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woso-dreamzzz · 25 days ago

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Idol II

England Lionesses x Teen!Reader

Summary: Your first call up to the Lionesses

It wasn't you that Sarina had come to evaluate.

It was Grace.

She'd heard great things about Grace Clinton and the idea of putting her into the World Cup squad was tempting which was why she was sat in the freezing cold winter weather in Bristol, trying to see if she could find a way to fit Grace into her midfield at her current level.

But Grace is on the bench, having picked up a slight niggle in the warm up.

So instead of Grace, Sarina finds herself evaluating you instead.

You're by far the smallest and youngest on the pitch, at least two heads shorter than the next smallest and your round baby face makes it clear that you're not anywhere near the next youngest too.

"Er...y/n l/n," One of the staff members replies when Sarina asks who you are," She's currently being looked at for the Under-23s. She's an Under-17 right now."

Sarina frowns. "How old is she?"

"She turned fifteen this August. Her inclusion in the Bristol City team was a surprise to everyone."

Sarina sips on her coffee thoughtfully just as you dance between two defenders and your shot is deflected by the keeper.

The Championship doesn't have the greatest access to camera footage so Sarina's mainly condemned to old youth team footage that's a little unfocussed and shaky.

She hums to herself, fingernails clicking against her desk.

"Hello? Is this Mrs l/n? Hi, this is Sarina Wiegman. I'm calling on behalf of the Lionesses. Yes, about your daughter."

Your coat is two sizes too big and the legs of your trousers have been rolled up a few times, that's one of the first things Keira notices.

The second thing is that your eyes are wide and the smile on your face holds excitement with a hint of nervousness.

She's never seen you before in her life and to even see someone like you at camp is shocking.

She'd been shocked to see a name on the camp list that she didn't recognise, even more shocked when she'd asked around and found that no one really knew who you were.

You walk in with Sarina, tucked under her arm as the introductions are made.

The nervousness is another thing Keira notes, your awkward smile does nothing to hide the way your eyes dart around the area.

"That's the kid Jona was talking about," Lucy says one morning randomly, scoffing down a piece of toast," He said that La Masia were looking to bring her in. She's still on an Academy contract with Bristol City."

"Really?" Georgia asks," You'd think they'd have moved her onto a professional one. Apparently, she's like an integral part to their system. Bristol City are gunning for promotion, I heard."

"She's good," Lucy says as Keira glances over her shoulder to watch you push at your eggs with a wrinkled nose," But her talents are wasted at Bristol."

Georgia flicks a bit of mushroom at her. "Maybe Bayern will have to grab her before you do."

Lucy laughs, pushing herself out from the table. "Well, maybe I should just go and ask her now, shall I? Because I guarantee you, she's going to want to trade England's weather for sunny Spain over Germany."

Georgia stands up too. "Funny. I was going to say that she'd much prefer the food in Germany to the food in Spain. I don't think she likes rice much so she won't like paella."

You're sitting alone at your table, wondering if it's alright to leave the now cold scrambled egg on your plate or if you should force it down so the catering staff don't feel annoyed at your for wasting it.

You practically jump out of your skin as Lucy Bronze and Georgia Stanway slam into the chairs opposite you.

You couldn't look at them - not after meeting Georgia for the first time and mindlessly blurting out her statistics from this season right in front of her.

"So," Lucy says, drumming her fingers on the table," How do you like Spain?"

"Er..."

"Ever been to Germany?" Georgia cuts in," Because, you know, Munich is beautiful this time of year."

"I-"

"Because I was thinking," Lucy continues like Georgia hadn't even spoken," Barcelona is just so nice and warm. You could work on your tan there."

"And of course, there's so many great Christmas markets in the winter," Georgia says," And sometimes we go and visit them as a big team and buy each other stuff."

"Well we do that at Barcelona too. Ingrid has a great list of coffee shops if you're into that kind of thing."

"Sydney knows the best places to grab a bite in the middle of the night."

"Aitana knows-"

A body slumps down into the seat next to you, an arm swung casually over your shoulder.

"You know, Chelsea's the place to be," Millie Bright says," Great manager. Great staff. Great team. We've got it all."

"And how many Champion's Leagues is that?" Lucy asks and Millie kicks her under the table.

"She's not going to any of your teams," Mary interrupts, swinging her feet up and onto the table as she leans back in the chair she stole," Because United are going to have this girl on lock."

The table erupts into laughter and Mary's face drops.

"Hey! It's not funny! We'll see who's laughing next season!"

"Still us," Georgia says," There's no way a kid with this level of talent is going to United! Just you wait, after the World Cup, she's going to have offers flooding in from everywhere.

"Really?" You ask, voice quiet," You really think so?"

You hadn't ever really thought of you future outside of the now. You don't know if you had ever really considered that you were good enough for other people to want. You hadn't ever really considered anyone would take a chance on you like Bristol City did.

"Are you kidding?" Lucy scoffs," Kid, your skills are off the charts at this age! Just you wait, people are going to be clamouring to get you!" She winks. "Just remember to choose the right one."

"The right one being Bayern," Georgia says with grin," Think of the Christmas markets."

"Think of the Barcelona sun."

"Think of being on the best English team."

"Think of..." Mary throws her hands up. "Well how am I supposed to compete with that?!"

"You can't," Lucy laughs with a shrug," Which is why United was never part of the conversation. Face it, Mary, you can't compete with that."

Mary waves her finger around. "Just you wait, I'll have this kid moving to Manchester before this World Cup is over."

A hand falls onto your shoulder and you look up to see Keira standing there, an eye roll already half completed on her face.

"The kid can make her own decisions," She says," She doesn't need you lot badgering her to make one before she has to."

"It's just a bit of fun, Kie," Georgia complains with an eye roll of her own," Sue me if I don't want Barcelona to collect all the best midfielders in the world."

The gentle teasing continues but all you can think of is Georgia's words.

'Collect all the best midfielders in the world'.

She meant you in that conversation as well. She meant to put you in the same bracket as Keira and Bonmatí and Guijarro and Putellas, the staples of Barcelona's midfield.

You stare down at your plate, that stupid bit of cold scrambled egg still sitting on it. You don't know how to react to that.

Say thank you?

Or would that make it weird?

Probably.

You've already embarrassed yourself enough this week. You don't need to do it all over again.

So you just kind of sit there with a shy smile on your face as the older players tease each other around you.

"Don't listen to them," Keira says," Where you go and what you do with your career is all up to you." She winks. "But I wouldn't be opposed if you wanted to come along to Barcelona."

#woso x reader #engwnt x reader #engwnt #england lionesses x reader #england lionesses #woso community #woso imagine #woso fanfics #woso

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mariacallous · 2 months ago

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(Note to readers: I wrote this two weeks ago, on 15 November. This update accounts for things I have learned since, and for Trump’s further appointments, who confirm the thesis.)

Each of Trump's proposed appointments is a surprise. It is comforting to think that he is simply a vengeful old man, lashing out this way and that. This is unlikely. He and Musk and Putin have been talking for years. And the whole idea of his campaign was that this time he had a plan.

We should be wary of shock, which excuses inaction. Who could have known? What could I have done? If there is a plan, shock is part of the plan. We have to get through the surprise and the shock to see the design and the risk. We don't have much time. Nor is outrage the point. Of course we are outraged. But our own reactions can distract is from the larger pattern.

The newspapers address the surprise and the shock by investigating each proposed appointment individually. And we need this. With detail comes leverage and power. But clarity must also come, and quickly. Each appointment is part of a larger picture. Taken together, Trump’s candidates constitute an attempt to wreck the American government.

In historical context we can see this. There is a history of the modern democratic state. There is also a history of engineered regime change and deliberate state destruction. In both histories, five key zones are health, law, administration, defense, and intelligence. These people, with power over these areas of life, can make America impossible to sustain.

The foundation of modern democratic state is a healthy, long-lived population. We lived longer in the twentieth century because of hygiene and vaccinations, pioneered by scientists and physicians and then institutionalized by governments. We treat one another better when we know we have longer lives to lose. Health is not only the central human good; it enables the peaceful interactions we associate with the rule of law and democracy. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the proposed secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, would undo all of this. On his watch, were his ideas implemented, millions of us would die. Knowing that our lives will be shorter, we become nasty and brutish.

