#it’s the middle of June and July is approaching

[sad-emo-dip-dye]

*sliding my clown shoes out from under the bed* alright guys next month is the Real chapter 108 sskk skk double feature rivalry lover showdown don’t worry it will happen

[miley1442111]

Heyyyy are you still requests?? If yes..................

Last night i relived a painful memory when a loved person told me to shut up in front of our friend group and it was so humiliating and overwhelming, i went dead silent for the rest of the month but still played cool with everyone and everyone knew i was destroyed, wasnt leaving home that much yet and the person who told me to shut up was going trough some shit (ON THAT DAY) and actually never apologized...

SO SORRY FOR THE VENT BUT IT WAS NECESSARY FOR THE PLOT I SWEAR.

What if the reader is the one being told to shut up by none other than RAFE CAMERON who is a very close friend and he told the reader to shut up out loud in the middle of a party in front of your friend group (Kelce and Topper) and the reader also play it cool but it collapse at themself like a dying star and all their light is sucked by the black hole it became. But unlike real life, Rafe doesnt need people telling him he fucked up and he felt terrible and a few weeks later he sees reader on a party, unusually quiet, being dragged by their friends around trying to cheer reader up and the reader still trying to play it cool but the damage was showing and maybe Rafe take the chance to approach you but he doesnt know what to say or what to do so he acts like nothing happened?? IM SORRY THIS IS SO CONFUNSING I JUST WOKE UP AND I HAD TO WRITE THAT BEFORE THE MEMORY FADED. Sorry if i made you feel uncomfortable, just ignore it if you didn like ittt!! I love your writting btw i'll never forget that one ask i did and you answered about Rafe choosing between reader and a lover!!!!

and ask 2:

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talking too much- r.cameron

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a/n: HELLO to the both of you! thank you two so much for requesting, and very sorry that this happened to you :( I'd let you talk my ear off about anything any time :) (ps, great song choice)

pairing: rafe cameron x fem! reader

summary: i suggest you look at the requests

warnings: reader kind of loses her spark, rafe is a confused and stressed asshole, reader becomes very insecure, feelings of not being good enough, rafe gets very stressed at the end (i think that's it?)

not entirely proofread

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It was finally nearing the end of June and you were planning your 4th of July party with your friends. Topper, Kelce, Rafe, you, Sarah, and a few of your other friends sat around the table, thinking up ideas for what parties to drop into, and what you were going to wear, etc. You were excited, that was no crime. You’d always been the most excitable in the group, it was just part of your bubbly personality, there was no issue with it. No one had ever been more than a little irritated with it before, no big deal. You’d just apologise and remember to tone it down for those people, but your closest friends weren’t those people. Your closest friends liked your personality, your closest friends liked you. It didn’t matter how loud you were. 

“And then I guess we’ll-”

“God, do you ever shut the fuck up?” Rafe cursed.

The room went silent. You stood still, frozen as people’s eyes turned to you. Sarah offered a look of sympathy, she knew how much you valued Rafe’s opinion, especially since you had a slight crush on him. You felt yourself recoil. How could he be so rude? All you were doing was giving ideas to the group, it’s not like anyone else was trying to speak much, and Rafe definitely wasn’t adding to the conversation. At least, he hadn’t been for the past hour, just sitting in the corner with his leg bouncing and that stupid vein protruding from his stupid neck. You slumped back in your chair, embarrassment filling your mind as you thought over every other interaction with him and the group. Were you annoying? Did they all actually hate you? 

“I don’t hear you talking much Rafe,” Sarah shot back. “Something to say?”

Rafe rolled his eyes. “Fuck off Sarah,” he scoffed and waited for you to bounce back and start speaking again. You didn’t. He looked up as the group started speaking again, going off of all the plans you’d started. You were just sitting there, on your phone. 

You just waited until someone actually asked you a question to give your input, and even then all you said was; “Sounds good.”

He’d fucked up. Big time. 

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It had been a week since ‘the incident’, and Rafe hadn’t seen you. He felt awful, absolutely disgraced after what he’d said. He was stressed, it was a bad moment, and he took it out on you. He was sorry. But how was he supposed to tell you that? How was he supposed to explain how sorry he was, explain that he was just stressed? How would you believe him? You two had never been the closest in the friend group, not to say you two didn’t speak, but you two weren’t exactly attached at the hip like you were with Sarah, or Kelce. All you’d ever been to him was nice, not something he was sure he deserved, but he appreciated it all the same. 

How could he get back to that?

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“Come on, it’ll be fun!” Sarah begged over the phone. 

“I’m tired, I was working all day-”

“Come on, you’ve been dodging all week! 4th of July is coming up, I don’t want to hang out with Kelce and Top without you,” she whined, 

“I’ll be there for the 4th, I’m just busy right now,” you sighed. “I promise I’m ok,” you lied. 

“If you’re staying home because of what Rafe said, I’ll kill him,” she swore. 

“I don’t give a shit about what Rafe said,” lie. “I’m just busy, promise.”

Sarah sighed. “Alright, see you on the 4th!”

And with that, you hung up. The last week had been one long pity-party that made you feel even worse about yourself, deciding that your friends were better off without you, especially when you can’t even bounce back from one tiny insignificant comment from one random guy. That’s what you thought anyway. But now, you had 3 days before the 4th, and you weren’t sure how you were going to get the courage to face any of them. 

Not that they hadn’t reached out. Everyone who was there (aside from Rafe) had called or texted to ask if you were ok, and apologised for not saying anything. Kelce had felt the worst, since he was supposed to be your best friend, and he hadn’t said anything. You brushed them off, promising them it was fine, promising them you were fine. They barely believed you, but you somehow convinced them that you were busy. You told half of them that you were packing for your move, and the other half that you had gotten a job at your mom’s company. I mean, technically you were a few weeks out from moving away and you should be packing, and technically you did just get a job at your moms’ company (managing the online presence and doing admin work), but really both those jobs were easy. You could’ve done them for a few hours, then seen your friends. But you didn't want to. You didn’t want to feel like a burden. 

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The day of the 4th rolled around and Sarah picked you up with all the girls in the group in her car. You looked gorgeous in your short red dress, at least that’s what Sarah told you. You kept your mouth shut as the girls gossiped and sang along to songs, only interjecting when truly necessary. When you got to the beach, you managed to break away from the girls and get a drink, standing alone as you watched the night go by. You liked people watching, you found it interesting to see the small micro-expressions on peoples faces, the snippets of their conversations, and everything in between. 

“Hi,” Rafe smiled softly. He was in front of you, blocking your view of the people you were looking at. 

“Hi,” you answered meekly. 

He stood there for a moment as you tried to look over his shoulder, but the group were gone. You sighed in defeat and turned around to pour yourself another drink. 

“How are you?” he asked. 

“Fine thanks,” you answered. “You?”

“Good, fine… yeah,” the awkwardness in his voice almost made you physically cringe. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“It’s been like a week?” you questioned. In the past week, Rafe had realised how much he missed you, and how much you added to the group. He missed how you brightened up everyone, how you kept the peace by being close with almost everyone, how you made him laugh. 

“What have you been up to?” He scratched the back of his neck, his nerves almost getting the better of him, almost making him turn around and not do this. Almost.

“Not much. Working, packing, usual stuff,” you shrugged. 

Rafe’s expression faltered. “Packing?”

“I’m moving in a few weeks,” you explained. “So you won't see me for a while.”

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. 

Absolutely not. 

Rafe felt his stomach sink. “Why?”

“‘Why’ what Rafe?” you asked, genuinely confused. Why, out of all people, would he care?

“Where?”

“Just main-land, but a bit further into the city so I’m moving schools,” you shrugged.

“But it’s our senior year?”

“Yeah? And?”

“We all said we’d do it together, remember?”

“It wasn’t my choice to move,” you scoffed. “And also, why are you acting like this is new information? Tonight is my ‘last hurrah’ get-together. We’re doing the stupid sleepover.”

“W-what?”

“We didn’t invite you,” Sarah butted in. “You were a dick, now you reap the consequences.”

You rolled your eyes at the shocked look on Rafe’s face. “Night Rafe, see you around.”

Rafe stood frozen as you walked away, shocked. Had he really not been listening for so long? Had he really missed that? You were moving, you were gone. And there was nothing he could do about it. 

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obx masterlist :)

navigation for my blog :) (criminal minds, obx, the bear, marvel, top gun, the hunger games, challengers :)

[the-southlands]

The Rings of Power Summer Celebration 2024

Welcome to our summer celebration for the one and only “The Rings of Power”. Since season 2 is slowly approaching we decided that this was the perfect time to pump some life into the fandom and bring some joy into our lives. We have come up with a couple of prompts to help you get inspired to create whatever your heart desires, like gifs, stills, and artwork in various media; digital, traditional, collages, video, fanfics (drabbles or longer), anything and everything you can think of is accepted on these shores.

Tracked tags:

#ROPCelebration24 #ROPSummer24

Prompts:

June 3 - 9: Characters: Gush shamelessly over the characters we love and adore, whether it is a character that is your favourite, or one that you think has been pushed to the side.

June 10 - 16: Locations: Pay homage to Middle-Earth’s breathtaking locations recreated for the show, from Lindon through Khazad-dûm to the Southlands.

June 17 - 23: Costumes: Honour the gorgeous costume designs.

June 24 - 30: Music: Share the favourite part of the musical score, create playlists for characters or relationships, or write a show-inspired song text, the possibilities are endless.

July 1- 7: Relationships: Celebrate relationships in all shapes and sizes, from family to lovers, friends and enemies.

July 8 -14: Minor characters/OCs/Rarepairs: Put the spotlight on characters that might be less important to the overall story but are very much important to you, and highlight the characters you have created yourselves, and the pairings that might not have as big of a following that you wish they had.

Rules:

All types of creations are welcome, from gifs to written works.

You will have a week for each prompt, but no need to worry you can always post it at a later date.

All ships are safe in this harbour, Fëanor ain’t here to burn them.

18+ is allowed, but not required.

Please use the tags, #ROPCelebration24 #ROPSummer24

And most importantly, have fun <3

[justinsentertainmentcorner]

Vanessa Etienne, Liz McNeil, and Jenny Haward at People Magazine:

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop culture phenomenon in the 1980s for her frank and humorous approach to human sexuality, has died. She was 96. The one-time radio talk show host died on Friday, July 12, her publicist, Pierre Lehu, who co-authored books with Westheimer, confirmed to PEOPLE on Saturday, July 13. "She was restful when she passed away. Her son and daughter were with her and holding her hand at that moment," Lehu says, adding, "It was as peacefully as she could possibly go. She was 96." He continued of his late friend, "It's amazing, there was stuff still going on in her life [she has a book coming out this fall with Allison Gilbert] and someone wants to make a biopic about her."

[...]

Westheimer was born Karola Ruth Siegel on June 4, 1928, in Wiesenfeld, Germany.

A Jewish refugee, Westheimer called herself “an orphan of the Holocaust” after losing her entire family during World War II. Her father, Julius, was taken away by the Nazis in 1938. Approximately six weeks later, her mother and grandmother put her on a train to Switzerland as part of the ‘”kindertransport,” the organized escape of thousands of Jewish children out of Germany. After the war, she emigrated to Palestine in 1945, where she began going by her middle name, Ruth, and was trained to be a sniper for the Israeli Army. From there, she moved to Paris to study psychology at Sorbonne University and then, New York City. Twice married and divorced, she met Manfred Westheimer, a telecommunications engineer and fellow Jewish refugee, in 1961. He became her third husband, and she called their 36-year union her “real marriage.”

Dr. Ruth Westheimer died at 96. Westheimer was best known for providing sex therapy advice. She also played Dr. Wordheimer on PBS's Between The Lions.

[rowdyluv]

Luke’s reaction to Rosey being pregnant? Who was the first person to find out rosey was pregnant?

note: remember that rosey is a nickname Luke gave to you when you two were younger….

