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hislittleraincloud · 1 year ago

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Sorry, but the above post's conclusion is incorrect. 🫠💀✨

In before the "Happy Birthday Wednesday" posts that will no doubt come on the 13th of this month.

Netflix Wednesday is not a Libra♎. She is a fiery Scorpio♏.

And I'm not just writing that because it benefits me and my intentions with my own story. This is all Netflix Canon (N/C) that people seem to have just...overlooked for some reason.

The events of the show take place within the span of about/just over one month,

from the beginning of October 2022 (when she attacked the water polo team/Dalton) to mid-almost late-November 2022. Five weekends of action go by:

Harvest Festival***,

Poe Cup****,

Rave'N,

Parents' Weekend, (This one is an 'off' date, if only because of the suicide note, but regardless of the 9th, the weekend is still in November.)

Mayor Walker's funeral. We know that Outreach Day was on a Wednesday, since Fabian was murdered that night, and Wednesday went to the morgue the next night and states that it's "Thursday, 7:23 P.M." into her recorder during her preliminary autopsy. Enid faints at the Bundy Board (LOL) the next day which is a Friday, etc., etc. Friday was actually a very busy day for Wednesday, no wonder she needs quads over ice. 💀

Mid-fall semester (we know it's fall/autumn because of the Harvest Festival...I grew up around these things because I'm a Masshole) is about mid-October, since the U.S. school semester starts in either late August or at the latest now is early September and ends a few days before Christmas break in December (that's not counting Thanksgiving break in late November, which is shorter and purportedly the break that's taken early). That's when Wednesday arrived at Nevermore, and the Poe Cup was the weekend after she arrived.

ETA #482637263: Outreach Day happens the week after Wednesday arrives at Nevermore. Donovan tells Noble that he "ran into [Lucas] and his friends at the Weathervane last week" on Outreach Day.

The Rave'N is a Sadie Hawkins Halloween dance, and theirs takes place the last weekend in October 2022.

The next weekend after the Rave'N is Parent's Weekend, which means the first week of November's already passed.

The suicide letter in this scene was likely misdated thanks to a very shitty props department, as it should be closer to the 4th or 5th according to character dialogue (Parent's Weekend happens a week after the Rave'N). But whatever, it is dated November 9, 2022 by the fast & loose props and editing department (and since Burton signed off on it, it's canon). Maybe props was trying to be cute because November 9th was a Wednesday.

Pretty much right after her parents leave, Enid and the Nightshades throw her the surprise birthday party in Crackstone's Crypt (beginning of Quid Pro Woe/6). It would make sense that her birthday was November 13th/Sunday, since everyone was already casual, and the next day would have been a school day, when Wednesday was up drawing the Gates Mansion gates. We also know that they asked Thing to hide her Taxidermy Kit birthday present during their visit, and the ice was still pretty cold/hadn't melted yet, so her birthday was right after they left. (Note that they didn't even acknowledge it before they left...LOL...that dynamic is something I'm exploring in my fic. I also acknowledge that for all we know, it could be ✨magic ice 🧊✨).

Things we cannot put stock into:

The actual real world Full Moon calendar, and applying it to the show's timeline. The show is a mess when it comes to this and the writers took very big creative liberties with the Full Moons. The Beaver Blood Moon, the lunar eclipse moon, happened November 8th. On the show, that "Blood Moon" was fictionalized, and happened well after the 8th. So yeah...the show's full moons do not coincide with our reality. And that's fine, it's just a feature of their world's rules. Kinda like being on Tatooine and having three moons. Perhaps the differing moon thing is intentional, given the focus on moon phases with the Nightshades' emblems:

🌚🌒🌓🌔💀🌖🌗🌘🌚

What Wednesday says about her birthday to Weems *. It was her first few hours stepping foot in Nevermore, and Wednesday was out to create an image for herself...one where she says crap for shock value/mess with people she doesn't know. She was born in mid-November, but it's quite possible her parents lied about it being Friday the 13th since November 13, 2006 was a Monday (and it probably didn't occur to Wednesday to question it). Or, Wednesday knows it's a lie and just pushes it. Regardless, Netflix canon-wise, she was born sometime after November 9th (the date of Reggie's fake suicide note). For me as a writer, it seemed to make sense to keep the day at 13 no matter where it landed, since it's obviously easier to lie to a child about which day of the week they were born ☠️

*Another example of her First Day lies (though she does continue her messed up lies throughout the show) is what she says to Enid during her tour.

Enid: Rumor's been swirling around that you killed a kid at your old school and your parents pulled strings to get you off.

Wednesday: Actually, it was two kids, but who's counting....

She didn't kill anyone. She just maimed/castrated Dalton.

I know y'all want her to be a Libra for some reason but it just doesn't work in this version of canon...or really, any version of canon if we're just talking about astrological signs. Our girl is a Scorpio...anti-social, manipulative, violent, and passionate about the things she's passionate about.

This is nowhere near N/C Wednesday's personality...even the most twisted fan fiction can't get her these unless she had a brain transplant with someone like Enid:

When I first saw the gifs and posts in this fandom back in the spring about her being a Libra I just couldn't. It's still puzzling, it's almost like the basic qualities of the signs are being ignored because everyone is neglecting to see her sarcasm for what it is (meaning that essentially, if this were a real world thing, her ruses are working to confuse).

This here embodies who N/C Wednesday is:

(Though for her, those weaknesses are her strengths.) That's just one site, I'm not an astrologer, etc., but I've known the basics since I was a kid and was interested in this crap (😂 I read a lot of weird shit when I was little).

Anyway. Sorry to tip any Libra ♎ scales. In Netflix Canon it's impossible, since she first arrived at Nevermore in mid-October.

ADD 10/13/23: Since today is the day fanon is going to rear its head, I have another tidbit: It also makes sense that Wednesday was conceived on 'the most romantic day of the year':

Gomez and Morticia probably had a really, really nice Valentine's Day. 🫠✨

***I damn near forgot about the Harvest Festival, but that only strengthens my timeline, since it just adds another weekend and would place the Rave'N on the 29th of October.

**** God, these extra notations are insane so I'm just going to have to make another whole ass post. TECHNICALLY the Poe Cup takes place on a Tuesday, unless we're adding days in between Ophelia Hall's victory and when Wednesday first goes down to the Poe Statue (like I do in my story), because Wednesday does say that Xavier "didn't seem surprised when she showed him the drawing LAST NIGHT", which means via show canon: Poe Cup & Nightshades kidnapping = Tuesday, Outreach Day/Fabian's murder = Wednesday, Wednesday at the morgue = Thursday, Wednesday asks Xavier to the Raven/gets dumped on (and Xavier gets his "last minute invitation" from Bianca) = Friday, Rave'N = Saturday. But it makes zero sense to put the Poe Cup on a random Tuesday, unless the date itself is important for it.

Wednesday's Zodiac Sign is Libra!

Investigating post...

Establishing show timeline:

1. Claim: the Year is 2022

Proof: Weems! The first Poe Cup took place in 1897 and the current one is the 125th...thus, 2022.

Now lets narrow that year down to at least a season. I say Fall!

2. Claim: The Show runs from somewhere September-ish to about late-November/Early December.

Supporting clues:

School is already in session in the first episode. Could be anywhere from first school day to several.

Undetermined time later we learn that Nevermore doesn't usually accept students mid-term implying that it's not definitely not between terms or end of school year.

Wednesday tries to escape during the Harvest Festival which is typically a Fall event.

Weather: everyone is running around in light clothes and leaves are bright green in the first two episodes, going steadily browner and yellower. SNOW in the last episode. Which means that Season 1 definitely ran before the Winter and ended with an early Winter break.

Number of full moons in show: 3

Episode 1: Why aren't you wolfing out? My guess is that this was the September full moon around mid-month because school was already in session.

Then we know that no more than a week passed between Episode 4 and 5 because in E4 Wednesday sneaks into the coroners office just before his last day (and Thing sticks bubblegum on the camera) and in E5 Reggie the coroner dies...and the Sheriff claims he saw him last week.

Episode 6: Wednesday's birthday episode and the Gates Mansion incident.

My guess is these things all happen in October because we haven't had a full moon episode since the first and the few time flags we do have indicate that only a couple of weeks could have passed since Ep1.

Episode 8: Full bloodmoon. Enid Finally wolfs out.

Logically since the Gates Mansion full moon wasn't a blood moon an entire month must have passed between Ep6 and 8 making this somewhere around November which matches the weather signals.

3. Claim: Wednesday could only have been born on 13th October 2006.

Now this is just math. We know from Episode 6 that she's turning 16.

So that means she was born in 2006.

It's standard Addams Family lore that Wednesday was born on Friday the 13th.

And 2006 only had two Friday the 13ths: January and October.

And since we established that the show runs during the Fall semester...

Wednesday could only have been born in October - which is right on brand for her anyway because it's also the month of Halloween! YAS!

#wednesday #wednesday addams #wednesday's birthday #wednesday is a scorpio #netflix wednesday #wednesday netflix #jenna ortega #jenna ortega's wednesday #now i'm just taking a break from my poor little waif #just a short break #going back now #writer problems #netflix wednesday reference #wydaythe13th #wednesday's birthday is in november

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equestrianempire · 9 months ago

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EN's Ultimate Guide to the 2024 Makers ' Run Farm Carolina International

Jennie Brannigan and FE Lifestyle. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The Schedule

There’s a lot of action on click starting Wednesday, when most of the competition will reach to the Park. Ariel Grald may lead a 4-course walk starting at 1 am ET to let you know what Ian Stark has up his shirt for Saturday. A Southeastern Pines Welcome Party will be held at the CDP Foundation tent next to the administration office on Friday night starting at 4:30.

Opposition begins Thursday, with Ring 1 opening the 4* groups beginning at 9: 20 a. m. , and the remainder of the FEI groups slotted into Rings 2 and 3. At 6 p. m. Thursday, there will be a USEA Grooms Group Education Night.

The FEI divisions will begin at 10:00 a. m. with the 3* section at the Twin Gates Farm Derby Field for display jumping on Friday while the National divisions does practice dressage. The 4* section may jump beginning at 12 p. m.

The National Dressage and some National and all-FEI cross state competitions will conclude on Saturday with the Open Intermediate division’s Open Start and 8 a. m. competition. The 4* may commence cross country at 11: 46 a. m.

Novice through Prelim may ⱨave cross-country days σn Sunday, while Intermediate and Advanced sets will pack up the trip with show jumping.

You can view the whole occasion schedule, which is subject to change, around.

Caroline Martin and HSH Blake. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

What It’s Like to Attend This Event

It’s difficult to imagine that Caroliȵa International will help us reach Kentucky or, this time, the Olympics. More down in this article, we’ve covered the implications of this weekend, but suffice it to say that the Horse Park often has a lively atmosphere. There is something here to suit everyone, whether you’re a beginner competition competing in the Novice or a seasoned 5* horse visiting Kentucky. The staff at this function has gone above and beyond to make this occasion truly attracts the local neighborhood, which is something I always enjoy seeing. It’s not something you ȿee everyday. If you have n’t had a chance to see this venue yet, never fear! Ariel Grald and I will be going on a stadium move later this month, so keep an eye out for that on Carolina International social media.

The Officers

This week’s officials and rider representatives are listed in whole here.

For the Yanmar America CCI4*- S division, the Ground Jury will consist of Robert Stevenson ( USA ) as president and Peter Gray ( CAN ). Beth Perkins has designed the rest of the cross country programs, while Ian Stark has once more created the cross country for the 4* and Advanced groups. Additionally, Marc Donovan makes a cross-departmental style disρlay jump.

Did Faudree and Mama’s Magic Way. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The Submissions

There‘s a stacked line– up in the feature CCI4*- S class, which features a number of highlights – you’ll be able to get the entire US Pan Ams team in action, for example, with&nbsp, Sydney Elliott and QC Diamantaire, Liz Halliday and Miks Master C, Sharon White and Claus 63, and individual gold medallists&nbsp, Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake&nbsp, all coming forth to vie for the title here. Elsewhere in the 38- strong field, you’ll find&nbsp, Jennie Brannigan and&nbsp, FE Lifestyle, winners of the Best Foremost- Timer award at the 2023 Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials, &nbsp, Will Faudree with the evergreen&nbsp, Pfun and the exciting&nbsp, Mama’s Magic Way, with whom he finished in the top twenty at Burghley last year– and the top ten here. Ariel Grald’s 2024 season kicks off with his Carolina pipe-opener as a stepping-stone to delivering but another barnstorming clear around one of the world’s five-star courses, though which one will continue to be seen.

Fans of&nbsp, Liz Halliday&nbsp, will be kept nearly as busy as the extremely- competitive woman herself: she has four rides in this class, and beyond the aforementioned&nbsp, Miks Master C, she’ll even ride USEF CCI4*- L National Champion&nbsp, Cooley Nutcracker&nbsp, ( top ten in his last six Li runs ), &nbsp, Cooley Moonshine ( purveyor of a very wise 25. 6 in the CCI4*- L at Rebecca last year ), and&nbsp, Cooley Quicksilver&nbsp, ( he’s again, baby – and needs little introduction after&nbsp, that Luhmühlen top- five finish in 2022! ). Liz is happy that Ocala Horse Properties supports her.

Doug Payne‘s making a pretty good effort at rivalling Liz’s busy schedule: he’s got three entered in the feature class in ten- year- old&nbsp, Camarillo, enormously experienced five– star machine&nbsp, Quantum Leap ( that ‘s&nbsp, five CCI5* top tens under his belt, if you’re counting! ) and the exciting nine- year- old&nbsp, Quiberon, who comes forward for just his third- ever four- star.

It will ƀe a treat to watch some of the biggest fan-favorable horses and riders in the US spend a lot of time globe-trotting, and it will be a treat to watch them do įt again on home soįl. Those include&nbsp, Emily Hamel‘s seriously high- flying&nbsp, Corvett, who’s our EN top tip for a horse you want to catch over a fence for your Insta story ( trust us! ), &nbsp, Allie Knowles and her five- star ride&nbsp, Morswood, Meghan Donoghue&nbsp, and the much- loved ex- racehorse&nbsp, Palm Crescent, &nbsp, and young rider&nbsp, Cassie Sanger and her exceptionally cool&nbsp, Fernhill Zorro, who delivered a performance well beyond their years at last year’s Boekelo CCI4*- L.

There’s two exciting entries up to bat for&nbsp, Phillip Dutton: &nbsp, Quasi Cool, who has seven top- ten FEI finishes with Phillip under his belt, but who had much of 2023 off games, is back in action and ready to deliver a comeback king performance, while the up- and- coming talent&nbsp, Possante will make his hotly- anticipated stateside four- star debut, having finished fifth in his sole previous run at the level in the prestigious eight- and- nine- year- old class at Blenheim with Emily King aboard.

Will Coleman and Diabolo. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

We’ll also see last year’s champion&nbsp, Will Coleman, though not on his 2023 winner Chin Tonic, but rather, his exciting Aussie import&nbsp, Diabolo, who comes to Carolina for his first FEI run of the year, off the back of two consecutive top- three finishes at the level at the end of last season.

The CCI4*- S might be Carolina’s crown jewel, but there’s plenty going on elsewhere in the divisions, too: there’s 36 classy combinations battling out in the CCI3*- S, 28 in the CCI2*- S, and 19 contesting the CCI1*, arguably the division all of us at Team EN are keenest to sneak a catch- ride in, especially after catching up with some of its competitors last year. Plus, with national classes from Novice through Advanced, you’ll never run out of combinations ƫo cheer on. Check out the entire entries right here.

Sarah Kuhn and Mr. Cash Van De Start. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The Implications

Although the Paris Olympics aɾe still a few months away and there are many important events on the calendar in the interim, Carolina’s CCI4*- S represents tⱨe first signifiçant step in the direction of booking a flight to France. A great run here will set horses and riders up for their spring long-format bids, whether that’s on the short list or, perhaps, a fight for the title at Kentucky, and the U. Ș. selectors will undoubtedly be watching these early-season performances closely.

Stories to Follow

OTTB lovers will have plenty of reasons to raise their voices on the sidelines, and one pair will be keen to keep an eye on closely in the CCI4*-S is Rachel Lawson and High Tide. As a busy source and producer, Rachel has α significant role in helping OTTBs find their persona and career after the track, and High Tidȩ is the horse that ignited that Iove affair for her. Find out more about their journey so far, and Rachel’s work with Thoroughbreds, in this profile.

Do pint-sized powerhouses scream in ყour heart? Then you’ll love watching&nbsp, Briggs Surratt and the teeny- weeny ( but do n’t tell her that! ) &nbsp, Corture, who tops out at just 14. 2hh but has yet to find a fence she thinks is too big for her. She was bred by fellow CCI4*- S competitor&nbsp, Elisa Wallace, who’ll be riding her 2022 USEF CCI3*- L National Champion, &nbsp, Renkum Corsair.

