#mention: konstantin

[westminster-insider]

DATE NUMBER 24 - Hallstatt, Austria. Winning Bid: @konstantinvorshevsky with £35,000. Total Bids: 9.

"Austria. Visit the lakeside alpine village of Hallstatt in the Alps and enjoy a picnic lunch via boat ride. Attend an Austrian Apple Strudel Cooking Class in the afternoon before venturing to Salzburg to tour Hohensalzburg Fortress. Dine at the restaurant atop and attend a night-time concert there while taking in the balcony view of the historic town of Salzach below, including the river and mountains."

Partner: @eleanorxshipley

[gemsofgreece]

Greek elections 2023

[distor777]

Konstantin Somov

[jadcnlapointe]

"well, then what's the damn point in these places you call bars?" it was why, for the most part, he drank back at the trailer, watery room temperature beers or his home-brewed moonshine. as they took a barstool each, he erupted into the only facts he knew that weren't linked to cows. "of course you can make it. what did you think the moonshiners did all day, twiddled their thumbs? you gotta make your mash—corn 'n water—and stir it real good, ready for the yeast. then you gotta leave it, two or three weeks does the trick plenty. strain it, heat the still... it's like science, but it ain't no science you learn in school." not that he would've known. he never attended more than a day of it. "best drink you ever tasted. i'd put money on it, if i had any."

The blonde couldn’t help but laugh, Striker’s confusion about the drink very funny to her. “Of course I haven’t tried moonshine!” Konstantine was aghast at the very thought. “Pr-” She caught herself before she offended the other who had been nice enough to stop and help her. “People can’t exactly just order that at the bar on a night out. Besides, I’ve never been one to enjoy the flavor of straight alcohol.” The warmth of the pub was inviting, and despite her best efforts, she could feel herself actually relaxing a little. “I didn’t know people could even actually make moonshine.”

[ellastone-olsen]

The Legend of Sleepy Valley - Wanda Maximoff (part 1)

★Pairing: Vampire!Wanda Maximoff x f!reader

Summary: no one had ever seen the family members living in the huge estate nearby. maybe this is not just the case and they are hiding something. legends surround this place and soon you will find out for yourself where is the truth and where is the lies. this is the first time a vampire will not kill her victim.

★Warnings: NSFW 18+ (in future parts), dark au, blood, stalking, mentions of murders, nightmares, slowburn

★Word count: 2.6k

★AN: I decided to re-read Dracula and an idea came to me. this is my first series fic and the first part is preparation for the most interesting things. maybe there will be one or two more parts, I don’t know how much my imagination will suffice.

The small village of less than one hundred fifty people could not boast of special wealth, but as they say, human blood is not water, this is the true wealth that these people had. If only they knew about it.

Away from the crowd of dilapidated houses stood the old estate of the Maximoff family, whose history dates back to ancient times. No one could say exactly how long ago they settled, but every generation of people who lived here knew who lived in the ancient “castle” as the locals called it. Family members did not often catch the eye of the village residents, preferring a secluded life without “good neighbors” nearby. All you knew about them was information gleaned from the legends that parents told their children, passing on these terrible stories from generation to generation.

One of them said that it was the Maximoff family that was behind the disappearance and fatal diseases of ordinary peasants who lived in these parts. If someone’s livestock died, it means that people’s turn will soon come. No one could explain exactly how they were involved in this, which is why they were legends. Some said that all the troubles began with the arrival of the first ancestor - Konstantin Maximoff. As soon as this man set foot on the dead, poor soil of these regions, terrible things began to happen.

But who are you to believe in stupid old legends? Now is not the time when people rely on fairy tales. This was the age of computer technology and the Internet, so you could read horror stories on Google. It’s a shame that the stories turned out to be true, what’s even worse is that you learned this from your own experience.

“Why did you kill me? Why did you kill me?" You looked in horror at the doorway in which stood a man... no, a child, judging by his height, about 7 years old, but his face was not visible. Only glowing beady pupils and a dark silhouette, that’s what you could make out in the pitch darkness of the tiny room. “I didn’t do it, I didn’t kill you.” You tried to move, but it was all in vain. The body froze like a heavy marble stone. The brain was already awake, but the limbs were stuck to the mattress of the bed. Heart beat out a fast, ragged rhythm, threatening to jump out through ribs. No one would come to the rescue, you knew. “Why why did you kill me.��� The hallucination repeated these words like a prayer in the temple of the Lord God, to which you were ready to go any minute. What to do, what to do, probably the same as always. Scream.

An eardrum-breaking screech escaped from your chest, maybe someone will hear it? But absolutely everything that happened was only in your head. Together with the scream, flashing flashes began to hit eyes, a good sign that the method was working. If anyone had heard the screeching, they would probably have gone deaf.

You suddenly sit up in bed, breathing as if you had run a marathon and won. It was all over, but the fear remained. Sleep paralysis was never limited only to the state of paralysis itself; even after them, anxiety was with you, sticking to the subcortex of consciousness like soft molasses. You turned on the light in the room and picked up the phone. The clock showed 3:42 am, if you are lucky, within an hour you will fall asleep again. Your finger clicked on the messenger icon and you entered a chat created specifically for communication between people living in your village and surrounding area.

Your eyes quickly scanned hundreds of messages and ads for old junk when photos of the scene caught your attention. It was talking about another cattle killing of one of your neighbors. People, as always, wrote that these were wolves or pumas, which often live in these parts. At least the claw marks were definitely not left by a human. A terrible bloody mess, what more can you say. Soon panic will sweep the village again, because everyone knows that this will be followed by the death of one of the residents. Damn it, sitting at home all day long again was the first thing your sleepy brain generated. Well, let it be, but you will get some sleep for the first time in the last couple of months.

