him (with Damian) that well, when he first meet Rom he was kinda of a bully at first!  Before becoming a mother hen with Damian.

So yes the two girls began to talk about a lot of things! She even got invited to Rom’s room. There’s tons of insects and underglass and stuff but generally people don't like that but Maria found it cool! She got some back home too and found it very interesting actually! So they quickly became friends with all the little gang. And also they are basically the two girls of the squad! I mean Caryll is in the girls squad too but they can also be in the boys squad so yeah anyway you know how girl besties can be x) you don’t share the same things exactly. Plus Caryll & Rom are really in the must protected squad.

 Maria even defends Rom from her family when she came back for the holiday and they asked her if she made some friends and who they were and stuff. And you know uh Mara had to told them in a very exaggerated manners that « oh I'm friend with the Provost daughter you know! » (You know because that's what they want to know, if she made strong connections with interesting people before anything else…)

But of course, you're going to have very rude comments from some relatives or something who’s going to say “oh the retarded one?” 💀  And everyone's looking at him like “can you please not say it like this?”  Poor Maria just standing there and dunno what to say because she really cares about her as a friend. She doesn't just want to have friends to show off she has important contacts. She genuinely values those friendships. Sadly, she can’t just tell her family that her friends are mostly “the weird introvert group kids! just like me!”(so she talk about Ludwig too! but don't put too much details on others…)

So yeah they stayed great friends for years. Sadly, in tough moments they didn’t really share what hurt them to the other… (after kos etc maybe a bit but not too much)

🗡️🛡️What or who inspired Maria's path of knighthood in her youth?

History books & knight novels! Her grand uncle, the other knights, king etc, Her family push her/ “let her choose” that way as well.

Lady Evelyn stories (she was like Maria grand aunt/ cousin of her grandparents, mostly an adventurer).

The bodyguard of Annalise’s mother who was at first a mercenary sent to Loran before becoming a royal knight.

🍜What were Maria's food preferences?

Hm i think if it looks/smells average and edible she’s actually not that complicated XD She made a lot of effort through the years to get used to more common and simple food.

My poor girl couldn’t really cooked anything when she arrived at Byrgenwerth besides cutting basic things, make tea, made ramen and skins animal meat (like rabbit) before Gehrman thought her other recipes 😭 (she made great soups afterwards! hunters like it, she cuts aliments well XD but yeah my boy cooks well for everyone he made her liked many simple things that if not done well many don’t like. But bro is the only one who probably likes some chard gratin or something out of everyone…)

Like most of her family, i supposed she would very much enjoy some rare/medium rare meat XD but when it’s EVERYDAY she got very tired 💀 I mean she tried to tell her family it was too much so they respected her wishes and gave her only vegetables for a couple of days… but not like normal meals no! like a whole ass not decorticate salad or full ass carrots with skins and all! 💀 She rapidly apologized like you can guess. (still she can’t stand those damn carpaccio when there’s too much!)

Besides that yeah only non meat dishes don’t bother her at all, she would even prefer most of the time. She likes both sophisticated but also very simple dishes she discovered.  Exotic food from the east. Of course my girl liked sushis, fish, sea fruit etc. I mean she used to like it way more before… you know… afterwards many hunters couldn’t just smell white fish for a few days without feeling nauseous…. for Maria she just couldn’t bring herself to eat like 95% of white sea fish anymore… (I guess salmon and thon and lobster were still ok but that’s it really).

And well of course deserts are always so nice so whatever 🤤

🌻Her relationship with Adeline?  /Who is Adeline to her in your interpretation? 

(Yeah both of you asked me this one! x) )

Well depending on the interpretations I have two main interpretations for her! (in the AU/very different timeline where Gehrman is like Maria's dad, that's her girlfriend lol) but in my main interpretation that’s not really the case. I prefer to see them as friends and very close friends I think? during her early time at the research hall. Another close friend she made who’s mainly outside of her main group. But both have quite an evolution through the years they knew each other. 

If i remember the draft in my head correctly it goes like this : 

After Maria graduated (and came back from her mission trip) she went to help the early healing church develop itself and its activities between hunts and going in the pthumerians labyrinth and that’s where she met Adeline.

I supposed Adeline is a Yharnamite? but she lost everything (her family. not sure what happened) and basically didn’t have a home anymore and clearly saw herself as worthless (poor girl had terrible self esteem issues all her life afterwards…) So the early healing church took in some people in need, gave them a place to sleep, eat and heal them if they were sick. Maria took care and helped Adeline during that time (after it was Laurence too).

And so the 2 became friends! In the end Adeline (who had nothing left) decided to dedicate her life to the healing church and helped others as well, so they saw each other with Maria afterwards! They advised each other and could have been a bit confident of each other as well. Of course Maria wasn’t very hyped when Adeline became a blood saint fully (seeing the bad things it could do to people) but she respected her choices.

During the research hall, before Adeline took part in the experiments, she helped Maria, Rom, Caryll etc around with the patients & other things. I suppose because of some dreams/ exposure to something, the decline of everyone's mental health, and maybe other people asking her... she decided to give herself fully to those experiments as well in the end… Her death was one of the last straws for Maria...

----

I know I have more questions left but I am reaching Tumblr word limit soon so I will reblog/make a 2nd post (or even a 3rd)💀 with the rest of the most interesting (and huge) questions! It's not quite written yet but for now this should be a nice distraction and a good reading I hope!

[thatmexisaurusrex]

If you're still doing 1-2 word Bucktommy prompts, how about blizzard conditions 🙂

Hey! Sorry it took a bit of time to get to this. I'm on and off overwhelmed by asks 😅 I love them and I love writing ficlets and microfics and answering questions and thanking folks for kind words, but at the same time, I get a little overwhelmed sometimes. Great prompt! I hope you enjoy this 🥰

Blizzard Conditions

Tommy had never been on the East Coast before. He hadn't really been north of San Fran. So, going along with Maddie, Evan, Chimney, and Jee-Yun to visit some old friends of theirs in the New England area had been a bit of an adventure, to say the least.

Well.

An adventure he enjoyed until he and Evan found themselves on a snow-covered road.

"Shit. The car really isn't moving anymore," said Evan as he tried a fourth time to drive with no real results.

"9-1-1 did say they were sending someone," offered Tommy.

Evan sighed as he slumped back into his seat.

"This really isn't going the way I wanted it to go."

"Oh, you hadn't visited specifically for the blizzard conditions?"

Evan snorted.

"I visited specifically for them," said Evan sarcastically.

"It's really not that big of a deal," Tommy said, but Evan didn't look all that convinced.

"This weekend. It was supposed to be - I don't know. Perusing Newbury Street. Taking goofy historical walking tours around Boston. Not blizzard conditions. Not getting stuck in the snow after turning around from trying to head to Salem. We didn't even get to Salem."

Tommy wrapped his arms around Evan, pulling him close.

"I'm going to tell you something I didn't know before we came," whispered Tommy into Evan's hair, "I hate the fucking snow."

Evan.

Let out a laugh.

"What?"

"I hate the fucking snow. I hate the snow. I hate how cold it is. I don't like how it keeps fucking up every wonderful plan you try to enact. I hate how you just look so sad when the snow ruins another thing. I hate it. If I could punch it in the face, I would."

Evan.

Evan just kept laughing.

"You don't need to hate the snow on my behalf," wheezed Evan.

"Too bad. I hated it already," laughed Tommy, "This has just solidified my hatred. I'm going to be the Kendrick Lamar of hating snow."

"Not the Kendrick Lamar of hating snow," laughed Evan.

Just.

Just grinning.

And looking at Tommy.

And.

"Next time, less snow. Okay?" said Evan, as if he could promise that.

"Yeah. We'll come in the summer or something," said Tommy as he gave Evan a peck on the lips.

Which.

Turned into more.

Maybe a little more than more.

Until.

They sprang away from each other at the sound of tapping on the car window.

"9-1-1 first responders!" called someone from outside, "Heard you might need some help?"

