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onlydreamofmysoul · 4 years ago

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Let Them Eat Cake (Part iv)

Tonight, on The Great British Bake Off;

“This is thick as hell.”

Will our bakers melt, or melt down? Only time will tell - it’s chocolate week in the tent!

“I quite like your mouth.”

Remus stared at himself in the mirror. His mouth wasn’t that bad to be fair, but it was nothing next to Sirius’ own. I quite like your mouth, I quite like your mouth, I quite like -

“Remus? You ready?”

Remus shook himself. It was time to put all of this out of his head. “Yeah,” He called to Lily. “I’m coming.”

He left thoughts of Sirius in the hotel.

“This week,” Sirius announced, (looking ridiculously good in those skinny jeans Remus noticed), “Is possibly the best week.”

“Not being in any way subjective now, are you?” James quipped.

“Oi, you can’t say anything, last night you sang me a ballad about this week just last night.”

“Ah yes you’re right, I’ll sing it for everyone, shall I?” James took a deep breath, but before he could get the first note out, Sirius had covered his mouth.

“It’s chocolate week!” Sirius interrupted quickly, succeeding in making everyone laugh as usual. For our lovely first challenge, our judges would like you to make brownies.”

Remus already knew this of course, but he couldn’t help but sneak a little smile to Lily. They were practising all week, Lily even surprised Remus with a batch of gluten free when she had still been experimenting with her flavours. Salted caramel was sacred to Remus now.

Remus heard Sirius and James say the rules in the background, but he had tuned out a little. It was hard to stop his mind from wandering to Sirius when the man in question was standing right in front of him. His hair was in a top knot today. Fuck if Remus didn’t love his hair like that, Throughout the day, it would loosen a little and strands would fall in front of Sirius’ face and Remus would imagine what they would look like wrapped around his fingers-

Remus blinked. Not here. Now it was time to focus. Chocolate week would be his week.

“Ready?”

“Set.”

“Bake!”

Remus grabbed his ingredients and set to work.

Chocolate week was not his week.

Nothing was going quite to plan. He had burned the chocolate after leaving it in the bain marie a little too long - not so much that it required to be redone, but enough that Remus was annoyed at himself. He had misread his scales and added a little too much four and to top it off, he was pretty sure he had over-baked them.

“What are you making for us today?” The judges had asked when they had made their usual rounds at the start of the day. Remus had been calm and confident then.

“Classic chocolate, just with walnuts added in.”

“Chopped, I assume?” Dumbledore said and Remus forced a smile on his face instead of rolling his eyes.

“Of course.”

“I look forward to trying them.” McGonagall had said and then they had whisked themselves away, vanishing behind Remus to ask Lily some inane questions.

(Remus really didn’t mind the questions. He actually loved them - he had looked up to both judges all his life. Today was just, not his day).

Sirius turned up at his side, nabbing a spare square of chocolate and popping it into his mouth. Remus certainly didn’t think about chasing it with his lips. Nope, not at all.

“Hey Re.” Sirius greeted, as if the casual nickname didn’t just make Remus’ heart stutter. As if he hadn’t been flirting with Remus in this very spot not a week ago.

Remus hadn’t seen Sirius much since then which was pretty odd. The entire cast and crew mingled together on the non filming days and Sirius and James were infamous for showing up in the practice tent to try the bakers latest experiments. Only James had shown his face this week though. Remus hadn’t missed the way he always seemed to know when Lily was practicing, but that was another thing altogether.

He glanced up from where he was carefully piping chocolate designs on parchment paper to decorate the cakes when they were cool. “Hi.”

Sirius pulled out two mugs, ignoring Remus’ raised eyebrow and clicked the kettle. “Tea?”

“You’re taking over my work bench, are you?”

Sirius took his usual perch up on the counter as the tea brewed. “And what of it?”

Remus looked back down at what he was doing. He didn’t answer for a moment or two as he focused on a particularly intricate design, very aware of the way he stuck out his tongue when he was concentrating. “Haven’t seen much of you this week.”

Sirius hopped down to put milk and sugar in Remus’ mug, looking at Remus like he was a little mad. “I looked for you, but you’re a difficult man to pin down Remus Lupin.”

Remus felt his face flush as his mind flicked to how exactly he’s like to be pinned down by Sirius Black, but he swallowed weakly instead. “I was practicing mostly.”

Sirius nodded. “I know. I was there a few times but you were always absorbed in work for the showstopper so I didn’t want to bother you.”

Remus was relieved when his oven timer went off and he had an excuse to move away from Sirius for a moment.

“You wouldn’t have bothered me.” He said as soon as he had transferred the contents of his tin onto a wire rack.”

Sirius opened his mouth to respond, but just then a microphone appeared over their heads, a cameraman right behind it.

“Feeling good about today?” Sirius asked pleasantly as if their previous conversation had never even existed. Remus’ smile felt tight.

“I have absolutely no idea.” He breathed. He wasn’t just talking about the cakes.

Remus pursed his lips when he realised he was being judged last today. It wasn’t so bad, Remus just liked to get it over with as soon as possible. He was only partially satisfied with his brownies, but there was a lot more that could have gone wrong so Remus chose to try to maintain a slightly positive attitude.

Peter’s brownies were a smash hit, Tonks’ didn’t look the neatest but apparently tasted fantastic. Lily’s blew them away. Remus didn’t hide his grin - he was just glad he had technically been the first to taste her recipe.

“They’re quite cake-like.” McGonagall commented, coming to a stop in front of Remus’ bench. Remus didn’t say anything, just pursed his lips.

“Flavours are good, the walnuts add a nice crunch.” Dumbledore said, munching away. “But one of the main features of brownies is that they’re soft, fudgey, even a little gooey.”

Dumbledore met Remus’ eyes. “These are good cakes, but the key word is they’re cakes, not brownies.”

Remus nodded, his jaw clenching. He closed his eyes in annoyance when they finally turned away. He knew he had over baked them. Fucking Sirius Black.

(Okay so Sirius wasn’t actually the cause of this particular problem but… Remus was a sucker for consistency).

He collapsed in a chair for lunch feeling the tension bleeding out of his muscles.

“Hey Re.” Tonks chuckled and Remus just cracked one eye open to peek at her.

For once, he was the last to the table, even James and Sirius seated before him. He sat up and dug into his pasta, unable to stop himself from actually groaning when he ate it.

“Sorry but, it’s so good. Also I’m really hungry so that helps, but wow I’m going to need this recipe.”

He didn’t miss the way Sirius eyed him the rest of the way through lunch, or the smug little looks coming from Lily either. So maybe Remus had been a little blind to how Sirius had been looking at him before, but this week he was finally wide awake.

He took a moment to pop onto Bake Off Twitter to see what they were saying this week. There were even more gifs of him blushing, Sirius looking at him and one really great picture of the two of them laughing. There were other things too of course, the other contestants' opinions on last week's episode but Remus couldn’t help but notice he was one of the most popular topics.

His mindless scrolling was interrupted by his phone buzzing.

“Ooh, someone’s popular!” James teased and Remus rolled his eyes.

“Hi Ma,” He greeted, looking pointedly at James and sticking out his tongue.

“Hi sweetheart, how’s it going.?”

Remus began to move away so everyone else could continue their conversation but Lily swatted his wrist.

“I wanna say hi to Hope!”

“Yeah Remus! Don’t be rude!” Tonks chimed in and Remus rolled his eyes.

“Mam, I’m gonna put you on speaker, the lads want to say hi.” He said, pulling the phone away from his ear.

“Hi Hope!” Lily said, everyone else joining in, a clamour of voices drowning out Remus’ laugh.

“Hi loves!” Hope said, Remus knowing she was having the time of her life. These people were like celebrities to her. “How’re you all doing?”

“Much better now that we get to chat to you.” Sirius charmed and Remus could practically see his mother blushing back in their kitchen at home. They all chatted for a little while longer before they had to get back to work.

“Hey mam, we’ve gotta go, but I’ll call you later, yeah?”

“Alright darling, I’ll chat to you soon. Good luck.”

“Bye mam, love you.”

Remus hung up biting his lip. “So that was my mom.”

“Really, you don’t say.” Tonks quipped.

“She’s my new best friend.” Lily sighed wistfully, sinking back into her chair.

“What does that make me?2 Remus asked. “A brick wall?”

Lily quirked an eyebrow. “I thought we were meant to be friends Re, but now I see we were just introduced so that I could get to know your mother. She was my destiny all along.”

