#alex-of-macedonia

[adascore]

Captain Obvious

pairings: lionesses x lioness!reader

warnings: sarina scaring the hell out of us. fluff.

author’s note: I know this isn’t how captaincy is announced, but all of this is fictional anyway so it doesn’t even matter :)

masterlist

•••••

''Is everyone in?'' Sarina asked, scanning the room to ensure the complete attendance of the squad and necessary staff.

A few heads nodded at the manager. ''Good.'' The Dutchwoman concluded.

''Before we talk about the upcoming game against North Macedonia, I would like to say something else.'' Sarina began the team meeting, her gaze lingering on Y/N.

The player curiously turned her head to Mary, who was sitting next to her. The goalkeeper merely shrugged in response.

''I didn't want to do it like this, but I think this is the only way to get my message across… Y/N, can you please come stand next to me?'' Sarina's invitation sounded more like a demand, leaving the striker slightly confused at the stern tone.

Y/N hesitated for a moment but stood up, making her way to the front of the room as requested by Sarina.

Glancing at her teammates, she found it challenging to read their expressions. Some were nervously biting their nails, while others were avoiding eye contact altogether.

Strange, the striker thought.

Sarina maintained her serious tone, making Y/N's heart race with anticipation. ''We have noticed some issues lately…'' The room fell silent, everyone's eyes fixed on the player, who was growing more bewildered and scared by the second. She tried to recall any recent incidents that might have triggered this discussion.

''The communication on the pitch, the communication off the pitch, the passes, the attacks… it is all anyone has been talking about on this team.'' The coach's vague explanation was making her worried, because it implied people had been speaking about her to Sarina.

''It forced us to reassess your position in this team.'' The Dutchwoman continued, maintaining her stoic stone.

It was a difficult task to make the Lyon captain nervous, but Sarina was doing an amazing job so far. ''My�� position… on the team?'' Y/N spoke slowly, not quite knowing what to make of all of this.

''Yes, we're sorry to tell you this,'' she turned towards Arjan, their assistant coach, who handed her something the player wasn't able to see, ''but you are our new, official captain.'' Sarina's expression did a complete 180, a big grin on her face.

The room erupted into cheers, her teammates bursting out laughing at the player staring at their coach in stunned disbelief.

''Wait, what?'' Y/N mumbled as Sarina handed her the captain's band.

''Did you really think I was going to kick you off the team?'' The older woman exclaimed, surprised her player actually fell for it.

Y/N awkwardly chuckled. ''I mean- you sounded super serious! You should become an actress or something.''

''Congratulations, captain!'' Her team engulfed her in a group hug, feeling pats all over her head.

''I was wondering why none of you were looking at me.'' The newly appointed captain said, everything making sense now.

''I was having such a hard time,'' Ella sighed, before glancing over at Mary, ''you were awful!''

''What? Tooney!'' The goalkeeper exclaimed, clearly offended.

Alessia chimed in. ''You kept hiding your face cause you couldn't contain your smile.''

''I'm just happy for my friend!'' Mary defended herself, trapping Y/N in her arms.

Some of the girls made ‘Awh'-noises, dramatically swooning over the striker-goalkeeper duo.

''Took you long enough to figure it out.'' Mary teased, a mischievous grin playing on her lips.

Y/N scoffed, slightly offended. ''How was I supposed to know?''

''I'm roomies with the captain.'' Alex proudly stated, her eyes sparkled with pride as she side hugged her roommate.

''That's not fair! Alex already has an advantage over everyone!'' Georgia interjected, loudly.

Y/N frowned. ''I've been captain for like 2 seconds, what are you talking about, G?'' She chuckled, befuddled by everyone's enthusiasm.

''You'll understand what I mean when she's suddenly being a lot nicer to you.'' Georgia explained, making wary eyes at the blond defender.

Lucy approached her and grabbed the captain's band from her hand. ''Come on, put it on.'' She held it open for her so Y/N could easily slide her arm through.

As soon as it was tightly attached to her arm, the entire room broke into cheers again.

''You wear it well, Skipper.'' Lucy teased with a playful grin.

She felt someone hugging her from behind. ''Congratulations, darling.''

''Thanks, Jill.'' The new captain smiled, glad her older teammate was happy for her.

Girls like Jill, Ellen, Alex, Lucy and Jordan had been there since she first joined the England team- it was a special moment for them as well to see their younger teammate take over the reins of the team.

''Congrats, sweetheart. You deserve this so much.'' Ellen embraced her, her fellow striker grinning from ear to ear.

''Thanks, El.''

''Speech! Speech! Speech!'' A couple of the girls (Ella, Georgia, Keira and Leah, to be specific) started chanting.

Y/N chuckled at the impromptu request for a speech, feeling the weight of the moment. She raised her hands, signaling for a moment of quiet amidst the cheers.

''Okay, okay!'' She began, a genuine smile on her lips. ''First of all, I want to thank Sarina, and whoever decided this, for giving me this huge honour, and for trusting me to lead this incredible team. I know to some people it's just a band, but I do feel a responsibility to lead by example and for me this means so much more.''

She paused, letting her words sink in. ''I joined this team when I was 18 years-old, and I've experienced so much already. I just want to thank all of you, and also the teammates that aren't here today, for making this such a beautiful group of people and for making this genuinely fun to do. I'm lucky to have you guys as my teammates.''

Her gaze swept across the faces of her teammates, feeling herself getting emotional. ''I will continue to do my best. This isn't just about me, it's about all of us. We're here to support one another and to enjoy all of this together.''

''I'm looking forward to the rest of the year, and it might be to early to say this, but fuck it,'' she chuckled, resulting in laughter from the entire room, ''this summer is ours!''

The meeting room echoed with applause, and somehow she ended up in the middle of a group hug.

Sarina and Arjan watched on as their team celebrated together, content smiled on their faces.

''This is the team.'' He told his boss, a confident tone.

The Dutchwoman nodded. ''This is the team.''

[jeannereames]

What should we make of Alexander I and Perdiccas II both having long 40+ years long reigns, only for all of their successors having substantially shorter ones? And, if you are in the mood, who do you think was the better ruler between the two?

First, I thought I’d mention one of the cool things to come out of the recent ATG conference is a plan to produce an edited collection: Alexander I and the Making of Macedon. It’ll be a while, but if I can get us a publisher, I’ve got the contributors.

Also of note, Sabine Müller and Johannes Heinrichs are producing a monograph on Alexander I in English. She has a great one on Perdikkas but it’s in German, so I was very happy to hear this.