And.

Okay.

They could continue that later.

"Yes, we do!" called Evan, and Tommy snorted at how Evan had to clear his throat.

[i-hate-the-mercator-projection]

So where the hell is Rhadamanthus?

OK, lets list some things we know about the space elevators, orbital ring, and conduit in xenoblade 3:

the orbital ring is around the equator exactly

the orbital ring has three space elevators, Minos, Aeacus, and Rhadamanthus (the world tree)

the conduit/zohar was found in Africa, PRESUMABLY near lake turkana, just north of the equator in Kenya

presumably, the three space elevators are equidistance from eachother, at three different spots on the equator

ok now that we've got that straightened out, lets try and pinpoint the locations of the three stations. The only one we actually see is Rhadamanthus, and at the end of future redeemed we get to see the surrounding areas.

Many people were quick to note how much this looks like California. A sprawling city by the sea with mountains inland. not to mention the obviously american architecture. Hell when we visit the same place in xenoblade 2 we see ruins of road signs made in the american style. Including references to a interstate 236, that doesn't exist

But, obviously, there's no part of the USA that straddles the equator. So we have to look for other locations that fit the bill. First of all, we know that the flashback to the city in future redeemed takes place during the afternoon, as we hear the radio broadcaster mention that the show is the afternoon news. Shadows point east in the afternoon as the sun is in the west. We see shadows pointing away from the sea in future redeemed, so that must mean that the location of Rhadamanthus is on a west coast.

There are only three countries with a west coast the equator cuts through: Gabon, Indonesia, and Ecuador.

Gabon doesn't fit the bill, it's too flat.

Indonesia has several islands on the ecuator that COULD fit the bill, but I'm really interested in ecuador here.

this part of ecuador right on the equator fits the bill perfectly. by the sea, with mountains inland, on the west coast, and there's a BIG reason to suspect rhadamanthus is here, but I'll come back to that in a bit... For the record, I'm going to assume that the areas around all three space elevators are administered by the USA, or at least the "coalition goverment". We know the USA had a MASSIVE hand in at least Rhadamanthus's management as we see references to the US government in it in xenoblade 2. I'm imagining it to be a panama canal situation, where only a small strip of land around the space elevator is actually controlled by the USA. Which would explain the road signs and the non existent interstate. (worth mentioning that 236 could be a connecting road to the nearby pan american highway). Anyway, what about the other two

Well. Obviously one of them is going to be in East Africa right? To the south of lake Turkana. They'd build up from where they found the conduit for sure. So, what are some potential locations? Well, about 175 miles south of the lake is the city of Nanyuki. Right on the ecuator, and has an airport. Perfect spot for a major development to happen.

So, what two locations are equidistance from Nanyuki on the equator? Well, to find that we need to divide the circumference of the world into thirds, and then measure that number along the equator from Nanyuki in both directions

the circumference of the world is 40075km, divided by 3 is 13358.33km To the east 12258km from Nanyuki is...

The middle of the ocean... which is fine. There are no three spots on land on the ecuator which are equidistance from eachother. There was always going to be somewhere in the water. But the way i see it, if you can build a space elevator you can build an artificial island. So this probably wouldn't be an issue. It gets exciting when you go west though, because 13358km west of Nanyuki is...

RIGHT OF THE COAST OF ECUADOR.

Within a margin for error of about 300km too. and if you're building a structure of that scale 300km is nothing. Rhadamanthus could've absolutely been right there on that coast. Anyway, this has been my TED talk. Rhadamanthus is in Ecuador. Why the conduit is there and not in Nanyuki... well thats a whole different question to ask.

[cherrycola27]

Till Death?

Summary: after six months away, it's time to come back

Previous Part

...........................................

Epilouge

Six months, twenty-six weeks, one hundred eighty-three days. That's how long you had been gone.

That was how much time had passed since you gathered up your son and a few necessary items before loading up your Jeep and driving into the sunset.

It was also the same amount of time that had passed since you saw them.

Sure, it was hard. No one said it would be easy. But over time, you managed to adapt. You traveled the length of the West Coast, and as far east as the Grand Canyon. You'd traveled up to Montana and over to South Dakota in your Jeep.

You'd let your parents keep Nick for a while and spent a week in New York with your cousin and a week on the North Carolina coast with your best friend from college.

You enjoyed your time. But something was missing.

He was missing.

You aren't sure when missing him started, but once it did, you couldn't get the ache out of your chest.

You found yourself wanting to contact him more and more. You had to will yourself not to pick up the phone and call him. To not put your car in the wind and drive back to him.

He had hurt you. You were doing this for you.

But more and more, the hurt began to fade away. It was replaced by a longing, a want to have him with you.

You missed his laugh, his smile. You missed the way he made you feel. The way he cared about you.

He never tried to pressure you to come back. He knew you needed this.

Two weeks ago, you decided that it was time to go back, time to go to him.

You made sure you had everything in order. You even went as far as contacting Phoenix and Bob to make sure he wasn't on deployment. When they confirmed he wasn't, it made everything seem so real.

So, here you were, packing up your Jeep once again.

It would take you about four hours to get back. It would be late when you returned, but you knew that you couldn't put it off any longer.

You took a deep breath before slamming the trunk of your car shut.

You adjusted Nick in his car seat, turned on his iPad, and made sure he had a snack. You gave his seat belt one final check to be safe.

Once you made sure he was secure, you opened your phone and typed out a message.

"I'm coming home."

Three simple words. You hit send before putting the car in drive.

As you pulled away from the Air BnB you'd been staying at, you sighed. A few tears slipped down your cheek. They weren't tears of sadness though, the were happy tears. You knew you were making the right choice.

You stopped along the way for stretch breaks, snacks, fuel, and the bathroom. At each stop, you checked your phone.

He hadn't responded. You hoped he'd gotten your message. Deep down, you knew he had.

You'd just left the rest stop and had about forty-five minutes of driving left. Nick was fast asleep. You turned on the radio and let the pop songs guide you home.

It's late when you pulled up. You killed the engine and lights. You took a deep breath. Maybe you should have called first instead of texting. You sat in the driver's seat and thought for a moment. It's been over six months since you left him. What if he didn't want you anymore. It was a silly thought, really. You knew he did.

You learned a lot about yourself in that time. You became the person you were always meant to be. You found your love for life again. You became a person who could let themselves love and be loved again.

You opened the door to your car and quietly got out.

You carefully lifted Nick out of the car.

You silently made your way up the steps to the porch.

Before you could knock on the door, the porch light flipped on, and the door flung open.

He was still half asleep, but a smile spread across his face when his eyes landed on you.

A beat of silence passed before he opened his mouth and spoke.

"Hi, Honey"

So babes, this is the end. I have loved writing this series and it has been an amazing journey with you. Please feel free to send me an ask if there is anything you want to share about this! I love yall!

Tag List: @pisupsala @shanimallina87 @luckyladycreator2 @mak-32 @katieshook02 @samhapner6 @rosiahills22 @thedroneranger @roosterforme @hecate-steps-on-me @withahappyrefrain @arson-tm @sebsxphia @potato-girl99981 @caitsymichelle13 @lillyrosenight @callsign-hummingbird @inky-sun @writeroutoftime @afterglowsb-tch13 @heyoimjordy @phoenixssugarbaby @hypatia93 @bradshawseresinbabe @je-suis-prest-rachel @teacupsandtopgun @boringusername3 @starlightstories @daggerspare-standingby @utterlyhopeful-fics @talkfastromance4 @fighterpilothoe @t-nd-rfoot @phoenix138 @abaker74 @peppizzathief @gigisimsonmars @emorychase @wannabeschyulersister @greatszu @shawnsblue @tributetomrsniffles @tv-fanatic18 @angelbabyange @sadpetalsstuff @softmullet @cowboybarbie @shewritesfiction13 @sweetlittlegingy @rogersbarnesxx

[the-common-cowgirl]

The Lost Children

- Chapter 5

Summary: You get to an inn on the road and the lie must continue under the watch of two of Edward’s men. You and Osferth must share a room and dun…dun…duhhhhh…..there’s one bed. Words are shared and feelings - along with other things - arise.