Ellen and your (Rosey’s) mom were the first to know. The mom’s were having lunch at the Hughes’s when you texted them both asking which test was the best to buy. Which put the mom’s into a frenzy. They both jumped into action forgetting their lunch. Both were way too aggressive about finding out where you were in that moment. Neither mother stopped long enough to process that it was their teenage, college student daughter and son’s girlfriend who they were talking to.

As for Luke ..

He honestly thought you (rosey) were playing a joke on him at first, he wasn’t very happy initially either... (more in depth further down) plus They had just started their first year of college when everything surfaced for them.

Timeline Breakdown: so we established in a previous post that Emersyn’s birthday is April 8th 2022. To lay out how everything falls into place:

Using math, and then using a generator online to double check myself, with that birthdate a round about date of conception would be between June 30th to July 4th of 2021..

I’m thinking of going on the line with usually has more of an irregular cycle, often skipping months as is so she didn’t think much of it. Until she starts to feel sluggish and sick. She notices she’s pushing two missed periods and is more into the 9 weeks mark. By now classes have started at umich. She’s missing quite a few of classes because she’s having problems with nausea. The first trimester ends in October.

She went to the closest pharmacy and that’s when you call the moms. They had her go back to the dorms and wait for them to come. They showed up with test after test.

Rosey stuck all different types of tests in a cup, the next few minutes were agonizingly slow for all three women. Of course each one of the used tests had their own form of positive.

September 13, is the day she found out for sure. Rosey wasn’t sure when to tell Luke, she didn’t want to right away because she hadn’t wrapped her own head around it yet. But Luke being Luke and he was antsy about you still being sick. The moms talked her into telling him the same day…

Luke came over to her dorm right after his practice and was concerned to see his mom and Rosey’s mom in the kitchenette / lounge area. He asked the moms where Rosey was and Ellen quietly told him to go talk to her in her room.

A million thoughts ran through his mind as he approached her door. Was something wrong with her? Had she been holding something back from him? He knocked on her bedroom door, small soft voice called out shakily, “you can come in,”Luke pushed the door open and soaked in the sight of his usual bubbly, warm, inviting girlfriend that sits on the middle of her bed closed off, pale, and almost unrecognizable. Luke took a step in and shut the door behind him before walking towards her. “Ba—” She cut him off. She flinched from at the start of the pet name. “Don’t say that, dear god please don’t say that.” Her voice continued to shake, this time only worse. Luke looked at her questioningly. She glanced up and met his eyes. Then it happened. The words poured out of her mouth like she spewing them out. She couldn’t wait a moment longer after seeing his the hurt, questioning eyes.

“Luke-I’m-Pregnant.” The words came out practically as one single word

In a blink of an Rosey was a mess of tears, stumbling off if her bed, over to stand in front of him.

Moments of silence passed between them.

“Lukey.” Her voice barely audible, her body rattled her with sobs. Luke was stiff as a board wanting to reach out for her but his body physically unwilling. He hated seeing her cry. It killed him, but his twinge of anger was fueling him more than anything else.

“What do you mean you’re pregnant, y/n?!” Luke’s voice bounced around in her head a lot louder than it actually was when he spoke. Rosey took a couple steps away from Luke. He never rose his voice at her. “I’m serious y/n. Is this some kind of joke you set up since you’ve been sick?” Luke’s volume was much higher this time. Rosey was shocked that he had yelled at her, she was even more shocked that he addressed her by her legal name. The last time Luke had directly called her, by her legal name was such a long time ago neither of them remember when it happened.

Disbelief was written all across her face, eyes wide, and her heart racing.

“Luke Warren Hughes.” His names left her lips in an angry whisper. A dramatic contrast to that of his booming predecessor questioning. “What I mean is that you and I are having a baby together. Whether you’re on board or not.” Rosey paused taking a centering breath. “That is what happens when we have sex and we make the decision to continue even when you realize there isn’t a condom to be found in your’s or Jack’s room at the lake house.” With renowned confidence she approached him and pushed her flat palm on his chest with emphasis on the word ‘we’. Her voice getting stronger, louder as she went on. Getting angrier at the thought of all he said.

“We had unprotected sex Luke. It was a possibility, you know that. It was a mutual decision to have sex without protection.” Rosey dropped her forehead to his chest. Luke’s arms twitch at his side, wanting to embrace her, he just can’t make himself move to do so. “We talked.. We said we aren’t going to be with anyone else why does it matter. It wasn’t a big deal then to go without one and you.. YOU said that we would be okay with anything to come our way this year. You promised me. I know we didn’t expect a baby to be apart of college, this early on, or really I don’t know how you feel about wanting kids.. So why would you even think I would joke about this.”

Luke’s head was spinning he wasn’t sure what to say or do. She shocked him when she suddenly announced it the way she did. He was just confused and he just did what he does best and it was blurting out the first thing in is mind. He wanted to turn and leave to figure out what to say but if he leaves he knows that would look like he’s walking out on their relationship.

As if telepathy was real Ellen knocked on the door and entered after announcing herself. “Now that emotions are out. Let’s go both of you, out here. We’re getting this settled, and Luke.” Ellen’s tone of voice started of soft and turned to one only mother ready to discipline has. “Your father and I raised you better than this. I thought you knew better than to raise your voice at your significant other. Even when angry you can keep a level tone of voice.” Luke’s face falls as he glances over at the love of his life. He knew yelling at her was wrong. He knew everything he said to her was wrong.

How am I ever going to get myself out of this.

[wintfleur]

⚘ ˖˙𓈒ִֶָ☾.˙ ᰋ ── WHERE’D ALL THE TIME GO?

aka ophelia’s timeline

━━━ ❛ it’s starting to fly

ᯓᡣ𐭩 EARLY LIFE & SCHOOLING !

april 11th, 2002: ophelia is born on a bright and sunny Thursday afternoon in Vernon, British Columbia.

may 9th, 2006: ophelia (4) takes her first ballet class

2008 - 2013: early childhood / elementary school

august 2010: ophelia (8) joined the soccer team and met her now best friend Amber Jameson; they have been inseparable since.

october 2013: ophelia (11) got an ankle injury during a soccer game and sadly had to quit the sport. Her love for ballet was stronger and she didn't want to risk not being able to dance again.

She had to stop dancing for the rest of the year so her ankle could heal, it was miserable for her.

2013 - 2016: start of her teenage years / middle school

march 2015: ophelia (12) joined the theater club and helped make the costumes for their play, in turn finding her love for fashion designing.

april 2016: ophelia (13) went to get her photos taken for her ballet portfolio and was approached by a teen modeling agency.

summer 2016: ophelia (14) went to south korea for a ballet summer intensive program.

She was housed by a sweet family, where she met one of her bestest friends seunghan and his younger brother park sunghoon who is her age. Seunghan is a fellow ballet dancer and went to the training camp with her.

Ophelia became very close with the family, only becoming closer with them as the years go by, she's an honorary park! Seunghan’s parents think of her as their own child and his little sister thinks of her as her big sis!

2016 - 2020: teen years / high school / start of her modeling career

december 2016: Ophelia (14) was on the cover of pointe magazine.

june 2017: ophelia (15) won first place in the Helsinki international ballet competition, in juniors for women.

august 2017: ophelia finished her first wedding dress that she made for her cousin's wedding.

may 2018: ophelia (16) won first place in the american ballet competition

july 2018: ophelia won first place in the varna international ballet competition

was invited to be on jimmy fallon after her win.

february 2019: ophelia (17) made her debut by walking the catwalk and attending the New York fashion week.

may 29th - june 2, 2019: ophelia walked and attended the miami fashion week

september 2019: ophelia walked and attended the paris fashion week

october 9th 2019: the creation of ophelia's youtube channel

Ophelia created her youtube channel so she could have another way to communicate and become closer with her fans.

She mainly posted vlogs of her days as a model and a ballet dancer, and her just traveling and doing random activities with her friends.

december 2019: ophelia walked and attended the NYFW: December pre-fall and fall-winter, fashion week.

february 2020: ophelia walked and attended london's fashion week, fall-winter.

Ophelia meets Ryan James, a fellow model, they exchanged numbers and Ophelia then got in a relationship with him in may.

June 2020: Ophelia (18) graduated highschool with honors.

july 2020: ophelia moved into her apartment/loft in manhattan, New York. With her best friend seunghan.

Throughout 2016 - 2020 ophelia modeled for many different high end brands, her favorites being Dior, Dolce and Gabbana, and GQ.

She was given the nickname “the next model it girl” for her sudden dominating presence in the modeling world.

ᯓᡣ𐭩 JUILLIARD & JACK !

september 2020: ophelia (18) starts her first year at juilliard

february 23 - march 1st 2020: ophelia walked and attended milan’s fashion week

march 2 - 9th 2020: ophelia walked and attend paris fashion week

Throughout the rest of the year ophelia really focused on her ballet career, putting modeling to the side, and focusing on her studies.

march 2021: ophelia (19) won the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP)

may 2021: ophelia won first place in the american ballet competition

july 2021: ophelia won first place in the varna international ballet competition

for the rest of the year, Ophelia modeled for many different brands, but she really just focused on her ballet career and getting more known in the fashion design world.

2022 : breakup era

april 11th 2022: Ophelia (20) broke up with Ryan after finding out he has been cheating on her for many months.

april, may, june, july 2022: ophelia took a break from anything that evolved with modeling during those months, trying to heal from her breakup. Throwing herself into training, practices, and her studies.

august 2022: ophelia modeled for celine as her comeback into modeling

was invited back on the jimmy fallon show where they talked about what she's been up to, the celine shoot, and her comeback to modeling

october 6-9th 2022: ophelia walked and attended los angeles fashion week

november 2022: ophelia was interviewed by WIRED where she talked about ballet and modeling and her love for fashion design

2023: meeting jack

march 3rd 2023: curtis gets traded to the new jersey devils

march 28th 2023: ophelia and Jack meet for the first time at a club and share a kiss.

april 18th 2023: ophelia joins curtis out at a bar to meet some of his teammates, and she sees jack for the first time since the club.

they keep what happened at the bar to themselves (besides Jack freaking out about it to Luke), and pretend to just meet each other for the first time.

april 25th 2023: ophelia and jack run into each other at a bar, things escalate and jack ends up bringing her back to his place where they hook up for the first time.

the next morning they talk about what happened, and how they need to keep what happened between them a secret. They want to keep seeing each other, so they decide to become friends with benefits.

july 2023: ophelia models for calvin klein

july 17th 2023: jack confesses his feelings to ophelia after 3 months of being friends with benefits.

Ophelia didn't take it well and left his apartment in haste (girly was afraid of her feelings and commitment) and they didn't talk for two weeks.

july 31st 2023: ophelia goes to jack’s apartment where she apologizes and asks him on a date.

august 1st 2023: jack and ophelia have there first date and officially start dating (secretly)

november 6th 2023: curtis holds a dinner at his home for his teammates, curtis finds jack and ophelia kissing in the garage and did not take it well.

curtis gives her an ultimatum ‘him or me’ in a moment of anger and that leads to ophelia not talking to either of them for a week, locking herself in her apartment.

november 14th 2023: curtis comes to see her early in the day to apologize for his reaction and what he said, later in the day jack comes to see her and they have a sweet moment, happy that everything is now okay between them.

january 12th 2024: ophelia and jack said i love you for the first time

january 24-28 2024: ophelia walked and attended miami fashion week

february 9-14th 2024: ophelia attended new york fashion week fall-winter

february 16th 2024: ophelia and jack's relationship is exposed to the media when videos and pictures of them at the njd’s family skate go viral.

february 26th - march 5th 2024: ophelia walked and attended paris fashion week

may 2024: ophelia did the 73 questions with vogue

june 2024: ophelia did the “10 things I can't live without’ with GQ

may 6th 2024: ophelia (22) attended the met gala for the first time

ophelia did a get ready with me / last looks with vogue for the met

june 2024: ophelia did diary of a model with vogue

july 2024: ophelia and jack do a couple quiz with GQ

may 2025: ophelia (23) graduates at juilliard

ᯓᡣ𐭩 WHAT'S TO COME !

aka phia and jacks future

. . . to be added

ᝰ.ᐟ 𝓇oro's note. I didn’t add every detail about her modeling and dance career in the ‘julliard and jack’ section, it would have taken forever for me to do that 😭 I will update the timeline as time goes! I hope this helps give you a better understanding about the AU >.<

au masterlist

˖ ་ feel free to send in any thoughts/requests you have !! And please let me know if you want to be added to the taglist mwah

˖ ་ taglist : @yoontwin @toasttt11 @winterbarnesblog @iceflwers @cixrosie @bunbunbl0gs

[whencyclopedia]

Battle of Bir Hakeim

The defence by Free French forces of the remote desert watering hole of Bir Hakeim (Hacheim) in Libya, North Africa in May-June 1942 during the Second World War (1939-45) is one of the most heroic episodes in French military history. Although ultimately unsuccessful, the defenders, which included units of the famed French Foreign Legion, held out for 15 days against four German and Italian divisions commanded by no less a figure than General Erwin Rommel (1891-1944).

