#and ... melania sweep!!!

[titaniumions]

runaway bride

[iaure]

𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁; 𝗳𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗼𝗿

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈• ｡ﾟthe dearest collection - part one/beloved 𓆩♡𓆪 part two/prized 𓆩♡𓆪 part three/devoted 𓆩♡𓆪 part four/desperate 𓆩♡𓆪 part five/blind 𓆩♡𓆪 part six/watcher 𓆩♡𓆪 part seven/ardor 𓆩♡𓆪 part eight/fervor

this is very heavily inspired by @//clusterfuck-yandere's yandere leon headcanons; please check out their works. this is something of a love letter to their puppy obsession series. roadmap for future dearest parts with dates

yandere leon s. kennedy headcanons; reader is a survivor of raccoon city.

tw: general yandere behaviour, stalking, harassment, ptsd, entrapment, delusional thinking

notes: the formatting will be slightly different in some parts, as using the headcanon format with dialogue can feel quite clunky.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ guess who's back?!?!?! muerte is here and ready to rumble!! minor hiatus over - and I'm coming in swinging! melania content is going to follow shortly, as I missed it on my roadmap, but i wanted to prioritise this!! wahh!!!! ᏊΦ ꈊ ΦᏊ

this couldn't ever possibly be enough.

♡ you were so close to him.

♡ for the first time in so long, you weren't hidden away, like some fairy tale.

♡ your face was certainly something-a mix of horror, confusion, and what he was sure was simply complicated happiness, not disgust.

♡ but Leon didn't mind, nor care.

♡ this would go swimmingly!!

♡ he'd gotten all dolled up and everything.

♡ there was no coworker to hide you away. no job to steal your time.

♡ it was just him and you! alone! in your apartment!

♡ his joy was practically overflowing.

♡ he knew you'd understand!

♡ you were so sweet, so kind...there was no way you wouldn't!

♡ at your silence, he realised you were most likely nervous.

♡ after all, saying 'we need to talk' is always scary.

♡ you were probably worried sick that he was upset with you! that he was angry that you couldn't see him!

♡ but he'd never be angry at you. never.

♡ "i'm not mad at you! i swear!"

♡ he gave you the best smile he could, despite his heart launching into his throat.

♡ you were too cute!

♡ he was gonna date you, marry you, woo you, sweep you off your feet, get a house together-

♡ "get out of my apartment."

♡ the vitriol in your tone was enough to make his heart drop to his shoes.

♡ where did this come from?

♡ it made his stomach churn.

♡ all he did was love you. how would that garner such anger?

♡ the fantasy of how this would play out began to tear at the seams.

♡ he knew that you had no pity or love for him, in that second.

♡ he didn't understand how this could've started off so poorly, but he knew that he needed to get out what he needed to say now.

♡ "wait, wait, please!" he begged. "please, i just need you to listen to me!"

♡ your face shifted into something uncomfortable, like you were watching a bug, and he felt so...small.

♡ why did you feel this way about him? what did he do wrong?

♡ he wanted to crawl into a hole and die, just from the sheer pity and disgust of your gaze alone.

♡ you crossed your arms.

♡ "then talk."

♡ he immediately been pooling out his confession, stuttering and stumbling over his own words and embarrassment.

♡ he could barely hear what he was saying, let alone you possibly understanding it.

♡ he was functioning purely off of fear now, ready to sob and beg to whatever higher power that he had a chance.

♡ you put your hand up. "i don't understand gibberish."

♡ the force with which Leon's jaw clamped shut was biblical.

♡ he felt like a puppy who'd been chastised, wanting nothing more than to please you, to make you happy.

♡ his brain ran completely blank. he didn't what to say, what to do, how to fix this.

♡ wait! the flashcards!

♡ he began fumbling into his pockets, yanking out the flashcards. but some fell out of his hands, some were upside down, and others were smudged.

♡ it felt like the world was ending.

♡ you were watching him, and the sheer humiliation of it all felt like his entire existence was for naught.

♡ no, no. he couldn't give up. you gave him a chance, and if he blew it, he'd never forgive himself.

♡ he had this one opportunity.

♡ he stared up at you, at how you towered over him while he was sitting. you were so...perfect. how could he compare?

♡ he took a deep breath. he needed to calm down. calm...

♡ and he knew what he had to do.

♡ "i love you!"

♡ he was sure that his honesty would win you over, would bring back your love for him.

♡ but you raised an eyebrow, and he could only stare in horror.

♡ "and why does that warrant you breaking in?"

♡ your line of questioning made his heart fall into the earth's crust.

♡ he could only gape for a second, trying to realise just where along the line this went so wrong.

♡ it totally wasn't when he barricaded you in with him, right?

♡ "i...i needed to talk to you. and you've been avoiding me, so..."

♡ your frown was worse than any kind of possible nightmare he could have.

♡ "and how does that translate into you harassing me? stalking me? scaring the hell out of me?"

♡ the guilt was eating him alive. he absolutely, totally, completely went about this the wrong way, and now he's paying for it.

♡ you get up to move, and instantly, he knew it was now or never.

♡ if he let you get any further away, then he'd be giving up.

♡ he made an unceremonious dive for your legs, praying and sobbing against everything that you wouldn't just kick him in the shins.

Leon looked up at you, at how your face contorted into confused disgust. You looked at him as though he were nothing more than the dirt under your feet. And he hated to admit just how much he liked it. You were looking at him. It was everything. The smell of you overwhelmed him, eyes wide and a flush on his cheeks.

"Please! Please don't!" He hated just how much this made his heart thunder in his chest. You were looking at him. All he wanted was your eyes on him, all the time. If you looked away, he'd just...die. It'd be all over. Look at him, every day, please? "If you leave, I'll die! My heart would just stop beating! I can't live without you! You're everything to me! You're my world, and-! Please!"

You looked at him, scanning over his face as your nose scrunched up. Your mouth was slightly askew, tired from your work and from Leon...and you were perfect. Tears came to his eyes from just how overwhelming the entire situation was. This was the closest he'd been to you since you let him sleep in your bed. He knew he needed you to move, to get away from anywhere away from him.

He stood, gently tracing his hand up your body as he began to lead you back to the couch. Your movements were so slow, so uncertain...but that was alright. This was all about you and ensuring your own sense.

He had to come clean.

♡ he confessed to having known you on the internet, even back then.

♡ the look on your face was...something. you didn't seem as surprised as he thought you would be.

♡ he confessed to having come into your home before. he admitted to snagging some of his own prizes, to indulging a bit. he admitted to making sure you got home safe, in his own way.

♡ there was a lot he confessed, but he didn't particularly care or mind.

♡ he could see you think, could see your opinion shift in and out as he spoke.

♡ he wasn't sure what all your thoughts were. but you didn't look at him with disgust anymore.

♡ it leaned more towards pity, truthfully, but he certainly didn't mind.

♡ you didn't hate him anymore.

♡ this had gone the absolute best way possible.

Leon kept on talking, praying that the more he did, the more likely you were to love him back. To give him the dedication he gave you. All he ever wanted was you. If you'd feed him even a sliver of that...he'd be happy beyond belief.

"I've loved you for...god, so long now. It's been months, I think. You were always just so nice, even to people you didn't know, you know?" He played with his hands, hoping that you'd take what he said to heart. "Back on the forum, I didn't like that you were trying to help everyone by yourself. And you were always so sweet when you responded to me. It felt like I knew you my entire life. The people from Raccoon City, the people that know what happened...it's really a world of it's own."

The memories of what had happened, those he met. Those he left behind. Marvin. Ada. Those that he failed. There was nothing that could even come close, Leon was sure of that.

"Trying to save those two...I never said their names, did I? Sherry and Claire. Sherry was maybe ten, I think. She was under my care for a while, and I saw how the outbreak was scary. Caring for someone like that is scary. And you were trying to do it for so many people. I wanted to help you."

"You know stalking someone is scary?" You looked up at him with those pretty eyes, but your voice was gentle now. Sweet, succulent, worried. He cast his head down in shame.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. "I'm sorry."

"When you sent those messages, I was scared shitless, Leon." Your voice was firm, but quiet, trying to get the point across. "I thought you were going to kill me or kidnap me or something."

"Never!" Leon's heart leapt back to his throat at the idea. He'd rather die than any harm come to you, at all, ever. "I'd never do that! Swear to god! I wouldn't ever hurt you! I just-! I was scared. Scared that you hurt yourself, or something. I wanted to respect your privacy for as long as possible, but...I really wasn't sure what happened."

You stayed quiet, and the fear of you getting mad again began to well up.

"And I love you. I really do." Leon bit his lip, trying not to cry again. "I know I didn't really talk about my family."

"Mhm." Your eyes flicked across his face, he saw, and he couldn't help the flush. "You knew all about mine."

"I'm sorry."

"Your family?"

"They're...well, my parents died when I was a kid. And a cop took me in. And there was a lot of people liked me when I was a teenager for my looks, and it really messed me up. Literally right before the outbreak, I had just broken up with my girlfriend."

You raised an eyebrow and Leon faltered. Maybe you were the jealous type. Maybe you didn't like that he had a girlfriend.

"Am I a rebound or something?"

"No! No! I didn't mean it like that!" Leon felt like shrieking, trying to temper his voice but horrified at the idea that you'd think you were a rebound. His ex couldn't possibly begin to compare to you, in your divine glory. "She didn't really seem to love me, and I wanted someone who wanted more than just a guy who was nice-looking. And you were nice to me when you didn't even know who I was. And you were nice to me at the bakery, and during the power outage, and it was just a lot."

A lot. That was one way to put it.

You finally spoke, and your hands reached forward a bit to actually hold Leon's. He gave a stuttering gasp, and his eyes went wide. You were touching him. He wasn't forcing it. He wasn't reaching over for you. It was you. All you. You wanted to touch him. You wanted to hold his hand. You wanted him! You wanted him!!

"What do you want out of this?"

"What?" He had to snap out of the haze of you holding his hand, tilting his head. "What?"

"You came in today hoping for an outcome." Your words were stiff, almost practiced. "What's that outcome? The best case scenario?"

Leon went still. What did he want? The best outcome was that the two of you would date, be wed, have a house, share insurance, get two cars, and Leon would come home to you, and...well. Maybe capping it at marriage was the smart idea.

"I want to marry you."

"No."

"Okay." He gave a bitter chuckle at your quick response, face falling with a wince. That was...to be expected. Of course you'd say no. You were the practical type.

"However."