Word Count: 3.2k

Warnings: Angst, Innuendos, Cursing, Blasphemy, Religious guilt, Period typical slut shaming, mentions of sex work, sexual tension, spiteful pet names, slight dry humping? Reader not really being a menace anymore!

A/N: if you enjoy this, please let me know by commenting, liking, sending me a message or rebloging - it keeps me motivated! Lmk if you’d like to be added to the taglist!

In the days following your near-intimate encounter with Osferth, he grew cold toward you and distanced himself from you except whenever necessary. Eadith now only tended to your wound and once you were able to walk again, Osferth had urged Uhtred to sell the wagon and buy a horse for you so the entire gang could move faster and freer without the burden of a large wagon trailing behind the riders. Without the burden of you in Osferth’s space, you thought.

Two days after Osferth made the request, you rode into a little village on the coast of East Anglia with a decent livery stable and Uhtred went in alone to trade the wagon in exchange for a steed.

Uhtred walked out of the stable with a young, brown mare that had an upside down fishhook on her face. She was sturdily built and looked like a far more capable horse than the wagon horse Osferth had kept for himself. You assumed bitterly that Uhtred would give the dashing brown mare with the hook on her face to Osferth and leave the little flaxen wagon horse for you but Uhtred neared you with a grin on his face and handed you the reins. “She’s yours.”

You looked into your father’s eyes - Uhtred’s eyes - trying to find his jest or maybe an ulterior motive but he looked genuine, if not apologetic. You took the reins in one hand while the other hand ran along the muscular neck of the young mare, appreciating the strength and fire she seemed to posses under her shiny, young coat, much unlike the horse he had given you before. You looked to Uhtred again and almost smiled, “Thank you, she’s perfect.”

Uhtred smiled. Triumphant and bold. You knew then, this horse was an apology of sorts from Uhtred. You’d accept the mare, not the apology. He’d have to try harder, do better.

You hoisted yourself into the saddle of the mare, pain shooting through your healing leg but as soon as you relaxed on her back, it settled into a small ache. The rest of the group mounted their horses too, waiting Uhtred’s direction.

“The livery owner said there is an inn only a short distance north of the village on this road.” Uhtred looked around to his men with a gleam in his eye, “We shall race?”

Finan whooped and turned his horse around. Before you knew it, he took off North, Sihtric following close behind. Uhtred kicked his horse into a gallop next and your new mare beneath you danced in anticipation of following the others.

Truly, you wished you had time to know her before you took off. If she was spooky, hard to control, or even a bit wild but the mare gave you no chance, she took off in pursuit of the other three horses racing without permission from you.

The first ten or so strides, you tried to pull her up, slow her down but she wasn’t having any of it. If anything, your struggling spurred her on more and she set a faster pace. Even though you were a good distance from the three that took off first, you caught up to them in little time, then you passed them without much effort.

Finally deciding the speed in which your mare could move was something to be treasured, not afraid of, you squeezed your heels into the mare and released the pressure from the reins. She raised her head slightly at the loss of tension and picked up an even faster pace. Tears brimmed at the corner of your eyes from the wind smacking your face and you laughed to yourself giddily. Soon, you both passed a row of trees to see the inn on the other side but your mare wasn’t slowing down now that she was leagues in front of the rest of the group. You sat deep and spoke to her lowly, trying to get her to slow down, which she eventually did, not before you were a good distance north of the inn.

Once she stopped, you patted her strong neck and thanked her for your ride. Her breathing was rushed and she broke a sweat but she seemed to have more fire within in her to sprint for miles longer. After some time of sitting there and letting both of you catch your breath, you heard one of the horses in the distance near the inn whinny and your mare snorted impatiently and turned south on her own, walking briskly back toward the inn. You laughed at her demeanor and you knew that this pairing was right. It’s like Uhtred asked the livery owner for a horse just like yourself.

That thought made you chuckle, perhaps he did.

When you got back to the inn, you saw the rest of the crew’s horses tied up outside and you quickly figured that they must already be inside. You hopped off your mare, pain struck in your healing leg. You were used to riding shorter horses and had forgotten about your leg entirely from the adrenaline of the ride with your new mare. You stumbled backwards from the pain only to find two hands that caught you from falling into the mud.

“I’ve got you,” Osferth’s voice rang into your hair as he set you upright on your balance again.

You felt that familiar feeling of anger boil up in your chest at Osferth coming in to rescue you after pretending you didn’t exist for so long. You turned to Osferth with an expression of confusion and disgust written across your face so clearly it made him take a step back, “What happened to you avoiding my existence? You know, since I am such a sinner. What about those lessons you were teaching me? You’d prefer to have me die then teach me how to defend myself?”

You were growing heated in your body from the fire and anger raging in your heart. This was the first time you had talked to Osferth since he practically called you a harlot, and you’d let him have all your rage. You voice was growing louder now and you figured in your mind that the best time for the truth was the present, you could regret it later if you needed to. “You know, there was a time when I lust after you? I thought our unique upbringings made us equals. However, I was wrong in both aspects, you’re nothing but a pious,” you took a step closer to him, “self-loathing,” another step, “little,” you were nearly nose to nose, “monk-“

He cut you off before you could add the “-ey” at the end of monk, just to add insult to injury but Osferth would never know since his hands now reside firmly, nearly painfully on the back of your head and over your mouth. He had a firm hold of your head and brought it closer to him, his lips, as he spoke these next words lowly and threateningly through his teeth and into your ear.

“Two of Edwards men are in the inn. They had begun questioning Uhtred and I on your whereabouts when you did not come in with us.” He removed the hand from your mouth, leaving the one on the back of your head, tangled in your long hair to keep you from moving away from him. “You remember that we are supposed to be lovers right?”

You looked into his blue eyes, blown wide with - adrenaline? And you scoffed. “That will be a hard task for us. To pretend to be lovers, to pretend to even like each other…”

Osferth rolled his eyes and detangled his hand from the back of your hair. His hand fell down your shoulder, arm, and found purchase in your hand. Weaving his fingers with your own, “come along. We’ll pretend you’re not feeling well and just wait tonight out in our room.”

“OUR room?” You echoed as he drug you toward the inn’s door. Before entering the door, he handed a coin to a boy near the door, “Please unsaddle, feed, and water her mare.” He pointed toward the big brown mare at the end who was shifting nervously. “And if you have room in any in the barn, please stall her. She looks like she will tear the hitching post down.”

“Like myself with the inn if you force me to sleep in the same bed with you.”

Osferth only rolled his eyes in annoyance at your retort. Pushing the door to the inn open, “Time to pretend.”

You had quickly made your way to the second story of the inn while Osferth made fake excuses for you to Uhtred (who was sitting with both of Edward’s men) and explained he’d retire with you to make certain you were well throughout the night. When Osferth found you waiting in the landing of the inn’s second story, he showed you your room. Your shared room.

It was smaller than the room in Winchester and there was one bed….of course there was one bed. “You’re sleeping on the ground,” you stated as the door shut and you walked further into the room.

Osferth grunted, “As my Lady wishes.”

Surprised he had not given up more of a fight for the comfort of the mattress, you turned around to where he was in the corner of the room - undressing. Seeing only his top, chiseled half as he left his trousers on. You feigned being struck in the eye with an arrow and turned as if in pain.

“Osferth! You could have let me know you were getting nude! I would have stepped out of the room!”

Osferth only rolled his eyes at your comment which you did not see due to your hands protectively covering your eyes. “If you would have stepped out for me to change, that would raise suspicion.”

He walked to the door behind you.

“I doubt Edward s men are up here now waiting with their ears to our door. Should we jump on the bed to feign lovemaking or can you just whimper and moan all night in your sleep to make the entire inn believe that we are humping?”

