#Route 46

[njhgc]

The lost enclave of Cobb's Corner

Cobb's Corner was once the center of Parsippany's business, social, political, and religious life, and its location at the intersection of two busy roads made it the frequent destination for stage coach travelers and those moving goods through northern New Jersey. These photos, taken around 1850, depict two hotels that once existed on the site as well as the nearby Cobb Mansion.

Construction of the Boonton Reservoir and two interstate highways forever changed this quaint pastoral enclave, which is now a major thoroughfare traversed by 150,000 vehicles per day. Additional details about the history of Cobb's Corner, including its role as an iron manufacturer before the Revolutionary War can be found here.

[memoriesoftwoworlds]

5/11/2024

Wow in Nature!

1）Mojave 大沙漠；2）南方航空的退休飞机在沙漠中； 3)Las Vegas 的球（Sphere); 4-6)Blackwells Corner at Route 46; 7) Route 46; 8)The Palazzo at The Venetian Resort; 9）Liberty Sculpture Park.

Commitment in life!

Matthew 26:41 “ The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

[odessastone]

Will never understand high rank players making smurf accounts so they can intentionally stomp lower rank players over and over and over

[vilecr0ws]

I am a Victor Wiley apologist through and through. He and Bandit deserve the world 🥹

(I tagged this as spoilers but in case you’re still seeing this, don’t click the link if you haven’t gotten through at least a few routes of the game!)

[biohazard-inevitable]

Baldurs gate 3 is just so fun, I cannot wait to beat the game and get the ending so i can play it all again as an actually nice character that didnt murder everyone for astarion

[jils-things]

oh man yk what. i think if we have slateport city as the memorable spot for pre ii of stevaide, then i think cherrygrove is the memorable spot for pre i. it just makes sense. + they're from hoenn and johto respectively.

[chevxyn]

HIM OVER ME?

in which your bestfriend got jealous of your crush, as your crush is taking interest.

various!blue lock x reader

pairings (separate) : sae x you x rin, isagi x you x kaiser, nagi x you x reo, bachira x you x otoya, aiku x you x sendou. (love triangle.)

angst on bestfriend pov, lowercase intended, mature language, half chatfic half written, [name] is kinda a toxic friend on the first route.

note : i’m sorry if this is not as expected, i started at 9:33 pm & and ended on 11:46 pm in the middle of the at the time of release rn & english is also not my first language :,)

second part.

itoshi rin, itoshi sae.

YOU were one of the only good things he could had after his brother’s ‘betrayal’. so just imagine how hurt he was when he realized you liked his brother, romantically.

but what hurts the most is the fact that you wore another jersey, when you promised him to wear his.

he invited you to the game, an important one cause he needed your support since it’s against someone that he wanted revenge of. he just didn’t expected that you would wear another jersey instead, especially his jersey.

his initial smile immediately faded when he saw you with that shirt, and when he got to the locker room, he immediately took out his phone to chat you. but you just had to pull the ‘my mind got ahead of me’.

it hurted, alot. he knew about you liking his brother but to go this far and just ignore his feelings and why he needed your support. It wasn’t fair to rin.

while on the other hand, sae’s eyes lingered on you as he saw how focused his brother was. and he had gotten curious enough to talk to you.

you were happy due to the fact that you finally got noticed by sae, so when you both exchanged numbers, it felt like a dream. but the risk that you had to take was big, you knew it.

and while you felt terrible when he left you on seen, he would understand, wouldn’t he? after all, sae had just asked to meet up with you.

michael kaiser, isagi yoichi.

THERE IS no way that kaiser would give your number to yoichi, not in a million years. He had heard your rumbles about him but he had always ignored it. He didn’t know it was that serious.

isagi already had stolen his spotlight, there is absolutely no way he will let him steal you too. now when you’re what he has left.

he loves you too much for that. no matter how much you’ll ask him, he won’t give you it. unfortunately , you’re hard to get rid of. so after a a few days, in a random time. you stopped.

it was surprising to him when you suddenly stopped asking him for isagi’s number, and it made him finally thought you’re over it.

it proved him wrong when you were seen with Isagi, laughing with him. his heart dropped when he saw it, that smile of yours. one that you had never gave to him.

what is this feeling in his heart? It felt odd. How are you so casually talking with him now? and most importantly did you even get his number?

fuck, it hurts. all what kaiser is thinking about had just gotten blank. as his chest tightening. and at the other point of view, isagi smiled as he looked at you.

he had hung out with you for a while after you helped him when he got a small injury by the park. you had exchanged numbers at that, and he had gotten to know you better. in all truth, he sorta liked your vibe.

mikage reo, nagi seishiro.