Finally, I've got a number of racked-up Asks. This answer will answer about three of them. I'll link it to the other questions. :-)

To the questions: it’s really hard to compare Alexander I and Perdikkas II simply because they were dealing with very different circumstances. Alexander I had Persian assistance holding the throne, while Perdikkas was tossed off his throne at least once.

The biggest difficulty is a source problem. ALL our info about these guys (outside archaeology) comes from Greeks, who were chiefly interested in them only when they intersected with the southern Greek world. There’s a fair bit about Alex I’s internal politicking that we just don’t know. What we call “Lower Macedon” probably only goes back a couple generations, despite the mythical king list. We find a MARKED change in burial practices c. 570 BCE, which is before Persians were mucking around up there. This suggests a change—or more likely consolidation—in the lowland Macedonian ruling elite, both west and a bit east of the Axios River.

If Alexander I took over c. 500-495 (coin above), and his father Amyntas (about whom we know nothing but a name) ruled for 20/30-ish years before, then Alexander’ grandfather (Alketas) or great-grandfather (Airopos) would have consolidated the area around Aigai. Yet ALL names before Amyntas I are essentially fictional. Certainly the “founder’s” name changed across time. It’s Perdikkas when we first hear of it in Herodotos, but may have shifted to Archelaos later (see Euripides’s play of that name). Later yet (under Philip), it seems to have become Karanos. If Bill Greenwalt’s theories are right. This is not a real person in any historical sense.

The problem with dating Alexander I is that we neither know for sure when he took the throne nor when he died. It was convenient for Alexander to blame his father for any concessions to the Persians, but he—not Amyntas—married his sister Gygaia to a Persian (Bubares, son of Magabazus and distantly royal).* More likely he was already on the throne in the 490s but may have been quite young. He seems to have used the Persian presence to further consolidate the (new) Macedonian kingdom—against Paionians and others—adding territory as far away as Amphipolis, at least temporarily, and thus, getting hold of both silver and gold mines to mint coins. The Echedoros River also held gold. All the gold in pre-Alexander Macedonia was pacer mining (panning), not from the gold mines of Mt. Pangaion. Yet gold, while present in the rivers, only became important in graves in Macedonia c. 570…it’s part of that startling shift in burials that we see.

We also don’t know exactly when Alexander I died and Perdikkas took over. He was still king at the end of the Persian Wars in 479/78, but dead by 450. His death may have been closer to 460, or even earlier. So his reign was probably more like 30-35 years. Perdikkas perhaps reigned longest of all—one reason he’s exceptional. I wonder if the Peloponnesian War itself may have contributed to his success: for all he had his challengers, if Macedon wanted to survive as an independent political entity, they needed to rally around him.

Yet he faced his share of opposition from other Argeads as well as the very powerful Upper Macedonian kingdoms of Lynkestis (Lynkis) and Elimeia, not to mention predatory Illyrians. That’s why Perdikkas sought an alliance with Brasidas of Sparta, but apparently couldn’t even control his own troops enough to keep them from deserting when facing Illyrians. That earned Brasidas’s wrath. As a result, Perdikkas (coin below) had to make nice with Athens.

That’s just one example of Perdikkas’s deal-making during the war. He had quite a job of diplomatic shuffling—no doubt learned from Daddy Alexander. Neither had a kingdom anywhere near strong enough to fend off Persia, or Athens and Sparta later. The fact Perdikkas didn’t end up a client king to either Sparta or Athens is a testament to his diplomatic skill.

Perdikkas’s eldest son Archelaos wasn’t the “illegitimate” son of a slave but of a lesser wife, which is why the younger (unnamed) son initially inherited. Archelaos quickly did away with him (plus an uncle and cousin), then proceeded to continue the modernizing work of his father and grandfather. Until he got run through in a hunting “accident.” After that, the kingdom dissolved into a mess.

The problem of a fast turn-over of rule owed to their inheritance system: any Argead had a claim on the throne. Kings also practiced royal polygamy, although two wives (at most three) seems to have been typical until Philip II. In some ways, it worked well, as it produced multiple heirs from which a strong king could emerge (by surviving).

That was also its problem: no clear method of succession, even if the sons of higher-status mothers apparently had a leg-up. Perdikkas himself was not Alexander’s eldest son. He had two older brothers and two younger ones. Yet either his mother was the most prominent or he showed the most promise (or both). Despite Archelaos’s age and apparent ability, he was initially passed over, although Plato (who tells the story) means to paint Archelaos poorly. That doesn’t mean he didn’t kill competing Argeads to take the throne. So had his father, and probably grandfather too (we just don’t hear about it).

Yet Archelaos’s unexpected death led to a continuing crisis until Amyntas III, Phil’s dad, took and kept the throne. He came from a collateral Argead line descended from Alexander I’s youngest son. The other lines killed each other off. For all Amyntas wasn’t a terribly prepossessing king, he managed not to die. But he, too, was run off his throne at least once, maybe twice. When he did die, it was in his bed of old age—not a common thing for Macedonian kings. His reign was the first tolerably long one after Archelaos, over 20 years.

By the time Philip came to the throne, there weren’t many Argeads left thanks to the catch-as-catch-can method of succession: Philip’s two older brothers were dead and all three of his half-brothers. It was down to just him and his brother Perdikkas III’s infant son: Amyntas.

This is the inevitable problem when lacking a clear succession. Yet a clear succession can create its own problems with incompetent heirs, who don’t always recognize they’re incompetent. The free-for-all gave a better shot at a strong king—ostensibly why it developed—but it also meant the kingdom ran out of “spares” after a couple generations. They went from more Argeads than you could shake a stick at following Alexander I’s death, down to just three at Philip’s death, and two at Alexander’s death** in a matter of 5-6 generations. Within those 5-6 generations, 12-14 kings reigned! And we have no idea how many brothers/cousins/uncles Alexander I had, and perhaps killed, before he became king. We hear only about the one sister.

Stability was not a hallmark of the Argead dynasty.

——

* The story of Alexander killing Persian emissaries is much later fictional propaganda. Didn’t happen.

* Alexander’s son Herakles by Barsine might count as a third, but the army doesn’t seem to have considered him viable for whatever reason.

[halfbakedspuds]

Thanks to @honeybewrites for the tag

OC name origins tag

Rules: I want to know how you came up with your original character’s names and personalities. Are they based on people in your real life? Are they straight from your brain? Are they a mix of several people?

I'll do this for the Tempest Prince characters

Jason Haliday:

Jason's name- like his brother's- is steeped in Greek history and mythos, with Jason being one of the classical heroes of their mythology. Jason Haliday (called something different in that draft) compared himself to mythology Jason with all this supposedly important but seemingly useless stuff he kept having to go after, "Like chasing a goddamn fleece for whatever reason" and purposefully ignorimh the context of the original story. The scene isn't in the current draft, but the comparison led me to change his name to Jason.