The Axis forces attacked Bir Hakeim because it was part of the Allied Gazala Line defences, which protected the approach to the vital port of Tobruk. When finally overwhelmed, 2,700 Free French troops from an original garrison of 3,700 still managed to escape Bir Hakeim to fight another day. Meanwhile, Rommel defeated the rest of the Allied forces at the Battle of Gazala and captured Tobruk in June 1942, his greatest victory in North Africa.

French Foreign Legion, Bir Hakeim

Leonard Chetwyn - Imperial War Museums (CC BY-NC-SA)

The Western Desert Campaigns

In the first years of the second year of WWII, the Allies, then principally British and Commonwealth forces, were especially keen to protect the Suez Canal from falling into enemy hands, that is into the control of the Axis powers Germany and Italy. North Africa was also strategically important if either side wished to control and protect vital Mediterranean shipping routes. The island of Malta was crucial in this role, and holding the island fortress (then in British hands) was another reason to control potential airfields in the North African desert. Finally, North Africa was, at this stage of the conflict, the only place where British and French troops could fight a land war against Germany and Italy. After the embarrassing debacle of the Dunkirk Evacuation and the humiliating Fall of France in 1940, any military victories at all would be a vital morale boost to the Allies.

For all of the above reasons, a series of desert battles ensued, which are collectively known as the Western Desert Campaigns (Jun 1940 to Jan 1943). At first, the British Eighth Army faced poorly equipped Italian forces, but these were soon considerably boosted by German troops with superior armour, weapons, and training. From January 1941, the Axis forces in Africa benefitted from the considerable command abilities of General Erwin Rommel, a man who had already gained a reputation as a master of fast armour tactics during the Fall of France in 1940. Rommel first commanded the specialised Deutsche Afrika Korps (DAK) and proved his worth by capturing El Agheila in March 1941 and then Mersa Brega on 1 April. By July, Rommel was in overall practical command of all German and Italian forces in North Africa, although he was still technically under the ultimate authority of the Italian high command. Two victories against Allied offensives in May and June (code-named Brevity and Battleaxe, respectively) were followed by defeat in a third offensive in November, code-named Crusader. Rommel's two persistent problems were insufficient manpower and lack of supplies (especially food, fuel, and ammunition), but by January 1942, this situation improved significantly, and the German general, ignoring his orders to emphasise defence, went on the attack.

The British Eighth Army, which was composed of a range of British, British Empire, and Free French troops, was commanded by Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie (1897-1985). The overall commander of Allied troops in the Middle East was General Claude Auchinleck (1884-1981). Unfortunately, at this stage of the Western Desert Campaigns, the British Army was poorly equipped, poorly trained, and poorly led. In contrast, "Rommel's force was numerically inferior, but his troops were more professional, better led, and thoroughly steeped in the cooperation of all arms" (Dear, 992).

General Rommel on Campaign

Imperial War Museums (CC BY-NC-SA)

Continue reading...

[artebris]

Stars and Thoughts

°•★|•° —— °•|☆•° . * —— * . °•★|•° —— °•|☆•°

Hogwarts Legacy Characters Zodiac

(Just some thoughts about main student Characters signs, as I know the Zodiac from experience speaking to people around, with any offenses to others <3)

MC: Virgo ♍️

My MC character is a Virgo, close to Libra. Collected, clear, stable Earth sign. They are loyal, ambitious, sometimes even sarcastic and toxic, hard to reassure or change their mind. But closeness to Libra balances out excessive persistence and harshness. Good and talented learner, loyal friend, cleaning maniac, order fanatic with calm but tough character.

Ominis Gaunt: Scorpio ♏️

Ominis is a classic early Scorpio, born in the end of October/beginning of November, from 25.10 to 10.11 to my taste. He is also close to Libra, which makes him a smooth Scorpio. Mysterious, with unique appearance, sarcastic, with amazing humor sense, calm, not very talkative, attentive, strict and just. You are afraid to come close and speak to them, thinking they would sting you hard, they seem too dangerous to approach to… But if you are brave enough, you shall know how kind their heart is and how vulnerable they are inside. Their sting is only a mean to protect their gentle soul.

Sebastian Sallow: Leo ♌️

Early, July Leo, very close to Cancer. Still emotional and vulnerable as a Cancer, but already self-lover and arrogant as a Leo. Thinks he is a center of the Universe and the world is spinning around him, yet, when the truth hits hard, he can break into open and uncontrollable emotions mixed in Water and Fire. Stylish. Self-confident. Claims a crown, world and wealth before he earns it, ambitious, charismatic, energetic, chaotic, unstable and warm. Can be an arrogant king and a crying baby, sometimes at the same time.

Garreth Weasley: Aquarius ♒️

Typical, absolute Aquarius. Born somewhere in the middle of February. Absolutely on their mind, full of new ideas. Creative rebels, going against the system, having their own thoughts about everyone and everything. Calm until they have a new absurd idea, inspired, stubborn, experimental. Fails don’t scare them, they are ready to try again, again, again and again, creating their own worlds. Can be a pain in the ass, never give too much attention to safety, they are never bored and people around are never bored both them. In both good and bad sense.

Natsai Onai: Capricorn ♑️

The beginning or the middle of January. Stable. Serious. Kind. Calm and just, emotionally conscious, aware, you can always rely on them. They are prudent and smart, do not give up in difficult situations and always try to solve the problem. If they have something in mind, they will see it through to the end, sacrificing themselves with a straight smiling face. Talented and stubborn in their studies, careful, diligent, decent, logical and hell of hard working.

Amit Thakkar: Gemini ♊️

June ending, the closeness to Cancer makes him a mumbling talkative and emotional baby. You cannot ever shut them up, but you don’t really want it. Curious, wondrous, greedy learners and readers, dreamers, open mind, but unable to step much outside the box. They are scared of something that is more than written in their book, but they know the subject perfectly. They need a huge amount of time to recover from stress and an ear that is ready to listen about their horrible adventure, slowly turning into a scientific monologue.

Poppy Sweeting: Aries ♈️

Born in the middle of April or end of it, closer to Taurus. Stubborn and focused. They look quite innocent and casual, but are capable to be extremely surprising anyone with their zeal to achieve their goal. They have a sharp look and a brave, kind, loyal heart. Can be absolutely crazy and reckless in a good sense of those words, being a complete angel outside. Being close to Taurus also makes them loyal and grounded, calm, but still stubborn and burning with idea they have in mind.

[omorimodreverie]

July Development Update

Hello everyone, I’m nru. I’m the co-lead of Reverie along with Stahl. Since Stahl is a little busy this month, I’ll be posting this month’s development update.

Overview

Summer break is in full force, and many of our members are in the middle of much-deserved vacations. Even so, we’re making slow but steady progress.

This month was a time where we focused on finishing up our base assets, such as pixel art, tilesets, cutscene scripts, etc. We’re finally approaching the moment where we can start implementing all these assets into RPGMV. Of course, even after that moment comes we’ll still have a lot of work to do: still, we’ll be entering a new phase of development which is always exciting.

Finishing touches were done on many aspects of base asset development, especially the tilesets/map design for the new areas in chapter 3. Minor progress was also made on scripts, pixel art, and other miscellaneous drawn assets. 

Progress

Like June, no major milestones in development were reached this month. However, we’re steadily working towards them, and it seems like we’re soon going to reach said milestones. Our main points of progress are:

Finished development of tilesets/map design for many locations/areas in the new map for chapter 3

All but one major cutscenes that will take place in chapter 3 have finished primary drafting and editing

Various pixel artwork has been made, such as NPCs and city objects, that will make chapter 3’s world feel more lively than ever before

A bit more enemy sprites for battles that will take place in future chapters have been finished

Discussed and finalized details regarding Reverie’s ending

Plans for August

August still falls within the realm of Summer Break. As such, we don’t expect any fundamental changes to the way things are right now (many members on break, etc). One thing to note, though, is that the time has come for our finished base assets to be implemented into RPGMV itself. That means, by September we might have a primitive (but still functional) playtest. 

I’ll be honest and say that the past two months have been rather disappointing in terms of progress. But that’s to be expected given that it’s Summer Break, and on the whole things have been progressing as planned. We’re slow, not dead. We’ll come back with chapter 3 before long.

Closing

We want to thank you all for being so patient with us and waiting this long for the chapter 3 release. As a small thanks, we’d like to give you all a sneak preview of the stuff we’ve got in store for chapter 3, stuff we’ve been careful to keep under wraps so far. We hope this manages to pique your interest a little bit for the coming chapter. See you next month!

[latibvles]

hi poet!! can i request "fireworks" for june? :) so excited to see what you come up with!

##19 — fireworks

that one video of gumbull crying montage but it's me talking about June Cielinski. I'm on a DeMarco kick. Here's more of them. Please support me in these trying times. send me a prompt for the bomber girls!

—

The sound of the air raid siren is unwelcome — chills her straight to the bone actually. That long droning — only broken up by Viv clapping her shoulder twice, shaking her until she moaned in sleep-induced protest: up and at ‘em, June. We’ve gotta get to the shelters.

It was dark out, but there’s movement all around her. June doesn’t have a hard time keeping up with hers. Ahead of her Inez is pressing a hand into Harrie’s back, urging her forward as she marvels at the light show. Behind her, she can hear similar shouts of people telling each other to move and hit the shelters. It’s all too much noise for the middle of the night — she figures her own grogginess is what makes the whole thing feel less like an emergency at the moment and more like an inconvenience. A neighbor being too loud through the walls on a schoolnight. She tries to justify it, internally, with the fact that the explosions are far enough off that they wouldn’t hit Thorpe Abbotts.

Hopefully.

It only takes her bare feet hitting the duckboards for her to decide she hates this: hates it more than trudging through the wet grass to get over here, more than being up at this hour. This waiting, sitting and watching Norwich go up into flames. The word cowardly crosses her mind, briefly, as the ground shakes beneath her. Only a coward bombs at night. You can’t even aim right. She can feel the irritation she’d garnered at being woken up transmutate into what always felt, to her, to be a more righteous anger of sorts. The thing that made her want to jump in a Fort and drop bombs.

Her hands curled into tightly wound fists — she shuts her eyes, unable to watch for too long.

The sound reminds her, vaguely, of the Fourth of July. The silence of the trench feels a little louder as they all watch in some twisted sense of wonder and anxiety. If she lets her mind wander beyond here, she’s six years old again, sandwiched between her two brothers on the porch, watching colorful explosions light up the sky, stretching up and past the buildings that seemed to poke at the stars. Piotr would be covering her ears. She hated the sound as a kid.

Come to think of it, June could also fall asleep standing, which is a little embarrassing, so she opens her eyes again to keep from wobbling.

In time with her opening her eyes, she hears a high pitched whine, feels a wet nose pressing her lower thigh and her stomach drops as she looks down. Meatball has elected to take a seat right by her, looking at her with ears pinned back. He goes back to licking her knee in an almost frantic way, whining as the ground shakes beneath them.

“Jesus Christ, Meatball,” June crouches down, reaching to pet at his head, brows furrowed as she looks this way and that for his owner. “We’ve really gotta stop meeting like this, buddy.”

