#christina plays three houses

[voxmilia]

I love that three houses took 3 of their shortest girls - Edelgard, Hilda, and Annette - and made two of them axe wielders by default and gave the other a massive axe relic called Crusher

[silas-222]

Having a child in your late twenties seemed normal right? Yeah. Having a baby daddy that sadly missed the birth of his first child? God the guilt he feels for missing a majority of the pregnancy. Give the poor man a break. 

Simon 'Ghost' Riley was a military man with mountains and mountains of trauma on him, the first time he was told he was going to be a father, he felt like he was gonna breakdown. Not wanting to be like that abusive piece of shit, he swore he'd be better, starting a couple of self help exercises, reading a lot of baby books, he probably knew more about the pregnancy than you. 

But it's been a couple years since then. Giving birth to a beautiful baby girl, small complications that are now there for life and a little chunky, but still absolutely beautiful. Leslie Christina Riley was the name gifted to her. Your black hair, Simon's hazel/green eyes, and his small crooked nose. A perfect mix of the two of you.

As for right now, you were waiting for your daughter to exit out of her elementary gate, "mommy!!" "Baby!!" You both squealed before you picked her up and swung her around before kissing her head softly. "How was school hon?" You asked as your hand went to fix her hair as the other held her on your hip. 

"It was sooo good mommy!" She began to talk as your legs made way to the car where Simon was hiding from her, a surprise that he was home for her. "I got invited to a sleep over at Juliana's house, it's for Friday!" She told as she rested her head on your shoulder. 

A sleepover? Of course you've met Juliana's mother before but a sleepover at five and six year old? Not that big of a fan for this idea. "Mm I'll think about if you can go okay love?" You spoke softly. Not wanting to explain that there are bad people in the world, exposing your five year old to it. "Okay mommy." She muttered.

As you opened the back car door, she climbed in the car seat , buckled herself in, then grabbed her invite from Juliana's mother to hand it to you. 

"Rah!" Simon growled as he went to tickle her, immediate giggles leaving her mouth. "Wait... DADDY!" She screamed as she realized that it was her loving father. "Yeah, hi little love." He kissed her head. 

You got in the car and started driving, Simon staying in the backseat, listening to your daughter talk about school and the sleepover. 

20 minutes later

Having made it safely home, all three of you, including Riley were outside. Riley and Leslie were playing around in the backyard as you and Simon sat on the patio. "Soo her sleepover.. are you gonna let her go?" Simon asked as your eyes were trained on Leslie. "I don't know.. because I want her to go but what if something bad happens to her? She's five Si.. she doesn't know how to defend herself and she can't defend herself if she wanted to..!" You stressed.

When Leslie was born—she was a very weak baby, you were in the hospital for a month before you were finally let back home with your small baby. Fearing SIDS would take into place, you and Simon lost sleep over her. Thank whatever lord is above that it never happened.

"Hey.." Simon grabbed your hands and rubbed the back of your knuckles, "calm down... you can talk to her about it.." he pulled you into a hug as Leslie and Riley came running over. "Daddy! Mommy! Look at Riley! She so silly!" She giggled as she pointed at the German shepherd, mud covering her face along with—

"Riley! Did you get into my roses!?" You scolded the dog, looking at Simon, "that is your dog." You teased. 

"Yeah yeah, Riley no getting into the roses, mama's told you that." He scolded as Leslie sat infront of you. "Love, explain to her on what we were talking about okay?" He kissed your shoulder and Leslie's head as he picked up Riley with ease so he could go give her a bath. 

"Babydoll come here..." you said softly, grabbing Leslie's hand as she stood infront of you then climbed in your lap so you two were face to face. "You know how you got invited to Juliana's sleepover?" 

She nodded and hummed softly, "I know you wanna go but it's scary for mommy.." 

"Why?"

"Because mommy can't protect you there, you know how I always protect you and daddy protects all of us, even Riley protects and helps daddy when you and I can't be there with him."

"But mommy I'll be okay.. Juliana's mommy will protect me at there." She tried to convince you. 

"But baby what if someone comes in and takes you? You can go baby but it scares me, it scares daddy too. I know Juliana's mommy can help you but for us it's scary. We trust you so much mama but it's other people in the world." I tried to explain to her, frowning as I noticed her eyes tearing up. “Please don’t cry hon.. you can still go but I want you to know that sometimes you can’t go okay?” I wiped her chubby cheeks. 

Leslie nodded before she turned to Simon, “daddy are you gonna cry?” She asked him with a small tease. “Nah, too strong for that..” he teased her back, “just like you’re too small to have a boyfriend!” He playfully scolded her about the little boy who had a crush on her. 

[justforbooks]

Christina Hendricks

The star of Good Girls discusses Mad Men, sexual harassment and squaring her glamorous reputation with her ‘weird, goofy’ personality

Christina Hendricks appears on our video call with the most dramatic backdrop. Art deco gold peacocks bedeck a black wall, making her look, as she has so often in her career, a bit too good to be human. Perfectly poised, perfectly framed, perfectly lit, she is more like a dreamy vision of what humans look like. “I, erm, like your wall,” I say, pointlessly. She flashes a smile, as if to say: “Obviously.”

We are here primarily to discuss the comedy-drama series Good Girls, the fourth season of which will resume in the US this month after a midseason break. The elevator pitch would be Breaking Bad for girls: three suburban women, each hovering on the edge of bankruptcy, unite to embark on a life of cack-handed crime, only to discover they are good at it. The ensemble – Hendricks, Mae Whitman, who plays her sister, and Retta, their friend – works strikingly well, their pacey comic rapport instilling a sense of perpetual motion. You just can’t imagine Good Girls ending. Every time a plot line seems to be reaching its climax, something worse – and funnier – happens.

“It’s funny you say that, because originally, when I read the pilot script, I thought: ‘I love this, but I can’t imagine this being more than one episode,’” says Hendricks. “It felt like it finished itself.” She is unsentimental about it. Hendricks wasn’t looking for a new show – “I was happy doing films, taking my time” – but went into it with her eyes open. It is a network drama, for NBC – it is shown on Netflix in the UK – so producers are always aware that “it’s going into every house in the US on a Thursday or a Sunday and a family is watching it. They’re much more careful about numbers and advertisers and people being offended or not getting it. A cable show is much more: ‘We trust this creator – they’re a visionary.’”

It has a conventional tone – however dark the material, it is handled very lightly. Yet you can’t help but notice some hard-boiled social commentary from the off – if it weren’t for the bracingly callous US health system, the generation of wage-stagnation casualties and the patriarchy, none of the characters would have gone anywhere near a supermarket heist. More than Breaking Bad, it reminds me of Roseanne and the golden age of US mainstream comedy, when you could be poor on TV without that being a breach of good taste.

The 48-year-old has been a household name for almost 15 years, thanks to Mad Men. She was born in Tennessee, where her mother was a psychologist and her father worked for the Forest Service, and educated in Oregon and then Idaho. She didn’t have time for formal acting training; by the time she was 18, her modelling career had taken off. Later, when she had a manager, she took acting lessons: “I did that for almost a year and a half and put auditions on ice. Then I was watching a film – I don’t even remember what film it was or who was in it – and I thought: ‘I’m ready. I can do this.’” She has the most insistent work ethic; as she describes her life’s trajectory, she notes diligently the jobs she had while she was at high school, at a hair salon and a menswear shop.

In 2007, she appeared as Joan Holloway in Mad Men. She played the role for the next eight years, her character growing around the depth she brought to it, until by season seven she was almost the central part. In the early 2010s, Hendricks was talked about constantly, although she says the original focal points of obsession were the male characters: “Men started dressing like Don Draper and Roger Sterling. Suits came back in, skinny ties came back in. It took three to four seasons and then all of a sudden people wanted us [the female stars] on magazines. We were like: ‘This is strange – we’ve been doing this for a while.’”

Hendricks, along with January Jones, who played Betty Draper, came to represent so much. There was a great deal of rumination on their physicality, Jones as elegant as an afghan hound, Hendricks like the pin-up painted on the side of a bomber. What did it mean, people asked, that in the middle of the 20th century there were multiple ideals of the female form, whereas in the 21st century there was only one? How did that complicate the perception of gender equality as a steady march towards the light? Thousands of column inches went on that question – but, from the actor’s perspective, it was an annoying distraction. “There certainly was a time when we were very critically acclaimed, and getting a lot of attention for our very good work and our very hard work, and everyone just wanted to ask me about my bra again. There are only two sentences to say about a bra,” she says.

