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pynkhues · 4 years ago

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Hi ! I just wanted to say that I love your writing and I wanted to ask how you go about doing research for all your au's. Thanks!

Hi! Thank you so much, anon! And what a fun question! I could talk about researching all day, haha. My undergraduate degree is actually in history too, so research is something that’s sort of fundamental to my education in a lot of ways.

To talk about researching is kind of hard though, because while the steps are more or less the same, the approach is really different depending on what it is that I’m writing. For instance, the answer’s pretty different if I’m writing a modern day au where I can shorthand certain things because my readers know what I’m talking about vs an historical au where I really have to think pretty deeply about everything if I want to submerge a reader in a storyworld.

So I thought it might be fun to answer this question using my two biggest au’s as sorts of case studies! This is probably an extremely nerdy answer, I don’t know, haha, and it talks about both researching and incoporating research into the creative process while writing, so I hope that’s okay!

Generally speaking, all my writing starts with a question:

What’s the story that I want to tell?

This is always a process that tends to vary for me, but I rarely actively ask the question to myself prior to getting ready to write it? Usually it ends up as me sort of thinking over a concept then getting to a point where I know I’m going to write it, and it’s only when I really start to think seriously about that that I ask myself that question.

In both of these cases, it was pretty typical for me, haha:

And well, then we get to the next question.

What background do I need to know to be able to tell that story?

While this question might seem AU specific, it’s something that’s actually a step in everything I write. I was working on the second part of the Christmas fic today, which is technically canon divergent, but has made me think a lot about Beth and Rio’s canon cultural backgrounds.

I’ve always liked the headcanon that Beth and Annie are Jewish, but disconnected from their heritage (Marks is a traditionally Jewish surname, Annie’s used some yiddish slang before), and Rio’s obviously Latino, but of Mexican heritage if we apply Manny’s background, and wears rosary beads on the show which indicate that he’s Catholic. I wanted to embrace both of those things, so I’ve tried to thread them through the story where it’s appropriate to do so. For instance, there's a scene of a Las Posadas celebration at Sainte Anne de Detroit which required a LOT of research on my part and hopefully reads well!

The point is that those things felt important to me to include in a Christmas fic about Beth and Rio in the C&C ‘verse because the entire series is about their lives entwining and getting to know each other fully. I want to include detail that feels specific to what we know about them and embraces and (with any luck) deepens our connection to the characters in my fic.

What I’m getting to in a really roundabout way is that once I have a story idea, I start to think about what I’m going to have to understand if I’m going to do the story justice.

In the case of the pornstar and pirate aus, this couldn’t look more different:

Annnnnd so on, haha.

As you can see, sometimes that background research is really clear and straight forward, as it was with the pornstar AU. I looked up how it worked, and because I knew that I wanted it to steer clear of the seedy and toxic parts of porn, I basically researched ideal environments and best practice, put those in place, and then focused on how to get Beth from her suburban home into a legitimate studio.

The pirate AU was extremely different and much more of a mutable process. Without a clear sense of the era from the get-go, I had a much wider scope to explore when and where the story could take place, and when I realised that dating the story would inevitable force me to contend with parts of history I might not want to (i.e. the lead up to The Civil War), it let me re-shape a world around an era, but not feel entirely beholden to it.

In that sense, the research process for both of them involved me choosing fantasy over reality – I negated certain realities to focus on the things I wanted to write (I highly doubt you will find a porn set anywhere near as ethical as Thank You Ma’am after all) – but if I can’t do that in fanfic, where can I? The aim still is for there to be enough that is real that you feel grounded in the story even if I’ve taken certain creative liberties for the sake of telling the story I want to tell.

That’s the beauty of research. Once you know enough about it, you can make informed choices about what you use to shape your storyworld, and make it feel authentic even as you’re fictionalising it.

The point of that though is that this background research is so fundamental to the DNA of the story itself, that it can’t even begin to exist without it.

Loose plotting

It’s usually around this point that I’ll put together a loose plot. This is generally pretty thin, but I’ll start to put pieces into a bit of an order.

The pornstar au is, again, a really easy example of this. Three parts felt right for it, the shooting of the porno itself was always going to be in the final part, which gave me two chapters to get Beth there. I knew she was going to submit herself through an amateur talent callout which I’d discovered in my background research, so the question of it was more around why would someone like her sign up? Canon plot points help – Beth needs money! Fantasy kicks in again, haha – because she and Dean are finally divorcing.

On the other hand, the pirate au is pretty much unrecognisable from it’s first loose plot.

In it, I’d pencilled in Beth travelling on a ship with Dean and the children, pirates boarding, and Rio kidnapping Beth as collateral to help him escape.

My loose plots change a lot and usually grow in detail, evolve and change shape as I start to ask myself why, and there are a lot of reasons why the pirate au changed so much, but I’ll get to that a bit later.

The point is, once I have a loose plot, I’ll usually throw some more words down, see what I’ve got, and then get to the part of the research process I like to call:

Question time

With background research done and a loose plot and some draft scenes written, I hit a much more specific part of the research process where I don’t need to know broadstroke background detail, I need to know the answers to really specific stuff. I usually write a list and try to do it all at once so that the writing process isn’t too much stop-start. I bullet point the answers in my creative doc then too, so the information is right there when I need it.

Again, the questions I asked of the pornstar au and pirate au were pretty different (although there were a few similarities, haha). Some of the questions I asked were:

This is actually a case where the pirate au was, in a lot of ways, easier. History is well documented and fact checked after all, but current porn industry standards are, y’know. Not quite as transparent, haha. I’ve mentioned it before, but I actually started to fill out an amateur porn application (with a false identity of course, haha), so that I could see the full form and get a genuine sense of the questions they ask, which is hilarious, annnd brings us to sources.

Sources

In researching, there are definitely things I’ll just Google, but I also like to utilise sources pretty widely. In particular, Google’s not really going to give you a great sense of what - say - the life of a pornstar’s like, but there are some great podcast series where performers talk about their lives in their own words. Similarly, Google searches are great for the cliffnotes of an answer, but don’t hold a candle to era-made drawings, letters and newspaper clippings.

For the two, I’d probably say my sources looked something like this:

How do the answers to these questions affect the story that I want to tell?

Annnd of course, the answers to these questions frequently end up re-shaping and re-framing my story, both directly and indirectly. Originally for instance, I wasn’t going to have condoms at all in the pirate au, because I naively assumed they wouldn’t be invented yet in a loose 1800s-set fic, only to discover that some version of a condom has been around since Ancient Rome (it was made using the bladders of animals! Gross!).

Other times it’s indirect. The idea for instance in the pirate au to have Beth realise the houses that the men had robbed through certain items they were wearing came really from looking a lot at antique store sites and image archives and seeing how much was custom made for families and individuals. That in turn made me think how for someone who’s ability to think on her feet and observe are her strengths, that could really come into play as a plot point.

Re-Plotting and Writing

It’s usually around this point that everything comes together and I start to really map out a fic in a firmer, more meaningful way, and also just throw myself into the writing of it. I generally feel like I’ve got the tools at this point in the process, and start to talk to the story in a bit more of an informed way.

It’s also really where I start asking myself why? and what does this mean for the next scenes? a lot.

Jumping back to the original pirate au plot, this was really where it pivoted as drastically as it did. There were too many tropes in that premise that I didn’t like. I didn’t like that Beth had no agency in the act that connected her to Rio, I didn’t like the trope of the MOC kidnapping a ‘helpless’ white woman, I didn’t like that Beth would be taken from her children by force and how that would impact any connection her and Rio formed and ensure that a major part of the story would have to be devoted to Beth trying to get back to them.

Immediately that made it a case where Beth had to choose to go with Rio, but why would she leave her family? And why would Rio let this upperclass lady onboard his ship? So she snuck on. So she had to, because Dean lost everything again. Okay, but would Beth just leave the kids with Dean after he’d done that? No way, not with the implications of the time, so who would she leave them with? Annie or Ruby - no, I want Ruby on the pirate adventure. Annie. But what on earth could put Annie in a secure enough position that Beth would willingly entrust her children to her?

Thus the subplot of Greg wanting to legitimise Ben was born! Which I doubly liked, because it kind of mirrors canon, haha.

In that case, the research really helped me flesh out a story world that let me explore character storylines in a way that I wouldn’t always do, which is insanely fun to me, haha, so I forever am left hoping it’s fun to read too.

But yes! In a nutshell, that’s my research process. :-)

#fic asks #writing #fanfiction #welcome to my ama #Anonymous

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mysticmachmir · 5 years ago

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Judaism, Circles, and Circle-Casting

What's the Point of a Circle?

Magical Circle Definition: A temporary space with clearly defined energetic boundaries that provides a known space for ritual, magic, or similar controlled change.

"Casting a circle allows us to create an energetic space that supports our work in the physical space we have available. Since we do our ritual in a variety of spaces, many of which spend most of their time being something else (a living room, a public park, a rented room in a friendly business or community building), we need a way to make the space stop being those things, and start being a space where ritual, magic, and transformation can happen more easily."

This is a definition from a religious witch, a priestess of a coven. Obviously, this is not Judaism or a Jewish witch. However, if we want to incorporate some type of this into our practice, we need to understand what is its purpose. Asking why we have a ritual is just as important as how to craft one genuinely. For more information on crafting Jewish ritual and researching into Jewish traditional rituals to serve your purposes, please inquire this series on Tumblr.

Magical and Mystical Circles in Judaism

The Talmud: Honi HaMe'egal

One of the most concrete examples is using a circle to invoke and demand something of G!d. Here is a summary of what he did, but the sources via Sefaria are Taanit 23a:4-Taanit 23a:5-10.

"His surname is derived from an incident in which, according to the Babylonian Talmud, his prayer for rain was miraculously answered. On one occasion, when G!d did not send rain well into the winter (in Israel, it rains mainly in the winter), Honi drew a circle in the dust, stood inside it, and informed G!d that he would not move until it rained. When it began to drizzle, Honi told G!d that he was not satisfied and expected more rain; it then began to pour. He explained that he wanted a calm rain, at which point the rain calmed to a normal rain."

The Bible and Folkloric Uses of Circles

However, there are many times we see circles used in Judaism. In the TaNaKh, magic circles first appear in Jewish tradition in the Bible, when Joshua encircles Jericho seven times in order to collapse its walls. We also have circles during Simchat Torah, weddings, Hoshana Rabbah, and funerals. Circles are used quite a bit in Jewish ritual, whether we realize it or not.

The use of protective circles, so familiar in medieval sorcery, also starts to appear in Jewish practice. Such circles were also used to protect the birthing bed of pregnant women (Sefer ha-Chayyim 2.8). Smaller circles drawn around a wound or area of illness on a Body presumably exorcised the malaise-causing spirit.

The book Zera Kodesh (“Holy Seed”), written in the 16th century, describes making concentric circles on the ground (usually three or seven) with an iron blade, often with an inscription or the names of Angels added. The Baal Shem Tov once defeated a priest-witch by making a protective circle with his staff (Megillat Setarim).

In YIVO's Folklore of Ashkenaz class, by Professor Itzik Gottesman, he discusses the different ways circles were used by Ashkenazi Jews. He discusses that "Circling [was used to] ward the demons off the body. Circling, and circles in general, have found their way into Jewish folklore in a number of ways. Circles are considered perfect shapes and have a magical power to keep away evil. … Round objects also have symbolic value. At the first meal from returning from a burial, the family is given bagels to eat. One interpretation of this is so that we remember the round cycle of life and death, and it reinforces belief in reincarnation, which has been very much part of Jewish belief in the Diaspora. The [Rabbinic] responsa also mentions other circle customs: to circle the graves with thread, which were later used as wicks and candles to be lit for the ill person in the synagogue; in order to stop the spread of swelling on the eyes, it was circled with a ring; and in order to prevent further growth of a hunchback, it was circled with the hand of a dead man."

Noam Sienna, a Jewish scholar, speaks of other minhagim: "Drawing circles is also a common practice in the Mediterranean/Sephardic Jewish world to protect birthing mothers and newborns — it’s often drawn with a special sword or knife, and participants would also themselves walk in a circle around the cradle or around the room while reciting a protective formula like Psalm 91."

In Midrash, it is written: "For the circle has no beginning and end. And regarding this pleasure the scholars of truth hinted in their midrash, "the Holy One Blessed be He will make a circle for the righteous in the World to Come."

Kabbalah

A circle represents infinity because it has no beginning or end. In Kabbalah, the samech (a letter that is an enclosed loop) represents the infinite power of the Ein Sof, G!d’s infinite light.

This video from Chabad is about an hour-long shiur on the concept of the sacred geometry of the circle, but essentially the Rabbi discusses how the circle is the most common and natural shape in Nature that G!d has created. Pebbles, the globe, ripples of water, the cycle of time itself is the most perfect shape and represents the week, 7 days. Seven and the circle are connected, as 7 is a very important number in Judaism connected to time. I do recommend watching if you're interested in numerology, sacred geometry, and math connected to divinity.

Modern Circle-Casting Rituals

Typically, when people think of circle casting, they are called to Wicca's ritual of circle casting, calling on the archangels (which sounds extremely similar to the Jewish krias Shema - and Wicca was invented in the 50s, so you know who took from who there), calling on the watchtowers (Book of Enoch), and etcetera. This is not a process I am necessarily interested in. Here is one take of mixing Wiccan circle-casting with Jewish and Celtic theology/elements (this person is Jewish). Note: If you are a monotheistic Jew, or otherwise don't want to "mix" your practices, I do not suggest using this example of ritual. Also, the Zohar-pentagram connection is… questionable.

There is also the circle-casting suggested from Tehomot: Jewish Witchcraft*, which I'll outline here. I prefer this one because while yes, it is connecting back to the Wiccan tradition, it is not melding much of the religious elements, and only a few ritual pieces. Instead, it incorporates a lot more Jewish ritual and connection to Hashem. If it were me, I would remove the athame aspect of it and it would align more for my needs.

Visualization of the circle as the boundary of Gan Eden:

Athame/tool - shooting out fire like the spinning blade protecting Gan Eden

Gan Eden - orientations to the east, four rivers in the garden

Instead of calling on the watchtowers, call on the names of the rivers as found in Torah

He says that the "casting of the circle brings you from Malkhut - etheric double of the physical world. You are going up the Tree of Life and the Four Worlds in circle work/spirit work - from physical to spiritual (Assiyah to Yetzirah, Malkhut to Yesod)".

The purpose of using a circle is asking for help - from G!d, angels, guardians, to ask help to change Assiyah/Malkhut/physical realm.

How To Cast (According to Tehomot)

1. Be properly prepared. ritual for preparedness - oil/shower/ centering. Once in the circle, anointment w/ oil and/or ring a bell/musical note

2. Draw the circle - saltwater, incense, or candle

3. Corner call - the four rivers and four elements.

4. Summoning entities to hold the corner of the circles - angels, spirits, whomever

5. The evocation of G!d, recite psalms and say for what purpose

6. Calling on ancestors to be present

7. Magical work/ritual

8. Worship element - a prayer to G!d, offerings (kiddush)

9. Closing - release ancestors, release the corners, draw the circle backward and ground the energy

Finally, in the book Magic of the Ordinary, there is another "circle-casting" ritual that he posits is from compiling symbolism from Jewish texts in this new ritual.

Tools: Bird feather and a fallen branch found naturally. This ritual is to be performed outside as it is written in this book. It is asked that you meditation with this stick and infuse your breath into it before using it to draw the circle.

If the ritual for which you are making the circle is to heal something, undo something, process something, make space for newness in some way or another, draw the circle counter-clockwise. Walk around the circle as you are drawing it and chant (I am only writing the English, get the book for the Hebrew): "Here I am Here I am Here I am, G!d Breath, Please support me"

(Take a Breath) "I and the Unnameable, The Infinite One So again-- I and ho, I and ho"

(Take a breath, and then louder): "I and ho I and ho Support me, Please"

Repeat as much as you need until the circle is complete. You need to draw it seven times. Then, step inside the circle and chant into the four directions: "Toward your support do I direct my hope, O G!d I direct my hope, O G!d toward your support O G!d toward your support do I direct my hope"

Take your feather and sweep it across the inside of the circle and chant: "For the sake of the unification of the Holy Blessed One be He and the Shekhinah Through this rite, done in awe and in love to join The name Yah with Wah in a complete union"

Then wave the feather to the sky in circular movements while chanting "Yah" toward the sky and downward again sweeping it across the earth chanting "Wah". Do this three times and leave your tools in the center of the circle before stepping out. The circle is finished, and you can begin any rituals - calling forth spirits, performing ceremonies, or leading gatherings.

(Yah and Wah are two names of G!d, riffing off the Holy Name in an acceptable way as it is not the full name. If you are uncomfortable with this, you can replace it with a name of G!d comfortable for you).

*The person who made this podcast is an apostate and is now a Messianic Baptist. He has a post where he says that Jesus is Torah and to deny Jesus means you are denying G!d. I do not support Messianic Judaism, so I have decided not to link his work. You can still find it online, easily. This podcast is from a time where he identified as a Jewish witch and was becoming a Rabbi.

If you like my work and writings, feel free to tip me here: https://ko-fi.com/ezrasaville!

Sources:

The Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism Encyclopedia by R. Geoffrey Dennis Magic of the Ordinary by R. Gershon Winkler Chabad Gleewood Sefaria Noam Sienna YIVO’s Folklore of Ashkenaz Tehomot: Jewish Witchcraft (Podcast) Liorah HaMasovevet

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the-busy-ghost · 4 years ago

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@ardenrosegarden in reply to your query: “ I'd love to hear your thoughts on Malcolm IV, most of the older sources I've seen compare him to William the Lion so I don't know a lot about him”

Thanks for this and I should apologise in advance because I feel like I ranted in a rather incoherent fashion but I wasn’t sure exactly what you’d want to know, so I sort of loosely covered everything. To be honest nobody really knows a whole lot about him (at least, not like the info we have for later mediaeval monarchs) and he died quite young (aged about 24) so it’s difficult to know what his reign would have been like if he’d been an adult for most of it instead of a child. It’s also so easy to compare the brothers- they had quite different characters and sometimes seemed like polar opposites, though they did share a lot too, especially in their aims.