His surname, 'Haliday', was originally 'Galloway', but somewhere I learnt that Halliday comes from the old English hæligdag, which is excellent foreshadowing for the book.

Alex Haliday:

Alex was always going to be this character's name, however I changed its long form from Alexandra to Alexander somewhere down the line (God knows why, 'cause I certainly don't remember).

The reason was always because of his involvement with the Allyrian Inquisition as one of their brightest strategic minds and best warriors, making his name a nod towards Alexander of Macedonia.

Michelle Haliday:

Michelle as a character was heavily inspired by my dad- whose name was Michael- and giving her a name similar to his is a sort of tribute.

Lifvinja Ravenscar:

Okay, I know of maybe two people who follow me that might know what I'm on about with this, but I'll try my best to explain.

Growing up, I had the box set of this one old-ass Afrikaans kids show called 'Liewe Heksie' (it's hard to translate without sounding strange, but somewhere along the lines of 'little beloved witch') which was about an... admittedly pathetic but endearing excuse of a witch named Livinia, and followed all the stuff she got up to.

Some part of me thought "Hey, wouldn't it be funny to take this all-powerful, immortal mage who used to be a Norse Viking like a thousand years ago and name her after this one character from a kids show?"

And thus, Livinia got swapped out for its Norse equivalent- Lifvinja- and Archmagos Lifvinja Ravenscar was named.

The surname 'Ravenscar' comes from how marriage works in the Hunter cities, where everyone in the relationship unanimously agrees on two words that they feel allude to something important to them, and those two are put together to create their new surname that's unique to them. In Lifvinja's case, she called her wife 'Hrafn' (Raven) as a joke when they first met and it just stuck, and the pair both had matching burn scars on their forearms from something important to their story that I can't disclose cause ✨spoilers���.

Helga Ravenscar:

I'll be honest with you, she literally got her name from a newspaper comic called Hagar the Horrible.

We all struggle to figure out character names sometimes, and she was one of those characters.

Isaac Blackwell:

Isaac got his name cause I was playing Dead Space around the time I first created his character.

'Blackwell' is based on 'Blackthorn' from the Shadowhunter books, but it does serve a purpose of sorts to the story. However, ✨spoilers✨

Aten:

Aten is one of several Great Ones that appear in the story (A great one being an extra dimensional entity that is to a god as we are to bacteria) and he got his name from the full name for the Egyptian sun god, Aten-Ra.

I think I was reading Kane Chronicles when I came up with that one, not sure.

The story in universe is that he's a lot more compassionate toward humans than the rest of the 'Pantheon', and came down to the Egyptian old kingdom to help them through a famine. Them not really understanding wtf they were seeing culminated in them naming him after their sun god, and thus he now carries the name 'Aten' with a sort of pride.

Sanmaht:

Imma be perfectly honest here, this one was a keyboard smash with vowels added for pronouncability.

Leyendeach:

I got this from the game Pathfinder: Kingmaker, where the audio file for some early-game cantrips sounded to me like they ended in something that eventually, through many iterations, got turned into 'Leyendeach'

Ralye:

A corruption of R'lyeh, the name of the city where Cthulhu supposedly is in HP Lovecraft's stories; from the phrase "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl ftagn" (In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu lays dreaming).

No pressure tag for @orion-lacroix, @oh-no-another-idea, @illarian-rambling, @pb-dot and anyone else who wants in

[jaclynhyde]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Spread the self-love 💕

Oh yeah I should finally do this! Okay, my ranking at the moment:

Beyond the Horizon (Fate/Grand Order, Waver Velvet/Alexander III, Waver Velvet /Iskandar) When Alex suddenly loses his Noble Phantasm, he and Waver are sent to Macedonia to solve the mystery and find a Grail. But neither history nor Alexander the Great are what they remembered. The most research I've done for a fic, and I really like the way I tied the alternate history into the plot and themes. Plus Iskandar Alter, the closest I've gotten to an OC; I'm really happy with how he's recognizably Iskandar, but skewed. Writing Waver's relationships with two different Alexanders, with the ghost of Iskandar hanging over him, was so much fun. And it was incredibly relatable while not pulling Iskandar for six fucking years

So Familiar a Gleam (Fate/Grand Order, Merlin/Romani Archaman) Every night, Romani Archaman dreamed of the end of the world. Even worse, sometimes Merlin came to visit. It's a sweeping romance with identity porn--just the kind of thing I love to read, and so I'm happy how it turned out! This may actually be #1 depending on the day. I loved writing Romani and Merlin's developing relationship and the looming tragedy of Solomon and Merlin trying to ignore his own humanity. Also this is the most fitting title I've ever come up with and I love it

With the Stars Up Above in Your Eyes (Starman, Jack Knight/Richard Swift) "To Opal," the Shade said, clinking their glasses. "And to you." "So," Jack asked, "What kind of drunk are you?" The Shade set a sugar cube on the absinthe spoon. "Talkative." "Jesus Christ," he said with feeling. I shipped Jack/Shade like crazy when I first read Starman and it took me a decade and a half to finally write the fic I desperately wanted to read. I love writing the two of them and Opal, and I'm proud of how I got their voices and their extremely romantic date.

Dreams That We're Telling Ourselves (Nier Gestalt, Papa Nier/Grimoire Weiss) For a long five years, only Nier and Weiss remained. Replace "Jack/Shade" and "Starman" from #3 with "Nier/Weiss" and "Nier" and that's basically it. (I think just a decade instead of decade and a half, though.) I love the atmosphere of this one, and Weiss' yearning--I love writing intelligent but repressed characters who don't realize what they want so badly. Also I got that Life in the Fucking Sands reference in there to exorcise some demons

Caught Blue-Handed (Star Wars Legends, Grand Admiral Thrawn/Gilad Pellaeon/Flim) Flim hadn't expected the role of a lifetime to include quite so many nude scenes. #5 could have been a lot of my fics, but I'm going with this one because it was just an absolute blast to write. Flim is so fucking funny in canon despite his limited screentime and I wanted to a) give Thrawn and Pellaeon a happy ending, and b) stick Flim in the middle of it and see what happened. (Porn. It's porn.) I don't like sending these out but I am tagging every author who wants to make this post. That means you, reading this and thinking "but she doesn't mean me!" I want to read them!

[freakyelf-ontheshelf]

STARDEW VALLEY HEADCANONS PART 2:

YIPPY!