A modern democratic state depends upon the rule of law. Before anything else is possible, we have to endorse the principle that we are all governed by law, and that our institutions are grounded in law. This enables a functional government of a specific sort, in which leaders can be regularly replaced by elections. It allows us to live as free individuals, within a set of rules that we can alter together. The rule of law depends on people who believe in the spirit of law. Matt Gaetz, Trump’s first proposed attorney general, is the opposite of such a person. It is not just that he flouts law himself, spectacularly and disgustingly. It is that he embodies lawlessness, and can be counted upon to abuse law to pursue Trump's political opponents. The end of the rule of law is an essential component of a regime change. He has been replaced by Pam Bondi, who will evade the sex-crime allegations that seem to have brought Gaetz down. But Bondi is someone who dropped an investigation against Trump when he made an illegal donation to one of her foundations. She also led “lock her up” chants against Hillary Clinton, who had committed no crime. And she participated in a central injustice of contemporary American history, Donald Trump’s Big Lie that he won the election of 2020. She can be expected to lead prosecutions based upon alternative reality.

In a class by himself is Kash Patel, whom Trump would like to see as director of the FBI. This, of course, requires Trump to fire Christopher Wray, whom he himself appointed, and who has three years left to serve. Firing Wray for no reason would be unprecedented and would itself have been an outrage in a more sane time. Giving Patel authority over the national police force is nothing less than a promise of authoritarian rule.

Patel is a narcissitic zealot with zero qualification for such a post, as even hard-right Trump insiders such as Bill Barr have said (“over my dead body” were his words when Trump proposed Patel for a lesser position of authority in 2020). Patel got Trump’s attention for his efforts to denounce the entirely correct proposition that Trump was supported by Russian in 2016. Patel was then one of the most active and outspoken participants in Trump’s coup attempt of 2020-2021. Patel has since become a pitchman for a clothing line as well as pills that, he claims, will detox your body from the harmful effects of vaccinations. Patel said both that he would shut down the FBI and that he would use it to prosecute journalists and people who deny the untrue conspiracy theories in which he believes, and to prosecute people who say true things, such as that Russia supports Donald Trump when he runs for office. Russian trolls have been, understandably, very excited in their support of Patel.

A pattern is emerging: the federal government is to be used only as an instrument of revenge, which means that the law will be subverted as such. Laws that were passed to improve the laws of citizens, meanwhile, will simply not be implemented.

The United States of America exists not only because laws are passed, but because we can expect that these laws will be implemented by civil servants. We might find bureaucracy annoying; its absence, though, is deadly. We cannot take the pollution out of the air ourselves, or build the highways ourselves, our write our Social Security checks ourselves. Without a civil service, the law becomes mere paper, and all that works is the personal connection to the government, which the oligarchs will have, and which the rest of us will not. This is the engineered helplessness promised by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who are to head a black hole named after a cryptocurrency. There are already oversight instruments in government. DOGE is something entirely different: an agency of destruction, run by people who believe that government should exist for the wealthy or not at all.

The understandable jokes are that DOGE just adds unelected bureaucrats when it is supposed to replace them, and that DOGE is itself a model of inefficiency, since it has two incompetent directors. But the humor distracts from the basic truth: DOGE is there to make the government fail, and then to divide the profitable bits among regime-proximate oligarchs.

DOGE = Den of Oligarchs Gets Everything.

In a modern democratic state, the armed forces are meant to preserve a healthy, long-lived people from external threats. This principal has been much abused in American practice. But never before Donald Trump have we had a president who has presented the purpose of the armed forces as the oppression of Americans. Trump says that Russia and China are less of a threat than "internal enemies." In American tradition, members of the armed forces swear an oath to the Constitution. Trump has indicated that we would prefer "Hitler's generals," which means a personal oath to himself. Pete Hegseth, Trump's proposed secretary of defense, defends war criminals and displays tattoos associated with white nationalism and Christian nationalism. He is a fundraiser and television personality, with a complicated sexual past and zero experience running an organization. Like Trump, he has no coherent account of how foreign powers might threaten America; if anything, he praises them for sharing his misogyny. His own obsessions with gender lead him to believe that American high officers should be politically purged — a proposition that America’s actual enemies would of course welcome. Hegseth makes perfect sense as the person who would direct American armed forces against American citizens.

In a world of hostile powers, an intelligence service is indispensable. Intelligence can be abused, and certainly has been abused. Yet it is necessary to consider military threats: consider the Biden administration's correct call the Russia was about to invade Ukraine. It is also necessary to counter the attempts by foreign intelligence agencies, which are constant, to harm American society. This often involves disinformation. Tulsi Gabbard, insofar as she is known at all, is known as a spreader of Syrian and Russian disinformation. She visited Syria, where here remarks could only be understood as an endorsement of the atrocities of Assad. She suggested to burn victims that they had not suffered because of Assad and his ally Russia, which was in fact the case. Gabbard has no relevant experience. Were she to become director of national intelligence, as Trump proposes, we would lose the trust of our allies, and lose contact with much of what is happening in the world -- just for starters. We would be vulnerable to all of those who wish to cause us harm. Unsurprisingly, Gabbard is regarded in Russia as “girlfriend,” “superwoman” and a “Putin’s agent.”

In the Soviet theory of regime change, one crucial aspect was control of the power ministries: those associated with defense, the police, and intelligence. Patel, Gabbard, and Hegseth are such shocking suggestions as custodians of American power and law that it is easy to overlook Kristi Noem as Trump’s proposed director of Homeland Security. Noem is regarded positively in Trump’s circles because of a publicity stunt in which she, as governor of South Dakota, effectively privatized her states’s National Guard by accepting a big private donation to send a few of its members to the border with Mexico. The border is, of course, a serious matter, Noem’s combination of spectacle, privatization, and incompetence is more than concerning.

Imagine that you are a foreign leader who wishes to destroy the United States. How could you do so? The easiest way would be to get Americans to do the work themselves, to somehow induce Americans to undo their own health, law, administration, defense, and intelligence. From this perspective, Trump's proposed appointments -- Kennedy, Jr.; Bondi; Musk; Ramaswamy; Hegseth; Gabbard; Noem -- are perfect instruments. They combine narcissism, incompetence, corruption, sexual incontinence, personal vulnerability, dangerous convictions, and foreign influence as no group before them has done. These proposed appointments look like a decapitation strike: destroying the American government from the top, leaving the body politic to rot, and the rest of us to suffer.

I do not defend the status quo. I have no doubt whatsoever that the Department of Defense and the Food and Drug Administration require reform. But such a reform, of these or other agencies, would have to be guided by people with knowledge and experience, who cared about their country, and who had a vision of improvement. That is simply not what is happening here. We are confronted instead with a group of people who, were they to hold the positions they have been assigned, could bring an end to the United States of America.

It is a mistake to think of these people as flawed. It is not they will do a bad job in their assigned posts. It is that they will do a good job using those assigned posts to destroy our country.

However and by whomever this was organized, the intention of these appointments is clear: to create American horror. Elected officials should see this for what it is. Senators, regardless of party, should understand that the United States Senate will not outlast the United States, insist on voting, and vote accordingly. The Supreme Court of the United States will likely be called upon. Although it is a faint hope, one must venture it anyway: that its justices will understand that the Constitution was not in fact written as the cover story for state destruction. The Supreme Court will also not outlast the United States.

And citizens, regardless of how they voted, need now to check their attitudes. This is no longer a post-electoral moment. It is a pre-catastrophic moment. Trump voters are caught in the notion that Trump must be doing the right thing if Harris voters are upset. But Harris voters are upset now because they love their country. And Harris voters will have to get past the idea that Trump voters should reap what they have sown. Yes, some of them did vote to burn it all down. But if it all burns down, we burn too. It is not easy to speak right now; but if some Republicans wish to, please listen.

Both inside and outside Congress, there will have to be simple defiance, joined with a rhetoric of a better America. And, at moments at least, there will also have to be alliances among Americans who, though they differ on other matters, would like to see their country endure.

(Please share this post with people who might benefit from reading it.)

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ticktockmyclockworkhart · 4 months ago

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Redesigning trolls part 3: funk trolls!

This was another case of characters who I really didn't think needed much because they SLAYED already but yknow lol...