OUCH. those words genuinely hurts, he had given you everything. yet as his bestfriend that nags to him that nagi won’t notice your hints, you couldn’t notice his.

reo liked you the first day he met you, and what he would call one of his biggest mistake is letting you meet with nagi seishiro. his treasure.

he loved you, his first support when it came to everything. the only other person that could understand him was you, and when you told him you liked nagi, he regretted it.

with your oddly electric personality and nagi’s chill one, it was no doubt you both has been the school’s main pairing after a dating rumor (that has been debunked) came.

but despite that, you and nagi still are in good terms. infact it gotten the two of you closer. while reo was just there beside the two of you. he hated becoming a thirdwheel.

as for nagi’s point of view, it was too bothersome for him to even think about it. but all he knows is that you’re pretty chill to hang out with and doesn’t want anyone else to have you.

otoya eita, bachira meguru.

IT TOOK him time until he would send you to the contact, but when he did. it felt like a piece of his chest was ripped out.

he knows he was a playboy but now what would he do since he has fallen for you and you telling him you’re interested in other people?

it made him feel oddly insecure, since you’re the only one that could make him want you more. he should’ve not taken that short interview if he knew this would happen.

he tries to convince himself that you won’t feel more than just interest in bachira, but what if he felt scared of the possibility that you will?

cause at the other end, bachira is more talented than he is. not that he would ever admit it but he knows it. so other than a handsome face and the skills to football, what else could he interest you with?

as for bachira, he was just skimming around the room as he heard a notification, and saw a number that he did not recognize. oh wait, he does know this number.

sendou shuto, oliver aiku.

YOU are just so frustrating. atleast to sendou, he had told you from the first time you had revealed your feelings to him towards aiku, be careful.

but here you are, almost given a hope by aiku and getting it crushed cause he actually got dumped. yet you still came back.

in a moment, sendou hoped that maybe you would just stopped crushing on aiku, since he doesn’t want your heart to be broken. but you won’t listen to him, and he doesn’t have the right to tell you to stop pining after aiku.

it was always him, aiku, aiku. when will you finally see him? your bestfriend? he just wants you at this point.

in aiku’s pov, what is [name] to him? well, aiku knows [name] as someone, sendou likes. but yet, aiku for whatever reasons also wants them.

©chevxyn

[luveline]

Hi lovely!

Can you please do one where Hotch and Reader are in a fight and it gets heated and he maybe raises his hand just because he’s shouting and she flinches?

He would be prepared to FIGHT whoever made his honey feel that way 🗣️🗣️

💘

for you my sweetheart. fem, 1k

cw implied past domestic violence 

“It was right,” you're saying, on the defensive, your voice molten, “it was the thing to do!” 

“It wasn't.” Hotch closes the door. “It wasn't the right thing to do, it wasn't even close.” 

You realise, under everything, that he's right, but you couldn't help yourself, you had to try and save the day, had to swerve the SUV. Plus, he's done it himself, and you both know that. “If Monikie got out of that exit we never would've seen her again.” 

“There were roadblocks on the I–46, and I don't think I have to tell you that you could've gotten a lot of people seriously hurt–” 

“You've done worse,” you deny.

His expression, broadly furious, narrows into something sharper, “And that is my decision to make, but you report to me.” 

“You can't seriously want to act like a boss now,” you say. 

The room isn't overly large, and so you stand close to one another with no need for shouting, but your voices begin to overlap. Hotch is so angry. It isn't like him to yell at you, his voice strained. 

“You can't truly think that the decision you made today was the right one. You need to calm down, and you need to listen to me when I tell you that this was the wrong move. We'll talk about it more tomorrow.” 

“You're shrugging me off?” You could laugh. “You can't be serious. Every member of this team has done the same, or worse–” 

“But they're not you!” His voice peeks, his hand jolting out in front of his chest, flat-palmed in incredulity. 

You're really quite close to each other. 

It's not his fault. 

You step back, desperate to be away from the movement, the hand, because it doesn't register as his hand, only there's a chair behind you and a table behind that and you bump into the plastic with a creak and screech. You're righting yourself as quickly as you're tripping but Hotch is already moving away. Three steps that feel like a gorge. 

Your heartbeat soars. 

“Are you okay?” he asks quietly. 

“Of course.” You breathe out funny. It's not his fault, but there's something wired in your brain now, and it knows that the first strike isn't the last. Your hand shakes as you brush at an itch under your eyes. 

“I'm not mad,” he says. 

“You sounded pretty mad."

“I've changed my mind.” He gives you a long hard look, and then he moves to the office door to open it before returning to his initial position. He's given you an exit route. “I'm not going to hurt you,” he says. 

You put your hands on your hips and bend at the waist, breathing out hard. “Fuck, I know that."

“You thought I might.” 