Starting off with my favourite blond:

•Haley:

-Besides what I said in part 1 with Alex, Haley kept on kissing boys until she openly came out and felt comfortable enough (when she met the FF🤭)

-Every time you gift her a sunflower she keeps them in a vase on her bedroom window, once the petals wilt she keeps them in a box for later crafts^^

-She stopped putting effort in photography because she was embarassed and felt she had a different image to keep, once she meets female farmer and her hardwork, passion and dedication, she starts rediscovering herself and retaking her passions seriously

-Once when she the farmer passed out and Haley found out, she ran to the farm and made the farmer let her help. Ended up doing the work for her that day and let the farmer fall asleep on the porch<3

-When she goes and visits the farm, she takes nature pictures and snaps some discrete ones of her farmer girl🤭. She takes them to her red room and sends them to the farmer with lipstick marks<3

-Her and Alex remain best friends and when he starts dating the male farmer they enjoy gossiping about their love life's by the icecream stand ^^

-Haley switches her nails every two weeks and they always have a seasoned theme, once she starts dating you she'll excitedly show them to you, hoping you love them (you do, obviously, and are glad to tell her everytime<3)

-She smells of Macedonia fruits and salt water, sweets as well😻

-Everytime you gift her a pink cake she grabs the strawberry on top and feeds it to you, smooching you after (I'm so terribly in love with her)

-Her favourite season is summer, although she tells everyone it's winter because of the sweat

-Once she starts reading and searching for herself, she finds a love for art history and Renaissance books

-Poetry reader (sapphic mostly, Spanish artists translations...)

-When she starts working the farm, she specially enjoys taking care of the animals, going to find you giggling everytime she gets stained

-in the hot weather you sprinkle her with the hose and she loves playing around in the sprinklers with you

-When you ask her to marry you she quite literally, jumps you (then she cries, a lot)

-She ends up having an amazing relationship with Emily, making fun of her everytime she talks about Sandy (she secretly loves seeing her sister fall in love)

Again, I'm going to stfu now cause I could talk about her forever (I will)

•Abigail:

-Had a My Chemical Romance fase and a scene kid one too (Caroline almost had a heart attack, still almost does though, bitch needs to calm down)

-Is taking classes not only to please her father and have some peace of mind, but also because Sam is taking them too and would hate to disappoint her friend

-Shes an amazing artist and is the one that decorates the store. The windos are painted with a different scenery every season.

-Shes had five different guinea pigs cause they kept on "disappearing", she geniuenly thinks that still (goofy aah)

- Definitely bisexual, with a preference to women. Even though that means there could be a chance for her to date Sebastian like literally everyone wants, she's never liked him (or Sam) in that way

-Follows every single alternative or goth woman on her socials, has a secret Twitter account where she posts shit about people in her day to day life to unwind

-Loves My little pony, prove me wrong

-Her and her dad used to play videogames together, which is why she got into it in the first place, but as she got older her dad thought she should be concentrating on other stuff and eventually stopped playing with her, which is why she asks the farmer for help in her two heart event

-Caroline gifted Abigails flute to her when she turned 14 and she's been playing ever since, only having shown Sebastian and Sam

-One time Haley told Abigail that her hair is suprisingly healthy and well kept taking into account she's been dying it purple since the age of 15, and she's seen Haley differently since then

-Has a hyperfixiaton on the ocean, specially it's wild life, minerals and swordsmanship

-After the sixth heart event Abigal and the farmer do all the mining together, and once she sees the effort and danger in doing that she actually realises how much the farmer cares for her, going in the mines to get minerals for her and such.

-She loves taking you to the mountains when it's really late at night, going camping and listening to you tell her about the stars

-When you go to Sam's concer and she sees you from the stage she blushes and makes sure to not make a single mistake, asking you later on if you enjoyed the song (she wanted to know if you thought her skills were cool, okay)

-The first time you ever saw her cry was when she told her dad she was (finally) dropping out from the classes she despised, getting into the biggest argument with them and running all the way to the farm (and into your arms ayeeee)

Time to stfu again, see you in part 3 (yippyyyyy)

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 15: NOBODY GETS THE FLEECE

"Like Annabeth-Nobody, or nobody-nobody?" Percy demanded of his friends. Why were these stupid chapter titles here, they were never any help!

"Or is it the original Odysseus Nobody, back as a ghost?" Alex played along.

Nobody answered, in any sense of the word, so Percy grumbled for only a moment and kept reading.

"I got Nobody!" Polyphemus gloated.

"We can only hope," Percy scowled at the capital N in hopes the book was deceiving him.

We crept to the cave entrance and saw the Cyclops, grinning wickedly, holding up empty air.

The monster shook his fist, and a baseball cap fluttered to the ground. There was Annabeth, hanging upside down by her legs.

They all saw the fear and worry radiating off of Percy, Thalia even shivered at the blast of icy ocean water that was trying to engulf him, but it was just that. They were only seeing it, Percy's soul attention was concentrating harder than he had on any book in his life on the words in front of him so much so even his inherited abilities weren't managing to make these dangerous waters.

"Hah!" the Cyclops said. "Nasty invisible girl! Already got feisty one for wife. Means you gotta be grilled with mango chutney!"

"I'm sure Grover's offended he didn't get that first caught, first wed treatment," Jason frowned.

"This guy is seriously making me crave whatever mango chutney is," Alex shrugged, he sure wouldn't shut up about it.

Annabeth struggled, but she looked dazed. She had a nasty cut on her forehead. Her eyes were glassy.

Percy's grip on the book tightened, though he wasn't sure if he was imagining strangling this cyclops or pulling Annabeth close, both warred like crashing waves in him to be done.

  "I'll rush him," I whispered to Clarisse. "Our ship is around the back of the island. You and Grover—"

"No way," they said at the same time. Clarisse had armed herself with a highly collectible rams-horn spear from the Cyclops's cave. Grover had found a sheep's thigh bone, which he didn't look too happy about, but he was gripping it like a club, ready to attack.

"Both of them deserve revenge," Thalia agreed, resisting the urge to smack Percy again for trying to be the hero they already knew he was.

"We'll take him together," Clarisse growled.

"Yeah," Grover said. Then he blinked, like he couldn't believe he'd just agreed with Clarisse about something.

"It's really not so bad as having agreed with Percy about something," Thalia smirked.

"Do you want me to threaten to shove your arms down your throat?" Percy asked. "Because this is how I'll agree with Clarisse."

"All right," I said. "Attack plan Macedonia."

'They're going to do the Macarena?' Hearth blinked in confusion.

"You're going to send him to Europe?" Magnus repeated in confusion even as he corrected the word for his friend.

"How come when we get attacked by you we don't get a vacation out of it?" Alex pouted.

"Sush, listen," Percy ignored all of them.