Speaking of breeding top sport horses, one rider who knows a thing or two about that is&nbsp, Alexa Thompson. She’s got two homebreds lined up to compete in the CCI3*- S –&nbsp, Parlez Clear&nbsp, and&nbsp, Clear Candidate&nbsp, — and while her CCI4*- S entry is n’t a homebred, there’s plenty of reason to lend her and&nbsp, Just To Be Clear your support. Alexa, who made her debut at the level in Europe last year while ωorking with France’s Maxime Lįvio, will be her first four-star in the US. Her debut at Strzegom in October saw her finish seventh in a hot field, beating some guy called …hang on, let us check our notes…Michael Jung? IDK, maybe you’ve heard of him.

We’ve also been informed that none other than Ian Stark himself will be competing this weekend in the Lumbee River EMC Festival Pro- Am Challenge, a friendly competition between professional and amateur riders. Carσline Pamukcu, α 5-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding who is a new addition to the program and ready to tackle the Open Ƭraining level with Ian riding, has lent him a horse. Do n’t worry, we’ll be doing plenty of documenting for this! Ian enjoys a little kick in the arm, and he’s not the first ƫime he’s done it. He competed with HSH Best Kept Secret at the Maryland 5 Star Championships in 2022.

Have a story tip from Carolina? We’d love to hear αbout it! Tip us by emailing]email&nbsp, protected].

Boyd Martin and Miss Lulu Herself. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

How to Follow and Watch Along

Horse & Country has the live feed for this weekend, featuring Holly Hudspeth, a roster of guest stars, and cross-country action across divisions aȿ wȩll! You will need an H&amp, C+ membership ( You can save 15 % on an annual membership using code EVENTINGNATION15 ) or a one- time event pass to gain access to this event. By clicking here, you can log įn and view your subscription options.

By accessing our 4* and 5* Where to Watch Guide, you can find out what other events are live streaming all over the world.

#Eventing

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a-smol-cosplayer · 2 years ago

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Okay here is my master list of Wyler fic recs cause literally two people asked and I cannot control myself.

Psa I have probably read at least 70% of the fics on this tag in ao3 however these are my bestest/favourite ones. most of them are ongoing bc this fandom is hella new but still :) pls check ratings and tags before u read obvi. Also none of these fics are out to hurt u (as far as I’m aware) some of the longer ones might have angst but I’m here for relationship, plot and fluff rather than angst and pain (we go enough of that in the show). Some of the ongoing ones have updates every two/three days? Some haven’t updated since I have read them but most of them are under a week and a half old so I still have hope. There are ordered in shortest to longest in each category

alright enough chitter chatter, buckle ur seatbelts people here we go!!

Finished

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43546942

Ocean Blue Eyes, Looking In Mine (I Feel Like I Might, Sink And Drown And Die) - cute Wyler one shot where they are dating at nevermore, after season 1, {1,876 words}

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43494253#main

Grocery shopping in c minor - alternate au grocery store, Tyler works there, love the fact that he’s still super sweet but slightly unhinged, characterisation on point, {3,759 words}

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43386558/chapters/109065348

A Half Life - Tylers pov of the first ep or so, kinda angsty bc its Tyler and he’s struggling, but still nice, not sure if its technically Wyler but its got the vibes {4 chaters but only 4,272 words}

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43332840

Yeah, all you did was smile (‘cause I’m a mastermind) - canon divergent but still similar story line, Tylers pov, love how they have chemistry, no hyde Tyler but still really good, {8,536 words}

In progress - y’all don’t understand, I religiously check these for updates every single day

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43333995/chapters/108929727

What if… you helped me change? Basically what could have happened after the kiss in ep 7, minor kidnapping but we forgive him bc he was freaking out, no real ‘hyde Tyler’ more like ‘idk how this happened but I want to make it better Tyler’ {3 chapters, 3,592 words so far}

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43353318/chapters/108979656

I never fell again - only really the set up so far, Wednesday comes back to school and finds that Tyler has come back and is enrolled in nevermore, she hates (misses) him so much, na they love each other {4 chapters 5,505 words so far}

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43278591/chapters/108783186#workskin

On Wednesdays we dance - wednesday buys a laptop and enters a horror writing group, and yet, one prompt is about a date, and Tyler offers so that he can have real life experience, another wednesday style date which is so cute, I really love this fic its super fluffy and nice {2/3 chapters 5,733 words so far}

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43470636/chapters/109282542#workskin

Perfect Match - READ THE TAGS (is rated T but really should be M/E) not much plot just wyler smut, and unholy use of the gates mansion, set after season 1 ends, also slightly off topic, but I like the hc that wednesday eats dried strawberries, idk why but I love it, anyways, read at ur own warning, {3/4 chapters finished 7,387 words so far}

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43286737/chapters/108804511

Frump Family Curse - from ep 8 into post season 1, we get some obsessed wyler at the start, and then, build on each of the characters for upcoming chapters, shaping up to be a really good fic. Also surprise Gomez and Donovan friendship over there cute murder children, 100% support {4 chapters 9,111 words so far}

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43354401/chapters/108982119

Woe to do with two soulmates - Wednesday has 2 soulmate marks (writing of their first words to her, I think we know where this is going👀) and doesn’t know which one she wants yet, deals with Wednesday and feelings and well and our adorable barista, some angst cause ew laurel but still really good, sort of plot twist?/something I didn’t expect but I’m glad it happened in chap 8 {9 chapters and 11,498 words and counting}

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43284108/chapters/108797994

My unconquerable soul - wyler, mostly after season 1 in the break, tags!! And ratings!! Please!! They are psycho but psycho for each other, some light kidnapping, the hyde side of Tyler appears a little, some angst but mostly dark fluff {10 chapters, 12,749 words so far}

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43482336/chapters/109313109

A Girl and her Monster Of Woe - post season 1, wednesday realising that she actually liked and missed him, in her own dark way obvi, setting up for them to meet again, sort of adresses how Tyler can stay and not be charged, yet again pls read rating and tags {7 chapters, 13,266 words so far}

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43424209/chapters/109164106

Woeful - wednesday comes in wondering about Hydes and the cute barista seems to know an awful lot about them👀 basically, Tyler knows he’s a hyde, but!! He isn’t the one murdering people, developing some alternate plot line which seems really good so far, plus wednesday and Tyler being cute in the weathervane {7 chapters, 13,906 words so far}

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43328175/chapters/108913881

She’s mine - I know I keep telling y’all to check ratings but I don’t want any ‘I didn’t realise’ complains, basically Tyler realised that he fucked up and wednesday is actually his mate (I dislike that word but oh well) and basically fixes his mistakes in ep 8 ect ect, goes slightly further, loving the surprise Tyler/ajax friendship that comes with dating enid/wednesday, also good Adams adopting Tyler vibes {10 chapters 20,203 words and counting}

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43466823/chapters/109273329

Just the Two (Three) of Us - wednesday if she’s known about the hyde from the beginning, I really love this fic, lots of wyler connection and chemistry and stuff, trust me, its good, the characterisation and writing is excellent {7 chapters 22,728 words so far}

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43329579/chapters/108917643

You can occupy my every sigh - wyler!! Literally my fav fic rn, Tyler already goes to nevermore, has its own plot line sorta, pls check the tags and rating before reading, Wednesdays characterisation is so good, got some Tyler/enid friend vibes as well, soulmates? Bonded? Something? idk its really good and super long - {11 chapters, 123,607 words and counting}

okay thats it!! let me know what u think in the comments, also if u have good fics that I haven't put on here I'm always open to more recs :)

#wyler #wednesday x tyler #tyler x wednesday #tyler galpin #wednesday addams #wednesday netflix #wednesday #weyler #??#I know thats not their actual name but ill put this on that tag too #fic recs #ao3 #fan fiction

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pocket-ozwynn · 2 years ago

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Genesis Day: Interlude

[Kaiju!AU]

Previous Chapter: Chapter 7

Next Chapter: Chapter 8

Word Count: 211

CW: Light adult language, references to death

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

//BEGIN REPORT//

>>0315: ATTENTION: Spike of [Ξ] energy detected // Fort Jeffrey, Cascadia

[[ATROPOS PROTOCOL is ACTIVE // TANAKA is HOLDING // TYR-COM is HOLDING // DAEDALUS GATE is SPOOLING]]

>>0315: Communication to Fort Jeffrey lost // ATROPOS confirms [Ξ] activity

>>0317-0320: Two NEPHILIM-class [Ξ] identified // Designated: NUVA-001 and NUVA-002

[[If TANAKA meets ISHIRŌ SUNSET condition > TYR-COM will EXECUTE]]

>>0321: NUVA-001 retreats west

[[ISHIRŌ SUNSET condition UNMET // TYR-COM is HOLDING]]

>>0322: NUVA-002 engages. Five casualties confirmed // UPDATE: Twelve casualties confirmed

++Audio Transcript: Gen/DNVN, ADMIN; Dir/BRUS, ADMIN++

[[Gen/DNVN: What the hell are we waiting for?]]

[[Dir/BRUS: We have protocols in place for this, general.]]

[[Gen/DNVN: Screw protocol–captain, get your team ready to go-]]

[[Dir/BRUS: Donovan, wai-]]

[[Gen/DNVN: -NOW.]]

>>0324: UPDATE: Twenty three casualties confirmed // UPDATE: Thir-

[[ISHIRŌ SUNSET condition MET > TANAKA is in EFFECT // (2)ADMIN authorization: REQUESTED > TYR-COM is on STANDBY]]

[[Gen//DNVN authorization: GRANTED // Dir/ORDO authorization: GRANTED]]

>>0325: NUVA-002 retreats northwest

[[DAEDELUS GATE is OPEN]]

[[TYR-COM is ACTIVE: ALPHA is SYNCED > AWAITING INPUT // BETA is SYNCED > AWAITING INPUT // GAMMA is UNSYNCED – ERR: pleas-

>>0326: ATTENTION: Secondary spike of [Ξ] energy detec-

ERR:: data corrupted // FORCED APPLICATION TERMINATION

//END REPORT//

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ATTENTION:

I S N ‘ T

T H I S

M A J E S T I C ?

#g/t #giant/tiny #gianttiny #kaiju #kaiju!AU #Genesis Day #g/t writing #giant/tiny writing #this is #DIFFERENT from my usual stuff #but<333 #I really like this kinda stuff and it's a nice break from a super duper long fight chapter and then the NEXT chapter #also wanted to foreshadow stuff>:)#ogtoc Donovan

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mamavanheat · 3 years ago

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Record Collection MasterPost

Below the read more is a list of my current record collection. I’ll update the posts as it grows. Most of my collection was found thrifting so the condition of some covers and records are not in great condition, however I still love them all. 💕 tumblr has been stupid and keeps deleting some of the albums under A but I’m trying to fix it lmao

Steve Allen “Steve Allen Plays Bossanova Jazz”

Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass “Whipped Cream & Other Delights”

Paul Anka “Feelings”

Paul Anka “Gold”

Paul Anka “Young, Alive, and in Love”

Arctic Monkeys “AM”

Chet Atkins “Nashville Gold”

Bad Company “Desolation Angels”

Joan Baez “Blessed Are…”

Joan Baez “From Every Stage”

Joan Baez “Joan Baez in Concert”

Joan Baez “Joan Baez in Concert Part 2”

The Beatles “1”

The Beatles “ ‘65”

The Beatles “1967-1970”

The Beatles “Abbey Road”

blink-182 “Greatest Hits”

Pat Boone “Love Me Tender”

Pat Boone “Star Dust”

The Byrds “Mr Tambourine Man”

The Byrds “Turn! Turn! Turn!”

Carmen Cavallaro “Dancing in the Dark”

The Carpenters “A Song for You”

The Carpenters “Made in America”

Cher “Dark Lady”

Cher “Take Me Home”

Chicago “V”

Claudine “The Look of Love”

Joe Cocker “I Can Stand A Little Rain”

Nat King Cole “Love is a Many Splendored Thing”

Nat King Cole “The Very Thought Of You”

Sam Cooke “Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964”

Cream “Disraeli Gears”

Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young “4 Way Street”

John Denver “Back Home Again”

John Denver “Greatest Hits”

John Denver “I Want to Live”

John Denver “It’s About Time”

John Denver “Rhymes & Reasons”

John Denver “Rocky Mountain High”

Neil Diamond “Stones”

Donovan “Barabajagal”

Donovan “Donovan”

Donovan “Greatest Hits”

The Doobie Brothers “Best of the Doobies”

Jimmy Dorsey “The Fabulous Jimmy Dorsey Plays His Biggest Hits”

Tommy Dorsey “The Best of Tommy Dorsey”

Earth, Wind, & Fire “Electric Universe”

The Graeme Edge Band “Paradise Ballroom”

Elvis “Elvis’ Golden Records”

Elvis “Mahalo from Elvis”

Fire & Rain “Mercury”

Ella Fitzgerald “Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Song Book Vol. 1”

Fleetwood Mac “Rumours”

Don Fogelberg “Souvenirs”

Foreigner “4”

Aretha Franklin “Aretha’s Gold”

Bobbie Gentry and Glenn Campbell “Bobbie Gentry and Glenn Campbell”

Leslie Gore “I’ll Cry If I Want To”

The Grass Roots “Leaving It All Behind”

Green Day “Greatest Hits: God’s Favorite Band”

Greta Van Fleet “Anthem of the Peaceful Army”

Greta Van Fleet “The Battle at Garden’s Gate”

Greta Van Fleet “Black Smoke Rising”

Greta Van Fleet “From the Fires”

Sam Harris “Sam Harris”

Sam Harris “Sam I Am”

George Harrison “Living in the Material World”

Justin Hayward & John Lodge “Blue Jays”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience “Electric Ladyland”

Buddy Holly and The Crickets “20 Golden Greats”

Engelbert Humperdinck “After the Lovin”

Etta James “At Last”

Jefferson Airplane “After Bathing at Baxters”

Jefferson Airplane “Crown of Creation”

Jefferson Airplaine “The Worst of Jefferson Airplane”

Jefferson Starship “Spitfire”

Carole King “Tapestry”

The Kinks “Sleepwalker”

Bonnie Koloc “Hold On To Me”

Don Lanphere Quintet “Into Somewhere”

Julian Lennon “Valotte”

Ramsey Lewis Trio “Hang On Ramsey!”

Gordon Lightfoot “Cold on the Shoulder”

Gordon Lightfoot “Summer Side of Life”

Gordon Lightfoot “The Best of Gordon Lightfoot”

Little Feat “The Last Record Album”

Little Fear “Time Loves A Hero”

Lene Lovich “Stateless”

Steve Lyon “There’s No Place Like Mars”

The Mamas & The Papas “The Mamas & The Papas Deliver”

The Mamas & The Papas “Presenting The Mamas & The Papas”

Barry Manilow “Here Comes The Night”

Melanie “Gather Me”

The Monkees “Headquarters”

The Monkees “The Monkees Deluxe Edition”

The Monkees “More of the Monkees”

The Moody Blues “This is the Moody Blues”

Maria Muldaur “Maria Muldaur”

Mystic Moods Orchestra “English Muffin”

Mystic Moods Orchestra “One Stormy Night”

Graham Nash “Wild Tales”

Juice Newton “Juice”

Peaches & Herb “2 HOT!”

Peaches & Herb “Greatest Hits”

Bonnie Raitt “Green Light”

Smokey Robinson “A Quiet Storm”

The Rolling Stones “Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass”

Linda Ronstadt “Heart Like A Wheel”

Linda Ronstadt “Simple Dreams”

Tim Rose “Through Rose Colored Glasses”

Bud Shank & the folkswingers “Folk ‘N Flute”

Silk “Smooth As Raw Silk”

Simon and Garfunkel “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, & Thyme”

Simon and Garfunkel “Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits”

Sonny & Cher “All I Ever Need Is You”

Sonny & Cher “In Case You’re In Love”

Rod Stewart “Never A Dull Moment”

Harry Styles “Harry’s House”

The Temptations “Greatest Hits”

The Temptations “House Party”

Tiffany “Hold An Old Friend’s Hand”

Jethro Tull “Songs from the Wood”

Conway Twitty “Conway Twitty’s Greatest Hits”

Bonnie Tyler “It’s A Heartache”

Various Artists “Country Love Vol. 1”

Various Artists “Let Yourself Go! Limited Edition Collector’s Album”

Various Artists “Time To Get It Together”

Various Artists “Vintage Music: Collectors Series Volume One”

The Vogues “Memories”

The White Stripes “The White Stripes Greatest Hits”

The Who “It’s Hard”

The Who “Magic Bus (The Who on Tour)”

John Paul Young “Love Is In The Air”

Film Soundtracks

Guardians of the Galaxy “Deluxe Vinyl Edition”

The Hollywood Knights

Oklahoma!