"However?!" He gasped, lighting back up again. However what! He felt like a dog, with someone opening a bag of treats.

"I'm open to dating-"

Yes!!!

God loved Leon. He was the world's favourite person. He was the luckiest man to breathe. The possibility that you would even entertain the thought of dating him was everything. He could touch you. Hug you. Kiss you! Hold you! Hug you! He thought of hugging twice, but the idea was just too good to pass up. He scooped you up into his arms, cheering as calmly as he possibly could.

"I'll be the best boyfriend ever, I promise! I'll do everything for you, I'll move in right away-or you can move in with me! We'll figure it out! I love you! I'm so excited! This is the best day of my life! I love you so much!"

"L-Leon!" You gasped, trying to get some words out past his bear hug. "On some conditions!"

Leon let you go, keeping his hands on your arms. His grin was like the sun opening up. If you asked him for the moon on a ring, he'd like the band with the stars and forge it all with the sun and make metal out of the night sky. He'd do anything.

"Of course! Anything!"

"One-don't threaten Selia."

"Who?" He paused. He knew only of a handful of people, but Selia wasn't a name he recalled.

"My coworker?" At your words, Leon's eyes went wide, with a 'ooohhh'. "I, believe or not, like hanging out with her."

"Okay." Leon nodded.

"Stop stealing my stuff. Ask first."

"Sounds good!"

"And just walk me home. Don't stalk me."

"I mean, I was doing that before..."

"Don't sass me."

"You're the boss!" Leon leaned down to kiss you, the joy in his heart about to make him combust. If he was going to die of joy, he wanted to sneak a kiss in first, so he can say he had the single greatest experience mankind could possibly achieve. But when he closed his eyes, he felt something that wasn't quite your soft lips. It was the palm of your hand, a bit sweaty against his mouth. He opened his eyes, blinking fast and still on top of the world.

"Mmh mmh? (Too soon?)"

"Yes, Leon. Too soon."

𓂋

ʚ♡ɞ taglist @theybotomy ⸜❤︎⸝‍ @kujosuke ⸜❤︎⸝‍  @je-suis-argent-miel  ⸜❤︎⸝‍ @xxacademy ⸜❤︎⸝‍ @apollodarling-writes  ⸜❤︎⸝‍  @gettingsilly ⸜❤︎⸝‍ @yumekos-gamble

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Aaron Rupar and Stephen Robinson at Public Notice:

By Stephen Robinson

Donald Trump has downplayed the $130,000 hush payment made on his behalf to adult film performer Stormy Daniels as a “simple private transaction.” In reality, it may have changed the course of US history. Trump, of course, is now on trial in New York for charges related to the October 2016 payoff, including falsifying business records with an intent to unlawfully influence an election. Arguably, the New York indictment is the least headline-grabbing of the four he faces, in part because the hush money scheme pales in comparison with stealing classified documents, inciting an insurrection, or trying to overturn an election. Politically, however, it can’t be overstated just how large a role the Daniels payment played in helping Trump squeak his way into the White House. Instead of getting lost in the legal weeds, it’s important to take a step back and examine the context surrounding the payoff and why it was an existential matter for Trump in the weeks leading up to his victory in November 2016.

Why Trump desperately needed to hush Daniels

About a month out from election day 2016, the Trump campaign was on the ropes. The infamous Access Hollywood tape that showed Trump boasting about groping women in September 2005 was the ultimate October surprise. In the wake of its release on October 7, a number of prominent Republicans withdrew their support, and swing state voters were abandoning him in droves. Days before the tape’s release, Trump had a narrow one-point lead in Wisconsin among likely voters. The first polling conducted after the poll’s release showed Hillary Clinton ahead by six points, and by October 10, her lead had grown to 19 points.

CNN’s Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake wrote on October 11 that “the 2016 electoral map is rapidly slipping away from Donald Trump.” Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania were all “lean Democrat,” and Florida, Ohio, and North Carolina were tossups. Cillizza and Blake estimated that “if the election were held today, Hillary Clinton would win 341 electoral votes to Donald Trump's 197.” Unfortunately for us all, the election wasn’t held on October 11, and less than a month later, Trump would sweep all six of those states. This improbable comeback is usually linked to FBI Director James Comey’s October 28 letter that publicly announced the FBI had “learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation” into Clinton’s private email server use. The emails were only tangentially related to the FBI’s investigation into Anthony Weiner’s illicit text messages to a 15-year-old North Carolina girl, but this added an extra salacious element to the story, which soon appeared on the front page of the New York Times and dominated the news cycle.

Behind the scenes of the Daniels payoff

The Daniels affair wasn’t the only extramarital tryst Trump was trying to keep under wraps in the months before the 2016 election. In June 2016, a month before the Republican National Convention, Karen McDougal, an actress and former Playboy model, tried to sell her story about an alleged affair she had with Trump from 2006 to April 2007. (Trump married Melania in 2005 and their son Barron was born in March 2006.) The National Enquirer secured the rights to McDougal’s account for $150,000 but had no intention of publishing the story. National Enquirer publisher David Pecker confirmed last week during his testimony in Trump’s criminal trial that this “catch and kill” tactic was specifically done to benefit Trump’s campaign, bolstering federal prosecutors’ case that the McDougal deal was meant "to suppress [her] story so as to prevent it from influencing the election."

But with Trump’s campaign on the ropes in the wake of the Access Hollywood bombshell, Daniels became an urgent concern. She told National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard on October 8 that she was willing to go on the record about her alleged affair. This was the day after the Access Hollywood tape’s release, so the timing of a new scandal about Trump having an affair with an adult film actress might have been fatal to his political hopes. Trump was spinning the Access Hollywood recording as merely “locker room talk” — not something he’d actually do in real life — but Daniels, like McDougal, claimed that Trump cheated on his wife who’d given birth to their son just a few months earlier. This revelation that Trump was cheating not only on his wife but on his mistress with an adult film actress would have solidified Trump’s sleazeball image with the undecided voters he needed to swing his way.

[...] Republicans and right-wing media have spent the past three years whining that suppression of the New York Post’s “blockbuster Hunter Biden laptop story” cost Trump the 2020 election. The utterly shameless Rep. Elise Stefanik claimed at a House select subcommittee hearing last year that “according to polling, of the people who were made aware of the Hunter Biden laptop story, 53 percent would have changed their vote, including 61 percent of Democrats. This is the definition of election meddling … it’s collusion, it’s corruption, and it’s unconstitutional.” It’s also a blatant lie, as PolitiFact gave Stefanik’s statement a “false” rating.

In the immediate aftermath of the release of the 2005 Access Hollywood tape in which Donald Trump infamously was caught bragging about sexual assault, Stormy Daniels sought to tell her story to the National Enquirer… only for them to kill it from being publicized.

Had that fact been publicized before the voters in 2016, it would have been a fatal blow to the Trump campaign. Alas, that didn’t happen, and Trump won in 2016.

[grrlscientist]

creepy illegal alien Elon Musk apparently is Trump's new First Lady

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

Books by BIPOC Authors August 2023

🦇 I grew up surrounded by a melting pot of cultures, diverse communities, and unique experiences. Despite the different sources of those multicultural voices, their stories still covered universal topics of colonialism, migration, identity, and race. Each story was another flavor, another sweet spice adding to that melting pot. Today, we have books by BIPOC authors that put those unique voices to the page. If you're interested in traveling to different worlds, whether familiar or foreign, here are a few books by BIPOC authors to add to your TBR! 🦇

✨ Tomb Sweeping by Alexandra Chang ✨ The Dark Place by Britney S. Lewis ✨ Forged by Blood by Ehigbor Okuson ✨ Accidentally in Love by Danielle Jackson ✨ A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power ✨ Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel, translated by Rosalind Harvey ✨ The Injustice of Place: Uncovering the Legacy of Poverty in America by Kathryn J. Edin, H. Luke Shaefer, Timothy J. Nelson ✨ Hangman by Maya Binyam ✨ The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Historical Fiction) ✨ Under the Tamarind Tree by Nigar Alam ✨ Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas ✨ An American Immigrant by Johanna Rojas Vann

🧭 Forgive Me Not by Jennifer Baker 🧭 Two Tribes by Emily Bowen Cohen 🧭 A Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey from the Street to the Stars by Hakeem Oluseyi and Joshua Horwitz 🧭 Writing in Color: Fourteen Writers on the Lessons We've Learned (edited by) Nafiza Azad and Melody Simpson 🧭 Ghost Book by Remy Lai 🧭 The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang 🧭 Plantains and Our Becoming by Melania Luisa Marte 🧭 Forty Words for Love by Aisha Saeed 🧭 The Great White Bard: How to Love Shakespeare While Talking About Race by Farah Karim-Cooper 🧭 Take the Long Way Home by Rochelle Alers 🧭 Swim Home to the Vanished by Brendan Shay Basham 🧭 Actually Super by Adi Alsaid

✨ Never a Hero by Vanessa Len ✨ I Fed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me by Jamison Shea ✨ The Infinity Particle by Wendy Xu ✨ Night of the Living Queers, edited by Shelly Page ✨ Sign of the Slayer by Sharina Harris ✨ Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim ✨ My Father the Panda Killer by Jamie Jo Hoang ✨ Barely Floating by Lilliam Rivera ✨Happiness Falls by Angie Kim ✨ A Tall Dark Trouble by Vanessa Montalban ✨ Neverwraith by Shakir Rashaan ✨ House of Marionne by J. Elle

[gettingintoknives]

to do this weekend

-clean panko and trowel

-clean mick, miquella, and melania

-clean amber lue and palamedes

-clean gallium and argon

-wash my sheets

-clean my bedroom (sweep and dust esp under the radiators)

-put my laundry away

[nationalpolitic]

