#St. Michael belt

[dannais-dde-daneann]

Archive-2022/23: Warm winter outfit in style of 1910 & 1930s

[d-lanx]

I transcribed what McIntyre said to Punk after his mania match

(I did this instead of working on my dissertation and it took an hour of messing with audio and replaying it until I could hear properly)

Essentially, he was saying that Punk is a good commentator and should keep doing it because if he ever wrestles again, McIntyre will end his career. He also really just wanted to rub his win in Punk’s face. Full Transcription is below the photo if you care.

Speakers

P: CM Punk

D: Drew McIntyre

M: Pat McAfee

G: Corey Graves

C: Michael Cole

(ST) is used when multiple things are said at the same time.

Transcription

P: Well, my hat goes off to the champ. I’m not gonna tell him he’s gonna keep it warm for me because I don’t know what the future holds.

*McIntyre stares at Punk, who stares back.*

M: I think he has an idea of what the future holds.

*McIntyre walks towards the commentary table.*

P: Ah. I’ve been here before.

*McIntyre gestures for the other commentators to move out of the way and they do.*

C: Ok.

P: Be careful. Be careful, Drew. Your wife’s here.

*McIntyre climbs onto the table and crawls towards Punk, pushing the belt towards him.*

M: Like a jungle cat on our commentary desk.

*Punk applauds him.*

P: Congratulations. Have fun taking selfies on the internet with it.

*McIntyre kneels on the desk in front of Punk.*

D: I want you to know, every single thing I’ve said about you, I meant every single word.

P: I want you to know that I can’t hear a word you’re saying because I have cans on.

D: And let me tell you something. Right where you’re sitting, I’ll give you props, you got that down like nobody else. Step back in that ring ever again, I won’t put you out for a few months, I’ll end your career.

*Punk laughs.*

D: I’m not playing you; you think it’s funny? I’m not playing you.

P: I think it’s hilarious.

(ST) P: People bigger than you have told me that my career is over.

(ST) D: You’re welcome here.

D: Step back in the ring, I’ll end your career. This is my moment.

P: It is your moment. Why are you- why are you here? Why are you in my face? Why are you making it about me?

D: Because I want to rub it in your goddamn face!

*McIntyre gets up to crouch in front of Punk with the belt.*

(ST) D: Get this shot! I want this framed on my wall!

(ST) P: Alright man. Alright get it.

*Crowd starts chanting “CM Punk”.*

P: I ain’t never won a title and heard other people chanting somebody else’s name.

*McIntyre stands up and gives the DX “suck it” gesture with one hand while holding the belt in the other.*

M: Oh geez.

P: Alright. Ok.

M: Right in his face. He did that right in his face.

*Punk knocks McIntyre over and starts a fight.*

G: Wait a minute!

C: Oh my God!

[jstor]

Alexander Miles, a prominent African-American inventor of the late 19th century, is best known for his groundbreaking invention - elevator doors that could open and close automatically. This invention transformed the safety of elevator rides, with automatic doors now considered a standard feature in modern elevators.

Born on May 18, 1838, in Circleville, Ohio, Alexander Miles was the son of Michael and Mary Miles. As a young adult, he relocated to Waukesha, Wisconsin, where he worked as a barber throughout the 1860s. It was while living in Winona, Minnesota, in 1870, that he met Candace J. Dunlap from New York City, who later became his wife. After the birth of their daughter, Grace, the family moved to Duluth, Minnesota.

In Duluth, Miles enjoyed significant success as a barber, setting up a barbershop in the four-story St. Louis Hotel. He smartly invested his savings into purchasing a real estate office. His business acumen led to him becoming the first Black member of the Duluth Chamber of Commerce. In 1884, Miles constructed a three-story brownstone building in an area that later came to be known as the “Miles Block.”

While taking elevator rides in his buildings, Miles noticed the dangerous risks associated with manually operated elevator shaft doors being left open. Determined to solve this problem, he invented a mechanism that allowed elevator shaft doors to operate at the correct times. The mechanism, which involved a flexible belt attached to the elevator cage touching drums positioned along the elevator shaft, automated the elevator doors through a series of levers and rollers. On October 11, 1887, Alexander Miles was granted a patent for his life-saving invention (U.S. Patent 371,207).

In 1899, Miles and his family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he started The United Brotherhood, a life insurance company for Black customers who were denied coverage by White-owned firms. Eventually, Miles relocated to Seattle, Washington. Prior to his death on May 7, 1918, he was considered the wealthiest Black person in the Pacific Northwest area, largely due to the income from his invention. In recognition of his contributions, Alexander Miles was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2007.

Read more about Alexander Miles here.

[bllk-after-dark]

ARCHANGEL.

an angel of greater than ordinary rank.

pairing. michael kaiser x fem!reader

content warnings. MINORS & AGELESS BLOGS DNI, nsfw, heavy christian mythology/theology, sex on sacred ground (church), kaiser is the archangel michael, reader is an altar server, sex on altar, loss of virginity, fingering, missionary & doggy style, not proofread/edited

summary. you've been serving in the st. michael church for many years, a simple duty in your life and yet you pray to him, the patron of the church you serve. and one day, heavenly flesh made mortal, he stands in front of you and asks for a serving.

word count. 3.9k

fallen angel. masterlist

Altar serving was something you do every sunday. Not because you loved it, that has passed a long time ago, when you were still a kid in awe, but because it was a duty and at this point, part of your routine. It was part of your life, born into a christian family that went to church every sunday. Your father has been an altar server too, long before they allowed girls to serve, and now your younger siblings were too. It was tradition, and tradition was not meant to be broken. 

You were one of the eldest in the group, guiding the younger ones through their service, whispering their tasks during the mass. Having almost ten years of altar serving under your belt, you were not only allowed to help prepare and teach the new generation, but also assist the acolyte every sunday.

And while you may not love altar serving, it still brought you peace being here, in the church that has been named after the Archangel Michael. Saint Michael Church, a relatively big one for the small number of people in your commune. An old one too, with the ceilings filled with paintings with angels, but especially Archangel Michael. In fact, this church was the only one with paintings of angels who had other wing colors than white in your country.

This attracted some tourists, but the church was never overrun. It was a shame, then you often let your gaze wander during your servings, with your back straight and hands on your lap, taking in the Archangel Michael with his flaming sword, long blonde hair that takes the color of the sky at the tips and the feathers of his wings ruffled, blood and dirt sprinkled across them, but it could never hide the true beauty of his wings. Even the statues had wings that span at least two meters, and their tips, just like his hair, dipped in blue. Here and there was a golden feather found, as if someone had dripped molten gold on the wings. 

Yes, the art in the church you served was unusual but truly beautiful. You may not believe in the Holy Father, not like your parents did, but you did find peace here. Maybe it was the sheer presence the angel radiated in his own church, maybe it was because you had so many memories here, practically grown up with him gazing down at you, but you liked it here. 

You may no longer love the altar serving like you did as a child, but you still loved to stand here on holy ground, where only the priest and other servers were allowed, so near to the altar, so near to him. It made you feel special, maybe just for an hour, where you stood in a white robe, bringing bread and wine before the Archangel Michael. One of the statues was on the altar, taking more than half of the sacred table, leaving just enough space for the bible and the communion to be placed. It was a true artwork, just like all the other statues and paintings in the church, but the artist paid special attention to this one.

It was unknown why it stood here, when normally only a holy cross would be placed, but the statue has always been here and no one dared to change its place. You didn’t mind, because most sundays you could take in every detail of the artwork, sitting near to the altar. 

And like many sundays in the past and possibly in the future, you’re the one helping cleaning up. Blowing out the candles, collecting the left behind songbooks and of course cleaning up after your fellow altar servers. 

Yet unlike other sundays, you’re alone. The acolyte had to leave early, very apologetic but still asking you to finish everything up. You couldn’t deny her request, fully knowing how stressful her private life was with her family. And so you start doing all the task, a bit slower than usual now that you’re alone. 

Cleaning up and tidying the altar is the last thing on your list and then you could finally go home. You watch your steps, carrying the bucket with wine first, then followed by all the other things you had to lock in the safe, since they’re made out of gold. In the end, you would put a big white clothing over the statue, preventing the light and dust from damaging the artwork. But you aren’t that far yet, still carrying bowls until the communion cup is left. 

A gasp left your lips and the cup fell out of your hands, the sound of its impact on the marble floor ringing in your ears. Wings ruffled, feathers shifted and suddenly he looked at you. The statue made flesh. Archangel Michael. 

He was kneeling on the altar, a white robe clinging on his frame, no sword or armor in sight, while his wings started to unfold themselves. So pretty, you could only think. The occasional golden feather almost glowing in the candle light, silver ones shimmering, white feathers almost blinding you but it was the blue ones that held your focus. 

A chuckle ripped you out of the trance you were, enchanted by the beauty of the wings- real wings. He was grinning at you, eyes lit up in delight and a grin spreading on his lips. 

“Little mortal, I see you’re serving on Holy Grounds named after mine,” he says, voice oh so angelic but also raspy, as if a mere whisper. But he speaks so clearly, his words ringing in your ears and you blink, shake your head, trying to get rid of- what is happening? 