Saturday Night Fever

The Sound of Music

Stardust (1974)

#kat’s collections

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inevitably-johnlocked · 4 years ago

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do you have any fics of john flirting with sherlock over text? maybe sherlock being utterly clueless? thank you & and much luv ❤️

Hi Nonny!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhh AGES ago, I did an Epistolary / Texting / Letters fic rec list, back before I had A System™, so it’s a bit messy but it is there :) I don’t have a lot of new ones to add to it, BUT I decided I would pull all the Texting fics from that list since I now have neater organization with tags and Chapters, and then just add my NEW fics onto that one, how about that? Would that be okay? It wouldn’t be specifically just flirting, but I think that the list is long overdue anyway!! Hope you like something on this one, and I’ll TRY to tag the flirting fics WITH flirting so that you can pick them out :)

And as always, add your own fics, Lovelies!! <3

TEXTING AND SEXTING (JULY 2020)

See also:

Epistolary / Texting / Letters (My List, 2017)

First Meeting Via Internet / Phone / Letters (Mine)

Phone Sex & Texting (Alexx’s List)

Wrong Number Texting (Alexx’s List)

They Met Online or Texting (Alexx’s List)

Message Not Sent by Queerasil (K, 762 w., 1 Ch. || Angst, One-Sided Texting, Pining Sherlock) - Sherlock texts John after the fall and during the hiatus. The messages are sent, but never received. Sequel to WORDLOCKED, TSTM, and Wait, How Do You Play This Game Again?

Texts and Tea by JillianWatson1058 (K, 959 w., 1 Ch. || Friendship, Texting, Humour, Fluff, POV John, Cranky John) – A John who is woken up at 2:30 in the morning is not a happy John. Sherlock, frankly, doesn’t care. He just wants his tea.

Untouchable by greengrapegaze (T, 1,368 w., 1 Ch. || Pre-S3, UST/URT, Oblivious John, Lonely Sherlock, Angst with Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt / Comfort, Emotional Sherlock, POV Sherlock, Pining Sherlock) – “He never would. Petty, childish, immature-bitter. Jealous. She had all that he wanted. All he could never have.” Part 1 of Steps to a Bittersweet Symphony

Yorkshire Gold by Tammany Tiger (K, 1,467 w., 1 Ch. || Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Mild Angst, Holmes Brothers, Open Ending, Grief, Implied Bondlock) – Mycroft may not mourn Sherlock's death-but even if he knows his brother lives, he's not without his own grief. It ain't easy being The British Government. But at least he's got good help. Set between the Fall and the Return.

Text Me When It's Over by immaculately-flawed (K+, 1,937 w., 1 Ch. || Friendship, Humour, Post-TRF, Texting, Sort-Of Pining Sherlock) – After the fall Sherlock starts writing texts to John. Of course, he never sends them... Until he does by accident. Post Reichenbach fic but not angsty.

Denial Isn’t Just a River in Egypt by satanatemycat (T, 2,107 w., 1 Ch. || Humour, Friendship, Texting, Bored/Cranky Sherlock) – In which John makes a bet with a co-worker. If he wins, she shuts up about him and Sherlock being a couple. If he loses… well, that doesn’t matter, because he won’t lose. Because he and Sherlock ARE NOT a couple. Right?

The Art Of Communication by StillWaters1 (T, 2,679 w., 1 Ch. || Friendship, H/C) – Lestrade was used to getting odd, non sequitur texts from Sherlock. But when "John went out for milk" was followed by a terse "two hours ago," Lestrade immediately understood three things: John was missing, Sherlock was quietly panicking, and this could all end very, very badly.

Unquantifiable by 221b_hound (M, 2,799 w. 1 Ch. || Est. Rel., Grumpy John, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Pet Names, Texting, Sweet Sherlock, Princess Bride References) – John remains a terrible and foul-tempered patient, but he does try to make up for it with pet names and text message silliness. In the meantime, Sally Donovan visits Baker Street for a hint about the Milverton case, and has to deal with a Sherlock Holmes who can't find words big enough to thank her for saving John's life at the warehouse. For afters, there's a viewing of The Princess Bride. Part 33 of the Unkissed series

The Sweetest Taste In The World by crossroads (G, 3,121 w., 1 Ch. || First Kiss, Jealous Sherlock, Fluff, Pining, Friends to Lovers) – The sweetest taste in the world is rarely ever the easiest to come by.

Entanglement by orphan_account (G, 3,218 w., 1 Ch. || Confessions, Physics, Metaphors, Texting, Pining, Christmas, Mind Palace, Sick Fic, Fluff, Humour, Praise Kink) - On Christmas Eve, snow covers London, John visits Harry, and Sherlock and Mrs. Hudson untangle some knots.

Come home. by hudders-and-hiddles (huddersandhiddles) (E, 3,763 w., 1 Ch. || Texting / Sexting, Lonely Sherlock, Nude Photos, Pining, Fluff & Smut) – When John leaves for a medical conference, Sherlock tries to entice him back home.

Happy anniversary by Salambo06 (E, 3,772 w., 1 Ch. || Est. Rel., Vulnerable Sherlock, Wedding Anniversary, Anal, Texting, Lingerie) – John inhaled deeply, feeling his cock pulse under the silk gown, and he let his eyes travel on the lean body in front of him. Sherlock was kneeling on the bed, their bed, and the picture had been taken so John could perfectly see his bare chest and pelvis. But what mattered most, what made John harden rather quickly, was the pair of panties Sherlock was wearing in the picture. Black, string over each hip and laces that outlined Sherlock’s erect cock barely hidden under the soft underwear.

Lingerie by Sexxica (E, 4,135 w., 1 Ch. || Valentine’s Day, Lingerie / Women’s Underwear, Mildly Public Masturbation, Picture Texting / Sexting, Bottomlock, Body Worship, Anal Sex / Fingering, Rimming, Orgasm Delay / Denial, Est. Rel.) – It's Valentines Day and Sherlock is taking John to Angelo's for dinner. Sherlock also happens to be wearing a garter belt, stockings and a rather small pair of women's underwear under his clothes. There's no dessert at Angelo's because John needs to get Sherlock home just as quickly as he can before they both lose their minds entirely.

If He Knows by shamelessmash (M, 4,513 w., 1 Ch. || TSo3 Fic, Pining Sherlock, Bed Sharing, Angst, First Person Sherlock POV, Texting, Internal Monologue, Blanket Forts) – I imagine mornings: John handing me a cup of tea, hair sticking out at odd angles. How he would bend down to kiss me, smiling fondly as he pulls away. The way his skin crinkles at the corner of his eyes, the way his skin looks in the morning light. The soft sigh as he sits in his chair with the morning paper, the way his toes curl in the carpet, the way he rolls his shoulders before sinking deeper into his seat. I watch him, how he is when he is content, as it should be. As he deserves. Happy. With me.

Tease You Till You Come by phoenix089 (E, 6,090 w., 1 Ch. || First Time, Clueless Sherlock, Sexting/Texting) – Initially, Sherlock was rather put out by John's lack of presence on the case. But then he starts to receive pictures, several of them, of an unexpected nature. The case is forgotten rather quickly after that.

What Did I Do Wrong? by Starlight05 (T, 7,880 w., 5 Ch. || Hurt Comfort, Angst, John Whump, Hospitalization, Worried Sherlock, Emotional Turmoil, Nightmares, Sherlock Being Dumb) - After John almost dies on a case, Sherlock disappears. So John is left to figure out what he can do to get his best friend back. Meanwhile Sherlock, guilt-ridden and willingly alone, is doing everything he can to stay away.

Bread and Wine and Curry Once a Week by cwb (E, 8,737 w., 1 Ch. || Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Stroppy Sherlock, Love Letters, POV John) – Sherlock asks John for relationship advice. Little does he know that it’s him that Sherlock is in love with.

A Building of Bridges by Unique (K, 12,325 w., 3 Ch. || Drama, Alternate First Meeting, John’s PTSD / Flashbacks, Mute John, Dialogue-Heavy, Caring Sherlock, Friendship) – No one would ever send Sherlock in to diffuse a stand-off; but on one unlikely day, that's exactly what happened. "Congratulations, Lestrade," he called out sarcastically. "You're traumatizing a war veteran."

A Brand of Gold by aquabelacqua (M, 12,757 w., 1 Ch. || Mutual Pining, POV John, Phone Sex, Texting, Masturbation, Long Distance, Drunk Texting) – What am I doing? he wondered. The answer came back at once: Flirting. He let the vital, missing piece snap into place as surely and as cleanly as if it had always been there. He was flirting with Sherlock Holmes.

Traitor's Gate by roane (E, 17,714 w., 6 Ch. || Post-TRF, Case Fic, Mystery, Bets and Wagers, Undercover for a Case, BAMF John, Scientist Sherlock, Teasing, Established Relationship, Military Base, Sexting/Texting, Military/Uniform Kink, Frottage, Dirty Sex, Anal, Bottomlock) – John and Sherlock go undercover at a top secret government lab to find out who is selling research. John is back in uniform and Sherlock is back in a laboratory, but they have to pose as strangers. Sherlock thinks he'll have an easy time of it, but John has his doubts. It's up to them to find out who is responsible for putting a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands, and try to keep their hands off each other at the same time.

The Real Meaning of Idioms by feverishsea (T, 21,691 w., 13 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Texting, Humour, Post-TRF, Awkward Romance, Idiots in Love) - After two weeks away, John finally texts Sherlock. He doesn’t expect Sherlock to respond. He doesn’t expect Sherlock to keep texting him. And he really doesn’t expect things to spiral out of control so rapidly.

A Study In Auto-Signatures, Sniper Dolphins, and Sex Holidays by cwb (E, 32,689 w., 8 Ch. || Case Fic, Post S3, Evil Mary, Dev. Rel., Beach Holidays, Confused Sherlock, Friends to Lovers, Honeymoon, Epistolary, Bottomlock, First Kiss / Time, Fluff, Secret Agents, BAMF!John) – John and Mary go on their sex holiday, and Sherlock is grumpy and pining about it. Part 1 of HOT DOLPHIN SEX

A Week is Just Seven Days Isn't It? by scifigrl47 (T, 39,906 w., 4 Ch. || Humour, Friendship/Bromance, Stroppy/Bored Sherlock, Undercover/Army John, Texting, Pining-ish Sherlock, John Whump) – When John heads overseas for a week, Sherlock's forced to fend for himself. It goes about as well as anyone could have anticipated. Which is to say, very, very poorly. Don't worry, things'll be fine in just seven days.

Definitions by siennna (T, 101,528 w., 12 of ? Ch. || Dev. Rel., Pining, Fluff and Romance, First Kiss, Love Confessions, Fluff, Cuddles) – Sherlock’s journey in defining his flat mate and stumbling through the muddled world of emotion. {{This feels complete; the chapter count is listed as ? but I feel like it is done}}

#steph replies #johnlock fic recs #texting and sexting #my fic recs #Anonymous

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grandtourxp-blog · 6 years ago

Photo

GRAND TOUR_03/

\U.S.A._SAN FRANCISCO/CALIFORNIA_2012

/Shyla Nicodemi

http://shylanicodemi.com/

-SAN FRANCISCO -

Dal 2006 San Francisco è stato per me il vero sogno americano: è stato amore a prima vista. Il mare, l'oceano, la East Bay, il Golden Gate Park, Mission District, Chinatown, il Tenderloin, i senzatetto lunatici, l'Embarcadero, una grande scena punk-rock e le sue radici, musica estrema che risuona in ogni luogo, piste ciclabili ovunque, arte moderna e un paio di buoni amici. Dovevo provarci. San Francisco è stata la mia prima e l'ultima chance allo stesso tempo. La città è uno dei tre assi della magia nera, con Londra e Torino: beh, se decidi di mettere la tua vita nelle mani di San Francisco sentirai l'odore del mistero, dell'inferno

e della magia dappertutto. San Francisco capterà le tue speranze e paure più profonde e si nutrirà della tua anima; se la ami, ti farà capire che ti ricambia. Ecco perché ho lasciato il mio cuore a San Francisco, come George Cory e Douglass Cross nel 1954.

_______________________________

Milanese classe 1984, Shyla Nicodemi ha imparato a guardare il mondo attraverso le reflex analogiche grazie a nonno Cesare, operatore cinematografico nato a Praga. Dal 2006 Shyla ha scattato a concerti ed eventi. Artisti del panorama noise/hardcore/punk/metal (Nerorgasmo, Paul Chain, Bob Corn, Cripple Bastards, Korn per citarne alcuni) hanno iniziato ad utilizzare i suoi scatti fatti tra cimiteri, campi e case abbandonate, per vinili, cover, poster e merch. Prima di partire per la California nel 2012, ha realizzato “Last Month”, un progetto su Milano che l’ha portata alla produzione del vol. II della collana Nubi, libro fotografico su San Francisco. Prima di iniziare un’indagine approfondita sul mondo del pugilato, ha scattato vari portfolio MUA (Valentina Narni Mancinelli, Debby Jones etc) e quello della Firehouse Kustom Rockart (Chuck Sperry, Ron Donovan) tra Oakland e San Francisco. Nel 2017 presenta da Marsèll Paradise Milano “Fight”, reportage sul mondo delle palestre di boxe su territorio milanese dove racconta da insider un mondo di disciplina, sforzo, pratica e nobiltà, avendo accesso a luoghi e riti solitamente non avvicinabili dai foto giornalisti. Nello stesso anno porta a Ragusa allo Spazio d’Arte San Vito altri scatti sul pugilato; in “Counterpunch” il focus si sposta fuori dal milanese e su dettagli relativi agli atleti. Nell’ultimo anno ha scattato per brand e realtà legate alla cultura street (Residency c/o Buka, Skate Muzik x NTS, Grog, Tattooism, Usual etc). La formazione culturale della fotografa l’ha spinta a mettere a nudo le criticità dei contesti in cui vive imprimendoli su pellicola. Gli aspetti più estremi, decadenti, e sfrontati di queste criticità vengono da lei presentati come famigliari e intimi: nel progetto “Vita Decente” esposto a Milano nel mese di maggio 2019, presenta una selezione cruda ed essenziale di scatti fatti tra il 2016 e il 2018. Un malinconico senso di abbandono permea tutta la produzione di Shyla; abbandono del senso del pudore, dei clichè, del “sogno americano”; sono scatti che hanno l’urgenza di mostrarci un disincantato abbandonarsi a se’ stessi e alla realtà che ci circonda.

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greenbagjosh · 4 years ago

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Feb 2006 Days 1 and 2 THY to Istanbul TR

EN Hi everyone, today we are going to Southeast Europe! We will fly first from DFW to JFK by American Airlines, then fly to Istanbul Atatürk Airport, and take an airport transfer to the hotel in the Sultanahment district. We will take the tram to Eminönü and Karaköy, funicular to Tünel Beyoglu and a nostalgic tram to Taksim square. Then we take the metro one stop to Osmanbey to see a Mehter military band performance, return to Sultanahmet for a genuine Döner Kebab dinner and then plan for the next day(s).

TR Herkese merhaba, bugün Güneydoğu Avrupa'ya gidiyoruz! Önce American Airlines ile DFW'den JFK'ye, ardından İstanbul Atatürk Havalimanı'na uçup Sultanahment semtindeki otele havalimanı transferi yapacağız. Tramvayı Eminönü ve Karaköy'e, füniküler Tünel Beyoğlu'na ve nostaljik tramvayı Taksim meydanına götüreceğiz. Daha sonra bir Mehter askeri bandosunun performansını görmek için metroyla Osmanbey'e bir durak gidiyoruz, hakiki bir Döner Kebap yemeği için Sultanahmet'e dönüyor ve ertesi gün (ler) i planlıyoruz.

BG Здравейте всички, днес отиваме в Югоизточна Европа! Първо ще летим от DFW до JFK от American Airlines, след това ще летим до летище Атат��рк в Истанбул и ще вземем летищен трансфер до хотела в квартал Султанахмент. Ще вземем трамвая до Eminönü и Karaköy, фуникулер до Tünel Beyoglu и носталгичен трамвай до площад Taksim. След това се отправяме на метрото до Османбей, за да видим представление на военната група на Mehter, връщаме се в Султанахмет за истинска вечеря на Döner Kebab и след това планираме следващия ден (дни).

RO Bună tuturor, astăzi mergem în sud-estul Europei! Vom zbura mai întâi de la DFW la JFK cu American Airlines, apoi vom zbura la Aeroportul Istanbul Atatürk și vom lua un transfer de la aeroport la hotelul din districtul Sultanahment. Vom lua tramvaiul către Eminönü și Karaköy, funicular către Tünel Beyoglu și un tramvai nostalgic către piața Taksim. Apoi, luăm o stație de metrou până la Osmanbey pentru a vedea o reprezentație a trupei militare Mehter, ne întoarcem la Sultanahmet pentru o cină autentică Döner Kebab și apoi planificăm ziua (zilele) următoare.

SR Поздрав свима, данас идемо у југоисточну Европу! Прво ћемо летјети из DFW-а до ЈFК-а Америцан Аирлинес-ом, затим летјети до истанбулског аеродрома Ататурк и превести се аеродромом до хотела у округу Султанахмент. Возимо се трамвајем до Еминону-а и Каракои-а, успињачом до Тунел-а Беиоглу-а и носталгичним трамвајем до трга Таксим. Затим се метроом заустављамо до Османбеиа да бисмо видели наступ војног оркестра Мехтер, враћамо се у Султанахмет на истинску вечеру од Донер Кебаба и планирамо за следећи дан (е).