You turned to Osferth with a devilish smile on your lips, hoping that your crude words had embarrassed him but he only stood with his hand on the doorknob, half naked with his robe in his hands, staring at your darkly. You had to admit, this took you aback.

“Tis not the man that whimper and moans,” he corrected you.

Your breath hitched in your throat, unsure if you had heard him right. “What?”

Osferth leaned in close, “Women are the creatures of sound in the act.”

You felt you chest heat up and a strange feeling in your core. “I wouldn’t know,” you breathed out honestly.

He eyed you up and down, then hummed to himself as if deciding against his internal wishes, “God would want to keep you that way. Innocent until marriage.”

You narrowed your eyes, “God can go fuck himself.” You nearly spat as you walked away from Osferth with a strange sense of defeat. “Where are you going anyway?” You turned back to him with your arms crossed over his chest.

Osferth dropped his dark gaze and seemingly returned to his recent self. Cold and rude. “Since you won and exceeded the little race we had, you didn’t see me come dead last on the little wagon pony. Nor did you see the little beast throw me at the end of the road.”

You giggled at Osferth loosing and being covered in mud. You wished you could have seen him fall. “So you’re going to wash your clothes?”

He nodded, opening the door. “And take a warm bath to ease the aches of the fall.” He stepped out, “Don’t wait up for me.”

“I wouldn’t dare, my love,” you called as he gave you one last tired look and shut the door.

You were asleep in the bed when the door to your room opened and Osferth stepped through. He viewed your sleeping frame and was abruptly reminded that when you slept was the only time you looked peaceful, angelic even. He thought bitterly to himself as he blew out the candles of the room you had kept going for his return, that if you were as peaceful when you were awake as you were when you were asleep, maybe he’d marry you. Start a family with you. If only you loved God as he did. If only you were tame and gentle. If only you weren’t a heathen daughter who was content in sin, maybe there would be a future in which you and him could live as man and wife. Away from fighting and politics of the crown. Away from places where words like “bastard” or “lost” followed you two around. Maybe, in another life, there was a world where things were different. He could only dream though, he knew that. Heaven existed after death, not during life. Life was for suffering, if the monastery taught him anything, it was that. So he’d have to suffer and pine after things that could not be, like a life where he could love you.

You stirred as the second to last candle was blown out and Osferth turned to view your sleepy stare on him. “I can sleep on the ground,” you said with a tired gravel to your voice. “You’re hurt.”

Osferth felt heat embrace his cheeks and he almost smiled, “No, you can have the bed. It’s improper for me to let a lady sleep on the ground.”

Suddenly, you shocked him, offering a gentle kindness by moving the covers of the side of the somewhat spacious bed that wasn’t being used by you. “You can sleep with me then.” He stared at you with trepidation, wondering if this was a good idea, “I don’t bite,” you said turning onto the other side and your back facing him.

He wondered to himself if this was a good idea. The aches in his bones told him yes but his own morality told him no. Eventually, he decided to join you in the bed, moral loosing to physical ache and if not for an ache in his bones, an ache somewhere else.

The bed was soft, the covers were warm. The person lying next to Osferth in bed was quiet….until you weren’t.

“I was just reciprocating the feelings I felt in the moment.” Your voice was so small now, full of defense but no malice. It was strange for both of you to hear it that way.

Osferth lie with his back flat on the bed, staring at the ceiling in the night. “What?”

You took in a deep breath next to him, it made the bed move slightly. “I thought you wanted me too.”

Osferth now sighed, long and quietly through his nose. He did. He wanted you so badly that night. So much he cursed himself as he left the wagon you were in, lying defenseless and denied. “I’m sorry I gave you that impression,” he spoke with an underlying tone of bitterness.

You took in a shaky breath next to him. He wondered if you were on the verge of tears. “Gave you that impression,” you echoed, “sure.” You sounded defeated.

Osferth turned on his side and grabbed your shoulder, pulling you gently to rest on your back. You looked over at him through the plushness of your pillow and side of your eye. His fingers lingered on the shoulder of your shirt, gently rubbing the tips in a confined space he had drawn on your body, daring not to move further but also not having the restraint to pull his touch from you.

“I struggle still with the set of morals which I was raised on.” His voice was a whisper, daring not to raise in fear that God would hear. “I know I’m a sinner - in many ways. For that, I repent daily.” His fingers stopped, he was lost in thought, you could tell from the distance look in his eyes. A silent second passed before he focused again, “But I cannot, in good grace, bring others into a life of sin.”

You shook your head, “You didn’t just refused me Osferth, you made me feel like a common whore.” You stared into his eyes, seeing odd regret. “And if I ask to commit atrocities against God with you, it’s my choice, not yours. My choice on my own path of damnation.”

Osferth blinked away your blasphemy, choosing to pretend he had not heard it. “I cannot take your innocence. I won’t be a part of a sin of that nature.”

You scoffed, “But you can fuck desperate women who had to turn to a life of whoring to escape starving.” You rolled to your side, your back to Osferth again. You’d had enough of his stupid excuses.

You both lied in silence so long you thought he had went to sleep. “Not all of them.”

“What?” You turned around angrily, thinking he should have been to sleep. Propping yourself on an elbow, you looked down at him and he looked up to you.

“You made a broad assumption about brothel maids and you’re wrong.” His eyes were soft.

You narrowed yours. “Oh so you get to know them too? Tell me, do you have a favorite?” You mocked him with a fury.

Osferth chucked, “It’s hard not to get to know them when you’re-“

You held up a hand in disgust, “I don’t need to know what you do to them.”

Osferth raised on an elbow and mirrored you in challenge, his own eyes narrowing. “I thought you would want to know what I do with them since you’ve been begging me to bed you.”

His words shocked you beyond comprehension and when you regained your composure, you slapped him across the face.

Osferth reached up and rubbed his face, looking at you darkly.

“I wasn’t begging, I was simply reciprocating what I believed were shared feelings. It’s clear I was wrong, I’ll admit.”

Osferth grabbed your free hand and pulled you flush against him, now lying on his back. You were sprawled atop his body, lying your full weight on it. You felt a hard, strange length against your stomach. Once you escaped your state of shock of his bold actions you raised yourself up on your arms and looked to him below you with bewilderment.

“What has gotten in to you?” You exclaimed a little too loud.

Osferth breathed out a needy sigh and pushed you flush against him with a strong hand on your back. “I just want you to know, the feelings are reciprocated. I pray every morning and night, sometimes even when you were in the wagon behind me, for God to end my lust for you would come to an abrupt end.” He reached up and brushed your long hair behind your shoulders. You felt the hard length against your stomach again and realized finally what it was when Osferth bucked ever so slightly into your weight above him. “As He often does, God denied me.” Osferth leaned up to kiss you. Eyes closing, lips pursing and you pulled away, off of him.

He looked confused at your sudden denial. “No, you’re not allowed to decide you suddenly want my body because your piety failed you,” you practically spat. You stood from the bed, looking down to Osferth who was more confused than hurt. “If you want me, you’re going to have to earn me again. You’ve been nothing but a pious prick since that night in the wagon.”

You grabbed the feather pillow from your side and all the covers from the bed, making a place to sleep on the floor. “Enjoy the bed.”

Taglist: @godrakin @tssf-imagines @brianochka @victoriagaunt @fan-goddess @sarahkimtae

*Bold means I cannot tag you!*

Also, here is my horse that is written into this chapter! I couldn’t help myself honestly, I just had to.

Her name is Hooker!

[cb-writes-stuff]

Other worldbuilding question!

What are the landmarks of Kem lon-Dalan, like what’s the structures that kids say to meet up at cause people know where they are

I’m glad you asked! Again!

Gates are very common meeting places. There’s the North Gate, which is exactly what it sounds like: the gate leading north out of the city. Likewise, there’s the East Gate. The so-called “East District” is the part of Kem lon-Dalan atop the Brother (the eastern cliff of the Twins). It’s kind of a pain to get there, though. Your options are go around the cliff, or climb stairs. In contrast, the Sister (the western cliff) just has fortifications for defensive purposes.