“So profile me,” you say, panicking still, face hot and itchy all over. “Tell me why.” 

“Someone's hit you before. Enough to anticipate the second blow.” 

“But you knew that already, didn't you?” 

Your ears get cloudy like there's water in them and you can't stand the feeling of Hotch's gaze on the back of your head. You force yourself into a standing position and try to ignore what happened. 

“You're unfairly angry with me,” you say. 

Hotch just shakes his head at you. 

“It's… It's not a big deal,” you say, quieter. He already knew because of course he did, every member of the team gets checked. You have records, and he's in a position of power unlike most, he could've read them like the morning paper. 

“Why would you say that?” 

“I can still do my job.” 

“I wasn't going to suggest you couldn't.” 

Then why… why is he looking at you like that? You're humiliated enough, and his gaze is so… so soft. So sorry. Tears gather warm behind your eyes and your chest aches like you've been holding your breath. You frown, eyebrows lifting at the starts, not knowing if you should beg him to forget the whole thing or finally give in. 

“Come here,” he says gently. Completely optional, his fingertips twitching but stationery at his side. 

You stare resolutely at your shoes. 

“I'm sorry I scared you, it wasn't my intention. I can imagine how it feels. I'm not mad, honey,” he says. His voice drops to a murmur, “Come here,” he pleads. 

You take a clumsy handful of steps and he meets you in the middle, arms going carefully over your shoulders. You'd feel condescended by it if it weren't shockingly nice to be considered in such a way, or if the solid mass of his arms around you didn't soothe. You feel protected rather than boxed in, held, and not restrained. 

His hand slides open down the length of your back.

“I'm sorry I scared you,” he repeats, for your ears alone. 

“It's not like it was really you that scared me.” 

The memory scared you. The flinch was instinctive, less to do with Hotch and more to do with the connection between a moving hand and stinging pain. 

He hangs his head by your ear until his nose touches your shoulder, and for a few seconds, it's just you and him together, no fighting, and no fast-approaching hands. 

“You didn't scare me,” you mumble, hiding your face in his shoulder instead, forcing him to stand tall. 

Incoming footsteps cut your embrace short, but he doesn't pull away too swiftly. His hands grave the lengths of your arms, and he gives you a long, loaded look. Before you can calibrate the action to the man, he's chucking you under the chin, a stroke of his index knuckle, a promise of more to say. 

He catches Morgan before he can enter the room and directs him back out. “Take a minute,” he advises you. 

You sit in a chair and do as he's offered. Memory is a tricky thing. 

[todays-xkcd]

Hint: If you ever encounter this puzzle in a crossword app, just [term for someone with a competitive and high-achieving personality].

A Crossword Puzzle [Explained]

Transcript

[A square 15x15 crossword puzzle is shown. Only 21 of the 225 squares are black. The black squares are in a pattern that are 180 degree rotationally symmetrical. Three black squares down from the 11th column and similarly three black squares up from the 5th column. Three black squares out from the right in row 7 and then two more black squares diagonally up from the end. Similarly three black squares out from the left in row 9 with two more black squares diagonally down from the end. A single black square is three above the first black square on the diagonal going down to the right and similarly there is a black square three under the first of the diagonal squares going down to the left. (Row 6 column 12 and Row 10 column 4). Finally there are three black squares on a diagonal crossing over the central point by going up from the left through the central point (Row 8 column 8). There are numbers at the top of every column (except the one that is a black square) and similarly at the left edge of all rows (except the one that is a black square). There are also numbers at the bottom of every black segment (except the one that reaches the bottom) and all rows after black segments except the one that reaches the right edge. In total all numbers from 1 to 51 is written. They are written in reading order from 1 to 51.]

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51

[Below the square there are two rows of clues for each number that belongs to across (rows) and to the right there are one row of clues for each number that belongs to down (columns). Both segments have an underlined and bold title above the clues. ]

'''Across'''

1. Famous Pvt. Wilhelm quote

11. IPv6 address record

15. "CIPHERTEXT" decrypted with Vigenère key "CIPHERTEXT"