No doubt, Benny was probably losing his mind right about now. She has half a mind to go looking for him with the dog in tow when she hears the repetitive excuse me’s and sorry’s accompanied by mildly irritated groans of his name as Meatball’s rightful owner weaves through the other people in the shelter. By the time Benny is upon them, she’s already deduced where he’d be coming from. They lock eyes the moment he spots them.

“He didn’t crush your spleen this time, did he?” He offers, half a joke and half a worry that he’d caught her offguard.

“No, but I had to stage an intervention so he wouldn’t lick my leg raw,” she continues to scratch at Meatball’s head as Benny approaches, standing just behind her as she straightens out. “I don’t think he likes the noise.” Benny looks down at his friend with a frown, reaches to give him scratches of his own that have Meatball leaning into both of their hands, seeking the comfort of it.

“Me neither buddy,” Benny agrees. June turns around at that point, but she’s hyper-aware of his position adjacent to her. Even if she wasn’t, Meatball is still insistent on pressing against her thigh. It’s not like they’re really supposed to be running up and down the trench anyway.

Silence again — the silence of the trench somehow louder than the sirens, but also some sort of tentative quiet shared between them that makes June’s stomach turn a bit. Rarely did she ever get nervous, but the proximity had her palms sweaty. Rarely, did she ever have a need to talk, to say something just to hear a response.

This time, inexplicably, she did.

“Sounds like fireworks.” June says, offhandedly. Benny scoffs, something light and disbelieving behind her, the ground shaking beneath them in an attempt to disprove her opinion.

“Y’think?”

“Shut your eyes. Sounds almost exactly the same.” She challenges with a small shrug.

Benny lets out a small sigh and an “if you say so”— she turns and watches as his eyes flutter shut, a puff of breath escaping his lips as he does so. June could look away after that, but she doesn’t. She can’t help but stare at him right about now. Dark lashes, dark brows, strong jaw — she thinks she might need to get her head checked. He’s… handsome, lit up by flashes. There’s gotta be something seriously wrong with her, for that to be the first thing that crosses her mind.

It’s when his lips start curling into that smile of his that June forces herself to look away, feeling that she’s somehow intruding on him now. Of course, Benny has smiled at her a million times and it always managed to put her on the right side of annoyed. Not this time though.

Maybe that’s why it feels like an intrusion. Maybe he’s the one intruding.

“Alright. You win. Can I open my eyes now?” He only sounds mildly inconvenienced. June bristles, folds her arms over her chest, and tries to find something else to fix her stare on that isn’t the bombs.

“Do what you want, I’m not your boss,” And Benny snorts at her quick remark. And she’s thankful for the dark, for the fact that it’ll adequately hide her now, flushed cheeks.

[sollannaart]

The Galician campaign of 1809

Today let me tell you a little bit about the Galician campaign of the Austro-Polish war of 1809, which proved to be a great success for the Duchy of Warsaw.

After the battle of Raszyn there happened the series of small battles, which prevented Austrians from crossing the Vistula, thus leaving the initiative on the right bank of the river firmly with the Poles. So, the Polish forces under Poniatowski’s command moved along Vistula to the South-East, to the lands Austria seized during the latest partition of Poland.

On the 14th of May the Polish Army entered Lublin:

Konstanty Gorski, "Prince Józef Poniatowski enters conquered Lublin in 1809, showered with flowers by ladies"

As Kajetan Koźmian recalls in his memoirs, Poniatowski and his men were greeted with "joy and elation", and in the evening "... the city and the citizens gave a great ball <...> in the house in Korce. Prince Józef honored them with his presence starting the ball."

The next city on the way of the Polish Army was Sandomierz, and after a short siege it was taken on the 18th of May.

Siege of Sandomierz in 1809.

Michał Stachowicz, a scene from the battles in Galicia ("The Capture of Zamość")

Then there was Zamość, where the Polish trooped entered on the 20th of May.

Siege of 1809, M. Adamczewski Entry of Prince Poniatowski to Zamość (postcard)

On the 27th of May the Polish advanced forces even reached the city of Lwów, but prince Józef wasn’t among them.

Meanwhile the Austrians under command Archduke Ferdinand realized the precariousness of their position in the center of Poland, and on the 1st of June left Warsaw for the south.

Poniatowski, for his part, decided not to engage with the Austrian, focusing instead on "liberating” as much Galician land as possible.

Prince Józef Poniatowski seeks information from local peasants in Galicia in 1809, a photo of Stanisław Bagieński's painting

On the 3rd June there appeared the third participant of the events - Russian forces crossed the Austrian border to Galicia as well. And though formally they were acting as Napoleon’s ally, as was prescribed in the Tilsit Treaty, their real goal was to prevent the Poles from taking too much of the Austrian-held territories.

So, to outwit the Russians prince Józef was taking Galician cities not in the name of the Duchy of Warsaw, but in the one of emperor of the Frenchmen. Like the proclamations were being made in the name of Napoleon, the eagles on the coats-of-arms replacing the Austrian ones were not Polish and French etc.

Lancers lead Austrian prisoners of war near Kraków in 1809, in front of Prince Józef Poniatowski, a photo of Stanisław Bagieński's painting

Then, in the outer theater of war on the 6th of July the French defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Wagram. And according Franco-Austrian truce signed five days later the land division was to take place along the line where the troops were at the time of receiving news of the truce, not at the time its signing.

The Austrian army leaves Wawel, a postcard based on the painting of Wojciech Kossak

And so began the race between Russians and Poles, to advance to as farther as possible.

In the middle of July both armies reached Kraków.

PRINCE JOSEPH'S ENTRY TO KRAKOW. A drawing by Jan Feliks Piwarski.

And there the clash of the interest took place.

Poniatowski approached the city from the side of St. Florian's Gate, but it turned out that the Austrians, wanting more comfortable terms of capitulation, had already let Russian troops into Kraków.

The Russians, namely the Cossacks of General Sievers, wanted to deny Poniatowski passage. But Prince Józef, as Dezydery Chłapowski recalls in his memoirs, "draw his broadsword and with together his staff galloped into the gate through the Cossacks". The Polish infantry followed its commander "in a double step <...> so that the Cossacks were pressed against the walls of the gate." Seeing this, Mariampol's hussar regiment, which was stationed at that time in the market square, make a decision to put up resistance and due to this, the whole Polish army was able to enter the city.

Michał Stachowicz, The entry of Prince Józef Poniatowski into Krakow on July 15, 1809

Then, as Ambroży Grabowski recalled, when prince Józef’s troops reached the market square, “in front of the church of St. Wojciech, the magistrate went out to meet the prince, to give him the keys of the city”.

Józef Poniatowski in the Cathedral after Kraków was taken from the Austrians, an image by Stanisław Tondos and Wojciech Kossak

Most probably prince Józef visited the Wawel cathedral during his sojourn in Kraków that time. (In a small voice: little did he know that in 8 years he’ll be buried there...)

And after exactly a month since the Polish troops entered Kraków, there was a ball arranged in the Cloth-hall, the image depicting it I have already posted here.

[bluemoonperegrine]

Deleted scene from "The Out-of-Towners"

Although I think parts of this are fun, I've axed this from the middle of chapter three. Two summary paragraphs convey the necessary bits, then move the gang on to campfire stories and finally Ted.

-------------------------

The sun had sunk below the hills to the west when Jack crouched as close as he dared to a narrow opening in a pile of boulders. If not for June’s scent trail, he’d have walked right past what seemed to be a collapsed mine entrance a hundred feet up the hillside from where they’d encountered the rattlesnake. Layla had spotted the broken, weathered timbers mostly hidden by rubble that had framed out the original opening.

“Anything?” Robin asked. She and Bri stood side by side at the base of the jumble of rocks. Marc and Layla were nearby, standing close enough to be considered a couple as well. 

The embers of possessiveness that remained from the earlier flare-up burned a little brighter. His wolf side wanted to snarl a warning, if not leap between the formidable newcomer and his mate. Recalling Marc’s reassurances helped Jack not act on the urge.

Jack replied, “June came out here for sure.” He moved his head closer to the gap and listened while drawing a deep breath. The amount of dust in the cool, dank air made him pull back and sneeze. His friends said “Bless you” in three different languages.

“Hear anything?” Marc asked.

Jack shook his head as he studied the irregularly shaped space between the rocks. Robin might be able to wriggle through. She definitely could as an owl, as could Bri in their snake form. What if the rocks collapsed when they were making their way through? He’d felt some of them shift when he’d approached the hole. He said, “I don’t think this is a good idea.” 

Marc blinked at him, and Robin barked a laugh. “Make a note, everyone,” she said. “On July 27, 2010 Jack Russell said that a potentially dangerous adventure wasn’t a good idea.”

Jack mock scowled at her. “Seeing how you’re the only person who has a prayer of getting through this hole, you’re welcome.” 

Robin put her hands over her heart and batted her eyes at him, prompting a laugh. 

He widened his gaze to include everyone and climbed down the rock pile. “But seriously, this doesn’t feel stable, and we still haven’t gone swimming or set up camp.”

“We could come back tomorrow and widen the entrance,” Marc said. He grinned at Jack and Layla. “Plenty of muscle.” Then he looked at Bri and Robin, chagrinned. “No offense.”

Bri shrugged. “None taken.”

[kiljoius-writes]

Love Me the Way I Want to Be Loved

Ao3 | FFN

Full YOTP Series Found Here

Pairing: Hanabi Hyūga/Konohamaru Sarutobi

Summary: Once upon a time, Hanabi was just that starry-eyed girl, read fairy tales like all the other little girls of the village before they start training to become kunoichi. The protagonist always finds that perfect person.

When she kisses him, it feels like her life finally begins.

June prompt: Proposal/Wedding Fic

Word Count: 6.8k

Rating: T

A/N: Context for those who haven’t read “Tag”: Eiji and Jun are Hanabi’s teammates. Tora was their sensei. Tadashi is Hanabi’s guard. Moriko is Konohamaru’s mother. This takes place shortly after Episode 50 (the infamous drunk scene of Boruto that set sail to this ship) so doesn't account for alien stuff or the Remon arc. This is an extension of Tag.

If you like this pairing and enjoy my writing to some extent, I'd recommend you check it out! It's a longfic about them. Thanks as always &lt;3

Konohamaru doesn’t enjoy being irritated with Hanabi, but today, he is.

Everything was planned to the T for this. He prides himself on being a good planner, and today was no exception. It’s a plan he’s had in mind for a few months now. He was supposed to pick up Hanabi at four p.m. in the middle of July when the weather is the warmest. The sun would still be high in the sky, he’d take her to Ichiraku’s, where they’d had so many conversations from silly speculation to deep and emotional. Then to the dango spot they went to way back when they were kids, the same spot he lost a bet to her. As the sun goes down, he’d take her to the lake.

But it’s coming up on five, and while he’s been chatting with Tadashi inside of the Hyūga compound, he’s been tense. Outwardly, he’s doing his best to show indifference, just act happy with Tadashi, but inside, he’s kind of fuming. He tried really, really hard to make sure this was perfect. It doesn’t help that the clouds are slowly inching closer and closer, threatening to overtake the whole damn sky.

“I do wonder what holds Lady Hanabi up…” Tadashi comments offhandedly, peering off to the side. “She is a bit on the later side sometimes.”

“Not with me,” Konohamaru responds instinctively, knowing it sounds entitled, but it’s true, damnit. She’s not usually late with him. Tadashi looks back at him with this knowing smirk he’s been giving him since he was a kid, whether Konohamaru realized it or not. “It’s just—it was kind of an important date.”

“Date,” Tadashi says it with a chuckle behind his voice and Konohamaru shifts on his feet. It’s unsettling to say these things out loud after all this time, he figures it’s some sort of trauma from keeping the whole thing a secret for so long. Konohamaru’s eyes dart to Tadashi’s when they go veiny, byakugan activating, something he’s been doing out of courtesy for Konohamaru while they’ve been chatting. Konohamaru waits with anticipation as his face relaxes and turns to him. “She’s approaching with Eiji.”