The Market District runs along the western edge of the city and has three gates, namely the High Market Gate in the north, the Low Market Gate in the south, and just the plain Market Gate in between those two. (There used to be a high wall around the Market District, like there is around the Living District. Since the wall was torn down centuries ago, all that’s left are arches with gates that just always stay open, hardly more than ornamental.) There’s also the docks, of course.

The Living District is a big bulk of a district in the southeast of the city, pressing against the cliff and coast. It has three gates as well, the Pearl Gate in the northeast, the Iron Gate in the northwest, and the Dirt Gate in the west. Different parts of the Living District are nicer and more expensive to live in, and the name of the gate generally corresponds to how nice or not nice it is.

I am tired of talking about gates. If I have to say gate one more time, I’m going to scream.

The Red Beach is, as the name implies, a walled-off beach with red sand. According to the stories, a king from a far off land came ashore on that beach, riding a tide of his enemies’ blood. Natives know that it’s really an execution ground. Old traditions saw that those on death row had their blood drained onto the beach after death. That hasn’t been done for a long time, though, and the smell of iron is gone. It’s still entirely red, which is both disgusting and terrifying. Great for dumb kids to test their courage. It’s smack dab in the center of the coast, quite possibly the least welcoming sight for visitors.

The Veika ta-Lilasen is the grand square below the steps of the Veika ir-Jai, the palace of the tyrant king who supposedly ruled the entire Vandeth Desert some 1500 years ago. The stories go that a star fell to the teph*, where the Veika ta-Lilasen would be built, hence the name: “The Star with Us”**. Apparently, the tyrant king used the star to create not only the Veika ir-Jai—Wisdom’s Star—but the whole of Kem lon-Dalan, all on his own. But that’s preposterous. A story is all it is.

*The planet’s name is Teph (/tef/). If there’s a word with “earth” in it, it’s replaced with “teph”.

**The Vandeth language has no articles; rather, they are inferred from context.

And yeah! Those are some of the major landmarks in Kem lon-Dalan. There’s probably others, but to be totally honest, I haven’t thought of those yet.

[greeenchrysanthemums]

Hi yes I'm very normal about this au and was wondering in terms of the world, let's say for a hypothetical map that I want to hypothetically draw, are there any major biomes, important towns or landmarks, things of that nature?

Oooo, fun! I know this is a fairly simple question, but I will be giving you another long-winded answer, so bear with me.

For your hypothetical map there are three major kingdoms to take note of.

In the upper right portion of the map is Coral Crest. It is very well known for its booming economy, which they have their rich glass, fish, salt, and pearl trades to thank for. It is the largest and wealthiest of the three major kingdoms, and the castle is grand and luxurious where it sits on the crest of a large sea cliff. Beneath and above the capital would be many small fishing towns along the coast, and two or three more small villages in-land. It is important to the plot, as this is the kingdom they are/were at war with.

in the bottom center would be another kingdom, Floweret. This kingdom has little in ways of trees or other defining landmarks, it is mostly just low hills and grass lands. The land there would be rich in nutrients, though, and it is perfect for farming, which is where this land would get most of its trade from. It is the smallest out of the three and therefore has a very small, modest castle. This kingdom is pretty new compared to the others, being only around 30 years old. This place is not important to the plot outside of it being mentioned that they turned down an alliance with Grian, and that Jimmy lived there before moving to live with Tango.

South-east of this would be a small town called Sahara that is part of Floweret and borders a desert biome. This is where Grian and Mumbo met Scar for the first time. They are known for their grain alcohol.

The third kingdom, Wintertide, is the one our story takes place in. It is in the top left corner, a bit more north than Coral Crest and in a colder climate. There is a pretty big amount of distance between Wintertide and Coral Crest; it would take someone nearly a whole month to travel to or from either of them on foot, a few weeks by horse. Most of this kingdom is surrounded by dense forest and backed by a large, snowy mountain (Crystaline Mountain). Wintertide mostly relies on the gemstones and coal mined from their mountains for their livelihood, but they also bring in money with their decent livestock and farming trade.

On top of Crystaline Mountain is a village of the same name, Gem and Etho's home village. This is a mostly independent village, though they do pay taxes to Wintertide and rely on it for protection.

South-west, in between Floweret and Wintertide, is a decently sized trading town that is on neutral ground, where merchants from any land are welcome to go and do business. This area is thin in trees, but not as lacking as Floweret. The town is lively, eclectic, and colourful, with people from all over living in its borders. It doesn't really have a name, as it is not official to any of the kingdoms, but it is has acquired the nickname "The Monopoly" because of how easy it is to, well, set up a monopoly there.

There are other, smaller towns and villages scattered across the map between all three kingdoms, but they aren't important, and I have not thought of names for them. (feel free to suggest some!)

There are also other, far-off kingdoms, including some across the sea from Coral Crest, but they are never mentioned, and they are so far away from our main kingdoms that they don't even matter.

Disclaimer: most of these names are up for change, as I have honestly put very little thought into the map since most of the story takes place in the one kingdom. This is all bare minimum brainstorming that I have done over the past few days.

Anyway, if/when you hypothetically finish this map, please tag me or send it to me; I would love to see it! And if you have any further questions about the world, please feel free to send another ask. Or, if you would prefer, you can dm me!

[slotumn]

List of worldbuilding stuff we can over-extrapolate from tidbits in 3H, assuming* they are fairly parallel to the IRL equivalents (that assumption part is important, it does a lot of heavy lifting here):

Africa equivalent. Khalid is an Arabic name, Arabic is a language in the Afroasiatic family, guess what the Afro part refers to, etc.

Plus North/East/parts of West Africa have interacted with Europe and West Asia for a long time, so if we have Fódlan (fantasy Europe) and Almyra (presumably fantasy West and Central Asia) then it tracks that there should be a fantasy Africa in there; not to mention Sothis' name comes from Egyptian mythology. I'd also expect that parts of Almyra has pretty active trade with Ethiopia and Somalia (horn of Africa) equivalent.

Specifically for Egypt, they seem to use Latin alphabet (current day Fódlan, look closely at the spell circles) and Cyrilic or Greek alphabets (in Shambhala I think). Guess what the ancestor of those scripts are (Egyptian hieroglyphs)

India. Aside from the fact India is in Asia (no shit) the killer knuckle is literally just a katar. Also the Buddhist motifs (Englightened One is Nirvana in Japanese, Asura, etc)

East Asia. Wo Dao and Foreign Tome's descriptions both reference being made in an "eastern land," and presumably they mean the Far East, since I think they'd just say Almyra if it was made there

The Eurasian Steppe equivalent and the nomads who move around there, responsible for a lot of cultural transfers and trade (alongside invasions, but hey). While I'm on this, interesting thing about Sreng is that they have both Viking names (Leif) and Hungarian names (Zoltan). Hungarian took Iranic and Turkic loanwords at varying points in history, Sreng is just across the sea from northern Almyra in-universe, and we get tidbits of both having horse-riding warrior cultures, so I don't think it's too far fetched to say that the two cultures probably have interaction.

Combining everything above, some kind of Silk Road, where culture and religion and language flow alongside goods. I'd assume Fódlan traded more actively with other regions before they went isolationist, and even after they did, they still get influences here and there; not to mention that the things they must have accepted before still persist.

One detail that would make the... anthropological development? of 3H world pretty different from our world, however, is actually Brigid. A lot of stuff points towards Dagda being the Americas (like potatoes being from there), but instead of them not really having interaction with Afro-Eurasia before Columbus like in real life (aside from some stuff with vikings), Elites were running off to Dagda after losing in Fódlan (mentioned in the Yuri & Constance paralogue) back in the War of Heroes, the First Mach War happened, etc. Seems pretty clear the reason all that was possible is because of Brigid— they literally act as a bridge.