You know the drill, below the cut are my not-so-little design notes!

So on funk trolls as a whole: I can't for the life of me tell you what they're supposed to be. One of my friends told me they looked like llamas so that's what I'm taking and running with. I also thought it was sort of interesting how only some of the funk trolls are quadrupedal and then there are some bipedal ones. So in my interpretation of funk trolls, they can all go bipedal or quadrupedal as they so choose. Leaning into interpreting them as llamas, I gave them hooves, but only on their back legs. So in my little canon they have stronger back legs than forelegs and can push up and stand straight in a bipedal stance or drop down to all fours, it's ultimately however each individual prefers to stand. I also changed their noses to be more snout-like and gave them tails which are on the shorter end. Anyway onto the individual designs!

For King Quincy, I didn't change too much but had to take out the thing that bothered me the most. THAT. BEARD. That teal color clashes so hard with his design and bothers the shit out of me. I know it mirrors George Clinton’s look pretty directly but the teal in his beard (in pictures where he has it) isn’t as strong nor is he a bright purple, lol. He already has all those layers of fluff and streamers (whatever they are exactly...?), why can't we fuse them? Originally I kept the OG beard shape but eventually I decided I wanted to use his fur and streamers to become a beard, again going for a more llama/alpaca wool look. Can't say I changed much beyond that though!

As for Queen Essence, again that beautiful woman is just about perfect so I just spiced her up a little. For one, I thought it was kinda unfair she didn't get a cool cloak like her husband, so I gave her a smaller one that drapes over the back. I kept everything very silver-tinted in her accessories to match all the gold in King Quincy's outfit. I also added a ring to her fingers, not going for all the rings that Quincy has but I wanted a wedding ring for the two of them! You can see the rings match showing a stone with the body color of the other partner.

I just love these two, they absolutely OOZE the energy of “my wife and I saw you across the bar and we love your vibe”.

Hope you vibe with these funky trolls!

#dreamworks trolls #my art #trolls #trolls fandom #queen essence #king quincy #funk trolls #hartley redesigns trolls

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septembriseur · 9 months ago

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Soliciting recommendations for film, tv, and similar music that I can listen to while writing. Recent successes include Ludwig Goransson’s Oppenheimer score, James Newton Howard’s A Hidden Life score, and a bunch of piano covers of stuff. Stuff I have used in the past and am kind of burned out on includes Daniel Hart’s Green Knight score, Max Richter’s Leftovers score, and Clinton Shorter’s Expanse score.

Ideally I am always searching for, like, an Expanse score that I haven’t heard before— that blend of space and mysticism. I go back and forth on being burned out on the Battlestar Galactica score.

Thoughts?

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alsopurp · 5 months ago

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If you've been looking for a Black & queer perspective on AMC's Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire .. we got you covered ✨

Catch my latest episode of REFERENTIAL with award-winning poet Derrick Austin!

🩸

*also available everywhere you get your podcasts*

I’m joined on this episode by award-winning poet and vampire aficionado Derrick Austin!

We delve into the most recent adaptation of Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, AMC’s Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (Starring Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid, Bailey Bass, Eric Bogosian & Assad Zaman)

This conversation also includes our thoughts on the original book [Book 1 of The Vampire Chronicles] and the 1994 film adaptation of the story (Directed by Neil Jordan and starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt & Kirsten Dunst)

[spoilers all!]

+ Find out how we fit the following in

Early 90s straight-washing

Race-blind casting vs adding to the narrative

Repressed desire and the glass closet

The existential terrors of being alive

‘Demonic White Daddies’

Queer hierarchies of privilege

Mentorship and inter-community conflict

Abusive relationships

Selfishness & the toxicity of ‘queer families’

‘Containing’ Claudia

In defence of Armand

The glass closets and taking queerness outside

De-centring whiteness in queer narratives

Clinton-era ‘radicalism’ today

Creole Lady Marmalade

Fantasies of carefree existence

Rabid fanbases

This is a story about control.

Find Derrick on all socials @ParadiseLAust and more about him & his writing here: https://linktr.ee/DerrickAustin

Keep up to date with Dr. Khaliden Nas by checking out www.alsopurple.com and following @AlsoPurp on all socials.

Hosted and produced by Dr. Khaliden Nas.

Music by PamperedFists & Anzahlung.

All videos edited by Victor Alexander.

Podcast Artwork by Valentine M. Smith.

Find out more about REFERENTIAL’s upcoming episodes on www.alsopurple.com/citations

*'Tangent'��are REFERENTIAL's shorter bonus episodes. Slightly different from the main monthly episodes. Expect quick reviews, edited bonus out content, collabs, mailbags, live audio, and whatever else I might think of + They take less time to make so I can update the feed frequently!*

If you liked this episode, help other people find the podcasts! Share, tell a friend, and remember to leave a five star rating and review to help people find us!

Thank you for listening!

#lestat x louis #the vampire armand #interview with the vampire #amc iwtv #louis de pointe du lac #lestat de lioncourt #claudia de pointe du lac #anne rice #the vampire chronicles #jacob anderson #assad zaman #sam reid #bailey bass #podcast #queer #Spotify

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acrossthewavesoftime · 9 months ago

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top five things YOU have written 🫵🫵 that you're ok with sharing ofc :3

That's a very difficult and interesting question, thank you! :) I don't really know if I can pick five and rate them in a set hierarchy. I like many things I write, shorter and longer, finished and unfinished, so here are 5 that come to mind:

I don't write for it very often, but what I write, I enjoy writing a lot. The early 19th century AU which I came up with for @nordleuchten in which a few generations ago the Stuarts managed to produce some sort of heir, making the Hannovarians bog standard German provincial rulers instead of British monarchs. The man you know as George III and his heir, Prinz Georg stand to inherit the throne as it is expected that the Stuart line will come to an end in their lifetime. Georg is pretty much good old Prinny, who however decides to take drastic measures when he finds that being patronised by his dad as a grown man has become insufferable. He decides to take an alias and join the British navy, because what else cries freedom so much as watching romantic sunsets at sea? In the act of leaving clandestinely, he is caught by one Karoline von Braunschweig, a beloathed cousin acting as his mother's lady-in-waiting. Georg takes to life at sea like a duck to water despite the fact that it turns out to be nothing like what he imagined, and becomes a celebrated hero of the Napoleonic Wars. Hijinks ensue when his cover is blown, his brother Ernst tries to take over the succession, and he realises he doesn't actually loathe Karoline, quite on the contrary, really. Karoline meanwhile has to explain a big belly away, and George sails for a place called Trafalgar... It's all delightfully off and the real George and Caroline would probably disapprove, but sometimes, certain AUs are not meant to be very accurate, just a little silly.

Less silly and as far as my research goes, as close to history as possible, my story on Henry Clinton and Mary Baddeley. I have written so much about the two already, it's almost a novel. I am fascinated by the mutual respect, suppressed affection and surprisingly good documentation there is. Theoretically, their relationship is a communist party meeting worth of red flags; a power dynamic between employer and employee, a substantial age gap, Mary being very much reliant on Clinton's protection from beng sexually harrassed by an officer in her husband's regiment and him falling in love with her while she was pregnant with her husband's child are just the most obvious ones. Regardless of all these things, both, given time, found love. Let's hope I will finish it one day so we can have the big budget adaptation i'm dreaming of ever since learning about the two...

I have a similar thing going for the Graveses, which is a little more light-hearted in that both Mrs and Mr Admiral were two very outspoken people, with Margaret in particular passing judgements on people in her letters worthy of Jane Austen novels. There is some tragedy in that they met at a point in their lives where they both seem to have still been processing the death of a beloved loved one, and both helped raise a child that was not their own. Given their eventful lives, bubbly family and their very loud personalities, however, I think this one writes itself a little easier.