HU Sziasztok mindenkinek, ma Délkelet-Európába megyünk! Először DFW-ből repülünk az American Airlines JFK-be, majd az isztambuli Atatürk repülőtérre repülünk, és reptéri transzfert viszünk a Sultanahment kerületben lévő szállodába. Villamossal megyünk Eminönü és Karaköy felé, siklóval a Tünel Beyoglu-ra, nosztalgikus villamossal a Taksim térre. Ezután metróval indulunk Osmanbey-be, hogy megnézzük egy Mehter katonai együttes fellépését, visszatérünk Sultanahmetbe egy igazi Döner Kebab vacsorára, majd megtervezzük a következő nap (oka) t.

CZ Ahoj všichni, dnes jedeme do jihovýchodní Evropy! Nejprve letíme z DFW do JFK společností American Airlines, poté letíme na istanbulské letiště Atatürk a letištním transferem do hotelu ve čtvrti Sultanahment. Půjdeme tramvají do Eminönü a Karaköy, lanovkou do Tünel Beyoglu a nostalgickou tramvají na náměstí Taksim. Pak jedeme metrem o jednu zastávku do Osmanbey, abychom viděli představení vojenské kapely Mehter, vrátili se do Sultanahmetu na skutečnou večeři Döner Kebab a poté plánovali další den (dny).

DE Hallo allerseits, heute fahren wir nach Südosteuropa! Wir fliegen zuerst mit American Airlines von DFW nach JFK, dann zum Flughafen Istanbul Atatürk und nehmen einen Flughafentransfer zum Hotel im Stadtteil Sultanahment. Wir fahren mit der Straßenbahn nach Eminönü und Karaköy, mit der Standseilbahn nach Tünel Beyoglu und mit einer nostalgischen Straßenbahn zum Taksim-Platz. Dann fahren wir mit der U-Bahn eine Station nach Osmanbey, um eine Mehter-Militärkapelle zu sehen, kehren nach Sultanahmet zurück, um ein echtes Döner Kebab-Abendessen zu genießen, und planen dann die nächsten Tage.

Thursday the 9th February 2006 would be the start of a unique journey, one that would take a part of the route of the Orient Express train, and that would also go off the beaten path part of the way. Where does the Orient Express go? Originally it went between Istanbul, Bucharest, Budapest, Vienna, Zurich and Paris. Later it would change its course from Bucharest to Sofia and Belgrade. My route was Istanbul, Bucharest, Sofia, Belgrade, Budapest, Bratislava, Prague, Berlin (via Dresden and the former Schönefeld Airport), Cologne and Frankfurt am Main.

I had to get a shared ride to DFW airport because in 2006, there was no useable airport connection from Frisco, TX, where I was living at the time, other than DART's 500 bus line and Trinity Rail Express. From there, I depart from either A or C, cannot remember just now, and arrived at JFK Airport in Terminal 8. My flight to Istanbul would depart from Terminal 1. The only way I could get there was by Airtrain JFK. The outer train was in operation that day, so I took that to Federal Circle and back by a train going in the opposite direction.

Terminal 1 had the Turkish Airways / Türk Hava Yollari checkin for Istanbul. The flight would leave about 5:30 PM and arrive the next day in Istanbul about 9:30 AM, seven hours past Eastern time. I was in the middle of coach class in a Boeing 777, with a window seat. The flight took off on time. About an hour or so after takeoff, the inflight crew served drinks and snacks. One snack I remember was a bag of unsalted roasted hazelnuts. I asked for raki, an anise-flavored liqueur, and I was given one glass of the raki and another of ice water. The raki went from clear to milky after putting a bit of water in it.

An hour later, when the onboard entertainment was turned on, dinner was served. I chose the cheese tortellini and Turkish red wine. It came with an appetizer of salmon and lemon. On the food container, there was a 3 inch by 2 inch disclaimer that the food did not contain any pork or alcohol in English, Turkish, Arabic, German and French, and a pictogram of a pig crossed out to eliminate any doubts.

I think I may have slept a while on the plane, but I cannot remember what movies I watched. I remember on one of the audio channels "First there is no mountain" by Donovan. About 7:30 AM the sky started lightening, and breakfast was served. I had the eggs and chicken sausage. Along with the meal was another 3 inch by 2 inch disclaimer, again with a pig crossed out. I would not have pork again until late evening on the 13th February when I would have arrived in Bucharest.

The plane landed about 9 AM at the Atatürk airport. Since 2019 it is no longer the official airport, as the new airport is located closer to the Black Sea and also Anadolu Kavagi. Atatürk Airport is located near the Ataköy district. I had my passport and entry visa stamped and then I went to collect my suitcase with nothing to declare. At the exit, was a man with a sign with my name on it, and he led me to his minivan to take me to my hotel in the Sultanahmet district. It was an 8 mile / 12 km journey. The passenger seat belt did not work, but the driver said to not worry about it (reminding me very much of the Kelal Yildirim Driving School sketches as played by Kaya Yanar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhxGyz8YldY).

About 11 AM I arrived at the hotel on 82 Akbiyik Cadessi. It was close to the Blue Mosque. I paid in advance for my room which I would have for three nights. I think it was about $100.00 for all three nights including breakfast. There was no elevator and my room was on the third floor. The breakfast room was on the fourth floor. Before going to the Military Museum near Osmanbey, I took a shower and changed clothes. I left my belongings in my room.

As Akbiyik Cadessi was downhill, I had an uphill walk to the Sultanahmet tram stop. The fact that the temperature was around 35 degrees did not help. I had to buy a token for one Turkish Lira (one million old Lira which had long since been converted) to get to Sirkeci rail station. At the "Giris" gate, I had to drop in my token. Why was I going to Sirkeci before the Military Museum? I wanted to be sure that on the 12th February about 8 PM I would have a place to sleep on the train to Bucharest. When I arrived at Sirkeci station, I found the ticket office to buy a sleeper ticket supplement, with my Eastern Europe rail pass. They had a lower level bunk. I think the ticket may have cost $ 20.00.

After leaving Sirkeci, I took the tram to Karaköy where there was an underground funicular train to Beyloglu. The funicular train did not accept the regular tokens so I had to buy one for about one lira. Once I arrived at Beyloglu, I had a snack of a ring bread. The bread was similar to a sesame bagel but was a little larger. I used to get those also in Greece when I was very young. The tram from Beyloglu to Taksim Square had not yet arrived but when it did, I bought a separate ticket. Not everything in 2006 was fully integrated. When I took the M2 from Taksim to Osmanbey, I could easily use a token, or I could use an Akbil, which was a stored value device consisting of a thumb sized piece of plastic and a hearing aid battery sized stored value disk. Earlier I send a picture of it. Those went out of use in 2009. Taksim Square station was very deep and trains must have been at least three stories underground. The situation was the same at Osmanbey station where I had to alight in order to reach the military museum.

When I went to the military museum, there was a scheduled band performance about 2 PM. I had arrived just in time before the performance started. I had to pay about 12 Lira for entrance and the privilege of filming and photography. The band performance started with a slide show narrated in Turkish about the long history of the band, with its origins about the time of the pre-renaissance Crusades, circa 1290 AD. A few minutes later the entire band appeared on stage, about 50 people or so, maybe 20 of them as vocalists singing the traditional marching songs. And almost all had long moustaches, very fitting with their Ottoman-era costumes. The band must have played eight songs.

After the performance, there was some time to see the rest of the museum. I looked at displays of the musical instruments, including the percussions and wind instruments (trumpet, zurna, clarinet). I was thinking at the time, maybe go to the grand bazaar near Cemberlitas, and buy a similar outfit with instrument.

I took the M2 back to Taksim, and then walked along Istikal Caddesi. It is on the same route as the nostalgic tram that goes to Beyoglu. I found a record store where I could buy Turkish-language music. I bought a couple of CDs from Mustufa Sandal, in particular "Yamali Tövbeler" that also included "Isyankar" and "Gel Askim". I should have also looked for music by Mirkelam. I only know of his "Her Gece".

Soon it became dark, I took the funicular back to Karaköy, the tram to Sultanahmet and then I found a place to eat Döner Kebap with rice. It was located at 12 Divan Yolu Cadessi. I ordered a can of Uludag soda and a shot of raki with that.

I walked back to the hotel and went to sleep. As it was a day that I had arrived from overseas, it was understandable wanting to go to bed around 9 PM EET (+2 GMT). The next day I would go to Asia by boat.

Next adventure – Calls to prayer at 5 AM, breakfast on the "roof", boat ride to Haydarpasa in Asia, ride on the Moda tram, first Lahmacun in Asia, the Grand Bazaar Experience, metro ride to Otogar and back, Iskender Kebab on the Mimar Mehmet Aga Cadessi

Sonraki macera - Sabah 5'de ezan sesleri, "çatıda" kahvaltı, Asya'da Haydarpaşa'ya tekne yolculuğu, Moda tramvayı, Asya'da ilk Lahmacun, Kapalıçarşı Deneyimi, Otogar'a metro yolculuğu ve dönüş, İşkender Kebab Mimar Mehmet Ağa Cadessi

Следващо приключение - призиви за молитва в 5 ч. Сутринта, закуска на "покрива", разходка с лодка до Хайдарпаша в Азия, каране на трамвай Мода, първият Лахмакун в Азия, опитът на Капалъ чарши, пътуване с метро до Отогар и обратно, Ишкендер Кебаб на Мимар Мехмет Ага Кадеси

Următoarea aventură - Apeluri la rugăciune la ora 5 dimineața, mic dejun pe "acoperiș", plimbare cu barca la Haydarpasa în Asia, plimbare cu tramvaiul Moda, primul Lahmacun din Asia, Grand Bazaar Experience, plimbare cu metroul până la Otogar și înapoi, Ișkender Kebab pe Mimar Mehmet Aga Cadessi

Следећа авантура - позиви на молитву у 5 сати, доручак на „крову“, вожња бродом до Хајдарпаше у Азији, вожња трамвајем Мода, први Лахмацун у Азији, Гранд Базаар Екпериенце, вожња метроом до Отогара и назад, Искендер Кебаб на Мимар Мехмет Ага Цадесси

Következő kaland - Hívás imára reggel 5 órakor, reggeli a "tetőn", hajóút az ázsiai Haydarpasába, a Moda villamos, az első ázsiai Lahmacun, a Grand Bazaar Experience, metrózás Otogarig és vissza, Işkender Kebab tovább a Mimar Mehmet Aga Cadessi

CZ Další dobrodružství - výzvy k modlitbě v 5 hodin ráno, snídaně na „střeše“, jízda lodí do asijské Haydarpasy, jízda tramvají Moda, první asijský Lahmacun, zážitek Grand Bazaar, jízda metrem do Otogaru a zpět, Işkender Kebab dále Mimar Mehmet Aga Cadessi

Nächstes Abenteuer - Aufruf zum Gebet um 5 Uhr morgens, Frühstück auf dem "Dach", Bootsfahrt nach Haydarpasa in Asien, Fahrt mit der Moda-Straßenbahn, erste Lahmacun in Asien, Grand Bazaar Experience, U-Bahnfahrt nach Otogar und zurück, Işkender Kebab weiter der Mimar Mehmet Aga Cadessi

#Türk Hava Yollari Türkiye Cumhuriyet Turkey Istanbul Atatürk Sultanahmet Blue Mosque Eminönü Golden Horn JFK Airport transfer #Türk Hava Yollari #Türkiye #Cumhuriyet #Turkey #Istanbul #Atatürk #Sultanahment #Blue Mosque #Eminönü #Golden Horn #JFK #transfer #airline #tram #Tünel #Bosphoros

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dragon-swords-prophecies · 1 month ago

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happy sts! what's up with what you've been working on lately? [free ramble basically]

hi!!! happy sts!! thank you for the free ramble i love free rambles. this is long. this is. So Long but it was worth it

I've been working on a murder mystery wip called herald at dawn, about some people who work at a newspaper and several dead people, all of whom were murdered but only two are actually the murder mystery. (one of the ones who isn't the mystery is the main character's father, with who the story doesn't work without but also can't be alive for the story to work. the other one was murdered 10 years ago and the killer was acquitted because her husband is rich, but who killer her isn't actually a mystery).

its set in the late 1940s, in an extremely vague unspecified american city that has the characteristics of san francisco, chicago, gotham (from batman), and boston all at the same time.

there are also Extremely Fucked Up fae. they curse people! those curses are ancestral and will get passed along bloodlines, though they do get diluted over time. the way the curses work is either that a) the fae just curses you for the fun of it or b) you think you're hot shit, go ask the fae for something, and they twist it. how nice you are controls how much it gets twisted. you're an asshole? you get extra cursed!! there's a character in the story who's cursed to slowly loose everyone he loves. this is because his father (a Jackass who bribed several judges to get his wife off a murder charge she was guilty of) is cursed to have limitless material wealth, but be poor as dirt in friendships/love/anyone who actually cares about him/etc.

At some point, a large portion of humanity made the fae mad, so they cursed pigeons to be sentient. the curse is not on the pigeons, its on the humans, but it's weird in that it doesn't get diluted. if anything the pigeons are getting smarter.

the pigeons commit mail fraud. (long story short--fae can't figure out telephones, so the sentient pigeons have been trained to read/write. they take letters the fae have written and fly them to telegraph stations, where they copy the letters and send them as telegrams. they then read any recieved telegrams and copy them as letters for the fae and deliver them). the Pigeon Telegraph Service (a division of the postal service) is the best and I love it. they're unionized!

this has lead to two things: 1) there being postal inspectors for pigeon telegrams, because of all the mail fraud 2) my search history containing far too much about mail fraud

the other important thing about the fae is Ballon Guy. his actual name is sylvester hatsworth. he is a fae who has immense respect for one (1) branch of human government, and that is the licensing department. which doesn't actually exist, but he's convinced it does. every two years he goes to city hall and talks to a person whose job is ''fae liasons clerk'' (it is her job to deal with fae nonsense and she gets paid a lot of money for it so no one else has to do it), so he can renew his ballon piloting license.

i cannot stress enough that the city cannot issue ballooning licenses. they can't even issue dog licenses. he just heard someone talking about a drivers license once (that he thought was for driving horses. this man does not know what cars are and he will never know what cars are) and assumed two things.

if you need a license for horses, you must need one for ballooning

the nearest government must be able to this, no matter how small they are

neither of these are correct. it has been two hundred years since he started doing it, and no one's been able to convince him otherwise. he does not understand time or death and i love him so, so much.

[Image ID: Image 1. and peered at the sheet in front of him. ''What ought I to put for date of birth? I wasn't exactly born, persay, and if I was it was long before your strange systems of mortal timekeeping.'' Image 2 ''Have an excellent day, Miss Gates! Oh, and please tell whoever that poor fellow lying on the sidewalk outside was that I hope he feels better soon.'' There was a long pause. ''He's dead, I can't really... do that?'' ''Oh dead. Tell him tomorrow, then? I'm sure he'll be back on his feet in no time!'' Sylvester scurried away, only avoiding a /End ID]

Apart from my favorite parts of worldbuilding (the pigeons and balloon guy), there are also characters!!

Alexandrina "Alex" McLelland (aka Alexandrina Gates) is the protaganist, and narrator most of the story. Not all of it, but most. She's 31, aroace, and an investigative reporter at a newspaper called the clockwork herald. her father (Donovan Gates) was an investigative reporter at the same paper and got murdered about it, much to his best friend and his wife's distress.

[Image ID: ''James! Judge Robert Brown was killed last night. Murdered, I think. Amelia and I are going to city hall, I'll call you later.'']

James Blakely is one of the other main characters! he's 32, gay, dating one of the other reporters (leo), and also the editor of the herald. he's like if you took a perfectly good golden retriever of a man and gave him severe anxiety.

[Image ID: James blinked blearily at the receiver. ''Darling,'' he called quietly into the other room, ''There's been a murder.'' /End ID]

León ''Leo'' Rivera is another main character! he's 33, bi, bilingual, and dating james. he does the pages on politics! his favorite hobby is annoying the hell out of politicans. he also witnesses a murder and then almost gets murdered because of it, but that's only in the second half of the story.

[Image ID: ''Wonderful. Tell me, do you have any plans for aid following the fires last month? I understand the affected residents got no aid from the city to rebuild their homes, but the real estate company involved recieved substantial payouts. Do you have anything to say to voters concerned that you don't have the interests of the city at heart?'' /End ID]

Ronald Wilkes is the fourth and final MC. he's in his late 50s and has been reporting on sports for the last thirty years, and horse racing for the last twenty (since Alex's father, Donovan, his best friend, died (long story. please ask about it if you want to know i love talking about donovan & ronald) ). he is bitter and cynical. his best friend/the guy he was in love with got murdered in an alleyway, because he tried to do the right thing. this does things to a person!! all very fun things character wise, but also he has Problems.