One thing that really annoys me is when people use the fact that he was nicknamed ‘the Maiden’ as if that meant he was effeminate (and indeed as if being effeminate was a bad thing). This isn’t just an issue I have for Malcolm, but really applies to any situation where a word like ‘maiden’ has been misconstrued in a modern context. Maiden is *specifically* a translation of “virgo”, which nowadays we might translate as virgin instead- i.e. he is not widely believed to have done the deed (and certainly never married). Not that surprising really since, as I say, he was 24 when he died and might have suffered from chronic illness in his early twenties, and was also reputedly more pious than certain other kings, but of course 20th and 21st century writers look at the word ‘maiden’ (or even, indeed, ‘virgin��) and suddenly start sniggering, or assume that the nickname was originally meant to be pejorative- whereas it looks like it was at best a compliment and at worst a mere statement of fact.

Speaking of nicknames though, one thing I find very Interesting is the possibility that he was the original Malcolm “Canmore” (Ceann Mór) and not his great-grandfather Máel Coluim III. When noting his death, the Annals of Ulster describe Malcolm IV as “Malcolm Cendmor, Henry’s son”, whereas Malcolm III is not known to have been called that in contemporary sources- though of course the Irish annalist could just have been confused, and I (among many others) still tend to mean Máel Coluim III when I say Malcolm Canmore, since it would cause confusion otherwise (and it does kind of suit him). So firstly that raises the old problem of what we should call the dynasty those two kings belonged to (nobody knows- I tend to go with Canmore dynasty since Margaretsons and MacMalcolm dynasty looks a bit wrong to me but it’s a whole Mess and I don’t think anyone can claim to be right. The only surname which any one of the ‘Canmore’ kings seems to have used at any point was de Warenne- which is inappropriate for the whole dynasty for obvious reasons). But it also raises queries about the nickname’s meaning. Ceann Mór translates directly as ‘big head’, though one could also loosely interpret it as meaning something like ‘great chief’- and Máel Coluim III certainly suited the latter meaning at least (and maybe also the former). On the other hand, although I would argue that Malcolm IV was not obviously a ‘weak’ king, it’s difficult to see him being given an honorific for his power rather than something more obviously central to his character, like his piety.

On the basis of the Annals of Ulster (and William of Newburgh) some people have interpreted this nickname to mean that his head was literally bigger than usual, and so this has led to some theories about the nature of the illnesses which plagued him in the last years of his life. Some have theorised that he suffered from Paget’s disease. Whatever the case Malcolm is known to have been seriously ill on at least two occasions, in 1163 when he was at Doncaster and then before his death in 1165. Although these could have been isolated incidents, the evidence suggests that these illnesses had lingering effects on his strength and that Malcolm may well have been aware that he was unlikely to live long. Which, for all that we know very little about him and he was still a mediaeval monarch (with all the flaws that entailed) I do find genuinely sad. He didn’t need to worry for the succession- he had two healthy younger brothers, who, although nobody could have known in 1165, would both live to a good old age (for the time period). He also doesn’t seem to have been completely side-lined from government like some other kings either, though he may have had to take it easy in the last couple of years. But being aware that you’re not likely to last very long and that you have to pass on the kingdom in a good enough shape to a younger brother who, though loyal, had a very different and more impulsive personality, might have been quite worrying.

And then, as I say, along with his illnesses he was also quite young when he succeeded to the throne. That might not seem surprising given the later history of Scotland (of the 17 monarchs from Malcolm IV to James VI, including the Maid of Norway, 12 succeeded to the throne aged sixteen or younger), but in light of what had gone before that was quite surprising, since previously adult males seem to have been favoured as candidates for the kingship and it could be a dangerous business even for them. Even more interesting is the fact that he succeeded his grandfather without a huge amount of civil strife (though there was certainly some). For years Malcolm’s father Prince Henry had been the heir presumptive to his father David I, and had built important networks in his lands in the north of England and in Scotland. He was an adult of much experience and influence, he was well-equipped to succeed to the throne, and he seems to have been popular enough, from what little we know about him. But when Henry predeceased his father in 1152, suddenly everything was thrown into doubt. David I quickly arranged for the eleven year old Malcolm to be taken around the kingdom by the Earl of Fife, as his designated successor, but there was really no way to be sure that acts like this would absolutely secure Malcolm’s succession. There are some indications of trouble following David’s death the next year, such as Somerled’s rebellion in 1153 and the alleged treachery of a knight named Arthur in 1154, but on the whole the wider political community seems to have supported Malcolm’s right to rule and he remained on the throne (and reconciliations with men like Malcolm MacHeth and Somerled followed in later years, even if Somerled did have another go in 1164). As well as the clergy and greater nobility who had supported his grandfather, Malcolm also had his mother Ada and other family connections for support. Nonetheless the careful networks that David I and Henry had built up in the north of England seem to have collapsed upon the succession of a boy-king to Scotland and his younger brother William to the title Earl of Northumbria.

This stake in the north of England has been the cause of some controversy- historians tend either to imply that Malcolm IV was at fault for humbly surrendering the northern English lands in 1157 (when some sources would indicate he could easily have pressed his rights if Henry II had promised his grandfather not to challenge Scottish claims there, as certain English chroniclers claimed); or that his brother William was rash and petty not to accept that they were permanently lost to him (those who see Scottish history primarily as a series of failed invasions of England tend to see this as a nice moral tale). I think that both points of view vastly underestimate the complexities of twelfth-century politics, of what nobles and kings perceived their ‘rights’ to be, and indeed the complexities of dealing with Henry II of England in particular. On the one hand I could point out that Malcolm was sixteen and was not in the same position of strength re: England as his grandfather had been, so peacefully agreeing to surrender certain territories but secure acknowledgement of his rights to other areas could be seen as quite a sensible move, and on the other hand I could point out that William was sort of right to be a bit miffed about having his inheritance granted away, especially since Henry might have broken his promise. But overall it was a complex and probably difficult situation and since we definitely do not have all or even most of the facts (in contrast to later other disputes over the sovereignty of Scotland and Scottish claims) I’m not sure it should really define our views of Malcolm’s reign, even if it does tell us quite a bit about his brother’s personality.

For all that he was reputed to be pious, young, and possibly chronically ill though, Malcolm does not seem to have been an obviously ‘weak’ king either, nor did he show a complete lack of interest in war and government as some other ‘saintly’ kings are reputed to have done. We find him leading military expeditions in the years 1159-60, and he does seem to have thought of knighthood as a desirable object. Admittedly on two of those military expeditions in 1159-60 may have been in response to the dissatisfaction of his own subjects re: his support of Henry II at Toulouse (or perhaps they were just unhappy that he had left the kingdom for an extended period). He also had to deal with discontent from other key nobles- a reminder that the reports of English and Norman chroniclers regarding 12th century Scotland and its supposedly ‘saintly’ and ‘civilised’ kings may only reflect one particular view of what constituted ‘civilisation’ and successful kingship. That being said, like his grandfather David, we cannot really show that Malcolm was actively opposed to Gaelic culture and the native nobility of his kingdom, even if he might have been inclined to view the feudal ways of the Normans as the ideal way to govern. And overall, despite his illnesses and his youth, contemporary reports of his reign appear are actually largely positive and even complimentary. Perhaps this was helped out by the fact that he died young, and, again, that many of these reports come from English and French-speaking cultures (to them, Malcolm was the perfect successor to his grandfather David, and indeed in one of Kelso Abbey’s early charters they are portrayed together in a manner which echoes the biblical king David and Solomon). Although he faced rebellion from some of his chief subjects, especially those from Gaelic-speaking areas, there were also many native magnates who were supportive of him and his grandfather and it seems unlikely that they would have been seen as such successful kings otherwise (indeed, since the majority of the traditional kingdom of Scotland outwith Lothian was still Gaelic-speaking at this point, that has to count for something). Overall, I can see no reason why we shouldn’t consider Malcolm to have been a competent ruler, even if I wouldn’t necessarily describe him as successful like grandfather or some of Scotland’s later monarchs.

I do apologise for this screed of vaguely incoherent info- I am genuinely interested in Malcolm IV but haven’t had to think about his reign in any depth for a while. Lack of evidence and his early death prevent us from making any deeper assessment of his character and reputation, but I’ll round off with some quotes from contemporary and later sources about him that might give a much better idea of how Malcolm IV was viewed than any of my ranting can. Although obviously the full versions of some of these chronicles are online too (and are worth checking), I’ve quoted mostly from A.O. Anderson’s collections ‘Early Sources of Scottish History’ and ‘Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers’, since these sourcebooks are also really good starting points if you’re curious about any further aspects of Malcolm and William’s careers (you can always ask me, but obviously my view is always subjective). William of Newburgh is a major source for Malcolm’s reputation imo though and the Chronicle of Melrose covers some of the Scottish aspect- and there’s always the anecdote of Ada de Warenne allegedly trying to sneak a girl into Malcolm’s bed which is... dodgy to say the least, but probably meant to show how ‘saintly’ he was and was perhaps also a callback to figures like his distant kinsman Edward the Confessor. Overall though, if Anglo-Norman chroniclers wanted to wax lyrical about the ‘saintliness’ of Scottish royals, and David I and St Margaret weren’t available, Malcolm seems to have been the next best thing.

“Malcolm Cendmor, Henry’s son, the sovereign of Scotland, died: with regard to charity, and hospitality, and piety, the best Christian of the Gaels to the east of the sea.” - The Annals of Ulster

“To the king of Scots also, who possessed as his proper right the northern districts of England, namely Northumbria, Cumberland, Westmoreland, formerly acquired by David, king of Scots, in the name of Matilda, called the empress, and her heir, [king Henry II] took care to announce that the king of England ought not to be defrauded of so great a part of his kingdom, nor could he patiently be deprived of it: it was just that that should be restored which had been acquired in his name.

And [Malcolm] prudently considering that in this matter the king of England was superior to the merits of the case by the authority of might, although he could have adduced the oath which [Henry] was said to have given to David his grandfather (...) restored to him the aforenamed territories in their entirety, and received from him in return the earldom of Huntingdon, which belonged to him by ancient right.”- William of Newburgh

“These are the ones who survive from that holy generation. From the Empress Matilda you came, most illustrious man, whom we now hail as Duke of the Normans and of the Aquitainians, Count of the Angevins, and truly heir to England. Your brothers are Geoffrey and William, of whom we hope for good things, to whom we wish the best. From Queen Matilda and the devout King Stephen came William, count of Warenne and Boulogne. From Henry came Malcolm, William, and David, heir to his grandfather’s name. May God have mercy on their childhood and may you too be merciful, whom divine-loving kindness has established as the most noble head of your whole people. May your holy gaze, your loving heart, and your effective action be upon them in all their necessities. They are orphans, left to you by their grandfather, who loved you above all people; you will be a helper to these your wards, for you are in age more mature, in hands stronger, and in feeling more experienced than they.” - Ailred of Rievaulx’s appeal to the young Henry II in his ‘Genealogy of the Kings of the English’- naturally there is quite a bit of hyperbole in this and I do have to suppress the urge to react to it with “Lol” every time I read it. This quote is not taken from one of Anderson’s books.

“About this time the most Christian king of the Scots, Malcolm, of whom we have made mention, as was fitting, in the preceding book, upon Christ’s summons put off the man, to be associated with angels; and lost not his kingship, but changed it. A man of angelic sincerity among men, and as it were an earthly angel, of whom the world was not worthy, the heavenly angels snatched him from the world. A man of wonderful gravity in tender years, of astonishing and unexampled purity upon the summit and in the delights of the kingdom, he was taken from a virgin body to the Lamb, the Virgin’s son, to follow him where he should go.

Clearly he was taken away by an early death lest the wickedness of the times should change his marvellous innocence and purity since so many opportunities and incentives drive astray a young man on the throne.

But because among the tokens of virtue were not wanting in his admirable soul some small stains resultant from royal delights which nevertheless he rather endured than enjoyed, a visitation let fall, not sent down, from heaven chastisted him with paternal lash, and refined him to purity. For before his death he so languished for several years, and besides other sufferings endured severest pains in his extremities, that is his head and feet, that any repentant sinner would seem capable of being cleansed to pellucidity by so great flagellations.

(...)

His brother William succeeded him; a brother, indeed, as it appeared, readier for the uses of the world, but not to be more fortunate than he in administration of the kingdom.

The world which his brother wished to use simply, and for that cause piously and laudably, [William] purposed not only to use but to enjoy; and striving much to exceed his brother’s measure in temporal excellence, he yet could never equal his glory even in temporal felicity.” - William of Newburgh again, who seems to have been a bit of a fan.

I’d personally like to find out more about what any surviving Gaelic sources might have thought but that will have to wait. On the whole though, while I’m not convinced that Malcolm was the perfect angel some sources make him out to be, I can at least say with absolute certainty that he doesn’t give me the Fear like Alexander II has somehow managed to do from beyond the grave.

(David I and Malcolm IV, portrayed in 1159 in a charter from Kelso Abbey. The initial they are sitting in is ‘M’ and is the start of Malcolm’s name)

#twelfth century #William the Lion #Malcolm IV #history #@ardenrosegarden #replies #ask

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 5 years ago

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Waver 1 - 13 (FINAL) | Prisma Illya 1 - 10 (FINAL) | Prisma Illya 2wei! 1 - 3

Another (and to be honest, the last) batch of impressions from the Fate/ project.

Waver 1

Well, this’ll be interesting. I’ve been hyping this show up for a while for myself, so let’s see how it goes.

Geez, this intro is like a dang movie! I’d love to see a proper Troyca movie! (<-Says the fan of Troyca.)

Wait, if it’s Kayneth Archibald, then is Archibald relatd to Archisorte? Or am I just making thing up here…? Also note Reines refers to Kayneth as “Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald”, possibly meaning Archibald is the middle name, since El-Melloi is a shared surname (or is that a title…?). That probably means Archibald =/= Archisorte and both are similar-sounding middle names. The fact Reines is Kayneth’s niece also explains things quite a bit.

Why is Waver upside down…? Won’t the blood rush to his head soon? (Sure, it allows me to ogle his hair more, but…logic rules more than my stupid whims, y’know?)

Interesting. You can see that although Waver grew out his hair, there’s two layers to it – the longer one in the front and the shorter one in the back. (I’m just curious because I like the hime cut – which is pretty similar - and long hair on dudes in general, in part because both are fairly rare.)

Okay, that explained my gripe with upside-down Waver. Thanks, Reines. (<-genuine)

Aw, Waver buddy, even at this stage, you’re plenty cute. Don’t ever change! (<- As you can see, I am an easily pleased person in most cases.)

Melvin who now???

Troyca’s comic animation rules! It’s too bad Idolish7 Second Beat is using chibis instead of this…

Professor Kayneth. I forgot he had a formal title. I wonder, does Waver - I mean, El-Melloi II – have that title as well?

I guess I should’ve known Saber had the capability to look scary, but…I never knew Saber could look so scary…

*cut to eyecatch* - *points at eyecatch* Okay, someone tried to save budget here, didn’t they???

Aw, friendship between fiction boys is cute…until it involves the puking up on blood on one end.

Waver is the OG underdog here…don’tcha think?

“…with several demands.” – Uh-oh…this is gonna be bad, isn’t it?

You need a Tuner for Magic Crests? (…Like a tuning fork, but a person?) *brow raised in suspicion*

…is it appropriate for me to say “Oh, good lord!” now? (Okay, I did that rather deliberately, but normally in these notes I’d self-censor it to be “oh, goodness” or something like that.)

Seriously, the black-haired dude in the Ionian Hetairoi is my favourite, even if only because he looks like Waver (and he’s really easy to spot, to boot).

Why is this in first person??? I’ve dropped entire shows based on their usage of 1st person cam! Room Mate and Makura no Danshi basically scarred me for life on that front…and both of those are TV shorts!

Hey, wait a second. This “use a quote on the titlecard” thing is clearly an Ei Aoki sort of thing to do. I mean, it’s in ID: Invaded as well…

Waver 2

*new blonde girl appears* - So this is the rumoured Animusphere girl (Mary), huh?

Bounded field, huh? I’m glad I chose to watch F/Z before this, then. Now I actually understand the (rough) mechanics of how that works.

There’s assassins and then there’s Assassins…*thinks about the Holy Grail War*

As it turns out, astromancy is basically astrology.

The one thing that bugs me about “Modern Magecraft” (there’s a similar concept of New Magic in Mairimashita! Iruma-kun) is…how is the magic “modern”…? Especially in a work like this, where the magic is based in arcane rituals and bloodlines…you really need to establish how the “modern” bit works.

Gray is facing away from the Animusphere girl (Mary), I noticed.

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” – Sherlock Holmes – Basically, the fact I’ve memorised this quote is one of the lingering impacts of my time in the Detective Conan fandom, as it can be used on things like quizzes, not just mysteries.

Can we please use proper English, Waver??? (Says me to a character whose name I still find nonsensical enough to not be proper English.) As I said previously, “whydunit” is modus operandi or motive…the new bit is “howdunit”, which would be the method.

I do believe the geocentric model was overthrown by people like Kepler.

Gray kind of looks like Saber with that hairstyle, come to think of it.

With the way Gray hides herself under that hood, it’s no mystery as to why guys love her…at least, I know ThatRandomEditor does. Of course, I’m heavily neutral on the whole affair because I don’t swing that way, but…you know…

LEMPC seems to stand for “Lord El-Melloi Production Committee”, if I’m guessing right.

I seem to remember there was a quote somewhere that said the only constant in this world was change…hmm.

Waver 3

They seem to keep calling Japan “the Far East” (or at least, Japan is part of the Far East). That’s a pretty antiquated term for a supposedly “modern” magic anime. I get vaguely peeved by the term “the Far East” because it causes people to take an oriental viewpoint on things and thus it’s kind of like people from the Anglosphere looking down on Asians. (I also get vaguely peeved by the term “Westerners” for much the same reason and “Caucasians” because it implies all people of the Anglosphere come from the Caucasus, which is false…then again, these niggles are specific to international studies, so I have a vested interest in explaining them.)

…Wow, that star-eyepatch girl is…really something, to be thirsty specifically for Waver’s Iron Claw. (Then again, with my weird tastes in things, who am I to critique her?)

Flitz von Erich. I was surprised to learn this guy actually exists…on Wikipedia, at the very least.

“Any lady should know about wrestling.” – I disagree, Luvia.

Blue furry electrical creature…I dunno how the zoology in this show works, but the fantasy series I’m reading as of the time I was typing this comment has a blue creature called a Raiju (literally “thunder beast” in Japanese, so it would suit the “Thunder” in the episode title). If it’s anything like that, I’d laugh myself silly.

This girl on the poster seems to be called Flan Noir (or something similar).

