#asher x banning

[bilesandthesourwolf]

bad guys, inclement weather, accidents, fucking human biology: Ben Asher must die

Mike Banning:

[thewrittenwizard]

I wrote a thing! It's Mike Banning x Benjamin Asher with mutual pining and near-death-experience induced midlife sexuality crises.

[manipulatorkaleidoscope]

Make assumptions about me based on the characters I play the most:

In order: I play Estelle the most, then Zentaro, then Octavia, then X.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Judd Legum at Popular Information:

On Sunday at 1:46 PM Eastern Time, President Joe Biden announced he would end his campaign for reelection. Seconds later, the attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris began.  Harris is not yet the nominee. But she has declared her intention to seek the nomination and received an endorsement from Biden. Prominent Democrats including former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, and many others quickly threw their support behind Harris. She is the strong favorite to secure the nomination.

Some of the attacks on Harris were predictable. For example, shortly after Biden's announcement, the Trump campaign blamed Harris for a "migrant crime wave" over the last three years. This was also the centerpiece of Trump's campaign against Biden, but the "migrant crime wave" does not exist. Violent crime has decreased every year since Biden took office — and is down sharply again in 2024. (The last time violent crime increased was 2020, when Trump was president.) Further, a study of the 14 Texas counties along the border with Mexico by crime analyst Jeff Asher found "no evidence of increasing violent crime along the US border with Mexico." In fact, border counties "have seen a relatively steady violent crime rate below that of the rest of their state and the nation as a whole."

Other attacks include those that seem to pop up any time a woman seeks a position of power. The RNC Research X account, which attacks Trump's opponents on behalf of his campaign and the Republican National Committee, posted a video attacking Harris for being "annoying." The post features a video of Harris saying a short phrase — "what can be, unburdened by what has been" — in various settings for four minutes. This is only a slight variation of the common complaint that ambitious women are "shrill."  Other criticisms, however, were more specific to Harris. They will be featured in millions of dollars of campaign advertisements, incorporated into Trump's stump speech, and discussed frequently on Fox News. Here is a brief guide to some of the attacks that will be used to define Harris in the weeks ahead. 

The truth about Jaleel Stallings Trump War Room, the "Official War Room account of the 2024 Trump campaign," posted on X that Harris "helped raise money for a far-left organization that bailed a rioter who shot at police out of jail."  [...] Where's the beef? In the hours after Biden's withdrawal, an RNC Research post suggested that Harris supported banning red meat.  [...] 2009 is not 2024 On X, the GOP account posted an attack ad against Harris that claimed that "as a prosecutor in San Francisco, Harris allowed illegal immigrant drug dealers to enter job training and have their criminal records wiped clean." The Willie Horton-style attack claims that "one of the illegal immigrants Harris released went on to steal an SUV and ran down a young woman, seriously injuring her." 

Judd Legum breaks down the coming onslaught of right-wing attacks against Kamala Harris that are distorted or false.

See Also:

MMFA: Flailing right-wing media are not ready for Kamala Harris

[theonlyblackcanary]

Me shipping Mike and Ben knowing full well Aaron Eckhart isn’t in AHF

Can you blame me?

[saltyfilmmajor]

London Has Fallen as a Sequel is so funny to me like

there’s a whole funeral for the british prime minister, and theres one politician on the roof with his mistress avoiding attending the funeral.  Part of the film turns into a Buddy Comedy movie, with Asher following his boyfriend around as he kills randos

wild 

[satashiiwrites]

Terrible action movie of the night?

Olympus Has Fallen.

Why?  Because Benjamin Asher and Mike Banning.  I can’t unsee these two.

[thereadersmuse]

"Southpaw has been compromised! I repeat, Southpaw has been-"

*Also posted on ff.net.

[deanwasalwaysbi]

Thinking About How This Wasn't Actually a Denial

But was it self preservation?

The year was 2013 and rather than a denial, Jensen said "Don't ruin it for everybody now."

What was the fan 'ruining' for everybody? The Con? or something else? So if I was a tinhatter - and sometimes I am - I might think about other tv shows from the past that were covertly queer and how they handled the question, were TV shows 'out'?

Mainstream shows like Bewitched, you know, shows that are so clearly straight, you can tell because... well. ... they never technically used the word 'gay'. ... witches honor

SPN Film Studies is Back in Session! Join Under the Cut for more on supernatural & the story about how Bewitched! came out of the Broom Closet

Bewitched aired from 1964-72, it's so old the first season was in B&W. The show starred Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha, the strange housewife with a stranger secret. Her husband, Darrin, unwittingly married into the whole witchy family, from the now drag icon Agnes Moorehead's Endora with her open marriage, to the unmarried and batty Aunt Clara (Marion Lorne who played the mother in Hitchcock's heavily gay coded 'Strangers on a Train'), to the extremely coded Uncle Arthur (gay actor Paul Lynde). (We can't know for sure, but it seems at least 4 members of the cast were gay themselves.) The core premise of the show involves Samantha balancing who she really is with repressing that self for the safety and comfort of her family.

Samantha and her husband keep her [ahem] 'queer' nature a secret which gets harder on Samantha when she has to tell her daughter to live the same way, “I know what fun it is to be a part of the magical life ... to have so much at your fingertips. But we’re living in a world that’s just not ready for people like us, and I’m afraid they may never be. So you’re going to have to learn when you can use your witchcraft and when you can’t.”