“That’s not at all dramatic.” Remus deadpanned and they all started to move, getting up and ready for the next round of filming.

Sirius had been giving him a strange look towards the end of the phone call but when Remus met his eyes, he blinked once and it was gone. Remus wandered back into the tent with Lily and Tonks, debating if Tonks should dye her hair again (Pink: outdated or iconic?) but the only colour Remus could think about was grey.

“For this challenge,” James said as soon as the cameras had recommenced recording, “Our judges have asked you to make a white chocolate and raspberry tart.”

“Everything you need is under the cloth in front of you,” Sirius continued. “Judges, do you have anything you’d like to say?”

“Read the instructions carefully.” McGonagall said, her face blank. Remus blinked.

“Well, they never would have guessed that!” Sirius said cheekily and Remus had to bite down his laugh.

“On your marks,”

“Get set,”

“Bake!”

Remus pulled back the gingham cloth, eyeing the fewer-than-usual set of ingredients. He picked up the sheet with instructions, found it vague as usual but it didn’t seem overly complicated.

“Am I allowed to say white chocolate isn’t real chocolate?” Sirius asked, gliding up to Remus’ bench, cameras in tow.

“I was wondering how long it would be before someone started that debate!” Lily chimed in. “We had a bet going, I won so thanks for that.”

Remus looked at Sirius accusingly. “You couldn't have waited ten more minutes?”

Sirius laughed to himself as he wandered away to talk to everyone and Remus set to work. They wanted a digestive base, so after weighing out the right amount, Remus grabbed a rolling pin and set to work smashing the biscuits.

“You know, you could just use a blender.” Lily called over the thrum of her own machine. Remus made a face at her.

“Yeah, but this is way more cathartic.” He countered.

“Got some tension you need to relieve?” Tonks teased and Remus was suddenly really glad Sirius was on the other side of the tent.

He put his most innocent smile on his face, looked her right in the eyes and flipped her off. Lily and Tonks burst into a laughing fit. Marlene just sighed and looked at Remus a little hopelessly.

“One of these days Remus, I won’t have to edit every shot you’re in.”

Remus just shot her a cheeky wink. “Keep dreaming Marlene.”

Remus scrunched up his nose as he tried to pour the chocolate into the tin. He had placed the raspberries so that they covered the base of the pastry and now all he had to do was add the chocolate and pop it all in the fridge to set. But the chocolate mixture was a lot thicker than he had anticipated.

“Fuck…” He breathed, drawing out the word as he tried to even it out with a spatula, only succeeding in moving the berries around and messing up the distribution.

“You alright?” Lily asked.

Remus glanced back, shooting her a smile. “Yeah, I’m okay. This is just thick as hell.”

“White chocolate’s a bitch like that.” Lily agreed.

“Seriously?” Marlene exclaimed. “Now you too Lily? I’m firing both of you.”

Remus laughed and handed her a spare piece of chocolate. “Sorry Marlene.”

Marlene rolled her eyes but smiled. “I hate you.”

Remus blew her a kiss. “Love you too!”

He bit his lip and evened out the top of his tart before putting it into the fridge so it had as long as possible to set.

“And now we wait.”

They set their tarts behind their pictures, Peter being ridiculously cautious, looking around himself before he made any movements. Remus appreciated it, but found it hilarious all the same.

He sat on the stool as the judges came out with a familiarity that was new. He liked it. He had watched the show for as long as it had been on air, watching it gave him the same feeling you might get when curling up under a blanket and a good book when it’s pouring rain outside. He liked being comfortable on the show now too.

The judges came out, Remus’ tart right in the centre of the table.

“This one looks quite good,” McGonagall said as she cut a slice, “But there doesn’t seem to be as many raspberries as I would have hoped.”

Remus bit his lip. She had snagged a slice from a section all the berries had been disrupted. Fucking white chocolate.

“Everything else however, is lovely.” Dumbledore said and Remus breathed easy, it wasn’t the worst one, not by far. A tart belonging to a woman named Susan hadn’t even set properly. Remus wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up going home tomorrow, she had certainly lost the technical and from what Remus remembered, she hadn’t done too well in the first challenge either.

Kingsley won the technical, smiling at everyone congratulating him. Remus liked Kingsley a lot, the other man was quiet, so he didn’t know him too well but any interaction they’d had was always pleasant.

The camera’s stopped rolling and everyone filed over to the table to grab themselves a slice of the best tarts. Remus noticed Sirius hanging back for once, so he sidled up next to him.

“Not a fan?” He asked. Sirius shook his head.

“Nah, white chocolate is much too sweet for me.”

“Right,” Remus said, tilting his head. “You don’t even take sugar in your tea.”

Sirius bit his lip and took his time replying. “There’s only so many sweet things I can handle,” He said, leaning in closer to Remus, who mirrored his movements on instinct. “And you fill that quota completely.”

Remus stood there frozen as Sirius smiled at him before leaving the tent. Lily came up next to him, a plate in hand.

“Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

“Oh it’s so much worse than that.”

“What happened?” She asked, concerned.

“Sirius Black is flirting with me.” He half whispered. “And I’m so completely and utterly fucked.”

Lily smirked and bumped her hip against Remus’. “More like you will be completely and utterly fucked.”

“Lily!”

The noise escaping Lily in response could only be described as a cackle. Remus lay awake half the night replaying Sirius’ words over and over in his head. He was so screwed.

“Welcome back!” James began, “It’s time for our showstopper challenge!”

“This week,” Sirius said, “Our judges want you to create a 3D chocolate structure.”

Remus bit his lip. He had practiced. A lot. But this would still be a challenge.

“Your creation should be entirely edible and entirely chocolate. As usual, you have four and a half hours. Ready?”

“Set.”

“Bake!”

Remus set off, faster than he had for the last few challenges. He could do this, but he needed time. He immediately set out breaking up chocolate to melt, two rectangular silicone moulds ready to go. He poured an equal amount of milk chocolate into each and made sure they were spread evenly before putting them in the fridge.

“Damn Re, that was fast.” Lily commented, still filling her mould.

“That’s not what he said.” Remus retorted with a wink and Lily snorted behind him.

Remus kept melting chocolate, white was next on his agenda. When it was melted, he added a couple of drops of orange essence and mixed it in. He spread it quite thinly over two large trays, wishing it had been this co-operative in the previous challenge, and put them in the fridge too.

“Hey,” Sirius said softly, arriving at his station. Remus broke off a piece of dark chocolate and offered it out to him.

“This is your favourite type I’m guessing?”

Sirius blushed. It was fun to see Remus wasn’t the only one who could do that.

“Yeah,” He said, his voice low. “Yeah it is, thanks.”

Remus took out a clean bowl and started breaking pieces of dark chocolate into it. “Everything okay?”

Sirius frowned. “Does something have to be wrong for me to be here?”

Remus shook his head quickly. “No! I mean, no. I just meant…” He glanced around the room and saw no microphone close enough to capture their conversation but cameras were panning the room. He kept his eyes on his work and his voice hushed. “Well, you know what I meant.”

“Yeah,” Sirius fiddled with a tea towel he found on Remus’ counter. “Can we talk? Later?”

Remus nodded. “I’d like that.”

Sirius smiled at him and moved away, walking around to the rest of the room. Remus took a shaky breath. He would talk to Sirius later. He straightened his shoulders and set his jaw, he would be calm about this. He could obsess about it later. Right now? He had a big ass chocolate sculpture to make.

“Bakers, you have thirty minutes left!” James announced a while later and Remus shared a mildly panicked look with Lily. He took his many many trays of chocolate out of the fridge and set to work assembling his piece. He measured the white chocolate and cut precise, identical rectangles, biting his lip as he prayed the chocolate wouldn’t snap. It would appear luck was on his side today because it all cut cleanly. He sighed in relief and set up the flat stand it would be displayed on. He filled his piping bag with dark chocolate and unfolded the page of notes he had brought in with him that day and began writing on the white chocolate slabs.

“Bakers! Please step away from your benches!”

Remus fiddled with his hands as he stepped away, looking at his creation. It was… It was fucking perfect is what it was.

Lily presented first, a gorgeous goldfish made of chocolate and sprayed with edible paint. Lily had even carved the scales into the surface, Remus was blown away by the amount of detail in it.

Tonks had made a little castle - two towers and a main building, it was ridiculously charming, Remus wished he could live there.