Konohamaru debates whether he wants to accost her and berate her for being late, but decides even if it’s an hour late, he still wants to make the date special, so he decides against it. He hears Eiji’s loud laughter in the distance, then sees the two girls approaching and she’s…clearly pretty buzzed. He deflates.

“Heyyy!” Hanabi waves her arm big, the other wrapped around Eiji’s neck as they stumble against each other. “You’re early!”

“I’m – I’m what?” Konohamaru asks, frustration bubbling. “You’re late!”

“Four, right?” Hanabi asks, unhooking her arm from Eiji’s neck.

“Ah fuck,” Eiji says after pulling up her sleeve to check her watch. “It’s damn near five.”

“Wait, really?” Hanabi asks, double-taking at Eiji. “Shoot! I’m sorry, Kono.”

Konohamaru sighs, slumping over before grabbing her forearm to keep her steady as she stumbles towards him. “How many drinks did you guys have?”

“Err – “ Hanabi holds up her hand, counting on her fingers, then the other hand, and Konohamaru shakes his head. It really is just his luck for things to play out this way when he’s trying to do something actually important.

“It’s fine. Let’s get some food in your stomach, alright?”

“Can Eiji come?” Hanabi asks, batting her eyelashes up at him and Konohamaru grits his teeth. Another nail in his coffin.

Too polite for his own good, he shrugs and Eiji hollers, smacking him on the back. “Thanks, Kono~”

“You’re not allowed to call me that,” he snaps at her and Hanabi laughs, hooking her elbows around Konohamaru’s and Eiji’s.

Konohamaru accepted a long time ago that things never go quite as planned with Hanabi, made peace with it. He was just asking for one day. One day, that was it.

“Lemme guess,” Eiji ponders aloud, teasingly, “Ichiraku’s?”

“Yep!” Hanabi says, bubbly. He likes hearing her voice, even if she is slurring her words and letting her friend make fun of him. “Never could stop trying to be like big bro.”

“Ha-ha,” Konohamaru laughs, flatly, looking off to the side while Hanabi and Eiji giggle into each other’s faces. He’d rather she be happy than pouty, so he just lets it go. When they arrive at Ichiraku’s, they seat themselves at the bar, Teuchi happy as ever to see them, wondering out loud when the ‘old gang’ will get back together completely again.

“’Member when it was us three here with our dumb mentors?” Eiji asks, laughing as she takes her bowl of super-meat ramen happily. Hanabi laughs a bit and Konohamaru smirks.

“Oh gods! Yeah, right before exams? Oh my gosh, that was---that was when—”

Konohamaru peers out the side of his eye at her as Hanabi puts the pieces together in her head. Her chopsticks still in her hand, a noodle hanging out of her mouth. He chuckles, shoving the noodle back in her mouth.

“That was…when you kissed me.”

“Huh?” Eiji asks enthusiastically from the side, slurping a noodle with wide eyes at Hanabi. Konohamaru smirks a little as she hides her mouth behind her hand, dropping the chopsticks in her bowl, hiding her face behind her hair. Konohamaru decides to ham it up in front of Eiji, leans in on Hanabi, and grabs her cheek with one hand. He pulls her in to kiss her cheek and she giggles while Eiji mock-gags.

“Yep,” Konohamaru says with a smile as Hanabi buries her face in her hands like a schoolgirl, Eiji shaking her head. “That was when Hanabi got revenge on me for kissing her by, get this, kissing me.”

“Nasty!” Eiji’s not actually serious about her chiding, he can tell by the grin on her face.

“You’re embarrassing me,” Hanabi whines, pushing her bowl away. “You kissed me first, and come on! What was that about, anyway?”

“Is it so hard to believe I had a crush on you?” Konohamaru is 29 years old and has no shame about admitting this aloud to Hanabi. It was 18 years ago, there’s more shame in being shameful about it at this point.

“Yeah?” Hanabi asks, dropping her hands into her lap with a little smile on her face. It’s mischievous and sly and he loves it, more than words can describe. Konohamaru leans in and nods, pressing his forehead to hers.

“Yeah.”

“Well…maybe I did, too.”

“Don’t believe it,” he responds lightheartedly, leaning their heads in to press a kiss to her nose. Eiji bellows laughter next to Hanabi, causing them both to look at her.

“This is so stupid!” Eiji declares, slapping her chopsticks into the bowl. “You two have been dumb in love the moment you laid eyes on each other!”

“You would know?” Hanabi asks, leaning towards Eiji. Konohamaru decides this is Hanabi’s territory, but he’s interested, too.

“Mhm. The moment this dumb kid – “ Eiji points a finger at Konohamaru, albeit with a smile, “yelled your name and you looked at each other. It was a done deal.”

“Wooow,” Hanabi sings, shaking her head, “bold of you to assume I fell in love with this dummy then.”

“You’re both dummies,” Eiji points out with a smirk, plucking a piece of chive from Hanabi’s hair, who looks up in surprise. “You’ve been in love longer than all your silly little genin have been alive.”

“Eiji,” Konohamaru interjects. Eiji looks at him expectantly with those raised eyebrows, blinking. He laughs a little, then reaches for Hanabi’s chin to pull her towards him, deciding to utilize the moment while he has it. “I think she’s right.”

“Huh?” Hanabi asks, a little drunk and dumb. She moons her eyes at him and he just wants to swallow her up whole.

“I think I’ve been in love with you since the moment I laid eyes on you.”

He says it with all the sincerity inside of him, hoping it resonates. Even Eiji knows when to quit teasing, cause she holds her breath and slowly starts to get out of her seat.

“That’s dumb,” Hanabi breathes out like she lacks air.

“I’ll see you soon,” Eiji whispers in her ear, clearly getting the hint as she quickly leaves.

Konohamaru doesn’t even mind being left with her bill.

“I really do,” he whispers, tilting her head up so he can slot his lips to hers. He feels her sigh into them and that gives him a lot of comfort.

Her fingers wrap around his wrist and he decides they can skip dango to get to the lake, especially since Eiji has bowed out.

Now that she’s sobered up, she starts apologizing for Eiji’s presence and her lateness. Tells him she’s to blame and wishes she had paid closer attention to the clock, but Konohamaru decides it’s not worth being mad about. Hanabi doesn’t get much free time, and when she does, it’s with him, so for her to spend it with Eiji is a treat for her and he’s just glad she enjoyed it. He won’t stop being miffed that his great plan was disrupted, but it’s going fine and he’s not mad at them. Her happiness is paramount and seeing her giggly and bubbly is happiness enough for him.

So when he drags her to the lake and she immediately breaks into laughter as they approach, his heart lifts. She’s still a little buzzed, but he can work with it.

“Sky’s pretty,” Hanabi points upwards, tracing the outline of a cloud with her fingertip. “Clouds are pretty.”

“Like you.” It’s almost on instinct that he says shit like this now. Ever since he knew what flirting was, he’s been flirting with her. Even after being together for years, he likes complimenting her and seeing her get a little red in the face. Warmer tones always suited her, anyway.

For a long time, she never accepted his compliments. It’s only been in recent years that she’s learned to laugh and say thank you and call him a dummy instead of telling him to stop it. But this time, she just stares at the clouds, her hand dropping to her side with this really sweet smile that threatens to squeeze his heart in two.

With fewer people around than normal and the sun exactly where he wants it to be, grazing the treetops, he decides to seize this moment as his opportunity, and he’s gonna do the whole to-do.

Konohamaru gets down on one knee like his mom and Moegi told him he better do, pulls out the ring box, and lets out a low whistle. Hanabi turns and her eyes blow wide, hands to her mouth, just like you see in movies, and it’s the exact reaction he wanted.

“Hanabi,” he starts, feeling the air inside of him constricting. He’s about 99.99 percent sure she’s going to say yes, but that 0.01 percent chance she’ll say no stills lingers in his mind. Breathes out, opens the box, and says it. “Will you marry me?”

But instead of screaming and crying and jumping around, or the less likely reaction of disgust, she just looks…confused. That makes all of his anxiety bubble up quickly.

“Sorry,” she says, quickly when she notices his face fall. “Yes, Konohamaru, I mean—obviously, yes! Yes.”

Konohamaru raises his eyebrows, completely underwhelmed by her reaction. She reaches for the box, which he assumes for the ring, but instead, turns it to face him and…there’s nothing there. “What the hell?!”

“Oh no,” Hanabi says with a sad smile, holding her hand out for him. He pulls himself to his feet and starts tearing everything out of the box – the cotton, the bed it sits on, even the paper lining. It had to be there?

“Where the hell?” he asks himself, frustration teeming in his voice. Then it hits him. “My mom’s…”

“It’s at your mom's?” she asks, stepping towards him to set her hands on his cheeks. He feels himself calm immediately with her touch, and looks down at her with these big, sad eyes.

“I was showing her…and, damnit,” he sighs, slouching over and letting her pull him down so his forehead presses to hers. “I left it on the counter.”

“Did she approve of it?”

“What, the ring?”

“Mhm.”

“Yeah.” He wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her in. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

“I’m really sorry,” she says, softly, rubbing her nose against his. “I was late and drunk, I had no idea it was for something so important…”

“That’s kinda the point.” He chuckles, presses a kiss to her lips to reassure her. He’s more mad at himself now. “I’m sorry, you deserve a lot better than this.”

“What could be better?” she asks, leaning up for another kiss. “What, in a fancy restaurant surrounded by people? Put it in a piece of dango so I can choke?”

Hanabi really does know how to make him feel better, and he laughs out loud at the idea. She likes nice things but being in the limelight hadn’t really been her thing in a long time. None of those scenarios were ever something he seriously considered because he knew she’d like it quiet.

“It’s perfect because it’s you.” She’s always had a big personality, but when it came to romance, she’s always been a little softer and quieter about it. “This lake is really special to me.”

“Me too,” he responds into the kiss, letting it melt them together, “’cause of you.”

“Dork,” she whispers, letting him guide her into the grass. “In the grass?”

“I wanna make out with my fiancée,” he says it out loud and it makes all the good feelings inside of him rise.

Konohamaru is happy to lay on top of his fiancée, in the grass, by the lake.

Hanabi’s surprised by how excited Konohamaru is to get married. She really thought it’d be her fretting over a wedding, but he’s thoroughly surprised her by having a hand in every step of planning the ceremony. She’s the heiress, so the Hyūga were naturally always going to be the ones putting on the wedding, something she figured he knew going into this. But no decisions were final until he got to hear them, and he was very insistent on what his vision was.

It was hilarious, actually, watching her former caretakers being told by this big dumb Sarutobi that there was absolutely no way the ceremony could be in any season except Summer. It’s really sweet to her that he cares so much about making sure their wedding takes place in full sun, but what Konohamaru hadn’t thought of is that he saved the summer for proposing to her. It’s the middle of Summer and the only way to have a Summer wedding would be to either somehow ramp up getting every together to have it in August, or wait another year.

“Well, we can swing it.” The poor man’s so excited to be married to her that he can’t (or won’t) see reason in that trying to plan a wedding that is going to be attended by international politicians in a month is near impossible.

“Well, you heard the man!” Moriko gestures outwardly. Sometimes Hanabi wonders if she’s Konohamaru’s sidekick, or in fact his partner in crime. Perhaps she’s the mastermind herself, here. Either way, together, they’re a hard-headed pair and when they’re in full agreement on something, they’re practically impossible to budge. Hanabi feels a little bad for the people assigned to planning the wedding, so she comes up behind Konohamaru and takes his hand.

“Be a little easy,” Hanabi tries, tugging at his hand so he’ll look down at her. “Maybe it still can be in the summer, but maybe it’ll just be…smaller?”

“Smaller?” Moriko laughs at the question, waving her hand. “Don’t you worry, dear. Your father isn’t the only one with political sway.”

Hanabi raises an eyebrow at this declaration.

“A Sarutobi-Hyūga wedding is guaranteed to pull every silly little lord and lady in no matter the date. We could have the wedding a week from now and they’d be scrambling to get their butts here.”