The phone slowly fell from your hand onto the soft, fresh sheets and your lead-filled eyelids fell into your eyes. Finally the long-awaited dream. You saw your past, but more exaggerated. Winter frost, a scarf that covers half of your face and you don’t know where to go. The picture changed and you found yourself on the red carpet, walking towards the door at the end of a hundred-meter corridor. There are white walls and camera flashes all around. You didn't know where you were going, but it seemed like a good place. The door opened revealing a round room with a bunch of people and animals. A ginger cat similar to yours came up to you and you extended your hand to pet him, but the animal grabbed you with its teeth, biting over and over again. The claws passed along your forearm, leaving red droplets of blood, the wonderful dream again became a nightmare and you opened your eyes.

Your room again. The lights were off. It's strange, you didn't seem to turn it off. Perhaps mom woke up and walked past the room. Your gaze could not focus on anything, you looked around, blinked a couple of times and looked into the doorway. Someone was standing there again. A woman with long hair, you would think it was your mother, but she had short shoulder length hair. Again, hallucination is the first thing that came to your mind. You tried to bend your leg to make sure that this was the case, but the movement was easy and you sat down in fear. The figure was still standing in place and eyes accustomed to the darkness could discern clothing in the form of a knee-length dress, boots and a jacket, it seems? The head of the unknown woman in your room tilted to the side, she was also looking at you. She studied, as if deciding what to do next. It seemed that being noticed was not part of her plans.

"Who are you?" the vocal cords did not produce anything louder than a whisper. And only now did you notice a strange pain in your hand, in the same place where the cat scratched you in your sleep. You grabbed the forearm of your left hand, feeling the moisture under your palm and lifted it to get a better look. You couldn’t see anything in the darkness and you licked your palm to feel the metallic taste. Liquid scarlet blood was streaked and still leaking from the scratches, not deep enough to leave scars.

In response to your action, the stranger loudly sniffed air and seemed to... growl. But people don't know how to make SUCH sounds. “Did you do this?” you extended your palm to her, but instead of answering, the dark figure disappeared outside your bedroom. You wanted to catch up with her, but got tangled in the blanket and fell to the floor, cursing under your breath. When you went into the common room, no one was there anymore. Not a trace of anyone else's presence.

The morning greeted with the rays of the sun, which lay softly on your face. The smell of homemade pancakes wafted from the kitchen, the recently returned birds chirped on the tree branches as if they were wound up.

The phone was still lying next to you and the clock on the screen showed noon. Among hundreds of notifications overnight, you found a message from your friend Lily, which read: “I’ll pick you up at one o’clock in the afternoon.” Well, at least you had an hour to get ready. Surely, after those messages about the murder, your parents would lock you at home, and you wanted to have time to take a walk in the first days of spring.

While you were sitting in the kitchen and looking at one point, while finishing breakfast, your thoughts returned to this night. There was no doubt that the first thing that happened to you was sleep paralysis, but what happened then? How could someone sneak into your family home so silently and without a trace, why did this woman need to watch you, and even more so... You could write off the incident as another nightmare, but your forearm still stung. Raising your hand, you saw scratches that were already covered with a blood crust and were in the process of healing. Oh no, it wasn’t definitely a hallucination. When you got out of bed, the first thing you did was check your room for missing valuables, but everything was there. Apparently the only thing this strange woman touched was you. Today before going to bed you need to check all the locks in the house, all the windows and make an impregnable fortress out of it.

“Are you sure you want to go there?” The question hung in the warm spring air. Your friend was dragging you by the hand to the so-called Sleepy Valley. The children of your village were not allowed to go there, firstly because flocks of sheep usually grazed there, and secondly...

“Y/N, do you know why this place is called that way?.” Of the two of you, you knew more about local folklore, so you easily found the desired legend in the memory archives. The legend of the Sleepy Valley.

“My mother told me that there were always sheep grazing there, but one day a shepherd came into the valley and the whole flock was lying on the grass. It looked like someone had thrown cotton balls around. It looked as if the animals were simply asleep, but when the man approached one of the sheep, he realized that it was dead. They were all dead. Some maniac or animal ripped out the throats of the poor animals. This is where the name comes from.” You finished the story and were walking through the wild forest when you saw an opening. Perhaps there were such stories around this place, but there was no other place for walking cattle in the vicinity.

As the tall trees retreated, a majestic field stretched around, with a herd of fluffy white sheep as usual. Lily pulled you by the arms a little away from the animals to sit on the fresh green grass looking up at the sky. The two of you just lay there and listened to the chirping of tits, voluminous white clouds rushed above you, forming bizarre shapes. Life seemed unreal at that moment.

Only in the forest from where you came out it was watching you. Red eyes scanned everything that was happening, and acute inhuman hearing caught your conversation even at a distance of twenty meters. Your night visitor did not miss the chance to follow the first person whom she, for some reason unknown to her, did not kill during close contact. Wanda was patient, even too patient, and something about you caught her attention that night. Maybe your peace of mind or... No, it’s too early to think about that. In any case, she spent the rest of the night waiting for you to wake up and leave the house.

For so many years that she lived on this sinful earth, the daughter of the Maximoff family could tell a lot from a person’s blood. She drank dozens of people dry and each was unique in their own way, from the first sips one could understand what kind of life a person lived and what it was like, blood for her was a thing in which the essence of human nature was hidden. None of her victims had aroused an iota of interest or compassion in her, until that day.