Melania Trump Defends Abortion Rights in New Statement

Former First Lady Melania Trump has reinforced her stance on abortion rights, delivering a firm defense of women’s reproductive freedoms. In a recent video shared on social media, Trump called the right to choose “an essential liberty,” echoing the central theme of her upcoming memoir, Melania. This position directly contrasts with that of her husband, Donald Trump, and the broader Republican Party, both of which have consistently pushed for stricter abortion regulations. “Individual freedom is a fundamental principle that I safeguard,” Melania stated in the video, which was accompanied by classical music. She further emphasized, “There is no room for compromise when it comes to this essential right that all women possess from birth.” These remarks highlight her belief in personal autonomy over reproductive decisions and the importance of safeguarding such rights against government interference. Melania’s upcoming memoir elaborates on these views. In one section, she asserts, “Women should have full authority over their own bodies and be free from any external pressure when deciding whether to have children.” She also stresses that restricting abortion access is tantamount to denying a woman control over her own life, a belief she has held since her early adulthood. The timing of her remarks has garnered widespread attention, as it comes just weeks before the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Donald Trump’s role in overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, after appointing three conservative justices, has been a focal point in the ongoing national debate over reproductive rights. With Republican-backed abortion bans sweeping various states, Trump’s record has sparked controversy and energized Democratic voters. While Donald Trump acknowledged his wife’s right to express her opinions, his stance remains firm. During a rally in Michigan, he remarked, “We spoke about it, and I told her, ‘You have to write what you believe.’” He emphasized that while he respects Melania’s views, he is committed to his platform. The clash between the Trumps has drawn responses from both sides of the political spectrum. Kamala Harris’s spokesperson, Sarafina Chitika, responded by stating, “Mrs. Trump’s defense of abortion rights is commendable, but her husband’s actions continue to endanger the health and freedoms of women across America.” As the election nears, Melania Trump’s outspoken support for abortion rights has injected a new dynamic into the ongoing debate over women’s reproductive freedoms, positioning her as a vocal advocate for personal liberty. Read the full article

[greenlabcoat]

sweeped up enough scadutree fragments to get up to 17, made some build changes and cleaned up the final boss. wasnt keeping track, but i believe it took me than 30 attempts total, and less than 15 attempts after i optimized for the fight.

definitely not as bad as melania, not even close. it can feel like bullshit, but at least your damage sticks and waterfowl dance isnt a thing. my winning run ended with 5 extra flasks even. my opinion on the dlc is unchanged overall!

my cringe Shadow the Erdtree opinion having just reached the final boss, which im now putting off to get more fragments; its... fine. honestly kinda disappointing IN COMPARISON to the base game. things felt a bit more empty and bland, and while the density of bosses was nice, the enemy variety left something to be desired imo. i wasnt exactly a lore understander of the base game, but it flowed well enough that i generally felt like i sorta got it, in SOTE i had absolutely no fucking idea what was happening the entire time. chalk that up to me if you want, but it did not feel well explained at all. Oh and personally none of the Rememberances options really appealed to me, so that felt lame.

Overall? I'd say 7/10. Pretty good, but lacking compared to the base game.

[bryceslahela]

a list of absolutely wild shit thats happened in 2020 so far that’ll go down in history (in no particular order):

• australian bush fires.

• coronavirus global outbreak.

• harry and meghan leaving the royal family.

• renowned guitarist eddie van halen’s death.

• trump, melania, boris johnson and multiple other public figures getting coronavirus.

• the uk finally leaving the eu.

• donald trump being impeached.

• murder hornets.

• teenage singer billie eilish sweeping the 2020 grammys, one of the youngest to do so.

• legendary basketballer, kobe bryant’s death.

• murder of iranian general, qassem soleimani due to a drone strike ordered by donald trump, which led to fears of ww3 breaking out.

• harvey weinstein’s guilty verdict.

• elon musk and grimes name their son X AE A-12.

• poland accidentally invaded the czech republic.

• parasite, directed by bong joon ho, sweeped the oscars. the first non-english speaking film to do so.

• black lives matter protests sweeped the world, after the deaths of george floyd and breonna taylor.

• kim jong un death rumours.

• the twitter accounts of multiple prominent public figures were hacked, including kanye west, joe biden, elon musk and bill gates, as a part of a bitcoin scam.

• historic civil rights figure john lewis’s death.

• the massive explosion in lebanon’s capital of beirut that killed at least 190 people and injured thousands of others.

• inspirational actor chadwick boseman’s death.

• california’s deadly wildfires.

• a coronavirus recession similar to the great depression.

• famous actress naya rivera’s death.

• iconic supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg’s death.

• trump suggesting ‘injecting bleach’ as a coronavirus cure.

• nigeria’s sars riots.

• riots in delhi over citizenship amendment act.

• putin allegedly resigning.

• fan favourite ship destiel being confirmed.

and 2020 is still not finished! 😭

[giuliafc]

Betrayal -- Chapter 19 and 19bis: Inside the Mind of a Criminal (snippet dal 30) + Pigella (LadyNoir July day 30)

<< 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 – 13 – 14 – 15 – 16 – 17 – 18 -- 19: Ao3 || FFN – 19 bis: Ao3 || FFN -- 20 >>

Betrayal Chapter 19: Inside the Mind of a Criminal

Written by: JuliaFC

Beta: Agrestebug and MyImaginationFlows

Summary: We learn the background story of Lila's father, Richard Sphinx, the new Papillon, and how he's going to be much, much worse than the first one...

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by (c) Thomas Astruc, TS1 Bouygues, Disney Channel, Zagtoon, Toei Animation. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

TW: mention of extreme manipulative and obsessive behaviour and cruelty against family

Written for the "Snippet July" challenge of the Miraculous Fanworks Discord server @miraculousfanworks

oOoOoOoOoOo

"Well done, Lila. Now head back to the monk and get his staff. If there are more jewels like these, we need to get our hands on them!" Richard sat at the desk of his office, staring at the nothing in front of him. His elbows pinned on the wood of the desk, his face resting on the length of his hands. His body was wrapped in a purple and grey suit and a grey mask covered his face, making his green eyes shine.

Briefly, he broke contact with Lila's akuma and stood up; he slowly paced the room to the fireplace. His gloved hand picking up a photograph on the mantle, portraying a woman with short brown hair wrapped in an elegant blue tailleur.

He still remembered the day he'd met Melania, Lila's mother. She was a petite Italian lady who exuded elegance and genuineness at a celebrity party. She looked so out of place, and her cheerful smile was like a breath of fresh air in the hypocrite atmosphere of the ball room. He still remembered his burning passion, how much he'd wanted her—her and all she represented. She was the daughter of a rich Italian family of ambassadors, with excellent connections all over the diplomatic world he wanted to be part of. When his charming politeness managed to raise her interest, he thought he'd hit the jackpot.

Their story had been short but intense, their relationship the final tassel in the puzzle that brought him to the limelight. Before their engagement of 5 years ended, FERG, his company, was quoted in the stock exchange. Quickly rising to be one of the top companies in the market.

Everything was perfect. Then, Melania fell pregnant and had her baby. For reasons that Richard couldn't understand, she somehow started distancing her husband — him. He suspected that the accusations of him having committed several cases of fraud, and having caused several suicides, may have been part of it. But Richard had done it for her. Nobody else was important in his mind. He had to protect his family. He had to protect the people who mattered for him. How could Melania not see that?

"You're a heartless monster!" she accused him instead, when she tried to leave him and go stay with a friend; but he found her almost immediately and locked her up in her room.

The more he clenched his grip on Melania, the more the woman became distant, almost terrified. Eventually, she dared to ask for divorce and deny him the rights to see his daughter.

"His obsessive behaviour is harming me and my daughter! I'm afraid for our safety, Your Honour," she told the judge. "Only the money is important to Richard! He puts his company before the safety of his family."

Needless to say, she won the case. Since then, she kept as far away as possible and had tried to keep Lila away from him too. She had changed her surname to the plain Rossi, and changed her job many times. Until Lila was old enough to make her own decisions, she succeeded at keeping him away.

But Lila was a clever girl. Her thirst for power and her quest for attention were second to him. She knew what was important in life, that power and money were the only things that mattered. As soon as she had gained the use of a mobile phone, she contacted him (lying to her mother). They had been plotting against Melania ever since.

Now it was their time to obtain their aim. When Papillon trusted Lila to be his second in charge, Richard advised his daughter to gain as much information as she could about those powerful jewels that gave him power. Now all that hard work was paying off.

He squeezed Melania's photo in his hands, breaking the frame with his strong hold. How dare she run away from him? How dare she disregard his burning passion?

"You don't love me, you think you own me," shouted Melania when she left him, taking away his only daughter with her. "I don't want you to be a bad influence on our daughter. You terrify me."

How dare she. She was his wife, his other half, his property.

"You're mine. MINE. No judge can take you away from me."

He stared in a daze at the blood flowing from his gloved hands, where the shattered glass of the photo frame had pierced the skin underneath the suit. His eyes gleamed of madness. "I will be victorious. I will get the Miraculous of Ladybug and Chat Noir. And when I have the most powerful jewels in the world, you will come back. You will love me again. If you won't, I’ll force you to."

oOoOoOoOoOo

Gabriel closed his eyes as he placed a single red rose between Emilie's palms and squeezed her hands gently before closing the glass cover of her coffin one last time. He rested his hand on the glassy surface for an endless moment; the hand of Lieutenant Raincomprix falling on his arm way too soon for his tastes. He sighed and gave one last glance at the peaceful face of his sleeping wife.

"It's time to go, M. Agreste. Mlle. Sancoeur," said the officer.

They had spent a long time talking to SentiAdrien in Adrien's room. The boy had confirmed most of the wrongdoings that his teachers and friends had accused Gabriel and Nathalie of, and had pleaded completely non guilty regarding any involvement in his father's terrorist activities.. M. Raincomprix had decided to be safe, and was arresting both Gabriel and Nathalie.

"Mlle. Sancoeur will most likely be released when the heroes witness her double agenting, but better safe than sorry," said Raincomprix.

Gabriel glared at him as the officer moved his and Nathalie's hands behind their back and handcuffed them. He shot one last, languid glance at the blonde figure in the coffin, before having to follow Raincomprix and walk away.

To be continued… Day 30.2 — Bonus chapter

30.2 - Betrayal Chapter 19 bis: Pigella

Written by: JuliaFC

Beta: Agrestebug and MyImaginationFlows

Summary: Ladybug struggles to understand how to win against the vacuum akuma, but Volpina has to eventually face (temporary) defeat. (1687 words)

Written for the LadyNoir July @ladynoirjuly Day 30 — Rose.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"Hey, Vacuum Lady, Aren't you tired of collecting dirt?" shouted Chat Noir as he used his baton to propel himself up. He smirked and added, "Probably not, since you've got Volpina with you. She's the biggest piece of dirt in existence!"

"How dare you," hissed Volpina and the Vacuum akuma at the same time before they both followed Chat Noir out of the way.

Ladybug gazed at the two akumas following her partner gratefully; then she put her hands to her temples and closed her eyes shut to concentrate. She picked up her communicator and dialled Alya's number.