The signal impression the show left was of an ensemble at the peak of its creativity: actors, writers and the creator, Matthew Weiner, working in almost telepathic unison. It won the Emmy for outstanding drama series four times in a row, but the more notable year was 2012, when it was nominated for 17 Emmys (and didn’t win any of them). The take-home was: everyone involved with this is absolutely brilliant.

That harmonious picture was blurred two years after the show ended, when one of the former writers, Kater Gordon, accused Weiner of sexual harassment. Marti Noxon, a consulting producer on Mad Men, concurred that Weiner had created a toxic environment and said that he was an “‘emotional terrorist’ who will badger, seduce and even tantrum in an attempt to get his needs met”.

Hendricks takes this head on, in a considered, straightforward manner. “My relationship with Matt was in no way toxic,” she says. “I don’t discount anyone’s experience if I wasn’t there to see it, but that wasn’t my experience. Was he a perfectionist, was he tough, did he expect a lot? Yes. And he would say that in a second. We were hard on each other.”

It is impossible, from this distance, to adjudicate on Weiner’s character, but Hendricks’s response reveals something of hers. The easiest response in this situation, and the one 90% of actors give, is: “No comment.” Hendricks is always collected, never evasive, doesn’t gabble. She reminds me powerfully of Joan Holloway – and I am sorry to say it, because she insists throughout: “I’m an actress. I am completely not Joan. Not in any way. I wish I was more like Joan.”

I wonder if, while we were all fixating on Joan’s bras and whether or not, in the asinine words of Lynne Featherstone, the UK’s equalities minister in 2010, she represented a “curvy role model”, the audience was responding to Joan’s deeper life lesson – that self-possession is 9/10ths of the law.

What Hendricks emphatically doesn’t do is minimise the existence of sexism and sexual harassment in the industry: “Boy, do you think anyone in the entertainment industry comes out unscathed and not objectified? I don’t know one musician or one model or one actor who has escaped that. I have had moments – not on Mad Men; on other things – where people have tried to take advantage of me, use my body in a way I wasn’t comfortable with, persuade me or coerce me or professionally shame me: ‘If you took your work seriously, you would do this …’

“Maybe it was my modelling background, but I knew to immediately get on the phone and go: ‘Uh oh, trouble,’” she says. “That’s where it’s very much a job. We need to talk to the producers and handle this professionally.”

Yet, at the same time, she is defensive of her industry. “It gets a lot of attention because people know who we are. I’m sure there’s a casting couch at the bank down the street, I’m sure the same thing happens in management consultancy, but people don’t know who the management consultants are.”

Modelling always sounds like a harsh environment – predatory photographers vying with stringent agents to give everyone a complex about their thighs and stop them eating carbs. But that is not how Hendricks describes it at all. Her career sounds like one out of an 80s Judy annual: innocent and hearty, good for pin money and travel opportunities. “I think I was lucky – I didn’t start when I was 14. When I was about 18 or 19, I went to Japan for the first time, I went to Italy. We’d be lots of girls, sharing a house, and I sort of became the den mother. I’d make everyone egg salad sandwiches and Greek salads, going into this mother hen role.”

That is what they say about being taken hostage: if you want to survive, choose someone to look after. “Oh,” she says, coolly. “I wouldn’t consider being a model as being a hostage.”

She was only ever medium-successful, she insists – an “unusual and quirky” hire, rather than the slam-dunk face of everything. About as far as it went was that she never had to get another job to supplement her income. Probably the most famous image of that era in which she was involved was the poster for American Beauty. Two models were in the frame, so they took a photo of the stomach and the hands of each. In the end, they used Hendricks’s hand on the other model’s stomach. It sounds like a clunky metaphor, but it is true.

During this period, she moved to London with a friend, for the hell of it, living in a flat on Gloucester Road, “surviving on cider and hummus”. It is a glimpse of the oddball she says she was growing up, the outsider as whom she is rarely cast. This has been the story of her CV. “Early on in my career, I would get auditions and I would call my manager and say: ‘I would never cast me in this – she’s a cheerleader, she’s a bimbo. Can I audition for the other one, the weird doctor?’ And they’d be like: ‘No, they saw your picture.’ And I started realising that people didn’t see the weird, goofy me that I saw.”

She made the jump from modelling to acting via adverts, with what looks like fairytale ease. In fact, it was “a lot of pounding the pavement and showing up for auditions and getting rejected – and learning, as a young woman, to not take that personally”. By the late 90s, she was the face of ultimate female confidence, the woman who drinks Johnnie Walker and doesn’t need a chauffeur (these are two ads, not one for drink-driving). “I always thought of modelling as freeze-frame acting. It felt like a scene, and I still consider it that way. There are so many technical things that I think people don’t notice. They see you playing dress-up.”

From the commercials, she learned “how to hit a mark, how to memorise a line”, but acting wasn’t novel. She had been doing community theatre since the age of 10, and grew up expecting an alternative life, supplementing an art-house existence any which way. She never amplifies her creative urges. She is much happier talking about professionalism and graft, but that is strategic more than anything else. “I am incredibly emotional and I take things very personally. But I’ve learned to be a little bit of a politician and a little bit of a producer along the way. As a female actor, the easy go-to is: ‘She was emotional, she was hysterical.’ It can be a million other people’s fault, but it’s easy to point your finger at an emotional artist. So, I realised: if I’m going to be taken seriously, I need to have professional perspective and I can cry about it to my friends later.”

Yet she cares deeply about creativity, as is clear when she talks about Mad Men. “It may eclipse anything I ever did. And, if it does, it was a good one and I’m proud of it,” she says. “I got to bring who I was as a woman. I think I learned some of how to be a woman from Joan. No one would give a shit about me if it wasn’t for that show. I’d still be doing good work, but no one would have found me. If that’s the best thing I ever do, it was pretty good.”

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[staticintone]

This has been a long time coming, but here is my "Nonspecific/Non-writing RAM playlist". As in, lots of random songs that don't necessarily fit my Alastor, the vibes, or I feel like they only fit some particular situations. Warning: the list is long for absolutely no good reason.

Bubblegum, love, or overall pop-y songs that absolutely do not fit the vibes (or are almost crack) but are funny or awful in context:

Unconditionally [Katy Perry]—Alastor to Vox. Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself) [Ne-Yo]—Alastor to Vox. Walls [Natalie Taylor]—Alastor to Vox. Part of Your World (Reprise) [Jodi Benson]—Vox to Alastor. Irreplaceable [Beyoncé]—Multiverse song that the Voxs probably assume Alastor would sing about them. The Phantom of the Opera [Andrew Lloyd Webber]—Come on, I had to, for Vox and Alastor. Lost in the Woods [Jonathan Groff]—Vox to Alastor, or even vice versa if you're like me and think Alastor is the most. Infinity [Jaymes Young]—This is just Alastor's love song in general, but a lot more twisted in context. FRIENDS [Marshmello, Anne-Marie]—Not my Alastor, but the canon RAM Alastor to Vox. One Last Time [Ariana Grande]—Not a perfect one to one, but Valentino to Vox potentially. Oops...I Did It Again [Britney Spears]—Alastor playing around with Vox's feelings knowing the directive will set in and prevent him from doing anything about it. Slipping [Neil Patrick Harris]—Multiverse Alastor shenanigans. Welcome to My Life [Simple Plan]—Vito to the other Voxs getting RAM'd in the multiverse. We Don't Talk About Bruno [Encanto - Cast]—Multiverse Alastors talking about RAM Alastor. Isabella is Alex in particular. The Best Day Ever [Spongebob Squarepants]—Niffty. Chasing Cars [Snow Patrol]—Vox and Alastor. Horny Angry Tango [Rachel Bloom, Scott Michael Foster]—The fight between Alastor and Vox. GUY.exe [Superfruit]—Alastor, especially in the multiverse. You're My Best Friend (And I Know I'm Not Yours) [Pete Gardner]—Niffty to Vox probably. Confrontation [Jekyll & Hyde]—Main and RAM Alastor, but Jekyll is RAM and Main is Hyde. Those Magic Changes [Sha Na Na]—Vox in the tower during those seven years. Skin [Sabrina Carpenter]—Alastor in the multiverse to all his detractors. Jaded [Miley Cyrus]—Multiverse Alastor to the Vox leading the charge against him. Psycho [Taylor Acorn]—Alastor to Vox. Lover Of Mine [5 Seconds of Summer]—Alastor to Vox. Francesca [Hozier]—Alastor to Vox in the most twisted of contexts. Skyscraper [Demi Lovato]—Vox to Alastor. you broke me first [Tate McRae]—Alastor to Vox. Broken [Lifehouse]—Vox to Alastor. Let Go [Frou Frou]—Alastor to Vox.