“I- I am… your Holiness,” you try. You don’t know how to address him, no one has ever told you how to address an angel. But he just shakes his head, another chuckle escaping his mouth and slips off the altar. He’s barefoot, you realize and he strides over to you, the end of his wings dragging over the floor. They seem heavy, you realize and as if he heard your thoughts (maybe he did, he is an angel after all, can they read the minds of mortals-) his right wing stretches first and the left one soon follows, and so you end up staring at the pair of wings, looming over you and showing hints of the true might Archangel Michael owns. 

“You have no need for this, my devotee,” and your heart skips a few beats, eyes going wide when he calls you his devotee. Never have you thought of yourself as one, but now he utters those words, how can you deny it? 

“I wish for you to call me Michael, it is my given name after all.” You can only nod and he seems satisfied by that. He stops a few steps in front of you, so near but so far away. Your brain tries to progress the situation, try to understand what your eyes see, but it’s your body that reacts in the end. 

You sink on your knees, hands clasped in front of your chest and you bow your head. 

“I am not worthy,” you murmur, because you aren’t. You do not believe in god, you do not pray to him, all your prayers, if you ever pray, go to him, to the Archangel Michael. “I am not worthy to see you, your- Michael. I am not worthy to be in your presence, I am-” The words stop and you press your eyes shut. A hand on your cheek makes you snap them open again, not being able to stop the gasp that leaves your mouth. 

“Oh, but you are, little devotee of mine. You who are the only one who truly serves me, ever since she was a young girl. You are the most worthy of all.” He kneels in front of you, and still, he towers over your frame, his wings frozen in movement. At this moment, he looks so angelic and sinful at the same time. You shudder at your thoughts, suddenly infesting your mind, spreading and creating pictures in front of your eyes. 

The ruffle of feathers makes you snap out of those filthy thoughts, eyes going wide when he pulls you closer, practically lifting you up. You’re frozen in his arms and can only watch in silence how his wings curl around the both of you. 

“There is also no need for you to kneel,” he rasps right next to your ear and you shudder, suddenly aware of your hands placed on his half-nacked chest. “A follower so loyal… is allowed to stand in my presence.” But before you can answer him, before you can ask him all the questions you have, he sneaks his arm around your waist and pulls you even closer. A sudden gasp escapes your lips once more and you tremble in his arms, when he suddenly lets his hands wander to your neck. 

“A follower so beautiful… little one, will you do me one more service?” He asks this as if you have the choice to refuse him. So you nod, thinking he will ask you to bring bread and wine, or to proclaim your belief in him. 

But then he tilts your chin up and you stare at his beautiful blue eyes, enhanced by his long lashes and eyeliner. Who would’ve thought angels have eyeliner, you think hysterically, yet your thoughts go silent, when he presses his lips against yours. You don’t react, your whole body frozen as the angel continues to kiss you. And then the arm around your waist pulls you even closer, bodies pressed against each other and his wings curling tighter against the two of you. 

Your eyes flutter shut, and you lean onto him, your arms circling around his neck. Your fingers brush over feathers and he moans against your lips, so sweet and sinful. And then- and then you finally return his desperate kiss, his tongue sneaking into your mouth, and you lose yourself. The simple soft kiss turns into something filthy, with your panting and his soft noises and oh what noises he makes. Small gasps, choked moans, all because he’s kissing you. You, nothing more but an altar server, nothing more than a mortal. Leaning closer, you let your lips move against his, inexperienced but it doesn’t matter. Not when he lowly groans or when you pant against his lips, trying to catch your breath. You couldn’t believe it. A man kissing and touching you, for the first time in your life-

“Allow me, devotee of mine. Allow me to see your naked skin, allow me to taste your flesh, allow me to feel your love,” he rasps, close to begging, eyes oh so pleading and you can’t deny him. You would never deny him and if it’s his wish to see, to taste and feel you, then you will strip naked, spread your legs and love him with all your heart and soul. 

“Michael,” you whisper, close to his lips and press yourself closer to him. “Michael, take and use me to your wishes, and my heart will listen. I will love you, with mind, heart and soul, and only you.” His pupils are blown wide when you whisper your oath, binding your whole life and soul to him. You don’t even realize what you’ve done, but he does. He feels it, down to his core, the oath you gave to him, on his sacred ground. It makes his essence soar, his wings flutter and his cock harden. 

A squeak escapes your lips, when he lifts you up, marching over to the altar and lays you down, all while he drapes his body over you, wings unfolded and feathers gleaming in the candle light. His breath fans over your face and your eyes widen, when he slowly crawls on the holy table. 

“Michael, shouldn’t we-,” you try to ask him, mind no longer clouded by his kisses but he just slams his lips on yours again and you forget your protests. Throwing your arms around him, your hands start to wander, hesitant at first to touch his bare skin. He grinds his hips against yours in response and he finally lets you breathe. Only now do you realize that he’s propping himself up on his arms, when he starts touching you with one hand as well. You shiver when he touches you below your shirt, riding up the fabric while he continues to ravish you. Moans leave your lips and you lift your legs to wrap them around his waist, trying to keep him close. 

Canting your hips up, you grind onto him but it’s not enough. A whine escapes your lips, you want him closer, you want to touch all of him, you want him in you. 

“Normally I am someone who is patient, but for you,” Michael starts to speak, voice raspy next to your neck, where he has pressed kisses and bites on your sensitive skin. “I want to take you, here on this holy table, here in my church and I will.” He rips your shirt off first, fabric flying off without resistance and you gulp at his casual show of strength. His eyes fixate on your simple bra, hiding your tits from him. 

Michael looks feral to you, wings shifting every second, pupils blown wide but completely focused on you and your body below him. He doesn’t hesitate and rips off your bra, completely ignoring the fact he could simply open it and latches immediately on your right tit, sucking on your nipples and gently pulling on the other. 

You gasp and moan at the new sensations, skin feverish and hot, while you bury a hand in his blond locks. He bites you and you tug his hair, making him groan while you beg for more. It’s new, it’s different, it’s filthy and dangerous, lying on the altar of the church you serve in, half naked while the Archangel Michael leaves his marks on your skin. 

If anyone could see you right now… you and your whole family would lose face in the community. Even more than that. But you didn’t care, only caring about Michael’s hands and lips on your body, feeling him and his body and- 

He suddenly kneels up, your own legs still between his, over you and shrugs off his white robe, revealing his whole form to you. Your eyes widen and you blush when he takes his cock in his hand without shame, slowly stroking it and watching you with half lidded eyes. His wings are once again spread and they flutter, when you sit up and place your hands on his thighs all while claiming his lips. Curiously, you start kneading his muscles, letting your hands wander until you can finally pull him closer. But he has other plans for you, sneaking his own hands to your waist and lifting you up, only to turn and seat you on his lap. He vanishes your last clothes as well, leaving you naked against him. 

A pant leaves your mouth when he stretches his body over yours again, rutting his hips against yours, his cock against your pussy, making you gasp when he spreads your wetness and even touches your clit. 

“Oh lord,” he groans close to your neck, lips ghosting over your skin once again and you feel so overwhelmed, overwhelmed with his presence, his touch- 

“Michael,” you moan, a desperate sob bubbling out when his cock continues to rub against your pussy and not in you. “Please,” you start to beg. “Please, take me- Michael, have me, I’m ready, please-” and you are. Ready and open for him, your untouched and virgin body ready to have him but he just doesn’t take you. Tears spill in your eyes, frustration filling your mind and your body, but he just slowly continues to caress your body, hands wandering until his fingers dip into your pussy. 

You cling onto him, nails ranking down his body, and you beg. You beg and plead, but he ignores you, humming when his fingers finally enter your pussy and start massaging your warm walls. It’s not really new to you, you’ve touched yourself several times, always in the darkness of your room, but it never brought you to an orgasm. 

Yet Michael’s fingers make your cunt tingle, your thighs shake when his movements become faster and your moans louder. And when his thumb presses on your clit, you shriek, and start rutting against his hand. “More,” you pant, cheeks flushed and your legs spreading even more, so close-

He claims your lips, mouth parting and tongues dancing, while he presses another finger into you. With a gasp you remove your lips from his, eyes closing in ecstasy and head falling back. Another press of his thumb and a bite into your neck has you shrieking again, cumming for the first time in your life, on the fingers of Michael. 

“What a darling you are,” he grumbles lowly, licking your reddened juices from his fingers while you try to blink the stars in your sight away. You whine his name, when he doesn’t touch you again and only stares at you. “You’re such a pretty creature, all for me and for me only.” He leans closer, his mouth almost kissing yours but only brushing against it. 

“To think I was the first to ever touch you like this… oh, little devotee of mine, you’ve pleased me so well and you don’t even know it.” His words make you whimper, or maybe even his teasing lips that don’t kiss you. In the end he does, making you taste yourself and you can’t help but moan. 

“Can you please- please, in me?” you try to ask, suddenly shy in actually voicing your desires. Getting fucked on an altar, what was wrong with you-

Head thrown back again, mouth wide open in a silent scream and he’s suddenly in you. Cock already moving, slowly but surely working into you, more and more. You just cling onto him, gasps leaving your lips and babbled pleas. 

His hips move slowly first, so you could get used to his insane size, but it doesn’t take long until he pistons into you, driving hard and fast, and you can only hold onto him, legs around his waist and your arms around his neck. 

You can feel yourself getting close again, your voice echoing in the empty church and- his wings fluttering above you. Oh god, his wings. The feathers were ruffled, chaotic and they seemed to spasm, every time you clenched around him. 