“You know we don’t care about that,” Konohamaru points out, letting Hanabi’s hand trail up his shoulder so her elbow can rest on it. “I could give a damn what politicians make it – wait, no, I take that back.” He grins mischievously down at Hanabi, who gives him a curious look. “I’d love for that stupid Sand guy to have to watch me kiss Lady Hanabi.”

“Oh, shut it.” Hanabi rolls her eyes, shoving at his arm. She shudders to think of the man, Katsumi. Grabby hands, lack of boundaries, boring conversation. Hanabi’s nearly 30 now and looking back on it now, she wishes she had slapped him when he tried to kiss her. She was just in her baby twenties trying to fulfill her duties as an heiress, not realizing just how taken advantage of she was. Part of it was thinking about what some other heirs have to endure just to save face and believing she was just lucky it didn’t go farther.

Inevitably, they had crossed paths a couple of times since that day, but it was kept to polite greetings and clan talk. Hanabi still remembers the way Konohamaru had lost his cool worse than she had ever seen from him before, how excited it made her. Over time, she realized that maybe it made her feel a little safer, knowing someone was watching out for her that wasn’t Tadashi or Natsu. Someone who unapologetically interrupts, unwilling to be intimidated by someone’s status or power.

Hanabi sighs dreamily as she thinks about it, lost in thought while Konohamaru and his mother go back and forth about how they’ll get this whole thing worked out.

“Udon and Moegi already volunteered to send their teams out, too.” Hanabi snaps out of her daydreams when Konohamaru shifts on his feet, causing her to lose her balance. Without even looking at her, he grabs her by the waist to keep her up and pulls her against him. “Things are quiet in the village, so it’s a good time to let them go on some low-key escort missions to other lands.”

Moriko agrees enthusiastically and Hanabi taps her lips, thinking it over. “What about my team?”

“Your team?” Konohamaru asks, glancing down at her with a perked eyebrow. “I mean…do you think they’re cut out to go out on their own already?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hanabi asks irritably, pulling away from his arm. He looks helplessly at her, realizing the insult in the sentence. “Think my girls aren’t good enough?”

“I didn’t say that—”

“They’re more than capable,” Hanabi snaps, hands on her hips. “I’ve been practicing with Namida and she’s gotten way better with her sound wave!”

“I don’t doubt that,” Konohamaru interjects, stepping towards her while Moriko excuses herself in a hurry. “I didn’t mean anything by it, okay? I’m sorry, you’re right. Maybe they can go out to the Sand?”

“Closest of the great villages, huh?” She’s defensive now, turning her nose up.

“Moegi’s team is already going to the Cloud, Udon’s the Mist, mine are going to the Stone…we actually weren’t going to send anyone to the Sand.”

“Hmph.” Pouty, she turns away, shrugging her shoulder at his attempt to put his hand on it.

“Hey, no pouting,” he says as he circles back around, cupping his palms around her cheeks. “Can’t resist your pouty lip.”

“Stop trying to charm me,” she huffs but doesn’t pull away when he bends down to kiss her lower lip.

“I just thought maybe you’d want them around,” he tells her, earnestly as he presses his forehead to hers. She relaxes slightly, letting her arms drop from their cross. “In case of errands and stuff.”

“I’ve got all the Hyūga for that.” Even if they’ve slowly broken down the class system, there are Hyūga that still work for a living as caretakers and servants, many of them in fact happy to plan another large wedding. “I don’t want my team to be put on petty missions.”

“Ever think maybe they’d like the break?” he asks, sliding his hands from her face down to her hands, lacing their fingers together.

“Pfft, Wasabi?” She shakes her head and he smiles. “I guess they could go out to the Sand. It’s something.”

“Right,” he agrees, giving her a quick peck on the lips before pulling away from her. “Now, I gotta find Natsu.”

Dumbfounded, she reaches out to him before he can get too far. “And what exactly do you need with my caretaker?”

“She’s going with me to the Yamanaka flower shop,” he says over his shoulder as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.

Hanabi watches Konohamaru march away, proud as ever, and she wonders how she ended up here.

Deciding it’s not worth it to dwell on, she treks over to her sisters.

Here lies an odd sight: Eiji in Hinata’s kitchen, at her dining table.

“Ah, hello my sweet sister!” Hinata chirps, waving her in, unbothered by Hanabi bursting in. Hanabi stops to look at them: Hinata’s in a chair at the dining table and Eiji stands behind her, looking over her shoulder at some sort of magazine. Eiji doesn’t even pay her glance, just jabs her finger at the magazine in front of them.

“This one’s good,” Eiji says and Hinata immediately looks back down with interest.

“What’s going on?” Hanabi asks, irritated that she’s being ignored. She pulls out the closest chair to sit and see what they’re looking at. She’s horrified to see a catalog of bridal kimonos. “What—”

“Weddings in a few weeks, Hanabi!” Eiji exclaims, her toothy grin flashing up at her as she finally looks up. “You weren’t lookin’ so, you know!”

“Okay, but—” Hanabi scoots in, suddenly interested. “You can’t just do this without me.”

“Join the party!” Eiji tells her, pointing at a particular kimono. It’s primarily white, with bursting red and orange flowers along the length of the inseam and sleeves.

“I think this fits you beautifully, Hanabi,” Hinata tells her with a smile, clasping her hands.

Hanabi stares at it for a bit. Usually, she’d like to look at all her options without being force-fed once, but…she kind of likes this one already.

“What the heck are we waiting for?” Eiji exclaims, just like she did for her own wedding day, and tears the page right out of the catalog. Starts marching towards the front door with little regard. “Let's go get you outfitted, princess!”

“Hey!” Hanabi calls after her old teammate, and something inside of her feels light and happy about it. Like old times. She throws her arms around Eiji’s neck while Hinata giggles behind them, grabbing her things to trail after them.

“C’mon!” Eiji doesn’t even hesitate, grabs Hanabi by the legs, and hoists her up on her back. Hanabi’s so much taller than Eiji, but Eiji doesn’t care. She’ll climb Hanabi any day, but she’ll also carry her any day, too. Hanabi can’t help but burst into laughter as her tiny teammate marches through town with her on her back.

“Hey, wait!” Hanabi exclaims, all laughs and bubbles as Eiji comes to an abrupt stop. Hanabi points a finger at her team, who come to a halt upon her summoning. “How would you ladies like to go out to the Sand?”

“A mission?!” Wasabi exclaims, hopping forward without hesitation. “Outside of the village?”

“Yep, I need you three to do something very important.” Hanabi waves her hand inwards toward herself, causing all three girls to lean in toward her and Eiji. “I need you to escort some politicians back to the Leaf.”

“Oooh,” Namida responds, giddy, “for what?”

“For…” Hanabi plays up the drama, bringing her arms around the girls who get even closer, wide-eyed. Eiji laughs even harder, lowering her head as Hanabi tells them in a high-pitched whisper, “my wedding!”

All three girls, even Wasabi, erupt into “EEEH”s and “OOOHHH”s and giggles, clapping. “To Konohamaru-sensei?!” Namida asks, clasping her hands together, starry-eyed.

“Mhm.” Hanabi nods as Eiji drops her, unable to handle all the girls latching around her waist and shoulders. “So I’m trusting you three to bring back fancy politicians for it!”

“Even the Kazekage?” Sumire asks, hands to her chest with this hopeful look.

“Even him.” Hanabi nods with a big smile. All three girls crowd together. “Go to the mission center tomorrow morning and they’ll get you your mission details.”

“Ooohh!” Namida squeals, over the moon.

“Hell yeah!” Wasabi pumps her fist, stepping forward. “You can count on us, Hanabi-sensei! We’ll make sure everyone’s safe and sound for the big day!”

“Is Konohamaru-sensei excited?” Namida asks as the three let go of her. Hanabi covers her mouth with a laugh as Eiji scoffs.

“The big dope is beyond excited.” Eiji folds her arms. Wasabi’s already taller than her, and Sumire matches her in height. Hanabi finds this amusing.

“Dope!” Wasabi laughs loudly, holds her stomach even, and Eiji joins her. “Yeah, he kinda is, huh?”

“Wasabi,” Eiji sets a hand on Wasabi’s shoulder, still laughing, “you got no idea what a dope that guy was when we were kids.”

“Stop it!” Namida huffs all pouty, crossing her arms. “Don’t make fun of him that way! That’s Hanabi-sensei’s future husband!”

“No, it’s okay.” Even Hanabi can’t keep back her giggle, shoving Eiji’s shoulder. “Can I tell you a secret?”

All three lean in, giddy.

“He’s kind of a sap.” Wasabi laughs out loud while Sumire and Namida control their giggles. “You’re all still so young, but when you find your person, make sure they’re soft inside.”

“Soft inside,” Sumire muses, tapping her chin.

“Yeah, you know what,” Wasabi steps forward, confident, “if a dude wants to know me, he has to be in touch with his emotions.”

“Wait—really?” Sumire asks, looking taken aback. Even Hanabi has to question it.

“Yes ma’am!” Wasabi declares. “Men who are confident in themselves, that’s the way to go.”

 “I want one who can cry in front of me,” Namida says with all the vindication in her tone.

Hanabi and Eiji cackle, evil and crazy with one another, clutching their stomachs.

“Alright girls, I have to go.” Hanabi shoo’s them away, feeling satisfied with their interaction. Eiji is still laughing as they head to the bridal gown shop, pushes her way in. Eiji even greets the shop keep by name because she became so familiar with the shop for her own wedding. Eiji gets to work pointing out the dress she’s decided she needs to see Hanabi in, and Hanabi just lets her because she’s just happy someone cares enough.

When she looks at herself, she almost tears up.

Not because the robes are particularly beautiful or anything, just because it’s something she’s dreamt about for a long time. For better or worse, Hanabi’s thought of what her wedding would be like since she was old enough to know you could commit your entire life to one other person.

It started with the hope she’d find a beautiful boy who was strong, brave and treated her like a living god. That beautiful boy would sweep her off her feet and commit his entire heart and soul to her. Would never wrong her, would always be there to kiss her cheeks and hug her when she’s sad and jump for joy with her when she’s happy. That silly stuff girls only get to dream about for a little while before reality catches up to them.

Naturally, it turned into something sadder and bleaker. The gut-punching reality that she would never live that fantasy. It was always going to be an arrogant, boring, stuffy man. One who could never make her laugh, whose smile would send unpleasant shivers down her spine, who looked down his nose at her. One that wanted her as his prize. The reality of her situation, especially her. The heiress to the Hyūga needed a fitting husband to have kids with.

Konohamaru broke down all those barriers. It took a long time, a lot of heartache, so, so many tears. Late nights wondering if she’d ever truly be happy. Early mornings wondering if he’d come back to her again. Days when she felt like it was all for nothing, that she should just accept her fate and close off her heart, never let it be squeezed or full or burned again. Really go down that cold heart of neutrality path, as her father had done for so long.

Here she is. Standing in front of a mirror, feeling like that princess. Knowing that beautiful boy is just a call away. That he’s smitten with her just like she always dreamt about, gone for her in a way that only someone deeply in love can be. Even better, it’s exactly how she is for him, too.

Her heart feels bouncy in her chest.

Eiji knocks aggressively on the door and she snaps herself out of her daydreams. They don’t have to be dreams anymore.

“This is the one,” Eiji waves Hinata over to observe and Hanabi nearly chokes when she sees tears in her sister’s eyes.

“Hey!” Hanabi gasps, holding her arms out. “Hey, hey, what—”

“I’ve always just wanted you to be happy,” Hinata breathes out, holding onto Hanabi’s elbows as she comes toe to toe with her. Hanabi looks down at her sister with wide eyes. “I was so worried.”

“I…I am happy,” Hanabi tells her, suddenly feeling guilty.

“I know,” Hinata says in this soft voice, smiling all watery up at her.