Personal headcanon for Brigid is that they're a bit like Pacific Islands in the Atlantic, and that they're also the reason why Dagda has coffee. The migration route to ending up in Brigid being something like: starting off in not!Taiwan and sailing west -> stopping by coast of not!East Africa and picking up coffee before ending up in not!Madagascar -> parts of population sails further around southern end of not!Africa -> find a series of islands aka Brigid -> have interactions with Dagda on one end and Fódlan on other, along the way it's discovered coffee grows well in Dagda so Dagda turned it into one of their main exports

Yeah I've spent a normal amount of time thinking about this fictional world what of it.

[bradshawsbaby]

Happy Anniversary, love! Although I knew you prior to my Top Gun: Maverick era, your blog was one of the first I followed once I joined this fandom. You also supported me when I decided to write fics within the TGM universe and I’ll always be grateful for that. Would you be willing to write a little something for Bob that involves a sweet summertime date? I know he would plan something thoughtful and memorable because that’s the kind of guy Bob Floyd is☺️💛

Katherine! You were one of my first Tumblr friends and I’m so thankful for you! From WSS to TGM, I’m grateful for all the men we’ve been able to thirst over together 😂

Summer in San Diego was shaping up to be magical.

Just a few months ago, you’d shocked your family and friends by making the uncharacteristically spontaneous decision to leave your comfortable and safe life on the East Coast behind in favor of a life full of unknowns and adventure in sunny California.

Considering it had only taken you three weeks after moving into your new apartment to meet Lieutenant Robert Floyd, you couldn’t say you regretted that decision in the slightest.

One of the girls who lived in your building had a cousin who worked on North Island, so she’d invited you to tag along with her and her friends one evening for a girls’ night out at The Hard Deck. You hadn’t been there for more than an hour when you locked eyes across the bar with the most handsome man you’d ever seen in real life.

Evidently, you still had a little bit of that uncharacteristic bravery left inside you because after finishing your drink, you mustered up the courage to go up and talk to the cute officer who had snagged your attention. And you found out that not only was he the most attractive man you’d ever met, but also the sweetest and most gentlemanly, too.

The two of you spent the whole night talking, stepping out onto the deck so that you could hear each other better. You learned that he was a naval aviator stationed as part of a special squadron at TOPGUN, and he listened attentively as you told him all about your sudden cross-country move.

“So you’ve never been to San Diego before?” Bob asked curiously, nursing the Diet Coke he’d been sipping on all night.

“Never,” you replied with a smile, shaking your head as you looked up into the bluest eyes you’d ever beheld.

“You’ll need someone to show you the sights then,” he said a little shyly, rubbing the back of his neck as he shifted from foot to foot.

“Mhm, I will,” you nodded, butterflies fluttering in your stomach as you watched a blush extend from his cheeks down to his neck.

“I mean, what kind of a guy would I be if I didn’t offer to show a lady around?” Bob questioned, smiling nervously as he looked into your eyes.

You’d happily given him your number, and from that night forward, Bob had been making it his personal mission to show you every inch of San Diego. Just last weekend, he’d surprised you with a drive to La Jolla, where you’d been delighted to see a beach full of seals close up.

Today, since he had the day off from work, Bob had told you that he was taking you out for the afternoon, but he hadn’t given you much details beyond that.

“You can wear whatever makes you comfortable,” was all he’d said. “Oh, and maybe put on some sunscreen.”

Excited but nervous, you’d settled on a pretty yellow sundress and a pair of sandals that were easy to walk in. When Bob called you to let you know he was outside your building, you snatched your purse and a pair of sunglasses and hurried downstairs to meet him.

Standing outside his car, Bob beamed when he saw you, hurrying to open the passenger door so that you could slip inside.

“You look great!” he told you as he slid behind the wheel, eyes widening and cheeks flushing when he realized what he’d said. “I mean, um, that’s a really nice dress. Very…yellow. You look like sunshine,” he stammered, growing more anxious by the second.

You just smiled, charmed by his shyness. “Thank you, Bob,” you said, resting a hand on his arm. He smiled back at you in gratitude. “So where are we headed on today’s adventure?”

“Ah, now that’s top secret information,” Bob replied, eyes twinkling as he glanced over at you. “I’m afraid you don’t have the necessary clearance, Sunshine.”

The nickname slipped off his tongue easily, and the air between the two of you sizzled with a thick tension that you could cut with a knife.

“Would that be my call sign?” you teased softly, breaking the silence that had descended in the car.

“Yeah,” Bob nodded with a smile, taking a breath. “I think it suits you.”

You’d been so distracted by the conversation that you hadn’t even noticed where Bob had been driving until he suddenly made a turn into a lush and verdant park, greenery and flowers everywhere as he drove along a winding road.

“Oh!” you exclaimed brightly, pressing your face against the window. “What is this?”

“Balboa Park,” Bob explained with a grin, driving for a few more minutes before he found a parking spot. “The San Diego Zoo isn’t far from here.”

“Is that where we’re going?” you asked curiously as Bob came around to open your door, ever the gentleman.

“Not today,” he shook his head, smiling as he took your hand and helped you to your feet. Hurrying around to the trunk, he quickly pulled out a large picnic basket. “I hope you’re hungry,” he said, suddenly looking worried. “I realize I didn’t say anything about us getting lunch, so I understand if you already—”

“I’m starving,” you cut him off, grinning as you placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“Good,” Bob sighed in relief, smiling down at you. He hesitated for a moment, but then reached for your hand and guided you towards an open, spacious field, where he set the picnic basket down underneath the shade of a tall tree.

“Oh, Bob, this is so wonderful! Thank you!” you cried in delight when you saw the spread that he had prepared—sandwiches, a fresh summer salad with strawberries and apple slices, homemade lemonade, and some cookies for dessert.

The two of you spent the next hour talking and laughing together on Bob’s picnic blanket. It was so easy to talk to him. You found yourself revealing things about yourself to him that even some of your closest friends back home didn’t know.

“So how are you feeling about San Diego?” Bob asked, sliding his glasses up his nose. “Do you think it could be home?”

“Most definitely,” you smiled, shifting closer to him. “I’m especially fond of the people.”

Bob reddened at your words, his blue eyes widening behind his glasses. “Oh—oh, yeah? Any people in particular?”

“Mhm,” you breathed out, leaning in and brushing your lips against his. “My tour guide has really been making me feel at home.”

“Sunshine,” Bob breathed out, gently cupping your face in his hands.

“I want to be your Sunshine, Bob,” you whispered, nuzzling your nose against his.

“That’s good,” Bob grinned, pecking your lips softly. “Because I want that, too.”

Join my “TOP ONE” Anniversary Celebration! 🥳

[ludinusdaleth]

hi I’m from Australia and I’m just wondering if you can explain the phenomenon of people from “blue states” seemingly wishing death on people from “red states/southern states” cause alot of people I follow are queer/bipoc communist folk from the south and I keep seeing “do not dehumanise us just because we are a red state” and “do not celebrate the hurricane just because it’s happening in the south” and like… do people do this??? I’m almost scared to ask. Cause here in australia even when it takes place in the most conservative part of idk, deep north queensland, something like a bushfire is nationally mourned as a tragedy and people rally to fund rebuilding and rescue efforts. I don’t think ive ever seen someone say “those damn liberal-national voters had it comin” so im so lost at the concept that this is something that apparently happens in USAmerica. Can you possibly explain this? What makes supposedly “progressive” folks so cruel? All the love to you by the way I hope your friends and any family in hurricane affected areas are safe, totally understand if you don’t want to answer the question at this time ❤️

yeah, ill try to explain. thank you for the well wishes, though i am currently fine. im in texas (and not on the coast), so i barely get any hurricane brunt at any time, but i have close friends in the current affected states who i am sending all the love & support i can to. ill put this under a read more because there's a lot to cover.

all americans im sure are the exact same to non americans, but basically due to the civil war about a century and a half ago, there is a big cultural rift between the north and south states - mostly in the east, but western blue (liberal) states definitely fit the northern mindset, and some more northern states along the appalachian mountains are considered southern. because of the grip of slavery on the south before that war, we in the south have never really escaped that history (many songs cite the south as being full of ghosts of history, and god, it is). we are also stereotyped presently as racist dumb redneck hicks. combine those two and you do not garner sympathy.