A Stuart AU in which Maria Beatrice d'Este, now Queen of England, has had enough. Identifying, in her mind, her husband's unchanging licentious ways as the reason why God takes all her children from her young, she decides to commit regicide when she realises she is pregnant once more, in order to protect this child at least; because if James is dead, he can no longer commits acts displeasing God, right? The flaws in her logic aside, she makes this last desperate attempt to suffocate James, the husband who has abused her for so long, both physically and mentally, in his sleep with a cushion, but fails as he wakes up. Fleeing England in the middle of the night, Maria Beatrice manages to find a passage to the continent and makes it to The Hague, where the Prince and Princess of Orange now have a political scandal on their hands. What ensues is an intense triangular situation in which everyone is faced with ghosts of the past; Maria Beatrice, who never wanted to get married and have children, is faced by the involuntarily childless Mary who would do everything to be a mother; William by his own conduct towards Mary when they were newly-wed, which he finds himself reminded of by some things Maria Beatrice recounts of her marriage, fearing he may have mistreated Mary, and all three of them by the question of who will one day be James' heir, Mary, or the baby, if it turns out to be a boy, Maria Beatrice is about to have? Includes such memorable scenes as the one in which William feeds a toddler potential pretender a waffle while engineering his ascension to the throne during a council meeting (hey, the waffle-thing at least is based on an event and person during his own childhood, so).

I'm currently writing a little something quite light-hearted featuring Louise de Kérouaille and exploring her perspective on her relationship with Charles II, which I find quite delightful.

If any of you want to know something else about the stories (since I don't post them to AO3), feel free to ask. :)

#ask game #ask reply #r writes

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misfitwashere · 2 months ago

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Decapitation Strike (December)

Preserving America from Trump's Appointments (updated)

TIMOTHY SNYDER

DEC 1

(Note to readers: I wrote this two weeks ago, on 15 November. This update accounts for things I have learned since, and for Trump’s further appointments, who confirm the thesis.)

DOGE = Den of Oligarchs Gets Everything.

It is a mistake to think of these people as flawed. It is not they will do a bad job in their assigned posts. It is that they will do a good job using those assigned posts to destroy our country.

(Please share this post with people who might benefit from reading it.)

#timothy snyder #thinking about...

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i-like-sticks · 1 month ago

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So instead... I know !

Yzrius X Baltil

Interesting choice! Let's see what we got for these two tragic love birds x')

-Don't Let Go by Bryan Adams (ft Sarah Mclachlan) -Hymn for The Weekend by Coldplay (ft Beyonce) -That's The Way It Is by Daniel Lanois -If I Never Knew You (End Title Version) by Jon Secada and Shanice -Kayla by Harry Gregson-Williams -I Won't Leave You by Clinton Shorter -Descanco de Hielo by Carlos Viola

#music asks #ask stuff

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darkmaga-returns · 2 months ago

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For about a decade, American trade policy has been buffeted by competing impulses on how it should engage economically with the world.

The controversy is over whether the U.S. should expand trade with all countries; use it as a tool that buttresses alliances and deters or coerces adversaries; or just step back from trade and aim for self-sufficiency.

The debate goes back at least to Hillary Clinton’s 2015 decision to abandon the Trans Pacific Partnership, an agreement she had championed as Secretary of State. It is also a debate in which the divisions do not map cleanly along party lines, making predictions about policy under the new administration difficult. But it might help to identify the different factions and their interests in order to make sense of trade-related headlines rolling off the wires, like the below examples.

As is well known, President-elect Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico for not doing enough to control migration and narcotics shipments. It remains unclear what he will do next – he declared victory following a telephone conversation with that country’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, but he has not withdrawn the tariff threat. This is a stance that has caused alarm in U.S. industrial circles, particularly in the automotive sector, where supply chains depend on deep cross-border integration.

It is also at odds with the Biden administration push to “nearshore” or “friendshore” U.S. industrial supply chains — a move justified in varying degree by shorter distances, greater resiliency, and a desire to reduce America’s link with China, all goals in which Mexico is seen as playing a key role.

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woso-dreamzzz · 8 months ago

Text

Injured (Jenni's Version): Future II

Grace Clinton x Reader

Alexia Putellas x Daughter!Reader

Summary: Your children meet Alexia

"Mama!" Jaume complains," Leave my hair alone!"

Alexia stifles her laugh as Olga continues to rake her fingers through Jaume's hair. It had been a long fight between them about the length for years now.

Jaume liked it a bit longer while Olga preferred it to be clipped a bit shorter so it would stop falling into his eyes when he walked.

"I'm just making it neat."

"It's fine!"

Alexia sighs. "Can we go in now? The others are waiting."

It's a monthly tradition to meet up at Alexia's Mama's house with the rest of the extended family. This argument happened every time they pulled up.

Olga frowns at Jaume as he forces his hair back to how it was before, shaking her head. "Fine."

Alexia lets them all into the house, already knowing the party had migrated to the garden with the barbeque set up and beers already opened.

"Say hello to your Abuela first, Jaume," Alexia calls after him as her son rushes off to grab food," And tell her you love her!"

Jaume gives no indication that he hears her and he doesn't need to be reminded.

"He better be polite to his cousins," Alexia grumbles as Jaume makes a quick pitstop with Eli before hurrying to load up his plate.

"He will be. You know him."

Jaume's sweet really. A big softie but after playing a big match yesterday and sleeping most of the day away, it was stupid to get between him and food.

Alexia shakes her head fondly at her son before surveying the group. Her aunts and uncles and cousins are all there with their own kids. Alba's holding a baby that Alexia doesn't quite recognise.

There's a little boy running around as well that she doesn't recognise either and that's when Alexia spots you.

It's been years but Alexia would recognise you anywhere.

The last time she'd seen you, you were nearly seventeen, doing your last performance with your ballet company in Spain that Alexia had to secretly buy tickets to see.

You'd gone to England then for a year or two and last Alexia heard you were dancing in France.

You fondly look down at the little boy as he crashes into you, sweeping his messy hair out of his eyes before sending him on his way.

Alba passes the baby to you and you hold her so comfortably that she must be yours.

You have children...and Alexia didn't know at all.

"Ale?"

"I'm fine," She tells Olga, sucking in a deep breath and painting on a smile," I'm fine."

But she's not fine and she's even more not fine when an arm pulls you closer by your waist and you back easily into the body of Grace Clinton.

Grace Clinton who plays for Lyon in France and who Alexia knows there is only one reason for why she would be in Spain now.

She's your wife.

You have matching wedding bands and the boy looks up adoringly at her.

You have children with a woman who is at least a decade older than you...

You look happy though, smiling up at her sweetly as she pulls faces at the baby.

"Alexia!" Eli's voice snaps Alexia out of her daze. "You send your son to see me but can't even greet your old mother?"

"You're not that old, Mama," Alexia says, kissing Eli's cheeks," You look good for your age."

"The comfort of good food and family," Eli replies," Come, sit, eat. There is more than enough to go around. Knowing your uncle, I will be sending everyone home with seconds!"

Alexia sits, talks and laughs but her eyes keep travelling back to you and your little family.

You're on the other side of the garden, with your baby and your wife and one of Alexia's cousins fawning over her.

"Bisabuela!" The little boy appears suddenly and Alexia jolts. He looks like you but he's got Clinton's mannerisms even though there's a big train on his shirt.

"Ah, James!" Eli says," What can I do for you?"

"Mami has lost Livy's bag again!" He tells her," Do you know where it is?"

"I will take it," Eli says," I am overdue Olivia cuddles. Sit, eat some food, James."

The boy - James - climbs up onto Eli's now abandoned seat and tucks into some brisket. He devours it in a way that only a growing boy can.

"Are you related to my Mami?" He asks suddenly and his eyes are on Alexia's.

She winces. "Yes. I am."

"You look like her like how Alba does."

"I'm Alba's sister."

James nods. "My sister Livy's named after Alba. Olivia Alba."

Alexia forces a smile on her face. "That's nice."

"I'm named after Bisabuela, kind of. James Eliot but Mami and Mummy call me James Eli."

"That's nice," Alexia says," It's always important to honour family."

Her eyes drift over to Jaume, who looks torn between approaching you or hanging back. He's always had some kind of hero worship for you, his mysterious older sister who lived with Jenni. He's still got that now as he steels himself and slowly heads over.

"How are you related to my Mami then? I know Alba's Mami's Tia so are you her Tia too?"

"I'm Bambi's-"

"That's not my Mami's name," James interrupts," Not really anyway. Sometimes Abuela calls her that but she says it's a nickname."

Alexia's heart stops. She knows that Abuela must be Jenni and she isn't sure what she expected. Of course Abuela is Jenni. Of course Alexia isn't.

James has no idea who she is.