They nodded. We'd all taken the same training courses at Camp Half-Blood. They knew what I was talking about. They would sneak around either side and attack the Cyclops from the flanks while I held his attention in the front.

Jason looked particularly thrilled about getting to hear of one of their battle strategies and muttered something about turtle formation.

Probably what this meant was that we'd all die instead of just me, but I was grateful for the help.

"Honestly, without you steering that giant ship they probably would have died anyways," Nico reminded.

"This is just faster," Thalia nodded.

"You guys have such faith in us," Percy huffed. The fact that they were joking about it made him at least hope he hadn't gotten anybody killed though.

I hefted my sword and shouted, "Hey, Ugly!"

The giant whirled toward me. "Another one? Who are you?"

"Put down my friend. I'm the one who insulted you."

"You are Nobody?"

"That's right, you smelly bucket of nose drool!" It didn't sound quite as good as Annabeth's insults, but it was all I could think of.

"You expect witty retorts from her though, that knowledge has to be good for something," Alex shrugged. "You've perfected the classics with practice Perce."

"Thanks," he snorted.

"I'm Nobody and I'm proud of it! Now, put her down and get over here. I want to stab your eye out again."

"RAAAR!" he bellowed.

The good news: he dropped Annabeth. The bad news: he dropped her headfirst onto the rocks, where she lay motionless as a rag doll.

The wince that encircled the eight of them might as well have come from one person attacking them all, though Percy hadn't done anything again as he kept his focus. Thalia's hands were twitching as she longed to draw her bow and help, Will was clasping his hands with nobody to heal in here, even Alex, Nico, and Jason were resisting the urge to grab their weapons while Hearth was gently reminding Magnus Annabeth was surely okay out there now.

The other bad news: Polyphemus barreled toward me, a thousand smelly pounds of Cyclops that I would have to fight with a very small sword.

"We will not be judged by the size of our blades but the courage of our hearts-"

"Stop quoting cooler movies during my fight scenes!" Percy interrupted Alex in exasperation.

"It was supposed to be motivating," he huffed.

"I'm motivated enough to finish," Percy assured.

"For Pan!" Grover rushed in from the right. He threw his sheep bone, which bounced harmlessly off the monster's forehead.

'He gets credit for trying,' Hearth winced and hoped it at least annoyed Polyphemus.

Clarisse ran in from the left and set her spear against the ground just in time for the Cyclops to step on it. He wailed in pain, and Clarisse dove out of the way to avoid getting trampled. But the Cyclops just plucked out the shaft like a large splinter and kept advancing on me.

I moved in with Riptide.

The monster made a grab for me. I rolled aside and stabbed him in the thigh.

I was hoping to see him disintegrate, but this monster was much too big and powerful.

"Great," Will said in a way that didn't sound so great.

"Get Annabeth!" I yelled at Grover.

He rushed over, grabbed her invisibility cap, and picked her up while Clarisse and I tried to keep Polyphemus distracted.

I have to admit, Clarisse was brave.

"Twice in one book," Percy shook his head at himself, "it is a good thing she isn't here or she'd never let me live this down."

She charged the Cyclops again and again. He pounded the ground, stomped at her, grabbed at her, but she was too quick. And as soon as she made an attack, I followed up by stabbing the monster in the toe or the ankle or the hand.

Jason was all but bouncing in his seat, his hands twitching with the urge to jump in and help that wasn't needed. These two made an excellent team, as if Annabeth herself had given them this perfect strategy. It wasn't great for long term, but a perfect distraction, if only they had more forces to finish this beast off!

But we couldn't keep this up forever. Eventually, we would tire or the monster would get in a lucky shot. It would only take one hit to kill us.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Grover carrying Annabeth across the rope bridge. It wouldn't have been my first choice, given the man-eating sheep on the other side, but at the moment that looked better than this side of the chasm, and it gave me an idea.

"Fall back!" I told Clarisse.

She rolled away as the Cyclops's fist smashed the olive tree beside her.

Thalia winced again at just sitting here doing nothing. Even knowing the gods would never intervene in this fight, she kept hoping Athena would take something of this personally and help another Perseus, if not for her daughter, then the tree!

We ran for the bridge, Polyphemus right behind us. He was cut up and hobbling from so many wounds, but all we'd done was slow him down and make him mad.

"Grind you into sheep chow!" he promised. "A thousand curses on Nobody!"

Nico wondered for a moment if the arai would take that literally, then frowned as he decided they wouldn't care and enact it on anybody with the misfortune to say the word nobody around them.

"Faster!" I told Clarisse.

We tore down the hill. The bridge was our only chance. Grover had just made it to the other side and was setting Annabeth down. We had to make it across, too, before the giant caught us.

"Grover!" I yelled. "Get Annabeth's knife!"

His eyes widened when he saw the Cyclops behind us, but he nodded like he understood. As Clarisse and I scrambled across the bridge, Grover began sawing at the ropes.

The first strand went snap!

Polyphemus bounded after us, making the bridge sway wildly.

Magnus was biting his lip and making some very odd signs about an ogre, a donkey, and a dragon to Hearth Alex was jealous he couldn't understand yet, but the meaning was clear, this really couldn't get any worse.

The ropes were now half cut. Clarisse and I dove for solid ground, landing beside Grover. I made a wild slash with my sword and cut the remaining ropes.

The bridge fell away into the chasm, and the Cyclops howled ... with delight, because he was standing right next to us.

Percy's anger swelled as he glared down at those words, his hands tightening along the spine of the book sending an ominous cracking noise in the room. Thalia suddenly decided maybe it was a bad idea if he broke that thing instead of blasting water around and braced herself as she said coolly, "but how's he going to get back to his cave? He might miss sheep vs shark on cable!"

Percy looked around at her, at least vaguely distracted from doing anything permanent as he scoffed, "I'm going to make you eat mango chutney the rest of the time we're here if you don't shut it." It was good for her she knew Annabeth was okay, he'd still like to get through the surviving it all part first.

Thalia smiled without regret and grandly waved him on.

"Failed!" he yelled gleefully. "Nobody failed!"

Clarisse and Grover tried to charge him, but the monster swatted them aside like flies.

My anger swelled. I couldn't believe I'd come this far, lost Tyson, suffered through so much, only to fail—stopped by a big stupid monster in a baby-blue tuxedo kilt. Nobody was going to swat down my friends like that! I mean ... nobody, not Nobody. Ah, you know what I mean.

Now everybody was grinning along too, Percy most of all as he hadn't looked up once from narrating his thoughts, because they had known what he meant. He was glad he wasn't going through this alone right now or he might have broken the Titan's domain.