There are plenty of generic 60s wacky hijinks but there are also whole episodes metaphorically about repression being harmful, episodes where characters asked if another was a 'thespian', episodes where Darrin was queercoded while under a spell, episodes about representation & bad stereotyping in media, and even two episodes where witches discussed whether it was time for witches to come out to the mortals, (whether mortals could accept that they were just nice normal people trying to live their lives like everybody else - or not - and would just freak out and kill them again).

When it came time to recast Dick York's Darrin with a new 2nd lead, Elizabeth and her husband, William Asher, knowingly cast the gay Dick Sergeant. (Although he wasn't out publicly at the time.) Then, when Sergeant came out in '91, Montgomery supported him and the two served together as the grand marshals of the Hollywood pride parade.

Dick Sargent expressed in the 90s what he would want in a Bewitched reunion episode: for Darrin to meet another like couple, a witch and a mortal who are married, and another, and another, and end up forming a whole community and support group, finding out that it was never so uncommon after all, that it was actually "about 10% of the population." The two would march in the first mortals and witches pride parade, saying they should have come out years ago.

In '94, Montgomery had this to say about the queer themes of the show, “Don't think that didn't enter our minds at the time. We talked about it on the set, that this was about people not being allowed to be what they really are. If you think about it, Bewitched is about repression in general and all the frustration and trouble it can cause. It was a neat message to get across to people at that time in a subtle way.” (x)

Interviewer: Are you concerned that your involvement in the gay-pride parade will lead people to believe you're a lesbian?

"[Laughing] I'm really not worried about that. There are bigger things to worry about. Like the presidential election and finding a cure for AIDS. I did the parade in support of Dick. I mean, in the end, didn't we all?" (x) (Montgomery was also one of the first celebrity allies to fight for LGBTQ rights and support HIV/AIDS-related fundraisers.)

So did they talk about it at the time? No. You can bet they didn't speak about it publicly. What would have happened if a fan, publicly, had asked Elizabeth, William, or Dick about the show's queer allegory content? This was a time when being gay was a literal felony. They would have had to have lied or risked losing the show, their careers, and possibly subjecting themselves to violence.

Now. back to Jensen and the Schrodinger's long con:

This was in 2013 - The same year that the Supreme Court of the United States struck down a federal ban on gay marriage. You certainly couldn't call homosexuality illegal in the US at that time. It's the same year that Dabb and Sgriccia spoke about the Aaron moment on the DVD and whether there's 'this potential for love in all places' for Dean. Of course Jensen said this about the very same scene: "But it was - you know - it was comedy. It was a comedic moment in the show and fortunately Dean gets a lot of the comedic moments in the show and it was just, you know, Ben was poking fun at the fact that - you know, how can we make this very kind of manly, heterosexual guy uncomfortable - uh -you know, or  or have him back on his heels and throw him off his game a little bit.”

I'm reminded of 2012 when Ben Edlund stepped in about a Destiel question at comic con, pretending it was some freaky thing that fans had made up even though he'd already written and directed TMWWBK, which had already aired.

Jensen: “What’s Destiel?” Ben Edlund: That’s some weird shit. Jensen: Is this something that you created, Ben? Ben: You don’t want any part of that.

Or the next year for season 9 when Jensen said “I think the whole Cas and Dean thing has gotten out of hand”  “I don’t think there’s anything secret to their relationship even though a lot of people wish there was” EVEN THOUGH- that season we got the nightstands acknowledgement and Misha (or both of them?) was told to “play him like a jilted lover”

Or Jensen's knowing bromance smile in 2015

I think recent events (cough spn gate) have made clear that the network and many viewers were still uncomfortable with CAS being gay in 2020, deleting even familial mentions of Cas from the finale episodes once he was revealed to be not only gay but also in love with Dean. (x) (x) (x) Can you imagine then what Warner Brothers would have said to an acknowledge bisexual Dean Winchester in 2013? Granted, there was no Trump election, but legitimate, could that have been the end of the show? Or the Russian and Conservative US viewership? Is it possible that Jensen would have feared so?

Is it possible that Jensen had a more personal reason for a knee jerk defensive response?

So was Jensen covering in 2013? Well. This happened 5 years later in 2018:

That hostile "? No." came even though Misha confirmed that he and Jensen had discussed Destiel by that point. Granted, discussing Destiel as a concept and accepting Dean being inherently bisexual are two very different things - Cas is GN after all - still, less than encouraging.

I may never get over the jumps back and forth that Jensen did. At this point I think there's no denying that a lot of SPN's queer content was on purpose, even as writers and actors were telling fans and network execs otherwise. Yet when each person involved was brought in? that question haunts me at night. I have gone off before about the timeline in my pursuit of whether Jensen was Ben Hur'd (x) and, if so, for how long. I'm sure many in this fandom have so much to add.

In the meantime we'll just have to cherish this moment from 2019:

Interviewer: 'So, tell us just a little bit about what you’re most excited to tackle with your character this final season.’ Jensen: “Cas. Just like a full football form tackle.”

Bewitched references in SPN:

2.05 - Dean: Well, it looks like he can't work his mojo just by twitching his nose, he's gotta use verbal commands.

2.20 - Dean says Barbara Eden was hotter than Elizabeth Montgomery - sigh - Dean.