[Image ID. You were in too much pain to lie then, and all you could think of to say was that it was him. It was Donny, of course you'd done it. So you laughed--it was more of a cough--and said, ''You wouldn't have heard me in time to duck.'' /End ID]

Donovan Gates (aka Donovan McLelland) is not actually a main character. he's dead. however, if he wasn't there the story doesn't work, and if he's alive the story doesn't work, so because he's haunting everyone he gets a character intro. He was 38 when he died. His daughters were 16 and 10. He was, for many years, the investigative reporter at the herald, and also helped out ronald by covering the horse races on occasion. Ronald was his best friend. He might've been in love with him, he might've not, but it doesn't really matter. They were in wwi together. ronald saved his life twice. Two years before he got murdered, Donovan discovered that someone was rigging the horse races in their favor. Not enough to be noticed unless you looked for it, but he was looking for it. The man doing the rigging was a mobster named Avery, and when Avery found out that Donovan was planning to expose it via an article in the newspaper, he got someone to shoot Donovan in an alleyway and make it look like a robbery. The killer got away, which is what led to Alex becoming an investigative reporter in the first place, and the article wasn't published until she got his old job. Donovan is the reason that anything in the story happens the way it does, especially anything Alex, Ronald, or Amelia (alex's sister) does.

[Image ID: Ronald stops, and the only sound is the crickets chirping in the minor amounts of nearby shrubbery. ''The last thing he ever said to me was to tell you and Amelia that. That he loved you and was proud of you and he was sorry he had missed you and Amelia growing up.'' /End ID]

#wip: herald at dawn #c: james blakely #c: balloon guy #c: alexandrina mclelland #c: león rivera #c: ronald wilkes #c: donovan gates #this contained absolutely nothing about the actual herald plot #but thats okay. it is 12:30 am and i have an 8 hour rehearsal tomorrow i was never going to get to the actual plot #that said if you want to know about the actual plot let me know i will GLADLY talk about it when its not horrid hours of the night #sts asks #storyteller saturday #yes its actually sunday now. shhhhh that doesn't matter #asks #transmasc wizard

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bertranda · 5 years ago

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Des chevaux sur l’eau

La deuxième vague de départs a débuté aujourd'hui pour la 20e édition de la Pacific Cup à Hawaï. Deux divisions de PHRF se joignent à la course à 2 070 nm de San Francisco à Kaneohe Bay, Oahu. Deux autres dates, les 12 et 13 juillet, complèteront la procédure de démarrage. Ce fut une autre journée magnifique sur la baie de San Francisco pour les 17 partants, car un ciel principalement ensoleillé et une brise vive et gonflée entre 12 et 20 nœuds les ont fait sortir du Golden Gate Bridge. La division Weems & Plath B est principalement composée de coureurs / croiseurs de plus de 40 pieds de long tandis que la division Alaska Airlines C est composée de bateaux plus petits, plus légers et plus racés, les deux divisions relevant de bandes de notation très similaires. La division Weems & Plath B a commencé en premier et les plus grands bateaux de croisière ont choisi une stratégie de départ principalement conservatrice qui contrastait fortement avec la division Alaska Airlines C qui a quitté la ligne plus comme s'ils naviguaient dans la Rolex Big Boat Series qu'un Course de plus de 2000 miles à Hawaï! Alors que Devanneaux et le co-skipper Matthieu Damerval peuvent être le bateau le plus rapide sur le parcours, ils ne sont certainement pas faciles à faire avec des rapports selon lesquels le bateau est très humide à l'intérieur et doit constamment être pompé avec les pompes de cale, en raison à l'entrée d'eau stable des troncs de dérive qui abritent chacun des hydrofoils de levage du bateau révolutionnaire. Derrière A Fond le Girafon, son compatriote français Outremer est à huit milles de retour en ligne avec un coussin de huit milles sur son Hanse 505 sistership Anais, bien qu'il y ait une nette division nord-sud entre les deux bateaux, jet ski ce qui indique le nord- division sud qui s'est développée dans une grande partie de la flotte. Le scénario météorologique a continué d'évoluer plus ou moins comme prévu à l'origine la semaine dernière, les débutants d'aujourd'hui se rendant au large sous les vents les plus forts avant qu'une zone de basse pression de niveau supérieur ne s'installe et ne se repose sur la ligne de la rhumb, menaçant de s'arrêter les premiers partants sur leurs traces et gênent les deux derniers groupes de départ à s'éloigner de la côte. En raison de ce trou énorme sur le parcours, la plupart des bateaux commencent à couvrir leurs paris et choisissent soit une option sud ou nord, avec quelques retardataires choisissant une route médiane à travers le trou prévu. Le peloton sud des bateaux est dirigé par Hanse 505 Anaïs de Matt Solhjem, qui compte sur son avantage de la flottaison pour la mettre en tête du peloton. Lorsque la brise se dissipera, tous les regards seront tournés vers la question de savoir si l'un des bateaux les plus petits et les plus légers peut faire des gains ou si Anaïs peut conserver un avantage. Derrière Anaïs dans le peloton sud, Bill et Melinda Erkelens sur le Donovan 30 Wolfpack avancent à grande vitesse et occupent actuellement le troisième rang en handicap dans la division DH2 / Mount Gay Rum, juste derrière Moore 24 Foamy de Lester Robertson, qui est le plus au sud de la flotte. bateau. Actuellement, le DH2 est le J / 105 Abstract de Douglas Pihlaja, bien qu'ils soient presque morts sur la ligne de rhumb et donc l'un des bateaux les plus septentrionaux de la flotte, et très bien séparés de ses rivaux de division les plus proches. La division DH1 / Pau Maui Vodka - la division monotype Express 27 - est toujours dirigée par Will Paxton et Zachery Anderson sur la moto Irene, qui organisent tout simplement une masterclass contre une flotte compétitive. Multi-temps Express 27 champions nationaux avec un bateau très bien préparé et un inventaire super-astuce de voiles hauturières personnalisées et atteignant, Motorcycle Irene est pleinement à la hauteur du battage médiatique d'avant-course. Toujours plus rapide que ses rivales, elle a régulièrement pris une avance de 13 milles, probablement en grande partie à cause des plaques d'écoute reefable plus hautes qu'elle portait sur ses voiles d'avant-train Quantum. Permettant à n'importe quel foc de devenir efficacement un foc ou un tendeur de souffle, l'inventaire de voile très bien pensé d'Irene semble rapporter d'énormes dividendes. Coral Reef Sailing Apparel / Une flotte navigue dans une file proche d'une file près de la ligne de rhumb avec le vigoureux Jim Quanci et son vert Cal 40 Green Buffalo en tête de la flotte et en tête de la course au handicap. Neuf milles derrière, le Cal 40 Highlander de Bob Horton occupe la deuxième place de la flotte et également le deuxième au classement général sur le handicap. Derrière les deux vénérables Cals, la motocycliste Irene a franchi une marche assez incroyable jusqu'à la troisième place au palmarès du handicap. Avec un bateau qui est sûr de s'allumer quand il n'y a pas de vent, et le fait que ce soit un bateau très au sud, mais corriger avec les bateaux du nord aussi tôt dans la course indique que plus tard dans cette course, elle est très susceptible de prendre la tête du classement général. Avec toute la flotte dirigée vers un grand trou, le «gagnant» dans tout ce pari nord-sud pourrait très bien être les bateaux qui atteignent la brise en premier, et ce sont probablement les bateaux du sud. Nous nous attendons à ce qu'un mouvement majeur du classement arrive plus tard cette semaine alors que cette bataille fascinante se déroule.

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youngandhungryent · 5 years ago

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Top 10 Best Signature Sneakers In The NBA As Of 2020

Last weekend, NBA titans collided during all-star festivities in Chicago. Being recognized as an all-star is one of the sport’s highest honors. However, if we hooked a few players up to lie detector tests, they’d probably trade in their selection for another symbol of praise. Who could turn down the clout of a signature sneaker? Getting your very own signature sneakers means being immortalized by the culture and in the hearts and closets of footwear enthusiasts. Debates about all-time great sneakers are just as intense as ones about rankings the players who wore them. A truly great signature sneaker transcends the court and becomes a nostalgic part of that fashion era. But legendary kicks aren’t all applauded for the same reasons. While some are lauded for historical importance, others are remembered for their technical advancement or wearability.

Sigs take a player’s brand and cache to a new level – taking individuals once virtually unknown to towering, giant advertisements on New York City building scapes. And it’s not always just stars who get sigs. In 2016 Adidas gave Nick Young, a journeyman role player, his own Crazy Explosive PE. Many felt it was better than league stars Steph Curry and James Harden. Nike continues to dominate when it comes to signature basketball shoes but other brands like Adidas and Under Armor occasionally make waves as well. A few of my personal favorites are Charles Barkley’s 1994 Nike Air Max2 CB34, Kobe’s 1997 Adidas KB8, Allen Iverson’s 1996 Reebok Questions, and the 1996 Jordan XII.

A great signature shoe should embody the presence of the player it is meant to epitomize. Possessing design characteristics that are consistent with the individual’s style of play and their charisma (or lack thereof). Speaking directly to their flair. For an example of this, look no further than the Nike Zoom Flight 98, crafted for Gary Payton and nicknamed “The Glove.” Or the 2013 Kobe 9 Elites (arguably one of his best kicks with Nike). The disfigured product blueprints that never escaped artroom floors are a testament to how hard it is to effectively capture this magic. So, when brands catch lightning in a bottle with the perfect marriage of design, player, and product – it’s a beautiful thing to behold. Sitting on the shrine of shoe store shelves all over the globe.

There’s no real formula for choosing a favorite – while some may be more swayed by the way a shoe feels and performs, other may be solely focused on the look or what made them popular. Less science and more personal preference. Risking slander from the most unforgiving of crowds, the sneaker community, I’m going to stick my neck out and compile a list of the best signature shoes for current NBA players.

10. Adidas – Harden Vol. 4 – James Harden

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Not a fan of the lace clips and the design is a bit boring. It seems like a step back from previous versions. Plus is the shoe is lighter, but they no longer feature BOOST cushioning. Not sure what Adidas is thinking here.

9. Nike – PG4 – Paul George

Image via Nike

PG came out the gate strong with explosive colorways but the same complacency we’ve seen with Durant’s line has set in with George’s designers as well. The PG3 was one of last year’s top models. A lot of sneakerheads are disappointed in the 4.

8. Under Armor – Curry 7 – Steph Curry

Image via Under Armour

After some rather disappointing releases, the Curry 7 is Steph’s best shoe yet. It’s honestly the best design we’ve seen from UA and they’re still built to protect Steph’s fragile ankles.

7. Nike – Freak 1 – Giannis Antetokumpo

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

He may be the best player in the game, but his kicks need work. Giannis’ shoes can be found worn by almost every high school basketball team in the country. It’s the perfect team basketball shoe that looks good in any colorway. This is a great place for Giannis to start. Hopefully, they keep improving.

6. Adidas – D.O.N. Issue #1 – Donovan Mitchell

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

I’m very impressed with “The Spider’s” first signature. Adidas also did well playing off his nickname with four Superhero colorways. The shoe’s propulsion clip and BOUNCE cushioning round out some pretty sophisticated technology to boot. Solid debut for Mitchell.

5. Nike – KD 12 – Kevin Durant

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Durant’s shoes are some of the most comfortable on the market and the colorways always go crazy. Yet, it seems like Nike has gotten lazy with the design over the years. Take a look at the KD 13 and you’ll see what I mean.

4. Jordan – Why Not Zer0.3 – Russell Westbrook

Harry How/Getty Images

Brodie’s signatures are almost as aggressive as his style of play. Bold colorways offset even bolder stylistic features.

3. Adidas – Dame 6 – Damian Lillard

Abbie Parr/Getty Images

The rapper-athlete’s shoe might be as underrated as his game. Traction and control set Lillard’s signature sneaker apart. The shoes are very light due to the mostly mesh and knit construction of the upper. Arguably the best thus far in the series.

2. Nike – LeBron 17 – LeBron James

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Critics will say that the LeBron 17s are a bit heavy and clunky, which is debatable – but it makes up for that in performance and comfortability. There are also a ton of colorways to choose from as is the case with LeBron releases. Overall the LBJ shoe line rarely disappoints. Like its predecessor, the shoe’s upper is composed of battle-knit providing superior comfort.

1. Nike – Kyrie 6 – Kyrie Irving

Al Bello/Getty Images

With his mesmerizing handles and acrobatic finishes at the rim, Kyrie Irving has perhaps the most aesthetically-pleasing style of play in the association. So, it is fitting his signature shoe is the most stylish. Great traction and support while evolving of the Kyrie 5. Sneakerheads will also notice Nike lowkey ripped elements of the Yeezy 2 in this Kyrie model.

An exciting time for sneakerheads appears on the horizon as young stars like Zion Williamson, Trae Young, and Luka Doncic are sure to have signatures coming soon. Young is with Adidas while Doncic and Williamson are team Jordan Brand. All three are under the age of 20 and have had ridiculously spectacular starts to their career – the likes we’ve barely seen out of players this young. With Luka bringing a strong international appeal, Trae’s connection with Atlanta’s hip-hop scene and the Migos, and Zion’s Sportscenter leading nightly highlight reel – the next crop of players to get signature sneakers are probably ascending before our eyes.

What are some of your favorite signature sneakers? Let us know in the comments, below.

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#fucu #fucul #young and hungry ent #boss of bosses #instrumental type beat free

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compneuropapers · 7 years ago

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Interesting Papers for Week 35, 2017

Functional Interactions between Newborn and Mature Neurons Leading to Integration into Established Neuronal Circuits. Boulanger-Weill, J., Candat, V., Jouary, A., Romano, S. A., Pérez-Schuster, V., & Sumbre, G. (2017). Current Biology, 27(12), 1707–1720.e5.

Dendro-dendritic cholinergic excitation controls dendritic spike initiation in retinal ganglion cells. Brombas, A., Kalita-de Croft, S., Cooper-Williams, E. J., & Williams, S. R. (2017). Nature Communications, 8, 15683.

Safety in Numbers: Why the Mere Physical Presence of Others Affects Risk-taking Behaviors. Chou, E. Y., & Nordgren, L. F. (2017). Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 30(3), 671–682.

Functional dissociation of stimulus intensity encoding and predictive coding of pain in the insula. Geuter, S., Boll, S., Eippert, F., & Büchel, C. (2017). eLife, 6(e24770).

Bidirectional Frontoparietal Oscillatory Systems Support Working Memory. Johnson, E. L., Dewar, C. D., Solbakk, A.-K., Endestad, T., Meling, T. R., & Knight, R. T. (2017). Current Biology, 27(12), 1829–1835.e4.

Attentional modulation of neuronal variability in circuit models of cortex. Kanashiro, T., Ocker, G. K., Cohen, M. R., & Doiron, B. (2017). eLife, 6(e23978).

Environmental Enrichment Rescues Binocular Matching of Orientation Preference in the Mouse Visual Cortex. Levine, J. N., Chen, H., Gu, Y., & Cang, J. (2017). Journal of Neuroscience, 37(24), 5822–5833.

Mnemonic Encoding and Cortical Organization in Parietal and Prefrontal Cortices. Masse, N. Y., Hodnefield, J. M., & Freedman, D. J. (2017). Journal of Neuroscience, 37(25), 6098–6112.

Exposure to Stressors Facilitates Long-Term Synaptic Potentiation in the Lateral Habenula. Park, H., Rhee, J., Park, K., Han, J.-S., Malinow, R., & Chung, C. (2017). Journal of Neuroscience, 37(25), 6021–6030.

NMDA Receptors Regulate the Structural Plasticity of Spines and Axonal Boutons in Hippocampal Interneurons. Perez-Rando, M., Castillo-Gómez, E., Guirado, R., Blasco-Ibañez, J. M., Crespo, C., Varea, E., & Nacher, J. (2017). Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, 11, 166.

The Human Fetus Preferentially Engages with Face-like Visual Stimuli. Reid, V. M., Dunn, K., Young, R. J., Amu, J., Donovan, T., & Reissland, N. (2017). Current Biology, 27(12), 1825–1828.e3.

Cross-orientation suppression in visual area V2. Rowekamp, R. J., & Sharpee, T. O. (2017). Nature Communications, 8, 15739.

Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation (tRNS) Shapes the Processing of Rapidly Changing Auditory Information. Rufener, K. S., Ruhnau, P., Heinze, H.-J., & Zaehle, T. (2017). Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, 11, 162.

A retinal code for motion along the gravitational and body axes. Sabbah, S., Gemmer, J. A., Bhatia-Lin, A., Manoff, G., Castro, G., Siegel, J. K., … Berson, D. M. (2017). Nature, 546, 492–497.

Attention Robustly Gates a Closed-Loop Touch Reflex. Sherman, D., Oram, T., Harel, D., & Ahissar, E. (2017). Current Biology, 27(12), 1836–1843.e7.

Development of Glutamatergic Proteins in Human Visual Cortex across the Lifespan. Siu, C. R., Beshara, S. P., Jones, D. G., & Murphy, K. M. (2017). Journal of Neuroscience, 37(25), 6031–6042.

A Selective Role for Dopamine in Learning to Maximize Reward But Not to Minimize Effort: Evidence from Patients with Parkinson’s Disease. Skvortsova, V., Degos, B., Welter, M.-L., Vidailhet, M., & Pessiglione, M. (2017). Journal of Neuroscience, 37(25), 6087–6097.

Effects of M1 and M4 activation on excitatory synaptic transmission in CA1. Thorn, C. A., Popiolek, M., Stark, E., & Edgerton, J. R. (2017). Hippocampus, 27(7), 794–810.