16. 8mm diameter battery

17. "Warthog" attack aircraft

18. Every third letter in the word for "inability to visualize"

19. An acrostic hidden on the first page of the dictionary

21. Default paper size in Europe

22. First four unary strings

23. Lysine codon

24. 40 CFR Part 63 subpart concerning asphalt pollution

25. Top bond credit rating

26. Audi coupe

27. A pair of small remote batteries, when inserted

29. Unofficial Howard Dean slogan

32. A 4.0 report card

33. The "Harlem Globetrotters of baseball" (vowels only)

34. 2018 Kiefer song

35. Top Minor League tier

36. Reply elicited by a dentist

38. ANAA's airport

41. Macaulay Culkin's review of aftershave

43. Marketing agency trade grp.

44. Soaring climax of Linda Eder's ''Man of La Mancha''

46. Military flight community org.

47. Iconic line from ''Tarzan''

48. Every other letter of Jimmy Wales's birth state

49. Warthog's postscript after "They call me ''mister'' pig!"

50. Message to Elsa in ''Frozen 2''

51. Lola, when betting it all on Black 20 in ''Run Lola Run''

“Down

1. Game featuring "a reckless disregard for gravity"

2. 101010101010101010101010 [sub]2→16

3. Google phone released July '22

4. It's five times better than that ''other'' steak sauce

5. ToHex(43690)

6. Freddie Mercury lyric from ''Under Pressure''

7. Full-size Audi luxury sedan

8. Fast path through a multiple choice marketing survey

9. 12356631 in base 26

10. Viral Jimmy Barnes chorus

11. Ruby Rhod catchphrase

12. badbeef + 9efcebbb

13. In Wet Let's ''Ur Mum'', what the singer has been practicing

14. Refrain from Nora Reed bot

20. Mario button presses to ascend Minas Tirith's walls

24. Vermont historic route north from Bennington

26. High-budget video game

28. Unorthodox Tic-Tac-Toe win

29. String whose SHA-256 hash ends "...689510285e212385"

30. Arnold's remark to the Predator

31. The vowels in the fire salamander's binomial name

32. Janet Leigh ''Psycho'' line

34. Seven 440Hz pulses

37. Audi luxury sports sedan

38. A half-dozen eggs with reasonably firm yolks

39. 2-2-2-2-2-2 on a multitap phone keypad

40. .- .- .- .- .- .-

42. Rating for China's best tourist attractions

43. Standard drumstick size

45. "The rain/in Spain/falls main-/ly on the plain" rhyme scheme

[redbird-tf]

Harmony

Sam winchester x younger sister x dean winchester

(More sam focused)

Summary: the brothers still had lots to learn about their sister, like the weight of her favorite harmony

Word count: 1.2k

Notes: the harmony i think of for reference

Warnings: angst, mention of death, violence

To say it had been a tough day would be an understatement it had been a tough few months. You were having a hard time adjusting to finding out you had two brothers, Sam was struggling to step into the big brother role, and Dean seemed to be doing the best out of the three. Of course, Dean was shocked, but he had been a big brother for years. The only thing Dean struggled with was the guilt and anger that you had been in this life alone for years.Hunting together was also proving to be a challenge. Dean and Sam had teamed up for years, but your independent nature often clashed with their established rhythm, making hunts more difficult. It would take time before you could truly function as a team.

If the boys had learned anything about you it was that harmony you were always humming. It wasn’t from any song the boys recognized, but it was the same every time you hummed it. Sometimes they’d hear it even when you weren’t around, because of how ingrained it was in their mind. Right now it was serving as the source of Sam’s annoyance. “Y/n i can't focus with your humming” Sam snapped from the passenger seat. You were lying in the back half asleep and hadn't even noticed you were humming. You let out a huff, abruptly grumbling out a half-hearted “sorry” which seemed to irritate Sam more as he slammed his book shut. “You know what? I've had it up to here with you.” He exclaimed turning to face you. “What did i do!?” You shouted back sitting straight up. “UH, the bruise on my face!” He mocked pointing at his black eye. “Thats not my fault!” You rebuttal, furrowing your brows “It wouldn’t have happened if you had just followed the plan” he countered “Your plan didn't work!”

“Alright, enough!” Dean’s booming voice made you both fall silent. “We all messed up, alright? Now knock it off.” He stated firmly. The car stayed silent, but he could see you two exchanging glares from the corner of his eye “Stop looking at each other” Dean commanded, and in sync, you both slouched back with your arms crossed. “Why do I always gotta be the frick’n mom” dean mumbled under his breath.

———————

“This it, Sammy?” Dean questioned pulling over. Sam looked down at his map “Route 46, the last spotting of a vampire was here” Sam stated stepping out of the car. “Got the dead man's blood?” Dean asked watching Sam sling the bag over his shoulder. Sam nodded leading the way into the woods. “I've never seen a vampire before” you whispered to Dean to prevent Sam from hearing you. “Well their not easy…” Dean paused seeing the flicker of worry in your eyes “Dead man's blood is about the only thing that will kill them, and they come in packs…but so do we” he explained trying to ease your obvious concern of messing up.