Once every few months, Wanda’s family could afford such a delicacy as a few people from the village for whom no one would grieve. She liked to stretch out the pleasure and start with cattle, leaving human lives for dessert. Then she decided to watch the future victims and find the most tasty morsel in her opinion; in the end, her choice fell on a young beautiful girl like you. When life is in full swing, taking it away is many times more pleasant and sweeter.

That night, her plans included killing you, drinking to the last drop like everyone else before, but standing right next to you, she froze. Something was wrong. Why were your eyes open but you didn't move? She heard your heart that was ready to jump out, but it was not because of her. It seemed like you saw something that she didn’t see and she became curious. The woman walked into the darkness of the room, to the farthest corner, and watched. So you woke up, jumped out of bed and nervously turned on the light. Wanda sensed your fear, but did not understand what it was connected with.

Waiting for you to fall back into the world of dreams, she turned off the light that was blinding her and came closer, running her sharp nails along your arm to collect a small portion of blood for testing. When the first drops touched her tongue, her pupils dilated, covering the irises of the vampire's red eyes. The blood was saturated with adrenaline and was even sweeter than she expected and your personal taste. There was something about it that she couldn't place, something familiar. She took a closer look at your calm face, noticing what a cute little thing you were in her hands. No, killing you was too great a loss, she turned on her heels to hide as quietly as she appeared, but a rustling was heard behind her.

Wanda stood in the doorway and watched as you woke up for the second time that night. It’s surprising how you didn’t notice her right away, but when she saw your wet, rough tongue running over your palm, licking the scarlet substance, something clicked in her. “Did you do this?” your voice, hoarse from sleep, has long since become a spring deep inside her being. She needed to leave right now if she didn't want to kill you or take you by force.

The woman silently left the house and sat down nearby in the wild raspberry bushes. "She was beautiful, but who the hell was that?" Thoughts were heard in her head, but they were not hers. She heard your thoughts and her eyes widened, remembering what her stepmother told her many decades ago. If her memory did not deceive her, and it did not deceive her, then when sampling a person’s blood, if they arent killed, she will be able to hear all the thoughts associated with her. Then, being a recently converted vampire, Wanda did not attach any importance to this, because she did not think that something would happen that she would not complete the job. Apparently this was very arrogant on her part.

But since this has happened, why not entertain yourself for the first time in the last two hundred and ninety-seven years. From that moment on, she had her own personal human.

Part 2?

[guardian-of-time-if]

Demo Moved to COG Demos

Hi all, I have finished moving the demo over to COG Demos. Since I update my files as I go, the new demo link is also a minor update. Along with the new hosting site and link this update includes:

Fixed typos (pretty sure I got all the ones mentioned in this thread.

Fixed the error where leodra MC tells Emperor Konstantin she’s never met another leodra, after clearly identifying Violet as a leodra.

Removed the section after name selection asking for MC’s thoughts on not knowing the meaning of her name (only available for MC with elven or half-elven names.) Some readers found this confusing, so I will move it to a place that makes more sense.

Stats screen overhaul: added a codex to the stats screen, expanded the glossary, and converted the relationship stats into descriptions instead of numbers.

I added mentions of MC having an object that was with her when she was found by Samira. Currently, it doesn’t change the writing much and only adds a couple of paragraphs spread across the two chapters.

Overall, the changes to the writing are minimal, but I wanted you all to have a list of all the changes in the new demo. I hope this tides you over until chapter three is out. (Which should be very soon, stay tuned for more news).

New link: CoGDemos

[decayedgloria]

Madame Neuvillette Masterlist

The young and vivacious Madame Neuvillette, who shied away from Fontainian society for far too long, enters the world of scandalous affairs and open secrets as she tries to mediate her brother's failing marriage. Only, she finds herself in the midst of perhaps the biggest scandal high society has ever had the pleasure of seeing- with none other than the Duke of Meropide himself.

Pairing: Wriothesley x fem!reader, Neuvillette x fem!reader

Tags: mature and suggestive themes, anna karenina au, infidelity, toxic relationships, established relationships, age difference, tags will be added as the fic is updated

Author's note: as mentioned, it is an anna karenina inspired story. Meaning there will be time period-accurate violence and actions (smoking, some misogyny, etc.) Set in Teyvat, just without the visions and its the 1800s. Mostly follows Anna's storyline, not really Konstantin's. I can't promise frequent updates so bear with me. Everything is listed is subject to change, and things will be added as the story progresses: both tags and characters.

Cast of Characters

Reader, the protagonist of the story married to Neuvillette. Younger than him and quite charismatic, yet impulsive.

Neuvillette, the chief justice of Fontaine and a busy, yet loving family man. Is well-respected for his impartiality.

Wriothesley, the dashing Duke of Meropide who has just returned from his station in Chenyu Vale. Marchioness Clorinde's cousin and is courting Navia.

Ajax, a baron and the reader's brother whose marriage is falling apart because of his infidelity. Married to Navia's sister.

Navia, a young aristocrat who is promised to Wriothesley. Reader's sister-in-law, both are quite close to each other.

Clorinde, Marchioness de Champion. Cousins with Wriothesley, and knows him better than anyone else.

Sigewinne, reader and Neuvillette's teenage daughter. Is spoiled rotten by both parents, though mostly by her mother.

Chapters

❥Part One: Decadent Collision

Taglist: feel free to ask! @wriosmilk

[discworldwitches]

This decision was preceded by a "round table" with Russian officials and collaborators from the temporarily occupied territories, where supposedly the experience of countries in which private hospitals "voluntarily refused" to perform abortions was reviewed.

Quote: "The private clinics’ heads were asked to contribute to the demographic situation improvement by refusing to perform abortions. The colleagues positively evaluated this initiative, and today all private clinics in Crimea have officially informed the Crimean Ministry of Health of their voluntary refusal to provide abortion services," Skorupsky noted.