Hippocampal neural activity reflects the economy of choices during goal-directed navigation. Tryon, V. L., Penner, M. R., Heide, S. W., King, H. O., Larkin, J., & Mizumori, S. J. Y. (2017). Hippocampus, 27(7), 743–758.

Different Signal Enhancement Pathways of Attention and Consciousness Underlie Perception in Humans. van Boxtel, J. J. A. (2017). Journal of Neuroscience, 37(24), 5912–5922.

#science #Neuroscience #neurobiology #computational neuroscience #cognitive science #cognition #research #Brain science #publications #machine learning #psychophysics

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pnutbutter72 · 6 years ago

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Posted @withrepost • @lgbt_history “STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST GAYS AND WOMEN” – “THE POLICE AREN’T ON YOUR SIDE EITHER” – “GET YOUR FILTHY LAWS OFF MY BODY,” march against violence and injustice, Dublin, Ireland, March 19, 1983. Photo by Derek Speirs, c/o “Out for Ourselves,” @irishqueerarchive. [TW]⁣ .⁣ Throughout the summer of 1982, a number of gay and bisexual men were attacked in Fairview Park, a popular cruising area in Dublin. On the night of September 9, as Declan Flynn sat down next to a young man on a bench, four other men rushed out from behind surrounding trees. Flynn ran toward the park’s gate, but he was unable to escape the gang; the five attackers—Tony Maher (19), Robert Armstrong (18), Patrick Kavanaugh (18), Colm Donovan (17), and an unidentified fourteen-year-old boy—beat Flynn so badly that he died within an hour after reaching a hospital.⁣ .⁣ “We were,” Armstrong later said, “all part of the team to get rid of queers in Fairview Park.”⁣ .⁣ On March 10, 1983, the five attackers—each of whom admitted to playing a role in Flynn’s death and attacks on other gay men—walked free with suspended sentences. “This,” the presiding judge explained, “could never be regarded as murder…One thing that has come to my mind is that there is no element of correction that is required. All of [them] come from good homes and experienced care and affection.”⁣ .⁣ On March 19, 1983, thirty-six years ago today, the Dublin Gay Collective organized a march to protest street violence against gays, lesbians, and women, and to draw attention to the unjust sentences consistently handed down by courts in cases against attackers. In what is considered Dublin’s first Pride March, approximately four hundred people marched from Liberty Hall to Fairview Park. #lgbthistory #HavePrideInHistory #DeclanFlynn #Resist (at Spot Coffee Elmwood) https://www.instagram.com/p/BvNZHEvHipGw8axDC33jhdomubRems45TAaBd00/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=alug2mlpvykl

#lgbthistory #haveprideinhistory #declanflynn #resist

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mysdrymmumbles · 8 years ago

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Andraste’s Witch - Chapter 71 - SFW

Pairings: Slowburn Cullen x F!Witch!Inquisitor

Rating: M for later chapters which will include violence, PTSD, withdrawal, angst, body horror (think red templars), and possibly other stuff that I will be sure to tag. This is not actually a grimdark story, but I just wanna give people a heads up for stuff that will happen. There will also be fluff and friendship and magic (though to be fair, this is Thedas, so magic will not always be positive and very rarely as adorable as that last statement implied).

Genre: Action/Adventure with elements of romance

Summary: Finley and her group reach Denerim, and she finds she’s not quite prepared for what she finds there.

Thank you all for reading <3

Andraste’s Witch

Chapter 71 - The King and Inquisitor

Cullen was a good sort, but damn if his timing wasn’t terrible.

Or, more accurately, still eerily like a templar’s.

Of all the things Finley’s demon had told her, the one that bothered her the most was that King Cousland supposedly had something on her linking her to her parents or…perhaps their killing spree or the demon itself or…

Something that would not paint her in a good light, and she was well acquainted with what happened to mages who were painted thus.

Tranquility or death, and seeing as her left hand was rather important, tranquility seemed more likely.

There were rumors already of templars who wished to make her tranquil. The mark had its own magic, and so how could it be hurt if only hers was cut off? That was their reasoning.

So long as she was a timid healer, they would gain no purchase, but should it come out about her childhood…

Even Cullen wouldn’t be able to save her.

He would try, wouldn’t he?

After all, he might still have the instincts of a hunter—as he so aptly displayed over and over—but he hadn’t the heart of one. There was caution, unease, but no drive to extinguish.

She was fairly sure of that.

If he did try to keep her safe, he would just end up a fatality when the odds proved too great against them.

And if he didn’t…

Even if there was some semblance of truth to what the demon had said about him not trusting mages—he was wary of magic—in all the time she’d known him, he was nothing but kind and gentle and…

And so, what she had really worried about after the demon’s conversation was whatever might be in King Cousland’s hands. It might be nothing, it might be something that noted that her mother was an abomination or that she’d been dragged around by blood mages for years, a quiet witness to their crimes.

It might say that her blood had been used in their rituals.

She’d yet to come into her magic at the time, but that would hardly matter to templars and those who feared mages.

Truly, whatever the king had would be a bigger problem to deal with, especially now that she was the center of attention. Who would trust her if word got out that a demon thought itself her mother? People would insist she was practicing forbidden magics or…

Everything was such a mess.

She’d avoided Cullen.

She didn’t know how to tell him, if she should tell him. If word got out before she could be the one to reveal it, it would damage her credibility and people’s trust in her, but if she could take care of things so that it never got out, there would be no need to bring it up. Ever.

It had eaten at her.

As much as she hadn’t wanted to look into it, solely because a demon had told her of it, it had gotten too deeply under her skin, and so she’d sent word to Donovan. He knew the most of her history of anyone, and if she was going to have someone help her, it was going to be someone who wouldn’t have their jaw hit the floor the second they learned anything. He’d likely pieced together most of what he didn’t outright know, anyway, so most of it wouldn’t be too surprising.

So she’d sent for him, and his response had been surprisingly swift. She wasn’t sure how he’d been so close to the capital, but she supposed the Bracillian Forest was a place he liked to visit on occasion, so it wasn’t too odd.

And where he wandered in his free time was hardly her business, unless he required help.

He’d gotten word to her, and she’d gone off to meet him. When she’d found another message saying he was running a tad late because of rather brutish templars, she’d taken to washing her hair, if only to keep herself from going to search for him.

After all, she couldn’t leave the Inquisition. They’d have a manhunt for her, and would keep her much closer to the heart of their little party, if she did. She’d lose what few freedoms she had left.

And then, as she waited, Cullen had arrived.

She didn’t know if she believed in the Maker, but he was an odd sort, if he was real.

Or maybe he was kind.

Sending her Cullen as a gentle reminder that she wasn’t alone.

Silly as it was, just being around him made her feel safe, and more than that, when he’d come to her, he’d looked so…lost.

She didn’t want him to look at her like that, like he was abandoned or forgotten.

When he’d knelt there, asking her what was wrong, so sincere and sweet, she’d fumbled for how to explain. How to put into words her past, her fears? How to tell him things she’d never told anyone?

She’d tried, frustrated to find that nothing came to mind seemed to really express what she was trying to say. She adored him, and yet, she knew that there were boundaries that had to be kept in place because of their positions, and that along with everything else just made everything so damned complicated.

One way to uncomplicate things would be to just talk to him, of course.

It was a horrifying notion. How many times had people turned away from her or simply on her for her past dealings? She didn’t want him to be one of them.

But he needed to know.

If no one else, she wanted to tell him, if only to see if he’d still look at her the same way.

The words had stuck in her throat, even as she tried to force them, about the demon, its warning to her, its words of him, and how there might be something threatening the Inquisition and Finley in Denerim.

And then he’d kissed her, and it had all slipped away, unimportant details in a moment that was so perfect. A moment demons and monsters couldn’t reach.

Then, just as she’d finally found a reprieve from all the tumultuous thoughts tumbling in her head, Donovan had shown up.

He’d just had to remind her that there were things other than her commander that needed to be done.

She hadn’t even needed to see him to know he was displeased with how she’d chosen to pass the time waiting for him. He’d stepped on a damned twig to catch Cullen’s attention, and then the mood had been killed, because she’d known damned well that he wouldn’t go away and let them finish.

He’d dared the camp, meeting her in her tent after Cullen had wished her a good night, a chide instantly falling off his lips about how careless she was being.

She had to agree with that.

The fact that she’d even considered telling Cullen about her demon was baffling. He might not be a templar anymore, but she doubted he’d want to know she had a very specific demon whispering to her and keeping tabs on him. That it had followed her for years. That it was the reason for her eyes and not some Maker-sent miracle.

Her fingers brushed over her forearms, an action she’d developed after healing away the scars her parents had left her. That smooth skin had been a reminder that the past could be left behind, where it belonged.

As she adjusted her seat on the damnable horse she was seated atop, her fingers brushed against the scar the red lyrium had left behind, and she flinched.

She’d poured more magic than she should have into trying to heal it, but it was still a horrible dark red streak.

It felt a little like a warning, that maybe the past couldn’t be buried after all, that something would always resurface.

Tugging her sleeve down, she glanced around the street, trying not to feel claustrophobic.

They’d said that Val Royeaux was bigger than Denerim, that compared to other capitals, Ferelden’s was relatively small.

It didn’t feel small.

The buildings were packed so tightly together that their walls touched, and they stretched up awkwardly, like strange stacks of old, neglected wood. It was an entire forest razed and then propped up in an awful mockery of what it had been.

The roofs made the sky hard to see, and there was…smoke. It crowded out the blue that should have been overhead, and made it harder to breathe. Well, that and the smell of too many people too close together.

And the people themselves, they were everywhere, like a swarm of ants crawling over everything.

Big, judgmental ants who didn’t seem pleased that the Inquisition had come into their city.

She tried not to look at the crowds, instead thinking about how Donovan and Sera were both out there somewhere. Sera was meeting with other Red Jennies to gather information, and Donovan was headed toward the castle to scry for what the king might have and find a way to get to it.

It probably took a few hours to wind their way through those awful, narrow streets and to the castle, but it felt like it took so much longer.

Despite trying not to watch the crowds, Finley’s eyes were drawn to them anyway. Her gaze was met with fear and awe and disgust.

Some saw a religious blessing, others a mage grasping for power.

How she wished they could have come in a little group, cloaked in the dark of night, with no one but unreliable witnesses there to see them.

This procession was doing nothing for them, she was sure.

Nevertheless, she held her head high and somehow managed not to hunch her shoulders or forget to breathe.

As they finally passed through the castle gates and dismounted, she heard a pronounced sigh and looked to her side to see Ser Yorric had already dismounted and stood beside her. Even as she glanced around for Cullen and her other advisors, he let out a low whistle. “The Doglords aren’t the friendliest lot, are they?”

“Yorric!” Ser Jensen’s hiss came from her other side, and even as he sported an apologetic look and said something, Finley couldn’t help but feel how surrounded she was by templars.

Even with Josephine’s desperate plea that Finley not scale anything while she was there, she couldn’t help but glance around for ways to higher ground. There were plenty—sills to be hoisted up on, worn bits in walls that could be climbed, trees and the like dotted the area, too, likely in some unnecessary pattern that the people here found appealing.

She couldn’t see it, but she’d already learned that everyone in the Lowlands felt it necessary to bend nature to their own preferences. They couldn’t bear it free as it ought to be.

“I’m sure things will go better once we’ve been able to talk to the King and Queen,” Ser Jensen offered with a quick nod.

Generally, it was hard for Finley to tell when templars were being honest rather than just trying to lull her into a false sense of security so that someone could stab her, but she nodded back at Ser Jensen, figuring she would stay alert regardless. If he turned on her, she would have the upper hand by expecting it.

Before she could offer some platitude in response, they were being ushered up to the castle. It was larger than Skyhold, the building far better kept, and—even surrounded by guards as she was—she felt so vulnerable walking up the steps.

As she reached the top, Cullen and Cassandra flanked her on one side, and Josephine and Leliana on the other. ‘Her’ templars were just behind her, and she could feel each time one of their gazes passed over her, or focused upon her. It made her want to press her back to a wall, though there were none close enough, and she doubted anyone would appreciate her sprinting to one.

There was a single moment where the world seemed to stand still, where she looked over all the foreign faces of the assembled party waiting to greet them, searching for signs of how this meeting would go. It was a moment where anything seemed possible, even turning their entire procession around and going back to Skyhold, to continue their work without all this political nonsense.

In a breath, the moment was over.

A regal woman with blonde hair wound up in an intricate style offered them a kind, political smile and a nod, and suddenly introductions were flying, and people were talking, and Finley was very sure important things were going on, but she couldn’t keep up.

Every time a question was asked, someone else spoke up, offering assurances and all the right words that she would have never thought to say.

Smooth as they were, she was fairly certain she was supposed to do some of the talking, and fretted that her silence might be interpreted a million different ways.

She tried not to fidget. Tried not to edge back a step, to ease out of the center of the group and just run.

However, even as she fought to keep her calm, it occurred to her that there was a person missing from their midst.

She peered around, puzzled as she recalled names and put them to faces, inspecting clothing and signs of stature, trying to piece together who exactly was there.

“Inquisitor?” The blonde woman, Queen Anora, spoke so eloquently, her posture perfect as that single word brought all the other talking to an immediate stop. “You seem worried.”

“No,” Finley exhaled, struggling not to flinch at how quickly her reply had come. Her mind was hissing at her that no one liked an anxious mage. “I…It’s an honor to meet you, your majesty, but I had thought we were meeting with both you and your king.”

“I am sorry to say His Majesty, my husband, is entangled in some last-minute dealings, and will be unable to speak with you until later this evening.” Her smile wavered just long enough to show sympathy before it was back again as she turned and motioned toward the building. “Come, I will have you seen to your quarters so that you may freshen up before the meeting.”

Finley’s ‘thank you’ was lost to the voices that resumed their conversations as they began to file into the building in what felt somewhat like a death sentence.

…-…

Her day had not gotten much better.

Once in their quarters, Finley had been subjected to a bath in water that was entirely too warm and then the…helpers had set in.

Had she not fixed her hair up the night before?

It didn’t matter to them as they attacked her with combs and the dresses that Josephine had ordered for her. She noticed the one she’d hemmed was decidedly missing. It was one of the better jobs she’d done, and she found herself taking offense to its absence—after all, anyone who spent their time paying close attention to others’ hems had little in the way of a life.

They undid her hair just to redo it the exact way it’d been put up that morning, and Finley wanted to throw things at the lot of them.

Or to ask Cullen to throw things with her.

He, however, didn’t make an appearance until well after her tormentors had stepped away—some a bit more hastily than others as she eyed them. Without regard to what people might think, she’d made a point to sit as close to him as she could as her advisors discussed what had happened. Most of the reports were quick, with simple statements about security and safety.

And then Josephine had taken the floor.

Finley hadn’t known a conversation could be analyzed so completely.

Every breath she’d taken had apparently spoken volumes to everyone they’d met, and there was some damage done, though it was ‘manageable’ if they played things smart.

Her question about the king had made it seem like she didn’t value the queen’s presence, so she would have to be sure to show extra enthusiasm toward Queen Anora and the other nobles who had met her. Her silence could have been interpreted to mean she didn’t trust the Ferelden Court, that she was plotting, or that she was unsure of herself, and it would take some effort on everyone’s part to redirect that to show that none of those assumptions were true.

Finley had progressively leaned closer and closer to Cullen as the conversation and preparation for the later meeting dragged on. It wasn’t until her shoulder bumped his, however, that she noticed. Jumping, she nearly bolted from the room before realizing it was just Cullen beside her.

He reached out and squeezed one of her hands gently, and she held on to him for dear life as Josephine took in a slow breath through her nose. The scraping of chair legs drew her attention away from Cullen’s gentle, worried expression to see that Josephine had dragged her chair closer to Finley.

“Listen to me, be honest about your intentions.”

“Why would I lie?” Finley muttered, pulling Cullen’s hand into her lap so that she could clasp it with both hands. “They’re good intentions.”

“Yes,” Josephine hesitated, leaning against her knees a moment before straightening up.

“You have a tendency to deflect, inquisitor,” Leliana spoke softly, sauntering over and leaning against Josephine’s chair.

“It can be useful in certain situations, no doubt, but it is obvious that something is being hidden when you do that,” Josephine explained. “For you, it may be that you do not wish a friend’s home to be found, but to them, it will likely come across as more ominous.”

“I am well aware of how quickly people think the worst of mages,” Finley muttered before she could stop herself.

Cullen tensed at that, but even as she turned to him questioningly, Josephine reached out and put a hand on top of theirs. “Finley. It is not fair that they will judge you so harshly, but I know you are a good sort. And you can make them see that. Just…try not to be…so…”

“Obstinate and argumentative?” When Cullen and Leliana both let out half laughs at that, Finley nodded slowly. “I will try to be friendly. And to remember titles.”

After that, things seemed to be set into motion again. Everyone was called speak with those who worked under them, and even though not all of them left the room, Finley still felt surprisingly alone. As she sat there, wishing Cullen hadn’t left the seat beside her, Ser Jensen abruptly slipped into the chair beside her and leaned toward her with a familiarity that elicited a frown despite herself.