“…yellow, round, fluffy-smelling…” – What? Svin, you have no right to call a girl those words!

When is this series set if people don’t have phones as a standard? *Googles* Okay, if F/SN is set in 2004, then F/Z is 1994. That would make sense, actually. The internet as we know it was first used in 1995 and didn’t become widespread for home use until a few years later, as I remember having computers in 2004 (albeit the blocky ones with the dial-up).

I was looking at images for the source material and I think I know why I like Waver (aside from the fact he has long hair). Normally I like the boys whose appearances are hard to get right, such as En…Waver in the novels and manga for this series sometimes looks grumpy, sometimes he looks constipated and worst of all, sometimes he looks like Snape with a hook nose.

Okay, so I googled Caules to figure out who his sister was…and I got Apocrypha spoilers. See, his sister is Fiore, who is apparently in that series.

The videos got encoded funny again…

There seems to be a mystery around why Svin and Gray can’t be together…well, one deeper than just “Svin is gaga for Gray [for reasons we don’t know at this point in time]”.

Ha, the El-Melloi Class is basically just the Misfit Class from Mairimashita! Iruma-kun.

“Only the flesh was bitten off.”

This Jupiter gibberish, I assume, is drawing upon the mythology of Jupiter – that is, Zeus – as the god of thunder and king of the gods (thus presiding over living beings).

The English is good on the bill, bar a space between “Mystics of magecraft”.

Norwich is apparently a “faculty” which the Modern Magecraft Theories guys – i.e. Waver – rule over.

Can you imagine Waver swearing? Since I had the volume off, I basically made him say “…if Sir Gueldoa had resorted to brute force, we would’ve been f***ed” in my head…and that was hilarious.

Aw, thanks 7Mononoke. “A cowardly thief sneaks away in the night. If you stride away, bursting with song, you are a conquering king.” That’s a quote from Rider himself.

So the Association has set positions for Masters in the War? Geesh…that must be hard on Waver to find out they’re closed, considering how much Waver pines for Rider.

Waver 4

I finally got the chance to listen to the ED last ep and now it’s the OP I can hear properly. This OP isn’t particularly impressive, considering it’s an instrumental (instrumentals always seem to have less impact for me unless I’m looking for something to chill to), but it does capture the London-esque spirit of the setting very well.

What’s up with this metal (?) maid off to the side, anyway?

“Good thinking to leave the door open…” – For some reason, even though it’s a completely different and much more benign context, this made me think of KyoAni and my heart sunk.

Atrum Galliasta…I hate that man. He may look hot, but he was nothing but a b*stard to Medea.

Bolo ties…nrgh…Basically, ever since Arima wore a bolo tie, I’ve become fairly bugged by them. That’s why Bram’s bugs me.

Aw, Waver, buddy, plase don’t sacrifice yourself again. I read on the wiki you become a Servant’s vessel (specifically for Zhu Ge Liang), so keep your hopes up.

I’m seriously feeling ID: Invaded vibes from this episode, what with the lightning.

I suspect a locked room murder is going to happen soon, knowing the genre. Either that or some other crime.

Considering Fate/ was an eroge-based thing initially, these sex jokes…there’s probably plenty of them out there.

Well, it seems this series only makes sense in that non-Detective Conan way, i.e. you want to know how it all comes together and can’t necessarily figure it out for yourself until you know how the magic works. I’m randomly going to guess this is more Jupiter-based stuff and call it a day on that front.

Seriously, I never got what was up with nightgowns (or just pyjamas in general) having hats. You don’t need protection for your head at night…that’s what pillows are for, yeah? (The only reason I see a hat-like thing working with nightwear is a onesie and that’s meant to be part of the inherent appeal of the thing.)

Waver 5

I feel like Adashino is meant to be an Irene Adler-type figure…

“Peaceful Fairys” (sic)

Where did Kairi’s scar come from…?

The Black Dog was in Mahoutsukai no Yome as well, but this one looks a lot less inviting, huh?

It seems, like the name Rail Zeppelin implies (as “Demon Eyes Collection Train”), most of the people involved in this case have Magic Eyes (or whatever they’re actually called). I wouldn’t be surprised if Kairi had them as well, considering he’s wearing dark glasses in the middle of a thunderstorm.

“King Arthur is a dude, right?” - *laughs madly* They finally managed to parody their own bulls***! (Well, I’m not counting Carnival Phantasm or whatever else because this is the first time they threw a meta joke in there in the whole of this project, as far as I can remember.)

Trimmau seems to be the maid’s name…huh. They never mentioned that earlier, I don’t think.

So what’s the difference between Fairy Eyes and Mystic Eyes?

Wait, does that even work…? The entire house is the murder weapon? That’s basically breaking the “secret passageway” thing on a larger scale.

So what’s Trevor’s motive…?

The dogs running towards the Workshop reminded me of the Hunger Games for some reason…must be the climax.

That fairy isn’t emoting much…

Oh cra-Wills is going to sacrifice himself, like Adashino was going to do! That’s the second time I’ve seen that in 2 days (the first was in the Hypnosis Mic manga about the Dirty Dawg).

Uh…Waver’s not particularly fit or fast, is he…?

Can you be paid for your case if your client is essentially dead…?

Adra? I read around and Adra seems to be a way to spell the location (or whatever it is) in the first case…which got adapted into a stage play, but not an anime. That’s probably what he’s (Waver) referring to.

Notably, the title is translated to “lance” but yari means spear…

Waver 6

I seriously wanna slap that pink-haired girl…Update: Her name is Yvette.

This is basically Gray fanservice…

If Gray = Saber and Saber =King Arthur…hmm…does it count as a girl’s party?

Homeland? Since Britain is Saber’s (aka Gray’s) home country, I think they meant “hometown”…I’d hav to listen to the Japanese to make sure, though.

I still think Waver is a stupid, or at the very least false, name for a boy, especially if he did come from Britain. That’s basically my one limitation on him as a husbando.

The red bit of the eyecatch was shapd like an eye…it did catch eyes in a sense, after all.

So Trimmau is sustained by magic.

Locked-room…or rather, bounded field…mystery time!

Luvia did mention wrestling in another episode…

I had to google that, but the Separation Castle is from the Adra case mentioned in episode 5. No wonder I don’t remember it…

“Are you suggesting there were faults…” (from Luvia) - Ooh, I was thinking the perpetrator was caught inside their own bounded field or maybe it was an outsider, but that works too, Reines.

Add calld Luvia out for her extravagance, LOL.

Catch-as-catch-can appears to be “no-holds-barred fighting”, particularly wrestling.

That case was both informative and possibly solveable by the audience. Both good qualities for a mystery.

If you summon the spirit again, is it the same Rider with the same memories? Or can you summon a different version of the same Rider with amnesia, much like Rin did with Archer? Update: Oh yeah, I did read this on the wiki at one point but then forgot about it. The next episode (7) confirms that Rider wouldn’t remember Waver if he were summoned again.

Waver 7

…C’mon, admit it, show. The glasses are not only there for plot reasons but to up Waver’s status as megane boy for the rest of this case. Not that I mind – I actually really like megane boys, but I’m nowhere near the love of Meganebu – but in the case of plausibility, I wanna poke holes into it.

Auction for which Mystic Eyes now…?

There’s a guy…with an elephant head…I know I shouldn’t be bugged by it, but I need the MST3K mantra right now.

This is gonna be a Murder on the Orient Express thing, isn’t it? All cases set on trains seem to take cues or make homage to it. (I may not be that proficient on Christie in comparison to Holmes, since Holmes was Conan’s inspiration, but Murder on the Orient Express I have read and I did secure an anthology of 4 Christie novels at one point specifically so that I could improve in this area.)

The main series never explained the bad blood between the Church and the Tower, did they…?

*sweatdrop* Let me guess…when Yvette mentions “multiplay”, she means a threesome, right?

How do anime people see out of those blindfold thing, anyway??? (Or is it that Leandra has Mystic Eyes that were sold off or otherwise tampered with?)

I believe the word is “palate”, Kairi (or subbers).

Anime characters being bagworms with their blankets is always appealing, no matter the gender. It’s funny and/or relatable, after all.

Does Gray get motion sickness…? Update: Seems I spoke about a minute too soon. She does.

Waver 8

How does Waver know that Adashino got the documents about the train? Is it because she was in all those places at all those times and he connected the dots?

This lady has heterochromia. Specifically, one is brown and the other is blue or green.

Hmm? I thought the character design was familiar for this. As it turns out, Jun Nakai (who did the character design for this) also did Gate’s, which explains it.

Dionysus is the Greek god of wine, IIRC. Hephaestion is, as (s)he explained, the confidante of Alexander the Great (had to google this one).

It’s hard to see before the brightly-lit scene where Olga reappears, but as shown, Waver seems to have cut off part of his forelocks on the left side.

What’s an Odo???...ooh, fanservice…*ogles*

The summoning of Hephaestion and Trisha’s murder may or may not be related…we just don’t know how, yet.

I think a Detective Conan Murder on the Orient Express-style mystery would be a good video ga-*googles* There’s at least one of them out there already (albeit only in Japan)...namely, this one. Spoke too soon.

Oh yeah…this is Olga’s new room, isn’t it? I almost forgot about that.

Update: I think this look at the Adra Separation Castle case is interesting. It’s similar to posts I would write, but done by a professional – namely Richard Eisenbeis of Kotaku and Anime News Network.

Waver 9

So if there’s a Servant…you have to find the Master.

Olga reminds me of Reines…kind of.

LOL, whoever thought of a zombie cooking show…?

This series really goes all-in on the zombies and the fake-outs thereof, huh? Dangit, Melvin, don’t scare us.

Melvin has a really odd relationship with Waver, huh? If you’re really insisting you’re “the only person to ever be able to hurt Waver”, I don’t quite see how you guys can be friends in the normal sense of the word.

Why would someone have a violin at a time like this…?

Interestingly, they don’t bother to do any fanservice of Caules. That scene with Gray and Yvette was fanservice for those who like them, but the only guy who’s getting to do any fanservice in this series is Waver himself…(what with him being naked and knocked out right now.)

“Sibyl” seems to be a synonym for “virgin”…(*whispers “Awkward…”*)

Update: After reading some of Marth’s posts on this series, I’m inclined to call this “Murders on a Train (with an Exploding Helicopter for Good Measure)”.

Waver 10

For some reason, there’s episode 0 – 9, then 11 – 13 on the service I’m using. Where’s 10?

I think Waver’s relationship with Rider is interesting because of the way I think of relationships myself. Waver has made it clear that he wants to see Rider again so he can basically prostrate at his feet all over again (and maybe win a wish and/or see Oceanus while they’re at it), but – hey, hear this! - I used to believe, when I was still an impressionable kid, all relationships, whether they be between friends, family or even lovers, lasted roughly in the same state basically forever (as in, friends stay friends forever, they’ll never be so far apart that they can’t kep their relationship alive etc. etc.)…Obviously, I was wrong and arguably, this change in thinking, plus the related changes in technology, are where my ability to fleetingly but passionate love both 2D boys and the series they come from comes from.

Wait, so the Child of Einasshe (sp?) is the forest, yeah? I don’t think I got that 100% straight.

I never thought the shield form of a Mystic Code could be used for snowboarding down a mountain/hill…whatever Gray just went down. I didn’t even know Add had a shield form, for that matter.

“[U]sual individual” – LOL. What a way to refer to Waver.

“Wait a minute!” – I’m just imagining Phoenix Wright all of a sudden. A Waver legal mystery series would be boring as all get out – I’m far less interested in the courtroom versions of mysteries and more interested in how the pieces fit together. (Update: Then again, I am a person who likes the action genre and courtroom mysteries don’t have much of that, which might also explain my choice.)

“…lacking the element of motive to begin with.” – Well, Waver’s not wrong…

I’m observing this apple and noticing someone skimped on the detail around the stem. Does anyone still remember Art Academy for the DS? After looking at some promo material for it, I basically learnt how to draw a proper apple (and nothing else, really). If an apple is just drawn as a circle, it doesn’t quite look like an apple up close. (Two of the main things I screw up on when drawing are perception and the colour of highlights, both of which are covered in something like an apple stem and the related indent.)

Oh goodness…I was hoping Karabo would keep his vision (or actual eyeballs)…but that’s gruesome.

I’m guessing, based on the wheelchair, that Waver’s still paralysed or otherwise not able to move around like normal. Update: Spoke too soon.

Someone encoded the video funny again…

Waver 11

What was that crossword thing…? A warding spell of some sort?

Is that an owl in the back?!

Stealth fighter…Rider wanted on, didn’t he?

Every time he appears on screen now, I basically curse Melvin. He’s entertaining to watch, sure, but he’s annoyingly prodigal (= wasteful). He’s basically Dice from HypMic at this stage (aka he’s the sort of person who’d bet away his own clothes, given the chance and incentive).

Look at the way Waver’s hair drags behind him as he walks…it’s gorgeous…

“Residual Image” (as translated in the title) is literally “the left-over image” (zanzou). Not surprising, but I find the exact combo of characters used interesting since it could be short for “nokoru eizou” (where the nokoru’s character is read as zan in the combo, as you can guess).

Waver 12

Wow…this series really pulled something out of its butt this time, huh? “The guy without a heart”…no viewer would’ve known that actually referred to a character called Dr Heartless unless they knew of his existence somehow (the closest they would’ve been was having an inkling that this pointed to a name of the culprit).

There is an owl in the back of the auction room!

Ay? So what the heck is Pandemonium in this case?

“dotard” – Turns out this means “an old person, especially one who has become physically weak or whose mental faculties have declined.” You can’t say I don’t enrich my vocbulary through watching anime, huh?

I’m still wondering…why adapt case 7 of this series (Rail Zeppelin)? Why not case 1 (Adra)? Update: I don’t know where I pulled the number 7 from, since this is volume 4 – 5 of the series. Apparently some of the cases were anime-original though.

Waver 13 (FINAL)

Oh, Flat, you stupid…

Waver’s exasperated faces are great. No wonder Reines likes to toy with him…

I can assume Rail Zeppelin is a Ghost Liner, yes?

Can I guess that Adashino ~likes~ Waver…? Update: Turns out that’s not quite the case.

Ooh, Waver without his shirt is se-okay, I’m getting distracted. Seriously though, Waver never showed his Crest in F/Z. I never even knew what it looked like until now! The fact it’s such a simple design in comparison to his Command Seals is…kinda underwhelming, really.

I think there’s a bit of a pattern between Jakurai (from HypMic) and Waver…namely, they suck when it comes to drinking. (Also, of course, the long hair. Don’t forget it, never forget it.)

Shut up, Add!

For some reason, I felt like a lot of that last part, while getting closure for Waver, it almost had connotations of “I’ll meet you on the other side, Rider”…so it felt kind of sad, to be honest. That talk between Reines and Olga I don’t think I’d understand without Apocrypha and Grand Order, but I guess that’s to be expected in such a huge franchise. Anyways, moving right along!

Illya 1

I’ve been a bit worried about what I’ll have to subject myself to for the sake of Magical Girls…

Was that…Taiga?

Who’s Liz…?

Okusama, huh? (Okusama = someone’s wife, although it seems to be used in the plural here since I don’t think Kiritsugu and/or Iri are dead in this timeline.)

The subs I’ve got say Shiro is adopted here too (when it’s not in the Japanese), although I wonder exactly how much of UBW is going to be true in this anime…

Hmm…a bit of digging reveals Luvia’s not a Master. So throwing out Lancer is really just a joke on how Lancer gets roasted early on in Grail Wars, right?

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh…squick, much…(Thank goodness the source I was using edited out the loli fanservice, so I can tolerate this series a lot more…but still, suggesting you have a romance with your step-brother, even if it’s known you’re not related from the beginning, is…you already know my feelings on that, based on my reaction. Shiro is, what, 15? About twice Illya’s age!) Update: Okay, so he has no confirmed age in Prisma Illya, but he’s 17 in F/SN so I’d assum the same or similar, seeing as he attends the same school. It’s fine if it’s platonic, but this is clearly an Onii-chan, daisuki! thing the likes of which Oreimo throws down! Thank you for calling it out though, Ruby.

Oh my gosh, this looks like the Rhongomynaid (Detective Waver) and Excalibur (or whatever Saber’s Noble Phantasm is called) summoning beam! LOL!

Ruby, you lech! Don’t go praising the angles! *shakes fist* (Seriously, what if magical girl mascots were paedophiles…? *blank face* Welp, considering what’s out there on the internet, I wouldn’t be surprised if a hentai or something had such a concept.)

Hmm? Turns out the word for Servant means something like “celestial hero”. Makes sense.

Nice callback to Saber and Shiro!

Illya 2

I thought Illya would say that her parents are dead…turns out the show’s not that grimdark (to the point where it wouldn’t set the show after Kiritsugu and Iri’s deaths), huh?

Do the sticks have a gender? The subs said “she” for Ruby…

LOL, it’s Rider. I thought Lancer was gonna get his butt kicked all over again (thinking more along the lines of CCS).

It’s Gay Bul-I mean, Gae Bolg! (I’ve been reading TV Tropes again…can you tell?)

This episode was pretty pedestrian. I like it more than the first one.

What’s up with the CGI…?

Oh! Bunbun, who does Yuki Yuna! Update: They only did the illustrations for some of the series. They also did SAO illustrations, although that’s of less significance to me.

Illya 3

The sticks do have genders!!! That’s like claiming Jesus for kakera with Mudae! (Yes, that’s possible. I got him in one server.)

The power of fujoshi…is amazing! How did it get to a girl who’s so young?!

These angles are a bit disturbing…

“Casao”, LOL.

Magical girl nakama, huh?

Illya 4

MST3K mantra!

Whose quote is that again…? “Don’t think, imagine”? Update: It turns out to not be anyone’s quote at all, if Google results are to be believed.

Uh-oh! Saber Alter!

Illya 5

Padding the episode already…?

The mist is a quality of a Berserker, right?

Geez the angles piss me off…

These sticks have brains???

Can you call it teamwork if they’re always complaining about each other?

Illya 6

More padding…

Illya’s UBW!

Geesh, that last-minute shot of Rin and Luvia popping out of the ground scared me for a bit…

Illya 7

*sigh* It’s the sick episode…

I recognise the vacuum cleaner. I have the same one at home.

*sigh* Random fanservice of elementary school girls. This is what gives anime a bad name.

*Sapphire pulls out a USB port* - Ohhkay, is that stick fanservice, in a sense…? Because that’s awkward too.