Songs that fit the AU a little better but might be questionable for one reason or another:

In the End [Linkin Park]—Vox. Comatose [Skillet]—Vox to Alastor. The Killing Kind [Marianas Trench]—This song is in three parts, but the first part feels very Alastor, especially the building manic pace. Saints [Echos]—A more lucid Vox to Alastor. Scratch [Kendall Payne]—Velvette about herself and Vox. Falling Inside the Black [Skillet]—Vox to Alastor. Hurt [Christina Aguilera]—Velvette to Vox. Silk [Crywolf, MOTHICA]—This is overall a sex song, but I think taken literally it has very Vox and Alastor vibes. Before You Go [Lewis Capauldi]—Valentino to Vox. CEPHALOTUS [Crywolf]—Vox. Without You [Breaking Benjamin]—Valentino to Vox. Leave My Body [Florence + The Machine]—Vox. The Diary of Jane [Breaking Benjamin]—Vox to Alastor. Car Radio [Twenty One Pilots]—Vox. DATURA [paroxysm] [Crywolf]—Vox about Alastor. Believe [Mumford & Sons]—Vox to Alastor. Sail [AWOLNATION]—Alastor. Black Magic [Jaymes Young]—Vox to Alastor. Not Who We Were [Em Beihold]—Niffty. ULTRAVIOLENT [adrenochrome] [Crywolf]—Vox to Alastor. Love [Daughter]—Valentino about Vox and Alastor. Blame [Echos]—Vox. Craving - Acoustic [YMIR]—Vox to Alastor. House a Habit [We Are the Guests]—Not sure why, but it gives me big Niffty vibes. Frozen [Within Temptation]—Vox to Alastor and potentially vice versa. Hate Me [Blue October]—Alastor to Vox, in some ways, but not all. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) [Eurythmics]—Alastor.

Songs that are incredibly specific to either particular roleplays or circumstances:

Learn to Love [Jessi Smiles, Joey Emmanuel]—Velvette and Valentino to Vox, particularly if he gets his memories back and is trying to move on. Slowly [Susanne Sundfør]—Potentially Vox during the Reassurance phase of my version of the Ordeal. The Seal Lullaby [Eric Whitacre]—The Reassurance phase, and potentially what Alastor would have hummed or sang during it. Angels [Within Temptation]—Either Other Ending or Heaven Ending Vox.

[moontrinemars]

TENTH LORD in SUN NAKSHATRAS

As always, recorded for my own benefit, published for yours. Sidereal placements used. General disclaimer is in my bio. Credit to KRSchannel for inspiring this series.

Find your 10th lord here, and find your 10th lord's nakshatra here.

The 10th house rules our life's honor. It represents the services we perform for society as well as the reputation we earn as a result. It is associated with the father and the career because traditionally, this is where both our standing in society and the role we performed in society would come from - inherited through the father's family line. However, in our contemporary world, this isn't always the case, which is why it's important to know the grander themes at play.

The three Sun-ruled nakshatras are Krittika, Uttara Phalguni, and Uttara Ashadha.

The sun is the luminary object that represents what we make of ourselves. It is not our most base self (the Ascendant) or what our experiences make of us (the moon). Instead, it is how our decisions define us. Growth, and personal development must all come through the sun in some way - because success, while partially circumstantial, is also dependent on us pursuing joy, or even just allowing ourselves some happiness in whatever form we find it. Essentially, the sun is who we choose to be - and who we might be if we put forth the effort to flourish rather than just survive.

Do you have your 10th lord in a Sun-ruled nakshatra? That means you...

Katharine Hepburn, Cardi B, and Eartha Kitt all have their tenth lords in Sun ruled nakshatras. Katharine's is in Krittika, Cardi's is in Uttara Phalguni, and Eartha's is in Uttara Ashadha.

... use your energy, warmth, and personality to shape your career and your communities, and vice versa.

This placement is a ticket to a rising status - which is good, because individuals with this placement have an inborn need to improve their station, and then to improve the world through their new influence. They come across as effortlessly magnetic to the public, and yet, to their peers, they remain thoroughly relatable. They are capable of spearheading projects that nobody else would have the courage to even consider, but they may allow their ego or pride to dictate how they handle their responsibilities to society.

As for famous natives, well, fame is the wheelhouse of the sun, particularly in terms of popularity. The term cult of personality comes to mind, as it is these natives who come to immense profit simply by acting like themselves. In turn, this is the only placement where benefitting from fame nepotism is more bad than good, as the native's sun is eclipsed by the star that already hung in the sky, after having risen to prominence of its own accord. Regardless, this is a generous placement, and a lot of philanthropy can be traced back to these celebrity natives, even before it was trendy.

More on the specifics of Krittika, Uttara Phalguni, and Uttara Ashadha below!

If KRITTIKA RULES the TENTH LORD, you...

Shakira, Lon Chaney, and Billie Lourd all have their tenth lords in Krittika. Others with this placement are Christina Applegate, Franz Kafka, Wayne Newton, Alan Turing, Sandra Bullock, Vanessa Hudgens, Mae Whitman, Russell Crow, Alexandre Dumas, Bing Crosby, and Karl Marx.

Create and receive positive energy with your public interactions.

Have trouble maintaining consistency with your work habits.

Have more precise control of your physical body and its movements when you are being observed or reviewed.

Are passionate about various social causes and have strong ideas about how they should be handled.

Have no patience for dishonesty or deception when it comes to professional relationships.

and you may find...

Criticism and skepticism comes naturally to you, and you are compelled to communicate your skepticism for better or worse.

You are involved in workplace affairs, tempted to be involved in workplace affairs, or find they are common wherever you work.

Diplomacy, which may or may not be a skill of yours when handling private manners, becomes much more difficult in the workplace or when the matters are made public.

You are more temperamental, fiery, or easy to anger at work and in public than you are at home or in private.

You end up responsible for a lot of "cutting" and 'shaving' in the workplace - physical, like shredding papers or chopping ingredients, or figurative, like budget cuts.

KRITTIKA is the Star of Fire. Industries and career types favored are those involving crafts that depend on heat and fire, critiquing, oversight, education, spirituality, cutting or needlework, modeling, fashion and styling, military, building contracting, and leadership.

If UTTARA PHALGUNI RULES the TENTH LORD, you...

Rami Malek, Fiona Apple, and Kirsten Dunst all have their tenth lords in Uttara Phalguni. Others with this placement are Austin Butler, Mae West, Adam Driver, William Wordsworth, Samuel Adams, and Rachel Miner.

Are naturally attuned to social graces, traditions, and etiquette.

Come across as straight-forward, likable, and friendly in public.

Are ambitious and productive, so advancement comes easily.

Swing between excessive generosity to others, and entitled or ungrateful behavior for what you are given.

Hold yourself and others to high standards in the name of maintaining your ego.

and you may find...

People you meet in public or through work are compelled to do favors for you - or you for them depending on situations - which may lead to treatment from your superiors that peers find unfair.

Opening up about hardships, turmoil, or conflict in a public setting is grossly uncomfortable and embarrassing to you.

Your relationships attract unwarranted attention, with others treating them as scandals rather than your personal business.

Ending things is always impossibly messy for you, and you have a hard time fully completing anything with any satisfaction.

You allow sentimentality, patience, and generosity to sucker you into enabling the poor behavior of strangers or coworkers.

Luxury and comfort become a top priority in your line of work, regardless of whether that's because you seek it out in those circumstances, or if it's a matter of meeting work standards.

UTTARA PHALGUNI is the Star of Patronage. Industries and career types favored are those involving entertainment, performance and public speaking, counseling, philanthropy, diplomacy, patriotism, service, animals, food and nutrition, caretaking, mathematics, sales, and personality management.

If UTTARA ASHADHA RULES the TENTH LORD...

Dolly Parton, Jeff Bridges, and Saint Bernadette all have their tenth lords in Uttara Ashadha. Others with this placement are Billy Joel, Justin Timberlake, Napoleon Bonaparte I, Patsy Cline, Otto Von Bismarck, Umberto Eco, Lady Iris Mountbatten, Shia LaBeouf, Betrand Russell, and Peter Jackson.

Are modest and down-to earth, but also ambitious and idealistic.

Network perfectly naturally, without strategy, with great results.

End up creatively or intellectually absorbed in any projects that engage the public or your profession, always digging deeper.

Are susceptible to flattery, and get frustrated when people don't appreciate your efforts or don't react as you want them to.

Act like a martyr for work-related stress, despite it being a result of your own choices and priorities.

and you may find...