"What's the plan, Ladybug? I saw Chat Noir jumping away with the akumas, I thought he may be trying to distract them."

"You were correct. Listen, Alya, I need you to use the water dragon. Water passes through surfaces so you will reach me in no time," whispered Ladybug to her Bugphone.

Alya smirked. "Right-o, I'm on it!"

Just seconds after their conversation, Ladybug saw water seeping through the barrier of books that towered in front of her. And, in a whirl of magic, Dragonbee Alya appeared in front of her. She wore a red outfit with the symbol of the dragon at the centre of her chest and curvy golden lines separated the red from sections of gold and black stripes. Her hair was combed in a twirly ponytail that looked like the sting of a bee. Ladybug didn't waste time and picked up her phone again, dialling Chat Noir's number this time.

"Chat, bring your whiskers back here immediately, before your transformation wears out!" she said before he could even say meow. With a gracious jump, her partner was again by her side seconds later.

"M'lady called?" he asked with a little smirk that Ladybug would have loved to take off his face with a kiss, but she knew perfectly well it wasn't the right moment.

"Alya, Chat and I’s timers are running out, we must be quick. Use the wind dragon and swoop us out of this alley and back on a rooftop."

Alya's eyes gleamed. "As you wish, Ladybug. Wind dragon!" Ladybug and Chat Noir were wrapped in a current of wind and next thing they knew, they were on a rooftop next to Nino (or rather, Thueban Jameel (1), as he has called himself), far away from the Library Maze but still keeping it in sight. The two heroes hid behind a chimney to release their transformation and feed their kwami without being spied on, and in no time they were up and running again.

"Okay now…before the akumas find us and we get stuck into that maze again. Lucky Charm!" called Ladybug. A red and black polka dotted single rose fell into her hands. "What?" she muttered, scratching her head.

"Are we going to declare our love to a vacuum cleaner?" was Chat Noir's snarky comment. But before Ladybug could say anything, the rooftop they were standing on disappeared and they all fell on the ground, facing yet another massive wall of books.

"Shoot! Here we are again…" cursed Ladybug.

The vacuum akuma reached them as well. "There you are, you fools. Did you really think you could escape? What a bunch of idiots! Tricksters, like that thief. I'll sweep you all away from existence. I wish I didn't always try to help people. I wish my heart hadn't been so kind. I'll take all the tricksters away, so maybe my boss will forgive me. I need my job!"

The four superheroes had to forcefully separate again trying to escape from the strength of the vacuum's sucking power. Before jumping off, Ladybug took a good look at the akuma and noticed that the akumatised object must be a book, which the victim was holding in her hand to create the vortex of sucking power.

Something in what the akuma had said was nagging at Ladybug. As she ran to hide from the vacuum, she went back to what the akuma had previously said: someone had stolen a book from her library and she was upset about it.

"What do you mean by trickster?" she asked when the akuma reached her once more.

A smirk popped on the victim's face. "That liar tricked me. He told me a sappy story about his family and convinced me to lend him the book without opening an account, but in the name of someone else. He promised me he was going to bring the book back in a couple of days. I'm too nice, too gullible. I wish all the tricksters would disappear!"

Ladybug's gaze fell on her lucky charm and her eyes widened. OF COURSE! How could she be that stupid to not realise before? She unified Kaalki and Tikki, becoming Pegabug. Then, with a smirk on her lips, she called for a 'Voyage' and jumped out of the maze, stepping inside the Couffaine's boat.

"Ladybug? Is there something wrong?" said Rose. That was a strike of luck: Rose was in Juleka's room, but her girlfriend was nowhere to be seen. "Jules is in the bathroom, if you're looking for her," added Rose when she noticed that Ladybug's gaze had darted around the room.

"No, I was looking for you, actually." She opened her yoyo and took out a pearl anklet. "Rose Lavillant, this is the Miraculous of the Pig. I need Pigella's help to win against this akuma."

Rose grabbed the anklet and put it on, allowing Daizzi to come out in a buzz of magic. "I still can't believe how cute you are," said Rose when she looked at the little kwami. Then, she muttered the transformation phrase and changed into Pigella.

It didn't take long for Pegabug and Pigella to find the vacuum akuma again, just in time to see Chat Noir being sucked in the vacuum when he got distracted by their arrival. The sound of Ladybug's scream echoed in the empty alley of books.

"You've got another one with you, Ladybug? I'll suck her in too!" drawled the akuma victim. But Pigella's gaze had a determined gleam.

"Why is your heart so full of sorrow? You should rejoice and be happy!" said Pigella with the sweetest of smiles on her face.

"Don't get close to me! I'm going to suck you in!" warned the akuma, but Pigella didn't just get close to her. She hugged her. The akuma was so baffled that she got petrified on the spot.

"Gift," murmured the pink superheroine and in a flash of light, a beautiful scene appeared in between the two girls, picturing a room full of books and everyone loving each other and being nice and friendly with each other. The akuma victim had tears in her eyes.

"Why are people so nasty? Why do people do wrong things, like lying or stealing? I want everyone to be happy!" The akuma leaned in Pigella's embrace and hugged her back, dropping the book that created the vacuum in the process. As soon as the akuma's grip on the book weakened, Ladybug caught it. She broke the book to release the butterfly, which she hastily captured, cleansed and released.

"Bye bye, little butterfly," said Ladybug as the white insect flew away in the sky. Then she picked up the lucky charm and threw it in the air, releasing the kaleidoscope of ladybugs. The instant Chat Noir reappeared, she was in his arms.

"I'm purr-fectly okay, M'lady," said the feline but this didn't stop the polka-dotted heroine from crying.

"Why do you always die for me? I don't want you to do that anymore!"

Chat Noir smiled softly as he hugged her tight, then he broke the hug to wipe her eyes and stroke her cheek. "I'm sorry, ma Buginette. I'll try to pay more attention, okay?"

"This new Papillon seems very dangerous, especially because he has a cunning fox like Volpina at his side. We need to pay even more attention than before!" said Ladybug as she hugged him again. He patted his hand on her back, gently drawing circles on the material of her suit.

"I'll be okay, as long as I'm with you," murmured Chat Noir into her ear.

oOoOoOoOoOo

"I'm very disappointed, Volpina." Richard's voice was tense as he spoke through the ethereal connection of the butterfly. "We were so close to achieving our goal, and now we have to start all over again! I've no time for losers!"

Far away on a rooftop, Volpina lowered her head and closed her eyes, clenching her fists. "I'm sorry, Father! I still have my Miraculous though, and the akuma."

She groaned thinking back at how Pegabug had immediately found the tracker she'd put on Su-Han's bag. She had completely underestimated how strong and skilled the monk was, and she hadn't been able to steal his staff. Besides, Su-Han seemed to have the annoying ability to see through her Illusions, which she really didn't expect.

"I will come up with a new plan to submit to you, Father, don't worry!" she said, seething in a low growl.

Richard's stern expression didn't soften. "You better. Did you get Melania to sign the document I gave you?"

Volpina took a paper from her pocket and looked at it carefully. It was a request to cease school and start homeschooling, signed by her mother. It had taken her much more than just a trick to obtain her mother to scribble her signature without noticing what it was all about. "I have it here. I told her that the school will be closed because of all the attacks and that I would stay with a friend of mine for some time." Pain flashed through her eyes as she added, "I doubt she would have noticed anyway, as busy as she is with work."

Richard smirked, hearing the hurt in Volpina's voice. "Worry not, my daughter. When we make the Wish, she will have all the time in the world to dedicate herself exclusively to us." His smirk widened when he felt the strength of her emotions. "Together we will succeed."

He cackled, and from her rooftop, Volpina sneered.

To be Continued… Day 31

Notes:

Thueban Jameel: "Beautiful Snake", from the Arabic for beautiful, "Jameel" (جميل) and the Arabic for snake, "Thueban" (ثعبان). (Thank you so much to my Beta, MyImaginationFlows, for her assistance with Arabic!) The peacock is the symbol of beauty, so I thought it would fit.

Author's Note

Hey! Here it is, this is a bonus chapter I had to write because the snippets didn't give me enough space to wrap up the battle and all loose ends. It's a second part for chapter 19, based on the LadyNoir prompt for day 30, "Rose". Let me know what you think of it.

I hope you will like it anyway and will leave me a comment. You know that comments are my bread and butter!

You're lucky today because you're getting even the epilogue and the end of the story. So… until I finish updating that, a temporary 'bug out'!

[burricane]

in ten years there will be a show called “the wall” and it will be about the trump family and their u.s presidency. people will be posting shipping gif sets of donald and melania. there will be a ravid group of stans dedicated to “tortured sad boy” eric. it will sweep the golden globes. mel gibson will play donald trump.

[aliensandartifacts]

The night was pitch black. No stars shone in the moonless sky. Humidity made the early summer, Louisiana heat feel oppressive if the breeze stopped for more than a second. All of the windows of the manor house on the Darrow estate were thrown open. Besides the cutting edge security system, there were guards that would eliminate any threat larger than the mosquitoes that buzzed thick in the Louisiana night. Ceiling fans lazily spun, their motors adding a gentle hum to the night air. It was quiet, almost too quiet, and that had many of those who were still awake on edge. Since returning to Louisiana, things had gone smoothly without even the slightest bump when it came to putting life back in order. Not everyone was reassured by this.

Hours before, Mel had retired up to her room to try to sleep. With her position secured back at LSU, she had been going through old boxes and crates in the attic in recent days to determine if there was anything that she wanted to take with her to put in her office. There were things up there from her “father” and Ambrose. So far nothing had been found that she wanted as a reminder of either of them. Pleasant memories were few and far between to begin with, even more so after the past year’s events.

There were six bedrooms on the top floor of the manor house. The house faced South towards the Mississippi River, and Mel had the bedroom on the South-West corner of the house. Francois had the room directly across the hall from her. To the north of her room was Dontanion with Alexander across from him. Next to Dontanion was Cade and Gabe was across from him. While it might seem counter-intuitive to have her two bodyguards the farthest from her, all of the men on that floor were equally lethal and it was a rare thing for Cade and Gabe to both be asleep at the same time, and for there not to be someone else awake if they were.

A soft breeze blew through Mel’s room. The fine mesh mosquito netting over the french doors to the second level veranda that wrapped around the house didn’t hamper it at all. The intricate Scottish lace curtains of the room softly rustled against the polished wood floors, barely making a whisper. The loudest sound in the room was the echo of the frogs that were calling to one another out in the side garden fountain. Even Mel’s shallow breaths in sleep were quiet as she wrestled with some dream. The only indication that her sleep was haunted by something unpleasant was the furrowing of her brow and the clenching of her fists in the white sheets around her.

