#Popular Day Trips from London

[sunrizef1]

Monaco Green

Pairing: Lando Norris x fem!reader

Warnings: suicide jokes in relation to a happy relationship? (Yall know what I mean)

Authors note: more Lando!

Requested: Yes/No

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yourusername

📍Monte Carlo, Monaco

liked by user1 user2 and 13,800 others

yourusername took a day-trip away from London to go visit Monaco, bit posher than I’m used to, vlog coming soon xx 💚💚💚

In the meantime, new cooking video is up now, we made pesto pasta! 🍝

load comments…

user1 I’m actually in love with her

user2 she’s so pretty!

user3 who’s behind the camera in the pasta video???

user4 is it her editor???

user5 James??? Nah, he’s American, the guy in the video is British

user6 secret boyfriend???

user7 why Monaco?

yourusername visiting a friend! It was quite nice, might have to consider moving 🤔

user8 no offense but how tf would she afford Monaco rent

user9 yk these influencers and their rich parents

user10 so pretty 🥰

yourusername thank you, love 🫶

user11 I love her phone case 💚💚

user12 “we” made pesto pasta 🤔

user13 I loved the new karting vid!!! James had no chance lol, how r u so good?!

yourusername I had a good instructor haha, helps that James is absolutely abysmal at it

jamesedits that’s rude, we don’t all have experienced go-karters to teach us 😒

user14 I want to be her friend so bad, omg her life seems so cool

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landonorris

📍Monte Carlo, Monaco

liked by jamesedits maxfewtrell and 3,008,996 others

landonorris Monaco green 💚

load comments…

user15 the soft-launch????

user16 who is that??????

user17 not Lando posting his secret girlfriend on a random Tuesday

user18 ooh but she’s got good taste in nails I’ll give her that

user19 and who tf is that then

maxfewtrell ah, bold innit?

landonorris 🤐

user20 wtf is max talking about

user21 all we get is hands????

user22 some Twitter detectives about to figure out who that is just based on the hands i bet my life

user23 and if I told you I know who that is, then what

user24 now how tf do you know that

user23 pure vibes and delusion

user25 who taught this man to soft-launch???

user26 I can tell she’s pretty

user27 NOOOOOOOO

user28 what about our marriage and kids???

oscarpiastri she’s lovely

landonorris you have not met her

oscarpiastri this is your sign to change that

oscarpiastri and from what you’ve told me, she is lovely

landonorris she is

user29 awww I already love her

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TWITTER

INSTAGRAM

yourusername

📍Monte Carlo, Monaco

liked by user1 user2 and 31,998 others

yourusername supposed to be a one day trip but now it’s been three days 😅

Day 1 Monaco vlog is up now! 💚

load comments…

user30 is this the girl that Twitter thread was about????

user31 she has the phone case!!!!

user32 you can’t tell me that the “tour guide” in the vlog isn’t Lando

user33 love that James was so against the sunshine the entire time lmao

jamesedits I’m white and from London, I can’t survive in the sun 😔

user34 I love the green 💚💚💚

user35 is this landos girlfriend????

user36 are yall just harassing this poor girl because she has a popular phone case??!! 😭😭

jamesedits can I go home now

yourusername pls do, you third-wheel too much

user37 third-wheeling???? I sense landooo

user38 are you staying with that friend you mentioned

user39 pretty girl 🤩

user40 if you go to the part of the vlog when they’re walking the circuit and go over the grand hotel hairpin, on my life you can see Lando for a split-second in the background

user41 are you sure that’s him and not James?

user40 James was wearing a black jacket, that guy was wearing like a beige hoodie

user42 I just binged like 20 of her videos because I heard she might be dating Lando and now I’m in love with her 😭😭😭

user43 I’m convinced it’s her just because of the phone case and yall can’t change my mind

jamesedits I had to work overtime to get all that footage cut quickly so you’re welcome

yourusername “work overtime” you are on vacation it’s hardly working

jamesedits don’t police my stress

yourusername 🙄

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yourusername added to their story

landonorris

🤩🤩🤩🤩

yourusername

🫶

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landonorris

📍Monte Carlo, Monaco

liked by yourusername charles_leclerc and 3,006,001 others

landonorris 3 days of Monaco with a guest 💚

load comments…

user44 GREEN AGAIN

user45 and if I told you that phone case girl had that same hat in her Instagram post then what

user46 “three days of Monaco” “supposed to be a day-trip but it’s been three days”

user47 that third picture must be from day 1 because someone’s wearing that same beige hoodie in the back of her day 1 vlog

user48 and the green ny hat???

user49 y/n was wearing green converse on her insta story!!!

user50 AND SHE LIKED!!!!

user51 I recognize those shoessss

user52 this is so cute 😭🫶

oscarpiastri she’s lovely!

landonorris now you can say that

oscarpiastri it was lovely to meet her 🫶

landonorris I’ll tell her you said that

user53 the green aesthetic is so adorable omg I love it so much

user54 LANDO DONT BE SCARED TAG HER

user54 OR POST HER ACTUAL FACE

user54 OR EVEN A STRAND OF HAIR PLEASE LANDO

user55 bathing with a toaster tonight dhmu

user56 wdym my husband has a gf? 😭

user57 what about our kids Lando?? What about the kids?

user58 I’ve never even seen her face but that’s my mom now I don’t make the rules 🤷‍♀️

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TWITTER

INSTAGRAM

yourusername

📍Monte Carlo, Monaco

liked by landonorris oscarpiastri and 78,661 others

yourusername Day-trip —> full-time stay

More Monaco vlogs to come, then 😅

Monaco day 1 vlog (Lando’s version) is up now, thank you to James for re-including all the clips of him that he'd previously cut out 🫶

load comments…

user59 AWWWWWWW

user60 where’s the user who guessed this from the start

user61 James I going through it

jamesedits it’s bad enough I had to scrub through all the clips of them being lovey-dovey but then I had to look at all of them again to put them back in the vlog

jamesedits and NOW she’s gonna put these clips in EVERY VIDEO! THEYRE SO GROSS!

user62 oh my god poor James 😭

user63 somebody get James a pay raise

yourusername don’t listen to him, he’s like a dog, he’ll act sad to strangers but in reality he gets treated perfectly fine and gets fed on time every day, he doesn’t need any more treats

jamesedits I don’t appreciate being compared to a dog

landonorris dw about it mate, you’d be a nice little yorki

jamesedits 🤨

user64 LANDO!

user65 they both look so good im frothing at the mouth

landonorris glad I could convince you to stay

yourusername you’re very convincing

user66 sleeping on train tracks tonight

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landonorris

📍Monte Carlo, Monaco

liked by yourusername maxfewtrell and 5,000,881 others

landonorris might have to get her a different phone case…💚

Tagged: yourusername

load comments…

user67 SHE GOT A TAG!!!!

user68 Y/N!!!!!

user69 awww they’re adorable 🥰

user70 I’ve followed y/n for years and it’s so nice to see her so happy 😭

user71 HES PESTO PASTA GUY

user72 knowing it’s him makes it make sense as to why he never actually cooks in the video

user73 man moved to Monaco and still found an English girl

user74 I wish my rich athlete boyfriend would convince me to move in with him in his Monaco home… 😞

user75 I’m in love with both of themmmmm

maxfewtrell she made the main page! And you can see her face! Congrats mate!

landonorris 😐😑😐

maxfewtrell seriously though, happy 4 u

landonorris thanks max

user76 now I need to know where she got the phone case

yourusername wildflower!

user76 omg I wasn’t expecting a reply! Tysm!

yourusername 💚

user77 I’ve never been more interested in a relationship

user78 HARD-LAUNCH

yourusername 💚💚💚

landonorris 💚💚💚

user79 oh my god they’re so perfect

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@casperlikej @evie-119

[daisyblog]

Surprise

Too Young Masterlist Summary: Louis, YN and Arthur surprise Lottie on her birthday.

Based on this request.

“Shall we surprise Auntie Lottie for her birthday?”. Louis asked Arthur as they took a walk across the beachfront, leaving YN back at the hotel room as the heat was a bit too much for the pregnant lady.

“What? Like go home early or something?”. Arthur asked, excitement in his voice at seeing his Tomlinson family.

Louis nodded as they both continued to walk across the sand. “Yeah…she doesn’t think we can made her birthday meal so I thought it would he nice to surprise her”.

“Yes!”. He ran across the sand his arms waving in the air as his feet melted into the grains. Quickly wanting to know more, Arthur ran back over to his dad. “Who’s gonna be there?”.

“Well everyone lad!”. Louis let out a laugh realising if he named everyone then he would be there a while. But the curious Arthur decided to make it his mission to list each person.

“Nan and Grandad?”.

“Yeah…Nan and Grandad”. Louis agreed.

“Lewis and Lucky?”.

“Yeah!”.

“What about Auntie Dai Auntie Phee?”. Arthur continued his list as he kicked the sand with his feet.

“Yeah…everyone Arth”. Louis laughed but was starting to lose patience.

“Olive too?”.

“I’m sure she’ll be there lad…shall we go and see if your mum is up for the surprise trip to Doncaster?”.

---

As much as YN loved being in Spain and supporting Louis at his festivals, at the mention of going back to a cooler England sounded like a dream for her 34 week pregnant body.

Being a popular singer-songwriter had its perks and one of them being that Louis was able to organise their trip back to England very quickly despite it being last minute.

As the little family waited in the airport to board their plane, YN was aware that they had been spotted by some fans who were getting excited at the sight of Louis.

“Lou?”. YN tried to call for his attention, as he checked the board for any delays.

“Yeah babe?”. Louis placed his arm around her shoulder, and left a peck to her head.

YN noticed that they were being videoed or taken photos of. “Some fans have spotted you and I’m worried they may spoil the surprise if they post anything”.

Before Louis could do or say anything, the groups of fans came to say hello.

“Hi Louis!”.

“Hey YN…how’s Harry?”.

“Arthur!”.

“Oi alright…what’s happening girls?”. Louis always tried to have positive interactions with his fans.

“We wanted to say hello and maybe have a photo if that’s alright please”. One of the fans asked.

“Yeah sure…but can I ask a big favour?”. The group all nodded, waiting eagerly to know what Louis was going to ask them. “We’re trying to surprise Lottie for her birthday…so can you not post anything until later or maybe tonight”.

The group shared their smiles at Louis wanting to surprise his sister on her birthday. “Oh that’s so nice…yes of course we won’t post anything…tell Lottie we said happy birthday”.

Louis stood in the middle of the group so YN snap the photo, smiling brightly back at his future wife.

“Wait!”. Arthur shouted, leaving YN’s side he ran over to his dad and joined the group in their photo. “Big smiles everyone!”.