7.05 - Dean thinks a husband has no idea his wife is a witch, and refers to him as Darrin. Dean also indicates he likes the first Darrin better. - (I guess I can't make a comment about how much TV Dean watched as a kid if I get all of his references and also haven't saved the world.)

14.03 - Jules refers to the witch as 'Brunhilde' - this is a minor character in bewitched but more so from mythology and likely referred to the cartoon witch from WB cartoons - the stereotypical witch that faced bugs bunny with the green skin and straw hair.

let me know if you have any to add. Stay Witchy ✌

[i-drink-and-i-write-fics]

Love and Duty Series

Series Summary: Charlie Jones is a mutant who works for the X-Men, is friends with the Avengers, and has a famous brother-in-law: the President of the United States. But the two have been estranged since he first runs for president and then when his wife, Charlie’s sister, dies. He tries to make amends and brings a stubborn force into her life - his bodyguard Mike Banning. Who doesn’t care for mutants.

Mike and Charlie don’t trust each other at first, but soon need to put aside their differences to save the world. And maybe find out that working together can be a very good thing.

Against The Odds (10 chapters): Charlotte (Charlie to her friends) is a powerful mutant and long-time friend of the President (Ben Asher). Due to the pressures of the Mutant Registration Act, Charlie has been forced to keep her identity a secret. Until she’s asked by the President to team up with his top-secret service agent, Mike Banning. A man severely loyal to the President, but also cautious of mutants.

Will they be able to work together despite their stubborn personalities?

You Can’t Save The World (Upcoming): Years after getting her brother-in-law, Ben, back, meeting his now-former Secret Service agent, Mike Banning, and dealing with Apocalypse, Charlie is faced with another challenge. The Snap has left many people displaced and a group calling themselves the Flag Smashers is trying to start a revolution. With the help of a few X-Men, Charlie and Mike team up with Sam and Bucky to stop another World War.

[morrow-dim]

Ko-fi Donations are Open

Hello, all! I’m in a terrible financial bind since the most recent lockdown was lifted in my city last May 15, 2021. Because of that, I’ve opened a Ko-fi page. You can find it here: 

https://ko-fi.com/morrowdim

All donations are welcome! They’ll go towards rent and bills (especially my internet bill). 

Each donation will get a fic in exchange. The word count will be based on the amount donated and any requests the donor has. 

If you’d like to donate (either on Ko-fi or PayPal), here are the fandoms and pairings that I could write to say ‘thank you’: 

X-Men (Scott/Logan) 

Daredevil (Matt/Frank, Matt/Danny) 

Kingdom (2019) (Chang/Yeong-shin) 

Olympus Has Fallen (Movies) (Asher/Banning) 

Older fandoms like Justified (Tim/Raylan), Pacific Rim (Herc/Raleigh), Dominion (Michael/Alex, Michael/Gabriel), even Lord of the Rings are still possible. So are super-obscure fandoms like Illang: The Wolf Brigade (2018) or The Beast Must Die (Webcomic). Just let me know what you’re interested in and I’ll work with you on your request. 

For a more complete list of fandoms, check out my AO3 page: 

https://archiveofourown.org/users/menel 

Last thing, stuff I WON’T write includes: 

Underage 

Non-con (Dub con is a case-to-case basis) 

RFP 

Het (if it’s a side pairing, that’s okay) 

Self-insert or reader fics 

Mpreg (but ABO is possible) 

Gender swap 

Extreme kinks (eg. water sports) 

Extreme AUs (AUs are also a case-to-case basis. But an example of an extreme AU would be Legolas and Gimli as modern-day baristas in a coffee shop when hot college student Aragorn walks in. Just . . . no.)

If you have any questions, contact me here (preferably through DM, but you can also drop an Ask) or on Discord (menel#8412).

Thanks in advance, guys! I have no network to speak of, so I’m just throwing this out there for any random visitor. Reblog and signal boosts would also be a big help.

[v-poreons]

kova's backstory is so sad, like I knew it was sad but reading that still :((( anyways more kova lore bc I'm invested

I can talk about the campaign he was in then! :))

I'm so mad Tumblr deleted everything I wrote hold on while I try to fix this

Basically what I said before was so fucking long I simply can't rewrite it in as comprehensive a way i did before so this is gonna be a lot shorter I'm PISSED.

I don't remember everything that happened in the campaign because it was four years ago but the party was me as Kova, Asher (Wood Elf Ranger), Lan (Changeling ((in the form of a High Elf)) Fighter), Mislia (Tiefling Sorcerer), and Savory (Tiefling Monk, we had an inside joke that Kova spells her name Savoury).

We were on a job delivering some stuff from one town to another I believe when we were attacked by some goblins who we beat the absolute shit out of. Lan was checking one of the goblins when she found a ring with an eye symbol engraved on it. She put it on and it latched itself to her finger and shot a beam of light into the woods, presumably for us to follow. We hid our wagon and set up camp in a cave for the night. I don't remember who was on watch but we were ambushed by some Dark Elves who took us to the Underdark to their queen who welcomed us and decided to throw a party in our honor.