Officials in Russia-annexed Crimea say private clinics have stopped providing abortions

Over his more than two decades in power, Putin has forged a powerful alliance with the Russian Orthodox Church and has put “traditional family values,” as well as boosting the country's declining population, at the cornerstone of his policies.

As part of the effort, authorities in several Russian regions in recent months sought to convince private clinics to stop terminating pregnancies. In Tatarstan in central Russia, officials said about a third have agreed to stop offering abortions; in the Chelyabinsk region in the Ural mountains, several clinics did as well. In the westernmost region of Kaliningrad, local legislators said they were mulling a ban for private clinics.

A nationwide ban is also something lawmakers and Russia's Health Ministry are contemplating, alleging that private clinics frequently violate existing regulations restricting access to abortion.

State statistics show that private clinics in Russia, where free, state-funded health care is available to all citizens, accounted for about 20% of all abortions in recent years. Some women who shared their experiences in pro-abortion online communities said they preferred private clinics where they could get an appointment faster, conditions were better and doctors did not pressure them to continue the pregnancy.

Crimea's Russian-installed health minister, Konstantin Skorupsky, said in an online statement that private clinics on the peninsula some time ago "offered to contribute to improving the demographic situation by giving up providing abortions,” and as of Thursday, all of them had done so.

His statement did not mention the city of Sevastopol, which is administered separately, and it was unclear if private clinics there were still providing abortions.

Two chains of private clinics in Crimea contacted by The Associated Press on Thursday by phone confirmed they no longer provide abortions, citing orders from the management or the authorities. One said it's been about a month since they stopped offering the procedure to women.

[bolding my own]

the use of “demographic situation” is so vile & so clearly colonial

[elcor-thespian]

Hi again! What do you have for 19 from the kiss prompt?

19. Kisses meant to distract the other person from what they were doing.

This prompt is getting answered with Nephele and Lucanis, and includes mentions of my other ocs. You don't really have to know anything about them for it to make sense. Also, this is a one-shot idea I've had for a minute, so it's kind of long. Please enjoy this soft silly fun.

Kiss Ask. Please send more!

The first thing Nephele noticed when she woke up was the crick in her neck, and the sharp jab in her side. Then the feel of a warm body, rising and falling slowly with breath. Also, a cold, hard surface. The floor? Then the sound of faint snoring, soft clanking of...something metal in the distance, and....eggs. That's what that smell was. It was eggs.

She definitely didn't want to open her eyes. Opening her eyes was the enemy. She also definitely didn't want to move. Moving was also the enemy.

Can you have two enemies? ... That's dumb, of course you can. You literally fight multiple enemies all the time. Get it together.

She made a minimal effort to roll over. Nope, pain, bad. Nausea? Unclear. She then tried to curl her legs up (it's fucking freezing in here) but she hit something solid instead.

There was a movement next to her, and the pressure in her side intensified. Reluctantly, she slowly opened one eye, just enough to figure out what was stabbing her.

The first thing to catch her attention was an unruly mop of blonde hair. Aleksei. Why was Aleksei here? She opened her eye a little more for more context. Her friend was sprawled out across her legs, with his head on Brenna's stomach (oh hey, Brenna's here), and his feet on Konstantin's lap. Konstantin.....she opened her eye all the way and turned her head to see the rest of the Qunari, fully asleep sitting up, head tilted back and snoring. It took her a second to realize she was also sitting up, leaning in to his side.

Ohhhh. Right.

She fully opened her eyes now, and the jigsaw pieces of her memories of the night before started to take shape.

The pain in her side was Konstantin's elbow. On his other side, with her head on his lap was Nasreen, curled in to a tight ball. Elspeth was fully spooning Brenna, who had pulled a couch cushion on top of her face to block out light in the middle of the night. Craning her head up she saw Paloma on the couch, her arm draped over the side next to a bottle of wine that must have fallen over sometime in the night.

And next to that was another bottle of wine. And another. And look, there were some over there. And didn't we start by drinking beer anyway? And I definitely was doing shots of whiskey at some point. I definitely remember there being a drinking contest. Pretty sure Brenna won. Pretty sure Konstantin threw up.

But that was in the music room, and this was....definitely the kitchen. Yep, going with kitchen. When did we move to the kitchen?

"About twenty minutes after Emmrich threw you out of the library."

Oh shit. I said that part out loud.

Extremely reluctantly, Nephele started to extricate herself from the pile of hungover bodies. She tried to grab on to the couch to help pull herself up, but missed and grabbed Paloma's arm. She didn't seem to notice.

"Oh fuck me," she grunted, rising up to a standing position, briefly tripping over Aleksei who groaned in protest. She heard a small clatter in the kitchen, and looked over to see Lucanis swearing in Antivan under his breath and grabbing a towel to clean up something he had knocked over.

Careful not to step on any more companions, she tip toed over to the counter, and saw not just eggs, but a variety of baked goods, cut fruit, oatmeal, bacon, and blessedly, coffee.

"Oh thank the Maker," she said, reaching for the pot. Lucanis beat her to it and moved it to the other side of the stovetop.

"First, water. Then coffee," he said, not taking his eyes off of the frying pan.

Nephele glanced at his workspace, which was littered with three or four half empty cups.

"Hypocrite," she teased, before grabbing the carafe of water. Was that juice? When did we get juice? Wait, did this mad man juice all of those oranges this morning?

"I am not the one who drank enough alcohol to fill the canals of Treviso last night," Lucanis retorted, glancing up at her with a teasing smile.