Things come much, much easier to you when you handle them in public or at work, rather than other settings or environments.

Work or public service projects that you start nearly always prosper, not just to the end you had in mind, but beyond that.

Others treat you as moral authority as you're compelled to speak up when you witness injustice in public or in the workplace

Reading and learning has benefitted you, and helped you to stick out as particularly knowledgable or skilled in your career.

You face adversity early in your career, only for success to come quickly and plentifully once you are older and more established.

Both traveling for work and finishing projects brings you more trouble than it feels like its worth.

UTTARA ASHADHA is the Universal Star. Industries and career types favored are those involving authority, judgment, leadership, religion, exploring, discovery, combat sports, athletics, defense, preservation, construction, archives, research, and causes.

Hope this was helpful. Feel free to message with any questions, thoughts, or ideas. Part 4, focusing on 10th Lords with Moon Nakshatras, will be next! ♡

[talktomeinclexa]

Mend the Heart You Broke (Heal the Wounds You Caused)

By: TalktomeinClexa

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Panic attack

Status: Complete

Summary: Clarke and Lexa led the perfect life. Married, two children, a big house, a group of reliable friends. Until Lexa cheated on her wife and the idyllic picture was smashed to bits. Three months later, Clarke is still trying to put the pieces of her heart together when Lexa slowly comes back into her life. The path to forgiveness will force the artist on a self-introspection journey that won't leave anyone unscathed. But isn't true love worth the fight?

***

Chapter 1: Broken Hearts

Who do you think you are?

Runnin’ ’round leaving scars

Collecting your jar of hearts

Tearing love apart

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a woman with a battered heart, must drown her sorrows in depressing songs. Clarke muses over the thought as Christina Perri’s ballad voices the pain eating her bit by bit. Outside, rain is drenching the garden and obstructing the windows with thick, endless drops, completing the cliché. It would be almost poetic if it weren’t so ridiculously tragic, and she can’t help but chuckle humorlessly at the dramatic scene.

She stands in front of the sink after lunch, drying the plates, glasses, and cutlery while her children play in their room. The perfect picture of the suburban mom, with shoulder-length blond hair curling at the ends, baby-blue eyes, an attractive figure despite having twins, and close to no wrinkles to mark her almost thirty-seven years on this Earth. A former aspiring artist turned full-time stay-at-home mom whose career is finally taking off now that the kids are in school and she has time to paint. What more could she want?

Distracted by her rumination, she loosens her fingers half an inch too much. The plate, too happy to add insult to her still-opened injuries, slides off the dish towel and comes crashing into the sink. With unmistakable irony, it breaks right in the middle; two parts forever split where they used to be only one. Just like her heart, she thinks, breaking into heavy sobs in the middle of her kitchen.

“Mama? Are you crying?”

Clarke discreetly wipes the tears rolling down her cheeks before turning around to face her son. Her little boy, the one man in her life she loves to the moon and back. She hopes it will be many years before he learns to recognize a genuine smile from the fake one she flashes at him.

“No, honey. I had something in my eyes. What are you doing here? I thought you were playing in your room.”

Keep reading

[ilovecupcakesandtea]

Chapter one Chapter four My master list

Title: Chapter three

Word Count: 1397

Archive Warnings: Smut in future chapters. Slight angst. Alcohol misuse.

Rating: E

Pairing(s): Eddie Munson/Steve Harrington Robin Buckley/Chrissy Cunningham

Character(s): Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley, Chrissy Cunningham, Benny, Uncle Wayne & The Party

Tags: Smut. Angst. Steddie. Buckingham. Steve Harrington. Eddie Munson. Robin Buckley. Chrissy Cunningham. Band AU. TW Alcohol use.

Summary (optional): Two different styles of music, two boys that really don't like each other. What could possibly go wrong?

Beta Reader: Thank you so much to my beautiful beta readers @slippy-slip @ladydarklord & @dontwasteyourchances

Art link and credit: Art is by the wonderfully talented @pink-luna-moth (as is the banner)

Fic link and credit: Ao3 Link

AN: First off thank you to Alex for the art and being just amazing to work alongside. Thank you to Slip for dragging me back from the edge so many times over this. I really am so excited to have this out here!!

I wrote this for the @strangerthingsreversebigbang event and had a lot of fun doing so!!

Divider links: reblog and music notes

A week later saw Eddie and Chrissy in her garage moving boxes around and laying a huge blanket over a couch to make the space bigger and more comfortable. Both of them had brought their own amps and set them up too. They had even found an old mini fridge and stocked it with chocolate, cans of soda, and bottles of water ready for practice. 

"Hey bunny" Robin greeted Chrissy with a kiss as soon as she stepped into the garage later that evening, 

"Stop being so gross and put each other down." Eddie grumbled at the pair. 

"No need to be so homophobic, Munson" came the response of Steve as he also walked to the garage. 

"Yes, me, a bit of a whore in the local gay scene, homophobic, that checks out." Eddie rolled his eyes before he walked away and picked his guitar up and made sure it was in tune.

"Chrissy, where did you want me to set this up?" Steve asked Chrissy, pointing down at the big bag he had brought in with him.  

"Towards the back, kind of centre if you want, makes the most sense," Chrissy answered, pointing at a vague space towards the middle of the garage. 

“So Robin, this is the first time we’ve properly spoken since you started dating my little Chrissy, she won’t tell me so I know it’s got to be embarrassing, how did you and Chrissy get talking enough for you to end up together a few weeks later.” Eddie quizzed, noting Chrissy blushing out of the corner of his eye.

“Oh, there’s not really a lot to tell to be honest, she sat next to me on the bus, asked me what I was listening to, I said The Clash, she said she loves them, we listened together and then switched between our styles of music” Robin shrugged as Chrissy got redder and redder. 

“Fuck off did she, what a lying little bitch. Christina Cunningham, why would you tell such a lie? You hate The Clash, always have .” Eddie cackled, turning to look at Chrissy who was bright red and trying to hide behind her hair. 

“I just wanted to listen to music with the cute girl from band, ok? so sue me.” She replied, sighing, his reaction was exactly why she hadn’t told Eddie the full story when he asked weeks ago. “Can we just play something now please?”

Five minutes later and the band was ready to start playing together. Steve sat behind his drums and everyone else picked up their instruments.

"Chrissy, you want to start a beat on the bass? Steve, try not to sound like shit ok, we all know punk drums are a mess and don't hold a rhythm." Eddie said, getting himself comfortable with his guitar.

Chrissy started with a beat that Steve apparently knew the drums to, and soon enough Eddie was leaning into the mic and singing. 

"I sit around and watch the tube But nothing's on I change the channels for an hour or two Twiddle my thumbs just for a bit I'm sick of all the same old shit In a house with unlocked doors and I'm fuckin' lazy" Eddie sang as he started to play the guitar with it. 

"Bite my lip and close my eyes Take me away to paradise I'm so damn bored, I'm going blind And I smell like shit" Robin joined in the singing and playing her own guitar with him. 

The four of them played the whole song and didn't miss a beat, ending with all four of them laughing. 

Steve and Eddie caught each other's eyes and stopped laughing straight away.

"I guess for a couple punks you two can play well enough" Eddie sniffed, putting his guitar down and heading to the mini-fridge. 

"The fuck is your problem, Munson?" Steve asked defensively. 

"I just don't want us sounding just like noise, bad noise at that when we play." Eddie replied, whilst drinking his water.

"So what? All punk is just bad noise to you?" Steve questioned, standing up from his drums clearly unimpressed.

"Yeah, it is. Just bad drums, bad guitar, bad vocals. I guess it’s good that most punk songs are really short." Eddie shrugged. 

"Fuck you, punk is more than the music, more than the drums, guitar, and vocals. It's about the people, the lyrics, the message behind the songs." Steve seethed, moving towards Eddie. 

"Oh yeah, because metal isn't political at all?" Eddie asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"It's really not," Steve responded, clearly pissed off at the other brunette.

"Alright princess, sit down and let me play a few songs for you that show you that a song can be both political and actually good." Eddie rolled his eyes and grabbed his phone. 

"No, enough of this dick-measuring contest, ok. Either shut the fuck up so we can continue to play or take this tension to a bedroom, giving you 5 seconds to decide." Chrissy said loudly, pointing between the two of them.

"Chris, baby, we both know they aren't going to fuck just yet. They need to pretend to hate each other first before it happens" Robin laughed. 

Both boys stepped away from each other. Eddie drank more of his water and Steve went to grab his own, throwing one to Robin who caught it without looking.