Maids went out of fashion years ago…

“Lyrical Radical Genocide” - I think this Lyrical Radical things is parodying Nanoha.

Based on the cloak, it’s an Assassin.

“Listen, if you aren’t careful, you’ll die!” – Yep, because people die when they are killed. I almost missed that meme for a bit.

Illya 8

Illya’s still reeling from Miyu’s talk, huh?

I noticed it said tomoda(chi) in the background at one point.

Does Miyu exist in any of the alternate universes?

Ah, there’s yuujou (friendship) in the background as calligraphy.

I think the video got encoded funny again…

Geez, complaining about boobs? The series got worse…oh, I forgot Shiro was around in this series.

…who’s left? There’s been Saber, Archer, Lancer, Assassin, Rider, Caster and…who? Berserker, that’s who.

Illya 9

Ohhhhhhhh brother, not more bath scenes…

Iri looks almost exactly like she does in the Eiznbern Consultation Rooms! (I found those around and watched them today.)

Thank goodness the fanservice is censored…

I never realised Berseker had heterochromia until now…

One thing that I assume makes Saber’s outfit look nice to thos that like girls is the window in the top…but it goes to waste on Miyu, LOL.

I find it interesting Illya has all these concerns – the ones (or similar ones) Iri harbourd in F/Z.

Hey, the bridge! This is the bridge where Rider dies inn F/Z, yeah?

The ED looks different this time…

Illya 10 (FINAL)

E-Eep…loli fanservice…

Now Miyu is basically what Waver is to Rider, no doubt about it.

Bulls***! Speak of the devil! I was wondering what Waver looked like in the Illya style, because I read on the wiki he makes a cameo in season 2, and…here he is. Didn’t expect him in season 1, though.

Another new ED animation. I find it interesting they’ve never once had to recast any VAs throughout the entire existence of Fate/ anime…not that I know of, anyway.

Hiroyama Hiroshi is the original Illya creator.

Okay, that’s the end of one season. I feel kind of fatigued since I finished the Eiznbern Consultation Rooms today as well, so I’m going to take a break from watching more Illya until it’s necessary to watch again in a few posts’ time.

Now that they’ve collected the cards, I’m wondering what the series intends to do next…

Illya s2 Pt 1 Ep 1

They clearly skimped on the budget when Shiro was leaving the house…

I keep forgetting Illya is meant to be German…

That bad English…is actually there in the ep. title…

Oh great…schoolgirls talking about erotic swimsuits…

This s*** is what you call “Class-S”! I have no interest in it, because I don’t swing that way! (Sorry, yuri fans…)

The problem with series that aren’t 100% made with you in mind is that your favourite characters might look ugly…that’s especially the case with En, Jakurai and Waver.

Ryudou Temple, eh? Let’s hope Assassin still looks good.

I don’t think I’ve seen that before…namely, being able to hear what’s going on outside the transformation while it’s happening.

Now this 2 Illyas thing…this is new, alright.

Illya s2 Pt 1 Ep 2

LOL, what a horoscope.

Truck-kun! I don’t think Illya would make a good isekai protag, come to think of it.

Who is this nurse? I feel like she’s from some other part of the Nasuverse… Update: My guess was right. That’s Caren Hortensia, protagonist of Fate/hollow ataraxia and Kirei’s…uh, daughter. I know he had a wife. We never met said wife, but seeing the daughter really drove that fact home.

Uhhhhhhhh…okay, now the lesbian loli scene just made things go off a cliff for me. I’m not against lesbians or yuri – to each their own – but that scene was clearly meant to be pleasing to a certain audience.

How does anyone kill anything gently…?

Ohhhhhhkay, strike 2 for loli fanservice.

I seem to remember…that’s right, Alice from the [something] no Kuni no Alice series was evaluated on her coffee-making skills (by Julius, I think it was). That’s why I’m thinking of Alice when I see Luvia praising Miyu on something similar.

Wa-hey! It’s Rin’s Azoth dagger!

Well, the mechanics of the transformation are also something you have to think about. I’ll give the show kudos for that.

Illya s2 Pt 1 Ep 3

Can we not with the whole “Onii-chan, daisuki!” thing?! That’s it! That’s the last straw! I’m finishing this episode and aborting early so that I can preserve my dignity…and get some proper sleep for once.

The fact Miyu thinks Shiro resembles her brother must not be a coincidence…(I’ve become far too Fate/ savvy, haven’t I?) Update: It seems I was right. Apparently, Miyu was taken in by Kiritsugu in a certain universe, but apparently this is a bunch of spoilers.

Genki na aisatsu was in the back.

This is just getting worse and worse…

So now Kuro’s name is Kuroe (Chloe), huh? Anyways, good riddance, loli fanservice! So long! I won’t miss you one bit!

#lord el-melloi ii-sei no jikenbo #Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files #fate/kaleid liner prisma illya #Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya 2wei!

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kvetas · 5 years ago

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*✿❀; general headcanons part 1 (akechi)

just some random, usually rather mundane headcanons that probably won’t fit as a theme anywhere else, yeah.

Generally refers to ‘[insert surname]-san’ to nearly everyone.

He’d make exceptions if he’s familiar enough with someone (He either generally refers to Sae as ‘Sae-san’ usually, though may attempt to jokingly call her ‘senpai’ at times) or if he’s fine with a request (So he’d refer to Sojiro as ‘Boss’ if asked, but he’d otherwise call him ‘Sakura-san’).

There’s a possibility that he’ll use different honorifics with either children or people he’s familiar with who are closer to his age. So he’d call some of the phantom thieves as ‘Takamaki-chan’ or ‘Sakamoto-kun’, for example. It’s only really just because sounds like it suits them more to him rather than any indicator of friendliness though.

And honestly, he’ll still persist at using surnames unless someone specifically requests him to be on a first name basis (or if they’re either western/literally do not have a last name) because he lacks the ability to gauge how relationships work. u_u ;;

bro will spill out his childhood drama unprompted to protag at confidant level three, especially with someone he literally just met standing right next to them, but he can’t bring himself to call someone by name?? smfh with this dude

I’m sad that the proof of justice OVA pretty much ruined my headcanon that Goro played video games as escapism growing up. But I still wanna say that if Goro did choose to play video games, he’d voluntarily play RPGs, puzzle games, and simulator games in his free time as a relaxation.

He may or may not create a Shido Sim just to torture the poor bastard as a way to vent on bad days if he got his hands on The Sims.

But he’d be willing to play any video game, even if half of the reason is just as a point of conversation.

Probably wouldn’t really scare easily on horror games. Because his life is already a goddamn horror to sit through as it is. Actually, since a lot of horror games are generally RPGs and/or puzzle games - they’re actually right up his alley.

He’d be the kind of guy who’d go “Oh, congratulations on the win. :)” but be inwardly seething in rage and already plotting 5 different possible ways to beat you after losing a game.

But this is only if it’s for a game he’s actually familiar with and got absolutely demolished on, he wouldn’t really care otherwise and would even welcome a challenge.

I feel like his hobbies were initially picked... well, to look cool, number one, but also for practical use via metaverse shenanigans. (Cycling because it’s the cheapest and fastest option to travel+gather intel but also to help his speed, bouldering for make scaling palaces easier and improve his guts, and darts to improve his proficiency.)

Though he can safely say that he genuinely enjoys these hobbies and is not actually lying through his teeth. But he doesn’t really indulge in them as much as he used to. 2/3 of the reason is because he already maxed out his guts and proficiency stats though tbh

I know that it’s common for people to believe Goro to have a preference in sweets but idk man I don’t really agree with that fanon.

Half is because he wants to be able to judge something he tastes without extra condiments and stuff possibly diluting the flavor. He has a food blog to run and reviews to write and dangit, he’s gonna write nothing but the facts!!

The other half is because he honestly isn’t picky with flavors and the guidebook even says so. Like, sure, he’d critique something to Death but he’d still eat it because you don’t waste food smfh

Even that one spicy-ass takoyaki he unintentionally ate? Like, Yeah, he clearly can’t handle spicy food too well, but he still properly ate it in my book.

Like the only exception is if it’s literally inedible. Like, ‘this is rotten!’ or ‘it fell all over the floor’ kind of inedible.

That being said, I’d say Goro’s favorite coffee blend is Columbian 100% Typica but I can’t be super sure since I’m not a huge coffee fan and I wouldn’t know for sure how it would taste

I DO agree with the fanon idea that Goro doesn’t know how to cook a whole lot (the most being simple food like. fried egg, or steamed potato, or sandwiches) and just shovels instant-made food into his mouth if he so chooses, which is literally any time he’s not trying to show off or look sophisticated.

His apartment probably has fancy, modern looking furnishings and appliances. But it looks more like a home catalogue than a teenager’s living space. (Again, out of posturing to look more esteemed than he actually feels.) Though the apartment’s size is pretty average.

He almost never gets visitors though despite all the effort, except maybe Sae for whatever reason.

The only room that actually looks lived-in is his room, the messiest thing in the room being his (long) desk since he’d generally work on stuff there.

Has a lamp, a pencil holder, a file holder, and his laptop. But also expect to see stacks of books, papers lying around, maybe an empty coffee mug or three, and tools he didn’t put away on top of it.

I can’t imagine him NOT making his own tools (lockpicks, goho-ms, etc.). But he probably had to learn how to make them through trial and error (and using google). At least he had like, two years to learn.

Of course he has a bunch of books in his house. He’s an *~~intellectual~~*, he’s gotta look the part.

Most of his bookshelves are like. Philosophy books, law books, mystery novels, school textbooks, stuff about cognitive psience, and ‘How-to’ books.

He may or may not secretly keep manga in his room.

I like to think he has a balcony. Though it’s pretty bare outside of maybe drying his clothes, he likes to contemplate about stuff out there.

He doesn’t really like staying home very much though, he only stays when necessary. Unfortunately, getting punched by depression and wanting to just lay in bed all day doesn’t count as a necessity to him, especially since he’s undiagnosed.

His fridge generally consists of takeout (either delivered from home or leftovers), beverages (like milk, iced coffee, any SP-recovering weird sodas), butter, bread, eggs, deli meat, and maybe a salad pack.

His freezer is exclusively full of frozen meals. 90% is microwaveable, while the rest of the 10% is stuff you heat up in the oven or steam it with.

His pantry is full of instant-made microwaveable food. Or stuff that doesn’t require much prep work or knowledge in the kitchen, like Mac and Cheese, Hamburger Helper, canned soup, and tuna packages.

Though he also has stuff like tea packs, hot chocolate mix, and instant coffee in the off chance he actually gets a visitor. A lot of them may or may not be past the "Best By” date.

A lot of his budget goes into skincare and hair products as a celebrity-figure that shows up on TV a lot, so predictably his bathroom is just chock full of the stuff.

GOD I WISH HIS FASHION SENSE WASN’T SO NERDY but unfortunately, he’s a kid trying to grow up too fast in order to be taken seriously and hiding the fact that he’s an orphan and didn’t have money before so we’re just gonna have to deal with his preppy grandpa fashion sense

#*( ❀❀;; gilded plumage.. )#*( ✿✿;; headcanon. )#*( ✿✿;; headcanon;; gilded plumage. )#//hi i'm jackie and i have difficulty thinking about what goro's palace would be like but i'll never shut up about what's in his kitchen #//in my defense i'm hungry

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shenanigumi · 6 years ago

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This is so random, but how do you think all of the guys would have been like as teenagers growing up? I thought of this and was genuinely curious.

Oh man, this is so interesting to think about! Teenagehood is kind of a modern concept, since people used to come of age sometime during adolescence, but it’s still a crucial time for development. So let’s check ’em out…

Hijikata: the youngest of six children, first raised by his older brother and then his older sister and her husband (their cousin). He had a rebellious streak and could be very stubborn if asked to do anything he didn’t want to do. However, even though everything had to be on his terms, his terms were generally reasonable out of love for his family.

Okita: never emotionally matured past the age of thirteen, so… basically the same as he is now, only a little less confident. It took years for him to ‘get over’ his abusive childhood, inasmuch as he ever overcame it. His version of therapy was honing his skills as a swordsman, and it was during this time that he came to think of himself as a sword.

Saito: the third child and second son. He grew up with a strong sense of propriety regarding familial deference, yet paradoxically remained somewhat aloof and emotionally distant from his parents and siblings. He inherited his father’s strong will and ambition, but rarely showed it except through his sense of independence.

Heisuke: an only child, technically. He spent most of his adolescence drifting from dojo to dojo after his mother’s death, trying to better himself and prove to the world that he was worthy of his surname. This was also when he developed his deep-seated fears of doing the wrong thing and of loneliness, since he had to face the consequences alone.

Harada: the second son. Hotheaded, competitive, rebellious, and with an enormous chip on his shoulder. He insisted on individuating early, often got into trouble by disobeying his superiors (though was clever enough to avoid most harsh punishment), and of course attempted seppuku to prove a point. This last experience, fortunately, mellowed him out.

Nagakura: the second son. He had a strong desire for the freedom to choose his path, as well as the strength of will to follow through with it. Unfortunately, despite his good education and thorough knowledge of politics, he learned a lot of easy lessons the hard way, as he was temperamental and initially had even less control over his vices.

Sanan: the second son. Quiet, introspective, and pragmatic from a young age. Over his teenage years, he developed a deep knowledge and understanding of a variety of subjects. His habit of observation and research eventually led to a yearning to experience the world for himself, which in turn led to his traveling and ultimately meeting the others.

Yamazaki: an only child. Having little passion for his father’s line of work, he learned the necessary skills and did as he was asked, but no more than that. He preferred to spend his time training in secret and considering how best to follow his dreams to fight for the shogunate. His pet peeve was when his parents called it daydreaming.

Iba: the eldest son. Despite his natural softness, he was determined to become stronger not only to protect Chizuru, but also to prove himself worthy to inherit his father’s position as dojo master. He was as invested in getting to know the students at other dojos as he was in training there, leading to a reputation as an incurable extrovert.

Souma: an only child. Serious and wholeheartedly dedicated to being a good son, he held himself to higher standards than either of his parents did. In his drive to make something of his life, he didn’t allow himself much of a childhood, which resulted in maturing quickly yet also not fully outgrowing his black-and-white worldview.

Sakamoto: the fourth child and second son. He had a tendency to test boundaries, and learned to conceal his true feelings and intentions early on (bordering on ‘compulsive liar’). He also went through a pleasure-seeking phase that never really ended. That said, rather than succumbing to cynicism, he was surprisingly idealistic, studious, and practical.

Kazama: had a modicum more chill. He had less cause to display his temper at home, though it still definitely lay beneath the surface. He grew up perpetually bored with his peaceful surroundings, sometimes verging on the lazy, and his sense of duty was mitigated by surly reluctance to compromise his freedom.

#hakuouki #hakuōki #hakuoki #hijikata toshizo #okita souji #saito hajime #toudou heisuke #harada sanosuke #nagakura shinpachi #sanan keisuke #yamazaki susumu #iba hachiro #souma kazue #sakamoto ryouma #kazama chikage #answered #headcanons

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earlyandoftenpodcast · 6 years ago

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As New York rapidly approaches the Revolutionary period, political life becomes a confusing whirlwind of populist factionalism.

>>>Direct audio link<<<

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Transcript and Sources:

Hello, and welcome to Early and Often: The History of Elections in America. Episode 36: What About Livingston?

Last time, we looked at two periods of factionalism in colonial New York, the merchant-landowner rivalry of the 1710s and ‘20s, and the Morris-Cosby dispute of the 1730s. During these decades the various elite factions within the colony were slowly learning how to appeal to popular opinion, as a weapon in their fights against each other.

Today, we’re going to talk about the final few decades of New York’s colonial history, from the 1740s to the 1760s. Once again, there will be two separate rounds of factionalism. The first will be like the Morris-Cosby dispute, a battle between elites which goes public. The second round will be a confusing whirlpool of different interest groups aligning and dealigning with each other as New York goes through increasingly rapid changes in the run up to the American Revolution.

But first, a few words on how New York has changed over the last several decades, just to put things in perspective.

The population had grown from 19,000 in 1700 to 80,000 in 1750, though plenty of other colonies were still bigger.

The Dutch domination of Albany was declining sharply, thanks in part to the influx of men to fight in the wars with Quebec. According to the historian Michael Kammen, “One measurable result was that the proportion of voters with Dutch surnames in Albany County declined from 82 percent in 1720 to 57 percent in 1763.” So the old Dutch-English split was still there, but becoming less important with each passing decade.

Literacy was growing, and the colony was becoming more cultured. The first college in New York, which would become Columbia University, was chartered in 1754, a full 118 years after Harvard in Massachusetts. Print culture was starting to develop as well. The first public library was opened in 1754 and an increasing number of books were published within the colony. And twenty two different newspapers were printed in New York during the colonial era, almost all in New York City. These were mostly weekly newspapers, with just a few pages per edition. But they were widely read.

And the press paid an increasing amount of attention to politics as time went on. According to Kammen, during the 1750 election there were 40 political titles published. During the 1761 election, 59 titles. And in 1769, 135 titles.

So, just like how New England was becoming less Puritan over time, I think that New York was becoming less mercantile. It was still very focused on trade, but the other aspects of civilization were being brought in as well.

So that’s New York in general, but let’s get into the narrative for this episode. To begin with, I need to introduce the leader of one of the two factions that are about to form, James DeLancey.

DeLancey, born in 1703, was the son of Stephen DeLancey, founder of one of the leading merchant families in New York. As a young man he studied law in England and come back to America to work as a lawyer there. Thanks to his family’s connections, he was made a member of the council at age 26, and a member of the supreme court soon afterwards.

Now, you’ll remember from last episode that Governor Cosby got into a fight with Lewis Morris, the chief justice of the supreme court, and he had Morris removed from the court altogether. Well, that was good news for DeLancey. When Morris was fired, DeLancey was promoted to be chief justice at age just 30, an office he’d hold for the next 27 years.

So DeLancey was already in a great position for such a young man. But he wasn’t content to merely hold one of the most powerful posts in the colony. He was also determined to build up a network of supporters, and with the help of his family he did just that. The DeLanceys became one of the most powerful families in the colony, and his father and two of his brothers all served as Assemblymen at various periods. A bit like Thomas Hutchinson in Massachusetts, I suppose.

And on top of all that, DeLancey was also very well connected in London. He and his sister had both married into very prominent English families plus he had economic and personal ties with other important Englishmen. In fact, DeLancey was so well-positioned that he was often thought to be more powerful than the governors were.