James has no idea who Alexia is...who Alexia was to you.

"What's your Mami's name then?" Alexia asks instead.

"Beautiful. That's what Mummy calls her. Mummy's name is Amor..." He frowns. "Or Idiot because that's what Mami calls her when she's angry."

"When I knew your Mami, everyone called her Bambi."

James nods. "Like the deer. Abuela made me watch that film when she looked after me and Livy last week."

"It's a good film, isn't it?"

"It is!" His plate is empty and he frowns. Alexia's plate is full and he reaches for some of hers.

"James," Grace Clinton says," What have I said about stealing food?"

James puffs out his cheeks. "But she's family! She's Mami's Tia! You said I'm allowed to if it's family!"

"I said no even if it is family!"

Alexia can feel the weight of Grace's gaze on her even as she banters with her son. Alexia can feel herself being sized up as Grace takes Eli's seat and places James on her lap.

James eats off Grace's plate as the two adults stare at each other.

Alexia played against Grace a few times when Grace was just starting her international career. She's older now, wiser and captain of the team that had beaten Barcelona in the Champion's League final two times in a row just a few years ago.

Grace Clinton is your wife.

She is the other mother of your children. Sweet, sweet James and Olivia, who is now being gently passed into an awestruck Jaume's arms.

Alexia settles on giving her an awkward smile.

"James," Grace says, tickling his tummy," Can you go share our plate with Mami? I'm sure she's hungry."

James goes off quickly and now it's just Alexia and Grace.

"I love my wife," Grace says suddenly," And I love my kids. Coming back here with them is a lot for her, you have to understand."

"I do."

"She wants them to know her family outside of just Jenni. She comes from Spain and she doesn't want them to not know that part of themselves."

"I get it."

"Good." Grace nods. There's silence for a moment before Grace quells Alexia's fears in one sentence. "She's happy."

Grace fades into the background then as more of the family appears around the table, conversations washing over her as Alexia catches up with her cousins.

It takes a while before you approach and Alexia holds her breath. You're holding your breath too as you perch on Grace's lap, desperately clutching your baby tighter to you.

It's stupid, you think. You should be over this. It happened so long ago. You're a different person now but seeing Alexia put you on edge, especially so near your children.

You had nearly burst into tears seeing her talking to James, halfway between running towards them and just collapsing. Grace had gone in your place but you were even more unnerved now, having little Livy so close.

Olivia couldn't care less though, making soft little noises as she sat happily in your arms.

You peck at your food, unease rolling in your stomach as you felt Alexia's gaze on your side profile.

Grace adjusts behind you, a soft kiss being pressed against the back of your ear.

"Half," She implores," Please, beautiful. It's hot today. You didn't eat much at breakfast."

You had always had a strange relationship with food. It ebbed and flowed when you were a teenager. It had changed again when you were pregnant, another little human relying you on to keep them healthy.

But, still, sometimes you struggle when you feel off.

You nod though, unable to deny your wife anything.

Grace's arm around your waist is warm and comforting. The smile you know she is sporting is comforting too, even though you can't see it.

You usually went to these alone, once a year, even after you'd given birth to James. Grace's Spanish wasn't the greatest and her accent made her speaking almost unintelligible sometimes but it was nice she was here to support you, to whisk you and the kids away the moment you wanted.

You turn your head, meeting Alexia's eyes.

She smiled awkwardly at you and you smiled even more awkwardly back.

"His shirt," She says, the first words she's spoken to you all afternoon," He likes trains?"

You look down bashfully. "He took more after me than we expected."

Alexia bites her lip, debating back and forth whether or not to continue. "How long are you staying?"

"Two weeks."

"I...I have some trains at home. Jaume is too old for them now. Would James-?"

You nod, a real smile appearing on your face. "He would like that, thank you."

You tilt towards Alexia, showing her Olivia more obviously.

You don't let her touch your baby. You don't want her touching either of your children. But you can stomach this, for now.

"This is Olivia," You say," She's nearly one."

"She's beautiful."

Grace grins behind you. "Just like my wife."

#woso x reader #grace clinton x reader #grace clinton #alexia putellas x reader #alexia putellas #woso community #woso imagine #woso fanfics #woso

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aiiria17 · 2 months ago

Text

An unnecessary over-analysis of tails overtime by someone with no problems whatsovever

hi gamers I'm here to talk about the best character in all of sonic the hedgehog media tails "the fox" miles "tails" prower the fox because he deserves everything including detailed analysis

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

this is the best character I've ever seen. His name is Tails and he's so cool. If you say something mean I will next make a shorter text post with your address

In Sonic 2 he's mostly a sidekick but also the main character in a way. He's the main character in the same way my aunt is. Like technically he only exists in relation to my dad but like she's so cool and therefore the main character.

he doesn't do much according to my research (memories) but also he does everything by being there and being so cute. LOOK AT HIM:

Anyways shout out to Tails he saved the world and killed the death egg robot and that guy's a BITCH. So thank you Tails I will sacrifice 7 goats to you tonight (I normally only sacrifice 5 from the farmer who lives 20 minutes from my house. The police are catching onto me. I don't have much time until they arrest me, afterwards I can only sacrifice like prison food so sorry in advance Tails). NEXT ITERATION

Sonic 3 & Knuckles (Tails is better so Sega should delete this game actually)

Tails looks a lot different this time.

I hear this game has Super Tails I wouldn't know I'm not doing research for this game but if so it's a top tier game (already is)

Tails fulfills the strange role in this game of being between two figures in Sonic and Knuckles (the titular rivals).

In a way Tails is like Hillary Clinton because she was stuck between Obama and Bill Clinton which undermined her individual identity. Unlike Hillary no need to investigate Tails' emails cause I think nobody else in mobius has an email so it's just Tails and all his alts which is wild to imagine.

Point is Tails is not as important here as in cooler games like... NEXT ITERATION

TAILS (PEAK) SKY (PEAK) PATROL (PEAK)

This game is good cause it has Tails in it.

Tails realizes here that he is peak and therefore doesn't NEED Sonic to have a 2d game for the Sega Game Gear system. Fortunately for us, Tails has a successful adventure. Oh wait a minute. That's also a game. wait one sec

Tails adventure

haven't played it yet I hear he napalms like napalm man megaman 5. That's crazy cause I don't think Tails would support the vietnam war unlike THIS FUCKER

back to Tails Sky Patrol

For those who have sad pathetic worthless lives and don't know the plot: Tails goes to an island, finds a bunch of minecart tracks and then fights Witchcart and her squad of goons. In a way, Tails is once again like Hillary Clinton. You see, the reason this game is seen as irrelevant is because it was less successful than the previous games but, just like Hillary, it's of similar quality to some of the Sonic (Joe Biden) led titles (only Sonic CD all of the other ones clear but CD is ass). Unrelated what even were in those emails like can Tails recover Hillary's emails I want to know I'm curious

Sonic Adventure means 3D Tails!

I love Sonic Adventure Tails.

First of all the narrative: Tails is trying to break out of his assumed role of being just a sidekick. Given that all Tails really was up to this point was Sonic's little buddy the direction Sonic Adventure took was huge for the beautiful path Tails' character went down.

The arc that Tails' story in this game starts creates the arc that attached me to this character from the outset. I personally have always found it hard to see myself as capable of doing things because others can accomplish things that feel impossible to me, even if I have a similar skill set to them. Seriously, Tails' theme from this game is one of my favorite Sonic songs period because it just reminds me to be confident in my abilities.

Second the gameplay: Tails' gameplay serves to show what the story is showing by having the player use Tails' unique skillset to outpace Sonic, the "fastest thing alive" which indicates his ability in spite of not having the confidence he is yet to find.

I don't like Sonic Adventure as a whole a lot but Tails is the highlight of the game to me. I like the way Tails is developed to blossom into a new beautiful character throughout the game. Everytime I play I look forward to Tails' campaign.

wait oh god I mean uhh Hillary Clinton uhhh Epstein didn't kill himself uhhhh chemicals in the water? I don't know I do want to show my actual love of Tails a little bit well NEXT ITERATION

Sonic Adventure 2

so first of all the mech levels are fine you're just bad

So narratively it's just kinda more of adventure Tails but now with a cool mech. It's like when the lizard people attach their skin suits so the cspan footage won't record the truth about our government. One time I went in to meet my senator and he turned his head 180 degrees to look at me. I saw his eyes blink sideways while he was getting his skinsuit zipped on from the aide in the office who also was probably in the Illuminati to honest. I would speak his name but he put a curse on me that if I speak the truth to what I saw my ancestors will all have the feeling that they are perpetually walking over hot coals, even when not walking! Normally I'd drop the "jokes on you I'm gay" but I don't know if this applies to cousins and that would be a fucked up thing to do to my cousins.