“Beloved mine, look at me,” he says to you, but you don’t hear him, so close to your orgasm and eyes fixated on his wings. 

“I said,” he suddenly spat, voice ringing in your ears, “look at me.” The feral look in his eyes, his widened pupils and wings looming over you make you cum again. Your whole body shakes, all while you scream his name. 

Instead of letting you rest, he grabs your right leg and hoists it over his shoulder, picking his pace up and chasing his own orgasm. You beg him to stop, oversensitive to a point where it’s almost hurting, your hands scrambling for anything to hold yourself but he doesn’t listen, doesn’t stop, fucking you stupid. 

Tears start pooling in your eyes and your whimpers and moans turn into sobs. Michael is a monster, for fucking you so hard, fucking you so good, destroying you and your pussy. You don’t know if you want him to stop or not, want him to continue until you cum again or let your poor, aching pussy rest. 

He doesn’t let you rest at all, only leaves your pussy for mere seconds, to turn your body on your stomach and you try to pick yourself up, but your limbs are weak. In the end it’s him who picks you up, hands on your waist, planting you on your knees and hands, only to drive into you again. 

The hard material of the altar already makes your knees ache, but you forget about the pain as Michael fucks into you again. It’s fast and hard, punching the air out of your lungs and leaves you moaning and crying for more. Tears are running down your cheeks, and you have to lower your arms, now leaning on your elbows. You beg for him to finally let you cum, you beg for him to cum, to touch you, to hold you and he gives you all that, if not more. 

Draping himself over you, he whispers praise into your ear and you shudder, when his fingers find your clit again. 

“One more, my devotee. Just one more, for me. Come for me, my beloved.” Hearing his praise, calling you beloved, calling you his and the fact he’s still fucking you, paired with his circling fingers has you cry out and cum with a shudder. 

Your legs shake, your whole body seems to quiver, but he holds you strong and steady, only to follow you. His hips pressing onto yours, he fills you up and you can hear the rustling feathers over you, while swears and praise fall from his swollen lips. 

Thrusting into you with his slowly softening dick, he draws some last whimpers out of you. It’s soft, how he turns you in his arms and keeps you close, his one wing draping over the both of you and hiding you from the world. He presses kisses on your front, cheeks and nose, leaving your lips for the last. Hands wander over your sweaty body and you blush under his half lidded gaze, suddenly ashamed of your nudity. 

“There is no need for that, devotee of mine. You’ve taken me, and this well.” His voice suddenly drops. “You’ve taken me so well and you will take me again. And again and again.” His words make your eyes go wide and suddenly, you realize what exactly happened. 

You just fucked someone on an altar. In a church. You got fucked by an angel, by Archangel Michael himself, on a freaking altar. You got ravished and stolen of your innocence– Michael took your virginity, here in a church and you had sex. 

You can feel his cum dripping out of you, slowly running down and you press your legs together. Why did you suddenly want to make sure no drop of his cum would leave your pussy? Why did you have the sudden desire to- 

But Michael doesn’t seem to realize your dilemma, still peppering kisses on your skin and face, absolutely blissful in the afterglow. 

“I apologize for being so harsh but my desires got the better of me,” he suddenly speaks up again, completely ignoring his previous words. “Yet… will you allow me to take you again?” Seeing your surprised look, he chuckles and gives you a small peck on the lips. 

“Not today, I shall let you rest,” he assures you, as if he just didn’t completely destroy you. But you didn’t care. The promise of another fucking, of another time like that, where he made you scream and cry, makes you shudder. You snuggle closer to him, wiggling your body against his, while the altar uncomfortably presses against your other side. Yet you don’t care, not when you’re being held by the most gorgeous man in the world, an angel and maybe… someone you would learn to love. 

But that is something to worry about in the future. Now you enjoyed his fleeting touches, listening and blushing to his praise, oh his praise, and the warmth of the wing that acted like a blanket.

taglist. @scftbunni , @kaiser-samaa , @mikeysonlywhore , @dervaaas , @mi-kage , @yumik00001 , @miraculouscorazone

if you wish to join the taglist for this series, please send this blog a message/ask or comment below the masterpost! all other applications for joining the taglist will be ignored.

anne. woo, i finally posted it. i'm so glad i have this monstrosity finally out and no longer in my drafts... already fearing the next part. dunno why i'm doing this to myself but then i think about angel!kaiser and i no longer question my sanity. enjoy!

[bloodmoonlich]

I've made a list of ~215 queer artists for my pride month artist rec list. Working on picking out one song from each to suggest. If anyone listens to artists below the cut, will you recommend me your fave song for them or first song you'd suggest to a new listener?

Pop :

Halsey (done)

Ricky Martin (done)

Pet Shop Boys (done)

Tove Styrke (done)

Greyson Chance (done)

Zolita

the xx (done)

Girlpool

Christine & the Queens

Perfume Genius

George Michael (done)

Chelsea Cutler (done)

dodie (done)

Nessa Barrett (done)

Lauren Jauregui

Hip Hop & Rap:

Kevin Abstract

Ashnikko (done)

CHIKA

Princess Nokia

Kehlani

Olivia O'Brien

Folk:

Rufus Wainwright

Melissa Etheridge

Rock:

Black Belt Eagle Scout

St. Vincent (done)

cavetown

Snail Mail

Rainbow Kitten Surprise

Yungblud

Yves Tumor

[scotianostra]

24th June 1488 saw the coronation at the age of 15 of King James IV arguably the first effective monarch of the House of Stewart.

Young James had been a pawn in the forces that had brought down his father, and was said to have warn an iron belt around his waist in penance.

James was a Renaissance King who spoke several languages including Gaelic, English and French and was keen on arts and learning. Aberdeen University was founded, the printing press came to Scotland and education was made compulsory for barons and wealthy landowners. He spent lavishly on the court and built new halls in Edinburgh and Stirling castles. Edinburgh became main burgh and centre of government and justice.

He successfully settled major feuds between his nobles and between the Highland clans, and ended the hold of the MacDonald who had semi-independently ruled the Western Isles. He supported the Yorkist pretender Perkin Warbeck which provoked a military response from his Henry VII of England. However this was patched up in a truce ‘of perpetual peace‘ in 1502, and his marriage to Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII, in the following year was to ultimately bring the thrones of Scotland and England together.

By 1513 Henry VIII was on the throne of England and fighting in France. Encouraged by Louis XII of France under the ‘Auld Alliance’ James invaded England but the Scots were massacred by the English forces under the Earl of Surrey at the Battle of Flodden Field in Northumberland on 9 September 1513.

Like many of Scotland's nobility, James was killed, there have been many theories about what happened to his body the most likely outcome is after the battle it was taken to Berwick, where it was embalmed and placed in a lead coffin before being transported to London.

The recipient of this gory package was said to have been Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII, and in charge of the family business while the English king fought in France.

She, in turn, sent the dead king's surcoat, blood-stained and slashed, to her husband with the recommendation that he use it as a war banner.

The body was left in the monastery of Sheen in Richmond upon Thames unburied due to James having been excommunicated by The Pope for breaking The Treaty of Perpetual Peace. The Monastry was eventually demolished, but nothing is known of what happened to our King.

Legend has it that the skull was removed and used as a football before the master glazier to Elizabeth I took it as a souvenir. Legend also has it that the skull was eventually handed over to the Great St. Michael's Church in Wood Street in the City of London and buried there. The church is long gone, as is the church yard, the latter now occupied by a pub by the name of the Red Herring.

David Ross, historian and convener of The Society of William Wallace must have believed this as he, along with some London friends, had plans to install a plaque to James IV somewhere in Wood Street London. Sadly, big Davie passed away unexpectedly before ambition was never realised.

Other unlikely theories go that James had survived and had gone into exile, or that his body was buried in Scotland. Two castles in the Scottish Borders are claimed as his resting place. The legend ran that, before the Scots charge at Flodden, James had ripped off his royal surcoat to show his nobles that he was prepared to fight as an ordinary man at arms. Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, writing in the 1570s, claimed that a convicted criminal offered to show him the Kings grave ten years after the battle, but Albany refused.

If David Ross believed it was in London that's good enough for me, but anyone wishing to reflect on this much loved King best go to Flodden Field and pay your respects to all that died there.

[multi-lefaiye]

It's your turn on the STS 🫵🏿 what kinda clothes would Eden wear in the modern day? And his family members for that matter

answering this well over a week late bc the concept of time is nothing to me.