Hanabi thinks of all the times she crawled into Hinata’s bed. Crying, sad, or just lonely. Even into their twenties and Hinata’s thirties. Time and time again, every moment life felt like it wronged her, her older sister was always her stone. So she lets Hinata pull her down into a tight hug, trying not to let tears well up in her own eyes, too. Tries not to think about the fact that neither of them had a mother to give them away. She just tries to be grateful that she has this. Her big sister and her best friends. And her beautiful boy.

Hanabi frequently has to pinch her skin to remind herself she’s not dreaming. This is reality.

There’s no doubt in Konohamaru’s mind.

He’s marrying Hanabi in the summer, in the sunshine.

It’s what she’s always deserved, and he doesn’t want to wait a second longer than he has to before officially sealing the deal.

Yeah, it’s definitely something he’s thought about for a long time. He’ll never have any shame in admitting that. Hanabi’s been his dream girl for as long as he’s known her. The moment he watched her make short work of her bullies and put them on the ground, he was gone. Admiration from up close, he thinks. She’s always been the bright spot in his life he chased after, even when she pushed him away. Told him there was no way their worlds could ever connect, and still, all he wanted was her.

Even when he thought maybe he was a little crazy in the head for how much he wanted her, there was no stopping it. Confronting Hiashi and demanding acceptance was always an inevitability. Making her his wife was always her decision. Konohamaru thinks there’s some truth to faith and destiny and all that other crap. It was always meant to be, as sappy as that is.

In movies and T.V., the groom is always a nervous wreck. Konohamaru lets Jun tug at his tie while Naruto reminisces with him, and he feels calm. Everything is just as it should be. He doesn’t have a worried bone in his body, he thinks.

Udon stands in the doorframe with his arms crossed, smiling at Konohamaru.

This world took Konohamaru’s father from him. His grandfather. His uncle. He learned a long time ago that these were the realities of shinobi life. The fourth war had him facing an impossibly terrifying enemy at the tender age of 11. That’s when a lot of them get to have their first near-death experiences. What kept him going were the people in his life he wanted to protect. His mom, Naruto, Udon and Moegi. Hanabi. Every day, Konohamaru swore his life away to make sure those people would be safe.

It feels so much different now with Hanabi, and now the nerves get going inside of him. They’ve been together for a good amount of time, but now he has a duty to not die on her. It’s something they’ve talked about, late-night promises before missions where he tells her he won’t be that reckless kid he once was. Promises that he can’t die. Promises he can’t make. Leaving Hanabi alone in the world terrifies him, especially now that she’s committing to him, really committing to him.

Sometimes, he thinks there’s a reason all of the older shinobi got married and had kids so fast. Naruto and Hinata, Sasuke and Sakura, Shikamaru and Temari, Ino and Sai, and all the others. Fighting directly in the war, there must have been some urgency to pass on their genes and settle down. Look for a sense of normalcy. Konohamaru thinks that just didn’t apply to shinobi his age. The ones who wanted to fight but were forced to stay in the village. Watched the destruction from a distance. Felt the impacts but could do nothing to help. Told they were just kids and their responsibility was to live.

It took a lot longer for him and his own peers to settle. Even Konohamaru is doing it sooner than a lot of kids from his class. Naruto still refers to them as kids as they all near their thirties. Udon’s been a bachelor forever and Moegi’s bounced from guy to guy forever. Even Konohamaru experimented with dating for a while before he realized his heart firmly belonged to Hanabi.

Committing like this feels like a giant leap. It’s one he wants to make, but also one that kind of scares him.

There’s no way Konohamaru can die on Hanabi, not after declaring his love and intention to her father and subsequentially wedding her.

“Are you okay?” Jun asks in a quiet voice, leaning towards him. Snaps Konohamaru from his devastating thoughts.

“You almost died.”

Jun blinks at him with those big yellow eyes, then looks behind him briefly. Naruto’s moved on to Udon to tell him how proud he is of what great men they’ve turned out to be. Jun clears his throat and steps forward. “I’m aware…?”

“Weren’t you terrified?” Konohamaru asks, swallowing hard, knowing he’s being too vague.

“The concept of dying is naturally scary,” Jun says in a disbelieving voice.

“Terrified of leaving Eiji?”

Quiet sweeps over them as Jun purses his lips together. After a moment, Jun nods, stiffly. “Of course I was.”

“So…” Konohamaru doesn’t know how to articulate what he wants to say.

“We’re all shinobi, Konohamaru.” Jun seems to pick up on his hesitancy. “We all know what we sign up for. And we all know who we sign up to be with.”

Konohamaru licks his lips, trying to fight off the dry mouth that threatens. “Right, but…”

“That’s our burden.” Jun reaches up to set a firm hand on his shoulder. Konohamaru thinks of his father. “And their burden, too.”

It’s all perfect, really.

His mom was shooting for something bigger than Naruto and Hinata’s wedding, but even he had to reign her in for it. Naruto, the Hero of the Leaf, was always going to have a giant wedding. Konohamaru’s just happy that he’s standing at a doorway, waiting to see his gorgeous bride under the sunshine.

Somehow they had pulled it together despite it all. When Hanabi emerges from behind the double doors, Konohamaru can finally understand why men cry when they see the love of their life at their wedding.

Hanabi always lit up his world like the firework she was, and today is no exception. She steps out, bashful, and still successfully steals Konohamaru’s breath away. A large, bursting orange Lily tucked behind one ear, her hair pulled into that gem-crusted clip her sister got her as a gift for graduating to genin, and the aquamarine pendant centered in her neckline that he had gotten her nearly ten years ago for her birthday. The kimono matches, with swirling bright red and orange patterning, looking like the warm glow of the sun she is.

He blinks, resists rubbing his eyes.

“Getting a good look?”

Even now, she teases him as she spins, holding up her arms. He reaches out with his hands, and she readily takes them, letting him pull her in close. There’s nothing more he wants than to carry her away and be alone with her, but it’s the big day.

“Perfection,” he whispers against her lips, not quite connecting, but close enough to feel each other's breaths.

“You don’t look so bad,” she snickers, stepping away. “Glad you don’t look boring.”

Konohamaru smirks as he thinks back to that day. The day Hanabi planted a kiss on his lips, hidden in a hallway like the stupid teenagers they were, starting their game of tag. Naruto and Hinata’s wedding day, he wore a suit and tie, and she wore slightly dressier robes.

“And you look stunning,” he tells her, excitement in his chest like that teenager he once was that he can still make her cheeks pink.

“Ready?”

“For a long time.”

When she kisses him, it feels like her life finally begins.

All of her life she was told to be better. Work harder. Fight. Lead. Strength. There was no path for weakness, except when she was with Konohamaru. Now she lets the burning, yet sweet liquid of sake slide down her throat as she’s declared his wife. She throws her hands up to cheer, and someone behind her, maybe her sister or Eiji, takes the small cup from her hand. His arms encase her entire back as he pulls her right against his chest and lifts her up.

Inside, she knows the little girl in her is satisfied.

Once upon a time, Hanabi was just that starry-eyed girl, read fairy tales like all the other little girls of the village before they start training to become kunoichi. The protagonist always finds that perfect person. Natsu cradled her in her arms and promised her that her happily ever after would come. Tadashi reassured her she was doing everything right. Tora-sensei guided her when she finally made it to the real shinobi world. Eiji and Jun made sure every piece of her stayed together, no matter how hard things got.

“I thought we’d run away together,” she says to him when it’s all over and they’re falling into bed, the first night as what she thought once impossible: newlyweds.

“Yeah?” he whispers, his lips trailing along her neck as she pushes the robes off his shoulders.

“I never thought we’d make it here.” It’s not a new conversation, far from it. It’s old news now, but he still laughs, because it’s okay to laugh now.

“Where would we have gone?”

“A coastal place.” She giggles as one hand wraps around the back of her neck to keep her from pulling too far away. “Elope without anyone knowing. Leave it all behind.”

“Eloping,” he repeats back between kisses.

“I’ve wanted this forever,” she sighs, happy and dreamy, nothing but good feelings rising inside of her.

“I’ve wanted you forever.” She shivers at the way he says it right in her ear, the warmth of his breath against it.

“You have me now.” He pulls away just enough to look at her and she feels like she’s glowing under his gaze.

“You and me,” he tells her with such sincerity, she wants to melt.

All she’d ever dreamt about was a beautiful boy, and that beautiful boy giving her the whole world.

Hanabi thinks her whole world is Konohamaru.

He’s all hers, and she’s all his. They don’t even have to say ‘I love you’s, because it’s just a given.

All of the fights, all of the pain, all of the waiting, it all ends in something beautiful.

Starting their lives together like this feels like a fever dream, but it’s her reality.

Hanabi lets Konohamaru conform to her, and all she can do is let happy tears and bubbly laughter pour out of her while he holds onto her like his life depends on it, kisses away her tears and laughs, too.

A/N: Ya'll, my writer friend has gifted me a HanaKono fic. Please, if you have time, give it a read.

If you made it this far, thank you! I'm an interactive writer, so if you leave a comment, you will get an enthusiastic response! And remember, it is NOT cringe to leave a comment on early chapters of an in-progress fic, or on a fic that is completed. I guarantee you that if you leave a comment, no matter what, the author will be over the moon. Feedback is love, feedback is life &lt;3

[author-a-holmes]

Preface

This year was a year where I learnt a lot about myself. As many of you know, I released my debut novel, Changeling, in March. This was a literal dream come true for me, and I spent the majority of January, February and the first half of March editing the final files, and organizing the release.

All while trying to continue writing Darkling.

And then I burnt out. Hard. I wouldn't call it a mistake, I've learnt a lot about myself and the publishing process, and what my limits are, but it took me quite a bit longer than I'd have liked to recover from that burnout, and so my stats for this year, once I take a look at this, probably aren't going to be a steady as I'd like.

And what I mean by that is there were several periods where I tried to push forward, but had to let it go and continue just recuperating.

It's only been in the tail end of 2023 I've begun writing semi-regularly again, but I digress. Let's dig into some statistics for 2023...

Projects Worked On

Darkling 77,136 words (This year! Total manuscript is almost 100k right now) - Bonus Scene; 1,109

Flash Fiction Pieces 1,264 words over 4 pieces of flash fiction

Fanfiction 825 words over 2 pieces of fanfiction Fandoms: @night-market-if's The Night Market Interactive Fiction

Total Words Written in 2023: 82,415 Total Time Spent Writing in 2023: 71 hours 40 minutes

First Quarter - January-February-March

Words: 19,428 Time Writing: 19 hours 30 minutes Time Editing: 11 hours 20 minutes

This period I was hyper-focussed on getting ARC's of Changeling out to readers, finalising formatting, particularly for the Hardcover, reviewing proof copies, setting up all the various sales channels, and most of the time I logged in January was Editing Time as I needed to review the notes left my by Editor before release.

Once the editing was finalised, I tried catching up with Darkling in between everything else and this is where I really began struggling. I'd thrown myself into my self-edits in December of 2022, and in hindsight I really needed a break but, with a deadline approaching, I just couldn't take one.

Second Quarter - April-May-June

Words: 5,224 Time Writing: 2 hours 20 minutes

April and May I wrote absolutely nothing. Not a single word. And while I never announced it publically, June was supposed to be the original release date for Darkling.

Which meant I had to cancel my editor slot, and re-evaluate where I stood on what I could reasonably accomplish. This is really where I began to recognise how hard I'd pushed myself into a burnout.

After writing nothing for two months, June was where I tried to do a complete reset, and start from scratch building up my daily wordcount and, well. I just wasn't ready yet. I managed 2 days in June, on the 3rd and 4th, and then crashed back into writing nothing.

Third Quarter - July-August-September

Words: 1,346 Time Writing: 1 hour 20 minutes

After crashing in my reset attempt in June, I knew I had to just ride the burnout to it's end. Pushing was only going to make it last longer. I also knew I had a long-awaited holiday set in September. It was my first holiday in about 15 years, so I decided to not set any goals for this quarter. If the mood to write struck me, I'd go with it, but otherwise I was concentrating on reading, on preparing for my holiday, and on outlining other ideas, worldbuilding, and anything to do with my books that wasn't actually putting new words down on the page.