---

After almost six hours of travelling from Spain to London, and then London to Doncaster, a very excited Arthur, a giggly Louis and an exhausted YN arrived at the restaurant where the Tomlinsons were celebrating Lottie’s 26th birthday.

With help from the restaurant staff, they were able to time their surprise right. The restaurant manager snuck the three through the back so they could enter through the kitchen.

Louis helped Arthur to carry the lit birthday cake, trying to be careful not to drop it. As they approached the full and large table, they began to sing. “Happy birthday to you…happy birthday to you…”.

Noticing who was walking towards her carrying her birthday cake, Lottie covered her face as she hid her tears. Phoebe and Daisy were equally shocked and surprised and happy to see their brother and nephew.

“Happy birthday dear Lottie…happy birthday to you!”.

“Happy birthday Auntie Lottie!”. Arthur was the first one to reach her and she gladly took him into his arms, squeezing him tight.

“Oh I’ve missed you my precious boy!”. Lottie hugged him close, still in shocked that they had managed to surprise her.

Letting Arthur go and see other family members, Lottie wrapped her arms around YN, both laughing when their baby bumps got in the way making it harder than usual. “Happy birthday babe…we’ve got some cards and presents in the car for you…we’ll give them to you back and Nan and Grandads”.

Lottie teared up a little more, the pregnancy hormones in full swing as she was surrounded by her nearest and dearest. “Thank you for surprising me…you’re the best…you must be exhausted after all the travelling?”.

“I am and my feet are like balloons…but anything for you Lotts!”. YN joked, earning a giggle from the younger Tomlinson.

“Oioi…c’mere birthday girl!”. Louis interrupted, pulling Lottie in for a brotherly cuddle. “I hope you liked the surprise…we couldn’t not come home for your birthday!”.

“Honestly…it’s been the best birthday and you’ve just made it the best day!”. Lottie held onto her brother a little bit longer, afraid that it was a dream.

“Ouie…Ouie!”. A sweet little voice caused the three to look, toddling towards them was two tiny feet with a head full of blonde locks.

“Lucky ma boy!”.

Taglist :@jillsvalentinex @itsmytimetoodream @peterholland04 @youcan-nolonger-run @chronicallybubbly @macy-tpwk @wh0s-nadii

[sitp-recs]

hi liv! i was wondering if you have any drarry meet-cute recs? i thought i saw a list of it once but cant seem to find it now :(

Hi anon! Sure thing, here are some fun recs with this trope. JulietsEmoPhase writes a lot of meet-cute AUs, I’d definitely check their AO3!

go to it laughing by oflights (T, 1k)

Harry is a marine biologist and Draco is a beluga whale Animagus; they meet on the St. Lawrence River.

Another Side by flightinflame (T, 2k)

Harry loves teaching at Pigdots Nursery. He knows a child named Scorpius is probably magical, but something about the name feels familiar.

He Whose Hand and Eye Are Gentle by khalulu (G, 5k)

Draco reads poems and sometimes writes them. Harry receives poems and sometimes reads them. Rutherford delivers poems via the scenic route. Wombat snores. Eventually, all comes together, with help from the foxes in red bibs and the sumo referee.

Play Dates by bixgirl1 (E, 8k)

Harry never thought seeing Malfoy as a dad would affect him this way.

And a Malfoy in a Pear Tree by lauren3210 (E, 8k)

Draco works in a coffee shop. Harry drops by every day to get his fix. Of coffee, Ron.

The Interest Here by disapparater (T, 9k)

Draco has his own morning show on the wireless, which he loves; an ambitious assistant, whom he needs; and days in The Tea Shop, where he relaxes. He also has a new caller on the show, whom he finds bloody annoying.

Once Upon An East End by JulietsEmoPhase (M, 9k)

Bistro owner Harry is closing up for the night when a young man stumbles through his door in need of help. The night takes them in a direction neither had expected.

coffee & communication: a (slow) romance by softlystarstruck (E, 11k)

Nearly a decade after the war, Draco has made a life for himself in Muggle London, writing romance novels and hanging out with his cat. But when he spills iced coffee all over a gorgeous man who turns out to be Harry Potter, has he tumbled into the start of his own romance without realizing it? And how difficult can it be to talk about desire, anyways? He writes smut for a living.

My True Love Gave to Me (Six Jars of Chutney) by goldentruth813 (M, 12k)

On his first post-divorce Christmas Eve without his children, Harry goes to Marks & Spencer hoping to find a bit of his past; what he finds instead is a future.

honey milk tea by softlystarstruck (T, 14k)

When Draco runs into Harry at his favorite boba tea shop and gets so flustered he orders the exact same thing, he has no idea how quickly his life is going to change.

Espresso Patronum by tasteofshapes (T, 15k)

When Draco reappears five years after the war and opens a wildly popular coffee shop, Harry’s pretty sure that Draco’s Up to Something. He just has to prove it.

An Improbable Bout of Summer Madness by acari (E, 16k)

Draco had planned a quiet, peaceful summer holiday with his son. The last thing he expected was to find Potter here, in Draco's little Cornish retreat. Making fudge in a shop? The idea was too ludicrous for words.

A Hyperactive Fruit, a Nasty Neighbour and a Love Story by synonym4life (E, 20k)

Potter’s pet Niffler is wreaking havoc in Godric’s Hollow and Draco, the Assistant Head to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, is the one who has to deal with it. Repeatedly. The fact that Potter keeps coming to Draco’s office in grey jogging bottoms - repeatedly - does in no way help the matter.

Black Coffee on a Lonely Night by Femme (M, 21k)

Draco owns a café in the city. Harry's a MP who comes in every morning, newspapers in one hand, BlackBerry in the other, and orders a triple espresso macchiato.

Unexpected Turn by Oakstone730 (E, 27k)

English real estate developer Draco Malfoy is in America to find his long lost cousin and escape a scandal. When his car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, his trip takes an unexpected turn.

[jokeroutsubs]

[NEW ENG TRANSLATION] I write songs in Serbian so my grandma can understand us too: The Joker Out frontman talks about Eurovision, his origins, and Belgrade Beer Fest

original article Written by Ljubomir Radanov for Kurir.rs english translation by @moonlvster proofread by X @ klámstrákur

Even though this year's Eurovision ended a while ago, some of the participants, like the band Joker Out, are still talked about. We're referring to one of the most popular pop-rock bands in Slovenia, whose frontman, Bojan Cvjetićanin, has become a real music star. It was this great European festival that allowed his popularity to reach beyond the borders of Slovenia. Ahead of their performance at the next Belgrade Beer Fest, which will be held from the 15th until the 18th of June [2023] in Belgrade, the 24 year old of Serbian origin, otherwise a sociology graduate, talks about his Serbian origins and upcoming visit to our capital city.

This is not your first time in Belgrade?

We had our first performance at the MAC event, but this is our first concert.

What do you have planned for it?

We'll perform as long as scheduled, around an hour, plus two songs, just enough to go over the limit (laughing). We are scheduled to play for about an hour, which means we'll be able to play a good percentage of our repertoire. If the audience is quiet, we'll have to talk to them and we'll play more songs (laughing).

Will you have some time to visit Belgrade?

Unfortunately, our plan is to leave immediately, because we are to perform in Slovenia the next day. Last time, we visited commercial places, met lovely people who promised us they will show us the real Belgrade and the places that only the locals know sometime. Ask me in a year and I believe I'm going to give a much better answer.

You attracted a lot of attention with your Eurovision performance.

How satisfied are you?

Eurovision is one of the biggest festivals in Europe, maybe even in the world.

It took six months of our lives and it was like a giant school trip or a travelling circus, carried out on the most professional level. We met a lot of creative people with whom we will be able to build a career abroad. We have gained a huge amount of fans. The only thing that didn't turn out how we imagined was our result, but in the end, that's less important to us than what we achieved with the audience.

Were you pleased with the score from the Serbian jury and the audience?

I thought I was going to burst with happiness when I heard we received 12 points! It was a magical moment.

Have you stayed in contact with the Serbian representative, Luke Black?

Of course. We became friends and we will probably meet at our concert in London in July.

Did you actually lose your phone at Eurovision?

It happened after the final, at an afterparty. I left it somewhere and it ended up with another country's delegation, but I got it back two days later. Still, I enjoyed not having a phone. The day after Eurovision, everyone was writing messages and being active on social media, and I spent that time with my family and friends. It was like I was in a different universe, completely calm and relieved.

How would you explain your music in terms of genre?

In 2017, we called our music 'shagadelic rock 'n' roll', based on the movie 'Austin Powers', which we adore. Our sound is an interesting mix of ex-Yu rock and roll and British pop-rock.

Who are your idols?

The Beatles, Arctic Monkeys, and Slovenian bands such as Siddharta and Big Foot Mama, and the Balkan bands Bijelo dugme, Indexi, Idoli...

What do you listen to in terms of modern sound from these areas?

The bands Buč Kesidi, Keni Nije Mrtav... We haven't had time to listen to music in the past year, we were constantly in some kind of chaos and noise.

Where did the idea of expressing yourself in your mother tongue come from, like, for example, in the songs 'Ona' and 'Demoni', which are in Serbian?

Every time I play our songs to my family, my grandma, who is from Banja Luka, can't understand the lyrics entirely. I wanted her to be able to understand perfectly what the poet wanted to say, and that's how the songs 'Ona' and 'Demoni' came about. With the song 'Ona', we wanted to capture the essence of the band Idoli¹.

¹The band 'Idoli' was one of the most remarkable new wave bands based in Belgrade, active during the early 80's. They are considered one of the most outstanding and influential representatives of the Yugoslav rock music and their album 'Odbrana i poslednji dani' ('Defense and The Last Days') was voted as the greatest Yugoslav rock album of all time.

Your family's origins are interesting.

My mom's side is from Banja Luka and Lebane, and my dad's side is half from Ličko Petrovo Selo, and the other half from Croatia and Slovenia.

You also act and host. Do you have ambitions in acting?

I would love to act more and I would be very happy if I acted in more serious roles. I've always played characters that were similar to me and I couldn't fully surrender to the charms of this profession. In high school, I acted in theatre, and if I get the opportunity to do that again or to film a movie, I wouldn't run away from it.

How do you see yourself in ten years?

I would love for Joker Out to be an established band around Europe, to have two children, and to live a normal life.