“Over here” Sam gestured for you to catch up. “Thats it?” You asked quietly, eyeing the old barn “There's only three in there” Sam said lowering his binoculars. You watched as they prepared their knives by dowsing them in blood, “be careful with that,” Dean stated handing you a dagger. You all crept to the back of the barn and snuck in through a cracked window. You dropped in a bit louder than intended, prompting Sam to shush you, annoyance flashing across your face. Tiptoeing over to the sleeping vampires. You loomed over them, waiting for Dean’s signal and when you got it, you pushed your danger hard into the vamp. He scratched hard into your arm but you held firm, only pulling away when you were sure he was down for good. You turned to your brothers “That was easier than expected”

You quickly realized you had spoken too soon as your body slammed violently intk the ground and your vision became a red blur. A burning sensation spread across your face and loud noises overwhelmed you, causing you to scream out for your brothers “i can't see! I can't see anything!” You cried in pure terror. The last thing you heard was sams voice drawing near before everything went black.

——————-

“It's been over three hours Dean” Sam's voice wavered while he paced back and forth. “She’ll be fine” Dean reassured him, adjusting the bandage covering your eyes before leaning back in the chair at your bedside. “What if she hit her head too hard?” Sam stuttered out. “She's fine,” Dean said sternly, though part of him was trying to convince himself. “We should take her to the hospital,” Sam insisted, balling his fist. “And say what, Sam? My sister got scratched across the face by a vamp” Dean explained the harsh truth. Sam sighed looking down at you, his lip quivering. “I'm gonna grab a beer,” Dean said, rising from the chair knowing he couldn’t hold it together much longer.

Once Dean had left, Sam knelt by your side and took your hand in his. Guilt gnawed him, knowing the last thing he did was yell at you for something as simple as humming. What's worse is that he knew you hummed to comfort yourself. A detail he had picked up on over the months. He’d watched you hum yourself to sleep, after hunts, or when the world felt overwhelming. Sam bit his lip feeling his eyes begin to gloss over. How could he have been so cruel? How could he call himself a big brother?

He closed his eyes and began to hum the familiar harmony, seeking his own solace within it. “Mom?” Your voice rang, barely louder than a whisper. Sams's head shot up “Y/n” he breathed out. His body flooded with Relief. “Sam?” You became confused as you abruptly sat up. “Woah, easy there,” Sam said placing his hands on your shoulder to steady you. “I-I can't see” stammered, panic creeping back in. “I know. You got hurt and we had to stitch you up. I can remove the bandage if you want” he explained gently in an attempt to soothe you. You nodded and Sam began to slowly unravel the bandages. You looked around and saw the bunker walls surrounding you, your eyes beginning to uncontrollably water.

Your figures brushed over the stitches on your face, tears beginning to well in your eyes. Your reaction was making Sam nervous “We did the best we could, it shouldn’t scar too bad” he tried to reassure you, but You stayed silent, your gaze dropping to your lap. “I thought i died, i thought..” you paused, “i thought you were my mom” you muttered. Despite the circumstances, a small laugh escaped Sam's lips “Why would you think that?” He asked with a slight smirk. “You were humming her melody” you stated blankly. Sams's smile dropped, and the guilt he didn’t know could grow any larger, grew “y/n, I'm sorry…i didn't know” he apologized, moving to sit next to you. You could hear the sincerity in his voice, but you couldn’t muster the strength to look him in the eye.

“She's awake?” A voice shattered the tension as Dean rushed to your side, unintentionally pushing Sam aside. He embraced you tightly “you gave us a scare there, kid” he breathed out with a chuckle. You mumbled a sorry into his shoulder before pulling away to meet sams gaze. The eye contact took him by surprise and it took him a moment to gather his words “y/n, I'm sorry for snapping at you, you didn't deserve that.” He watched as your gaze softened, but continued to press on“And…i won't hum that again, i didn't know” he explained lowering his head. You shook your head “No Sam, it's ok. You do it perfectly and…” he gazed up at you again, seeing a smile tug at your lips “It's comforting” Your tender tone washed away the heaviness in his chest. Sam mouthed a thank you, taking your hand in his as his thumb glided over your knuckles.

“Did i miss something?” Dean questioned glancing between you and sam, a hint of frustration that made you both laugh. “No no…i just” Sam stopped, taking a moment to appreciate the happy version of you that had replaced the distressed one he’d seen just moments before. “I'm just learning what it means to be a big brother” Sam expressed with a wide smile. Dean rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah, then you can watch her while i get some shut-eye” he said, giving Sam’s shoulder a light pat. Sam tried to rebuttal, but Dean cut him off “you wanted to be the big brother, welcome to the job,” Dean teased. He shook his head until he felt you lean into him. He glanced over seeing how you relaxed against him. This is the brother he wanted to be.