Remus walked up with his and stood back so he could look at it too. It was a book - Pride and Prejudice to be exact, standing up and cracked a little open so some pages were on display. Pages on which Remus had written the exact text from the book, the cover based off the hardback edition Remus had at home.

“I must say Mr Lupin,” McGonagall said, “As a big Jane Austen fan, I’m quite charmed by this.”

She broke away a ‘page’ and popped a piece in her mouth. “The orange flavouring is a lovely touch.”

Dumbledore broke off a piece from the back cover and nodded in agreement. “Very good, I’m quite impressed.”

Remus beamed at them and returned to his bench. He was so unbelievably glad they liked it, if they hadn’t well, he might have actually cried.

Sirius caught his eye and smiled at him. Remus smiled back.

They sat in a row once more a little while later, but Remus wasn’t afraid. He hadn’t done as well as he might have liked yesterday, but he still wasn’t bad. And he had done quite well today. He was pretty sure he was safe for today.

As he suspected, Susan went home. Tonks won star baker and Remus had the rare opportunity of getting to try the other baker’s work since it was all made purely of chocolate.

“Take a walk with me?” Sirius asked after a little while, the euphoria of another week done fading and the remaining contestants beginning to trickle back to the hotel. Remus nodded and sent Lily a quick text and then he followed Sirius out of the tent and away from the cameras and microphones and contestants.

And then it was just the two of them.

#let them eat cake #let them eat cake chapter 4 #wolfstar #bake off au #tgbbo #Remus Lupin #Sirius Black #Remus Lupin/Sirius Black #Lily Evans #James Potter #tonks #nymphadora tonks #wolfstar au

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bitoffairydust · 3 years ago

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Yesterday we came home from the hospital as a family of three.

Things haven’t been super smooth sailing, nor did I expect them to be, but our little one is doing well and I’m healing fine so that’s really all we could ask for.

Wednesday was a bit of a whirlwind. I was scheduled to go into the hospital for my induction at 5, so we spent the morning doing a bit of last minute clean up around the place. Then around 12, someone from L&D called and said if we were available to come in earlier, we could just show up whenever. We still had a few things to finish up so we had lunch, I took a shower while my wife did the dishes, then she took a shower and got the cats set up for a few days home alone before we called an Uber to head to the hospital.

We got there around 3:30-4 so not super early but they got us into the delivery rooms right away and someone came over to go over a few questions (medical stuff and what I was hoping for with the birth). I got hooked up to the contraction and fetal heartbeat monitors, they got my IV line in, and then we went over the induction options for me. Based on my last check up, I was about 1.5 cm dilated, so before anything else they had to get me to about 3 cm, which they offered to do with either the foley balloon or misoprostol. Then the plan was to start me on oxytocin to get contractions going. I requested the miso, cause I figured there would be enough things going in and out of my vagina for the evening without an additional thing thrown in there 😅

It actually took a little while for the induction to start because as it turns out, three people (myself included) showed up for their induction within 5 minutes of each other and I was the last so it was closer to 7 before the resident came to examine me. In doing so they found I had actually progressed to 3 cm on my own since my last appointment so they were able to just get me started up on oxytocin.

Contractions started up pretty much instantly but they were very manageable. I’d say just from the oxy progression, the worst contraction I got was maybe a 5 on the scale from 1 to 10. Then they ran through the dosage and did another exam to see where I was at. They didn’t give an exact number then but I think it was somewhere between 4 and 5 cm. Before starting me up on another dosage of oxytocin, they went ahead and tried to break my water as it hadn’t yet. They didn’t actually manage to fully get it, and honestly, at that point, them trying to get it to break was actually more painful than the contractions I’d experienced that far.

That changed pretty fast once they established they’d gotten enough of the membranes for the time being. I’m fuzzy on the timeline but I think it must have been close to 10 at that point, and the pain level climbed very quickly along with contraction intensity and frequency. I tried to bounce on a ball for a bit and the nurse showed my wife some pressure points to try and help with the pain but it did nothing. Around 10:30 I requested the epidural, which was unfortunate timing on my part as the anesthesiologist had just gone in to assist with a c-section. By the time she was out and got to my room it was about 11:30 and pain was an easy 10 on the scale with contractions maybe a minute and a half apart.

The epidural itself went in pretty smoothly but at first there wasn’t much to be said for relief. Since they mentioned it could take 15 minutes to really be felt I didn’t think much of it, and I did feel like things were getting a bit better as minutes passed. The last contraction I was asked about felt more back down to a 5 on the pain scale so the anesthesiologist left. Unfortunately, that 5 turned out to be a fluke because pain shot back up pretty quickly and I was soon at a 10 again, no matter the dosage boosts.

That part was quite honestly the worst of it all, having expected some sort of relief and finding it to be just as worse as before. To make it worse, baby was not handling those contractions well. His heart beat would drop with the start of each contraction, though it picked up before the end of them so though they wanted to keep an eye on it it wasn’t cause for intervention yet. The nurse monitored his heart rate with me laying flat on my back, on my right side, on my left side and then sitting straight up. The latter was the slightly better option for him, but definitely did nothing to help my pain management. She did get me back on my back to try and relieve me a bit since the difference to the effect on baby wasn’t huge but at that point contractions were relentless. I was dealing with back labor contractions, which were maybe a minute apart, and because they suspected the placenta had detached a bit when they tried to break my water, when a contraction would subside, the pain in my abdomen would become more prominent and almost to the same level. It made it feel like I was contracting non stop with no break for catching my breath or trying to recuperate.

Around 2 in the morning there were a few people in the room examining me and trying to figure out the best course of action. A C-section being needed started being mentioned if things didn’t improve, but I was at a little more than 9 cm by then. The OB and the anesthesiologist had a talk outside the room and decided to re-do my epidural as it had clearly failed (they did an ice test and it was clear I wasn’t frozen anywhere at all), and if I were to end up needing a c-section, I’d have to have it redone anyway.

She took two tries to get everything situated in my back. That second try did the trick. I don’t think I can even describe the amount of relief when my foot started feeling warm and then going numb, and within maybe 5 minutes it was amazingly painless. They did another ice test and this time I felt no cold at all anywhere, and when the nurse pointed out I’d just had a contraction it cemented it because I’d not felt it at all. The only thing I could feel at that point was a bit of abdominal pressure every now and then. And I will say, I did have a great team with me. Everyone was very empathetic and trying their best to get me to feel some form of relief before the second epidural. And they seemed almost as relieved as me when that last one finally worked - especially because after that baby’s heart stabilized.

By the time the epidural was done, even though they figured I had likely progressed to 10 cm, they elected to let me rest for a bit, and give baby a chance to keep making his way down, so I got to catch a breather until about 4 am. Then they told me it was time to try and start pushing, with the nurse guiding me since I still couldn’t feel any sort of contraction. I pushed through maybe four or five contractions without huge progress, and the OB came in to assess and established baby needed a bit of help coming out. They set up the forceps and had me push through another couple of contractions, but they were pretty week and hard to catch even for the nurse by then, and baby’s heart rate was starting to struggle again. So they got on the phone to get a room prepped for c-section, and the doctor told me I would get to push through one last contraction, but if nothing happened we’d have to go into surgery.

The nurse tried to wait for a good one (she had already reupped the oxytocin drip at that point) and by some miracle, the next push for his head half out and with the second one it was completely out. The rest of his body followed quickly and before I had even caught up with it all, I had his tiny little body on me.

Even though they’d brought someone in from the NICU just to be safe, he ended up being perfectly okay. I needed a bit more attention because I had more bleeding than normal, and I had to have 4 stitches and another IV line put in to help with the blood loss. Then we stayed in the delivery room until about 6 at which point we were brought over to our postpartum room.

Since then nursing has undoubtedly been the biggest challenge. He did have a tongue tie, but he struggled from the get go. He would latch well but lose it and then get frustrated and cry. He also is a very lazy eater - I’d spend easily 30-45 minutes per side trying to get him to stay aware long enough to take in maybe 15 minutes of proper feeding, but he’d start smacking his lips practically the moment he was done, and he’d wake up hungry again within the hour.

Unfortunately there was no lactation consultant on staff as she was on vacation this week. People commented time and time again about how I had no supply issue, and his latch (when he was latched) was good, but it didn’t seem to help. I also felt I kept getting conflicting information as one moment he’d have crystals in his urine to indicate potential dehydration, and the next they’d be telling me he had barely loss any of his birth weight and was perfectly on target for that.