ANYWAY thank you for this ask!!! this is what made me realize that i haven't actually put a lot of thought into what eden's family members wear, either in canon or in a more modern au. and i've drawn modern/human eden before, but i didn't really do anything special for him and just kinda put him in his usual outfit with a few tweaks.

so i'm gonna take this as an opportunity to briefly describe how eden and his family members prefer to dress, and share some images to show how that would translate to a modern au.

gonna go under the cut in case this gets long!

eden:

tends to dress nicely and professionally, but also in clothes that don't restrict his movement too much. in canon, his clothes are modified to accommodate his more infernal features, such as his tail and horns.

gravitates towards specific color schemes. he likes wearing a lot of red and black, with gold or white accents. yes, he knows he's edgy. this is on purpose.

also likes to dress a little cunty. big fan of knee-high boots and long coats.

i've drawn him in the past mainly with western style belts with buckles, but i think he'd like some kind of rope or tie belt.

hypothetical modern eden style vibes:

he'd also still accessorize with a pair of gloves and a necklace with his mother's wedding ring. and also i think modern eden uses glasses, a pair of forearm crutches, and a cane as needed.

michael:

especially as an adult, michael is a very active and outdoorsy type. he's not the type to sit in place and let the world pass him by--he wants to be out in it, living and breathing fresh air and working with his hands. i think, in a modern au, he'd really gravitate towards outdoorsy gear, maybe athleisure type shit.

lots of loose, comfortable clothing when he's just going about his day casually, nice sneakers and running shoes, and then when he's actually out in nature more heavy-duty hiking gear.

unlike eden, michael doesn't gravitate towards any one color scheme, nor is he trying to look cunty. he takes pride in his appearance, sure, and wants to look nice, but the vibes are different.

that being said, i think he'd wear a lot of greys and neutral tones. he likes bright colors, but he doesn't have a lot of confidence in wearing them. at most, i can see him rocking some camouflage patterned shit.

anyway, modern michael style vibes, from the kind of athleisure i think he'd like to more actual outdoorsy clothing:

in terms of accessories, michael wears a lot of hats, and he has a watch from his father he wears rather often.

hannah:

i have drawn hannah exactly once, and that design is very outdated, but the outfit i drew her in then is still pretty close to how i still imagine she dresses: lots of colors, with occasional frills and lace. she's a big fan of patterns, especially floral ones, all of which translates to a modern au well enough, i think.

hannah is not an enjoyer of dark, neutral colors.

i'm a bit torn on whether or not she'd prefer skirts or pants, so y'know what! both! both is good. when dressing up to go somewhere, hannah prefers dresses, and she has a specific off-the-shoulder purple dress with lace trim that she's very fond of. on a daily basis, though, especially once she has kids, she tends more towards high-waisted pants and blouses.

eden gets a lot of his cunty fashion sense from her--while i don't think she's one for knee-high boots or flowing overcoats, she's got multiple pairs of killer heels.

she also would rather frequently wear headwraps, headbands, and scarves, and once again prefers bright colors and patterns. what can i say! she's a woman who loves to dress brightly, if that makes sense.

hannah general style vibes:

(the first one is off because i do not think hannah would wear black, but that's the style of blouse she'd like. and bonus points for her looking a lot like i imagine modern/human hannah, just with lighter skin than hannah actually has.)

abdiel:

in all universes, abdiel is a suit enjoyer. he dresses in a lot of formal, dark clothing, and even when in a more casual setting that's what he prefers. the day he goes without at LEAST a dress shirt is the day he dies.

honestly, i don't think abdiel's fashion would be particularly interesting most of the time. but he would wear some damn nice suits. this applies to both canon and any modern au. he can get a little cunty with it, i'll allow it.

like eden, abdiel tends to wear certain color schemes, but he's nowhere near as specific as eden is, lmao. but abdiel is a big enjoyer of blue and purple.

not much for accessorizing, but he has a small collection of floral ties that he wears on rare occasions, all gifts from hannah to try and add a bit of color to his wardrobe.

like i said, though, he doesn't wear them much. they're gifts from hannah, and so he loves them, but they don't usually match his suits that well.

modern abdiel style vibes:

he definitely would wear those sock garter things

[brinleyparke]

Oufits Inspired by Moonlight Characters Masterlist

Beth Turner:

Coraline Duvall:

Josef Kostan:

Mick St. John:

Simone Walker:

[chordsykat]

It's the Return of the Revenge of the Sequel to

Fanart Free For All

(Part 5... or is it 6? I lost count...)

And I got to use a lot of cool-ass inking techniques on this go-around! Let's see what you guys had me draw!

First up... WHAT IF... @catboy-bill-nye 's Cordelia got to meet the other Dethmoms? I have a feeling it'd go fine... but then again... she might end up suggesting to her son Charles he have Molly killed. Oh well!

WHAT IF... Murdertooth Records was a thing that actually happened? @claudia-nomusaabara 's Tina would almost certainly find success with the label... even if her name and the title and credits and everything else was dwarfed by the producer's credit on the front and back of the album. :P

And another request from @claudia-nomusaabara -- WHAT IF... Skwisgaar and Tyr were still close? God I miss this fuzzy little stepdad-man. I wish this happened (maybe it could still happen..?)

And so we come to WHAT IF... Toki and Teja got along for five minutes.... It's never gonna happen, @curiouslyhigh. We both know it. But at least it's funny when Teja puts a hand on his old man's younger incarnation's mouth and tells him to shush because the grownups are talking.

And speaking of Toki! @pan-flute-skeleton asked WHAT IF... he actually practiced for once? I'd say he'd be just in time to bang out some tunes with Neil! Happy April 13th to all who celebrate!

But that's not all! WHAT IF... Skwisgaar and @pan-flute-skeleton's Vivi publicly endorsed the very Swedish use of bananas on pizza? I probably don't have to tell you that such praise for an obscure topping might just be the hot new trend of our immediate futures, kids!

And now for something a little different... WHAT IF... @el-michoacano's Aurelia was getting married? But to whom is she getting married? Nacho? Domingo? Jesse? (okay not Jesse) (God I love that dress. You're right, King. So extra. But so what?)

And now for the opposite side of domestic bliss! WHAT IF... Caj was Shawn Michaels and her "Diesel" was an entire entourage of some of her very favorite chicks (Dolly @dolly-macabre - St. Cecilia @gointothevvater - Ness @failedintsave and Nita (me buuut requested by @andreaswasneverhere ) (where can I get a belt-buckle that says "DADDY"?)

And last but certainly not least, we have the best thing I've ever drawn, here... WHAT IF... Charles took some punk fashion lessons from @cruisingheightswithdragons's Kris? I'd say it's about time. The old boy could use a makeover. :9

Really really fun to doodle your babies and your brain droppings, my loves! I look forward to doing more of these as soon as possible. :D

[inevitablemoment]

WILLOW OLSON - OC INFO

FULL NAME: Willow Brianna Olson

NICKNAMES: Will (by everyone), Willie Bree (by her parents)

FACECLAIM: Marilu Henner

FANDOM: Ghostbusters (1984-1989; 2021)

BIRTHDAY: February 11, 1952

ZODIAC SIGN: Aquarius

SEXUALITY: Demisexual

GENDER: Female (she/her/hers)

OCCUPATION: Waitress (1968-1970) || Summer performer in Branson (1968-1970) || Salesgirl at Macy's (1970-1974) || Actress, singer, and dancer (1968-currently)

BIRTHPLACE: St. Louis, Missouri

LIVES IN: St. Louis, Missouri (birth-age 18) || Branson, Missouri (age 16-18, summers) || New York City (age 18-currently)

NATIONALITY: American

FAMILY:

Raymond "Ray" Stantz (husband, married 1990)

Addison Stantz (daughter)

Natalie Stantz (daughter)

Grace Stantz (daughter) [adoptive]

Maxwell "Max" Olson (father, deceased 2000)

Eloise Olson [nee Finnegan] (mother, deceased 1996)

Suellen Nelson [nee Olson] (sister)

Michael Nelson (brother-in-law)

Michael Nelson, Jr. (nephew)

Beau Olson (nephew)

Abigail "Abbie" Olson [nee Prescott] (sister)

Margaret "Maggie" Olson (niece)

Elliot Olson (nephew)

Anna Klein [nee Olson] (sister)

Quinlan Klein (brother-in-law)

Anthony Klein (nephew)

Lindy Klein (niece)

Marcus Klein (nephew)

Jocelyn Klein (niece)

Gerald Stantz (father-in-law, deceased 1982)

Louisa Stantz [nee Crabtree] (mother-in-law, deceased 1982)

Carl Stantz (brother-in-law, deceased 2021)

Sandra Stantz [nee Foa] (sister-in-law)

Justin Stantz (nephew)

Zachary Stantz (nephew)

Lindsay Stantz (niece)

Jean Stantz [formerly Garland] (sister-in-law)

Evangeline Garland [nee Stantz] (niece)

Grace "Gracie" Finnegan (maternal aunt, deceased 1996)

Cathleen Spengler [nee Paige] (honorary sister-in-law)

Egon Spengler (honorary brother-in-law)

Callie Spengler (honorary niece)

Marie Spengler (honorary niece)

Trevor Spengler (honorary grandnephew)

Phoebe Spengler (honorary grandniece)

Peter Venkman (honorary brother-in-law)

Dana Barrett (honorary sister-in-law)

Oscar Venkman [born Wallance, formerly Barrett] (honorary nephew)

Eliana “Elly” Venkman (honorary grandniece)

Andrew Venkman (honorary nephew)

Kelly Venkman (honorary nephew)

Janine Melnitz (honorary sister-in-law)

Louis Tully (honorary brother-in-law)

Lily Tully (honorary niece)

MOODBOARD

CHARACTERISTICS: Ambitious, creative, friendly, kind, competitive, chatty, self-assured, mildly vain, dreamy, determined, protective, musical, desperately tries to be elegant and refined, somehow both extremely confident and not confident at all

LIKES: Performing, living in the city, wearing costumes, spending time with Ray and her daughters, babies, chocolate, Mandy Patinkin, Disney movies, Halloween, spooky stories

DISLIKES: The Spenglers (from 1993-2021), losing, Daisy Eagan (for "stealing" the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 1991), altos, camping

WEAPON OF CHOICE:

Her rep book

Her makeup collection

Her wardrobe

Her impressive mezzo/soprano mix belting voice

Her dancing skills

OTHER PERSONAL INFO:

During summers in her last two years of high school, she performed for tourists in Branson, Missouri, living with her Aunt Gracie.