"I'm down to play more if Munson can stop being a bitch and play something that isn't just loud guitar and screaming." Steve shrugged, sitting down behind the drums again.

"I give it 3 weeks before they're fucking" Robin giggled, earning her a death glare from Steve.

“Well that was fun,” Robin said sitting in the passenger seat of Steve’s car. “It was really nice to spend more time with Chrissy. I still haven’t asked her to be my girlfriend by the way. Do you think she’ll say yes? I’m not sure she wants that.” she continued to ramble. 

“It was something, I really hope he gets that stick out of his ass before next practice, I can't be bothered with that each time. But yes, she will say yes if you ask her out.” Steve said, sounding exasperated. 

“You just want the stick out of his ass so you can stick…”

“You can walk home if you finish that sentence,” Steve interrupted her. 

Robin laughed, buckled her belt, and sat back in her seat. Steve sighed, started the car, and drove her home. Neither of them talked about how right she was.

“Eddie, can you play nicely with Steve next time we have practice? I’d really like this band thing to work, ok? Even if it doesn't really go anywhere I want to have fun and enjoy this.” Chrissy pleaded. 

“Fine I’ll play with the punk jock so you can have fun with your girlfriend” Eddie replied dodging a half-empty bottle Chrissy threw at him before falling over dramatically. “Tell my mother I love her,” he said, throwing himself to the ground clutching his arm.

“Lord help me” Chrissy laughed.

The following week after the first practice found them all sat around in Chrissy’s garage talking about the band and the music they should play. 

“We write enough songs between us, we could just do original stuff. I will say this isn't bad, Munson” Steve commented, reading through Eddie’s finished songs and notes for other songs. 

“Approval from Harrington, just what I've always wanted” Eddie replied, rolling his eyes. 

“Eddie for fuck’s sake, that's enough. He was being nice and you were a peanut head! That wasn't nice at all.” Chrissy snapped, punching his arm lightly. 

“Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry” Eddie mumbled in the direction of Steve. 

“Shall we talk about band names?” Robin put in, trying to change the subject. 

“ My list for names so far is this,” Eddie said, turning to a page in his notebook and turning it so everyone could read.

Corroded Coffin 

Be My Coffin

Your Coffin

Six Feet Under

Corroding My Coffin

Distort Mission

“They all suck to various degrees” Chrissy replied, pushing the notebook back towards Eddie. 

The four of them sat around for another 20 minutes or so discussing band names before Robin finally suggested The Spitfires. 

“Yes, I love it,” Chrissy said excitedly. 

“Of course you love the only one Robin suggests” Steve commented, rolling his eyes, earning him a laugh from Eddie.

[theshippirate22]

so apparently all my brain is lately is steddie headcanons and aus but you know what here we are

so. new take.

steve LOVES food network.

when he was a teenager, he would turn it on when he was home alone to break up the silence a little bit and yeah, maybe kinda used Martha Stewart and Ina Garten as maternal figures to make up for the lack of his own (he laughed out loud when Martha Stewart went to prison; she was still a better role model than his real mother)

and then he grew up and suddenly shit was real and he was (unofficially) (illegally) married to a man who thought the height of food luxury was saltines in Kraft cheese sauce (Steve’s 98% sure Eddie lived selectively off Mac and Cheese before they were together) and suddenly Food Network is a need. He’s got to cook or he’s going to lose his goddamn mind if Eddie suggests Froot Loops for dinner for the fourth night in a row (it was fine the first three nights; at this point Steve thinks there’s Froot Loop literally in his brain), so Steve watches to learn. To find recipes. To help get acquainted with ingredients and techniques that his Taste of Home magazines aren’t giving any help with.

and then he grows up again and now he’s certainly much closer to 50 than to 30 (Eddie found one (1) singular silver hair in his beard two years ago and has been calling him “old man” since, even though Steve found the black hair dye in the bathroom cabinet at least a year and a half before that) and now Max and Lucas have three kids and Robin and her (unofficial) (illegal) wife, Christina are remodeling a house, and Dustin and Lucy are doing something that requires a patent and Erica is still sending them post cards from wherever the hell she is now (the most recent was from the Swiss alps and it’s on the fridge, wedged under both a magnet repping the bar in Detroit where Eddie and Steve got engaged and a magnet Joyce and Hoppet brought back from Hawaii from Hop’s retirement trip.) And Food Network is still there, almost always on some place in the house, but it’s not so necessary anymore because Steve is good now. Jeff and Gareth still drop in every now and then when the band’s in town just to get a taste of what Steve’s working on (Eddie gave up the rockstar dream years ago; after the Upside Down, he couldn’t bring himself to touch his guitar, let alone play, for a long long time, so Corroded Coffin became Coffin Cult and they still give Eddie credit for all the hit songs that are really his and they’re doing really well, if the charts have anything to say about it.) Besides, there’s new shows and he can watch things on-demand and there’s a whole new slew of personalities that he’s got to give a try.

So Food Network stays.

And Eddie can’t help the affectionate grin that takes over his face when he gets home and Steve’s made a batch of cookies just so he can eat the entire thing by himself while binge-watching Pioneer Woman, and he climbs in bed next to him, under his arm, on his chest and you know what? Eddie loves Food Network too.

[littlespace-imagines]

This is kinda detailed (feel free to ignore)

A king/prince vampire coming home from like a awful meeting to human! Little reader who has recently had a boo boo (probably from tripping while playing or something like that), and since the vampire can smell the blood, he’s instantly at the readers side and basically being a softie for them

Absolutely!

Cg!Vampire (Vince) x little!reader

Contains: fluff, cursing, description of bloody injury, split nail, more than one POV, cgl dynamics, established relationships, vince is the goth daddy of every littles dreams

**Ageregression and Littlespace will never be sexualized on this blog**

(Vince’s POV)

I didn’t anticipate getting called into work especially one one of the rare days my little one is able to visit but here I was, fuming mad and looking over my employees.

“How does someone fuck up this badly?” I ask calmly, taking in the faces of the people sitting before me, all dressed in suits but avoiding my gaze. I ran a hand through my hair and looked back over the board.

“Well? Did you all go mute?” I ask, a bit harsher this time,

A woman clears her throat and my eyes snap to her I see her flinch at my hard gaze,

“Well, Sir, uh, Martha went on maternity leave.” She says

“And? Is it not your job to assign the workload to another person?” I ask and she nods

“Yes, it is, I thought I had sent an email about it to Anthony, Sir.” She responds

“Ah I see. So you didn’t send the email to Anthony.” I say as calmly as possible she once again nods. I pull my hair back into a ponytail and look over the same documents again.

“Christina, you’re fired, if you can’t do your job you do t have a place here. Anthony, you’re hired onto her position, congratulations you get a raise. Oh and sam please post a job opening and I was no less than 10 resumes and applications on my desk by Monday. As for the rest of you let this incident be a fucking example that I don’t tolerate slacking at this company.” I say before turning to leave, I walked my way to my car and climbed in. I thought about calling my baby who’s at my house, alone and unfamiliar with everything, they’ve only been over a couple of times and I felt bad to leave them.

I decided I’d stop by their favorite fast food restaurant and order their favorite meal, food always cheers them up. Once I’ve gotten the food I drive straight home as fast as I can, as I’m coming up the driveway I can hear the soft sound of them pattering around, I smile to myself as I hear them running towards the door as soon as I start unlocking the door, I open it just in time to catch them falling, food held safely in one hand and my arm wrapped around them to keep them safe. I take in their shocked face followed be relief, I stop for a second to admire the adorable way their dressed,

They look up at me briefly before I smell it.

They’re bleeding.

I quickly sit everything I’m holding on the very end table they almost fell from, I inspect their foot and quickly find the bleeding toe, I look up and see the tears running down their face and I can feel panic rising in me.

Panic, I haven’t felt that in so long.

I run to the bathroom grabbing some cartoon character bandaids they insist I keep for them because they’re clumsy, and a small first aid kit. I run back and sit on the floor infront of them before I realize I have no clue what I’m doing,

“Oh god fuck, what did I do?” I ask, looking up at them

“You don’t know what to do?” They ask me and I shake my head, I can see the grip on their stuffed animal tighten in worry,

“Love, I’ve been undead for nearly three centuries, the last time I went to a doctor they gave me leaches and prescribed me chlorodyne which is now known as chloroform.” I said with a chuckle as they looked at me with wide eyes

“I, I, I don’t know, I can’t think.” They mumble and I for the first time take a good look at them, they’re little. They’re little and their hurt and I don’t know what to do.

I feel angry, I’m angry at myself, how could I let this happen?