We did decide to get his tongue tie cut as it seemed to really be frustrating him at feeds and make it harder for my breast to properly fit into his mouth. The feed that followed the cut was easily the best we’ve had to date, but unfortunately it went downhill from there. After we got home and I tried to feed him last night, he did fine on the right side but then only lasted 10 minutes on the left and then lost it, started to scream and wouldn’t latch again. I haven’t been able to make him latch on the left side since, and I only managed to get him latched to the right a couple more times before we ran in the same problem, so we had to go ahead and start giving him bottles. I’ll be trying to work through it with a lactation consultant as soon as possible, and I’ve now started pumping, but in the meantime, him being properly fed was the biggest thing.

He does also have a small fracture on his right clavicle, likely from the forceps, but the pediatrician said that will resolve on its own within the week. In the meantime we just have to be very cautious how we move his right arm, and she prescribed him Tylenol if need be.

In the meantime we’re just trying to settle down to our new sleep deprived routine. But then looking into all the sweet, funny faces he makes both when asleep and awake makes it feel pretty worth it.

- Marie

#baby blog #baby #pregnancy blog #pregnancy #birth #birth story #induction #infant #newborn

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moonbeammuses-a · 7 years ago

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Johnny Cash - Hurt

#MY EDIT #{{ muse: Magneto }}#{{ v; Mind of Metal }}#{{ // WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF }}#{{ //IVE REDONE THE THIRD GIF FOUR DAMN TIMES. WORK ALREADY! }}

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loados160 · 3 years ago

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If you're a fan of Blizzard Entertainment’s classic creations such as StarCraft, World of Warcraft, and Warcraft III then you’ll surely don’t wanna miss the release of all-new, built-from-scratch remastered Warcraft III: Reforged this 2019.

Get ready to unbottle all your excitement while reliving your ultimate childhood dream. Gather up all your courage as you’re about to recruit and lead the strongest and most powerful heroes in Azeroth to claim your victory against your foes. But while you’re waiting for the game’s release, here’s everything you need to know about the greatest reforged of the decade.

Warcraft ® III: The Frozen Throne ® is being downloaded! If your download didn't start, try again. The game was released on July 1, 2003 in North America, on July 1, 2003 in Korea, on July 4, 2003 in Europe and on February 27, 2004 for Windows, Mac OS, Mac OS X. Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne free game marks the expansion pack to Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Gameplay / walkthrough: The Frozen Throne full game offers various different new. Warcraft 3 online is a massively multiplayer browser game based on Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne written with ASP.NET 2.0. It is designed to run on slow (maybe shared) webservers and is very easy to install and maintain. WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne. In short, the Elves are tracking, the Undead are scheming and the Alliance is crumbling. It was a long time coming, but when Warcraft III was finally released, it more than exceeded expectations. Its narrative was brilliantly paced, and the intuitive nature of its interface made controlling the action extremely.

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A better version

This 2019 version is not merely the perfect recreation of the classic game but it is actually better.

Maybe you’re having doubts with Blizzard’s decision to release Reforged instead of a brand new Warcraft IV. Well, obviously the game was made to look and feel like the original 2002 version but just to clear your expectations.This revamped version is an overall graphical update of the classic game which made the series propelled into the mainstream and laid the foundation of today’s latest versions of MOBA video games. It will include modified maps for you to explore, as well as beautifully redone VO and cutscenes

Reforged into a legend

The game will definitely give you a nostalgic feeling if you’ve already played it before. On the other hand, if you’re going to try it for the first time (which is very uncommon), you’ll feel its authenticity and originality among the other famous MOBA video games. The game’s objective is simple: you’ll just have to conquer and destroy your enemies’ base. In order to do that smoothly, you must lead your gathered army with the most powerful heroes you can choose from the four factions: the noble humans, the savage orcs, the mysterious night elves, and the insidious undead. The biggest change this version has to offer will be the all-new graphics and animation with 4K support. The game is compatible with the modern devices and totally supports hotkeys which let you jump effortlessly between groups and buildings.

The UI will also get a complete remodeling. The mini-map, unit info, and item pane will no longer take up a large segment of your bottom screen. Also, you will have a nice model of the units and structures on the left-hand side. Character models are also updated with their new voiced dialogues, which are perfectly synced with their mouth movements. The characters’ faces also deliver strong and powerful emotions which are beautifully shown by the perfectly captured facial expressions. This leads to better cutscenes played out in between missions. In addition to these, you will never get bored of this game as you can try different map and mod editors so you can create a custom game modes. You can access maps created by the other online players and release your own tweaked version/s others can try out too.

Modernized classic game

If you’d like to play again (or for the first time) the classic version of the game, you will have to wait for the release of the 2019 version since its purchase will include the Reign of Chaos and The Frozen Throne expansions of the 2002 version. This will be your only option since Blizzard pulls out the classic version of the game from Battle.net. On the good side, your purchase of the 2019 version will enable you to battle through the multiplayer mode with other online players who still uses the original version of the game over Battle.net. There is also an available option to toggle off all the new features of the game so you will be able to play the classic version while Blizzard also confirmed that even the mods and maps in the old version will work on the updated game without an issue.

Where can you run this program?

The game will be released on or before December 31, 2019, for Windows and Mac. You may choose to pre-purchase the game on Blizzard’s official website. You can get its Standard Edition but it is recommended to avail Spoilers of War Edition.

Is there a better alternative?

If you’re already hooked with the Warcraft universe, you may try playing World of Warcraft. It is one of the biggest and most popular MMORPGs which has over 10 million registered players. The game takes place in the world of Azeroth which is similar to the other franchise of the game series. Your character in the game needs to gain various talents and skills, requiring you to choose two primary professions defining the abilities you have chosen for your character. Guilds are also important for your character since it allows access to other game features such as guild tabard, guild bank, guild repairs, and dues. Your character’s progression in the game is defined by the quests you’ve completed since it allows you to gain new skills and abilities. Quests commonly involve killing a certain number of creatures, gather resources, finding a hidden object, visiting special locations, and delivery of items. You may also check out Blizzard’s other popular games such as StarCraft series, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm.

Our take

Free Warcraft 3 Download Full Version

The remastering of the classic Warcraft game is simply brilliant. It is the ultimate update of the decade you never knew you needed. The game is the best realization of every player’s childhood dream. It seems impossible 17 years ago, but here it is, the beautiful combination of the current knowledge and love for the Warcraft universe. Some classic games are best when left untouched, but Blizzard just proved the whole gaming community that sometimes classics are worth all the effort for restoration too.

Should you download it?

Without a doubt. Reforged is the best way to play Warcraft III, which is one of the best MOBA video games out there. Download it if you’re a fan or even a first-time player. Even if purchasing the game may cost you a lot, you’ll feel like you’ve lost nothing since the nostalgic feeling the game has to offer and the modernize experience that comes with it are priceless.

Highs

Great graphic design

Variety of maps and mod editors

Includes the classic versions of the franchise

Modernized character models

Lows

Available only if purchased

Freebies are present only in Spoilers of War Edition

Not a sequel of the series

Warcraft III: The Frozen Thronefor Windows

1.31

1.11 GB

Developer: Blizzard Entertainment

Release date: 2002

Version: 1.26a + Full Game

Interface language: English

Tablet: Not required

Platform: Intel only

To bookmarks

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos is a high fantasy real-time strategy computer video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment released in July 2002. It is the second sequel to Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, after Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, the third game set in the Warcraft fictional universe, and the first to be rendered in three dimensions. An expansion pack, The Frozen Throne, was released in July 2003. Warcraft III is set several years after the events of Warcraft II, and tells the story of the Burning Legion's attempt to conquer the fictional world of Azeroth with the help of an army of the Undead, led by fallen paladin Arthas Menethil. It chronicles the combined efforts of the Human Alliance, Orcish Horde, and Night Elves to stop them before they can corrupt the World Tree.

In the game, as in many real-time strategy (RTS) games, players collect resources, train individual units and heroes, and build bases in order to: achieve various goals (in single-player mode), or to defeat the enemy player. Four playable factions can be chosen from: Humans, Orcs, (both of which appeared in the previous games) and two new factions: the Night Elves and the Undead. Warcraft III's single-player campaign is laid out similarly to that of StarCraft, and is told through the races in a progressive manner. Players can also play matches against the computer, or against others—using local area networking (LAN) or Blizzard's Battle.net gaming platform.

After Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal, the last in the Warcraft II saga, was released in 1996, Blizzard began development of a point-and-click adventure game called Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans, which was supposed to continue the story. Lord of the Clans was canceled in favor of Warcraft III in 1998, which was presented to the public at the European Computer Trade Show in September 1999. The game's design and gameplay was significantly altered during development, with the final game sharing little similarities with the originally presented version (see similarities to StarCraft).

Screenshots from the game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos & The Frozen Throne

Warcraft 3 And Frozen Throne

System requirements Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos & The Frozen Throne for Mac Os:

OS version: Mac OS X 10.5+ (10.11-works)

Processor: 1.66 GHz Intel Core Duo

Memory: 512 Mb

Video memory: 64 Mb ATI Technologies or nVidia chipset

It is necessary to transfer the folder from the image to the program folder

Warcraft 3 Frozen Throne download free. full Game Mac Downloads

Warcraft 3 Frozen Throne download free. full Game Mac

Download more games for Mac OS:

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kingjasnah · 4 years ago

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Is there the full list of brandersons favourite games reposted somewhere?

i dont think so? or not that ive seen. u can literally just sign up for the newsletter on his website but screw it ill just post them for u. it sure was a TRIP scrolling past these to get to the interlude though. undertale is on this list.....im shakign at the thought that adolin was based off ff10 tidus but i cant get it out of my head now

#10: Katamari Damaci

I love things that make me look at the world in a new way. Katamari did this in spades. It is an imaginative, bizarre vision with unique gameplay. It is like nothing else in the world and I love it for all its strangeness and occasional lack of gameplay polish.

I was transfixed the first time I played it, and have looked forward to it being remade and rereleased on multiple different consoles. I love the cute—and somehow creepy at the same time—storyline. It feels like a fever dream more than a game sometimes, and is probably the closest I’ll ever get to understanding what it’s like to do drugs.

#9: Undertale

This is an oddball on this list because I think it’s the only game that is not a franchise from a major studio—but is instead an indie game, which I believe was originally funded on Kickstarter.I loved how this felt like a novel as much as a game. It was one person’s vision; a single story told really well, with a huge amount of personality. The humor was just my kind of wonderful/terrible, and I was instantly enamored with the characters.That probably would have been enough, but it is a nice deconstruction of video games as a medium—and has not one, but multiple innovative gameplay mechanics. Together, the package left me enamored. This is a work of genius that I feel everyone should at least try, even if it ends up not being for them.

#8: Fallout: New Vegas

I have played all of the core Fallout games, and I was one of the (it seems few) who was really excited when it moved from turn-based tactics to first-person shooter. While Fallout 3 was good, it didn’t have the charm of the first two.New Vegas delivered on everything I was hoping to see. The charm was back, the writing sharp, the quests imaginative. The gameplay was engaging and branched in a variety of directions, the gunplay was solid, and the atmosphere immersive. I of course love the first two games in the series—but New Vegas combines everything I like in gaming into one package. (As a note, I own the Outer Worlds, and am looking forward to digging into it. Consider this item on the list a recommendation of other Obsidian games—like Knights of the Old Republic Two—regardless of genre, as I’ve found them universally to be superior to their contemporaries.)

#7 Super Mario World

When I was eleven, I flew (alone, which was very exciting to me) from Nebraska to visit my uncle Devon in Salt Lake City. Before I left, my father gave me $200 and told me to pay for my own meals while on the trip—but of course, my uncle didn’t allow this. At the end of the trip, I tried to give him the money, which he wouldn’t take.I mentioned my dad would take the money back when I got home, but that was okay. Well, my uncle would have none of that, and drove me to the local mall and made me spend it on a Nintendo Entertainment System. (This uncle, you might guess, is an awesome human being.)Since that day of first plugging it in and experiencing Mario for the first time, I was hooked. This is the only platformer on the list, as I don’t love those. But one makes an exception for Mario. There’s just so much polish, so much elegance to the control schemes, that even a guy who prefers an FPS or an RPG like me has to admit these are great games. I picked World as my favorite as it’s the one I’ve gone back to and played the most.

#7: The Curse of Monkey Island (Monkey Island 3)

I kind of miss the golden age of adventure gaming, and I don’t know that anyone ever got it as right as they did with this game. It is the pinnacle of the genre, in my opinion—no offense to Grim Fandango fans.This game came out right before gaming’s awkward teenage phase where everything moved to 3-d polygons. For a while after, games looked pretty bad, though they could do more because of the swap. But if you want to go see what life was like before that change, play Monkey Island 3. Composed of beautiful art pieces that look like cells from Disney movies, with streamlined controls (the genre had come a long way from “Get yon torch”) and fantastic voice acting, this game still plays really well.This is one of the few games I’ve been able to get my non-gamer wife to play through with me, and it worked really well as a co-op game with the two of us trying to talk through problems. It’s a lovingly crafted time capsule of a previous era of gaming, and if you missed it, it’s really worth trying all these years later. (The first and second games hold up surprisingly well too, as a note, particularly with the redone art that came out a decade or so ago.)Also, again, this one has my kind of humor.

#6: Breath of the Wild

I never thought a Zelda game would unseat A Link to the Past as my favorite Zelda, but Breath of the Wild managed it. It combined the magic of classic gameplay with modern design aesthetic, and I loved this game.There’s not a lot to say about it that others haven’t said before, but I particularly liked how it took the elements of the previous games in the series (giving you specific tools to beat specific challenges) and let you have them all at once. I like how the dungeons became little mini puzzles to beat, instead of (sometimes seemingly endless) slogs to get through. I liked the exploration, the fluidity of the controls, and the use of a non-linear narrative in flashbacks. It’s worth buying a Switch just to play this one and Mario—but in case you want, you can also play Dark Souls on Switch... (That’s foreshadowing.)

#5: Halo 2

Telling stories about Halo Two on stream is what made me think of writing this list.I’m sometimes surprised that this game isn’t talked about as much as I think it should be. Granted, the franchise is very popular—but people tend to love either Reach or games 1 or 3 more than two. Two, however, is the only one I ever wanted to replay—and I’ve done so three or four times at this point. (It’s also the only one I ever beat on Legendary.)It’s made me think on why I love this one, while so many others seem to just consider it one of many in a strong—but in many ways unexceptional—series of games. I think part of this is because I focus primarily on the single-player aspects of a game (which is why there aren’t any MMOs on this list.) Others prefer Halo games with more balanced/polished multiplayer. But I like to game by myself, and don’t really look for a multiplayer experience. (Though this is changing as I game with my sons more and more.)I really like good writing—which I suppose you’d expect. But in games, I specifically prefer writing that enhances the style of game I’m playing. Just dumping a bunch of story on me isn’t enough; it has to be suited to the gameplay and the feel of the game. In that context, I’ve rarely encountered writing as good as Halo 2. From the opening—with the intercutting and juxtaposition of the two narratives—to the quotes barked out by the marines, the writing in this game is great. It stands out starkly against other Halo games, to the point that I wonder what the difference is.Yes, Halo Two is a bombastic hero fantasy about a super soldier stomping aliens. But it has subtle, yet powerful worldbuilding sprinkled all through it—and the music...it does things with the story that I envy. It’s kind of cheating that games and films get to have powerful scores to help with mood.The guns in Two feel so much better than Halo One, and the vehicles drive far better. The only complaint I have is that it’s only half a story—as in, Halo 2 and 3 seem like they were one game broken in two pieces. And while 3 is good (and Reach does something different, which I approve of in general) neither did it for me the way Two did, and continues to do.

#3: Final Fantasy X

You probably knew Final Fantasy was coming. People often ask if the way these games handle magic was an influence upon me. All I can say is that I’ve played them since the first one, and so they’re bound to have had an influence.On one hand, these games are really strange. I mean, I don’t think we gamers stop quite often enough to note how downright bizarre this series gets. Final Fantasy doesn’t always make the most sense—but the games are always ambitious.Ten is my favorite for a couple of reasons. I felt like the worldbuilding was among the strongest, and I really connected with the characters. That’s strange, because this is one of the FF games without an angst-filled teen as the protagonist. Instead, it has a kind of stable happy-go-lucky jock as the protagonist.But that’s what I needed, right then. A game that didn’t give me the same old protagonist, but instead gave me someone new and showed me I could bond to them just as well. Ten was the first with full voice acting, and that jump added a lot for me. It has my favorite music of the series, and all together is what I consider the perfect final fantasy game. (Though admittedly, I find it more and more difficult to get into turn-based battle mechanics as I grow older.)