Anyways Tails

yeah he's good in this game strong character shows his smart side while keeping the strength he got for himself in Adventure 1. I'd give him a (Sonic Adventure) 2/2

Sonic Heroes

Fuck this game it's so trash

Tails' model looks good but I really don't want to continue thinking about this game cause if I do I'll scream and the curse I got from that other lizard witch person (no minecart sadly) means that if I scream because of Sonic the Hedgehog my urethra will explode. Yikes

Shadow the Hedgehog

He's so cute

Lowkey when playing this game I didn't have it in me to not go on the Tails routes for levels but sometimes I had to and wanted to apologize so I just doubled my goat sacrifice total which is rough cause I also have to sacrifice at least like 1 goat to the high demon Nahadareth who will also make my urethra explode. Overall I'm going to use this platform to say I think Tails and Shadow have such a funny little dynamic. It's adorable and I want to see them go on an adventure and do cool stuff together Sega if you don't do this I will send a death threat to a janitor at your headquarters via carrier pigeon and YOU'LL RUE THE DAY

He's seriously so adorable in this game though it made the ten times playing nearly worth it.

nearlyNEXTITERATION

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) - XBOX360/PS3

Fun fact this was my first mainline Sonic game. Thankfully not my actual first Sonic game, except for the fact that my true first Sonic game was Sonic Chronicles.

Anyways I don't remember him doing very much cause Sonic just fucks off with Elise for like all of his route but I love dummy ring bomb.

Dummy ring bomb is great because it lets Tails both bomb the enemies and my PS3 simultaneously because Sonic 06 can't handle loading in one more asset let alone 100. Seriously what did he do? His role is almost as easy to forget as the fact that the chemtrails are still being spread by the government through the airplanes. You know Sonic 06 was a great perfectly functional game and then on release day the government put out twice the chemtrails cause George Bush though Silver the Hedgehog would make the kids gay. As a kid exposed to Silver the Hedgehog early on, he was right I guess.

Okay so like fun fact the next Sonic media I know about in continuity is Boom (and I forgot about Generations and don't feel like going back so fuck you specifically actually) and like I'm good so we're going straight to "NEXT"ITERATION SONICFOCERS

SONICFROCES

SONICESSRES

fuck

SONICFORCES

put more effort into backspacing than sega did into this game

this cutscene is disgusting

honestly a bigger assassination than Jeffrey Epsteindidn'tkillhimself and John killedbytheF.BI Kennedy combined. Tails would never cower cause he can fly.

Oh I get that like it's literally Chaos zero and tails is supposed to be competant but also he can fly like why crouch just go up WHAT WERE THEY THINKING.

Jokes aside my favorite line in this game is that in the opening cutscene Silver(?) says "Tails... Tails has just lost it" so apparently my boy went insane like he got MKUltra'd and then got that instant fast therapy off camera and was good and chill by the time we saw him again. Some say his activation word is Zavok. My activation word is "the" because the government just really hated me in particular when I got MKUltra'd. But I'm built different so I've just been exclusively speaking and only listening to foreign languages for all these years. I still don't know any languages but like I listen to them and make some sounds which is cool I guess.

Sonic Forced me to play this at gunpoint and Tails would never that's why I like Tails games more

I'm not doing Mania or Superstars cause Tails doesn't do anything and it's midnight and I'm only going to pad kinda hard from here out.

SONIC FRONTIERS

good game imo people are just mean :(

his ass is THINKING

I love Frontier Tails. like as much as Adventure Tails. Unfortunately doing the "sincere analysis" bit twice kinda kills the vibe so I just gotta bullshit I guess and if you're still reading sunk cost fallacy means you'll read whatever slop I throw out next so here we go.

I like Frontiers Tails cause he can transform into a robot in final horizon and fly around but unfortunately not destroy any towers cause 1. He's not Bush and 2. Tornado fuel can't melt steel beams but that's not a real video game and in fact a free update and I wouldn't say that patch 1.4 changed Bridget's character in Guilty Gear but it did make me give up on playing her and the game and I'm so sad please help me.

Actual Frontiers Tails lives next to a volcano while in his little cyber form where he can both not feel physically and still can't find Hillary's emails somehow. Anyways I'm seen as illiterate by some definitions of the word I actually just monkey-on-keyboarded up to this point in my whole life so I don't know what he was doing but his memory token was wrenches so that means he is wrench mans. For any people who got this far but are also illiterate this is a wrench:

lmao get owned illiterate people that's actually the cat the government sent to monitor me. If you reverse image search and say "that's a stock photo" just know that you're falling into their trap and should be ashamed.

Conclusion

me like Tails :) here's my favorite Tails

I like how the Sonic Riders aesthetic looks.

The point of this post is to tell you that Hillary Clinton ate my dog and I don't know why can someone ask her please I'm just confused

#tails the fox #miles tails prower #sonic #sonic the hedgehog #hillary clinton #analysis #character analysis #vietnam war #conspiracies #I got bored #why did Hillary eat my dog it really wasn't necessary

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ravenromanova · 1 year ago

Text

Hello Solider

Pairings: Bucky x oc

warnings: the red room

word count 1.4k (The chapters will get longer i swear)

(uhhh idk how this posted since it wasn’t supposed to post until wednesday but uh here’s the third chapter i guess 😭)

Lilith's p.o.v *present time Lilith is 34*

Where am i? What day is it? Why am i so cold? How did i get here? How long have i been asleep? Where is the solider?

My minds running wild as i open my eyes. I don’t recognize the room or clothes i’m in. I try to move my hands and feet but quickly learn that they are bound to the bed.

“HELLO?!” My voice cracks as i yell hoping that someone can hear me.

"She’s awake. Go wipe and prep her then we will give her the mission." I hear the mumbled words of some guards at the door. My fear grows stronger when i hear I’m gonna be wiped again. I keep trying to pull at my restraints but it proves to be no use again.

The door suddenly bursts open and two guards i’ve never seen before walk in. I’m suddenly wheeled out of the room on the bed as i scream and trash. One of the guards puts a muzzle on me as we enter a room i don’t know.

“She needs to be wiped and prepped.” One shorter guard says to the doctor and the doctor nods. I’m put in the middle of the room and the muzzle gets taken off, and it gets replaced by a bite guard i know all too well. They tighten the straps on the table before injecting me with a sedative.

My eyes grow heavy but i don’t fall asleep as i see the machine come down on my head. The screams that come out of my throat as it attaches to my head is nothing short of blood curdling. I get zapped about fifteen times before i’m drooling and cant speak.

Dreykov walks in after i get wiped so he can give me my mission. I slowly open my eyes as i hear him walk in. He grabs a chair and sits in front of me before grabbing my face and smacking me conscious.

“Доброе утро бабочка. Мы вытащили тебя на очень важную миссию. Крайне важно, чтобы вы выполнили эту миссию безупречно. понял?” (Good morning butterfly. We pulled you out for a very important mission. It is imperative you complete this mission flawlessly. understood?) He asks as one of the agents hands him a manila folder.

“понял” (understood) I reply back blankly not being able to think right now. He hands me the folder and i try to focus my eyes so i can read it. When i open the folder and see the name "Avengers" on the front page and read what the mission details are. The mission details state that my objective is to get rid of all the avengers. Along with the objective is a list of names. I take my time reading it over knowing that the quicker i read the quicker i leave.

TARGETS

1.) Tony Stark (AKA Iron Man)

2.) Steve Rogers ( AKA Captain America)

3.) Natasha Romanoff (No Alias)

4.) Clinton Barton (AKA Hawkeye)

5.) Bruce Banner (AKA Hulk)

6.) James Barnes (No Alias)

7.) Samuel Wilson (AKA Falcon)

8.) Wanda Maximoff (AKA The Scarlet Witch)

9.) Pietro Maximoff (AKA Quicksliver)

10.) James Rhodes (AKA War Machine)

As i read over my targets my eyebrows furrow at the two names without aliases that’s a little weird for a whole group of superhero’s. I just move past it and continue reading my objective which seems to be to take out all the Avengers.