She met Cathleen Spengler when they were in an off-off Broadway production of Kiss Me, Kate; Cathleen was playing Katharine/Lilli Vanessi and Willow was playing Bianca/Lois Lane. The two struck up a friendship, and shortly after Cathleen gave birth to her second daughter Marie, she introduced Willow to her friend Ray Stantz. After a whirlwind courtship, the two tied the knot on Halloween 1990.

She was nominated for Best Featured Actress in a Musical at the Tony Awards in 1991 for her role as Sister Ruth in a musical adaptation of Black Narcissus, but lost to Daisy Eagan.

She would later win Best Leading Actress in 2001 for her role as Polly Kern in Red as the Curtain, a Drowsy Chaperone-style vaudeville satire mixed with the blood and guts of Chicago.

Both of her pregnancies were rough-- her pregnancy with Addison was especially uncomfortable and the labor/delivery was fraught with complications, while during her pregnancy with Natalie, she was still dealing with the emotional fallout of the Spenglers' perceived betrayal.

INSPIRATION: Glinda Upland (Wicked), Ivy Lynn (Smash), Elliot Reid (Scrubs), Effie Newsome (Murdoch Mysteries), Cathy Hiatt (The Last Five Years), Erika (Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper), Jenny Lind (The Greatest Showman/Barnum), Wendy Darling (The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy)

NAME ANALYSIS:

Playlist available here

[sleepy-achilles]

This song is so them all coded it's unbelievable.

The Black cats and their white cats.

The German shepherd's and their golden retrievers.

Drew refused to give up on Leon. He believed so strongly the man only saw him as a friend. It wasn't until he caught up on the program after he was knocked out by the bloodline to see that murderous look on Leon's face as he destroys the entire Bloodline. Drew watches in shock. Leon insisted he didn't want the belt, he wants nothing to do with that bloodline mess. And yet here he was holding Romans belt above his head as the champ and his family are sprawled out on the matt. "Touch Drew again. And I'll break every bone in the Anoa'i Family's bodies." Leon growls as he throws the belt, allowing it to his Paul sending the fat man flying.

"You wouldn't dare." Roman coughs. Leon chuckles darkly and leans down close to the injured man. "Thats where your wrong. I'd kill for Drew. I'd die for him. Either works for me." Leon whispers.

That's when Drew realised...this man would burn the world for him.

-----

John felt destroyed. He had promised so many he'd defeat the rock and his big ego. And he failed. "How could I be so st-" "You wanna speak up boy?" John pauses at the curtain at the Rocks voice. He looks in and is taken back to see Randy squaring up to the bigger man. "You can disrespect me all you want. But you keep John's name out of your mouth." Randy growls. "Since when did you care aye? Last time I checked you were chasing the younger michaels." Rock chuckles. John's heart tightens. He isn't as stupid as everything thinks. He knows something happened between Randy and Leon. It broke his heart.

His eyes widen as Randy bounces a chair off the rocks head. "Oh thats where your wrong. Id kill for john. Ill die for him." Randy chuckles as he throws the chair against the wall and stands over the man. "Come near John again and I'll destroy you. You and everything you care about. You'll never be able to step foot in an arena again without pissing yourself." Randy growls before kicking the man and storming off. John's heart races as he stares at the others back.

"Randy!"

----

"Awe look Uso. He's gonna cry" Shawn frowns and steps back. "Im not in the mood." Shawn whispers. He's already had enough off the harts, he didn't need this either. "Ha he is go-" Shawn looks up as the man falls silent. He's shocked to see Taker stood infront of him, a dark fire burning in his eyes. "You can go now Shawn. They won't be bothering you anymore." Taker states calmly. "I...okay" Shawn whispers. The man turns to his side to let Shawn past. Shawn can't help but stop and turn to the man.

Taker faces his friends. "You leave him alone." Taker tells them. "Since when did you-" "You leave him alone before I'm making you dig your own graves." Taker growls. "So what everyone else can tease him-" "I just got back from telling Hart to stay away from what's mine. I reminded him what I do to people who touch and hurt what's mine. That i will kill for him. Ill die for him" Taker levels them.

Shawns eyes widen and he covers his mouth to muffle a gasp. It doesn't work. His back hits the wall around the same corner Taker just came from as the men turn. He hopes they didn't see him.

Did Taker not only just threaten his only friends but call Shawn his?

Shawn clenches his fists against his rapidly beating heart as his eyes close.

"You really like him."

"I'd let the world Burn for him."

---

Cassies hands shake. How had everything escalated so quickly?

She was supposed to be marrying this man. Now she's watching him get beaten on live TV.

Rhea slams the chair against Austins head, splitting it. She throws the chair against the wall as he falls. "You had her. You had the perfect woman. The best girl ever and you failed her. You didn't treat her like the princess she is. You were selfish!" Rhea yells at him. "Rhea!" Austin croaks trying to escape the woman. She leans down and grabs him by the collar of his shirt. "I'd never do that to her. I'd destroy this world for her. Just so she could sit comfortably on her throne. I'd die for her. I'd kill for her. In fact, you owe the fact your still breathing to her." Rhea growls quietly. She shoves him back to the floor before walking past him. "I see you near her, you'll be waking up in a grave. She's mine now. Not yours." Rhea barks as she walks off.

Cassies heart races.

She has someone who'd risk their life to keep her safe. Someone who'll always put her first.

Cassie looks at the door as it opens, she quickly switches the tv off.

"Rhea.."

[papaver-decervicatus]

go on bestie give us your roach headcanons 👀

Oh no!! I sort of don’t want to answer this now because I am manifesting that he’ll be in MWIII, but sure! I’ll give some! (Roach girlies rise up) These are just the silly ones, don’t take em too seriously.  Enjoy beneath the read more! Continued from Simon's Page

Birthday, April 1st, 1993

MW REBOOT TIMELINE

Like I said, childhood friends with Simon “Ghost” Riley

Born and raised in Manchester. His father (Michael) is a union Steelworker who often took Roach to work with him. His mother (Sapphire) is a teacher at a school for the deaf. 

His parents met at the secondary school for the deaf that Sapphire now works at. Michael lost his hearing due to a congenital condition fully around the age of 10, he was born in the US but moved to Manchester at 12. Sapphire (her real name is Busarakam, but she went by Sapphire once she moved to the UK) was born deaf in Thailand and immigrated with her family to Manchester when she was around High School age. 

High school sweethearts, fell in love and never fell out of it. 

Roach is an only child. 

His parents adored Simon and Tommy. Considered them their own. Sapphire in particular showed her love for the two by frequently sending them home with “extra” food. 

Gary Sanderson is an American name, if not THE American name. It is the equivalent of an American Writer naming a Japanese School Girl "Sakura Kokoro." His dad has to be from the USA.

Michael Sanderson was from the Appalachian region of the USA, so Gary grew up very superstitious. 

Don’t whistle in the dark

Wear your coat backward if you think something is following you in the woods.

Sasquatch is real. That’s just a fact. If you see one, no you didn’t. Fuck off and run. 

The hills have eyes. 

The trees have eyes. 

The water has ears. 

It is out to get you. 

What is it? 

Doesn’t matter. 

It’s out for you, boy. 

Never play with fortune telling in any form or fashion.

Go the opposite way of where a black cat has crossed you.

Don't accept fiddling duels from strangers.

Throw salt over your shoulder when you spill it.

Don’t trust the government when they tell you you don’t need a union.

Don't wash clothes on a Sunday.

You know. The usual. 

Simon spent about half his life with the Sandersons during summers and breaks. Became fluent in BSL as a result. 

Gary is much more slender (but still built) than Simon but he is half an inch taller and uses every opportunity available to remind Simon of that fact. 

Before joining the Army or SAS Gary had a shitton of scars from being the least coordinated skateboarder ever. 

Once had to go to the hospital because he stabbed himself with a flip knife he had in his belt when he fell off his board while going 35 mph down a hill. 

Simon voice “What the fuck, Gary?”

His biggest hobby growing up was collecting obsolete music media and tinkering. 

Prized possession is a portable FM/AM radio with a built-in cassette player that he found in the garbage and fixed himself.

His favorite cassette was Nevermind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols by the Sex Pistols. It was a last-minute birthday gift from Simon because he forgot Roach’s birthday when they were 13. Simon stole it from his dad. 

Extensive record, CD, cassette collection that was entirely unsupervised and unchecked. Was definitely listening to shit he should not have been as a kid.

RTO for the SAS

Natural talent for mechanical engineering, give him a blueprint and 15 minutes and he could fix nearly anything. 

On his 20th birthday (Also, April Fool's Day) he managed to play Barbie Girl by Aqua on 6 speakers on base at exactly 04:20.

No one knows how he did it, and no one knows it was him except Simon and two other corporals from their squad.

Simon voice "What the fuck, Gary."

Taught Simon how to drive. 

Should not have taught Simon how to drive. 

Simon would have been better off learning how to drive from literal Roadkill than Gary Roach “Fuck it we Ball” Sanderson. 

Energetic-thrill-seeker, could not sit still to save his life. Always doing something. 