#2: Bloodborne

Those who follow my streams, or who read other interviews I’ve done, probably expected this series to be at or near the top. The question wasn’t whether Souls would be here, but which one to pick as my favorite.I went with Bloodborne, though it could have been any of them. (Even Dark Souls 2—which I really like, despite its reputation in the fandom.) I’ve been following FromSoftware’s games since the King’s Field games, and Demon’s Souls was a huge triumph—with the director Hidetaka Miyazaki deserving much of the praise for its design, and Dark Souls (which is really just a more polished version of Demon’s Souls).As I am a fan of cosmic horror, Bloodborne is probably my favorite overall. It really hit the mix of cosmic and gothic horror perfectly. It forced me to change up my gameplay from the other Souls games, and I loved the beautiful visuals.I am a fan of hard games—but I like hard games that are what I consider “fair.” (For example, I don’t love those impossible fan-made Mario levels, or many of the super-crazy “bullet hell”-style games.) Dark Souls is a different kind of hard. Difficult like a stern instructor, expecting you to learn—but giving you the tools to do so. It presents a challenge, rather than being hard just to be hard.If I have a problem with Final Fantasy, it’s that the games sometimes feel like the gameplay is an afterthought to telling the story. But in the Souls games, story and gameplay are intermixed in a way I’d never seen done before. You have to construct the story like an archeologist, using dialogue and lore from descriptions of in-game objects. I find this fascinating; the series tells stories in a way a book never could. I’m always glad when a game series can show off the specific strengths of the medium.In fact, this series would be #1 except for the little fact that I have way too much time on Steam logged playing...

#1: Civilization VI

This series had to take #1 by sheer weight of gameplay time. I discovered the first on a friend’s computer in the dorms my freshman year—and I can still remember the feeling of the birds chirping outside, realizing I’d been playing all night and really should get back to my own dorm room.That still happens, and has happened, with every game in the series. I have a lot of thoughts on this series, many of them granular and too specific for this list. (Like, it’s obvious AI technology isn’t up to the task of playing a game this complex—so could we instead get a roguelike set of modifiers, game modes, etc. to liven up the games, rather than just having a difficulty slider that changes a few simple aspects of the game?)I’ll try not to rant, because I really do love this game series. A lot of people consider IV to be the pinnacle of the series, but after V unstacked units—and VI unstacked cities—there was no way I could ever go back. If for some reason, you’ve never played this grand patriarch of the 4X game genre, it’s about starting with a single stone-age settler who can found a city—then playing through eras of a civilization, growing your empire, to try to eventually get offworld with a space program. (Or, if you prefer, conquering the world.)It’s a load of fun in the way I like to have fun, and I feel like the series has only gotten better over the years. My hat is off to the developers, who keep reinventing the series, rather than making the exact same game over and over.Now, about that request for difficulty modes...

there are runner ups but for the sake of anyone whos on mobile and cant get past a read more (first of all omg im SO sorry) ill refrain. anyway he thought WHAT loz game was the best before botw?

#mix between HARDCORE judgement and like. yea. yea ff10 was pretty good wasnt it #but i dont think its anywhere near the best of them #long post #im read mores dont work imm so fucking sorry this is so long #MOST of these games are good its just so wild its so wild its SO wild #asks #Anonymous

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spaghettiandart · 4 years ago

Photo

So the character sheets are a bit of a work in progress, I’ve been sketching them one by one though there’s quite a bit to go through since I’m sketching them twice (once in paper, once digitally, and any other times it needs to be redone). Ive got about four sketches done, though I still want to focus on the other drawings first and these second, so I’ll be keeping the sketches until I’m ready to go through em and get onto the other phases of drawing em

Anyways have this chara wip, I just finished this one today. Yes, they’re buff, and there’s both their child outfits and adult outfits. I’m trying to incorporate a few styles of dress into them and Asriel that may have gotten popular/in fashion over the following years, so that the other characters wearing similar things to them made sense. It’s a whole thing, I think I’ll just make a few different blogs about different parts of the AU and then put them into one masterpost of messy links :/.

#chara #behindtale #wip #sketch #ive just been making sketches #but that’s because I draw sketches faster than finalized projects bgjgs #my art

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always5hineee · 4 years ago

Text

Depreciation- Chapter 9: Reader Insert

Chapter warnings: Intense or adult themes

Word count: 1715

-----

The trial date was not a pleasant one. The entire night before and the morning of, her stomach was turning violently, causing her to avoid eating any breakfast. She knew it wasn't good for her, but it couldn't be helped. If she threw up in court, she could be ejected, which is the last thing she needed. She called the real lawyer as soon as possible to make sure their connection was adequate.

This would be the hardest part for her. She needed to do everything he told her down to the tiniest details. WayV's lives hung in the balance. She hadn't been able to arrange a meeting with them before the events, so she would just have to hope they were prepared for the things to come. The last she'd heard, Henry had been revived, but he was still refusing to eat, only accepting a slight drink of water after basically being forced to ingest it. They had put him on an IV for a few hours, but he was still weak.

She only realized a few hours before the trial that she didn't have anything to wear. Going into her room, she noticed that most of the clothes Lucas had provided to her were jeans, sweatpants, and t-shirts. None of those were really quite appropriate for such a serious occasion. The women's wardrobe downstairs were sealed up, which left her with only one dress out and available for her to use... the blue one.

With a vile taste in her mouth, she pulled it on, looking at herself in the mirror as she recollected the last time she'd worn it. Thankfully, it had been cleaned since, but it still carried awful connotations. There was no choice, she had to suffer. Putting on sensible makeup and gathering her things, she made her way to the courtroom. When she arrived, there were only a few minutes left before the trial. This was her intention. While it may have paid off to be earlier, she knew she wouldn't be able to stomach it.

She was seated near the band at the front of the room, although she was meant to be active during the trial, so she didn't really have a chance to talk to them. She glanced over once, feeling all of their eyes sliding over her form, giving her the chance to see Kun mouth a slight, 'you'll be fine'. At least, that's what she saw. Before she knew it, opening statements were underway.

"Your honor," the lawyer from the discovery period stated boldly. She was already annoying Y/N, to the point where she had to clench her fists out of sight to keep from seeming stressed. "I intend to prove that these five men, as well as their late and hospitalized associates, are guilty of the charges against them. These include harassment, assault, battery, kidnapping, rape, murder, and human trafficking, as was read to them along with their rights upon their arrest." The judge nodded, accepting this as an adequate opening statement.

"You may call your first witness."

"We'd like to start by questioning Qian Kun." The questioning went on for what felt like an hour to Y/N. The prosecution methodically called up every remaining member of WayV, one by one running through the facts again and again. She was sure the jury had to be sick of hearing the same story by now, but it was evident she was looking for a loophole. The man in her bluetooth agreed as much. What she didn't expect, though, was the first witness after that.

"Next, I call Y/N (L/N) to the stand." Eyes widening, she heard the man in her ear whisper, objection.

"Objection!"

"On what grounds?" The judge asked.

"The tribunal has proper objection when the trier of fact may be confused or misled by a lawyer serving as both advocate and witness. The opposing party has proper objection where the combination of roles may prejudice that party's rights in the litigation. A witness is required to testify on the basis of personal knowledge, while an advocate is expected to explain and comment on evidence given by others. It may not be clear whether a statement by an advocate-witness should be taken as proof or as an analysis of the proof."

Basically, what she was saying was that, by using her as a witness, the lawyer would be confusing the jury on which parts of her arguments were testimony, and which were legal advocacy. It was a valid argument, and she had already gained the permission to act as an advocate by the tribunal, (a fancy word for the court). Therefore, it was well within their rights to object.

"Objection sustained, for the time being." The judge agreed. "Let the record show that, should your testimony become integral to the case, the objection will be reevaluated." She nodded curtly in thanks.

Annoyed, but not giving up, the lawyer continued to go through witnesses. The next ones were women Y/N had never seen before in her life. There were a total of four, all of varying ages. She found it difficult to remember any of their names. As far as she picked up, the first two had been sold into slavery and escaped their masters, one had been supposedly attempted upon, but not caught, and the final claimed to have been raped by YangYang of all people.