We were all varying degrees of intoxicated but Kova, who was nursing his first cup of ale since he hates drinking since it inhibits his reasoning skills and he was a little wary of the whole thing. Lan also was suspicious so the two chatted for a bit and planned to do some investigating together later. When we had been escorted to our rooms we found out that we had been magically locked in so we found a way to bypass the spell and sneaked out with the rest of the party, but we were caught and taken into the throne room where the queen revealed she had led us here for a reason. She activated a big rune on the floor and we all blacked out. Then when we woke up our skin was translucent and you could see our skeletons under our skin because plot twist we were dead and had been sent to the underworld (the reveal slapped so hard david if ur seeing this u popped off so hard)

We ended up having to do like a gladiator type match where Kova and Lan created the legendary knife cube combo (Kova casts cloud of daggers Lan throws enemies into the cube and theyre promptly turned into bad guy soup). We won and were brought before Hades and Persephone (Kova and Savory charmed her because they're both nice :) ) and then we were thrown in prison because Hades had a stick up his ass.

We met Brutus and Milquetoast in jail and decided to do a prison break I'm not sure exactly how it went but it involved the warden and a prison riot and Lan killed the warden and was inexplicably drawn to this dark spooky hallway which supposedly held Thanatos but when she reached the end of the corridor all that was there were empty chains.

We had a sick ass chariot race with Hades and Lan flipped him the bird as we escaped down a big cavernous hole in the ground. We woke up at the bottom and learned if we wanted out we each had to go through trials to judge our characters.

I don't remember the exact order we went in but Mislia's was a fight with their ex wife and ended with them choosing Savory's life over the ex, Savory's took place in her old monastery which she had been banned from, Asher's was a puzzle that ended in a fight with his former friend and leader (who happened to be his player's other character from a different campaign remember this it's important), and Lan's (which was the last trial and also the last session since we unfortunately didn't finish the campaign) took place in her childhood hometown but everyone but her had lost their memories and she had to convince us all to come with her and get our memories back.

Kova's was a quiz show type trial during which we would gain or lose things (body parts, knowledge/memories, items, etc.) The trouble with playing a character who's smarter than you is when ur DM asks you what the components are to an X level Wizard spell (something Kova would probably know but I sure as hell didn't) you end up spinning the bad wheel (a la taz suffering game) and losing Kova's harmonica which was a gift from his dead friends dead daughter. Also it got turned to ash :)

The game show host ended up being Medusa and we killed the hell out of her and Lan and Kova struck the final blows.

I ended up asking the DM what the campaign would have gone like from the last session and he said the twist would have been that Brutus was Thanatos and I don't remember how but he could not longer continue being Thanatos so Lan, who had the ring, would be given the choice to become the new god of death or not.

From there we have two endings:

The 'canon' ending, in which Lan accepts her role and remains in the underworld while the rest of the living party members return to their lives. Kova is alone and lonely returning to his travels but has healed somewhat and learns to accept people into his heart again.

In the ending where Lan refuses, the party returns to the living world and parts ways. Lan and Kova reluctantly separate since Kova wishes to keep traveling and seeing the world but Lan is exhausted by everything that has happened in her life up until this point and just wants to settle down. The two visit from time to time but reminisce on their past and wonder how they could have remained close and developed their relationship (art in the video is drawn by Lan's player lil.bunny.prince on Instagram)

In both endings (and here's where you remember that importance regarding Asher's trial), because the story has established that it takes place in the same world as another campaign, Kova meets

Gwyn, and becomes a father figure to her and essentially adopts her. They're perfect for each other. Gwyn was cast from her clan and disowned by her family, and now she finally has a solid adult figure in her life who loves and accepts her and helps her overcome her fears of rejection and accidentally hurting the people she cares about. Kova has lost so much and with Gwyn he is able to raise her like he would have helped raise Iris and learns to overcome his survivors guilt and both of their scars and trauma heal together I love them so much.

Kova does outlive Gwyn by a couple hundred years (damn dnd lifespans) and whichever direction his life goes his endings are always bittersweet but he is able to heal despite always feeling a little sad and when he gets older he settles in a nice town and owns a library. And obviously his canon storyline isn't sad enough so I have aus for that (villain au my beloved). ❤

[kaitycole]

A Royal Mess (Part 12)

Summary: Leo still has hopes to work things out with Madeleine but can that happen when his wife returns from the hospital with his best friend’s child? And what happens when Leo finally sits down with Riley to talk about the future heir.

Word Count: 1904

Pairings: Leo x Madeleine (kinda), Leo x Katie, Riley x Liam, Liam x Madeleine (sorta), Damien x Katie

Warning: Mild cussing, angst, anger

Tag List: @chiarace  @grimalkjn  @jyreusser85 @hopefulmoonobject @enmchoices  @indiacater @captain-kingliamsqueen  @katurrade @darley1101  @zilch3 @sleeplessescapades  @bobasheebaby @mrsdrakewalkerblog@lynn1214  @umccall71  @drakelover78  @thequeenchoices   @stopforamoment @lauradowning29​

“Madeleine, I will sit outside this bedroom door until you come out and speak to me. I know I keep messing things up, but please can we just try to work this out.”

           There’s nothing but silence from the other side. Leo has been sitting outside her door every chance he gets, he never realized how much he had hurt her until now. He knows things are complicated, but he at least wants things worked out between the two of them.

           She’s sitting on the floor, on the other side of the door as she hears him sigh and get up to leave. She wants to let go of the past, she wants to be with him, but he’s hurt her repeatedly and the fact that his wife comes back to the palace today, doesn’t make anything better.