Strength coursed through my body. I raised my sword and attacked, forgetting that I was hopelessly outmatched. I jabbed the Cyclops in the belly. When he doubled over I smacked him in the nose with the hilt of my sword. I slashed and kicked and bashed until the next thing I knew, Polyphemus was sprawled on his back, dazed and groaning, and I was standing above him, the tip of my sword hovering over his eye.

The others kind of wished Percy would at least put himself in a bubble for his time down here as they sat watching him now. Nico looked like he'd never shut his mouth again he was gawping at him so much.

Percy looked up and shrugged like, 'what?' before he kept going.

"Uhhhhhhhh," Polyphemus moaned.

"Percy!" Grover gasped. "How did you—"

"Please, noooo!" the Cyclops moaned, pitifully staring up at me. His nose was bleeding. A tear welled in the corner of his half-blind eye. "M-m-my sheepies need me. Only trying to protect my sheep!"

"The man eating sheep, that he was threatening to feed you to seconds ago, not to mention his countless other eons of harm," Jason was frowning at Percy's mellowing tone, the way the tension was easing out of him and there was something new growing in its place overpowering the anger.

He began to sob.

I had won. All I had to do was stab—one quick strike.

"Kill him!" Clarisse yelled. "What are you waiting for?"

The Cyclops sounded so heartbroken, just like ... like Tyson.

"He's a Cyclops!" Grover warned. "Don't trust him!"

Thalia sighed for Grover. He knew nothing of Tyson, he probably felt particularly indignant Percy was hesitating after all his best friend had been through and falling for this act.

I knew he was right. I knew Annabeth would've said the same thing.

They were still gawping at him, every one of them. Even Will apparently couldn't wrap his head around the idea of showing mercy here when his friend's lives were on the line. He couldn't really blame them, he'd never thought of all monsters he'd hesitate to kill, it would be this one who'd hurt Annabeth and tormented Grover...but...

But Polyphemus sobbed ... and for the first time it sank in that he was a son of Poseidon, too.

Like Tyson. Like me. How could I just kill him in cold blood?

"Ah Percy..."

For a moment Percy thought Thalia was laughing at him again as she shook her head with a whisper of a smile, but that wasn't it. She just seemed, resigned about him. She'd never really understood before this moment how Percy had set aside everything to let Luke make the final blow though.

"We only want the Fleece," I told the monster. "Will you agree to let us take it?"

"I would, he wouldn't," Will was frowning at Percy like he'd lost his mind, again. Nico finally came out of his daze and gave a soft laugh for the pun at least.

"You're insane," Alex politely informed Percy.

"And your hair is green," Percy said without looking up. He didn't care to give himself a headache to find out if he was right or wrong to do this, he was ignoring Thalia and his own sixth sense of what the outcome was. He didn't regret giving this chance.

"No!" Clarisse shouted. "Kill him!"

The monster sniffed. "My beautiful Fleece. Prize of my collection. Take it, cruel human. Take it and go in peace."

"I'm going to step back slowly," I told the monster. "One false move ..."

Polyphemus nodded like he understood.

I stepped back ... and as fast as a cobra, Polyphemus smacked me to the edge of the cliff.

His rib cage on the other hand sure regretted his actions right now, he swore they throbbed with the remembered cracks they'd gotten from that. He sat and waited for a moment for somebody to call him a fool and say they'd known it, but Jason looked as resigned as Thalia at his actions, their faces looked oddly similar the way they did that. Nico was just looking at him casually waiting for him to get up and keep going while Magnus was still studying the book with as much concern as Percy felt, waiting to get to the important part where Annabeth was okay than really anything else going on.

"Foolish mortal!" he bellowed, rising to his feet. "Take my Fleece? Ha! I eat you first."

He opened his enormous mouth, and I knew that his rotten molars were the last things I would ever see.

"It's to bad he and Charybdis can't just match already," Alex was right back to being sarcastically unhelpful in the face of Percy at least being very much alive.

"Maybe she has commitment issues," Percy nodded along.

Then something went whoosh over my head and thump!

A rock the size of a basketball sailed into Polyphemus's throat—a beautiful three-pointer, nothing but net.

"Only you would make a basketball comparison at a time like this," Thalia informed him, choosing now to look offended at his thoughts.

"If it was one of the piranha sheep that did it, I promise I won't stab that one," he grinned like that was the concern here, but he hardly looked up, attention suddenly riveted on the book again. For something good this time though...that had been a huge rock. Surely Clarisse hadn't...

The Cyclops choked, trying to swallow the unexpected pill.

"He should try drinking water with it," Will offered.

"New favorite mental image for hard-to-swallow facts," Nico snickered.

He staggered backward, but there was no place to stagger. His heel slipped, the edge of the cliff crumbled, and the great Polyphemus made chicken wing motions that did nothing to help him fly as he tumbled into the chasm.

A hearty laugh encircled the room, Percy more than happily joining in. Just because he hadn't been able to do the deed himself didn't mean he was going to feel bad at this turn, and he was now reading as lightheartedly as ever as if nothing else could possibly be wrong.

I turned.

Halfway down the path to the beach, standing completely unharmed in the midst of a flock of killer sheep, was an old friend.

"Bad Polyphemus," Tyson said. "Not all Cyclopes as nice as we look."

"Tyson's alive!" Percy shouted with such joy he lobbed the book into the ceiling above and didn't watch it sink back down as he beamed. The sensation swamped over him so much he looked ready to literally start jumping with joy, if only Annabeth wasn't hurt so badly this could have been a perfect moment...

Alex made a grab for the book as it came floating down with his own pleased smile, Tyson was a cool outlier and he couldn't wait to get back to the surface and meet him- but Percy snatched the book back to him via the current again as he told Alex, "wait your turn!"

At least he'd controlled it enough this time he hadn't sent him crashing to the ground so Alex only brushed his fingers under his jaw at him as Percy read eagerly.

Tyson gave us the short version: Rainbow the hippocampus—who'd apparently been following us ever since the Long Island Sound, waiting for Tyson to play with him—had found Tyson sinking beneath the wreckage of the CSS Birmingham and pulled him to safety.

"Remind me to give Rainbow all of the extra treats when I get back," Percy was still grinning like he'd won the lottery, like he'd be running over and hugging Tyson and that hippocampus now, even looking around the room eagerly for a moment like the two would just happen to pop up down here.

He and Tyson had been searching the Sea of Monsters ever since, trying to find us, until Tyson caught the scent of sheep and found this island.

I wanted to hug the big oaf, except he was standing in the middle of killer sheep.

"Note to self," Nico muttered. Will gave him a very odd look why Nico would avoid a hug from Percy, and where he'd get the killer sheep.

"Tyson, thank the gods. Annabeth is hurt!"