[celticcrossanon]

This Megan and Harry “Road Show” is just that… pretenders playacting parts as if they are being part of a royal family. It is not and they are not…it is actually kind of a joke performance. Lets see, we have women’s luncheons with about 30 women (a tight shot by misan makes it appear bigger, but there look to be 8 tables with 4 women at each one, and a pathetic speech reiterated for the 40th time by Vajj Scratch. Public Performances by them in school yards, with children lined up to stare at them, as there was no applause, no one knows who Vajj Scratch was waving at as no one was waving back. A set up in a hospital, seemingly staged with healthy men and all new pj’s, sheets, no apparent injuries , no I V’s, no medical records at the end of the bed, no water on tables and no nurses in view and very very clean. Back to the school yard with about 12 Sussex’s Squads (they were part of the Sussex entourage of 19 persons) you know who they are they are all wearing the same fabric print on their dresses and no hair covers as Nigerian women were). Finale, when the famous “3 chiefs” or chefs (extras from a movie) promote migraine to a faraway princess! Yikes…that and a nickel will get you the tube train in london. One article says she had a meeting with WHO, she did not. The women were the board and Director of the Nigerian World Trade Organization, not WHO (World Health Organization). It sounded like The Moderator they introduced has a Netflix deal. They were mentioned in 1 newspaper on the first day they were there, and never again positively after that. However, her indiscreet, inappropriate, and slutty clothing for a trip to a mostly muslim country was a fail based on the way most of them looked at her. The point of dressing like that is unknown, unless it was simply to insult them. Someone clued her in and she wore clothing covering her arms and no slits in the skirt on the final day, and of course her usual search for a Diana look alike outfit for the last day and the 19 hour trip home, which must have smelled like very dated, Stinko, laundry hamper of teenagers.Sounds like the trip was a bust, and she must have known it, based on the way she got off the plane to the waiting car…alone. The news that was on the front page of most papers was not about the trip, that was all marred, by the press revealing they were in arrears on the filing payment of their Archwell paperwork for last years. She must have been P O’d when it was all washed away with that one headline.

*

Hi Nonny,

The Nigerian trip was a failure, and due to social media everyone knows it. The reactions of the Nigerians to the disrespectful behaviour of Harry and Meghan has made itself known. The tricks they played with camera angles etc are the same ones they used on the Oceania Tour to make it seem as if they were popular. They weren’t that popular than and they are definitely not popular now. Rumour says that Meghan was fuming over the news of Archewell being released at the end of their trip, especially as it made the mainstream news and their trip did not. So much for being relevant and bringing attention to anything besides themselves.

[enbysiriusblack]

childhoods of marauder characters:

james- grew up in a wealthy neighbourhood in liverpool with occasional trips to mumbai to visit family. other than the trips to india where he could hang out with his cousins his age, he didn't have other friends and grew up very lonely before marlene moved next door when they were about eight, and she became his first non-family member friend. he mostly played quidditch or walked around the garden playing make-belief, very outdoorsy kid. mcgonagall is his godmother/his mum's best friend and ex, so she was around fairly often and he loved trying to play pranks on her (and always failing). his parents gave him anything he asked for and tried (but struggled) keeping up/playing with him. so he didn't really understand not getting his way or what he wants. he grew up with the idea of love being an unconditional thing, and if you love someone then you give them everything you have and are

remus- grew up in a small village in wales with no other kids around. he never travelled very far, other than to the nearest town when they needed something they couldn't get from neighbours or make themselves. his friends were the neighbour's sheep and dog, and his family's chickens. he struggled knowing how to act around people, and his parents didn't really want him around people as they were very overprotective for his safety after greyback bit him, and he was very separated from popular culture. he spent most days indoors reading, knitting with his mum, or watching and talking to the sheep, and doing household chores. he grew up thinking people would hurt him if he got close or he in turn would hurt them, and knowing that he'd have to try twice as hard as the other kids to have a good future

peter- grew up in either essex or kent in a seaside town. he was raised by his mum with his dad out of the picture, but his mum took in homeless/run away kids and taught them life skills and found them jobs, so she didn't give him much attention and expected him to be able to look after himself. so he spent his days walking around town and the beach, collecting stones and shells and painting on them. he was constantly surrounded by people, but never got attention from them. the people his mum took in also had a lot of mental health issues or addictions, so he learned a lot of more adult things quite young, as well as having a paper round when he was 10 to be able to spend time at the arcade instead of just walking around the street. he grew up with the idea that childhood was very fleeting so he valued that more than anything, as well as growing up with the idea that he had to put his life into his own hands and no one else would look out for him but himself

sirius- grew up in islington, london. occasionally going to france or other countries for holidays or special events they were invited to- like charity galas and annual balls. grew up in a family that were losing their money, with the aristocratic class fading away, but were desperately trying to cling onto upper class lifestyle. was expected to be quiet and polite and act like a grownup, but never did. had prospective friends visit all the time but he never got on with them (evan rosier being one of them), which made his parents give up after a while. his parents wanted him to be quiet and studying constantly (if not socialising with other respectable families) so it gave him an easy way to pretend he's studying in his room whilst sneaking out to explore the muggle world. he grew up thinking he was shameful to the people around him, which only made him want to be more shameful cause fuck em, since he was also taught just by being born, he was superior to others (which he slowly unlearnt)

regulus- grew up in islington, london. occasionally going to France or other countries for holidays or special events they were invited to- like charity galas and annual balls. grew up in a family that were losing their money, with the aristocratic class fading away, but were desperately trying to cling onto upper class lifestyle. was expected to be quiet and polite and act like a grownup, which he did. unlike, sirius he did not have prospective friends visit as he wasn't the heir and his parents thought him too strange and awkward for other respectable families. his parents wanted him to be quiet and study constantly so he did just that, other than when he played piano or cello which he had permission by his parents to do anyway. he grew up thinking he had to constantly impress his parents to live up to sirius' easy charming personality and brains, as well as being taught that just by being born, he was superior to others (which he never unlearnt)

lily- grew up in a small town nearby woods (i like the idea of her being scottish but i cannot imagine a scottish severus, so maybe her family is scottish but moved to midlands of england). her parents both worked full time and did a lot of overtime/work out of hours so petunia looked after lily and the house most of the time, leaving lily to go out and play. she was very outdoors-y and hated being at home all day, unlike petunia, so she'd go out to the woods to find severus and play with him, or visit the nice old ladies down the round or go to the park (big fan of the swings) or collect bugs. petunia always seemed so much more grown up than her, and when she did more and more magic, they grew even more separated and lily spent less and less time at home. she grew up with the idea she had to be mature and high achieving to get petunia to want to hang out with her, and that the world in general could seem like a scary or dangerous place but that there was really goodness and kindness and nice things in it all

mary- grew up in plymouth, devon. her dad was in the fishing industry and had quite unreliable hours, which made her more close to her mum, but she still got on well with both of them. she had an older sister who got on with them less, since she was a goth and a lesbian and didn't care what people thought, and their parents are a bit more traditional, but tried being openminded- mary looked up to her a lot despite being very different people. she had a lot of friends and went to a lot of kids clubs (like gymnastics, arts & crafts, performing arts, etc.) also i see her as muggleborn, so she went to primary school obviously and had lots of friends from there). grew up with the idea people are people and you should accept them for their differences (cue friendship with alt butch lesbian autistic marlene), and you should always do what you think is best for you, despite what other people want from you

marlene- scottish but moved to liverpool at around eight years old and met james. is the youngest, and has a few older brothers. her family is very traditional so her mum tries to spend the most time with marlene and teach her feminine qualities, although marlene just wants to go out and play quidditch or go to james' and throw mud at each other for 5 hours. grew up catholic and kept her faith, goes to church every Sunday and does confessions when shes old enough. had meltdowns often as a kid, especially having undiagnosed autism with a mum who wants you to do the opposite of what you want all the time, and she'd run over to the potter's to calm down. grew up thinking she was 'too much' (my beloved quinni variant) and had a lot of religious issues to work through (especially concerning her sexuality)

dorcas- grew up in belfast with their dad. she'd accompany him to building sites (her dad's a builder) often when no one was available to look after her, and they'd play around in the safe areas and the other builders would go talk to her/play with her whilst on their breaks. grew up in a flat with a lot of friendly neighbours in the building who helped raise them. their dad would go out with workmates to the pub after work, when they could, so she spent a lot of time there and always got given free juice and crisps (kids going to pubs is a very normal thing in the uk btw!) had a large sense of community, but not much experience with making friends their own age. grew up with the idea that the world was a dangerous place (its northern ireland in the 60s...) but also that change comes from the people and she could do whatever she could to help others

emmeline- grew up in south korea at a young age but moved to scotland to live with her grandparents (on dad's side) at around six/seven to learn english and prepare to go to hogwarts (her dad grew up in scotland and went to hogwarts). her parents expected her to be studying in the years before hogwarts started, but she never really did (other than her grandfather teaching her english and her grandmother teaching her a few charms). went to a 'bright futures' club and made a few friends there, as well as her fake order of merlin that she began carrying everywhere. she sent letters to her dad constantly, lying about her fast progress and only received a few letters back. grew up thinking she had to achieve greatness or she was worthless, and had to constantly get attention from loved ones by whatever means she could

[imaginaryhl]

I need a plus 1

Harry(w2s) x OC

WC: 2K

Warning: cursing

Summery: Alex is going to an event and Harry is out of town, and she's being hit on while she's at the bar.

Circa 2021

SIDEMEN Group chat

A: Who's free on the 7th

T: Not me

Why

E: I have a thing for gymshark

V: I'm visiting my family

A: I have an event and I don't want to go alone 😩 

S: I'm out of town

J: me too, Freya and I are going on a weekend trip

T: Is Harry busy that day

A: Yes, he has a family thing

I don't want to go alone

V: then don't go

A: Have to

Its for a sponsor

JJ: what kind of event?

S: you're free but you want to know what kind of event it is before you say yes

A: Its a fashion show with an after party

E: Harry's lacking 🤨

JJ: maybe…

H: 🖕🖕

I tried to cancel on my family but I couldn't 

My mum would've killed me

A: True true 

I was on the same call

Almost killed me for missing out

JJ: well I'm in 🤷‍♂️

how much will you give me?

A: Fuck you JJ

I'm going solo

V: lol

I'm screenshoting this and posting it on Twitter 

Alex's stans will have your ass JJ

S: YES! Another war between the ur fans

JJ: come on now you know I was joking

A: I don't know, do I? 

🤨🤨

JJ: fine

I'm sorry Alex can I come with you please 🙏🏼

A: Oh my god Of course you can JJ I can't belive THE ksi is coming with me 😊

T: you lot are crazy 

And thats how JJ ended up being Alex's plus one at the fashion show. Alex dreamed of having a fashion show for her brand one day, to have a runway with models wearing her clothes and everything. She's had launch parties before for her drops but nothing to this scale. 

Her and JJ were dressed to the nines, they walked the small red carpet at the event. Posing together and separately.  JJ had his arm around her back as he took the role of leading Alex around, always protective of her plus Alex doesn't always do well in big crowds.