Narrowly avoided arrest as a teen after sending a lit shopping cart (yes. On fire. Don’t ask how he set the metal on fire in the first place, a true artist never tells their secrets,) down a residential street. 

Simon played interference and deliberately pointed the cops in the wrong direction. 

He didn’t know that Gary was the one who set it on fire because he didn’t see him do it, but like. The first thing he thought when he saw it was “What the fuck, Gary.”

He was, of course, correct. 

Has a habit of sleeping under beds? Always took the bottom bunk.

Can sleep through anything. Slept through a helicopter crash. How? Don’t ask, not even Roach knows. 

He grew up sleeping underneath Simon’s bed when he would stay over and when they got to the service it was not unusual for a commanding officer to send Simon to go fetch Gary for morning warm-ups. 

Used to go to goth bars with Simon to keep the carnage of a hot headed Simon to a minimum. 

Never considered himself goth, but he was attached to Simon at the hip so of course they’d go together. 

They’d sneak in by bribing bouncers with cigarettes or just plain old-fashioned going through the bathroom windows on the occasion that cheap bribery didn’t work. 

Once, Simon was getting pummeled because he didn’t know what lace code was and found out the hard way when he wore white laces with black docs (a massive mistake, especially for a pasty dude with a blond buzz cut) and Gary intercepted the fight and had three beer bottles smashed on his head and didn’t bat an eye. 

Hard headed. Literally. 

They never went back to that bar, but Simon did learn from his mistake and changed his laces back to black. 

It was an honest to goodness mistake, but Simon did mope about it for a while.

Rock paper scissors champion. Anytime, anywhere, best two out of three, he always wins. When asked, he says he learned how to always read his opponent by practicing playing by himself. This usually leads to more questions than answers, but its the only answer Gary's got.

Got addicted to cigarettes after Simon started smoking them at 14 to prove he was “a real man” to his father. Gary, never one to leave a friend alone, also started smoking. 

His favorite party trick in the SAS was to eat lit cigarettes for cash. 

Once again, often behavior that CO’s left Simon Ghost “What the fuck, Gary” Riley to deal with.

Is similar to Gaz in the way that he’s absolutely a practical joker with a surprisingly strong moral compass.

He’s deceptively airheaded, he overhears a ton of shit because people figure that he simply won’t tell, but oh. He will. 

Gary and Gaz met briefly after Roach’s retirement, the two are affectionately referred to as “Singles” and “Doubles” by Price and Simon for the numbers of ‘R’s in Gary and Garrick. 

Surprisingly emotionally intelligent, good-natured dude. Wishes nobody harm, goes along to get along, friendly and all around decent.

Florida man but Bri’ish. 

The army bloke of all time. Stupid, broke, loyal, and physically strong. 

I love him.

With all my heart. 

Thank you for coming to my tedtalk. 

[theculturedmarxist]

In their February paper, “US Dollar Primacy in an Age of Economic Warfare,” presented at the West Point Symposium on “Order, Counter-Order, Disorder” Michael Kao and Michael St. Pierre argue for using a stronger US dollar as geopolitical leverage:

Not only are the effects of interest rates hikes magnified in other countries due to a myriad of structural and idiosyncratic economic fragilities previously discussed, the confluence of wide USD adoption with cyclical USD strength … make the USD a potent geopolitical lever masquerading as a domestic fight against inflation. National Power lends the USD dominance in adoption, while an opportunistic fight against inflation lends the USD cyclical strength for geopolitical leverage.

The US and US-led institutions are already trying to sideline China in countries struggling to make debt payments. And these efforts are likely to continue as interest rates rise and more countries in the Global South are unable to repay loans. A recent UNDP paper stated that 52 developing countries are suffering from severe debt problems.

China is the world’s largest bilateral creditor, and this is especially true for countries that are part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative and/or for countries that possess strategically important natural resources. Washington estimates that Chinese lending ranges from $350 billion to a trillion dollars.

In recent years, western officials and media have ratcheted up criticism of China’s lending practices, claiming Beijing is putting its boot on the neck of countries, holding back their development, and is seizing assets offered as collateral.

Deborah Bräutigam, the Director of the China Africa Research Initiative at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, has written that this is “ a lie, and a powerful one.” She wrote, “our research shows that Chinese banks are willing to restructure the terms of existing loans and have never actually seized an asset from any country.”

Even researchers at Chatham House admit there’s nothing nefarious about China’s lending, explaining that it has instead created a debt trap for China. That is becoming more evident as nations are unable to repay, largely due to the economic fallout from the pandemic, the Nato proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, inflation, and rising interest rates.

These confluence of events hitting developing countries are entangling China  in multilateral talks that include US-backed institutions like the IMF. Beijing’s preference has always been to try and tackle debt repayment issues at a bilateral level, typically by extending maturities rather than accepting write-downs on loans.

But US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and company continue to parrot the talking point that China’s lending is harming countries, and in countries unable to repay their international debts, the West and China are increasingly at odds.

Back in 2020, the G-20 countries created the Common Framework for Debt Treatments to provide relief to indebted countries, which included “fair burden sharing” among all creditors. Beijing’s reluctance to agree to such burden sharing is illustrated by the case of Zambia.

Zambia became the first African country to default on some of its dollar-denominated bonds during the Covid-19 pandemic when it failed to make a $42.5 million bond payment in November 2020.

More than a third of the country’s $17 billion in debt is owed to Chinese lenders. Zambia worked out a deal with the IMF for a $1.3 billion bailout package but can’t access the relief until its underlying debt is restructured – including Chinese debts. But the IMF prescription for Zambia is a blow to Beijing. Here are some details of the arrangement from The Diplomat:

Zambia will shift its spending priorities from investment in public infrastructure – typically financed by Chinese stakeholders – to recurrent expenditures. Specifically, Zambia has announced it will totally cancel 12 planned projects, half of which were due to be financed by China EXIM Bank, alongside one by ICBC for a university and another by Jiangxi Corporation for a dual highway from the capital. The government has also canceled 20 undistributed loan balances – some of which were for the new projects but others for existing projects. While such cancellations are not unusual on Zambia’s part, Chinese partners account for the main bulk of these loans…

While some of these cancellations may have been initiated by Chinese lenders themselves, especially those in arrears, Zambia may not have needed to cancel so many projects. Since 2000, China has canceled more of Zambia’s bilateral debt than any sovereign creditor, standing at $259 million to date.

Nevertheless, the IMF team justified the shift because they – and presumably Zambia’s government – believe that spending on public infrastructure in Zambia has not returned sufficient economic growth or fiscal revenues. However, no evidence is presented for this in the IMF’s report.

Zambia will also cut fuel and agriculture subsidies. So instead of infrastructure investment and social spending, the country gets austerity. The IMF deal also relegates China to the backseat, as it allows for 62 concessional loan projects to continue, only two of which will involve China. The vast majority of the projects will be administered by multilateral institutions and involve recurrent expenditure rather than infrastructure-focused projects.

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Yellen on a trip to Zambia in February warned that Chinese lending “can leave countries with a legacy of debt, diverted resources, and environmental destruction” and called out Beijing for being a “barrier” to ending the major copper producer’s debt crisis and noted that it had “taken far too long already to resolve.”

The US effort to sideline China in Zambia comes at the same time that Washington is trying to tighten control over resources in the region. Note that back in December the US signed deals with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia (the world’s sixth-largest copper producer and second-largest cobalt producer in Africa) that will see the US support the two countries in developing an electric vehicle value chain.

Beijing is insisting that multilateral lenders also accept haircuts on loans rather than just China being expected to do so. This is a position that most debtor nations agree with. On the other side, the IMF and its partners are worried that its bailout money would merely go to Chinese creditors – many of which are state banks that are increasingly troubled by bad debts.

Gong Chen, founder of Beijing-based think tank Anbound, says that if countries are unwilling or unable to repay their debts to China, it would be devastating:

Widespread debt evasion and avoidance would have a significant impact on China’s financial stability,” he said, “and we are concerned that some countries may try to avoid paying back their debt by utilizing geopolitics and the ideological competition between East and West.

Yellen and company tried to apply more pressure on Beijing at the recent G20 meeting of finance officials in India, but that fell flat on its face much like the West’s efforts to hijack the meeting and turn it into a roundtable on Russian sanctions.

Meanwhile, Zambia has halted work on several Chinese-funded infrastructure projects, including the Lusaka-Ndola road, and canceled undisbursed loans in line with the IMF prescription for its debt problem.

Chinese companies are now attempting to work around these roadblocks by shifting more toward public-private partnerships. For example, a Chinese consortium is now planning to build a $650 million toll road from the Zambian capital to the mineral-rich Copperbelt province and the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The situation in Zambia does not bode well for other nations needing debt relief, as the delays while the West and China clash mean more pressure on government finances, companies and populations.

And if the West’s primary goal in offering debt relief is to sideline Beijing, as it appeared in Zambia, then that will mean a drastic scaling back of infrastructure projects replaced by austerity. From Sovdebt Oddities:

More broadly, as noted by Mark Sobel, the current international financial architecture is ill-equiped to deal with a major recalcitrant creditor benefiting from outsized (geo)political leverage. While it remains illusional to insulate sovereign restructurings from geopolitical considerations, there is a risk that they would turn into a game of chicken between China on the one hand and the IMF and Paris Club on the other hand. The problem being that if none of the players yields, it will just mean more economic and social hardship for the debtor country stuck in the middle.