“Daddy?” They ask and my eyes snap up to their eyes,

“Yes, love?” I ask, trying to keep my voice steady

“I think I just need a bandaid, it’ll be okay.” They say and I nod, holding the box up to them, they pick out a very cute and very tiny bandaid, I follow the instructions on the back, making sure the cotton pad is directly over the bleeding.

I stand up and scoop the into my arms, they wrap their legs around my waist and bury their head in the crook of my neck, I smile and hold them tightly, hoping that maybe I can love away the pain.

“Oh, yes, I got you some food.” I say and they perk up,

“Did you get my favorite?” They ask and I laugh,

“Yes, Ofcourse.” I say,

Once I get them settled down and eating with their drink poured in their favorite sippy cup and their favorite cartoon I excuse myself, I quickly grab the now empty end table and take it to the back yard, with a single throw the end table is nearly obliterated, pieces of wood and screws litter the yard, I pick up every piece I can before throwing it in the garbage and make my way back inside.

Atleast for now I don’t have to worry about the end table anymore.

[cherrylng]

Muse Disc Guide - Showbiz [STYLE Series #004 - Muse (August 2010)]

IN MUSIC

In the UK in 1999, dance and idol music dominated the scene. This trio emerged in the midst of such a rock slump and brought new life and hope to the scene with their rich creativity and solid musicianship, which were not typical of newcomers.

At the time of making this album, their average age was just over 20. However, for the three, who had been playing together in a band since junior high school, this was their first album. Most of the songs on the album were written over the span of several years. Seven of the songs (2/ Muscle Museum, 5/ Cave, 7/ Unintended, 8/ Uno, 9/ Sober, 11/ Escape, 12/ Overdue) have already been released on rare EPs from their former label, Dangerous (although the recording times and versions were different).

The growth they have achieved since their formation is in direct proportion to the variety of music they have absorbed during that time. From classical to boogie-woogie, Matthew's musical origins lie in the piano, Dom started playing drums after jazz, and Chris has played guitar, keyboards, drums and a variety of other instruments. They started playing in bands around 1992, just as the grunge wave was blowing, but they also digested melodic punk, grebo, goth, alternative metal and more.

What ultimately defined their uniqueness was Matthew's insatiable inquisitiveness and omnivorous tastes. At the age of 17, Matthew wandered around Europe, getting to know the folk music of different regions and later learning to play the Spanish guitar. In his late teens, he returned to classical piano, including Chopin and Rachmaninoff, while the influence of Jeff Buckley became evident in his melancholic melodies and emotional singing style with a deft use of falsetto. This album, which has all of this in its blood, is a debut that is still in its infancy compared to their second and later albums, which fully developed their unique personalities, but it is diverse and accomplished enough to show their potential. The coexistence of the dramatic contrasts of movement and stillness, as well as the coexistence of the intense emotion and elegant romanticism represented by (3/ Fillip), can be said to be the cornerstone of the ‘Muse’ style. —Imai Sumi

-

1999 Hit Albums

The year 1999, when Showbiz was released, was actually a bad year for UK bands. The year was dominated by idol/pop acts. This was epitomised by the debut album (A/ …Baby One More Time) by Britney Spears, the biggest pop icon of the following decade. The video for ‘Baby One More Time’, featuring a high-school girl in a super-mini, navel-baring look, is still burned into people's brains as a powerful impression. It was also the year Christina Aguilera made her album debut. Other so-called boy band albums such as Backstreet Boys, Westlife, and Boyzone topped the charts across the board, while S Club 7 and Steps also became regulars in the UK charts.

In the US, Red Hot Chilli Peppers' (B/ Californication), which Muse also opened for, proved overwhelmingly strong, while Limp Bizkit, who debuted with (C/ Significant Other), raised the signal for the rise of Nu Metal. Eminem, who debuted with (D/ The Slim Shady LP), later became a major force on the chopping block of Limp and the aforementioned Britney. Among these, the few successful albums by young UK guitar bands were Travis‘ (E/ The Man Who), which replaced the loud Rock'n'Roll of their debut with a more melancholic sound, and Stereophonics’ (F/ Performance and Cocktails), which was a straight-up rock hit. Although Muse were initially compared to the likes of Radiohead, they were quite unique in the scene. That hasn't changed even now, though.

-

IN LYRICS

As a debut album, the lyrics are very much Matthew in his local Teignmouth days. A prime example is (4/ Falling Down), which even gives the population/household numbers: ‘15,000 people scream’ and ‘5,000 houses burning down’. The city's status as a holiday destination for Londoners, a city that makes its living by serving tourists, combined with its recent desolation, made adolescent Matthew feel like a core of losers in a society of inequality. It was self-evident to Matthew that ‘no one can save this city’, and not only in this song, but also in the protagonists of the lyrics, there is a tendency to try to escape or hide somewhere.

(1/ Sunburn) is also attributed to a local story, and here too we can see the composition of a disparate society: ‘the winners who spend a lot of money on a tourist attraction that seems to be a kind of women's dance show’. The image of the ‘Sunburn’ = tanning is also associated with ugly adults for Matthew, but it could also be interpreted as a form of the money-grubbing music business. Although wrapped in a thinly veiled mask, there is no way to hide the nervous state of mind before the debut, and the world is formed by ‘me’ who restrains himself and clowns around, and ‘you’ who indulges his desires. Track (6/ Showbiz), exudes the blue anxiety of the night before stepping into the real showbiz.

In an interview during his first visit to Japan, Matthew said, ‘There were alcoholics roaming around in my hometown’, and (9/ Sober), in which several brands of whisky are interwoven, does not deny such drunks, but rather describes the effects of alcohol on the mind and body in a rock-like manner. The casual love for one's hometown can also be read into this, and the half-love-hate feelings towards one's hometown overlap with the split state of what is known in Japan as ‘chuunibyou/middle-school second year syndrome’. The British national band was very young at the time of their debut. —Kaoru Abe

-

YEAR 1999 January - The Euro was introduced as a currency in 11 EU member states. - The children's song ‘Dango San Kyoudai’, which is currently ranked third in (terms of overall sales in) the Oricon singles chart, was released. February - The first brain-dead organ transplant under the Organ Transplantation Act made headlines. March - A Swiss and an Englishman made the first non-stop circumnavigation of the world in a hot-air balloon. - Stanley Kubrick, film director known for films such as A Clockwork Orange, died. - The J2 League, Japan's professional football league, was started. April - Shintaro Ishihara [T/N: RIP to this xenophobic ultranationalist asshole] was elected Governor of Tokyo. - NATO forces bombed Yugoslavia in order to sanction the Kosovo War, which had been raging since 1998. May - Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace was released in the USA. This was the first film to be made in 16 years. - The Treaty of Amsterdam enters into force. - Opening of Safeco Field (later renamed to T-Mobile Park in 2018) in the US. June - Sony launched AIBO, a puppy-shaped pet robot. The price was 250,000 yen. July - Muse's North American tour started. - The All Nippon Airways Flight 61 hijacking incident occurred, in which the captain was stabbed to death and the perpetrator took control of the aircraft. August - Muse's Germany tour started. September - A M7.7 (7.3 in Richter scale) earthquake occured in central Taiwan, with a death toll of over 2,000 (1999 Jiji earthquake). October - Muse's European tour starts. First album Showbiz released with John Leckie. - The Fukuoka Daiei Hawks won the Japan Series. November - First parliamentary party leadership debate (in Japan). [aka Japan’s first time in trying out the British-style Question Time] December - Macau returned from Portugal to China and the Panama Canal from the USA to Panama.

Translator's Notes: This has way more research required to know what happened in a single year of 1999. The next few albums to cover are going to be quite the effort to cover through.

[libertyreads]

August 2024 TBR--

The month of August has some HIGH expectations with three of my most anticipated new releases making their way into my home during the month. I'm also keeping my streak of at least one hockey romance read per month. I'm excited to do a couple of rereads as well. Let's get to the books.

The Luminaries by Susan Dennard (reread)-- This is going to be my third read of this novel and it's all in preparation for the final book which comes out later this month. Hemlock Falls has a forest that fills with monsters every night when the sun sets and the mists rise. Which is why the town is full of hunters. But Winnie and her family are outsiders due to her father being outed as a witch and a traitor ten years ago. Until she creates a plan to be welcomed back with open arms.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (reread)-- This is my other reread for the month. I'm planning on reading all of the books in the series this year. We follow Katniss and Peeta as they complete the district tour following their win of the games. But then they're forced to go back into the arena when the Quarter Quell is announced.

The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren-- Starving artist Anna and Stanford professor Liam pair up so Liam can complete a clause in his grandfather's will and finally get his share of the inheritance. Liam worries that Anna won't survive his cut throat toxic family in this world of wealth.