Deep male voices echoed in the dark of her mind. Voices of those who no longer walked the earthly plane and inhabited corporal forms. Now they could only torture an torment Mel in her dreams. They truly could not even do that, for their souls had been banished to places where they could no longer harm any of the living. All that haunted Mel were the memories of what had happened in the Caribbean and different variations of the situations that had unfolded there. As real and contrived events played out behind closed eyelids Mel’s mind blended reality and the dream world.

The house was falling into silence as the LaVeau brothers and the other men were retiring to their own for the night. Cade was a straggler, reclining on the couch that separated Mel and Dontanion’s rooms, reading his Kindle. Marie had retired a few hours earlier to her bedroom that was the only one on the main floor of the large manor house. There were a few other relatives that were staying in guest cabins that were located on the property. Guards had melted back into the shadows, becoming as invisible as they were silent. Then there were the mystical protections that were invisible by their very nature, except by those blessed by the gift of the LaVeau blood.

In Mel’s mind, she was not in Louisiana, in the safe confines of the manor house in Darrow. She was back in the Carribean, once more in the house on the island of Grand Bahama that had seen so much death and bloodshed in the days after her friends and brothers had gotten her away from Ambrose and Adama. The events that led to the death of Ambrose and Dominic were once more being twisted in her mind; guilt over everything that happened there, and some that happened after, causing it to be warped and even darker than those bleak days truly were. The milky eyes of the dead men haunted her as they chased her through the house of Beau’s friend that she had stayed in during her time there, the hallways lengthening and becoming a maze that they never were in reality. Mel’s steps were hurried, panic rose as she seemed not to be able to escape from the men that she had finally been freed from in life, but were now haunting her dreams.

It was into this quiet night that a terrified scream echoed through the manor house, bringing Cade off of the couch and to Mel’s door. He had barely even slowed as he threw it inward, ready to confront anything he might find there. Only years of training and his senses being on high alert kept him from falling victim to the knife that was brought downward with force and speed. When the door had opened, it was not her friend and bodyguard that Mel saw standing there but Dontanion’s father, the warlock Adama. Fear coursed through her veins and she knew that she either had to kill him or she would be dragged back under his spell again. She couldn’t allow that. An arm came up to block Mel’s that slashed with an almost blind fury, and while there was a deep gash into the muscle, it was nothing that stitches wouldn’t fix; he’d had worse. What worried Cade more was that as his eyes fixed on Mel’s face, her eyes were glazed, unfocused, and wild in a way that he hadn’t seen before. She was in the grips of another nightmare and he doubted that she was even cognizant of what she was doing or what was really going on. While he’d seen her in the grips of one before this one seemed worse than others, added to that was that someone had missed a weapon in their sweep of her room earlier in the night. It would not be a slight that was allowed to pass easily, but the matter at hand had to be dealt with first.

“I need a LaVeau!” Cade called over his shoulder as his other hand gripped her wrist and applied just enough pressure to cause her to no longer be able to grip the knife. It clattered to the floor where it was kicked somewhere behind him, rattling across the ancient wooden floors. "Mel! Come on, princess, wake up!"

Now that she was unarmed, he grabbed both wrists firmly and spun her around bringing her back up against his broad muscled chest so he had her arms pinned to her sides, without releasing her wrists that were now crossed over her chest. His own blood was making her wrists slick, but he was able to immobilize her hands. Thankfully his height, weight, and the fact she was still not coming fully conscious made him able to contain her. If she had been able to think and therefore fight back effectively, he would have had one hell of a problem; it was a big enough of one now. White he had been negotiating his way over to her bed, he’d heard others coming up the stairs and out of rooms and heading towards where he was. While the nightmares were becoming less frequent, everyone was still on edge waiting for them. Dontanion’s tall and lean form was seen in the doorway first, something that Cade was glad for. Her brothers and mother were the only ones who seemed to be able to pull Mel from the worst of the nightmares when they gripped her tightly, which was why he’d yelled for them. Just as Don started to head over, a broader frame came from behind him and pulled him out of the way before shouldering in. “Whose blood?” Francois demanded. It wasn’t accusatory; there wasn’t anyone in the house that would believe that Cade would purposefully hurt Melania, but this was not the first one of her nightmares that had gone violent and accidents happened in trying to calm and contain her. Alexander had blackened her eye once, and she’d drawn blood on a couple of people. “Mine. Someone missed a knife when sweeping her room. I’m fine.” Cade ground out, hoping that one of her brothers would calm her down soon because the strain of his muscles to keep her sitting between his legs on the bed and her arms contained was causing his injury to do far more than throb currently. “Nice lie, the last part. Don, take care of him while I do this.” Francois’ words were clipped, but his tone wasn’t chiding. It was clear he was tired and from the fact his lounge pants were on backwards, he hadn’t wasted time on details and was going to continue that. Kneeling down in front of Mel, Francois took her head firmly in his hands and forced her to look at him. Cade could tell when their eyes met because Mel stilled. The tenor of Francois’ voice dropped, his accent becoming heavier and more aristocratically French. It was old world and spoke of his long life, but it also held a deep and rich affection that was mirrored in the expression he wore as he looked at his youngest sister. Mel had often joked he was like a third father and as Cade looked at him now, that is what he looked like, a father whose heart was breaking for his child. “Ma petite chérie, calme ton esprit et ton âme. Respirez l'air de vos ancêtres. Le passé ne peut plus vous blesser. Ils ne sont que des brumes de ce qui était, ils ne sont plus. Respirez et relâchez-les aux ancêtres. Ressentez l'amour de ceux qui vous entourent. Ressentez l'amour de ceux qui sont passés et qui sont toujours. Tu es en sécurité, ma petite chérie. Vous êtes en sécurité et vous êtes à la maison. ((My little darling, calm your mind and soul. Breathe in the air of your ancestors. The past can no longer hurt you. They are nothing but mists of what was, they are no more. Breathe and release them to the ancestors. Feel the love of those who surround you. Feel the love of those who have passed and still are. You are safe, my little darling. You are safe and you are home.))”

Mel’s breathing slowed gradually and he could feel her pulse also calm in her wrists under his fingers that still gripped her firmly. While Francois had been speaking to Mel, Don had been healing Cade’s arm so by the time that Francos’ words and the spells he was weaving had broken through the hold the dream had on her, all that was left on his arm was a bright pink scar that would be gone by dawn. Cade’s attention was drawn back to the woman in his arms when she went from fighting against him to trembling then sobbing. When she saw the blood that coated both his arms and the front of her pajamas, she realized what she’d done and started to freak out, requiring Francois to once again have to calm her down. Cade’s arms loosened so the elder LaVeau could pull her off of the bed and down onto the floor and into his lap. Once more her bodyguard and friend was struck by how similar in age they appeared, their current position had them looking more like a father comforting his child.

“Go get cleaned up.” Don’s voice was quiet when he spoke to Cade, his hand lightly squeezing the other man’s shoulder.. His gaze never left his siblings on the floor, wishing that he could have foreseen the devastation his father would bring about and have taken him from existence before he’d ever laid hands on his sister. Cade nodded, sensing that Don didn’t have to be looking at him to perceive it, then slipped off of the bed and from the room. As he left, Alexander and Beau slipped in along with Marie to clean up the blood from the floor and the bed. There was no telling if Mel would sleep again that night, but she didn’t need to have to see more proof of what had happened or deal with the mess that was left. No one doubted that after Francois had gotten through the grip that fear and memories had on her, that she knew what she’d done and that more guilt was already heaped upon what she already bore, some of which was not even deserved. In the past she always had done so and it seemed to haunt her as much as other things that plagued her in her sleep. Because of what Adama had done after Ambrose had kidnapped her, it made it hard for her mother and siblings to be able to do anything to save her from the torment that her own mind was putting her through. There was a chance that anything that they did to try to save her from it would lock her into it instead. He had used powerful magic when she had been with him and Ambrose, some of which they still were unable to decipher.

After things were cleaned up and Cade had returned, he knelt down next to Mel, who was still sitting quietly across Francois’ lap with her head on his shoulder and forehead resting against his neck. “Hey, princess, I bet your brother would like to get some sleep at some point tonight.” Francois looked over at him and the two men’s eyes met in the dark. During the search for Mel and then her rescue from the clutches of the insane men who had held her, they had come to understand one another. “Why don’t we get Gabe, Alexander, and we’ll even let Beau join and do a reenactment of that long weekend from Serbia where we drank ourselves stupid and watched bad movies. I bet the couch downstairs is more comfortable than the one in that hotel.” Alexander could be heard laughing from the doorway. There wasn’t much that could be more uncomfortable than that couch in the hotel. It looked pretty and that was the only nice thing that you could say about it. Gabe came and elbowed him and jerked his head back and towards the staircase where Beau was standing. He’d talked to Cade before the other man had headed back into the room. The idea was a good one. The last time that Mel had dealt with nightmares it had been the three of them and Dez that had helped her keep them at bay in a different way than any of them had tried since they’d come home, Beau would make a good replacement for their fourth team member. Maybe instead of trying to force normalcy, they should go back to what worked the first time. They were after all going to be a team from now on, maybe they all needed reminding of it.

@talamasca74

@sniperbonesguy

@voodoobodyguards

@bayouboyvoodoobrothers

[sciencespies]

The Top Ten Online Exhibitions of 2020

https://sciencespies.com/history/the-top-ten-online-exhibitions-of-2020/

The Top Ten Online Exhibitions of 2020

SMITHSONIANMAG.COM | Dec. 31, 2020, 10:48 a.m.

In recent years, curators and educators have increasingly started exploring the many possibilities offered by virtual exhibitions. Hundreds of institutions have made 3-D tours of their galleries available online through Google Arts & Culture and similar platforms, allowing visitors from around the world to virtually “wander” through the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul in Mexico City, the Tokyo National Museum and other significant sites.

But when the Covid-19 pandemic forced museums to shutter for most of 2020, public interest in virtual art experiences skyrocketed like never before. Closed to the public and financially strained, many museums nevertheless managed to create thought-provoking alternatives to in-person viewing.