"I would like to cross-examine the witnesses." Y/N stated as the trial continued. Speaking to the first girl, she kept her cool. She didn't have a choice in this moment but to follow every direction, take note of every answer and movement. She was starting to wish she had eaten. Still, now wasn't the time to think about this. There was a good- no, a near 100% chance at least one of these witnesses wouldn't hold up in court. She just had to figure out which one.

The first and second were the most difficult. With similar, yet vague stories about being picked up in seedy areas, thrown into a van, and suddenly being awoken under the direction of a new master, it was nearly impossible to confirm or deny their honesty. While they were under oath, words were easily brushed a side. Hell, WayV was doing it right now.

The fourth witness was where she started to get lucky. The man in her earbud told her to demand a medical examination in regards to the rape, and she almost immediately recanted her charges. This didn't look good for them, and the jury was swaying. The final, most pivotal testimony, though, was the third. This girl, around the age of 20 or so if she had to guess, had claimed to have almost been kidnapped at a WayV concert, but got away. Thankfully, she had someone on the outside able to pull her any details she wanted. This could be her ticket.

"Miss, can you tell me exactly what happened on the night in question?" Sniffling with a fair amount of dramatics, she pushed her faded green hair away from her face. She needed to get her roots redone, her makeup was a walking disaster, and her outfit screamed koreaboo. Not only that, but her little show was basically terrible.

"Yes... I went to go see WayV in Seoul because I am-" She paused, letting her eyelids flutter. "I was one of their biggest fans. At the end of the show, I went to go look around, because I wanted to experience it for as long as possible. I found the entrance to the back parking lot, and who did I find there but Xuxi himself!" The use of his name- especially one that wasn't his stage name- by this trash? It made her sick to her stomach. Still, she continued.

"Go on?"

"He pushed me up against the stadium wall and asked me if I wanted to get on the tour bus with him. Of course I said yes, but when we got on, I noticed like, five other girls! Of course, he didn't like any of them as much as me, but it was super fishy, so I tried to leave. He grabbed me and told me that I couldn't go, so I jerked my arm away and ran for dear life!"

So much for being a great lawyer- the prosecution had really put this clown up here? As a serious witness? She became more confident as she saw the jury's faces fall and scrunch, evidently feeling the same way about this girls as she did. Now for the closer...

"Miss, I'll remind you that you're under oath. And in light of that, I'd like to put forth these facts: on the night in question, exactly twenty four minutes after the closing song, the entirety of WayV was escorted to the front foyer for a two-hour fansign, giving them a direct alibi for your timeframe backed by hundreds, if not thousands of witnesses." The judge's eyebrows raised as she waited for the witness' statement. When none came, the judge called the room's attention.

"Lying under oath is a federal crime that could be met with a probation, fine, or a prison sentence up to five years. You will be taken for further investigation, and your rights will be read to you." Y/N suppressed a smile as the girl was escorted through the main floor of the courtroom. She knew she should be professional, leave it at that, but she couldn't help it. Just before the girl exited through the side door, Y/N yelled,

"And keep Lucas's name out of your mouth!" With a slight murmur starting anew in the room, the judge slammed the gavel onto the desk.

"Order in my court! Miss Y/N, may I remind you that you are at risk of being held in contempt?"

"Yes, I apologize." She quickly muttered, already embarrassed by the action. As she said this, though, the other lawyer smirked, stepping up.

"Your honor, we'd like to speak to one more person, if that's alright."

"Of course, the trial may continue." Nodding the lady thanked her, spinning around to face the faces in the seats.

"The prosecution calls Wong Yuk-Hei to the stand."

Go to Chapter 10

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jj-lives · 6 years ago

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Do you think you will write more brittana?

Okay!! Fine! Heres something ive been hidding away from back in the day. Ill post it in parts here if people want me to continue. Probably 8 parts about this size. Mostly written just need to re-edit the rest.

Dude Ranch part 1 - Brittana

It’s warmer than I anticipated out in the open. The minuscule breeze isn’t enough to cool me but has just enough force to blow a few stubborn strands of hair from behind my ears and into my eyes. I think, too late, that I should have redone my ponytail before it became a problem. It’s hot but I’m convinced the bead making its way down the curve of my jaw has nothing to do with the heat. It tickles as it makes its way down my neck but I don’t dare wipe it away.

My nostrils flare and I hold my breath for a three-count to halt a sneeze from forming as dust from the ground is churned up. My palms dampen and I tighten my hold. It’s difficult to both relax my muscles and concentrate at the same time.

Just once, please, I beg.

I take a steadying breath and release it as I tighten the muscles in my left leg. I raise my left hand slightly, enough to be noticed but not too much. My body shuffles to the right a half step. I release, relax my leg and lower my arm. I can’t believe it. Ecstatic isn’t the word for it. I’m over the moon! All I want to do is jump for joy but I can’t and it takes more than enough self control to refrain from squealing.

I reach down and run my hands over the velvet softness beneath me before sitting up again. I give myself a metaphorical pat on the back and sigh in relief knowing my job here today is done.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, can ruin my mood right now.

“Lopez!” I hear a shout from behind me.

Before the noise even dies from my boss’ lips a prayer is leaving my own. It’s to no avail. Within a millisecond I feel my body lean back as Buckshot’s hind quarters lower. He jumps forward lowering his head as far as he can reach to tear the reins from me. I try to tighten my hold but the sweat has my hands sliding down the roughened leather so fast I know I’ll have rope burn.

Shit! I’ve just lost all of my leverage.

The air gets punched out of me as my body is jostled forward, my gut coming in contact with the hardened horn of my saddle. Finally, my instincts kick in and I tighten my legs securely around Buckshot’s girth. My body is flung backwards, then forwards again. It’s the worst feeling in the world, worse than the scariest fair ride, to know that another, stronger being than you is in control and there’s very little you can do about it. I have enough control over my body to stop myself from hitting the saddle horn again. I frantically reach to tighten the loosened reins but I keep losing my grip with each time the fifteen hundred pound animal kicks up.

I’ve been on enough horses to know Buckshot isn’t about to tire himself out. He’s not going to stop until I am on the ground or I’ve gained control. I try again to reach further down the reins closer to the bit but my hand won’t tighten on the leather anymore, the rope burn starting to take effect. I swear under my breath and look up. I’m in the middle of the arena which is good. The last thing I need is Buckshot trying to brush me into the rails to get me off his back.

I prepare myself. I keep my calves tight behind his front legs and move with him, forward and back, again and again. I breathe, deep and steadying.

I don’t have to wait long before Buckshot shoots to the right. I kick my feet out of the stirrups and fling my body to the left in one smooth movement.

The landing could have been softer and I immediately make a mental note to tell the maintenance manager to add another truckload or two of sand to this arena.

The air is knocked out of me again and I wheeze to fill my lungs. My body spasms trying to make my collapsed lungs work. I turn on my side and try to breathe deep. I gasp in a small amount of air and I try again and again. Soon I’m able to take normal amounts of air into my oxygen deprived body but it burns with each inhale. As soon as I can I sit up clutching my stomach with one arm and lean up on the other. Across the arena Buckshot stands still, head level with his withers and eyes trained on me. The staring contest is broken when he snorts and licks his lips.

That bastard!

I stand up and dust my jeans off, not that it helps at all but it gives me a second to assess if there are any broken bones. I don’t find any injuries besides the pinkish hue added to each of my palms. I’m definitely going to need to rub salve on them later.

As I make my way toward Buckshot he stands perfectly still. I don’t know why my first assumption was to think he would bolt. I pause, deciding what’s the best way to handle this. He needs to know that I do not tolerate bucking for any reason, whether he was scared or not. But as I open and close my hands and listen to my raspy breathing I know I don’t have the strength to fight with him for the required time he would need to learn the lesson. At this point I’d be doing more damage than good so I reach out and grab the reins dragging in the dirt and turn towards the gate. I’m mad, I hate not having the upper hand and this feels like surrendering. Buckshot falls obediently in line behind me and even goes as far as pushing his nose into the small of my back gently. Any other time I would think it was cute, this time it pisses me off more than I already am.

When I get to the gate Burt is there to open it for me.

“Wow, that was some wreck you just had.” He supplies like I hadn’t just experienced it first hand.