[puppykatz]

RESTLESS WITHOUT YOU ᓚ₍ ^. .^₎

ᯓᡣ𐭩 ; meret manon bannerman x gn reader.

summary ‎::: manon comes home late, only to find you asleep on the couch.

prompt ‎::: “i can't sleep without you, you know that”

tags/info ‎::: established relationship, manon & reader share an apartment, reader has a cat, that's pretty much it =]

note... i love this manon selfie so much she's so gorgeous 😵‍💫😵‍💫

manon slowed the car down to a stop, letting out a sigh of relief afterwards. she'd been out all day filming stuff for katseye, so all she wanted craved was to get home to you, to hold you in her arms and just drift off to sleep — and at last, she was back home to your apartment, with the reward of holding you again so close. but it was late, really late, approximately 12:46 am, so unfortunately she wouldn't be able to have one of your many late night talks that she cherished so much, as you were probably fast asleep in bed by now.

she exited the car, sluggishly dragging her bag along with her. after an elevator ride that felt extraordinarily long, she reached your guys' apartment, unlocking the door and making sure to open it incredibly slowly as to not disturb you (though the creaky door hinges didn't help her case). she delicately stepped into the apartment, softly shutting and locking the door behind her before placing her bag on the floor. she let out another sigh of relief, though this time over the fact that she seemingly hadn't woke you.

she began to quietly make her way over to the bedroom, thankful that the tv was illuminating her path, lessening the chances that she'd run into something and wake you— wait, the tv was on. she paused, her brows furrowing as she redirected her route to the living room rather than the bedroom.

when she got there her heart absolutely melted, and it took everything in her not to let out the largest ‘awh’ she could muster. you had fallen asleep on the couch while playing a game, which was evident from the pause screen on the tv along with the controller falling out of your left hand. your cat, sona, was curled up comfortably in your lap, but had now stood up and began meowing happily at the sight of manon. “hi, honey! ” she lowly mumbled, gently scratching sona's head as she crawled up the side of the couch towards manon. she sat there for a moment, admiring you whilst continuing to silently pet sona.

while it crushed her heart, during her moment of silence she decided that it'd be better for her to freshen up before coming back to wake you up. a frown appeared on her lips at the thought of leaving you, even if it wasn't for that long. “i'll be back.” she pressed a light kiss to the top of your head, before woefully heading off to the bathroom.

── 𖹭 ──

manon walked out of the bathroom with a huge smile on her face, she'd finally finished her nightly routine which meant she was able to head to bed with you — after waking you up and moving you over to the bedroom that is.

she walked over to the couch, her heart fluttering at the sight of you once again.

she leaned down, slowly but surely removing the controller out of your hand and placing it on the coffee table in front of you. leaning back up towards you, she smiled to herself yet again — gently carding her fingers through your hair, she began to press soft kisses to your temple. “baby?” her smile widened when you stirred, groggily shifting your position slightly, though your eyes stayed closed.

“baby, you have to open your eyes.” she chuckled softly, pressing a kiss to your cheek as she continued to play with your hair. this time, you weakily opened your eyes, lifting your hands up to rub them as your brain tried to process what was going on. “manon?” you looked up at her dazed, “when'd you get back?”

her hand traveled down from your hair to caress your cheek, “a little bit ago.. baby, why are you out here? you should be in bed.”

“i.. can't sleep without you,” you reached up, wrapping your arms around her neck in a desperate attempt to hug her. “you know that.”

she wrapped her arms around your torso, embracing your hug with open arms. “you tried to stay up?”

you paused, trying to push away your embarrassment as you nuzzled your face into her neck. “..i was waiting for you...i missed you.”

manon hugged you tighter, letting out a squeal of adoration, “oh, you're so cute!! ” she leaned down, littering a bunch of kisses all over your face.

you groaned, pretending to dislike the treatment, even though the both of you knew very well that you loved it more than anything. “whatever..”

she pulled away with one final kiss to your lips, her smile as wide as could possibly be. “as much as i love this, we should really get to bed.” she ran her fingers through your hair again, pressing another kiss to your forehead before grabbing your hands so she could help you stand up. you stood up with her assistance, unintentionally bringing sona along with you, as she sat securely on your shoulder.

manon slowly walked you to the bedroom, her hand staying in yours to guide you (and also just because she wanted to hold it) while the other made sure that sona didn't fall.

“the bed is in front of you, love.” she giggled, grabbing sona off your shoulder just before you threw yourself on the bed, sluggishly crawling your way under the covers. unable to hide her smile at your antics, she made her way over to sona's bed tower, whispering a soft “goodnight” to her as she placed her inside before heading out to the living room to shut the tv off, finally going back over to lay down with you after she did.

she slid her way under the covers, immediately pausing her actions when she noticed you had already fallen back asleep. she smile-frowned, imagining how tired you must've been to fall asleep so fast, but also adoring how cute you looked sleeping. she got more comfortable, pulling you into her arms before pressing a feathery light kiss to the tip of your nose.