Digital offerings in the United States ranged from the Morgan Library & Museum’s interactive retrospective of Al Taylor’s drawings to the Museum of Modern Art’s (MoMA) “Virtual Views” of Surrealist women. Abroad, exhibitions such as the Rijksmuseum’s interactive version of a Rembrandt masterpiece offered viewers a chance to literally “zoom in” on a single piece of art—and perhaps notice new details that would’ve otherwise gone unnoticed. In London, meanwhile, Tate Modern adapted its “Andy Warhol” show by creating a curator-led tour that takes users through the exhibition room by room.

The Smithsonian Institution also made impressive forays into the world of online exhibitions. A beautifully illustrated portal created by the National Museum of American History and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative examined how girls have shaped history, while a landmark show at the Smithsonian American Art Museum spotlighted Chicano activists’ pioneering printmaking. At the National Museum of Natural History, curators catered to science enthusiasts with narrated virtual tours of various exhibits and halls; at the National Air and Space Museum, aviation experts produced panoramic views of famed aircraft’s interiors. Other highlights included the National Museum of Asian Art’s virtual reality tour of six iconic monuments from across the Arab world, the Cooper Hewitt’s walkthrough of “Contemporary Muslim Fashions,” and the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s exploration of black soldiers’ experiences during World War I. (For a more complete list of offerings, visit the Smithsonian’s online exhibitions portal.)

To mark the end of an unprecedented year, Smithsonian magazine is highlighting some of the most innovative ways in which museums helped craft meaningful virtual encounters with history and art. From first ladies to women writers and Mexican muralists, these were ten of our favorite online exhibitions of 2020.

“Every Eye Is Upon Me: First Ladies of the United States”

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery (Washington, D.C.)

Click this image to view the online exhibition. Depicted clockwise from top left: Mamie Eisenhower, Lady Bird Johnson, Grace Coolidge, Nancy Reagan, Dolley Madison, Abigail Fillmore, Frances Cleveland and Sarah Polk.

(Illustration by Meilan Solly / Photographs via NPG)

Visitors to the National Portrait Gallery’s presidential wing have long called for an exhibition devoted to the U.S.’ first ladies. But as Alicia Ault points out for Smithsonian, these women haven’t always been recognized as important individuals in their own right—a fact reflected in the relative dearth of portraiture depicting them. The gallery itself only began commissioning official portraits of the first ladies in 2006.

“Every Eye Is Upon Me: First Ladies of the United States” seeks to redress this imbalance by presenting 60 portraits—including photographs, drawings, silhouettes, paintings and sculptures—of American presidents’ wives. Though the physical exhibition is currently closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, would-be visitors can explore a virtual version featuring high-resolution images of first ladies from Martha Washington to Melania Trump, as well as brief biographies, podcasts and blog posts. The portraits are as “varied as the women themselves,” who all responded to the unique challenges and pressures of their office in different ways, writes Ault.

Inspiration for the exhibition’s title comes from Julia Gardiner, who was the first woman to marry a president in office. Born into a wealthy Long Island slaveholding family, Gardiner was just 24 years old when she wed John Tyler in 1844. As Gardiner prepared to take on the high-profile role, she wrote in a letter to her mother that she knew she would be scrutinized: “I very well know every eye is upon me, my dear mother, and I will behave accordingly.”

“Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle”

Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, Massachusetts)

One of black history’s preeminent visual storytellers, Jacob Lawrence employed Modernist forms and bright colors to narrate the American experience through the eyes of the country’s most marginalized citizens. This year, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, reunited one of Lawrence’s most groundbreaking series—Struggle: From the History of the American People (1954–56)—for the first time in 60 years.

In 30 hardboard panels, each measuring 12 by 16 inches, Lawrence traces American history from the Revolutionary War to 1817, covering such events as the Boston Tea Party and the nation’s bloody, prolonged campaigns against Native Americans, as Amy Crawford wrote for Smithsonian in June. Virtual visitors can stroll through the exhibition, aptly titled “Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle,” or zoom in on images of each panel. Entries are accompanied by related artworks and reflections from scholars.

When the show traveled to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, it sparked an exciting reunion. A museum visitor recognized the panels’ distinct Modernist style and realized that her neighbors, a couple living on the Upper West Side, had a similar painting hanging in their living room. Curators determined that the panel, which depicts Shay’s Rebellion, was one of five missing works from the Struggle series. No photographs of the panel had survived, and it had been presumed lost for decades—but as curator Randall Griffey told the New York Times, it turned out to be “just across the park” from the museum.

“Vida Americana: Mexican Muralists Remake American Art, 1925–1945”

Whitney Museum of American Art (New York City)

When the Mexican Revolution drew to a close in 1920 after ten years of armed struggle, the country was left profoundly changed. But among artists of the post-revolutionary period, a new cultural revolution was just beginning. Over the next several decades, artists like the famed Tres Grandes, or Big Three—José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros—started crafting radical, large-scale works that embraced Mexico’s Indigenous cultures and told epic narratives about the nation’s history.

As “Vida Americana,” an ongoing exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, argues, these sweeping, dynamic murals also had a major impact on Mexico’s neighbors to the north. As Mexican artists traveled to the U.S. (and vice versa), they taught their peers how to break free of European conventions and create public art that celebrated American history and everyday life. On the show’s well-organized online hub, art lovers can explore short documentaries, audio guides, essays and other resources in both Spanish and English. Click through some of the selected artworks from the show to encounter Rivera’s Detroit Institute of Art masterpiece, a massive 27-mural cycle that offered Americans reeling from the Great Depression a visionary outlook of their country’s future industrial potential, and Siqueiros’ experimental workshop, which directly inspired Jackson Pollock’s Abstract Expressionism.

“Dorothea Lange: Words & Pictures”

The Museum of Modern Art (New York City)

Recognized today as one of America’s foremost photographers, Dorothea Lange is known for her arresting portraits of the human condition and keen social awareness—qualities perhaps best exemplified by her 1936 image Migrant Mother, which became a de facto symbol of the Great Depression.

But few people know that Lange was also enamored with the written word. As she once said, “All photographs—not only those that are so called ‘documentary’… can be fortified by words.” Lange believed that words could clarify and add context to photographs, thereby strengthening their social impact. In her landmark photobook An American Exodus: A Record of Human Erosion, she became one of the first photographers to incorporate her subject’s own words into her captions, as Smithsonian reported in August.

Through this MoMA exhibition’s online hub, viewers can read selections of Lange’s writing, watch a series of short videos on her work, listen to interviews with curator Sarah Meister, and—of course—take their time studying close-up versions of the artist’s iconic photographs.

“Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation”

Museum of Fine Art, Boston (Boston, Massachusetts)

Jean-Michel Basquiat is often touted as a singular genius. His large-scale works, which riff on color, phrases and iconography to probe issues of colonialism, racism and celebrity, regularly fetch enormous sums at auction.

But the graffiti artist–turned–painter, who died of a heroin overdose at age 27, didn’t develop his artistic vision in a vacuum: Instead, he was profoundly influenced by a network of peers and close collaborators. “Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation,” which opened at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in October, is the first show to consider the influence of Basquiat’s large circle of mainly black and Latino collaborators, all of whom shaped the painter’s artistic vision in 1980s New York City.

The museum complemented its in-person show with a multimedia-heavy online exhibition, which includes detailed essays, images of works in the show and clips of interviews with the artist. Viewers are encouraged to scour lesser-known artworks from Basquiat’s peers, such as the “Gothic futurist” paintings of Rammellzee and the rebellious murals of Lady Pink, in search of themes and styles that Basquiat echoed in his own work.

“Making the Met, 1870–2020”

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

A group of businessmen and civic leaders purchased the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s first work—a marble sarcophagus from ancient Rome—in 1870. Since then, the museum’s collections have become some of the greatest troves of cultural heritage in the world, constituting an encyclopedic range of artifacts that attracts millions of visitors each year.

This year, the Manhattan museum celebrated its 150th birthday by hosting a celebratory exhibition and slate of virtual offerings: Among others, the list of digital resources includes an hour-long audio tour of some of the exhibition’s highlights, as narrated by actor Steve Martin; an interactive online version of the show; and a virtual walkthrough courtesy of Google Arts and Culture. Met officials also made a rare gem available for public viewing: Behind the Scenes: The Working Side of the Museum, a silent 1928 documentary that depicts curators and janitors at work in the iconic New York building.

“The Museum of the World”

The British Museum (London, England)

Click this image to access the interactive timeline.

(Screenshot via British Museum / Google Arts & Culture)

An innovative example of the possibilities of online exhibitions, the British Museum’s “Museum of the World” debuted in February 2020—and it couldn’t have been better timed. Though the museum remained closed to in-person visitors for much of the year, desktop computer users were able to use this interactive timeline to visualize connections between different items in the museum’s vast collections.

On the website, which the museum developed in partnership with Google Arts & Culture, viewers can trace links through time and space, jumping from a handscroll describing courtly behavior of ladies in the Eastern Jin Dynasty of China to the jade plaque of a Maya king. With a slick interface and audio elements, the timeline encourages viewers to take an interactive, self-directed trip through the material culture of human history.

Notably absent from the project is an acknowledgement of the London museum’s colonialist history, which came under renewed scrutiny this summer amid global protests against systemic racism. In August, the cultural institution moved a bust of its founder, who profited from the enslavement of people in Jamaica, to a new display featuring added contextualization. As Aditya Iyer writes for Hyperallergic, the museum recently made a “promising but flawed start [at] grappling with” this legacy by curating a self-guided tour titled “Empire and Collecting.” Available online in an abbreviated format, the tour traces the “different, complex and sometimes controversial journeys of objects” that entered the collections, according to the museum’s website.

“The Night Watch”

The Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam, the Netherlands)

Click this image to access the interactive portal.

(Screenshot via the Rijksmuseum)

In this new hyper-resolution view of Rembrandt van Rijn’s The Night Watch, art lovers can pore over every detail of the Dutch master’s most famous painting—down to every crack and stray paint splatter, as Theresa Machemer wrote for Smithsonian in May. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam debuted the interactive version of its prized painting as part of a lengthy restoration process dubbed Operation Night Watch. Last year, experts began restoring the 11- by 15-foot painting in a glass chamber installed in the middle of the museum, offering visitors a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse at the conservation process.

Officially titled Night Watch, Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, the 1642 painting depicts a captain instructing a cadre of soldiers. In the online guided tour (which comes with options for children and adults), users can zoom in on different aspects of the painting while a soundscape—the swish of a cloak, a horse’s hooves, an eerie melody, a far-off bell—sets the mood. Look for Rembrandt’s signature, his presumed self-portrait lurking in the painting’s background, the striking young girl with a chicken dangling from her belt and other mysterious elements embedded in the action-packed scene.