"You thank the gods she is hurt?" he asked, puzzled.

"Punctuation matters," Magnus couldn't help the laugh that burst out of him.

"Uncle Jack and his horse can explain it to him later," Alex smirked.

"No!" I knelt beside Annabeth and was worried sick by what I saw. The gash on her forehead was worse than I'd realized. Her hairline was sticky with blood. Her skin was pale and clammy.

Some of Percy's enthusiasm finally faded, he stopped half shouting everything even at the revelation his brother was alive and turned a concerningly matching description of that now. He couldn't lose her right after he'd just gotten Tyson back!

Grover and I exchanged nervous looks. Then an idea came to me. "Tyson, the Fleece. Can you get it for me?"

"Duh!" Magnus sighed in relief, though there was still a rush of feeling coursing through him with the urge to do anything to actually help. He was almost glowing, and not from a blush for once, Alex noticed, but it was so faint only he did as Hearth was still concentrating on reading Percy's lips. "The entire reason you came on this quest! If it can heal a magic dying tree it can for her too, right?"

"Finger's crossed," Percy said fervently.

"Which one?" Tyson said, looking around at the hundreds of sheep.

"Valid question," Jason couldn't help a little chuckle, "though I wonder if it would be divine too and kill whoever it was draped over."

"Magic devouring fleece, the opposite of this one, yeah I can see it," Nico nodded.

"In the tree!" I said. "The gold one!"

"Oh. Pretty. Yes."

Tyson lumbered over, careful not to step on the sheep. If any of us had tried to approach the Fleece, we would've been eaten alive, but I guess Tyson smelled like Polyphemus, because the flock didn't bother him at all. They just cuddled up to him and bleated affectionately, as though they expected to get sheep treats from the big wicker basket. Tyson reached up and lifted the Fleece off its branch. Immediately the leaves on the oak tree turned yellow.

Magnus and Percy exchanged uneasy frowns at that development. Even if it healed Annabeth short term, the effects might not last. They had to get her real help. Then Percy's concern grew more as he studied Thalia for a moment, troubled all the more if her life was tied to that tree always having this fleece around it or something...there was definitely some kind of connection there he was missing...

Tyson started wading back toward me, but I yelled, "No time! Throw it!"

The gold ram skin sailed through the air like a glittering shag Frisbee.

"We seriously need to get Tyson into the NBA when this is over, he's won this for you guys twice in as many pages," Jason grinned.

I caught it with a grunt. It was heavier than I'd expected—sixty or seventy pounds of precious gold wool.

I spread it over Annabeth, covering everything but her face, and prayed silently to all the gods I could think of, even the ones I didn't like.

'Isn't that, all of them?' Hearth asked. Percy hadn't exactly mentioned he even liked his dad much yet.

'I'd be doing it too if I could remember half their names,' Magnus signed.

Please. Please.

The color returned to her face. Her eyelids fluttered open. The cut on her forehead began to close. She saw Grover and said weakly, "You're not... married?"

"Is he still a goat in white?" Nico barely sounded coherent he started laughing so hard.

"He's got more virtues than half the humans I've met," Jason went a little cross-eyed for making such a broad statement, but he was still smiling along nonetheless.

Grover grinned. "No. My friends talked me out of it."

"It wouldn't have been a very holy matrimony," Percy nodded seriously.

"They never would have made it out of the honeymoon phase," Alex smirked.

"Besides, we all know it never would have gone off without Annabeth being the bridesmaid," Thalia chuckled.

"Annabeth," I said, "just lay still."

But despite our protests she sat up, and I noticed that the cut on her face was almost completely healed. She looked a lot better. In fact, she shimmered with health, as if someone had injected her with glitter.

Alex wolf-whistled at Percy but gave a little wink to Magnus...like Alex was picturing him glittering? Magnus could feel himself glowing a different kind of way, because he was blushing more than ever and yet not bothering to turn away as he smiled back. If Alex was imagining injecting him with glitter, he wasn't going to protest.

Meanwhile, Tyson was starting to have trouble with the sheep. "Down!" he told them as they tried to climb him, looking for food. A few were sniffing in our direction. "No, sheepies. This way! Come here!"

They heeded him, but it was obvious they were hungry, and they were starting to realize Tyson didn't have any treats for them. They wouldn't hold out forever with so much fresh meat nearby.

Percy would bet his pen at this rate he'd yet gone a whole chapter of any of these without something going wrong and was increasingly wondering which of those gods were going to never let him live down how he was alive in exchange for Annabeth still breathing.

"We have to go," I said. "Our ship is..." The Queen Anne's Revenge was a very long way away. The shortest route was across the chasm, and we'd just destroyed the only bridge. The only other possibility was through the sheep.

"I don't suppose they'd let you play leapfrog on them?" Will frowned.

"I'd rather have another round with Polyphemus than try," Percy shook his head.

"Tyson," I called, "can you lead the flock as far away as possible?"

"The sheep want food."

"I know! They want people food! Just lead them away from the path. Give us time to get to the beach. Then join us there."

Tyson looked doubtful, but he whistled. "Come, sheepies! Um, people food this way!"

He jogged off into the meadow, the sheep in pursuit.

"Keep the Fleece around you," I told Annabeth. "Just in case you're not fully healed yet. Can you stand?"

She tried, but her face turned pale again. "Ohh. Not fully healed."

Clarisse dropped next to her and felt her chest, which made Annabeth gasp.

"Ribs broken," Clarisse said. "They're mending, but definitely broken."

"How can you tell?" I asked.

Clarisse glared at me. "Because I've broken a few, runt! I'll have to carry her."

Before I could argue, Clarisse picked up Annabeth like a sack of flour and lugged her down to the beach.

"Remind me to mention this in my wedding speech if Clarisse ever gets hitched," Percy said warmly.

"I'll bet Clarisse will during yours," Thalia said slyly, causing Percy to flush and keep reading quickly.

Grover and I followed.

As soon as we got to the edge of the water, I concentrated on the Queen Anne's Revenge. I willed it to raise anchor and come to me. After a few anxious minutes, I saw the ship rounding the tip of the island.

"Incoming!" Tyson yelled. He was bounding down the path to join us, the sheep about fifty yards behind, bleating in frustration as their Cyclops friend ran away without feeding them.

"Show this to someone who ever laughs at the idea of running away from a chicken coop," Percy said as he still shifted about in his chair uneasily. This was almost over, they were almost home free.

"They probably won't follow us into the water," I told the others. "All we have to do is swim for the ship."

"With Annabeth like this?" Clarisse protested.

"We can do it," I insisted. I was starting to feel confident again. I was back in my home turf—the sea. "Once we get to the ship, we're home free."