The duo had front row seats, they sat next to each other, chatted together and to those next to them, with someone always snapping pictures and videos of the popular YouTubers. Photos were already circulating online, Harry would pop into his Twitter account every now and then to see how they're doing. 

“This is weird.” JJ whispered to Alex. 

“Yeah, it can be overwhelming sometimes.” Alex said and looked around the room with a smile. “Maybe one day it'll be my show.”

“Its a when, not maybe or if or any of that.” JJ said and squeezed her for a moment, a smile on both their faces.

After everyone was settled the show began, Alex was so focused on the show and models it amused JJ. He took a video of her and you could see her frown a little in focus, but she noticed him and subtlety flipped him off and that had him stifling his laughter.

Over all they had fun and went on to the after party, JJ wasn't drinking due to his training, and Alex doesn't drink that much when she's around a lot of people she doesn't know. 

In the mix of people the friends split as they were mingling with people some they knew and far more they didn't know, making connections and networking (forever working). Alex found herself by the bar ordering a cocktail, she was between conversations and her throat was dry from all the talking and laughing, she was looking around as she waited for the bartender to get her order.

“You looking for your boyfriend?” A voice saved, she looked to her left and saw a man she doesn't know, by his accent she knew instantly that he's American.

“My boyfriend?” She was confused by his question, knowing that Harry wasn't in London at all.

“The dude you came with.” He nods to a general direction she presumes JJ is, she laughs lightly, it's been a long while since someone mistaken one of the boys as her boyfriend(there's always speculations online and the odd old person they meet while filming).

“No, JJ's my best friend.” She told him and looked at the bartender, he was finishing some other drinks. One thing about this event: they had far too little staff for the number of people attending.

“Oh, lucky me.” He smirked in what he presumed a sexy move but for Alex was a bit cringe.

“Lucky no one, I hate to say this but I presume you don't know who I am-”

“No, I heard from someone your name’s Alex and you have one of the biggest YouTube channels in the UK.”

Mystery man said, sounding proud of himself, Alex took a deep breath and sighed slowly.

“Ok-ay, you look like a nice lad and everything-”

“Wait don't finish, I was going to ask you anyways, my names Jason, and of course you can have my number-”

“What! No-”

“Better yet we can follow each other on Instagram-”

“Jaso-”

“I'm staying here for a week-”

“Mate shut u-”

“How about we go out for a date?”

“If you'd let her finish, you'd know that she's not interested.” JJ said coming up from behind her protectively, he stood beside her with his shoulder coming up in front of Alex, blocking her a little.

“What? I'm sorry we were having fun, and I think she was about to agree to go on a date with me.” That bastard wouldn't back down or take a hint it seemed even if it was written right in front of him.

“Oh believe me she was about to say no, and you better hope no one noticed or took photos of you annoying her because if that happened, not my fans, not her fans but her boyfriends fans would have your head. And there's a lot of them.” JJ told him sternly, the guy scoffed, took Alex's drink that was just placed down, drowned it and scattered away with his tail between his legs. “Can't leave you for five seconds.”

“What did I do? He was an asshole who wouldn't shut up.” Alex huffed and rolled her eyes.

“I was serious though, about the Harry's fans thing.” JJ said and they both started walking around, doing a final round around the room before they'll leave.

“Its not the fans I'm worried about.” Alex muttered knowing how Harry can get jealous sometimes, he'll kick himself for not coming. He doesn't like these kinds of events anyway, usually Alex goes with one of her friends. Females more than males but this time no one was free to come, but he hates when people hit on her and rightfully so. 

***

No one took a picture of what happened, but a video made its way online. You can't hear what's being said but Alex's face says it all, she looks uncomfortable and you can see him cutting her off and how frustrated the female got, she was slightly leaning back as well. Theories were made online, body language experts dissected the short video to bits and Harry's fanbase were pissed. They may have hated Alex when they found out they were dating, but it's been proven that she makes Harry happy and that she's the one for him and thus they became protective of her. Their fan bases are basically one.

Once Harry saw the video on Twitter, he's been tagged over and over again, he called Alex and when she didn't pick up he called JJ.

“It's for you.” JJ said handing Alex the phone, she picks up after seeing her boyfriend's name on the screen.

“Hi.”

“Hey, Lexy.” Harry greeted. “Did you guys leave?”

“Yeah, we're going back to ours, JJ and I will have dinner there.” She informed him, JJ was looking at her expectedly, and he knew why Harry was calling.

“That's fine, that's fine… and are you okay?”

“yeah, I'm fine, we had fun today.” Alex looks at JJ and raises an eyebrow.

“Until someone hit on you I presume.” 

“Until someone hit on me and couldn't take a hint.” JJ suppressed a laugh, he was proven right, he couldn't blame Harry, he would've done the same thing. “But don't worry, JJ helped me handle it.”

“Yeah, I saw in the video… I wish I was with you.” Harry's voice lowered a bit.

“It's fine Harry, I mean I would've loved if you'd come but its not your thing and that's fine, we've talked about it before.” Alex tries to comfort her boyfriend.

“I know, I know, I just don't like when someone tries to flirt with you.” 

“I get you completely… Look, let's talk about it later okay?”

“Yeah, sure, I'll call you before I go to bed.”

“Okay, love you Harry.”

“Love you too, Lexy.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

“He took it better than I expected.” JJ said taking his phone back, they were closing in on Alex and Harry's place.

“Believe me he's pissed, he's just too far to do anything.”

***

Alex was right. Sort of…

Harry was pissed, he didn't like what happened one bit. And yes he was too far, but with his brother and sister edging him on he did something from his place in Guernsey. He took to his Instagram that he doesn't really post on anymore.

He posted unseen photos of him and Alex in lovey dovey poses and some sexy ones as well, the internet went crazy with this, it was taken as a direct response to what happened that night. And jealous Harry made everyone so happy, the fans LOVED it. 

The Sidemen chat was on fire.

E: oh my god bogg!!!

V: wtf have i just seen 😳

T: you lot need jesus 🙏 🙌 

JJ: *VN of him laughing hysterically*

J: no one piss Harry off again

S: no 

its don't come near Alex again

V: tbh I think fans will try to get him jealous to see more pics like that

E:I need to wash my eyes with holy water

T: why are they not responding

A: Harry's on his way back

And I'm currently hiding in a hole

J: u didn't know he'll post those

A: Fuck no i didn't

Best believe I was surprised when I got a notification from Instagram that he posted smth 

JJ: this makes it so much better 😂😂

A: My family is coming for a visit next week 😭😭

S: you're dead

E: no he's dead

Rip to Harry

J: rip 

Will u take his shares of sidemen

A:No? I wish 

His family I think

V: better get married before he dies then

T: mate have you met Harry 😂

A: You know we started dating when he was 20

its been 5+years since we started dating and my finger is without 💍

J:tell him to hurry up

JJ: that's what Freya has been saying

S: mate you're the last person to talk

A: Anyways pray for us My family group chat is blowing up

S: strategic move from his part to post and then disappear 

E: bro knows whats waiting for him

🥲😭

Incoming call 

*Harry ❤*

H: Hey

A: Hey

H: I'm 30 minutes from home

A: okay, food will be ready when you arrive

H: thanks

*silence*

H: I'm sorry I posted without telling you, but I couldn't help it, I was pissed off and then Rosie and Josh were egging me on and-and it j-just slipped.

A: Okay I'm ignoring the slipped part, because slipping didn't make you press Instagram and click the post button, choose multiple pictures before posting. 

Anyways I'm not mad Harry, I wish you would've given me a heads up, told my family to not look, but I'm 100% not mad.

H: thank god, I thought you'd be mad at me

A: If I was, I wouldn't make your favourite food.

H: you're an angel

A: say that after we see my family next week.

H: can't we cancel

A: no can do, they're in London for a wedding, and they'll come over to our house… you can come late or something but you have to see them.

H: I'm scared to open your brothers texts

A: me too

H: open them together?

A: definitely 

H: see you in abit love

A: see you my green boyfriend 

H: come on n-CLICK

[chevvy-yates]

CLUB OWNER

Falco ‘Garnet’ Ritter is the owner of the place he named ‘HELL BUNKER’, a location that hosts diverse technoise parties and concerts (but also some other music genres). He’s also the inventor of Chrome Chamber Rave as well as the radio station ‘109.6 HELL BUNKER.FM’.

He has earned himself quite a high cred and respect in the Night City party business as his location and main event is unique compared to other technoise events in the city. His vision simply was to bring European technoise (back) to the NUSA, especially hard tech from his home country Germany. He wants people of Night City to experience that technoise from Europe hits differently than other technoise does, especially the one from Germany (as technoise roots lie there)¹. He’s well known in the underground scene and also appreciated by Maelstroms. He used to be deejay-ing at Totentanz years ago and the location gave him a lot of inspiration for creating HELL BUNKER afterwards. He’s mostly known under the artist name ‘Garnet’² rather than under his real name. So in the first place Garnet is a musician and a business owner. But since he’s got ears and eyes everywhere to keep his club clean he may also have important info for mercs and he’s not easy to fight because of his installed Gorilla arms cyberware. He often acts as a bouncer for his own club. It’s likely to happen that you might get thrown out by him personally if you behave inappropriately. He doesn’t make any excuses. Chrome Chamber Rave especially has strict rules such as a certain dress code you gotta have to wear, otherwise you may not be able to enter.

SET LIST

Garnet still deejays at CCR. His setlist is of course all hard technoise yet he concentrates to mix it with more emotions and a touch of industrial, even some lyrics and tends to venture further than that. Each song is unique to itself and can be a true experience if you are willing to let yourself soaked in and let it touch your soul.

“Technoise may not be able to save the world, but it will save your soul.”

— Falco ‘Garnet’ Ritter

—

Cover artwork by me. Steal and you will be doomed. I‘ve chosen tracks only by one artist named ‘Roman Gehrecke’. This artist is the closest to what I imagine Garnet would produce as well. So I decided to borrow the music for Falco. Of course all the music belongs to Roman Gehrecke! There's one song at the end of it I see as the one that is always played at last so the audience knows ok after that it's done. This song is also not by the artist mentioned above but has a well known melody majority knows.

Recommendation: ‚Gefallene Engel‘, ‚Anderswelt‘, ‚Stimmen der Tiefe‘ and ‚Schutt und Asche‘ – best listened to via headphones and making time for it should you want to try to get soaked into.