Fuck me. He's gorgeous.

Nephele ran her fingers through her hair to tuck it behind her ear, just to get it out of the way, and definitely not to make sure it wasn't sticking up in some awful way.

"I'm sorry if we were loud. I didn't mean for it to get that out of hand. I just thought it would be nice for the Birds to get to know each other better. You know, now that we're all in one place. Most of us have never actually met before now."

Lucanis plated up some of the eggs on a platter before adding some diced peppers to the pan. The aroma quickly changed into something far spicier. Oh I'm going to be sick.

"It wasn't that bad. I think Emmrich was more concerned about setting a good example for Manfred than anything else," He looked at her again before adding, "Not that you're a bad example."

Nephele laughed. "Oh, but I'm certainly a bad influence," she replied coyly, noting the way Lucanis' grip tightened on the spatula. She took a sip of her water, looking up at him through her eyelashes to see him with that far away look in his eye he got when Spite was talking. She waited for just a second to see if he would snap out of it on his own (also, this water is amazing. I never want to stop drinking this water).

"Does he agree?"

"Hmm?" Lucanis said, snapping back to their conversation, and remembering to flip the eggs just in time before they burned.

"Does Spite think I'm a bad influence?"

Lucanis chuckled, "No. Although, I'm not sure if that is comforting seeing that he is after all, a demon."

Nephele inched almost imperceptibly closer. "And what about you?"

Lucanis paused before grabbing some of the spices on the counter and adding them to the pan. "No, I don't think you are a bad influence. I think you are a good friend."

A moan wafted over from behind the couch. Someone else was waking up and was also firmly against it.

"Yeah, I'm sure everyone will be thinking about what a great leader I am while they're nursing their headaches and trying not to puke in Arlathan forest."

Lucanis poured a cup of coffee and put it next to her, adding cream and two sugars. He remembered, she thought, her heart twisting tighter than her stomach.

"I think that you looked at your team and you saw two issues. One: that everyone is new and doesn't yet trust each other, which could be deadly once we are in the field. And two: that everyone has been through a lot of stress lately, and desperately needed to release some of that tension. So, you found a solution to kill two birds with one stone."

He nodded towards the couch and leaned against the counter, "I don't think anyone would have expected to see any of these people cuddling on the floor two days ago." He paused to think before adding, "Well, maybe Aleksei. That one isn't surprising."

Nephele laughed again, louder than before. "I've seen him try to hug the Caretaker."

"They're friend shaped," they heard Aleksei mumble, before being silenced by Paloma hitting him with a pillow.

Lucanis and Nephele both giggled, and Lucanis returned to his eggs. Nephele loved the sound of his laugh. It didn't happen nearly often enough. She had to keep working on that.

"So we came in here and fell asleep?" she said, desperate to keep the conversation going.

"Not exactly," He said, reaching for a handful of spinach before adding it to the pan to wilt, " You all stumbled in here at about one o'clock in the morning, and started going through the cupboards, I can only assume looking for snacks. There was a lot of shushing and giggling. I think someone broke a chair."

Nephele looked over at the dining table, where one of the chairs was on its side and missing a leg. The memory came back to her immediately.

Elspeth tried to stand on it to see if Paloma could give her a piggy back ride.

"Weird, wonder how that happened," Nephele said nonchalantly, putting her empty water glass down and picking up her well earned coffee. She took her first sip and moaned in contentment, not missing the self satisfied look on Lucanis' face as she did so. "Then we went to sleep?"

"No, then you started telling stories about traveling with Varric. I couldn't hear them exactly, but from what I could tell at least half of them had to be made up."

Nope, they were all true. Weird shit just happens to Varric. She made a note to bring him some of the coffee when they were done. That way he wouldn't have to come all the way down here.

"And then...." Lucanis trailed off and Nephele wasn't sure if he was choosing his words carefully, if Spite was talking, or both. "I'm pretty sure you played spin the bottle."

Oh the bottle didn't just get knocked over. Actually yeah, that sounds right. No, I definitely made out with Nasreen. Which might have been her first kiss. Oops.

Nephele's brain caught up to the conversation now that she had a little caffeine in her system. "So wait, we were in here talking for hours, and you were just...awake? In the pantry?"

"In my room," Lucanis corrected, somewhat defensively.

"In the pantry." Nephele stated, holding her ground. We could at least put a real bed in there.

Lucanis shrugged and plated up the next round of eggs, putting it on the opposite side of the counter. Which was definitely a coincidence, and not an indicator that he had noticed that the smell was bothering her.

"Lucanis," she said gently, "Why didn't you come out?" He didn't answer, starting a fresh round of eggs, this one with onions and tomatoes. Holy shit, is he making everyone eggs to order?

"Seriously," she tried again, "We would have loved to have you join us."

"I don't think that would be a good idea." He said flatly, pointedly not making eye contact with her. She furrowed her brow.

"What, because of the alcohol? We wouldn't have made you drink if you didn't want to. I get that you might not want to risk it, what with Spite and all...."

There was a long silence where the only sound was the sizzle of oil in the pan, and Konstantin's snoring. Seriously, his neck is going to be so fucked when he wakes up.

"I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable," he stated, keeping his eyes on the pan. "I know that not everyone is thrilled at the prospect of an abomination on the team. I don't want to crash the party."

Nephele frowned sadly and tilted her head to catch his eye. "So, instead, you listened to everyone else have a good time, and then made us individualized hangover breakfasts."

"They're not individualized," he scoffed.

She pointed to a plate to the left of the tray of warm blueberry scones. "Who's eggs are those?"

"Brenna's," he answered without thinking.

"Mhm. And why are those Brenna's eggs?"