“goodnight, i love you.”

[sso-maev]

PUTTING JORVIK ON THE MAP: SIZE AND LOCATION

WHERE IS JORVIK?

Finding Jorvik’s exact location is actually pretty easy.

”Jorvik, located somewhere between Norway, Iceland, and the British Isles, of which it was once part, is a nexus of worlds.” - Jorvik Calling, Prologue.

This is still a pretty large area, but one that’s significantly narrowed down by reading Four Stories from Jorvik. Anne’s segment Midnight Sun establishes that Jorvik is at the very least partly above the arctic circle, to the point where Anne can see it while riding by Jorvik Stables in the middle of the night. This also puts Jorvik pretty close to the tectonic rift between the European and American continental plates, which handily explains why Jorvik is a volcanic Island.

HOW BIG IS JORVIK?

Jorvik’s size requires a bit more speculation, and I’m relying on two book sources.

1: Jorvik stables is a bus trip from Jorvik city.

Anne lives in Jorvik City but goes to school with the other soul riders in Jarlaheim, and has her horse at Jorvik stables. We know that she goes there by bus, so the distance between Jarlaheim and Jorvik City shouldn’t be too large; I’m capping the max length of the bus ride to about an hour.

2: Valedale is less than a day’s ride from the wineyard.

In The Legend Awakens, Elizabeth and the soul riders are heading to Pi’s Swamp and sleep over at the Wineyard. The soul riders wake up late and leave after having eaten breakfast and lunch. The sun is ”at its highest point in the sky” when they leave, so probably around 1-2PM. It’s twilight when they arrive, and the Baroness comments that they showed up in time for the evening feeding of the horses. Since the days are shorter in late October/early November, which is when this chapter takes place, we can guess that they arrived at around 5-6 PM.

Mapping out the most likely routes for these two trips, the route to the Wineyard is about a third of the bus route from Jorvik City to Jarlaheim. Additionally, the bus would drive on average ~70 km/h because of Jorvik’s smaller roads. The average walking speed of a horse is 6 km/h.

Now, the Valedale-Wineyard trip could take anywhere between 3-5 hours, but I’m inclined to believe that it’s on the lower end of that scale to keep Anne’s commute as short as possible. That leaves us with a 18 km long ride, and a 54 km long bus tour that takes 46 minutes. Pretty reasonable!

RESULTS

With these new measurements, we can figure out the actual distance between different places on Jorvik. Most importantly, we can measure the absolute width from Jorviks westernmost to easternmost point: 92 km, or ~57 miles!

Having figured out an estimate of the island’s size and location, we can now put Jorvik on the map!

[scotianostra]

On February 21st 1842 ­Scotland’s first inter-city railway, the Edinburgh-Glasgow mainline, opened to ­regular traffic.

The building of a railway between the two cities was authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1838 following several years of public discussion.

Construction work on the 46-mile line took almost four years. It was no easy task. To ensure a level route, numerous cuttings were dug, four viaducts were built and three tunnels were driven through hills and solid rock. Members of the public were invited to walk through the Queen Street tunnel on New Year’s Day 1842 to satisfy growing interest in the project. The line opened to regular services on 21st February that year, following a ceremonial opening of the station three days earlier, as I posted on Sunday.

The railway put an end to the slow and cumbersome stagecoaches that had linked Glasgow and Edinburgh for more than a century, and would eventually drive business away from the canal network as well.

The project’s engineers had wanted to build a bridge over the Forth and Clyde canal – but the canal’s owners refused. A tunnel under the waterway had to be constructed instead.

The Scotsman reported in February 1842 that “it rarely happens that a railway can be brought into the centre of a great city”, as it announced the opening of Queen Street station in Glasgow. But the original Edinburgh terminus at Haymarket was greeted with rather less enthusiasm. It was hoped that eventually the train line would stretch further into Edinburgh.

An extension to North Bridge was duly completed in 1846, and work on building the present Waverley station began in 1868.

The line was popular with passengers from the beginning. Initially, four services travelled in each direction from Monday to Saturday. Controversially, two services also ran on Sundays – provoking strong opposition from Sabbatarians. The number of trains throughout the week quickly increased.

Passengers could choose to alight at many more intermediate stations than today – with stops at Gogar, Ratho, Winchburgh, Linlithgow, Polmont, Falkirk, Castlecary, Croy, Kirkintilloch (later Lenzie) and Bishopbriggs. The Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway Company which built the line was absorbed by the North British Railway (NBR) in 1865. The NBR would in turn be absorbed by the London & North Eastern Railway in 1923.