———

¹ "Technoise and its various derivations dominate much of the German scene. If you're hip, you already know about Technoise. If not, listen up. Technoise is quite popular with the discerning young punk; it was popularized by Germany's own NetWerk actually, you've got your Overlay style from London, Jazznetic from Rotterdam and Echo from Frankfurt. In addition, there are people producing Frock (Fractal Rock) all over the place. The good thing is, Technoise is quite easy to produce. You only need a small computer, some software and you're ready to buzz. Those of you with a message might miss the political attitude, but you're missing the point. Technoise is strictly for partying, tripping and dancing. People meet and dance up to the runner's point. Maybe that's a political statement in itself, oder?" — Eurosource Plus – The New Eurotheater Sourcebook for Cyberpunk

² Garnet first is a song by my favorite band D'espairsRay I still love to this day (they ain't anything to do with techno). And second a gemstone that has the color of a darkened red, which I also try to give him as a main color theme of his wardrobe (together with black ofc).

[avelera]

Sir Robert Gadlen of Shere, Surrey?

So at one point for Giving Sanctuary and writing Hob in fics in general, I was looking for historical towns where he could have lived at various points in his life. Mostly (and to my increasing regret in Come live with me) I just eschew names entirely BUT there was one research rabbit hole I went down that was rather fun and made a good case for where Hob could have lived in 1589-roughly 1629.

In particular, I was looking for towns that were a workable distance from London, that is, close enough that one could reach the city for special occasions in a day or two using pre-modern travel but was far enough outside where one could have a sprawling estate. I wanted a town that was known for having Tudor mansions and, critically, I wanted it to be a town that had a river running through it for Hob's infamous drowning as a witch. Since I'm US not UK, all of this was educated guesses and I'm sure a native would find something laughable about my choice, but I eventually happened upon the town of Shere, in Surrey.

I had several reasons for why Shere in particular seemed a good fit for Hob's late 1500-early 1600s estate location:

The town is 25 mi/40 km outside London. Given the average cart speed was 4 mph/6 kmh especially when taking into account pre-modern roads. With a good horse you could do it in about a day's ride, with slower a more comfortable pace and breaks for water, half a day if you were in a hurry. It seemed the proper distance for a man on the rise in society like Hob would want to be, able to make frequent trips while still being landed with a country estate.

In the Medieval era the area was noted as being "one of the wildest in Surrey: sheep-stealers, smugglers, and poachers found a refuge in these remote hills. Some of the cottages have, still existing, very large cellars (excavated easily in the sandy hill), stated by H.E. Malden to have been "far too large for any honest purpose, and were no doubt made for storing smuggled goods till they could be conveniently taken on to London" (Source) - I was charmed by the idea that Hob would have known the area from his banditry days and that he in turn would be tickled by the idea of coming back to the site of his former ne'er-do-well stomping grounds, now with a purchased knighthood. Also couldn't hurt to know the area like the back of your hand (especially when on the run from witch hunters).

Shere is noted in the Domesday Book of 1086 which makes it old enough for Hob to have lived there then AND to this day it is known for its Tudor manors to this day which make it a popular filming location, with several Tudor estates and manor houses, one of which I like to imagine was Hob's during the days of his knighthood.

Here's a fun detail! "Shere has often been called one of the most beautiful villages in England; certainly few can surpass it in Surrey for a combination of those qualities that go to make up the ideal village… Shere is, therefore, the haunt of painters, many of them residents in and around, and samples of their handiwork may be inspected in the ancient Black Horse Inn." (Source) You can't tell me Hob wouldn't consider the town just because it has a Black Horse Inn, he would be giggle himself sick over that.

The River Tillingbourne runs through the center of the village. Particularly in Giving Sanctuary this was important to me because I imagined Hob being dragged from his estate into the center of town for his trial and drowning, for maximum dramatic effect, so I needed one close by that was deep enough to drown a man and sweep him away.

Now, there's one problem with Shere, which is that no witch trials happened there during James I's reign, which is when Hob would have been drowned...

... EXCEPT ONE:

"Despite James I's interest in witchcraft, just one case was brought before the Surrey Assizes in his reign, the outcome of which is unknown. There were probably others brought before the lesser court of Quarter Sessions, but the records for this period have not survived." (Source)

Perhaps since Surrey had no other witch trials, it was all the more reason for Hob to be "overconfident" that he had nothing to worry about? After all, what were the odds? And an unknown outcome, hmm, sure sounds like an excellent opportunity to fictionalize this as because Hob went back later and destroyed the records.

Anyway, this is the one town that fit all my requirements but in the end, I never ended up using the name (at least, not yet) in any of my fics. But I thought others might enjoy the outcome of my search!

[bimoonphases]

@wolfstarmicrofic March 7 – prompt 7: Revive Potion – word count 859

Revive Potion - Awakens an unconscious person

“How many bottles of firewhiskey do you think there are?” Remus asked, his tone mildly concerned.

Peter just shrugged. He had no clue, as he had no clue how many people were now cramped in the Gryffindor Common Room, but if someone had told him the whole of Hogwarts was there he would have believed them. And it made sense as well. After all, Sirius was very popular and this was his seventeenth birthday party. As lavish as the others had been, this was even grander to properly celebrate the fact he was now an adult since around five o’clock that morning. The Marauders had woken him up jumping on his bed as they always did with birthdays and had brought him in triumph to breakfast, loudly singing Happy Birthday every time he opened his mouth. But after breakfast Sirius had disappeared. He had mumbled something about having to see McGonagall and they hadn’t seen him since. They had all been busy planning his not-surprise-birthday-party, but now the people were there, the music was loud, beer and firewhiskey and snacks were going around, Prongs had been glued to Lily for the past hour and still no trace of the birthday boy. They all knew Sirius loved being fashionably late and making a dramatic entrance, but it was starting to become worrying.

“Do you know where your boyfriend is?” Peter asked.

“Nope. He just told me not to worry,” Remus answered.

Like that had ever stopped him before, Peter thought, rolling his eyes. It was supposed to be a fun night and he really didn’t want to have to take care of an increasingly worrying Remus or worse, a panicking James just because Sirius was late at his own party. Not when Cornelia from Hufflepuff looked breathtaking in that dress and had been smiling at him across the room for three songs now.

The portrait hole opened in that moment and the cheers coming from the people nearest to it told him the star of that night had finally showed up, pun very much intended. He moved away from the wall along with Remus, meeting Sirius in the middle of the room, busy smiling and patting people back.

“Where have you been, Pads?” James asked, after having hugged him for so long Lily had to physically drag him back.

“London,” Sirius grinned. “A little day trip with Minnie.”

They all looked at him, puzzled, and he ran his hands up and down his black leather jacket.

“I’m of age now, so I’ve officially come into the inheritance my uncle Alphard left me,” he said. “And since there was the risk of my parents being at Gringotts to stop me from getting it, Minnie came with me.”

“You got McGonagall as a bodyguard, I don’t know how you did it” Lily shook her head.

“I’ve always said I’m her favourite,” Sirius winked.

“That doesn’t explain how you were gone all day,” Remus said.

“Well, since I was there I decided to gift myself my birthday present,” Sirius shrugged. “And since I was technically in her care, Minnie had to stay there with me.”

“What did you get?” James asked eagerly.

Sirius grinned even wilder and unzipped his leather jacket, before dramatically letting it slide off his shoulders and arms and on the floor. Peter stared. His friend’s chest was covered in tattoos and as Sirius slowly turned around, he saw that his back and arms were as well. There were moon phases around his right wrist, paw prints running around his upper left arm, antlers on the back of his neck, footprints which looked suspiciously like the ones they saw on their Map on his spine, whiskers on his right ribs, a constellation Peter didn’t recognize on his left collarbone, the words WE CAN BE HEROES on his right one, KILLER QUEEN just above the waistband of his jeans on one side, with STARMAN on the other and DRAMATIC just above his navel.

“Those are amazing!” Marlene exclaimed, gaping at them.

“I can’t believe you had McGonagall sit through that,” Dorcas laughed, one arm looped through her girlfriend’s.

“She loved it, at least until I told her I could get her name tattooed on my bicep and then she hit me with a teaspoon.”

“You look so cool, mate,” James said.

“You really do,” Peter agreed.

“I damn well do,” Sirius winked. “What do you think, Moony?”

Peter looked up and had to bite his tongue not to laugh. Remus was frozen by his side, his eyes moving up and down Sirius’s torso and his mouth left open. He didn’t move or answer for such a long time Peter was starting to wonder if he would have to brew some emergency Revive Potion to get his friend functioning again, when Remus finally blinked and finished his glass in one gulp, handing it to James and reaching out to take Sirius’s hand in his.

“I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to wait to blow your candles,” he said, before dragging Sirius away to the stairs.

“Well, something’s definitely getting blown tonight,” Mary said as the door to the dorm slammed shut.

[ramonaboat]

More Alex Claremont-Diaz in NYU

Because if Casey was to write a book just about him navigating student life, having more of the college experience he didn’t get in Georgetown, while being Henry’s bf… I would read it hundreds of times over. So to fill in the need, I will supply my own headcanons

Alex gets a solid stable friend group throughout, and somehow he’s made friends with who many consider underdogs. One of them is the daughter of a plumber in NYC, who got into NYU for her undergrad under a full scholarship. One of them is a gay man who was disowned by his family, but is happily married now. His more privileged friends are more aware about the advantages they have and are not assholes about it. He himself is privileged guy after all

He does have classmates who he can sense want to use him for their own gain and social brownie points. His friends are protective about it

When it was apparent to the students that their friend group was a thing, all of a sudden the once underdogs became more popular just by association with Alex. Social climbers want in. Alex kinda feels bad about it but his friends reassure him

June and Nora are happy that Alex has friends from school and outside the Super Six

Alex’s NYU friends get close to Henry eventually, as the former hosts a lot of study sessions at the brownstone as soon as he’s sure he can trust them

Alex’s friends are fascinated by the fact that he can be so ordinary sometimes. Like yes, he’s a brilliant student, was summa cum laude for his undergrad, was a freaking prodigy, but he also gets toothpaste stains on his hoodie and forgets to shave his stubble when he’s busy. He also falls asleep in the library, waking up to one side of his curls flatter than the other. He trips and sneezes and makes mistakes and had to take several trips to the bathroom after insisting on eating his leftovers gone bad (he didn’t have time to get anything else that day, okay?) He was extraordinary but ordinary

They help him get through his fear of disappointing people, of always needing to prove that Alex Claremont-Diaz is deserving because of his own brilliance and not because of his parents (particularly his mother)

The friends also freak out when his Mom calls. They have moms that call them too but like.. hearing the President’s voice on the other line just talking to her kid and asking normal mother questions was a surreal experience. That they don’t quite get used to it.