But although he was accumulating all this power, he wasn’t using it to oppose the government. Instead, the best path for him was to support the governors, since that was the way to get even more power. So when a new governor, George Clinton, arrived in 1743, he received a warm welcome from DeLancey, who promised to use his network of supporters to back Clinton. In return, Clinton appointed several of DeLancey’s friends to the Council, which increased his influence even further. DeLancey became Clinton’s chief advisor.

(Governor Clinton, by the way had served as an officer in the navy for the last 35 years and he’d also been governor of Newfoundland for a time.)

But although DeLancey and Clinton started off as close allies, within just a few years, the two had a serious falling out, probably thanks to the start of King George’s War. Now, no one in New York was looking forward to another war, especially considering how the last wars had been ruinously expensive disasters. So none of the New Yorkers were looking to prosecute the war with any vigor. They wanted minimal involvement.

Governor Clinton, on the other hand, since he represented British interests, was duty bound to push the fight as hard as he could, to goad the colonists into supporting the war even against their will. But almost none of the local politicians wanted to back him on this, including DeLancey. They were all hemming and hawing, hoping to avoid publicly supporting an unwanted war.

And so, after DeLancey declined to attend an important conference with the Iroquois about the war effort, Clinton replaced him as chief advisor with another man who might actually help him fight the war.

That other man was named Cadwallader Colden. Colden had been born in Scotland, and he studied medicine there before setting off for America. In America, he did well for himself, becoming a scientist of some note, and corresponding with the likes of Benjamin Franklin and Carl Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy. Like many scientists back then, he was also active in political life. In fact, Franklin had encouraged him to remain involved in politics, and not just retreat to his study to conduct his research in private.

But he had a reputation as rigid and pugnacious, and he had managed to offend many prominent men in the colony. Normally that might be a problem, but I suppose in this case it was an advantage, since Colden didn’t have much to lose by helping the governor do unpopular things. He was already used to picking fights, so this was no different.

But the point is, DeLancey was out and Colden was in. However, no matter which advisors he had, Governor Clinton’s popularity was bound to decrease. So an opposition began to form, and naturally James DeLancey stepped in as leader. It was an obvious choice for him: of course you should oppose the governor who had spurned you and who was now leading an unpopular and unsuccessful war effort. It was all upside. DeLancey took his network of supporters and used them to assemble a broader coalition of different groups opposed to the war. Albany merchants, farmers worried about economic disruption, and so on.

But actually, King George’s War ended in just a few years, when the factionalism was only getting started. So at first, Governor Clinton wasn’t too worried. He figured that with the end of the war he could easily win the colony back to his side. He started by removing supporters of DeLancey from the upper house and replacing them with his own men. That was simple enough, but the lower house was a harder nut to crack. The Assembly was thoroughly controlled by DeLancey’s faction. In order to govern effectively, he was going to have to fight for control of the Assembly, and that meant appealing to the people.

It was an uphill task. DeLancey had much deeper roots in the colony that he did. But Clinton set his advisor Colden to work, replacing many of the appointed officials throughout the colony with his own men, that he might have better control over the election process. By 1750 he was ready to call for a new election. Both sides fought hard, going after each other in the newspapers. DeLancey himself went out into the countryside to encourage supporters to vote.

Well, according to Governor Clinton’s faction, DeLancey wasn’t just out in the country to shake hands and be nice, he was out there to browbeat people into voting for him. Supposedly, DeLancey even threatened to forcibly enlist men in the army if they didn’t support him. In fact Clinton’s faction made numerous accusations like that, saying that the DeLanceys were threatening and bribing voters, as well as shipping in people from outside to cast votes in elections they weren’t supposed to vote in. Whether or not those accusations were true is hard to say. A lot of the evidence that we have comes from unreliable partisan sources. But there were a lot of accusations like this being thrown around, and I have to imagine that at least some of them were true.

In any case, whether through fraud or genuine support or both, DeLancey’s faction won the election handily. Governor Clinton was so depressed by the results that he wrote to London asking that either he or DeLancey be removed from office, as “it is impossible, that I can maintain his [Majesty’s] Prerogative in opposition to the Influence & crafty Wiles of him at the head of the faction”.

However, Clinton wasn’t recalled from office yet, and so that next year he decided to try again. He dissolved the Assembly and once again called for elections. But once again, he and his men were thoroughly defeated.

However, fortunately I guess, in the spring of that next year, 1753, Clinton was relieved of his office. Officials in London had decided that the only way to fix the colony’s problems was with a fresh start. Finally his tribulations were over. So goodbye Governor Clinton.

A new governor was sent to New York to fix things, but as it turned out the new guy was very depressed over his wife’s recent death and he hung himself just a few days after he arrived in the colony. With the new governor’s suicide, DeLancey, who had recently been appointed lieutenant governor, now became acting governor, a position he’d hold for most of the rest of the decade.

The opposition was now the government. Now that he was in command, DeLancey took steps to lower tensions within the colony. He reached out to his rival Cadwallader Colden and the two were easily reconciled. Pretty soon all the old rifts were healed. Which just goes to show that the divisions had never been all that big to begin with. There were some real issues at stake, in particular the war effort, but mostly this was just a personal rivalry which ended as soon as one of the leaders involved had left the colony.

Anyway, DeLancey ruled New York for the rest of the decade, as powerful a figure as the colony had ever known. But in 1760 he died unexpectedly of a heart attack at age 57. The loss of such a powerful figure put New York in a state of what you might call uneasy calm. No one quite knew what politics would be like in a post-DeLancey world.

With DeLancey gone, Colden now became the acting governor. As I’ve already said, Colden was always a pretty offputting figure to a lot of New Yorkers, and that didn’t change now that he was in charge. Simply put, he lacked tact and restraint. In particular, Colden made several attacks on the independence of the judiciary. He raised the possibility of giving the King greater control over judges, and he undermined the authority of juries to decide cases on their own. These actions alienated him from the lawyers of New York City, who were becoming an influential group by this point.

But perhaps most importantly, he was a strong defender of the royal prerogative. When the Stamp Act was passed in 1765, it was just as unpopular in New York as in New England, but Colden felt compelled to enforce it anyway, which alienated everyone else in the colony. Soon, New Yorkers were burning Colden in effigy. Only five years after DeLancey’s death, they were back at it again, fighting over politics

So, that brings us to the next phase of factionalism in New York. Well, the last phase of factionalism before the Revolution. It’s a confusing period and I’m not even sure that people at the time were entirely sure what they were fighting over, but I’ll do my best to make it simple.

First, we need to describe some of the most important groups within New York at this time.

To begin with, the Livingston family. I’ve mentioned them a few times before, but only in passing. The Livingstons were one of the biggest landowning families in the Hudson Valley. As a result, many members of the family were politically active within the colony, although never quite important enough for me to mention by name. Well, that was starting to change. Back in the elections of 1758, just before DeLancey had died, a full four members of the Livingston family were elected to the Assembly. They didn’t yet form a coherent faction or anything. In fact, they often voted against each other.

But over time, they were starting to come together. The DeLancey family were merchants, and under DeLancey’s rule, the merchants within the colony had been ascendant. Well, now the landlords were regaining their political footing, forming a faction of their own, with the Livingstons in charge.

Some of the most prominent lawyers in New York City sided with this faction as well, because they were opposed to Colden for the reasons I already mentioned. Plus one of those prominent lawyers was himself a Livingston, so there was a family connection as well.

And while this elite opposition was growing, popular opposition was rising as well, thanks to anger over the Stamp Act. The unhappy colonists formed a group called the Sons of Liberty to fight back. The Sons of Liberty soon spread throughout the thirteen colonies.

Within New York, the elite faction of Livingstons and lawyers decided to ally themselves with the movement. They hoped to harness the unrest for their own benefit, by taking over leadership for themselves. But their attempt didn’t quite go according to plan. The passions of the people overtook them. Within just a few months, the Sons of Liberty had split into two groups, the moderates and the radicals. The Livingston faction sided with the moderates, but they were left controlling only half of a protest movement.

And unfortunately for them, a new figure used that opening to jump into politics himself, James DeLancey, Jr., the son of the late James DeLancey. DeLancey, Jr. had served as a captain in the British infantry during the French and Indian War, but after his father’s death, he returned to New York City to manage his family’s affairs. Now, he wanted to become a politician just like dad. He made his entry into the political arena by siding with the radical faction of the Sons of Liberty. This was a very opportunistic move on his part. As we’ll soon see, DeLancey had no real commitment to radicalism.

But in any case, the battle lines were being drawn. DeLancey Jr., backing the radicals, and the Livingston/landowner/lawyer faction backing the moderates. You’ll note that there was no faction in favor of Colden and the Stamp Act. Colden was so unpopular he hardly had any support at all. So these two factions are the important ones.

It’s hard to concisely state what these two groups were all about. After all, both factions were in large part alliances of convenience between popular movements and small elite factions looking to capitalize on those movements for their own reasons. You had two elite groups, and two popular groups, and which elite group sided with which popular group was more or less just coincidence. If history had gone slightly differently it could’ve been reversed. There was no ideology holding them together. For convenience's sake, I’m going to call them the radicals and the moderates, but again, there’s a lot more to it than that, and not all of the radicals were really that radical.

But actually, the Stamp Act was quickly repealed and a new governor came in to replace Colden, so the issues which had caused this factionalism had gone away, at least temporarily. However, the factionalism remained. As we’ve seen before, partisanship can continue on long after the root causes have faded into memory. It doesn’t have to continue, but it can.

And within a few years, it was time for new elections, since now they had to be held at least once every seven years. The new governor would’ve preferred not to dissolve the current Assembly, but his hands were tied.

And so, both sides geared up for battle. I’ve already described how New York elections worked in general, so let me focus in on one election in particular, the election in New York City, so we can explore some of the details.

Now, New York City sent four delegates to the Assembly, but instead of holding four separate elections, there was one big election all the candidates ran in. The top four vote-getters would become delegates.

In this particular election, there were seven candidates running. Two of the candidates had no real shot at winning, so we can ignore them, which leaves five real candidates to discuss. The two leading men were Philip Livingston, a moderate, and James DeLancey, Jr himself, supposedly a radical. Of the other three candidates, one was a moderate lawyer, while the other two were radical merchants allied with DeLancey.

This was a complex election, which required some serious strategizing if you wanted to win. The radical faction decided to let Livingston win a seat without challenging him. He was already popular, and so he was likely to win no matter what they did. That way they could focus all their attention on the moderate lawyer. If they could attack him successfully, then DeLancey and his two allies would all win seats in the Assembly, thus coming out ahead three to one.

So they went after the lawyer as hard as they could. In pamphlets and in newspaper articles, they argued that he was unfit to represent New York City. Firstly, he was a lawyer rather than a merchant, and New York City, being a commercial town, ought to be represented by merchants. Secondly, as a lawyer, he had ties to landowner families who opposed the interests of New York City. In fact, he had represented some of them in court in their lawsuits against poor families. Thirdly, it was a bad idea to elect lawyers in general. “[It] would be more gross and dangerous to choose Lawyers than other Men, in Proportion as they have more Cunning, Ability and Temptation to injure us, than other Men have. The more eminent their Abilities are, the more ought we to dread and avoid them, for we may be assured, that all those Abilities will be exerted against us, if our Folly should give them an Opportunity.” (By the way, you may be interested to know that these days, over a third of members of congress are lawyers, although the numbers have been dropping for a while.)

Anyway, the moderates tried to push back against these attacks, but they were always on the defensive.

Soon enough, the polls opened and voting began. In fact, the polls were open for five days straight, giving New Yorkers plenty of time to go vote. During that time, both sides were busy trying to woo voters as best they could. In fact, campaigns like these were becoming pretty expensive, given the need to entice voters with food and alcohol. According to the historian Patricia Bonomi, at one tavern alone, DeLancey had to pay for “248 “meals of victuals”, 134 bottles of wine, 106 ½ “Double Bowls of punch,�� 117 “mugs of Beer and Seyder” and a variety of other beverages.”

The moderate lawyer also went around town scrounging up votes, though in a less grandiose fashion. Instead of buying food, he offered to bribe voters directly, supposedly even offering to buy someone a canoe in exchange for his vote. He also threatened to sue someone if he didn’t vote for him. Or at least he was accused of doing those things. As always, it’s hard to know for sure.

In any case, the clever strategizing by DeLancey and the radicals paid off. Livingston won his seat as expected, but they won the three other seats, by a very comfortable margin of a few hundred votes out of around 6000 cast.

Outside of New York City, the radicals weren’t quite as successful, though they still did reasonably well. Roughly speaking, a third of the winners were moderates, a third were radicals, and a third were unaffiliated with either side, and might support one group or the other depending on the situation.

However, this Assembly lasted less than a year. Already there were new problems with Britain flaring up. Parliament had just passed another set of hated laws aimed at America, the Townshend Acts, and once again the colonists were in an uproar. When the Assembly began to challenge the Townshend Acts, the governor quickly dissolved the Assembly and called for new elections. The Stamp Act may have been repealed, but none of the problems with Britain had been solved at all.

So that brings us to 1769, just 7 years before the Declaration of Independence. Once again, the factions were gearing up for the next election. The moderates, seeing how well the radicals had done with their simple arguments -- “lawyers bad”, “Stamp Act bad” -- decided to come up with a simple argument of their own. They decided to use religion as their issue.

Let me briefly talk about religion in New York. The relationship between church and state in New York had always been complicated. Officials in London wanted the government to promote the Anglican church, but Anglicans were always a minority within the colony, so in practice compromises had to be made with the Dutch, with the Puritans, and so on. In 1693 the Anglican church had been sort of established as the official state religion, but only in a limited way. For the most part, toleration was the order of the day. There was some discrimination -- Anglicans were always privileged -- but not that much discrimination.

Now, as it happened, right around this time there was some discussion of sending an Anglican bishop to America for the first time. America had never had a bishop of its own, just priests, and many dissenting Christians were happy to keep it that way. They feared that a bishop would increase the Church of England’s control over them, that it might lead to greater intolerance over time.

And so the moderates thought that this might be a good issue to latch on to. They hadn’t challenged the Stamp Act enough for voters, but maybe they could challenge the idea of an American bishop, and link the radicals with the evils of Anglican control. As it happens, the DeLancey family were prominent Anglicans, so there was at least some surface plausibility to the accusations. If it worked, the moderates would suddenly seem like the real opponents of English oppression, not the radicals.

Sadly for them, though, it didn’t work. I think that it was just too much of a stretch, too obviously opportunistic. It sounds like all they did was alienate Anglicans without attracting enough dissenters. The real issue was still the colony’s relationship with the British government, and on that count, the radicals were bound to be much more successful than the moderates.

Let me go over the next election in New York City, to compare it with the previous one.

After the moderates only managed to win one of the four seats in the previous election, this time they proposed a compromise with the radicals: instead of campaigning, why not agree to each nominate only two candidates? Wouldn’t that be much easier for everyone? But of course, to the radicals, that compromise meant losing a seat, so they refused. Instead, they made a counteroffer where they would nominate 3 candidates and the moderates would only nominate one, which would leave things the way they were. However, the moderates refused that offer, and so once again both sides had to fight it out.

By this time, caucuses were commonly held by various factions to nominate candidates for upcoming elections, but typically this was done behind the scenes, in those proverbial smoke-filled rooms. But this time, both factions decided that it would be in their interests to include the public in the nominating process. Hopefully, that would increase their support when the election came. So the moderates held a large gathering of several hundred people in one of the fields around the city, while the radicals met indoors. Both sides nominated four candidates.

But this time, the radicals did even better. They won all four seats by a comfortable margin. And they improved their performance outside of the city as well, winning a solid majority of seats. Anti-British agitation was becoming very popular very quickly.

And the radicals used their power to strengthen their control even more, by having several of the Livingstons expelled from the Assembly. They passed a law which excluded members of the Supreme Court from sitting in the Assembly, which got rid of one Livingston. They then kicked out another Livingston because he wasn’t a resident of the district he was elected from. They also expelled Lewis Morris III, grandson of the Lewis Morris we talked about last time.

By kicking all these enemies out, the radicals gained a much more absolute control over the Assembly. However, the so-called radicals in the Assembly were also rapidly becoming less and less radical. It wasn’t really the radicals who had won, it was the DeLancey part of the radical coalition. And now that they controlled the Assembly, they were detaching themselves from the real radicals. So although the election had been won on the grounds of fighting British tyranny, the Assembly soon began governing in exactly the opposite way. Naturally, everyone felt betrayed. The real radicals became even more radical.

As a matter of fact, by the time the Revolution came around, in just a few years, the DeLanceys and the Livingstons had basically swapped places. The DeLancey faction became conservative Loyalists who rejected independence, while the Livingstons were more on the side of the radicals, although they weren’t really radicals themselves. Not only that, James DeLancey Jr. himself wound up in exile in Britain, just like Thomas Hutchinson. So you can see why I said that his alliance with the radicals was purely opportunistic. He betrayed them at the first opportunity, as soon as they seemed to be more of a liability than an asset.

Hopefully, now you can understand why John Adams called New York politics “the devil’s own incomprehensibles”. Ideologies, family loyalties, class interests, regional interests, were all mixed together in one big political stew, and you never could know what the next bite would taste like.

I think that I’ll end the story here. The political landscape was still shifting, but we’re already almost to the Revolution itself. I’ll leave New York in a state of flux for now. This whole confusing sweep of ever-shifting factions would only be ended thanks to the question of independence, which clarified things in a way that nothing else could. New York will be the last colony to declare for independence, but it’ll get swept up in the war just as much as everywhere else.

So that brings us to the end of New York’s colonial history. A lot has happened, so let me give a quick recap. In the 1690s and 1700s you had the feud between the Leislerians and anti-Leislerians. In the 1710s and 1720s you had the feud between the merchants and the big landowners. Then in the 1730s through the 1750s you had several different instances of factionalism, all of which centered around local leaders enlisting local support in their fights against the governors. Court vs. country, basically. And finally, in the 1760s you had a much more confused round of factionalism, as I just described.

And those are just the biggest examples of factionalism, there were plenty of smaller instances as well, which I didn’t have a chance to discuss.

But apart from what happened in New York, I’d also like to draw your attention to something equally important: what didn’t happen. There was a lot of factionalism in New York, but there were just as many issues that New Yorkers could have fought over, but didn’t. I mean, many of the problems which confounded politics in New England barely left a ripple in New York. For example, although in the early 1700s New York had had a big problem with its debt and with its paper money system, unlike in New England, New York managed it much more successfully. There were difficulties in the 1710s, but by the 1720s the government had a handle on things. There was much less inflation and there weren’t those big swings in the value of money that you saw in Massachusetts.