the thing is that the south is the most diverse area in the entire usa, and there there are a multitude of factors that lead us to being "less advanced" than the north, many of which hinge on that fact. the south has always had a more conservative grip due to the slaveowning elite just evolving to be right wingers nowadays. because we had worse building blocks to start with than the north with its better weather and an economy not built on slaves, we had work to do anyway, but conservatives in office refuse to fix or change any infrastructure. because they want to stay in power, our politicians purposely cut any and all educational funds and preach evangelical teachings so many of us grow up deeply propoganized - though some of us dont or work to break free of that thought process. we are not a monolith. you will find some of the most stalwart leftists here as well as the most violent ring wingers, almost like, we're a massive & diverse group of people. what we believe barely matters though when our politicians gerrymander and ensure county/town lines are drawn in such a way that priveleged votes always matter statistically more than oppressed ones do.

that's where the whole cruel progressives thing comes in. folks in blue areas, the north & canada especially, are blue, yes, but generally neoliberal when it comes to others beyond their purview. there is a smugness that they were born somewhere not haunted by a history of enslavement (ignoring the norths own racism - everyone i know who's moved north says their bigotry is highly noticeable, and slavery is legal everywhere in the country due to an exploited loophole in the 13th ammendment), and born in an area not as "punished by god" (a phrase used by southern pastors often) by natural disaster. every time there is even a modicum of news about a tragic event in a red state - a tornado, a hurricane, a shooting, things that can all happen in their lives too if less often - you will not be able to go near any comment section online or some northerners in reality who will not mock it. we deserve it for choosing to live here (as if we are not the poorest area of the country or as if the south is not also beautiful) and for choosing to vote red. there are occasional times this reverses - southerners love to jump on california's hypocrisy about this when they have earthquakes and fires - but it's not an equal balance. especially not when northern blue folk, who claim to be leftist & therefore compassionate, actively cheer on the deaths of those who could not evacuate because they were poor or desperate, and who make up our largest bipoc & queer populations in the country.

that is where bitterness, anger, and begging others to see southerners as human stems from. there is a lot more history & nuance to it than i can comprehensively express early in the morning, but that is the beginner gist of it. feel free to ask more if something wasnt clear or similar. my home is a mess, and i love it all the same, and my heart aches for my neighbors, and burns at others dehumanization of them and us as a whole. i know it will only get worse as climate change does and i wish we could all stick together instead rather than still drawing these boundary lines like our leaders want us to.

[homiesondaweb]

Shout out to @frogs4frogs for finding these picrews for spidersonas for shawties that can't draw! I didn't want to hop on her post with her Sona and rambles for jt, So! I made my own to ramble on lol.

This is Etta Hampton (Ezy) aka The Recluse the one and only Spiderwoman of New Tulsa on earth 9539

Etta is 17 and lives with her Uncle Barney who owns the Urban Stables that most people in North use for boarding. Etta's lived with her Uncle Barney since she was seven after the death of her parents in a mysterious OzCorp Refinery explosion. She has an army of aunties and cousins that live on the East Coast in Old York or DC.

Etta is incredibly smart, soft spoken and caring. She loves ATV or horse trail riding, welding, pottery, and botany. To the point she plans on triple majoring civil engineering, mechanical engineering and sculpture after she graduates from the Parker's Gifted Academy. Her uncle is her biggest supporter for her education and hobby pursuits and gave her her own garage/studio to work in.

Etta is best friends with the fire chief's son Bart Brown (9539's Hobie), the Bugle Radio's owner's daughter Merry Jameson ( 9539's MJ) and Harry O. (9539's green goblin who just causes more chaos over harm, absolutely hate his father) who the world fattest crush on her and she is 100% oblivious to it.

When Etta was 14 she stormed off after an argument with various of her visiting aunties about her "manish" pursuits she took her four-wheeler and went off trail to a forbidden zone that was the contamination and closed of remains of the OzCorp Refinery. While exploring the remains, Etta was bitten by a radioactive Brown Recluse when security guards had cornered her and she was forced to hide in one of the old R&D offices.

She has the usual power set for a spider person: Spidey sense, the ability to stick to walls, super strength and super agility. Along with long sharp nails that are extremely durable and sharpened canines that have a paralytic and necrotic venom. Etta has two specialty abilities: one is to produce different kinds of acid from her hands and apply it to her organic webs to create different kinds of traps or help her to escape. The other is an ability to control her temperature to the point she can send heat waves of energy off her body or stun/shock others with a fridged touch.

As the Recluse her biggest foes are Cyclone Sandman, Cotton Mouth, and King Scorpion. She has a half allyship with the for hire thief/ spy Prowler (Miles M. Davis) and Green Goblin (she usually just catches and releases with his antics) the fire chief and sheriff work well with her. In school as her regular persona her academic rival is Miles.

Etta tricked out an ATV to fit her theme and made it hover/wall fly so she can still get to places that don't have the highrises that need her help. She controls it remotely sometimes to help rescue people or lead the emergency services to a location/criminals she's taken care of. This causes her Uncle Barney to think she is a close friend of Recluse and works on her tech. He likes Recluse but is highly worried for 'both' their safeties.

The only "Canon Events" she has gone through is the death of her parents and giving up being Spiderwoman for a while after she failed to save a little boy's parents during a train derailment caused by Sandman.

Miguel sent Jess and Ben to recruit her for the Spider Society after she dealt with a Vulture variant and he worried over the fact that her Gwen Stacy event hadn't occurred yet (death of Harry in her case, his spine snaps as he is GG when she tired to stop him from plummeting after a mid-air battle) they haven't explained this to her yet. Etta tries to stay in her world but really likes collaborating on inventions with other spider-peoples and usually sticks to the R&D or repair department over missions.

Is works besties with Margo but highly distrusts Lyla. She partial mentors under Jess and let's Gwen stay in her dimension sometimes when Hobie's world is overwhelming.

Loves blooming onions and other savory snacks, it's not unusual to see her as Recluse snacking on jerky or street corn. Tamale ladies love her. Often wears overalls or jeans jackets over her spider suit. Has hella Spotify followers because her playlists are absolutely fire (even Miles admits this)

And that's kinda it! I have hella backstory about my girl, please ask about her😁💛

[stalkedbytrains]

Untouched Horizons Timeline 7/-

Cartography Golden Age

-699

Cartography golden age

With 2 “rival” scouting houses, there’s a competition over who can map the world around them better and faster

This starts a “ship building war” with the advantage to the South and their forests

But the North has the experience

-686

Most of the Caribbean is mapped and charted along with contact made (in some form or another) with other civilizations and indigenous peoples

-684

First contact with the Native Americans along the east coast of America

-681

First ships round South America

-680

Redesign of ships are happening at the same time as both houses (and nations) are copying each other and needing to do deeper sea voyages

-676

Another round of long voyages goes out

The various indigenous peoples start copying the Zlilfian boats they meet/find

-670

Most of the eastern coasts of the Americas have been charted

Starting on exploring up the Mississippi which is proving to be an interesting challenge to rework boats for river travel

-660

Unable to really compete with the North anymore the South starts to own Library of Alexandria to out do the uppercrust schools in the North and to also collect languages and history of the people’s around them

-632

Time for another Northern internal power struggle, this one goes on for a while

-625

Power struggle complete!