"Because she's Ferelden," he said, glancing up at her sheepishly. "They have extra cheese."

"They have three types of cheese by the look of it. Which you grated this morning. Somewhere between juicing the oranges, chopping the vegetables, brewing the coffee-"

"I was going to brew the coffee regardless," Lucanis said, stirring the pan and adding a pinch of chives from Harding's garden. "It wasn't that much extra trouble."

"Uh huh." Nephele said, looking down the counter and across the table at the piles of food. "My point is, we don't just keep you around to make eggs and stab things. We could always find someone else to stab a cloud. I happen to be pretty good at stabbing things myself."

Lucanis scoffed, and Nephele shoved him playfully in the arm.

"I'm serious! Lucanis...we keep you around because we like you."

Lucanis looked up at her, his eyes filled with such a strong emotion that she wanted to cry for him. He opened his mouth as if to say something.

"HOLY FUCK MY BACK," Aleksei shouted, before being drowned out by several groans and at least two more pillows being flung in his direction.

Nephele laughed. "Breaks over," she muttered to Lucanis. He smiled and returned to his cooking. Nope, not so fast.

"Hey Lucanis."

"Hm?"

Nephele reached across the stove to grab the closed bottle of olive oil, as well as Lucanis' attention. She placed it on its side on the counter in front of her and gave it a light spin. Lucanis' eyes followed it as she put a finger out to stop it right as the stopper pointed in his direction. With a smile she leaned over, placed her other hand on his back, and kissed him softly on the cheek, lingering just a second too long to be friendly. Through his vest she could feel him take a sharp inhale and hold it.

Perfect.

"What smells like burning?" Paloma groggily asked from across the room.

They both looked down at the ruined eggs.

"Mierda."

[alwaysbooyahback]

MAGP 22 - Fun Historical Context

Spoilers below the break. Mostly history, though.

Hans Berger, the person who wrote the letter in this case, is considered the inventor of electroencephalogram, more commonly known as the EEG. It remains an important medical tool.

Berger’s married his technical assistant, Ursula.

The opening of the case until the dream, including the description of the participant with a cranial defect, the instrumentation, etc., appears consistent with historical Berger.

Berger was interested in the physiological basis for psychic energy.

Berger worked at the University of Jena (Jena is mentioned).

Despite conducting the first EEG in 1924, he waited years to publish it; consistent with the letter mentioning his reputation

Einthoven, mentioned in the case, received the Nobel Prize in medicine for his invention of the ECG (which looks at electrical activity of the heart), that same year, 1924.

Konstantin M. Bykov, also mentioned in the case, worked on what we now call the corpus callosum, the biggest connection between the brain hemispheres. The letter calls this a “Hemispherical Bridge.”

Richard Canton, who Berger is writing to in this case, did work on the brain’s electrical nature that was important to Berger’s invention; Berger was one of the people to emphasize the importance of Canton’s work.

Berger was a literal N*zi who worked with the SS.

[kathrahender]

This is the actual fic, the other post was the background story to understand this better. This is the second part (2/2), if you want to read the first part (1/2), read the previous post.

Eventually, Tom Kazanky and Pete Mitchell met in Top Gun, but they were a little more hostile towards each other. After all, Tom always saw Konstantin's hurt expression when people mentioned Duke Mitchell, and Pete always saw the pain and betrayal in Duke's eyes when he heard the name "Konstantin Kazansky". Iceman and Maverick's rivalry was similar to the movie, except that the hate they felt for each other was more obvious than in the movie. Their jokes actually meant to hurt the other, and every time they criticized the other, they were meaner than in the canon.

But- like in every Top Gun AU, Iceman became more compassionate after Goose's death, and although Iceman didn't like Mitchell's family, seeing how damaged Maverick was made him realize that he was hating Maverick for the wrong reasons. It wasn't because he was a bad pilot, it was because Duke was his father, and he couldn't stand that. But the pain in his eyes made him think Maverick didn't deserve to pay for Duke's bad actions. That's why he stood by his side. First he was just a teammate who supported him, but after Layton's mission, they became wingmen. The same year they decided to teach at Top Gun together, and they became more than allies or wingmen. They became friends.

At some moment, Maverick realize Iceman made him feel things he didn't feel with his past girlfriends, not even Penny or Charlie. When he saw Iceman at Top Gun, he couldn't help but smile. When Iceman smiled at him during a lesson, it warmed his heart. When some days Iceman decided to stay at his home, and he woke up screaming and crying in his bed, Iceman held him and it made him feel safe. Iceman was always there for him. To help him. To protect him. To catch him when he fell apart. Every time, Tom was there, saying with and without words "I'm here, I'm not going to leave you". So it wasn't a surprise when he realized he liked Iceman (or even loved because his feelings towards him were so intense).

Maverick repressed his feelings, because after all that happened between them, after all the rivalry, after Goose's death, and after Iceman supported him when he needed more help, he wouldn't bear losing him. He knew Iceman was straight, and if he told him he felt something for him, he would leave him, like everyone else (except his father). And he already lost his mother, Goose, Carole and Bradley. He couldn't lose Iceman too. What he didn't expect was how hard it would be to hold back his feelings. A lot of times he avoided Iceman, pretending he was busy with Top Gun's work, because he didn't want him to know the truth. How could he look at his face and say "I like you"? Iceman was his wingman and his friend, but nothing assured him that Iceman wouldn't leave him if he found out he was in love with a guy. Much less if he himself was that guy.