“Have you checked the view from the windows of your chambers yet, inquisitor?”

“What?”

The templar made a motion with his head and Finley’s gaze followed toward the door that led to the back room of her chambers—that they had all these rooms to give to single people was bizarre and lavishly unnecessary—and then back at him.

“The gardens are lovely.” When she only narrowed her eyes further, he rolled his eyes and leaned closer. “Just take a moment for yourself, would you?”

Despite not understanding what he was on about, Finley got up and wandered back to her chambers, giving a hesitant smile to a few maids who were waiting to be of use. When she was in the room, she found the muffled noises from outside to be somewhat soothing and unnerving at once. She was glad to have the space, and yet she couldn’t help but feel vulnerable.

However, even as she debated whether or not she ought to go back out, a head popped up in one of the windows, and then Sera was climbing in. “Friggin’ took you long enough. Sent word to one of your templars to help out. Was starting to think he was a useless sort.”

“He just came to me,” Finley murmured, abruptly considering Ser Jensen in a new light. If he was willing to help Sera…

“Look, there’s word that something strange is going on at the castle, yeah? But I can’t get heads or tails of what. There’s talk of ghosts and magic and witches and…whole lot of it don’t add up to nothing in particular, but it’s off, so I thought you should know. Might just be jitters that a mage is about, might be nothing.”

Finley’s mind went to Donovan. “A mage?”

“Y’know, you?”

“Right…” Finley glanced down at the dormant mark, taking in a slow breath as she abruptly wondered how safe Donovan was out here.

“Saw some weird stuff drawn on some of the walls, too. Got magic in it, but it’s not like what I’ve seen you cast or nothing.” Sera pointed over her shoulder. “Wanna see?”

As she started out the window, Finley followed her, but stopped when one knee was on the sill. “The meeting is pretty soon. If I go missing…assuming nothing else kills me, Josephine will.”

“Ah, yeah. That’s true, innit?” Sera frowned, leaning against the window from the outside before glancing around and climbing back in. “Don’t look especially like you wanna go.”

Finley tried to run her fingers through her hair, only to scowl as her pinky caught on one of the braids that had been used to keep up her bangs. She swore quietly as she freed her finger, pulling loose a lock of hair with it. “Everything I say is apparently so important. Everything I don’t say just as much. Everything is so…”

“Piss on that,” Sera scoffed, leaning against the wall beside the window. “They’re just people, much as they don’t want to admit it. Treat ‘em like you would anybody else, yeah?”

“That’s exactly what Josephine’s been telling me not to do.”

“Well, she’s on about how you get snippity with strangers and templars asking too many questions, I think,” Sera shrugged, mulling it over and letting her gaze wander idly around the room. She made a few faces as she noted various statues near the walls and corners. “How’s this then, words come easy enough, right? You’ve probably got a collection of ears somewhere that you’ve talked off and all that. That’s what she doesn’t want you to do. So talk it out like I’m there. When they’re wrong, pretend I’m wrong. ‘Cause I listen, yeah? Plenty of shite I don’t know about, but you make it make sense. Like them weird leaf birds of yours. You explain it right, it makes sense, I’m not wrong anymore. Then, if those oh-so-important-nobles stay wrong, you know they aren’t a friend and to be careful. Ignore them or find a way to make Josie deal with them. You focus on the people who go right.”

Finley slumped against a desk near where Sera was leaning, considering it. What Sera said made sense. “I’m not used to presuming people to be friendly.”

“All the better. The nobles think they’ve got you figured out, so they won’t know what to do. They get lost, you see the snakes better.”

There was a knock at the door. “Inquisitor?”

Finley nearly missed Sera as the elf hopped to the window to make a quick get away. “Sera, wait!” When her friend paused, she reached out and plucked a leaf from near the window, cupping it carefully and then holding it out as a gold glow seeped into the leaf, making it a shade lighter. “I have a friend on the grounds. This should help you find him or him find you. Show him those spells written?”

Sera took the leaf carefully between thumb and index finger, appraising it with a frown. “I need to do anything special with it?”

“No, just…let it guide you.”

“Inquisitor?” It was Leliana’s voice.

She straightened up from where she was leaning at the window as Sera disappeared into the gardens, turning just in time to see Leliana standing there. “It’s time.”

What happened next felt like it dragged on for eternity, and Finley found herself wishing dearly for one of those fade outs that happened in some of the stories Ser Caudry had written for her, to have the time lapse and just be done with it, to the outcome, whatever it might be.

However, considering that another blackout like that would likely mean that a demon had claimed more of her memories, she supposed it was well enough that she was so miserably aware of every step down the hall to the private chambers where the nobility discussed…whatever it was they discussed. Laws and how to cut their shrubs, most likely.

Of the Inquisition, only Finley, her four advisors, Ser Yorric, Ser Jensen, and Ser Barris entered the large chamber. There were no windows and the rafters overhead would be miserable to reach—especially in a dress.

For the first time, Finley chose to simply hope an escape would not be necessary rather than trying to find which wall would give her the best footing up.

Bann Barris was already waiting for them along with a Bann Raeor. The two of them were the most vocal of the Ferelden court to support the Inquisition, though they assured them that many others thought well of what they were doing as well.

They talked about who would need to be swayed and what would need to be promised, and Finley did her best to keep track, feeling a bit of relief when Josephine whispered that making those promises could be directed to her.

As more of the Ferelden nobility filtered in, people began to take seats and Finley followed the rest of them to a seat that had been set up across the table from where the largest chairs were. She could guess who would be in those.

However, they had yet to arrive, and instead she sat there, looking about cautiously as she mulled over the things Sera had said.

As Leliana discussed with a bann about how they wished to close the rifts, but there were some they were hesitant to go to, as they did not want to be seen as a military force trespassing on Ferelden soil. The woman hardly seemed pleased with the assurances.

Finley was just wondering if Leliana’s accent would make more of the nobility on edge when a tap came from the table near her and she turned to see a man had taken a seat next to where the queen would be sitting. Bann Barris sat beside him, and she guessed he must be Bann Raeor.

“You know, you closed a great many rifts in my land,” he offered, with a polite, reassuring smile. “I cannot tell you how pleased I was with that. We were afraid we’d have to give up on crop harvests this year, with so many rifts near the King’s Road.”

The woman who had been talking to Leliana turned away from her conversation and let out a nasal laugh. “Ah, yes. That was the problem.” Even as Bann Raeor and Bann Barris both gave her an annoyed glare, the woman looked back at Finley. “Tell me, when you were in Bann Raeor’s land, what did you think of it?”

There was an awkward hush that fell over the table as the different nobles turned to her, and she could just see Josephine holding her breath out of the corner of her eye.

Talk to them like a friend…

“I’m sorry,” Finley offered a little tentatively as the bann gave her an expectant look. “I’m a little weak with…geography names. I have been learning, but there is so much, and a great many countries and as much as Lady Montilyet tries, not everything sticks with me quickly.”

That elicited laughter from a few of the Ferelden nobles. Bann Raeor held up a hand to quiet them. “You know, I had a cousin like you. Names were not his forte. Give him a map and he’d get lost, but tell him to turn left at the big tree with the broken limb and then head south until you see the stacked stones on the far hill, and he could get there before anyone else. My bann is mostly wooded, in the middle of Ferelden…”

As he kept going, Finley perked up, and after a moment, she waved for him to pause. “You’ve got the town with the windmills on either end and the skipping ponds—”

“That look like a swarm of snakes, I’m told.”

“Oh, it does.” Finley nodded.

“I’ve never had the imagination to see that,” he admitted, with a laugh.

Even as Finley offered that she remembered ‘his’ lands as having looked quite lovely—where the demons hadn’t rampaged, of course—another bann began describing her own lands, and it became somewhat of a game as Finley found herself piecing together Ferelden based on plants grown and faces whose names she could slowly associate with places.

“Tell me,” the bann who had sought to embarrass her fellow noble earlier insisted, smile in place. “I have heard you are not Ferelden, and you certainly lack the accent, but you are no Orlesian, either.”

Finley knew of the unfriendly terms between countries, and Josephine had told her of how much the nobility resented each other. However, there had been something of a talk about how she needed to not offend either country, as they would need to work with both.

And so for the first time in almost an hour, Finley felt like perhaps she was in a trap.

Pity they couldn’t just resume the bann game. There were still a few swaths of land she didn’t have a noble to place with.

No question came after the statement, and so Finley finally gave the woman a simple nod, repeating Sera’s advice in her head. “I am not Orlesian.”

The bann—what was her name—tilted her head. “But you are southern. If you are not from Ferelden, and not from Orlais, where are you from?”

“South.” The reply was out before Finley could consider that perhaps she shouldn’t say it.

“South,” the bann echoed. “South of the south.”

“Yes.”

At that, there was a bit of a hush, and then, rather abruptly, a laugh came from the doorway. Turning, Finley found a man striding lazily toward the table. She might have mistaken him for any other noble, were it not for the heavy metal circlet that rested in his hair, similar to Queen Anora’s, and yet more prominent. She walked beside him, expression hard to read.

King Cousland.

Chairs scraped as everyone rose for them, and she followed suit, waiting until they were seated before falling back into hers, feeling oddly trapped to be so near the man who was so renowned for his dislike for mages.

“South of south,” he repeated with a laugh that sent a shiver through her, tilting his head and appraising her, skipping any and all introductions. “So then, you admit that you’re a witch.”

The man had a crooked grin, and a look that said he had a plan. Donovan hadn’t given her word as to what he might have on her yet, but even as he spoke, the earlier fears of whatever he might have over her stemmed, if only a little. It was entirely possible to have something damning on her, but being a witch was not one. If this was his grand trump card…

This would be a dance she knew well.

“Your majesty,” she murmured, dipping her head as she’d been taught. “There are a great many people who live south of Ferelden, myself included, and the only ones I know of who claim to be witches are little more than mages who fear the bite of the blade.” She paused before adding, “Usually newly escaped Circle mages who somehow think that making themselves seem more dangerous will get people to leave them alone.”

“But not you.”

“I have never claimed to be a witch.” She’d said this before, to Cullen. She thought over what he had said, how he’d drawn conclusions and how his thinking had gone. She took in a slow breath and then motioned to him in what she hoped was a polite manner. “However, there are those who have mistaken me for one.”

“And what do you do when you’re dubbed a witch?”

“I move to a quieter part of the Wilds,” she replied simply, honestly. “Nothing good comes with a witch’s mantle.”

There were a few murmurs of approval from the nobles that struck her as surprising.

At that, King Cousland leaned against the table and stared pointedly at her. “Are you trying to tell me that you don’t believe in witches?”

“You do?”

Even as the demon’s whispers that he considered himself a witch hunter echoed in her mind, he shifted back in his seat, pleased with himself. “I’ve slain both Flemeth and one of her daughters.”

“Which one?”

“Her name was Morrigan.”

Even as the king smirked, Finley lightly clasped her hands in front of her, biting her lip a moment before giving him her best polite smile. “Forgive me, but I meant which Flemeth?”

Silence settled over the entire table.

The room was so quiet that Finley couldn’t help but feel like she was the only one breathing.

When no one spoke, Finley fought the urge to look to Cullen for support and instead glanced at Josephine to see how badly her comment had hurt them. However, the ambassador’s face was neutral. Leliana, however, had a twinkle of amusement in her eyes, and Finley took that as the encouragement that she needed. Looking back at the king, she shrugged lightly.

Like a friend, like a friend, like a friend…

“I simply mean, as I said, there are some mages who decide that being a witch will keep them safe, and I know half a dozen who claim the title Flemeth.” Mages she knew could be hurt if the wrong information was disclosed, but…these people knew there were mages out in the Wilds. If she kept her stories vague or out of their reach… “I’ve known others and heard of a great many more than that, though most of them meet unfortunate ends rather quickly. However, there’s a lovely little old lady in what I think would be south of Orlais who calls herself thus. She’s the sweetest thing until you walk through her rutabagas.” Finley reached up to scratch at her ear, annoyed that her hair was tied back too well to play with. “You wouldn’t think someone who liked plants so much would be so adept with fire, and yet…”

Bann Barris tilted his head. “Crossed her, did you?”

“I lost an entire coat to her fire.”

The bann let out a surprised laugh. “And what did you do?”

“Well, I didn’t walk through her rutabagas again.”

The laughter at that was such a burst. There was incredulity and amusement and…Finley felt like maybe this wasn’t as scary as she’d thought it was.

“So then, you’re not the Green Witch?”

The words had a harsh edge, and she could see that the king was less than amused with her story.

Like a friend…

“When it comes to titles of witches, it is generally several different mages under one mantle,” Finley offered. “I have helped people out of the woods before, so perhaps some of the Green Witch’s stories are based off of me.” It scared her to talk about this, but even as she felt like she couldn’t keep going, she considered how she’d wanted to tell Cullen more of her past before, of how she wanted him to know. Taking in a breath, she thought of Sera and of Cullen and of Donovan. Of the rifts and the places they hurt. “I know I was mistaken for the Witch of the Dales simply because I was a mage traveling through them once. I’ve probably been called Flemeth. It doesn’t make me her. Names in the Wilds do not mean as much as they do here. They are given, taken, and claimed on whims, really.”

“Is that why you have difficulty with them?” the bann from earlier asked. For once, she didn’t seem to be angling to embarrass anyone else.

“It could be,” Finley said, sitting back a little in her chair. “Honestly, I never thought of it.”

“How does that work then, Inquisitor Finley?” King Cousland leaned his elbows on the table, lacing his fingers and resting his chin on his hands.

That was not good.

He knew her name wasn’t Finley.

“Forgive me if I flounder,” Finley murmured, tilting her head one way and then another. “I’m not quite used to explaining, but…let me use an old friend. Yeelha was her name. I don’t know if it was her birth name or simply one she chose for herself, but that was her name.” It felt like the fun from earlier had been a mere dream as she remembered her fellow apostate. “However, she had others, titles given to her by people who did not know her. She was renowned as the Siren of the South for many years because she loved to sing. She was a healer, someone who helped the lost, a gentle soul. However, she was tal vashoth, and after being seen by villagers who had never seen a qunari and couldn’t imagine one being so far south, they declared her a desire demon because of her horns and magic. The Siren of the South became a witch of malice, a desire abomination, and many stories of escaped Circle mages wreaking havoc were attributed to her. Stories of dozens of mages became those of one witch, a witch she had been named.

“She had to leave the home she’d made, but even though she left shortly after the Blight, you will still hear that the Siren of the South wanders the woods south of the Bracillian Forest. Any mage who stays there for more than a week will find themselves with that title, and it doesn’t matter that they don’t have horns or even sing, because people say the Siren is hiding her true form.”

At that, she paused, drumming her fingers against the table when no one spoke. “What I mean is, most of the titles are a little like how the Banns are tied to the bannorn, only in reverse?” She glanced at them, wondering if she made sense. “Except rather than the land named for the people, the people are named for the legend of the land. Mages come and go, but the title is always there, and so outsiders assume the person is the same. It’s how you’ll hear of witches who have lived for hundreds of years. The truth is, they didn’t. It was just different people being called the same thing.” She paused, frowning. “The only titles I know that aren’t set to particular regions are Flemeth and her daughters. It’s typically newly escaped transients who try to claim thus, which is why you’ll hear stories from all over the Wilds of all that Flemeth and her daughters do.”

No need for them to know that there really was a Flemeth, and that whoever the king claimed to have killed, it couldn’t have been the real Flemeth.

That hush returned to the room as she finished speaking, and she wondered if she should have told them anything. Part of her wanted to assert that the Wilds were still very dangerous and they ought not to go wandering through them, witches or no, but she held her tongue.

If there was ever a time she needed to stay on topic, it was now.

It was the king who broke the silence, finally. She rather wished he hadn’t. “In other words, according to you, any mage could pretend to be a witch, and the witches of legends are not real. You’ve never met a real witch?”

“I should think I would remember if I had.”

“Did you consider perhaps they are out there and you are not worth their time?”

At that, Finley blinked, a little surprised. She considered what to say a moment, before thinking about one of the few things that reoccurred in her mind frequently enough these days. “I am told that I can be quite stubborn, and a few months ago I think I would have argued with you about whether witches were real or not, but…I also would have argued that there was no way—magical or other—to split the sky open. It is…painful to admit, but it is possible they could be out there, I suppose.”

As she spoke, she could feel the king’s gaze bearing down on her, even without a spell to tell her so. She looked back at him to see he was staring hard. Apparently, he was not pleased with her concession. “You mentioned escaped Circle mages a few times. I take it you’re not a fan of the Circles?”

“I know very little of them.”

He watched her like a templar.

She wished he would stop.

“You’ve never been in a Circle?”

“No.”

“Then you’ve never been Harrowed.” He crossed his arms.

Finley stared at him blankly. She’d heard of Harrowings before, that it was when mages were fed to demons to try to bring down the population of the Circles. She was fairly certain it wasn’t quite what Donovan had said, but still…

Cullen was the one to speak up, and she loved him for it. “The Inquisitor has faced her share of demons over the last few months, and we are confident in her abilities to resist their temptations.”

“The ones from the rifts?” King Cousland asked, relaxing somewhat as he turned to Cullen. “I’d heard they were mad.”