Another big difference was the Great Awakening. In New England, with its close union of church and state, the Great Awakening was a super big deal. But in New York, it passed almost without notice, at least outside of the Puritans of Long Island. New Yorkers were just not a very religious people.

I haven’t talked about Pennsylvania yet, but things were different there too. In Pennsylvania, many of the divisions were over ethnicity and religion, as new groups of immigrants came in and began taking over from the Quakers, who had become a small minority within their own colony. Obviously nothing like that applied to New York.

The point is this: in all of these colonies -- at least in the North, since the South was a bit different -- in all of these colonies the issues being fought over were very different, but the overall political developments were similar. Factions became more organized over time, and they started to appeal directly to the people, even if they weren’t yet real parties. The colonial legislatures became more assertive and powerful. Despite their different cultures and histories, they were all on the same track.

Something to keep in mind as we approach the Revolution. Often it can seem like these colonies were in their own separate worlds, with nothing in common but the English language, but in fact they were converging politically in many ways, which no doubt helped them to cooperate when the time came.

This was often, but not always, more of a top down process. In the beginning, every colony had this network of elites in which disputes were supposed to be resolved internally, within the elites themselves. But sooner or later, one group of elites realized that they could gain an advantage by appealing to the people. In Connecticut and Rhode Island, which had elected governors and elected upper houses, popular support was all you needed in order to take power.

If the governor was appointed, things were a bit more complicated. Popular support helped, but it was insufficient. If all you controlled was the Assembly, then the most you could do on your own was block legislation. Then, maybe the governor would negotiate with you. But if he refused, then you could keep blocking all of his legislation. That would make him look weak and incompetent to officials in London. Then, you might convince the Board of Trade to have the governor removed from office and replaced with someone more to your liking. So in a colony like New York, you didn’t want to win popular support for its own sake. It was really a way to send a message to London: “This governor sucks and we refuse to work with him.” The will of the people thus only had an indirect effect.

But either way, there was still an advantage in appealing to the people. Whoever did so successfully had an edge over everyone else. And that meant that politics in every colony became more democratic, more populist over time. In order to appeal to the people, you actually had to offer them something. Sometimes, like with James DeLancey, Jr. supporting the radicals, that something was offered cynically and in bad faith. Other times the offer was more sincere.

But again either way, the changes produced were similar. Once candidates were regularly appealing to you for your vote, it naturally seemed to you like you had the power, not them. The elites had invited the people in for their own short-term benefit, but the people had no intention of leaving. What had begun as a top-down process became more bottom up over time. And then elected officials had to change their mindsets to match the new reality as well. They could compete for popular support or risk losing office or even being attacked by a mob.

But I don’t want to imply that if the elites in each colony had never sought popular support then this could have been avoided. I’m certain that sooner or later the people would have realized their power and started to organize on their own behalf. After all, the New Lights in Connecticut were bottom up from the very beginning, so it was certainly a possible alternative.

If you have a broad franchise and if elected officials have real power, then sooner or later someone will try to appeal to the voters in order to wield that power. It might be top down, it might be bottom up, but sooner or later it’ll happen. These divisions within the elite accelerated the process, I think, but they weren’t essential.

But still, that’s how it happened, and I think that that’s the best way to understand events in New York. All of that factionalism may seem like random noise, but if you take the long view, it really was building towards something: populist democracy.

Next episode, we’ll skip over New Jersey and jump straight to Pennsylvania, to see how William Penn and his fellow Quakers are faring in the wake of the Glorious Revolution, and to see how they slowly lose power after being swamped by new waves of not-so-pacifist immigrants. So join me next time on Early and Often: The History of Elections in America.

The podcast is on twitter, @earlyoftenpod, or go to the blog at earlyandoftenpodcast.wordpress.com for transcripts of every single episode. And if you like the podcast, give it a good review on iTunes. That helps. Thanks for listening.

Sources:

Themes and Directions in Middle Colonies Historiography, 1980-1994 by Wayne Bodle

A Factious People: Politics and Society in Colonial New York by Patricia U. Bonomi

Colonial New York: A History by Michael Kamen

The American Colonies in the Eighteenth Century, Volume II by Herbert L. Osgood

How the most disliked — and elected — profession is disappearing from politics by Ana Swanson

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rogers-senpai · 7 years ago

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Jonerys Secret Santa gift - My Muse - Jonerys Modern AU

This One-Shot is a christmas gift to the lovely @oadara ! Hope you like it, the gifset is in a seperate post.

I loved your idea of Jon being a piano prodigy, who meets Dany when he’s struggling with his passion for music, and I took the idea, twisting it a bit. I hope you like it anyway! Happy Holidays!

Jon sighed as he brought his palm to his face, trying to rub the exhaustion away from his closed eyes. Bringing his hand down, sliding it across his mouth, he decided he needed another cup of the disgusting coffee the little place had to offer. Disgusting it might be, but it was also strong, and that was exactly what he needed now to help him stay awake and finish the damn thing. He looked out the window, where winter was in its full power. Snow was falling heavily, and children were picking it off the cars they were passing by, marking the whole city with their handprints. The road was pretty much a swamp, and drivers were careful not to lose control on the slippery surface. It seemed like everyone was in a hurry, trying to find the best deals, the best gift ideas, afraid someone else might get it all instead. The closer the 25th was, the busier the streets got. Jon had to send all of the presents a while back, to Scotland where his siblings lived, and he wasn’t planning on a big feast, so he could just sit there in that cafe, toying with a pen, waiting for something to hit him. Studying at the Royal Academy of Music had been his dream since he could remember, and he never regretted the decision of joining the elite group of their students until now. Jon has always wanted to be a musician, everybody knew it and they also knew that he actually had great chances of making this dream a reality. When he wa just a kid, you could always find him in the corner of their surprisingly clean attic, where Catelyn’s old piano stood, then abandoned and covered with dust and soon brought back to life with Jon’s little hands and the awful sounds they were making, annoying the hell out of Robb and Sansa, and making little Arya and Bran wake up from their sleep. When he got in, he couldn’t control his excitement. He would be having piano, organ and composition lessons in the best college he could think of. That would open so many door for him, all he had to do was work hard each and every day. And he did, he really did. But now all classes seemed to last forever, as he could not focus on what the teacher was saying or bring himself to practise. He couldn’t even be happy about the winter break as they were told to compose something of their own - a reasonable request for seniors of that prestigious academy, but Jon could not bring himself to even start. Ned and his wife Cat were the best parents any child could wish for. His father was the definition of honorable and just, a rare thing in their world and times and the moral figure he hoped he took something from. Catelyn wasn’t Jon’s mother - he was Ned’s child by a woman he knew before her - but she might as well have been. When he was left on their door, an infant just a few months older than her own firstborn son Robb, she took him and loved him and never held any hard feelings towards him. But anytime someone asked why he had a different surname - Snow instead of Stark, as his real mother decided, he still felt a sting of not being one of them - the Starks. And now they were both gone. They died in a car accident on their way back to Scotland, as they were visiting Jon in his campus . The whole thing still seemed surreal to Jon. They just got in the car, drove away and would never get to the destination. He was looking around to see if the waiter was anywhere near him, when someone stepped in front of him, clearing their throat, making his head turn in their direction. And when he did, he had to stop himself from gasping out loud. There stood Daenerys Targaryen in all her silver hair and violet eyes glory, making his stomach twist and his whole body tense. She was looking straight at him, and the little smile her lips formed was another punch to his guts. Jon could still remember vividly the first time he saw Dany in the Royal Academy halls back in their freshman year, and the happiness when he found out she was on the same year and would be having piano classes with him. At first it was just an attraction that turned into something more as he saw more of her personality, heard her play the piano or sing in her angelic voice, when he found himself wandering to her vocal lessons or during college events. Or when he heard her just simply talk with her best friend Missandei. She was gorgeous, intelligent, good, confident, ambitious and talented, and soon enough Jon was head over hills for her. He was forced to awake from his thought as she made a surprised expression, flexing her eyebrows in the way only Daenerys Targaryen could, not noticing the change is his form or deciding to ignore it. “Jon, I had to make sure it was really you! I thought you would be in Scotland. Is this seat taken?“ she asked,looking at him questiongly, one brow still up. He tried to swallow whatever suddenly appeared in his throat. They had piano classes together, so it’s not as if they were strangers, he could act friendly without making it weird, right? He blinked a few times, as if he was trying to make sure he wasn’t dreaming without pinching himself. When he decided this had to be actually happening, the butterflies in his stomach stirred as he shook his head. “Um, hi! No, si-, I mean, you can sit, I mean, if you want to. ” he forced out. Great job, Jon. She smiled a bit wider, not commenting on the awkwardness she heard in his voice, which he was thankful for. She hung her bag on the arm of the chair and having taken her faux leather gloves off, she proceeded to take off her checked scarf and unbutton her black coat, leaving it on, her grey sweater now on display. He realized he’d been staring and quickly looked back to his almost empty music sheets, his cheeks turning a bright shade of pink. “Composing?” she asked, her curious eyes following his. He didn’t know why her seeing his work and his struggles made him uncomfortable to the point he considered hiding it all in his bag, away from those wide pupils. Wait. They are wide. Doesn’t that usually mean… He stopped his thoughts from getting more ridiculous as he shifted in his chair, and lifted his left hand to the back of his neck. “Well, yes. You know, for class.” His response came out a lot lower and more quietly than he meant it to. He dropped his hand that was rubbing against the warm skin of his scruff, and started playing with the now empty cup. Recognition crossed her soft face. “Oh, right. The same thing Missandei is working on day and night. Even though she says it’s supposed to be short.” she shook her head, amusement clear in her voice. Missandei was Daenerys’ best friend, that much anyone could have got right after seeing them just once. They were close before coming to college and stayed together for all those years. Jon was in their piano classes, where they always behaved more like sisters than friends, and he heard that during their vocal classes, they made the perfect pair for any duet. Anyone would say they were tied together for good, but when Dany had her strings practises, Missandei went to composing lectures, the same ones that Jon attended. Daenerys stopped and glanced at the table once more. “Not feeling inspired?” she asked, noticing how little he’d been able to come up with. And little did she know, he wasn’t even happy with what he had on there. He shrugged, the butterflies calming down a bit after having exchanged a few sentences with her without making it too humiliating. “I guess not. Christmas preparation might have got the best of me.” he moved his shoulders once more, trying desperately to seem calm and laid back, not wanting her to see that the Christmas fever was not at fault whatsoever. “It’s all so tiring.” That much was true, the upcoming celebrations really did make it harder to sleep, but as he was not a part of the crazy shopping, it was not the reason for his recent insomnia. “Is that all?” she seemed to be trying to be very careful with her words, as she fidgeted her joined hands on the table. He was about to ask her what she meant, when the waiter came up to them, noticing the newcomer. She ordered a simple green tea and Jon asked for another cup of black coffee. When the man left, she wrinkled her nose and with genuine curiosity and disgust she said: “’Another’ cup? Meaning you drank it once and want more? Are you a masochist?” He laughed lowly, adjusting himself on the chair. “It’s awful, yes, but I need to get this-” he pointed his finget at the sheets spread actoss the shiny wooden surface, “- done. And that’s the strongest coffee I can imagine.” “That much I can agree on. Still not worth it in my opinion, though.” She put her elbows on the table, crossing her arms and resting her palms on her biceps.

“So, about your composing. You never used to have any problems, not from what I can remember.” When they had finals, they had to play something on the piano for the teacher to hear, and he always chose to perform his own work, something not many dared to do. After that, Dany would often ask him about it in the hall, congratulating him, which always made Jon feel like he was on the cloud nine, something Sam would tease him about for weeks. Jon noticed she was much more confident about the topic now, coming bac to the usual self. But he was still not willing to go any deeper into the matter. “Yeah, I guess. Stuff happens. Maybe I need to retire” he tried to crack a joke, hoping to change the subject to a one he could actually let himself speak freely about. Maybe some rest would suffice” she shot back.”Caffeine won’t replace a good night sleep, you know. And spending Christmas alone doesn’t compare to being with your family.” She was smiling as she said it, but he knew she was not being casual about it in the slighest. Noticing the confusion in his eyes, she sighed and moved her arms, resting her head on her palm. “I have eyes.I can see you during classes and I noticed you being so…distant. And now I see you here, when Sam told me and Missandei you were leaving to Scotland for Christmas, struggling to compose. You struggling to compose!” she was genuinely worried, he noticed. “Why do you care?” he didn’t mean to be offensive or rude, he really meant the question. They were close enough for him to call her his friend, they sometimes were assigned to work together, they went out with a whole group many times, but he couldn’t remember ever even having a real, deep talk conversation alone. She looked to her left, where the same waiter was just coming up with their order, the strong smell of his coffee, forcing them back to the crowded cafe. She flashed a beautiful smile at the man, and lifted the cup to her soft lips, as he was leaving. He watched her take a sip and it was only when she put the cup down that she responded. “Because I know what it’s like, Jon.” Ah, yes. She knew that it was his parents’ death that did this to him, it was probably obvious, he now realized. And she has been through something similiar herself. Back in their sophomore year, her father and one of her two brothers - the older one, Rhaegar - were shot in some incident in one of the the city centres of London. That left her alone with Viserys, as their mother died giving birth to her. They came from a rich family, so they were able to keep their lives together in that matter, but Jon knew it crushed her mentally, as Ned and Cat’s deaths crushed him those few months ago. He remembered that she had problems playing piano, as if the pain had blocked all of her abbilities, making her unable to do anything other that grieve. He noticed that the same thing could be said about him in the first weeks after he found out. But when Dany came back a month after the funeral, she was back in the game, laughing quietly during classes with Missandei, seemingly leaving the past behind. That was the part Jon was not able to get to yet. And it’s been past five times the time it took her. She leaned in a little bit, her arms again on the table. “I wanted to talk to you as soon as I heard about the accident, but Sam didn’t think it was a good idea. You didn’t even want to see him so I had no chances.” That’s where you’re wrong. “What makes you think you have any chances now?” Again, he didn’t mean the words to come off as harsh, he really wanted to know what made her go into this subject today. Maybe she knew him better than he thought, as she didn’t seem to be offended at all, as if she knew there were no negative emotions behind his words, nothing other than pure curiosity. “I didn’t actually. I didn’t even know you were still in the country. Much less in this very cafe” she smiled and took another sip. “Perhaps someone up there wanted me to talk to you either way.” “What is there to talk about?” His voice couldn’t get any lower. He brought his palm to the hot cup, not bringing it up to his lips just yet. “Maybe it’s what was meant to happen. Maybe I was not supposed to become a musician” he shrugged. She extended her arm, covering his big hand, the one not holding the coffee, with her petite one. “No, Jon. You know that’s not true. You already are a musician. You were born for it. This is just a setback, one you can overcome. How many great composers who have experienced grief and came back stronger, using the feelings for their work have we learned about? ”He knew she wasn’t expecting an answer, but he started thinking of one either way. “Well, quite a few. I would go with eig-”. She gave him a pointed look, that made him close his mouth at once, stopping the little sarcastic music lesson he had planned.He took a big sip of his black coffee, trying hard not to show any signs of his displeasure on his face face, knowing he probably failed completely. "You're missing the most important point. I'm not one of these guys" he said a bit louder, his voice still much lover than the tone she was using. He looked up to catch her rolling her eyes. Not in a rudely annoyed way, it reminded him of all those times Missandei was stressed about finals, freaking out she hadn't been studying or practising enough, when everyone knew she would end up with the best grades on their year. "I'm sure they all were just born and had an easy way towards being musical legends before them since day one" she shot back sarcastically, her head tilted a bit to her right, making his attention go to her hair, the wet and somehow still beautiful mess in her head. The pale curls were forced to lay flat on her head, brought down by the now liquid snowflakes. He let out a little bit of air with his nose, making an amused sound. “You know what I mean” he replied, taking the cup up once more for another sip, this time doing a better job of keeping straight face. She sighed and took her hand, joining it with the other one in the air, elbows on the table. “When my dad and brother died, I thought it was the end of my musical career. How could I ever just come back?” her eyes drifted to her left, her head being filled with memories of that time. He tilted his head, watching her. “But you did.” She nodded, her eyes coming back to looking at him. “I know sharing your feelings is not your forte, so listen to me talk about mine” she said, flashing a wam smile, making the fogotten butterflies in his stomach stir. He made a little movement with his head, telling her to go on. “I lost my passion for music then as well. It just didn’t bring me the same joy anymore.” He shifted in the uncomfortable seat, not taking his eyes off her for even a split second. He might have imagined it, but he could swear her eyes followed the movement of his arms, seemingly admiring the muscles visible through the tight long sleeve dark grey shirt. “As you know, I don’t compose. My struggle was with bringing myself to practise piano or vocal, I couldn’t make a single right sound, it was driving the proffesors crazy. You’ve only seen half of it in the piano classes” she chuckled. “I was late to almost all my classes, because I couldn’t sleep at night. I see you share some of those symptoms” she looked pointedly to the dark circles under his eyes and then the bug cup of coffee still in his hands. “What made you come back to normal so quickly?” A month was probably a lot of time to stop being a zombie, and just start living with grief like a normal human being, but to him it seemed abnormally short. “I know everyone grieves differently, but I’ve never heard of someone act like a shell of themselves for over five months. Maybe what I’m about to go into a speech about won’t work, but if there’s even a slight chance it will, I’m willing to risk making a fool out of myself.” She took a deep breath. “My dad did everything he could to help me make my dream come true. He bought me a piano when I was five, he hired a vocal tutor, took me out to every classical music concert that was happening in England. The day I got in to the academy, it was as if he completed his live mission. Rhaegar was the one I would come to when I left like I was not on the right way to that dream, the one who would listen to me play or sing along with my dad. They supported my wholeheartedly. As I know your parents supported you” she stopped and looked at him expectingly, waiting for him to confirm her statement. He cleared his throat, covering the effect that her words had on him. He would have lied if he said the fact that she was sharing her story and emotions with him didn’t please him greatly. “Yes, they did. Though not as much as Sam’s parents support him” he joked. She laughed, knowing that Samwell Tarly’s parents were not so much supportive as they were demanding. Mr ans Mrs Tarly decided one day that their son would be a great musician, and since he was little he had to fill in the dreams of his family, never being asked once what he wanted. And Sam had no real interest in music, much less classical music, but with a little bit of knowledge and his family’s connections, he got in to one of the best colleges a musician can dream of being a student of. He was not the best in organ playing, but he was surprsingly good at conducting and he was the best student in the Academical Studied department. “I don’t think anyone can beat them” she chuckled once more, before becoming a bit more serious. “My point is that I used the pain of their deaths as an excuse. But stopping my musical education was the worst kind of disrespecting their memory. I know it sounds cheesy, but they would never want me to give up, especially not because of them” she looked directly into his eyes, making sure the meaning of the words stuck with him. “Missandei always says that music is just another language, one that anyone can undestand, even though not everyone can speak it. But with this language you can express more than any words ever could. Love, joy, pain.” He knew where she was going with that, and he looked down. “You have a problem with pouring all your feelings onto your work. They are always beautiful, don’t get me wrong. They’re genius, but now you’re trying to write something in the same style, when your feelings are somewhere else entirely” she shook her head. “That’s not going to work, Jon.” It was as if his soul was an open book she could just read anytime she wanted to. It made him feel exposed, open but somehow still incredibly comforted. Whatever happened, she would understand. How did she get to know him so well?“It seems like you’re stuck. You’re not longer in that severe pain, not for months now, but the artist inside you didn’t get the relief he needed” she continued, before face palming herslef a littte, making his eyebrows go up in surprise. “I’m sorry, I’m talking like some psychologist, when I have no qualifications or rights” she said, shaking her head in disapproval al herself. He smirked and leaned down a little bit. “You’ may not be a psychologist, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to hear the rest of that lecture. ”Her smile was almost as curing as her wise words. “Just stop trying to hide your feelings in your work, they will be the thing to make them even more spectacular, trust me.” She thought for a second and then added: “And you should go to your family for Christmas. Spending them alone seems very depressing.” His mind went to his half siblings. They would defintely be happy to see him, but should he just catch a train and appear out of nowhere? She must have noticed the conflict in his eyes. “You still have a few days until 25th. I’m sure your presence will be the greatest gift they get. But before that, get some rest. A lot of it. If you still won’t be able to sleep, take some sleeping pills.”