The Play by Elle Kennedy (Kindle)-- My hockey romance of the month. I've read quite a few Elle Kennedy hockey romance novels so when I was looking for one to read in the month of August, her name came to mind. This is book 3 in the Briar U series. In this one we follow Hunter who is the new team captain and who has a new rule for himself: school and hockey now, girls later. After a horrible season the previous year, he's determined to get the team back on track. But when Hunter's friend Demi's relationship ends and she's looking for a rebound just three months into the school year? Hunter's going to find it hard to resist her. I'm hoping for angst here because that's what I've discovered is my jam in romances.

The Grandest Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (New Release)-- This is a spin off series from the Inheritance Games so I'm excited to see where this goes. The Grandest Game is an annual competition run by billionaire Avery Grambs and the four Hawthorne brothers. It is designed to give anyone a shot at fame and fortune. This year there are seven golden tickets. Some players are in it for the money, some are in it for power, and every single one of them have secrets.

Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson (New Release)-- This is a new stand alone from one of my favorite authors. I've tried to avoid knowing too much about this one so I'll just include a small section from the GoodReads synopsis: "With her house-sitting career up in flames, it seems the universe owes Marlow a new summer job, and that's how she ends up at Morning House, a mansion built on an island in the 1920s and abandoned shortly thereafter. It's easy enough giving tours. Low risk of fire. High chance of getting bored talking about stained glass and nut cutlets and Prohibition. Oh, and the deaths. Did anyone mention the deaths?"

Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (New Release)-- I have such high hopes for this one following the ending of book one. (It gave me "Don't Blame Me" by Taylor Swift vibes.) In book one, we follow Evie Sage who is the assistant to The Villain in a campy Fantasy novel. The first book leaves it on such a huge cliffhanger and I just want to know what happens next. The synopsis on GoodReads doesn't help at all. The first book was so fun and I know book two will be as well.

August has got a lot to live up to with these new releases and the rereads. I'm so excited.

[voxmilia]

You guys ever think about how easy it would have been for 3h to make Jeralt less than stellar as a dad, how easy it would be for him to push Byleth away as a baby - either out of misplaced anger that Sitri died to save their life or out of fear ("A child that doesn't cry...isn't natural.")

And yet Jeralt saved them, escaped the church that kept him the dark about his wife's death and his strange quiet child, and kept Byleth safe, protected, and loved for 21 years

[strawberryblondebutch]

Mirby mirby mirby tell me more about tmfs Tara pls

Some of this is going to be a spoiler for the next chapter but it's chill, it's whatever, it'll motivate me to actually write the chapter.

Tara picked up skating when she was three years old. Her pediatrician recommended that she do light, regular physical activity to help strengthen her heart and lungs. She was supposed to do, you know, little toddler 'figure skating,' but this is Tara, so her ultimate goal was to be a menace.

In this universe, she and Sam have a complicated relationship (ok that's true in every universe, let me clarify). Both consider themselves to be the black sheep of the family. Tara thinks that she was the second choice because she doesn't have a famous dad, while Sam has all her issues stemming from Billy. When Christina divorces Mr. Carpenter, they both blame themselves!

They play house league together at the Loomis-Macher IcePlex, with Tara playing on Sam's wing so that her bigger, older sister can protect her. I've talked before that Tara really models her game after undersized, creative, defensive forwards like Pavel Datsyuk and Danny Briere (although the latter valued showmanship over defense at times, grumble grumble).

In actual leagues, though, Sam and Tara were separated based on age bracket, which is how she met Amber. They made this whole life plan together where they were going to be the Woodsboro Killers 2.0. Amber made Tara feel important, always put her up first. Tara was the Crosby, the Ovechkin, the Lindros. Amber was the Malkin, the Backstrom, the LeClair.

And then the accident happened. At least, she thinks it was an accident. It sure seemed like one. This injury played out, in my mind, like the Brianna Decker injury at the 2022 Olympics. It looked like a bad tangle, with Tara breaking her leg in multiple places and snapping multiple ankle ligaments. Decker retired from hockey within the year, and Tara essentially had to as well, but that was because she had no chance at recovery. It happened during her junior year of high school. No one would recruit her.

So she went to Blackmore instead of Windsor. Met some new friends. A football player named Chad. But she's still in contact with Amber. They (cough) hang out whenever Windsor plays Blackmore. And Amber's sorry. She's said so a million times. She devotes every game to Tara.

[goamazons]

                                                                                            September, 12                                                                                             Damnville You know Dad,

If I counted up the number of times I’ve been in BIG trouble, I’d open a Trouble Museum. Ma says it’s all coz I was born on a plane and caused quite a trouble to everyone aboard. Or as she calls it — bloody mess. ‘You are born to get in all the wrong places,’ she says and I say it wasn’t me in the first place who took that 14-hour flight drop-dead pregnant to the hell of a nowhere.

But maybe she does have the point. Coz I got to a TERRIBLY wrong place just yesterday and would rather prefer a 14-hour flight to nowhere, please. We’ve been to Hecta’s Gran’s on a visit at her Palace-like house in Ratyshche. The place is HUGE and full of people like a cucumber of seeds (her clan is like Golden Horde, and as barbaric). Nobody attacked our Amazons Army though, so we were dying of just boredom. But not until Heck had her *BRILLIANT IDEA* to play Hide and Seek.

‘Ew! We’re too big for that,’ Agnieszka retorted. 

‘We play that or go for another round of Gran’s babble on Pan Grant cheating on his wife with a milkman,’ Hecta said and Neshka jumped to her feet with, ‘You count!’

We decided to cover only open rooms since we’d sooner grow with grass than get found in the back chambers. Still I was determined to give Heck a hell with that. I’m a master of disguise, ho-ho! So she went counting, One little gnome, two little gnomes, three big dragons burn their homes… Agnieszka stood behind the drapes with her fairy bowed shoes sticking out. She ALWAYS takes drapes! She’s too keen on all those romantic Victorian novels where drapes were everywhere and stuffed with people listening to all sorts of secrets, meh! I could do better, I thought and nosed into every box and basket around like a true fit-in-all cat but couldn’t find anything safe enough. Then I heard Hecta yelling, ‘READY OR NOT,’ panicked and slipped into some room at random. 

It was rather small, and, damn, had no baskets. So I crawled under the bed, pushing aside one million and one pair of shoes, noisy tin cans and other inconceivable junk. Was right on the dot in time before the door creak opened. I held my breath, trying on my magic invisibility before Hecta AHA’s at my sticking out ass. Instead, I heard giggles, shuffling, feet rapping at the floor and the door click shut. Then Hecta’s auntie Christina’s voice murmured, ‘Your wife’s gonna kill me.’

‘Nobody’s gonna know, babe,’ Pan Grant’s voice replied, low and muffled. They put the lights off and plopped on top of the bed doing lots of funny animal noises. And I was like SHIVER ME TIMBLES!

WHAT was I gonna do?! Surely NOT jump out of there with a stiletto in each hand crying, Shoe Police, hands up, dicks down! Ugh, I’d better stayed there until Ragnarök hoping by the time I see the light in the tunnel, I’d finally manage to grow a proper beard for my true Viking looks. But Lady Doom said, Nah! and sent me the fattest ever fatso cockroach creeping there right under my nose. And y’know, cockroaches and I are mortal enemies. We’re like Saint Michael and Satan, just bound to battle. Honestly, I had no control over my archangelic muscles when I grabbed a shoe and slopped it dead.

‘What was that!’ Pani Christina shrieked, stopping the creak-squeak of the old matrass.

‘Someone downstairs,’ Pan Grant supposed-to-sleep-with-milkmen groaned. ‘Don’t mind it.’

And I wouldn’t mind it either but my sacred battle stirred all the dust down there and I had no control over that gigantic sneezing bursting out of my entire essence, bumping my spine against the bed roof. That sent them both jump in sheer total horror. Their screams echoed in every corner, and I think Pan Grant’s has killed every crystal glass in the house. 

There was no point in waiting for Loki and Co. I shot out of there like a bullet, clattering with all the blasted tin cans and sneezing again so hard that bomb farted them right in the faces. Oh, BLOW ME DOWN. My only luck, the lights were out. I darted looking for the door, hearing them drop off the bed, still yelling like never. Just a mushroom salad little fart, why so panic, jeez!