One day, in the afternoon, Iceman knocked at the door of his house, and although Maverick wanted to tell him to get out, he let him in. They stood silent for a moment, and Maverick expected Iceman yelling at him or being angry for ignoring him, but he didn't do that. He talked to him nicely, with a soft tone, like always. And he could deal with Iceman being angry, but Ice was there, looking at him with concern and pain, not forcing him to say anything, holding his arm or wrapping an arm around his shoulders. He got up to stay away from him, trying to hold back his emotions, because he couldn't bear it. It was Iceman's hand in his shoulder and him saying "I'm here for you, Mav, for anything" what broke him. He almost fell to the ground, nearly having a panic attack, but like always, Iceman was there to catch him, to comfort him. Maverick clung to him, as if he was a lifeline. He knew it was probably the last time Iceman would hug him, and he knew Iceman would abandon him, but during that moment, he imagined Iceman staying with him, he imagined he wouldn't be shattered in pieces after Tom left him.

After a few minutes, he slightly got away from Iceman, keeping his hands in his waist, while Iceman was holding his face in his hands, wiping away the tears. "What's happening, Pete?". Maverick closed his eyes, and he muttured, trembling. "I love you". Iceman got paralyzed, and Maverick felt tears in his eyes again "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Ice" he said. Before he could see Iceman looking at him with anger, hate or disgust, he went to his bedroom, but Iceman stopped him, hugging him from behind. "You idiot. You don't have to be sorry. You're not mentally ill and you're not disgusting, Maverick" he held him tighter, and when he heard the following Iceman's words, he sobbed. "I'm your wingman, Pete, I will never leave you. And I will always be here for you. I love you too, Mav"

After that, and even after knowing their life would be hard, they decided to be together. They only lived once, and they wouldn't be cowards and let go of each other. Although they would have to hide from the society, and act like friends in front of everyone, their life would be harder if they weren't dating.

Years later, when people knew the truth about Duke's "betrayal", and when the Navy finally allowed them to date people of their same gender, Iceman and Maverick could finally have their happy ending, and Duke and Konstantin couldn't be more happy for them, because their sons were enough strong and brave to fight for their love, and they succeeded.

Additional information about the fic.

Duke is still considered a traitor because Pete needs to be the same Maverick he was in the movie, and that can only happen if the name "Mitchell" still means "problems" and he is not accepted in Annapolis. He's seen as "the son of a traitor", that's why Goose is his only friend here too.

In this AU, Maverick's mother still dies (when he's... 10 years old more or less), so Pete is raised by his father. Almost the same thing happens to Iceman, because her mother also died when he was a kid.

Iceman doesn't have siblings. Sarah is one of his friends, but she isn't his biological sister.

When talking about people leaving Maverick, he mentioned Carole and Bradley because he is convinced they left him and not the place that reminded them of Goose (after Goose's death, Carole decided to move to another city because she couldn't bear being in Miramar without Goose. She didn't do that because she blamed Maverick for Goose's death and wanted to stay away from him)

With them having a happy ending, I mean them having a happy ending. So I'm just ggnna pretend that Top Gun Maverick's scene didn't happen.

[westminster-insider]

DATE NUMBER 14 - San Sebastián, Spain. Winning Bid: @konstantinvorshevsky with £2,000. Total Bids: 2.

"Arrive in San Sebastián just when the locals get started for the night, around 9pm. Choose from a number of Michelin star restaurants and spend the rest of the night drinking and enjoying the company. Wake up the next day for a walk along the golden beaches and explore more of the food the city has to offer."

Partner: @viktoriya-kurylenko

[typingatlightspeed]

where do you get there being multiple teams from? and what kinds of different teams are there? i know we get a few glimpses, especially in the recent gala fic, but do you have any more details?

This chunk of dialogue right here! The Administrator has other teams! Named are Eschelon, Citadel, and Vanguard. And our boys are, of course

Who these teams are and what they do isn't specified, and yeah, they could be doing a ton of possible things for The Administrator, but for my purposes, I imagine they're also combatants in the Gravel War to some degree or another. Fortress are kind of the red-headed stepchildren of the whole affair, making them the ones who she lets has the most spotlight and the most PR, because they're idiots who she'd be happy to throw to the lions if she needed a scapegoat.

So likely the other teams cover other battlefields. There are SO MANY battlefields for the Gravel Wars, not all of them in New Mexico or the surrounding region. For the life of me I can't find a damn image rn but the spawn room at Coldfront has a world map with a bunch of dots on it that seem to correspond to Gravel War bases. I assume it's that and not Australium deposits considering the lack of many in Australia itself.

I was delighted by that line from Cheavy above too because in @unicornsandbutane's Creature Feature, she wrote there being multiple scouts for multiple teams, so it worked perfectly to stay in canon. :D

I don't have much in the way of concrete details, leaving it purposefully vague since it's beyond the scope of what Fortress deals with anyway. We know a few people on a few teams, like Aoife being the scout for Garrison, Octavio being scout for Redoubt, and Felix being scout for Battery, as well as Hanako being the spy for Battery. But that's it. Sascha Fleischer and her husband Konstantin Gurlukovich Borislav (Kage) are the medic and heavy respectively for Eschelon, though it's not mentioned in-text.

Generally the teams tend to follow themes, like Redoubt being mostly aquatic or amphibious specialists to handle water-focused battlefields. Battery operates in east Asia a lot.

I'm sorry I don't have a wealth of info dreamed up for that, but tbh I could keep coming up with stuff I'd never use forever otherwise, lol. Plus, it gives me a chance to randomly throw characters around if I need someone to work for BLU for something in the future. Or if someone wants to make an OC for something the write, yanno?

[froggybrainz]

More headcannons/funfacts

Entity:

I talked about how they can't read or write cause of a curse that was put on them after the fall, so all words just look like a blurred mess to them.