Sure enough, the same situation is playing out in two nations that are key points on China’s Belt and Road project: Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Here is Islamabad’s debt situation, courtesy of Pakistani economist Murtaza Syed at The International News:

For each of the next five years, Pakistan owes the world $25 billion in principal repayments. It will also need at least $10 billion to finance the current account deficit, bringing total external financing needs to $35 billion a year between now and 2027. We have foreign exchange reserves of just $3 billion. For each of the next five years, the government needs to pay 5 percent of GDP to service the debt it owes to residents and foreigners. Our total tax take is only 10 percent of GDP.

Around fourth-fifths of this external debt is owed to the official sector, split roughly evenly between multilaterals (like the IMF, World Bank and ADB) and bilaterals (countries like China, Saudi Arabia and the United States). The remaining one-fifth is commercial, again roughly evenly split between Eurobond/Sukuk issuances and borrowing from Chinese and Middle Eastern banks. By region, we owe roughly one-third of our external debt to China and 10 percent to the old-boys network of the Paris Club, which includes Europe and the US.

Additionally, last year, the Pakistan rupee plunged nearly 30 percent compared to the US dollar. All indications are that the IMF is using bailout negotiations to pressure Pakistan to move away from China and revive its partnership with the US. Some background from WSWS:

Former prime minister Imran Khan’s government was promptly removed in April 2022 after he reversed IMF-demanded subsidy cuts in the face of country-wide protests. Khan had previously implemented two rounds of some of the toughest austerity in the country’s history. In the final year of his government, Khan shifted the country’s foreign policy towards a closer alliance with Russia and deepened ties with China, prompting concern and anger in Washington.

Sharif’s Muslim League (PML-N) and the People’s Party (PPP) assumed power in a coalition with the approval of the military, long the most powerful political actor in the country and the linchpin of the alliance between the Pakistani bourgeoisie and US imperialism. The express aim of the new government was to implement IMF austerity, which it has done.

The IMF-prescribed austerity imposed by Pakistani elites also targets Beijing.  China is Pakistan’s largest single creditor as the country is perhaps the most important country in China’s Belt and Road plans because it would provide China with a potential corridor to the seaport at Gwadar on the Indian Ocean. The supply line would reduce the distance between China and the Middle East by thousands of miles via insecure sea lanes to a shorter and more secure distance by land. Beijing’s spending in Pakistan reflects this, as the $53 billion China has spent on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the country is tops of all BRI countries.

Yet many of the BRI plans are unrealized, and Pakistan’s current economic situation makes it unlikely they’ll be finished anytime soon. China has dramatically scaled back investment, which fits with its more cautious approach to BRI projects. Meanwhile, decades-high inflation, economic mismanagement, and last year’s biblical floods have led to Islamabad burning through its foreign exchange reserves in order to make debt payments. The US blames China.

“We have been very clear about our concerns not just here in Pakistan, but elsewhere all around the world about Chinese debt, or debt owed to China,” US State Department Counselor Derek Chollet told journalists at the US Embassy in Islamabad after he met with Pakistani officials in February.

Additionally, Cholett said Washington is warning Islamabad about the “perils” of a closer relationship with Beijing.

According to the Times of India, many Pakistani officials have come around to the US way of thinking and are also blaming the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Project (CPEC), a $65 billion network of roads, railways, pipelines, and ports connecting China to the Arabian Sea,  for worsening the country’s debt crisis. From Indian Express:

Pakistan expanded its electricity generation capacity under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Programme (CPEC) but the expansion came at a high cost both in terms of high returns guaranteed to the Chinese independent power producers (IPPs) and the expensive foreign currency debt. Pakistan has been unable to make the capacity payments to IPPs under the long-term power purchase agreements with the electricity sector debt rising to a staggering $ 8.5 billion.

Last December, the government agreed to repay this debt in installments. However, this may have displeased the IMF, which had expected the government, in August 2022, to renegotiate the purchase power agreements. Pakistan tried to renegotiate but the Chinese refused.

The IMF extended the current program on the condition that it would not go to the Chinese IPPs. More from Nikkei Asia:

Observers say Pakistan’s handling of the electricity issue is likely to irk China, noting that Sharif’s government committed to the IMF to reopen power contracts without taking the Chinese companies into confidence. Pakistan has also reneged on a promise to set up an escrow account to ensure smooth payments to Chinese IPPs.

The IMF is demanding that Pakistan rationalize payments to the Chinese IPPs in line with earlier concessions extracted from local private power producers…

The IMF now wants Pakistan to negotiate an increase in the duration of bank loans from 10 years to 20 years, or to reduce the markup on arrears owed to Chinese IPPs from 4.5% to 2%.

Notably, the IMF appears to have been less willing to make concessions than the previous 22 times Pakistan has sought its support since 1959. Oddly enough Beijing is pushing for a deal between Islamabad and the IMF, and China recently extended a $2 billion loan to Pakistan. From the Middle East Institute:

It is interesting to note, for example, that Chinese officials reportedly urged Islamabad to repair ties with the IMF — if true, an indication that Beijing regards resumption of the Fund’s lending program as key to mitigating Pakistan’s risk of default.

It is also revealing that Pakistan seems keener to take on new financing from China than China may be to furnish it. Even as the economy wobbles under a heavy debt burden and other acute challenges, Pakistani officials have sought support from China to upgrade the Main Line 1 (ML-1) railroad, a project which, if not undertaken, they claim could result in the breakdown of the entire railway system.Yet, the IMF wants Pakistan to rein in CPEC activity. And China’s own domestic economic challenges and priorities might make it hesitant to respond to Islamabad’s appeals. On the other hand, the ML-1 project might meet Beijing’s more exacting standards and increasing emphasis on “high quality” BRI infrastructure projects.

The recent rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia could leave Pakistan out in the cold and even more reliant upon the US. From Andrew Korybko:

With the Kingdom likely to focus more on mutually beneficial Iranian investments than on dumping billions into seemingly never-ending Pakistani bailouts that haven’t ever brought it anything in return, Islamabad will predictably become more dependent on the US-controlled IMF. China will always provide the bare minimum required to keep Pakistan afloat in the worst-case scenario, but even it seems to be getting cold feet nowadays for a variety of reasons, thus meaning that US influence might further grow.

About that, last year’s post-modern coup restored American suzerainty over Pakistan to a large degree, which now makes that country a regional anomaly in the geopolitical sense considering the broader region’s drift away from that declining unipolar hegemon. The very fact that previously US-aligned Saudi Arabia patched up its seemingly irreconcilable problems with Iran as a result of Chinese mediation reinforces this factual observation. Pakistan now stands alone as the broader region’s only US vassal.

Pakistan is not only the most highly indebted to China of its BRI partners, but along with Sri Lanka, is also among the largest recipients of Chinese rescue lending. The ruling elite Pakistan is increasingly concerned that the social crisis could spiral out of control and result in something similar to what happened in Sri Lanka last year when a popular uprising toppled the government.

Due to haggling between the West and China, Sri Lanka has been waiting since September to finalize a bailout after a $2.9 billion September staff level IMF deal. And yet many of the recommendations in the agreement have already been implemented—to disastrous effect.

The country is dealing with its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948, including a shortage of reserves and essential items. In February, the IMF said Sri Lanka’s bailout package was set to be approved as soon as the country obtained adequate assurances from bilateral creditors, i.e., China.

Beijing now appears ready to meet more of the IMF’s demands, although details have yet to be released. In a letter in January, the Export-Import Bank of China offered a two-year debt moratorium, but the IMF said that wasn’t enough. According to Reuters, total Sri Lankan debt to Chinese lenders totals roughly 20 percent of the country’s total debt.

Sri Lanka is another focal point of the BRI due to its geographical position in the middle of the Indian Ocean. China’s goal was to transform the country into a transportation hub as much of its energy imports from the Middle East and mineral imports from Africa pass through Sri Lanka. Beijing has already achieved much of these goals. For example, in 2017 a 70 percent stake of the Hambantota port was leased to China Merchants Port Holdings Company Limited for 99 years for $1.12 billion.

The West blames China’s BRI initiative in Sri Lanka for saddling the country with unsustainable debt, but is that really the case? Political economists Devaka Gunawardena , Niyanthini Kadirgamar, and Ahilan Kadirgamar write at Phenomenal World:

The problems associated with the IMF’s policy package have been caught in geopolitical rhetoric. The US alleges that Sri Lanka is the victim of a Chinese debt trap. In fact, Sri Lanka is in an IMF trap. The structural consequences of over four decades of neoliberal policies have exploded into view with the receding welfare state, a ballooning import bill, and investment in infrastructure without returns, all of which relied on inflows of speculative capital. Framing Sri Lanka’s crisis within a narrative of geopolitical competition obscures the core dilemmas of the global economy. Will the evident breakdown force a reckoning with the present order, or will it be used as an excuse to inflict more suffering?

Thus far, it looks like the latter.

[corduroy-leggings]

Day and night coords

I had both my comm's swap meet and Carmen the opera yesterday!! Both were really fun. I got AP's Victorian Letter skirt in brown from the swap meet and I'm very excited to wear it! I think it will go with a lot of stuff I have.

I went to the opera with my friend @thin-izzy and my other friend @2grub was part of the ensemble which was super cool to see!! @thin-izzy also got her first lolita piece which I am super excited to see on her.