*          *

           “Thank you, Bas.” Katie says as he places her bags in the suite that her and Leo share. She sits down on the bed, taking a deep breath, finally relieved to be home.

           Looking around the room, she notices it seems emptier than she remembers. Opening the dresser, she sees that Leo’s clothing is gone. Frantically, she opens the other drawers and closet doors before realizing that he hasn’t been in the suite for a while.

           An envelope on the pillows catches her eye.

           Katie,

                       I’m sorry to do this to you but I’m just not ready for a family. I don’t regret Asher but I just can’t do this. You deserve Leo, he’s better and more stable for you. I’ll set up an account to put money in to help out with Asher. I wish you the best.

                                                                                               -Damien

           Tears fall onto the letter as she starts to cry. She reads it over and over until the tears have made her vision too blurry to read it any longer. She runs her fingers through her hair, pushing it off of her face. Her mind is racing and soon she feels herself start to hyperventilate.

           “Katie, what’s wrong?” Leo says, walking over to her with the sleeping newborn. He couldn’t stand Damien, to be honest he couldn’t stand his wife right about now, but he didn’t blame the baby. Plus, Leo wouldn’t admit it, but Asher was pretty adorable.

           He places the baby in the bassinet before sitting down next to her. She wipes her tears before looking up at her husband. She then watches him read it, his face grows angry before he tosses the letter to the floor.

           “I can’t believe him.” He shakes his head.

           “What am I going to do?”

           “We’ll figure it out, we always do,” he shrugs and gives her a small smile.

           Katie looks up at her husband, his blonde hair hasn’t been cut in a while and it’s shaggier than it’s been in years. She starts to think of everything they’d been through and just how much she has been taken him for granted. She places a hand on his leg, looking up at him, but instead of the reaction she wants, he gently grabs her hand and puts it back on her leg before standing up.

           “Where have you been sleeping?”

           “I moved down the hall.” Leo rubs the back of his neck, “If you’d like I can move back in to be here to help with Asher.”

           Her eyes light up, “I’d really appreciate that.”

           He nods before leaving the room, leaving Katie alone again.

           I’ll be fine. Leo will stay and raise Asher and everything will go back to normal.

*          *

            Weeks go by and everyone at the palace can sense the hostility of the new Cordonian king. Liam’s stomping around, snapping at staff and biting off diplomats’ heads. He has been breaking trade agreements and severing peace treaties which is causing concerns throughout the palace as well as the kingdom.

           “Are you sure everything is okay, brother?” Leo asks.

           “Maybe you should ask your estranged wife that instead of me, eh?” He slams the stack of papers he’s carrying on the desk before flopping down in his chair.

           Leo stares at his brother, waiting for him to come to his senses.

           “And fuck you for dropping this shit on my lap. Did you really hate me that much?” In the heat on the moment he swings his arm out, causing a stack of papers to fly off the edge of the desk.

           “We done with the tantrum?”

           He lets out a deep sigh, “Yes. No. I don’t know. I’m just so pissed off at Riley.”

           “Care to elaborate?” Leo sits down in the chair across from Liam’s.

           “She asked me to stay away until this was all settled. She didn’t want the stress affecting the baby. I tried to be understanding, but she’s talking of moving to America. With my child. That little girl is just as much mine as she is hers.” A few tears trail down his cheeks, “This crown has taken so much, I don’t want to lose my family too.”

           “Things always work out. We wouldn’t be Rhys men if they didn’t.”

           “Oh really? So, Damien leaving, Katie trying to make a blended family with you and Madeleine getting tired of waiting for you, is things working out?” He smirks.

           “I hate you,” Leo jokingly spits at his brother before leaving.

*          *

           “Leo? I wasn’t expecting you.” She steps back, allowing him room to enter the estate.

           “I think it’s time you and I talk about a few things.”

           “Oh? And what would that be?” Her hands lay protectively over her belly.

           “Please, let’s sit. A woman in your condition shouldn’t stand.”

           The two make their way into the sitting room, Leo sits on the sofa while Riley sits in a chair that she has made her own. Her pillows, footstool and own side table in there. Maxwell set up a TV in the room which Bertrand hated, but allowed it for the future heir.

           “I didn’t think Bertrand would ever out a TV in here.” Leo chuckles.

           “Bertrand wasn’t too keen, but he wanted another area I could relax in since the doctor said to start taking it easy or she’d have to put me on bedrest.”

           “Bed rest? What’s going on? Does Liam know?”

           She hangs her head low, “No he doesn’t. And he doesn’t need to.” She has a little less than a month to go, she doesn’t want him worrying more than he already is with running a country.

           “Is this even his daughter?”

           “LEO!” Riley yells.

           “I mean you’re keeping him away from her. Why? This is just as new and special to him as it is you.”

           “He didn’t show any emotion when she was diagnosed.”

           “Seriously? If you don’t know that that’s how Liam is, you have a lot to learn. He’s stoic. He doesn’t show emotions in front of people.”

           “I’m not just people.”            “No, but you are the one person he doesn’t want to look weak in front of. The day you basically banned him from coming over here, he’s had every book, article and case study about her condition brought to him. He’s done more research than most medical students on this. He has three of the best doctors on call to examine her after birth to give her the best care.”            Riley begins to cry, “I…I...didn’t know.”

           “How could you? You shut him out. And now he’s biting everyone’s head off and damn near close to starting a war because he misses you that damn much. You have someone who loves you and wants to be a family and you’re over here trying to do it on your own when you don’t have to.”