There have been several high-profile train crashes on the route over the years. The most recent occurred on 30th July, 1984, when a rush hour commuter service out of Waverley struck a cow that had wandered on to the tracks near Polmont from a nearby field. The collision caused all six carriages to derail, killing 13 people and injuring 61 others.

The worst accident, in terms of loss of life, took place on 10th December, 1937, at Castlecary. During a snowstorm, the 5.30pm Waverley to Queen Street express collided with a late running local train from Dundee to Glasgow. The locomotive hit the rear of the standing local service at the now-closed Castlecary station at an estimated 70mph. Four carriages were completely destroyed by the collision, killing 35 passengers and injuring 179 more.

The £742m Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP) is the biggest project on the route since it was built 174 years ago. It will eventually see all-electric trains operating on the line, with faster journey times and more seats for passengers. The average journey time by train between Glasgow and Edinburgh (Waverley) is now 1 hour and 14 minutes, with around 191 trains per day.

A new passenger hall at Haymarket station opened in 2014, while Queen Street was recently comprehensively rebuilt.

[harfanfare]

Idia drabble, fluff, lots of couple banter

Your wishlist containing released games is empty.

In the next several minutes after saving a title to one, you can expect a notification that the game is getting downloaded, and a mere seconds after that—several messages from your boyfriend.

“thought u would never play it lol”

“weren't you supposed to be studying??”

He sends a meme degrading your hierarchy of values as if he were any better. It is followed by a request.

“stream it to me when you play it”

And you do, after thanking him yet chiding him for wasting too much money on you without a second thought. His reply was a string of emojis and guarantee that he is doing it all for himself, because “educating you on the topic of latest games is his duty” and he cares about “the boyfriend points”.

“I hope my love’o’meter for u was broken by all that pampering lmao”

“waiting for my cg to load up…”

[NAME]: “not enough affection points”

“damn”

“i need a walkthroughyt to this route”

Idia has you join a voice channel, with you sharing your screen. Playing a game in a separate dorm is a whole different experience than having him beside you, with his hands almost trembling to grab your controller if you couldn’t get past a certain level.

He would always wait for you to ask him for help, though. Then he could let the feeling of self-satisfaction sink in as he easily guided your character to another enemy to slash.

If he only has you on the voice chat, you might be able to finish the game almost fully by yourself.

You can hear the soft sound of his keyboard as he plays something as well. He divides his attention between you and his entertainment, and he throws in commentary to your playthrough, teasing you when you can’t find a secret key to the special gate, bullying you when you find the puzzles too hard, or when you pick the wrong dialogue option.

At some point, you might try to (playfully) mute his microphone, but you can only have eight seconds of silence before he hacks into the options.

“No need to be jealous of my gaming knowledge,” he exclaims, and you know he has that big stupid grin on his face. You huff, and he hums. “But if you want me to help, all you need to do is just ask.”

“I want to go through this game myself!”

“Okay, sure. But you know you have already missed the opportunity for the best ending, no?” He laughs. “That’s what you get for muting me, kitten.”

No need to spoil the ending just to get back at me, you’d love to say, but you learned that the shy boy who couldn’t hold your gaze several months ago is actually a big tease. You must’ve grown too much on him, as he would have continued the bickering even if you showed up in his room. No social anxiety towards you—that’s a bit of a shame, he was cute when you first started dating.

…Well, Idia you know now is a cutie as well, even if he can be very annoying sometimes.

“Enough. I’m going to play my otome games, bye.”

You log out, and shut the stream, chuckling all the time. A funny feeling tingled your heart, like always when you won (or have you?) in banter in Idia: your heart is warm enough to probably melt through the ribcage, but a subtle alarm rings in your head. Idia will probably take revenge for this.

He must already be in distress. He doesn’t like you playing otome games alone, as if you could have ever preferred a 2D boy over Idia. The thought makes you laugh.

You plop on your bed, unlocking your phone and tapping an icon of the name game you’ve installed. Although playing it with Idia would have been funnier, you are going to play him just out of spite.

…And after that, you will send him a wall of text about those handsome characters, because he needs to be updated on your current obsessions.

The title screen appears before everything crashes and the screen goes black. Several messages in neon-blue futuristic font colour appear one by one.

An error has occurred.

Caught exception:

Traceback (most recent call last):

File “characters”, line 46, in script

File “stats”, line 153, in script

File “story”, line 665, in script

File “achievements”, line 411, in log.1

File “backup_data”, line 139, in log

To continue:

“[Name]-san. Please come to our dorm. My brother is moping (so he won’t be finishing his project anytime soon, which is, really bad) and I would appreciate you having mercy on him.

Once you come, I will restore your data! It’s a promise :>

— ORTHO”

…Damn those Shrouds.

[nature-hiking]

Trails of the AHR 46/? - Alpine Haute Route, June 2021

photo by: nature-hiking