🖤Coord rundown under read more 🖤

Base coord:

JSK: Kaneko shop

Stockings: Roji Roji

KC: made by me

Flower collar pin: Pittsbrocs, Marché St Ouen

Chatelaine (covered in first photo): Dressew

Day coord:

Blouse: made by me

Purse: Alice and the Pirates

Boots: Memery

Lace pouch necklace: my great aunt

Night coord:

Blouse: Taobao

Ribbon belt: literally just some ribbon from Michael's

Choker: Claire's

Boots aren't shown because it was raining so much I was wearing my snow boots from like 2019 to not ruin the leather of my other boots too much

[trainofcommand]

First Lines Meme

Rules: Share the first line of your last ten published works or as many as you are able and see if there are any patterns! (tagged by @sparrowsarus - thank you!)

Do I see any patterns? I think maybe there are some similarities in tone in some of the first lines. Other than that, the pattern I see is that I...have been writing a lot of smut lately. Gasp! Surprise! Shock!

The uncertainty of touch (SGA, E, John Sheppard/Michael Kenmore; kink meme fill): He says the name, the one they tell him belongs to him, and it means nothing.

Just Keep Going On (SGA, E, Evan Lorne/Rodney McKay): It's not that Evan thinks about it, after.

Now or Never (SGA, E, Cam Mitchell/John Sheppard): The day Cam runs into John Sheppard, he thinks, oh shit, even as he grins and says, "Shep!"

Disarmed (SGA, E, Evan Lorne/Ronon Dex): "You want to –" Evan asks, pulling his belt off, the soft, worn leather sliding against his fingers.

Incoming (ST: SNW, M, Christine Chapel/Joseph M'Benga): She hears them in her sleep, those staccato syllables, over and over again.

The Personal Significance of Cross-Cultural Exchanges (SGA, T+, Evan Lorne/Ronon Dex): As Colonel Sheppard's second-in-command, Evan is used to being asked questions.

wolf moon (SGA, E, Evan Lorne/John Sheppard; werewolves AU): They don't talk about it.

Good Boy (SG1, E, Jack O'Neill/Jonas Quinn, kink meme fill): This is what he wants.

Like Life Itself (SGA, M, John Sheppard/Todd the Wraith): Afterwards, John doesn't remember much.

Compound (SGA, E, John Sheppard/Todd the Wraith, kink meme fill): In the haze of it, the overload of too much, too much, John half-hears a voice, rough and low, "– remember, this is the only way –" and, "– you must take –" and, "– the consequences could be –"

Gonna a tag a few people in case you're interested (no pressure!): @chaos-monkeyy, @chaniis-atlantis, @colonelshepparrrrd, @sga-owns-my-soul, @cordeliaperry, and anyone else who might be into it!

[aemiron-main]

General Creel Family Posts 

Henry Creel

Henry and The Rabbit (He Didn’t Kill That Rabbit)

Did Henry Break The Rabbit’s Leg? (x)

Did Victor Set The Rabbit Snare? And Who (Or What) Actually Killed The Rabbit? (Hint: It Wasn’t Henward) (x)

Virginia’s Dinner Shirt vs Henry’s Rabbit Scene Shirt (x)

Panicked Chittering: An Initial Analysis of the “Henry Killing The Rabbit” Scene (x) (note: this analysis is outdated)

Henry Creel Costuming

Henry’s Slicked Down Hair and Control (x)

Why Did Young Henry Need  A Stunt Double In His Dinner Clothes? (x)

Henry’s Invisible Belt (x)

Young Henry’s Wardrobe/Converse (x)

Young Henry’s Wardrobe/Converse and Formal Shoes vs Casual Shoes (x)

Miscellaneous Henry Posts

Henry Creel, Seizures, The Exorcist, and Roland Doe: Did Henry Creel Have Epilepsy? (x)

Bastian From Neverending Story vs Young Henry (x)

The Chessboard In The Creel House (x)

The Use of Organ Music With Vecna vs The Organ In The Creel Attic and The Sheet Music Stand in The Creel House (x)

Initial Post About Henry Creel vs Charles Wallace and Not Speaking (x)

That’s The Same Damn Tub AGAIN! (Initial Post About ST vs Before I Wake and The Tubs in ST- Did Henry or Edward Get Drowned and Dumped in the Quarry?) (x)

Again, Is One Of The Creel Boys In The Quarry? (x)

Virginia Creel

Virginia Creel Still Has Her Eyes and I Know How She Got Them Back (x)

We Can See Virginia’s Pupils and Irises When She’s In The Air- What Was She Looking At? (x)

Virginia Creel vs Crimson Peak Parallels (x)

If Virginia Did Infect Henry With Shadow Particles, Then How Did She Do It? (x)

Yet Another Shot Through Virginia’s Eyes (x) 

Mother Is God In The Eyes Of A Child (x)

Patrick Being Spotted In The Mind Lair Supports The Idea That Vecna Didn’t Kill Virginia (x)

Initial Post About Virginia Creel And Flowers In The Attic (x)

The Different Eye Blood: Alice Vs Virginia Vs The Lab Kids (x)

The Lyrics of Dream A Little Dream of Me That Play Right When Virginia Dies (x)

Chrissy’s Dad’s Eyes are Sewn Shut and Her Mom Has A Sewing Machine and How This Ties To Philip Cunningham vs Victor Creel Parallels (x)

Victor Creel

Victor’s Reflection Looks Like Michael Myers’ Mask And It’s Not A Coincidence- And It Ties To Timeline Theory Stuff (x)

Victor’s Suicide Attempt Happened On The Same Day Henry “Died” (x)

April Fools: The Day Victor Gouged His Eyes Out, the Day Henry “Died,” and the Date on the Drama Club Poster (x) 

Victor’s Arrest vs El’s Arrest (x)

Victor’s Trance vs NINA (x)

I Could See He Felt Something Was Wrong: An Analysis Of Victor Creel, The Priest, And Heward’s “Demon” Drawing (x)

They Used It In The War To Communicate With The Front: Operation Overlord, Poor Communication, the Burning Baby, and Defending Victor Creel (It’s Not Really Your Fault, Victor) (x)

 Did Victor Actually See a Supernatural Vision or Was He Seeing Something Else? (x)

Victor Hid His Razor Up The Same Sleeve as Henry’s Tattoo (x)

Victor Creel and “Why Women Kill” Costuming Parallels (x)

Victor Rocks The Same Way In Pennhurst As He Did When Holding Henry On The Night Of The Murders (x)

Updated Post about Victor and Henry’s shared Nervous Hand Gestures And How That Changes For Henry In The Lab (x)

All Alone In This World: Another Joyce-Heney Parallel and Victor  and Henry Speculation (x)

Was Victor Watching Henry Draw? (x) 

I Am Still Very Much In Hell vs The Burning Baby (x)

Victor and Henry Chess Scene Speculation (x)

Thrain and Victor Parallels and The Keyhole On The Grandfather Clock (x)

Victor Creel and Joyce Byers and “I Don’t Know What That Thing Is But It’s Not My Son” vs “What Happens When My Boy Is Gone” vs “That Is Not My Boy” (x)

Larry Kline and State PD and Victor Creel (x)

Chrissy’s Dad’s Eyes are Sewn Shut and Her Mom Has A Sewing Machine and How This Ties To Philip Cunningham vs Victor Creel Parallels (x)

Victor’s Weight, Missing Motor Skills, and the Indianapolis Gazette Article (x)

Highway 49: Victor Creel and the Car Crash (x)

Brief Initial Post About Victor and Henry and Pet Sematary (x)

Loves His Boy: Victor Loved Henry and Robert Englund Agrees (x)

Victor’s Shadow During The Prison Scene (x)

Is Victor Henry’s Constant? (x)

Victor Creel Doesnt Talk To Reporters- So Where’d The Weekly Watcher Get Their Information? (x)

Initial Post About Victor Creel and The Fourth Wall (x)

Victor Frankenstein, William Frankenstein, and Henry Frankenstein (x)

Alice Creel

Initial Post About Alice Being 15 According To The Indianapolis Gazette (x) Alice’s Clasped Hands Mannerism and How It Ties to Henry (x)

The Different Eye Blood: Alice Vs Virginia Vs The Lab Kids (x)

Henward Standing Like Alice Vs Standing Like Young Henward (x)

Original Connie Frazier is Alice Creel Post (x)

Original Karen is Victor’s Daughter, Virginia, Not his Wife, Virginia/Karen is Edward’s Sister Post and Connie as Mother Alice (x)

Creel Family Trailer: Alice Walks Towards The Rabbit Instead of Away From It And The Way She Walks Is Familiar (x)

That One Shot of Alice Near The Slide With Weird Lighting- An Explanation (x)

What The Hell Was Alice Looking At During The Dinner Scene? (x)

How Did The Possum Get Into Alice’s Bed And Why Was It There? (x)

Modine’s Purple Umbrella and Alice’s Dress (x)

Alice Creel’s Weird Age, TFS, and Interview With The Vampire (x)

The First Shadow, Timelines, Alice Creel, and Swapping Family Members: New Thoughts On Alice Creel vs Karen Wheeler Regarding the Edward Timeline- Karen Wheeler Might Be Alice, Just Not In The Way Anyone (Including Me) Thought She Was (x)