According to a statement, the image combines 528 exposures into one composite, making it the most detailed rendering of Rembrandt’s masterpiece ever created. The project is a prime example of how online galleries can encourage viewers to engage in repeated, close study of the same piece of art—and proof that they can always discover something new.

“Van Eyck: An Optical Revolution”

Museum of Fine Arts Ghent (Ghent, Belgium)

Click this image to access the virtual experience.

(Screenshot via Museum of Fine Arts Ghent)

Curators and art enthusiasts were crushed when the pandemic forced a blockbuster Jan van Eyck exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent to close less than two months after opening. The once-in-a-generation show—titled “Van Eyck: An Optical Revolution”—represented the largest-ever display of van Eyck’s paintings and was “so unlikely to be repeated that the museum might as well use ’now or never,’” as J.S. Marcus wrote for the Wall Street Journal in January.

In response to the unexpected closure, the museum pivoted, partnering with Belgian virtual reality company Poppr to create a 360-degree tour of the gallery with accompanying audio guides for adults and children. Star items featured in the show included Portrait of a Man (Léal Souvenir) and panels from the spectacular Ghent Altarpiece, whose center panel depicts Jesus as a sacrificial lamb on an altar, alive but bleeding from a wound. Prior to the exhibition, the panels had not left their home in St. Bavo’s Cathedral since 1945, as Sophie Haigney reported for the New York Times earlier this year.

Born in 1390 in what is now Belgium, van Eyck created spectacularly detailed oil paintings of religious scenes. As the show’s website notes, only about 20 of the Flemish master’s paintings survive today.

“Wise and Valiant: Women and Writing in the Golden Age of Spain”

Instituto Cervantes (Madrid, Spain)

Click this image to browse the exhibition’s essays and artworks online.

(Screenshot via Instituto Cervantes)

Spain’s Golden Age is perhaps best known for producing Miguel Cervantes’ Don Quixote, El Greco’s eerily elongated portraits and Lope de Vega’s prolific plays. But as the now-closed exhibition “Wise and Valiant” showed, these individuals and their male peers weren’t the only creative geniuses at work during the 16th and 17th centuries. Though women’s opportunities at the time were largely limited to the domestic and religious spheres, a select few took advantage of the relative intellectual freedom offered by life in a convent to pursue writing professionally.

From Mexican nun Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz to playwright Ana Caro and nun-turned-soldier Catalina de Erauso, hundreds of women across the Spanish Empire published poetry, diaries, novels, dramatic works and travelogues. Though many of these works have since been lost or forgotten, scholars are increasingly taking steps to recover their authors’ hidden stories—a trend reflected in the Madrid show, which explored women writers’ lives through a display of more than 40 documents. As Lauren Moya Ford observed in Hyperallergic’s review of the show, the online version of the exhibition (available in both Spanish and English) presents their stories in a “format well-suited to this dense, delicate material.” Users can delve into digitized historical documents, browse curator commentary and watch a video montage of relevant clips.

#History

[justinspoliticalcorner]

David Smith at The Guardian:

At 2.25am, Donald Trump gazed out at his jubilant supporters wearing “Make America Great Again” hats. He was surrounded by his wife, Melania, and his children, the Stars and Stripes and giant banners that proclaimed: “Dream big again” and “Trump will fix it!”

“We’re going to help our country heal,” Trump vowed. “We have a country that needs help and it needs help very badly. We’re going to fix our borders, we’re going to fix everything about our country and we’ve made history for a reason tonight, and the reason is going to be just that.” Having risen from the political dead, the president-elect was already looking ahead to what he called the “golden age of America” – a country that had just shifted sharply to the right. And at its core was the promise of Trump unleashed: a radical expansion of presidential power. The 45th and 47th commander-in-chief will face fewer limits on his ambition when he is sworn in again in January. He returns as the head of a Republican party remade in his image over the past decade and as the architect of a right-leaning judiciary that helped eliminate his legal perils. Second time around, he has allies across Washington ready to enforce his will.

Kurt Bardella, a Democratic strategist and former Republican congressional aide, said: “What we’re going to have is an imperial presidency. This is going to be probably the most powerful presidency in terms of centralising power and wielding power that we’ve had probably since FDR [Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was president from 1933 until his death in 1945].” Trump won big in this week’s presidential election against Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice-president. He became the first Republican in 20 years to win the national popular vote. He improved on his 2020 performance in every state except two (Washington and Utah) and made gains in nearly every demographic. A third of voters of colour supported him. Whereas Joe Biden won Latino men by 23 percentage points in 2020, Trump won them by 10 points in 2024.

Emboldened by this mandate, Trump, who said he would be a “dictator”, but only on “day one”, is promising a second act more sweeping and transformational than the first. He is backed by a Republican party that regained control of the Senate, might retain the House of Representatives and is more acquiescent than ever. The opposition Democratic party is demoralised and lacks an obvious leader. Trump, who arrived in Washington as a political neophyte eight years ago, is less likely this time to be surrounded by establishment figures and steady hands curbing his darkest impulses. His allies have spent the past several months pre-screening candidates for his administration, aiming to ensure key posts will be filled by dependable foot soldiers. His pugnacious son Don Jr intends to have a say.

Bardella added: “It’s going to be a more competent version of the first term. This time Donald Trump and his team know how the White House works. They know what type of personnel they need where to achieve what they want to achieve. They have, unlike last time, more of a complete hold of Congress.” Trump sceptics such as the House speaker Paul Ryan or the congresswoman Liz Cheney are gone, he noted, replaced by Maga devotees primed to do his bidding. “There’s going to be more continuity, more synergy, everyone’s going to march to the beat of the same drummer. There is no resistance within the Republican party any more and they are now facing a Democratic party that is leaderless, that is searching for its own identity, that’s going to have to recalibrate.” Trump will also expect compliance from a conservative supreme court that includes three of his own appointees. The court has loosened the legal guardrails that have hemmed past presidents in thanks to a July decision that gives presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution.

The 78-year-old businessman and former reality TV star also hopes to exploit a new universe of rightwing podcasters and influencers who were instrumental in his election and could help him shape the information ecosystem. Chief among these is X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, who played a key role in the Trump campaign. Despite the daunting outlook, however, some commentators are optimistic that checks and balances will remain.

[...]

Trump will return to power with an aggressive agenda that includes what his ally Steve Bannon called “the deconstruction of the administrative state”. He has proposed a government efficiency commission headed by Musk that would gut the federal bureaucracy. Trump plans to fire federal workers by classifying thousands of them as being outside civil service protections. They could be replaced by what are essentially political appointees loyal to him.

On his signature issue, illegal immigration, Trump has vowed to carry out the biggest deportation operation in American history, starting with people who have criminal records or final orders of deportation. He has called for using the national guard and empowering domestic police forces in what he has said will be “a bloody story”. He told Time magazine that he did not rule out building new migrant detention camps but “there wouldn’t be that much of a need for them” because people would be rapidly removed. His running mate, JD Vance, told the New York Times that deporting 1 million immigrants a year would be “reasonable”. During the election campaign Trump played down abortion as a second-term priority, even as he took credit for the supreme court ending a woman’s federal right to terminate a pregnancy and returning abortion regulation to state governments.

At Trump’s insistence the Republican platform, for the first time in decades, did not call for a national ban on abortion. Even so, Trump has not explicitly said he would veto a national ban if it reached his desk. He has also indicated that he would let Robert F Kennedy Jr, the anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist, “go wild” on public health matters, including women’s health.  Trump has promised to extend his 2017 tax cut, reversing Joe Biden’s income tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans and scrapping levies that fund energy measures to combat the climate crisis. Trump also has proposals aimed at working- and middle-class Americans: exempting tips and overtime wages from income taxes.

[...]

Trump has vowed to eliminate the Department of Education and slash federal funding “for any school or program pushing critical race theory, gender ideology, or other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children”.  The Trump campaign made opposition to transgender rights a central part of its closing argument, with the president-elect vowing to “keep men out of women’s sports”. He plans to end Biden’s policy of extending Title IX civil rights protections to transgender students and ask Congress to require that only two genders can be recognised at birth.

On the world stage, Trump touts an “America first” ideology that would make the US more isolationist, non-interventionist and protectionist than at any time since the second world war. He has proposed tariffs of 10% to 20% on foreign goods despite economists’ warnings that this would drive up inflation. Trump has repeatedly praised authoritarians such as Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Russia’s Vladimir Putin and not ruled out withdrawing from Nato. He has said he would end Russia’s war on Ukraine within a day, prompting fears of a a deal that compels Ukraine to surrender territory, and reportedly told Israel’s president, Benjamin Netanyahu, that he wants the war in Gaza to be finished by January.

[...] Trump, who falsely claims that the climate crisis is a “hoax”, has said he will again remove the US from the Paris climate accords and dismantle Biden’s climate agenda. He has promised to increase oil production and burn more fossil fuels – “Drill, baby, drill!” was a regular chant at Trump rallies – and weaken regulatory powers or eliminate bodies such as the Environmental Protection Agency. The ascent of Trump, the first convicted criminal to be elected president, is also a crisis for the rule of law. The justice department is moving to wind down the two federal cases against him after he vowed to fire the special counsel Jack Smith “within two seconds” of becoming president. Trump has vowed to bend the department to his will, pardon January 6 rioters and target journalists, election workers and other perceived political enemies.

The 2nd “Presidency” of Donald Trump will be a golden disaster, just like his first one was.

[goldenzingy46]

Chapter 2: Sirius Black, aged 7                   

Sirius Black was sitting in the parlour on a ridiculously expensive chair, feet swinging as he grumbled about his mother cutting his hair. He, apparently, wasn’t respectable-looking enough for the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black, which was silly, in his opinion, because Sirius Orion Black was a seven-year-old. Which, of course, meant he was incredibly grown up, but not old and grumpy enough to have to look a certain way for family dinners.

Family dinners! He’d get to see Cousin Andy, who was brilliant. Last time, she brought dungbombs and they let them off at the dinner table, which had been hilarious. His mother had dropped out of her perfect posture and shrieked like a banshee, beautiful hair slipping off her head in cascades, stumbling in her heels and ripping the hem of her gown. It had been hilarious, and, though he had been caught, it had been a riot of an evening he’d never forgot (no, not just because he’d had champagne for the first time! Besides, that was Bellatrix’s fault).