He hasn’t tried them yet, for stupid reasons. He almost wanted to stay awake every night. Why? Maybe the physical pain helped him, he didn’t know. She showed a little bit of her teeth, happy she was able to have some effect on him as she brought her tea to her lips, looking at her phone. “Oh! I must get going now.” She put the cup down, not taking a sip, and started putting her scarf on, buttoning her coat. When she was putting on her gloves, he spit out: “Would you like to go out with me?” She stopped in the middle of the process of putting her right glove on, and looked at him with a bit wide eyes. “After Christmas, I mean. When I get back, before the classes start again” he continued nervously. God, what was he thinking? One talk and he thought he could just ask Danerys Targary- His thought were interrupted when she gave her answer. “With pleasure.” She was now done with dressing herself, and he could see a hint of smile under the checked scarf. “On one condition. Bring whatever you manage to come out with” she pointed to the sheets. This way she has just given him the best motivation she could. “Having someone give you your opinion on it before handing it should help you, right?” They both knew she just wanted to make sure he would compose something at all. “It definitely will. Thank you, Daenerys” he gave her a full, genuine smile, and noticed her eyes go a bit wider. She cleared her throat, an action he recognized from his own struggles to hide his feelings before her.“So, call me when you’re back. Merry Christmas!” she waved and started walking towards the exit. “Merry Christmas” he mumbled, a little shocked because of the whole situation. He looked down at the sheet, and immediately picked up the pen, suddenly feeling inspired.

#joneryssecretsanta #jonerys fanfic #jonerys #merry xmas

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alltheworldsinmyhead · 7 years ago

Photo

OUR FUTURE WILL BE A BRIGHT ONE: CHAPTER FOUR

eremika soulmates through time modern au

( chapter one/chapter two/ chapter three/ ff.net/ ao3)

YOUANFEN

CHINESE; A relationship by fate or destiny, predestined affinity or relationship. The driving forces and causes behind yuánfèn are said to be actions done in previous incarnations

"Meeting your soul mate is like walking into a house you've been in before - you will recognize the furniture, the pictures on the wall, the books on the shelves, the contents of drawers: You could find your way around in the dark if you had to."

― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

Before the clock strikes noon and his morning coffee turns cold, Eren makes a mental list of all the things he has learned about Mikasa after he spent the night in her bed.

There's her surname on top of it and he finds it kinda funny, but she's horrified when he points it out. There's the fact that she comes from Charleston ("I wouldn't take you for a Southern Belle," he says to her and she snorts into her tea. "You mean, I'm not a lady?" she asks with a playful glint in her eyes, which leaves him biting his tongue in a hurry to assure her that yes, of course, she is, indeed, very ladylike). She admits that she had to move to Chicago because her career required that, he tries to show restraint by waiting a full minute before asking what she does for a living.

"Professional gymnastics." She bites on her lips and blushes a little when he whistles, impressed.

"I knew you were fit," says Eren triumphantly and she laughs at that, scrunching her nose up adorably. He wishes he could bottle up this sound and keep it always in his pocket, for rainy days.

"And I do capoeira and ice skating in my free time, just for fun," she adds off-handedly as if she was not honestly-to-God boasting now.

"Show-off," he murmurs under his breath and there's a small smile dancing on her lips as she shrugs.

There's also the fact that she has a cat, which, honestly Eren can't wrap his mind around.

"I've been here whole evening yesterday," he says, bewildered as he watches Mikasa opening the lid of the laundry basket in the bathroom and exclaiming, " There you are!"

"Whole evening and a whole night. And whole morning. And it hasn't left this basket the whole time?"

"She. And no, she's a little bit shy," explains Mikasa, walking out of the bathroom to retrieve a tin of tuna and then tapping her fingers on the lid above the basket. " C'mon girl, say hi."

Eren is not a cat person, not even by furthest stretch ( in fact, he's the opposite of a cat person. He silently thanks all the higher powers that he didn't tell Mikasa any stories from his childhood that included him tormenting his neighbors' fat, nasty tabby. )

But even he has to admit that Mikasa's cat is pretty cute, as much as a cat can be cute. In fact, she looks a little bit like Mikasa herself; small and sleek, gracefully jumping out of the basket onto Mikasa's shoulder and eyeing him suspiciously with her tilted yellow irises.

The cat's name is Madeline which apparently comes from a French cartoon Mikasa was watching as a kid while spending summers at her uncle's in Lyon.

( "French-Japanese American. What a mix. " " Best possible, full German here, nothing interesting." )

The last position on his mental list is that they have a mutual friend, which comes as a surprise to both of them.

"Well. I wouldn't really call Annie my friend," Eren huffs in amusement, putting a framed picture of Mikasa and a petite, blonde girl making silly faces back on the shelf. "But she goes to the same martial arts center as me, so we pass each other all the time, even spar from time to time and I say "hi" to her, so that probably counts for something? My friend has a thing for her, though. He keeps coming over just to stare at her above his textbooks and then denies it ."

Mikasa giggles, taking a sip of her coffee. She seems somehow… calmer, after this night. She woke up radiant in his arms, with the morning light caressing her face, her hair messed up and pillow wrinkles pressed on her right cheek, and the first thing she did was smile at him; she's more talkative now, hence him learning so much about her. And he guesses that this night benefited him too, in a way. Her presence is still intoxicating, but he deals with it better now. Can admire her without agonizing over the need to touch her; actually, listen to what she's saying instead of getting lost in his feelings and babbling like a senseless idiot.

In fact, he has learned quite a lot about Mikasa during this tranquil hour or so, with the quiet conversation over their respective plates and even quieter one that they had on a purely non-verbal basis.

He pays attention to details; to the way she's so still sometimes it's almost creepy, but when she moves, damn, it's like she was dancing. The way she walks and the tilt of her neck; she turns making scrambled eggs into a spectacle.

"If you're good enough in martial arts to spar with Annie and her crazy Muay Thai magic, you should not be impressed with my interests," she points out after a moment of silence, interrupting his (admittedly sappy) train of thought.

"Yes, but I'm not doing capoeira." He takes a bite of his eggs and almost moans (another fact; Mikasa definitely knows her way around the kitchen.) "Or gymnastics, or skating. Those require - you know-" he makes a vague waving gesture with his hand. "All this."

Her eyebrows shoot up and he feels her sudden urge to bark a laugh. At least she seems to be amused with his inability to explain himself.

"Flexibility? Grace?" she adds helpfully and he nods, relieved.

"Yup. Not my biggest strengths."

"Haven't noticed," she deadpans with a tone so serious that it takes him a second to notice the sarcasm.

"Ouch, that was harsh." He groans with theatrical pain in his voice, pressing his hand to his chest, above his heart. "You wound me."

Madeline chooses this moment to jump on the kitchen table, meowing impatiently until Mikasa feeds her a piece of toast and Eren realizes, with more than a little bit of embarrassment, that she leaves way fewer breadcrumbs than he did.

"And you? " Mikasa leans her chin on the hand, looking at him with this interested glint in her eyes, her curiosity echoing in the bond between them.

"Me?"

"I mean, we keep on talking about my life. Tell me something about yourself. Something that is not a story about all the shit you pulled in primary school."

He bites on his lip, wondering what to tell her. Well, better start with basics they neglected yesterday, right?

"So, full German, I've already told you that. Dad's a doctor, Mum is a midwife, guess I did not exactly live up to their expectations… I was less than stellar at school if you know what I mean. But I'm a police officer, that's probably not the worst job they could think of-"

"You're in the police? Really?" She seems so genuinely surprised that he contemplates feeling offended, but then he realizes that all that Mikasa knows about him, is that he was pretty much a thug, as a kid. Oh and that Starks are his favorite Game of Thrones house.

"Yup. A childhood dream come true. " He smiles fondly, recalling his ten-year-old self-sitting in front of the tv and watching with wide eyes yet another kidnapper arrested and yet another burglar caught on a crime scene. The police force grew and grew in his eyes until they turned into figures more alike to demigods than simple men. And of course, there was this time with his mum which-

Well. He didn't really want to think about it.

Mikasa shivers, wrapping her arms around herself and sending him a worried glance.

"Everything okay?" she asks, hesitantly reaching out a hand to put on his shoulder. A simple gesture, easy reassurance; the sentiment that made him shake his head, shrugging off bad memories like a dog getting rid of water from his fur.

"Yes. Old times, not much to talk about." At least yet, he thinks. Not a time or place to unload this kind of baggage, not when it's a nice, sunny day, snow sparkles in the noon light and Mikasa nods and then simply moves her hand down to rest it on the crook of his elbow.

"It seems that we may actually have more than one mutual acquaintance, if you're in the police, you know?" she says, tilting her head a bit to the left.

"Who can possibly- wait." Some wheels in his brain turn to slowly click in place and he almost gasps. How could he not think about it? They have the same fucking surname! She even told him her uncle is half French! "You're Captain Levi's niece?! "

"Well, yes." She shrugs. "You know him?'

Does he know him? It's like asking a kid in Spiderman costume on Halloween if he knows Peter Parker.

And then her eyes widen with recognition and she simply bursts into laughter.

"You are the brat! The brat he keeps on complaining about, right? New in his team," she manages to let out, breathless and her shoulders shaking. "What are the odds?"

The odds are, in fact, simply astronomical.

But this is the thought that brings him so much warmth, so much happiness; we would find each other anyway, different time, different place but if we didn't pass each other on that street, we would soon meet somewhere else.

He wonders if he would spot her at the annual Christmas Ball, clad in this scarlet dress he saw hanging in her closet. Or if she would drop by the station to talk with Levi about something and they would bump into each other in the crowded corridor, sending his cup of coffee and a pile of papers flying into the air.

Mikasa stops laughing and chuckles a few times, flushed with happiness, glowing from inside out and he just knows that she's thinking about the same thing.

Destined. So that's what this word means; all of the roads I could take would eventually lead me to you.

"Go out with me," he blurts out, words escaping from his mouth before he can stop them.

She raises her head to look at him, brows furrowed and eyes all surprised.

"Wait, what?"

He taps on her knee once, twice. They're sitting on the floor in her living room, a jigsaw puzzle with Lion King motive scattered in between them. Just a moment ago she was deeply engaged in finding a missing piece of Simba's front paw and he jumps out with something like that?

She reaches for his hand and laces their fingers together, waiting for an explanation. She's also wondering if that's how it's always gonna be – him surprising her at every step, proving her wrong every time she feels she already knows him well enough to at least predict some of his actions. These are the little moments that mess in her head, that remind her that even though his soul may sing to hers, he's still just a little more than a glorious mystery left for her to uncover.

He shrugs, eyes distant. It's warm and comfortable inside Mikasa's flat, the two of them basking in the heat of their closeness, brushing each other's minds every now and then, bolder and more curious with every contact. Not holding their breath, but still waiting impatiently for when the last dam to break.

"I just though… like, I should probably introduce you to my family? My friends? I called them to let them know I'll be – out for some time because I met you. But I'd really want for you to meet my mum, at least, if it's okay. "

She chews on her lower lip, one of her hands in his, the other playing with a puzzle between her fingers. The sun hits her face just right, bringing out every curve of her lovely features; the sharpness of her jaw and cheekbones, the gentle slope of her nose, the almond shape of her eyes. She's so stunning, so incredibly unreal. And he would be lying if he said that he doesn't want to show her to his world. Put her in front of his friends and say; look. Look at her. What did I ever do to deserve that?

Her hesitance tastes like metal on his tongue, as she lowers her head, letting her dark hair obscure half of her face.

"Of course, we don't have to do that, if you're, um, not feeling comfortable with that yet." He adds hastily, cursing himself internally. Really, his impatience will one day fucking get him killed, they met just yesterday and he wants to show her around as if she was a new Porsche or something, great fucking idea -

Everything plays out so quickly that his brain simply shortcuts for a good minute.

Mikasa's suddenly on his lap, her folded legs on both sides of his thighs, the smell of her hair sending all his senses into overdrive; she wraps her arms around his neck and leans in.

All his mind registers is her black eyes and the way her nose bumps gently against his, the tiny second full of tension and -

And, completely out of blue, she's kissing him.

Someone could as well soak Mikasa's nice cream-colored carpet in gasoline and then throw a match at it.

Because as soon as her lips touch his – soft, so soft and so eager and he has no idea if this eagerness is hers or his, nor does he care – as soon as he breathes her in and closes his eyes, the rest is a simple muscle memory.

He puts his hands flat on her lower back, pulling her closer until their upper halves press to one another like pieces of the puzzle that's laying forgotten, scattered on the floor; her breasts flush against his chest, her wild-beating heart thumping a rhythm against his sternum. His fingers woven into her hair and he's kissing her back; with all the desperation and need and want he feels swirling inside his belly, with all his wonder and amazement and worship.

An echo powerful enough to make them both shiver and gasp against other's lips rip through their bodies; memory from before memory, as they're kissing each other for the first time and the thousandth, something completely new tangled up with something as natural as breathing.

Her lips are warm on his, persistent and sure. No backing down, no hiding underneath a shy smile and a blush; not, when her lungs burn and her mind races and he holds her like he never wants to take his hands off her, kisses her like a madman given sanity. Glorious technicolors burst underneath her eyelids; poppy red, deep-sea blue, sparkling gold and sizzling silver.

This body may not know him, nor this mind; but her very self, her soul hums with contentment and rejoices.

This is what coming home feels like.

Her lungs burn for air, but her mouth has a mind of its own at this point, chasing Eren's lips with twice the desperation until they slowly part, leaning on each other's foreheads and with eyes still closed. Her lips tingle and she can't somehow catch a breath. She's too big for her body, feels too vast to be contained within the bounds of a beating heart and skin burning with his heat.

There's this weird sensation in his head; it's like the second after the roller-coaster ride has ended and your body is no longer in motion, but you're still all shaky inside, you're still expecting to spiral down and soar up any moment.

"Why- why did you do that?" he breathes out, reaching up blindly with one hand to brush her parted lips, her cheek, her jawline.

"Because I wanted to," comes her response, slow and quiet but sure, no waver and not a trace of shyness.

He opens his eyes to find her staring at him, and the sight of her knocks him defenseless on the ground, makes his heart clench painfully in his chest. With his fingers still in her messy, black hair, with a swollen mouth and this wild, wild look in her eyes, she looks like the prettiest disaster, like a tsunami wave moments before it hits the beach and consumes everything in its way.

"And I'd love to meet you mom, Eren," she adds softly, smiling with only corners of her lips and a happy glow in her black eyes

Cream-colored carpet, scattered Lion King puzzle, half-closed white curtains and the ocean of white behind the window. "Uncle" blaring in red on Mikasa's muted cell phone thrown haphazardly on the night table in the bedroom, long-cold coffee in two mugs by the kitchen sink, Madeline purring gently on the loveseat, watching the pigeons on emergency stairs.

The pair of them in their own, small bubble, two faces leaning towards each other once again, two sets of eyelids fluttering closed and the heart-aching goodness between them.

"And I had spent the whole evening wanting to do just that," she said and then set him on fire.

"Because I wanted to," she admitted and bewitched him completely.

Restrained, but honest in her desire, quiet and sure in her want.

The final thing that Eren learns this morning, is that Mikasa Ackerman's not a shy, greenhouse-grown Southern Belle. She's not small nor delicate, nor confused. She knows what she's doing, controls her every gesture, every word; she aims true, always.

She wouldn't be his soulmate if she didn't.

In a warm, Chicago 2 o'clock light, with his hands in her hair and her fingers dancing on the back of his neck, they spiral and then soar up, up and up.

#snk #eremika #snk fanfiction #eremika fanfiction #eremika fic #our future will be a bright one #mikasa ackerman #eren yeager

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shannaraisles · 7 years ago

Text

Set In Darkness

Chapter: 59 Author name: ShannaraIsles Rating: M Warnings: None Summary: She’s a Modern Girl in Thedas, but it isn’t what she wanted. There’s a scary dose of reality as soon as she arrives. It isn’t her story. People get hurt here; people die here, and there’s no option to reload if you make a bad decision. So what’s stopping her from plunging head first into the Void at the drop of a hat?

Swellegant, Elegant Party

Rory wasn't sure quite what she had been expecting from the Winter Palace, but boredom had not been in her top ten. And she was bored. So bored.