           “I…”

           “He’s just as scared as you are. Lean on each other. Before one of you ends up pushing the other one away for good.”

           “Leo…”

           “I know I’ve yammered on enough. I just needed to say my piece.”

           “Leo!”            “I said I was done.”

           “My water just broke!”

           “Oh. Uhm,” panic coats his voice.

           “Hospital. Now.” She’s bending over, clutching her side, trying to control her breathing.

           Leo puts an arm around her, helping her to the limo where they instruct the driver on where to go.

           “This is not the type of bodily fluids I thought would end up in my personal limo.”

           “Ew. Really, Leo?”

           “Sorry.”

           “Leo.” She’s breathing in and out the best that she can, “Call Liam.”

*          *

           “Lady in labor coming through!” Leo shouts as he walks Riley over to a wheelchair and as he pushes her down the hallway.

           “Seriously?”

           “Would you rather I just hit them?”

           She rolls her eyes before she lets out a pained sound from another contraction.

           “Ms. Brooks, how are you today?” One of the nurses says. When Riley first came to Cordonia, Liam had a special medical team hand-picked to not only handle Riley during her pregnancy but also to be the staff when she went into labor.

           “I have a tiny human trying to get out of my vagina, how do you think I am?”

           “Oh boy,” the nurse whispers to Leo as she begins to wheel Riley back to the maternity ward.

           “Get Liam here NOW!” She growls at Leo before they turn the corner.

*          *

           Riley’s laying on the hospital bed as the doctor examines her.

           “Please let me push,” she practically begs, Leo presses a wet towel to her forehead.

           “We just need to wait a little bit longer, Ms. Brooks. It’s not time yet.”

           Before Riley can spit out something sarcastic, the door flings open and a flustered Cordonian king comes rushing in. His face is red from running around the entire hospital and his suit is misbuttoned while his hair is a sloppy mess.

           “Liam!” Riley says as he hurries over to her bedside.

           “I’m so sorry I’m late.” He kisses her hand, “I had to change suits because I didn’t want to wear the one I had been wearing all day and then I couldn’t find the right shoes to go with it. I didn’t want to look a mess to meet our daughter. Then I left but had to turn around because I left something and I couldn’t find a driver so I just drove here myself. I didn’t miss anything, did I?”

           Riley smiles as she pulls him closer before kissing him to shut him up.

           “You didn’t miss anything. You’re right on time. Though you could rebutton your shirt.”

           He looks down, shaking his head before adjusting his attire.

           “What did you leave that you had to go back for?” Leo asks.

           “Oh!” He pulls out a tiny black box, “Riley, I’ve been waiting a long time to do this. Since I first saw you, I knew you were the one for me. I’m not doing this just because of our current situation, I’ll still be here for you and our baby girl even if you say no, but I just have to ask.” He opens the box to reveal an emerald shaped diamond on a simple rose gold band, “Will you marry me?”

           A huge smile breaks out on her face, “Yes! Yes, I will.” She pulls him in again for a kiss but is interrupted by a painful contraction.

           “Well everyone, it looks like it’s time to have a baby,” Dr. Gallardo says as the staff gets prepared to wheel Riley down to delivery.

[fluffmugger]

State elections down here so now I get my usual PISSING ME OFF bullshit from the LNP.  Not only do they obfuscate CRIME UP IN YOUR AREA 58%!!!!!!  (there was a grand total of eight) and outright lie "LABOR ARE CUTTING POLICE!!!!" (no labor have increased the police force after the LNP slashed its throat and allowed crime to spiral) they have also fucking addressed it to “<his lordship's surname> household"

Every. Fucking. Year they do this and it pisses me off and makes me firebomb their FB until I get banned.

I'm not registered to vote under my married name.  Yon Nephew is also still registered here as his address (he doesn't trust his new place for important mail as the schoolkids fuck with his letterbox) and shares my maiden name.   So you have two people with the surname X and one person with the surname Y.  Why is it the Y household?

Because the two X have an obviously female and (to a sais,  it's welsh - the female variant is common here, the male not so much) possibly-feminine name.  

Asher pisses me off anyway as he's a standard LNP smugcunt and I live too close to Brighton for them to be anything but self-involved little shits, but I fucking see you, you lying, misogynistic piece of shit and one day I am going to give you the kick in the pants you fucking well deserve.

[theonlyblackcanary]

All I wanted was to be loved for myself...

Olympus Has Fallen + AU/Monter Movies

Mike Banning and Benjamin Asher + The Phantom of the Opera for @axelwolf8109

[spookyashhelps-blog]

Hi Asher! We are a mature, OC, southern gothic, mystery and town rp, that is both heavily plot driven and equally focused on character development. And we were wondering if you might have the time to give us an opinion/a full review, please? Regardless, thank you for your attention

sorry for the wait on this! life has been crazy and i wanted to wait until i had time to actually devote to this. remember, this is all an opinion and take what i say with a grain of salt! this got hella long and i apologize, i just went through everything.

okay, so first things first, i know that it was a trend to have like super short urls and people felt strongly about this?? idk if that’s still a thing really and i think a lot of people will get the reference to the song and it’s a banger, so i don’t have a problem with it, just something to keep in mind.

now, the theme. i think that the fansite style is fine, i know some people don’t like it for the “aesthetic” but they are generally easier to read and i’m all for accessibility. however, i do feel that it’s a little lackluster? the header is pretty and i like it but it’s a little plain and with a plain theme just kinda makes it meh? i’ve always felt that the theme should be an extension of the plot and i feel like this is such a cool and dark theme that it needs something to match it? so i think you should really change up the color scheme on the blog because the white vs off white with a little bit of green is just too plain for the theme.

i do like your graphics a lot! i am also a slut for that neon sign aesthetic.

okay, for the plot, i love it, but there are just little spelling mistakes and odd phrasing here and there. so, i just bulleted them to make it easier to read.