For one of his friend’s birthdays he gives her an Apple Pencil, because she saved up to buy an iPad from her corporate job so she can annotate her readings from there but mostly used non-Apple styluses cause she didn’t have the budget for an Apple Pencil yet. When she received it she was shocked cause it was expensive for a stylus but Alex insisted. He doesn’t throw around his money, he doesn’t like to make his friends uncomfy with expensive gifts, but he knows when to help

They know Alex loves him when people genuinely don’t know things about him. There are loads of facts about him online and in the press, so when people ask him about things they know are out there and are public knowledge he gets excited. People often already know things about him, it gives him a semblance of normalcy

He still occasionally likes the spotlight though, he is ACD. He loves it most when he can use his influence to do good, like give spotlight to certain charities

He has a cool prof one semester that made them have a karaoke session during the last class. Used the class projector for it and everything. Alex sang London Boy and the class went wild

He once brings a tupperware filled with cookies to share. “My boyfriend baked them,” he said nonchalantly as if his boyfriend weren’t the Prince of freaking England. “He doesn’t have much kitchen experience but he’s been practicing and he’s pretty proud of this one” This was when his friends hadn’t met Henry yet so they were astounded

Eventually they get used to Henry making them tea, handing them drinks, serving them food (a lot of it takeout 😅)

Some study sessions end up being board game sessions, Henry’s included

Alex’s friends often tease him about how in love he is with Henry. Some fake gag when they’re being too sticky-sweet

Alex loves hosting dinners and study sessions and stuffing his friends. He knows a lot of them are struggling with scholarships and rent and jobs that barely pay the bills so he knows it helps them get their mind off a couple meals for the month. He also gets so much food that they all have leftovers to bring home and microwave for breakfast. He chalks it up not being good at estimating how much food they need, but really its his way of helping them. His friends catch on when they notice they always have their favorites ready.

This makes Henry love Alex even more

They discover Henry has a thing for when Alex uses legal jargon. They tease him about it. Henry threatens to throw them in the dungeon

His friends were once sharing horrible college dorm experiences. “Did you stay in dorms, Alex?” one of them asks even if they know the answer is now. “I, err, stayed at home” Home being the freaking WHITE HOUSE, one of them points out

His parents, June and Henry come during graduation. There was media coverage.

That’s it for today. To be honest with you I want to turn this into a fic in the POV of his classmates but I don’t have the time so let’s settle with this brain dump for now 😅

[scotianostra]

On 22nd November 1869 the clipper "Cutty Sark" was launched at Dumbarton on the River Clyde.

Cutty Sark was built for a firm of ship owners called Willis & Sons, headed by John ‘Jock’ Willis, whose ambition was that she be the fastest ship in the annual race to bring home the first of the new season’s tea from China.

She was designed by Hercules Linton, a partner in the Dumbarton firm of Scott & Linton. It is believed that he moulded the bowlines of Willis’s earlier vessel Tweed into the midship attributes of Firth of Forth fishing boats, creating a beautiful new hull shape that was stronger, could take more sail, and be driven harder than any other.

The company had never built a ship of this size before and ran into financial difficulties, eventually going bankrupt before she was completed. The final details of the fitting out had to be completed by William Denny & Brothers, Scott & Linton’s landlords and the guarantors for the completion of the work on the original contract.

Cutty Sark was towed to Greenock for final work on her masts and rigging. She was then taken to London to load her first cargo for China in 1870.

The ship was named after Cutty-sark, the nickname of the witch Nannie Dee in Robert Burns's 1791 poem Tam o' Shanter. The ship's figurehead, the original of which has been attributed to carver Fredrick Hellyer of Blackwall, is a stark white carving of a bare-breasted Nannie Dee with long black hair holding a grey horse's tail in her hand. In the poem she wore a linen sark that she had been given as a child, which explains why it was cutty, or in other words far too short. The erotic sight of her dancing in such a short undergarment caused Tam to cry out "Weel done, Cutty-sark", which subsequently became a well known catchphrase. Originally, carvings by Hellyer of the other scantily clad witches followed behind the figurehead along the bow, but these were removed by Willis in deference to 'good taste'. Tam o' Shanter riding Meg was to be seen along the ship's quarter. The motto, Where there's a Willis away, was inscribed along the taffrail. The Tweed, which acted as a model for much of the ship which followed her, had a figurehead depicting Tam o' Shanter.

Unfortunately for Willis, the launch of the Cutty Sark coincided with the opening of the Suez Canal and the growing popularity of steamships. Steam-driven ships could pass through the canal, whereas clipper ships like the Cutty Sark could not. That meant that steam, ships could cut thousands of miles off the trip to China to collect tea. The Cutty Sark, though one of the fastest clipper ships ever built, was outmoded almost before it sailed.

While the Cutty Sark's career in the tea trade was less than a success, her next career in the Australian wool trade was where she truly shone. From 1883-95 the ship made the Australian run, bringing wool exports back to London.

The Cutty Sark consistently outsailed her competitors, and she dominated the wool trade for over a decade, earning a reputation for exceptional speed on the 2-month voyage. She famously once overtook and passed the steamship Britannia, travelling at a rate of 17 knots.

But once more the steamship spoiled the Cutty Sark's career, and once the steam vessels made the Australian wool trade their own, the Cutty Sark was sold to a Portuguese company. From 1895-1922 the ship (renamed Ferreira) was a tramp vessel, carrying cargo between Portugal and the far-flung corners of the Portuguese Empire.

In 1922 the Ferreira put into Falmouth to repair damage suffered in a gale. A retired sea captain named Wilfred Dowman saw the ship and determined to buy her. Dowman restored the Cutty Sark to approximately how she had appeared during her days as a tea clipper.

The ship was used for naval training until 1951 when it was sent to London for the Festival of Britain. She might well have been scrapped following the festival, but the ship was saved by the National Maritime Museum and put into dry dock at Greenwich in 1954, beside the Old Royal Naval College.

In 2007 a devastating fire broke out aboard the Cutty Sark, and it appeared that the ship might be completely destroyed. Thankfully total disaster was avoided, but the subsequent restoration lasted until 2012.

The Cutty Sark is in permanent dry dock at Greenwich, London as a museum ship, check their web page here https://www.rmg.co.uk/cutty-sark/history

[anonymoushouseplantfan]

Episode 4

Royal wedding montage. No, Samantha Cohen didn’t tell you some weird Rainbow Fish story. That did not happen. 

Voices of journalists talking about how amazing she is and how she is going to change the family for the better. I guess the royal coverage is good…as long as they say nice things.

“I don’t know how I was so calm.” Drugs, Meghan. It was drugs. 

Wedding crowds montage. Same song as Four Weddings and a Funeral because these two think they are living a rom com. Celebrities attending the wedding. International coverage. Amal and George and the Beckhams. Will and Harry. No one mentions that it was Wallis Simpson’s car. She didn’t talk about the “real” wedding three days before.

There was no expectation, Harry. You were supposed to get married in Craithie Kirk because you were a man of the people. That was the first story that came out.

CWK talks about the dress. Doesn’t mention the Commonwealth flowers in the veil. No mention of the tiara drama or the egg debacle either. 

Bold choice going with the vampire bride shot. Yes, KC was important to you Meg. He single-handedly saved your train wreck wedding. Lots of discussion about the Kingdom Choir and no one mentions that they perform at all the Commonwealth events. 

They sold their wedding pics, just like Peter. They are soooooo tacky. They laugh about cutting the cake with the sword. That wedding cake was truly symbolic, a priceless collection of gold pedestals propping up a mediocre confection. Her mom ditched her for the celebs. That is hilarious. Of course she did.

Interesting that Meghan hasn’t looked happy once during this whole documentary, but she sounds truly joyful when talking about the wedding. That was the highlight of her life. 

Kate’s face in the wedding pictures is everything. Says it all. I wonder if Meghan sold a Kate pic. I haven’t seen one yet. Never mind, I just rewound and, sure enough, she did.

Interesting how they are appropriating narratives—she’s a hugger, writing in a new character, modernizing—that were created by the tabloids. Every single word this Archewell guy is saying was written by Camilla Tominey, Andrew Morton, or Valentine Low. He is parroting the royal experts Harry was mocking last episode.

Train trip with the Queen. Why does she wear a necklace in some shots, but not in others? They are splicing different interviews and using filters to make it look line one interview. This section was edited into incomprehensibility after the death of the Queen.

Grenfell. LOL, she makes it sound like she was in the UK when the tragedy happened. Wild. I like the Grenfell ladies but why are they spending time on this and not covering her current charities? 

Bitching about Nott Cott, which actually looks super cute. “I don’t know who lived here before.” Your brother, the heir, lived there before, Harry. You know that.

 That’s how she decorated it? Pottery Barn circa 2001? No wonder her domestic goddess career never took off. All of this just to upgrade from 2000s Pottery Barn to 2014 Restoration Hardware? But….they weren’t living in Nott Cott. They rented a Cotswolds farmhouse before the wedding and lived there until moving to Frog Cott. That’s why all these pics are of them getting dressed. They were just using Nott Cott to prep for London events. 

Wait, did they just bitch about their multi-million cottage in Kensington Palace being too small right after the Grenfell segment? Yes, they did. Wow.

Pregnancy. She sold her sonogram pictures. Australia. You weren’t showing already, Megs. There was no bump. Cue shots with no bump. This is epic gaslight. We can clearly see she’s not showing, but they flat out say she was.

Lol, she wasn’t that popular. Her polls peaked at 41% net approval after the wedding and dropped like rocks. And Australia wasn’t the turning point, Lucy. It was her dad talking to the media all summer long. Isn’t Lucy Harper a pr person? Shouldn’t she be able to interpret polling data? Headlines about how popular she was…including the 2018 Time’s Most Influential List, which is hilarious because they were sandwiched between Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia’s MSB. Yeah, the royals were really jealous of that. OMG, they show Meghan’s covers and its…Woman’s Day and Hello! Canada. One of the headlines is “Freddy Mercury’s Secret Wife.” 

Wait, now he’s happy because the media put Meghan on the front pages? They have a very strange relationship with the media. Hold on, he thinks Meghan outshone The Queen? Seriously?????? He thinks the frumpy brocade dress outshone The Queen? I remember calling that a hater cover because Meghan looked so terrible in it. No one thought she overshadowed The Queen. Literally, no one. 

Archewell guy speaking again.  He seems to think that the royals, who were desperately trying to cover up the epic disaster of the Australian tour—which included insulting the Australian government house, exaggerating an incident with a faulty heater, assaulting an embassy employee, walking out of a United Nations event, making a staffer cry in front of a reporter, wearing jewelry gifted by an allegedly murderous despot, and trolling her father by saying he hadn’t paid for her college—were jealous of how “well” she did in Australia. This is delusional.