Oh, it was beautiful, certainly. The decor, the music, the food, the pretty frocks and masks, all absolutely gorgeous. But nothing was really happening. The only really interesting thing of note to have occurred since she and Granthis had arrived was the announcement of the Inquisition, and they hadn't even been in the ballroom for that. She'd been trailing along at Granthis' elbow for the last two hours as he greeted various nobles and dignitaries, giving her own greetings when asked, and finding herself desperately hoping that something more interesting was going to happen soon. About the most interesting thing to happen so far for her was overhearing the nasty little comments the Orlesian nobles were making about her and Kaaras in the misplaced confidence that she couldn't understand them. It was depressing.

"Another Ferelden idiot who thinks she knows fashion better than us."

"Monsieur Perivale's tastes are getting uglier, I see."

"Surely that untutored beast cannot be the Herald of Andraste? Why would she choose such a dreadful creature to lead?"

"Did you see him when he entered? How the Empress can look on him without disgust is beyond me."

"She cannot really be that gorgeous commander's wife, surely? She's so plain."

Iron Bull caught her eye as Granthis began the rounds of ingratiating himself with the Council of Heralds, and Rory gratefully made her way over to the big Qunari. She didn't think she'd ever been so pleased to see anyone.

"Looking good, little red," he complimented her, finishing off a curl of ham. "Have you tried any of this? Tastes like despair."

"I don't think I need anything to taste like despair at the moment," she admitted with a rueful smile. "Am I allowed to know what's happening, or do I have to stay completely in the dark?"

Bull grinned down at her. He seemed just as relieved as she was not to be talking to Orlesians for the time being. "The boss scaled a wall and no one saw him," he shrugged, quietly impressed with this feat. "Figure he's in the ballroom making nice with the nobles again by now."

"They're quite hard to make nice with," she mused quietly, glancing about the chamber with wary eyes.

"They're talking a lot about you," Bull pointed out. "Stupid things mostly, but I heard one guy say he wants to find out what you're packing under that skirt."

Rory snorted with laughter, making no attempt to hide the ridiculous noise. "He can wish all he likes, it's not happening," she laughed, shaking her head. "To be honest, Bull, I am bored out of my tiny mind here. I thought this was supposed to be the social event of the year?"

"Only so everyone can say they were here," the Qunari pointed out with a shrug. "Look at it this way - everyone's watching you because you're spitting in their faces. Turning up looking all pretty and comfortable, not even trying to pretend to be like them ... they're jealous."

"They're idiots," she replied, earning for herself a wide grin from the Ben-Hassrath agent.

"Definitely," he agreed. "And not very subtle. Half the people here are sleeping with the other half, and everyone seems to know it."

"Well, if they're really so idle that this is a fun evening out for them, then they clearly have nothing better to do with their time," Rory muttered, rolling her eyes behind her mask.

She felt a gentle touch on her back, glancing up to find Granthis at her side.

"My apologies, little girl - all the business is done," he promised her, looking up - and further up - to offer Bull a polite nod. "Would you like to dance now? The Guild Master is in the ballroom."

"Are you going to dance with me, or are you going to ask me to dance with your Guild Master?" she asked with amused suspicion.

Granthis laid a hand over his heart in exaggerated offense. "Would I be so devious as that?"

"Yes," she told him bluntly. "Yes, you would." As his laugh sounded in hollow tones from behind his full mask, she threw Bull a sympathetic smile, letting her escort take her arm to guide her back through the state rooms toward the ballroom. "What, exactly, is your end game here, Granthis?"

The ugly man glanced at her, mismatched eyes sharp behind his mark. "To make sure the Guild does not try to have you forced out of the Inquisition in favor of one of their own," he told her quietly. "They have no influence in your organization at this moment in time, and I suspect that if tonight goes the way your people seem to be expecting it to, that will grate on their nerves somewhat. If, however, you are accepted into the Guild this evening, they won't be able to complain."

She stared at him, genuinely impressed by his devious little plan. "And what do you get out of this?" she asked with vague suspicion.

She couldn't see the grin he flashed at her, but she knew it was there. "The pleasure of knowing they owe me for introducing you to them in the first place, little girl."

Rory laughed, shaking her head as he drew her into the ballroom. Her eyes automatically scanned the upper level of the room, seeking out the familiarly awful Inquisition uniforms. Leliana, more relaxed than she'd ever seen the bard, casually enjoying conversations with just about everyone who passed her by; Josephine, keeping a close eye on her little sister while also watching Kaaras' progress around the ballroom; Kaaras himself, apparently charming the knickers off the Dowager if her obvious giggles were anything to go by. Sera watching the court watching the Inquisitor, amusing herself with what she knew about all of them; Vivienne, in her element, somehow managing to pull off that uniform without seeming out of place in it; and Cullen. Rory felt a flicker of sympathy for her husband. He was surrounded by nobles, his back ramrod straight, jaw ticking in a manner that was very familiar to her. He really didn't want to be here, and to be the recipient of all this attention just made it worse.

She couldn't rescue him, however, at least not yet. Granthis had a plan, and given the grip he had on her hand wrapped about his arm, she wasn't going to be allowed to circumvent it. The uniquely-attired apothecary advanced through the ranks of the nobles, inserting them both into a small gaggle beside one of the balconies. One of that number turned to greet them.

"Ah, Monsieur Granthis, how good of you to join us," he said, his Orlesian heavily accented with ... is that Anderfels? Piercing blue eyes surveyed Granthis and his guest from behind a plain mask. "And your companion?"

Granthis offered a florid bow. "Grand Master Ansel Tralor, I have the great honor to introduce to you Mistress Rory Rutherford, the Inquisition's senior healer," he declared, tugging Rory forward.

For what felt like the thousandth time this evening, Rory curtsied automatically, meeting the appraising gaze that fell on her. "A pleasure to meet you, Grand Master," she smiled cordially.

"Ah, yes, Mistress ... Rutherford, you say?" Ansel tilted his head to one side, considering her. "I was not aware you had married, mistress. My information stated that your name was Dupuis."

Rory had to fight not to react to that name with shock. What the hell is going on here? she demanded in the silence of her mind. First Lady Trevelyan knows my real first name, and now this stranger knows my real surname. Is there an actual Dupuis family here in Thedas now? She managed to conjure a false look of confusion, though she was certain he wasn't fooled. "Before my marriage, my name was Allen," she told the Grand Master.

Ansel Tralor considered her for a moment, a fleeting smile touching his lips as he inclined his head to her. "My apologies, Mistress Rutherford," he conceded. "Clearly my information was wrong."

"A simple mistake to make," she allowed, aware that the slightly panicked patter of her heart was not helping her composure to stay level. "There are a great many people attached to the Inquisition."

"And yet not one of your healers has affiliation with any guild," Ansel mused, looking her over thoughtfully. "Tell me, Mistress Rutherford, if I were suffering with chronic abdominal pain that could, at times, become crippling, what would you recommend?"

Oh, so this is an interview. Got it. "I'd ask you to identify a pattern in when the pain occurs, and when it is at its worst," she answered automatically. Months of living in Thedas had trained her out of immediately trying to guess without more information.

The piercing eyes narrowed a little behind the mask. "The pain fluctuates, but is at its worst shortly after eating," he told her, offering the information she had asked for. "Wine taken on an empty stomach results in pain that cripples me."

Rory considered this for a moment. "Well, without being able to examine you properly, my recommendation would be to take milk of elder with your meals, not to drink wine on an empty stomach, and to examine your diet with the view to cutting out the rich foods that have obviously given you an ulcer."

"You would not suggest seeing a mage, then?"

"Not in the initial consultation, no," she answered, shaking her head. "Perhaps in later assessments, if the patient is non-compliant, or the suggested remedy is not having the hoped-for effect, but even magical intervention would only heal what damage is there, not correct the problem that caused the ulcer in the first place."

She could feel Granthis chuckling beside her as Ansel nodded, his thin lips curving in a satisfied smile. "Well done, mistress," the Grand Master praised her. "There are few healers of my acquaintance who admit that magic is not the end of all our skill."

"Then they can't have that much faith in their own skill, Grand Master," she shrugged lightly. "Why are they practicing healers if they don't believe they can handle anything that comes to them?"

"Do you believe you can handle anything that comes to you?" he asked sharply.

"Yes," she answered - simple but true. "Handle, not heal. Some things are beyond our current knowledge to cure, but there are ways to suppress pain, to make movement easier, to give a person some dignity despite their ailment. To end it, if there is no way to give them a life with any quality to it, with their consent. Healing is about making things better, and sometimes an end is the only improvement we can offer."

"If a patient of yours was seriously injured, yet not so badly that he would not recover, but demanded an end, would you give it to him?" Ansel asked her, his expression behind the mask searching.

"No." That was a ridiculous question in itself, and she hoped he knew it. "I don't kill for the hell of it, or on command. And I'll take whatever abuse he throws at me. He'll thank me eventually, when the pain passes."

Ansel snorted with laughter. "Spoken as one who has already experienced such a thing," he commented, glancing to his fellows. They nodded, whether in agreement or consideration, Rory couldn't tell. But she didn't need to tell. Ansel was already speaking again. "Then, Mistress Rutherford, it is the wish of this Guild to invite you to become a member. A simple visit to our guildhall in Val Royeaux is all it will take; you have the knowledge necessary, the standing, and the sponsorship of a respected Master of the Guild."

Rory eyed him thoughtfully. "And what do I owe you in exchange for this guild membership?" she asked warily.

"Reports on your activities, the sharing of experimental concoctions or treatments with a high success rate, the acknowledgement of your Guild membership in the wearing of our sigil," Ansel informed her, his voice just a little cool. Apparently she was supposed to just accept without asking questions.

"I'll consider it, Grand Master," Rory answered, offering him a friendly smile. "Thank you. Granthis, you said something about dancing?"

"Oh, of course. Do excuse us." With her arm wrapped through his, Granthis drew her away from the gaggle of guild leaders, cackling behind his mask. "You're a joy, little girl. They'll be itching to get you in now you've suggested you might not!"

"I did learn from the best," she murmured, flashing him a grin of her own as he drew her down to the dance floor. "And I swear, if you let me fall over, I will castrate you with the spoon from the punch bowl."

"Understood, little girl." Granthis chuckled as they took their positions, as the music announced the beginning of a new dance. "I knew you were going to be more entertaining tonight than those fussy nobs."

"Well, I will say that it's suddenly a lot more entertaining than it was," she conceded, spinning under his arm to join the promenade of couples. "But given that it was boring enough to threaten death by nonentity just a little while ago, I'm still waiting for the entertainment to begin."

"Take a look up at that railing, and you might be better entertained," her ugly friend told her.

Her head tilted upward, following the line of his nod, only to find Cullen leaning against the stone balustrade, his eyes fixed on her. She couldn't quite read his expression from here, but judging by the slightly dejected postures of the nobles gathered around him, she had a feeling it was a familiar look. One that signaled their total defeat in trying to get his attention, especially now his wife was easily visible. Whether he was using her as an excuse to make them back off or not, she couldn't resist the urge to blow him a kiss as Granthis whirled her past, laughing quietly at the romantic sighs that rose from the nobles paying attention.

All right, maybe the ball wasn't quite so boring anymore. And no one had even died yet.

#set in darkness #multi-chapter fic #MGiT #modern girl in thedas #cullen rutherford/original female character #cullen rutherford/rory allen #rory allen #granthis perivale #iron bull #ansel tralor #cullen rutherford #halamshiral #the winter palace #the whole thing must be so boring for anyone not actively seeking an assassin

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dyncstes-a · 8 years ago

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REPOST ! DON`T REBLOG ! all about the muse , character sheet

name of your muse: hans westergärd / with “hans” (recognised in sweden, norway, germany, denmark, the netherlands and estonia - and originally meant for ‘Johannes’) meaning ‘God’s Gift’ and the surname westergärd - a danish surname meaning ‘west farm’.

one picture you like best of your muse`s fc:

two headcanons you have for your muse that you never told anyone: this was actually hard because i fckin told everyone about hans like jfc i am a menace s2g 001. to be honest, after the whole fiasco happening in frozen, hans would most likely be exiled and removed from the westergärd family tree — which i didn’t mind — but i also think somehow the family would separate hans from sitron (either by putting sitron down or however) — which i minded, very much — and i think if that actually happened, hans ... would actually have a bigger chance of turning into a 100% sociopath and the meaning of “cold hearted” anna threw around would . . . be true. 002. hans can’t cook nor bake — not in the main verse nor modern — although this was mostly because he never got the chance of ever growing up where he had to learn how to cook, considering he’s a prince and his food is mostly served for him. but i do imagine that should hans ever be independent ( either in the main he went rogue or in the modern verse, he just had to go far away ) , he can be a decent cook — and only really knows how to cook w/ expensive ingredients.

three things your muse likes doing in their free time: 001. daydreaming (like legit this is canon in the book) 002. sword-wielding / fencing . 003. sitting by the shore (◡‿◡✿) even though that depresses him

seven people that your muse loves / likes: 001. sitron, and dont even get me started on why . 002. anna, at first — before he grew desperate and left her to die. but the fact still remained : he really was fond of anna whether he liked it or not. 003. grethe , i have a headcanon that hans has a carer / nanny once that he was attached to and who was kind back to him. unfortunately after seven years old, grethe was never around the castle anymore (hans never asked why) and that was that. 004. lmao @longlocked‘s rapunzel in like,, almost every verse we have together 005. remy’s shang @fightgood because lbr hans is hella protective of his bro 006. @sparekilled / cedric. just gonna leave it there for Obvious Reason 007. lowkey shout outs at lizzy’s kristoff ( @trollraised ) cause hans is hella affected and when u think about it he wouldn’t be in so much pain if he hadn’t cared for kristoff a whole awful lot and like legit . . . . . Frozen Gays™

EXTRA NOTE: in all honesty , excluding the interactions built with respective rp partner(s) — hans doesn’t really have anybody he genuinely cares for / ones who cared for him back , and the amount that he has are very short ( with it being sitron / anna / grethe ) . meaning : he’s a lonely sack of shit lmao

things your muse regrets: 001. this is sorta harsh, but hans definitely regrets not killing elsa sooner. but it’s not like, how you think — like, yeah, mostly regretted it because if he hadn’t killed elsa, then he couldn’t be king. but the other reason he regretted not murdering elsa was because, in the book, he’s stated how “if he��d struck sooner, then anna will never know the loving relationship she and elsa actually had - and she’d be in the same boat as he is, experiencing a loveless sibling relationship” and i think it’s really ... sad. because he became so desperate to the point he was like, he even wanted somebody else to experience what he had (when up to that point he swore he wouldn’t be like his brothers / never caused harm to sitron when he could’ve and thus, suggesting that hans never truly wish anybody to feel the pain as he did growing up etc ) and he became very brutal because of it and i think the whole frozen fiasco was something he highkey regretted too but he’s too fucking arrogant , as a result of his father’s teaching i would imagine , that by the end of the day, he convinces himself the only thing he truly regretted was not killing anna and elsa for sure. ( again, he returned to sociopathy tendency to cope with his mental illnesses - and again , hans is just ... a very sad individual ) .

tagged by: lowkey steal this from lizzy lmao tagging: @iskvinne / @longlocked / @quietbeauty / @fierte / @lifewilled — and anybody who wants to do it and if you guys actually did it , tag me cause i want 2 read like s2g

#HC. LIES WITHIN THIS CROWN ARE SECRETS THAT WILL BURN WHEN I DIE.#HIS NAME MEANT GOD'S GIFT SALKDJHSDKFJHSKFH END ME

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caridadtrinidad-blog · 6 years ago

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Ohio Female Took Pregnancy Photos Along With 20,000 Honey Bees On Her Stomach Currently She Shares.

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It still can be a teacher-student poor suit, but your youngster can be either on the sluggish edge of usual or even suffering from a learning impairment. Discover Moms And Dad Funds One of the most ideal ways that modern technology could assist your youngster is actually by assisting recommended you read find out more regarding discovering.|, if you are a guardian moms and dad a parent you need to know or even few things about the Require Protection Understand and the duties concerning CPS lawyers. Sometimes, a WOW's stepson this age shows a contrary actions and also becomes controlling from the WOW. Pertaining character-assassinating tales to the children as well as others concerning the various other moms and dad. We currently understand, for instance, that nonreligious little ones from theological parents cast off their views for causes that possess little bit of to perform along with intellectual reasoning. While you may seem like there are actually never sufficient hrs in the day in order to get traits performed, not investing sufficient high quality opportunity with your kid may have harmful results on his connection along with you, his well being and his college results. Develop paternal, as you could need to alter your little one's surname through the Court of domestic relations. Along with an autistic kid, going from the cars and truck to the residence calls for cautious planning, but half the time, there are still scene, Coppenrath pointed out. The institution psycho therapist may additionally aid offer valuable insights and also help assess your little one's threat from ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER. From the time of infanthood to childhood years, a little one's sense from personal is laid outed through how he was actually addressed and just what he was actually told by his moms and dads and also main caregivers. For instance, little ones that exist to feature what a splendid parent the narcissist is actually will definitely usually seem to be to be handled very well in public or in front of folks, and also there will be tension on these children to execute completely in front of others.

When you were growing up, caretaking others was actually likely a form of survival. Yet to genuinely be actually a nurturing moms and dad, you must possess the courage to behave in such a way that promotes caring and factor to consider in your little ones, and also this will certainly certainly never take place if you regularly placed on your own aside for others. Keep Your Children Out of any one of your Relationships for At Least 3 Months - This is actually thus vital to make sure that any relationship along with a beginner is also rather feasible just before you start the little ones on the ups as well as downs from the going out with curler rollercoaster. Little one love and pedophilia are the same: Lust for our Children. Each parents nourish their youngster in vital techniques which is actually notable to the advancement and the properly being actually of the youngster. Teething additionally raises your child's temperature; nevertheless, it is actually not responsible for fevers over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. As the Trump management-- undaunted by a July 9 rejection of its quote to get rid of the 20-day restriction on family detention for immigrants-- battles to expand and also prolong household detention, human rights advocates are actually concerned that the adventures of moms and dads and also little ones like Laura and also Michael will certainly repeat countless opportunities over. In the mid-day of a particular summer season's day, after Gem expanded huge good enough to run approximately, she amused herself along with gathering handfuls of wild flowers, and affairing them, one at a time, at her mother's breast; dancing backwards and forwards like a little fairy whenever she hit the scarlet character. 2 Sonnets, one on the adventure of intoxicating Affection as well as the other concerning real folks and also exactly what they carry out. When I have to willpower among my little ones, I require time to carry out that. Yes, I refer to the civil rights as well as injustices of his activity.

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cheriedevis3-blog · 7 years ago

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Purposeful Lovely Skin Treatment

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