One of those things was figuring out a bonus scene to give away for Darkling Preorders, and I did try working on that a little in August. That's where most of my words for this quarter landed, but most of my time was spent outlining.

And the thing is, the holiday actually really helped. Where I went on holiday happened to be a very similar landscape/enviroment to one of the location in Darkling, and I found around the middle of the holiday I was handwriting in a notebook. I'd not done that in a long time.

Fourth Quarter - October-November-December

October Words: 2,439 Time Writing: 2 hours 45 minutes

November Words: 51,841 Time Writing: 43 hours 45 minutes

December Words: 2,273 Time Writing: 1hour 40 minutes

I came back from my holiday re-energised and knew I wanted to dive straight back into Darkling while still riding that high. I spent some time writing in October, before I hit a few snags and realised I needed to get a birds eye view on the plot.

So I stepped back from writing again to rehash my outline. I now have a timeline of events stuck to the large cupboard in my living room, but it set me up for success in November's Nanowrimo.

My original goal for Nano was 75k, which would have completed the Darkling Manuscript, but November Nano's are always hard, and I've only just pulled myself out of a 6-month burnout, so I had no intention of pushing myself too hard. I did win Nano, but with 51k and change.

Which left me just December to finish the final 20-25k. I'm always a little slower in December. A reaction to a fast Nanowrimo/November, combined with family and holiday seasonal stuff pulling at my time, so I didn't get as much done as I'd have liked, before Christmas prep took up all my free time. I did still managed a few thousand words though, so I was happy enough with that considering how the rest of 2023 had gone.

Goals for 2024

I try and keep my goals vague and loose, because I know I can't always commit to things, especially long term, but in general I'm just going to try and make self care a priority this year, while still making progress and moving forward with my writing.

Make my health a priority

Pace my writing and editing time to avoid burnout

Publish Darkling

Complete the Fey Touched manuscript

Send out my newsletter regularly

Books Read in 2023

I do consider the books I read part of my process. Something to refill the creative well, so here's a list of books I've read over the course of the year too...

Lux by Rae Else (My Review of 'Lux') .

Shut Up and Write The Book by Jenna Moreci (My Review of 'Shut Up & Write The Book') .

Fernweh Saga Book One (Interactive Fiction) (My Review of 'Fernweh Saga Book #1' on Steam) .

A Rival Most Vial by R.K. Ashwick (My Review of 'A Rival Most Vial') .

Changeling by Arista Holmes (Yes, I did reread my own book!) (Goodreads Reviews of Changeling; 4.58 Stars) .

The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff (Tradpub) .

The Night Market Book One by Zinnia Demitasse (Interactive Fiction) (My Review of 'The Night Market Book #1' on Steam) .

Wrath and Wraiths, Chronicles of the Dawnblade Book Four by Andrew Claydon (My Review of 'Wrath and Wraiths') .

The Signature Move by Cassandra Diviak (My Review of 'The Signature Move') .

City of Souls by Mel Harding-Shaw (Reread!) (My Review of City of Souls) .

Shards of Stasis by Mel Harding-Shaw .

Shrine of Stars by Mel Hardin-Shaw . And my current read it;

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski (Tradpub)

[unseen-mysteries-gal]

So recently this story has become known to me through a couple anonymous reports. Despite the reports, my boss has never picked up on it. So I decided why don’t I pick this trail up and put my findings on here!

During the night of June 23rd 2024, 8:30 PM, a crudely dressed woman was spotted sulking along the Julie Road. Eyewitnesses have reported that the woman was seemingly stitched together. Long crude stitches ran along the sides of her head, holding her face to the rest of her head.

One eyewitness was Pearson Hailey, a man in his early twenties, spending the night working a graveyard shift at 7-11. That particular night, he was in the middle of a smoke break when he spotted the woman.

I have reached out to Pearson Hailey to get an account of what he saw.

“It was the usual night for me, you know,” Pearson Hailey recounts. “Restocking shelves and handling the counter.” 

He went on in detail about how, while he was lighting up the cigarette, he spotted a shambling figure across the street. He couldn’t make out most of the figure but didn’t mind it. Assuming it was just someone intoxicated, he got back on his phone. 

A few minutes later, he looks up and sees the figure stumble across the street towards him. Shaken up, the boy pulls out a pocket knife and bears it out, trying to intimate the figure. As the figure got closer, the lights from the 7-11 showed the approaching person in full detail. 

“The moment I saw those stitches running across that woman’s face,” Pearson recounts. “My stomach turned inside out as I felt puke build up in the back of my throat.” 

The woman was dressed up in a heavy dirty burlap jacket. Accounting how the jacket was covered in dried blood, with a long tear at the back. She was also wearing a long dress covered in patterns of pumpkins and turkeys. Pearson held out his knife and threatened the woman. Shouting at her to back off as he slowly backed into 7/11.

“She was muttering something under her breath,” Pearson continues. “Something along the lines of 'Do the rows spear me?' or something else."

The woman proceeded to grab him by the collar and drag him to her. Looking down at Pearson with a huge grin across her face. Despite how filthy she was, the woman had a perfect set of teeth. Panicking, Pearson drew the knife right into her stomach before pushing her to the ground. 

“It didn’t feel like flesh when I stabbed it.” Pearson adds. “It was like a wet sandbag, with sand pouring right out of her.”

Pearson captured several pictures of this woman. Making sure her face and overall appearance were in clear quality. After he took the photos, he ran inside the 7-11 to call the police. The woman screamed at the top of her lungs, cursing Pearson's family name. As Pearson dialed the authorities to come, the woman ran across the street and right into a cornfield.

The woman’s face matched up with the face of 24-year-old Helen Christian. A woman who was reported missing a week before this incident. I have yet to get word from her family. This story is ongoing! I plan to have an interview with family members soon. Will reblog with updates!

[johannestevans]

2022 Top Stories Round-Up

What a year it has been!

I know I've been very quiet in terms of publication of new pieces over the last few weeks - like everyone, I've been fairly busy over the holiday season, and I'm expecting for that to continue until the new year!

I might be publishing one or two pieces that are in progress over the next week, but I'm not expecting to click back to my regular schedule until after the Gregorian new year!

In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to do a round-up of all my top fiction pieces that I've published over the past year - this is a list of my top 12 pieces of fiction based on which was most popular! For the most part, that'll be things that were published in the same month, but not always.

January - Wants and Cravings

Erotic short. A young man lusts after an unattainable gentleman until the gentleman’s valet steps in.

4k, rated E, cis M/M — introducing Vincent Lucas Samuels, Ulysses Valentine, and Kit Sanders, with a new appearance from the illustrious Lawrence Kidd. Lots of teasing and flirtation, rough sex, bruising, hair-pulling, size difference, and some nasty men who like to take advantage.

Read on Patreon / / Read on Medium

February - The Enchanter and the Postman

Romance short. An enchanter who usually likes his isolation gets a new postman.

4k, rated M, M/M. Just some sweetness, teasing and some back-and-forth, a lot of affection, and a cat, too! Adapted from a TweetFic.

Read on Patreon / / Read on Medium

March - Confession and Penance

Erotic short. A priest takes a hands-on approach to addressing a worshiper’s poor working habits.

11k, cis M/M, rated E! Tiernan, a manipulative workaholic who only ever relaxes during Mass services, is taken aside by Father Mullen when it all gets to be a bit too much. D/s, BDSM-approach to enforcing self-care, spanking, painplay, bit of a priest kink but it doesn’t go into that aspect too much, faith. Also some anal.

Read on Patreon / / Read on Medium

April - Sleeping Beauty

Erotic short. A sailor takes something that doesn’t belong to him, and the captain punishes him.

9.2k, cis M/trans M and cis M/M. A carpenter’s apprentice can’t resist the captain’s cabin boy while he’s meant to be performing maintenance, and afterwards, the captain and the cabin boy punish him between them — if the apprentice wants another chance at sex with the cabin boy, he has to let the captain bugger him first.

Read on Patreon / / Read on Medium

May - Remnants of a Bygone Era

Erotic short. After his roommate brings him to his bondage tutorial, Ignatius pursues a very grumpy little nurse.

Rated E, cis M/M, 7.5k. Rope bondage tutorials and sexy lectures about safe sex, age difference, power dynamics, leather, size difference, role reversals and dynamic play, anal sex, hairy bodies, dirty talk, mild humiliation, teasing, nipple piercings, tattoos.

Read on Patreon / / Read on Medium

June - Touch-Starved

Erotic short. When a man finds out about his disabled coworker’s active sex life, he’s very jealous, and maybe… something else, too.

Rated E, cis M/M, 15k! Arden Rice has been friends with Sebastian April for years, and it’s never occurred to him before now that April might have an active sex life — let alone a sex life he want to involve himself in.

Contains massage, touch starvation, anal sex, size difference, D/s throughout, praise + affection kink, kink for following orders, frotting with intergluteal, somnophilia, mating press, rough sex, power dynamics.

Read on Patreon / / Read on Medium

July - Prophet's Cry

Erotic short. A department manager elects to give one of his juniors an attitude adjustment.

Cis M/M, rated E, 4.2k. A stressed and angry middle manager gets fucked over his desk by the boss, an unbearably posh cunt with an equally unbearable and stupendously big cock. Size difference and size kink, safe sex, infidelity, bruising, possessive behaviour, dirty talk, sex at work, boss/employee sex, office politics.

Read on Patreon / / Read on Medium

August - The Interview

Erotic short. A workplace roleplay with age difference and some hearty degradation.

Rated E, 4k, cis M/trans M. Younger boss/older prospective employee, pre-negotiated roleplay, degradation and humiliation, daddy kink, nipple play, PIV, riding, sex in the office, casual sex, bareback. The older man is fat, but none of the degrading language is about his body or his size except for commenting on the size of his chest — the degradation primarily is about his age and assumed loneliness.

Read on Patreon / / Read on Medium

September - Contract

Erotic short. A trans man lets a gangster fuck him raw in exchange for services to be rendered.

Rated E, cis M/trans M. 5.8k. Danny, a waiter, is offered a deal by a local gangster, Arne Seven: for letting Seven fuck him bareback, Seven will pay for his bottom surgery. A continuation of Financial Security.

Featuring the obvious sex trade, age difference, size difference, massive cock, anal sex, vaginal sex, sex toys, fingering, cigar kink, overstimulation, power dynamics and a bit of fear, some dirty talk.

Read on Patreon / / Read on Medium

October - Stuck

Note: you delicious perverts fucking love Contract, and it was actually the top earner in October as well as September, but I didn't want to list it twice, so Stuck was the second-most popular.

Erotic short. A guy gets stuck with his ass up in the air, and his roommates take gleeful advantage.

3k, rated E, trans man getting fucked by a bunch of cis guys. Featuring predicament bondage, barebacking, anal and vaginal, mildly dubious consent (trans man is into it, but there’s not much negotiation or seeking out specific consent), multiple orgasms.

Read on Patreon / / Read on Medium

November - Perfect Game

Erotic short. Charlie’s roommate is having a loud hook-up, again.

2.1k, rated E. Cis M/trans M. Charlie and Gaiden have been friends for years, but Charlie is getting tired of Gaiden’s hook-ups. So is Gaiden.

Featuring some voyeurism, creampies, vaginal sex, vaginal spanking and spanking threats, some dirty talk, messy sex, mild D/s, friends-to-fucking. Terms used for Gaiden’s bits are cock, cunt, and pussy.

Read on Patreon / / Read on Medium

December - Coaxed

Erotic short. An adventurer helps a drider through his rut by taking his clutch of many, many eggs.

4.6k, rated E, giant M spider/trans M half-elf. Amaethon is a half-elf who combines sex work with adventuring to create wonderful monsterfuckery — I think I might do more with him because this was great fun.

This erotica is deeply weird, and I’m delighted to introduce it: featuring oviposition and inflation, cervical penetration, huge size difference, huge belly bulging, body horror (including threats of bursting/popping), banter between a predator and prey, overstimulation, venom/drugs, suspension bondage.

Read on Patreon / / Read on Medium

Enjoy! See you next year!