Lol, now they are bitching about avocados. It wasn’t the avocados. It was her dad. They just jumped from blaming the royals for the bad press to blaming racism. First The Queen was jealous, then the staff were scared, then the media was racist and giving Kate better press…I’m getting whiplash. Pick a villain, guys! I can’t follow this argument at all. The Queen was upset because Meghan stole her Woman’s Day cover with Freddie Mercury’s secret wife so she leaked stories about Meghan’s favorite perishable fruit and the evil tabloids turned that into the racialized avocados of death? Whaaaaaat????? I love how Harry throws up his hands and says “well, if you can’t see it, I can’t do anything for you.” See what? None of this makes any sense.

BTW, they used the “Hurricane Meghan” headlines even though Meghan told Oprah she hadn’t heard about that. The Oprah interview also implied she never knew about the bump-holding headlines and they used those in the documentary too. Oprah read them to her and Meghan acted as if it was the first time she was hearing about it. The only headlines Meghan, according to their statements during the Oprah interview, was supposedly aware of were the “made Kate cry story” and the avocado story, and she laughed at the avocado story.

Walkabout in Liverpool. A member of the public scolded her about her dad. See? The problem was her dad. Harry and Meghan, however, blame family lies and the tabloids. Her dad was giving interviews right and left, and people were watching him in real time, complaining about how he was treated.  No one in the palace was leaking this. No one was lying about it. He was out there, giving interviews to anyone with a couple of bucks because he wanted to explain that he did actually pay for her school. Her sister was doing the same thing.

And here’s the Diana 2.0 stuff. Wait, she was going to kill herself…over the racialized avocados of death? I paused to re-read the transcript of the Oprah interview because I remembered the suicidal ideation story as being a lot more sympathetic than “the Kate story and the avocados made me want to end it all.” In that interview, they start with the tabloid stories, but then Oprah asks her whether she felt lonely and she talks about Harry working all the time and being all alone. She talks about not being able to leave the house and see her friends and also about the tours being exhausting and having to smile through it all. She also claims there were talks about Archie not being a prince and not getting security and how that was stressing her out. Then she talks about people being concerned about Archie’s skin color and then she talks about her suicidal ideation. That kind of emotional build-up is what Oprah brings to the table. That’s why she gets the big bucks. Here, they just jump from “our Australian tour was super successful” to “mean tabloid stories about Kate and avocados” to “I just didn’t want to live anymore,” and it’s not as powerful, particularly since the behind-the-scenes pictures they keep showing us are all happy pictures. 

Also, we skipped over the big show of support at Sandringham.  And Doria can also do the “one tear, left eye” trick. It must be genetic.

She wasn’t allowed to get help? Girl, they knew you were nuttier than a fruitcake. They would have sent you to a shrink in a hot minute. And they weren’t afraid about how it would make the institution look. Harry admitted to going to therapy and it went fantastic. James Middleton went to therapy too. They put up pics of Megs looking sad…and they are all from events that happened afterwards.

The households separated because of leaks? Bullying isn’t even going to get mentioned? No, it isn’t, and neither is the big social media campaign KP did to support Meghan.

I’m blown away by the fact that all this drama is about a story about bridesmaids’ dresses. The Oprah Winfrey interview was motivated by this one story about making Kate cry. The Archetypes podcast was about the story about making Kate cry. They made a six-hour Netflix documentary about a story about making Kate cry. There is now an entire subgenre of royal coverage based on Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid attire. This one story has been living rent-free in Harry and Meghan’s heads since Fall 2018.

Harry keeps talking about trading stories and not playing the game. He totally planted the Rose Hanbury affair story as revenge for the “made Kate cry” story. Absolutely,

Happy Nott Cott Christmas.  She wasn’t allowed to text photos? Lol, you weren’t texting photos bc you were saving them for Netflix.

People Magazine article. I guess these were the friends working with the magazines. Wasn’t their privacy super important? Weren’t they in danger if their identities were revealed? That was the argument that was presented under oath to the court. Now it turns out she was just saving the reveal for the Netflix special. Baby shower. OMG, Amal Clooney making floral arrangements, wtf? Backlash because of course. 

They are gifted Frogmore Cottage. Archie’s birth. Vintage footage about royal births. She had a long-standing relationship with her UK doctor? How? Seriously, how? They couldn’t do the photocell at Portland Hospital? Didn’t Fergie do it at Portland? Twice?

Birth announcement drama. The problem wasn’t that you broke protocol, Meghan. The problem was that CBS got the exclusive and you lied to the press about the birth. They bring in academics to say it was about racism because of course.

Archie. They took a picture of the nanny with the baby in a mud cloth carrier, lol.

South Africa with Archie. They couldn’t do a hospital photocall with the baby, but now they are taking him on tour. Doria just said “it’s not the institution’s baby, it’s her baby,” but they are taking him on an official tour. They can’t be expected to serve their child on a silver platter for literally two minutes, but they can take him on a week-long tour. I had to double-back and check the dates because I felt this wasn’t nearly as jarring and contradictory when it happened, and it wasn’t. The tour was several months after the birth and they had already taken the baby (who was supposedly too young to fly to Balmoral for the summer) to Ibiza. They way they presented it in the documentary, however, sounded ridiculous.

BTW, no coverage of the Vogue magazine, Smartworks capsule collection, the summer vacations at Elton’s house, the private planes, etc…. All of these were roundly criticized (well, not the Smartworks capsule) and yet the only story that matters is the Kate story.

Lol, the Archewell guy just admitted the royals were afraid Meghan would cause an international row during this tour. Not afraid that she would embarrass the royal family with her activism, noooooo. Afraid she would cause an international row.

Tutu. Wasn’t this footage intrusive two episodes ago? Make up your minds, guys! Tom Bradby. Is she trying to spin the interview as an oopsie due to exhaustion? Is she saying Tom tricked her? She really thinks people are stupid. Also, she takes no responsibility for anything, not even the Uber-narcissistic “I trusted too much.” She’s not even capable of that.

{Edited: Apparently Harry is doing another interview with Bradby. Guess he didn’t really trick them then.]

Astroturfed supportive hashtag. Guess her huge investment in Twitter bots paid off. LOL, my kid squints at the screen and says “all the tweets have the same timestamp.” Yes, they do.

Oh, the Diana footage is a bad idea. You can tell she was trying to act like Diana during the Africa interview (so much eyeliner). They really do think she’s Diana though, and they planned their tours (Australia, Africa, big meeting with African leader, big tour with baby) to bolster that impression. It’s interesting that worthy projects (Smartworks capsule collection, Vogue, Morocco girls’ meetings Ireland tour, dog shelter) that would make Meghan look good, but don’t support the Diana narrative are simply not mentioned. The India hygiene project is not featured in the documentary, but the Diana-like pictures in traditional dress are. 

You Don’t Own Me for closing credits. Hahaha. Harley Quinn music. So appropriate. The music in the last three documentaries is better than the music in the first three. 

Husband and group chat both discuss the Diana 2.0 stuff. She really thinks she is Diana and the documentary is trying to present her as Diana. Everyone agrees that she is no Diana. The psychologist thinks she should have worn more eyeliner. The lawyer tells her that eyeliner wasn’t the problem. There isn’t enough eyeliner in the world to turn her into Diana. Everyone thinks the music is good. Much texting about how much the tiny cottage cost. Someone looks it up on Zillow and it’s an insane number. Many “but my palace was sooooo small” jokes. Many comments about a KP cottage, no matter how small, being much classier than a California McMansion. Many comments about the Archewell guy sounding slimy. 

On to the next episode.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What if Bella had Tom Riddle’s powers like in The Funny Thing That Happened On The Way To London?

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to London by me and @therealvinelle. The TL;DR is that Tom essentially still has magic, however without a wand and the institution of Hogwarts/instruction in the magic system he's been figuring out things wandlessly.

As for Bella, let's dive in.

Pre-Canon

Nothing changes except this is Bella's deep dark secret she must tell no one about. See, Bella's a little past your usual freak in that weird things sometimes happen to her with no explanation and she knows deep down it's somehow her fault. The washing machine explodes, she somehow finds herself teleported home from school, that sort of nonsense.

This doesn't happen to normal people and Bella's well aware of that.

The fact that Bella's a Jedi who is manipulating reality doesn't occur to Bella, nor does the possibility that she could harness these supernatural occurrences or it could in fact be a good thing.

She just knows it's fucking weird and she can't let anyone ever know.

Which means that Bella likely makes the same decision to move to Forks for the same reasons and the added bonus that she won't ruin her mother's marriage to Phil if she's not around for Phil to find out Bella's an alien.

AH HA HA HA HA HA.

Bella Arrives in Forks

Again, mostly the same deal, Bella's just a little extra nervous as all this popularity means people will notice when she fucks up (because she always does) and Bella spends the entire first day praying nothing weird happens.

Then Biology happens.

Bella blames herself.

Or rather, she thinks Edward must somehow know. She must have somehow tipped her hand (did she turn him and his family into marble statue people??? does she do that now???) and now he's looking at her like he's going to kill her.

Bella's life is over: she's pissed off the hottest boy in school who is going to tell everyone she's a total freak and Bella will be the daughter of the police chief's runaway bride and be a psychic nutcase escaped from a Stephen King novel.

Bella cries herself to sleep that night, certain her life is over.

The next morning... Edward's gone. Nobody seems to think Bella's a freak of nature and they all think Edward's sick with mono or something. Bella... is not entirely sure she hasn't accidentally murdered Edward Cullen. She hopes not, everyone seems to think he's just sick, and if he was dead or disappeared his family would have said something. Right? Right?!

Bella spends the next few days telling herself that Edward must be fine and that it's a good thing because everything's all normal now and maybe it's best that Edward's sick with the flu because then he can forget about Bella.

Then he comes back.

He comes back and starts talking to her.

He looks as much like a crystal hot demon as ever.

Bella is convinced she's responsible for his unnatural skin condition. And the way he's focused in on her and is asking all sorts of questions like why she moved to Forks: he must know.

Bella's sweating bullets and sprints out of class (tripping of course int he process).

She spends all night wondering whether she should fess up or not so she can apologize. Coward that she is, she chooses to stay silent, hoping that this will make Edward forget his uh skin condition.

Unfortunately for Bella, she nearly gets hit by a van.

Bella Nearly Gets Hit by a Van

Bella, nearly getting hit by a van, is saved by Edward. However, there's no way Edward could have crossed the parking lot in so little time or crushed that truck like it was made of tin foil. Bella must be responsible for this.

And now she's being carted off to the hospital: she's about ready to die of mortificaiton.

Edward then presses Bella for information, trying to gauge what she saw, but Bella's actually keeping her thoughts to herself and easily agrees when Edward says he was right next to her (because Bella's not going to admit she fucked up his life even more, nosiree, no bending the laws of physics here).