“So what little read thread of fate ties these two strange souls together?“ I think you meant red here? But also, I think there’s just way too make adjectives in this sentence and it’s too cluttered, making it lose the impact of it. at the bare minimum, i would take red out of there but also if you want to, i’d also get rid of strange. again, it clogs the sentence up but also that’s implying that those souls are odd individually. if you were trying to highlight the fact that things people were very different from each other and they make an odd pairing, i’d change the wording.

“A lung full of water,“ This just reads really awkwardly because lungs are always thought of and work as a pair. the only way someone could have a singular lung filled with water is if one of the lungs were removed, which if that’s a signature of the killer, then cool but it wasn’t clear if that’s the case. 

“drown those he deems to sinful to live” that’s a “too sinful”

“So, please do come and join us!!!“ there’s nothing wrong with this really, and this is a note that i really don’t want to come off as rude so please understand that’s not what i’m trying to do. this is a note more on the admins and how they communicate. the over use of exclamation points, the pet names in the admin posts while addressing the tags and the members, doesn’t have the right vibe for this type of rps. you’re trying to attract an older and more mature audience and that just comes across as unprofessional and a little forces. that’s one of the things i have discovered about trying to get apps and and attention, the more professional and relaxed you are, the better. you can totally have a personality and be friendly and funny, but that’s not the way to go, one exclamation point does the trick. 

okay, the next thing, the navigation page. there are way too many links here, and some of them i just don’t think you need and tbh, i’d move some of them around. it’s an odd thing i noticed, but people are more attracted to shorter before and during application sections and a longer after applying section, idk why. i’m doing bullets again because this got long.

the founding families, victims, the about, and the locations could honestly be moved to the after applying section just because if someone really wants to include this information in their app, they’re gonna look at it regardless, but if i was applying for the group, i’d be a little put off by what feels like work or homework almost. 

since the faq is the ask page on your blog, i feel that’s very unnecessary to have it on the navi page. 

i also feel that having a tag for faq and having an faq on the ask is unnecessary

the character directory and the character navigation are very redundant. i would get rid of one or the other, i know the directory says work in progress and if that’s the reason you also have the navigation, just don’t link to the directory. you never want to make unfinished work accessible 

the wanted connections vs closed connections is also redundant, i have never seen the point of putting up taken connections really, but if you really want to do that, i’d say just make a page for it and call it wanted connections and just have two sections. if you want to advertise the open connections, do so on the promo blog, not on the main

the answered asks link also feels redundant with the faq tag and then on top of the faq on the ask page? i’d say trim that down, it’s just too much. my suggestion would be to get rid of the link to the ask and then get rid of the faq tag and just have the answered link. i also feel that can be down below in the after acceptance.

the banned link for the fcs on the navi is too much. you should link that page in your rules. with just a simple “here are the banned fcs” 

i would put the sample and headcanon prompts on the app just again, to clean up the navi page

i’d put the follow list and the trigger links on the checklist page

blogroll is a bit of an antiquated term, follow list, or to follow, or some variant is more popular

and tbh, since you guys have so much info, which is amazing i really do love it, i’d even maybe make an extras section?? like the ooc list, the inspo blog, maybe even the locations page? things like that just because your navi looks like a way of text and it’s a page of links, it shouldn’t look like that

okay, so the guideline page, alright and apparently i’m just going to be doing a commentary over the whole page then bullet points for specifics and that’s the format we’re going with today. it’s a little long and wall of text-y so maybe either shorten them or break it up into more sections?

that first bit about acceptances, i feel you can delete now since you’ve done your first round of acceptances and that’s no longer needed

okay, so the thing about saying we don’t have set dates for applying is that comes off as very unprofessional and while yes, rp is a hobby, the more professional the admins look, the more people are going to trust the admins to run the rp, the more people are going to be attracted to it, and the more they are going to trust the rp to stick around. just say an apps are going to be accepted and if there is any issue, we will keep you updated

i’d say that they deny applications is longer than it has to be, just saying you have the right to deny applications, and that you are more than welcome to talk to us about why you were denied and reapply

the “ (or skeleton) “ is unnecessary and a little confusing. 48 hours seems long to me but that also maybe because i do mainly appless rps and the usual time for the full app maybe completely different. so, if that’s like around about the usual then ignore this bit, i trust you guys

“(somewhat negotiable)” i’d just say negotiable, but that’s a personal and really nitpicky things so eh