“Those among others,” Cullen replied, voice sure and steady.

“The Inquisitor faced down an Envy demon at Therinfal Redoubt,” Ser Barris spoke up. “After being kidnapped, she maintained herself and fought against both corrupted templars and the demon controlling them.”

“Without her, you would not be alive,” King Cousland said. His gaze slid to Ser Jensen. “Nor you. The two of you are rather indebted to a mage, aren’t you?”

Finley felt her blood run cold.

She could see herself as a little girl, a large hand wrapped around hers as she stumbled after one of her templars into the woods. Hurry as they might, it hadn’t been enough.

She’s had her magic less than a week and she’s already corrupted a templar.

“You have been a good king to your people,” Cullen said, even as Finley felt like the world was growing fainter. “Dark magics are harming them now. Let us remedy this before the rifts become too much to handle.”

She wanted to kiss him.

“Oh, I have every intention of letting you handle the rifts and giving you whatever you need to do so,” King Cousland replied, a more genuine smile settling on his features as he nodded to Cullen. The complete change in his demeanor made Finley shift a little in her seat, despite herself. He’d been so…harsh, and yet he was going to work with them after all? “Once I heard you were the Inquisition’s general, I knew any mages—saviors or no—would be properly leashed. You’ve always been good about keeping them in their place.”

She didn’t really hear what he said after that, something about mages not being people or how Finley was a pet or…

Some small part of her heard the objections resound from her side of the table, and noted the way Queen Anora leaned over to hiss something in his ear, calm demeanor breaking for a moment into anger.

However, more than that, she was stuck on what he had said before the insults began.

Once I heard you were the Inquisition’s general, I knew the mages would be leashed.

As things started to calm down, she dared a glance toward Cullen, only to feel her heart sink as he quickly looked away, unable to meet her gaze.

Apparently she didn’t know where she stood as well as she’d thought.

#dragon age #dragon age fanfiction #andraste's witch #witch!inquisitor #cullen rutherford #cullen x inquisitor #cullen x mage inquisitor #action/adventure #romance #this chapter's a bit longer than the last few

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jodyedgarus · 6 years ago

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The Browns Are Still A Nightmare. But Maybe Not For Long.

Back before the NFL season started, I dived into the Cleveland Browns’ miserable plight since the franchise was resurrected in 1999: One playoff bid in 19 years (and counting) … just two seasons above .500 … nine different head coaches … 28 starting quarterbacks … a combined 1-31 record in 2016 and 2017. You get the idea. I wondered whether it would ever be possible for the Browns to pull out of this cycle of doom, ultimately concluding that the team needed to start building a culture of stability and competency before it could begin truly laying the groundwork to compete.

But I suppose things have to get worse before they get better — because we’re eight weeks into the season and Cleveland has fired yet another coach. This time it’s Hue Jackson getting the boot, ending what was statistically the worst coaching tenure of any one coach with any one team in NFL history.1 Jackson, who probably should have been shown the door after last season’s 0-16 campaign, appears to have sealed his fate by bickering internally with offensive coordinator Todd Haley, who was fired at the same time. It didn’t help that Jackson also lost five of the season’s first eight games, with a tie thrown in for good measure.

The funny thing is, the Browns have actually shown signs of life this season — at least, by Browns standards. So let’s take a look at where they’ve improved — and whether there is more hope in Cleveland than usual in the wake of the team’s latest coaching shake-up.

For one thing, the Browns have been much more competitive this season than last. (Granted, it would have been a real challenge to get worse.) Their Simple Rating System (SRS) score of -3.5 ranks 24th in the league, but it’s also more than a touchdown per game better than their -11.0 rating from last season, making Cleveland one of the most improved teams in the NFL this year.

2018′s most improved NFL teams

Largest year-over-year changes in Simple Rating System (SRS) scores for 2018 NFL teams

2017 SRS Change in 2018 Team Off. Def. Tot. Off. Def. Tot. 1 Colts -6.1 -4.0 -10.1 +11.4 -0.4 +11.0 2 Broncos -3.9 -2.9 -6.7 +3.9 +5.5 +9.3 3 Chiefs +3.8 -0.3 +3.4 +8.7 -0.6 +8.2 4 Browns -6.8 -4.1 -11.0 +2.7 +4.7 +7.5 5 Texans -0.8 -5.6 -6.4 +1.7 +5.6 +7.4 6 Bears -4.6 +3.3 -1.3 +6.7 +0.1 +6.8 7 Bengals -4.1 -0.9 -5.0 +6.2 -0.9 +5.3 8 Seahawks +0.7 +1.2 +1.9 +0.9 +3.8 +4.7 9 Ravens +2.2 +1.2 +3.4 -0.8 +5.3 +4.5 10 Jets -2.9 -2.1 -4.9 +2.4 +0.5 +2.8

The Simple Rating System is a way of rating NFL teams that measures points per game (for, against and as a differential) relative to average after adjusting for a team’s strength of schedule.

Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com

Last year’s Browns did go 0-6 in games decided by one score, but they also lost eight games by at least two touchdowns. At any randomly selected moment of the 2017 season, they trailed by an average of 6.1 points. This year, they’ve trailed by an average of 3.8 points at any given moment — still not great, but at least indicative of how much more in the hunt they’ve been most weeks. Indeed, four of Cleveland’s games have ended in overtime, which already ties them for the most OT games a team has played in a season since at least 2001.2

The biggest reason for Cleveland’s uptick in performance hasn’t been the play of hyped rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield (more on him later). Instead it’s been a defense that, relative to opponent, ranks as the best in the league so far this year in terms of expected points added (EPA). Against Cleveland, Browns’ opponents are averaging 7.5 fewer offensive EPA per game than they are against all other teams, including 9.0 fewer through the air.

The Browns’ defense is cooling down opposing offenses

Offensive expected points added per game for teams against the Cleveland Browns and against all other teams, 2018 season

EPA/G vs. Browns EPA/G vs Others Opponent Games Tot Off. Pass Off. Rush Off. Tot Off. Pass Off. Rush Off. Steelers 2 -1.5 -1.0 +0.8 +12.2 +9.9 +1.4 Buccaneers 1 -3.1 -7.9 +1.4 +8.8 +9.7 -0.5 Chargers 1 +12.5 +4.9 +9.1 +9.8 +10.9 -0.8 Ravens 1 -10.9 -13.9 +1.3 +5.6 +6.2 -0.6 Raiders 1 +5.6 +6.4 -1.0 -0.4 -0.4 -0.1 Jets 1 -6.8 -5.6 +0.0 -6.2 -2.5 -2.9 Saints 1 -1.3 -0.6 -3.2 +15.8 +13.2 +1.9

Source: ESPN Stats & Information Group

That’s a big contrast to last season’s Browns, who were among the 10 worst defensive teams in the league and were particularly bad against the pass. This year, Cleveland is allowing the third-lowest adjusted net yards per attempt3 (ANY/A) of any team in football — a huge testament to the team’s pass coverage, given that the Browns have the league’s fifth-lowest rate of pressures per opposing dropback despite blitzing the third-most frequently of any team. (Stellar defensive end Myles Garrett has eight sacks by himself, but the rest of the team has only 12.) According to the grading system of ProFootballFocus.com, rookie Denzel Ward has been the ninth-best cornerback in the league so far, while safety Damarious Randall and even linebacker Joe Schobert — who ranks as PFF’s top LB in coverage this season — have done quality work stifling opposing pass-catchers.

Just having a defense that puts the team in a position to compete represents a huge improvement for Cleveland. But the scoring attack hasn’t kept pace, despite the pedigrees of Jackson and Haley as offensive coaches. The Browns are 26th in offensive SRS; they’ve produced the fifth-fewest offensive EPA per game in the NFL and the fourth-fewest yards per play; they own the league’s third-worst third-down efficiency mark.

(We’ll set aside a conversation about Cleveland’s horrid special teams, which has already produced nine missed kicks4 between two different kickers.)

Although it’s better than last year’s DeShone Kizer-led disaster, Cleveland’s passing game still ranks just 30th in adjusted net yards per attempt, with Mayfield sitting 29th out of 34 qualified QBs in ANY/A. It isn’t necessarily Mayfield’s fault: Being a rookie quarterback is hard enough, and the Browns have made it even harder on their new QB. Mayfield lost prospective top target Josh Gordon when Cleveland dealt the receiver to New England in mid-September, and then he said goodbye to starting running back Carlos Hyde, whom the team traded to the Jaguars a month later. Meanwhile, his offensive line is allowing the league’s fifth-highest rate of pressures per dropback, and Cleveland’s receivers currently have the highest drop rate in the league.

Mayfield himself has fought through the team’s situation to tie New York Jets QB Sam Darnold for the best ANY/A of any blue-chip rookie this season. He’s shown better accuracy and more composure under pressure than any of his rookie-class compatriots, with a lower interception rate to boot. However, none of the passers in this year’s rookie crop have played at an average level, or even that of a high-level backup QB — which is pretty much to be expected from a collection of signal callers making their debuts on below-average teams.

Comparing the 2018 rookie QB class

Key passing statistics for 2018 rookie quarterbacks (min. 25 attempts)

Quarterback Team Comp% Yds/C TD% Int% Sack% ANY/A YABQ S. Darnold NYJ 55.2% 12.4 4.4% 4.0% 6.4% 5.1 -181 J. Rosen ARI 55.6 11.4 3.0 3.6 8.6 4.3 -322 B. Mayfield CLE 58.3 11.3 3.6 2.7 8.2 5.1 -348 J. Allen BUF 54.0 11.1 1.4 3.6 13.1 3.0 -424 NFL average 64.8 11.6 5.0 2.4 6.6 6.5 —

YABQ = Yards Above Backup Quarterback, a statistic that summarizes a QB’s passing and rushing production (after adjusting for strength of schedule), relative to that of a typical backup QB in the same number of plays.

Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com

To be sure, Mayfield has been far from perfect. His performances look even worse after adjusting for the quality of his competition, since he has put up subpar numbers despite facing what is by far the easiest slate of opposing pass defenses of any quarterback in the league this season.5 After synthesizing all of that into our Yards Above Backup Quarterback (YAQB) metric, Mayfield has been less valuable than either Darnold or Josh Rosen, though Rosen has compiled his numbers in fewer attempts. (On a per-dropback basis, Mayfield pulls ahead of Rosen, though he is still far behind Darnold.)

But while it would have been ideal for the Browns to see Mayfield burst out of the gates with a statistical season like the ones produced by recent rookies Dak Prescott (1,199 YABQ), Robert Griffin III (990) and Russell Wilson (934), it’s entirely possible to emerge from a rough rookie season unscathed as a young passer. Donovan McNabb (-350), Troy Aikman (-374), Matthew Stafford (-569), Terry Bradshaw (-586) and Jared Goff (-660) all debuted with the types of performances Mayfield is tracking for, and they all rebounded. (That said, plenty of bad quarterbacks — Ryan Leaf, Blaine Gabbert, Christian Ponder, etc. — also had similarly bad numbers. Judging QBs is hard!) And according to ProFootballFocus, Mayfield is tied for the 16th-best grade of any QB in the league, so the stats may just be penalizing him for the poor performance of his teammates.

Either way, the Browns are banking heavily on Mayfield’s potential — and that was one of the reasons Jackson had to go as head coach. In the big picture, they’re hoping the combination of a promising young QB, an emerging defense and a die-hard fan base proves enticing for whomever Cleveland’s next coach will be. Just the same, though, this week’s move has tacked even more points onto the Browns’ CHAOS (Cumulative High-Activity Organizational Strife) score, which already was the highest in the league over the past two decades. Setting aside the reasons for the change, it’s fitting that the Browns would have made the first coaching swap of the 2018 season, though that’s not overly encouraging for a team dragged down by so much instability over the years.

As for the short term, the Browns have said they’re not giving up on 2018 quite yet. Although our Elo prediction model gives Cleveland only a 0.3 percent chance of making the postseason, Elo is probably too hard on the Browns, if we’re being honest. It still ranks them as the worst team in football, while they rank only ninth-worst in SRS, sixth-worst in Football Outsiders’ Defense-adjusted Value Over Replacement and seventh-worst in Inpredictable’s betting market ratings. Why? Elo doesn’t give teams any credit for being competitive in games they ultimately lose. And if the 2018 Browns have a calling card, that’s sort of it.

The best matchups of Week 9

Week 9 games by the highest average Elo rating (using the harmonic mean) plus the total potential swing for the two teams’ playoff chances, according to FiveThirtyEight’s NFL predictions

Playoff % Playoff % Team A Current Avg. Chg* Team B Current Avg. Chg* Total Change Game Quality BAL 50.8% ±18.4 PIT 67.8% ±15.5 33.9 1584 SEA 55.0 13.1 LAC 74.5 9.3 22.4 1577 WSH 60.4 15.7 ATL 23.3 12.8 28.5 1539 MIN 50.8 15.2 DET 18.5 11.7 26.9 1535 NO 87.5 7.4 LAR 98.5 1.0 8.4 1650 CAR 68.1 11.7 TB 10.9 7.5 19.2 1529 GB 18.2 6.9 NE 97.3 1.6 8.6 1563 TEN 28.5 10.8 DAL 21.1 7.7 18.5 1503 HOU 64.2 13.6 DEN 8.9 6.0 19.6 1468 CHI 40.5 12.7 BUF 1.5 1.2 13.9 1450 KC 99.5 0.5 CLE 0.3 0.3 0.8 1469 MIA 16.7 8.7 NYJ 4.9 4.3 13.0 1426 OAK 0.2 0.2 SF 0.1 0.1 0.3 1370

Game quality is the harmonic mean of the Elo ratings for the two teams in a given matchup.

*Average change is weighted by the likelihood of a win or loss. (Ties are excluded.)

Source: ESPN.com

None of that is likely to matter this week, of course, in a game against the dominant Kansas City Chiefs, where any metric you use would consider K.C. a major favorite. (See above.) But even though you wouldn’t know it from the bleak Elo and yet another spin on the NFL coaching carousel, the Browns do appear to be in a better place now than they’ve been in at least a few seasons.

FiveThirtyEight vs. the readers

All season long, you can follow along with FiveThirtyEight’s Elo ratings in our NFL prediction interactive, which simulates the rest of the season 100,000 times and tracks how often each team should make the playoffs and win the Super Bowl. In conjunction, you can also pick against the Elo algorithm in our prediction game. (What do you win? Bragging rights! And a place on our giant leaderboard.)

Here are the games in which Elo made its best — and worst — predictions against the reader picks last week:

Elo’s dumbest (and smartest) picks of Week 8

Average difference between points won by readers and by Elo in Week 8 matchups in FiveThirtyEight’s NFL prediction game

OUR PREDICTION (ELO) READERS’ PREDICTION PICK WIN PROB. PICK WIN PROB. Result READERS’ NET PTS OAK 56% IND 57% IND 42, OAK 28 +11.1 MIN 55 NO 52 NO 30, MIN 20 +5.4 NE 71 NE 85 NE 25, BUF 6 +4.3 DET 57 DET 53 SEA 28, DET 14 +2.6 CHI 65 CHI 69 CHI 24, NYJ 10 +1.1 CIN 62 CIN 64 CIN 37, TB 34 -0.3 WSH 61 WSH 63 WSH 20, NYG 13 -0.3 HOU 60 HOU 62 HOU 42, MIA 23 -0.3 KC 82 KC 83 KC 30, DEN 23 -1.4 LAR 79 LAR 74 LAR 29, GB 27 -4.5 PHI 67 PHI 63 PHI 24, JAX 18 -4.7 PIT 88 PIT 78 PIT 33, CLE 18 -5.7 CAR 57 CAR 52 CAR 36, BAL 21 -6.6 ARI 58 ARI 50 ARI 18, SF 15 -9.0

Home teams are in bold.

The scoring system is nonlinear, so readers’ average points don’t necessarily match the number of points that would be given to the average reader prediction.

After notching their first collective win of the season against Elo a week ago, the field didn’t quite keep its momentum going in Week 8, losing by the narrow margin of 8.3 points (on average). Readers were smart to keep betting against Jon Gruden’s Raiders, but they gave back some points in wins by the Cardinals, Panthers and Steelers.

A quick note: We’ve had readers email to ask why the average user lost points on games in which the readers and Elo had the same average pick probability. That’s because of the nonlinear nature of the game — even when the average picks are the same, a few disastrous (or amazing) picks on either side can swing the point totals. For instance, many readers will pick matchups with 0 percent or 100 percent probabilities, causing them to lose net points when the result goes in the opposite direction. (Naturally, Elo will basically never pick with such certitude, so even when it’s wrong, it loses fewer points relative to those overconfident readers.)

Anyway, congrats to Erik de Loos and Ryan Seay, who tied for lead among users in Week 8 with 350.0 points, and to Ellis, who took the seasonlong lead with 779.6 points. Thanks to everyone who has been playing — and if you haven’t, be sure to get in on the action! You can make picks now and still try your luck against Elo, even if you haven’t played yet.

Check out our latest NFL predictions.

from News About Sports https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-browns-are-still-a-nightmare-but-maybe-not-for-long/

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