“Alright, Sirius, I think you look gentlemanly now.” Walburga smiled, kissing him on the forehead. “No antics like last year and you’ll be fine. At least with Andromeda, Cygnus can marry her off. You’re our heir apparent.”

“Yes mother,” Sirius groaned, slipping off the chair, looking for an escape from his overbearing mum.

She ruffled his hair, smiling. “Love you, Sirius.”

“Love you too, mum.”

He ran upstairs to get ready, already hearing the guests come in.

“Walburga! Stunning as always, I see,” was his Auntie Druella.

“Druella, my friend!”  which was probably followed up with a hug, kissing on the cheeks and smiling between the two women whom he’d once seen comparing makeup techniques, because the House of Black could never be anything but perfect.

Toujours Pur indeed.

“Reggie! Reggie, come on!” he yelled, dragging his younger brother, Regulus, down the stairs.

Oh, ewwwww.

His father, Orion Black, and his Auntie Druella were deeply in love but married to someone else. Which meant hidden romantic scenes and snogging when nobody was looking, but it was gross.

“Ori,” she whispered, staring deep into his eyes, their hands clutched tightly together.

“Dru,” his father responded, their noses mere inches apart.

“I love you,” Auntie Druella murmured, not giving him time to respond before clutching his face and kissing him like a starving woman, white gloves rumpling on his jawline, lipstick smearing onto his face.

“Ew, ewwww, Reggie don’t look!” Sirius hissed, covering his brother’s eyes, turning away from the sight of his father snogging his aunt.

“I love you too,” he heard his father say, breathlessly, after the kiss.

Regulus shoved Sirius’ hands off his eyes and dragged him downstairs, straight past their father and their aunt, who didn’t even notice them come through.

“My sons! Where were you?” cried Walburga, impeccably dressed as always.

“I’m sure they just got a little… caught up in something,” their Great-Aunt Cassiopeia interrupted, showing her teeth. She knew about the affair between Orion and Druella, but of course she didn’t tell anyone, because she was Cassiopeia Black and she loved chaos.

Grandfather Pollux and Grandmother Irma lurked in the back corner, and Sirius instinctively moved away from them, as both of them were creepy and despised children. Lightly tugging Reggie’s hand, Sirius began to reverse away from their leering grandparents, only to crash backwards into an elderly couple.

“Grandpa Arcturus! Grandma Mel!” Reggie cried, getting smothered in hugs and forehead kisses from Melania.

“How’s my little man these days, huh?” For all she seemed nice, the Black family could team up and be deadly, especially the woman.

“Sirius! Heir apparent! I guess you’re ready for when I finally die so your father can take over, huh?” Arcturus said, shaking Sirius’ hand firmly, his seven-year-old self almost bouncing up and down at the force.

“I- uh… oh look, Reg, there’s Uncle Alphard!” he stuttered, pulling his brother away from their grandma, Arcturus frowning with displeasure as they ran away.

“Sirius!” their Uncle Alphard cried, seeing them come in his direction. “How’s my favourite nephew, then, huh?”

Sirius found his hand sliding out of Reggie’s, and suddenly he was up in the air, too high, way too high, and everything was spinning.

“Uncle- I- urgh,” Sirius spluttered, unable to voice his discomfort. “My brother’s here too!”

He found himself on the ground again, sinking to the floor dizzily.

“Little Regulus! I didn’t see you there!” Alphard said, pinching his cheeks and ruffling his hair. “How’s my lil’ kiddo?”

“Why is everyone calling me little? I am a big boy now! I’m six!” Regulus pouted, looking adorable with big brown eyes and ruffled hair.

“Of course, but you will always be my little kiddo!” Their uncle boomed, sweeping the pair of them into a hug, of which they barely came past his knee. He crouched so he could be at their level, his slightly greasy shoulder length hair swinging in front of their faces. Regulus wrinkled his nose and batted it like a small kitten, to which Alphard let out a hearty laugh and opened his battered leather satchel. “Don’t tell anyone, but I got you each a little gift from my travels,” he whispered, handing Regulus a little ship in a bottle, and Sirius a set of expensive-looking bangles.

“Brother!” Walburga sniffed, elegantly looking down her nose at him, black lace gown sweeping the floor as she marched up beside him. “I haven’t seen you in ages. Come and catch up with us.”

Alphard stood up, dusting off his battered suit, and nodded. On his way to join the women, he winked and Sirius, and murmured, “Give ‘em hell for me, kid.”

With Uncle Alfie gone, the Black brothers looked for another distraction. Without a distraction in sight, however, the middle daughter of Cygnus and Druella Black was stalking through the room, pale skin almost glowing, thick, sleek, black hair swirling loose down her back, a rare luxury for a ten-year-old in the Black family, dark eyes searching the room for prey.

“My favourite cousins! What fun!” Bellatrix yelled, flitting through the room towards them.

“Trix!” Sirius giggled, knowing she hated that nickname.

Bellatrix frowned, and then smiled that nasty smile that ten-year-olds with a cruel streak do, and it was not a nice smile. It was the kind of smile that made Sirius hug his younger brother instinctively, and step in front of him, creating a kind of human shield.

“Kreacher!” she snapped, calling the wrinkled old house elf to her side. “Get us something… fun… to play with.”

Kreacher’s yellowing teeth flashed as he obeyed. “Kreacher bes doing what Young Mistress Black’s wanting.”

She giggled, patting Sirius’ shoulder with a cold hand, to which he recoiled. “It isn’t always I get to play with my little cousins, is it now, Reggie?”

Her eyes flickered to the younger of the two, who was partially hidden behind Sirius, and she had a mask of malice disguising her pretty features. Kreacher popped back in, offering her a dark orb, white streaks of lightning crashing within, and she pulled on her black gloves, straightening the hem by the crook of her elbow, and held the orb out to Sirius.

“Little cousin! Would you like to have a taste of our family’s little treasures?” she hissed, eyes wild and nearly glowing with the power she had over them.

Sirius pulled Reggie back, he had no idea what it was, but it felt ugly, and it radiated an aura of coldness.

“Now, now, don’t be like that! It’s all in good fun! Here, little Reg, you try it!” Bellatrix grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into a tight, one-armed embrace.

“Reggie, no! It feels icky, don’t touch it!” fear clogged his throat as he watched his little brother encircled in the arms of his crazy cousin.

“Come now, just a little brush, that’s all it takes,” Bellatrix coaxed Regulus.

“B-but it feels kinda gross,” Reggie stammered, his hand half out, eyes wide and panicked. “Siri?”

“Reggie, don’t listen to her, don’t touch it! It’s evil!” Sirius cried, watching him but unable to help.

“Don’t be silly, Cousin Sirius, how can an object be evil?” Bellatrix murmured, gloved hand caressing the orb.

“Now, now, Bella,” a soft voice crooned. “Stop toying with our baby cousins, it’s very rude.” Narcissa Black straightened up, dress smooth without a single wrinkle.

“I-I’m not a baby!” Reg complained, defiantly.

“Yes, of course not. Bella, let us go somewhere else.”

“But Cissy…” Bellatrix whined.

“Bella,” Narcissa warned, hands clenching together in a very ladylike manner.

With a dramatic sigh and a grand flourish, Bellatrix relinquished her hold on Regulus, pouting as she swept after her younger sister.

Sirius gently embraced his younger brother, letting Reg cry onto his sleeve. “I’ll always be here for you, Reg,” he whispered. “Always.”

Tears burned his eyes as he hugged Reggie fiercely, never letting go. He would protect his younger brother. Forever and always. Always and forever.

“Hey, little cuz!” Andy called, vaulting over the table to join them. “What’s wrong?”

Sirius glanced up, and muttered, “Bellatrix.”

“Ah, damn. However, I have an idea for a prank…”

Even Regulus looked up at that. Sirius grinned, the mischievous grin that only a seven-year-old can wear. “Let’s hear it.”

Andromeda grinned, and Sirius groaned, knowing that look. “Let’s get you two clean, first..."

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

Books by BIPOC Authors - August 2023

🦇 I grew up surrounded by a melting pot of cultures, diverse communities, and unique experiences. Despite the different sources of those multicultural voices, their stories still covered universal topics of colonialism, migration, identity, and race. Each story was another flavor, another sweet spice adding to that melting pot. Today, we have books by BIPOC authors that put those unique voices to the page. If you're interested in traveling to different worlds, whether familiar or foreign, here are a few books by BIPOC authors to add to your TBR! 🦇

✨ Tomb Sweeping by Alexandra Chang ✨ The Dark Place by Britney S. Lewis ✨ Forged by Blood by Ehigbor Okuson ✨ Accidentally in Love by Danielle Jackson ✨ A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power ✨ Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel, translated by Rosalind Harvey ✨ The Injustice of Place: Uncovering the Legacy of Poverty in America by Kathryn J. Edin, H. Luke Shaefer, Timothy J. Nelson ✨ Hangman by Maya Binyam ✨ The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Historical Fiction) ✨ Under the Tamarind Tree by Nigar Alam ✨ Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas ✨ An American Immigrant by Johanna Rojas Vann

🧭 Forgive Me Not by Jennifer Baker 🧭 Two Tribes by Emily Bowen Cohen 🧭 A Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey from the Street to the Stars by Hakeem Oluseyi and Joshua Horwitz 🧭 Writing in Color: Fourteen Writers on the Lessons We've Learned (edited by) Nafiza Azad and Melody Simpson 🧭 Ghost Book by Remy Lai 🧭 The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang 🧭 Plantains and Our Becoming by Melania Luisa Marte 🧭 Forty Words for Love by Aisha Saeed 🧭 The Great White Bard: How to Love Shakespeare While Talking About Race by Farah Karim-Cooper 🧭 Take the Long Way Home by Rochelle Alers 🧭 Swim Home to the Vanished by Brendan Shay Basham 🧭 Actually Super by Adi Alsaid

✨ Never a Hero by Vanessa Len ✨ I Fed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me by Jamison Shea ✨ The Infinity Particle by Wendy Xu ✨ Night of the Living Queers, edited by Shelly Page ✨ Sign of the Slayer by Sharina Harris ✨ Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim ✨ My Father the Panda Killer by Jamie Jo Hoang ✨ Barely Floating by Lilliam Rivera ✨Happiness Falls by Angie Kim ✨ A Tall Dark Trouble by Vanessa Montalban ✨ Neverwraith by Shakir Rashaan ✨ House of Marionne by J. Elle