I jumped through some door and hit the helluva mess of clothes and hangers. Some more carton junk fell on top of my head. SHIVER ME THIMBLES the wardrobe! I realized (quite sadly) there was no Narnia behind it. So I bumped back and found the door stuck. Blimey! I was trapped! TRAPPED in a wardrobe! I pressed a foot against it and gave it such a Viking kung fu push I tumbled out of there like a football and rolled hell out of there. Pani Christina fled to the bathroom and her lover still messed with his pants, still yelling. 

I dashed along the corridor in fear they’d let down all the king’s horses and all the king’s men to catch me. Hell with the boxes, I jumped behind the first drape and, surprisingly, stood there for the whole forever. And screamed my bum away when Hecta and Neshka pounced at me out of the blue. ‘Where on Earth ‘ve you been!’  Agnieszka cried.

‘Just here!’ I lied my socks off. 

‘And what’s this?’ Hecta took a nylon stocking off my shoulder that lovingly hugged me around the neck. What would you say to that, Dad? Surely not the truth. 

                                                                     Your Hiding Master, Skipper

[dancemachinetrait]

September 10th, 1910- Letter extract, Clem Gillespie to Daisy Gillespie

I am certainly seeing a side of Greater Windenburg we never saw when Aunt Minnie used to take us to the pantomime at Christmas. You can tell Mother rest assured that I have not quite sunk into a pit of vice and voluptuousness, but my horizons have certainly been expanded. Our boarding house is in Villareal Square, and there are more kinds of people here than I knew existed! Just walking down to buy a loaf of bread in the morning one hears half a dozen languages. It makes me feel excited to be alive!

The boarding house is run by Mrs Travers, who was an actress herself in her youth. She is enormously proud of all the stars of the stage who were inhabitants of the house in their humbler days; singers and dancers and actresses and acrobats, even some I had clippings of in my scrapbook back home! The parlour is fairly papered with their framed photographs, and on her merrier evenings she is a goldmine of stories. We told her we were newlyweds. I'm not sure she really believed us- she looked us up and down and said that she wasn’t one to ask questions ‘if the rent is paid and the premises is orderly.’

Our fellow lodgers certainly aren’t what you would call orderly. All those years I longed to live among bohemians, I never knew how noisy they were! But what a collection of people.

Miss Christina has a popular female impersonation act. It feels strange to call her a female ‘impersonator’, when she lives as a woman on-stage and off. Everyone calls her Miss Christina. (I called her Miss Pickering once and everybody laughed.) I don’t know what her male name is and have no inclination to ask; I can’t imagine calling her Mr Anything. I suppose in a way she is like me.

Mr Berel and Mr Rivkin are quite a different kettle of fish. They work backstage, like me, and are very political. They stay up until all hours of the night arguing about Marx and drinking dreadful Russian spirits, and usually finish up singing maudlin songs in Yiddish until someone goes and thumps on their door. Otherwise they spend their free time going to political meetings in Vatore Street in the Jewish neighbourhood, near where Eli’s family lives! Although they argue incessantly they are plainly devoted to each other.

Then there is Bella Rosen. Some days the door rings two or three times with  deliveries of flowers, bonbons or love-notes from one of her gentleman admirers. I can well understand why. She is very popular in the vaudeville and musical comedies, and some of her costumes are quite astonishingly skimpy, but I think she could stand stock still in the middle of the stage wearing a potato sack and still bring the house down. Her rooms look as though they were transposed from the more scandalous sort of French novel. Mother People back home would say she was no better than she should be, but so far as I can see 'as good as she should be’ is perfectly sweet. She is forever passing on boxes of bonbons from her admirers, and I know she gives half of the jewellery she receives to Miss Christina, with whom she is great friends.

Miss Hammond and Miss Healy work in scenery and wardrobe respectively.  Miss Hammond is rather fierce. She smokes cigarettes just like a man and wears knickerbockers on her bicycle and even on occasion about the house! I suppose it would be rather rich of me to cast stones in that regard. Miss Healy is Irish and rather scatty. They are friends of long standing and share a room.

And lastly there is Cecilia Rheinhold, who is in the play with Hon. She is from Germany and apparently already quite well-known there. One certainly gets that impression to hear her talk, in any case. But Hon seems very taken with her. She says she is being perfectly sweet to her in rehearsals and showing her how things are done, etc. and even offered to ‘run lines’ with her (that means practice) outside rehearsal. The play is called The Cherry Orchard; it is by a Russian and apparently it is supposed to be a comedy. I must say the Russians must have a very odd sense of humour.

At present I am still working backstage as a sort of general dogsbody or factotum, generally with Mr Berel and Mr Rivkin. The work is so much more exhausting than anything we ever did on the farm. I fall into bed aching all over and some evenings it’s all I can do to stay awake at dinner! So you can rest easy knowing I have no time for fleshpots or debauchery.

All this is so I can make myself useful until Leslie King, the celebrated male impersonator, returns from tour. I am to be trained up as a sort of apprentice, and if I am good enough I might even have my own act some day. Just think of it! You might come and see me in top and tails. Quite a way from the Little Windenburg Dramatic Society!

Enclosed is a studio photograph of Hon and me, paid for extremely rashly out of my first month’s wages. You can’t think how exciting it is to have money one has earned oneself- even if it is hardly more than the pin money I used to get back home.

Your loving brother,

Clement

P.S. Please convey my gratitude to Eli for his willingness to pass on my letters.

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[leoramage]

Tagged by @charlosgoggles, I was pretty busy and kind of late when I saw the post! I immediately sat down once I had my free time to do this. Thank you for the tag my co-F1 astrology bestie in this app!

name: Leora Mage is actually an anagram of my real name! i am currently using it as a penname and stage name!

sign: my big three is leo-gemini-pisces!

time: its apparently 6:47 p.m. when i started writing this down. 9 p.m. when i finished (i had duties to attend to.)

favourite band/artist: i am the music bestie that listens to anything. you can't pin me down and tell me to list my favorite artists/band! ಠಿ⁠_⁠ಠ anyways here's the following:

solo artists: taylor swift, lana del rey, rihanna, doja cat, britney spears, ariana grande, olivia rodrigo, beyoncé, jennifer lopez, madonna, lady gaga, ava max, camila cabello, qveen herby

bands/groups: in this moment, ghost, the great discord, the neighborhood, the chainsmokers, little mix, blackpink, 2ne1, exo, bigbang, coldplay

bonus: i listen to classical music too (tchaikovsky, mozart, beethoven, etc.)

last movie: burlesque (as in christina aguilera) and house of gucci! i watched it for like a whole bus trip.

last show: house of the dragon! i love rewatching because of sir harwin strong & aemond targaryen!

also drive to survive as well, i was finding the episode fernando was in because i told my mom a local artist here in my country has physical similarities to fernando hahahaha

when I created this blog: i created this blog last year's ummer - solely for my practice, learn knowledge from other practitioners about my craft. i happen to love astrology too so it kind of stuck with me and my theme! i am continuously learning and mastering my craft but at the same time explore more.

other blogs: i have another tumblr blog but i forgotten what was the username but i do believe that i made that blog for roleplaying and posting my photo manipulation for a fandom i used to be in.

do I get asks: not until belle and becca sent me a game! i passed them on to my favorite writers and some to my moot blogs. i was supposed to send one to @charlosgoggles but they do not have their ask on lmfao

followers: 20 blogs are following me. most of them are my moots for sure or bots. idk, i did not check who is following me. i do not check who is following me to be fair (⁠ ⁠◜⁠‿⁠◝⁠ ⁠)

average hours of sleep: 5-6 hours but sometimes longer. i work harder than i sleep.

instruments: guitar, ukelele, piano keyboard, violin. i only have a guitar and keyboard with me and i haven't touched them for ages. i learned how to play the other instruments because of my acquaintances who are passionate about music or simply band members.

what I am wearing: black maxi dress that i made myself!

dream job: i do believe i can be who i wanted to be if i put effort in it. so basically i do not have a dream job.

dream trip: world tour (my work requires a lot of that and isolation from the world. so it's quite a tough journey considering the rough waves of the ocean but anything for the bag of moneh)

favorite song atm: uh i do not have a favorite song at the moment. but i listen to subliminals a lot because they just calm my mind (my brain is so active that i need to decelerate it from thinking about the most obnoxious things) but let me check my most played in spotify... okay it says:

dance the night - dua lipa

tagging: @folkloresthings , @lorarri , @love-belle / @love-bellee , @goldsainz and @opheliaas-stuff because you guys are the sweet ones i had been interacting with for the past few days. i love them sm ฅ[⁠ᓀ⁠˵⁠▾⁠˵⁠ᓂ⁠]ฅ

(p.s. feel free to do in your own comfort 𔘓 much love guys 🤍🩷💕)