We almost made it, too.

"Did I piss off the god of jinxes too?" Percy was glaring down at that stupid sentence.

"Wouldn't surprise me," Thalia said with honest sympathy.

We were just wading past the entrance to the ravine, when we heard a tremendous roar and saw Polyphemus, scraped up and bruised but still very much alive, his baby-blue wedding outfit in tatters, splashing toward us with a boulder in each hand.

"Do I even want to know what else could go wrong?" Thalia actually hesitated to grab the book from Percy as she looked over his shoulder at that horrid last paragraph, a promise for even more carnage to come. "Does Luke's cruise ship come around too and attack again? Do you and Grover get drunk and accidentally get hitched?"

"You tell me," Percy restlessly reminded. He couldn't decide if he was reluctant to hand the book over or should just keep reading to get it over with himself.

[felopunk]

Stalinstadt / Lüger - Desperate//Hopeless Split LP

Stalinstadt hail from Berlin City featuring Alex of Disease (Macedonia) on Guitar, Per of Giftgasattack/Warvictims/Absurd SS (Sweden) on bass, Igor of Electric Masochists/Kärzer (Berlin) on the vocals and Toda of Earth Crust Displacement/Svart UT/Peacebastard/Absurd SS (Berlin) on the drums. Recorded in may 2022 after one rehearsal in infamous catacombs of Köpi 137 Squat Berlin by Johnny. 6 tracks ultrabrutal D-Beat Raw Punk Violence with russian lyrics.

Lüger from Zagreb deliver another 6 tracks in exactly the same vein, heavy influenced by Giftgasattack and the likes incl. a cover of MOB 47.  Their 2nd release after the Demotape. If you are into japanese and scandinavian Raw Punk Mangel, DIS iz for you. 

[objectivistnerd]

Alex Salmond died in N. Macedonia and we don't know why yet.

[norainahmadme-blog]

Alex Salmond's cause of death revealed | UK News

Alba Party leader Alex Salmond died suddenly on Saturday (Picture: Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock) Former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond died of a heart attack, a post-mortem examination has revealed. Mr Salmond died suddenly in North Macedonia on Saturday aged 69. The former first minister had made a speech at the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy Forum in the city of Ohrid before collapsing…

[agentfascinateur]

Friend of Palestine Alex Salmond of Scotland, has died. May he rest in peace. 🕊️

His last remarks:

#good man down 😔

[jeannereames]

What’s the most underrated pre-Alexander king of Macedon?

Easy. Perdikkas II.

He kept Macedonia independent throughout the long-ass Peloponnesian War. He changed sides 11 times to do so, and Thucydides kinda hated him. So be careful about what Thucydides says about him in his history. It's NOT unbiased. Thucydides wound up exiled due to losing Amphipolis for Athens, which he blamed (partly) on Perdikkas, although it was Brasidas (of Sparta) who orchestrated that.

But Perdikkas managed NOT to be obliterated by either the Athenian or Spartan superpowers--nor the powerhouses of Lynkestis or Elimeia either. Remember, at that point, they were independent Upper Macedonian kingdoms. Apparently, the Elimeian cavalry was even superior to the Macedonian for a while.

Alexander I (Perdikkas's father) was more colorful, and overall probably did the most (before Philip II) to push Macedon forward. And Archelaos (Perdikkas's son) might have topped Alex I, if he hadn't got himself murdered in 399.

BUT ... the most underestimated/underrated king?

That's my man, Perdikkas Alexandrou!

If you can read German, here you go. Best biography on him.

If you can't read German, but can read English, an older but still solid work on Macedonia generally:

[realpeterabell]

Dreamer and schemer

I don't have many political heroes. Politician and hero are words seldom seen together. Very few earn the admiration I felt for Alex Salmond.

I never met Alex Salmond. For some reason, I always thought we would meet at some point. I suspect I would have liked the man. I’m certain I would have found him stimulating company. Now, that meeting will never happen. On the morning of Saturday 12 October 2024 after delivering a speech in North Macedonia, Alex Salmond died. On hearing the news of Alex Salmond’s death yesterday evening, I…

[news-buzz]

Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond dies Information Buzz

Key moments Alex Salmond’s life and profession… in 107 seconds Scotland’s former First Minister Alex Salmond has died all of a sudden on the age of 69. The previous MP and MSP, who led the nation between 2007 and 2014, turned unwell whereas attending a global convention in North Macedonia. The North Macedonian authorities mentioned Mr Salmond had misplaced consciousness on the Inex Olgica lodge,…

[recentlyheardcom]

Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond dies at 69

LONDON (AP) — Alex Salmond, the previous first minister of Scotland who for many years championed Scotland’s independence from the U.Ok., has died. He was 69. Salmond, who was a divisive determine in British politics and who because the then chief of the Scottish Nationwide Get together took Scotland to the brink of independence in a 2014 referendum, died in North Macedonia after delivering a…

[saltyfryz]

Tagged by @orisretr0 thanks bro 😎

Last song: "Faker" from the sonic.exe fnf mod

Favorite color: Green and Red! :D

Last book: do fanfics count? If not it would technically be the book of Bill by Alex Hirsch, but I was at Walmart and like I only skimmed one page 😂

Last movie: the Lego movie 2

Last tv show: unsure, last ones I remember is Lucifer and The good place

Sweet/spicy/savory: savory 😎

Relationship satus: single and don't wanna mingle Pringle

Last thing I googled: Macedonia

Current obsession: UTMV, dca, sonic/sonic.exe(not as much but it's getting there 😭)

Looking forward to: Halloween and the sonic movie 3

Tagging: just got off of work so you're only getting three 😔

@weirdenbyferret @nebuladreamz @sunny-inajar + anyone else who wants to (COUGH ART MOOTS WHO I DIDN'T @ COUGH COUGH)

ten people i'd like to get to know better

tagged by: @megkuna thanks <333

last song: the phantom of the opera

favorite color: muted green

last book: uhhhhhh oh man i really need to start reading books

last movie: phantom of the opera which i watched with a friend

last tv show: the original star trek which i also watched with a friend

sweet/spicy/savory: sweet, i love sugar too much

relationship status: single and not looking, i'd rather just have more friends

last thing i googled: "how to know if skincare routine is too harsh" my pimples hurt in a Different way now :(

current obsession: probably still mob psycho 100 but it's not what it used to be. yay depression

looking forward to: when my family finally moves into the new house

tagging: @scarecloud69 @disorganised-thoughtss @daneonrainbow @lawful-goof @officialkarinuzumaki @leo-probably @vychodocech @umkayonninay @mocha-blossom @spageddy29 no pressure though <3