“If found to be instigating the drama, you will have two warnings before you will be removed from the RP. We also want you to know that we, the admins, aren’t perfect and if we are every making you uncomfortable PLEASE DO tell us. That is never our intention, and we will very gladly hear your concerns and fix our own mistakes.” that’s two different bullet points right there

now, some people really like discord chats, and some don’t. the thing that i have discovered is that people who don’t have discord or don’t want to join for whatever reason often feel very left out and often leave the rp, this is coming from rps that i have admined myself. so, i’d either get rid of it altogether or make it a requirement that you have discord just so you don’t have that problem

i do get that with these rps where longer threads are more expected the norm, i still feel that 7 days of inactivity plus 48 hours is a bit too long because that’s nine days that someone can go without posting before you have seen that they left, but also, having way too tight activity isn’t good either. i’d say a week without posting or letting you guys know is fair. however you want to divide that out, whether it’s five days plus 48 hours of warning or 6 days with 24 hours warning, i think it’s half a dozen and six of the other 

2 months is a very long time for a hiatus and i think it should be cut down by half tbh, because at 2 months, that’s just reserving a character or an fc, i would do baseline of a month and then go case by case for anything longer

The bit about wanting people to let you know they’re leaving is unnecessary. sure, it’s nice to get a heads up, but people are going to do what they do and since they’re leaving, there’s really no disciplinary action to take against that. The reapplying thing is fine though.

as i said, the banned fcs should just be a link to the page because that makes it look neater and it’s less redundant and confusing

you don’t need that diversity bit, it’s clear that you guys feel strongly about it, and that’s not really a rule, so it doesn’t quite belong on the page, unless you want to use that as the segway to talk about the skeletons or you could add a rule that for every “x” amount of white fcs you have, you must have a faceclaim of color or for every “x” amount of under 25 (or whatever you want the age to be) you must have an fc above said age limit

waiting a month to pick up more characters is a little extra? i understand that you can have 3 characters right off the bat and that’s usually as many as people play but it still seems way too long

i guess i don’t understand why you want people to have a para going on and it’s not even a hard fast rule so? i think it’s slightly odd to have in there, but if you really want that in there i’d change it to something a lot shorter like “we’d love to see you guys have a variety of styles of threads, but it’s not a requirement” has the same effect, just said a lot quicker

i don’t think the XV section is necessary at all, i think almost everyone knows that and if they don’t, then that’s something to explain to them one on one because that is going to happen so little 

the cutting posts thing is too long, that can be written in less words and for mobile rp, i’ve found that just having them tag it and having the partners do the cutting is fine and works great

i haven’t seen gray boxes in a 79 years, i don’t think they’re a problem anymore tbh??

you guys are getting way too specific with the dimensions of the gifs, just say small to medium. a note on that, is that 80 px is becoming the new norm so for those new fcs who have popped up recently, they might not have 100px resources so they might not be underused but it’s going to be a needle in the haystack search with little to no results to find 100px resources, so it just seems a little much to me. maybe just saying it’s a strong preference would be better

for the triggers, i’d just say, make sure that you add that onto your app so we can add it to the trigger list

the whole bit on what to do with triggers is again, very verbose, you can cut that down to something a lot shorter

also, i wouldn’t use finally, but if you are, make sure it’s on the last rule

i’d rearrange the last section tbh, because it’s a little all over the place so grouping them together by their subcategories would read better

i love the family page, think it’s great! love the diversity too!

the victim page is great too, but i would just add fcs for all of them since their families are playable.

the about for the town is incredible too

locations page is great too, but the phil’s watches and clocks graphic is broken

the only thing on the faq page that i can see is the bit about mock blogs seems like you heavily favor people who do mock blogs over those who don’t so i would change that wording completely

i already said my bit about the directory but i cannot stress enough that putting up works in progress just isn’t the greatest look and thing to do, but i do freaking love what i see with the page, i just wish the first time i saw it, it was complete

okay, so the banned list, i have some thoughts on it

so the fact that you have the exception of allowing more diverse fcs for the large number of groups you have banned makes it not problematic but

idk, i just find that type of banning a huge turn off for me and i know quite a few people feel that way too just because it kind of makes it about the fcs and the resources when it should be based on writing, which i can tell you guys are trying to promote, so idk, i’ve always felt that it creates a cognitive dissonance when groups ban that many groups of people

for example, i have a character that i absolutely love that he might actually work in this rp, but his fc is automatically banned and i’m very attached to his fc as his fc for him, so those really stiff blanket bans can loose you apps

as for the specific people, it’s kind of a long list. now, if those people are all on there because the muns have personal issues with them, great, case closed. however, if those are because they did one thing and you’re doing it because tumblr said they were bad people, but you don’t have a personal issue with them, then like, that could also loose you apps you know? but as i said, if those people are on their because of personal experiences/triggers, then it’s perf

the app is great, but i have a few comments

i can understand why you want to know how people found you, but it is a little odd, i’d suggest make that an optional thing

the understanding bit is a bit outdated of a concept, like it’s better than a password, but it’s still outdated

i’d completely reword the interrogation explanation paragraph because it’s just way too long and over explains it to the point it starts getting confusing

either the link to the accepted tag is either broken or the tag is empty

as far as the checklist goes, i would move the requirements for the blog to the rules page

and that’s the end of this opinion/review! in summary, i think it’s a great rp with lots of potential just a few things to tighten up. i think the things you should focus on is the theme, do things to make it have an aesthetic that reflects the plot and mood of your rp, work on the professionalism things i mentioned, and cut down on how wordy things are, things often get over-explained that sometimes it gets even more confusing and no one likes things over-explained to them. i wish you guys the best of luck!