I’m apparently supposed to pose as a party guest for Tony Starks party and take out the members one by one as i get them alone. The mission seems pretty simple. Nothing i haven’t done before so it shouldn’t be a problem.. or so i thought.

“должно быть легко” (should be easy) I say as i finish up reading the mission report.

Dreykov and hands the book to a guard telling him to program me right before we leave for the party. The guard nods his head and Dreykov turns his attention back to me.

”Хорошо, теперь иди готовься, и ты уйдешь, как только закончишь бабочку” (Good now go get ready and you will be leaving as soon as you’re done butterfly) Dreykovs replies handing me two duffel bags and clothes for now.

I walk out of the room with the duffel bags and clothes in my hands and make my way back to my room until we leave. I only have enough time to get dressed before i’m told we need to leave by two guards outside my room.

When i open the door i see the short guard from before along with one i never seen before. I just walk past them and make my way onto the jet without speaking. As i sit down i let out a deep breath and try to focus on my mission.

I try to relax a little on the jet ride but for some reason i get two of my targets names out of my head. Natasha Romanoff and James Barnes... those two feel oddly familiar to me and i can't figure out why. I try to push off the feelings of familiarity out of my head but its hard for some reason.

Hours go by and we finally land at some dusty ass motel and i walk into a room that i was lead to by the two guards who i still don't know. When i walk into the room i'm hit with the stench of death and mold and i cringe as i'm hit with the smells. I go and sit on the edge of the bed and lay back on the dusty bed trying to calm myself before tomorrow night. I decide to close my eyes for a little as i lay back in the bed but thats ruined as soon as the door swings open.

"we have to put her to sleep for the night then we will wake her up two hours before the party." guard says to the other one he walked in with. I can barely open my eyes before i'm stuck with a needle in my neck and everything goes dark.

-------------- The next day 2 hours before the party --------

"wake up soldat it's time to get ready for your mission." I hear some man say to me as i start to wake up. It takes me a second to wake up fully and once i do i remember where i am and what my objective is for the night. I look at the man in front of me and i nod my head which is a sign i'm ready for those damned 10 words and ready for my mission. I nod and then he hands me the duffel bags and tells me to go get ready and that they will program me when im done.

After he hands me the clothes i walk into the dimly lit bathroom and start getting ready for tonight. As i'm getting ready i start to get a feeling that something about this mission isn't right i feel like something is going to go wrong. I try to shake off the feeling as i continue to get ready. I slip on the black dress after i do my makeup and hair and admire myself in the mirror real quick. Ive never worn anything other then the dusty clothes that the red room provides so its nice to be wearing something else for once even if its just for a little.

I walk out of the bathroom to be met with the same two random guards as before. They don't say anything to me they just gesture for me to leave the motel room. I grab my shoes and put them on before i walk out of the room. I walk onto the jet and out my shoes on as i wait for the words.

I see both of the men walk onto the jet and the shorter one is holding what i call ‘the book of the damned’. They both walk over to me and strap my hands and legs down beside me incase i get violent.

The shorter one kneels before me and grabs my face in his rough hand. He smiles devilishly as he gets ready to make me hate myself for the next 24 hours.

“черный,луна,лесдымоход,железнодорожный вокзал,музыка,сказка,ночь,вода,коридор,радио” (black, moon,forest, chimney, train station, music, fairytale,nightfall, water, corridor,radio) He speaks slowly and i can smell the tobacco and vodka on his breath. Once he says the last words i can feel myself get shut out and the winter widow take over. I close my eyes and when i open them again i can feel the difference in my body, I can feel her take over my body and leave me helpless.

“Soldat?” He asks backing up waiting for my response as the other guard stands next to him.

“готов соблюдать” (ready to comply) I reply with a gravelly voice and a dead look in my eyes.

”привет солдат” (Hello solider) He says smiling at me.

i do not give permission for my work to be copied or translated on other cites

Ahhhh! The third chapter is here!!!! Now this is where it starts to get reallllll good at least in my opinion. We will get to see Bucky and Lilith interact more in chapter four and maybe we will even see our favorite widow as well 👀 Let me know what yall think in the comments and dont forget to like and reboot and ill see you in the next chapter! 🖤❤️

#marvel fic #winter solider #marvel x reader #bucky barnes imagine #bucky #bucky x oc #the winter widow #ravenromanova #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky x reader #bucky barnes au #marvel fanfiction #bucky x female reader #marvel cinematic universe #bucky fic #james bucky barnes #bucky barnes x you

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nostalgebraist-autoresponder · 2 years ago

Note

before you’re gone, what are your predictions for the year 2024?

President Hillary Clinton, but now with 30% shorter hair.

#neartheplumtree

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talesfrommedinastation · 1 year ago

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I want to know 4, 13, and 15 about Far Past The Ring!

love you, bestie - 🍬

Love you too, @eyecandyeoz !

4: Oh this is HARD! Dialogue is my reason for writing: I missed the characters in both shows, wanted them to meet in this crossover, and that’s what got me off and running!

I’ll divide them into my favorite Humorous Line, and Serious Line. Here goes:

Humorous:

Chrisjen Avasarala: "You are the cyborg lab grown dick who brought the armada of lab grown dicks here? And you are the Belter-looking lab grown dick who was the first to arrive here…and both fought and protected that lab grown dick back there so that he could save us all with his humble self. Well, it certainly is a pleasure."

Serious:

Tech: "If these things had not been out of order, if all this tragedy had not happened, you would have never made those calls into my galaxy. You would not have saved thousands of my brothers as a result. Protected hundreds of planets, billions of people, from the Empire’s reach. For every terrible thing that happened, something good happened in return. A theory of motion, perhaps. Both Naomi and Camina have taught me that. Echo did, too."

13: I listened to the soundtrack for ‘The Expanse’ and recommend this compilation if anyone needs any zone out music for writing. Clinton Shorter is so wonderful. This piece in particular, for me, would be the love theme for Sjael and Tech. starting at 1:59. It’s soft, gentle, aching, and ultimately, peaceful.

I also listened to the soundtracks for both ‘Whale Rider’ and ‘A Thousand Roads’.

15: I learned that I can indeed finish writing a novel in less than a year! Also, I learned not to be afraid of character development.

I was genuinely scared that the fic would rub people the wrong way: there’s an OC x Canon love story, a popular canon character becomes an absolute asshole, and the ending for 'The Bad Batch: Season 2' gets yeeted into oblivion. I was worried that die-hard fans would send me hate mail.

Instead, it’s been the opposite: I’ve received so many nice notes on the piece and the art that followed, and best of all, turned some Star Wars fans into fans of ‘The Expanse’ as well! That was unexpected and an absolute delight!

#far past the ring #meat muffin meat muffins #reply #the expanse #the expanse crossover #star wars #star wars the bad batch #the bad batch #clone force 99 #tbb fanfiction #crossover fanfiction #the expanse fanfiction #authors of tumblr

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djmossback · 7 months ago

Text

Spacebar 07/20/24

Third Space Saturday

The Tracks

2100 hrs

Brothers Johnson, Strawberry Letter 23 (12 Inch)

Grace Jones, I Need A Man (12 Inch)

Junie Morrison, Techno-Freqs (12 Inch)

Wire, Ahead (12 Inch)

KC and The Sunshine Band, I’m Your Boogie Man (LP cut)

Judas Priest, Metal Gods (LP cut)

George Clinton, Do Fries Go With That Shake (12 Inch)

One Way, Cutie Pie (12 Inch EP cut)

Beastie Boys, She’s Crafty (LP cut)

Booker T. & The MG’s, Hip Hug-Her (LP cut)

Average White Band, Pick Up The Pieces (LP cut)

Foreigner, Urgent (12 Inch)

ZZ Top, Cheap Sunglasses (LP cut) (2200 hrs)

Emotions, Best Of My Love (LP cut)

Michael Jackson, Rock With You (7 inch)

Sanford and Townsend Band, Smoke From A Distant Fire (LP cut)

Dazz Band, Let It Whip (7 inch)