“Yeah, he was fine when it was quiet out here.” I can’t really tell my boss he was the reason for Buckshot startling in the first place but the dig is there and I see Burt flinch. Technically it isn’t Burt’s fault. It just means I need a lot more time sacking Buckshot out. There was no reason for him to react that way but I hate being interrupted when I’m working and I’m disappointed that my good mood is ruined. Burt might be less likely to interrupt me next time and that’s all I want at the moment. Well, that and getting home to nurse my bruises for the next couple days. But I’m disappointed that I’ll have to start all over with Buckshot when I come back from my days off. We’ve made so much progress this past week. Maybe, by some miracle, he won’t be affected by what happened today.

A girl can dream can’t she?

“Do you have a minute to talk?” Burt catches up to me after closing the arena gate. Well at least I won’t have to come back here to close it.

“About what?” I ask without looking at him. “If it’s about the Johnson’s mare I rode her earlier and she’s coming along great. Like I told them, I need another couple weeks with her and then she can go home.” I rub my ribs on my left side and inhale sharply, definitely bruised.

“No, no, the Johnsons are really impressed with what you’ve done with her. They phoned me yesterday to compliment you. They said they barely recognize her she’s so calm now.”

“Okay, then what’s this about?”

I enter the stable and exchange Buckshot’s bridle for a halter before tying him beside the tack room. I wince as I tighten the knot. I’m so going to be cursing my hands for the next week.

Burt jumps forward before I can make my way to the saddle, “I’ll get that!” He says way too chipper. He loosens the girth strap and lifts the saddle off Buckshot’s back before disappearing into the tack room. I grab a brush and start brushing the black hair flat where the saddle messed it up. When Burt returns he smiles a little too wide at me. I’m starting to get suspicious. Did he take in another client’s horse even though I’m overbooked as it is? Did he forget to order grain again and is now about to ask me to run to town to get some?

“Brent’s girlfriend just went into labour.” His smile must be stuck on his face.

“Well good for them. Isn’t it a little early though? I thought she wasn’t due for another two weeks.”

“She wasn’t,” Burt supplies as he grabs a brush and drags it down Buckshot’s other side. I glance over Buckshot’s withers and Burt averts his eyes. “The doctors said nothing is wrong with the baby. Just that it wanted to arrive early. But this means Brent needs the weekend off.” Burt sighs.

I shrug and throw my brush in the bucket I retrieved it from. I’m about to reply, saying that there are plenty of hands to help feed horses and clean stalls, when I remember the date.

“Hell no!” I grab the lead and quickly untie it before pulling Buckshot toward his stall. I hear Burt follow me.

“But-”

“But nothing,” I cut in.

I make sure there is feed and water in the stall before closing and latching the door behind me.

“I’m going home.” I hang Buckshot’s halter on the hook beside his stall and make my way towards the back of the stables where I parked my truck. Burt’s still following me and he stutters out reasons why I should and why I have to stay. I don’t listen to any of them.

I reach my truck and pull the door open but Burt’s gotten desperate and he rushes forward and slams the door closed before it’s even half open.

“Please!”

“Get Kurt to do it.”

“He’s out of town.”

“Sam.”

“He almost burnt the campsite down last time I tried him.”

“Jamie.” I supply another name.

“She had knee surgery. You know she can’t ride!”

“She walks around the grounds just fine, coulda fooled me.”

“Santana, I wouldn’t ask if you weren’t my last resort. I’ll do anything, just please do this one thing for me.”

I cross my arms over my chest and lean my back against my truck. If I had an excuse I would have played that card but Burt knows I have no plans for this weekend.

“I hate that whole part of this business, you know that!”

“Yes, hence me begging. Please?”

“How many city slickers are coming this time?”

“Four or five. Not many.”

“I want double what you pay Brent.”

“You have got to be kidd-” My face is dead serious and he changes tactics as I reach passed him for my driver’s door. “Fine, okay you win.”

“I’m going home to shower. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” I don’t give him an opening to argue. I just jump in the truck and pull away.

I really, really hate the dude ranch part of Burt’s business. He tries to tell people it’s good for the city slickers to get out into the country and back to their roots. I know better. A bunch of rich business men or women come on retreats and think it’ll be like the old west, like in the movies. They get out here and up in the saddle and I have to watch as they treat these animals like quads more than living things. They kick and yell and “yee haw” so much that their horse gets startled and then they blame the animal for them ending up on the ground.

Not to mention, the guests are supposed to look after their own horses and do the work a real ranch hand would do but all they end up doing is complaining of the smell or how heavy the saddles are and I’m going to be the one having to pick up the slack. Exhaling I keep reminding myself that at least this is a small group.

But even so, this weekend is going to be a nightmare

#my writing #brittana #brittana fic #asks #dude ranch au

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bm2ab · 6 years ago

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Man's Impact on the Environment Chateau de Josselin Josselin, France

Josselin Castle (French: Château de Josselin, Breton: Kastell Josilin, Latin: Castellum Joscelini) is a medieval castle at Josselin, in the Morbihan department of Brittany, France, first built in the 11th century and rebuilt at various times since. It has been designated as a monument historique since 1928.

Guéthénoc, vicomte of Porhoët, Rohan and Guéméné, began to build the first castle on the site around the year 1008, choosing a rocky promontory overlooking the valley of the Oust. The new fortress was named after Guéthénoc's son, Goscelinus. The name is recorded in the Cartulary of Redon Abbey (1080) as castellum et castrum Goscelini, but already by 1108 it was appearing as Castellum Joscelini.

The site chosen for the castle was excellent from both the commercial and the military points of view, and since the 9th century there had also existed an annual pilgrimage in September to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Bramble (Notre-Dame du Roncier), which added greatly to the wealth of the lords and people of Josselin.

In 1154, Odo, Viscount of Porhoet, step-father, guardian and regent of the young Conan IV, Duke of Brittany, collected the Breton lords to deprive Conan of his inheritance, but was defeated by Henry II of England, who was also Duke of Anjou, whose protection Conan had sought. Henry married his fourth son, Geoffrey, to Conan's only child, Constance, Duchess of Brittany, and Henry and his son pulled Josselin Castle down in 1168 and 1175. Henry II himself led the demolition and sowed salt into the ruins.

During the Breton War of Succession (1341–1364), the garrison of Josselin fought inconclusively the defenders of the nearby Castle of Ploërmel. To break the impasse, the Battle of the Thirty was arranged, contested by thirty knights from each side, and took place on 26 March 1351 halfway between the two places. The men of Josselin defeated the champions of Ploërmel, who consisted of four Bretons, six Germans, and twenty Englishmen.

In 1370 the Breton soldier Olivier de Clisson (1336–1407), later Constable of France, acquired the lordship of Josselin and built an imposing new fortress with eight towers and a keep one hundred yards across. He married his daughter Beatrice to Alain VIII of Rohan, heir to the viscounts of Rohan, whose own castle was not far away. The castle now boasts an equestrian statue of Olivier de Clisson.

Gate of the Castle In 1488 Francis II, Duke of Brittany, took the castle and partially demolished it. His daughter, Anne of Brittany, restored it to Jean II of Rohan, a great-grandson of Olivier de Clisson, who transformed the property and built a noble new house with a fine granite facade, an early example of Renaissance architecture, importing Italian artists and artisans. In recognition of his patroness Anne, sovereign Duchess of Brittany and Queen Consort of France, Rohan added to the facade at several points the sculpted letter A beneath a cord, her badge.

Banned from Josselin due to their Protestantism, René II, Viscount of Rohan and the other Rohan men could not prevent the Duke of Mercœur, then Governor of Brittany, from turning their castle into a base for the Catholic League in its struggles against Henry IV of France.

In 1603, after being advanced by Henry IV to a dukedom, Henry, Duke of Rohan, one of the leaders of the insurgent Huguenots, transferred his military headquarters to his Castle of Pontivy. In 1629, Cardinal Richelieu dismantled the keep and four of the towers at Josselin and announced to Duke Henry: "My lord, into your game of skittles I have just thrown rather a good ball!"

In the 18th century, the castle was no longer occupied as a seat of power, and during the years of the French Revolution and the First French Empire it became a prison and warehouse. In 1822, Caroline, Duchess of Berry, persuaded the then Duke of Rohan, Louis François de Rohan-Chabot, to restore it.

The Antechamber of the castle contains a marble bust of the 13th Duke, Alain Louis Auguste de Rohan-Chabot, sculpted in 1910 by Auguste Rodin.

The Castle is still a residence of Josselin de Rohan, fourteenth Duke of Rohan, who was President of the region of Brittany from 1998 to 2004.

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