Edward finds himself a little annoyed with this, it works out well for him, but he'd hoped she'd notice or at least wouldn't be clearly lying about all of it.

Regardless, canon proceeds as the family has their vote and Edward discovers he's in love.

The difference, however, is that Bella firmly believes everything appealing/mysterious about Edward is actually caused by her nonsense voodoo magic bullshit powers she can't control. As a result, rather than be fascinated, Bella becomes increasingly anxious and concerned the more hints Edward drops that he's not normal.

Edward tries to gaslight Bella into thinking he's human (sort of) but finds himself increasingly annoyed as Bella seems to be trying to gaslight him into thinking that she thinks he's human.

Eventually, Edward breaks, and shows her irrefutable proof he is in fact a horrible inhuman demon at which point Bella (crying inside) somehow finds herself dating him and agreeing he sure is a vampire. Wow, such a vampire he is, this isn't Bella's strange powers at all.

Bella then has to gaslight his family into believing she's so normal about everything all the time every and nothing weird has ever happened around her wow.

This change in dynamic is the only difference in the story.

[mariacallous]

On Wednesday, New York governor Kathy Hochul shocked the state and the country when she announced she would indefinitely shelve New York City’s long-in-development congestion pricing scheme. The policy, in the works since 2007 and set to begin in just three weeks, was designed to relieve car traffic, curb road deaths, and send a billion dollars in annual funding to the city’s transit system by charging drivers up to $15 a day to enter the busiest parts of Manhattan, with rates highest at “peak hours.” (Truck drivers and some bus drivers could have paid more than $36 daily.) At heart, the idea is straightforward, if controversial: Make people pay for the roads they use.

But congestion pricing was also set to become one of the most ambitious American climate projects, maybe ever. It was meant to coax people out of their gas-guzzling vehicles, which are alone responsible for some 22 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions, and onto subways, buses, bicycles, and their feet. Policymakers, researchers, and environment nerds the world over have concluded that, even if the transition to electric vehicles were to happen at lightning speed, avoiding the worst of climate change is going to require fewer cars overall.

Now, the movement has seen a serious setback, in a country where decades of car-centric planning decisions mean many can only imagine getting around in one very specific way. Just a few years ago, cities from Los Angeles to San Francisco to Chicago began to study what pricing roads might look like. “Cities were watching to see what would happen in New York,” says Sarah Kaufman, who directs the NYU Rudin Center for Transportation. “Now they can call it a ‘failure’ because it didn't go through.”

On Wednesday, Hochul said her about-face had to do with concerns about the city’s post-pandemic recovery. The congestion pricing plan faced lawsuits from New Jersey, where commuters argue they would face unfair financial burdens. Cameras and gantries, acquired and positioned to charge drivers while entering the zone, have already been installed in Manhattan, to the tune of some $500 million.

Kaufman, who says she was “flabbergasted” by Governor Hochul’s sudden announcement, says she is not sure where the policy goes from here. “If we can’t make courageous, and potentially less popular, moves in a city that has transit readily accessible, then I’m wondering where this can happen,” she says.

Other global cities have seen success with congestion schemes. London’s program, implemented in 2003, is still controversial among residents, but the government reports it has cut traffic in the targeted zone by a third. One 2020 study suggests the program has reduced pollutants, though exemptions for diesel buses have blunted its emissions effects. Stockholm’s program, launched in 2006, upped the city’s transit ridership, reduced the number of total miles locals traveled by car, and decreased emissions between 10 and 14 percent.

But in New York, the future of the program is unclear, and local politicians are currently scrambling to figure out how to cover the transit budget hole that would result from a last-minute nixing of the fee scheme. The city’s transit system is huge and sprawling: Five million people ride the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s buses and subways, almost double the number that fly every day in the US.

In New York, drivers entering the zone below Manhattan’s 60th Street would have been charged peak pricing of $15, but would have only faced the charge once a day. They would have paid $3.75 for off-peak hours. Taxi and ride-hail trips in the zone would have seen extra fees. After years of controversy and public debate, the state had carved out some congestion charge exemptions: some vehicles carrying people with disabilities would not have been charged, lower-income residents of the zone would have received a tax credit for their tolls; and low-income drivers would have been eligible for a 50 percent discount.

[bagog]

N7 Month, 2023 - Day 30: Last Stand

It's been real fun everybody, thanks for reading, and let me know what your favorites were!

Mshenko museum piece for the finale.

++

By mid-morning, the Alliance Military History museum was as busy as it was going to get for the day. Shepard and Kaidan, both clad in non-descript hoodies, dark glasses over their eyes, had been slowly making their way around the Shepard exhibit in the Reaper War wing of the museum. They’d avoided one exhibit in particular so far, but at last they had worked their way all the way around and only had one thing left.

There was an eye-catching sign that read ‘Last Stand’ and on a smaller sign below: “Experience the final three minutes of the Reaper war with Commander Shepard.” There were two entrances spaced wide apart, but it was clear that one was an entrance and the other an exit from the ‘Last Stand’ experience. Above the entrance was a bold ’21:13:43’ and above the exit was ’21:14:55.’ It evoked a popular symbol after the war had ended. A lot of people had a tattoo of the time—to the second—when the Crucible wave hit where they were hiding or fighting. The second the war ended.

“We don’t have to do this one,” Kaidan said, glancing at Shepard over the rim of his glasses.

“We’ve seen everything else.” Shepard’s brow was furrowed, “Might as well top-off the experience.” He turned and gave Kaidan a reassuring smile.

“I’m just saying,” Kaidan shrugged, “There’s not any three minutes of London that I’d like to relive, much less whatever three minutes they’ve picked out here.”

“What do you mean?”

“’21:13:43,’” Kaidan pointed to the exit, “That’s not London Local Time for the wave. It’s a good twelve minutes earlier.”

“Oh, Shepard nodded slowly, “the run-up to the transport beam.”

“Definitely not a moment I’d like to remember,” Kaidan said carefully, checking Shepard’s expression. Shepard had an excuse if he wanted it.

“Let’s have a look.” Shepard took a quick breath, then offered Kaidan a smile. Their audio queued when they cross the entrance threshold.

“These are some of the final moments of the Reaper War, and three minutes that would determine the fate of the galaxy. Constructed with data directly taken from a FOB monitoring Shepard’s position.”  

The audio continued to set the scene: Hammer Squad, Thannix Missiles, heroic names—Shepard nudged Kaidan when ‘Spectre Kaidan Alenko’ was mentioned—and the transport conduit. The exhibit itself was a dark tunnel, on either side a gigantic holographic layout of the broken London street that served as the run-up to the transport conduit. The conduit was represented by a holo near the exit, and where Shepard and Kaidan entered represented 550 meters south: where Hammer Team made their final charge. The audio would trip at key moments as patrons made their way through the hall. By this time, there was another group just ahead of them, but it was dark enough where they felt comfortable taking off the sunglasses.

Shepard was represented on the holo by a yellow ball with a pinging halo emitting from it. As they approached, it began to move toward the transport beam, dodging blasts and avoiding rubble the holo hadn’t rendered, resulting in a somewhat comical display. The audio was aware:

“Forty-five seconds. Commander Shepard runs straight at the beam, or as straight as the situation allowed. Harbinger began repelling the advancing forces, indiscriminately targeting both individual soldiers on the ground and also the ground and air vehicles. You can see Shepard zig-zagging back and forth, likely avoiding rubble or attempting to make himself a more difficult target.”

“Why do you think it’s only me up there? They should have data for every marine out there that day?”

“It’s your exhibit,” Kaidan offered lamely. “Plus, I don’t think seeing all those little… flickering lights go out would be a very stirring exhibit.” Shepard nodded gravely.

The yellow ball raced down the hill in real time, and after forty five seconds, stopped abruptly. It then went backwards.

“Forty-two seconds. That’s how long it took Shepard to call down the SSV Normandy and evacuate a number of marines wounded in the battle. You can see him take up a defensive position behind cover, then race forward—possibly supporting the weight of another wounded marine—when the Normandy arrives.”

Sure enough, the yellow ball ‘limped’ over to where a holographic Normandy had been generated. The ball stayed there, though, for another thirty seconds, nearly.

“Twenty-eight seconds. That’s how long Shepard lingered at the Normandy, likely ensuring as much time as possible for further evacuations. The Normandy’s cyber warfare suite was a surprise for Harbinger, and silenced, for a time, its blasts.”

They were catching up on the other group now, who were talking between themselves, bent over the holo with interest.

“Twenty-eight seconds,” one whispered to the other. “That’s forever in a battle like this, huh? Geez, makes you wonder what was going on.”

“Probably was just giving some orders or something,” said the other. “…I wonder if he thought about just… flying away?” They both chuckled, then grew quieter as they proceeded to hurry through the rest of the exhibit when Kaidan and Shepard got closer.

“I did,” Shepard whispered to Kaidan, pulling Kaidan’s hood just to the side so his lips could almost to the shell of Kaidan’s ear.

“Did what?” Kaidan turned. Shepard looked over his shoulder to see that the other patrons had drifted away.

“I did think about just getting on the Normandy, flying away,” he said, softly.

“No you didn’t,” Kaidan cracked a conspiratorial grin. “Not for long if at all, at any rate.”

“I did. I thought about leaving with you. Thought about it just long enough to make it hurt when I had to turn away.” Shepard touched Kaidan’s hand. “The exhibit doesn’t talk about it at all, but do you remember what you said during those ‘twenty-eight seconds?’”

Kaidan looked at Shepard warmly, looking through him, in some ways. “I, uh… I think I told you to let me finish the fight!” He laughed.

“You said ‘Don’t leave me behind,’” Shepard replied. He lifted Kaidan’s hand, softly ran his thumb over the man’s knuckles, his ring. “And I told you I loved you. And you said it back.”

“Yeah,” Kaidan said, voice thick. “Yeah I remember that.”

“It was the first time we’d said it to each other.” Shepard pointed at the yellow ball, lingering behind the Normandy hologram. “That’s what I remember about those twenty-eight seconds.”

“That’s sweet, Shepard,” Kaidan touched Shepard’s face, gave a little smile. “That little yellow dot is about to go through a whole lot of shit in the next 10 minutes.” Shepard nodded, aware even now of the various cybernetics implanted into his body after this battle. “I’m sorry you had to go through it alone.”

“You were waiting,” Shepard said, at last. “That’s what matters.” Kaidan looked over his shoulder once more before leaning in and kissing Shepard. Shepard leaned back with a wry smile, “I think I’ve had enough hero worship for one day, what do you say we get out of here?” Kaidan nodded and took his hand. They slipped their dark glasses on and strode out of the museum arm in arm.