They also have glass spon hair (really messy/uncombable bedhair). It's not fluffy, just really dry and spiky.

Despite being called The Red Devil, no one in the underworld actually knows that it's them. With such an underwhelming frame, they just get overlooked. Doesn't help that they just absolutely hate being called that.

Got called Weasle alot when they were still an angel due to always getting into stuff and having a small frame. Entity is only 5'5ft compared to their more taller siblings being 7 to 10 ft. The small build had to do with their species of angel that they were. Smaller hands but a passion for creation meant that they were responsible for adding life to earth and maintaining it. No need to be big and strong

Icarus

Finds all life fascinating but hates worms. Idk. He'd rather pick up a bunch of spiders, but as soon as he spots a grub. He would get weirded out. It's probably cause it makes him think about all the dead cult followers and how they met their end so soon. Just visions of the corpses being consumed by maggots just makes him sad. Another reason as to why Icarus hates Entity, they're just like the worms.

Icarus has a habit of running away, so he spends most of his time in a cage like a bird. I felt like the name Icarus would suit him due to his want of freedom.

He is also fascinated by technology due to him never really being allowed outside The Garden. So if you let them over your house, He would probably just be flicking the lights on and off cause thats cool! Entity would be more than happy to let him leave, but he knows Icarus would never come back, so they gotta keep their baby at-home at all times.

I don't actually ship Entity and Konstantin together. I actually like the idea of Icarus and Konstantin getting together. Entity just like tormenting him.

Frankie

He has a sleeper build. This man has the ability to put you down if he needs to. Not that he wants to

He very much loves Will. And he's open about it, but Will just takes it as bromance, so he pulls poor Frankie along. Just tugging his poor heart strings lol

He's protective over kids, so he doesn't like Jack very much.

He has a very rare ability not seen in most zombies or anomalies, for that matter. Being practically immortal is only seen in very few "higher-ups." Regenerative abilities are sought out in the underworld, and those who have it are often associated with royalty.

Zalgo

My first and only time I mentioned him, but I feel like adding stuff about him.

Because of his power and authority over the underworld, he often gets mistaken as The Red Devil. He goes with it cause it makes people more scared of him.

He's more of a brain parasite than devil tbh. He only got his way up the food chain by controlling the minds of others until he got what he wanted.

He is 100% slenders ex-husband, and I love it. He still has a picture of him by his nightstand

[k0nstanta]

✨ ❤️ ✂️ for Kotya please 🥺

❤️ - What is one of your OC’s best memories?

some of kotya's best memories are from middle school, when she and shurik would constantly hang out and play together. she's made a lot of good memories since then, but these are the ones she treasures the most

✂️ - What is one of your OC’s worst memories?

conversely, most of kotya's bad memories are of her high school years. she also vaguely remembers when her parents died when she was in kindergarten & she got taken in by her grandma (which is a part of her story that somehow never got mentioned on this blog because it was never relevant. lol)

✨- How did you come up with the OC’s name?

okay this one is actually kind of hilarious. hiding it under the cut because it made the post too long

you see, kotya was origianlly created as a joke fusion of 2 different characters (same for shurik) so her initial name was just those characters' names smashed together, and it sounded very stupid. as i began to flesh her out more the joke name inevitably started driving me insane so i decided to come up with something a little more like a real name.

her og design was something along the lines of "gruff looking mercenary / henchman guy", and i wanted to pick a name that would fit the vibe.

since i'm russian, i circled through some slavic names i personally thought sounded good, including but not limited to: mikhail, viktor, alexey, dmitri, and konstantin.

dmitri, viktor & konstantin were my top 3 picks and i was really leaning toward viktor but my wife pointed out that some random "baby names meaning" website listed "kotya" among nicknames for konstantin, and i instantly lost my mind, because how stupidly cute is that?

to clarify, the "kot" part of kotya is also the russian word for cat, and "kotya" is one of those silly affectionate words you can use to refer to a cat lovingly, just like "kotik" or "kotenok" (kitten). it just sounded so funny. konstantin is such a serious name, and it fit her so well, but she was also kotya. little kitty. i was obsessed.

as for her last name (beliy), it's just the russian word for "white", and i'll be completely honest with you. it's a breaking bad joke. my wife kept spamming me with tweets from this account:

and the rest of it went like this:

and there you have it. the story behind konstantin beliy, localised as constantine white, and also basically meaning "white kitty" when written down as kotya beliy. she's been a silly little kitty since day one.

[vendetta-if]

First (non-anon) ask in....actually just first! Been enjoying this since the first time you teased this whole project! Gabriel, my MC, has a mind of his own and decided to romance the Poly despite my initial attempts of sticking to either or. Now I'm not sure if it's been asked but I'm curious as to how that would play out in an ending with the sequel? Will it be mentioned or is the 'canon' ending up with either? Also if it is mentioned in any way in the sequel, how would the cast (Konstantin, Seq MC, etc) dynamics be?

All of the endings are technically canon endings, and your choice of RO and what you choose to be at the end (Vigilante, Heir, or Superhero) would be touched upon or at least mentioned in the sequel spinoff. Although, those who became heir, they might have more cameo than those who chose other endings simply because the spinoff sequel would be focused more on the underword operation of the city, so they are more relevant 🤔

As for the dynamics for Konstantin and the sequel MC… Kostya would always be fond and caring of his little sibling 🥺 Would love to tease them too every chance he’s got. He was raised to prioritize family over everything, just like the rest of the Morozovs.

Right now, the plan is that you’ll be able to choose what your sequel MC feels and thinks about him in general, which might impact some interactions with him.