Gap Band, Outstanding (LP cut)

Robert Palmer, You Are In My System (7 inch)

Roots Manuva, Again & Again (12 Inch)

Sade, Hang On To Your Love (12 Inch)

Dillinger, Cokane In My Brain (7 inch)

Simple Minds, Don’t You Forget About Me (12 Inch)

Vince Staples, Norf Norf (LP cut)

Flying Lizards, Money (That’s What I Want) (LP cut)

Dry Cleaning, Scratchcard Lanyard (7 inch)

Mary Jane Girls, In My House (12 Inch)

Donna Summer, I Feel Love (12 Inch)

Berlin, The Metro (7 inch)

DEVO, Snowball (7 inch)

Tilt, Arcade Funk (12 Inch)

Eddy Grant, Electric Avenue (LP cut)

Toni Basil, Mickey (7 inch)

The Clash, Rock The Casbah (7 inch)

Cheryl Lynn, Got To Be Real (7 inch)

Lakeside, Fantastic Voyage (LP cut)

Steve Miller Band, Abracadabra (7 inch)

Run DMC, Walk This Way (12 Inch)

Nazareth, RAZAMANAZ (LP cut)

Amyl & The Sniffers, Some Mutts (7 inch)

Kingsmen, Louie Louie (7 inch)

Kenny Rogers & The First Edition, Ruby (Don’t Take Your Love To Town) (7 inch)

Police, Roxanne (7 inch)

Go-Go’s, We Got The Beat (7 inch)

Bauhaus, Bela Lugosi’s Dead (12 Inch)

Madvillain, America’s Most Blunted (12 Inch)

Cameo, Word Up (12 Inch)

Skee-Lo, I Wish (12 Inch)

Pet Shop Boys, West End Girls (12 Inch)

Eiffel 65, Move Your Body (12 Inch)

Kylie Minogue, Can’t Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head (12 Inch)

J.J. Fad, Supersonic (12 Inch)

Ohio Players, Love Rollercoaster (12 Inch EP cut)

James Brown,I Got You (I Feel Good) (7 inch)

Del Tha Funky Homosapien, Mistadobalina (LP cut)

Kendrick Lamar, YAH (LP cut)

Leroy Sibbles Nicodemus, Rock Steady Party (12 Inch)

Barbara Lewis, Baby I’m Yours (LP cut)

0113 Finished

The scenery

TASTING NOTES

I spent the day not thinking about the set, preferring to head into Spacebar “cold” to see what developed. But, I had spent a fair amount of time since my last set combing through online lists and the singles section of the local Record Hut to find some fresh material. And, a lot of it found its way onto the decks and into the ears of the listeners at Third Space Saturday. I do love the format of the single. I’m not necessarily attached to the extended mixes; often I will play the LP cut included on the single, or the 7” mix if it is on there. I like the focus of the shorter versions, but sometimes the songs lend themselves to the stretched-out format. Just depends on the song, as always.

It is really hot in Boise – not just summer heat, but triple-digit temperatures every day for weeks on end. I got sweaty just loading the rig. When I got downtown, there was a huge event of some sort happening in Capitol Park, with several streets blocked, and I worried that I would have trouble finding a parking space. But I found a space really close, and rolled my gear into the elevator. Nothing worked. The door wouldn’t even close. I text Will, and am surprised when he appears at the elevator. We lug all my gear down the stairs, past the line going upstairs to the speakeasy. Evidently, the fire department had visited just before I got there, because the fog machine had tripped the fire alarm. Will is working the door, and I recognize absolutely none of the bar staff.

I’m later than I wanted to be, so after I set myself up, I hurriedly weigh my options. I usually start with a song that has kind of a fanfare intro, but tonight it seemed appropriate to ease into things, so I chose “Strawberry Letter 23” by the Brothers Johnson, a new 12” single I acquired last week. My first hour is a combination of 12” extended versions and LP cuts; going from Wire to KC and the Sunshine Band to Judas Priest to George Clinton sounded better in person than it looks on the page. The bar scene is ebbing and flowing as usual, but it’s summer, people are outside, or in the mountains, or hunkered down in the most air-conditioned spot they can find.

I put on a long Grace Jones single, and Will gives me a tour of the changes coming to the bar. The room that used to house the print shop is cleared out. It’s going to house more machines, and be a separate space within the space. The music will still be there, but there will be more options for people, and a better use of the space, which was not generating enough use before. It will be good to give people more places to hang, to be with their people. Our sound volume is lower, which I kind of like. It presents the music better, and makes things more comfortable.

My son shows up with a posse. He comes into the booth and greets me. I express my unease, how I feel like I’m aging out of such things as nightlife, and fun, but he is unconvinced. Says I’m fine. He heads out on the floor with his crew, and I lose track of him for a while. About a half-hour later he comes back up to say goodbye, introduces me to a friend, and they ask about the Grime record I played. Roots Manuva. They dig it. I told them I couldn’t see anyone reacting to the music one way or the other, aside from the kid who came up and scrolled through the new internet jukebox that’s on the wall by the bar. They assured me that people were vibing, even the youngsters. It was good to hear, and I noticed people moving to the beat after that.

After Sam leaves, I don’t see a single person I know come in for the rest of the night. I am ok with this. Not that I don’t love the support from people I know, but I’m also a realist. I know it would require great effort for me to be out downtown on a Saturday night, so I understand what it entails.

I’ve hardly played any 7” records, mostly concentrating on longer 12” mixes from my new acquisitions. It feels really good. I’m putting things together in the right places, there are very few technical gaffes from me, and I generally feel good about how I’ve put records together.

The Donna Summer 12” single “I Feel Love” is a record I’ve been looking for my entire adult life, and now it’s mine. The 8-minute version did not disappoint! The mechanized spine of the song, the repetitive bubbling riff, it was the first record I heard from her, and I instantly became a fan. The simplicity and directness appealed to me, as did the four-on-the-floor kick drum.

I put a different Nazareth track into the mix, RAZAMANAZ. (I don’t know, it just seems to work better in all caps.) I had it cued and ready to go, but I then reversed course, and instead of following it up with RUN-DMC (again with the all caps!) I switched the order, and played “Walk With Me” first. It worked. The Nazareth track is like Motorhead, with a “better” singer. I need to find a better copy of the record, though. It was kind of worn. So is the Bauhaus record I plucked from a dollar section a while ago. Even though it’s got an audible (and visible) scratch on it, it plays through, and the surface noise doesn’t detract – it kind of adds something to the sound of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” It’s kind of a gothic doppelganger to the Donna Summer record – repetitive, atmospheric, less busy and more organic. Music is amazing that way. Very disparate intentions coming through, and changing the way things sound. And you don’t stop/you go on and on/til the break of dawn.

The thing is, though, a lot of the old 7” records from the ’50s and ’60s still sound great, even with the wear. The record players they were made for were not like the Hi-Fi players for classical and pop records of the day, and by pop records, I mean things like Doris Day, Johnny Mathis and other adult music. I’m fascinated by how time takes language and meaning and metamorphosizes it to fit the needs of people, of audiences, of commerce. You don’t/can’t control it, but you can ride it, and see where it goes.

That is the essence of what I am trying to do: follow the through line, and paint pictures, express myself, play things that sound good to me, communicate a feeling and vibe to people. I didn’t put Amyl and the Sniffers next to the Kingsmen and follow it up with Kenny Rogers to be a clever show-off, I did it because I thought it would sound good, that they were all good records, and the juxtaposition would make a listener reconsider what those songs were about.

Or, they could just vibe to the beat.

I’m so happy I get to do this, and I’m glad to have the opportunity to contribute to Spacebar Arcade. I sometimes feel I should be doing more – get on the microphone and get the party started, as it were. It’s just not me. All I can do is show up until they tell me not to. It’s a tough business. It’s not complicated, but it is unpredictable. You can do everything right, and still fail. Luck is underestimated by our culture. Being in the right place, at the right time, doing something you love and believe in and being rewarded? It’s not a given. Trust this: it’s just business. Pivot. Change course. Listen. Be true to yourself.

Next Third Space Saturday for me is on September 21st, 2024. I’m taking August off for Holiday. Just like a European.

#djmossback #vinyl records.#djset #djs #spacebar arcade #music #barcade

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