The sailing golden age is winding down as a lot of the Americas are mapped, including a decent amount of the riverways charted

Contact established with the people in Peru and Chile and everyone so cotton has been found at the source

Renewed Hostilities

-624

The South really doesn’t care for the new Northern house in charge, they are a bit more authoritarian than before, so they start to chafe

-623

The start of the escalating tensions between countries

The North is doing everything it can to provoke the South into attacking first but it just isn’t working as the South as no united plan to fight wars together

-622

The Southern zones, under extreme pressure from one house Sernlyi, send a formal peace treaty to the North to deescalate tensions

Surprisingly the North agrees as they know that forcing the South to break it first would give them the justification to start their war of conquest

-620

The North really jacked up tariffs on stuff from the South hoping to really stick it to them economically so the South cuts off all northern trade and starts going more outside the island for stuff

This enrages the North

-619

Spies from the South report large sieges works and things being built in the North so the fight to unify the confederacy and form an army is started but is extremely hard and slow going

So the House Sernlyi approves a clandestine strike on the siege works to burn it all down

This infuriates the North further, if they give up the secret that they were building war machines then they’ll have broken the treaty first but the South won’t admit to doing anything and implicating themselves

[handeaux]

Special Delivery! Here Are 17 Curious Facts About The Cincinnati Post Office

On The Barrelhead The Cincinnati Post Office was established in 1794 and received soon after its first mail delivery, consisting of sixteen letters, two newspapers and a snuff box. All mail then was “collect on delivery” or COD – recipients paid the postage. Postage for a simple letter was 25 cents. The postmaster displayed all mail on top of a barrel at his house. Anyone wanting to collect mail paid the postmaster.

Returned To Sender Cincinnati’s first postmaster was an attorney and Revolutionary War veteran named Abner Dunn, who ran the local post office out of his house at the corner of Second and Butler streets. Postmaster Dunn died in 1795 after only a year in office and was buried in the backyard of his house, which was also the backyard of the post office. The site is now a parking lot near Sawyer Point Park.

Everybody Knew Your Business From 1799 up until Cincinnati adopted free home delivery in the late 1860s, the Post Office regularly published a list of all letters awaiting collection, so everybody in town knew when you had mail. If you ignored the published list for three months, your mail was sent to the dead letter office. The lists were extensive, occupying, in small type, as much as half a page in the Cincinnati Commercial or Gazette.

Keep It Under Your Hat Cincinnati’s fifth postmaster was an eccentric Methodist minister named William Burke, who served a very long term from 1814 to 1841. Possessed of a deep, guttural voice attributed to his lifelong addiction to chewing tobacco, Burke is remembered for personally delivering mail around town while making social calls. He kept the items to be delivered in his hat. It is said that “Father Burke,” as he was known, also delivered wise counsel to his patrons along with the mail.

Penny For Your Thoughts During the 1840s, Cincinnati experimented with home delivery, but charged for the service. Two “penny postmen” divided the downtown area, with Joseph Haskell taking the route north of Fourth Street, and Hiram Frazer delivering south of Fourth. Recipients, in addition to the standard postage, coughed up a penny for each letter delivered to their front door.

Inaugural Air Mail? The first mail at least partially delivered by air left Cincinnati on Independence Day 1835. Obviously, no airplane was involved. The pilot was the “Prince of Aeronauts,” Richard Clayton, and the vehicle was his renowned balloon, the Star of the West. Clayton ascended from an amphitheater constructed in the middle of Court Street between Race and Elm with, among other cargo, a satchel of mail intended for eastern cities. He crashed 100 miles away in Pike County and had the post office in Waverly, Ohio, send the letters the rest of the way. A trial involving an airplane in 1912 was really a gimmick in which mailbags picked up at Coney Island were dropped at the California Post Office, just 8,000 feet away.

What The Dickens? By 1825, stagecoaches had replaced pack horses as the primary vehicle for transporting mail throughout the Ohio Valley and nascent Midwest. In addition to letters and newspapers, mail coaches carried passengers and were often the most reliable means of travel available outside the East Coast. When Charles Dickens visited Cincinnati in 1842, he arrived by mail coach.

Postmaster Is The ‘Last Man’ On 6 October 1855, Cincinnati Postmaster John L. Vattier sat down to a most unusual dinner. His table was set for seven, but every place setting, excepting one, was empty. Vattier was the last of seven young Cincinnatian men who survived the 1832 cholera epidemic, bought a pricey bottle of wine, and pledged to meet each year for dinner, saving the bottle for the last of them to survive. On that evening, following the funeral of his last colleague, Vattier dined alone and drank the bottle in memory of his friends.

Postal Currency – What A Riot! As the United States struggled to finance the Civil War, an unintended consequence was a shortage of coins. The Post Office stepped up to alleviate the shortage by issuing postal currency in the form of “shinplaster” paper bills in fractions of a dollar. Public demand was so great in Cincinnati that a riot broke out at the distribution center on 5 November 1862. Although no one was seriously injured, federal troops called in to disburse the 2,000 rioters drew swords and attached bayonets to their rifles until calm was restored.

Shillito Becomes A Worthy Investment Cincinnati merchants, notably John Shillito of department store fame, devised creative ways to issue change when coins were scarce. During the coin-scarce Civil War, Shillito noted that his customers often used postage stamps as currency. Shillito crafted special circular cases to contain one-cent, three-cent or five-cent stamps and used them just like coins in providing change to customers. Today, an 1862 Shillito “encased postage” coin can bring as much as $1,250 at auction.

Hier wird Deutsch gesprochen You didn’t have to be German to manage the Cincinnati Post Office, but it didn’t hurt. Between the Civil War and the Twentieth Century, Cincinnati had 10 postmasters and fully half of them were born in Germany. Our Teutonic mail mavens were John C. Baum (1861 to 1864), Frederic John Mayer (1864 to 1866), Gustav Robert Wahle (1874 to 1878), John P. Loge (1878 to 1882) and John Zumstein (1891 to 1895).

Wayward Mail According to the Post [9 July 1891], Cincinnatians were lucky to receive any letters at all because of their incompetence at addressing envelopes. The Cincinnati Post Office reported that year 156,275 incorrectly addressed letters, 15,620 insufficiently addressed letters, 2,632 illegibly addressed letters, and 10,923 incorrectly stamped letters. In all, 279,385 pieces of wayward mail were returned to sender by exasperated Cincinnati postal clerks. The staff specifically assigned to decipher bad addresses were called “Nixie” clerks.

Babies By Mail The United States Post Office introduced parcel-post deliveries in 1913 and boasted that anything – anything at all – under 11 pounds was suitable for shipment. Taking the Post Office at its word, a Clermont County farming couple, Jesse and Matilda Beagle, made history on 25 January 1913 when they packed up their infant son, and shipped him off via parcel post to his grandparent’s house. The Associated Press claimed the Beagles were the first customers to utilize the new parcel post system in this manner.

Potatoes, Too! A Kentucky farmer did the math and determined that parcel post rates were cheaper than hiring a dray to get his potato crop to market. On 28 October 1916, the Cincinnati Post Office found 35 sacks of spuds, weighing 50 pounds each, waiting to be processed and delivered to a Court Street wholesaler. All 1,750 pounds of taters arrived at their appointed destination by mid-afternoon.

Photographic Memory Postal employees were legendary for their ability to accurately deliver mail bearing a minimal address. That skill was tested to an extreme in 1929 when an envelope arrived in Cincinnati bearing only a photograph of a building and the name of the city. A postal clerk recognized the building in the photograph. Sure enough, the letter was intended for Oliver F. Slimp, manager of the Edwards Building at 528 Walnut Street, the building pictured in the photograph pasted on the envelope.

The Porn Stops Here Federal investigators tracing the distribution of obscene materials throughout the Midwest found that most of the pornography was mailed from Cincinnati. On 28 November 1940, postal inspectors struck paydirt in a West Eighth Street warehouse, where they found 28 rolls of motion picture film, 2,000 photographs, 3,000 printed cartoons, a dozen cartons of obscene literature and related printing plates. Two Cincinnati men were arrested as a result of the raid.

End Of The Line Cincinnati’s art-deco styled Main Post Office on Dalton Street was originally constructed in 1933 as the Dalton Annex. The huge building was intentionally located adjacent to railroad lines and the new Union Terminal because so much mail was transported to Cincinnati by train. That advantage disappeared on 17 November 1974 when the iconic track-side facility received the last shipment of mail to arrive in Cincinnati by railroad.